Leatherhead
Possibly a Idiot.
Having Bruenor around isn't nearly as weird as having Minsc around. 
D&D 5E Bruenor in Out of the Abyss?
- Thread starter galneweinhaw
- Start date
Long story short: the Sundering happened, Ao brought back all the dead gods and separated Abeir and Toril, while most dead characters came back in some contrived way, undoing most of end-3e and 4e.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Sundering_(event)
The longer version, since I’ve read all those books, is that Mieliki saved the souls of Catti-Brie, Wulfgar, Regis and Bruenor when they died. Drizzt kept going, had a very dark time in his life, and Mieliki brought them back to help him. Apparently there’s some big fight between her and Lolth or something.
Anywho, all Drizzt’s friends were reincarnated into new bodies, but with their full mental facilities (they were fully aware of their own births) and lived for 20 years before meeting at a certain place to save Drizzt, much to his surprise, seeing all his friends who had died so long ago.
As was mentioned before, WotC came to RA Salvatore and said “Everything’s fast forwarding 100 years. Deal with it.” But only one of his characters would live that long, so he had them all die in dramatic fashion, while being kept by Mieliki to be reincarnated later. That way, he could continue and tell the stories he wanted with the characters he wanted, and just had to deal with a little side track of “What has Drizzt been doing all this time.”
All in all, it is one of his better story archs, in my opinion. Watching the four of them grow up, with full memory of their past lives, was rather enjoyable. Regis really was never a great character before that, but the cool thing is Regis had come to this same realization, and therefore decided to make something of himself in his new life. Now he has an enchanted rapier, an enchanted dagger, a hat of disquise, is an accomplished alchemist and has a bag of holding. Catti-brie, who was another one I never really got, also came into her own, studying as a wizard and chosen of Meiliki, becoming a rather powerful wizard (the one class that was severely lacking in Drizzt’s party). Bruenor stayed Bruenor, but it was fun watching him as an 8 year old Dwarf learning to fight with the other 8 year old dwarfs, trying to pretend like he didn’t have 250 years of battle experience behind him. Then he went and revealed himself to all the other dwarfs, convinced them he is who he says he is, and they all went to Gauntlegrym to take it back from the Drow who had made a living there.
Even Wulfgar is more enjoyable, as he’s decided he’s just going to enjoy this new life. He died as an old, old man in his previous life, had a family and kids, and now he’s just having as much fun as possible. Much different from the brooding barbarian of his first life, who had literally gone from hell and back and had to be rehabilitated from both that and the drunkenness that followed.
Normally I don’t like the comic book ‘they aren’t going to stay dead’ trope, but in this case, I understood it, and I approved. It was done well, in my opinion, and helped breathe life into a series that was turning rather stale…
Anywho, all Drizzt’s friends were reincarnated into new bodies, but with their full mental facilities (they were fully aware of their own births) and lived for 20 years before meeting at a certain place to save Drizzt, much to his surprise, seeing all his friends who had died so long ago.
As was mentioned before, WotC came to RA Salvatore and said “Everything’s fast forwarding 100 years. Deal with it.” But only one of his characters would live that long, so he had them all die in dramatic fashion, while being kept by Mieliki to be reincarnated later. That way, he could continue and tell the stories he wanted with the characters he wanted, and just had to deal with a little side track of “What has Drizzt been doing all this time.”
All in all, it is one of his better story archs, in my opinion. Watching the four of them grow up, with full memory of their past lives, was rather enjoyable. Regis really was never a great character before that, but the cool thing is Regis had come to this same realization, and therefore decided to make something of himself in his new life. Now he has an enchanted rapier, an enchanted dagger, a hat of disquise, is an accomplished alchemist and has a bag of holding. Catti-brie, who was another one I never really got, also came into her own, studying as a wizard and chosen of Meiliki, becoming a rather powerful wizard (the one class that was severely lacking in Drizzt’s party). Bruenor stayed Bruenor, but it was fun watching him as an 8 year old Dwarf learning to fight with the other 8 year old dwarfs, trying to pretend like he didn’t have 250 years of battle experience behind him. Then he went and revealed himself to all the other dwarfs, convinced them he is who he says he is, and they all went to Gauntlegrym to take it back from the Drow who had made a living there.
