During the investigation of recent hollers in the Complete Monster thread, it's become apparent to the staff that an insular, unfriendly culture has evolved in the Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard threads that is causing problems.
Specific issues include:
- Overzealous hollers on tropers who come into the threads without being familiar with all the rules and traditions of the tropes. And when they are familiar with said rules and traditions, they get accused (with little evidence) of being ban evaders.
- A few tropers in the thread habitually engage in snotty, impolite mini-modding. There are also regular complaints about excessive, offtopic "socializing" posts.
- Many many thread regulars barely post/edit anywhere else, making the threads look like they are divorced from the rest of TV Tropes.
- Following that, there are often complaints about the threads and their regulars violating wiki rules, such as on indexing, crosswicking, example context and example categorization. Some folks are working on resolving the issues, but...
- Often moderator action against thread regulars leads to a lot of participants suddenly showing up in the moderation threads to protest and speak on their behalf, like a clique.
It is not a super high level problem, but it has been going on for years and we cannot ignore it any longer. There will be a thread in Wiki Talk
to discuss the problem; in the meantime there is a moratorium on further Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard example discussion until we have gotten this sorted out.
Update: The new threads have been made and can be found here:
for the earliest date a work can be discussed, (usually two weeks from the US release), as well as who's reserved discussion.
- Why do a cleanup?: This trope definitely exists and has a well documented history of use. That being said, it frequently gets misused to a character who meets one of the components, namely that they are smart, charming while not necessarily even being a villain, or create good plans. While these are components, there is also a certain personality required, not to mention that all of the above are required to be present for a character to be a true Magnificent Bastard. As the trope attracts interest, it unfortunately brings in a lot of misuse and I thought the best way to rectify this would be a Perpetual Cleanup Thread, as is being done and has seen success with Complete Monster.
- What makes a Magnificent Bastard: Below is a list of the individual components to make this character. Note that they must all be present, not just some, which has lead to frequent misuse:
- Must be intelligent: Goes without saying, to be a Magnificent Bastard, the character has to be smart in the first place and use their brain to work towards whatever their end goal may be;
- Must be a Bastard: While going overboard in how vile the character is can be detrimental, a key aspect is the Bastard part of the trope, whether the character is an out-and-out antagonist in the work, some manner of Villain Protagonist, or something in between, they at least have some unscrupulous qualities to qualify for this trope;
- Must not be too detestable: Again, there is a ceiling on how bad the character can be before they just become too nefarious, blocking out the Magnificent part of the trope. A genocidal racist or child-raping Sadist aren't going to make the cut;
- Think on their feet: In addition to being a Chessmaster, a Magnificent Bastard, if the character deals with situations in which their initial plan is ruined, has to be able to pull a Xanatos Speed Chess and at least come up with a competent strategy to make up for lost time, otherwise they fail for being unable to think in tough spots;
- Have charm: Even if they don't necessarily make every character they meet fall in love with them and can even be detested by others, the audience has to find an amicable social relation to the character, or they are failing to make the impact required for this trope.
- What to do if a character is listed on a page but has not been approved?: They need to be removed, all candidates need to come through the cleanup thread first. The character could well count but they need to be analyzed properly and voted on first.
- Do we list Playing With this trope?: No; as a YMMV trope, this cannot be Played With, so we only want examples that are Played Straight.
- What do I do if I want a character to be listed as a Magnificent Bastard?: The greatest success Complete Monster saw for its cleanup effort was from the invention of the effort post format, so, borrowing from that, a troper wishing to propose a Magnificent Bastard will create such a post in the following format:
- Begin by describing The work, this will help establish the setting the character is in and for the reader to understand what kind of a scenario they are in;
- Summarize The character's actions, this will provide a listing for readers to understand what they do and how it applies to this trope because charm and lack of smugness are so crucial, this is a good time to be incorporating exactly the flavor of how they operate to explain this;
- List circumstances in which the character must Think on their feet, these are times where a wrench might be thrown in their initial plan and they have to adapt on the spot or even come up with a new scheme all together, this is also a good time to explain how the villain reacts to defeat when they have to face it, a true Magnificent Bastard won't break down into tears at the thought of death, they should have known such a possibility could occur and be able to handle it with more dignity;
- The competition, similar to the Heinous Standard dealt with for a Complete Monster, this section is to deal with how successful the character is in carrying out their plans compared to other characters. While, as a villain, they probably are going to lose in the end, it is good to explain how other characters handle the same situation. There is no exceptionalism case to be made for this trope but explaining the variety helps the reader have a better understanding of the proposal.
