#the lord of the nine hells

[itsablindowl]

Do you think when Zerxus showed pity on Asmodeus during calamity and Asmodeus went nuts and killed Zerxus. Do you think he saw the same pity in the eyes of Sarenrae when she kept him from dying and subjected him to the burning pain of their escape from the divine realm, and again and again whenever she would try and redeem him in the milennnia afterwards, do you think he saw that same pity in the eyes of her followers in the moment before he decided to slaughter them all, and do you think he sees that same pity in the eyes of his other siblings amongst the prime deities whenever they meet and they turn their back on him for their children (their 'bad first draft') once again ?

[shellem15]

Can I just say, I really appreciate how Critical Role plays the Devil trope straight. There's been this phenomena in a lot of modern media (I'm not going to mention specifics but I'm sure a few examples pop up in people's minds) where Hell and the Devil aren't scary or malevolent forces. Hell is portrayed as being basically the same as our world just "edgier", and the Devil is a pretty decent guy actually. Heaven are secretly the real bad guys!

But Critical Role doesn't do that. In Exandria, Asmodeus *feels* like the Devil. He's malevolent and manipulative and terrifyingly powerful and he hates you, personally. We never see that type of portrayal anymore! And it's amazing! And he still manages to be sympathetic and tragic without losing his edge!

And the "Good Gods" are portrayed as flawed without being secretly evil or something! Like, actual nuance? In my Heaven/Hell dichotomy? What!?

It's just such a breath of fresh air after so many "The Devil was right, actually" stories. So props to Matt and Brennan and the cast.

[smilelikeawolf]

Ayden openly weeps.

Ayden: "I didn't want Father to be right. I wanted to save them."

Sarenrae: "I did, too."

He looks at Asmodeus' form on the floor.

Ayden: "Why must it always be like this?"

Asmodeus: "Don't shed your tears. Don't shed your tears. I wanted us to be together and you chose them. You think you're a little boy, but you are a scrap of skin. You had a chance for us to be family and now we're something else. I HATE YOU AND I ALWAYS WILL. From now until the stars twinkle out of the sky into darkness! Forever."

Pelor: "Do not lie to me!"

Asmodeus vanishes.

[asmodeus-cock]

This is about Vespin and Zerxus

[mareastrorum]

I love villains, and I especially enjoy Brennan Lee Mulligan’s take on them. His version of Asmodeus in EXU Calamity and Downfall really highlights the reasons why.

A villain is the embodiment of the wrong conclusion. They aren’t always an antagonist; they aren’t necessarily meant to obstruct the protagonist of a story. Hell, they might even be helpful. Villains don’t even have to be evil, per se, they just have to be on the wrong path in the context of the story.

Asmodeus is a brilliant villain and as evil as it gets. He’s the Father of Lies, and he indulges in it deliciously. The lies are always half truths so that the protagonist fills in the blanks with assumptions and gets it wrong. He matches their energy to give them what they want to hear. He plays along with naivety and hope. He doesn’t take anything from people other than lives; they give the rest willingly because they want to believe him. Asmodeus finally reveals his deception when he has someone cornered because he wants them to know they did it to themselves. Asmodeus wants everyone he hurt to come to the realization that “I knew better and let this happen anyway.” He did it to Vespin Chloras, Zerxus Ilerez, and Sarenrae.

From EXU Calamity episode 4, after Zerxus realizes he’s been had:

Asmodeus is the embodiment of the desire to punish, and he’s the villain because he’s wrong. That mentality is rooted in hatred. He is convinced that everyone deserves eternal torment, and he wants everyone to agree with that conclusion.

The purpose of Asmodeus is that we shouldn’t inflict punishment based on some idea that the person deserved it. Yes, revenge and victory feel good. Yes, there are often valid reasons to be angry or defensive. Yes, we can come up with a reason to justify punishment. But hurting people because they deserve it is exactly what Asmodeus does. There is always a way to rationalize that someone deserves punishment—so the right answer is that this feeling cannot be a sufficient reason to do harm. That isn’t good enough.

It’s so easy to say “they deserve it” when we know the end result is that Aeor will be destroyed and the surviving legacy is ruins full of monsters. It feels good when we think people deserve to suffer and then we get to see it happen. It feels righteous.

Vespin Chloras deserved to be remembered as a traitor because he was arrogant enough to think he could replace Asmodeus—in an age where another mage already replaced the god of death and yet another mage created a machine that killed two primordials. Zerxus Ilerez deserved to be a thrall of Asmodeus because he chose to take up the mace and contributed to the problems that got him in that dilemma—because he so fervently believed that under all that hatred was a person who needed a chance to change his mind. Sarenrae deserved to lose her followers because she decided to trust the Father of Lies—because she loved her brother and offered him mercy.

It’s so easy to conclude that someone deserves pain. Asmodeus is here to remind us specifically that it’s not the right way to handle anything.

Asmodeus is also a rather effective villain because he is supposed to be irredeemable. Archetypal villains are wonderful tools for setting audience expectations. Whether Brennan plays that straight or decides to subvert it, there isn’t as much work needed to persuade us that Asmodeus is that evil or cruel. We already believe that he’s capable of doing the worst things imaginable. Toying with those expectations is a great storytelling exercise.

Asmodeus didn’t shock us in EXU Calamity because we didn’t expect him to be evil. He was shocking because he is such a skillful liar that we wanted to believe him. It would be such a satisfying story that a well-meaning paladin was the first person to show kindness to the Father of Lies and managed to atone him. Brennan’s portrayal made us want that subversion so badly even though we knew better. Asmodeus lured us into the same trap as the characters, and then we saw the outcome: punishment—because Asmodeus will use any reason to justify it and every opportunity to inflict it.

