Talk:Elminster

Alter ego of Greenwood

It says Elminster is an alter ego of Ed Greenwood on the inside of the back cover for the paperback version of Elminster: The Making of a Mage. Here is the short passage displayed under the title "About the Author":

Ed Greenwood created the FORGOTTEN REALMS^® setting nearly forty years ago when he wanted a place to set the stories he was telling to his friends. Since then he's written a heaping pile of novels, short stories, articles, and roleplaying game product set in the lands of Faerûn. Among his most recent novels are Silverfall and Elminster in Hell for Wizards of the Coast, and The Kingless Land and The Vacant Throne for Tor Books. Ed lives in a book-crammed house in Ontario, Canada, but admits he is happiest when walking the shadow-lined streets of Waterdeep with his alter ego, Elminster, by his side.

I hope that clarifies some things. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 22:42, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Re: Alter ego of Greenwood

I asked Ed if the last sentence of that blurb accurately reported any statement of his, and here is his reply:

No, of course not. WotC authors are often asked to provide “sell copy” for book jackets, though it NEVER reaches print un-tinkered-with, but in the old TSR days, writers were rarely invited to do so. I had never seen that blurb until a copy of the book was brought to me for signing at a convention, and I certainly never wrote a word of it. No, I have never said Elminster is my “alter ego.” TSR has, many times; a practice that began in GenCon pre-registration blurb booklets, describing the seminars I did in costume, acting the part of Elminster - - ALSO a practice TSR asked me to begin and carry on. When they, many years later, asked me to leave the costume at home, I happily did so. Those robes are hot. :} To reiterate: I have never, ever said that Elminster is my alter ego or wish fulfillment character, or thought that way for one minute. I will never use any Realms characters in that manner, because doing so would ruin the whole fun of creating the world and its characters, and watching what happens and how they evolve. Just as all of the gamers who have played various PC adventurers in my Realms sessions over the years are playing roles, not themselves.

He's clarified as much on several occasions, such as the interview in Dragon #335. 'Elminster is Ed Greenwood's alter ego' is a hoary internet canard that has long ago been debunked and is without basis in the sources. Neither this misconception nor the supposition that it's widespread is verifiable per Wikipedia's criteria; it's misleading and inappropriate to perpetuate such misinformation, which is no more than gossip, on a page purporting to describe the character Elminster.

(As well, look at Wikipedia's own entry for 'alter ego': it doesn't remotely fit.)

If you'd like to discuss this matter with me, other Realms experts, or Ed himself, I invite you to the forums at candlekeep.com, where Ed posted the confirmation above.

Faraer 14:56, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Elminster's Class

Somone keeps changing Elminster's class from a multiclassed Fighter/Rouge/Cleric/Wizard/Archmage. Admittedly I don't currently own a Forgotten Realms Sourcebook, but according to several websites and the Forgotten Realms novels(The Elminster Saga) Elminster is not simply just a wizard. So whoever is changing it back, maybe you could stop?

In Wikipedia, we don't go by the D&D classes, but by the characters' main profession. Yes, Elminster could fight, and he was once a rogue and a cleric, but his main profession is that of a wizard. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 03:20, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't it say Profession instead of Class, then?

In the D&D world class and profession are two different things. A character can have a profession and any good GM will have their plays pick on for there character. Saying he is a wizard is refereeing to his class and nothing else. The statement earlier is correct though. In the most recent publication of the Forgotten Realms Core Rulebook Elminster is Ftr1/Rog2/Clr3/Wiz20/Acm5/Epic4. A wizard is a class in D&D and should be treated as such. As I stated there are professions in the D&D world and this could confuse people. Thus the sidebar must be changed entirely to reflect the term Class instead of Profession, or include both. For truth to be told, if profession should stay it aught to be changed to Chosen of Mystra.

What is this ??

{{NovelsWikiProject}} This honestly has any thing to do with Elminster ? Neither a novel nor a story but a fictional character. Does NovelsWikiProject seeks to include EVERY FR or DND character ??

Hey, if they want to, it's their organizational nightmare. Never get between a fool and his folly, as my papa used to say. --Agamemnon2 18:19, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

The description of Elminster leaves out the "hawk like nose" that is in every Elminster book multiple times.

Why did "hawk like nose" get deleted? ??

In every book in the Elminster series they mention his hawk like nose. It is his most well known feature.

