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bbq-hawks-wings · 4 years

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Really long ask - Part 1: Hi, sorry for this long rant, but I just wanted to vent since I saw this latest story posted on AO3 and I am restraining myself on commenting on their story so I'm just letting my anger out here about it and other issues regarding fan-depiction of Hawks. It's vaguely related to your post on how DabiHawks or Dabi+Hawks stories make it all about Dabi and always made Hawks out to be the one who starts the problems in their relationship or is the one trying to get Dabi's

Content warning: passing mention of r*pe in a fanfiction.

LOOOONG post under the cut.

(Cont.)

Dabi's attentions when it's canon that it's the complete opposite. This latest story that came up in my feed was about Hawks "harassing" Dabi (who apparently has a backstory of r*pe) and Twice helps Dabi works out his feelings. Among the hoards of tags condemning Hawks, they decided to use "Hawks is very uncool in this fic heads up" so that's another one to add to my filters. I think I also have to block the "Dabi Needs a Hug" tags too bc he's always woobified like heck.

I really want to read stories where Hawks interacts with Twice since they have a bond/drama with each other, but people have been adding Dabi and either making it seem like Hawks has been gaslighting Dabi in their "relationship" or with Twice. I can acknowledge stories where Hawks feels guilty for what he had to do or Twice being anger/betrayed over Hawks' actions since that is actually what happened; but I will not stand for Dabi claiming Hawks took advantage of Twice or Twice and Dabi having feelings for each other with Hawks in the way bc Dabi is a) the one who let Hawks in b) knew Twice is gullible and c) used Twice as bait. Even in the stories that are cute/causal+funny, Hawks is always the one who gets threatened with fire, harsh insults, or guilted into compliance but the seriousness of the first 2 are always brushed off and the third kinda makes me want it that Hawks doesn't have friends bc most people write him as a bad friend who only cares about his own problems (especially the ones that write Hawks like a celebrity/night club person).

On writing Dabi, his issues always take priority over everything else, his family loves him, and the lov is always chill with him. He's usually written as the fun asshole/caretaker (bc of his big brother status or ablity to cook). Those factors aren't bad by itself, but it's extremely irritating when the writers/artists can give that level of care to Dabi, but just reduce Hawks to a meme who is a workaholic for the government/scared of punishment & not bc he really cares about the people he saves/helps. It's not like I hate the DabiHawks pairing, but the majority of the content (esp the recent ones), are frustrating to read & Hawks' character is usually written in bad out of character extremes. I am really mystified that I'm praying for canon content rather than fanmade most of the time.

Phew! After the back and forth it looks like we got to the end of that! (Or did we?! *Dun dun DUUUUN*) If not, though, feel free to keep the asks rolling. Lol Foxy and I are usually pretty happy to receive as many asks as people want to send even if it takes us a while, individually, to get to it. Now to finally address what you sent.

I find myself in a weird place when it comes to OOC fanfic because on the one hand people can write whatever they want, and I don’t really have a place to criticize them; but also when they blatantly and willingly misinterpret a character so they have grounds to bash on them it also leaves me acutely uncomfortable. I don’t think I’d call it “problematic” as much as a squick? Like, if they’re willing to blow past all the obvious proof to the contrary about their claims of a fictional character just because they hate them, then are they willing to do the same thing to a real person? Usually, those kinds of thoughts are pointlessly extreme, but we know those who unironically and/or unapologeticly call fans of the heroes “bootlickers” so... It’s like, ooc vent fics are also fine; and if you want to rewrite a character to fit the narrative scheme you’ve set up that’s cool as long as its tagged (“ooc [character]” or something) and/or just mention in the a/n that they knowingly and willingly mischaracterized them for the sake of the fic. Just. Don’t. Claim. It’s. Canon.

And speaking of canon, as much as I’m sure Horikoshi knew Hawks and Dabi were going to end up shipped I think it’s obvious that he never was going to canonically write them ending up together, yet here comes the “canon must validate my headcanon” crowd calling him a bad writer because the author had some bigger narrative goal in mind than having two pretty anime boys kissing.

And the worst part to me is, I feel there’s a distinct slice of the DabiHawks crowd missing out on some of the possibilities of this ship by intentionally mischaracterizing them. Like, the aesthetic equal/opposite draw of the ship is phenomenal as it is and I don’t even ship them, but I can see a wide range of possible fics based solely on the principle that they are canonically incompatible!

At the end of the day, Dabi is a dime-a-dozen edgelord - that pain in the butt OC that so many newbie D&D players make that they think is so deep and dark and mature, but is about as cookie-cutter as they come. It’s not that this kind of character is unsalvageable or a hopeless Gary Stu character, just that they don’t often come across as compelling in and of themselves or that they need more than just selfish hatred to carry them through a series. Two kinds of edgelords that can be done well are the “Out of the Ashes” edgelord and “I’ll Pull You Into Hell With Me” edgelord. The first kind recognizes there’s more to life than their sad backstory and getting even and thus choose to aspire to more noble causes - think Joel from The Last of Us. The second recognizes they’re actively doing wrong and come to embrace it - being more concerned with getting what they want than taking the moral high ground - think Frank Castle, aka the Punisher - and even these darker, “unsaveable” kinds of edgelord antiheroes can have redeeming qualities such as meeting and helping a young hopeful and telling them, “I know I’m on the road to hell, so if you want to save yourself you’d better not follow me.”

Dabi actually has what he needs to become the second type right now (assuming he’s Touya) and could even evolve into the first not unlike Kratos from God of War, but that potential can’t be fully recognized until you admit that he’s fundamentally self-centered and a bad person as-is. He may have the tragic backstory complete with justifiable hate at his genuinely abusive father, but rather than using that as fuel to see that never happen to anyone else like it did him - he just wants to get even. He burns people alive, knowing well he’s participating in the same destruction that his father committed to make him what he is now. He doesn’t recognize any of the merits of hero society and is only concerned with burning it to ash. He could use what happened to his family to incite compassion in his heart and take others under his wing, but instead he uses people as a mean to his own ends. He isn’t even proper grimdark - he’s just your run of the mill egotistical megalomaniac with a punk aesthetic.

And that’s still a good character in the grand scheme of things, maybe just not alone! Moreso, it’s a good villain and EVEN BETTER when you put him next to Hawks who is at his core:

Fundamentally Hopepunk!

Hopepunk is about being good and kind as an act of rebellion against a cruel and unfair world no matter how bleak it gets or how badly you’re beaten down. Despite his own cruel past, Hawks still has a heart to help others for no other reason than to help them, he constantly changes the odds to save as many people as he can when he’d be given a pass for letting the cards fall where they will, and not only is his aim to “help others” but to make sure that there’ll never be need for heroes again. He’s an active rebel against the system fighting with kindness and goodness, fervently looking and listening for the next opportunity to do good.

In agreement with you, Hawks and Twice are interesting to explore because while Twice is an optimist looking to make the world a better place, he’s still a step or two removed from Hawks’ worldview because Twice refuses to let go of the “family” he found for himself while Hawks is willing to sacrifice himself for others. That dynamic is so interesting, and it’s what made them so initially compatible and subsequently heartbreaking in canon.

And it’s such a disappointment to see this unwaveringly earnest character reduced to “shitty fratboy” so often. For a lot of people newer to his character I can understand the confusion, but there really isn’t an excuse if you’ve been reading the series, and the possibilities for fics with this canon personality are just so much more interesting to explore, especially with Dabi as his sort-of opposite.

For DabiHawks to work well, you have to recognize that something has to give in either of them. Some of the juiciest, most angsty content is when you have two characters grow close together over commonalities only to be reminded that despite everything else they share, that One Thing will always keep them from truly being able to see eye-to-eye. Either Dabi has to grow past his hatred and relearn compassion and empathy, or Hawks has to lose grip of that hopeful vision he has and fall into despair. Both options are good to explore, but both require the acknowledgement that Dabi’s view of the world is fundamentally bleak and selfish, especially compared to Hawks’. For a supposed revolutionary out to change the world for the better whose a diamond in the rough with a heart of gold, that’s not exactly on-brand; and at the end of the day the issue is that some are unwilling to admit that what they wanted Dabi to be is likely not going to happen and they love that fake version Dabi more than they love what Hawks actually stands for which is why Hawks always gets the shaft in the end.

