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wyll is such a tragic character. he always tried to do the morally right thing. he tried to save his city, his people. he wasn’t capable of doing it the way he wanted and had to push his morals aside, choosing a rather "bad" option. but it didn’t matter — he saved the city. he got punished for it by his dad, or rather, his dad didn’t know the real reason behind why he made a pact with a devil. later, he figured out that karlach isn’t a bad person and spared her life. again, he got punished for doing the "right" thing. imagine always trying to help people, and you get punished by everyone for it. now, he’s stuck as a devil. no, he’s not a tiefling; he got turned into a devil.

he turned into a monster. the monster hunter turned into a monster. he’s filled with so much tragedy, yet he never wavers. he’s not a character you can simply push into either the "good" or "bad" path, as his "leader". if you’re doing something morally bad, he’ll leave the party. he will always choose to help people, no matter what life throws at him.

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Periodic reminder that Ulder Ravengard loved Wyll - he loved that bright spirited, whimsy filled little boy so much, and Wyll loves him, and that is where the tragedy of choice lies.

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You know what? I'm gonna say it. There are some characters who are GOOD and that is a CHOICE that is INTRINSIC to their character. There are some characters who wake up every morning and make the choice to be a good person in the face of a world that gives them every reason not to. There are some characters who "deserve a dark side arc" or "have a right to be a little evil after everything they've been through" and they actively choose to deny themselves that right because even after everything they still choose to do the right thing and to help people and to love everyone even after it breaks them and THAT'S what makes them such a good character— the very fact THAT they could easily but CHOOSE to do right instead. There are some characters whose choice to be good is an intrinsic facet of their character and to take that away from them is to take away everything that makes them such a compelling character in the first place.

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hello tumblr user. in front of you stands a confident and outspoken character. your challenge today & forever is to consider the possibility they may simply have self-confidence and are not just faking to secretly cover up massive insecurities. good luck

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Jaheira is Not a Deadbeat

I am, as always, deeply in love with the kids' ambient dialogue while waiting for Jaheira to come inside. And it's time for me to have Opinions.

FIG: I saw her! I swear! RION: Are you sure? Maybe it was just a laborer holding a shaggy grey mop! FIG: Be serious, Rion! Who puts braids on a mop?

FIG: She'll be here any second. Maybe she's sneaking! RION: Doubtful. We'd hear her knees cracking.

And of course my favorite:

RION: Enough, Fig. There's no point getting your hopes up. She'll be back when she's back. FIG: You don't think she will! RION: I know she will. But we'll wait a little longer, if you like.

😭😭😭😭

Rion absolutely knew perfectly well what she was supposed to do from Jaheira's instructions. She just didn't want to. She's been hanging on to the desperate belief that Jaheira was going to walk through the door and make it unnecessary - and, as it turned out, she was right.

OK, fuck it, I'm doing a post about this now. :P

Despite what the Tumblr BG3 fandom would have you believe, Jaheira is not a "deadbeat mom." Is she a parent with emotional constipation issues and way too much time at work? Sure. But so are plenty of other parents on both Toril and Earth. It's SUPER clear from the way all the kids (including Rion) talk to and about her that they LOVE her and she has been an enduring presence in their lives, and that her recent disappearance was both unusual and devastating. 

There are books she reads the kids up in the bedroom! Fig is so excited to announce she's back, indicating that the absence is not a normal occurrence! Jhessem has convinced herself they share a bloodline! Jord got to go to the market with her as a boy! These are not the circumstances of children who do not give a shit about their parent or vice versa!

The devnotes about Jord’s conversation in particular do not show a picture of a man with ill-will towards a mother who felt it customary to abandon him:

JORD: I tended to it. I just let it... thrive in its own independence. You know, same way you raised us. (Devnote: Well meant potshot at his mother, no malice in it) JAHEIRA: I raised you to be a sweet and kind boy. What happened? JORD: I watched what you did instead of listening to what you said. (Devnote: Amused, gently mocking his mother) JORD: This house has taken in a lot of children over the years. Mother dear was sometimes more commander than, well... mother dear. (Devnote: Smiling, explaining why he and Jaheira trade barbs. No criticism, just understated affection)

It is, perhaps, worth noting at this point as well that Jord - and Rion, and Fig, and even Jhessem - speak with that teasing, mocking tone towards Jaheira… but so does she - towards the people she cares most about, including you as the player. The kids are acting as they have learned, and words like this can and should easily be read as gestures of affection. And they clearly trust Jaheira enough to bring this playful rudeness to the fore without fear of it being misconstrued or turning into hostility.

