Here's an interesting one from Steve Jackson's Fighting Fantasy masterpiece, Creature of Havoc, that Kieran Coghlan pointed out to me in the comments on my earlier post, The Allansian Adventurer. Obvious spoilers ahead!
After Zharradan Marr engineered the theft of the magical Vapours of Stittle Woad, he hid them in his dungeons until he could understand their secrets (CoH, pp. 30-31). Fearing that Marr would become invincible, the towns of Stonebridge, Chalice and Silverton sent parties of adventurers to search for the Vapours and return them to safety (CoH, p. 32). It is of course in these dungeons that your adventure as the savage Creature of Havoc begins. Your first encounter in the adventure is with the unfortunate Dwarf, Swinebeard of Yore, who has been sentenced for the crime of arson in Salamonis to enter Marr's dungeons and search for the vapours. On the written sentence from the court that Swinebeard carries with him someone (probably Swinebeard himself) has scribbled Vapour of knowledge / - Flaxenmane of Silverton = / - Winged helmet (CoH, para. 337).
After what can only be considered to be an unfortunate encounter with a Hobbit (read the book to find out why if you don't know already!), you come to a room with four corpses in it, which three Flesh Feeders are feasting on (CoH, paras. 101 and 447). There are corpses of two 'pug-nosed' creatures, presumably Orcs, and of two adventurers - one dressed in a leather tunic and helmet, the other, described as a Knight, dressed in metal armour and a ornate winged helmet (see the illustration below from para. 447). We can assume that this unfortunate individual, who has been dead a long time (CoH, para. 101), is the character identified on Swinebeard's note - Flaxenmane of Silverton.
We can also assume that Flaxenmane was one of the adventurers sent by Silverton to recover the vapours of Stittle Woad (and indeed he had succeeded in finding one before his demise) and, given that he is wearing fancy armour that he was, unlike Swinebeard, a willing participant in this endeavour. It doesn't look like he is someone from your past, though, since he is notable enough to be described in some detail in the book but isn't mentioned by Zharradan Marr later in the adventure.
Creature of Havoc is a book packed full of detail, and that's part of the brilliance of it, but the attention given to such a minor character in the story obviously invites us to ponder who exactly Flaxenmane of Silverton might have been. As I mentioned at the start of the post, Kieran Coghlan mentioned a fan theory, one which I hadn't heard before, concerning Flaxenmane. At the end of Ian Livingstone's early FF book, Forest of Doom, you are rewarded for returning King Gillibran's magical war-hammer with jewels, gems and a fabulous golden winged helmet, which you proudly place on your head. Could it be that this is the same helmet that Flaxenmane is wearing and indeed that Flaxenmane is this same Allansian adventurer?! It's an intriguing thought that the hero of the Stonebridge Trilogy (and maybe even of other Allansian adventures, such as the Deathtrap Dungeon sequence) might have come to an inglorious end in the bowels of Zharradan Marr's dungeons but, as Kieran points out, he's exactly the sort of renowned adventurer that might have been sent on the desperate mission to recover the Vapours of Stittle Woad before Marr uncovered their secrets. I like this idea a lot, not least for its subversive take on the fortunes of the (essentially Livingstonian) Allansian adventurer. But of course a winged helmet is not a lot to go on, so maybe there's no connection at all (though that would leave us wondering why Steve Jackson took the trouble to describe Flaxenmane that way in the first place). What do you think?
After Zharradan Marr engineered the theft of the magical Vapours of Stittle Woad, he hid them in his dungeons until he could understand their secrets (CoH, pp. 30-31). Fearing that Marr would become invincible, the towns of Stonebridge, Chalice and Silverton sent parties of adventurers to search for the Vapours and return them to safety (CoH, p. 32). It is of course in these dungeons that your adventure as the savage Creature of Havoc begins. Your first encounter in the adventure is with the unfortunate Dwarf, Swinebeard of Yore, who has been sentenced for the crime of arson in Salamonis to enter Marr's dungeons and search for the vapours. On the written sentence from the court that Swinebeard carries with him someone (probably Swinebeard himself) has scribbled Vapour of knowledge / - Flaxenmane of Silverton = / - Winged helmet (CoH, para. 337).
After what can only be considered to be an unfortunate encounter with a Hobbit (read the book to find out why if you don't know already!), you come to a room with four corpses in it, which three Flesh Feeders are feasting on (CoH, paras. 101 and 447). There are corpses of two 'pug-nosed' creatures, presumably Orcs, and of two adventurers - one dressed in a leather tunic and helmet, the other, described as a Knight, dressed in metal armour and a ornate winged helmet (see the illustration below from para. 447). We can assume that this unfortunate individual, who has been dead a long time (CoH, para. 101), is the character identified on Swinebeard's note - Flaxenmane of Silverton.
We can also assume that Flaxenmane was one of the adventurers sent by Silverton to recover the vapours of Stittle Woad (and indeed he had succeeded in finding one before his demise) and, given that he is wearing fancy armour that he was, unlike Swinebeard, a willing participant in this endeavour. It doesn't look like he is someone from your past, though, since he is notable enough to be described in some detail in the book but isn't mentioned by Zharradan Marr later in the adventure.