I still personally hold a bit of a grudge against the DaiHawks ship as a whole purely because, as you said, Dabi always seems to take priority over Hawks instead of letting the two build a dynamic together. Hawks is always the one who has to give, and the torture porn some have made him go through to “make the ship work” is downright disturbing to me. Even at its height DabiHawks content completely flooded the Hawks character tags on Tumblr with some of the same problems that have persisted to this day such as emphasizing their aesthetic as opposed to their dynamic and rampant mischaracterization.

Anyway, that’s my long-winded response. What do you think, @autumn-foxfire?

#long post anon #autumn-foxfire #let's talk hawks

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doctorgerth · 5 years

Text

Contest Winner (Third Place)

Winner: @arkanfire

Prize Choice: Full NSFW Alphabet with any character

Description: Full NSFW Alphabet with Eustass Kid; female mentions and pronouns

Rating: 100% filth

Warnings: extra extra smutty, like, all the smut

Note: Sorry to post these prizes out of order! I have the one shot for second place winner a little over half way done, it’s just taking a bit longer because it is a one shot. I went ahead and worked on this today and it didn’t take very long so I wanted to go ahead and post it! Hat, I really hope you enjoy this, my love! It was really fun to write! I need a shower now... x

Full NSFW Alphabet (Eustass Kid)

A = Aftercare (What they're like after sex)

- Depending on if it's a one night stand or someone he truly loves, aftercare can actually vary

- With one night stands, he's pretty quick to tell them to get out, or quick to leave if he's at their place; he has no interest in cuddling or exchanging in pillow talk with someone he's never going to see again, let alone someone he doesn't really give two shits about

- With someone he loves, he's of course more inclined to stay; he's still not very cuddly as he usually gets really hot to the touch after his sessions so he'll ask his partner to stay on their side of the bed for a moment until he cools down

- he'll either grab a glass of water or perhaps some whiskey, and probably some food as well, not caring if he's walking around the place completely naked; if he's feeling particularly generous he'll ask them if they want anything while he rummages through the kitchen

- once he's ready, he'll allow his partner to cuddle him, usually he'll just lie on his back and let them cuddle up on his chest

- he doesn't really participate in much pillow talk as he's pretty quick to fall asleep after

- he'll pretty much always be honest and tell them if their session was good or bad, no matter who his partner was for the night

- cleanup is a bit messy as he usually leaves to clean himself off, measly throwing a towel or shirt or whatever at his partner to clean themselves

B = Bodypart (Their favorite body part of their's and also their partner's)

- he's of course mega proud about his cock, is anyone surprised?

- he's conquered many ladies with it, made quite a few cum all over it, what's not to be proud of?

- it fuels his ego immensely when a woman praises his cock, god he can't get enough of that

- he's also quite proud of his torso, how broad and toned it is; it's usually what wins the ladies over initially

- as for his favorite part on a woman? definitely the ass, everyone knows Kid is an ass man

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically)

- Kid's cum is a bit on the thicker side, really really sticky

- It's not the best tasting cum by any means, but it's not the worst

- Kid usually prefers to cum on his partner's ass or in their mouth, but he's really not picky as seeing his partner drenched in his cum is gonna excite him either way

- He actually has pretty good aim too, he's not really clumsy when shooting his seed, if you tell him not to get it in your hair he's pretty good at following your orders

- If his partner asks him to cum inside, he's honestly really turned on but also really terrified as he doesn't want any kids right now

- unless it's with a partner he really trusts, he'll usually just ignore them, pretending he didn't hear their request and jizz literally anywhere else

- his pull out game is immaculate; no babies for Eustass

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

- It's not much of a secret but it is dirty nonetheless: Kid loves anal sex

- Penetration, rimming, anything that can be done to the booty he's gonna do it because he just absolutely loves it

- The extra tightness, the view of the ass, the naughty sensation of doing anal just really turns him on so much

- He doesn't care how taboo it is, it's a thrill to him and he's gonna keep doing it

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they're doing?)

- Kid has a great amount of experience, but not nearly as much as he likes to put off

- He's had a handful of one night stands, some really great, some absolutely shitty, but by now he definitely knows his way around a woman

- He likes to be in control 99% of the time, so he'd of course need to know what he's doing in order to be the leader

- There's some gray areas where he's a bit unsure, so his partner needs to be able to explain it to him well to his understanding or he's not interested; sex isn't meant for trial and error, he's going to fuck you like he knows how to

F = Favorite Position (This goes without saying)

- Literally any variation of Doggy Style

- it brings forth a sort of primal desire in his being when he gets to fuck someone from behind; there's so much power, so much carnal energy from taking a woman from behind

- bending a girl over and just pounding into them is definitely his favorite way to have sex; he'll usually grab fistfuls of their hair, or smack their ass until his hand prints are littered on their skin

- he's an ass man, so he needs to see that ass when he's fucking

- Reverse Cowgirl (in the rare instances he lets his woman top)

- Kid isn't totally against a woman topping him, if she knows what she's doing and just how he likes it, he'll let her take control

- it's just such a rare occasion for a woman to keep up with his pace while riding him, plus he gets frustrated with all the teasing so he usually throws them off and goes back to taking the reigns

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they more humorous)

- If you ever laughed at Kid while having sex with him, he'd get instantly pissy and probably storm out; the mood is just ruined for him in general

- Sex is no laughing matter; it's time for him to make the both of you feel good, chase after your respective highs, what's so funny about it? Are you saying he's doing so poorly he's making you laugh at him? No one laughs at Kid!

- He takes it way too personally honestly, and gets real butt hurt about it, so laughing during sex is a no go

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

- The carpet definitely matches the drapes

- His dark red pubes are insanely curly

- He honestly gets really frustrated with the shaving, he cuts himself like every time due to his impatience, so he doesn't really shave all too often

- He trims his hairs down when they get too wild for his liking, but that's about it

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect)

- Romantic? Yeah right

- Sex isn't romantic to him, he doesn't get the whole "emotional connection" that comes with it, so he doesn't see sex as a big deal really

- It's just two people trying to gain physical pleasure

- I can see him having "romantic" sex with the absolute love of his life if she asks him to, and obviously sex with someone he loves does mean something to him, but other than that, he's not very intimate in the bedroom

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

- Kid has been whacking it since the age he first learned how to

- His masturbation habits may be a bit over the average Joe's, but he needs to release his anger and stress somehow

- He literally has no shame in where he masturbates, when the urge arises, he's gotta do it then and there; he'll usually just sneak off to the nearest private room

- Needless to say, Killer and the rest of the crew have walked in on him plenty of times

- If possible, he'd like to stare at some suggestive magazines or maybe a picture of his lover (if he had one), but his mind and hand really do all the work themselves

- Just like with sex, he curses a lot during the process and he's a bit loud when he cums

- He'll usually just jizz into his hand or a spare shirt or sock; the floor of his bedroom is full of cum clothes, smh

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

- Humiliation Play

- calling his partner a whore or a slut or whatever other degrading name really gets him going; the way they react to it, whether they moan in delight or growl in annoyance will always turn him on

- don't ever try to humiliate Kid in bed though, he'll get ticked off easily; he expects you to praise him, telling him how good he's fucking you

- Pain

- Kid is always a bit rough when it comes to sexy times; the pain felt or inflicted just sends an adrenaline rush through his body that ignites the sexual fires inside his veins, making for some intense, rowdy sex

- Choking, gagging, spanking, hair pulling, biting, etc. are all things he enjoys in the bedroom

- He's even okay with his partner slapping him around a bit, it doesn't ever hurt him, but it stings just enough to fuel that rush

L = Location (Favorite places to do the do)

- Kid could really care less where he has sex just as long as he's getting some

- From the most private quarters to the more public areas, he's gonna take his partner when he's in the mood (also with consent bc Kid believes in consent gdi)

- I'd say some of his favorite places are the bedroom, his study, public restrooms, and alleys

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

- The adrenaline after a fight always manages to make blood rush down to his member

- That victory after defeating someone/something or even the energy after a fight with his partner always makes him hot and heavy, eager to get nasty with them

- Seeing his partner either flustered from his teasing or pissed off from his antics also makes it easy to pop a boner

- Revealing clothing is a bit more difficult, as yes he enjoys seeing the more risque side of his partner, but he's also pissed to see them flaunting their stuff for everybody to see

- Either way, it's motivation nonetheless, whether it's motivation to praise their sexy body or motivation to punish them for being so scandalous; they're gonna end up having sex either way

