History Fridge / NeverwinterNights2

* Why were LawfulGood Paladin Casavir and ChaoticEvil Ranger Bishop planned to be in a LoveTriangle with the female KC? Why would two wildly different men be into the same woman? Because the LoveTriangle would have revealed they're NotSoDifferent:

-->'''Gulk'aush:'''[[spoiler:They remained ignorant of my terrible crime until I birthed the product of our love. Then they found my beloved and made me devour him alive in front of his son. Even as they forced chunks of flesh down my throat, he smiled at me, at our child.]]

* Why does Neeshka display AngstWhatAngst about her incredibly depressing backstory? Because she isn't fully aware of how depressing it is. She knows her parents probably abandoned her as a baby, that she was raised by strict monks in the Temple of Tyr, that she's faced FantasticDiscrimination for being a tiefling her whole life, and that she has no friends. But it's ''because'' she's never had a real family or friends that she starts out non-fussed. She's never had a real basis of comparison.

* Why does Neeshka display AngstWhatAngst about her incredibly depressing backstory? Because she isn't fully aware of how depressing it is. Make no mistake, she is aware that her parents most likely abandoned her as a baby, that she was raised by strict monks in the Temple of Tyr, that she's faced FantasticDiscrimination for being a tiefling her whole life, that she has no friends and that the player is potentially her OnlyFriend [[spoiler:see BecauseYouWereNiceToMe on her character page]], but it's exactly ''because'' she's never had a family or any close friends that she isn't that fussed, because she hasn't seen any real basis of comparison.
* At first blush, the base game is a ClicheStorm in a WorldOfSnark, which seems different from Creator/ObsidianEntertainment 's usual more dark and complex fare. However, Obsidian famously loves using a CentralTheme to explore in many of their games. For the [=NWN2=] base game, the theme is an examination on the idea of heroes. Setting the story in a standard Hero's Journey ClicheStorm makes it easier to explore these common tropes, since the whole story is ''made'' of these tropes.
* Why are LawfulGood Paladin Casavir and ChaoticEvil Ranger Bishop caught up in a semi-LoveTriangle with the female KC? (At least before Biship's part was cut for time). At first glance, it seems weird that two such wildly different men would be into the same woman. Underneath their studies in opposites, the LoveTriangle would have revealed they're NotSoDifferent: Under Casavir's front of chivalry and protection, he struggles with lust and jealousy regarding women he likes, which his DummiedOut backstory would have explored. (He was secretly involved with Ophala and killed a romantic rival out jealousy, then fled Neverwinter to Old Owl Well in disgrace.) Now he's falling for the female KC, and often "defends" her from Bishop's "intentions," but [[JerkassHasAPoint Bishop points out]] Casavir's "intentions" [[AtLeastIAdmitIt are no more noble than his own]], and he's using chivalry as a front to chase away a rival.) As for Bishop, under his harsh SocialDarwinist exterior and protests that "our leader can look after herself," he can go to bat for her if you gain approval. (Such as when he offers to fight Lorne for her, or defends her to a succubus who badmouths her, and presumably [[spoiler:would have sided with her in the endgame]]). In other words, much like how under Casavir's show of chivalry and protection, he ''can'' be a bit of a selfish dick on occasion, under Bishop's snarls that he's only out for himself, he ''can'' learn to care about and defend others. Unfortunately, since the LoveTriangle was DummiedOut for time, these themes aren't as pronounced.
** On that note, Casavir and Bishop both embody different aspects of the female KC's Hero's Journey, and mirror her potential alignments. Bishop is a swamp-dweller like her, an emotionally damaged ranger like her foster father, is unwillingly dragged into the adventure by attacking githyanki [[ButThouMust like she potentially was]], and if she's chaotic and/or evil then his alignment mirrors hers. Meanwhile, later in their journey the PC becomes a Knight Captain for Crossroad Keep under Lord Nasher, and ''does'' protect the world by default (if they don't choose the "Evil" Endings), and Casavir is a LawfulGood Paladin of Tyr who JumpedAtTheCall to defend innocents from the forces of evil like a lawful and/or good female KC might. Whether the female KC embraced Bishop or Casavir could also be seen as symbolically embracing different parts of her nature and/or adventure. [[WhatMightHaveBeen Too bad it didn't pan out.]]

*** The Natural Leader could arguably be Cormmick, whom the PC is explicitly compared to quite often since he was also very strong, talented and charismatic NormalFishInATiny who eventually became a Lieutenant for the Neverwinter Guard. While the PC is forced to leave West Harbor due to external circumstances, most villagers agree that it was only a matter of time before you moved on to bigger things too.

