#vax made his own choices
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#vox machina's story is that much stronger for vax having permanently died for several reasons#but one of them being that if vax hadn't died there isn't really anything narratively for him to DO.#vex and percy raise a family and lead a city. keyleth leads her people. grog learns to read. scanlan and pike get married and then divorce#and scanlan runs a mercantile enterprise while pike rebuilds a wholeass religion while running a bakery#even tary's leading a non-profit adventuring brigade and getting married#what is vax's 'happy ending'. i will be soft with keyleth and love my sister forever :) like great. anyway#vax was someone who yearned for purpose and he became a celestial champion. that's an actual STORY#critical role#cr meta tags from @burr-ell
But exactly this - if you don't like Vax's choice, that's fine, you're entitled to your feelings, but it was still a choice that player and character made, and which gave both purpose and joy. To tell someone they can't make a choice that brings them those things because you don't like it - I mean that's TERF shit baby! That's "your choices make ME unhappy therefore you shouldn't be allowed to make them". It's shitty!
Yeah, Vax's ending is sad, but Vax's ending also gave the character purpose and is something Liam has said repeatedly he is happy with and at peace with. The Raven Queen didn't force shit - simply enforced the rules of her literal godly nature and was very open with Vax what those rules were.
People make their own choices. To try to deny that because you don't like it, or because you think there's external factors - I mean maybe there is, we live under capitalism for example, but we still make choices. To take that way from people is to deny them agency. To take it away from characters is to make them boring.
i truly am baffled by some of the cr fandom when it comes to the topic of the gods and c1 and death in general because. the raven queen didnât kill vax. in fact she gave him more time. she Does get the blame from keyleth and some from vex but even those two by the end were more so just holding grudges wrapped up in their own issues that were exacerbated by vaxâs choices. but it was always vaxâs choice. which, yâknow, iâm aware of a portion of the cr fandomâs propensity for dismantling every interesting choice a character makes into something forced upon them, but the role of fate in exandria has never been like bad faith you must adhere to the path chosen for you, itâs much more like what brennan has spoken about wrt specificity: as one makes more choices they become more particular to a given outcome. but thatâs not some curse by the gods that dooms characters thatâs literally just. what living is.
and of course death is a complicated thing that everyone approaches differently but. god the amount of people who view vaxâs dynamic with the raven queen as an injustice or his death as some unforgivable thing the raven queen caused some how? in the words of laura bailey, Were We Watching The Same Orb? it isnât an injustice that vax, completely willing to pay whatever it cost him to save his sister, was bound to the Deal He Agreed To. his role as the champion was one he found meaning and purpose in. further, it was the raven queen that allowed him to be resurrected later in the campaign. like, it isnât fair that vax had so little time but it is time he chose and time he was given, but vox machina tends to fall on the reaping the benefits side of unfairness of power in exandria. if what makes the gods â particularly the matron of ravens â irredeemable is that they have the power to make choices that mortals canât like denying someoneâs resurrection, how irredeemable must the group of heroes called vox machina (whose members drop like flies to be revived moments later) be to the everyday person who just has to watch the people they love die and make peace with it?
of course it sucks that vax could not have a happy ending or epilogue like the rest of vm, except of course, vex has a family and is happy and loved, and keyleth is strong and alive and protected, and i think that looks a lot like what vax wanted most.
#i remember in mcu fandom#the extent to which tonky stans bent over backwards to justify his actions#usually by removing all agency from him#and... you understand how that is more boring right#how that removes nuance from all characters involved right#people are messy. good characters ARE MESSY. and CR has some INCREDIBLE character work!#'oh the RQ is the root of all evil' bitch she is doing her job and being very open about it#vax made his own choices#deal with it#cr meta#cr c1#cr s1#vax#tag meta
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An ongoing theme, with regards to the gods (as opposed to Predathos and the Imperium) is that of free will. The gods are stringent in collecting on promises made, and the Betrayers will use initial consent as license to act freely, but itâs notable, in a campaign where nearly all the main player characters are shaped by entities that never once gave them a choice, the gods require an invitation. Except, worryingly, Predathos, a being of nigh-divine powers who does not seem bound by this limitation. And, of course, mortals can do as they will.
When Lolth overtakes Opal, the fact that Opal assumed both the crown, and the title of champion, willingly, is repeatedly mentioned, in DM narration and by Lolth herself. Lolth also mentions to Dorian, (perhaps untruthfully, though the events of EXU indicate this might be genuine), that she wished for him to become her champion instead - but he did not put on the crown, so she canât have him. Obviously, Lolth takes many liberties with Opal once given entry, but she can only speak to people or act through someone who has permitted her. We see this too with Asmodeus: it is ultimately Zerxusâs choice not to walk away and face his death, but make good on his pact; some degree of initial consent is needed. Kânauth and Judicators are also both explicitly described as voluntary: once permission is given, they are bound, but this is no different than the contracts of warlocks and notably, with the gods, while weâve seen them make deals under dire straits, weâve never seen such unwitting participants in their pacts as Fjord with Ukâotoa or Laudna with Delilah among the gods. All entered in control of their faculties, to our knowledge, though not necessarily with the full knowledge of what it entailed.
The Prime Deities are differentiated from the Betrayers in that they continue to provide free will to their champions and their faithful. The Raven Queen accepts Vaxâs trade of his life for Vexâs, given without any direct communication from her, but she quickly does begin to communicate clearly; when Vax communes with her in Duskmeadow, she tells him what she wishes, putting him much more at ease. Later, after his death, she gives him an option to either remain dead, or to have a little more time left with Keyleth, Vex, and the others of Vox Machina before he completes his task and returns to her, and he makes a choice. When Morrighan asks for guidance, the Raven Queenâs response is to ask âwhy are you fighting, and what are you fighting for?â and stresses that she wishes to lay out the exact terms before Morrighan agrees to anything. When Percy asks her what to do she, ironically enough for a goddess of fate, tells him he possesses the capacity to do great things of his own accord. All of Vox Machinaâs divine favors come willingly, only after a conversation; the Wildmother first reaches out to Fjord before he decides to accept. And mortals have the capacity to resist even these promises; Opal is only partially successful but she does not give the Spider Queen two deaths and she does not leave alone. Fyâra Rai finds herself able to go against Lolthâs wishes even when the Wildmother does not wish to intervene; it is her choice not to kill Opal but to go with her.
When mortals express doubt in the gods, itâs typically not their actions. Itâs because they donât think they meddle in the matters of mortals enough. As mentioned, Percy struggles with the open-ended nature of the Raven Queenâs advice. Essek, frequently considered an âanti-godâ character is actually quite mild in his doubt and ultimately more frustrated at the clerics of the Kryn Dynasty than the Luxon itself (put a pin in that). Ludinus Daâleth states the gods should have prevented the Calamity, despite us knowing that the Prime Deities avoided intervention and that ultimately, while the Calamity had a number of causes, mortals (Vespin, Laerryn, much of the city of Avalir) were at the root. Ashton and Imogenâs frustrations with the gods have both ultimately been that they asked for assistance and did not receive it.
The extension of the Prime Deitiesâ belief in the free will of mortals is sufficiently strong that even during the Age of Arcanum, when many mortals rejected them, and when they did not require mortal intermediaries, they still chose to preserve it until the Calamity began. Each major action by the gods as a group is ultimately one to preserve themselves (the sealing of Predathos; the destruction of Aeor; the current campaignâs truce) or to preserve mortals (the Primes during the Schism and in creating the Divine Gate).
