Did they call him LG just because LG and LN have fused together?
Anyone know?
Or is he still LN in 3.5 terms?
Did they call him LG just because LG and LN have fused together?
Anyone know?
Apparently absorbing Lathander caused his alignment to shift to LG.
However, the Red Knight too changed from LN to LG without an explanation I know of.
Ah, forget the Red Knight. Worst deity ever.
I'd like to know if there will be a time domain (and maybe some way to acquire time stop) in Divine Power. Amaunator always wanted that in his portfolio but Mystryl had it. Now she's dead.
Why? She could use a few more details, but I like the concept.
That's the main problem. Yeah, we need a god of tactics. Here's a knight. It's red. Ooh, and it's a girl just to throw you off. What, you want to know where she came from? Psssh! Why would you want to know that. She's a god of military tactics, what more do you need? Like a name or something?
Just call her Minerva and get it over with. I'd be cool with Athena or Manerva. They would have filled the same niche and they're cool, and identical. Faerunian religion has always been kind of wang though. Here's a god, this is what he's the god of, moving on.
IDK, Even NG might be pushing it IMO.
I didn't read it, what did he do? Neutral always meant to me that you either act somewhere between lawful and chaotic, or just do what's most appropriate for the situation, be it chaotic or lawful.
That's the main problem. Yeah, we need a god of tactics. Here's a knight. It's red. Ooh, and it's a girl just to throw you off. What, you want to know where she came from? Psssh! Why would you want to know that. She's a god of military tactics, what more do you need? Like a name or something?
I agree that more information would be nice, but we don't need a name. Maybe there's a very good reason that she doesn't use it. Maybe her name as a mortal was Wilhelmine (and "Feel the wrath of Wilhelmine!" just isn't the same as "Feel the wrath of the Red Knight!"), or maybe her name would link her to someone she doesn't want to be associated with. However more information like when exactly she was made a god would be nice to make theories. And a better explanation why she has to hide her true name would be nice too, because the true name has nothing to do with the name. Every being hides its true name if it has one, that doesn't mean that it has to call itself "the blue baker" or "the green gardener".
Just call her Minerva and get it over with. I'd be cool with Athena or Manerva. They would have filled the same niche and they're cool, and identical. Faerunian religion has always been kind of wang though. Here's a god, this is what he's the god of, moving on.
Athene was more about wisdom, not about only about strategy. And the FR have many gods with cool stories. They just killed off a lot of them.
I didn't like that she only ascended during the ToT - I had thought she pre-dated that.
Lathander was upset because he missed Tyche(original goddess of luck who was cleaved in 2 by Selune to stop some curse from Moander) so he decided to forcefully merge Tymora and Beshaba(against their wills) to re-form Tyche purely for selfish reasons. Now granted Lathander realized that he was tricked at the end but he made the original choice to combine them on his own without mind control etc... anyway purposely detroying 2 living essences out of selfishness doesn't qualify as good in my book neutral yes
They should not write about the Gods anymore. :D
They just screw them up and make them look really stupid.
Red Knight's backstory was finally revealed in the GHotR in a vingette.
I didn't like that she only ascended during the ToT - I had thought she pre-dated that.
Actually, Powers & Pantheons already gave the story of Red Knight. GHotR just confused it.
In P&P, Lady Bloodhawk became the avatar of Red Knight, apparently already a goddess (regarded as a follower or aspect of Tempus, with a small following within his church). Red Knight's faith just took off independently after that, and Bloodhawk still lives.
GHotR doesn't mention Lady Bloodhawk, but implies that she was Red Knight, a mortal, and ascended afterwards for her actions. Ed Greenwood must have misread, or indulged in an intentional retcon, or unreliable narrating.
To make the versions agree, I imagine that before the ToT, Red Knight was a sort of "angel" of Tempus, one of his highest lieutenants, with a following in his priesthood, but not yet herself a god. She followed Tempus in the ToT, possessed Bloodhawk, and they went on to save Tethyr. Afterwards, Tempus raised Red Knight to demi-godhood for her deeds, leaving Bloodhawk mortal.
And she'd a great war god.
Red Knight's backstory was finally revealed in the GHotR in a vingette.
I didn't like that she only ascended during the ToT - I had thought she pre-dated that.
