#cr theories

[criticalbeauregard]

i meant to post abt this after the episode on thursday but the way beau said "i fucking hated her when we met" makes me wonder if there's going to be a kimallura-esque (in tlovm s3 flashbacks) enemies-to-lovers storyline for beauyasha in the animated series, which i would be really excited to see. i could be being delusional but as much as beau and yasha had a pretty awkward relationship at the beginning of the campaign that turned to resentment for a time once yasha was taken by obann (a resentment based on beau's blooming trust in yasha at the time), i would never have described beau's attitude towards yasha when they met as hatred. i mean... episode one is "will you hold me through the show?"

pike's journey in tlovm has been the most interesting for me to watch as someone who has seen all of c1 bc it's the most unexpected and new for me since they have changed a lot to allow pike to be with the party more. i'm super excited to see if/in what ways they do similar things for yasha's story in m9 animated. i expect her to definitely leave the party at times since they went into c2 knowing that would be part of her character and it became a pretty integral aspect of yasha's story, but there's so much room for more fleshed out dynamics with the party and if that includes beau and yasha feuding i will be thrilled.

[overnighttosunflowers]

this is not in any way a complete or even necessarily fully coherent thought and I should wait and puzzle it out in actual meta about it later but.

what if the third path that isn’t saving the gods or killing the gods is restoring them to what they started as, what they were happy and together as, and what they would have looked like in exandria if they hadn’t chosen concrete form:

because after all, that ephemerality was a part of exandria before the gods came, too:

back when exandria was a primordial soup that could cycle through permutations of possibility and become anything.

and like in some ways exandria still is for followers of the luxon, whose god is not a god but an infinitely faceted representation of pure possibility—something like tengar was and like the gods were part of, once, before becoming part of reality forced them into too-humanlike, too-fallible forms containing leftover outsize power.

what if the third path is one that frees the gods back to a place in the cycle of infinite possibility. puts them back together like the pieces of the luxon. and restores exandria to a state where the primordial soup of possibility is everywhere?

[dadrielle]

I don't remember if I've mentioned it here before or if I only babble about it on discord as is my wont, but the discovery of the fungal rope last episode further solidifies my theory that whatever continent was plucked from Exandria to make Ruidus, that landmass was the original home of the elder brains like All Minds Burn, and that Predathos is filling an ecological niche on Ruidus that is MEANT to be filled by an elder brain. I suspect that planting All Minds Burn's seed on Ruidus will not be introducing an invasive species, but actually combating one. After all, the conditions needed for the seed, and for something like that fungus, are the same, and the red storms of Ruidus seemed to call to All Minds Burn iirc.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

So I’m taking the prologue of Downfall as fuel for my “Predathos is related to/might actually be the Chained Oblivion” theory.

And yeah, there is no way Predathos is gonna eat all the gods and be content. You know what happens when an animal loses its food source? It gets less picky about what it eats.

[dadrielle]

Yeah that's actually why I figure that Ludinus probably needs Liliana! There was mention that the harness required that there be an affinity between the wearer and the power source, initially. Ludinus isn't Ruidusborn so he lacks the affinity...but maybe if a Ruidusborn absorbed it, he could absorb it from them, essentially using them as a power converter.

I just had a terrible thought. Like yeah totally Ludinus hates the gods, wants to release Predathos BLAH BLAH BLAH. But then I was watching this week's 4SD and Matt said something about Bells Hells "maybe" interacting with Ludinus (LUDA!) and I was like "Huh...at this point I was expecting it to be an eventuality but maybe Matt is just trying to be coy" but then....I thought about the "rudimentary" harness that Percy, Allura, Dancer, and Joe worked on and how Ludi-boy had decades, nay centuries, to improve upon his own design. And with the Uthodern arc, we know that Ludacris was sucking magical creatures and not just ANY magical creatures, LEGENDARY MAGICAL BEASTS OF THE MAGICAL SAVALIRWOOD, to elongate his own life.

The only thing we know about Predathos is that it's a trapped god-eater. We don't know if it's a sentient being, or if it's a cosmic creature of hunger. BUT what we do know that wizards are prideful morons (not all but a significant chunk) - what if Ludinus is not trying to FREE Predathos but fucking inhale its essence or whatever the fuck and get rid of the gods himself.

[thegoblinhermit]

WHAT IF OTOHAN IS IMOGENS GRANDMA???