* Why does Neeshka display AngstWhatAngst about her incredibly depressing backstory? Because she isn't fully aware of how depressing it is. Make no mistake, she is aware that her parents most likely abandoned her as a baby, that she was raised by strict monks in the Temple of Tyr, that she's faced FantasticDiscrimination for being a tiefling her whole life, that she has no friends and that the player is potentially her OnlyFriend [[spoiler:see BecauseYouWereNiceToMe on her character page]], but it's exactly ''because'' she's never had a family or any close friends that she isn't that fussed, because she hasn't seen any basis of comparison. She knows her life isn't that great, and is very excited if the KC asks about it because someone is ''finally'' taking an interest, but it takes traveling with the KC [[spoiler:and being kidnapped/tortured by Black Garish, where the KC's existing friendship either gives her hope or previous indifference/cruelty drives her across the DespairEventHorizon]] to realize how much she's missed.
* At first blush, the base game is a ClicheStorm in a WorldOfSnark, which seems different from Creator/ObsidianEntertainment 's usual more dark and complex fare. However, Obsidian famously loves using a CentralTheme to explore in many of their games. For the [=NWN2=] base game, the theme is an examination of heroes: What makes a hero? What are some long-term repercussions of a lifetime of adventuring? (Daeghun becomes an IceKing due to grief from years of seeing his friends die one by one; Duncan becomes TheAlcoholic from his own adventuring days.) A lot of the same circumstances that shape seemingly regular people into heroes in stories usually end up psychologically breaking real-life people and/or turn them into black-hearted criminals, like Lorne Starling and Bishop. Are heroes born, or made? The game eschews making the PlayerCharacter into TheChosenOne or of special birth, but rather explores how freak chance can turn just another wartime orphan into someone of consequences, and sometimes people ''have'' to rise to the occasion to avoid getting eaten. And what about former heroes who become villains later? [[spoiler:Like the King of Shadows, an Ilfarn hero who volunteered to become the Empire's eternal guardian, and his single-minded devotion to maintaining his post LONG after the Empire fell makes him evil; and Ammon Jerro's single-minded devotion to fight the King of Shadows by any means necessary - including raising a demon army, killing his granddaughter in a rage, and so on - definitely make him... un-heroic.]] Setting the story in a standard Hero's Journey ClicheStorm makes it easier to explore these common tropes, since the whole story is ''made'' of these tropes.
* Why are LawfulGood Paladin Casavir and ChaoticEvil Ranger Bishop caught up in a semi-LoveTriangle with the female KC? (At least before Biship's part was cut for time). At first glance, it seems weird that two such wildly different men would be into the same woman. Underneath their studies in opposites (lawful good upholder of civilization for Casavir, chaotic evil embodiment of the wilds for Bishop), the LoveTriangle would have revealed they're NotSoDifferent: Under Casavir's show of chivalry and "defending her honor," he feels lustful and possessive toward the female KC, which his DummiedOut backstory would have explored. (He was secretly involved with Ophala and killed a romantic rival out jealousy, then fled Neverwinter to Old Owl Well in disgrace. Now he's falling for the female KC, and often "defends" her from Bishop's "intentions," but Bishop points out Casavir's "intentions" are no more noble than his own, and he's using chivalry as a front to chase away a romantic rival rather than let her decide.) As for Bishop, under his harsh SocialDarwinist exterior, protests that getting tied down isn't his style, and protests that "our leader can look after herself," he ''can'' learn to care about others, and go to bat for her. (Such as when he offers to fight Lorne for her, or defends her to a succubus who badmouths her, and presumably [[spoiler:would have sided with her in the endgame]]). In other words, much like how under Casavir's show of altruism and defending others, he ''can'' be a bit of a selfish dick on occasion, while under Bishop's snarls that he's out for himself and no one else, he ''can'' learn to care about and defend others. Unfortunately, since the LoveTriangle was DummiedOut for time, these themes aren't as pronounced.

* The story Gann's mother tells about his father [[spoiler:while she ate him. He was still alive and conscious when she was being forced to do it, but he died smiling at her and their child.]]

** Where is this mentioned? I've read on the ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' [[Headscratchers/PlanescapeTorment Headscratcher Page]] that the wall only applies for nay-theists in Abeir Toril.

** Where is this mentioned? I've read on the ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' [[Headscratcher/PlanescapeTorment Headscratcher Page]] that the wall only applies for nay-theists in Abeir Toril.

