#caerlin

[machaon-art]

Have some Caerlin *^*

[thewayfarersinn]

Let's hear a big howl for our favorite Wolflady - It's Caerlin's birthday! 🐺

[dadokid]

Meme dump!! - Tavern Talk Style :)

All character designs are by @thewayfarersinn !

[lorekeeper-backset]

Bought Tavern Talk on a whim and this is my third Customer, I think I really like this game.

She sent me straight into girl mode.

[softheartthrobs]

☁️ Hey, Moni. Have you noticed Yuyu smiling while she plays?

[she points over at Yuri, who is sitting across the clubroom playing on a Nintendo Switch]

🖋 I have, yes. I wonder what she's playing...? Knowing our Yuri, she seems like a Resident Evil fan, but what would there be to smile at in the game?

☁️ Maybe she likes the thrill of it?

Meanwhile...

📚 "...Fable and Caer don't seem to like each other... Oh- Oh! They thought she was the werewolf?!"

[Yuri unexpectedly enjoys cozy games.]

[etdraconis]

( I need to get better screenshots later of Caerlin but I'm not on his playthrough yet, I wanna finish Reya first. But here are my tiefling twins! Reya (the pink one) is a storm sorceress, Caerlin (the purple one) is an arcane trickster rogue )

[aquariansarehumanitarians]

The Innkeeper is Death and Here's Why:

Sorry, let me back up a bit. Not literal death, but the tarot card: Death. 

It always bothered me that everyone in Tavern Talk has an associated major arcana card, except for our dear Innkeeper. I understand that this was likely done on purpose to help preserve that sense of mystery and anonymity surrounding the Innkeeper’s story. Still, as an avid tarot reader and immense lover of Tavern Talk, I’d like to throw my hat in the ring in terms of why I think Death would be the perfect option:

(Spoilers for the entirely of Tavern Talk below, but especially Ch. 3 and 4):

Let’s get the obvious out of the way:

The Innkeeper is has no choice but to interact with death to a certain degree. Death is an unfortunately common reason why the adventurers that frequent the tavern are who they are in the present. The Innkeeper also plays a role in certain deaths in the story since the drink they choose to serve their regulars pre-quest directly affects their fates. This can be as standard as slaying a creature or as tragic as losing the entire cast.

On a more personal level, the literal deaths of the Innkeeper’s old party members serves as the main source of their trauma and being spied on by/ex-besties with a necromancer only adds to that theming.

Importantly however, the Death card in tarot very rarely points to actual death. What the Death card is actually about is transformative change and rebirth. My favorite analogy for explaining the Death arcana is the Phoenix rising from its ashes: Something must end for something better to begin. The card tells us that change is coming and that it is what’s best for us. Resistance to it only serves to hurt ourselves and the people around us as they watch us make the same mistakes over and over again.

Upright (The Good):

With this in mind, it should be obvious how the Innkeeper suits this card. Their main role in the game is not only to help the adventurers on their quests, but also to help them move past the cycles that have them emotionally stuck. Fable needs to overcome their anxiety to go on the adventures they so desperately dream of. Neil needs to process his family trauma in order to form their own chosen family. Caerlin needs to allow herself to slow down and bond with others in order to see that they make her stronger, not weaker. And so on. The Innkeeper is insanely good at helping their friends navigate these situations. So much so that even the more emotionally stunted characters comment on how much happier and fulfilled they feel after receiving their help. The Innkeeper helps nearly every character in the game undergo a transformational change that improves their lives drastically. I would even go as far as to say many of the characters experience a rebirth of sorts thanks to the Innkeeper’s influence.

Reversed (The… Morally Questionable):

Despite how helpful the Innkeeper is at helping others process their emotions, they struggle with applying these same principles to themselves. This becomes apparent at several points throughout the story, but most notably upon the reemergence of their ex-party member and friend, Quasar.

Quasar, represented by the Devil arcana, is obsessed with the past. This rings true to the meaning of the Devil card: Obsession, bondage, being chained by negativity, and an inability to let go of what doesn’t serve us. Likewise, Quasar is chained to his and the Innkeeper’s traumatic past and will do anything in his power to revive the world he’s lost - including sacrificing the one he currently has.

The Innkeeper, on the other hand, is the narrative foil to Quasar. Whereas Quasar refuses to let go of the past, the Innkeeper does nothing but let it go. Their way of dealing with the incident is to aggressively and persistently move on. This would be a healthy decision if it weren't for the fact that they fail to actually examine their feelings surrounding the situation before doing so. The Innkeeper accepts change too readily in an attempt to not face their own feelings. They’re so uncomfortable dealing with their feelings, in fact, that they constantly push through them and sometimes encourage others to do the same. This is very helpful when they have friends who are asking them for advice, or who require that push to move forward with their lives at their own pace. When they’re not given the chance to move at their own pace, however…

Yeah… You can see how that gets complicated.