And if they are like Jaheira in this way, they’re also not going to be comfortable showing the real depth of their feelings in front of you, the player character - who is fundamentally a stranger who has just walked into their house. Why would they? Jaheira clearly doesn’t; indeed, even her more serious conversation with Rion only takes place outside where even the other children aren’t listening. 

Perhaps most significantly, I truly don’t understand how anyone can interact with Tate for even a moment and think that Jaheira does not have a deep, if often unspoken, bond with the kids she raises:

JAHEIRA: I hope you were hibernating, little cub, I can’t think of another reason you wouldn’t come down to say hello. TATE: Jaheira! I d-didn’t… didn’t w-want to see if you were r-really dead. They said… JAHEIRA: Who said? TATE: Jord and Rion. They didn’t think I c-could hear… JAHEIRA: You little sneak-thief. Well, they were wrong. Look! Not dead! I just… had a few adventures.

She is so soft and gentle with him in a way that she is with no one else, a way that indicates that she knows him and how his personality is different from the others. And he in turn has clearly been utterly devastated by the idea that she might be gone.

Take, as well, the evidence provided by Minsc when he is present in these conversations! There’s plenty of evidence to indicate the degree to which Minsc is guided by Jaheira’s behavior - to the degree that a doppelganger wearing her face was the key ingredient to binding him temporarily into the Cult of the Absolute. And Minsc - far more comfortable with emotion than Jaheira, at least in some ways - is clearly very affectionate with the kids as well:

FIG: STAND ON YOUR LIVER! MINSC: It is stand and *deliver*, little Fig. Though I think I like yours better. You bellow like a true berserker!

JHESSEM: A fine day to you, saer. Are you known to this court PLAYER: Eh? JHESSEM: Ugh - play along, would you? MINSC: Lord Boo is most pleased to make your acquaintance, my lady! Word of your grace has spread far and wide among the hamster houses. (Devnote: Swooping in to preserve the child's make-believe after the player ruined it.) JHESSEM: Enchanted!

MINSC: Boo is also very well! And happy to see *you*, Rion. RION: And I him. Enough that I’ll let him keep his lumbering, sweaty steed inside.

Would Minsc have taken it upon himself to have such a comfortable relationship with these children if Jaheira did not? I doubt it. He’d be friendly, certainly, but this familiarity goes a great deal beyond that.

And as for Rion herself - it's definitely reasonable to assume that she's had a strained relationship with Jaheira as she's grown older. (I have a lot of headcanons about this for my specific worldstate canon, but even just sticking to the game canon, it definitely seems like that's the case.) But leaving aside that - can you blame her for being upset at this particular moment?

As far as Rion knows, her mom was recently emotionally devastated for an indeterminate reason. (Minsc's apparent death. None of the kids are surprised to see him arrive, so clearly none of them knew he was supposed to be dead - but also there's no way that Jaheira didn't look afterwards like someone hollowed her out from the inside.) Then, without further explanation, she disappeared for what appears to have been several months (again, clearly not standard procedure), and after weeks of no contact, sends a seven-word message indicating she is about to die.

How exactly is Rion supposed to feel at this moment? This is an incredibly emotionally fraught circumstance, and if it's precisely representative of her overall relationship with Jaheira I will eat my hat.

Also - much is made by the game, by Rion, and by the fandom about that seven-word message, but if you try to chastise Jaheira about it, she gives further context:

PLAYER: Only seven? That’s cold, Jaheira. JAHEIRA: The cleric who cast the Sending was wounded. Should I have sobbed on her shoulder?