(Sorry I had a sudden thought and had to share. I doubt that will be the case, I feel like she hasn't been described or acted in a way of recognition. Also I got the feeling she wasn't that much older than Liliana. Suddenly got the thought when they asked if any other people had Imogens lightning marks and Matt said she had always been fully covered with armor)

[critcatbar]

I can't remember if I ever actually posted about this, but...

Ever since Matt first described the Judicators and their masks, I immediately thought of the descriptions in Calamity about how the betrayer gods basically used up, corrupted, and disfigured their clerics as basically just belief-power batteries. I have to watch [Calamity] again for the actual description but I remember it being gnarly.

I just... have a gut feeling that's basically what the Judicators are. The weapon of the betrayer gods turned against them. That despicable method used in the name of good. Carefully guarded and limited, but not hidden or eradicated because it's too useful. Too powerful to just let die out.

I feel like... If anyone ever successfully removed one's mask... these respective followers of "good" and "evil" would be indistinguishable.

[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.

[arabella-strange]

His hesitation about pulling his sword. His one fleeting moment of hope and re-connection to that spirit that brought him to love these people in the first place. The immediate shut-down of that better-self and better-voices-in-his-head when "Dorian didn't answer" (aka the stone didn't work and/or Dorian is stuck somewhere and/or the lake Aboleth used its "Gods in the Lake" ability with "telepathic powers to read the minds of creatures and know their desires. An aboleth uses this knowledge to gain a creature’s loyalty, promising to fulfill such wants in exchange for obedience" -- i.e., Orym's desire to hear his beloved; somehow this Telepathy + Enslave ability combo got in the way before the Sending Stone actually went). And then the return to the moon and the hard, wartime choices—and the version of Orym who has decided that he has no future except sacrifice.

What a world, if Dorian could show up now. Imagine: To just call halt to the whole train Orym's riding into oblivion and ask, softly, gently, lovingly, "Orym, what are you doing? You don't need to do this alone." But I suspect it'll be too late and a surprised Dorian of before meeting the Orym of now won't be able to stop this train.

Damn it, I haven’t talked about it enough but I’m saying it now.

Orym is not going to have a happy ending in this campaign. Happy ending meaning he’ll have freewill to anywhere and have his friends with him. Either one of his friends die or he’ll be stuck in the Feywild ’til who knows how long, serving Morrigan. Even worse, they have technically left Ruidus once when they discovered the portal. So, in the worst ending, one of the Hells bells dies AND Orym is stuck with Morrigan.

I don’t know, there is nothing to this analysis, I’m just sad that its very likely that Orym is not going to get the ending he deserves with Dorian.

[darkfluffydragon]

CRK Character Analysis and Theory: Hollyberry Cookie

Hollyberry is so, painfully overlooked. And I think it's almost by design, really. She's a cheerful, strong-willed character who's never really seen to have been really upset, other than when the truth about White Lily was revealed. Sure, there were subtle signs of her struggle, but never anything that really stuck or was obvious enough that 'it seemed important'. This led to the fandom joking around about her traumas, dismissing what she experienced and acknowledging all the Ancient's hardships, except for hers. She became the joke of the group, the "Except Hollyberry" meme.

And yeah, it's funny when looked at in a quick, general view. It's also sort of...not fair on her. She suffered the same as the other ancients, just because she doesn't scream "I'M TRAUMITISED HELP ME", it doesn't mean that she doesn't have problems.

She may not be like Pure Vanilla, who lost his entire kingdom. She may not be like Golden Cheese, who returned to everyone she loved being dead. She may not be like Dark Cacao whose son tried to kill him, or like White Lily who has to experience the maddening guilt of the consequences of her own actions, but that doesn't mean that what she does experiences should just be dismissed because they're seen as "not as drastic as the others".

Hollyberry has always been shown to be a very family and relationship-orientated person. She cares for them a lot, and visibly cherishes her relationships with all her friends and family. It is her shame of being incapable of protecting them that made her flee, she deemed herself unworthy of being able to protect them. or calling herself not just her family's protector, but her kingdom's protector. This happened after she watched Pure Vanilla basically sacrifice himself to save them and the rest of Earthbread from Dark Enchantress, which she didn't. couldn't do anything to help. And she had been gone for so long, that the Hollyberry Kingdom had to start a contest to try and find a new heir. That entire time, did Hollyberry blame herself for "her failures? For the entirety of however long the period between the Dark Flour Wars was, to the present day?