Contrast this with Delilah, who seizes control of Laudna and who is never stated to have asked permission for any of her actions. Compare to FCG, designed by Aeorians to lose control and kill. Compare to Chetney, bitten by a werewolf in the wilderness (and the others of the Gorgynei as well) - indeed, what control he has is the legacy of magic granted by the Raven Queen and by a nature spirit tied to the Wildmother. Contrast this now with Predathos, whose Ruidusborn had no say in this connection and indeed, many are motivated in service to Predathos with the goal of freeing themselves. Enforcers within the Kreveris Imperium refer to themselves as The Will, and Elder Barthie refers to those who oppose them as being made âpliableâ. Chetneyâs loss of control under Ruidus is deliberately triggered by the Weave Mind, with whom he made no deal.
If we (in my opinion, rightfully) reject any argument that denies the right of sentient entities to self-preservation, we are left with the following accusations of the gods: failing to stop wrongdoing by mortals (both in their name and unrelated); and acting in accordance with pre-existing agreements. The latter we can also reject; it is not perhaps kind of the gods to hold people to their contracts, but this is not unique to them and as discussed extensively above, they do require that, at least initially, the promise be made willingly.
The former, unfortunately, will not be stopped by destroying the gods. Ultimately, such people as Tuldus, BorâDor, and the people of Hearthdell were oppressed by their fellow mortals. In-world, we have seen zealotry in the name not just of the Prime Deities but that of countless lesser ones, notably Ukâotoa; if only the Prime and Betrayer gods are at stake, this simply creates a power vacuum to be filled by other entities vastly more powerful than mortals. On the other hand, should all power-granting entities be devoured, setting aside the upheaval this will cause in society, this leaves no shortage of room for oppression on the basis of race or political affiliation, both of which weâve seen. The TalâDorei Campaign Settingâs original incarnation, prior to the further development of Wildemount for Campaign 2, even stated the Dwendalian Empire forbade all religion and was still an authoritarian one. Colonization is the end goal of the Weave Mind and indeed the motivation for killing the gods per Edmuda. It also is not unheard of on Exandria for reasons not attributed to religion, notably the settling of the Menagerie Coast by Marquesians, and TalâDorei (formerly Gwessar) by human settlers from Issylra. And, of course, as we know in our real world, you do not need provable deities for religion to develop nor for colonization and oppression. Mortals do these things in reality and Exandria, whether or not the gods exist, and destroying the gods in Exandria achieves no prevention, only carnage.
Returning, finally, to Essek: when we look at the major characters who are PCs or are aligned with them who have expressed frustration with the gods, the only one who has much of a case for being influenced by the actions of a deity is Percy, who is staunchly on the side against Predathos. One could split hairs and note that Vecna was not a deity at the time of the murder of Percyâs family, his own torture, and the destruction and occupation of Whitestone, but rather merely a power-hungry wizard extending his lifespan via unscrupulous means, but Percyâs own choices render this moot. Meanwhile, the gods simply did not alleviate Imogen and Ashtonâs experiences, both of which were in part due to powers caused by entities the gods, in fact, failed to sufficiently destroy (Predathos and KaâMort specifically) and mostly perpetuated by mortals reacting to Imogenâs abilities or Ashton finding themself orphaned on the outskirts of a notoriously rough city and later, caught as the fall guy in a failed heist by a morally questionable wealthy collector.
It is my belief that Keylethâs anger is, on some level, extended towards someone who canât respond nor change and who she feels she cannot be angry at, and that is Vax. Vax made the deal and the Raven Queen collected; Vax decided to take the Raven Queenâs second offer. He was forced into neither, and as discussed later, he likely would have responded poorly to a True Resurrection attempt given his faith. Vax is dead because of Vecna, but neutralizing Vecna didnât fix it. I think Dorianâs anger at Lolth meanwhile is valid, but itâs also something Iâd imagine he feels he cannot direct towards Opal, even though her actions are a part of it. And Iâm sure both Keyleth and Dorian blame themselves, to an extent, whether or not that is rightful. The gods make just as convenient a scapegoat for those hurt by mortals as they do an excuse for cruelty. But I donât think killing them will bring back Vax, and certainly not Cyrus. Much as Derrig and Will and four other Ashari lie permanently dead at the hands of Otohan Thull despite her demise, and Orymâs trauma remains, killing the gods will not undo what happened to Imogen or Ashton. And since their main crime is considered to be inaction, killing them does not end suffering (and, indeed, should we dig into the infrastructures of Exandrian society and cosmology, may very well drastically increase it). It merely confirms that no one will receive their favor rather than only some; a bringing everyone down to your misery rather than striving to elevate all. An apt, if slightly tongue-in-cheek comparison to the real world is the fact that the cause of student loan forgiveness has been hamstrung and neutered by people furious that, since they didnât receive help, no one else should - it is a self-centered and retaliatory mentality to lash out so far in jealousy that one would willingly destroy the life of another with the goal of increasing universal suffering.
Sources:
Timestamps available upon request but here are the episodes Iâm drawing from. Printed works include pages.
Lolth, Opal, and Dorian: see 3x92-93; see also EXU Prime episode 8, EXU Kymal episode 2 for Opal willingly accepting and EXU Prime episodes 5 and 7 for the Spider Queen trying to get Dorian to put on the circlet.
Kânauth: EXU Calamity episode 2
Asmodeus and Zerxus: EXU Calamity episode 4
Judicators: 3x43
The Raven Queen and Vax: notably 1x44 (initial deal), 1x57 (Duskmeadow communion), 1x103 (her offering him the choice to pass or to become a revenant). Percy is also in 1x57.
The Raven Queen and Morrighan: 3x93.
Vox Machinaâs divine favors: 1x104-1x106
Fjord and the Wildmother: 2x65; powers granted in 2x76.
Fyâra and the Wildmother: 3x93
Essekâs feelings: see the final portion of this excellent post from essektheyless
Ludinus on the gods: 3x45
For causes of the Calamity, see EXU Calamity in its entirety, but Vespin specifically is episode 4, many of Avalirâs actions (including ignoring the hall of prophecy) are episode 2, and Laerryn denying the Arboreal Calix needed energy and casting Blight are in episode 3).
Ashton on the gods: 3x65
Imogen on the gods: 3x79
See page 12 of The Explorerâs Guide to Wildemount regarding the Prime Deitiesâ choice not to enforce their will during the Age of Arcanum.
Sealing of Predathos: 3x43; destruction of Aeor: EGTW 121; Truce mentioned in 3x67 and has appeared in 3x89 (Vezoden) and 3x92-93 (The Wildmother and Lolth).
Schism: EGTW 12; Divine Gate EGTW 13-14.
Delilah seizing control: 3x23
FCGâs design: 3x32 and 3x45
Chetney and Gorgynei (history and control): 3x40-41
Weave Mind control of Chetney: 3x91
Goals of Ruidusborn: multiple but see 3x48 and 3x89, 3x92 for a strong example with Liliana.
Imperium practices: 3x84
Tuldus: 3x44. BorâDor: 3x63. Hearthdell: 3x60-61.
Actions of Ukâotoa: much of Campaign 2 but notably 2x98 and The Mighty Nein Reunited.
Original description of the Dwendalian Empire: TalâDorei Campaign Setting (not Reborn) page 99
Goals of the Weave Mind: 3x85
Colonization of the Menagerie Coast: EGTW 17 (largely a peaceful one); Colonization of TalâDorei: TalâDorei Campaign Setting Reborn page 18 (explicitly stated to be against the wishes of the elves; led in part to the rule of Drassig and Scattered War).
Percy and Vecna: Vecna ascends in 1x106; the events of the Whitestone Occupation begin prior to campaign 1. Percy is in multiple war councils against the Vanguard and notably appears in the plans for a distraction to allow Bells Hells to take the Bloody Bridge in 3x81.
Imogen and Predathos: the revelation that Predathos may be within exaltants comes in 3x92; 3x83 and 3x87 both have involuntary experiences due to Predathos and see Lilianaâs arguments in 3x48 as well as Imogenâs discussion of Gelvaan.