** Psh, naw, like all that mattered. It all came down to your Knight-Captain, and your Knight-Captain was [[spoiler:too much of a pussy to defeat Ammon Jerro in all his immaculate power, being so pitiful as to make Bishop's farm fuckbucket to give into the ancient, obtuse belief that goddamn bloodletting actually SAVED people. And to top it all off, IT FUCKING WORKED. So for however many years that Nature and quantum physics itself would have dictated that your ass was supposed to die, it took pity on you and made you the single-most exception to every rule, ever. JUST PUT DOWN THE GAME MAN. YOUR CHARACTER DIDN'T DESERVE TO LIVE LEAVING WEST HARBOR. HELL, YOU DIDN'T EVEN DESERVE TO WIN THE HARVEST CUP. SHANDRA JERRO IS DEAD, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. LAMENT IN DESPONDENCY FOR YOUR SINS.]] ... sob... I even spend that extra 200 for her picture too.... sob.... WAIII DID YOOOU HAVE TO LEEEAVE MEEEHHHHHH

** Psh, naw, like all that mattered. It all came down to your Knight-Captain, and your Knight-Captain was [[spoiler:too much of a pussy to defeat Ammon Jerro in all his immaculate power, being so pitiful as to make Bishop's farm fuckbucket to give into the ancient, obtuse belief that goddamn bloodletting actually SAVED people. And to top it all off, IT FUCKING WORKED. So for however many years that Nature and quantum physics itself would have dictated that your ass was supposed to die, it took pity on you and made you the single-most exception to every rule, ever. JUST PUT DOWN THE GAME MAN. YOUR CHARACTER DIDN'T DESERVE TO LIVE LEAVING WEST HARBOR. HELL, YOU DIDN'T EVEN DESERVE TO WIN THE HARVEST CUP. SHANDRA JERRO IS DEAD, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. LAMENT IN DESPONDENCY FOR YOUR SINS.]] ... sob... I even spend that extra 200 for her picture too.... sob....

** Psh, naw, like all that mattered. It all came down to your Knight-Captain, and your Knight-Captain was [[spoiler:too much of a pussy to defeat Ammon Jerro in all his immaculate power, being so pitiful as to make Bishop's farm fuckbucket to give into the ancient, obtuse belief that goddamn bloodletting actually SAVED people. And to top it all off, IT FUCKING WORKED. So for however many years that Nature and quantum physics itself would have dictated that your ass was supposed to die, it took pity on you and made you the single-most exception to every rule, ever. JUST PUT DOWN THE GAME MAN. YOUR CHARACTER DIDN'T DESERVE TO LIVE LEAVING WEST HARBOR. HELL, YOU DIDN'T EVEN DESERVE TO WIN THE HARVEST CUP. SHANDRA JERRO IS DEAD, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT. LAMENT IN DESPONDENCY FOR YOUR SINS.]]

** Psh, naw, like all that mattered. It all came down to your Knight-Captain, and your Knight-Captain was [[spoiler:too much of a pussy to defeat Ammon Jerro in all his immaculate power, being so pitiful as to make Bishop's farm fuckbucket to give into the ancient, obtuse belief that goddamn bloodletting actually SAVED people. And to top it all off, IT FUCKING WORKED. So for however many years that Nature and quantum physics itself would have dictated that your ass was supposed to die, it took pity on you and made you the single-most exception to every rule, ever. JUST PUT DOWN THE GAME MAN. YOUR CHARACTER DIDN'T DESERVE TO LIVE LEAVING WEST HARBOR. HELL, YOU DIDN'T EVEN DESERVE TO WIN THE HARVEST CUP.]]

* Shandra's whole motivation for always following you around in Act II -- the game doesn't let you leave her behind! -- is because bad things tend to happen to her if she doesn't stick very closely to the PC. That disaster in Ammon Jerro's Haven? It happens when she is forcibly separated from the PC by a teleport.