- Public teasing is also another way to get him in the mood

- But let's be real, this boy is practically always in the mood

N = NO (Something they won't do, turn offs)

- Cuckolding or threesomes with another guy

- No other man is ever going to have the chance to fuck his woman, that is not okay in his books; his lover is his and only he can make them scream in pleasure

- Being submissive

- Kid doesn't have a single submissive bone in his body so don't expect him to bend for you

- Although he can appreciate a woman taking charge every now and then, he has to have the ability to regain control whenever he wants, so he's not really interested in being cuffed or tied up

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

- Kid actually has a pretty short tongue, his clit game is ridiculous but as for eating out? it's not his best work really

- Due to this, plus his own selfish ways, he much prefers receiving than giving

- That won't stop him from asking his lover to come sit on his face though

- 69ing is probably his favorite way to do during oral, that or having his lover on their knees for him, sucking him off

- He loves some good face fucking, so be prepared for him to grab you by the hair and pound his dick into your mouth

- He won't deny that he loves the feeling of someone gagging on his cock, it makes him feel massive and he just basks in the feeling of them practically choking on his member

- Cumming in his partner's mouth is one of his fav ways to blow a load

- He finds it hot as hell if they swallow; watching them clean up and swallow his mess is always a gateway to some intense fucking

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

- Slow and sensual are words that just don't belong in Kid's sexual dictionary

- His pace is 99.9999% always going to be rough, relentless, and animalistic as that's just in his nature

- He needs a strong woman that can take his eager pace as he's never going to go easy on them

- His pace is roughest during quickies or when his partner has been teasing and tormenting him all day

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

- Quickies are definitely a thing with Kid, though they're not preferred like you would think

- Kid likes to give his all in everything he does, sex included, and you can't really do that with quickies so they're not his preference

- But he's definitely not opposed to them either, if a quickie is all he can get right now, it's a hell of a lot better than nothing so he'll take it

- Quickies are usually the roughest sex you'll get from Kid; as he usually just completely skips any kind of foreplay and jumps straight into pounding into you like a wild animal

- Up against the wall quickies are his favorite

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

- Kid isn't really into experimenting; he's had his rounds, he knows what he likes and he knows what he's good at

- His sexual ways are enough to satisfy him, so he won't settle with a partner who expects more out of him

- I can see him willing to experiment with a partner he truly loves and trusts, but he'll probably complain the whole time lmao; and there's just certain things he'll definitely say no to, like pegging or golden showers or just weird things

- As for the taking risks, the idea of getting caught by someone while doing the do is a major turn on for him, so I'd say he enjoys taking those kinds of risks

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last)

- On a good day, Kid could probably go about 3 or 4 rounds

- Usually though, he makes his sessions long enough for them to be absolutely exhausted after, so just one more round to seal the deal is usual his go to

- Kid has impeccable stamina, and can last for a pretty long time to no one's surprise

- He knows when to quit it though as he can tell when his partner is getting exhausted; so typically, he'll go for however long his partner will allow him

- That's not to say it's impossible to make him cum because there are quite a few talents that can make him bust easily

- Blowjobs are an easy way to make him nut, especially if you can manage to deepthroat his cock; the sensation of someone gagging on his cock always brings him right to the edge

- Strict attention on his head will always make him cum quicker than usual as it's just so sensitive

- Kid never really lasts long during anal sex either as the extra tightness around his dick is just too much to handle

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

- Toys with Kid are a no go

- He owns a fleshlight, thanks to a gag gift from Heat, and he used it once but it wasn't nearly as good as his hand so it just kinda sits in his drawer

- If he can't bring himself pleasure from his own personal skill then there's something wrong

- With a partner, the same rule applies; if he can't make them scream his name and cum all over him with his own body and skills then he's not doing a great job

- He firmly believes they don't need toys to have good sex

- The furthest I can see him going are small toys he makes himself like maybe nipple clamps or something idk

U = Unfair (How much they like to tease)

- Kid isn't much of tease during sex as he likes to get straight to the point usually

- Most of the teasing happens beforehand like when Kid is trying to insinuate he's in the mood and he's trying to test to see if his partner is in the mood as well

- A lot of his teasing happens in public, whether it be groping, toying with her lady bits under a table, or slamming her against the wall and grinding his member against her, then just casually walking away

- He definitely knows what he's doing when teasing, as his actions pretty much always lead to a sexually frustrated partner that is more than eager for him when they get a chance to sneak away, begging him to fuck her

- He'll appreciate a partner who reciprocates this form of teasing but he doesn't like a teaser in the bedroom; he's way too impatient for that

- If you want really frustrated Kid sex (which hey you just might) then tease the hell out of him and he'll show you no mercy

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

- Kid is loud as fuck and he kinda hates it about himself because he of course wants to hear the moans from his partner rather than his own

- But between the cursing and the spanking and the grunts and the "Who's fucking you so good?" kind of chants, anyone within ear shot is gonna know what's going

- His voice is low, but he's just a naturally loud and boisterous man so of course his groans of pleasure are gonna be loud, like distant roars of rolling thunder

- He tends to curse and grunt a bit louder once reaching climax

W = Wild Card (Random headcanon)

- Kid finds it absolutely sexy to see his lipstick smeared all over his partner

- If the situation allows, he'll sneak away to apply some more on (he's always got it on him) just so he can smear the lipstick all over his partner's body, littering her skin with his red marks

- He might look a little ridiculous with smeared lipstick on his face, but he could care less as the markings on her body truly make her look divine

X = X-Ray (Let's see what's going on in those pants)

- His dick is pale just like the rest of him, but with a big, blush pink tip that's really sensitive

- I'd say he's about average size (for his height), probably about 6 inches or a lil less than that

- What he lacks in length he makes up for in girth; his dick is thicc af, and he's quite proud of the way he stretches women so well, but it's a bit painful for virgins or anal sex tbh

- It has a couple of prominent veins, but other than that, it's really smooth

- slight curve upward

- more of a shower than a grower

- his balls are about average in comparison to his penis size (they're also really sensitive)

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

- Way too fucking high lemme tell ya

- This man is a literal walking sex machine, ready to shove his dick into something literally any second of the day

- He's got so much built up anger and stress he needs to release, so he's like horny 100% of the time

- He honestly needs a partner that is ready to get it anytime and anywhere

Z = ZZZ (How quickly they fall asleep afterwords)

- Because his sessions are long and intense he's pretty quick to fall asleep after due to overexertion and the blissful feeling of coming down from his high

- He's pretty good about cleaning up before falling asleep, but honestly sometimes he just crashes right after rolling off of them

- He hardly cares about getting dressed before crashing, as I said before he gets really warm after sex, so he'll allow himself to cool off before rolling over and pulling his partner into him

- If he's staying with a stranger (very very rare) he'll just roll away from them and start snoring immediately

- With a loved one, he'll try his best to stay awake, talking about whatever they want, but sleep ultimately takes him within five minutes after sex

#one piece #follower event winner #follower event special #follower event #100 follower event #200 follower event #300 follower event #eustass kid #kid #filth #filthy #lemon #sinful #extra sin #filth alphabet #lemon alphabet #full alphabet #kid alphabet

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artemis-entreri · 7 years

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All the numbers. ALL OF THE MEME NUMBERS.

[[ Finally answering an ancient Ask from an ancient meme I posted in an ancient time. XD Cut for the humongous length, which resulted from what are probably pointless exercises in analyzing fantasy accents and just overall spending too much time and thought on a fictional character. >_>

Warning: contains spoilers through to the end of the series. ]]

1. What position does your character sleep in? ( i.e; stomach, side, back, etc. ) Describe why they do this — optional.

I see Entreri as the type to sleep on his back, with his head oriented towards the door. If the furniture is arranged in such a way that this isn’t possible for him to do, I don’t think it out of the realm of possibility that he would rearrange things so that he could sleep in the configuration described above. I don’t think he’d be particularly comfortable sleeping fully on his side, with psychological rather than physical reasons, unless he had the wall to his back, otherwise he’d be too vulnerable to the unknown, which in someone as meticulously careful as he is, would be equated to unnecessary exposure to danger. Unless, of course, he’s sharing a room with Jarlaxle, in which case he’d probably be sleeping with his back turned towards his roommate most of the time. XD

Since the human body dictates that we can’t sleep comfortably in the same position all night, I’d imagine that, to appease his body’s demands, sometimes he would lay slightly facing the side away from wherever the door is. After so many years, Entreri would no longer do this consciously, but it’d be a force of habit that would’ve been self-conditioned.I don’t think that he’d ever sleep on his stomach, since this position puts him in the most vulnerable arrangement. Being face up allows him to have the greatest degree of awareness with all of his senses for what’s going on around him, and I think that a small part of him is in tune with all of those senses even while he slumbers. I don’t imagine that he’d find sleeping on his stomach very comfortable, again due to psychological reasons rather than physical, which are amplified by the traumas of his childhood that would probably add to those feelings of vulnerability and exposure. In the case of sharing a bed with someone, I see him as preferring to sleep on the outside if the bed is against a wall, or, barring that, on whichever side provides the best path to the most efficient means of egress, be that the door or a window.