Yep, you're right, I found it floating around on my hard drive. It can be downloaded here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4ex/20070911a "A Red Knight for Tethyr".
Actually, Powers & Pantheons already gave the story of Red Knight. GHotR just confused it.
In P&P, Lady Bloodhawk became the avatar of Red Knight, apparently already a goddess (regarded as a follower or aspect of Tempus, with a small following within his church). Red Knight's faith just took off independently after that, and Bloodhawk still lives.
GHotR doesn't mention Lady Bloodhawk, but implies that she was Red Knight, a mortal, and ascended afterwards for her actions. Ed Greenwood must have misread, or indulged in an intentional retcon, or unreliable narrating.
To make the versions agree, I imagine that before the ToT, Red Knight was a sort of "angel" of Tempus, one of his highest lieutenants, with a following in his priesthood, but not yet herself a god. She followed Tempus in the ToT, possessed Bloodhawk, and they went on to save Tethyr. Afterwards, Tempus raised Red Knight to demi-godhood for her deeds, leaving Bloodhawk mortal.
And she'd a great war god.
I didn't know that. However, even your version leaves the question where she did come from and what's the matter with her name. Maybe Ed Greenwood really wanted to retcon that.
@ Drizztsmanchild
Well, that sounds like a transporter accident episode right from Star Trek. The closest I can think of is "Tuvix" where the security chief Tuvok and the cook Neelix were merged into one being called Tuvix, and the crew tried two separate him against his will because that new personality would cease to exist. The Doctor couldn't do it because killing was against his ethical subroutines so the captain did it. Okay, now it is out. Janeway is evil, I was always right.:D
Seriously, while it is selfish and maybe evil it's not enough to change his alignment from NG.
Wow, talk about stupid. :embarrass
They should not write about the Gods anymore. :D
They just screw them up and make them look really stupid.
Well, they make them look stupid, and then they kill (or transform) them. It's a warning, as soon as your god starts acting dumb you should change to another one, he will be gone soon and if you die before you changed you land in a wall in the fugue plane.:D :D :D
I didn't know that. However, even your version leaves the question where she did come from and what's the matter with her name. Maybe Ed Greenwood really wanted to retcon that.
Huh? I theorised right there that she started out as one of Tempus' lieutenants, perhaps like a Valkyrie. And she really doesn't need a name - it fits well with the idea of not letting the enemy know the size, disposition and location of your army, nor your plans.
A god doesn't need a name anyway. For example, any number of Asian deities just go by descriptions and occupations. In Korea, Sanshin the mountain spirit is literally just "mountain spirit".
Huh? I theorised right there that she started out as one of Tempus' lieutenants, perhaps like a Valkyrie. And she really doesn't need a name - it fits well with the idea of not letting the enemy know the size, disposition and location of your army, nor your plans.
Even a lieutenant of Tempus should have some kind of past. And the problem isn't that she hasn't a name, but that her lack of name is badly explained. Every being that has a true name has to hide it (it's already crazy that she gave it to Tempus), but that doesn't explain why she has no name at all.
A god doesn't need a name anyway. For example, any number of Asian deities just go by descriptions and occupations. In Korea, Sanshin the mountain spirit is literally just "mountain spirit".
That's something asian, and it clearly describes what the bearer of that name is. Unlike "The Red Knight".;)
But that's just my personal opinion, if it works for you that's fine, but I think I'd rather go with Ed's explanation that she's the ascended Lady Kaitlin Tindall Bloodhawk.;)
Lathander's goodness fused with Ama's lawfulness?
Is that the take (officially)?
Athene was more about wisdom, not about only about strategy. And the FR have many gods with cool stories. They just killed off a lot of them.
Athena was a war god as well, and her background fits well into the battle strategy domain. People get into the habit of thinking of ancient gods very one dimensionally. Ask who a war god was in Greece and everyone says Ares. But look at the Iliad, how many gods did various characters in the Iliad pray to for strength in battle? To them their gods were real entities with distinct personalities, and while some favored certain aspects of life they weren't "the sun god" or "the war god." Even in some areas we think of today as immutable, there was some overlap. Yeah, Poseidon could be called the god of the sea but Oceanus was still kicking around. Zeus could be called the god of lighting, but Athena was known to throw a thunderbolt or two.
Who writes this stuff?
