Firedorn Lightbringer

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

Original inscription (found in Raedric's Hold dungeons (3)):

“

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 (moved to Woodend Plains):

“

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, spawning defenders who asked for it to be left in the game.

Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart made a statement on April 3 acknowledging that the message had not been vetted to the same level as other content. After checking with the backer who wrote it, they submitted a new message was intended to directly replace the original. In the 1.03 patch, the memorial had its location and contents changed, although the change wasn't included in the patch notes.

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.

”

A mod was created that restores the original inscription, claiming that the change was 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. Firedorn is consistently referred to in the game using male pronouns, but has a female character model.