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Old 06-13-2006, 11:33 AM   #4
Child of the 7th Age
Spirit of the Lonely Star
 
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Durelin,

I am not sure about the ending. I don't think I'd want to make it a cycle with absolutely no real change in any of the characters from beginning till end. Surely there would be some evidence of change in individuals, but I also agree that there would not be an automatic happy ending where everything falls neatly into place. Perhaps there is a split within the Orcs with a few characters potentially able to make that shift in attitude, and others not at all? Possibly there would be fighting between the Orcs themselves at some point near the end after they reach their destination?

Have you ever read Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter? (I know this seems off topic but bear with me.) It's a story about a young white settler who was captured and raised by Indians. He has strong Indian ties and identity, an Indian family he loves. At the beginning of the story, the U.S. army forces all the captives in his area to return to their orginal white families, whom they've not seen for many years. After unwillingly living with the white family for some time, the boy finds that he can not look at all whites with equal disdain: he hates some who are bigoted and ugly, but has mixed feelings about others. Moreover, although basically Indian in values and perspective, he develops some real feeling for his own white brother.

He does not recognize what has happened to him at first, but he is increasingly straddled between two worlds. He prefers Indian culture and lifestyle and hates the way some whites have victimized his people. Yet when he manages to return to his Indian father, the young man can not accept the fact that the Indians plan an ambush of a family where a boy who looks very much like his own white brother would have been killed. He warns the white family as the ambush is about to occur and lets them escape, an act of betrayal his Indian father can not accept. The Indians let him live but he is forced to leave his Indian family and community forever. At the same time, he cannot return to the white settlers because he has attacked and possibly killed someone in that community who was a real bigot. At the end of the story, he is forced to wander off on his own without family or community.

Yet there is not total bleakness even in this sad scenario. At least one young man has managed to see beyond the sterile, deadly fighting of whites and Indians and recognize that change in attitudes is possible. We have no idea what happens to this boy as he sets off on his own on the last page of the book.

I guess that I see that potential for personal tragedy and an unresolved ending in this story. If one or two Orcs or Orc families would have changed their attitudes even slightly, what would have happened to them? They would no longer fit into one culture or the other. Might one Orc or Orc family have made the decision to stick with or near the slaves? Would another simply disappear in the night, unable to fit into either culture? Perhaps that is more realistic. Likely most Orcs could not have made the shift even that far and would have tried something like that ambush.

All this talk makes me interested in playing an Orc.

Even apart from Orcs, there's the attitudes of the slaves and ex-slaves and of members of the Fellowship itself. I think even there you would have a range of opinions and feelings about Orcs set in place even before the story begins. Even for them, change would have been difficult.

Anyways...... on to other things. I agree. Let's keep the ex-slaves then as well as the slaves.

I have to run and do some things now. I'll come back later and respond to you further and work on the proposal.
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Last edited by Child of the 7th Age; 06-13-2006 at 11:59 AM.
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