#aro!Caduceus

[critter-tea-rex]

Caduceus "The Aro Ace King" Clay making his grand return during ace week really is the most iconic shit

[hello-eeveev]

Yet another ace week wherein we get to see the Mighty Nein, the most acespec-coded party of all time, so aces stay winning now and forever 🖤🤍💜

[rabbimite]

Upcoming (Potential) New A-Spec Characters in TV

Luffy from One Piece (Netflix)

Not really canon but as long as in the adaptation he doesn't feel attracted to anyone fits the criteria

Alastor from Hazbin Hotel (TBD)

Canonly aroace, has a line that can be read as indicative of his asexuality in the Youtube pilot

Vernestra from The Acolyte (Disney+)

Canonly aroace, hopefully they don't erase her orientation in the TV show

Ekundayo from Raybearer (Netflix)

(fanart by @/souldagger )

He is asexual biromantic in the books

Please add more potential a-spec characters coming to TV if you know any, I know WicDiv (which includes asexual character Dionysus) had an adaptation announced in 2015 but it's probably cancelled by now), with so few a-spec representation I just want to know of any potential characters coming to TV in the future!

[rolaplayor101]

Doodle of my SI in some of my bootleg aroace merch/clothes I own irl

[apocalypselog]

Shoutout to Caduceus Clay for his aro swag

[vaxlethtrash]

As an ace TLOVM/ CR fan, I absolutely second this and thank you for making this post, OP.

As a young ace woman, Keyleth honestly means so much to me.

In honor of ace week, I wanna once again acknowledge how Critical Role does better ace rep than almost anything else I’ve ever seen, and they do so using one very simple technique. What is that technique you ask? Well I’ll tell you. They have multiple aspec characters who fall into different parts of the spectrum. That’s it. That’s all it is. Caduceus was Aroace without him being a stereotype or being played for laughs. Essek and Keyleth were both Demi in their own ways, and both actually played as such. I would personally argue that Grog was aromantic due to Travis simply not wanting to do romance, and it wasn’t portrayed as horrible that he just wanted sex and not romance. They just have so many ace characters in comparison to literally every other piece of media that’s not like, idk, an extremely indie webcomic or something like that. Which is wild (though not surprising) because the ace spectrum is huge and has all different sorts of layers which you cannot represent with one ace character, and even if it isn’t perfect, CR does a better job of representing those differences than almost anything else I’ve seen (low bar I know but still). Now parts of the fandom aren’t necessarily always, uh, very good about ace people in cr or the fandom at large, but that doesn’t mean the show itself doesn’t do a better job than most things. Anyways happy ace week. 

[lunalikestowriteanddraw]

I will never not love the fact that Caduceus is canonically aro/ace, and the fact that he says so during the actual campaign. Like, it’s one thing to just have a character not really be into anyone (not obviously, anyway), but it’s another to have said character actually say “yeah, I’m just not into that”.

I know that it’s technically better to “show, not tell”, but to be fair, it’s not always obvious whether or not a character is ACTUALLY a-spec or not. Plus, as someone who is part of the a-spec, I always tend to assume a character is ace/aro unless proven otherwise, so it’s just nice to have a character (that i like) canonically be ace/aro. Gives me more reason to like them, lol.

[lontra23]

List/ Collage with A-Spec Characters: canon confirmed, and popular headcanons

Colours:

Canon confirmed: blue

popular headcanon/ speculation: orange

Alastor, Hazbin Hotel: ace, aro

Senku Ishigami, Dr. Stone: ace, aro

Vi Moradi, Star Wars: ace, aro

Victor Vale, Vicious: ace, biromantic

Spongebob: ace

Kirby: ace, aro, non-binary

the Knight, Hollow Knight: agender, ace, aro

Todd Chavez, BoJack Horseman: ace

Georgia Warr, Loveless: ace, aro, aego?

