#caleb meta

[sky-scribbles]

I keep thinking about how Caleb used to see himself back in Campaign 2, especially early on. 'I am a disgusting person.' Referring to himself as one of the assholes of the group. Constantly talking about himself as damned, corruptible, somehow inherently flawed just by virtue of being a wizard. Resisting every suggestion from those around him that he was good.

And then I think about how, when Essek described him to strangers, the first word he used was kind.

[essektheylyss]

Also, I love that Caleb did not answer any of Imogen's questions about what she should choose. Not only because they've been given so much advice about what they should do, what's right or what's better, but because, if I remember correctly, Liam specified that Caleb walked into the T-Dock fully prepared to follow through on his plan to go back in time and save his parents, that he did not know until the moment he acted that he would choose otherwise. And even as a child, he was so sure until he wasn't. Up until the moment he broke, Bren was prepared to follow through on everything that was asked of him.

Caleb is too aware that the only action that matters is the one you take when it comes down to the wire, and he didn't comfort or coddle Imogen by pretending otherwise.

[revanisadumbass]

thinking about names as they relate to the jedi post-genocide.

ben kenobi has one foot in tatooine and another still in that old life. his mission may have changed, but he is still a jedi. he still has a job to do.

ahsoka tano stopped thinking of herself as a jedi long before the empire rose. yet her name seems to doom her--ahsoka tano is a jedi, to the clones, to other survivors. maybe that is why when she hides, she hides with parts of herself--ashla as a reminder of the friends she lost, fulcrum as an understanding of the role she must play in a galaxy without jedi.

cal kestis does not try to hide, cannot try to hide because cal kestis will always be a scared child clutching a too-big lightsaber, falling through the sky.

kanan jarrus buries caleb dume as deep as he can--hides his name, hides his instincts and everything he was taught to be. tries to become the opposite. except a jedi by any other name is still a jedi. call him cowboy, gunslinger, spectre, but underneath all that is still a heart of kyber.

[all-made-of-stardust]

i firmly choose to believe that the reason there weren't any cats in that house when Bells Hells bamfed in was because both Essek and Caleb are responsible cat parents and they both realized that their usual hierarchy of in-home catsitters (Beau & Yasha -> Jester & Fjord -> Veth, Yeza & Luc -> Caduceus) was depleted because they were all gonna busy with the liveshow shenanigans.

You know who wasn't busy? Kingsley.

You know who was next in that hierarchy? Definitely not Kingsley! (It was probably Dairon, but Dairon was busy running around the Cobalt Soul frantically)

So I love to imagine that the world is going to hell and there's at LEAST four cats in their house that need proper care and nobody is available to do it, so in a last ditch effort (because Mittens needs a special wet food diet and Krumel needs some medication and the others are simply too social to be left alone for too long) Essek phones up Kingsley and asks him.

Only for then, four days later, Essek stops into the house briefly to grab supplies and pauses halfway up the hall when he realizes that the cats are nowhere to be seen.

"Kingsley?" he Sends, trusting of his friend but not entirely sure of his character. "Where are the cats?"

"Oh, I had to go deal with a new trade deal by Port Damali!" Kingsley replies cheerfully. "Don't worry, the cats are with me!"

Essek pauses. Inhales deeply. This was the man he helped save, this was the man he mourned before a literal miracle of the gods brought him back.

"Kingsley," he Sends again, already bitter about the extra spell slot usage. "Are you at sea? Are you on a boat?"

"Yup!" comes the unadulterated happy reply. "The Captain's cabin is nice and roomy, and Krumel loves chasing down mice! Surprisingly helpful on a boat, cats! I might keep 'em!"

Essek physically restrains himself from wasting another spell slot on the tiefling. Instead, he touches the stone held in his palm.

"Caleb," he sighs. "I believe our cats were catnapped by Kingsley."

All he hears on the other end is a fit of laughter.

[sldlovescartoons]

Some Professor Widogast thoughts:

So, you know about how weird it is to see a teacher outside of a school setting? That’d definitely be a thing with the Academy students, but at least for most of the Professors it was at normal places like the market or at Balls or whatever. Not Caleb, though, or well yess also then but also other times.

Like you’re a fancy rich kid, you go to fancy wizard school, and you’re doing a rebellion by sneaking out to this underground club with these crazy new age bards and a bar and a fight ring. You feel so badass and then you get there and your Transmutation 101 teacher is there, drunk, getting playfully grinded on the left and right by a purple tiefling and a married halfling that’s husband is dancing on her- and you just leave. Just right away. You don’t even have time to notice Expositor Lionnet trying to get to second base with her wife right behind them.

