Anyway, no Thayan in his right mind would EVER under ANY circumstances let their hair grow out. Trust me on that one. On the flipside, Minsc being bald is a huuuuuge faux pas, too.
Basically, in Thay slaves aren't allowed to cut their hair, which is why everyone who isn't a slave is either bald or has only really short hair. In Rashemen, Thay's arch enemy, the people wear their hair long (usually braided) in protest to their slaver neighbors. They'd also never tattoo their scalps, for the same reason.
Case and point, both Minsc and Edwin break the lore big time.
You know, now that you mention it, I do remember reading something about the slaves not cutting their hair. Ah well, I guess I will just have to flatter Edwin into keeping his hood up so that I can still pretend his hair is long.
It is interesting how many little things there are in the game that don’t really fit the lore. I wonder if it was a conscious decision to ignore lore with Minsc’s hair, or an unintentional oversight. It certainly is a conspicuous one.
Do we have any reason to assume Minsc's lack of hair is actually a concious choice? Could he not simply be one of those people who goes bald early or maybe have some disease? And maybe Edwin's been cursed by reading The Hairy Scroll or something.
What if Dynaheir had to shave Minsc's head to treat the head wound that's mentioned several times? I mean, sure the tattoo is a bit strange, but still. Makes you wonder.
@Ravenslight If Edwin wanted to stand out as a Thayan, he could tattoo his bald scalp. Females from Thay are also bald. There was a character known as the "Princess of Thay", Dmitra Flass, who was bald and had her head tattooed with Blue(?) designs. She ended up marrying the High Blade of Mulmaster.
Females from Thay are also bald. There was a character known as the "Princess of Thay", Dmitra Flass, who was bald and had her head tattooed with Blue(?) designs.
There's also Safiya, the Thayan Red Wizard from NwN2's Mask of the Betrayer.
You know, now that you mention it, I do remember reading something about the slaves not cutting their hair. Ah well, I guess I will just have to flatter Edwin into keeping his hood up so that I can still pretend his hair is long.
It is interesting how many little things there are in the game that don’t really fit the lore. I wonder if it was a conscious decision to ignore lore with Minsc’s hair, or an unintentional oversight. It certainly is a conspicuous one.
I doubt the artist had more than a short description/concept to go by, and he likely did not have any particular knowledge of DnD or FR, let alone relatively obscure stuff about Rashemen. Probably just "large berserker warrior with a hamster".
@scriver The BG games have many lore inconsistencies. The later games kind of fixed that or maybe it was TSR being more loose with enforcing lore-accuracy or WotC being more strict with the same.
For example, Jaheira's portrait and mechanics clearly showing her wearing metal armor. Even multiclass Druids cannot wear metal armor in ADnD.
Or that liches don't make use of their phylactery and just die when destroyed. Especially the BG portraits were off with Coran not having elven ears or Viconia's totally wrong facial features and colors.
Viconia's colors in BG2 are actually lore-accurate. Not all Drow have obsidian black skin and red eyes. Some have dark blue skin and blue, violet or amber eyes. Their hair could also be grayish, platinum, silver or have some mixed hues with white.
@Archaos Jaheira's armor is brown. It could be leather scale. There is nothing that says it's completely metal. And she *can* wear studded leather in-game.
I keep opening this thread daily expecting to find some opinion or another about why women play Baldur's Gate, or why women play video games in general, or even about gender issues in general. I keep getting surprised, because the newer posts can be about just about anything. My reaction is usually "Huh? What discussion did I click on?"
One should note that countries with a strong focus on cultural harmony, such as Japan and Korea, are not plagued with the frequent mass shootings that the United States is.
If you consider "cultural harmony" as "#@^# all foreigners", then maybe. I'd say there is very little cultural harmony in Korea and Japan, and if anything there is MORE "distrust and paranoia" (as you describe it) as both South Korea and Japan are among the most xenophobic developed countries in the world.
Also, this following statement is literally the OPPOSITE of true
In addition, American society is highly atomised; the general cultural mindset is "Sink or swim, you're on your own, don't expect anyone to help you."
As you can see here http://www.marketwatch.com/story/and-the-most-generous-country-in-the-world-is-2014-11-18 U.K.-based charity CAF-America researches to make a World Giving Index, with three categories 1) Helping a stranger 2) Volunteering time 3) Donating money The US was the ONLY nation in the top ten in all three categories, and number one (by quite the margin) in "helping a stranger"
Honestly, your cultural stereotypes are, just like most cultural stereotypes, completely baseless.
I play because I love adventures and fantasy, also these are the most fun games I've played so yeah. I also love the characters and interactions and how deep it is in many ways. I know this topic went way off the original post but just wanted to add my weak little opinion. :P
@Archaos Jaheira's armor is brown. It could be leather scale. There is nothing that says it's completely metal. And she *can* wear studded leather in-game.
I forgot to respond to this. I was talking about this portrait. In BG2.
This one clearly looks like metal. Perhaps a Breastplate but it's not studded leather, chain or leather. Unless there's a type of leather that is supposed to look metallic, then that's clearly a lore-breaking part of the game.
Doesn't mean it's not wrong. Edwin could be a maverick. He could see the absence of hair as weakness among his fellows and grow a full head of luxurious power mad hair to flaunt his superiority. Lord knows he likes to do that.
You know, I do believe in the second game he is a renegade Red Wizard hunted by his former fellows. Obviously they were jealous of his luxurious hair. Outcast for his amazing hair, Edwin has been forced to work with monkies to survive.
Comments
Anyway, no Thayan in his right mind would EVER under ANY circumstances let their hair grow out. Trust me on that one. On the flipside, Minsc being bald is a huuuuuge faux pas, too.
Basically, in Thay slaves aren't allowed to cut their hair, which is why everyone who isn't a slave is either bald or has only really short hair. In Rashemen, Thay's arch enemy, the people wear their hair long (usually braided) in protest to their slaver neighbors. They'd also never tattoo their scalps, for the same reason.
Case and point, both Minsc and Edwin break the lore big time.
It is interesting how many little things there are in the game that don’t really fit the lore. I wonder if it was a conscious decision to ignore lore with Minsc’s hair, or an unintentional oversight. It certainly is a conspicuous one.
Szass Tam, Zulkir of Necromancy and the true ruler of Thay. I guess he is insane, you are wrong, or both.
For example, Jaheira's portrait and mechanics clearly showing her wearing metal armor.
Even multiclass Druids cannot wear metal armor in ADnD.
Or that liches don't make use of their phylactery and just die when destroyed.
Especially the BG portraits were off with Coran not having elven ears or Viconia's totally wrong facial features and colors.
Viconia's colors in BG2 are actually lore-accurate. Not all Drow have obsidian black skin and red eyes.
Some have dark blue skin and blue, violet or amber eyes.
Their hair could also be grayish, platinum, silver or have some mixed hues with white.
Just sayin'.
Don't mind me, I'll show myself out.
Also, this following statement is literally the OPPOSITE of true As you can see here http://www.marketwatch.com/story/and-the-most-generous-country-in-the-world-is-2014-11-18
U.K.-based charity CAF-America researches to make a World Giving Index, with three categories
1) Helping a stranger
2) Volunteering time
3) Donating money
The US was the ONLY nation in the top ten in all three categories, and number one (by quite the margin) in "helping a stranger"
Honestly, your cultural stereotypes are, just like most cultural stereotypes, completely baseless.
This one clearly looks like metal. Perhaps a Breastplate but it's not studded leather, chain or leather.
Unless there's a type of leather that is supposed to look metallic, then that's clearly a lore-breaking part of the game.