- How do you know when the character's arc is done so they can be proposed? When their tenure as a villain or antagonist finishes. This could happen in a single Story Arc in an entire work, a single work of a franchise, or the whole series in general. We'll show lenience to Long-Runners with constantly recurring candidates or series with outstanding continuities (ex. comic books), and it's entirely possible to count in a work or two but not in general for a reason like Depending on the Writer.
- What about candidates evil because of external sources? Those Made of Evil can qualify if they show enough individuality and tactical acumen — in other words, they have the personality to fulfill the magnificence requirement. Conversely, those brainwashed, especially if they're a better person without it, may fail the individuality aspect and cannot count.
- What if they are under orders from a higher-up? Depends. If the boss created the plans down to the letter and the candidate is just following them, sounds like we should discuss the boss instead. However, if the candidate takes creative liberties with the orders, adds their own charm and flair to them, fills in holes in the orders, and/or actively deals with obstacles their boss did not talk about, the candidate shows enough individual thinking to qualify.
- What about Character Development? An MB is something a character can develop into... a nice person who plots well might become more morally gray as the work goes on and hits the "Bastard" criteria, thus making them viable. Likewise, a Smug Snake might shed their ego, become more understanding of the threat others pose and gain the personality or "Magnificent" criteria, likewise making them viable. Conversely, a character who looks like this trope might suffer from a Sanity Slippage or just get outed as not being as smart as they thought they were and become incompatible with MB.
- Can an MB be a good guy? Not in the conventional sense... it is required they have at least some dubious traits lest they fail the "Bastard" criteria. That being said, a character who pulls a Heel–Face Turn or eventually stops taking villainous actions is still fair game: as there was a point in time where they were both "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and they've merely adapted as time goes on. Now... if such a character begins showing other issues (i.e.: becomes prone to freak outs or starts getting outwitted) then they're compromising their Magnificence and will probably be deemed a cut. What's important is stylishly operating while at least for some time being willing to take at best underhanded methods to see a job done. A Heel–Face Turn in itself isn't a disqualifier but they do have to have been "Magnificent" and a "Bastard" at the same time and afterwards can't start slipping on the former front.
- What about characters whose stories can take different routes?: When proposing a character in a form of media that has them in multiple story routes. Said character must be consistent with their characteristics in all routes. (ex.: Can't have an example who shows promise on one route yet fails in another.) The only exception is if a later installment of the series confirms the character's actions which made them worth proposing are the canon route.
- Is there a timeframe rule like with Complete Monster?: Yes, please wait two weeks until after the work has concluded before proposing a character (again, usually using the North American air date). As is the case with CM, we want to give a reasonable time frame so that everyone interested in seeing the work has done so and can participate in the discussion without having anything spoiled.
- What about groups like with Complete Monster?: This is a point of divergence between the two tropes. While CM does not allow for a single entry encompassing more than three characters lest their heinousness for crimes becomes too watered down, with MB as long as they are treated as one "unit" it is acceptable to lump all characters provided they share acts of charm and intelligence.
- Can I propose my own work's character as a Magnificent Bastard?: No, this is a YMMV subject and the creator of a content is way too biased to be able to evaluate the criteria we're looking for without a second opinion taking over. That being said, you are more than welcome to encourage someone to consume your creation and if they feel a character counts, are more than welcome to suggest them.
- My example/edit has been approved, but the example subpage is locked! How do I get it added?: The moderators do not add examples to locked example subpages in the MagnificentBastard/ namespace directly. Rather, you need to do the edit to a sandbox page that follows the format Sandbox.MagnificentBastard<Name of the example subpage> (e.g for MagnificentBastard.Fullmetal Alchemist it's Sandbox.Magnificent Bastard Fullmetal Alchemist) and on a Friday, ask in the locked pages edit requests thread for the content to be swapped in.
