PlaneShift
Gameplay => General Discussion => Topic started by: Gentar on August 12, 2005, 11:11:56 pm
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I was reading through the planeshift history on the main website when i noticed something a little peculiar. Perhaps when she was damaged by talads magic she lost a bit more than her pretty face???
by the end that \"She\" became a \"He\" :p
begginning of story:
\"Laanx was a tall and perfectly shaped female with long, white hair as silky as the threads of a spider\'s web. Her lunar skin reflected the azure beams of the crystal and refracted the light into hypnotic patterns as alluring as her dancing, ruby-coloured eyes\"
Towards the later end of the history:
\"Laanx remembered with nostalgia the time in which he was a beautiful lunar god. He got angry, cursing Talad and all Yliakum, and swore that, since Talad made him an unhappy and jealous being, he must suffer the consequences.\"
\"Laanx observed with interest what was happening in Yliakum, and decided that it was the right moment to present himself again. He was sure that Talad would receive him warmly, and he would be able to take advantage of this.\"
By the way its everywhere at the end, not just these two examples.
Not a big deal, just a funny observation, thought the webmaster might want to fix it if they have the time.
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This is intentional, not a mistake. It even states \"Laanx denied her feminity\", so this should clear up most of it. For the rest I have a theory but it\'s just my personal one.
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Interseting, i dont know why you would deny your feminity becuase you were ugly. thats kind of like saying that being ugly is a condition for men only so that when a woman becomes deformed she is officially a man. but whatever i dont care really. i thought it was just a mistake
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Originally posted by Gentar
Interseting, i dont know why you would deny your feminity becuase you were ugly. thats kind of like saying that being ugly is a condition for men only so that when a woman becomes deformed she is officially a man. but whatever i dont care really. i thought it was just a mistake
I Also thought that was a little peculiar. But it didn?t bother me much. who knows how gods think anyhow? :)
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maybe this gender change could be precised in the ps story dont you think?
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Originally posted by Gentar
Interseting, i dont know why you would deny your feminity becuase you were ugly. thats kind of like saying that being ugly is a condition for men only so that when a woman becomes deformed she is officially a man. but whatever i dont care really. i thought it was just a mistake
Well we are talking about gods here ... I don\'t know but do gods really have a gender set like the rest of us? I think they could probably just pick whatever they feel like and in this context Laanx\' sex change represents a major turnover in general. Laanx didn\'t just change his gender but also his entire personality.
I don\'t think it is meant as women are beautiful and good while men are ugly and vengeful ... they just happen to be the only two options and before he was a woman so .. well not much choice left.
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I asked Talad about this back when I re-wrote the History chapters (to get rid of all the Talad-isms and typos :P) about a year ago.
According to him, Laanx simply lost all form of gender. She is no longer a \'she\', but is not male either. I could have used \"it\" to replace all the instances of \"he\", but it would have looked odd and proven more confusing than it already is. So whenever you read \"he\" referring to Laanx, technically it should be \"it\".
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it? Doesn\'t sound right talking about a god.
One could say he didn\'t change to a male becuase she was ugly but becuase he wasn\'t interested in Talad in that way anymore and this was the easy way to show it.
Wondering if Talad will turn female to try and catch his attention again ;)
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i think \"it\" would be pretty cool actually. Symobolic of her loss of being and transformation into something \"without a face\". since a face is very symbolic of what makes something what it is, the loss of that would make her an \"it\".
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Funny how none of the \"regulars\" jumped on Gentar for stating this. He even went as far as saying that a webmaster should fix it. When I brought up the same issue within one of my topics, there were immediately moans to \"use the search\" or \"read the history\". This proves that it does seem very odd despite supposed denial of feminitity. If Laanx really has no gender anymore, then she should\'ve just been referred to as a she anyway, since that\'s how she started as, IMO. :)
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The gods of PS are not as perfect and universal as the dieties of the more prominent religions today. In fact, like the ancient gods, they are quite human in every respect, save having ridiculous but still finite power. Like RL humans compared to ants, or even present day humans compared to medievel ones. As such, they are very likely to have a gender as well.
Originally posted by Bnm85
Funny how none of the \"regulars\" jumped on Gentar for stating this. He even went as far as saying that a webmaster should fix it. When I brought up the same issue within one of my topics, there were immediately moans to \"use the search\" or \"read the history\".
I don\'t see the funny-ness in this, actually. It would have been quite odd to say \"read the history\" if his post quite clearly shows that he did...
As for the searching: this has indeed been discussed before. I was about to state that using the search would have brought that up, but I was so impressed by him having read the history that I ended up not doing it.
Originally posted by Bnm85
This proves that it does seem very odd despite supposed denial of feminitity. If Laanx really has no gender anymore, then she should\'ve just been referred to as a she anyway, since that\'s how she started as, IMO. :)
Actually, knowing this is not a stupid mistake, this actually is a nice thing IMO.
The most impressing (to me, anyway) part is this:
from the history page, fourth epoch
Laanx spoke, showing completely his true essence. - I\'m Laanx - she said - and I\'m your god.-
This is absolutely marvelous. It shows that while Laanx, being a god and whatnot, has managed to deny his feminity (even if the \"he\" is there only due to it being the generic term of referring to someone of unknown gender)) but, by true essence still is female. Not what she used to be, but not something completely different, either.
This leaves room for oh so much mystery, interpretation, speculation and options, and also expresses the tragedy that is involved (even with so much divine stupidity).