Jughead Jones, Archie: ace

Doomguy/ Dooomslayer: ace

Seiji Maki, Bloom into you: ace, aro, aegoromantic?

Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece: ace, aro

Connor Hawke, DC Comics: ace, alloromantic

Perry the platypus: ace, aro

Kusuo Saiki, Disastrous life of Saiki K.: ace, aro

Yelena Belova, Marvel: ace, aro

Izaya Orihara, Durara: ace, aro

Daryl Dixon, the Walking Dead: ace

Keyleth, Critical Role: demisexual

Neil Josten, Foxhole Court: demisexual, demiromantic

Isaac Henderson, Heartstopper: ace, aro

Vernestra Rwoh, Star Wars: ace, aro

Light Yagami, Death Note: ace, aro

Caduceus Clay, Critical Role: ace, aro

Murderbot, Murderbot Diaries: ace, aro, genderless

Jonathan "Jon" Simms, Magnus Archives: ace, biromantic

Shouto Todoroki, Boku no Hero Academia: ace, aro

Lilith Clawthorne, Owl House: ace, aro

Bill Cypher, Gravity Falls: ace, aro, agender

Ezperanza "Spooner" Cruz, Legends of Tomorrow: ace

Nadia Van Dyne/ the Wasp, Marvel: ace, aro, quoiromantic

Peridot, Stephen Universe: ace, aro

Gwenpool, Marvel: ace, aro

Frieren: a-spec, ace, aro

Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones: ace, aro

Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle: ace, aro

Lord Varys, Game of Thrones: ace, aro

Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano, Percy Jackson: ace, aro

Son Goku, Dragonball: ace

10th Doctor, Doctor Who (David Tennant): ace, panromantic

11th Doctor, Doctor Who (Matt Smith): ace

Sakuko Kodama, Koisenu Futari: ace, aro

Satoru Takahashi, Koisenu Futari: ace, aro

Felicity Montague, Lady's guide to petticoats and piracy: ace, aro

Jasnah Kholin, Stormlight Archive: ace, heteroromantic

Loth, Priory of the Orange Tree: grey-ace

Tané, Priory of the Orange Tree: ace, aro

Adèle, Baker Thief: demisexual, bi

Claire/ Claude, Baker Thief: aro (aroallo!), genderfluid

Sandry, Circle of Magic: ace

Ling Chan, the Diviners: ace, lesbian

Nancy Whitman, Every Heart a Doorway: ace, alloromantic

Kel, Protector of the Small: ace, aro

Natalie, Natural History of Dragons: ace, aro

Raphael Santiago, Shadowhunters: Cassandra Clare: ace, aro (In the show only ace)

Please note that I took most of my information from online, and I didn't personally read/ watch everything, so there may be some mistakes. Also, some of the not-canon characters are very likely aspec, but just not confirmed. And especially if they say/ do really obviously aro/ ace stuff, I wasn't sure if it's enough to put them in the "confirmed" category. (e.g. Saiki literally said he isn't attracted to anyone regardless of gender, and never wants to be in a relationship. But there are still people who doubt his aroace-ness. (And at this point I don't see how it could be anything but aphobia, to deny the mere possibility of him being aroace so vehemently lol.) ) Also: Sadly, I couldn't find good aro-allo characters except Claire/ Claude from "baker thief". There is tons of good a-spec representation in that book (also more side characters that I didn't mention here), but I couldn't really find any fan-art. So then I just slapped the entire book cover on the collage.

[munsons-mutiny]

I’ve had this headcanon forever and it’s just never come up anywhere, so I figured it’s time to write about it.

Caleb’s spell that he makes for Veth, Widogast’s Transmorigification, has major implications for Exandria’s trans population! This could be the magical equivalent of top or bottom surgery only it’s down to a biological level! I’m sure they’ve had their own procedures, but a body that you can personally design does seem like an upgrade from whatever technology/magic they have available!

