#c2 spoilers

[staticrevelations]

i forgot laura’s pregnancy announcement, marisha sneezing so hard she cracked a rib, them being named The Mighty Nein, them getting their first magic item info card of the campaign, the first mention of The Gentleman, caleb’s “take them out take them out” backstory tease, the first appearance of the Bad Luck Bandits, them pretending to have “extreme syphilis,” them finding out jester's mom's whole deal, “the Ruby of the Sea is the best lay ever,” and the debut of Pumat(s) Sol all happened in the same episode

[aspiringsophrosyne]

So Obann.

I’d love for the Mighty Nein’s animated series to take advantage of his shape shifting a little more.

I haven’t read the Origins comics—because I’m broke—so I don’t know how his and Yasha’s first meeting goes down in there (and I don’t want anyone to tell me).

But…

Imagine this with me for a second: Obann approaches Yasha, not as himself. Not even as a man.

As a woman.

A very familiar woman.

Yasha goes to her and takes her in her arms, overjoyed, repeating: “You’re alive! You’re alive. How? How did you get away? Oh, fuck the how: you’re alive!”

And after a couple moments, Zuala tells her: “We have to go back. We have to take vengeance on them. They deserve it for what they tried to do to us. If we don’t, we’ll never be safe again.”

They go back. They reak vengeance. But Zuala doesn’t stop. And Yasha finds she can’t. Eventually, Zuala’s face melts away, and Yasha realizes her wife is gone and that this must be hell.

So she doesn’t fight it; she let Zuala die, so this must be what she deserves.

Yasha goes on believing this.

Until the Storm Lord intervenes.

And a circus comes to town.

[dirtyassvoiceactors]

“One of their friends is three different people”

Padmund knows about Molly and 10/10 explanation

[taz-vs-urmom]

HEY UM IM LISTENING TO EoTS AND ????? was NO ONE gonna tell me that eadwulf/astrid/caleb threesome was canonized????? crying 😭😭😭😭

[manasaysay]

What everyone remembers: "Maybe you and I are both damned, but we can choose to do something, and leave it better than it was before."

What everyone forgets: "If you truly hope for a second chance, truly,...step very carefully with us."

[blackmosscupcakes]

Allura just having flashbacks to that time Percy shot a kid's hand off in front of the palace and the time Vox Machina murdered an old lady in the middle of Emon and the time she walked in on Grog and Percy coming to blows over a cursed Githyanki skull and the time the Nein almost brought Halas back and honestly probably all the dumb shit her own group did back in the day (which I hope we find out about one day [novel plz???])

[broodygaming]

Watching someone react to TLOVM and she likes getting "fake spoilers" in the comments and she was just saying "Wait, did we hear what happened to Keyleths mom? I forget, lmk in the comments if we did"

and the TEMPTATIONNNN to be like "yeah we found out what happened to her when they all went to the dildo convention" is SO TEMPTING YALL HAHAHA

[thetinygnome]

Despite being a comparatively "godless" campaign, C2 gave a look at Faith much more relateable to modern-day audiences.

More detail under the cut

Caduceus

Caduceus's version of religion is facinating because he experiences what many would perhaps call the religious ideal. His god is real, good and benevolent. His god is has tangible reasons behind not being omnipotent (opposing gods + divine gate). He can communicate directly with his god and be heard. It is not part of a heirachal organised religion.

As such, it is completely and utterly alien.

Jester

Jester is fascinating in her deeply personal relationship with her god: her comfort and best friend. The traveler is her God in a way he was no one else's. For the longest time, her friends didn't even think he was real. Which he wasn't, but that's okay.

I do like the way they handled her disillusionment, in that it did not mean total rejection of her entire worldview for the past few years, but rather the negotiation of more open and equal arrangement.

This perhaps is one of the best ways I've ever seen a modern religious storyline portrayed in a fantasy setting with real gods.

Yasha

Yasha's relationship with her god is an elusive lifeline. She does not, cannot understand him, and that's okay. There is a certain reverence and awe in Yasha's faith which was truly captivating. The stormlord was not there to solve her problems, he was there to guide her, forge anew and redeem from her the rubble of her life under oban.

[myowndesertplaces]

Oh no... if magic isn't working well in Rexxentrum either, is Trent loose?

[staticrevelations]

the early vibes of c2 were so nice they literally got out of prison and were just like "well shit where should we go" and basically picked a spot on the map and headed somewhere just for the hell of it and stuck together cuz they had nowhere better to be

[aspiringsophrosyne]

The Mighty Nein: Weird Coincidences.