Ashton and KaâMort: emotional fallout most notably in 3x78; Evontraâvirâs description of what happened with the shard in 3x74. Memories of the Hexum Manor heist can be seen in 3x35.
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God I am genuinely so impressed with how they managed to adapt the Chroma Conclave Arc into a single season of animated television. While there is so much of the Chroma Conclave arc that I love that they cut (I am actually very disappointed to not have gotten "call me child one more goddamn time" cause that is my favorite moment of the whole campaign) the way they ended up splitting the party to handle all the different moving pieces: Vorugal, Dis, Glintshore, Thordak, Raishan makes a ton of sense.
gif by @strolling-through-emon
Having the trip to Hell and trip to Draconia coincide, I was honestly initially a little confused as to why they needed to split the party there. But I ended up screaming at my TV about how brilliantly they handled getting the extremely iconic Yenk v. Vorugal fight on my screen. Oh it was so much fun to watch.
gif by @strolling-through-emon
While it does cut the drama a bit to lose the team how do you want to do this? during Glintshore, Vex's "i want an arrow through her heart and one through her mouth as she screams" is by far the most memorable part of Ripley's death (imo) and Vax plays a (haha) critical role in getting Percy back as the patron to the Raven Queen in the animated series, as a way to set up Vax's situation during the Vecna arc. So sending Vex and Vax to do the Ripley fight without the rest of the team was a smart play. And the whole team gets to be there for the resurrection, so you still get the beautiful moment of care, of everyone being there for Percy in death even if it's not on the shores of Glintshore.
gif by @strolling-through-emon
Grog and Pike hanging back to deal with Scanlan makes sense as the people that are the closest to Scanlan in the party. Pike going to find Kaley is the only choice in Scanlan's absence because in the original campaign Scanlan entrusts Pike with looking after Kaley should something happen to him. We got Grog's fix him moment, and we were able to get the Kaley and Scanlan reunion without having to dedicate time to the desecration and disrespect of Scanlan's body via the prank. I will miss the gut punch of "what's my mother's name?" because goddamn that was A Moment in the campaign, but also it was kind of a sticky situation in the actual game because Scanlan never talked about himself even when people did ask. We didn't need to navigate that piece of the puzzle in order to get the outcome of parting ways during the time skip between Chroma Conclave and Vecna. That said, I do think we miss out on seeing Scanlan without his performer's mask on as a result of skipping A Bard's Lament.
gif by @epicnessunfolds
Keyleth going off on her own was a great way to handle her overcoming her mounting insecurity, she needs to learn how to be a leader, she needs to recognize her own strength. We got "I have passed through fire" as a nod to Patrick Rothfuss/Kerrick since he was cut from the show. It makes sense to have kept Percy dead throughout the Ripley and Raishan fight because Percy was very dead during both of those fights. And while Feeblemind (another favorite moment of mine) definitely did not make sense as a spell in this dragon fight, Keyleth got her feeblemind moment with the spreading of the disease at the end of the Raishan fight, and it's interesting because the way they animated the disease mimicked how Matt described the Feeblemind taking root in Raishan during that fight in the og campaign.
gif by @fairymonk
I'm so curious how I would feel about the changes they made to this show if I didn't know the creators of the original materials were the ones in control of the animated series. Like I sleep a lot more soundly with the death of Kash during the Thordak fight knowing that it is highly likely that Will gave his permission for that, seeing as he was the voice actor for Kash, that Mary is the voice director for the show, etc. I think I would have been a lot more upset at Pike being the one to take out Thordak's gem instead of Vex if I wasn't absolutely certain that there was a discussion about giving Pike that moment to shine. We lost Pike's divine intervention punching Vorugal out of the sky, so it feels like a fair trade to give Pike the Thordak moment. Especially because Vax still gets to be the one to ultimately kill Thordak to avenge his mother's death and Vex gets to be the one to ultimately kill Ripley to avenge Percy's death.
gif by @hotcupofdragons
As always this is a show full of eye candy. The animation is gorgeous and I am so impressed with how vibrant and magical they are able to make the world, the fights, everything. I love finding easter eggs (I see you katzenprinz) and I like that this show manages to strike a balance between honoring the source material and being its own story. Here's to sobbing my way through the Vecna arc in Season 4!
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On the subject of Vex's flaws, I think it's interesting to compare and contrast the conversations she has first with Vax and then with Percy in 1x63. Right before the episode break, Vax goes to Vex to talk to her about the title Percy gave her and tells her that while he appreciates that it made her happy, to him it's like "gilding a lily" and that she's "already perfect" to him. She insists her strength is an act and he immediately replies "bullshit".
Immediately after the break, Vex seeks out Percy, and thanks him for the title and tells him how much it meant to her that he took up for her that way. Percy says a title is "mostly there to remind you you don't really need it" and "it doesn't change anything", and they have a brief discussion about the logistics of what her title means. He teases her that "I imagine you're eventually going to become very insufferable" but then adds that "you have to be".
Now on its face it seems like Percy's saying the same thing Vax is! But there are a couple of crucial differences. For one thing, the comments Percy makes about her becoming "insufferable" (and then that actually she should be) are clearly playful, but it's also an acknowledgment that she can be exasperating. Lighthearted it may be, but it tells Vex that Percy's not afraid of her flaws or put off by the ways she could potentially be annoying. For another, he openly admits that she doesn't actually have any landâthe land isn't his to give; it's Cassandra's, as the actual ruler of the city. Percy's promising her what he CAN give her, with an honest explanation of what that is. Like with the come-from-money conversation, he's being both kind and objective. It's at this point where he says a title "doesn't change anything", and I think that allows Vex to see his gesture for the totality of what it is and make her own choice about what she does with it. It's like the arrows; he's giving her the tools to forge her own path, trusting her judgment.
Now I'm not at all hating on Vax here, but I do think Vex's conversation with him revealed some flaws in their relationship. Vax only emphasizes how Vex is cool and strong, and when Vex directly states that it's an act, Vax dismisses this and says he needs her to keep being strong. And he clearly means well! But it's a fascinating choice from Laura to go from that conversation and then talk to Percy the first chance she gets, and one of the things that says is that Vex does not trust Vax's judgment of her in that moment. He's her brother, and he just explicitly said she's perfect! Vex has, by this point, started to see her own flaws clearly enough that just telling her how amazing she is doesn't address the issue, and she's less inclined to trust the opinion of someone who does it. She wants to know that someone can see her flaws, assess her honestly, and still love her.
And the conversation with Percy shows Vex someone who looks at her and sees through her, who has seen and done terrible things and is clever and pragmatic and ruthless, someone who does his best to evaluate a situation as objectively as possible and someone who's striving every day to become better. And that person trusts her, wants to see her succeed, and gives her everything he can to make that happen.
#cr meta#critical role#percy de rolo#vex'ahlia#perc'ahlia#me: what a pleasant evening i think ill just hang out for a few hours before downfall#percy and vex vice-gripping my throat: did we say you could relax :)
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Something I think about a lot in regards to Vaxâs deal with the Raven Queen is that Vox Machina could have brought him back from being Disintegrated. They talked about it at length before they went to sleep that night; Scanlan couldâve used Wish to turn a large enough creature (they joked about using Trinket) into enough diamonds for Pike to cast True Resurrection and bring Vax back even though his body had been destroyed. They just couldnât do it right away. Bringing him back was well within their powers, they just needed time.
But then the Raven Queen swept in and made her offer to Vax; die now or die later to serve as my Champion in exchange for me bringing you back right away.
This isnât to discount the fact that Vax made his choice when it came to serving the Raven Queen; I wholeheartedly agree that that was his own choice, not a debt like Keyleth believes it to be. But I do wonder, sometimes, if his answer wouldâve been different if he knew what his family was planning. And I wonder too if remembering that plan that wouldâve worked given time fuels Vex and Keylethâs bitterness towards the Raven Queen, on top of everything else.