One student is from a prominent land owner in the Zemni Fields, their family goes to Blumnethal’s festivals to set up stands to sell wares and have a good time. They go to a fight pit that they hear is really cool, they have a keg stand and everything, and they get there and their teacher who’s pushing 40 and teaches their ‘Advanced Components 205’ every Wednesday is doing a keg stand, being held upside down by a blue tiefling and a half orc dressed like they stepped out of smut book with a sea theme, while two scary looking lesbians and and Halfling in sundress cheer him on. And when they let him down, the whole group immediately jumps into the fighting ring and destroy the competition even though the Halfling looks like they are too drunk to see and none of them are in decent gear. The group gets bored right away, start a three way shoulder war/chicken fight, which goes to hell right way because they all try to cheat. The Monk has their Professor in some sort of leg lock when the student’s father drags them out.

A student’s family goes on summer vacation to Nicodranas. To their horror, they find out that Professor Widogast and his friends don’t believe in bathing suits when they go to the beach.

The best part? Everytime something like this happens, nobody believes it.

[residentinsomniacartist]

wait wait wait guys have you ever thought about how the Mighty Nein are everything they shouldn’t be upon first glance

no no guys guys listen to me they’re all the antithesis of what they’re meant to be and that’s why they’re such amazing and heartfelt characters

like, Caleb is a wizard who’s afraid of his own fire magic. his own power causes him to falter in battle. his strongest spells are his most dangerous to himself. wizards are supposed to be prideful of their magic, but Caleb’s is the reason he hates himself

Beau is a monk who never wanted to be. her job is one that people normally associate with being calm and collected and Beau was a wild rebellious kid who got dragged into this line of work against her will. she never wanted to be this!! but now she is and she’s gotta deal with it!!

Fjord is a warlock who never wanted power from his pact, which is why you’d think a warlock would make their pact at all. but no. Fjord made his pact because he wanted to live, not because he wanted power. he was a scared orphan who hated his tusks, not a buff, muscled, angry half-orc like people assumed

Nott is NOT, that’s the whole crux of her narrative! she wasn’t pretty, like a halfling girl was supposed to be. she wasn’t a goblin, she was just transformed into one. and not only that, but despite being a three-foot-tall alcoholic kleptomaniac, she’s the mom of the group!

Jester is a Cleric whose god isn’t actually a god and who would much rather bash bad guys over the head with her lollipop than have to stop and heal her friends!! she’s a bubbly, optimistic ray-of-sunshine, but you know when she says she’s gonna change the world with friendship she means it as a threat

Mollymauk is an amnesiac, but he doesn’t want to remember who he was. if you ask him, that wasn’t him! he might be a flirtatious hedonistic carnie, but he’s also single-mindedly devoted to making the world a better and more loved place than it was when he found it. he’s a liar, but he means well. he’s an arrogant fool, yes, but he’s right! he did it! he left it better!

Caduceus seems like he’d be creepy and grim from growing up in a graveyard, but he’s actually the most chill out of the entire Nein by far. he’s calm, he’s sweet, and he’s comforting, more than anything else. you’d think he’d be amazed by seeing the outside world for the first time, but he spends the whole time knowing that one day he’ll return home, that he wasn’t supposed to be the one to leave

Yasha is a barbarian with skeletal wings and a dramatic, monochromatic look, but she’s a complete sweetheart. she’s Molly’s best friend, she was a carnival bouncer, she’s a lesbian disaster who collects pressed flowers in a book out of love for the wife she lost. those black wings were actually hiding soft white feathers

Essek was born straight into the den of politics, he was a spymaster, he literally started a war for his own gain, and yet. he’s sounds irredeemable on paper, but. he’s not!! sure, the Nein kind of have to drag his alignment kicking and screaming into neutral, but they manage it. Essek learns and grows and he overcomes his nature. he becomes good, against all odds

guys guys guys don’t you see it!! look at them!!they’re such compelling characters!! they’re everything they’re not supposed to be!! dude y’all how didn’t I realize this earlier!! they subvert their narratives in the most interesting ways ever and I justhshsbhshshsjnsmshsnhsfn!!

