Firedorn Lightbringer

Firedorn Lightbringer was a person whose memorial can be found in Pillars of Eternity.

Original inscription:

“

Here lies Firedorn, a hero in bed.
He once was alive, but now he's dead.
The last woman he bedded turned out a man

And crying in shame, off a cliff he ran.

”

New inscription:

“

Here lies Firedorn, a bard, a poet
He was also a card, but most didn't know it
A poem he wrote in jest was misread

They asked for blood, so now he's just dead

”

Behind the scenes

The above memorial was submitted by a Kickstarter backer of Pillars of Eternity. When the original inscription was discovered, it created a controversy, with some asking for it to be removed from the game due to trans- and homophobic overtones, naturally spawning defenders who asked for it to be left in the game.

The backer released an official response on his Guild site:

“

To anyone how was offended by this, I sincerely apologize. My intent was to ridicule the perpetrators of such behavior and not offend its victims. Any form of artistic expression leaves a lot to interpretation and is entirely subjective. But extrapolating any intent from a short limerick and crying in outrage is not the way to go about any of the struggles these victims face. Laugh at Firedorn's misfortune, his idiocy, his stupidity and narrow mindedness instead.

”

In the 1.03 patch, the memorial had its location and contents changed, although the change wasn't included in the patch notes.

As usual with these kinds of controversies, a mod was created that put the original inscription back, crying censorship.

Obsidian's response was to place a character called Firedorn whom the player can kill as part of a bounty task in The White March - Part I.