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#obviously this is simplifying things. itâs entirely possible that the ritual for that True Resurrection wouldâve failed#and tbh I doubt the cast themselves remembers this happened#but I certainly do XD and it keeps me up at night lmao#I just find it interesting how differently things couldâve potentially been if theyâd been given the time to attempt that plan#which sounds shady to Matt but itâs not XD I have no gripes with how it played out in-game I fucking adore Vaxâs story#critical role#cr spoilers#vax'ildan#the raven queen#vox machina#cr meta#Quinn metas
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Sometimes I wonder at VM being so mad at the Raven Queen. She arguably did them a massive kindness. She accepted Vax's deal the first time to spare his sister, not by killing him, but by making him her champion. Then she accepted his next deal and returned him as a revenent without even clearly understanding why she should (she didn't really know about Vecna but Liam assumed she did so it was big missed high five of a conversation (I think this was when he turned revanent but not sure)).
That's not to say she did it just to be generous. Absolutely not. Her and Vax made deals. She upheld her end, and he has no issue upholding his end because he knows both him and Vex would be dead by now otherwise.
So I was always a bit baffled at VM's hatred of the Raven Queen.
But then I remembered, arguably, their most formative moment as a group was the Whitestone arc. Where they saved Percy from a bird-themed, masked entity that he'd made a deal with. They broke his deal, went against his own will at times, kept him, and it was all good and right.
Then they killed a would-be god. A god with powerful undead followers. A god who moved in shadows and secrets. A god who had tried to kill them and take them from each other. And that was all good and right too.
But now there's a god that reminds them of both Orthax and Vecna. A god who made Vax into an undead follower. A god who won't just let him come back without a contract, a debt. They're powerful, they could fight her. They've been put up against necromancers, dragons, an almost god...surely they could manage the next step up. Together. Like always.
But then Vax...says not to? Says it's ok? Accepts it? Vox Machina are the death denial champions. They haven't accepted death yet for any of them. Why would Vax, why would *now* be different? Surely it's like Percy and they should save him even against his will, right? Surely, even now, he's in this liminal space and could still come back if they just try hard enough.
Sometimes I wonder how different their tone would be on letting him go if any of the others had permanently died. If Vex had failed her persuasion check and Talisen ultimately let Percy die. If they'd rolled just a bit lower on any resurrection and had to actually accept death before.
But with how things went, it's really no wonder they can't move past the denial stage. They were primed to think this was something they could overcome one way or another.
Not to mention the above table aspect. Whether you like this DM choice or not, Matt has made a habit of dangling Vax in front of them. He's thrown down story elements that keep Vax attached to the world; "every day that raven comes to visit," "don't you even dare," it being canon that Vax has stepped in more than once to save Keyleth. He's made it so Liam doesn't even know what he can/should do with Vax.
Campaign 1 gave a beautiful goodbye to Vax. Scanlan's wish bent reality to let Vax "say a few words at his sister's wedding." But...now...is it implied Vax could have come back whenever? Is he in this in-between until Vex dies? Does he even know the parameters here?
So yeah. It's no wonder they're angry. It's no wonder they can't let go. They never had to learn how to let go of each other and he keeps coming back when the plot his god demands.
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I don't think Vax would "have severe trauma" from the Raven Queen any more than Vex would "have severe trauma" from the work she does for the Council of Tal'dorei and the Chamber of Whitestone, but I do think that, like it or not, Vax's role as champion has become an integral part of who he is as a person, and for all that the Raven Queen's hatedom likes to throw the word 'possessive' around, it strikes me as far, far more possessive and controlling to want to forcibly rip that part of Vax away -- denying his agency, overriding his choices, and completely ignoring his actual expressed feelings and opinions about his service to the Matron in the process -- because you think he should only be allowed to have the specific happy ending that you want for him.
Vaxleth isnât going to have a âhappy endingâ
Vax is going to still be 28 after 30 years
Keyleth is old as fuck and sheâs still going to out live him
Vax is going to have severe trauma from the raven queen
etc etc etc
do yâall even think of the bigger picture or just want NPCS and one old ass NPC to be together when the VA arenât even going to play them anywayđ all played by matthew mercer btw
didnât the cast say Keyleth needs to move on? maybe yall should be supporting her healing journey and not giving her more trauma when she out lives Vax anyway
#critical role#vax'ildan#what breaks my heart about keyleth's canon search for a way to resurrect him is the image of vax watching from afar#and wanting to tell her to let him go and focus on living her own life#because even if she did find a way to bring him back#he wouldn't necessarily go along with it#he made his choices#he knew the price#that beautiful moment when the soul transitions to a new purpose
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I find myself at odds with certain aspects of last night's episode of Critical Role (C3:E105). It's probably just my autistic brain getting stuck on things we've been told/have seen in the past standing in pretty much direct opposition to how they're being viewed/handled now, but I think I need to just put it out on the page to figure out exactly what it is that bothers me. Right now it's just vague, half-thoughts eating at the back of my mind.
I'll let my mind wander and ramble after the cut, but the essence of it is that I have a hard time believing that the leaders of the Raven Queen's temple would be so openly defend Laudna the way that they did.
Long, rambling train of thought brain dump ahead...
I have no problem with the character, it's been awesome seeing Marisha delve into this macabre identity. And it's obviously just a game and made sense in the moment to have someone with authority on death speak in defense of her in the meeting, but I question that temple specifically.
Each deity is given only three tenets- three sacred commandments to put upon their followers above all else that are supposed to be considered mandatory as part of their faith.
The Matron of Ravens Commandments are:
1) Death is the natural end of life. Grieve the fallen, but do not pity them. Exult in the time that they were granted. 2) The path of Fate is sacrosanct. Those who pridefully cast off destiny must be punished. 3) Undeath is an atrocity. Death is too good a punishment for those who pervert the rightful transition of the soul. - from the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn
The entire reason why Laudna is still "alive" is because of Delilah's necromancy. If that magic were to be cut off, she would die as it isn't the power of her soul and life force keeping her there.
Delilah's dark magic was granted as a boon in exchange for a pact with Vecna- one of the Matron's sworn enemies. For the power to return her love to her. Delilah is a large part of why Vecna was able to uncover the Matron's rituals to ascend to godhood in order to eternally defy death. He, and Delilah along with him, are an affront to the natural balance of life and death that the world hinges on.
Delilah's spirit still lives upon Exandria and hasn't found it's way to the Matron's halls... because of Laudna choosing to trap her in what we know isn't guaranteed to hold her forever. Any follower could capture Laudna and carve it out to restore her at any time, releasing the threat of everything the Matron despises upon the world. And, at that point, Delilah would no longer need Laudna.
She allowed Vax to return as a revenant only long enough to see that Orcus and Vecna were destroyed and only because he was her champion, working directly on her behalf before willingly leaving everything he loved behind to take up his new role.
Laudna is neither her champion nor even a casual follower, let alone a devoted one, AND she holds within her the spirit of a necromancer who has already proven she is willing to tear the fabric of reality apart to get what she desires.
I could see the Matron turning a blind eye in this moment, given the dire circumstances, but begrudgingly so. When all is said and done, I could see the Matron summoning Laudna into the blood pool and presenting her with a choice:
-Let Delilah's spirit go and cross over into death eternally, willingly, and hope that her friends can succeed at a high DC True Resurrection spell, returning her to the untrained sorceress she was before Delilah took her fate into her own hands...
-or-
-Accept that the Matron's champion will have no choice but to force the soul anchor holding Delilah from her, leaving her to be met with Delilah's fate of death with no hope of resurrection.
Because Delilah's spirit cannot be allowed to return to Exandria and neither Laudna nor Delilah will be leaving that space between worlds where they are currently. She must choose, and choose now...