2. Does your character have any noteworthy features? Freckles? Dimples? A scar somewhere unusual? etc.

Entreri would have no physical scars from early in his career. Any scar would indicate weakness or failing, and since so much of his absolute perfectionism centered around eliminating all traces of weakness, he’d see to that all of his wounds were healed perfectly. It would even make sense for him to have gotten older scars like ones from his childhood fixed, if for no other reason than to not provide any visual cues to others as to where he might be weakened. I think perhaps that during the pre-Sellswords era, Entreri would’ve found the sight of his scars intolerable, as they’d remind him of the times in which he wasn’t perfect, and while he’s extremely disciplined, he wasn’t self-punishing in the sense that he’d keep those scars to remind himself of his failings. He was more the type in which each lesson learned is burned into his memory, such that he doesn’t need or want reminders of them. Although we’re supposed to believe in the degree of impeccability of Entreri’s skill, it’s unrealistic that he’d never gotten scarred in his early life. He grew up in abject poverty, fought (probably literally at times) tooth and nail to survive, and spent more time fighting than resting. Magical healing of any sort, including potions, were not available to him during that period of his life, but since we know from the books that retroactively fixing scars is possible, it would fit his pre-Sellswords character to go out of his way to ensure that all of those physical reminders were wiped away.

Over time, I see Entreri’s dedication to this sort of superficiality wane, or at least become more selective. For starters, he’d also suffer far fewer scars, as his ability is honed, although that is offset somewhat by his tendency to get into more dangerous situations due to those sharper skills allowing him to do so. Nonetheless, his increasing jadedness and tiredness with living probably would make a few scars feel trivial by perspective. I think that he’d still seek erasure of the marks left behind by events such as Lolthite priestesses’ whips from his time in Menzoberranzan, as those would serve as reminders of a time that his free will was suppressed and his existence objectified. Along the same vein, during his four decades of enslavement by the Netherese, I could see Entreri falling back to old habits and avoiding getting scarred as often as possible during his missions, as that would be one of the few ways in which he could defy and resist the circumstances he found himself suffering. I don’t think Alegni paid enough attention to Entreri to pick up on something like this, and Entreri would’ve taken extra precautions that Alegni didn’t notice, because it wouldn’t have been beneath the tiefling warlord to further shame Entreri by making him bear the marks of his enslavement.

I do see Entreri keeping the scar that Jarlaxle inflicted upon him inside Crenshinibon via throwing dagger. Unlike most other instances, that injury was due to a conscious choice on his part, a gamble that was initially based on pragmatism but later led to the development of, at the very least, camaraderie if not trust and friendship. That choice took Entreri down a road that made Jarlaxle’s seeming abandonment and betrayal that much more hurtful, and Entreri’s bitterness was of the sort in which he blamed both Jarlaxle and himself. He can be pretty self-deprecating and that coupled with his cynicism leads me to believe that he’d keep the reminder to fuel his rage as well as not repeat the same mistake. It would certainly serve as a poignant reminder, given that the wound was unattended for a long time, agitated through fighting, horseback riding, and toiling under the hot desert sun. Perhaps some part of him couldn’t bring himself to fix that scar, for during the period spanning the end of Road of the Patriarch and his capture by the Netherese it would be a sharp reminder of why he cut ties with Jarlaxle, and after that, a focus for his anger, without which he would probably go mad from the impotent rage. While the events in Hero suggest that everything is hunky dory and Entreri magically overcomes FOUR DECADES of the most intolerable form of abuse to him in addition to all of his earlier traumas, I think it’s a lot more likely that he has a long way to go before considering erasing the scars he chooses to keep.

For something more frivolous, I headcanon that Entreri has Venusian dimples (those dimples on the lower back right above the pelvis). While Venusian dimples tend to be visible in men who are athletic, they are features that don’t necessarily occur in all of the physically fit. In our society at least (can’t say how prominent Venusian dimples are as a feature in FR folks), they’re rare and, for reasons unbeknownst to me, signifying that those who have them are blessed with good luck. It’s a twisted sort of irony that has me ascribing this feature to Entreri, because his life has been anything but blessed and lucky. Plus, they’re sexy as hell, so why not. XD

3. Does your character have an accent? What does it sound like?

I don’t believe that Entreri would normally have an accent, and even if he did early in life, he would have summarily trained himself out of it. This is again having to do with his need to remain inconspicuous. However, he should be able to speak with whichever accent he wants to speak with. Being a master of disguise, he should be able to imitate most if not all accents of Common, and even various ones of the drow language (i.e. High Drow and Deep Drow).I’ve also contemplated what exactly a Calishite accent would sound like, and I guess it’s fundamentally impossible given that there’s no reason for there to be a real world parallel for every accent in a fictional setting, or for Common to sound exactly like English for that matter. However, different products set within the Realms have had their different takes on it. The video game “Baldur’s Gate” has Calishite characters speaking with a Turkish accent, albeit inconsistently, namely that there are three characters in the game all of whom are Calishite, yet all speak with very different accents. Furthermore, as someone pointed out in the Beamdog forums, there’s no reason for the Calishite accent to be Turkish just because Calimshan is inspired partly by the Ottoman Empire, which no longer exists, not to mention that Calimshan is also inspired by Arabic cultures, so if we were to take a true inspiration from real life in that regard, the Calishite accent would be an amalgam of the Turkish and Middle Eastern accent, and what that would sound like, I couldn’t begin to imagine. A more recent spin on the Calishite accent is seen, or rather heard, in Sword Coast Legend’s Calishite paladin, Javen Tarmikos. His voice actor speaks with an affected British accent (listen to it here, starting at 0:24). I consulted with a friend living in Great Britain about the specific regional influence of Javen’s accent, and his feedback was that the voice actor was mimicking a foreign accent while attempting to speak British English. The friend’s opinion is that the accent that the voice actor was going for is Arabic, but he wasn’t sure if the voice actor was truly Arabic-British. Javen is voiced by John Hopkins, who is a native British English voice actor, so I think it’s safe to say that the Arabic British accent is faked. I don’t have a good impression of what the accents of the Calishite “Baldur’s Gate” characters are like, but I seem to recall that they are accents based on American English. Given that the “standard” accent for Common is Received Pronunciation. I feel that Javen’s accent is probably closer to what the Calishite accent for Common would be like, because of Calimshan’s relative position in Faerûn compared to both Turkey’s and the Middle East’s positions relative to Great Britain in our world (to say nothing about the American English spin on things). Detailed analysis would require more linguistics knowledge than I have, but I think it’s fair to simplify it to the fact that the amount that language articulation drifts tends to be directly proportional to distance from the “mother source”. Hence, an off-British accent for Calimshite Common makes more sense to me than a Turkish or Middle Eastern accent on American English.

4. Do they have any verbal tics? Do they have trouble pronouncing certain words or getting their thoughts across clearly?