I like to believe that Caleb doesn’t think about the spell in that context at first, why would he? It was designed for someone with a different type of body dysphoria, and he doesn’t interact with too many trans people (at least that he knows, I have no clue if he knows about Yussa, and they haven’t seen Bryce in ages).

But once he starts teaching, and establishes himself as a safe space for queer kids (you can’t tell me the empire is super open minded, especially their most prestigious traditional institution) the application becomes obvious. The first time his favorite student, a small purple tiefling named Aza who reminds him so much of Molly it hurts, comes to him mid-breakdown because of how bad the dysphoria is the solution just immediately pops into his head. He could fix this for her, give her the body she should’ve been born in.

He comforts her the best he can and then calls a meeting of the lgbt club he has set up (it’s run under the radar to make it safe even for students who aren’t out to their peers yet). Where he gives a presentation on the spell, and it’s capabilities, even has Veth come in to show the results and have her talk about her experience and if there had been any side effects.

A couple students in the room cry at the possibility, some remain uninterested, but many are enraptured with the idea.

In what seems like the blink of an eye Caleb has suddenly become an underground queer hero, he starts performing the spell free of cost to anyone who wants it and is above the legal age (you just have to help dig up the clay if you can). Ends up having a whole medical procedure to the spell, where he takes them to the blooming grove (which I imagine has plenty of clays heheh) where it’s peaceful and they can talk everything over with caduceus before and after. Who can guide them through their feelings much better than Caleb though he always tries his best. He always offer the option to go back as well (though they have to wait a year, which is of course stated beforehand) if it isn’t the solution they were hoping for.

(Totally off track but I fully believe Caduceus ends up super involved in Caleb’s queer club, there’s so little aro ace rep and seeing someone whose so confident in it would be so helpful for them, and I think it would be so comforting for Caddy to see others like him and to know he’s not alone in that)

They keep the whole operation quiet, but it spreads silently throughout the queer community, Astrid even stepping in a time or two to keep it off the Assembly’s radar (She may be straight, but she’s poly with a bi partner, and I believe she’ll use her powers for causes she believes in for better or worse. Thankfully this is one of them).

There’s still discrimination against the queer community, but this quiet movement starts to spread to the point that almost every member of the nein is involved. Beau uses her connections at the Soul to get new documentation for people with proper names and pronouns. Yasha starts running Rexxentrum’s first self-sustainable lgbt safehouse for kids with nowhere to go (the garden is incredible). Jester and Fjord turn Fjord’s old orphanage into a second lgbt safehouse after he gets it shut down. Veth adds lgbt education to her camps curriculum, and is an advocate for same sex healthcare in the Nicodranas school system. She has a tunic that says proud mother of a bisexual wizard that she wears a little too often much to Caleb’s chagrin. Even Kingsley (illegal pirate king that he may be, my beloved) ends up becoming as involved as possible in Caleb’s group. Loves learning more about gender identity, and becomes the first Plank King to be openly gender fluid (probably who knows, I don’t know much about Darktows history but I def didn’t get super queer vibes). Makes sure Dark-Tow is accepting of all who turn to piracy, and imposes harsh laws against discrimination.

Essek looks on all of this with pride, so proud of Caleb and even the small role that he got to play in the spells creation. It’s the first time he gets to see something he helped with create good in the world. With Caleb’s permission he ends up sneaking back into the dynasty and leaving a copy of the finished spell on the Bright Queens desk, with a big created by Caleb Widogast across it (with whatever the wizard equivalent of copyright is). In a culture that centers around rebirth in different bodies, the idea that you could choose to have your original body back is a big deal. Dysphoria after consecuted individuals get their magic back is a huge problem within the dynasty, and it does Essek a lot of good to know that he’s done something actually helpful for his country.

Basically this got super long winded and out of hand, and I know Matt has largely cut homophobia, transphobia, and non-fantasy racism from Exandria but this idea would just not leave me alone!! And either way the spells implications for a gender affirming procedure are still super relevant.

