Elan Being Roy

[Imgran]

I don't think you could ask for a better example of Elan trying to emulate Roy than you got in the bottom strip of the second page of #596.

I mean seriously.

Elan... sacrasm?
Elan... driving the point home in bold font?
Elan... keeping the main perspective ahead of him?
Elan... making any attempt at all to try to be a moral compass for the party?

Either this is Elan trying to stand in Roy's shoes, or this is the Giant trying to borrow Roy's character for something that character would say and putting it in Elan's voice as he's more plot-convenient.

I mean, if you ranked the OoTS characters in the order of who you would have thought would do what Elan's doing here, Elan rates just above Belkar, and way below Roy, Haley, Vaarsuvius and Durkon (probably in that order, although I might be underestimating Durkon)

[someonenonotyou]

mabey roy went down and possested him

[AstralFire]

This didn't seem like character derailment, though I was startled by Elan's illusion work. Glad to see the guy's getting a lot of development, as well he should.

For sarcasm-ability, sure, I'd use the list you'd had (well, similar - for sarcasm, Belkar rates much higher). For mocking, same.

But attempting to be a moral compass goes more:
Roy, Durkon, Elan, Haley, Vaarsuvius.

Haley and V are more focused on big picture morality than the little stuff that needs to get straightened out in party, and Haley in particular is selective "I like this person/need to get along with this person to do the job" morality.

So actually I'd have put the order:
Roy, Haley = Elan, Durkon, Vaarsuvius.

Elan's been increasingly competent since getting his PrC, as well as increasingly driven. He's not quite at the level of being "kickass", but if I wanted a good example of 'cool bard' to point at on the web, Elan would be it.

[Wreckingrocc]

mabey roy went down and possested himWhat are these bolded words? I can't seem to find them anywhere. Shouldn't Roy have a capital R?

[Zolem]

What are these bolded words? I can't seem to find them anywhere. Shouldn't Roy have a capital R?

Oh be nice, not everyone has English as thier first language, and it is a hard language.

Quite frankly, Elan looks up to Roy as a big brother, so he'd do what little brothers do and try to emulate and live up to the example of his 'big brother', especialy one that is also a surogate father figure. If Roy's watching, he'd be so proud right now.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Oh be nice, not everyone has English as thier first language, and it is a hard language.

Quite frankly, Elan looks up to Roy as a big brother, so he'd do what little brothers do and try to emulate and live up to the example of his 'big brother', especialy one that is also a surogate father figure. If Roy's watching, he'd be so proud right now.Yeah, those misspellings are common for those who aren't used to the language. The lack of capitalization is less forgivable, but I have seen much worse.

[Mercenary Pen]

Yeah, those misspellings are common for those who aren't used to the language. The lack of capitalization is less forgivable, but I have seen much worse.

Not all languages require the capitalisation of proper nouns- and, from experience, there are quite a few language teachers around who do little with regards to teaching grammar.


Anyhow, back on topic, Elan does really seem to be growing up at a vast rate of knots... Eventually, they might have to revoke his village idiot license.

[factotum]

Roy wouldn't have just been sarcastic about what V just did--he'd have been FUMING. There's no way he would have taken things as calmly as Elan just did.

[Ferrous]

From a story-teller's perspective, Elan is essentially filling Roy's shoes. A good story teller will have at least one character that we can relate to, the one whose perspective makes the most sense to us, and with whom whose eyes we are meant to interpret the story. Usually, this is the protagonist, but not necessarily (think Sam in Lord of the Rings), and usually this character will have some mix of reason and humor, seemingly the most "human" of all the characters.

In the case of OotS, Roy was our "looking glass" up until he died and essentially was removed from the main story-line (at least for the time-being...I hope.) However, with Roy gone, we need some other character to fill the role of being the character we can all relate to; Elan is essentially filling that role in this particular story arc. If this is intentional strictly on the Giant's behalf, then it is done well. However, it makes additional sense if Elan is somehow aware (consciously or subconsciously) that he is filling that role given his bardic training.

[TreesOfDeath]

Elan may well be imatating Roy. I don't count this as characther Derailment though. Roy would probably moralize less

[Imgran]

Just to clarify, I wasn't really alleging character derailment. It fits Elan's character to emulate Roy.

I guess I was kind of surprised at just how much Elan has been actually paying attention -- using Belkar as the hammer to crack Vaarsuvius' argument was brilliant.

I think someone's been adding his bonus stats from levels to Intelligence.

[Lissou]

From a story-teller's perspective, Elan is essentially filling Roy's shoes. A good story teller will have at least one character that we can relate to, the one whose perspective makes the most sense to us, and with whom whose eyes we are meant to interpret the story. Usually, this is the protagonist, but not necessarily (think Sam in Lord of the Rings), and usually this character will have some mix of reason and humor, seemingly the most "human" of all the characters.

In the case of OotS, Roy was our "looking glass" up until he died and essentially was removed from the main story-line (at least for the time-being...I hope.) However, with Roy gone, we need some other character to fill the role of being the character we can all relate to; Elan is essentially filling that role in this particular story arc. If this is intentional strictly on the Giant's behalf, then it is done well. However, it makes additional sense if Elan is somehow aware (consciously or subconsciously) that he is filling that role given his bardic training.


Except I think a lot of readers think the way V does, not the way Elan does. I guess you'll find a group for both, actually. So it's less "black and white" than you seem to say. V isn't obviously right and Elan isn't either.

[AstralFire]

Well, you always have people who prefer or even identify with characters besides the main protagonist. However, I'd say Elan is probably the best replacement looking glass - sure, V's a lot more intelligent and in some ways more practically genre-savvy, but the center character tends to be one who is most easily understood. I don't mean like an emotional bonding, I mean that you understand the words coming out of their mouth.

Roy, Elan, Durkon and Haley are all better at filling that role than Belkar or V. Roy because of his high balanced mental stats, Elan because he's dumb. In this sense Durkon plays Elan to Haley's Roy, albeit not nearly as extremely. They also tend to be the most blatantly moral characters, since V is a big picture kind of guy.