Thread rules
When voting a troper must specify the effort post they're voting on and cannot merely vote on "Everything I missed" as in the past it has indicated the poster didn't read the effort post and is guessing instead of analyzing.
Resolved items
In general, a character listed on this trope is considered "settled". This means they should not be challenged unless information used to list them was incorrect or information was missed in the initial discussion.
However, when re-litigating a candidate, the same rules apply for when they were originally proposed. If they do not have five or more upvotes than downvotes for approval upon a re-litigation, including votes from the initial discussion if they do not change, then they are a cut.
This especially applies to the characters listed below, who have been discussed excessively and repeated attempts to get them listed/cut may result in punitive action for bogging down the thread.
Definitely an MB
- Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers: Any sadism Darkrai displays is limited in effect thanks to the game's nature and any cowardice which can be inferred about him is Alternative Character Interpretation about his tactical retreats.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Azula's Villainous Breakdown is undone in the sequel comic Smoke & Shadow where she regains her composure and ends up stable and in control enough to count.
Definitely not an MB
- South Park: The show's frequent use of vulgar comedy and mean-spirited humor leaves any potential candidates devoid of the dignity or charm to qualify.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 31st 2023 at 4:15:22 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Looks good.
Goku Black
Looks good. Add it Here. With a link where it's from.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to X2. As a musician, I'm still not sure what a "Deadly Hexikick" is though ...
Edited by Idisagree on Apr 9th 2022 at 8:35:23 AM
Lies and Violence!
X2
Two more for A Practical Guide to Evil, this time from what can be considered the Ensemble Dark Horses of the series: the drow.
The Empire Ever Dark was once a mighty underground nation, ruled by the Twilight Sages. Unfortunately, the Sages' fear of death led to them making a deal with the Gods of the Hells, allowing them to steal life from future generations of children to make the drow immortal.
This wouldn't have been a problem if they hadn't also picked a war with the dwarves, who, as established with the Herald, are OP as hell. With a bunch of their cities wiped out, suddenly all those future generations... you know, didn't exist, leaving the Sages in a bit of a sticky situation. Once more faced with mortality, they decided to take inspiration from their former student — the Dead King — to make themselves undead gods.
By killing the rest of the drow race.
Two sisters, Andronike and Komena, realized what the Sages were planning and killed them, using them as sacrifices to contact the Gods Below in hopes of renegotiating the deal in a way that didn't end with their entire race dead once the remaining stolen life runs out. There they met the Gods' messenger, the eldritch monstrosity known as the Wandering Bard, who provided their shitty but only remaining option. Basically, the entire race would become a sacrificial altar to Below, devolving into a society of murderous madmen who would constantly slaughter each other, with each death acting as a sacrifice to the strange magic known as the "Night" to keep the race alive. If you kill people you can take their reserves of Night, become more powerful, live longer, and even steal skills/knowledge. It's pretty shit, but at least they didn't go extinct.
The sisters, becoming lesser gods in all but name, took up the title of Sve Noc and enforced this kill or be killed society, all the while trying to turn themselves into true gods so their debt with Below could finally be wiped clean.
Who is Rumena Tomb-Maker?
- One of the oldest drow alive in the present day, Rumena was the Empire Ever Dark's mightiest general and Komena's former superior in their military. After he was forced into a disastrous war with the dwarves (which he protested against), Rumena was recruited into the sisters' plan to save the drow race, leading his armies in laying siege to the Everdark's capital and capturing the Sages.
- As the Everdark devolved into murder and mayhem, Rumena stayed on as Sve Noc's Dragon, sent to kill ambitious warlords — those who would try to form empires or challenge the sisters as the gods of the Night — and subsequently claiming thousands of lives over the centuries. The most tenacious of these warlords was the former lord Kurisov, who somehow found a way to come Back from the Dead and absorb Night from his slain followers (without needing to kill them himself).
- In their first three encounters, Rumena handily slaughtered Kurisov's forces and seemingly killed the former lord each time, though every encounter was more difficult than the last.