[fools-catacomb]

Jonathan Sims, The Archivist from The Magnus Archives is Ace and Bi!

Caduceus Clay from Critical role (campaign 2) is Aro Ace!

So can we get a thread going of characters who are canoncially aromantic and/or asexual? Here I'll start us off, honestly I need more media to consume so this'll double as a reccomendations dump.

Jughead Jones from Archie Comics - Aromantic Asexual

Parvati Holcomb from Outer Worlds- Asexual Biromantic

Erasmus Van Richten from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft- Aromantic

[forgottenspring]

Mild rant on Alastor bc I'm tired.

*takes deep breath*

I was going to stay out of this so rip to my inbox.

Does anybody remember the whole ace doxing list on here? The whole discussion of not shipping gay characters with the opposite gender? The rep for pan/bi representation and the steps to do it right? Does anybody remember when ppl on here discussed how aros and aces aren't a part of the queer community bc they're not 'gay enough' in a way? Bc I do. That was about a decade ago. And I remember when Alastor was first introduced in the pilot and ppl not accepting he was aroace back then.

It doesn't matter if Alastor is entirely aroace and if he's capable of dating or not.

What matters is we still have so little ace representation and acceptance, especially aroace rep, that a few years ago when a real person Jaiden Animations came out as aroace, ppl tried to destroy her, bc even with a perfect valid explanation of her just saying aroaces are their own thing and she just doesn't want to date, ppl treated it like she was lying or was trying to sneak into the queer community and was straight or all the other horrible things yall might remember "fans" did to her.

Alastor being aroace isn't about being the rep of "Aroaces can feel attraction!!!" bc be real honest.

How many aroace popular characters can ppl list that a regular person on the street is going to know? Bc I've heard all their arguments to invalidate their representation.

Jughead? Oh you mean Cole Sprouse who made out and got it on with Lili Reinhart playing Betty bc he found her sexy? Oh but in the old comics he's a gay character whose in denial. Yelena Boleva? Who? Oh that woman? She's hot she's just traumatized and needs to find the right person. Charlie Weasley? Oh he was only in the books? He was confirmed as aroace through a passive comment most ppl didn't know about from the author that never used the term? Luffy? You mean one of the most shipped characters in One Piece? No he's just an idiot/childish so he doesn't understand girls are pretty. Caduceus Clay? Sorry I didn't watch Critical Role whose that? Are you sure he's aroace? He feels gay to me.

I can list more ppl, but I'm sure most ppl couldn't.

I remember the whole discussion of the pan/bi representation argument of "Yes! We know pan/bi ppl can date the opposite gender. But straight ppl don't know about pan/bi nearly at all or don't accept it," so showing it as gay, who know the term more, until it's shown clearly the character is queer and not "confused straights" they then can have opposite gender attraction. Bc sooooo many pan/bi characters end up "straight" at the end of their show/book. Bc I remember when ppl refused to accept that Deadpool is pan bc of his wife and started freaking out when he dated a nonbinary person in the comics or helped that one genderqueer person he knew.

Representation is about showing to ppl what they're not understanding about the identity in the plainest sense of the words of the identity, then when there's enough rep to show they're not all the same, then you can have the ones that break the rules.

Alastor whether or not he wants to date doesn't matter. What matters is this whole situation blew out of proportion bc ppl refused to accept that some ppl don't feel comfy shipping him. Bc they see themselves in him and don't want that. BUT! Also ppl under the aro and ace umbrella also have no rep and wanted to see him breaking the stereotype they probs have yelled at them of "You can't have a partner you're aroace I forbid it" and wanted to see thru their own experiences how that would be done.

Here's the problem.... As someone who has read a lot of aroace headcanon fanfics as an aroace....... A lot of ppl who are allo don't realize aroace "crushes" are missing emotions... That's why they're aroace. And they'll write them like they're the same just "muted" or "needs to warm up" kinda thing. Or make the character's love "childish" to explain the lack of romance/sex. Which is messed up. And that's the problem here.