In-universe tag

This article is predominantly written in an in-universe style. Per WP:WAF, this is not acceptable. The article is therefore tagged as requiring cleanup. The tag should remain until that happens. --Eyrian 04:40, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

No need for clean-up; it's fine the way it is, and it's not in an "in-universe style." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.107.184.141 (talk) 06:12, August 25, 2007 (UTC)

Three things:

(1) I was happy to be able to find an entry on Elminster in Wikipedia. It's something that plays a large role in the online universe, and as such deserves a place in a contemporary encyclopedia. I knew a little about the fictional universe, but wanted to know more about the character. The article was helpful as it is, and I found its style completely appropriate to the subject.

(2) The article stated right at the beginning that it was about a character in a fictional universe, and I do not need that repeated throughout the narrative. Admittedly a few links to the rest of the D&D universe would be helpful.

(3) The attitude that shines through from the comment that an in-universe style is "unacceptable" strongly disourages me from making any sort of contribution. I see no merits whatsoever in changing the narrative of hte article and I don't want to waste my time writing something that will likely be edited away. If Wikipedia doesn't feel that it should carry this sort of material and merges or deletes this article, I'm happy to recognise that I should not consult Wikipedia for information on characters from contemporary fiction. Golodh (talk) 13:48, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh?

• "A natural storyteller, Elminster is normally a witty, clever, and very charming man. "
• "After many adventures, Elminster was visited by Mystra, the Goddess of All Magic. She tarried with him and left the awestruck Elminster with the message that he should learn of magic and worship her."
• "Elminster is currently secretly helping a small group of adventurers near Westgate at the Reddansyr Village"

It's still in-universe. That needs cleanup. --Eyrian 21:50, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

• I don't see anything wrong with those examples you gave. WP:WAF is an idiotic guideline and should simply be ignored.--ElminsterAumar 05:26, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• Why? You cannot ignore a well-reasoned guideline without a reason. --Eyrian 05:30, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• Well, obviously there is nothing wrong with those examples you gave. If they indeed violate WP:WAF like you claim, then that guideline is bullshit and should be ignored.--ElminsterAumar 05:46, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• I'm afraid "bullshit" isn't a reason. --Eyrian 06:35, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• Actually, it is a very good reason. It means that that guideline is nonsense. And you shouldn't protect pages that you are having a dispute in [1].--ElminsterAumar 06:44, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• It seems to me that many, many people disagree. If you think it's invalid, perhaps you should challenge it on its talk page. I protected a page being persistently damaged by an IP-hopping anon. Semi-protection only. --Eyrian 06:47, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• It seems you are the only one damaging the page. I will remove that tag as soon as I can.--ElminsterAumar 06:52, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

• I suggest you refer this article to RFC before you remove the tag. This article has a heavy in universe perspective, as it almost all comprises of plot summary. --Gavin Collins (talk) 10:36, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

"Elminster Today"

Clearer information would be really helpful.

"Elminster Today Elminster is currently secretly helping a small group of adventurers near Westgate at the Reddansyr Village, investigating the destiny of the clone of Manshoon, and unmasking the real leader of NightMasks of Westgate, the Night King known as "The Faceless" (the Manshoon clone, now know as Orbakh), three years after the Manshoon Wars in the year of 1373 DR.

He has also aided the protagonist of the Baldur's Gate RPG series and his/her companions, making occasional appearances in the game; both to check on their progress, and to impart wisdom in regards to their quest in the Bhaal crisis."

The pc games are set alongside the Avatar Series which one can assume is before the Shadow of the Avatar Series, which is in his past when he was dealing with Bhaal and blowing him to smithereens with the help of Ariel Manx who later became the new Mystra.

I know this because at the end of Baldurs Gate 2 (expansion) Throne of Bhaal- Cyric appears in the protagonists pocket realm in the last self challenge thingy saying he only just recovered from a bout of madness, also still trying to take over Bhaal's realm.. The bout of madness was only just ended with the Avatar Series 5th book.

While Elminster has shown up in the game, those two sentences right next to each other are misleading, as I mistook this at first to be what Elminster was doing present day.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucifer Manx (talk • contribs) 21:23, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

This illustrates well why we're not supposed to use words like "current" or "recent" - they quickly become outdated. The video game-specific information should probably also be separated out, ala Drizzt Do'Urden#Other media. 67.175.176.178 (talk) 23:38, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Someone should really add information from the new book in the series, Elminster Must Die. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.44.175.231 (talk) 19:01, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

class is correct or not

why would a caster select some levels in melee? and even then its only a few levels, his hp would not only be too low but he couldn't fight correctly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.138.2.164 (talk) 13:42, 13 July 2018 (UTC)