Even Wulfgar is more enjoyable, as he’s decided he’s just going to enjoy this new life. He died as an old, old man in his previous life, had a family and kids, and now he’s just having as much fun as possible. Much different from the brooding barbarian of his first life, who had literally gone from hell and back and had to be rehabilitated from both that and the drunkenness that followed.
Normally I don’t like the comic book ‘they aren’t going to stay dead’ trope, but in this case, I understood it, and I approved. It was done well, in my opinion, and helped breathe life into a series that was turning rather stale…
Prakriti
Hi, I'm a Mindflayer, but don't let that worry you
IMO, the 100-year timeline advancement was a huge mistake to begin with. It's like that episode of the Simpsons where they revealed that Principal Skinner was an impostor all along named Armin Tamzarian. The best thing we can do is pretend it never happened. In this case, however, Wizards and Salvatore are going one step further and finding canonical ways to reverse the changes. I can't say I mind, although I wish the damage had never been done in the first place.
Was it ever?
Anyway, I'm okay with the bringing back of the old team, especially most of them gained new depth with it, especially Bruenor and Regis. I don't like Cattie-Brie very much (I'd like to see more about her studiesas a wizard and less piety) and Wulfgar isn't really adding much to the story although I agree, his shift of personality is good.
I'm more sad about the "new" team Drizzt was run during the 4e era. There's some really good, conflicted characters, they'd deserve more stories, more elaboration. I'm particularly still longing for more stories with Jarlaxle and Entreri as the focus of the new group. The Sellswords trilogy were maybe my favorite RAS books.
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Having Bruenor around isn't nearly as weird as having Minsc around.
There's no such thing as too much Minsc and Boo!
As WotC realized "hey, we could bring back old characters", the resurrection of the goody-good butt-kicking team was hands down my favorite decision.
Wulgar's always been an interesting character. Originally pitched as the main character of the book, he just sort of...wasn't. Salvatore tried to make him Cattie-Brie's love interest, but that wasn't working. Sent him to hell and back, to give him depth, but it didn't really work. Gave him a 'road to salvation' with his whole foray into drunkenness, then trying to become sober. That was his best story, but then he had him marry Delly the barmaid and he adopted a daughter. Wasn't working. So, he finally killed off Delly and had him take the girl back to her real parents, then go back to being a barbarian. It's as if he was just like "You know what? He just isn't working. I'm just going to send him back to his roots."
I also enjoyed the new group, though they're still there. Artimis and Jarlaxle are with Drizzt in the most recent book, Afafrenfer (or whatever) is learning from the long...um...not-dead Grandmaster Kane (cause he isn't undead...but he isn't really alive...), Ambergris is with Athrogate, and they're both serving Bruenor. Of course, Dahlia's...well...she's been driven insane, but it was a short drive.
So they're still there. They're just not, you know, a team, exactly. Artimis and Jarlaxle have always been my favorite characters in this series. I was very happy to see Artimis was still alive, even if it was a sarcastic "Of course he's still alive" moment.
I also enjoyed the new group, though they're still there. Artimis and Jarlaxle are with Drizzt in the most recent book, Afafrenfer (or whatever) is learning from the long...um...not-dead Grandmaster Kane (cause he isn't undead...but he isn't really alive...), Ambergris is with Athrogate, and they're both serving Bruenor. Of course, Dahlia's...well...she's been driven insane, but it was a short drive.
So they're still there. They're just not, you know, a team, exactly. Artimis and Jarlaxle have always been my favorite characters in this series. I was very happy to see Artimis was still alive, even if it was a sarcastic "Of course he's still alive" moment.
You say this as if they are mutually exclusive. Sufficient money can make many magical things happen.
the Jester
Legend
Marty Stu.
Prakriti
Hi, I'm a Mindflayer, but don't let that worry you
Salvatore has really lost his knack for naming characters...
Does he know that ambergris is a real thing, and if so, does he know what it is? (Answer: Not something you should be naming your characters after.)
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