To the Innkeeper, this just seems like the most logical - and to an extent, kindest - solution. Drawing from their own experience: Dwelling on your losses only gets you hurt, and they don’t want that for their friends. It’s better to move on. However, going back to the Phoenix allegory: the Phoenix doesn’t rise from the ashes in a single instant. Even in shorter portrayals of the transformation, time is necessary. The bird puts itself back together slowly; forging itself with the pieces of its past - and the care taken to reform itself is what allows it to be successfully born again, stronger than it was before. The Innkeeper is so desperate to get to the end result of the transformation and avoid the painful parts that they miss the point: Simply accepting that change happens isn’t enough. Acceptance is the final stage of grief, and you cannot truly reach it without dealing with the steps that come before. Change needs to be processed and healed from in order to be transformational, and that takes time and effort.

As a result of denying themselves true self-reflection and change, the Innkeeper sometimes end up dismissing and hurting the feelings of the people they hold dearest. The most extreme examples of this are, of course: 

The Fight With Fable: Desperate to keep their friend safe, the Innkeeper tries to calmly and logically explain why going to the Twilight Chasm to look for Melli is not a good idea. In so doing, they attempt to make Fable stop the line of questioning altogether by saying things like: “That’s just the way things are.” “Let it go.” Etc. They become so fixated on trying to get Fable to move on from the situation that they neglect to realize that (a) Fable may very well be correct in their judgment, since Melli is a child lost in the midst of a natural disaster, (b) Fable was never going to take no for an answer because they would never abandon someone who needs help. That’s just who they are, and (c) their own reasoning was never going to make sense, because they were trying to persuade Fable to stay based on their own discomfort. Because they're unwilling to admit this, they not only end up patronizing Fable, but Fable sees right through them and calls them out for being a liar and a hypocrite. After Fable storms out, the most self-reflection the Innkeeper can do is to admit they should've been more honest before shutting themselves down and trying to move on.

The Aftermath of “The Twilight Chase”: No matter what drink you serve the party that goes to face Quasar for the first time, Tia will die. The Innkeeper is empathetic, but is far too quick to accept the fact that Tia is dead for the others to stomach. They seem to usher the others into doing the same, so much so that they end up dismissing everyone’s grief surrounding the traumatic event they just witnessed. This results in the exact opposite of what the Innkeeper was trying to accomplish, with several of the characters (Clay and Jade, especially) doubling down in their grief and anger about the situation. This can also be particularly hypocritical if the Innkeeper has told Clay earlier in the run that there’s nothing wrong with being angry, only not not accept his anger when it hits too close to home.

Ironically, by being so insistent about acceptance, the Innkeeper ends up resisting it in any meaningful way. They can only heal from their trauma once they choose to start being honest about their past and their feelings. Until they do, they remain stuck in the same cycle of denying themselves and others their full feelings and - on a more karmic level - losing people they love in the Twilight Chasm. And when they do rely on their friends and learn to be honest, they are changed so fully that they gain the trust to leave their faerie circle in the Tavern to serve drinks outside. (This is my interpretation of them opening the door, in the best ending, anyway.)

In short, the Innkeeper is a perfect representation of both the upright and reversed meanings of the Death arcana. They guide their friends through transformative change and improve their lives for the better while simultaneously being resistant to that change in their own life. Also much like the other characters, a happy ending for the Innkeeper occurs when they are able to face the main challenge presented by their corresponding arcana - and in all endings of the game there is some aspect of this. (Though the best ending feels like the most fulfilling conclusion to this in my opinion.)

I hope this was an interesting read for you all! Really enjoying breaking down the complexities of this game :)

[werepaladin]

tagged by @last-son-of-mars & @thuranni

tagging: @thedegu, @missszena, @sol-shines, @silenthillcoffeebeans, and whoever else wants to

[amtrak12]

Not to be a monster fucker on the monster fucker website, but Caerlin from Tavern Talk can get it

I mean just look at her!!!! 😍

[asheternal]

the funny thing about caerlin is that i didn't know anything about karlach or bg3 other than the bear thing and stewie the vampire but i ended up just making karlach but scalie by complete coincidence

[wee-chlo]

MY CHILDREN

To the left: Everill Craven, a Caerlinian exile and former noble of the famed Clan Fìreanaích, targeted for unknown reasons by the Archdruid of Caerlin and framed for a murder he only kinda-sorta committed. Currently the beleaguered Token Adult in a trio of Pugnacious Posties who are secretly looking into a series of terrorist attacks on behalf of a local lord. Level 5 Fighter/Level 2 Barbarian

To the right: Drenil "Ranger" Tashasdottir, a fey-touched member of the Northern Herd, a nomadic tribe of indigenous centaurs, refugee humans, and dwarven political exiles. Currently on a quest to get her centaur brother's "Top part" back (it makes only slightly more sense when described literally any other way). Level 7 Ranger/Level 1 Tempest Cleric.

OC commissions for @wee-chlo!

[thewayfarersinn]

A tale as old as time 🫶

[thewayfarersinn]

[thewayfarersinn]

happy valentine's 😘

[thewayfarersinn]

[thewayfarersinn]

We're happy to see y'all enjoying Caerlin 🥰