I've been compiling these here and there when I've had time, but there was a particular reason I wanted to get this post out of the way now. And it's this.

There's been some nervousness surrounding this, and I'm of two minds about it. On the one hand, people overstate just how hard the Nein's story would be to adapt and how much it would need to be changed for another medium. Can it be one-to-one with the original? Absolutely not. (Just as TLOVM couldn't be one-to-one either.) But the main issue is editing; the content is fine on its own.

And if this is the CRew themselves thinking the same thing, that's a little troubling, because it makes it sound like they might be changing more than they need to out of that unfounded fear.

On the other hand, all they might be talking about here is hindsight. The Mighty Nein's Campaign had a lot of strange coincidences, fortuitous thematic consistencies, and one-of-a-kind moments. The CRew is poised to reap the benefits of having these in mind ahead of time. This allows for some remarkable set-up and payoff if those involved are up to the challenge. Which, in the end, could be all they might be augmenting the story to do.

So maybe it's a good time to get into those weird coincidences, huh?

(Spoilers for basically all of Campaign 2 below the cut.)

Names

Veth Brenatto, her alias Bren, and Caleb’s original name: Bren. (This may have been inspired by the German word "Brennen",  which means “to burn”. Thanks Liam.)

Fjord Stone. Cad’s families: Clay, Dust and Stone. How the Wild Mother fits the story of an orphaned sailor like a glove. And how Cad, his family history, and likely the Wild Mother herself never would’ve entered the story if Molly hadn’t died.

A Mollymawk (spelled with a w instead of a u) is a type of albatross. Albatrosses are supposed to be unlucky, but only if you kill one. Per the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, everything goes to shit after a sailor kills an albatross. Molly’s death is just as unlucky, as it paves the way for Lucien's and Cognouza’s return. (In a meta sense, it’s also unfortunate for Matt and Taliesin, as it derails whatever plans they might have had for the character.)

Nine

Whelp.

Nine. Lots and lots of nines. And while Nein doesn’t mean nine in German/Zemnian (it means no), the wordplay works.

Nine schools of magic.

Nine people killed in Obann’s attack on the Cobalt Soul in Zadash.

The three titans (Uk’otoa, Quajath, and Desirat) collectively have nine eyes and nine crystals to unlock them and set them all free.

Nine hells.

Nine betrayer gods as of Vecna’s ascension.

Nine eye tattoos on Molly, each a mark of the Somnovem, the sleeping nine.

And of course, eventually, nine members of the Mighty Nein.

(Just for fun, Tharizdun’s sacred number in its premier in Greyhawk was 333. [3+3+3=?].)

Nein and its actual meaning work thematically as well. The Nein repeatedly clashes with forces and entities that want to mold them against their will into vessels they can use for their own purposes. And the group repeatedly says “Nein!” to that.

Tarot Readings

Molly deliberately pulls specific cards for his readings. Taliesin makes that explicit. However, some folks have pointed out that you can interpret his original reading for Jester where he tells her “You’ve already found what you’re looking for,” to be true in a few different ways. (She’s already found the people who will help her find her father. She’s discovered the company she sought that she only ever had with her Mamma and the Traveler prior, etc.)

But once we get to Jester’s readings, things really pop off. (Pop-pop off?)

Fjord's Reading

In episode 110, Jester draws two cards for Fjord: one for his present and one for his future. His present card is the Eye, which has two hands holding an eye above a restless sea.

There’s no need to elaborate on how that relates to Fjord’s then-present.

His future card is the Home And Traveler. This card could work for all the Nein if you interpret it as someone who will find or reach their home after some travel. But it hits especially hard for Fjord, who finds a home with Jester, the devotee of the Traveler, on a ship that travels up and down the coast.

And then...

Lucien's Reading

The three cards Jester pulls for Lucien are his past, present, and future. Even at the time, they seem pretty fitting.

His past: History and a Dream, which Taliesin clarifies as depicting the Calamity. This fits perfectly with the Tomb Takers’ previous job for DeRogna and their coming into the Somnovem’s patronage.

His present: the Tyrant. We don’t know either Lucien or his goals too well at this point, but we do know he and his troupe kill indiscriminately and he holds an unnatural sway over the other Tomb Takers.

His future: the Death Card. You can attribute that to the upcoming fight between him and the Nein.

But in hindsight...whoo boy. In hindsight, not only do we know of Lucien’s plans to dispatch the Somnovem and become the Tyrant king of Cognouza and all its lost, broken souls, but we know of his fall. More specifically, who he falls to.

