Rob
asked
Sebastien de Castell:
Hello Sebastien! My question is, if you're familiar, under the old Dungeon and Dragons alignment system, do you consider the Greatcoats to be Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral? The lawful part is obvious, but I'm not sure if they are more Good or Neutral. If they are LG, then I like how this provides a much more nuanced vision of the alignment than the goody-goody or near-fanatical portrayals that I've encountered!
Sebastien de Castell
Hi There!
I have a passing familiarity with the old D&D alignment stuff. The problem is that in a role playing context, alignment is really a way of putting rails on what the player does (or at least, how the player justifies their actions.) In the context of a novel, notions of good vs evil and law vs chaos exist more as ideals that the characters wrestle with. In the case of the Greatcoats, Falcio is constantly struggling with whether to follow the law – which he sees as the greater long-term good – or whether to do what needs to be done in the moment, which almost always means undermining that long-term good. Furthermore, when he's acting out of personal vendetta (which he tries to avoid but loses it sometimes), he's no longer even neutral good, but rather, true neutral.
If I was forced to fit the characters into the D&D mold . . .
Falcio would be bouncing around between Lawful Good (we have to believe that following the law will make things better), Neutral Good (screw the law, I'm just going to help this person and deal with the consequences later), and True Neutral (I'm going to kill this bastard and I don't care what happens after that.)
Kest would slide between Lawful Neutral (if we're supposed to be lawmen, then we can't make decisions based on the outcome) and Neutral Good (the law clearly can't help us solve this problem, so I'll do what's necessary for the greater good even if it means going back on my oath).
Brasti contends with Neutral Good (screw the law, we're supposed to help people) and Chaotic Neutral (I started as a poacher, and I'm perfectly happy watching the world go to hell and getting myself a nice drink while it happens.)
Hope some of that helps!
I have a passing familiarity with the old D&D alignment stuff. The problem is that in a role playing context, alignment is really a way of putting rails on what the player does (or at least, how the player justifies their actions.) In the context of a novel, notions of good vs evil and law vs chaos exist more as ideals that the characters wrestle with. In the case of the Greatcoats, Falcio is constantly struggling with whether to follow the law – which he sees as the greater long-term good – or whether to do what needs to be done in the moment, which almost always means undermining that long-term good. Furthermore, when he's acting out of personal vendetta (which he tries to avoid but loses it sometimes), he's no longer even neutral good, but rather, true neutral.
If I was forced to fit the characters into the D&D mold . . .
Falcio would be bouncing around between Lawful Good (we have to believe that following the law will make things better), Neutral Good (screw the law, I'm just going to help this person and deal with the consequences later), and True Neutral (I'm going to kill this bastard and I don't care what happens after that.)
Kest would slide between Lawful Neutral (if we're supposed to be lawmen, then we can't make decisions based on the outcome) and Neutral Good (the law clearly can't help us solve this problem, so I'll do what's necessary for the greater good even if it means going back on my oath).
Brasti contends with Neutral Good (screw the law, we're supposed to help people) and Chaotic Neutral (I started as a poacher, and I'm perfectly happy watching the world go to hell and getting myself a nice drink while it happens.)
Hope some of that helps!
More Answered Questions
The Ghoul in the Attic
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Sebastien de Castell:
Hi, Sebastien! The Greatcoats tetralogy has often been discussed as part of the grimdark subgenre. Do you consider those books as grimdark and do you think there's something about "The Greatcoats" that makes it different from the classics (say, Abercrombie's First Law series)?
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Sebastien de Castell:
Hello- one of my friends recommended your book to me and actually bought me a copy. I look forward to reading it, but I need to finish another series first. In the mean time, I was wondering if it would be appropriate for my 12-year old son? I'm not worried about his reading level (he's a voracious reader and loves fantasy), but rather his maturity level. Thanks!
K3
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Sebastien de Castell:
just curious, but why does the spelling of Dari's name change from Dariana in Knight's Shadow to Darriana in Saint's Blood? It's not a major issue for me, just something I noticed as I read it the second time (I just got it this past weekend a. a side question to add: how do you come up with good names that go so well with the time period? I can never find a good name for the time period I want to set my characters in
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