I Read What?!

So last time, we had the Barbarian Invasion. It was pretty readable and exciting. Today, we get the aftermath, marking the end of the first major section of the book.



So as mentioned, the epilogue takes us to the end of the battle, where the townsfolk have started looting the dead and killing the few survivors. Mr. Salvatore has a nice turn of phrase here though: "Yet amid the carnage of the bloody scene, a finger of mercy was to be found".

Basically one of the fishermen has found an unconscious young barbarian, who Bruenor (and the audience) recognizes as the young standard bearer. Bruenor argues to spare him, because of his youth, saying that he "can't have known truly what he and his people did". Bruenor is willing to push the issue and the fisherman leaves them alone.

When the boy comes to, Bruenor decides to set terms:

'So ye've a bit of life left in ye yet,' said Bruenor. He knelt beside the lad's head and lifted it by the hair to meet his eyes. 'Hear me well, boy. I saved yer life here - why, I'm not quite knowin' - but don't ye think ye've been pardoned by the people of Ten-Towns. I want ye to see the misery yer people have brung. Maybe killing is in yer blood, and if it is, then let the fisherman's blade end ye here and now! But I'm feelin' there's more to ye, and ye'll have the tine to show me right.

'Ye're to serve me and me people in our mines for five years and a day to prove yourself worthy of life and freedom.'"

Yeah, I don't know about the ethics of having one of the heroes put a child in indentured servitude. We do at least know Bruenor well enough at this point I think, to assume that he will be a fair jailer and not mistreat the kid. We're also given the boy's name: Wulfgar, and told that "Bruenor himself, for all of his assumptions of this barbarian's character, could not have foreseen that this boy, Wulfgar, would grow into the man who would reshape this harsh region of the tundra."

The second half of this very short chapter takes us back to Akar Kessell and the shard. We're told that Akar is enjoying his new life and is adequately disgusting. "His goblin slaves had captured yet another female from a merchant caravan for him to play with" because I like nothing better than some gratuitous rape to color my villains, thank you muchly.

Anyway, Kessell notices the smoke from Ten Towns, and Crenshinabon (the shard, if you recall) is more an ambitious sort, so it beams a vision of Kessell on a throne in Bryn Shander, ruling all of Icewind Dale into his head. Kessell likes the idea, but realizes that he's not going to be able to dominate the humans like he did the goblins. The Shard has a different suggestion: to amass an army of goblins, ogres, trolls and giants living in the hills.

And then, just so we remember that he's evil, he calls over his "new harem girl" with the intent to make her "beg and whimper, and finally to die". Such subtlety.

So anyway, "book one" in the end was just set up to get the character who is meant to be the hero of the trilogy into position. As such, it's not bad. The barbarians were a decently intimidating challenge, with just enough complexity in their motives to be vaguely interesting. Salvatore gave us a few subtle-for him character beats to show that Wulfgar isn't really like the others. The heroes are pretty well defined: Regis has grown on me, Bruenor is fun and effective, and as for Drizzt himself...

Well, look, I can already see the seeds of Drizzt taking over the franchise already. It's probably unavoidable really. As annoying as I find his pontification, and the narration's unsubtle description of his stoic heroism, I can't deny that he's already a pretty vividly developed character. And he's simply a more compelling character in general. This is no slight toward Wulfgar, who has the potential to grow into a fairly appealing Fafhrd type in his own right, but how can that really compare to the first renegade dark elf, who fled his evil birthright to earn a place on the surface?

Drizzt simply doesn't work as a sidekick. He's too somber and noble to be comic relief. And while he is a young adult by drow terms (at least in most of the series), he's still older and more experienced than Wulfgar will be. He's going to gravitate toward the center role. Poor Wulfgar, the writing is already on the wall.

That said, I still don't think we needed a multi page flashback to how Drizzt got the damn panther.