#also there was that small thing where Ira LEFT ASHTON AND FCG TO DIE ON THE MOON when he set the bomb

[dol--blathanna]

So since CR campaign 3 is ending today (RIP) I’ve been seeing a lot of Hot Takes about the campaign overall, the events of the past few episodes, and the fact C3 is ending now. I generally try not to get involved in CR discourse (also I am primarily a witcher-themed blog lol) BUT I wanted to share my Super Duper Important and Urgent Campaign 3 Hot Take because I haven’t seen anyone mention it and I'm beginning to gaslight myself over if I'm remember things wrong:

I Can’t Believe Bells Hells Never Called Ira Out For Erasing Ollie’s Memories/Mind-Controlling Him

So way back in the campaign, in episode 31 “Breaking Point”, Ira betrayed the group (including Birdie and Ollie), stole the Moontide crown, and vanished. Imogen and FCG entered Ollie’s mind and found various “grey smears” in his memories, including one where “Birdie was crying”, then both she and Ollie angrily gathered their belongings with the intent to leave as fast as possible…only for the memory to go into the grey smear, and then the next memory having Birdie and Ollie working alongside Ira again, as if their moment of wanting to ditch Ira never happened.

So obviously, Ira was either erasing Ollie’s memories or magically controlling him and Birdie (or maybe both) in order to stop them from leaving. Not only that, but there are these grey smears all over Ollie’s mind – Matt even describes it as “Swiss-cheese”, i.e. Ira did this a LOT! Bell’s Hells even theorise that perhaps Birdie and Ollie kept on discovering that Ira was evil and wanting to leave, or – most importantly – wanting to go back to Fearne. And Ira robbed them of their choice!

And Bell’s Hells…completely forget about this. The next time they see Ira, they’re asking him to help stop Ludinus during the solstice and the first attack on the Malleus Key (and, very importantly, to Please Not Let Xandis Die when they make the plan to crash the airship into the key). And like, I totally get it – they were trying to gather as many allies as possible, and Ira is both very useful but also not particularly trustworthy, so accusing him and starting an argument with him before a very dangerous and time-sensitive mission would have been unwise.

But, 88 episodes since they entered Ollie’s mind have passed and – nothing! It has never, ever been brought up again, despite them working with Ira a number of times since then. And I think that’s a shame because Fearne feeling abandoned by her parents, then all the additional drama with Zathuda, was a very interesting part of her character, and Ira mind-controlling her parents could have been part of why they didn’t go back to her – but unless it’s brought up in the 8hr finale tomorrow, I guess we’ll never know. (Of course this isn’t even touching the question of whether Nana Morri stretched time secretly to give herself more years with Fearne, considering it had been 90 years since Fearne saw her parents but Birdie was under the impression it was 6/7 years – that’s a whole other can of worms that unfortunately was never opened, iirc).

But anyway Bells Hells might have forgotten about Ira meddling with Ollie’s mind but NOT ME. I haven't and I have held a grudge against Ira this entire time and I have no regrets for that. Fearne I love you, Birdie and Ollie I’ve got your back, FUCK Ira all my homies hate Ira, I hope he steps on a lego with his nasty 2-toed feet, also isn’t it funny that he FAILED to blow up his nemesis Sorrowlord Zathuda with a giant bomb on the moon haha what a LOSER. Meanwhile Chetney threw a chisel at Zathuda’s head and Orym slashed him and then Zathuda DIED wow Ira you are so CRINGE you couldn’t even manage that. Also I am Totally Not in Denial About Campaign 3 Ending. We’re definitely getting another 100 episodes trust me. Source: my delusions.