Creature of Havoc is a book packed full of detail, and that's part of the brilliance of it, but the attention given to such a minor character in the story obviously invites us to ponder who exactly Flaxenmane of Silverton might have been. As I mentioned at the start of the post, Kieran Coghlan mentioned a fan theory, one which I hadn't heard before, concerning Flaxenmane. At the end of Ian Livingstone's early FF book, Forest of Doom, you are rewarded for returning King Gillibran's magical war-hammer with jewels, gems and a fabulous golden winged helmet, which you proudly place on your head. Could it be that this is the same helmet that Flaxenmane is wearing and indeed that Flaxenmane is this same Allansian adventurer?! It's an intriguing thought that the hero of the Stonebridge Trilogy (and maybe even of other Allansian adventures, such as the Deathtrap Dungeon sequence) might have come to an inglorious end in the bowels of Zharradan Marr's dungeons but, as Kieran points out, he's exactly the sort of renowned adventurer that might have been sent on the desperate mission to recover the Vapours of Stittle Woad before Marr uncovered their secrets. I like this idea a lot, not least for its subversive take on the fortunes of the (essentially Livingstonian) Allansian adventurer. But of course a winged helmet is not a lot to go on, so maybe there's no connection at all (though that would leave us wondering why Steve Jackson took the trouble to describe Flaxenmane that way in the first place). What do you think?
I suppose the main issue with this theory is it requires Steve Jackson to have decent knowledge of the contents of Ian's books and I've never really got the impression from interviews that the two of them knew all that much about what the other was writing. Still, it's possible Steve consulted Ian about it when writing Creature of Havoc. Perhaps it was even Ian's idea to put Flaxenmane in.
ReplyDeleteEven if Flaxenmane is not supposed to be the hero of FoD and ToT (I'm guessing the hero of CotSW is a different guy as the FoD hero seems clueless about the hammer and Bigleg), he is an interesting twist on the Adventurer stereotype. In any other gamebook, you'd be playing as this guy, sent on a desperate mission to a monster-filled dungeon to retrieve 3 vapours. But in this you are one of the monsters, starting off in the depths of the dungeon and munching your way through adventurers seeking the vapours.
Really it's odd we don't come across more of the adventuers from other books, there must be dozens of these guys about the place, but there aren't many references. Apart from Flaxenmane, Maior in BVP/TCT is one obvious example. The Shaman in Masks of Mayhem is probably the hero of Phantoms of Fear or at least a close relative. One thing I always wanted to know was what the relationship was between the ruler of Arion in Masks of Mayhem and King Jonthane and Queen Elegana in Deathmoor. My initial feeling was Robin Waterfield deliberately had a brother and sister co-rulership so male players in Masks of Mayhem could pretend they were Jonthane in that book, while female players could pretend they were Elegana. But the ruler in MoM ruled with the support of Ifor Tynin and there was no mention of having a sibling as co-ruler. It's possible the ruler drafted in their sibling to aid them with ruling now Ifor was out of the picture though. However Jonthane and Elegana are wet blankets who give a vitally important quest to a cretin like Fang-Zen while as the hero of MoM would have strapped on his helmet and set off to shove Arachnos' head up his arse.
In an amateur FF I wrote (A Midwinter Carol), I had Jonthane and Elegana as the twin children of the hero of MoM and I had the hero of Deathmoor mudereded by Pelagines shortly after retrieving Telessa. However, now I actually like the idea of the hero of Deathmoor marrying Telessa to become prince and eventually king (which is pretty believable considering Jonthane was willing to give Fang-Zen half his kingdom!). Telessa perhaps died some time later and so Deathmoor Hero allowed Ifor Tynin to support him in ruling which therefore sets him up as the hero of MoM. Which would then explain why the MoM hero goes to stop Morgana himself rather than getting help - it's the life he's used to after all.
Re. Flaxenmane: I think there's no certainty that SJ did intend it to be the hero from FoD, but it's a fun idea. He may have been having a little joke to himself about Ian's books always having YOU as a dashing adventurer and thought it would be fun to kill one off in his book. Or, more likely, he's just being subversive and is turning the usual way of things on their head.
DeleteThe whole Arion thing needs a bit of working out, that's for sure. MoM and DM don't really seem to mesh together very well. MoM seems more archaic somehow. But I like your idea of YOU ending up as the ruler of Arion!
DeleteI try to deal with this (but it's actually in french). I'm writing an adventure trying to explain that. Based upon the same assumption that Midwinter Carol that Jonthane is the son of the hero of Masks of Mayhem.
DeleteHis daughter Telessa is named after Eldenurin's sword who delivered Elegana from a kidnapping by a demon monster (before Eldenurin faced Ishtra). Eldenurin is not the shaman of Masks of Mayhem but his apprentice. This leads me to put 25 years between masks of mayhem and Deathmoor...
Of course another puzzle is why an elf shaman is running around with a sword that has the same name as a kidnapped princess. Co-incidence, or something more?
ReplyDeletePerhaps the name of some hero or god, or such like that things are named after?
DeleteQuite possibly. Definitely a lot to speculate on in the 3 Arion books anyway!
DeleteFor sure. They are actually books I don't know as well as others, especially Deathmoor. I need to research them further and they deserve a series of blog posts.
Deletepoor flaxenmane continues to decay in the dungeons of zharradhan marr while we wait for fresh nuggets and gems of FF info....time for some new posts on this blog methinks
ReplyDeleteYou are right! I've just finished a rather big bit of work and have, in the spare moments, been writing a blog post. An hour or two should finish it, so look out for it very soon (maybe even this evening).
DeleteLess to do than I thought, so it's done!
Deleteand most welcome it is..cant get enough ff !.....research is where the joy lies...by the way, have you been reading the history of ff book YOU ARE THE HERO..?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have YOU ARE THE HERO but haven't had a chance to read it yet other than a quick flick through. I'll likely blog about it at some stage.
Delete