#Lord of Calamity

[shellem15]

Can I just say, I really appreciate how Critical Role plays the Devil trope straight. There's been this phenomena in a lot of modern media (I'm not going to mention specifics but I'm sure a few examples pop up in people's minds) where Hell and the Devil aren't scary or malevolent forces. Hell is portrayed as being basically the same as our world just "edgier", and the Devil is a pretty decent guy actually. Heaven are secretly the real bad guys!

But Critical Role doesn't do that. In Exandria, Asmodeus *feels* like the Devil. He's malevolent and manipulative and terrifyingly powerful and he hates you, personally. We never see that type of portrayal anymore! And it's amazing! And he still manages to be sympathetic and tragic without losing his edge!

And the "Good Gods" are portrayed as flawed without being secretly evil or something! Like, actual nuance? In my Heaven/Hell dichotomy? What!?

It's just such a breath of fresh air after so many "The Devil was right, actually" stories. So props to Matt and Brennan and the cast.

[kimbapchan]

The three MXTX Shou’s (Shen Yuan/SQQ, Xie Lian, and Wei Wuxian) but reversed 🤭 should I also do the Gongs? Hehe 😉

[winterpinetrees]

Rereading the hobbit after reading Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion for the first time is unlocking special new emotions that I cannot describe. They’re close to EXU Calamity emotions, but so much stronger.

The Hobbit introduces Elrond like this. “The master of the house was an elf-friend—one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief.”

It’s vague and it sets the scene. It’s enough.

But like, that’s the Silmarillion right there! “wars of the evil goblins”, you mean the war against Morgoth? The battle of sudden flame, the fall of Gondolin, Fingolfin’s duel, every high king and kinslaying and death contained in a line. Elrond’s ancestors aren’t just some “elves and heroes of the north”, they are Beren and Luthien and Melian and Earendil! No one but Tolkien knew back then, but they did happen and they did matter!

The Silmarillion is out there now though, and so many people have read it. I read it. Maedhros and Maglor’s kidnap family mattered. Elros and Numenor mattered. There used to be a continent called Beleriand and a dog that talked three times and entirely too many grandchildren of Finwe. And it’s all gone now.

What’s left? Well, there’s two swords in a troll cave. There’s a wandering Maia with a fun hat. There’s a shiny stone that feels suspicious now, even though I know Tolkien wouldn’t have put a silmaril into a story so casually. Lastly, there’s Elrond, and he’s as kind as summer.

Elrond is as kind as summer.

[iwantmasterkohga]

I started watching Ok Ko. You will be seeing a LOT of banana bread voxman redraws

[asmodeus-cock]

This is about Vespin and Zerxus

[starrymoonsoup]

bringing back amphibia art is 2025 real quick

[xfulcrumx]

I cannot stop thinking about Asmodeus, Sarenrae, and Zerxus

Zerxus, in Luis’s own words, is a redemption paladin played to the max. His belief in redemption is so unshaking that he not only believes Asmodeus can be redeemed, but declines Nydas’s salvation and submits to Asmodeus because to do otherwise would be to admit that he himself would be beyond saving if he went down that path. He cannot and will not let go of his faith in redemption and it costs him his soul.

In this way, Zerxus truly was meant to be Sarenrae’s champion. They share an unwavering faith in redemption to the point of fault. But, Zerxus grew up in a culture that scoffed at the Prime Deities. The hubris of that time did not allow for Zerxus to see how the Everlight was the embodiment of his most sacred ideals. It is this hubris that Asmodeus takes advantage of.

Every chance he gets Asmodeus slaughters the followers of Sarenrae. He does this because he cannot allow hope to exist. His domination must be so pure that the thought of an alternative is not an option. The Everlight must be snuffed out, for she represents everything he despises.

Asmodeus, the god of domination, who cannot accept that he could be beneath anyone, even for a second, as they raise a hand to lift him up, sees this perfect redemption paladin and sees a delicious way to prove that Sarenrae is weak. That hope is a flaw to be extorted and crushed. And even better, brings a powerful threat that would have likely fought in Sarenrae’s name under his control.

Everything Asmodeus does is done to hurt Sarenrae specifically. His sister, who showed him mercy and compassion in his very first moment of reality, as he chose to use his power to force a path for his kin. This one, well-intended choice forever cementing his fate as a god known for imposing his violent will, and her fate as a god known to provide safety and light to all who seek it no matter the cost.

Sarenrae will always go back to Asmodeus. Sarenrae will always try to heal him. And he will always push away, more violently each time, for his chosen path /must/ continue. Those were the choices that made them real, they are the center of their very being.

[cordership]

They finally got her there! 🥺💖💞

[mareastrorum]

I love villains, and I especially enjoy Brennan Lee Mulligan’s take on them. His version of Asmodeus in EXU Calamity and Downfall really highlights the reasons why.

A villain is the embodiment of the wrong conclusion. They aren’t always an antagonist; they aren’t necessarily meant to obstruct the protagonist of a story. Hell, they might even be helpful. Villains don’t even have to be evil, per se, they just have to be on the wrong path in the context of the story.

Asmodeus is a brilliant villain and as evil as it gets. He’s the Father of Lies, and he indulges in it deliciously. The lies are always half truths so that the protagonist fills in the blanks with assumptions and gets it wrong. He matches their energy to give them what they want to hear. He plays along with naivety and hope. He doesn’t take anything from people other than lives; they give the rest willingly because they want to believe him. Asmodeus finally reveals his deception when he has someone cornered because he wants them to know they did it to themselves. Asmodeus wants everyone he hurt to come to the realization that “I knew better and let this happen anyway.” He did it to Vespin Chloras, Zerxus Ilerez, and Sarenrae.