Eventually, though, she does come back. She comes back and saves her kingdom from Pitaya again, so all is well. Right? Except not really? I've already mentioned that she's a family-oriented person. She defeated Pitaya with the help of Princess Cookie (and Knight Cookie), Princess Cookie who she basically missed her entire childhood of. She never got to see Princess Cookie grow up. The family lost Tiger Lily Cookie while she was gone, and she couldn't do anything. Because she wasn't there. Once again, she has failed them.

She's the Queen Mother again, she's come back and is the hero again with the shield and she defeated Pitaya Cookie once again. She got everything back, without getting any consequences from her disappearance. Pitaya returned because she had abandoned her kingdom. She's the 'hero again' and 'got her shield back again' because she threw them away in the first place. They lost Tiger Lily Cookie and they still haven't found her granddaughter, yet somehow the kingdom sees fit to call her the Queen Mother.

She may have all of this, but does Hollyberry actually think she deserves all of this? Is this not all stuff she would feel she should blame herself for? That she should feel guilt and shame for? Hollyberry has gotten her status back, but she hasn't gotten back the one thing that she cherishes the most. That is the close relationship she had with her family, because of just how long she's been gone. Like, during their reunion? Royalberry personally regarded Hollyberry only one time. The first time he'd seen his mother in who knows how long, and it was him questioning if it really was her or not. Almost like they're just...close strangers. To me, it didn't seem like a familial relationship or a reunion. Probably because that entire part was mostly focused on them talking to Princess, with Hollyberry in the background despite showing up finally for the first time in forever!

Despite the episode being about her, it felt like she didn't belong.

Moving on from the alienation within her own family, I think her drinking problem is really, really overlooked. Seriously, her fondness for drinking is one of her most notable character traits, often portrayed as a part of her hearty and celebratory nature. But there's a fine line between enjoying the drinks in moderation and using it as a coping mechanism. She drinks so much, that Wildberry Cookie is asked to watch over her and monitor her (presumably by Jungleberry as stated in the Legend of the Red Dragon storyline. Also, the fact that a third party has to be the one to ask, and be concerned about her drinking habits??? That it wasn't even her own son, that it was her son's wife. That Jungleberry decided to help, intervene not through confrontation, but indirectly through someone else.)

She drank so much, she literally had a goblet that would never run out of berry juice!

("Hollyberry Cookie's Never-drying Goblet: A goblet that is always filled with berry juice, full-bodied and fragrant. It gets refilled the very next instant one takes their sip, hence the "never-drying.")

Hollyberry drinks so much, in the past and now, that even her friends and the people who know her dismiss her actions and go as far as to even just assume that what she does in her free time, is drink berry juice.

Hollyberry's frequent indulgence could be seen as a means of numbing the emotional pain she feels, particularly in response to her failures and feelings of inadequacy. Her idealisation as a hero, protector, and "Queen Mother" might place immense pressure on her to appear unbreakable, pushing her to hide her vulnerabilities behind her jovial personality and a tankard of berry juice.

It's confirmed that when adventuring, she used to take on an alias name. Take on a different identity, hiding who she is as Hollyberry (the legendary hero, the ancient cookie, the queen of a kingdom), to simply be Sweet Pinkberry Cookie. This felt the need to use another name when travelling, Tarte Tartin Cookie knew her as Sweet Pinkberry Cookie, and the Dragon City knew her as Sweet Pinkberry Cookie, she specifically instructed Wildberry to keep her true name a secret and to call her by her alias while within the city. This could have been a method she used to have used to escape her duties and expectations as "Hollyberry Cookie", which had been tied to her name. Her responsibilities definitely weigh down on her, and it seems like her method of dealing with them is to run away. Whether it is through drinks, or through physically hiding who she is and leaving for an adventure. This is ironic, considering her CRK skill is quite literally her charging forward with her shield.

It is through obligation, and her will to protect those she cares about, like Princess and Knight during the Hollyberry Palace story, that she stands strong and firm as a shield. That's what she's passionate about.

Hollyberry’s coping mechanisms are more subtle but no less significant. Her drinking, cheerful facade, and detached family life all suggest an internal struggle that is often dismissed due to her strong appearance. Her trauma is less about obvious scars and more about the quieter toll of endless battles, unspoken regrets, and the pressure to remain a symbol of strength.

The way Hollyberry is perceived reflects a common issue in storytelling: characters who don’t display their trauma in overtly painful ways can be seen as having “less” to deal with. However, Hollyberry’s struggles with alienation and possibly self-medicating behaviour reveal a more subtle picture of a hero who, despite her laughter and strength, is quietly weighed down by the guilt she feels.

