credit: Dungeons and Dragons
The brief synopsis for this movie given on Google describes it as a group of adventurers on a quest to retrieve an artifact, at least until their adventure is made more difficult by the fact that they run into the wrong people. Yeah, that sounds about how a D&D campaign tends to go since each group is usually made of people who think in very different ways about one situation or another, meaning that everyone is going to do their own thing and often forget about the ‘good of the party’. But if you’re wondering how much you need to know before going to watch the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the answer is simple: you don’t need to know the whole game or even have to know exactly what part of the fantasy world the group is in at any given moment. Just pay attention and enjoy since there are moments that a lot of people might not fully understand, given that D&D deals with a lot of different creatures, a lot of whom are sentient and interact with humans and other races. For instance, there’s more than one race of elves, more than one dwarven race, and of course, humans are every bit as diverse as well. But apart from that there are other beings that are descendants of angels, demons, and other creatures that could confuse the average viewer with no knowledge of D&D. The best way to enjoy this movie is just to pay attention and perhaps brush up just a little bit on Faerun, which is kind an undertaking.
Sophia Lillis is playing the part of a tiefling druid, and that might bear some explaining.
Tieflings are part of the planetouched, meaning that somewhere in their ancestry, an otherworldly being influenced their bloodline by getting busy with a human. Usually showing horns, possibly a tail, and at times a very demonic countenance, tieflings aren’t exactly trusted in the world of Faerun since it’s believed that they have infernal, or evil, blood in their veins, and they’ll be deceivers and liars more often than not. However, many tieflings in the Forgotten Realms series have shown that they can be trusted despite their appearance. The fact that Sophia is taking on this role, and that of a druid no less, likely means that she is a good-aligned character, or neutral, and won’t be seen as an evil influence. But hey, it all depends on how the part was written and what’s going to happen during the adventure.
The barbarian is kind of an easy class to explain, as are several of the others.
There’s not much to a barbarian. They tend to live on the frozen tundra or just the wilds in general, they have their own society and culture, but they do tend to be seen as quite savage and violent. Casting Michelle Rodriguez as a barbarian is interesting, as is casting Chris Pine as a bard, who is a character in D&D that can be anything from good to evil-aligned and is able to cast a variety of spells thanks to their music. A bard often tends to have the gift of gab and is almost like a thief dressed in motley since they have a wide assortment of skills and feats that allow them to help their party but also be seen as a bit untrustworthy at times. Mages have been seen more than once in plenty of movies, and paladins are essentially knights who can work with magic. As far as any other class that might be revealed in the movie, it’s easy enough to brush up on their skill sets and what makes them stand out.
credit: Dungeons and Dragons
Hopefully, Faerun will be given a decent to great representation on the big screen.
There have been a few D&D movies made from 2000 to 2012, and all of them were one type of horrible after another, even with recognizable actors being cast in the first one. Thora Birch, Marlon Wayans, and Jeremy Irons were a part of the first D&D movie, and it didn’t help since the story was so poorly executed, so it’s a big hope that at this time we’ll get to see a proper presentation of Faerun, which isn’t too different from our world, apart from the many different creatures, races, and the fact that magic abounds in this place.
If this movie is good enough, it might lead other directors to explore Faerun a little deeper.
The Forgotten Realms setting has a lot of very well-known characters and locations that fans will hopefully appreciate since if the director and those involved have done their jobs, it could be a way to introduce a few of the favorite characters of many D&D fans, such as Drizzt Do’Urden, Elminster, and many others. One can hope, at least.
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