T w e n t y S i d e d
Sorry about the late post, things have been hectic.
Sometimes I do wish I could script out every NPC encounter to a T, it’s a rough balance not to give too much away. But luckily all hope isn’t lost for those of us who are bad at improv. You can’t understate the power of the phrase ‘let me check my notes’ or ‘I’ll be back in a minute, I need to piss’ to buy you some valuble time.
Bowlercoaster
Two minutes of fun at the expense of a badly-run theme park.
Quakecon 2011 Keynote Annotated
An interesting but technically dense talk about gaming technology. I translate it for the non-coders.
I Was Wrong About Borderlands 3
I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.
Diablo III Retrospective
We were so upset by the server problems and real money auction that we overlooked just how terrible everything else is.
Trekrospective
A look back at Star Trek, from the Original Series to the Abrams Reboot.
Sorry… not a very interesting comment, but the ‘from the archives’ links at the bottom, at least one of them (the Chainmail bikini comics) now lead to an obvious malware/support scam site. Guessing it was an old site that was abandoned. Might want to purge those links?
Cheers
For the record, this is the link: http://shawntionary.com/chainmailbikini/?p=15 (But like I said – be careful…)
I will say, the idea of “disarming” in a world with magic users is a strange one. How do you disarm someone who can kill you without using a weapon? Even the original LotR doesn’t handle this satisfactorily – does a wizard REQUIRE a staff to cast spells?
This scene never worked for me in the books or any other media. The idea of “Theoden doesn’t even trust his friends” is a good one. But “one of the most powerful wizards in Middle Earth is no threat without a staff” doesn’t follow.
I think the staff acts like a focusing tool but considering the vast majority of people in the world of Middle Earth don’t use magic in a “wizard casting spells” kind of way it’s likely carrying conventional weapons is a pretty regular thing when making any kind of journey, especially with all the disturbances going on in Rohan at the time.
They probably only have a very vague idea of Gandalf’s true power, maybe they think he is only able to cast very minor spells by himself, and needs his walking stick for anything dangerous ?
It depends on the fantasy setting. I have read some novels where they do need some kind of focus or tool (commonly either a staff, a scepter, a wand or a kind of focusing crystal/orb) in order to cast their spells.
Middle Earth magic is heavily skewed toward objects. The Arkenstone is what makes a king, the Rings are what give Sauron his power, the Palantir and… that light source Shelob hated… can be used by an untrained hobbit. Saruman in his tower is only capable of speech. Gandalf mostly fights with an elven sword.
There was a later scene in the book where Saruman’s staff gets broken. And in the movie during their fight in Saruman’s tower it really started to go badly for Gandalf after Saruman nabbed his staff.
I think it may be a symbol of his authority as one of the wizards. It may be an amplifier. Or maybe it’s like the scene in a lot of cop movies where he’s told to turn in his badge?
Keep in mind the guards really don’t know anything about magic. They’ve met maybe one wizard (Gandalf) and it’s likely they’ve never seen him cast a spell. They were told something about him by Wormtongue, but it’s possible they discounted it. I think Wormtongue later says something like “You fools!” when he sees Gandalf still with his staff.
It seems to act as some sort of focus for wizards; the light Gandalf provides in Moria comes from it, and it shatters when he breaks the bridge of Khazad-dûm. He demands Saruman’s staff (and the Key of Orthanc) as a pledge of good behavior when he offers Saruman a chance to leave, and this causes Saruman to lose it and accuse Gandalf of wanting “the rods of the fives wizards”.
But Tolkien keeps his magic mysterious, and mystical. When Gandalf breaks Saruman’s staff, he doesn’t fire a bolt of lightning from his, he simply raises his hand and speaks in “a clear, cold voice”. There’s a bit where Galadriel is showing Frodo and Sam the Mirror of Galadriel where she remarks that they’d probably call this magic, but that this confuses her since they use the same word for the “arts of the Enemy”. From her perspective it’s probably a bit like someone calling a microwave oven “fire” because it cooks food, but from the hobbits’ perspective it’s all just unexplained “magic.”
I rofled on “a quiver of little walking sticks” years ago, with tea coming out of my nose. This comic was one of the best!
Same! I cried laughing for 5 solid minutes!
I had a good laugh at “And a quiver of little walking sticks.”
Best hill in Rohan for downhill bike races.