#savalirwood

[thatoneacecryptid]

Cannot tell you how much it screws me up thinking about the Savalirwood and how that corruption has affected so many characters and then remembering that it is all Ludinus Da’leth’s fault

[raenalt]

I only just noticed the interesting spelling of the Savalirwood in the map in the second mighty nein art book lol

[bookshopsbizarreblog]

Big Spoilers ahead for C2 (through E119) and C3 (through E58)

I'm certain most people who are up to date with C3 at this point know about the possible connection between the Malleus Keys and Aeor's "Factorum Malleus." The names use the same word, both were designed with God-killing intent. But I just stumbled across something that makes the connection even more explicit. In C2 E119, while the Mighty Nein are exploring a minor Aeorean ruin, they stumble across the remnants of a team sent by Ludinus Daleth. That in itself isn't particularly damning, as pretty much everyone with arcane interest and resources to spare was sending excavators to Eiselcross. What makes it more significant is that the Mighty Nein comes across trees in the depths of the ruin. Trees with the same corruption as the Savalirwood.

We know the Savalirwood's situation was caused by Ludinus reaching out to Predathos, and now it seems pretty explicit that Aeor was doing so too. Their god killer, the Factorum Malleus, was so dangerous they got smacked out of the sky for it. And Ludinus had teams searching places of Predathos-related corruption and winds up with the design for Malleus keys. I can't wait to learn how much deeper the thread goes. And it has been astonishing, in retrospect, how much of C3 was foreshadowed by C2. I'm doing another listen through right now and recommend starting when M9 goes to Uthadurn, because that's where the connections really start.

[glass-spark]

I am someone who loves BBEG villains in fantasy. I relish every lore-dump. I want to know what drives them to do what they do. Why is this person such an asshole? Why are they still doing the thing when they are causing so much suffering?

I also love the journey to the inevitable ass-kicking.

Somehow, seeing the state of Molaesmyr highlights the depths to which Ludinus has sunk to achieve his goal. Those twisted, faceless creatures. The bones of fleeing families half-consumed by trees. Wandering ghosts never able to rest, snatches of their voices on the wind.

What the hell got Ludinus to the point where he could do that to Molaesmyr and walk away still convinced he was right? Someone like that, convinced the innocents of Molaesmyr were simply collateral, is absolutely willing to break the world to kill the gods.

Ludinus is scary. He is a fascinating villain and, honestly, while I need all the lore on him right this second, I cannot wait to see him get his ass kicked.

*This post assumes Ludinus caused the fall of Molaesmyr (he totally did, though, we all know it)

[artandhijinks]

"Travelers Beware of the Savalirwood"

Did anyone else enjoy the Savalirwood because I did

Prints available on Fine Art America and Redbubble

[ariadne-mouse]

thiccet

[cassafrasscr]

They should've asked the Arch Heart about Molaesmyr.

[c-kiddo]

has it been acknowledged yet in cr3 that ludinus wants to kill the gods for exploding a city when he also has exploded a city and poisoned an entire ancient forest alongside it ? because he did do that, and yes there are people still alive from molaesmyr and the savalirwood. yea, for sure not as many people died and the survivors relocated north. um the groundwater is undrinkable though. he did absolutely ruin everyones lives who was from there

[dent-de-leon]

genuinely a miracle that Molly woke in the Savalirwood of all places and was still picked up by a warm and friendly traveling carnival. Being a performer again and being taken in by a family who really loved him—the kind of life Lucien dreamed of.

In those early days of feeling that gnawing Emptiness, only just clawing his way out of the grave--Mollymauk is so painfully vulnerable and lost. It would have been so easy for Molly to fall prey to something lurking in this cursed forest that Lucien always feared. And he could have very easily wandered back into Shadycreek—stumbled into one of Lucien’s many enemies.

The powerful Jagentoth family who killed Lucien’s brother for their parents’ debts--Reese Jagentoth personally trying to burn Lucien and the Tombtakers alive by setting their safe house on fire years later. How easy it would have been for slavers like the Iron Shepherds to take Molly when he was so close to Shadycreek and all alone, completely defenseless.

How it feels like the Moonweaver used Catha's light to really guide Molly to someplace safe, kept him on a path where no one would harm him--

[tangent101]

Okay. But let's consider this. What if Ludinus is a victim of "curiosity ate the cat" and is infected by Predathos, having to break it out of its prison? And his actions have been responsible for the growth of Ruidusborn following the Savalirwood incident?

Essentially, when Ludinus first managed to contact Predathos, a seed was planted. This may be something Predathos has done multiple times over the millennia (and is part of why the Temples do their best to dissuade folk from looking to Ruidus). But in Ludinus, the seed sprouted in a most horrible fashion, allowing Predathos the chance to corrupt part of Exandria once more and have a far greater influence in the world.

Think of what Ludinus did at the end. He powered a time-skip at great personal expense to bring Ruidus into the sky for the ceremony. And then when there was not enough power left... he stuck his other, unharmed, arm into the machine and gave as much of his own power to try and free Predathos.

This is not a sane action. This is the action of a cultist who has drunk the Koolaid, of someone willing to sacrifice themselves for their cause. This is the sort of thing that insane worshipers of some dark God would do to free their God... something that Ludinus claims to detest and want to eliminate.

In short... it is an act of insanity... akin to an ant infected with a fungus crawling up a plant so that a bird could snatch and eat it so to continue the fungus' life cycle. Ludinus may very well believe that he is acting of his own free will... but much like the Indoctrinated in Mass Effect he is sure he is doing what he wants to... rather than a course of action that some dark entity planted in his head hundreds of years ago.

Of course I may be wrong. This is not meant to wave away blame from Ludinus, and he may very well be acting entirely of his own volition. But it is an interesting thought experiment... and may explain some rather odd actions by him.

I understand the anti-gods argument Ludinus Da’leth uses, like it even, however he is obviously going about it in a diabolical way, and honestly I don’t really believe it all when it’s coming from HIS mouth. He’s not really doing this for the good of the people, and he WILL have another trick up his sleeve. But I don’t blame Bell’s Hells for questioning themselves, considering how little the gods have done for them, and how little they even noticed their presence before this whole mess. They have no attachment to the gods, and with the shit they’ve been through they’re really starting to question whether they’re worth saving, but at the end of the day, at least the gods don’t have a very big chance of eating the whole of Exandria. Better the devil you know, I guess.

Added note: I just think it’s a much more difficult decision for BH than people think it is, considering that they literally have NO IDEA what Predathos will do. However, I think they DO have a gut feeling that no matter what, Ludinus will use whatever he can to gain power, hurting the whole of Exandria in the process if he has to, and I’m really glad that so far they’re following that gut theory, no matter how many times they stop and question the very, VERY complex morals of this shit.

[non-binary-smurf-nerd]

Re-watch number... I've lost count of them now. C2 E93-99 anyway, on E95. Here's another theory that might have been part of the Ludinus long plan (and apologies if I'm behind on this one): he knows The Blooming Grove is under threat from *whatever* he did to Molaesmyr, but he learns of the Clays and their pilgrimages, so he sends the mutated bull to The Menagerie to stop them and weaken two of her three temples.

[wizardnuke]

i love the empire kids so so much i feel like i am losing my gfuckinf mind. ohh my god empire kids

[creeperfont]

i know we’re a ways north of the blooming grove but my caduceus radar is just pinging nonstop right now

[grayintogreen]

Bored now. Time to confess that Heather Dougal is designed to effectively be the most Ghibli-looking elderly Irish woman.

[leadmeastraylittlefairy]

new outfits 😵‍💫

[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.