Jaheira was caught in a no-win situation. Trapped in the Shadowlands, a terrifying ordeal all by itself, with a gaggle of Harpers she had to protect, many of whom had apparently been injured by their encounter with Ketheric Thorm. If the only cleric she had access to was wounded, this was before they reached Last Light and met Isobel. 

Jaheira had ZERO reason to hope at this point - but she also still felt her own inescapable responsibility towards the people under her command. To send a longer and more emotional message would have been to put strain on her injured comrade and also risk making it very clear that she felt the situation was hopeless. The Harpers very well might have broken and scattered, condemning themselves - and, frankly, many others, given their crucial contributions to the final Act 2 fight - to death.

And then she lives, against all her own expectations, and returns to the city. And her dialogue reflects her conflict over this fact as well: 

JAHEIRA: I have given you much reason to think that Harpers hoard secrets like precious stones. But I promise you, this was not some intrigue. Just, ah… plain and simple foolishness. As if by keeping clear of my family, I might keep them clear of the cult in turn. And if this fight were to go against us, well… they had already done their mourning. Why visit it on them twice?

She then goes on to discuss the city and her place in it - and relates it directly back to her kids as well.

JAHEIRA: I was wrong to think I could keep my children from this fight. They’re Baldurian born and bred - the only damned reason I root myself in this place. This city is a cesspit. An open sewer of the soul, that taints us with its filth and churns us out when all that is good has been stripped away. It also happens to be their home - and so it is mine. Ugh. That might be the first time I have said that out loud.

If Jaheira wanted to disappear and leave her kids to handle themselves, she would have done it a long time ago. It wouldn’t be hard; she is fully capable of vanishing into the wilderness never to be seen again - and in truth, there’s every reason to believe she would be considerably happier to do so… except that it would mean leaving her children behind. They “root” her in Baldur’s Gate despite all of her previous inclinations and everything that comes naturally to her, and everything she does is guided ultimately by the need to protect the city because it is their home.

And that, my friends, is love, a love that she shows even if she does not know how to voice it.

TLDR: Jaheira's absence in the Shadowlands was definitely not a normal occurrence, and her kids clearly love her deeply and were devastated by her apparent disappearance. That she is a woman who keeps herself far too busy with work and has no idea how to express her own strong feelings does not, has not, and never will make her a "deadbeat."

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I feel like I have to preface this by saying that I am not a fan of AA and never will be, but I loathe how ascending Astarion is treated as a litmus test for player morality. I hate that people treat AA fans as though they were somehow too stupid to understand the themes in his story. Did some of them miss the point? Sure. But so did some spawn fans if we're being totally honest. Two things can be true at once: you can fully understand the themes of Astarions arc AND also find it more enjoyable to ascend him. While it's not my cup of tea, those who ascend him are not horrible people. Its a video game ffs. Get over yourselves.

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Bunny day! Time to draw some bunny!

The reason why all bunny in the animal shelter loves the vet Halsin, is because he can turn into a big bunny and give everyone a warm hug and groom! He a druid, of course he can do that!

I was thinking if I should finish all companion bunny doodles first, and then draw all of them toghether, but it's bunny day so NO ONE CAN STOP ME TO DRAW BUNNY GROUP PICTURE!

btw more companion bunny in the future!

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"incorrect quotes" yeah they sure are. he would not fucking say that

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Where the hell are people getting the idea that Wyll doesn't like puns from. He MAKES puns. Several times. He full on laughs at fake-Dribbles' "paw-sible" pun. He loves clowns. He's a silly goofy guy who delights in the humorous irritation of puns. Stop saying he doesn't like puns.

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Reasons why Wyll/Shadowheart is an underrated ship

Parallel trauma over being controlled by an authority figure, bonding over mutual discovery of the path to freedom.

Wylls endless pep talks and positivity coaxing Shadowheart to smile when she's feeling down.

Woman with no dating experience (that she remembers) being swept off her feet by the pinacle of romance and valor.

Both trying hard to reconnect with their parents, both desperate for familial connection and so, so grateful for what they manage to recover.

Wyll as a genuinely nurturing teacher. Teaching her how to swim, how be a good daughter to her aging parents, how to hold a conversation with both common folk and the highest of nobles.

