D&D 5E (2024) Feywild technically doesn't mention the Seelie and Unseelie Court

[Charlaquin]

It is possible that the Fey's sense of morality is so foreign to non-fey that the latter's traditional concepts of right and wrong do not apply to them. TV Tropes calls this form of morality, Blue and Orange Morality.

From a human's point of view, the fey appear unpredictable, surreal, even morally chaotic. But to another fey, their actions are consistent and rational.

I’d say it’s less Blue and Orange Morality, more Blue and Orange legal code.

 

[Yaarel]

I’d say it’s less Blue and Orange Morality, more Blue and Orange legal code.

Yeah. The Fey take their "oaths" seriously.

Flavorwise these are forces of nature. Nature is "good", but one cant really compare it to human ethics. It is more like the "laws of physics". But it is personifications where water "wants" to flow and fire "wants" to leap. It is a blue and orange "legal code".

Occasionally, folklore remembers humanlike encounters, such as an incident when fey and human fell in love with each other. I understand these as the force of nature magically adopting a human form, a kind of shapeshifting, and the human love and morality happen to come with this new form. Even then, these superimposed human psychologies feel strange to the force of nature.

 

[Parmandur]

Yoy can't copyright or trademark Seelie or Unseelie.

 

[JamesLFlowers]

I have seen many works where the Seelie Court is "beautiful" and the unSeelie Court is "ugly". So a creature like a brownie would be UnSeelie simply because they were not beautiful. Also seen it broken out in terms of power, a creature would be unseelie simply because it did not have power - political, personal, etc. There are so many version between folklore and fiction that you can pretty much build to suit.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Yoy can't copyright or trademark Seelie or Unseelie.

That's certainly a point, but then 5e went back to using Titania a public domain character, one of William Shakespeare's characters, for their Summer Court.

 

[Parmandur]

That's certainly a point, but then 5e went back to using Titania a public domain character, one of William Shakespeare's characters, for their Summer Court.

But gave her a new, copyrightable name.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't think the Unseelie was ever that "ugly" sure some of the more mischievous and ugly Fey do associate more with the Unseelie, but the typical "Fairy Princess" that's Unseelie is in my mind going to have a more "Gothic" aesthetic as opposed to the more traditional "Fairy" type aesthetic.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

But gave her a new, copyrightable name.

In a way she's both copyrightable with a public domain connection. Much like how the X-Men character Destiny is Irene Adler a character from Sherlock Holmes who is public domain, but also is under Marvel's copyright.

 

[Charlaquin]

I have seen many works where the Seelie Court is "beautiful" and the unSeelie Court is "ugly". So a creature like a brownie would be UnSeelie simply because they were not beautiful. Also seen it broken out in terms of power, a creature would be unseelie simply because it did not have power - political, personal, etc. There are so many version between folklore and fiction that you can pretty much build to suit.

Fitting, since they share a root with seemly/unseemly

 

[Yaarel]

In Scottish folkbelief, the "unseelie" associate with fiends and undead, whence the Shadowfell court of the Raven Queen has some coherence.

Relatedly, Fey Crossings between the Feywild and the Celestial dominions, especially Arvandor, make sense. In parallel there be Shadow Crossings between the Shadowfell and the Fiend dominions, especially Hades.

In this way, Celestials often travel to the Material Plane via the Feywild, and Fiends via the Shadowfell. Hence, Fiends are sometimes present in the unseelie court gatherings along with Undead.