Forgotten Realms/Headscratchers


 * The ending of R.A. Salvatore's novel Passage to Dawn features a touching scene in which a messenger spirit appears to Drizzt Do'Urden to inform him that his father's spirit is in a better place. All well and good, but it is problematic in face of established Realms lore, which holds that the souls of traitors to their faith (the False) and those without faith (the Faithless) are sent to The Underworld for punishment. Zaknafein paid lip service to Lloth, which makes him the very definition of a False soul.
 * I haven't read the book myself(I've read the early drizzt books and the later ones, but not the middle), but as I understand it, Cadderly is the one who set up the messenger spirit ritual thing, correct? Possible that Cadderly staged the whole thing to spare Drizzt the grief of knowing that his father is either slowly melting into a wall, or is at the mercy of either Kelemvor or Lolth.
 * Prior to 3rd Edition, souls went to planes based on their alignment. In other words, Zaknafein went to the plane of his alignment which was probably CG at the moment of his death.
 * Also, Zaknafein paid 'lip service' to Lolth because his society would have killed him if he hadn't. The gods do not recognize swordspoint conversion, so him doing it only under coercion (and never doing it when he's actually free to make a choice) exempts him from being False.
 * On a similar note to the above, where do Nay Thiest types go? That is, those who don't disbelieve the existence of the gods (like the Faithless) or feign piety without actually having it (like the False)? Example: Artemis Entreri admits that he knows the gods exist, but due to his Freudian Excuse he doesn't pay homage to any of them. When he eventually dies and his soul flies the Material Plane, does he get stuck in the mossy wall/wind up as a servant of the then-current God of Death, or does he just wander around the Gray Planes forever?
 * I'm pretty sure they count as faithless; they believe the gods exist but they don't have any faith in them.
 * Ah, cool. Kelemvor is pretty chill as far as Gods of Death go - supposedly he gives you leniant/cushy jobs-for-eternity depending on your offenses - so it's possible to get off fairly lightly if you don't mind being a messenger boy forever.
 * Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Of Toril Continent and Earth Continent.
 * Faerun is Europe.
 * Zakhara is Saharan Africa.
 * Kara-Tur is Asia.
 * So what is Toril Continent of North and South America, Antarctica and Australia? Or better yet what is Earth Continent of Maztica, Anchorome, Katashaka and Osse?
 * Maztica is the South/Central America counterpart, Anchorome equates to North America, Katashaka to Sub-Saharan Africa, and Osse to Australia.
 * Gonna go all old school for this one; Kelemvor Lyonsbane the mortal. His curse that turns him into a panther if he helps people out of the goodness of his heart. First, that is the most awkward, unnecessary, clumsy justification of Jerk with a Heart of Gold I've ever seen. Secondly, the curse itself is stupid; there's a scene where Kelemvor's stuck in Bane's Lotus Eater Machine; he's reading a book that paints him as a great hero. He knows this hasn't happened yet, and thinks it may be prophecy. Then he reads a passage about him saving the whole god damn world and dismisses it as nonsense, not out of any reasonable assessment of his abilities, but because there's "No reward that could satisfy the curse". Now, beyond the fact that he just said that saving the world that he lives on isn't an act of self interest, this guy who's supposed to long to be heroic thinks he would refuse to save the damn world because he'd turn into a panther and kill someone. That's Jerk with a Heart of Jerk if I've ever heard it.
 * The curse is a 'wild' curse; his ancestor was cursed to turn into a panther if he ever took money for a action (or something similar to that). Other parts... don't make sense.