#mighty nein are no joke pal

[mourn-and-watch]

no but essek's abnormal behaviours in the last arc and especially in episode 140 are my roman empire. which is ironic because aeor is something of a roman empire itself. but in all seriousness, it was the episode that made me realise i love essek and his development so much and it kinda summarised it even before caleb's epilogue.

and i mean the "it's not fair" scene specifically. it's like, an epitome of his whole character progression from a person who put An Objectively Important Goal above all else without hesitation to someone who can't help but care for people around even more than his goal, no matter how big and relevant it is.

the mighty nein - and he alongside them - pretty much saved the world and freed an ancient city from thousand-year-long suffering. they defeated nine extremely powerful menacing entities who managed to stay out of everyone's sight for years and were so close to achieving their goal and dooming exandria in the process. they did the impossible and became heroes and somehow, they survived, even though they had bidden farewells a couple of hours ago because they had already understood what they had been facing. and nevertheless. they made it.

and none of them was celebrating.

mighty nein are basically essek's only friends. he knew them to be very unusual people, to put it lightly, loud and stubborn and completely inescapable once they consider you to be one of their own. and they showed him so much kindness and put so much faith in him, they were here playing the most atrocious music ever and digging clay in his backyard for a spell they invented just to help one of theirs and asking him if he could bring them pastries the day after they found out he was lying to them and had started a war. they were chaotic and weird and sometimes unbearable but most importantly they were carrying so much hope with them all this time - a hope they could end the war, a hope they could stop the angel of irons cult, a hope they could get better, a hope he could get better, and now, finally, that they could save their lost friend.

and that hope shattered, just like that, the moments after they'd already made the impossible. they saved so many souls - and then could not get back just that one.

for essek "my intentions were never good they were important" thelyss it just. shouldn't have mattered. they won. it could have been worse. people die and when they die they rarely come back. they should've been happy everyone else barely made it alive.

but for some reason, mighty nein being so defeated after they saved the world exposed him to that overwhelming feeling of injustice and unfairness. and i mean, there were many things essek considered to be unfair, but when i watched his first appearance and his interactions with mighty nein later on til their reunion in aeor arc, i wouldn't dare to guess that one of the things on that list would be something that personal. and personal not even to him.

the thing is, essek didn't even know who that guy was. why mighty nein cared about him so much. he had an idea, i guess, that he was their friend once, or someone in that body was. it was also a person who wanted to unleash a terrifying horrific aberration onto the material plane. it was a person very dedicated to killing essek and his friends - and they still didn't take any pleasure in fighting him. essek didn't feel strongly about lucien or molly, because he never knew them.

i don't think he mourned his death and failed resurrection. he mourned mighty nein's hope, the one they put in him when they had no reason to, the one they offered yasha in the cathedral and the one they kept after the spell for veth failed and the one they carried til the very end because they wanted it to reach molly. they had saved people with this hope. they had saved nations. they had saved the world. but they ended up feeling like it hadn't even been worth anything.

how desperate would it feel, witnessing people who for some reason always saw good in you when they absolutely shouldn't, who made literal miracles out of nothing, who ended wars and fought gods and tricked the hags and freed cities from horrors beyond anyone's comprehension purely because they thought it was the right thing to do and also loved their friends this much, silently crying over a dead body they couldn't bring back to life? how desperate would it feel to realise that with all your knowledge about time you dedicated your life to and threw away any principles for, you can't undo this? no one can. some things are left to fate alone and this time it wasn't kind to them. no matter how much good they did, they still got slapped in the face.

and it was, i think, such a genuine moment of empathy. like, essek is the character who prefers to put up a facade and act distant and self-composed but this time he just. walked away unable to watch this. the could only say to fjord that it wasn't fair. even when he was caught off guard in nicodranas he was able to explain himself and his motives to an extent even though he was a nervous wreck whose extra important plan went to hell the second the only people he cared about appeared. this time he had nothing to elaborate on. it just wasn't fair. it wasn't fair his friends didn't get what they wanted the most. it wasn't fair he couldn't do anything to make it right.

it is such a sad and beautiful and even cathartic scene because it is about person who started a war that destroyed so many lives - and then met this ragtag group of weirdos who saw a lonely stand-offish guy and said "hey, let's be friends!" and didn't even wait for him to answer. he saw them being serious and calculated and he saw them being ridiculous and extremely stupid, he saw their mistrust to outsiders and their loyalty to each other, he made spells with them and paid a visit to their hot tub, he ate their stale pastries and drank their hot chocolate mixed with whiskey, he was welcomed amongst them and in their wonderful home, both in xhorhas before they even found out what he had done and in the tower when they already knew - and then, he saw them mourning their loss, defeated and helpless, and he, a person who believed there were things more important than whole nations, let alone just one life, couldn't help but share the pain they felt. a pure display of compassion from someone who detached himself from it, who didn't believe he could grow into a better person capable of it again, but became one nonetheless without even realising it