[cross-d-a]

something something about Caleb Dume surviving the genocide of his people and divorcing himself from his culture and remaking himself entirely in order to survive

and something something about orphaned Ezra Bridger who loves Lothal but doesn’t quite belong being adopted into a self-made-cobbled-together family of outcasts from multiple cultures

and something something about Kanan choosing to embrace his culture and religion again despite his fear and the risk it brings to him and his family

and something something about Ezra embracing that culture as whole-heartedly as he can when so much of it has been lost

and something something about both of being denied the ability to practice certain aspects of their religion because otherwise they might be killed for it

and something something about Kanan remembering how Master Billaba carefully sheared his hair and oh so reverently plaited his Padawan braid and held it gently between her fingertips and told him she would do right by him and told him not to be afraid and told him she would be there for him until her dying breath and beyond and told him that he was going to be a great Jedi Knight one day and told him “you are our future youngling and I will do everything in my power to protect that future”

and something something about Kanan looking at Ezra’s wild hair with something hollow and aching tucked between his ribs because he longs to show Ezra the devotion his Master showed him and her Master showed before her and his Master before him but it’s not safe to gently plait that Padawan braid behind Ezra’s ear because such a sign of devotion will mean death and Kanan can only hope that Ezra understands how much Kanan loves him and how much Kanan is proud of him and how much hope and life he sees in his Padawan because while that Padawan braid may be the physical link between future and past tying together generations of Masters and Padawans who have lived and loved and passed on because “we are what they grow beyond”—

Kanan knows that every moment has led to this and Ezra is the future his Master and her Master before her never expected but they would be so proud to see Ezra now and Kanan can only hope Ezra knows how proud Kanan is of him too and know when he looks at Ezra he knows everything is going to be okay because “we are what they grow beyond” and despite everything that’s been lost to them Ezra is carrying the heart and soul of thousands of years of legacy and Kanan looks at Ezra knowing he can’t give him that Padawan braid but he’ll be damned if he can’t teach him the things that matter and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do everything to protect the future he sees in Ezra’s eyes

[deramin2]

I wish everyone who called Shadowgast queerbaiting at the end of Campaign 2 a very happy eat shit forever.

They weren't entirely sure where their relationship was between platonic, romantic, or queerplatonic, but they were obviously gay for each other about it. Like real queer people often are.

[ludinusdaleth]

a brilliant setup in campaign 3 that will finally begin to come to fruition next chronological episode is that ludinus is staring into the faces of people who pretty much all directly represent his sins and how they've hurt people. imogen is the manipulation & abuse of ruidisborn (specifically liliana). fearne is also representative of ruidisborn but also the way ludinus has hunted & slaughtered fae to extend his own life, how he has manipulated their courts. laudna is the wanton unchecked cruelty of the cerberus assembly. fcg (there in spirit) is the idolization of aeor and choosing to bring what brought it down back for all of exandria to bear. ashton (and while this post is about the bells, it does extend directly to essek) is the experimentation on the luxon that started an entire war because he wouldn't turn the beacons over to a culture he despised & oppressed. orym is the decimation of the ashari for a mere test run. chetney is the corruption in the greying wildlands, the destruction of molaesmyr simply to contact predathos.

[sparring-spirals]

Jester follows Caleb in, dutifully, loyally, ready to fight on his behalf, of course. Of course. And Fjord balks, a little, everyone hesitates, for a moment. But she was always going to go in. She was always going to go in. How could they let Caleb go in there alone, facing Trent, facing his undead parents? Facing his worst fear, his worst guilts, his worst enemies. She follows him in.

How could they let Caleb go in there alone? With just his parents, with Trent. With just his parents, almost the same but not quite, speaking and moving, with Trent and his poison honeyed words. Facing his worst guilt, and a twisted form of forgiveness, and something he has been aching for but cannot have. She follows him in, because she loves him, because she wants to protect him, because shes sorry he has to face this. Because she. Is sorry.

She follows him in, because Jester is always willing to do what is needed to protect the people that are hers. Jester is always willing to do what she has to do to protect her people, whatever that looks like.

Jester follows him in, and looks at him and says- I'm so sorry. And casts Turn Undead.