So by merging together, the two gods lost the only alignment they had in-common - Neutral?
Who writes this stuff?
They didn't really have neutral in common. Amaunator was neutral along the Good-Evil axis, while Lathander was neutral along the Law-Chaos axis.
Okaaaaaaay...
Whatever, I'm glad I don't worry about this crap anymore... the only 'sun god' alive and well in my Realms is Ra. :P
Who writes this stuff?
The 4th Edition Forgotten Realms Design Team. :P
Whatever, I'm glad I don't worry about this crap anymore... the only 'sun god' alive and well in my Realms is Ra. :P
Heh. In my Realms, two adventures [one a paladin of Tempus and the other an archaeologist of Oghma] used an ancient stone circular portalway -- now based in a secret complex beneath Undermountain -- found deep in the Mulhorandi desert to journey to Ra's domain in Heliopolis and destroy him. :P
Heh. In my Realms, two adventures [one a paladin of Tempus and the other an archaeologist of Oghma] used an ancient stone circular portalway -- now based in a secret complex beneath Undermountain -- found deep in the Mulhorandi desert to journey to Ra's domain in Heliopolis and destroy him. :P
Stargate 4e! Soon to be premiering on TnT on the 22nd hour of the 1st 6th day of the month of Flamerule in the year of the Ageless one 1479. :P
Edited for SFD
Now, it gets somewhat confusing. You have to understand that there were multiple heresies surrounding Lathander at the time, and people tend to get them confused.
1. The Risen Sun heretics believed that Lathander was the reincarnated form of Amaunator. To understand this point of view you have to look at the three main phases of the sun: dawn, high sun (noon) and dusk. When Amaunator died it gave way to dusk, which gave way to the night, which in turn gave way to the dawn. Lathander was the god of the dawn. These individuals essentially saw Amaunator as the deity of high sun.
They were tolerated by the orthodox branch of the church of Lathander for many years, as they were formerly known as the Brotherhood of the Glorious Sun. However, a cleric of that order, Daelegoth Orndeir, took that unorthodox view one step further into heresy: he began to preach that Lathander was on the verge of transforming back into Amaunator.
In essence he was threatening to overthrow the orthodox sect of the church of Lathander. He made great strides and appeared well on his way to achieving his goal, seemingly with Lathander's silent approval, and it appears he was successful based upon what we know in 4th Edition.
2. Now, here is where things get confused. There was another heresy that involved Lathander and Amaunator known as the Three-Faced Sun Heresy. These heretics believed that the sun was a tripartite overdeity, with aspects of dawn, high sun and dusk. This is similar to what the Risen Sun Heretics believe. However, they differ greatly on several important points. These heretics viewed this overdeity like a spinning prism viewed from the side, and thus only two of the three aspects can be "seen" at any one time with brief instances when only one aspect is manifest. (Thus there is the dawn and high sun aspect, then dawn fades away to reveal only the high sun aspect, and then the dusk appears. Then high sun fades, giving way to dusk, which eventually heralds the return of dawn, which becomes ascendant, opening up the return of highsun - etc, onward forever.)
According to this heresy, during the Age of Netheril, Amaunator ruled as the aspect of highsun, while Jergal (who held many more portfolios back then) held the portfolio of dusk. After Amaunator faded away, there was a brief period in which Jergal ruled undisputed, and then Lathander (the dawn) appeared on the scene. Jergal avoided a similar fate to other deities who held the sun aspect portfolios by passing it on to Myrkul. Then during the Time of Troubles Myrkul (ironically - and perhaps not accidentally) all the deities who inherited Jergal's "unwanted" portfolios ended up dead while he walked away unscathed. (It is important to note here that Jergal passed on many of his portfolios to Bane, Myrkul and Bhaal as he claimed, in essence, that he was "bored" with it.)
Anyway, back on topic - after the death of Myrkul this marked the brief moment of unchallenged dominance of Lathander's power as the aspect of the dawn. However, the Three-Faced Sun heretic's believed, like the Risen Sun heretic's that the return of Amaunator was upon them.
However, where they are in fundamental disagreement was over this one fact: The Three-Faced Sun heretics largely believed that a new deity would appear to take place of Amaunator as the deity of high sun. However, some of them believed that Lathander would transform (as the Risen Sun heretics claimed) and a new deity would appear to take on the aspect of the dawn.