Now, into more...theorising territory. Specifically, how I think Eternal Sugar's story will go.

Hollyberry's drinking and avoidance are not just coping mechanisms; they also tie into the theme of sloth in a...nuanced way. Sloth is traditionally understood as laziness or a reluctance to act (WHICH CAN BE SEE IN THE HOLLYBERRY PALACE STORY), which can also manifest as emotional avoidance and a failure to confront difficult truths (GET OUT OF HER PURE VANILLA THIS AIN'T ABOUT YOU still love you though <3). For Hollyberry, her drinking and retreat from her responsibilities reflect a deeper avoidance of her guilt and emotional turmoils. Rather than addressing the pain of failing to protect her family and friends, she withdraws from it, numbing herself with berry juice and pretending that everything is alright.

She seeks solace in alcohol, allowing herself to temporarily escape the weight of her responsibilities. While drinking may seem harmless on the surface, it represents the passive avoidance of the emotional work needed to heal and make amends. This is where sloth comes into play. It is not the lack of physical activity or courage since Hollyberry is brave and strong, but rather a reluctance to face uncomfortable emotions.

Her drinking can also be seen as a way of slipping into complacency, allowing herself to remain stuck in a cycle of self-pity and guilt, rather than taking active steps to repair the damage done to her family relationships. The choice to rely on alcohol becomes an act of sloth, where it's easier to drown her sorrows and pretend they don't exist than confront them.

Each trial the Ancients had gone through so far had been related to the Beasts and their previous virtues. Pure Vanilla learnt Knowledge about the witches, about the beasts, about White Lily, and had to face a cruel mental quiz by Shadow Milk. Dark Cacao had a battle of will as he travelled up a seemingly endless journey, and had to keep his resolution as he watched all the people he cherishes fade into flour. While for Golden Cheese, it isn't clear yet what it is her trial will be, there has been quite a literal sense of destruction for her (cough cough 🍗 cough cough), and with her hiding the Soulcheese and all she cares about in a vault to avoid having them be destroyed in the following battle against Burning Spice Cookie). It would be safe to assume that the trial Hollyberry would have to go through would be emotional by nature as well, which conveniently fits the issues currently being discussed.

The theme of sloth in her character arc highlights how emotional avoidance can lead to great suffering, not just for herself but for those around her. By choosing not to face her pain, Hollyberry leaves her family to suffer the consequences of her absence, most notably the loss of Tiger Lily Cookie. Her Sloth is not just about failing to act physically, but about failing to engage with her emotional responsibilities. She allowed her guilt to paralyze her, keeping her from returning to her family and from offering the protection and love she knew they needed. Though this has been resolved, the emotional difficulties haven't, and rather, they've all been glossed over.

I believe that Eternal Sugar will use this against her, as her virtue is Happiness. In relation to sloth, happiness can sometimes be a way to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or responsibilities. Rather than actively pursuing genuine fulfilment, one might settle for a superficial, temporary happiness that prevents them from engaging with deeper, more challenging aspects of their life. This type of happiness can be slothful, as it involves choosing the path of least resistance, avoiding discomfort or personal growth. This fits in perfectly with Hollyberry's use of alcohol, avoidance, and happy attitude,

For Hollyberry, real happiness would come from reconnecting with her family, healing from her guilt, and accepting responsibility for her actions. By avoiding these challenges, she sacrifices the possibility of deeper happiness in favour of a shallow, slothful contentment. The cost of this avoidance is not only her own emotional well-being but also the relationships that matter most to her, as her absence leads to greater harm for her loved ones. In order to overcome Eternal Sugar, she'll need to learn to finally confront these problems. Finally learn to properly heal, and not rely on the berry juice to solve her problems.

[republicsglory]

anyways. THEORY REVAMP!!

[dadrielle]

Before tonight's episode, I want to post this theory that I been poking at a lil bit in DMs since like, the day after watching the live show, lol.

So! I currently theorize that the Thing, the incomprehensible, more real than real Place in Brennan's narration at the end of the live show, was the Ur-Reality before the cosmos as it now stands formed, and that that Ur-Reality had a sentience and came to want to know itself, and thus split itself into two beings, the Luxon and Predathos, and in the process, all those swirling potentialities that spilled out of it became reality. And the gods lived in that Ur-reality before, perhaps almost like micro organisms, and were also spilled out into this new reality by the split.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I've rolled a similar idea around in my head for a while for a different DnD character I've made, so mind the bias: I think it would be fair in a way that would be absolutely hellish for those that survive.