[all-pacas]

"hey caleb, why did the scarecrow get an award? because he was OUTSTANDING in his FIELD" nott practicing all of her thl jokes on caleb and him either 1) finding all of them legitimately hilarious and cracking up every time because he's a Nerd or 2) finding all of them hilarious because he's a Nerd and even if he didn't you KNOW he'd still laugh at nott's jokes out of solidarity

listen my pal, you know how caleb once said that he liked nott because she makes him laugh? like the mighty nein act like he’s never smiled in his life but nott is over there like yeah he comes up with shitty puns too we kinda collaborate. he laughs all the time what are you talking about.

[vexedfromchaos]

the mighty nein relationship headcanons

jester and calianna - pen pal gfs who spray their letters to each other with perfume and sign them with lipstick kisses

jester and fjord - cute strong woman lifts blushing cowboy husband over head with one arm

shakäste and m9 - everyone sighs dreamily when he winks at them (except for beau, who attempts to wink back awkwardly)

nott and beau - crime mom and her crime daughter do crimes

fjord and caleb - smelly ginger finds the green cowboy at least a lil attractive, fjord maybe knows but pretends not to because he's so polite

fjord and molly - have a mutual understanding of one another's trauma and respect all of each other's boundaries, fwb

molly and caleb - the bi dumbass won't stop flirting with the hobo wizard (who is too clueless to recognize it yet)

fjord, molly, and caleb - have probably fucked before, will probably fuck again

beau and jester - best friends who dearly love one another and have cute sleepovers where they build forts and have way too competitive pillow fights

nott and yasha - can't cook but that doesn't stop them

molly and nott - prank wars

yasha and caleb - anxious friends who don't really know what they're doing most of the time but can always rely on each other for support

caleb and jester - he doesn't like how loud she can be but she's so genuine and sweet that he always lets her into the room to braid each other's hair

beau and yasha - too awkward to function lesbian monk tries desperately to woo a literal angel in her own uncharismatic way, yasha is even more oblivious than caleb is

beau and molly - they pretend to hate each other but it's only because they respect each other so much, neither of them know how to show genuine affection so the teasing is their subtle way of saying they care

jester and molly - fwb, like to judge people's outfits in infernal and giggle about dick jokes, sometimes start barfights because they're bored

jester, molly, and caleb - shopping trips and hand holding (!!!)

molly and yasha - platonically love and would die for each other, always cuddling, probably have a pact to get married one day for tax benefits

yasha and fjord - they once spent almost twenty minutes standing in a doorway saying "really, you can go first," "no, i insist"

nott and caleb - nott has a "my son is an honor student" bumper sticker, unconditional love and acceptance, give each other gifts just because they can

caleb and beau - they've both been through a lot of shit which sometimes causes friction but they will always protect one another, very observant and aware of what the other person is feeling and experiencing

fjord and nott - they don't fully trust each other but they definitely play intense games of boulder, parchment, shears to decide who pays for the last round of drinks

fjord and beau - friendship built on sharing advice and alcohol, willing to open up about their insecurities

jester and yasha - mutual love of art and religion brings them closer, like to show one another their respective sketchbook and flower pressings

jester and nott - excitable friends who encourage one another to try increasingly ridiculous and dangerous things, terrible storytellers who always interrupt each other and spoil the punchline early, lots of unexpected hugs

[beanjuice-duh]

tell me EVERYTHING abt the mighty nein fantasy college

The Fantasy College AU is a 80% @midnigtartist and 20% me being an asshole bullshitter at headcanons. Basically its a monster/fantasy university where their classes are their “major” kinda sorta mixed with normal shit. 

Caleb is going back to finish his Transfiguration major thanks to Nott. He probably had a scholarship and a mentor and you know, how that fucking burned to pieces. He lives off campus with Nott and his cat. Meanwhile Jester and Beau are roommates/ pals. Jester is an art major who gets in thanks to rich mom. 

Beau gets in because her dad gave her an ultimatium but joke is on him bc now she gets to be chaotic away from home. Fjord rooms with Molly, and they have the best/worse roommate situation between Fjord’s weird collection of dress denims and cowboy boots and Molly having orgies and just sleeping naked on a pile of printed blankets

Yasha lives alone but she totally used to room with Molly. Idk why they’d stop rooming, I like to think Yasha kept him in charge of caring for her house plants and he let them all die, so she gently told him to find a new place to room.