Entreri wouldn’t have any verbal tics, nor would he have trouble pronouncing any words. To have either would qualify as a weakness for him, and he would therefore have conditioned himself to avoid mispronunciations and verbal failings. While I’m certainly not saying that correcting verbal tics is easy, far from it in fact, it is still the case that Entreri made himself into a superhuman specimen fairly early on in life, achieving a state of being that arguably no real world human can, so changing the way he speaks would be a comparatively simple matter and one that he would have to go through to make himself seem unassailable. It can be argued that Entreri would have trouble conveying his thoughts simply from the perspective of his not being well-versed in certain emotions, even after the “growth” and “development” he undergoes in the events leading up to and through Hero. However, he deals with all of that that by shutting out those emotions when they manifest, and, barring that, refusing to address or discuss them. While it’s totally reasonable that he has learned to love, that statement would be incomplete without the word “again” modifying it, as Entreri even states that he loved his mother before. Therefore, the “revelation” of him learning how to love isn’t as dramatic as the reader is led to believe. At one point, Entreri simply forbade himself from being accessible to love, or at the very least, from acknowledging the emotion. I don’t see him as suddenly becoming a touchy-feely font of emotional sharing. He’s still closer to being emotionally unavailable, given that severe trauma from his childhood, coupled by four decades of slavery, not to mention the shit that happens in between, would be combining with a more than merely unnaturally long life spent, by the way, more in unpleasant circumstances than otherwise to produce a master of cynicism and sarcastically stoic acceptance of the evils of person-kind. This doesn’t exactly describe a person who is an example of altruism and positive feelings. To force a character who has underwent all of those traumatic events to completely “transform” simply rings really untrue and unrealistic.

5. What are their chief tension areas?

It’d be rare for Entreri to have tension issues as he keeps his body in very good shape and is careful to perform proper maintenance exercises everyday. We see him feeling some cramps and sores from sleeping on the cold hard ground, but those seem to be more of passing inconveniences than anything lasting. However, a very physically fit person can’t do anything with the physiological pains caused by mental illness, and Entreri’s certainly got enough of those that he would be suffering at least the occasional pain in his chest and the corresponding spot in his upper-mid back.

6. If you were to pick one song — and only one song — to describe your character, what would it be and why?

“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day. I might be able to come up with something better if I was more savvy about music, however with my limited knowledge, this song is the best one that I can think of that fits Entreri’s solitary character. There is also a hint of self-destructiveness/hopelessness in the song, despite what it says about hoping to find someone who would understand. The concept of broken dreams rings true to me about Entreri’s jaded perception of the world. While we’re supposed to believe that he’s completely found himself as well as peace by the end of Hero, that just doesn’t strike me as realistic at all. It feels like something written by someone with little to no knowledge about how people who struggle with mental illness actually work. Sure, Entreri might find good feelings from helping people, but it’s unlikely that he’d be doing it solely for the sake of positive feelings anytime soon, if ever. He’s got a lot of pent up and accrued anger against the world, for very justifiable reasons. Furthermore, although the message that Bob seems to push onto us regarding Entreri’s difficulty in looking into the mirror is due to some part of him being uneasy with killing all the people that he had, realistically speaking, Entreri’s self-loathing more likely comes from shitty circumstances that left him without much of a choice, of being a slave his whole life, both literally and figuratively. I don’t buy that Entreri has been accumulating guilt this whole time over every person he slays and every “wrong” deed he commits. In his world, the distinction between right and wrong was a luxury that he couldn’t afford, not with survival ruling supreme in his mind. Someone like that doesn’t need redemption, because they don’t view themselves as having ever fallen. What he needs is to recover from his severe traumas and PTSD, and that isn’t accomplished by singing a song about letting it go and helping random people that one encounters on the road, which is what Bob would lead us to believe with the way that things fell down the trope hole.

Realistically speaking, while not as embittered and stoic as he once was, Entreri’s still got a long way to go to recover, and his road is more akin to one walked by real people with real mental illnesses, whom question if their entire life is enough time for them to recover fully from that which was inflicted upon them and has afflicted them for so long. That road is one that is, ultimately, walked in solitude, because the people who can actually help and be able to relate are few and far in between (case in point: the author of this mess and the rabid legions that embrace the stereotype as perfect and logical). Furthermore, one needs to be willing to confront their condition in order to be able to improve upon it, and that is a decision that one can only make for oneself, regardless of the influences, both positive and negative, that weigh in upon that decision.

7. How does your character perceive themselves? Positive? Negative? Neutral?

While Entreri knows the extent of his martial prowess, overall he has a very negative perception of himself. He frequently berates himself for even the smallest mistakes, and reflects on his existence with a great amount of negativity. He’s canonically self-loathing and is often self-deprecating, so a negative perception of himself isn’t even just headcanon. At one point, his attitude shifts more towards neutral, but in the end it just plunges back down into self-loathing.

In Hero, in Drizzt’s final journal entry, he writes:

Which is a pretty big slap in the face, because of just how uncomfortably bad the characterization is of Entreri. In addition to the whole mental illness not working that way, which I’ve already expounded upon in the previous question, this is just yet another example of Drizzt making assertions about Entreri. One of the reasons that I dislike Drizzt as strongly as I do is how presumptuous he is, about Artemis, and about everyone else, asserting their worth in his melodramatic and sanctimonious journal entries relative to his own values, without so much a thought as to understanding the other individuals thoroughly, to try to put himself in their shoes and see from their perspective. Drizzt’s treatment of Entreri has always been reminiscent of that of an abusive member in any kind of relationship, namely, in that he asserts Entreri to be this or that, with little care as to why. This final journal entry made me really mad, because we’re supposed to take Drizzt as a reliable narrator, and many people do, but this is far from the case. I have, and still do, struggle with how things were left off in Hero, but I think that what I need to do is take the words quoted above as yet another example of Drizzt being an unreliable and biased narrator, and that he’s yet again ascribing his own beliefs to someone who’s very different from himself.

So, Artemis Entreri might be able to smile and look into a mirror, but not for the reasons that Drizzt, or Bob, thinks. I can’t see any other realistic way to assimilate it.

8. Are they a quick thinker or do they need time to sort through their thoughts?

He’s a bit of both. Entreri is an extremely quick thinker, and a large part of what makes him so deadly is his superb ability to improvise. He has shown on numerous occasions that he’s better at thinking on his feet than is Drizzt. He has on occasion even out-witted Jarlaxle. His dry sense of humor is also razor-sharp, allowing him to win verbal battles even while he is in physically disadvantageous positions. The thing with Entreri is that the closer to himself the topic becomes, the harder it is with which for him to cope. He survives because of his combat thinking acuity, but he doesn’t truly live because he can’t figure out matters of the heart. He gets better at this with time, but it’s a long journey for anyone to take, especially so for someone like him who’s more accustomed to dismissing his inner workings than listening to them. It certainly doesn’t help that the vast bulk of his relationships, the romantic ones especially, have little care for who he is but rather is built upon the women’s fascination with what he is.

9. Does your character dream or are their nights filled with an empty blackness? Describe a dream they’ve had or a night they couldn’t sleep and what they did to preoccupy their time.

I’d think that Entreri either does not dream or has foggy nightmares about his childhood and/or other unpleasant events that he’s had to endure. Although he would’ve found a certain degree of closure from killing his childhood molester and the power-abusing man who was most likely his biological father, acts of revenge do not erase past traumas, so Entreri’s boyhood vulnerability and shame would likely often visit his slumbering adult mind. No small part of the reason that Entreri worked to build himself up as much as he did is to make it so that he’s never anyone’s victim like that ever again, but that doesn’t stop what he’s striven to prevent from manifesting realistically in his nightmares. Prior to the Spellplague, in post-Sellswords era, I think that nightmares of the invalidating experience he underwent in Menzoberranzan would still haunt him to no small degree, despite his declaration of, “Artemis Entreri is dead” in his determination to divorce himself from his past.

While I believe that Jarlaxle’s ploy at the end of The Silent Blade rid Entreri of the sense of invalidation that Drizzt represented for him, as well as the torment brought by the lack of resolution from their perpetual stalemates, it would make sense for his experience in Menzoberranzan to have remained a cloud on his mind, as we can see from his severe rejection of the idea of escaping into the Underdark with Jarlaxle when Gareth’s army laid siege to Castle D'aerthe. I don’t think that he ever recovered from the Menzoberranzan experience, and it was only overshadowed by the more recent and longer lasting trauma in the form of over four decades of enslavement under Herzgo Alegni. Nonetheless, with unresolved circumstances, like the Menzoberranzan instance, they’ll come back to haunt the sufferer’s dreams, and compounding with later stresses would make for darker and more warped nightmares that would pull from all prior and subsequent traumas. His mind would subconsciously try to cope with this, and as a self-defense mechanism, make the nightmares vague, so he’d probably never quite be able to tell what’s going on in the nightmares. He’d likely wake up from them shaken, perturbed and reeling from the emotions and too-real sensations that they inflict within him. These sorts of nightmares would be more sensory than visual, for instance taking the forms of hazy flashes of defining elements like his rapist’s rotting yellow teeth and the overwhelmingly rancid breath saturated with the vapors of cheap alcohol. Perhaps these elements would be combined with his helpless body hovering high over a gaping rift of infinite darkness, reminiscent of the Clawrift that the Priestesses of Lolth suspended him over while having their way with him as an iblith sex toy. Then, add in the agony reverberating through every fiber of his musculature with the strike of Alegni’s tuning fork against Charon’s Claw.

