references in gale's banter on selection
just thought i'd go through a few of his selection lines that stuck out to me.
Oh, what a tangled Weave we web!
reference to: "oh what a tangled web we weave" from a poem by sir walter scott:
"Like so very many of Shakespeare’s lasting observations, it’s a beautifully expressed aphorism that uses just a few words to describe one life experience so perfectly, and is so true, that it enters into the English language and becomes one of its most powerful idioms – one that will last forever.‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive’ means that when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control.The quote is from Scott’s epic poem,Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field.It’s an historical romance in verse, published in 1808."
the next one is is a play on a line from a shakespeare play:
All the world's my stage and you're just a player in it.
the play is titled 'as you like it' and the line appears in the following monologue:
"All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely Players;They have their exits and their entrances,And one man in his time plays many parts,His Acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchelAnd shining morning face, creeping like snailUnwillingly to school. And then the lover,Sighing like furnace, with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,Seeking the bubble reputationEven in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,In fair round belly with good capon lined,With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws and modern instances;And so he plays his part. The sixth age shiftsInto the lean and slippered pantaloon,With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wideFor his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,Turning again toward childish treble, pipesAnd whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,That ends this strange eventful history,Is second childishness and mere oblivion,Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
the next one appears to reference a poem:
The path less travelled.
i think this is in reference to the well-known poem by robert frost, 'the road not taken':
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.
i think this ties in well with gale's wanderlust, his wish to explore different worlds and planes of existence.
the next one is a waterdhavian saying, which i already took a closer look at in one of my metas:
'Doth thy mirror crack?' Apparently not.
Early on in his learning of magic, the long-dead and locally famous first Lord (revered in Waterdeep for his role in establishing the city as it is today) Ahghairon said, "I am no wizard. I am a dabbler but no master of magic; it seems no mastery burns within me." These are famous words in Waterdeep, still known by most Waterdhavian children and all adults, and are oft referenced, as in the dry comment "No mastery blazing forth yet," or "A dabbler but no master, eh?" (Comments applied to skill trades and crafts, not just to magic use.) Tuezaera Hallowhand was a famous "lone cat" thief of Waterdeep in the 1200s DR who disappeared suddenly and is thought to have come to a violent end. She once robbed a wizard, and wrote this on his wall with a fingertip dipped in his favorite red wine: "I take things. You take freedom with your spells. Which of us is the greater thief?" This statement, too, is well remembered, and usually echoed in Waterdhavian speech by someone using the last (questioning) sentence of Tuezara's inscription. Laeral, Lady Mage of Waterdeep for some years (when married to Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun), once publicly rebuked an overambitious wizard of the Watchful Order of Magists & Protectors thus: "If I hurl spells but think not of consequences, I am nothing. If I take lives but count not the cost, I am nothing. If I steal in the night and see not the faces of the devastated come morning, I am nothing. If I make decrees like a ruler but undertake none of the responsibilities of the throne, I am nothing. And if I do all these things in the name of the Watchful Order, I am less than nothing. Doth thy mirror crack?"These scornful words are remembered and used almost daily in Waterdeep even a century later, though almost never as the full quotation. Rather, someone will ask scornfully, "Doth thy mirror crack?" or "Hurl but think not?" or "Take but not count cost? Be nothing, then!" [source: waterdeep: dragon heist]
i think this one is very neat:
No gloom, all doom.
because i believe it references xan of evereska from baldur's gate 1. xan is infamous for his gloomy nature, often talking about his doom, the folly of the quest, etc. some of his lines include the following:
"We're all doomed! Run while we're still able.""If we are doomed to fail, could we at least do it faster?!""Eh. Onward, to futility!""We're all doomed.""Life is so hollow."
i think it's not so unlikely because gale also references other characters from the baldur's gate series and the forgotten realms overall, like elminster:
Elminster's not around, so might as well.
as well as halaster blackcloak, a mad mage residing in the undermountain in waterdeep:
I hope Halaster takes good care of Tara while I'm away.
as well as another character from the games, edwin odeisseron:
Don't make me go all Edwin Odesseiron on you.
edwin, a red wizard of thay, was a companion in baldur's gate 1 and 2.