Shadowheart as his personal physician because you KNOW that man can't stay out of trouble. He's there to be hero every chance he gets and she just rolls her eyes and heals his wounds every time.

Both family oriented with a soft spot for animals. Potential for both to want to settle down in a nice cottage in the countryside. Wyll getting away from the city and noble life and Shadowheart just loving the peace and quiet.

Wyll vowing to break her curse. He will never stand for this injustice. He swears by all the sword coast, by his glory and by his honor, he will be the bane of Shar, the blade of Shadowheart.

Dad gossip between Arnell and Ulder.

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come here. no come close to me. do you honestly and fully believe. wyll ravengard the blade of frontiers. has any qualms or fears about fighting things he deems necessary to be fought. i feel like i’m crazy sometimes “wyll wouldn’t do violence he’d give everyone a very stern talking to though” but it’s about fucking goblins or devils and not the tiefling children like WYLL??? STRONG FAST AND RIGHTEOUS WYLL????? what do you think he was doing in those frontiers for 7 years. frolicking????? he loves righteous violence he thinks it’s a display of tenacity and determination or whatever. hero stuff. and like tangential but. see when i say wyll is fighting literal devils inside his head i do mean literal devils. wyll isn’t ever shimmying around mizora groveling for mercy he like tells her to fuck off all the time even AFTER SHE DRAGS HIM THROUGH THE NINE HELLS. that freak of a white woman could make him a lemure whenever she wants wyll does not give a fuck he hates her ass. there’s something wrong with him in his brain for sure but lack of truly insane levels of confidence when it comes to Morally Justified Violence and Pushback is not a problem he is facing. okay post over go home

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Fanon Wyll: whats sex 😵‍💫 it sounds scary i dunno 🤕

Canon Wyll: this reminds me of my favourite pornographic literature. Let me recite it for you -

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Unpopular opinion but Larian tweaking AA animations every patch but not fixing actual game breaking bug is kinda embarrassing. I like the game but larian needs to leave the white hag alone and start fixing the year old bugs.

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op turned off reblogs. anyway this is wyllcore

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Wyll is so fucking funny and no amount of acknowledgement about this could ever be enough. He's literally walking around being so casually hilarious completely under-the-radar. He calls Halsin a "thick hunk of an elf". He once accidently implied that he was fucking an ogre instead of killing it and then proceeded to absolutely stumble his way through explaining. He gets excited by Lae'zel talking about carnal pleasures. He canonically tells his pessimistic thoughts to shut the hell up. He volunteers to babysit Shadowheart's hypothetical werewolf babies as long as she gets him gloves. He tries to give Gale a hero moniker like his own. He jokes that his father, the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate, can't spell. He calls Astarion "Mister Fangs". He makes up storybook chapter names for his own fucking adventures. As a child he got chased by the Flaming Fist for stealing fruit, nearly drowned trying to find mermaids in the harbor, and almost successfully broke into the Counting House. He reads monster erotica, and is not ashamed to tell you about it. He ranks eating pudding among life's greatest moments. He will, without shame and completely unprompted, meow at you. He is 24 years old.

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The ultimate hater…lover…the-mortifying-ordeal-of-being-known-girl

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I dont get people who write a Wyll that gets nervous and an Astarion who doesn't. Wyll gets tortured in front of the group and still doesn't miss a beat, aside from if you let his father die, I think there's only one or two lines where his dialogue strays from "affable/charming". Good luck trying to get through that shell, lol. Meanwhile Astarion has dozens of shrill, nervous, panicked dialogue lines. Astarion is a character who is influenced strongly by player choice and never goes it alone whereas Wyll leaves the camp if you fuck him around too much.

I feel like if you make Astarion cool and suave you are falling for the façade that is supposed to be deconstructed by the viewer and if you make Wyll fumbling, naïve and nervous you are forgetting that this man has been locked in a 24/7 one-on-one psycho-sexual mental battle with a billion-year-old demon from the 9th circle of Hell for the entirety of his adult life at this point, so. Jot that down.