blue-mood-blue:

I was thinking about the Grand Relics (because of reasons) and I realized something: only one of them is actually a weapon. All of them can be weaponized, but only the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet seems created with the purpose of destruction.

What the relics really seem to be is the mastery of each school of magic - unlimited potential for whichever form of magic the relic possesses. The Philosopher’s Stone allows the user to transform anything to anything else, the Gaia Sash gives the user complete control over nature, etc.

That would mean the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet represents a mastery of evocation magic. It makes sense, that such an item would give the user the ability to cause devastating destruction, and Lup seems to enjoy destroying things. At the same time, this relic is an item that will be put into the world, and Lup is the one who saved a civilization from the bad judgment of her family. Why would she create a weapon?

I wonder if the gauntlet is actually meant to be a weapon. The mastery of evocation is maybe not so much about the amount of destructive power that one has, but instead in the ability to control it. I think Lup understands the importance of restraint with evocation magic. Power of any kind is only as useful as a person’s level of control over it; someone who sets off a wildfire does not have the ability of someone who can prevent the fire from spreading.

The Phoenix Fire Guantlet is more than a weapon. It allows the user total control over fire - an individual could hold the world’s hottest fire in their hand without worry. They could adjust the temperature to exact specifications, or manage the size of the flame. In the right hands, that power can be turned to something that creates. Before there were circles of black glass in Faerun, there were little sculptures of black glass for Lup’s family. The flames were exact enough that experiments in Barry’s lab had more accurate results. Lup could precisely light the fuse for fireworks from a distance when they were barely still in sight. She tossed flames around the kitchen while she and Taako cooked. The fire from the gauntlet never hurt anyone she didn’t want it to hurt; she could burn her enemies and spare her family in the same blast.

No one explored the potential of a controlled flame in the face of the relic’s destructive potential. Everyone else looked at it and saw a weapon.