In the end it appears that the Risen Sun heretics were correct, and it should be safe to assume that both heresies likely merged at some point after the Spellplague.
Now, here is where I step into conjecture. Lathander was a deity of youthfulness. He was very childlike in his naivety. He was a strong personification of good, but it was a very childlike due to innocent naivety. He was idealistic and viewed the world through rose colored glasses, the type of guy who would view the glass as half-full instead of half-empty.
On the other hand you have Amaunator who was the very personification of law and order. He was neither good nor evil, and could find himself on one side or another of that battle depending on circumstance. There was no mercy in Amaunator's law – the law was the law – it does not bend nor break. This was clearly illustrated during the fall of Netheril. Essentially it was made clear that Amaunator could have intervened to save the falling cities, but legally his hands were tied so he sat by and did nothing. This resulted in the death of many of his followers, and those who lived began to turn away from him as a result. He eventually died a very slow death due to lack of worship.
What you have in this new incarnation of Amaunator is a fusion of these two personalities. Gone is Lathander's naive and childlike innocence, to be replaced by a pessimistic and ambitious adult. The core of Lathander remains - he is still good, but his methods and personality have matured.
You are likely to see a much more militaristic faith, focused upon an ordered society based around the common good. You are not likely to see many advocates for democracy among Amaunator's faithful, more likely they are going to support divinely ordained and benevolent dictators (kings, queens and the like) or theocratic nations and city-states. You are likely to see them much more involved in politics, and much more focused on the greater good rather than just the good. This means that sometimes, in the pursuit of the greater good, certain sacrifices must be made - weep for them, pity those that must suffer as a result - but do what is necessary to defeat evil no matter the cost to yourself or others.
This was always Lathander's goal - to destroy evil. He was always ambitious; it takes someone with a certain type of narcissism and ambition to try and remake the Faerûnian Pantheon in his own image with himself at the head as he attempted during the Dawn Cataclysm. In the years after the Spellplague, after he has watched many millions suffer, after he has watched the rise in power of his greatest enemy, Shar (who he blames for the failure of the Dawn Cataclysm), that alone would aid in shifting his personality and likely ruthless determination to destroy her, her followers, and unite Faerûn (if not all of Toril) behind him as he (in his mind) ushers in a new Golden Age of peace and prosperity.
In the end, his church could make for powerful allies or enemies of the players depending on where they stand and who they align themselves with and the players world view.
On the surface, things would appear pretty good. In peace time everyone would be well taken care of, there would be very little homelessness or outright poverty generally found in other cities. That is not to say the poor do not exist, they do but their basic needs are taken care of by the government through the church.
However, a few things would begin to strike you as odd as you passed through. Amaunator is everywhere, seemingly. There is little visibility of other faiths, and those that exist have been sanctioned by the Amaunatori. Likely, even the clergy of other faiths that operate openly within the settlement have been approved by the Amaunatori as "free of corruption and evil."
If you dig further, you'd find that all taxes go to the church and all government finances are handled by the church, perhaps with the assistance of a state-sanctioned shrine of Waukeen. The funds would be primarily diverted into three distinct areas: government programs operated by the church to take care of the needy, to the churches military operations, and to state approved businesses.
It should become quickly apparent after this that the following is true: the benevolent dictator is little more than a puppet controlled by the Church, whose primary goal is to act as the figurehead of the state, with all the real decisions being made by the church. This dictator is likely to be a very charismatic individual, who is also loyal to the faith of Amaunator, and deeply rooted within the church. His speeches would combine aspects of nationalism with ties to the faith, seamlessly blending the two as if they were one and the same.
All of the guards of the city-state would also be militarized members of the church, but with some aspect of separation much like the dictator. The church would also firmly control the judicial system, either through pre-approved proxies or directly.
The church would also operate a secret police designed to root out individuals they deem to be corrupt or evil by nature. This secret police force would report directly to the highest ranking member of the church, and would be given a great deal of freedom from the law. In essence, the church doesn't want to know how the sausage is made, so they turn their heads and pretend that certain things didn't happen.
