QuoteDidn't Lolth and the drow get literally cursed with black skin by Corellon as a physical mark of their evil?

I think so. Somewhere in 4e/5e timeline Elistrae managed to reverse part of this curse on willing non-demon-blood-tainted drows (some were demon-tainted don't ask me why) and they reversed to Dark Elves of ancient era in terms of phenotype (ergo sort of eee.. Egyptian looking elves or smth).

Quote from: Wrath of God on June 06, 2021, 08:36:06 AM
(some were demon-tainted don't ask me why)

What happens in Menzoberranzan, stays in Menzoberranzan.

Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 04:46:32 PM

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

Didn't duergar and smurfnibblins (whatever those deep gnomes were called) have dark gray skin?

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 08, 2021, 05:04:03 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 04:46:32 PM

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

Didn't duergar and smurfnibblins (whatever those deep gnomes were called) have dark gray skin?

Exactly. No one else has Black skin

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 05:48:11 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 08, 2021, 05:04:03 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 04:46:32 PM

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

Didn't duergar and smurfnibblins (whatever those deep gnomes were called) have dark gray skin?

Exactly. No one else has Black skin

What about the svar... I mean xvart. Their name literally means black.

Oh that's right. For some reason, in D&D, they're bright blue smurfs.

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 04:46:32 PM

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

I cant remember anyone ever buying that one. But that was the "blue" era of drow so it didnt turn their skin black at least!

Now in an older thread here on the drow, one thing I pointed out was that drinking water laced with analgesic silver can and will turn your skin a deep shade of blue as it permeates cells and reacts to sunlight. Theres been more than a few documentations on it. But dont think anyone knew about that back in the 80s-90s. Was that process even possible back then? But it could be an easy explanation for drow. Its literally in the water and some radiation from the local rocks since they arent getting out enough to likely trigger it.

Quote from: Pat on June 08, 2021, 06:45:19 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 05:48:11 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 08, 2021, 05:04:03 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 04:46:32 PM

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

Didn't duergar and smurfnibblins (whatever those deep gnomes were called) have dark gray skin?

Exactly. No one else has Black skin

What about the svar... I mean xvart. Their name literally means black.

Oh that's right. For some reason, in D&D, they're bright blue smurfs.

Because of the magical radiation probably. 

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 10:03:03 PM

Quote from: Pat on June 08, 2021, 06:45:19 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 05:48:11 PM

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 08, 2021, 05:04:03 PM

Quote from: Shasarak on June 08, 2021, 04:46:32 PM

Quote from: Omega on June 08, 2021, 10:58:17 AM
Every writer for D&D has had their own take on what the origins of the drow are. If any.

Think it was 2e where in one book it is stated the skin colour is from magical radiations of the rocks down there.

Now that explanation is very doubtful considering every other race that does not get black skin from the "magical" radiations.

Didn't duergar and smurfnibblins (whatever those deep gnomes were called) have dark gray skin?

Exactly. No one else has Black skin

What about the svar... I mean xvart. Their name literally means black.

Oh that's right. For some reason, in D&D, they're bright blue smurfs.

Because of the magical radiation probably. 

Wait, if the magical radiation turned the black elves, I mean svartalfs, I mean xvart blue why did it turn the dark elves black?

I'm so confused. Which race are the smurfs supposed to represent? Is Gargamel an anti-semite, a hapa-hater, or an Islamophobe? Which real life race are my blue 1-1 HD monsters supposed to hate?

Magical skin colors are hard.

no no no!

The magical radiation turned the black elves blue (or purple!). Obvious smurfwashing! 

All of the above could be explanations as why the Little Mermaid in Disney's live action remake has black skin. It isn't that in the depths of the sea you need protection from ultraviolet rays...

Quote from: Reckall on June 09, 2021, 05:09:09 AM
All of the above could be explanations as why the Little Mermaid in Disney's live action remake has black skin. It isn't that in the depths of the sea you need protection from ultraviolet rays...

I'm surprised they racebent Ariel rather than make a new adaptation of the original Anderson story. The original story doesn't specify any particular location. You could retell it with an entirely black cast. I recall back in the late 90s there was a children's cartoon where one episode was an adaptation set in China with an entirely Chinese cast.

Quote from: Reckall on June 09, 2021, 05:09:09 AM
All of the above could be explanations as why the Little Mermaid in Disney's live action remake has black skin. It isn't that in the depths of the sea you need protection from ultraviolet rays...

Imagine if they had gone with "biologically authentic" countershading... Is Blackback a thing?

Quote from: HappyDaze on June 09, 2021, 09:58:12 AM

Quote from: Reckall on June 09, 2021, 05:09:09 AM
All of the above could be explanations as why the Little Mermaid in Disney's live action remake has black skin. It isn't that in the depths of the sea you need protection from ultraviolet rays...

Imagine if they had gone with "biologically authentic" countershading... Is Blackback a thing?

What never ceases to surprise me is how the end result of this... dunno... "Let's take back the classics from the Patriarchy!" or whatever this new wave wants to be, always produces suckage. And there is no reason for it.

In "Without Remorse" they changed the classic Tom Clancy character John Clark from white to black. Also, the plot had nothing to do with the book. Amen to that.