...and that's when Matt ends the episode, leaving a heart-breaking cliffhanger that no one else in the party is even aware is happening. Laudna's spirit on a plane unreachable by any outside magics.
Just like the Matron could not promise longer lives for the Everlight's children moments after finally being accepted by her as family and, as she could not make exceptions for the love Vax and Keyleth shared when it was his time, she cannot make an exception for Laudna- not with this.
No matter how unfair it was that her life was taken so young for such evil purposes, she's hardly the first and certainly won't be the last to suffer such a fate. No matter that she (hopefully) saved the world- because didn't Vax do the same with no special treatment given to him when the job was done?
The one minuscule loophole that she is able to offer is the hope that someone might think to try and then succeed at a difficult True Resurrection spell, having to pull her soul through the muck and sludge of Delilah's evil- giving her another chance to start over and live the life thread that was stolen from her. Her very own Kingsley type resurrection, minus any memories. Laudna, as everyone knows her, will die with Delilah, but Matilda will get a second chance.
So, what will it be.
Willingly separate Matilda's golden thread from where Laudna and Delilah's threads begin-blackened by a necromantic disease spreading to, and infecting, nearby threads. Is she willing to let go of everything she's gained and experienced after Delilah brought her back as it is impossible to separate the threads binding them? or...
Willingly decide that she's ready to pass eternally through the veil as well, her memories as Laudna in tact if any of her friends or loved ones might find themselves in the same eternal resting place when their times come?
But that's just me. I'll obviously enjoy whatever Matt and the cast give us, this is their story and Matt's world. I just needed to get this all out of my head to process it.
#critical role#critical role spoilers#laudna#matron of ravens#I don't want the Matron to be the reason Laura loses ANOTHER character she's connected to in a campaign#It just feels more in line with what the Matron represents without needing to try to somehow retcon how her tenets affected past situations#Not seeking any drama or shipping discourse - Just a fan of the Matron and her true neutral place in the natural order#mindovermuses ramblings
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okay actually putting all the CR3 stuff aside to talk about Vax. for the record I haven't seen TLOVM and this is purely concerning Vax in CR1, and will completely spoil the end of the show.
I love Vax. He was always one of my favorites & I love Liam as a player.
He also fucking infuriates me & I think is the perfect example of a "Selfish Sacrificial Hero Archetype." I don't hold Vax fully accountable bc I think this can be partially attributed to Liam's playstyle & how Liam views the game. But I also know IRL Liam was going through a very hard period of his life and not to be parasocial I think some of Vax's behavior absolutely reflects that.
Vax's Achilles heel was his willingness to throw himself on any sword he can find to save the people he loves. Which seems noble on the surface, except he repeatedly puts himself on the chopping block when there is absolutely no need to. One of the most pivotal moments in his arc, the thing that set him up to become the Raven Queen's champion, was a deal that NO ONE ASKED HIM TO MAKE. He literally offers himself in Vex's place when there was no need to do that. When that is an incredibly selfish choice to make.
Imagine if the Raven Queen HAD taken Vax's life in exchange, which was his original intent in the first place. Do you think Vex would have been happy with that? Fuck no. It's this constant prioritization of his friends at the expense of his own life, in DIRECT OPPOSITION to his friends' wishes. Vax is not saving his friends for their benefit, he's saving ("savingâ) his friends bc HE can't live without them & I think there's a huge difference between those two. IMO he ultimately Does Not Care that his friends love him & that they'll grieve him if he were to die in their place, he only cares about HIS grief and HIS guilt. It's selfishness masquerading as love.
We don't know what would have happened if Vax hadn't become the Raven Queen's champion bc he never once tried or considered getting out of the shitty deal he made for no reason. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fitting & tragic & it's a story about believing so wholly that you have no future that you make it come true. (again putting all the CR3 stuff aside) And I do think he found some happiness & peace in being her champion, but I also think a lot of the Raven Queen's beliefs confirmed & enabled the self-destructive behavior that Vax exhibited long before she was on his radar.
Personally, I don't know if Vax ever fully believed or committed to living a happy life with Keyleth. Or even if Vax did, I don't think LIAM ever did. I think Vax/Liam were always attached to the idea of dying a tragic heroic death and that's ultimately what led Vax to walking into his own demise at the expense of everyone that loves him. Vex & Keyleth were able to accept his death & live on, but I don't think Vax could have ever done the same & that KILLS me.
I know I'm being harsh. But I watched this happen in real time, over the course of years, hoping & hoping that somehow, some way Vax would get his happy ending, watching my favorite character, Keyleth, mourn their relationship LONG before it ended, seeing what it did to her & everyone else to love someone who was so, so, SO willing to die for them but never once tried living for them. IMO there were a thousand different off-ramps that Vax could have taken to avoid what happened to him & he ignored every single one. And LIVING through that grief & dread & anger completely changed how I view heroes & self-sacrifice & self-destruction.
I adore Vax, he will always be one of my favorites, but part of me will never forgive him for gracefully & peacefully accepting his death loooooong before he died instead of fighting tooth & nail for a life with the people who would suffer if he were gone thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
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Vox Machina + Valentineâs Day
Percy De Rolo
Finds the whole holiday rather frivolous.
A whole day just to coo and moon eye at each other? Seems completely wasted.
But, he is a man of tradition. And traditions must be followed.
The obvious choice is jewelry. Something clean and elegant.
Or, if he was getting more in tune with the spirit of the whole thing, a music box. Hand crafted of his own design to play your song.
Vex
Incredibly flirty any other day of the week, so be prepared for it to be ten-fold.
Her mission in life for the day is to tease, taunt, and tempt her lover all day with her wiles.
Of which there are many.
The entire day would be like foreplay. Culminating in an almost violent passion of love making; followed by many other more gentle bouts.
Her gift would be an ornate arrow that she had carved out of one of her bolts, as a symbol of the cupidâs arrow that had struck her heart for you.
Scanlan
Never was a day more made for Scanlan.
Aside from being hopelessly addicted to âloveâ, Valentineâs day is a bardâs bread & butter.
A lot of coin to be made sing sweet songs to love struck couples.
Heâd invite you to the inn he was playing at and dedicate a special song to you. One he wrote of course.
The rest of the evening is yours, where heâll be at your mercy, for all the toe curling fun the two of you can cook up.
Vax
Genuinely forgets about the holiday. But heâs so suave that he plays it off like he hasnât.
He forgot because heâs terrible with dates & holidays. Not that he doesnât love you.
Vax thinks about you all the time, so one day out of the year didnât even register to him.
Rattles off some silver-tongued lie about a surprise he had in store for you. One he is clearly making up as he goes along.
It works out in the end as he led you on some far fetched journey to the top of hill or tower, where he presents you with some night blooming flower he had snatched long the way (like he planned it).
Keyleth
OhâŚ.our poor little turtle duckâŚ.
Extremely confident in the planning phase, but looses her nerve as the day comes around and she has to ask you to be her Valentine.
Wastes most of the day running away, or darting around corners, or babbling on as she canât get her words out.
Eventually, she does. In true Keyleth earnestness.
Gives you a potted plant she grew on her own, and enchanted to always thrive & bloom. Like her feelings for you.
Pike
Happy to just be around you. No matter what day it is.
Pike loves her friends but they can beâŚ.a bit much. So a day with just the two of you would be wonderful.
Would like to, for once, do tourist-y things around the town your staying at. She never gets the chance.
Take a break to make a small offering to the Everlight for her loving comfort and her continued protection of you.
Makes a small cake for the two of you to share while youâre out. Grog was the official taste tester.
Grog
Has zero idea what Valentineâs day is.
He doesnât get it. Doesnât get what itâs about. Doesnât get why this is a holiday.
Arenât you supposed to tell someone you love them all the time? Are you supposed to be around them all the time too if you love âem?