Perhaps the most torturous of all might be found in his inability to resist and his impotent rage, that despite his fighting tooth and claw to see that such losses of dignity would never be visited upon him again. This would be confronting him with the fact that all of his efforts have been for naught, and that even despite them, there’s nothing he can do to protect himself. A sleep with empty blackness would be a blessing for him.

With his superhuman willpower and discipline, Entreri should be, for the most part, successful in suppressing these nightmares. However, even he would be prone to times of weakness, and these sorts of bad dreams will keep coming back, even as his life moves towards a better place. I don’t see him giving in to the effects of the worst of the nightmares. If he wakes up severely shaken, perhaps even scared, he’s too stubborn and prideful in his own way to acknowledge that something as intangible and pointless as a bad dream would have any effect on him. He’d force himself to go back to sleep, because not doing so would be surrendering to it and validating it, and even though dreams born of trauma would affect him, he would pretend that they do not.

Sleepless nights would be a different matter altogether for Entreri. How he would spend one such night would depend entirely on its specific circumstances, but he’d most likely be making good use of the time, be it honing one of his many skills or gathering information. I don’t see him engaging in any sort of pointless activity, he’s way too pragmatic to just be burning time for the sake of burning time, like getting senselessly drunk or sitting about drumming his fingers against the table. Perhaps he’d crouch on a rooftop overlooking a good chunk of his surroundings, achieving an almost elven reverie-like state as he allows the subtle currents of information to flow within him.

10. If they had a choice, would they prefer a subway or a bus for public transportation?

He’d prefer the subway, for it offers more shadows, less exposure and a greater sense of privacy even in the most crowded situations. It certainly doesn’t hurt that subways tend to be more efficient and predictable.

11. What do they think of creation? Do they believe in evolution or do they believe in God? What is their religion like?

Entreri doesn’t think much about creation or existential matters. He would not believe in the existence of any gods at all if the gods have not shown themselves to exist in his world. Although he is distasteful of the deities, Entreri isn’t self-delusional. He doesn’t deny the existence of the deities, however he doesn’t worship or follow any of them either. In fact, he scorns priests and other religiously devoted people.

The interesting thing is, in the Forgotten Realms, one doesn’t necessarily have to actively follow a deity to be championing them, and subsequently after death, have their souls collected by that patron deity. In his early career, Entreri’s deeds would have earned him the patronship of Bhaal, however his more recent actions fall more within the portfolio of Mask. Entreri wouldn’t take at all well to anyone telling him any of that, however, as his unwittingly acting as a particular god’s agenda would feel like to him a flagrant violation of his free will, plus he would be disgusted at how what he has done is not too far from what priests do. On the other hand, completely spurning all of the gods is also a very unwise approach to take, because an unclaimed soul ends up on the Wall of the Faithless, which is a really unpleasant (and eternal) fate. However, it’s likely that Entreri doesn’t even know about the existence of the Wall, but if he did, it probably wouldn’t affect how he feels about the gods. When he sees that his death is inevitable, I really see him destroying his own soul with his dagger so that, in his eyes, no one, be it overly and inappropriately ambitious mortals or fickle immortals and their machinations will ever have control over him after he has given up control of himself.

12. Describe 5 unusual characteristics your muse has.

Other than the five already discussed here,

1) Entreri would definitely have calluses on his palms from being an expert swordsman. Even though he wears leather gauntlets, he’d still have calluses between his thumbs and index finger from the hilts of the blades as well as over all the raised regions of his palms.

2) As per Night of the Hunter, Entreri keeps the nail on his left thumb long for the apparent purpose of using it as an impromptu substitute for when he does not have ready access to his thieves’ tools. Realistically speaking, it can’t be too long, or else it would hinder his swordplay. The task described in Night of the Hunter that takes advantage of his long thumbnail is not actually possible and demonstrates a poor understanding of lock mechanisms, so it doesn’t actually matter how long his nail is since what he does is inherently impossible. But, suspending disbelief, I just assume that it’s no more than extending a half inch beyond his thumb tip.

3) Unlike many rogues, thieves, assassins and other characters with evil dispositions, Entreri doesn’t enjoy killing. He also kills efficiently, granting his victims a swift and painless death. He doesn’t believe much in torture either, engaging in acts similar to torture only to send a message (i.e. chopping off Regis’ fingers to send to Drizzt) but not out of any desire for cruelty.

4) At the end of Hero, Entreri is around 159 years old, and this is a rough figure because his precise date of birth is unknown. He decided that he was fourteen in “The Third Level”, which takes place during 1341 DR, and the events of Hero transpire during 1486 DR. Needless to say, this is very very old for a human! However, Entreri isn’t a normal human due to his absorption of a Shade, but it’s unclear what exactly is responsible for his unnaturally long lifespan. Some believe that Charon’s Claw is the cause of it, while others believe that it’s the Shade properties. In terms of D&D game stats for Charon’s Claw, there isn’t anything about the item that would suggest prolongation of life, but then again, there isn’t anything in its stats either about how Alegni used it to raise Entreri back from the dead multiple times so that he could keep being his unwilling slave. The information given in Hero isn’t very helpful in this regard either, as the only thing that’s established is that with the advent of The Sundering, that the hold that Charon’s Claw has on Entreri is not what it used to be, however it’s even explicitly stated that it may never even have had an effect on his lifespan. On the other hand, Shades live hundreds to over a thousand years old, which could mean that some of this property transferred over to Entreri, but it’s really hard to say. That’s one of those things that makes him bendable to the author’s whim I suppose, but that’s irrelevant for the purpose of this question.

5) I guess this last thing isn’t that unusual, but Entreri’s pretty short for a human male by our standards. However, his height of 5'5" is only 2" shorter than the average height for a human male in the Forgotten Realms, which isn’t that weird in his world. 5'7" does seem to be on the short side for human males by our reckoning, however it’s a pretty accurate average height for the average medieval European man.13. Have they ever been so overwhelmed they had to stop and take a break from something?

Entreri’s method for dealing with stressful or overwhelming situations is to just push through them. Severe injuries and tangled webs of intrigue are best dealt with by being done with them. He doesn’t start things that he doesn’t finish, regardless of his mental condition. His physical condition may force him to step away from something, however he will invariably return to finish it sooner or later.

14. Are they a team player or do they prefer to be solo?

Entreri always prefers to work alone, but he does recognize the merits to having a team. Despite this, he would rather rely on his own exceptional abilities to make up for a disadvantage in numbers.

15. Can they multi-task or must they focus on one subject at a time?

Entreri is an expert multi-tasker.

16. What are their best school subjects? What are their worst? List five of each.

School is really a luxury in the Forgotten Realms setting. It’s established in canon that organized education, such as magic schools, are very expensive, and otherwise general education is imparted within the household or self-taught. Trade skills are gained by apprenticeships, and acolytes of various orders learn through their time in their respective orders. I think it’s safe to say that Entreri taught himself everything that he knows, by necessity, but if schooling had been available to him or some sort of apprenticeship opportunity, I see him as not being into either, due to his independence, distrust of others and a general preference for being alone.

If Entreri had gone to school, and assuming a subject list similar to that of our world but in the context of the realms, his best five would be bartering, tracking, appraising, riding and of course swordsmanship. His worst five would be languages, history and lore, astrology, religion and anything concerning the tedious details of etiquette. I can actually see him being good at home economics-type classes due to his attention to detail and perfectionism. He’d also likely make reasonably tasty food for himself since he wouldn’t suffer himself to eat his own bad cooking. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’d put in the effort for others. ;P

17. Is your character an introvert or an extrovert? How do they handle big crowds of people?

Entreri prefers to keep to himself as an introvert does, however he isn’t shy about talking to people or engaging in extended conversations with another (even if he would prefer not do so). He doesn’t like people in general, but he doesn’t go out of his way to avoid them if he doesn’t have to either. Rather than having to seek out solitude, his very presence ensures that he has a respectable amount of space to himself even in the most crowded establishments. He doesn’t have to worry about big crowds, it’s the big crowd of people that have to worry about him. I think that Entreri possesses the charisma and the lack of social anxiety that could make him an extrovert, but his misanthropy makes him behave like an introvert.