Certain races would not be allowed within the city-state or confined to certain areas. More savage and monstrous races are likely to be targets for extermination via holy crusades, which would in essence be a form of genocide. (I am speaking of races such as Orcs, Goblins and Drow – races that most individuals consider to be evil by nature.) Unnatural races would likely face some measure of discrimination, perhaps even to the point of being ostracized – individuals as a result of cross-species breeding (half-orcs) and intra-planar breeding (genasi).
Now, on the surface this place might seem like a nice place to live. The streets are clean, unlike most cities, the people are well taken care of and the laws are mostly fair and clear even if harsh. Yet, behind the veneer there is still an oppressive regime, and that regime is perfectly willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their control.
In the minds of the priests of Amaunator it is them, and them alone, that stand between the people and corruption and evil. Any minor sin they may commit it is always for the greater good. Their ambition is not for themselves, it is for their deity, who shall someday not only reward them for their faithful work in the mortal world; he shall also descend from the heavens someday to unite Toril under his banner of righteousness while putting the wicked, the corrupt and the evil to the sword.
In their minds whatever minor evils they commit are small compared to the greater good they achieve as a result. They acknowledge those small evils and work toward cleansing themselves for them.
To an individual who might ask, "Is it alright to torture someone if it means I can save the lives of innocent individuals?" The Amaunatori priest would answer sadly, "There are some things we must do for the greater good. Which evil is greater? To do nothing and allow evil to win, or to commit a lesser act in the service of a greater good?"
Of course, that does not mean that the Amaunatori do not operate under a double standard. Just because they may look the other way while their secret police assassinate someone, or arrest them in the dark of night and throw them into a secret prison, does not mean Joe Adventurer can act with impunity for the greater good as well. After all, the priests would view themselves as having more restraint and better wisdom to do what is right as their authority flows directly from a deity, whereas Joe Adventurer's authority flows from his sword arm.
On the other hand, that does not mean the church would not hire Joe Adventurer to do their dirty work for them secretly... while leaving Joe Adventurer high and dry when it comes to dealing with the fallout. After all, there was a reason he was paid in advance with coins of foreign origin, and despite their sizable military powers chose someone on the outside to work for them. :P
I like the chruch of Lathander alot because it has such vibrancy and its the perfect church to sow some confusion by having multiple heresies, projects and spokespeople act at once, all fully supported by their divine patron.
I've run a campaign where the church of Lathander was racing the PC's for certain relics of aumanator and horus-re. The resulting paranoia towards all things rose-tinted was amusing.
I had the Hands of the Blinding Light, a subsect of Lathander become pretty evil by it being a secret cult to Gargauth, as an "angelic" aspect of The Tenth Lord of Nine that takes shape as a hideous winged devil hiding behind blinding light. The Hands of Blinding Light used the power of honeyed words and the ability to direct righteous fanatical Lathanderites for their own cause.
During an infiltration of a sermon the players even witnessed the manifestation of the "lightdevil" but saw it for an angel themselves aswell.
But regarding the use of Aumanator for a DM interested in making use of his clergy. Lathander had another little plan running during his later days as a diety, an intolerant little something called the Deliverance. In it prophets of Lathander foretold terrible things will happen to those who might be antithetical towards lathanderite beliefs, i.e. they effectively used more strongarmed tactics when proselytizing and intimidated smallfolk into the church by threatening doom.
The dawn cataclysm failure and its aftermath, the multiple heretical faiths, the intolerant Deliverance rethoric and Lathanders silent support to all of it gives ample evidence Aumanators lawful traits where starting to emerge in Lathander once more. His ideas mostly started to take the form of more structured, community focused dreams for both Torils pantheon and people. So at what point in the timeline can we date Aumanator definate revealing towards fearunian people?
The hundred or so years the clergy of Aumanator has had to establish themselves probably has resulted in the faith having survived its internal conflicts and the resulting decline and is on the rise again. Common people must have gotten quite confused at first but when Aumanators propaganda and renewed tactics in aquiring faithfull gives Aumanator probably a good name. The areas under his control literally can function as points of light in the darkness, and common folk flock to it as a moth to a flame.
Did Aumanator also absorb some traits of Gargauth now? :P
I wish. :P
Gargauth was one of my favorite evil deities, and I would have loved to see him replace Bane and Asmodeus in canon. He has some good lore behind him, and his approach and personality is more believable than some of the others.