Tries to play along, but is really a disaster at stuff like this.
Gives you a big bear hug and takes you out drinking. If your going to celebrate thereâs no better way to do it than with ale!
#vox machina#the legend of vox machina#percy de rolo#vax'ildan#vex'halia#vex#pike trickfoot#scanlan shorthalt#grog#keyleth#keyleth x reader#vax x reader#vex x reader#vex'halia x reader#vax'ildan x reader#scanlan x reader#percy de rolo x reader#percy x reader#vox machina x reader#vox machina headcanons#vox machina hc#headcanons#grog strongjaw#valentine's day
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Every room in Scanlanâs mansion existed for a reason, as a conscious choice. He often changed the setup, and sometimes forgot to make a room, but a random chamber just popping up into existence for no reason was unheard of. (A few decades after Vecna, Kaylie comes across a room that doesnât make sense in her fatherâs magical mansion.)
(Shout-out to @mythtaker, whose post last March about Scanlan probably keeping Vax's room in his Magnificent Mansion nudged my brain until I could finally do something with it đ)
Still Life
Scanlan had changed addresses again since last time.
Kaylie let herself into the house after disarming the few traps he had told her about in his last letter. Just like heâd said, they were nothing fancy: just small precautions to avoid disgruntled former customers (or worse, the local competition) barging in unannounced.
The new house was small, but looked cosy, with high windows and whitewashed walls painted a light blue. The Marquesian sun flooded the coloured cement tiles of the study with a golden late afternoon sunlight. Her father, sitting with his feet on his desk and browsing through papers, didnât appear to notice either the beautiful light or his unexpected visitor.
Kaylie shrugged off her backpack and let it drop to the floor. The thump made Scanlan look up; the next second, he hopped down from his chair and ran to her, smiling from ear to ear.
âKaylie Shorthalt, apple of my eye, light of my days, vegan cream in my coffee ââ
âHey, Dad.â Tiredness kept Kaylieâs voice somewhat short, but the first thing she did after carefully putting down her violin case was give him a hug he happily returned. It had been a while since theyâd seen each other. âHowâs tricks?â
Even after all those years, the nugget of warmth curling in her chest when she met her fatherâs grin still caught her off-guard. Sheâd missed him, she could acknowledge that at least, but just how much she had still surprised her every time it hit her.
âTricks are going swimmingly, thank you for asking. Did you get Juniâs letter?â
âI did, yeah, just before I left.â
âOh, good. Well, it means Wax lost the bet, but she was worried.â
âWait,â Kaylie asked with the start of a grin she couldnât quite hold back, âwhich bet?â
Juniper and Wilhandâildan Shorthalt, even after leaving home for places of higher learning, still made a point of staying in almost constant contact with each other, their big sister, their Grog, and their parents, by means of letters, second-hand messages, or Sending Stones. Their correspondence included a lot of teasing, bets, and dares, some of which bafflingly silly sometimes. It had dumbfounded both Kaylie and Scanlan somewhat until Pike and Grog had assured them that it wasnât that unusual between siblings.
Scanlan waved a hand, drawing the suspense, of course.
âYou know the kids. I think this time a⌠goat was involved? Iâll tell you all about it at dinner. In the meantime, shall I fire up the mansion? For old timeâs sake?â
ââOld timesâ, yeah. Sure.â Kaylie rolled her eyes, but her smile stayed. It had barely been six months since the last time theyâd treated themselves to a nice stay in the Magnificent Mansion. Okay, it felt longer, but still. âI could do with a day at the spa anyway after all this heat.â
âThen itâs settled. Give me a minute.â
Scanlan rummaged in his pocket for the components, closed his eyes, and started to hum a tune Kaylie recognised as one sheâd been working on the last time theyâd seen each other. As always, the air around him went shimmery and warm, citrus and coriander with a dash of purple, and the door winked into existence.
Gnome-sized, of course. And flamboyant and magnificent and ridiculous in an endearing way, just like him.
He opened it for her with a bow and a flourish.
âLadies first.â
âShow-off,â snorted Kaylie, and walked in with her violin case, trusting Scanlan to bring her bag inside. Which he did, after a double take.
It was always easy to tell, from the look of the mansion, if Scanlan had spent time in TalâDorei recently. The layout was different, the ceiling a little lower, the hues a little softer. Some of Waxâs drawings heâd made while inside the mansion hung on the walls in frames; there were touches here and there in the decorations of Pikeâs blues and Juniâs golds amongst the pinks and purples. In the foyer, a sheet of paper covered in awkward letters bigger than Kaylieâs whole hand held pride of place on a sideboard along with a plate of cookies. She immediately pilfered a couple on her way inside.
âWhereâd you put my room this time?â she asked, rolling her head on her neck. Gods, it had been a long day. Make that a long week. Or a long fucking month, to be honest.
âGround floor, west wing, couple of doors to the hot springs. Iâll make the servants get started on dinner. Give me a yell if you need anything?â
âSure thing, thanks.â
Kaylie recognised her bedroom immediately: the door was open, welcoming her in. Scanlan had styled it the way she liked, cool and cosy but not stifling, light on the frills, with plenty of space to put her things away and all the tools she needed to take care of her violin.
The bed looked way too comfy. It was tempting to just faceplant in it and crash. But then, she reasoned, it would still be there after a long soak and a nice dinner.
She threw her bag over her shoulder, padded barefoot out of her room, and opened the second door to the left.
And paused, puzzled.
Every room in Scanlanâs mansion existed for a reason, as a conscious choice. He often changed the setup, and sometimes forgot to make a room, but a random chamber just popping up into existence for no reason was unheard of.
That⌠wasnât the hot springs. It was a bedroom, by the look of it, but a bedroom that didnât make sense.
âHey, Scanlan?â Kaylie called out, frowning. âWhatâs this room for?â
She didnât wait for an answer and stepped in slowly, taking in the dark furniture, the elegant carpet, the plants in large pots scattered across the room. The circular bed was unmade, like its owner had just stepped out. She ran her palm over the quilt, a light, fuzzy fabric meant to look like it was made from black feathers. Or maybe stylised leaves.
Something tugged at her memory.
âWhat room, Kayââ
The footsteps behind her came to such an abrupt stop Kaylie thought Scanlan had Dimension Doored away elsewhere. But when she looked over her shoulder, there he was, framed in the doorway like a painting and about as motionless.
He looked nothing less than stricken.
And that⌠was all the explanation she needed.
After the dust settled, after that last big fight, as she was recuperating in Whitestone in a bed too big for her â
(from her wounds, from dying, from coming back to life in her fatherâs arms with his tears in her hair and her blood on his chest)
â he had come back, bone-tired and too quiet, the smell of booze on him stronger than some of her best and worst benders, but alive. They had talked a bit about what she wanted to do, now that the world wasnât ending any more. She had pulled him into a hug, the only way sheâd found to say everything sheâd wanted to say without having words pulled out of her mouth like teeth.
It was only when she had come back from a much-needed nightly stroll and found him passed out at the foot of his own bed that she had realised he hadnât said a single word about how the fight had gone down except We won.
What they had lost â who â had come up later.
Kaylie didnât have many clear memories of Vaxâildan. The other members of Vox Machina sheâd mostly learned to know after they disbanded. With the exception of her father â and a memorable conversation with Vexâahlia, still vivid despite the fog of alcohol (But thereâs a chance we can bring him back, if youâre willing to help) â the shape they had in her mind was a product of time in a new world, one that no longer involved escaping from dragons or being kidnapped and brainwashed by an asshole god. Vax would forever belong to that former world. The only remnants she had of him were a vague silhouette in dark clothing, a sharp grin, a surprisingly soft voice.
And the taste of blood in her mouth.