And the result sucked. Why? Arbitrary changes do not automatically lead to suckage - just look at how Kubrick treated the original plots of the books he adapted, and the results were masterpieces... But here they do always suck.

"Ghostbusters 2016" was a masterclass lesson in how to suck. They deployed some good (and, OK, some overrated) actresses from SNL, only to fail at screenwriting, directing and even understanding the very essence of the original, thus producing a perfect storm of suckage.

"Mulan" live action sucked from minute one. In the original, Mulan had to overcome adversity after adversity to become a soldier; here she basically starts as a Jedi and grows from there. Maybe there is a clue in there.

"The Last Jedi" sucked so badly that when I exited the theatre I thought that they had distributed the wrong cut of the movie. I'm not joking. I mean... Luke Skywalker an alcoholic hobo?! Nonsensical behaviour from anybody?! Whole subplots leading to... more no-sense?! What was that?! The answer? "Toxic incel misogynist racist fans didn't understand the greatness of subverting expectations through inclusiveness!!" Really?! They subverted expectations... in Star Wars!? The series where you go to the theatre only because you want to see two hours of Luke duelling with Kylo Ren!? The movie fractured the fandom, killed the toy sales and, more importantly, desertified the new Star Wars attractions in the Disney parks.

Then "The Mandalorian" arrives, with his cohort of cool characters, and cool bad guys, and cool stories that mix Star Wars with Sergio Leone, and all of sudden everyone wants to buy a plush Baby Joda and the action figures of the group. And then, out of the blue

[SPOILER ON THE ENDING OF THE SECOND SEASON]

Luke Skywalker arrives with his green lightsaber, and for ten uninterrupted minutes he kicks so much ass so incredibly hard that you actually have to make a SAN check or be stunned for the whole sequence. Reaction videos on YouTube show adult people crying. Yup, even PoC. Yup, even grandmas. Cool characters plus cool stories plus Luke explaining the bad guys the error of their ways equals toy sales back up. One wonders why.

[END SPOILER]

Then there is the "Let's take Lovecraft Back!" literary movement, a bunch of writers whose books suck the very air from your lungs, providing, with this, the only lovecraftian experience ever achieved by the group.

And yet there is proof that these authors could do good things. For example, there is a tale by Brain McNaughton, "The Doom That Came to Innsmouth" (written back in 1999) that is where Ruthanna Emrys robbed her ideas for "Winter Tide" from: the poor people of Innsmouth were innocents whose lives were destroyed by the US government; many were killed, others ended up in "camps"; their religion was persecuted and forbidden; the ties with their beloved sea cut by "concentrating" them in fenced camps in the deserts of Oklahoma... There is even an excerpt from a speech that the then Senator John F. Kennedy gave at the Miskatonic U. in 1959, with the stunning admission that "Right here in our own state of Massachusetts, in February of 1928, agents of the U.S. Treasury and Justice Departments perpetrated crimes worthy of Nazi Germany against a powerless minority of our citizens..."

But McNaugton's tale works because it is from the point of view of an Innsmouth descendant who (like the protagonist of the original) is clueless about his lineage and what it really means. McNaughton for sure had a great fun in unleashing fury and indignation about the "actions by the evil Federal Agents in Innsmouth", only to have even more fun in ripping the "woke" veil that hid the horrific truth, and in upending the fate of the foolish protagonist. In a word, McNaughton smartly subverts the original by actually respecting it. Emyrs takes only the subversion, spites on Lovecraft and runs towards the Sun until she reaches, blinded and unaware, the high and bitter cliff of extreme suckage.

And yet... Why this disaster? You can subvert the work of someone you actually hate and start from there. I personally think that taking someone else's life work, changing it, spitting on the original author and then making money out of it is deeply unethical, but that's me. However... well, now let's see your talent at work. Who knows? Maybe a good yarn will come from it. There is no reason why Emyrs should not be as good as McNaughton in her approach to the Mythos. But, no. You can take it to the bank. It can be "Winter Tide", or "Lovecraft Country", doesn't matter. The. Result. Will. Suck. Like if there is a curse at work.

Now, to be fair, it works both ways. After Jenny Nicholson's hilarious video about the super alt-right novel, "Trigger Warning" I actually bought it - so at the end Nicholson caused damage. It is about a campus siege in a University of "snowflakes" (who, strangely, are able to become violent beyond Charles Bronson only when the main character does something "not woke", like stopping a guy from hurting his girlfriend - because that's fascist; the descriptions of the resulting carnage in these occurrences are above and beyond). And it is about how this main character, who is a student, a ex-soldier and ate Rambo as a byproduct of some action in the field, teaches to these snowflakes "the right way (the word is important) to tackle the problems in your life - like hyperarmed terrorists who stormed your campus with anything from assault rifles to, I believe, tanks. And, of course, here, too the suckage is so high that you need the Hubble to see the top.

Dangerous terrorists storm a campus of uniformly leftist students plus a right-wing ex-soldier. The ingredients for something at the very least interesting are there. Tom Clancy would have produced something decent, maybe good. But not here. We go to the opposite corner of the aisle and what we do find? Their own version of "Let's Take Back Star Wars!"

I think that the live action Little Drow Mermaid will suck. And that there will be no discernible reason as why it was cursed to suck.