In Downfall, Brennan could have easily rationalized that the protagonists wouldn’t agree to the truce if Asmodeus was on the infiltration team. The audience would have absolutely found that plausible. He didn’t have to be here. The decision to include Asmodeus on the side of the protagonists gives us a heads up that the story will grapple with questions about punishment.

What do I need to see before I am justified in destroying a city with no survivors? Do I have to concern myself with bystanders? Do the fearful deserve to die for choosing to oppose me? Don’t they deserve it for creating such objectionable technology and magic? Don’t I deserve the chance to live without fear of those lesser than myself? Don’t they deserve to die for corrupting those I loved? Don’t they deserve it for being loved more than me?

Why isn’t hatred a good enough reason to hurt someone?

Again, villains are tools to highlight the wrong conclusions. Asmodeus is involved to highlight that the desire for punishment isn’t a sufficient reason to destroy Aeor. The other characters, villains or not, are here to show us what other justifications there might be. Their interactions are going to brush across these themes over and over again.

I fucking love villains, and no one plays a villain quite like Brennan does.

[breathalyzerfail]

Dorian Storm shaking furiously in his theatre seat the moment Umleta showed up on-screen.

(Meanwhile, Braius has checked out and is writing the opening number to Milo Cowst Superstar.)

[nanyoky]

Happy Circle of Needle and Thread finale week to all my mentally unwell friends, please enjoy one of my favorite cr series of facial expressions from the last time these three made me cry as tribute to the hawrrahs <3

[i-is-v-tired]

Just finished cr Downfall. I enjoyed in and have my own opinions on it, obviously. But I do have a question-

How much of Downfall is BH going to see?

Clearly they are going to see the otherworldly being they are and all of the damage they have and could cause if they wanted to

battle and how they city fall because of them- This by itself probably would make people turn their backs on the gods

But are they going to see what else the human parts of the gods too?

-Like the gods acting like siblings

-or trying to find another way to save the city

-or them doing small acts that shows their love-

like the Everlight destroying a sickness to save a child

the Dawnfather healing the sick and giving aid to people in need

the Wildmother caring for the small forgotten creatures

the Arch Heart’s love for the city, the magic, and the people even though the city was all working to destroy them and their family

Are they going to see the Primes working so hard to protect their family (both divine and mortal) only to have both try and kill them. And the primes still loving them?

[i-am-trans-gwender]

I had a dream last night where I was in a black void and Gary Gygax as an angel appeared before me. He told me that he was okay with people using Dungeons and Dragons to do Satanic rituals. What he was not okay with was Dungeon Master's putting their fetishes in the games because it made Asmodeus more powerful.

[friendly-jester]

i'm now even more convinced that it wasn't actually the arch heart and was asmodeus fucking with the bells by pretending to be him

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

sometimes I'm just vibing and then my brain screams at me "ALL THAT PAIN AND MISERY AND LONELINESS AND IT JUST MADE THEM KIND" and I go a little bit feral

[cinematic-literature]

Longlegs (2024) by Osgood Perkins

Book title

The Dark Lord's Hand

A Guide to the Nine Circles of Hell

[shellem15]

Horrible idea just popped into my brain that I must share with all of you:

The lord of the hells looks like the most beautiful person you've ever seen. So, who does he see when he looks at himself?

My guess is the Everlight, and isn't that fucked?

[smilelikeawolf]

The Everlight and the gods rush to the archive.

Cassida lies, bloody, dessicated. Standing over her, is Aramis. But it's not him.

Asmodeus: "I always look like the most beautiful person you've ever seen."

He peels back the face and the Lord of the Hells steps through.

Asmodeus: "I'm going to tell you something now. Before she died, she renounced you. It's even better than killing a follower."

In his hands, he holds the keys to the Factorum Malleus.

Asmodeus: "Ready and fire it, now!"

[asmodeus-cock]

Taking a hint motherfucker

[mareastrorum]

Approximately 100 years before Downfall, the night the Calamity began (EXU Calamity, E2)

Zerxus: Let's get you cleaned up.

Asmodeus: (cries) Asmodeus: I have only known darkness for so long, and even before that, no one has shown me kindness.

Zerxus: That's going to change, and that's a damn shame. This is your home. Don't you forget that. You belong here.

??? years ago (C3E99, Downfall Part 1)

Brennan: Imri leaps to the deck of the ship, throws up a wall, and [Luz] see[s] that suddenly there is a face and eyes and hair, as []

Imri: Let us through! Let us through! (screams)

Brennan: Heat pours over Imri and burns him terribly as he stands at the front of the ship, pushing forward with the will of this eternal place, making a way through the heat for your vessel to--

Ashley: I go to help.

Brennan: As Imri is dying, you put a hand on him. What do you do? What do you say in this moment?

Luz: I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do.

Ashley: I-- I sort of take my form, and the only thing I know how to do is just hold Imri in this moment in the warmth of what feels like a hug.

Brennan: You hug Imri, and that is the only thing that saves him from destruction. You heal him. As the heat touches him, it bursts into fire. This mane of-- Imri was so beautiful, and this mane of hair stretches back, and the fire burns it until it blackens into two swirling spikes that stretch back from his head, wrapping around him like horns, as the heat touches you and you burn brighter and brighter, until you are pure light.

??? years ago, during the Calamity (See the Taldorei Campaign Guide)

The Fall of Aeor (C3e99, Downfall Part 1)

Father Milo: My goodness. Are you a cleric of the Everlight, young Ayden?

Ayden: I stick up for my family.

Father Milo: I'm just glad she's still got a worshiper. (laughs)