18. Are they a leader, do they prefer to follow, or would they rather just stay on the sidelines altogether?

I see it as being situational. Entreri prefers to do things his own way, oftentimes intentionally defying the details of specific instructions simply because he strongly dislikes being ordered about. He doesn’t particularly enjoy following another’s suggestions, however, as long as his independence is respected, he’ll tolerate being dragged around on various quests and/or adventures. I think that his leadership abilities would be respectable, as he has a tactical mind and a commanding presence, but he would shun the responsibilities and hassle that come from being in a leadership role.

19. If your character was suddenly challenged, would they rather run away or stay and fight?

It would depend on the circumstance. He’s more inclined to fight than to run away, however, he’s cautious and will not charge blindly into anything. Challenging him is not a good idea unless you’re prepared to die or are completely certain that you can kill him (which, well, no one really can, due to his own resourcefulness and the fact that Jarlaxle wishes for him to stay alive).

20. If your character was allowed to murder one person without any consequences, who would that person be and why?

I think that would most likely be Kimmuriel Oblodra. Honestly, I don’t see Entreri having any qualms about murdering any Menzoberranzanyr drow, Gromph included even though he’s no longer located in Menzoberranzan. If Entreri knew about Quenthel ordering Jarlaxle to not rescue him from enslavement under Alegni, it would be a difficult toss-up between Kimmuriel and Quenthel. Quenthel is tempting because as the Matron Mother of Menzoberranzan, it would be difficult to assassinate her without a great deal of complications, and Entreri might just be tempted into choosing her if he was offered the chance to kill her without consequence. On the other hand, his hatred of Kimmuriel runs deep, psionics are more of a threat against him than arcane magic, and if he knew about Kimmuriel’s involvement in altering Jarlaxle’s memory (which resulted in his continued enslavement), it wouldn’t matter to Entreri that Quenthel had ordered it, he would still want Kimmuriel dead. Furthermore, even though Kimmuriel “helped” Dahlia, it was at Jarlaxle’s request. As such, Entreri wouldn’t feel like he owed either Kimmuriel or Jarlaxle anything for the service, especially as he views it as part of Jarlaxle’s reparations to him for having ditched him with Alegni. There is little love lost between Kimmuriel and Entreri, and given the chance, Kimmuriel would off Entreri, and Entreri knows that.

If Tiago weren’t already dead, he’d be high up on the list too, especially if Entreri found out about how Tiago had raped Dahlia on numerous occasions while she was mentally impaired.

21. Your character has been granted 3 wishes; what would they wish for and why?

When I first did this meme, the canon point was Night of the Hunter, so the two of the three that I listed without explanation no longer apply. I was going to explain the “why” parts originally when I revisited this question, but since they’re, for the most part, outdated, I’m no longer going to do that. XD Instead, here are three new wishes and their reasoning:

1) “I wish to always have my own free will, that no other being shall have the means to dictate, control or otherwise affect without my consent what I do or not do with myself and my life.” – This is something Entreri has striven for throughout his entire life, and in no small amount due to how much it has eluded him. For most of the time, he isn’t even actively aware enough of it to be able to word such a wish, but after four decades of slavery, facing the possibility of Drizzt using Charon’s Claw to control him like Alegni had, and Charon’s Claw coming back after he thought it destroyed, I’d think that Entreri would have a much better sense of what he wants to avoid at all costs.

2) “I wish to be immune to the negative effects of all magics, be they divine, arcane, psionic, or otherwise.” – Go big or go home, right? :P I can’t see him wishing for total invulnerability however, I think that he derives a fair amount of pride from ability to take care of himself with his own skills, and should those skills fail him especially with the lack of interference from magical sources, he’d be ready to throw in the towel. That, and total invulnerability would be akin to a luxury, the kind that makes people grow complacent and thus degenerate. I doubt Entreri would believe in total invulnerability either, he’d see it as a temporary thing that’d lull him into a false sense of security until someone else found a way to get past it and get to him while he’s vulnerable.

3) This should really be #1, because the first thing he’d try is wishing for more wishes, but since the rule of these kinds of things is that there’s no wishing for more wishes, it is #3. :P But you know, I’m pretty stumped so far as coming up with a third is concerned. As of the end of Hero, he might consider wishing good fortune for his “friends” and former allies, but I can’t see him actually following through with that because it’s pretty lame, plus his lifelong thing has been to always be prepared and self-preservation. It just isn’t realistic that he would be so self-sacrificing as to give up something as powerful as a (mostly) limitless wish to aid others that aren’t even in immediate peril. I see him saving one last wish as a true last resort.

22. Does your character trust people right off the bat or does it take them some time to warm up to someone?

It’s nigh impossible to gain Entreri’s trust fully. Despite having been physically and emotionally intimate with Calihye and Dahlia, he did not trust either of them completely. I don’t believe that Calihye would’ve left him, as described in Hero, had he fully trusted her. While we’re supposed to believe that he and Dahlia share some sort of all-too-perfect profound bond, realistically speaking, I don’t think they would, and I don’t think Entreri’s dumb/naive enough to fully trust Dahlia either. He’s fully aware of her black widow tendencies, and it wasn’t all that long ago that he was worried about Dahlia forsaking him for her still-lingering feelings for Drizzt (and it was even more recently that Dahlia acted upon remaining feelings for Drizzt in having sex with Kimmuriel when he invoked a memory of Drizzt within her mind). It wouldn’t be at all unlikely for Dahlia to choose Effron over Entreri if it came down to making a choice between her son or her lover, plus it’s also in line with her nature to be fascinated by a newer/younger/more powerful/more “interesting” beau and ditch Entreri for that person (although finding such a paragon is difficult for me to imagine, Dahlia is still a flake).

All of this is not to say that Entreri isn’t capable of giving some measure of trust to others, as he has demonstrated that he mostly trusted Drizzt, Dwahvel and Jarlaxle while he traveled and worked with each of them. I question whether he fully trusted Drizzt or anyone, because realistically speaking, someone who has been betrayed as much as and to as large a degree as Entreri has won’t have the ability to trust fully, plus Drizzt was his arch-nemesis for a significant portion of his life. The shining paragon of Drizzt’s Gary Stu-ness means that we’re supposed to believe that he can convert anyone into his inner circle if he wants to do that (as can be seen with Yvonnel 2.0, the most powerful drow born into Menzoberranzan, and even Lolth herself to a degree), but I really roll my eyes at that and unless Salvatore does a massively better job of writing it, I just don’t find it believable. Trust is something that comes back with time, but despite Entreri’s unnaturally long life, he’s spent more time experiencing things that challenge trust than not, so I can’t see him recovering that ability anytime soon, maybe not ever if he’s never subject to the right kinds of circumstances.

23. Do they prefer romance or affection? What is the quickest way to your character’s heart?

Entreri tends to avoid both, but romance is probably the quickest way to his heart, simply because of his limited experiences with positive connections. While both affection and romance are complex, in some ways, romance can be more clear-cut and obvious. We see from the books that Entreri has a better understanding of the nature of his relationship with Calihye and Dahlia than the one he had with Dwahvel, for instance. This isn’t all too surprising, as someone who’s never had any friends has a hard time grasping friendship, but a romantic relationship, especially when it entails sexual activities, is easier to identify for someone who isn’t well-versed in either. However, more than anything, the quickest way to his heart is to genuinely love him, not as a master thief, assassin and fighter but as a man whose identity and worth even he himself isn’t entirely certain of, without designs to manipulate or to change him. On a related note, I question the longevity of his relationship with Dahlia because their bond was formed under duress, arguably impossible without the significant intervention of the aboleth that peeled open their minds and left their pasts naked for each other to see. This sort of dramatic intervention isn’t much different from the influence of Idalia’s Flute that made Entreri all wonkers and made feasible his relationship with Calihye, which was based on little more than her initial seduction of him. Without knowing Dahlia’s past, and with no way of knowing it had the aboleth not revealed it, other than physically attractive, he found her irritating and dishonorable. Furthermore, Dahlia’s reasons for “loving” Entreri aren’t really based in anything substantial. There’s the shared similarities in trauma that, again, was brought to light by a forceful and magical external influence, but other than that, it seemed more like an infatuation with his skills rather than who he is. We don’t see Dahlia responding to Entreri’s dry sense of humor, there is no chemistry and rapport between them personality-wise, plus Dahlia’s son and Entreri are going to butt heads so much that you sure as heck can bet that that’ll be a chief sort of tension between the forcibly happy couple. Where canon leaves us at the end of Hero is yet another one of the inconsistencies that mark Bob’s books, namely, what we are supposed to accept as the ideal relationship for Entreri is anything but that based on the preceding characterizations of him.