- The fourth encounter was significantly harder. Kurisov somehow learned how to replicate traps long thought lost in the collapse of the the Empire, sacrificed thousands of troops to chip away at Rumena's army, and collapsed entire sections of cities just to slow them down. Rumena had to put down a few mutineers who were tired of the fighting and tried to kill him in his sleep, but ultimately managed to still slay Kurisov.
- For their fifth fight, Kurisov returns a few centuries earlier than expected, and Rumena realizes he was tricked. With his army still weak from the last encounter he's forced to take over another tribe for extra troops, who are naturally a bit treacherous. He has to tear his way through Kurisov's army alone once they all either flee or die.
- Rumena took the time to assemble a large, well-trained and organized army for the sixth battle... only for Kurisov to just overwhelm and slaughter them all through numbers and the sheer power he's accumulated. Rumena, having discovered a way to manipulate earth, collapses an entire cavern on top of him.
- The seventh time, instead of hunting down Kurisov, the former lord comes to Rumena, again overwhelming its army through thousands of its own sacrificed soldiers (around this time, the drow concept of gender has kind of deteriorated — the only real distinction between individuals now is how much Night they have). Rumena realizes it's made another mistake, as Kurisov reveals it has made an alliance with other drow warlords — now fearful of the "Tomb-Maker" after the sheer power it wielded in the whole "collapsing an entire cavern" thing earlier — to kill Rumena. Rumena still fights it — the battle lasts a day, and it's forced to once again collapse a cavern to win — and it leaves for the fringe edges of the Everdark in the aftermath, knowing it won't win an eighth encounter with the other warlords hunting it.
- A few centuries later, Sve Nov calls for Rumena again to deal with some insolent little shit named Catherine Foundling, who is enslaving her way through the outer edges of the Everdark. Cat has recently stolen the power of the Winter fae, which Sve Noc believes can be used to help in their ascension to godhood. Rumena confronts her, explaining the Everdark's backstory to distract her from its powerful minions approaching from behind, and they fight. Cat is forced to use more and more of Winter in the process, allowing for Sve Noc to slip in and usurp her claim to it; Rumena captures the now-powerless Cat with the intent to sacrifice her to solidify the sisters' hold over Winter.
Mighty Rumena had, after sundry misadventures, hoisted me over its shoulder and was now lugging me around like a sack of cabbage. I got the distinct impression the old bastard was having a lot of fun with this.
"If I allow you to lean against me instead," Rumena said. "Will you cease attempting to strangle me?"
The drow was a tyrant, truly. It was my Gods-given right as a Callowan to rebel against foreign powers regardless of context or feasibility.
"Yes" I lied.
Mighty Rumena fluidly leapt over a canal, landing on the other side with barely a sound. It jostled my body enough I had to bite down on a scream.
"So," I got out. "We doing this or what?"
"No," the Mighty said. "I merely wanted to see if you would lie."
That prick. I'd gotten my hopes up, thinking of looking for something sharp to stab it with instead of having another fruitless go at strangulation – my fingers were too shaky to have the requisite strength, and to be honest I wasn't sure it actually needed to breathe.
"Fine," I said. "Obviously you're a man – drow, I mean – of deep cunning and perception. I'll level with you, Rumena. I was going to try to murder you again."
"I am aghast at this unexpected turn," Mighty Rumena said.
Oh, so Crepuscular could do sarcasm. This was a day for revelations.
- Long story short, she willingly cedes over Winter and gets Sve Noc to agree to help her out. Rumena mashes the unruly drow hordes into something resembling their armies of old and accompanies Cat as she goes to save her own army from the Proceran crusade (notably going toe-to-toe with the heroine known as the Saint of Swords, whose power is to cut literally anything — steel, magic, metaphysical concepts, etc.)
"Ah," the general mildly said. "Will you be absenting yourself, then?"
To my side Indrani shook with a suppressed laugh, the filthy traitor.
"You just wait," I grunted. "One of these days I'll talk the damned crows into letting me write your holy book and there'll be an entire hymn about how much of a prick you are."
I began the trek towards Trousseau immediately, carefully refraining from hearing Rumena’s skepticism at my ability to rhyme on purpose even as Archer cheerfully waved him goodbye
As usual, I was surrounded by insubordinate backtalk and wanton treachery.