The last and strongest memory Kaylie had of Vax was his scrunched up face, contorted by guilt with tear tracks on his cheeks, open hand thrust forwards as Gilmore whisked her and Cassandra de Rolo away to safety. To this day she still viciously hoped some of that guilt was for her, too.
After all, she was the one heâd killed.
And then he had died (or perhaps before and it just took a while to really take, she had never been clear on the timing), and in the process had somehow gained the power to crack Scanlanâs heart right open.
So maybe Kaylie had ambivalent feelings about the guy.
But she was also very aware that saying fuck âim would not help at all in this situation.
âOh, Dad.â She shook her head, but purposely kept her voice gentle, filing down some of her sharp edges for once. âStill, huh?â
Shock rippled on his face at the sound of her voice. It made him look a little less like someone had just punched him in the stomach.
ââŚI meant a couple of doors on the right,â he said in a small voice.
Heâd sounded worse before â hell, heâd looked worse before, she had once seen his lifeless body laid out on an altar after getting ripped apart by a dragon â but something still tugged at her heart at that.
âYeah, well. The spa can wait. Whatâs up with that?â She stepped towards him, telegraphing her movements, like he was a horse who might bolt if spooked. âWhy did you make that room? You know thatâs⌠thatâs not a good idea, right?â
âI didnât make it make it,â Scanlan protested with a little more life. âI just⌠didnât not make it.â
âOkay, but why now?â
Silence.
Kaylie stared at Scanlan.
âYou mean you donât make it on purpose? It just pops up every time?â
âNo! âŚYes. Kinda? Look, the mansionâs a complicated spell, okay? Itâs not even proper bardic magic in the first place. Iâve been casting it for years and Iâm still not a hundred percent sure how it works.â
His eyes stayed mostly on her, but every now and then they strayed to the left, to the coverings, the bed, the plants. However his body still seemed rooted to the spot, and Kaylie was suddenly struck by a flash of insight.
âDad, did you â have you ever actually stepped foot in there? You know, since he died?â
Scanlan went very still.
(How the hell did he manage to fool anybody, Kaylie wondered as her heart sank in her chest. How good a liar did that make him, really, that she managed to see right through him every time?)
She shook her head again.
âYou havenât, have you. Decades of making this room without even thinking about it and you never⌠Godsdammit, Dad.â
âI canât, Kaylie,â he said, barely audible. âItâs not⌠I wouldnâtâŚâ
Scanlan Shorthalt at a loss for words was a unique phenomenon that could be two things: downright hilarious or powerfully awkward. A very rare third kind of outcome, the instances of which Kaylie could count on the fingers of one hand and a half, was snapping your heart clean in two. And for someone like her, who prided herself on always keeping that soft, vulnerable part of herself safe from all hurt⌠Well, it sucked. To put it mildly.
Kaylie sighed.
Then she took her fatherâs hand.
âYouâre a fuckinâ idiot,â she said gently, and pulled him into the room.
She didnât have to tug very hard. Scanlan stumbled after her easily. The next moment he absent-mindedly straightened his vest and looked around at the room as though he was seeing it for the first time.
The room, not the contents. It was obvious, from the way his gaze lingered on this and that, how he snorted at the sight of an armchair pillow embroidered with two tiny figures inside a giant black dragon, or smiled at a painting that depicted a bunch of cows and a giant bird, of all things, that the objects that populated the space were familiar, or at least brought up memories.
Kaylie gave him a moment, then climbed onto the human-sized (or rather half-elf-sized) bed, letting her feet dangle over the edge. The movement must have caught Scanlanâs eye; he turned, and after a while shucked off his shoes and clambered up, too.
The silence between them lasted long enough that Kaylie started to wonder whether she should summon one of the mansionâs creepy ghost servants to get herself a drink. But she had cut down on daytime drinking a lot these past few decades, particularly since Juniâs birth. Putting the kibosh on Scanlanâs meat consumption had been a gag at first â plus chicken for breakfast, lunch, and dinner got old fast â but the excuse of eating healthy to live longer had had some truth behind it. Behind the sarcasm sheâd actually wanted her father to stick around, and you kinda had to stay alive for that. It had taken her a few years after that to realise that getting too fucked up too often would make her less inclined to stay alive, too.
Scanlan had stuck by the vegan diet, and Kaylie had cut down her drinking rather dramatically.
But damn if her fingers didnât still itch for a pint, sometimes.
âSo,â she said, if only to hear something. Dammit. She had counted on Scanlan being the first to open his mouth â he usually was. âThatâs a nice bedroom. This bedâs comfy.â
âI should hope so,â said Scanlan, his voice almost normal by now. Almost. âNothing but quality in my Magnificent Mansion.â
âNo mirror on the ceiling in this one?â
âNah, not this time. But I think everybody had one at some point? Gods, itâs been ages. Anyway, I made up for it. Look in the⌠I think itâs in the bedside table on the left.â
Against her better judgement, Kaylie shuffled to the bedside table. Inside it was a book with a title in Marquesian which in Common translated to The Lotus and the Butterfly.
She raised an eyebrow.
âIsnât that the one withâ?â
ââwith beautiful traditional Marquesian illustrations going back two hundred years from the best artists in Yios, yes.â
âI was gonna say âthe sex positions guidebookâ, but sure, letâs go with that.â She shook her head. âI thought you couldnât leave anything from the Material Plane in the mansion?â
âYou canât. I had the servants make it special from a copy I picked up once at a casino.â
âThe one you got scammed in?â Kaylie asked with a grin, making Scanlan roll his eyes. She leafed through the book idly, gaze quickly flitting over text and pictures, neither really registering. âAnd you just. Left that in your friendâs bedside table. Like thatâs not fucking weird at all.â Her head snapped back up as a thought hit her. âWait, did you⌠Did you ever hook up with him, back in the day?â
In the two seconds it took for Scanlan to open his mouth, eyes wide, she decided she didnât need to know the answer. Those two had been good friends and clearly loved each other a lot; whether sex had been involved or not was irrelevant.
She steered clear of sentiment, though, out of habit.
âWait, donât answer that. Sorry. Gross, shut up. Still, what the hell? Was it supposed to be some kind of prank?â
âWell, no, I⌠Okay, maybe just a little. Once I finally got that he and Keyleth were actually, like, A Thing, I put the book in there whenever I made the mansion. Mostly I figured they might need, uh⌠not exactly something to help them get it on, but just⌠ideas, you know? It took them long enough to realise they both wanted to boink, just thought I might aid a little in that department.â
Kaylie stared at her father, not knowing whether she might facepalm or laugh herself sick.
âSeriously.â
âHey,â Scanlan pointed out, âit was them or Vex and Percy, and once they figured out their own shit they didnât need any incentive to jump each otherâs bones! Man, Iâm still surprised they stopped at five kids and didnât go for the full bakerâs dozen.â
Once upon a time, this wouldâve been a golden opportunity for her to say something scathing about accidental children. The Kaylie from three decades ago would have verbally eviscerated present-day Kaylie for letting that opportunity pass by. But then again, being her three decades ago had been fucking exhausting. Sure, she sometimes missed the viciousness she had let go of over the years, but sheâd also lost some fears and gained a little peace of mind. Overall, not a bad bargain.
She settled for a snort and put the book back in the bedside table. Then she made herself comfortable on the bed, leaning back and kicking her feet a little.
Surprisingly, Scanlan didnât add anything. He rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his arms and gazed vaguely ahead with an odd expression, for him.
âHey, Dad.â
âHm?â
Godsdammit. Pike would be much better suited for this.
Kaylie resolutely kept her own gaze in front of her and didnât look at him.
âYou do realise itâs⌠okay if you donât make this room? Maybe not next time, but like⌠the time after that. I donât think heâll mind, I mean⌠Itâs not⌠It wouldnât be betraying him is what Iâm sayinâ.â
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him turn his head towards her a little, but he remained uncharacteristically silent and still.