24. Does your character have any enemies? If so, who and why?

Entreri has few enemies, because most of them are already dead by his hand. He thinks that Herzgo Alegni is dead, however if he finds out that his former slaver is still alive, that would be one target he’d hit first. After that, those responsible for wrongs done unto him would be high on the list, but, as mentioned, most of them are dead or his issues with them are resolved by the end of Hero. While Tiago Baenre is dead, members of his troupe are still around, and Entreri wouldn’t mind seeing those killed off in repayment for their involvement in his and Dahlia’s suffering in Q'Xorlarrin. However, Entreri’s probably not on the minds of those drow, nor is it all that likely that Entreri would be thinking of them anytime soon following the events in Hero. Plus hunting them down would be difficult, as that would involve going to Menzoberranzan, which he will not do without very compelling reasons to do so.

I would count Kimmuriel as an enemy of Entreri. As mentioned earlier, the two share bad blood that runs back for more than a century, and if Entreri ever finds out that Kimmuriel’s adjustment of Jarlaxle’s memories is what caused Jarlaxle to believe that Entreri had betrayed him instead of the other way around, thus dooming Entreri to four decades of slavery, I’d hate to see what would go down between the two of them. Actually, to tell the truth, I wouldn’t mind seeing it. I’ve never liked Kimmuriel and it would be very satisfying to see Entreri kill him dead, both for the sake of Entreri and for myself. >_>

25. Do they have any weird bedroom habits? Any unusual kinks?

I see Entreri as being pretty straightedge when it comes to sex. He would prefer being the dominant party, however, I don’t see him as so insecure such that his physical position relative to his partner does not define dominance or submission to him. He seems to enjoy letting his partner lead, however he gets the final call on things that he will not tolerate. He does read as very heterosexual to me, but while I understand him to be very selectively so, I wouldn’t really call him ace or demi either because he does demonstrate sexual attraction independent of other kinds of attraction on a number of occasions.

On this subject, I do try very hard to adhere to canon, and my dedication to doing so has caused me no small amount of torment over the years (and especially now following Hero x_x), so my OTP being what it is could seem rather odd. I make allowances for this not frivolously because Jarlaxle is a special case, as in addition to being pansexual, we’re supposed to accept and believe that he’s so charismatic that he’s potentially attractive to everyone.

In any case, I could see Entreri being open to trying certain kinds of kinks and staying far away from others. I don’t want to get too graphic, but the types of kinks that he’d likely stay away from would be anything having to do with filth, as he’s lived in and around impoverished conditions enough that I just can’t see him ever being able to get enjoyment out of anything that reminds him of that aspect of his past. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if Entreri possessed just a hint of sadism, enough to allow him to enjoy putting his precise control of sharp objects to use in intimate settings, especially since doing so puts him in a comfort zone built around something he’s very confident in. However, I don’t see him as being into that beyond the control and finesse elements of the tool being used. Due to his insecurities, Entreri would likely much more prefer to give than to receive, to the point of possibly being triggered when on the receiving end of certain kinky activities. For instance, although he could quite possibly enjoy bondage, especially if it means tying Jarlaxle up and (mostly not literally) kicking him around a bit, he would be thoroughly unamused and not turned on by being tied up. He might try it out of affection for his partner, but I see him as being very much not into being constrained even in a sexual sense. There’s a rough generalization for Dom/sub personalities that states that someone who is confident prefers to be in the submissive role because in consensual Dom/sub play, the sub has all the power. Like most generalizations however this one is flawed in the sense that it neglects to adapt to specific personalities. While Entreri is indeed confident and sure in many ways, he is more vulnerable than he is self-assured. Because of the insecurities and doubts that do plague Entreri, a role that one such as Jarlaxle, whom I use here because he’s a great example of a character who is cocksure through and through (no pun intended ;P), would find freedom and enjoyment in would instead fill Entreri with discomfort. That’s my take on the matter, in any case.

26. How does your character prepare for bed? Do they sleep at all or can they stay awake for days on end without trouble?

Under normal circumstances, Entreri meticulously ensures that his weapons and gear are in good condition before he rests. His weapons belt will always be within easy reach. He’d sleep either wearing trousers or in the nude depending on what he foresees as likely to disturb his rest. Theoretically speaking, I suppose he could sleep only in smallclothes, but for whatever reason, smallclothes aren’t mentioned in any of the Drizzt books, and the characters either sleep in trousers or in the nude. I suppose that Faerûnian smallclothes aren’t designed to be comfortably worn underneath skin-tight leather armor, hence why the sleeping in the nude after peeling off that external casing. However, everyday clothes probably allow for it, and fine enough clothes would be comfortable to sleep in. We see during “The Sellswords” that Entreri sleeps shirtless and presumably goes outside in the same pants that he slept in after throwing on a shirt (at least, we don’t see him change on screen after putting on the shirt that Jarlaxle tosses him).

Even when there are no outstanding threats, Entreri would most likely always go to bed prepared for any anticipated interruption that may find him. He can stay awake for days on end as long as it is necessary, however, as he is only (mostly) human, he can’t go on forever without sleep.

27. If your character had one thing to say to their parents before they died, what would it be?

To his mother, he would probably say something along the lines of, “I don’t blame you.” Given that it’s likely that he killed his father, well, the blade through the chest conveys his parting thoughts rather perfectly.

28. Are they afraid of death? Do they have any regrets?

Entreri doesn’t fear death, however he seems ambivalent about how he feels regarding it. There are many times in his life in which he wishes for it to find him, even actively seeking it in some instances. However, his sense of self-preservation is so ingrained that he instinctively fights when his life is threatened. He has no regrets of which he is aware.

29. Does your character get restless when things are too quiet or do they favour solitude and silence? Why?

Entreri enjoys his solitude and prefers silence to noisiness, however he does get restless living a peaceful and uneventful life. He has demonstrated a distaste for characters that talk too much, and especially if those characters spend a good portion of their garrulousness rhyming. ;P While in many circumstances Entreri doesn’t have much of a choice but to follow where adventure leads, in other situations, he could’ve elected to ditch the more dangerous road and lay low. For instance, pragmatically speaking, there wasn’t much point for him to stay with Jarlaxle after the events in Servant of the Shard. Furthermore, he didn’t have to go back to Calimport or any major city at the end of Road of the Patriarch, as he’d surely know that his chosen action would land him in the midst of all sorts of going-ons, and if he truly wished to be away from all of that, he could’ve just as easily settled in some small rural town. I also can’t see him settling down with Dahlia like Drizzt does with Catti-brie because, realistically speaking, he still has many unresolved issues and soul-searching to do, not to mention that Dahlia has her own baggage to deal with and is unlikely to be happy with a sedentary life.

From a very young age, Entreri has not lived a single day without being tested to his limits, and his obsession with being at the top of his craft is meaningless if he doesn’t have something to measure it up against. He is used to activity, so inaction makes him irritable. He may be less this way at the end of Hero, but pigeonholing him into a quiet happily ever after just isn’t a very likely conclusion. Perhaps he will reach the state that he’s supposed in at the current canonical point, but I see that as a temporary high at best, unless we accept that he’s just an oversimplified and inaccurately representative caricature of a real person instead of a believable character. Which, I suppose, according to canon, he sort of is. :\

30. Finally; if your character was forced to eat one thing for the rest of their life, what would they choose and why?

It doesn’t really matter to him, as he is so practical-minded that as long as it is something that can sustain his body in good condition, he’d eat whatever it is. Would he make a ton of snarky comments about it? You betcha! XD I suppose he wouldn’t want to subsist exclusively on some sort of foodstuff that originates from the Underdark, as he’d feel that it would sooner or later lead him to have more encounters with drow than is necessary, and to him, zero would be the amount of necessary encounters with them. XD

#Anonymous #ama #ooc #memes #Artemis Entreri #Entreri #headcanons #legend of drizzt #Forgotten Realms

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