Добавлено: Чт Янв 28, 2016 21:15
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As I expected from such a wonderful group, your reply to this really helps me understand. Thank you so much.
Kettarienne, thanks for the information on the Russian. Looking at the letters, they do look far more distinct in Russian than in English.
Cthulhu-55, yes indeed; the word for all elves in the Edda is 'alfar', with the dark elves called the 'svartalfar' (black elves) or 'dokkalfar' (dark elves), depending. (I get to teach this in my World Mythology course; the Edda gives us very little about the dark elves, so it's fun to throw theories around about their actual nature in class.)
Boon947, I'm so glad that you agree that it's an issue. I completely sympathize with the creators' wish to move away from Forgotten Realms tropes and, if that's their wish, support it, although with things like hyena-gnolls and beholders, not to mention countless other D&D original beasts and concepts, still rife within the game, getting rid of the word 'drow' seems like a bit of a nit-pick on their part. Also, I find it interesting that they wish to get away from the Forgotten Realms tropes, but they're still keeping the essential cultural drow material... magical matriarchy, alliance with the beholders, driders, evil alignment, physical appearance, etc. At present, these aren't a new take on the svartalfar, as the Scandinavians called the 'dark elves'... these are drow, straight up, and changing the name while keeping the vast majority of FR tropes intact seems like a strange move.
I totally agree in thinking that 'drow' is best (and most accurate considering the lore, even within the game), if we wanted to go a different route, we could just come up with a third option, no? Something which isn't 'drow', but meaningfully distinct from the existing racial words? Ideally, something which actually conveys or implies their shadow nature, making it easy to remember? Just a thought... I'd be pleased as punch to go back to 'drow', but I thought I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up an alternative.