- Since the rest of the drow are a bit pissy about not being allowed to murder each other anymore (which is the backbone of their various tribes' leaders' authority), Cat patchworks together something to temporarily keep them in line — sigil-oaths, where sigils (tribes) will choose a leader for nine years based on a promise or ideal they hold. Rumena immediately amasses a massive sigil with his promise of personally bringing down the gates of Keter, the Dead King's capital. Drown love that kind of stuff. It also continues to be a gleeful prick.
"Oh," I said, sweetly smiling. "So you were there?"
"I see," General Rumena gravely said. "Now that you have servants to flatter you again, you have resumed your delusion of being amusing. I had thought your cured of this ailment, Queen of Lost and Found."
"Careful, buddy," I said, jutting a thumb at the singing drow. "One of those just promised to put you in a tomb, are you sure you want to spend your last moments failing to get the best of me?"
Rumena glanced at Hakram, pale silver-blue eyes lingering on the missing hand.
"The orc has only one hand and still a defter touch with words," it told me.
"He hasn't even said anything," I protested.
I winced the moment I said it, feeling the sense of mocking satisfaction wafting off of it into the Night. The prick.
"One of these days," I told it. "One of these days, Rumena."
"It is true," the Tomb-maker conceded, "you might truly have a chance, if I am asleep."
- For the next two years Rumena acts as one of the drow field leaders in the War on Keter, having its minions spy on their supposed "allies" and uncovering a nascent plot by some local lords to screw them out of the lands promised to them after the war. Cat deals with that after it informs her.
- Eventually the drow assist in the siege of an important city the Dead King has captured, with Rumena going underground to deal with the undead burrowing under the city — the Komena half of Sve Noc, enraged because Cat recently got badly injured, assists it in demolishing their tunnels. Unfortunately, this was also a trap by the Dead King, who binds Komena's soul to Rumena in an effort to steal the Night. Rumena, still stuck underground after they briefly stave off this plot and weakened from the damage to the Night, has to be saved by a teleporting heroine.
- Rumena's still on the battlefield a few months later, going up against a returned Kurisov who has allied with the Dead King. It does an effective job of keeping Kurisov's significantly more powerful generals occupied while Cat goes to kill the former noble, asking a favor of her beforehand:
- With that settled Rumena participates in the siege of Keter, fulfilling its promise of personally tearing down the gates. After the war it becomes the face of drow rule in the eyes of the rest of the continent, heading their most prominent colony.
Is it magnificent?
Not the chessmaster-esque variety of magnificent, but definitely of the "holy shit that's badass" kind. Rumena is an amazingly powerful fighter who has loyally served Sve Noc with success for centuries, has the foresight to spy on untrustworthy allies, distracts enemies to give its own reinforcements time to arrive, and is able to easily take on the lady who can literally cut anything. A good nine tenths of its dialogue is Badass Boasts it's 100% able to back up, and it's also just really sassy, which is amazing. It learns an entirely new language just to insult more people, and Word of God confirms Cat will never be able to get the last word in.
It respectfully bowed.
"It will change nothing, First Under the Night," the Tomb-maker replied. "As you have never needed an opponent to lose."
In the back of my mind, I heard Komena let out a snort of laughter. Godsdamned goddesses, I thought. They shouldn't play favourites unless that favourite was me.
"It's beneath my station to argue with a subordinate," I airily replied.
"Your skill in retreat remains unrivaled," the old drow praised.
That fucker. I flipped it off, which only got a cackle out of it.
It has two major instances of being outsmarted, but those are forgivable.
- Kurisov gets the best of it a few times, but Rumena always manages to kill it in the end. Even then, Kurisov has so many followers it can just throw at enemies and has become so gorged on stolen Night that any well-trained army Rumena puts together wouldn't do much good anyway. Rumena gains a bunch of enemies from its immense display of power but there's really no other way to stop Kurisov, and it views its subsequent exile into the Everdark fringes as a way to finally get some well-deserved rest and relaxation.
- The Dead King almost gets Rumena killed with the ritual thing, but that was A) a Xanatos Gambit wherein either Komena is trapped or the undead tunnel up from beneath their armies, and B) it was specifically a trap for Komena. Rumena isn't a god like her, how could he have known that was going to happen?
Is it a bastard?
Enforces the kill or be killed rules of the Everdark for centuries, accumulating likely millions of slain foes at its feet.
Verdict?
Yes to the master of the Scathing Retort.
Adil's writeup
- The Simpsons:
- "The Crepes of Wrath": Adil Hoxha is an Albanian spy working undercover as a foreign exchange student. After integrating himself into the Simpson family with his politeness and helpful attitude, he requests Homer to let him visit the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, collecting information and successfully sending it his home government. After being caught and outed as a spy by the FBI, he thanks the Simpsons for their hospitality and tells them not to let the experience sour their thoughts on the student exchange program.
Edited by magnumtropus on Apr 9th 2022 at 4:30:53 PM
Yes to Tomb-Maker.
Showtime!
Rumena.
Classy, Refined, Unstable
X2, Rumena
Late to adil
Edited by mariogalaxy on Apr 9th 2022 at 6:01:41 AM
Yes to the Tomb-Maker. I'll hear you out on Manhattan Space, I'll be back on my admin game soon and have the final GoT EPs for those whose brains don't fall out of their heads in Season 8 ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
for X2, and Rumena.
![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_down_emoticon_3571.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
for Oscar.
Goku Black
Rumena.
Lies and Violence!
A second one from the drow, this time the bestest boi. If you need context, it's in the Rumena post above.
Who is Ivah, Lord of Silent Steps?
The former second-in-command of a drow sigil (tribe) in the outer fringes of the underground Everdark, Ivah was eventually defeated and, although spared, almost completely stripped of Night. Knowing that staying in this den of murder while in a weakened state would probably lead to death, Ivah and a group of similarly humiliated drow elected to venture aboveground, hoping to kill enough people there to regain their lost Night and return. It's a fool's errand and everyone knows it, but, again, the only other option is death, so up Ivah goes...
Where they immediately run into three women: Catherine, the ghost of her Arch-Enemy Akua (long story), and their hedonistic friend Indrani, who are there to recruit an army to deal with the bajillion other nations trying to kill them. The drow immediately attack the three and get their butts whooped; Ivah, realizing how utterly outmatched they are, is the first to surrender and complies with the subsequent interrogation. It agrees to act as their guide and translator in the Everdark in exchange for being allowed to take Night from any drow corpses they come across, with this oath of loyalty magically bound by Cat (who has usurped the power of the Winter fae and can do stuff like that). Further swearing fealty out of respect for how she bullshits the dwarves they meet into not killing them, Ivah is eventually gifted with the Winter title of the Lord of Silent Steps, as Cat reasons she's going to need some heavy hitters to take on the demigods of the Everdark and what better than a fae-powered drow?
Ivah takes to his newfound abilities with disturbing ease, figuring out how to Flash Step with afterimages and everything. Reasoning that the Everdark is basically a grave for their self-genociding race anyway and one might as well side with the lady who can drop entire lakes onto armies, it continues to act as her loyal main muscle, interrogating and negotiating the surrender of various enemy sigils after sufficient displays of power. Ivah also coaches her on the Everdark customs, providing advice on all the diplomatic stuff she needs in order to be taken seriously by the drow deeper underground. Notably, it gives Cat the name of her sigil — since they're usually named after the leader, Ivah stylizes her as the Losara Queen (Queen of Lost and Found), the closest thing the drow language has to "orphan."
Yadda yadda yadda, Cat gets Sve Noc to help her out, and the drow army goes to save her own forces from being overwhelmed by enemies. Ivah remains her deadly spy and scout, preemptively saving the Black Knight when he's been taken hostage by the Dead King among other small things.
Since the rest of the drow are a bit pissy about not being allowed to murder each other anymore (which is the backbone of their various tribes' leaders' authority), Cat gives a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech, comparing them to scavengers scuttling about in the mud and calling for them to strive for the day in which they achieve true worthiness instead of their macabre version of the concept.
"CERA AINE!" The nuances bloomed in the Night: shame, fond amusement, hard-toothed pride and grim determination.
Are you worthy? I had asked them.
