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lisiecki
2008-12-16, 03:01 PM
So, ive been Looking through the old Raveloft books, and something sticks out to me.

Why is Lukas Harkon a Lord with own domain?

I mean, honestly, he seems like a pretty decent "person" and Kartakass...
Well it seems... pretty nice... aside for the giant wolf infestations.

Is there more to his back story that explains why hes a lord, aside for his love of werewolf and vampire killing?

herrhauptmann
2008-12-16, 08:35 PM
Wasn't Harkon Lukas a Wolf-were? Like a werewolf, but vulnerable to cold iron and not silver. Also changes to wolf on death instead of a human, assuming I'm remembering the novels correctly.

To be honest, the ruler of Richemulot is fairly neutral too, most of her evilness occurs when stopping her extended family (all wererats) from trying to kill her.

lisiecki
2008-12-16, 09:15 PM
Wasn't Harkon Lukas a Wolf-were? Like a werewolf, but vulnerable to cold iron and not silver. Also changes to wolf on death instead of a human, assuming I'm remembering the novels correctly.



Yep exactly.
There's no mention of him doing anything at all that was "evil" other than killing the wolfwere's that didn't want to create an organized society.
And being stuck in Barovia when it it was sucked in to the Demiplane or Dread.

And hell, his domain sounds nicer than where i live. A bunch of outgoing, friendly people who just have to avoid pissing off the wolves that wander around...

herrhauptmann
2008-12-16, 10:36 PM
Well if you go that way, Lord Soth really didn't do much but sit on his throne for years on end. The really evil one was his seneschal: that dwarf werebadger, who was in charge of the secret police.

lisiecki
2008-12-16, 10:57 PM
Well if you go that way, Lord Soth really didn't do much but sit on his throne for years on end. The really evil one was his seneschal: that dwarf werebadger, who was in charge of the secret police.

True but Soth killed his wife, worked for the Dragon Queen ect ect ect...

Lukas was basically just a werewolf hunter who happend to be a wolfwear.

(also whats with all the lords who have there falls tyed to there wives, or women they wanted to marry)

Strahd, Soth, Sir Tristen, Victor

I know that unrequited tragic love is part of gothic horror, but come on

herrhauptmann
2008-12-16, 11:48 PM
Well in an inversion, what's'her name of Richemulot (Louise Renoir I think) was always pining for her baby daddy who fled when he discovered she was a wererat.


True but Soth killed his wife, worked for the Dragon Queen etc etc etc...

But all that was back when he was still in Dragonlance. Not that I'm saying he wasn't evil, but most of his original fall was a result of pride and vice. THEN he was reborn as a deathknight, and even then, he was mostly a nonentity of evil until Kitiara dragged him out of his keep.

Who's Tristen? Haven't read his story...

lisiecki
2008-12-17, 12:13 AM
Well in an inversion, what's'her name of Richemulot (Louise Renoir I think) was always pining for her baby daddy who fled when he discovered she was a wererat.
But all that was back when he was still in Dragonlance. Not that I'm saying he wasn't evil, but most of his original fall was a result of pride and vice. THEN he was reborn as a deathknight, and even then, he was mostly a nonentity of evil until Kitiara dragged him out of his keep.
Who's Tristen? Haven't read his story...

Tristen was the son of a lord who killed his wife.
The wife cursed daddy so that if daddy ever fell in love again, he would kill his new lover. Daddy died before he feel in love again, so Tristen got the curse.
Tristen killed his first lover at 15 due to the curse and got dragged in to ravenloft although apparently he hasnt really noticed. He keeps trying to woo the ladies, and when ever he thinks one is cheating on him, his split personality kills them.
Although despite having the split personality hes a fairly decent human being, gives the poor a break when they legitimatly cant pay there tax, woos ladies with expensive gifts, and when he feels his alter ego taking control, he has him self locked in a dungeon.

(there's also a Trysten who's a vampyre, as opposed to a vampire, he dies every night when the sun sets, and is a ghost untill dawn, when his body is reborn)

The thing i dont like about the dreadlords is there are to many that are either not evil enough, or WAY to obvious like Vlad.

herrhauptmann
2008-12-17, 03:11 AM
So what's the deal with Alexi Shadowborn? There's an entire novel dedicated to him, but I haven't read it.

My personal favorite was 'Scholar of Decay' which also provided us with an outstanding AD&D adventure. One which we followed almost exactly like the book. And that's without being run on rails.

Fixer
2008-12-17, 12:28 PM
A concept buried deep in gothic horror is that those that are villains are not entirely reprehensible. The best villains are the ones you almost feel sorry for, or at least can empathize with. Ones like Vlad are only there as an example.

Also, a person can be evil and still do nice things; they just do them for the wrong reasons. It is one of those 'ends justify the means' things.

Even if a domain lord had a 'change of heart', they would still be a domain lord, in spite of whatever 'alignment shift' they had. What would Ravenloft do, kick them out?

lisiecki
2008-12-17, 12:53 PM
So what's the deal with Alexi Shadowborn? There's an entire novel dedicated to him, but I haven't read it.


Time has marred my ability to remember what the real deal with Alexi is, and what is horrible, horrible fan fic.

From what i THINK is real, he tried his best to save his mom from being killed by a demon, but wasn't able to.

Searingly, the dark powers are jerks


A concept buried deep in gothic horror is that those that are villains are not entirely reprehensible. The best villains are the ones you almost feel sorry for, or at least can empathize with. Ones like Vlad are only there as an example.

True true, but it really dose seem like ALOT of the dark lords are emo songs in the vein of "girl done me wrong".

Acually right now im looking at Soth webpages, and i remember NONE of this back story from the Legends books...