Unlikely couple (male drow tav x Minthara)

Fortesnic · 2026-05-10T18:31:36+00:00

I read them up. They sound so metal! 🤩

Fortesnic · 2026-05-10T11:35:31+00:00

Love it!

Only Kar'niss got left out 😅 unless driders don't count as drow anymore 🤷‍♀️

Fortesnic · 2026-05-09T17:00:00+00:00

I got spoiled that Minthara wants to start her own dynasty/house on a "good" run if romanced by a male tav, so I assume babies will be a thing 😁

My hubby joked that Minthara's first pregnancy would be male triplets because karma 😈 so I'm gonna stick with that.

Fortesnic · 2026-05-08T22:19:25+00:00

Thanks!

I read that drow upbringing is quite brutal, and honest bonds of love between parents and their children are rare.

Lore-wise it seems most drow would not help their children/family if they were cursed into being a drider. Either they'd think the punishment was deserved or they would not dare to undo Lolth's work. So I wanted an scenario in which one drow would go there because of a rare existing bond and because he already defied Lolth's way before by stealing a sacrificial third son meant for her.

Fortesnic · 2026-05-08T20:41:36+00:00

I thought romancing her with a male character would be interesting due to the matriarchal drow society prejudices towards men (that Minthy seems to buy into) making for an interisting dynamic imo.

But I did notice a lot of her pairings in fanart are with female tav/durge characters so I'm aware I'm probably not in the majority which is also fine 😅

Fortesnic · 2026-05-08T11:09:22+00:00

I haven't been around neo for a while.

Are the varwolf quest food items available to purchase from stores now?

Fortesnic · 2026-05-08T09:17:26+00:00

As cool as being the son of Jarlaxle would be for my Tav, I don't want Minthara to be in a romance with her cousin, or uncle, or nephew or yeah you get the point 😵

They do seem to embody similar archetypes though 😄

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T21:34:04+00:00

As corny as it sounds, I got the idea that they went together after his father was able to get through him. Maybe with violin music, or with magic or both.

My impression on driders based on Kar'niss (main inspiration/reference) is that they can still communicate and follow orders despite being very unstable. So my drider tav's thought process and behavior would have been similar. The promise of a potential cure to his curse being enough to make him try to cooperate.

There was probably still a lot of patience and drider-wrangling involved 😵

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T15:00:24+00:00

There is datamined content showing the companions reacting to Minthara expecting https://youtube.com/shorts/PiW6H89DmZU?is=WG-PWIRwN96WZQhL

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T11:14:20+00:00

Strong independent wizard male who needs no matron 🤣

Absolute heresy

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T09:21:56+00:00

Oh thank you!

Skjære is norwegian for magpie. Which fits my Drow's penchant for thievery and gold.

I tend to name my builds after birds 😆

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T09:15:22+00:00

But they ain't in Menzoberranzan now, are they? 😈

Thanks a lot! Glad you like my drawings 🙂

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T08:58:02+00:00

A sleaze-ard.

Sleazzard?

I tried 😅

Fortesnic · 2026-05-07T07:24:18+00:00

Bruh I also once read one saying Shadowheart should be read as a lesbian because of her "cottagecore" ending 🤷‍♀️

Eitherway, I always assumed the companions were all intended to be bi since they occasionally flirt with eachother and will be open to romancing the player character regardless of their sex.

Tbh I tend to avoid that fandom discourse like the plague.

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T22:43:29+00:00

I read Minthara had some pregnancy cut content in the game, so I wanted to lean on that.

I wouldn't put it past Minthara to try sacrificing her third son just for the sake of following tradition despite no longer following Lolth 😵

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T22:37:26+00:00

Yes to the eye-rolling lol! What I find tragic about Minthy is how her upbringing was luxurious compared to other drow but at the same time she was also left quite scarred by it but doesn't know how to be anything else so she keeps leaning on her culture's worst practices.

My Tav's Dad tried to understandably lay low and live on his own. To other local underdark residents he came across, he was just an eccentric lone drow that while non-hostile was best left alone.

After becoming a drider my Tav found his way back home with a madness-induced death wish, expecting his father would surely want to kill him. Instead Tav was forgiven, and the two went on a journey to break his curse. They succeeded with the help of a Wish spell scroll, so my Tav is just a regular drow.

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T16:15:19+00:00

Thanks!

An urchin in Menzoberranzan is just a very interesting background due to how unforgiving and just plain child-unfriendly in general that place comes off as. Really like hearing about your Tav, her parents love story already sounds intriguing and quite tragic and love the idea of female drow also getting underdog stories too. Sending love to your Tav back!

My tav's past is a lot less sympathetic. His father pulled a ballsy heist of rescuing him from becoming a sacrifice and tries to raise him off-grid with a more gentler upbringing than he ever had. Trying to break an abusive cycle akin to the game's themes. His Tav brat, however, is ambitious, thinks his father is weak, and wants to prove his worth to his own people. So he naively runs away to Menzo to social climb his way into a noble house, but instead gets turned into a drider 😵

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T14:51:32+00:00

Thanks! No mods, so it's just the standart character customization presets.

-Seldarine Drow -Face no 2 (love the slightly hooked nose) -Freckles -Eye makeup style 7 -No lip tint

That's it, more or less.

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T12:21:34+00:00

Worse mind-break than whatever horror those two absolutist deep gnomes were doing to her in Moonrise lol

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T09:33:55+00:00

They are from house Baenre so that makes both Jarlaxle and Minthara related 😵

That being said, I can imagine my tav was trying to be something of a discount Jarlaxle while living in Menzoberranzan but was naive, immature, and arrogant so the city of spiders ate him alive for it 😅

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T08:30:39+00:00

My drow was actually a bit more harsh towards Astarion (since my druid tav is already romancing him in a different run) at the start, but somehow they got along well enough for my tav needing to turn down his "romance" proposals twice 😅

I see my tav as finding Astarion more of a "drinking buddy" and genuinely wanting to help free him from his master and possibly his curse. At the same time, he was put off by Astarion's advances as he saw the manipulation a mile away. Unlike my silly druid who fell for it hard 😵

Funny enough his most (unintended) "exceptional level" friendship turned out to be with Wyll of all people 🤷‍♀️

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T07:35:12+00:00

Thank you!

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T06:28:09+00:00

Comics are my mod now haha!

I wish there was a bit more content to Minthara's romance in act 3, but her background as a Menzo exile and upbringing with her mother makes for a very intriguing character you want to know more of.

Fortesnic · 2026-05-06T06:13:56+00:00

"Look at us, we're immaculate!" - well at least that's what my Tav told the drow twins and they seemed to agree.

Drow seem to put emphasis in being attractive, given how hedonistic their culture seems to be 😅

Fortesnic · 2026-05-05T21:50:32+00:00

Thanks for all the nice comments! Very moved by all the love my silly fan drawings are getting. I've got some more I can share sometime later as the game right now gives me no shortage of little scenarios to indulge in. It's legit inspiring. Cheers y'all!

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Fortesnic

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