Evolution of the archetypes

_Connacht_

From left to right:
- Sheila, as in the Dungeons & Dragons animated series in 1983-85;
- Imoen, as in the paperdoll of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in 2000;
- Leliana, as in Dragon Age: Origins in 2009.

Do you notice any recurrence?

Kamigoroshi

Leeloo: Multiclass! (since 1997)

DragonKing

_Connacht_ wrote: »

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Do you notice any recurrence?

Yea, all three of them look yummy.

lroumen

Kamigoroshi wrote: »

Leeloo: Multiclass! (since 1997)

multipass XD

DJKajuru

Although being a redhead girlcan be stereotype , and I cant really tell where it began but the first famous one I remember is greta garbo , who turned into one because in the US it was an irish thing and it gave us the impression of energy, fire , spontaneity etc, which was fitting for a sex symbol who didnt play innocent like Marilyn Monoe would.

That said, your first picture shows the girl from dnd cartoon who was shy introverted, had to watch over her brother and everything so i wouldnt attribute to her the same cultural references of greta. I think shes just an average redhead , probably from an irish family.

Now lets get to imoen, let me remind you that her original bg1 portrait it a redhead but not orange or pinkish type, its a dark red color which was very common in mid 90s .

Now , bg2 imoen and leelo follow a different stereotype imo, the cool rebel with crazy dyed hair.

shabadoo

Not only same color, but the same damn style. Outfits...yup very similar, ability to stick a dagger in your heart...check. Have I missed anything?

_Connacht_

DJKajuru wrote: »

That said, your first picture shows the girl from dnd cartoon. i wouldnt attribute to her the same cultural references of greta

Now lets get to imoen, let me remind you that her original bg1 portrait it a redhead but not orange or pinkish type, its a dark red color which was very common in mid 90s .

I know well of Imoen's portraits, in the first game hers is something like auburn and in the sequel it's some kind of pink/reddish dye, while the standing out paperdoll in both games has ginger hair. Different artists handled her.
I didn't attribute anything to Sheila, I don't know if she wass influenced by other characters as girls just with any shades of red hair are very popular in general (from Marvel's Black Widow to Disney's Little Mermaid and Pepper Ann), she's just the "beginning" of this chain.

I was just pointing to the funny and interesting coincidences in the appearance and generical role of these characters, in the specific context of a fantasy legacy: one from a popular D&D cartoon in the 80s (which was referenced even in BG) and two from Bioware in the 90s (D&D-based setting) and the 2000s (own lore after the success of the previous saga). I was implicitly pointing also to what changed during years, I titled "evolution", not "cloning" . A small glimpse of what they share and what not. What matters is the initial inspiration in a generic concept of a kind of "red" haired female rogue, in Imoen's case also with the addition of clothes of some shades of violet or fuchsia which are really characteristic, and its recurrence.
There are obviously differences, not only in personality (as they are three different people) and class details (1: thief, 2: thief dualling to mage/thief, 3: bard/rascal/archer with picaresque skills), but also cosmetic divergencies. Imoen's paperdoll in BG1 is fuchsia while the portrait is more purple/violet (still similar), but in the very early builds of BG2 she instead had pitch black clothes (!) with yellow friezes (anybody remembers that?)... then Leliana doesn't ever have those dominant color features for her clothes.

By the way, Imoen's portaits really show two different faces, like when a character changes actor/actress between two seasons of a TV series (i.e. Daario Naharis in GoT). Leliana is also different between her first ingame appearance and how she's depicted in the Sacred Ashes trailer and in the Leliana's Song promo posters (bright red dye and face from an adult actress called Alexandra Stein), then she slightly changes in DA2 (where she looks a bit more like in said trailer but with ginger hair) and then again finally a little in DA:I.