From EXU Calamity episode 4, after Zerxus realizes he’s been had:

Asmodeus is the embodiment of the desire to punish, and he’s the villain because he’s wrong. That mentality is rooted in hatred. He is convinced that everyone deserves eternal torment, and he wants everyone to agree with that conclusion.

The purpose of Asmodeus is that we shouldn’t inflict punishment based on some idea that the person deserved it. Yes, revenge and victory feel good. Yes, there are often valid reasons to be angry or defensive. Yes, we can come up with a reason to justify punishment. But hurting people because they deserve it is exactly what Asmodeus does. There is always a way to rationalize that someone deserves punishment—so the right answer is that this feeling cannot be a sufficient reason to do harm. That isn’t good enough.

It’s so easy to say “they deserve it” when we know the end result is that Aeor will be destroyed and the surviving legacy is ruins full of monsters. It feels good when we think people deserve to suffer and then we get to see it happen. It feels righteous.

Vespin Chloras deserved to be remembered as a traitor because he was arrogant enough to think he could replace Asmodeus—in an age where another mage already replaced the god of death and yet another mage created a machine that killed two primordials. Zerxus Ilerez deserved to be a thrall of Asmodeus because he chose to take up the mace and contributed to the problems that got him in that dilemma—because he so fervently believed that under all that hatred was a person who needed a chance to change his mind. Sarenrae deserved to lose her followers because she decided to trust the Father of Lies—because she loved her brother and offered him mercy.

It’s so easy to conclude that someone deserves pain. Asmodeus is here to remind us specifically that it’s not the right way to handle anything.

Asmodeus is also a rather effective villain because he is supposed to be irredeemable. Archetypal villains are wonderful tools for setting audience expectations. Whether Brennan plays that straight or decides to subvert it, there isn’t as much work needed to persuade us that Asmodeus is that evil or cruel. We already believe that he’s capable of doing the worst things imaginable. Toying with those expectations is a great storytelling exercise.

Asmodeus didn’t shock us in EXU Calamity because we didn’t expect him to be evil. He was shocking because he is such a skillful liar that we wanted to believe him. It would be such a satisfying story that a well-meaning paladin was the first person to show kindness to the Father of Lies and managed to atone him. Brennan’s portrayal made us want that subversion so badly even though we knew better. Asmodeus lured us into the same trap as the characters, and then we saw the outcome: punishment—because Asmodeus will use any reason to justify it and every opportunity to inflict it.

In Downfall, Brennan could have easily rationalized that the protagonists wouldn’t agree to the truce if Asmodeus was on the infiltration team. The audience would have absolutely found that plausible. He didn’t have to be here. The decision to include Asmodeus on the side of the protagonists gives us a heads up that the story will grapple with questions about punishment.

What do I need to see before I am justified in destroying a city with no survivors? Do I have to concern myself with bystanders? Do the fearful deserve to die for choosing to oppose me? Don’t they deserve it for creating such objectionable technology and magic? Don’t I deserve the chance to live without fear of those lesser than myself? Don’t they deserve to die for corrupting those I loved? Don’t they deserve it for being loved more than me?

Why isn’t hatred a good enough reason to hurt someone?

Again, villains are tools to highlight the wrong conclusions. Asmodeus is involved to highlight that the desire for punishment isn’t a sufficient reason to destroy Aeor. The other characters, villains or not, are here to show us what other justifications there might be. Their interactions are going to brush across these themes over and over again.

I fucking love villains, and no one plays a villain quite like Brennan does.

[nolshru]

Terraria Calamity is an example of one of my favourite tropes in fiction, which I see a lot of people dislike, where the story takes place LONG after much of the exciting stuff in the setting has happened - the plague has already mostly vanished, everyone is already dead or well beyond the level of power you could even comprehend, and you're just now here, a big change to everything to be sure, but almost all of that has already happened

like, Lord of the Rings and Breath of the Wild have this too, and people dislike it there too - "why not have this fiction based when all the fun stuff happened?" they ask - and like, I feel that it makes these stories more fun and interesting, like, it allows exploration of things which would otherwise be difficult, and allows for granular reveals of information in a way that's so much more unique and cool when done well (Calamity, Lotr) and... still decent when done in a more weak way (BotW)

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

While I'm pretty sure Pelor didn't know that Milo Cowst was the avatar of Asmodeus, I think it's so much funnier to imagine that he did know

Just imagine that one random day, Pelor's attention gets drawn to this one particular temple where he watches a young man waltz in and profess his everlasting faith in the Dawnfather

And the thing is? Since the Dawnfather gains power from his worshippers, he knows this guy is spitting bullshit! He's lying through his teeth, but since he's got the magic to back it up the clerics, paladins, and monks in this temple buy it and let him join

So Pelor's just scratching his head thinking "who the hell is this guy and what does he have to gain from lying his way into priesthood?"

But then it hits him

FUCKING BASTARD JUST CAN'T HELP HIMSELF, CAN HE? DEAR BROTHER GETS HIS MEMORIES BACK AND THE FIRST THING HE DOES IS THIS? ME DAMN IT, ASMODEUS WHEN I GET DOWN THERE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE A CHAT

[shellem15]

I'm not caught up yet, but I find it very funny how, apparently, in Zerxus' retelling of calamity events Asmodeus is depicted as this big hulking monster-type demon.

Like, Zerxus, babe. He did *not* look like that and you know it.

Do you think he's embarrassed to admit that Asmo looked like his husband and he projected a lot of weird feelings onto him? Cause that's like, objectively hilarious.

[hannimus]

look at him, i'm sure he just needs a hug... RIGHT?!?! 🥺

[clockwise-works]

Honeymoon Tour: Satori Mountain

Thank you so much for the suggestion @chaotic-zora!

[iwantmasterkohga]

I see them everywhere……

[asmodeus-cock]

Taking a hint motherfucker