Jester, sitting across from him, pulls his last card and tells him “Facing you is Death.”

And then it’s Miss Lavorre who ends him for good.

Divine Intervention

Generally, a Divine Intervention is a Hail Mary. You roll a d100 (or an equivalent combination of dice) and only if you roll a number below your level do you trigger it. Logically, this gets easier the higher your level gets, but you can’t rely on it until level 20.

Taliesin rolls three of these for Cad in the last quarter of the Campaign. And that’s cool enough. But what’s even better is the Wild Mother’s Grave Cleric rolls successfully for Divine Intervention every time he makes a request (knowingly or not) relating to Cognouza. The city that's coming to swallow Melora's Exandria whole.

The first successful roll comes when Cad seeks info about Vokodo, the pseudo-god of the island of Rumblecusp. Vokodo, it turns out, punched a hole through the Astral Plane to escape the hunger of the lost ward of Aeor. And upon its death, it gives a vision that sets the Nein on Lucien’s trail.

The second success comes when the Nein is attempting to uncover the Tomb Takers' secret entrance to Aeor so that they can use it to set a trap. Cad’s success tells them exactly where they need to go. This allows them to get Zoran, Otis, and Tyffial out of the way early, even if it doesn’t stop Cree and Lucien from continuing towards the city.

As for the third, well...we all know what the third does. That it prevails after Critical Role’s first Resurrection Ritual failure, (due to a natural 1 no less!) is just the icing on the cake.

Caduceus even makes the point that Cognouza had functionally become a corpse that was unable to die and that he was uniquely called upon, given his family’s business, to put it down for good.

Odds and Ends

Nott distracts a Manticore from killing Fjord by killing its baby. Her own child ends up in need of a resurrection later on in the story, during their trip to the Fire Plane. Speaking of which, a painting of said Plane can be observed in Trent's house. You know, the one he would end up chasing the Nein to?

Fjord loses his chance to break the first seal to Avantika; he lands the first attack on her Revenant incarnation when the Nein catches up to her after she escapes with his orb, and he gets the final blow on her there, recovering said orb as he does.

Yasha and Caleb are the most susceptible to the Succubus/Incubus mind control. In the former's case, this could be chalked up to her low Wisdom score...but it also serves as some neat accidental foreshadowing for her time with Obann. And for Caleb, it can be a callback to his time learning under Trent.

The Circus Kids' stories sync up perfectly. Both of their bodies end up puppeteered by someone from their respective pasts. Both of them are used to try to end the world. And, probably once Matt noticed this synchronicity himself, both are revealed to have fallen under the sway of the Chained Oblivion. And their stories didn't have to go this way. Molly didn't have to die, and Matt revealed that Yasha could've theoretically made that wisdom save against Obann's control in the King's Cage. But that's not how things turned out.

Accidental foreshadowing:

Episode 19, Molly and Yasha, after acquiring an item from an Orc hermit living somewhat off the side of the road:

Molly: We made a friend. Jester: Did you kill someone for that? Molly: Yes. Yasha: He’s dead. Molly: He’s very dead. And then he rose up from the grave again and we had to kill him again. Twice. Same man.

Also, in episode 23, after meeting the Syphilis Bandits again and leaving one of them out cold:

Jester: What if we put some flowers in his hair; so when he wakes up, he looks really pretty? Beau: That’s good. Let’s do that. Molly: There’s nothing better than waking up in the morning with no pants and flowers in your hair.

In episode 48, Yussa and Caleb have a conversation:

Caleb: Sometimes I follow my friends places I shouldn’t. Yussa: That might someday get you killed. Or may one day get you what you seek.

Following a certain Tiefling up to Eiselcross got him both.

Nott also asks Caleb in this episode if he has an eye on his forehead. This is probably a callback/joke about Scanlan’s blessing from Ioun, but it foreshadows what happens to Veth much later.

Episode 49, about Ludinus Da’leth and in particular, Vess DeRogna:

Fjord: Then we kill the two elves. Jester: Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Maybe we go up into their room at night or something and just, you know... Stabby stab.

Episode 70:

Jester (to Essek): Maybe you’ll like us so much you’ll just hang out.

Dramatic Irony:

Everything the Nein say about Molly after his death and at his grave is, in hindsight, an awful twist of the knife, as his body's former life is far from finished with him.

Episode 41. The Nein learns Orly can make magic tattoos. Beau talks about getting an eye tattoo on her back to mirror Molly’s:

Jester: I mean, I don’t know, maybe it was really sacred to him and he would be really super offended by it. Beau: Oh, yeah, maybe it would, like I stole it from him? Jester: But it’s fine, I’m sure. Beau: Yeah, you know, he’s dead, so, what’s he going to do?