No rest for the wicked, I see.
a common idiom that originated from the bible:
No rest for the wickedbegins asno peace for the wickedin a 1425 rendering of the Old Testament’s Book of Isaiah 48:22: “The Lord God said, peace is not to wicked men.” The sentiment is echoed in Isaiah 57:20, which in the King James Version reads: “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
another bible reference may be:
Seek and you shall find me.
Youwillseek Meandfind Mewhenyousearch forMewith all your heart.
from jeremiah 29:13.
more folklore than an idiom, but:
The witching hour.
Origins. The phrase "witching hour" began at least as early as 1775, in the poem "Night, an Ode." by Rev. Matthew West, though its origins may go further back to 1535 when the Catholic Church prohibited activities during the 3:00 am and 4:00 am timeframe due to emerging fears about witchcraft in Europe.
i couldn't find the poem in full, but i was able to find the line that references the witching hour:
Along whose banks at Midnight’s witching hour (So wayward Fancy dreams) aerial Beings pour!
another shakespeare reference is:
What fools these mortals be.
which is a line from a midsummer's nights dream:
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!” is used inActIII, Scene 2 ofA Midsummer Night’s Dreamby William Shakespeare. The line is spoken by one of the best-loved characters in the play–Puck. Here is the short quote in which the line appears in:Captain of our fairy band,Helena is here at hand,And the youth, mistook by me,Pleading for a lover’s fee.Shall we their fond pageant see?Lord, what fools these mortals be!Puck speaks this line to his king, Oberon, while the two are watching the four Athenian main characters lost in the forest. These four lovers, whose love affairs are at the center of the play, are behaving in a way that Puck finds foolish and amusing. It should be noted that Puck bears some of the responsibility for the complicated relations between Helena, Demetrius, Hermia, and Lysander.
this one is, i believe, a dnd reference most likely:
May the dice roll in my favour.
i did however have the immediate association with alea iacta est:
Alea iacta est("Thedieis cast") is a variation of aLatinphrase attributed bySuetoniustoJulius Caesaron 10January 49 BCE, as he led his army across theRubiconriver inNorthern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Senate and began his longcivil waragainstPompeyand theOptimates. The phrase, either in the original Latin or in translation, is used in many languages to indicate that events have passed apoint of no return. It is now most commonly cited with the word order changed ("Alea iacta est") rather than in the original phrasing. The same event inspired another idiom with the same meaning, "crossing the Rubicon".
Gone with the Weave.
this is a reach, but my mind always went to 'gone with the wind' (margaret mitchell's novel and the 1939 movie adaptation of said novel) when i heard it in the game.
nothing in depth here, i just wanted you all to know that, haha. (((':
A rough tempest I will raise.
this may be another shakespeare reference and this time it's from 'the tempest':
Prospero:Now does my project gather to a head:My charms crack not; my spirits obey; and timeGoes upright with his carriage. How's the day?Ariel:On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord,You said our work should cease.Prospero: I did say so,When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit,How fares the king and's followers?
on researching, i found a reddit post that also discusses this likely reference.
the last one i want to end the post on is:
Your knight in magic armour.
this line is still bugged and thus i couldn't find it on the wiki, but it's an assist line for a romanced protag.
it obviously referenced the knight in shining armour:
The present-day use of this phrase is, of course, figurative and refers back to the notion of gallant knights saving fair maidens in distress. The reality behind that imagery is dubious and it no doubt owes much to the work of those Victorian novelists and painters who were captivated by the chivalrous ideal of an imagined court of Camelot. Nevertheless, knights did wear armour and that worn by royalty and the high nobility was highly polished and did in fact gleam and shine.The earliest reference that I’ve found to the phrase in print dates from the late 18th century – in The British journalThe Monthly Review, 1790, in a poem calledAmusem*nt: A Poetical Essay, by Henry Pye:No more the knight, in shining armour dress’dOpposes to the pointed lance his breast
but it also features heavily in art, across various periods in time, like these from john william waterhouse:
i did see someone on reddit also discussing the creator and destroyer line in reference to various deities throughout history, which i thought was interesting as well.
anyhow, thank you for reading! i may have overlooked something so feel free to add your own thoughts!
🖤