Ask tomorrow, they replied.
She further patchworks together something to temporarily keep them in line — sigil-oaths, where sigils will choose a leader for nine years based on an ideal or promise they make. Ivah and the Losara are effectively made into the drow priesthood, charged with keeping track of and enforcing all these oaths. To keep their neutrality in this intact they're not allowed to take part in the harvesting of Night, though Ivah, ever the loyalist to his Queen, is pretty chill with that.
It has a somewhat diminished role in the war on the Dead King after that, though its noted to have remained a scout and passed on some of its cool invisibility tricks to Rumena's spies. It later joins Cat for the Battle of Hainaut, an important city the Dead King has captured.
...Unfortunately, the Dead King attempts to claim the Night, forcing Sve Noc to temporarily place as much of it into Ivah as they can before crippling the rest.
Long story short, the treacherous lord Kurisov tries to take advantage of this to usurp Sve Noc as the god of the drow. Cat allows Kurisov to kill Sve Noc and absorb the Night so her magic-inclined friends can in turn redirect its flow — they can't keep it from returning to Kurisov forever, but the lord's weakened state gives Ivah the chance to silently sneak up and kill it. As drow rules go, whomever you kill you can take from, so as the Night flows back to Kurisov's corpse and Ivah holds godhood in its hands, what does it do?
The Lord of Silent Steps, using its faint connection to Sve Noc from the "storage unit for Night" thing two paragraphs ago, resurrects and restores them to power... which, thanks to the aforementioned magic friends tweaking a few parts of the ritual, repairs the godhood they damaged during its inception by haphazardly stumbling into apotheosis. Sve Noc are now true gods. The drow race's debt with Below is settled.
After the final battle against the Dead King (wherein Ivah popped in and out of the battlefield to rescue/heal various heroes and nobles), Cat steps down as Sve Noc's High Priest in favor of Ivah, for various reasons: it symbolically fits as it was the first to wield the restored Sve Noc's new Night; it's actually a drow, and a human keeping the position permanently would have been a little awkward; and most importantly, it selflessly refused divinity to help others, which is pretty important to have on your resume when you're supposed to act as the conscience of goddesses of theft and murder.
Is it magnificent?
Again, not a bombastic chessmaster, but from what we get Ivah makes it. While mostly acting as The Watson for Cat to explain her plans to, Ivah is an incredibly dangerous spy who is able to master the eldritch power of the fae within a mere few days, and is pretty good at preemptively getting whatever she wants accomplished without being need to be told. It's not the most independent character from Cat, but the guidance it provides in the Everdark is invaluable knowledge (it's the one that suggests forming a cabal with other warlords since outright subjugation would be too costly), it thinks on its feet in a fight (the Flash Step in particular is an exceptionally useful innovation it teaches the drow spies), and it learns a great deal of becoming a competent leader in its own right. It's an incredibly popular character for its combination of deadliness and loyalty, rising from an exile to the high priest of its species for its unflinching faith in the grand words of an insane woman it came across in the forest all those years ago.
Is it a bastard?
It's a drow. Every single one of them has murdered someone at some point in their lives, and when we first meet it, it's on its way to kill or enslave random people on the surface.
Just to clarify, while drow are mentioned to be slavers we never actually see them practice this. Ivah admits to coming up to kill people, but makes no mention of slavery; that's just something Cat's friends bring up as something it was likely intending to do when debating over whether to trust it. From context, seems more likely to be referring to either gathering ritual fodder for gaining Night or having them do upkeep of villages like the lower classes of drow, the latter practice of which neither Ivah nor Rumena are shown partaking in. I'm only mentioning it here in case someone reads the book later and feels that's an issue.
Verdict?
Another keeper. I have a lot more to go through, but with exams coming up I might take a break once I get these two's drafts in with the page quote and description. Will still try to get a proposal in whenever I have the time.
Edited by EmeraldEmperor on Jun 16th 2022 at 11:35:55 AM
Sure to Ivah.
Yes to Ivah. Also I forgot yesterday but Yashahime discussion incoming too!
Goku Black
Ivah
Is the swap of the drafts to the locked pages taking place soon?