Alastor didn't need to be this blown out of proportion of a situation. The problem is ppl found him sexy and the classic "But aroace hot, they can't be aroace bc why hot?" discussion got brought back up without the gentle post format discussions and instead it was a lot of shippers on tiktok with tiny word counts arguing a complex issue.

Ppl should be allowed to ship whatever (except problematic I know yall too well), especially if they see themselves in the characters and especially if they have the same identity and want to explore that!!

The truth of the matter is this is such a huge issue that just keeps happening bc ppl are too used to fandom queer spheres where ppl already know aroace means "off the table" and so they want to play with qprs or grayromantics/sexuals not knowing what that entails bc there's sooooo lil aroace rep that actually explores being aroace and a lot of ppl don't know the basics, and even how very different aroace "off the table" is when you aren't the classic "uwu I'm just innocent and have no friends or importance to the plot so just ignore me and have me be adopted by one of the main couples as a 'kid' figure."

Not to mention that a lot of ppl still think ace means aroace. That aces can't date bc there's ppl who don't know that romantic and sexual attraction are different!

I'm just.... So tired. So very tired of having ppl shout at me what it means to be aroace and being unable to look up the lil aroace rep we have bc of this issue I've seen a million times is all.

[luddlestons]

So I have a very good friend who is aro ace but they still enjoy sex! And they told me it wasn’t about romance or sexual desire for them but the closeness of it all. They said it still feels good and stuff but for them sex is just like any other fun activity. Your rope play cad fic really reminded me of them it was so sweet! (They’re a critter too and I asked if I could send this they said it was cool)

Aww I’m glad my fic could remind you of that vibe! Honestly I know many folks like that, because kink attracts a LOT of ace/aro spectrum folks. Including myself! It’s a nice way to explore physical intimacy in a fashion that’s controlled and pre-discussed (although that particular fic, not being their first scene, isn’t very prediscusssd at all)

If you like that vibe for Caduceus specifically, I’d love to direct you to my two favorite Caduceus fics: Geborgenheit & Zweisamkeit which are Cad & Caleb in a queerplatonic, but eventually sex-positive relationship. It’s VERY good character study and basically exactly how I’d write the two of them getting together too! I reread them like every couple months now bc they make me so happy 💕

If you end up checking them out, tell the author nice things!

[canon-asexual-poll]

Propaganda Posts:

Caduceus Clay from Critical Roll

Gwendolyn "Gwen" Poole/Gwenpool from Marvel Comics (aro/ace)

[aroswagshowdown]

aro swag showdown: round 2, match 2!

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

Note: due to Tal having four main campaign characters, Caduceus will not be one of the options in this particular poll (we respect our aro/ace boy, and I don't want to doom him to getting killed because of his competition)

KMK: Laura Bailey's CR PC's

KMK: Liam O'Brien's CR PC's

KMK: Marisha Ray's CR PC's

KMK: Travis Willingham's CR PC's

[tyrannuspitch]

@lokiinmediasideblog tagged me to share five songs (thank you!! :D) so here are some i've been listening to recently, in no particular order:

harald foss - dronning ellisiv (put this on the long version of my nordic folk playlist like a year and a half ago and only recently remembered it) (why was i making a nordic folk playlist a year and a half ago? don't worry about it.)

vassa zheleznova - ay (someone i follow recommended this the other day)

a tribe called red - stadium pow wow (this was in the trailer for the new martin scorsese movie)

lindsey stirling - snow waltz (i was repeatedly recommended lindsey stirling literally like eight years ago and have only just got around to listening to her lol)

powerwolf - we drink your blood (silly vampire songs are a fundamental human need)

ummm i'm meant to tag ten of my followers to do the same but eight will have to do. @kidrat @sol1loqu1st @solderlessbreadbird @honeybeeofficial @catilinas @fromthemouthofkings @scalar @aro-caduceus