[callowyn]

do you guys think anyone on ruidus was getting cognouza dreams for a minute there? like imagine being the yak farmer assigned to yussa errenis. for a while there you go to sleep and it's

A̶̶̛̟̝͍̖̟̻͖̘͔̺̳͌͌͊̋̂͑ͬ̓̄͌̋ͣ͑͛̿͊̈͋ͯ̅̾̚͢͟͢͢͜͟͝͞͡A̞͎̤̟͐̇̇ͦͩ̈́ͤ̏A̜̙̣͓̪̽̀ͩͨ̈́͂̉͟A̸̤̩̘̬ͨ̔̇̀̋̍͗̀ͩ̔̐ͅḀ̵̛̹̼̥̞̞̦̰̘͚͓̦͕̬̐̉͆͐ͣͯͪ̓̓͗͆͘͠Ã̛͖͎͌̀A̵̴̛͇̹̼̯̥͉̬̥̹ͮͬͩ̊́̀ͭ̀̎͆́ͤ͐̇͛̌̍͠A̵̵̗̦͙̖͚̰͚̩̻̥̟̼̘͈̩̻̳̬͉̮͔̰͊̿̑̓̄̑̊͘͝Ả̷̷̧̡̤̹̞͎͇̲̠̼͕̠̊̍ͧͫ̈́ͩͬ͆͛ͤ̄͒ͧ̑͛̒͘̕͝ͅA͔̮͗̌ͬ͢A̧̛̯̣͔͎̪̭̠̲̪̼̟͎̙͕͉̖̓ͨ̀͗͑ͣ̏̎̎ͪͣ͑̽ͬ͛̿̈́̽̚͜͡͝͝͡ͅ F̸̨̛͎̝̳̺̖͎͉͔͕͔̝̻̙͎̈́͂͛̎͋͂͛ͪ͊̀ͧ̒̒̈ͬ̅́ͫ̀ͦ͘̚͠͡Ļ̵̷̵̩̰̭̥̟͇͚̬ͪ̾ͭ̀͋͋́̃̈́̚͞Ę̶̵̵̶̶̤͈̖͓̟̭͓͆̓ͯ͛͂̒͌ͫ͊̃͐ͦ̍̆̏̅͐̏̑̚͢͠ͅS̛̲̥̬ͭ̉̀ͧ̍H̸̶̛͓͖̗̬̰͖̩̥͔͕͕̅ͪ̈́͆̊̃͊̋ͧ̕͜ͅ Hͬ͆ͣ̂ͤ̉͑Ọ̷̤̮̙̫̯͍̊̆̽͛ͧ̓̎̊̈́ͫ́ͭ̑̔́̂͢͜͟͠R̶̴̦͙̮̥̫̠͊̐̅ͫͦ̍͒͛͐͒ͩ̄̉͐͊R̨̦̪͖͔͍͔̠͖̍̿̐ͥ́̊ͨ̎ͮ̾́ͦ́̀ͬ̓͂ͫ̌̚͟͞Ŏ̡͎̝͍̹ͬ̅̚͘Ṟ̡̢̢̦͇̫̣̩͉̬̝͔̩͌ͯͤ̽̓͂́̄̈́͛́ͮ͂̀͆̇̕͜͜͢͠ F̠̄̇ͪL̸͔̲̞̟͙͍̻ͥ̅̇̐͞͝_̵̢͍͙̼̠̰̘ͫͩ̆͒̈ͨ̈́̈́̉͟ͅͅĘ̫̻͚̆ͫͭ��̡̨͖͓͉̈Ș̸̟̤̦̥̩́̾ͣ̉͜͠͝H̛̛͙͕͈̱͉̦͔͍̄̂̈̾ͭͯ̂̿̔͘

but then you wake up and go to work. on the moon

[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.

[essektheylyss]

I love that Caleb does not ever seem to take opportunities to take any kind of "this might be the last moment I have" actions. No matter what, when everyone else is going around and making their desperate moves, Caleb doesn't. Even after he recommends otherwise to others, it is notable that he among the group doesn't do so, and this is consistent with his previous behavior.

I like to think that stems from the moment he opted against trying to work with Trent—which I think, at its core, was an attempt at such an action. If Caleb had died fighting the Somnovem, he had every reason to believe that Trent would continue in his actions. Though Astrid and Eadwulf were willing to subtly undermine him, they had made it clear that they were not willing to challenge him outright. Caleb tells the Nein, when they are discussing their last wishes at the Blooming Grove before returning to Eiselcross, that he would appreciate Trent being eliminated in the event of his death. I have to believe that there was a fear or regret that his dearest motivations would not come to fruition which spurred his interest in using an alliance with him in Aeor to trap and kill him.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I believe Essek's willingness to disagree with him was one of the factors in Caleb being able to trust him and his judgment, but I would also argue it was a wake-up call for Caleb—about letting himself be distracted; about not focusing in on the mission at hand; about, potentially, expecting failure in this goal, especially after he has watched his friends say their goodbyes as if they too expect to die. "Stay on task, Widogast," is a mantra he uses in Vergessen, but he does get caught up, to an extent, in enacting as much damage as he can to the place in the process, and regardless of whether this ruthless assault slowed or sped their discovery, Trent did catch up to them, and very nearly caught Veth and Jester as well as himself. Given Caleb's fears throughout the campaign that he will draw the danger that dogs him onto his newfound friends, and his later apology to Essek in the same conversation for drawing Trent's attention to him, it is not a stretch to argue that this is yet another guilt he shoulders.