Edited by miraculous on Apr 9th 2022 at 3:31:20 AM
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
Rumena and Ivah
Ivah.
Yeah, sorry, I'll get to it in a bit there mir!
EDIT: Yes to X2, Rumena, and Ivah.
Not too confident here, but he's voiced by Will Arnett and I feel someone's gonna find me if I don't give him a spin.
What's the work?
"ROLL FOR INITIATIVE, SUCKAHS!"
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a Lighter and Softer spinoff of the Borderlands series. Rather than the usual Vault Hunters fighting to save the world and/or universe in search of mad loot, you play as a a wanderer who somehow got wrapped up in one of Tiny Tina's games of Bunkers & Badasses, alongside spaceship captain Valentine and his snarky robot companion Frette. In her campaign, you control "the Fatemaker", a knight/wizard/what-have-you out to save the Wonderlands from the eeeeeeeevil Dragon Lord!
Small problem: the Dragon Lord's not too happy about his predicament. And no, that's not part of Tina's story.
Who is the Dragon Lord?
The menacing and surprisingly chummy Dragon Lord is the BBEG for all of Tina's B&B campaigns, a nefarious overlord out to shroud the Wonderlands in darkness and take over! But the truth is a tad bit more complex: the Dragon Lord was Tina's player character when she played the game with Roland, but some recklessness on her part triggered a permanent alignment shift and forced the Dragon Lord to evil. Tina Rage Quit and decided she'd rather be the dungeon master instead, but she still had a soft spot for her old character and made him the main villain for every campaign since.
The problem is that the Dragon Lord is sentient, knows he's being controlled, and he wants out.
Breaking free from his prison once more, the Dragon Lord launches an attack on the kingdom of Brighthoof to strike against his hated nemesis, Handsome Jack's diamond pony Queen Butt Stallion (heheheheh). While the attack is repelled as part of Tina's story, everything goes to hell once the Fatemaker obtains the Sword of Souls needed to defeat the big baddo - turns out, the Dragon Lord was waiting for you to retrieve the sword, and swoops in, takes it, cuts off Butt Stallion's HEHd, and retreats to his Fearamid across the sea, intending to use the sword to break free from Tina's control forever, all while Tina herself is dumbstruck and wondering what the hell just happened.
From here, the Dragon Lord mostly just sits back while he tries to finish his plans, sending his minions after you to halt your advance, hijacking a friendly necromancer's body to keep him from helping you, and engaging in idle banter with you. Turns out, the Dragon Lord's pretty interested in you, and tries convincing you to drop this whole "hero" charade and to take your life into your own hands. While the Fatemaker blows him off during the climatic reveal of his backstory, when the final battle comes around it would seem that he did get through to them to an extent, as they end up sparing his life, believing that even he deserves to be happy.
That's it for the main story. Afterwards, the newly revived Butt Stallion (HEEEEEEEEEEH) sentences him to 200 years in the castle dungeons for cutting her head off. He's initially unenthusiastic about it, but the Dragon Lord quickly grows accustomed to his new arrangement, acting as your guide through the Chaos Chamber within the castle to help you grow stronger, performing a proper Heel–Face Turn and being every bit as affable towards you as he was before.
Does he hit the marks?
He's a casual, hilarious tyrant voiced by Will Arnett who genuinely likes you. What's not to the love? He's admittedly a grump who frequently tosses insults at anyone but you, but it's mostly the result of his bitterness towards Tina and he easily drops it after the final battle. Admittedly he's on the lighter end when it comes to feats of intelligence, but the bit where he steals the Sword of Souls is rad as hell and he's fairly proactive in trying to stop you, so I think he's got enough going on.
Verdict?
Imma say yes, tentatively.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
... It is? Damn, the more you know.
Edited by DocSharp on Apr 9th 2022 at 4:09:09 AM
Goku Black
the Dragon Lord
This is the third mb for Arnet btw.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
I'm good for the Dragon Lord too. If he passes, that's 8 for Borderlands and probably time for a page.
Think you're tough because you made it through Lord of the Rings? Real men survive The Silmarillion.
Dragon Lord
Umm…any thoughts on my MB write-up of Arm Primeval?
I think Iike Gundam and Dragon Quest too much