Book Review: Words of the High Chief

Like the musings of Weavil that I looked at last time, today's book is also a diary. The Words of the High Chief is the diary of High Chief Winterfall (whose grammar is not as polished as Weavil's), who lives in Winterfall Village in eastern Winterspring.

The Story

The diary immediately sets the scene for the reader: "Attackers... from all sides." The High Chief is referring to his enemies the Timbermaw, who hold the tunnel connecting Winterspring, the Moonglade, and Felwood. High Chief Winterfall is obsessed with the idea that he must protect his tribe and drive the enemies off their land. He muses that he must make his tribe strong in order to survive. By page 3, he has found the answer: Firewater.

The High Chief's new obsession is to make firewater, lots of firewater, always more firewater, to make his tribe strong. Feeling that he is alone without allies in the blinding snows of Winterspring, the paranoid High Chief struggles to produce enough firewater to fend off attackers. The diary ends with the High Chief's insatiable appetite for firewater and the insistence that his tribe is not weak.

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The High Chief's diary is really a heartbreaking story. Driven by paranoia, fear, and the need to survive, the furbolgs try to reinforce their strength with the help of Winterfall firewater, which perhaps is the cause of their downward spiral. The firewater upon which the Winterfall become dependent and obsessed is a fairly transparent allusion to alcohol; the Winterfall civilization's fall to the evils of firewater is itself a recollection of alcohol's devastation of Native American culture. The interesting difference is that whereas alcohol was introduced to Native Americans by European travel and trade, the Winterfall produce their firewater by themselves—their dependence appears to be self-inflicted. However, the Words of the High Chief do not mention firewater until page 3; previous to that, he merely frets about the attackers and expresses a need to find strength. Could it be that firewater was introduced to his tribe from an external source in that time? If so, who brought firewater to the Winterfall? Or, on the other hand, did the High Chief create experimental alchemical concoctions until he himself discovered a potion that could save the tribe?

To an outsider, there does not appear to be much difference between the Winterfall and the Timbermaw furbolg tribes, which if anything adds to the tragedy of the story. It seems arbitrary that a questing player should choose to aid the Timbermaw rather than the Winterfall (though more strategically important, considering the Timbermaw hold the passage of Timbermaw Hold). Yet, we are not given the opportunity to aid the Winterfall—perhaps even help to cure them of their firewater dependence—even if we would like to.