2008-04-21 - Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

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Slamlander
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2008-04-21 - Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Slamlander »

This does not bode well. He is losing his sense of perspective.

That was one Viradior and one RedShirt down.

Note: Read title/subject line with a New Jersey Wiseguy accent.
Kian
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Kian »

I think he lost it quite a while ago. It'd be just as hard for him to knock the guards out as it is to pop their heqads. So far, they haven't used lethal force against him or Meji. His response is more likely to endanger Meji if he's just going to walk around until they find Jon. The elves are more likely to move towards lethal spells instead of a disabling ones as he kills more and more of them. And if he doen't catch it, Meji dies.

And I'm not getting where all of Ian's animosity towards the elves comes from. I doubt that he knew any half-elves killed by a ranger, as we've not heard him bemoan the death of a friend. Sure, 2 thousand years ago they were involved in a genocidal war, and they know that for the past 2 hundred years there have been a few elves around that hunt them. That is reason to be wary, but I don't see why he takes it personally. Ok, a group of elves did almost kill him (although they again first tried to diable him rather than kill him outright), but he did steal a book from them and was planning to rob important magical artifacts from them at the point.

All in all, unless he expects to eliminate every single elf out there, his actions simply endanger everyone he cares about rather than help in any meaningful way.
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Boss Out of Town
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Boss Out of Town »

Well, Ian is assuming the casual, cold and/or wise-cracking attitude about gunning down all opposition common to most American "action heroes" since Dirty Harry, but since Ian isn't an American action hero, it is kinda creepy.

On the other hand, when Jon casually gut-shot an elf back in Tsairaku, most of the comments in this forum took the same attitude towards that Elf that Ian is taking now towards these Elves. So, it is all a matter of context. Is Ian losing it, or is his response typical of the genre?

Eh. This isn't going to end well, but it never was going to end well. Hard to tell until the decision becomes one of killing the helpless rather than killing armed opposition.
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SkArcher
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by SkArcher »

Boss Out of Town wrote:On the other hand, when Jon casually gut-shot an elf back in Tsairaku, most of the comments in this forum took the same attitude towards that Elf that Ian is taking now towards these Elves. So, it is all a matter of context. Is Ian losing it, or is his response typical of the genre?
Jon didn't casually gut shot that elf. He very deliberately shot that one, and then left. Jon is a precision instrument.

By contrast, Ian is being very casual - to the point of mentally categorising elves as "objects" rather than individuals. Ian is a brute force bludgeoning weapon.



if there's a book running on this situation, my bet is that one or other of the humans - or possibly even Meji - putting an end to this.
Kian
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Kian »

More importantly, Jon never expressed pleasure in killing. When he kills, it's because either he has to, or he's been paid to and he doesn't want to concern himself with the details. Ian is enjoying the killing, which is even something that american action heroes avoid expressing. They may be casual and wise cracking about killing, but they never say "That felt good".
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by DarkIntruder »

Kian wrote:I think he lost it quite a while ago. It'd be just as hard for him to knock the guards out as it is to pop their heqads. So far, they haven't used lethal force against him or Meji. His response is more likely to endanger Meji if he's just going to walk around until they find Jon. The elves are more likely to move towards lethal spells instead of a disabling ones as he kills more and more of them. And if he doen't catch it, Meji dies.

And I'm not getting where all of Ian's animosity towards the elves comes from. I doubt that he knew any half-elves killed by a ranger, as we've not heard him bemoan the death of a friend. Sure, 2 thousand years ago they were involved in a genocidal war, and they know that for the past 2 hundred years there have been a few elves around that hunt them. That is reason to be wary, but I don't see why he takes it personally. Ok, a group of elves did almost kill him (although they again first tried to diable him rather than kill him outright), but he did steal a book from them and was planning to rob important magical artifacts from them at the point.

All in all, unless he expects to eliminate every single elf out there, his actions simply endanger everyone he cares about rather than help in any meaningful way.
You know, I've been sorta wondering that myself. The only thing I can think of is that Ian a) grew up in an isolated society of Half-elves, who were forced to scratch a living from bare rock in the middle of nowhere due to elven attempts to exterminate them, and thus was surrounded by a sense of deep seated resentment towards them during his formative years. b) He blames the elves for his mother's mental illness and subsequent suicide, and his sister's illness and death, both due to genetic defects from the Elven/Human compatability issues. While these weren't exactly the elves' fault, it is still the result of their actions.

It could also be that he's brooded on the subject long enough to have permanently fixed it in his mind. Hate something long enough, and eventually the reason won't matter any more.
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Slamlander »

Kian wrote: Ian is enjoying the killing, which is even something that american action heroes avoid expressing. They may be casual and wise cracking about killing, but they never say "That felt good".
Actually, it's classical American bad-guy (different from anti-hero), like the Mafia and such. Why I did the Joisey Wiseguy accent on the subject line. ;)

Ian is beginning to step over the line and just in case anyone missed it, Meji is getting frightened and worried. At the moment, Ian's scaring her. Even Ellis is acting subdued and I suspect that his personality comes from Meji's subconscious (he's a familiar, remember?).
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Talancir »

yeah, I'm really hoping that Misa was off duty today.
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by Graybeard »

Kian wrote:And I'm not getting where all of Ian's animosity towards the elves comes from. I doubt that he knew any half-elves killed by a ranger, as we've not heard him bemoan the death of a friend. Sure, 2 thousand years ago they were involved in a genocidal war, and they know that for the past 2 hundred years there have been a few elves around that hunt them. That is reason to be wary, but I don't see why he takes it personally. Ok, a group of elves did almost kill him (although they again first tried to diable him rather than kill him outright), but he did steal a book from them and was planning to rob important magical artifacts from them at the point.
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No One
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Re: Yeah, I'm okay wit dat ...

Post by No One »

Ian is freaking me out now.

As for why he acts like this, it may be partly from a lifetime of hearing tales about Elves being the evil monsters that hunt you down and murder you for no reason. But personally I suspect that Ian's an Errant. Legitimately, I mean, not just by the Elven definition of "all half-Elves are errants." I think he's one of the ones who has mental issues.

I know that's not a new theory. I'm just saying it's the way I'm leaning on things here.
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