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Karsus' Folly and the First Blight [or how Dragon Age lore follows Forgotten Realms]

YgramulYgramul Member Posts: 1,060
in General Discussion (Spoiler Warning!)

These two major catastrophes define both of these fantasy realms. In both, the greed of a powerful mage brought doom upon mankind by annulling a god's powers, bringing down cities (literally!).

sources:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Karsus's_Folly

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/First_Blight


For example, Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide takes place in the ruins of a fallen city resulting from Karsus' Folly, similar to some explorations you have in Dragon Age of Blight stricken ruins of old.

Neverwinter Nights 2 almost solely focuses on a related event: the major plot point is an avatar that turned into the Shadow Weave (and thus was corrupted) at the moment of Karsus' Folly. Not unlike the fates of the 'Archdemons' and their corruptions in Dragon Age lore (affecting entire realms and hordes with them).



'The Fall' is of course a common trope. We are likely to see it again, for example, in Torment: Tides of Numenera. [There. I'm making a prophetic guess. You first heard it from me.]



Let us admit: one reason the BG saga is so popular and powerful is that it is held together by a similar (though lesser) catastrophe (The Avatar Crisis, where Bhaal and others walked the land). This is also why IWD/IWD2 are not as compelling (fine games though they are) because the stakes are not that high. (A powerful demon terrorizing a snowy landscape is small stuff compared to the Weave seizing to exist through the folly of a mage challenging the God of Magic!)

(I really would have wished to see a story describing these catastrophes themselves, rather than merely the aftereffects.)


Comments welcome.

Comments

  • SilverstarSilverstar Member Posts: 2,207
    Actually, I like the BGs for their gameplay foremost, then all the smaller stories/quests, then the companions and then the main story. Maybe it's because I've never played further into ToB than that besieged town, but I don't find the whole Bhaalspawn story that incredibly amazing. It's good. But not particularily much better than the rest of the games' content. I've found more enjoyment in hunting down and defeating the two baddies than the whole "Destinyyyyyyyy. You must confront your destinyyyyy!" thing.
  • scriverscriver Member Posts: 2,072
    Ygramul said:

    Comments welcome.

    There appears to be no point or conclusion to your "theory". What exactly do you want to discuss? That two settings share similar stories?
    Ygramul said:

    Let us admit: one reason the BG saga is so popular and powerful is that it is held together by a similar (though lesser) catastrophe (The Avatar Crisis, where Bhaal and others walked the land). This is also why IWD/IWD2 are not as compelling (fine games though they are) because the stakes are not that high. (A powerful demon terrorizing a snowy landscape is small stuff compared to the Weave seizing to exist through the folly of a mage challenging the God of Magic!)

    This doesn't even make any sense. BG is more compelling because of a completely different storyline that is equally irrelevant to both games' plots?
    Ygramul said:

    'The Fall' is of course a common trope. We are likely to see it again, for example, in Torment: Tides of Numenera. [There. I'm making a prophetic guess. You first heard it from me.]

    Well, seeming as Numenera apparently takes place in distant post-apocalyptic future of the "real" world, that probably goes without saying.
  • DJKajuruDJKajuru Member Posts: 3,300
    A mythical catastrophe has been part of all mythologies , such the mayan's faith , the story of atlantis , the bible... it is clear that fantasy authors have similar ideas, since these myths have been present in our culture for so long.
  • CalmarCalmar Member Posts: 688
    Ygramul said:


    Let us admit: one reason the BG saga is so popular and powerful is that it is held together by a similar (though lesser) catastrophe (The Avatar Crisis, where Bhaal and others walked the land). This is also why IWD/IWD2 are not as compelling (fine games though they are) because the stakes are not that high. (A powerful demon terrorizing a snowy landscape is small stuff compared to the Weave seizing to exist through the folly of a mage challenging the God of Magic!)

    (I really would have wished to see a story describing these catastrophes themselves, rather than merely the aftereffects.)

    I'll see your planet-shaking cataclysm and raise you a star-shaking cataclysm.

    The reason I vastly prefer the plots of the IE games over the Forgotten Realms novels lies in the fact that they are not nearly as weird and over the top, *even* counting ToB and the whole ascension thing. The stories in the games are still believable and concrete. I don't see the point of some ionflationary p***ing contest to create the biggest catastrophe.
    "A war is about to break out in the Sword coast?" Sounds exciting.
    "A wicked mage craves a hero's essence of power?" Nice.
    "A terrible demon plaguing a region?" That's a straight premise!
    "Huh, what's the 'Weave'? Who did what? God of Magic?" is needlessly confused and already seems to *have* its protagonist.
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