NWN2: Recap of the Neverwinter Nights Trilogy
Recap of the Neverwinter Nights Trilogy. The Neverwinter Nights trilogy (Neverwinter Nights, Shadows of Undrentide, and Hordes of the Underdark, covered in depth here) is largely a simple action game based on developing capabilities such as strength, dexterity, and intelligence. These translate into skills for inflicting damage, bartering, disabling traps, and healing. For those of a mathematical bent, it is grand puzzle in constrained optimization.
Like most games based on the general Dungeons and Dragons genre, the NWN trilogy has dark, brooding themes. The game begins above ground, goes into tombs, caves, an underground world, and eventually Hell itself.
The last chapter of the trilogy is to a greater extent a genuine role-playing game. Although no part of the trilogy is in any manner explicitly Christian, the last chapter is governed by Christian themes, most notably the redemption of an assassin and a betrayer and the liberation of souls suffering in Hell. There are significant deficiencies with the game, notably the fact that advancement in capabilities mostly results from killing enemies. This leads to an ironic exchange between the lovers on the morality of doing good through violence. But the Christian themes are delicately presented, other religious and agnostic viewpoints are respectfully presented, and the religious themes unify and energize this chapter in a way that the other chapters lack.
Note added 6/27/07. The idea of the release of suffering souls from Hell dates back to the early Church. While Protestants generally side with Calvin in opposing this notion, it is widely held among Christians.
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Game Analyst: Neverwinter Nights and beyond 
June 27, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Redemption is not an inherently Christian theme. Redemption through faith may be considered a religious theme, but as most religions include redemption as part of its general dogma, it would never be a singularly Christian theme.
Additionally, the liberation of souls from hell is rather inherently un-Christian. It’s meant to be eternal damnation, one that God sends you to. Taking people from hell may be seen as defying God’s will…which probably isn’t thematically Christian either.
You would do better to cite specific lines of dialog or incidents within the game and compare them to the specific incidents within the Bible to which they are thematically linked. What you’ve posted is, otherwise, mere conjecture.
June 27, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Oh, I don’t feel like talking theology on a game blog, Trodamus, but let me take the one specific point you mention, i.e.
This is not correct. It is the view of some modern Protestants, true, but Catholics (and some Protestants) feel differently. It pays to at least understand what they base their theology on. Here’s the whole nine yards. The idea of the liberation of souls from Hell goes back to the early Church.
There are many points of theological doctrine that will be resolved only after death. The only thing really un-Christian is the tendency of many self-professed Christians to argue theology while the poor go unfed, while the sick go unhealed, while tyranny stands unchallenged by truth, while children are orphaned by war, while the condemned are sent to die without even due process. Unlike questions of whether souls are liberated from Hell, these we know where Jesus stood, because he actually did oppose them.
June 27, 2007 at 7:55 pm
You don’t feel like talking theology…yet…you make a point of elucidating the alleged thematic allegorical similarities between HotU and Christianity. Ok then.
And, that link you provided discusses how very open to interpretation that concept is, with a few points supporting what I said (as well as your own viewpoint).
I don’t mean to be getting down on you; I wish more people thought about video games this way. But, it does bring about my critical streak, which you can either use to sharpen your own arguments, or disregard.
What level of education do you possess?
June 28, 2007 at 1:55 am
Criticism is fine, Trodamus. But its most constructive application is in analyzing and identifying the key elements in a chain of reasoning to see if they form a persuasive whole.
The question under debate is whether Christian themes (whether approved by one sect or not) govern the last chapter of Hordes of the Underdark. I’ve presented two Christian themes, redemption and the harrowing of Hell, that strongly resemble what happens in this chapter. While you may disagree with the theology of The Harrowing of Hell– lots of Christians do– I hope you now agree that the fact that church fathers like Tertullian and Aquinas believed it to be true, and the fact that many Christians still believe it to be true, makes it an element of Christian thought.
I can present more examples of plot elements in Hordes of the Underdark that mirror Christian themes:
* the player’s opponent is a devil
* the name of the devil is stated as fact by Wikipedia to come from “Christian mythology,” namely Goethe’s Faust.
* the transforming power of love in making Nathyrra immune to the seductions of Mephistopheles
* the fact that Nathyrra is living in darkness but yearns after the light.
There are others, but I would have to go through the game to remember all of them. Are these themes exclusive to Christianity? If other religions want to claim redemption, opposition to the devil, and the transforming power of love, I will not oppose them. But they are certainly Christian themes, and I doubt there is any other religion that embraces them all.
Are these enough to “govern” the chapter? There are other themes. If I were forced to make the argument that Christian themes do not govern the chapter, I wouldn’t be entirely free of material with which to work. But since I cannot in good conscience make that argument, I do not. I’m certainly willing to listen to ideas on an alternative thematic framework within which one can understand the chapter.
As for education, this reminds me of the man who was asked how tall he was. “Tall enough that my legs reach the ground,” he said.
Just so, our level of education is measured best by how well we can do a particular task– in this case, present and support a position on the themes of Hordes of the Underdark.