[[AC:FridgeLogic]]
* Add up everyone you kill in Neverwinter and subtract it from the population set in the ForgottenRealms books. You just killed a sizable chunk of it.
** The encounters being designed with many weak foes over few stronger ones doesn't really help.
** It still makes one wonder how the bad guys haven't completely taken over the city if they have an army of that many expendable thugs running around.
** And why, in the situation mentioned in the above ForegoneVictory, [[spoiler:Torio didn't just bring up the player character's impressive kill count to get them out of the way, instead of trying to frame them for destroying a village for no apparent reason -- ''especially'' if the PC joined with the Shadow Thieves and has been slaughtering dozens of Watch members since arriving in town.]]
*** [[spoiler:Torio's well-informed, sure, but not omniscient, and the Shadow Thieves are decidedly not on her side. While she may have suspected the PC's alliance with the Shadow Thieves, she's still blindsided by their manufactured witness. If she doesn't have proof of the player character's pogrom on the Watch, one that doesn't even necessarily happen depending on whether the player obeys orders from higher up, she's better off with the frame job. That's especially true when you remember that such an accusation would be less about the player at that point, and more about fingering the Shadow Thieves themselves, which would get unhealthy for her.]]
** The population demographics in the source books make absolutely no sense whatsoever, especially in terms of military forces. For comparison, Neverwinter (23000+ population) has a militia of about 400, about a third of which are off duty. Port Llast (700 population) has a militia of 130 people. Luskan (16000+ population) has a militia of about 300......and 1330 archers that don't get included in that total because no one seemed to bother doing the math of just how many naval troops are present, and this isn't even counting the actual naval crews. The population numbers jump all over the place, as well. Waterdeep's population increases by five times over during the trade season. This would mean that literally almost the entire population of the surrounding area goes to Waterdeep simultaneously.
* The fact that One of Many appears in ''Storm of Zehir'' raises interesting questions about what the canonical Knight-Captain did in Rashemen.
* As in most ''DungeonsAndDragons'' [=CRPGs=] there's a bit of a chronological issue if the Knight-Captain is any race besides [[HumansAreAverage human]], [[{{Hobbits}} halfling]], [[HalfHumanHybrid half-elf, half-orc, or planetouched]]. If you're any other race then you'd logically be too old for the story to make sense. The time factor is figured out mostly through the age of other characters, such as Shandra Jerro, who's implied to be about the same age and whose grandfather was present at your birth (sort of).
** This adds to the fanbase's negative reaction to Elanee.
** There's only a chronological issue if you don't alter your elf character's age from the default. Sure, the ''Player's Handbook'' states that elves' default age is 120 or so, but the Forgotten Realms novels have been ignoring that forever -- most of ''TheLegendOfDrizzt'' takes place with the title character in his forties. Elves seem to be physically mature around the same time humans are, but ''other elves'' don't treat them as adults until they've passed their first century.
** It's explicitly made unclear whether Ammon Jerro is Shandra's grandfather, great-grandfather, or what. This is probably why.

** There's only a chronological issue if you don't alter your elf character's age from the default. Sure, the ''Player's Handbook'' states that elves' default age is 120 or so, but the Forgotten Realms novels have been ignoring that forever -- most of ''TheLegendOfDrizzt'' takes place with the title character in his forties. Elves seem to be physically mature around the same time humans are, but ''other elves'' don't treat them as adults until they've passed their first century.

* FridgeBrilliance:
** Pretty much what Mephasm is made of. He never lies, he never fails to be anything less than absolutely polite, and he tries to give the party every advantage and help that he can, regardless of his circumstances. It's generally accepted that he's a ManipulativeBastard, and the most evil figure in the game, despite him never doing a single thing to justify it -- in fact, it just makes him all the more magnificent. Cue fan complaints when he never shows up in the sequels.

* FridgeLogic:
** Add up everyone you kill in Neverwinter and subtract it from the population set in the ForgottenRealms books. You just killed a sizable chunk of it.

** The fact that One of Many appears in ''Storm of Zehir'' raises interesting questions about what the canonical Knight-Captain did in Rashemen.

** [[spoiler:Torio's well-informed, sure, but not omniscient, and the Shadow Thieves are decidedly not on her side. While she may have suspected the PC's alliance with the Shadow Thieves, she's still blindsided by their manufactured witness. If she doesn't have proof of the player character's pogrom on the Watch, one that doesn't even necessarily happen depending on whether the player obeys orders from higher up, she's better off with the frame job. That's especially true when you remember that such an accusation would be less about the player at that point, and more about fingering the Shadow Thieves themselves, which would get unhealthy for her.]]
** The population demographics in the source books make absolutely no sense whatsoever, especially in terms of military forces. For comparison, Neverwinter (23000+ population) has a militia of about 400, about a third of which are off duty. Port Llast (700 population) has a militia of 130 people. Luskan (16000+ population) has a militia of about 300......and 1330 archers that don't get included in that total because no one seemed to bother doing the math of just how many naval troops are present, and this isn't even counting the actual naval crews. The population numbers jump all over the place, as well. Waterdeep's population increases by five times over during the trade season. This would mean that literally almost the entire population of the surrounding area goes to Waterdeep simultaneously.