Here's the premise: the gods of DnD in general and Exandria specifically are extremely anthropomorphic. It's not just that they take humanoid form, it's that they represent sapient concepts: law, tyranny, art, treachery, war, slavery. Of all the gods of Exandria, only the Wildmother is anything close to a god for nonhumans through nature...but in its own way, nature is a sapient concept, the idea that our world is somehow separate from the rest, that houses are fundamentally different from nests and government fundamentally different from hierarchy. All divine magic revolves around people. People get resurrection and healing and blessings, because they are the gods' children. But when the gods are gone and the divine magic disperses, they might not enjoy such preferential treatment.

A wolf's god might bless them on a hunt for human children. A deer's god might wipe out a settlement so their worshippers might eat without fear. Would plant gods tolerate being eaten? The gods gave people magic and agriculture and craft and medicine and knowledge, and people have taken that as their right....but then again, they only got these things in the first place because they were favored by the gods. With the gods gone, who else might be favored? And on the flip side, what will happen to people when they've lost that favor?

Exandria will survive, certainly. Divine magic will resurface. But there's no guarantee that any of the sapient species that call it home now will survive such a shift. The gods are a keystone of Exandria's ecosystem, and Predathos is an invasive. If they escape, another Calamity might not be the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario would be an extinction event.

I am wondering a lot about what happens in the 'ideal' scenario. You know, where Predathos only eats the Primes and the Betrayers and then leaves. Matt made the point about how divine magic was around before then and would be around after, but the source would change. So. What fills that power vacuum? How is there any guarantee that it is going to be better than what they have now? There isn't and Ludnius kind of admitted that, but what drives someone to that point? To the point where they care about the action, completing that action, but they don't care about the result?

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I know I go on about how monumentally stupid Ludinus' Predathos plan is but it's because every time I think about it, I find something new to criticize.

Let's start with the obvious: Predathos has a fucking terrible track record of successful god-eating. It ate 2 gods out of a pantheon of 22 before it was defeated, locked in a moon and left to brood for millennia. That's a 9.1% success rate and nothing has substantially changed since then that would make it any easier for Predathos to get the whole pantheon before it gets locked in another prison and probably shot into space permanently this time.

Two, and this might be a "minor" inconvenience that Ludinus has already dismissed because he's put together a bunker for himself and his chosen, blowing up a moon is gonna kill millions of people. Granted, my research on "what if the moon explodes" is rudimentary and the other moon will probably stave off the worst effects of "deleting the tides" and "destabilizing axial tilt", but it only took a rock six miles in diameter to wipe out 75% of Cretaceous plant and animal life and Predathos is about to send a lot more twenty times the size.

Three, let's assume mortalkind survives Predathos popping Ruidus like an overripe fruit. What's next? Well, obvious it makes its way to the Divine Gate and starts chewing. Assuming it gets through, (probably with your help since it couldn't through the same protections on its prison), it's gonna unleash all the gods, including the ones that want everyone on Exandria dead. Sure, maybe the Prime Deities will try and stave them off, but they'll have their hands full with Predathos, so it would be ridiculously easy for the Betrayers to make sure that if they go down, those mortal bastards are coming with them. And well...humanity did just try to murder all the gods for the crime of "not giving us what we want". Would the Prime Deities even consider them worth saving?

Four, let's assume that Point One, by some miracle, does not happen, and Predathos isn't overwhelmed and shot into space like the last time. It eats the whole pantheon, and then goes for the final course, Tharizdun. Being less a god and more a force of utter oblivion, Tharizdun eats Predathos as an appetizer before ushering in the Epoch of Ends.

So yeah, mortalkind is fucked if Predathos gets out and this is why you don't let wizards have power.

[bixbiboom]

Sam’s gas can has a very special announcement for Travis! Somehow, Travis did not register the presence of a massive sign saying “Travis I’m pregnant” at the table.

Sam soon swapped it out for a sign saying “Travis it’s a meme.” Laura is grateful, this is not a bit to announce another pregnancy. Travis doesn’t know what anyone is talking about.

“Internet: no one is pregnant.” Be chill, guys, it’s just a gag.

[abitcaughtinthemiddle]

Okay I haven’t seen anyone talk about this but Scanlan’s “secret magical nightclub” he mentions in this scene is his mansion, right?