It isn't lost on me that Caleb almost died before the Nein even met, he was perpetually aware of his fragility among the group, and he was the last member of the Nein to go down and need to be revived. So I just think it's very fun if he, who so often seemed to be on the verge of death, who in fact planned to step back in history and in the process erase the person he had become, found himself at some point determined to live, and firmly confident in his ability to do so.

He does not wrap up his affairs, he does not say goodbyes, and while he may acknowledge the stakes for the group, he does not entertain the idea that he personally will not make it out alive—because, as Dorian notes, he has a lot to live for. He has to get back home to his partner and his well-maintained garden; he has to make sure the Cerberus Assembly's nefarious schemes do not continue in Ludinus's absence, perhaps even in the absence of the Assembly itself, depending on what its members do in its wake; he probably has to go egg on his godson's shenanigans as payback for Veth threatening to shoot him out of the sky.

Caleb Widogast is an absolute cockroach of a wizard, and, in true Mighty Nein form, he is at all times thriving on unfinished business.

[findmeinthefallair]

There hasn't been any interaction between Raeda and Hunter except pretty minor moments:

But man oh man is there common ground now:

I have no clue if they'll do it but it would be really rad if Eda and Hunter stand side by side in front of Philip in Watching and Dreaming, to tell him it's all over.

I want Raeda to adopt himmmm...but it's probs not happenin'..

[revvethasmythh]

it's so funny to me that caleb and veth really did just trade off the job of intensely pining for the other at like the halfway point of the campaign. like, imo, nott in the early days did not behave in any real romantic or even romance-adjacent ways toward him--I imagine it would be very hard to even think in that way when you hate what you look like so much, have such low self-esteem, and are actively lying about your entire past, including a secret husband. caleb, on the other hand, is kind of diving directly back into the sort of relationship he had with astrid and eadwulf. very close, very intimate, we-huddled-for-warmth-together-and-oops-it-led-to-something-else sort of thing. he is the one who expresses that he's fine with it if people think he and nott are romantically together when they're talking to keg. nott is the one who pushes back on that. he calls her his life partner. unknowingly, he compares his feelings for nott to nott's feelings for yeza. his behavior only really starts to change after he finds out about veth's husband because suddenly all of that other stuff is rendered inappropriate in retrospect. but even then he compliments her to yeza over dinner in the most awkward of ways, he admits to being jealous, he calls yeza "a lucky man" to have her, he stares at veth and yeza closed bedroom door for far too long, he creates an entire arcane tower with room for her family just so she'll stay with him. in general, his behavior is not, um, totally and completely platonic about it, you know?

like, veth's feelings for caleb are canonical and therefore indisputable in their existence, but caleb in the early days was not that dissimilar to how veth was acting near the end of the campaign. it really paints a picture of "right person, wrong time" in the way things just didn't line up for them. or, as veth would say: "in another world, maybe"

[revanisadumbass]

Thinking about how the Shatterpoint lineage is haunted by shatterpoints.

Mace Windu will always believe in the Republic, believe that the Jedi's faith in the system is enough to overcome the dark and because of it he won't see Dooku or Anakin's falls coming.

Depa Billaba will always lose the Battle of Haruun Kal--no matter when in the war it happens, whether she clings to the light or falls to the dark, she leaves the planet comatose.

Caleb Dume will always be haunted by his master's death--he sees it happen before it happens, whether during his gathering or on the battlefield--and he will always be powerless to stop it, always propelled by her final command: run.

Ezra Bridger will always exist in the shadow of the Empire--he loses his parents, his own master, his newfound family--all the while chasing the ability (with a lightsaber that is also a blaster, with the darkness promised by Maul, with the World Between Worlds) to stop the loss it heralds from happening and always unable to act until it is too late.