But I have a soft spot in my heart for intelligent and evil schemers, so I might be biased. ;)
I had the Hands of the Blinding Light, a subsect of Lathander become pretty evil by it being a secret cult to Gargauth, as an "angelic" aspect of The Tenth Lord of Nine that takes shape as a hideous winged devil hiding behind blinding light.
I think I remember reading about that on the forums. Lathander's church allows for such a wide range of folks. From the kindhearted noble who is an idealist with a rosy disposition, to a fanatical priest completely bent on rooting out individuals associated with Shar / Cyric or other evil deities or organizations, and everything in between.
Lathander himself always seemed to me to be a narcissistic idealist, believing in some type of Utopian vision of the world, but of course only he could bring it about. That required some changes to be made... radical changes... :P
...and of course, nothing ever works out as he anticipated, often backfiring and going horribly wrong.
Then of course, his church is great for heresies, like the one you created. Being a total narcissist, I wouldn't be shocked to find out if Lathander secretly liked the attention (even if it is negative.)
Lathander had another little plan running during his later days as a diety, an intolerant little something called the Deliverance.
In my campaign his assuming the identity of Amaunator was the first step in the Deliverance, which I view as Dawn Cataclysm round two. When at first you don't succeed, try again, right? :P
I believe that the Dawn Cataclysm took place over many years, perhaps decades if not centuries. Thus, the Deliverance like the Dawn Cataclysm is a long term plan. He wants to reshape the pantheon, with himself at the head, while completely destroying and wiping out every evil deity he can along the way. Shar holds a special place on Lathander's sh*t list, and he'd like nothing more than to pursue her with ruthless abandon. He blames her for the failure of the first Dawn Cataclysm, and thus he is paranoid that she's going to attempt to foul up his second attempt.
Back in the mortal world, his followers are still all over the map. I wouldn't completely wipe out Lathander's old faith, though I would call it in decline. Of course, even as Amaunator his followers are divided over some of the particulars of his faith.
Is Amaunator, as the incarnation of highsun, destined to give way to the dusk and then the long night (the ascendancy of Shar)? Or has the cycle been broken with the Spellplague, and the world fallen into total darkness, with Amaunator standing as the last shining beacon of hope for the worlds righteous people? If the cycle continues, then it must be incumbent upon the faithful of Amaunator to end it before it is too late. Has Lathander transformation given him all aspects of the sun (dawn, highsun and dusk), or has he simply transformed into highsun? If Lathander transformed into Amaunator (highsun), will Amaunator transform into something else (dusk)?
Some of those break off into philosophical schisms within the church, while others have the potential to break off into full blown heresies.
In my Realm's Amaunator has become the "orthodox" faith that replaced Lathander, but there are still Lathanderites out there. They are more chaotic in nature now, and the two sides don't really get along. It isn't violent between them (the Lathanderites are small in number compared to the Amaunatori), but there is a lot of heated arguments and discrimination.
The Lathanderites in my FR tend to be more chaotic than previously, but this is mostly as a response to the Amaunatori's strong lawful stance. They tend to be found in some regions of the south, with a number of them also found in the Dalelands. The Amaunatori are mostly found in Cormyr (which has conquered Sembia), and the Amaunatori faith has complete and absolute control over Ordulin and the surrounding region.
I think perhaps narcissist was too strong of a word, perhaps a better way of putting it is to say that Lathander seemed to have an inflated sense of self-importance. This is based off the Dawn Cataclysm (in which he tried to reshape the Faerûnian pantheon), the proposed Deliverance, etc. A certain amount of arrogance simply makes sense for a sun deity.
I have a soft spot in my heart for righteous zealots who can do almost anything and justify it as being part of the greater good. I like it when I can illustrate the old saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." As well as the famous quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, "Those who fight monsters should look to it that they do not become monsters. When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
I see the Amaunatori as individuals who desperately want to do the right thing, who in their heart view themselves as good people. They look around and see the suffering and pain in the world, they look at what evil has done, and they want to help. However, in their quest they begin to lose sight of what they are truly fighting. They turn a blind eye to this or that, because it is expedient to do so, and they feel that whatever harm is done the good out weighs it. The good of all outweighs the good of a single individual, right?
It illustrates how seductive and manipulative evil can be, and I think the Amaunatori in my games are a great way to illustrate that point: the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows.