rosebushwitch

[rosebushwitch]

WICKED (2024), dir. Jon M. Chu

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Sam said "Oh Evan is sleeping" on the voice note she sent so i can imagine it gets leaked and the next day all the media is talking about this mysterious Evan who sweeped the beloved Sam Britain away, who is he? did they elope maybe??

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C3107

I will inspire Fearne by telling her: I couldn't help myself last night. I painted a painting of you.

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My production design queen is BACK baby!!!

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I had dared not hope for mismag2 and now I am psyched give me more MAGIC

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[ID in alt text]

Romance disease 😔

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Shocking! ⚡️

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HES ALL DRESSED UP!!!!!!!

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So Never Stop Blowing Up is a spy/heist movie with all dogs yeah? Everyone is playing a dog and they’re trying to blow things up? Die hard with dogs? Vibe?

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The fact that everybody in Bell's Hells and some viewer forget that Laudna had been warning them about Delilah since forever, it's really telling how that charcater get underestimated or not listened to.

She literally said it during Nana Morri's truth exercise. Couldn't have been more clear. And they all were there.

Ashton was there when she started sucking the willmaster but raised their hands and went out saying it was not their business. They all saw what happened after Ashton tried getting the shard. At least they all should have been warned and started paying attention.

So don't act all accusing toward her for not warning the others.

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so here’s my essay on Predathos, as a writing major who has gone literature analysis on the lore I can remember from the entire history of critical role no I’m not citing my sources or checking anything in this essay I will

Argue that Predathos is a narrative foil to the Luxon and if allowed to break free will consume everything in its path and entirely reboot the magical knowledge and practice in Exandria, in essence bringing forth a second Calamity.*

According to the Grim Verity’s research (which was partially stolen from Vasselheim), Predathos was locked away in Ruidus the Red Moon which is a chunk of Exandria that was shot into the sky by the gods sometime pre Calamity, post Founding.

Two gods, Ethedok the Endless Shadow (God of darkness and winter) and Vordo the Fateshaper (God of fate and order) were consumed by Predathos and the other deities got real scared and locked Predathos away. It was AFTER this that the schism occurred and the Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods started fighting. While everyone was busy picking sides of the schism and celestials and devils were dancing or whatever, Corellon the Archeart (shout out Narrative Telephone) decided to give mortals arcane knowledge in order to defend themselves and also created elves?? Mortals could now wield magic without divine intervention. The Archeart's symbol has two crescent moons which may or may not be relevant but is a fun fact. If we take this timeline to be correct (again I’m not fact checking anything here, cite my sources? No, shan’t), mortal knowledge of the Arcane separate to divine intervention occured after Predathos was contained.

Calamity occurs, the Divergence occurs and the gods scurry off behind the Divine Gate which is similar to the lattice work magic cage that keeps Predathos locked away in Ruidus. Some thousands of years go by and Exandria begins rebuilding, but in present day hasn't quite reached the peak cultural and magical knowledge that was at it's height in the Age of Arcanum prior to Calamity. The Gods remain behind the gate and do not walk among their worshippers, but mortals have taken magic and run. Ships are flying through the skies, dragons are being slain.

The Luxon is still being worshipped in parts of the world, most notably Xhorhas. This god (?) is intrinsically linked to Dunamancy, a magic that pulls at the threads of space and time. The Luxon is said to be an entity that precedes time and space, a representation of light and possibility. Lux deriving from the root word for Light, -on a suffix here that generally derives to mean actions.

The name Predathos clearly comes from a root word for Predator; Athos or Thos at roots may refer to various myths or indeed eating, earning Predathos the moniker 'The God-Eater'. But this could also be from the root Ethos. Ethos is defined broadly as the spirit of a culture or era. The belief systems, the community, the character of an age. What does it mean to be a predator of the essence that ties everything in the modern age together?

If the Luxon is light, possibility, a form of creation that predates time, is Predathos it's natural opposing force? If the Luxon breaks off parts of itself to create, gives motes of possibility to followers through beacons of light, lights the way for new knowledge and ideas, ties things together through possibility, does Predathos pull them apart? Make itself bigger through destruction of the fabric that ties together Ethos? Take parts of its followers to further its own hunger? Predathos may predate the founding, it's unclear how old this entity is. Did this entity come from before time and consume the Endless Shadow and the Fateshaper, or did these two gods meld together to form a darkness that is hellbent on consuming that which the Luxon provides? Light and fateshaping, light and possibility? In either case, whether it ate gods or was formed from them, Predathos certainly acts in a narrative sense as a foil to dunamantic magics and history we learnt throughout the entirety of Campaign 2.

Exandria and the Material Plane has evolved beyond deities presiding over life, to having full cultures and communities of beings dedicated to different Ethos that ties the world together. Is the One Who Sleeps awakening now to find a plane ripe for eating? Does it consume Gods, or does it consume ideas and knowledge and the arcane? Why wouldn't that predator come after the beings who are wielding the arcane to create their own communities and cultures, just as the Gods did when they last walked on the Material Plane. Predathos has been watching Exandrian's dreams, lying in wait, manipulating those it can find connections to so it can use them to be unleashed. Does Predathos have threads of connection in can pull on, like the Luxon can through beacons? Are Ruidusborn another version of those who are Consecuted, but rather than being granted new life the Ruidusborn are feeling the pain, rage, joy, power of a being that has been caged.

The apogee solstice made leylines of magic stronger, you could see them in the skies, but shifted them to create powerful magic spaces and black spots where some magic simply didn’t work.

Does Predathos want to consume the leylines of magic itself? More importantly, why are the Gods retreating behind the gate and leaving this threat to be delt with by their champions? They certainly seem scared, so why not go and reinforce the cage? Are they worried the betrayer gods would use this as an excuse to break free? Are they unable to break through the divine gate without vessels themselves?

I’m raising more questions that answers now, so,

In conclusion, I don’t believe this narrative has been setting Predathos up to be just a God-Eater. I think Bells Hells are right to be questioning this and should even take it a step further. Exandria and it’s magic users and their power is the meal, the Gods might just be dessert.

* (Incidentally if Predathos is let out and succeeds in ripping the magic system of Exandria apart this may result in Critical Role being able to entirely reboot and transition to an in house TTRPG system while remaining in the narrative world of Exandria, should this be of interest to their creatives. That is an aside point and not the central thesis of this essay, predominantly because I’m not interested in the #discourse of who likes or dislikes Critical Role’s creative direction. In Marisha Ray I trust, and my central thesis in life is hey let people enjoy things, go find something you enjoy. Couldn’t say if Matt is itching to create a new fresh world, or continue his exploration of this one. Wouldn’t suppose hinging a real world shift on what happens in this unscripted show would be possible anyway they might just stop Predathos. Would personally be overjoyed to watch these stories unfold wherever they may be set.)

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Back on my bullshit now that I’m catching up :))

(I'm going to be posting all my CR fanart over here at some point, otherwise it's on my instagram)

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i lean in for a kiss

⭐ kofi | comms | inprnt ⭐

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c2e72 // c3e93