Are you a fan of Tolkein's Middle Earth mythology? Personally, I find the fantasy world that Tolkein created to be fascinating and adimirable. However, have you ever wondered why is it that in Middle Earth, one's judgement of a good or evil character is always based on racial heritage? For example, how can Aragorn be sure that every orc that he so eagerly slain is really evil in nature and deserves to die? What if there was one orc that was good in nature that he killed unknowingly? I am not saying that Professor Tolkein was a racist or anything like that, but we have to admit that in the Middle Earth saga, the rule of thumb for the judgement of a character is by the reputation of their racial heritage/background instead of their individual character.
Introducing Drizzt:
20 years ago, author R.A. Salvatore decided to create an anti-stereotype fantasy character. A drow elf named Drizzt Do'urden. The saga of Drizzt became very well known, and the story of the introspective drow ranger resonated with many readers' hearts.
To give you some background into Mr. Salvatore's creation. Drizzt is a drow (a dark elf with black skin and white hair), Drows were once elves who turned evil because they decided to worship an evil goddess. The drow society is female dominant, and it is a culture where survival and gaining power means everything. As a result, the drows are reputed to be an evil race in this fictional world.
Drizzt, was born in an underground drow city, and was brought up as a warrior. However, his trainer (also his father) taught Drizzt good values and belief that are uncommon in the drow society. Therefore, when Drizzt grew up, he was in constant conflict with following the evil culture in the drow society. Which led to his eventual exile from his homeland. Drizzt went to the surface world, seeking to start a new life amongst the surface folks (human, elf, dwarves. etc..), amongst the races that are supposedly "good". However, Drizzt was shunned wherever he goes, because of the evil reputation of his race. After two decades of roaming on the surface world, Drizzt eventually moved to the region known as the "Spine of the World", a region of gathering of outcasts from the society. At the Spine of the World, Drizzt was befriended by a grumpy old dwarf, and his adopted human daughter, as well as a ferocious young barbarian and a cunning halfling. It was amongst his true friends that Drizzt finally found a place that he can belong to. Therefore, Drizzt represents a lot of things parallel to our society. He is immigration, assimilation, refugee, and a victim of prejudice. Although the saga of Drizzt are not Christian novels. But in some way, I think Christians and Drizzt have one thing in common, that is we are all sojourners in this world, and will never belong to this world because of our belief.
Since 1988, 19 Drizzt novels have been published and the saga is still continuing, the first 6 books were amongst the best stories in this long going franchise. Last month, Salvatore published a new book, "The legend of Drizzt anthology". This is a collection of all the short stories (relating to Drizzt) ever published in various magazines. In this book, there are 12 short stories. But today, in this review I would like to talk about one particular short story from this collection. This is a little story that has touched my heart deeply, and I would like to share this story and my thoughts with you, this story is called "Dark Mirror".
The story:
In "Dark Mirror", after acquiring some fame for his heroic deeds in the surface world. Drizzt, on a way to visit a friend encountered a group of farmers, and agreed to help them to track down a band of orcs. The orcs have apparently kidnapped some villagers from a small village called "Pengallen". After Drizzt located the captives, to the surprise of Drizzt he found a goblin among them who acts differently compared to the "normal" goblins (the golbins are usually described as evil, wretched creature with hideous appearances). Drizzt is even more surprised to discover that the goblin, Nojheim, is a slave to the leader of the town. Out of curiosity and sympathy, Drizzt decided to intervene and tried to save the goblin from slavery. However, at the end of the story Drizzt came away with something more...
The story was told from first person narrative, from the perspective of Drizzt. This is a story so unique in its concept. Because at this stage of Drizzt's life, he was very used to killing creatures that are reputably "evil" (such as orcs, goblins and orges) without giving too much thought. The author has turned the situation around in this story, and conjured a goblin character, in many ways similar to Drizzt, and use that to punch Drizzt in the face by forcing him to re-collect his own identity as a dark elf and see the connection between himself and the little goblin.
In this story, the goblin Nojheim is much like Drizzt. Nojheim is unlike the rest of his goblin kins, and has no intentions to harm anyone. After Drizzt found out the fact that Nojheim was a slave bound to the human villager. He was infuriated and encouraged the little goblin to fight for his right. For me, the most memorable moment of the story was a conversation between Drizzt and Nojheim, where Nojheim reminded Drizzt that people do often more than just discriminate others based on the reputation of their heritage and background, but even more people also judge others based on their appearances. When someone who doesn't fit the stereotype comes along, people often feel uncomfortable because their traditional understanding is disturbed. As Nojheim said to Drizzt that if he let the villagers know that he is not an evil goblin, it will probably just make his situation even worse, because Nojheim is the "dark mirror" to their consciences. Personally, I think the entire conversation really brings up something sinister buried deep in our hearts in the way we judge people in our society.
The end of the story is a tragic one, it ended with a shocking image of the little goblin slave been executed by its owner, while Drizzt stared helplessly at the body of the dead Nojheim hanging on a pole, his stiff limbs swaying in the cold wind. The villagers boasted about the execution, saying the execution of the goblin is justified, because after all, "all" goblins are not only hideous in appearance, but also evil by nature without exceptions...
It is human nature to classify other people for our own understanding. But should there be a boundary to this classification? How far is too far? This short story does more than just sending anti-stereotype message. The author is asking a deeper and disturbing question about ourselves, it is something you can take away with you after reading the 40 page story.
Rating: 5/5 - This has to be my most favorite story written by R.A. Salvatore, and one of the most meaningful fantasy tales I've ever encountered. Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment