Hiya! I have thought about that a bit, anon – I know that all of these things happened, and I do expect Vex to be different in a prologue, but here’s a couple other things to consider.
first off, the cast members are going to be slightly biased, yes – not just because they’re excited, but also because they’re selling a product. If they do have criticisms, we’re not going to hear them unless they’re quite extreme. It just wouldn’t be worth it.
more importantly, though – I do expect Vex to be different in this early issue – I don’t expect her to be contradictory. I’ve seen some other panels now, and apparently in the comic she talks down to peasants, calls herself nobility, and is generally quite standoffish and abrasive. Vex has never been like that. She’s always been sympathetic to the downtrodden – you know, captured bears, imprisoned Percy, enslaved aasimar, impoverished farmers. She is desperate for money and attracted to shinies, but not to the point of judging people who can’t pay her. And she’s not cruel (except by accident), she’s flirtatious, gregarious, mostly optimistic.
Her development across the series wasn’t about turning her from a sassy egomaniac into a Nice Person. She started as an underconfident, codependent girl who was incredibly hard on herself, and she grew into someone who took charge of her own life, carved out her own niche, and forgave her own failings.
If I were writing the twins pre-campaign, I would make Vex the cautious one, deferring to her brother (who was VM’s de facto leader in the underdark), but I’d give her a scene or two in a bar or a market to do what she does best – charm and haggle and take pity on someone who needs it.
And the thing is, even if Vex WAS a total jerk before the campaign started, and even if something happened to drastically alter her personality – even if that universe is possible – writing her that way makes far less sense than one that ties more directly into her future character, particularly because all the other characters seem relatively close to the mark (if a little blunter, and more like stereotypes of themselves).
Thank you for asking this, though! I hope you have a good day too 🙂
^ Thisssssssssssss.
It strikes me as a major missed opportunity to address some of the Vex-haters who talked about what a “greedy bitch” she was all the time. The comic could have shown the desperation and poverty the twins were living in when they were on their own, starving in the woods and on the streets, struggling to feed themselves, Vex counting their meager coins to calculate how far that’ll stretch them into next week. The comics could have elaborated on things the show discussed and hinted at but didn’t delve deeply into. Especially for Vex, whose storylines often got shared with other characters or sidelined by major plot elements.
Instead in the comic Vex is … a snob who’s proud of her elf heritage? Who trash talks her recently murdered mother? This doesn’t make sense at all or match up to what we know of her from the intro vids and the early episodes. It doesn’t match her arc, her insecurities, or her characterization.
I mean you do have to keep in mind. This also isn’t start of show Vex. Other Matt talked to everybody about the home game to get their starting personalities down. He’s even said, Vex doesn’t become well Vex as we know her in terms of personality till later issues. And all the cast members say the comic is accurate in terms of like voice to page. (Sure they may be slightly biased) So maybe Vex was more like how other Matt is portraying her at the start? Anyway have a nice day ^_^
Published
Overdressed & Underappreciated 