Oathbreaker, who are you, really?
I once wrote a rather exhaustive, yet tantalizingly light retrospective on my various "screen names" and what they meant to me. You can find it here: http://humanfailmachine.blogspot.com/2009/10/ice-cream-assassin.html
I'm curious if my answer now changes from then. Oathbreaker to me is a character, he is a mode of being that I can fall into for online games and those rare moments when defining yourself in egoic terms is useful. Oathbreaker is a person who does right, by his reckoning, with or against the rules of society. He is haunted by a past shame that is also that which allows him to follow his contrary course. I see him as a free man in an age of thralls and lords.
Of course, when ti comes to twitter and other things, it's just a convenient way to hide my real name from the intertubes and still have a recognizable moniker for those who know me.
Read my other blog post for a FULL accounting of the history of my "screen names" and other aggrandized back stories.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
So why the "screen name"? What does it mean?
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So this "Oathbreaker" he behaves differently then you, Tim Shirk, do? What makes you decide "oh, Oathbreaker would do this"? Or "Kleehv would NEVER do that"? This is interesting, perhaps you should have gone into acting...
ReplyDeleteWell, within the context of a game world yes they are both different. Kleehv is invariable a Dwarf Warrior or that type of personality. Gruff, bloodthirsty, honourable (by his reckoning), beholden to a clan or people. but possibly evil or good depending on the game. I'd say in the D&D paradigm he is Lawful Good or Lawful Evil but only Lawful to his own people's rules.
ReplyDeleteOathbreaker is more like a wondering loner. He wants to stay apart and feels no allegiance to any part of society. I guess he would be Neutral Good.
Tim Shirk? He thinks a bit like Oathbreaker but is much more cynical and not free of society.
And it's interesting that you say that about acting because I've wondered if I wouldn't have really enjoyed it if I had gotten into it as a kid. I still remember having the auspicious role of Narrator for a play we put on in my Elementary school. It was one of the first and last times I spoke in a public setting until I was an adult... I wonder what would have happened if it hadn't scared the crap out of me so bad but instead only excited me.
I respond so heavily to feedback (especially so when I was a kid) I wonder what a few heartfelt encouragements from teachers would have done...
I'm sorry you're teachers were heartless bitches and didn't encourage you. That sucks.
ReplyDeleteI think you've perhaps created these characters much like Tolkien created his word, heavily influenced by something, but not an intentional allegory. Gimli, very D&D, and what man doesn't want to be Aragorn? And since the book had an obvious influence on you, it's not surprising it's influencing these parts of your life.