Talk:Guenhwyvar

Repetative thought needed editing?

Does anyone else think that in the intro paragraph on the page where it says: "...who named one of his own cats after the panther....It is thought that Guenhwyvar was named after R.A salvatore's cat whom shares the name of Guenhwyvar."? Maybe this could be edited to sound less repetative. I'd do it, but my grammer isn't good enough, in my opinion, to give it a quality edit. Issmortor 19:20, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Which name came first? His pet cat or the panther? --Jhannah 11:26, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

The 1st sentence speaks as though it is fact, where as the second sentence shows uncertainty. Based on this I would say the panther was named 1st, but who knows. Xelliz 21:58, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Sex of Guenhwyvar

I've always thought the cat as a he based on the books I've read (all Drizzt books). I could swear that it's a he in the first books at least (Icewind Dale trilogy) and later the feminine approach was IMO a normal way of talking about a sleek cat. - 00:05, 26 February 2006 (UTC) Salvatore actually released a statement on this about how his editor changed some pronouns in the original trilogy and said that Guenhywvar is most definitely female. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.0.165.237 (talk) 23:15, 7 January 2021 (UTC)

- Gender. Guen was indeed referred to by the male pronouns "he" or "him" in all three of the first published novels: The Crystal Shard (1988), Streams of Silver (1989), and The Halfling's Gem (1990):

"'Guenhwyvar is no demon,' Drizzt reassured his large companion. 'He is a friend and a valuable ally'" (bold added; The Crystal Shard, Part 2: Chapter 17).

"'Well, where's that blasted cat?' Bruenor asked, a hint of relief in his voice that Guenhwyvar was actually not with the drow. [...]

'Where we need him most,' was the drow's answer". (bold added; Streams of Silver, Part 1: Chapter 2)

"'Wh-Where did you get him?' Regis stuttered.

'Magnificent, is he not?' Pook replied. 'But do not worry, little thief. You shall get a closer look.' He turned to the cat.

'Guenhwyvar, dear Guenhwyvar,' Pook purred[...]." (bold added; The Halfling's Gem, Part 3: Chapter 17)

"'You!' Pook roared, his face twisting and his hands clenching in rage.

'No, him,' Regis corrected, pointing a finger above as a sleek black form leaped over him.

To the stunned Pook, Guenhwyvar appeared as no more than a flying ball of big teeth and claws." (bold added; The Halfling's Gem, Part 3: Chapter 24)

Salvatore has explained that this masculine gender was due to editorial alterations to the character after he handed in his manuscripts for the books.

However, the 1988 D&D sourcebook The Savage Frontier actually refers to Guen by the pronouns "her" and "she":

"[...] Guenhwyvar, a powerful panther spirit[:] To gain her, Drizzt had to kill her former owner, an extremely cruel drow noble. Guenhwyvar is more than just a magical item, she is Drizzt's friend." (bold added; "Personalities of the North": p.57)

At any rate, the first novel of RAS's in which the female gender cleared past the editors was Sojourn ("'She’s a beautiful cat,' Catti-brie remarked"; Part 5: Chapter 23; 1991).

Since then, a few books have used a neutral "it" or simply "the cat" rather than the feminine pronouns, but the feminine characterization of Guenhwyvar has featured fairly consistently. --BEAST, 31-MAR-2009. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.30.201.231 (talk) 13:19, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

From the short story detailing her creation in 'Realms of Magic (Forgotten Realms, December 1995)', which was written after the sex was no longer changed by the editors as noted above: "It was a cat, as he had suspected, a great black panther, twice—no thrice—the size of the largest cat Josidiah had ever seen or heard of. And the cat was female, and females were usually much smaller than males." 216.49.181.254 (talk) 23:48, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

On a side I'm listening to The Crystal Shard just after the prequels and questioned the gender of Guenhwyvar when hearing, 20 years earlier in the series, of 'he' being referred to as 'she' multiple times in the book. - Kaz — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1:B140:EC1:B4F7:69EC:2E41:6612 (talk) 10:28, 1 June 2018 (UTC)

Pronunciation of Guenhwyvar

I tend to pronounce this either "Goo-winn-hi-var" or "Gwen-wy-var". I have no idea how this should be pronounced, but seeing that it's a derivative of "Guinevere", it would proably be pronounced "Gwen-heh-var". Sorry I don't know the fancy letters that make up the pronunciation guide. How should it be pronounced? Jaerune 08:20, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

I wish I knew too. I pronounce it "Gwen-way-var" but I don't know for sure if that is correct. Cylith 14:25, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

After a little research on the subject, I have decided you pronounce it "however you want". Here is what I found, not conclusive, but maybe interesting -- R.A. Salvatore named the panther after the Celtic spelling of Arthur's queen, Guinevere, spelled according to Mary Stewart's Arthurian series [1]. The link refers to an interview question about how he pronounced it, but the interviewer didn't include his pronunciation in the article, just the explanation about the origin (doh!). Looking deeper on the Internet for Celtic spellings of Guinevere, there a few different ones, such as Gwenhwyfar, Gwenhwyvar or Gwynhwfar [2], however, it looks like they are still pronounced with a 'v' in Welsh [3]. Here is a way that I found that looks right to me, so I will probably use it -- 'By the way, Gwenivere is an Anglicised spelling, the real Welsh form is Gwennhwyfar (pronounced roughly Gwenn-hwih-vahr).' [4] 71.219.50.115 (talk) 09:34, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm listening to the Drizzt audiobooks from Audible, narrated by Victor Bevine, and he pronounces it Gwen-ih-var. I have no idea at all what, if any, input Mr. Salvatore had on the production of these recordings, but since they were produced recently (in the last few years) it is possible that he had some input. It also makes sense after learning the origin of the name, since it is very similar in pronunciation to Guinevere. Nothingbeforeus (talk) 07:10, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

In a tweet by R.A. Salvatore, he mentions "It’s a Celtic spelling of King Arthur’s queen." https://twitter.com/r_a_salvatore/status/977230212608942081?lang=en::

Ragdoll (talk) 06:35, 26 Sept 2020 (UTC)

I think something is missing here...

In Homeland Masoj Hunn'ett said he got the statuette of Guenhwyvar from a dinizen from the lower planes for some help he gave it. Where is that on Guenhwyvars subject??? Does any one else think that was missing??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Talzara (talk • contribs) 18:56, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Missing History

The article says nothing about the fact that Artemis Entreri stole Guenhwyvar as well as kiddnapping Regis, or anything about her involvement in Pook's ultimate demise. I was wondering for the opinions of others of whether I should set the record straight or not.(Silverbow5 (talk) 20:41, 28 July 2008 (UTC))