Almost a hundred episodes later, Beau's new tattoo gets a little addition...

Episode 65

Jester: Are you nervous? Yasha: Yeah. Yeah, I’m nervous. I just don’t know what we’re walking into, you know? Jester: Yeah. We’ve got your back though. That guy isn’t going to do anything bad to you.

Episode 91

Veth asks Essek at dinner if he’s heard of a Nonagon, or someone named Lucien. Essek says he hasn’t. This won't be the case for long.

Episode 95

Jester, talking about Cad and the Wild Mother:

Jester: Yeah. So like, when he asks her questions, you know what she does? Artagan: “Nothing?” Jester: She blows the wind. Exactly, she does shit. So and he’s like, “I sensed, you know, I understand what she’s saying.” She’s not doing anything, but he thinks she is.

This commentary is particularly delicious, considering which Cleric's Divine Interventions end up working.

And there's probably some I've missed! These are just the little bits and pieces I jotted down during a rewatch. It wouldn't surprise me if there's more.

But that's to say, just what we've got here is a monumental amount of things to build off of and play with. The Mighty Nein's animated series has the potential to be something extraordinary if the CRew can make use of all these little gifts deftly and with subtlety. There's power and potential here, and I am nervous as hell about whether or not they can tap into it successfully.

[dirtyassvoiceactors]

C2e2:

Caleb *pointing at Beau and Fjord*: “Oh, I’m sorry, do you two not know each other super well? You seem like you do.”

Beau: “Oh we got a good 24-48 hours on the rest of you.-”

Fjord: “Yeah, we’re not super deep.”

Cut to C3e121:

Fjord: “Beau’s going to be my best man” *trying to win over who gets Beau on the Fjordjester wedding*

Fjord *Ending up with only Beau at his side and the rest of the nein on Jester’s*: “Fuck ‘em” *fist bump’s Beau*

Brjeaus for life, just a Captain and his First Mate

[taz-vs-urmom]

warning: spoilers for critical role c2 the mighty nein (particularly for nott the brave):

for me, a lot of the appeal of nott as a character in the beginning of c2 was that she was hilarious and so chaotic with so many interesting little quirks and facets to her character. honestly, part of me was worried that once she became veth, i’d not be as interested in her as a character/that she would fall to the wayside. i was so incredibly wrong with that. sam does a spectacular job of playing her character after the transformation and there’s so much palpable character growth from her initial self to her endgame form. she goes from a terrified little kleptomaniac drunkard to this fierce equally chaotic and hilarious warrior mother. and i think the way that matt plays yeza also aids that and makes it even more enjoyable. i just… i love veth so much… my appreciation for her as a character is so immense and i am constantly so in awe of sam reigel and matt mercer…

[aspiringsophrosyne]

Molly was also quick with little moments of charity for people who weren't part of the group: giving gold to the bandits, slipping silvers into the pockets of people who tried to buy him drinks, and leaving some money in that lightening struck tree they saw.

I'd also point out that this was a man who had two years worth of memories in his head, (the first of which was climbing out of a grave he had seemingly been abandoned in) was a feared minority among the people of the Empire, and had been working with carnies all his life, who had to scrape and scam and circle the wagons to survive.

That does a lot to incentivize protecting your own and yourself; because it's all evidence to suggest that no one else is going to.

And this was an idea everyone in the Nein was going to have to outgrow, save Cad and arguably Essek.

I believe Taliesin has said he wanted to be the moral compass of C2 (sort of like Keyleth for C1) and I could see Molly developing into that for the Nein had things been different. Hell, you can see a little of that with Kingsley and the Nein Heroez' crew in the Two Shot.

Nuanced characters are fun.

you can see the same patterns in Molly as would arise in Ashton both in terms of behaviors and the fandom response, which, fair, Taliesin didn't get to play Molly for very long. It's really interesting watching him be genuinely unsettled by Kylre's death and focus on helping Toya - both Kylre and Toya being part of the circus - and then often decline to get involved or stick his neck out for anyone but the others of the Nein. It's a great thing to explore in a character, but I have to admit I do find it worrying that both times a significant fandom response has been to look at someone who is very kind to their own in-crowd and not terribly inclined to care for others on a large scale and go "that's the moral compass."

[blackmosscupcakes]

Brashaar?

[broodygaming]

Do we think Tal just created the haunted creepy forest they destroyed in C2?