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i_read_whatSo last time, there was yet another boring villain chapter. This time though we end up with Bruenor, yay! Though I'm still uneasy about the whole "keeping a kid as an indentured servant" thing, and growing increasingly frustrated about the fact that a female character has yet to have a fucking speaking line.
Ah well.
As we join Bruenor, he's putting a key into a locked door with great drama. Apparently this is the 'beginning of the process that would put all of his skill and experience to the ultimate trial'. Basically it's a master dwarven smith thing that he's been waiting for his whole life.
The door is hard to open, which is a comfort to Bruenor, because it means no one else looked in on his prized possessions. With great ceremony (seriously, this entire process is at least a page, if not two, long), he opens a chest, disarms a century old trap - which I guess is useful because it gives us a range for Bruenor's age, and ignores some decoy items.
Eventually we get to the good stuff: a bar of mithril, a bag, a coffer, and a scroll tube. These are apparently a big deal, as Bruenor's hands are trembling.
We continue on to even more dramatic build up, as Bruenor goes to his outdoor forge, which is a sacred place. We get a flashback to Bruenor's father that gives us some explanation as to what's going on and why all this dramatic ceremony:
'If yer talent for the craft is keen,' his father had said, 'and ye're lucky enough to live long and feel the strength of the earth, ye'll find a special day. A special blessin' - some would say a curse - has been placed upon our people, for once, and only once, the very best of our smiths may craft a weapon of their choosing that outdoes any work they'd ever done. Be wary of that day, son, for ye'll put a great deal of yerself into that weapon. Ye'll never match its perfection in yer life again and, knowing this, ye'll lose a lot of the craftsman's desire that drives the swing of yer hammer. Ye may find an empty life after yer day, but if yer good as yer line says ye'll be, ye'll have crafted a weapon of legend that will live on long after yer bones are dust.'
We're then told that Bruenor's father died in Mithril Hall without ever living long enough for his own special day. Some of the treasures Bruenor uses now would have been used by him instead, but Bruenor sees no disrespect in using them as he'll make his father proud. Aw.
Then we're told what Bruenor is making: he apparently dreamed of a two-headed hammer hidden within the block of mithril, and time is short, because a "night of power" is approaching. Bruenor believes that on the full moon on the solstice, he'll capture a mighty spell indeed when he uttered the dweomer of power.
It's actually a pretty compelling passage. Not a lot of direct action, but a lot of world building here. And some interesting insight in the more religious elements of Dwarven culture. Also it's pretty interesting to get a look at what goes into making one of those legendary D&D magic weapons.
So Bruenor is working. There's a lot of flowery language about the process. In the mean time, we're told that Bruenor is being watched by dark eyes a ridge away, that he doesn't see.
Anyway, he's crafted the hammer, and now it's time to do the magic work: carving symbols of gods and runes of power taken from the scroll. Bruenor notes that though he'd never seen them before, their arcane lines and curves seemed comfortably familiar to him.
It is eventually told to us that the eyes watching him belong to Drizzt, who is careful not to disturb his friend's concentration. It seems a little voyeuristic to me, since this is clearly meant to be a private, almost religious ceremony. But he seems to have a reverential appreciation himself. He even notes that he doesn't know if Bruenor would survive the night's ordeal, but he's thrilled for him, since he saw the hammer start glowing. Bruenor himself passes out.
So as I said, I like this bit. I like the world building and it's infinitely more interesting to me than yet another fucking "what is the stupid rock doing now" chapter. Yay.
Ah well.
As we join Bruenor, he's putting a key into a locked door with great drama. Apparently this is the 'beginning of the process that would put all of his skill and experience to the ultimate trial'. Basically it's a master dwarven smith thing that he's been waiting for his whole life.
The door is hard to open, which is a comfort to Bruenor, because it means no one else looked in on his prized possessions. With great ceremony (seriously, this entire process is at least a page, if not two, long), he opens a chest, disarms a century old trap - which I guess is useful because it gives us a range for Bruenor's age, and ignores some decoy items.
Eventually we get to the good stuff: a bar of mithril, a bag, a coffer, and a scroll tube. These are apparently a big deal, as Bruenor's hands are trembling.
We continue on to even more dramatic build up, as Bruenor goes to his outdoor forge, which is a sacred place. We get a flashback to Bruenor's father that gives us some explanation as to what's going on and why all this dramatic ceremony:
'If yer talent for the craft is keen,' his father had said, 'and ye're lucky enough to live long and feel the strength of the earth, ye'll find a special day. A special blessin' - some would say a curse - has been placed upon our people, for once, and only once, the very best of our smiths may craft a weapon of their choosing that outdoes any work they'd ever done. Be wary of that day, son, for ye'll put a great deal of yerself into that weapon. Ye'll never match its perfection in yer life again and, knowing this, ye'll lose a lot of the craftsman's desire that drives the swing of yer hammer. Ye may find an empty life after yer day, but if yer good as yer line says ye'll be, ye'll have crafted a weapon of legend that will live on long after yer bones are dust.'
We're then told that Bruenor's father died in Mithril Hall without ever living long enough for his own special day. Some of the treasures Bruenor uses now would have been used by him instead, but Bruenor sees no disrespect in using them as he'll make his father proud. Aw.
Then we're told what Bruenor is making: he apparently dreamed of a two-headed hammer hidden within the block of mithril, and time is short, because a "night of power" is approaching. Bruenor believes that on the full moon on the solstice, he'll capture a mighty spell indeed when he uttered the dweomer of power.
It's actually a pretty compelling passage. Not a lot of direct action, but a lot of world building here. And some interesting insight in the more religious elements of Dwarven culture. Also it's pretty interesting to get a look at what goes into making one of those legendary D&D magic weapons.
So Bruenor is working. There's a lot of flowery language about the process. In the mean time, we're told that Bruenor is being watched by dark eyes a ridge away, that he doesn't see.
Anyway, he's crafted the hammer, and now it's time to do the magic work: carving symbols of gods and runes of power taken from the scroll. Bruenor notes that though he'd never seen them before, their arcane lines and curves seemed comfortably familiar to him.
It is eventually told to us that the eyes watching him belong to Drizzt, who is careful not to disturb his friend's concentration. It seems a little voyeuristic to me, since this is clearly meant to be a private, almost religious ceremony. But he seems to have a reverential appreciation himself. He even notes that he doesn't know if Bruenor would survive the night's ordeal, but he's thrilled for him, since he saw the hammer start glowing. Bruenor himself passes out.
So as I said, I like this bit. I like the world building and it's infinitely more interesting to me than yet another fucking "what is the stupid rock doing now" chapter. Yay.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-07 04:05 pm (UTC)Clearly there are just no women at all in this world, good job RA Salvatore.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-07 07:06 pm (UTC)It's really frustrating though because there IS a female character in this set up. Bruenor has an adopted human daughter, she was mentioned earlier and is pretty important to the mythos in general. It's just for some reason she's not worth talking about or showing us yet.