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Originally posted by Seytra
I don\'t see the funny-ness in this, actually. It would have been quite odd to say \"read the history\" if his post quite clearly shows that he did...
As for the searching: this has indeed been discussed before. I was about to state that using the search would have brought that up, but I was so impressed by him having read the history that I ended up not doing it.
Except that when I mentioned it, it too was quite clear that I read the history and did the research. Don\'t forget that Gentar seemed to have missed the part where \"she denied her femininity\" because he was surprised and said \"hmm, interesting\" when you quoted it and said it was intentional. Don\'t forget that he also suggested that a webmaster should fix it, thinking it was a mistake. Oh, and it\'s funny because I think the \"moaners\" have run out of steam to complain anymore. :)
Actually, knowing this is not a stupid mistake, this actually is a nice thing IMO.
Except that apparently the devs confirmed that Laanx has no gender after the accident, so keeping a \"she\" would\'ve been less confusing.
The most impressing (to me, anyway) part is this:
from the history page, fourth epoch
Laanx spoke, showing completely his true essence. - I\'m Laanx - she said - and I\'m your god.-
This is absolutely marvelous. It shows that while Laanx, being a god and whatnot, has managed to deny his feminity (even if the \"he\" is there only due to it being the generic term of referring to someone of unknown gender)) but, by true essence still is female. Not what she used to be, but not something completely different, either.
I think that is a huge stretch. In fact, I don\'t think the \"she\" in that instance was intentional. In most other sentences (after the accident) Laanx is referred to as a \"he\" as well, not just \"his\". It\'s almost like the author can\'t make up his mind. I\'m pretty sure that if, say, a GameSpot reviewer would write about the game, he\'d refer to it as a \"confusing history mumbo jumbo\".
This leaves room for oh so much mystery, interpretation, speculation and options, and also expresses the tragedy that is involved (even with so much divine stupidity).
Yea, except that any questions, speculation, and mystery posted on this forum are met with a bitter and frustrated \"read the history\" or \"use the search\". So much for speculation. :)
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Originally posted by Bnm85
Actually, knowing this is not a stupid mistake, this actually is a nice thing IMO.
Except that apparently the devs confirmed that Laanx has no gender after the accident, so keeping a \"she\" would\'ve been less confusing.
You mean, keeping a \"he\"?
Originally posted by Bnm85
The most impressing (to me, anyway) part is this:
from the history page, fourth epoch
Laanx spoke, showing completely his true essence. - I\'m Laanx - she said - and I\'m your god.-
This is absolutely marvelous. It shows that while Laanx, being a god and whatnot, has managed to deny his feminity (even if the \"he\" is there only due to it being the generic term of referring to someone of unknown gender)) but, by true essence still is female. Not what she used to be, but not something completely different, either.
I think that is a huge stretch. In fact, I don\'t think the \"she\" in that instance was intentional. In most other sentences (after the accident) Laanx is referred to as a \"he\" as well, not just \"his\". It\'s almost like the author can\'t make up his mind. I\'m pretty sure that if, say, a GameSpot reviewer would write about the game, he\'d refer to it as a \"confusing history mumbo jumbo\".
From what I know, the entire thing was once changed to say \"he\" everywhere, but it has been changed back by Talad. Therefore, I am perfectly sure that it is intentional.
Furthermore, my interpretation doesn\'t suffer from that. In no other part of the history, Laanx was so clear and unmasked as in that very moment. Therefore, obviously, this is the very only instance where a she can appear, because it is otherwise concealed. Yes, reviewers would not appreciate it. Then again, that doesn\'t exactly justify a change, as they will also not appreciate the other specialities of PS. They expect a WoW workalike, and everything else required more work in getting used to it that they won\'t bother.
Originally posted by Bnm85
This leaves room for oh so much mystery, interpretation, speculation and options, and also expresses the tragedy that is involved (even with so much divine stupidity).
Yea, except that any questions, speculation, and mystery posted on this forum are met with a bitter and frustrated \"read the history\" or \"use the search\". So much for speculation. :)
This obviously depends on the way it is presented, and what it contains. If it doesn\'t exceed what is on the other discussions, then obviously it justifies the \"search\" comment. Yes, the OP would also have.
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Seytra, if you swapped all the \"she\"s with \"he\"s in your post, you would be absolutely right. :)
I originally used \"she\" everywhere, but Talad said that was wrong. So now Laanx is referred to by \"he\" and \"him\" everywhere after the accident. If the history sounds confusing, it was because I was as confused as you guys are. :P
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I avoid saying he or she... I try to say Laanx...
usually what I say about Laanx is \"Laanx is evil!!! Hail the Magic Mugs\"
Otherwise I say him/her she/he... I wanted to have a goddess :P
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The way I see it is that the form one of the gods take is some reflection of how they feel about themselves and their personalities, its not a choice. Laanx may have been marred in that incident on a spiritual level, and so the avatar ey gets when manifesting emself suffered in reflection of this. The part of ey denying eirs femininity does not have to mean a conscious choice, just like people mostly do not choose how they feel about themselves. Ey suffers from low self-esteem and doesnt let people see em without being completely covered, who know how much of what ever ugliness Laanx have now is there because ey became so bitter, Perhaps if ey could make up with Talad and get some friends and perhaps some counseling, ey might recover at least a little... Sadly, it will probably not happen, gods are not usually very good patients, and the therapist will probably not survive the session...
Of course, this is only an interpretation of the story.