âItâs nice that you kept his stuff. No, I know, itâs not really his stuff, but you know what I mean â itâs, uh⌠itâs a thoughtful gesture. Wherever he is Iâm sure heâd appreciate it. ButâŚâ
How did people do this? Say words that werenât even spells and fixed things somehow? Her music could break and heal alike, but that last part felt closer to tying a tourniquet on a bleeding limb: a tiny thing that might keep you from dying just now, but a far cry from magic that knitted bones back together or breathed life back into corpses. She had sung away the hurt from Juniâs scraped knees or Waxâs scratched elbows a few times when her little siblings were kids. She might as well be trying to do the same now on a decades-old wound that somehow still found a way to bleed every now and then.
âBut⌠But thereâs better ways to remember him by. This is like⌠frozen in time. Like a museum, almost. Somehow I doubt thatâs what he was about.â
âItâs not,â Scanlan muttered. Then he cleared his throat and added, without the crack in his voice this time, âI mean, yeah, he was⌠He was, uh.â
She pretended not to see him wipe his nose on his sleeve.
âHe had⌠a lot going on, once he got into his thing with the Raven Queen. That messed him up for some time. But even with all that, even when he went full emo goth chicken with one foot in the grave talking about death all the frickinâ time, he was⌠he was alive.â
Pause; a small snort of a laugh. When he spoke again he was smiling, but his voice was less than steady again. âNever seen a dead guy so alive, when I think about it.â
Kaylie waited for him to continue. When it became obvious that nothing more was coming, she bit back a sigh, then shuffled closer.
And closer. Just close enough to lay her head on her fatherâs shoulder if she slumped a little.
(Ever since sheâd first laid eyes on him sheâd always been a little taller. That heâd never been there while she was still small enough to hold and carry was one of the things she still was angry at him about occasionally â and angry at herself for it. She was tough and strong and a grown-ass adult, godsdammit, not a bloody child.)
After a while, Scanlan laid his head against hers, giving her time to slip away if she wanted, like he usually did.
âDidnât you want to go to the spa?â he asked quietly.
Kaylie gave a one-shoulder shrug, careful not to jostle their skulls against each otherâs.
âI will. In a while.â
âI included the steam room again.â
âGood. Itâs nice. Also pretty.â
âWell, you deserve the best.â
âDamn right I do,â she murmured.
Maybe he wasnât the best father. But he certainly wasnât the worst sheâd thought he was for the first two thirds of her life. Sure, the space between their souls had its share of broken things, but in time they had built trust, and affection, and unspoken words that warmed rather than hurt.
She shifted, just enough that she could kiss his temple just above his ear â a little smaller than her own, one of the few physical traits he didnât pass on to her â and give his hand a squeeze for good measure, lightning-quick.
Then she settled against him again before he could say anything.
The room was not haunted. In two dozen hours it would disappear, along with the rest of the house; one day it might cease to exist altogether. And maybe, between the two of them (beating hearts, warm bodies, lungs drawing breaths in tandem with one another), they could lay some old ghosts to rest.
#critical role#vox machina#tlovm spoilers#cr1 spoilers#kaylie shorthalt#scanlan shorthalt#fanfiction
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Hi! Because I genuinely do love your take on things and every time I read through them, a new perspective that I had never even considered before makes itself known to me. So, I wanted to ask! Since Twitter (unsurprisingly) already got its hands on this discussion:
What are your feelings on the Mighty Nein being the ones to handle the Weave Mind over Bells Hells? Because for me, I always sort of knew that BH were going to be the ones to defeat Ludinus no matter what. Itâs what theyâve been building up for.
However, some people say the M9 arenât deserving of handling the Weave Mind because that was an antagonist made specifically for the Bells Hells. So, I was interested in seeing your thoughts about this (strange) discussion.
Hi anon, thanks!
I think it's great to have the Nein go after the Weave Mind, and I think, like most takes from the Twitter CR fandom, this is fucking stupid.
Given that Matt is the DM, and he's like "hey, I'm going to have a Trusted NPC call in the Mighty Nein to deal with the Weave Mind" I think the argument that the Weave Mind was made specifically for Bells Hells is not, in fact, true. The Weave Mind is an antagonist who was introduced with Bells Hells' campaign, rather like how Ludinus Da'leth is an antagonist who was introduced with the Mighty Nein's campaign and who has been the nemesis of Beau and Caleb in particular, and yet Bells Hells will be going after him in this scenario (and, to be clear, I think this is fine; I've expected Bells Hells to face off against Ludinus in the end).
I would be interested in understanding if the motivation here is "I wish the Nein were going after Ludinus and Bells Hells were going after the Weave Mind" which I think is far less interesting given that Ludinus has been such a consistent enemy of Bells Hells as well but at least I can puzzle out a not terribly intelligent but consistent sort of logic in it; or if this is a "I wish the past two parties weren't involved in this campaign at all" argument in which case, far too late for that; or if this is someone who specifically doesn't like the Mighty Nein throwing yet another tiresome and embarrassing temper tantrum on Twitter. But my opinion doesn't change; I think it's far more satisfying to see Bells Hells take on Ludinus than the Weave Mind, whom half of them haven't even met.
More generally, the idea of "doesn't deserve to fight the Weave Mind" is stupid on another level. I understand why people talk about which actual play character they wish to get the final blow on a particular enemy, even though dice will ultimately decide this. When it lines up - Vax with Thordak, Yasha with Obann - it's immensely satisfying. But you do not need to be the most wronged person to make meaning of a How Do You Want To Do This (FCG and Otohan being an obvious case here). Technically, the Volition deserves to fight the Weave Mind more! Half of Bells Hells hasn't even encountered the Weave Mind in any capacity! Braius and Dorian haven't been to the moon! Sometimes, you're fighting because it's part of, for example, a three-pronged plan that needs three separate simultaneous strike forces. Bells Hells can't do all three at once despite having claims to each of the targets unless they split up. Would you rather the parties split up in a mix of each? Because I'm not opposed per se but that could get pretty confusing all around. And if we're going to step out of the Watsonian argument that in-world, they can't do all three at once, see my next paragraph to address the Doylist "but Matt didn't need to set it up this way" one.
I am on the record as loathing the whole "it's their table and you can't criticize it because it's their game" bullshit. You can do so. You can do so even if there are very good reasons for their choices. You're always entitled to your own opinion and as long as you're not harassing people, it is morally neutral to say "this piece of fiction/art/whatever didn't do it for me," end of sentence. With that said. It's fine if people wish Campaign 3, like Campaigns 1 and 2, were more exclusively focused on one party's adventures rather than the all-hands-on-deck story that it is. But it is that story, and pretending this wasn't the result of a number of intentional choices by Matt and the cast and various collaborators is profoundly stupid at this point. I had my complaints as well, early on, but the time to get over this was episode 1, when Orym and Fearne and Dorian and Bertrand showed up with their ties to EXU and C1. Or it was episode 6, when Laudna revealed her connection to Delilah. Or episode 35, when that connection to Keyleth was leveraged. Or episode 50, when Beau and Caleb appeared; or Episode 51, when multiple past PCs were present at the solstice; or Episode 66, when we further met with Keyleth; or Episode 86, when Sending came back on and both Caleb and Jester spoke to the party; or Episode 92, when we cut back to the Crown Keepers; or Episode 94, when Essek showed up; or Episode 99, when Downfall began. If you're still holding on hope now in the endgame, I think it's too late. That's not the campaign this is, and it never was, and you can wish that you had something more self-contained like Campaign 1 or 2 but with Bells Hells, but that's all it is - a wish, unfulfilled.
#answered#Anonymous#cr spoilers#critical role#cr discourse#just in case; i don't think anything here is terribly controversial
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feeling.... a lot of things about downfall for many reasons but one specific kind of random one is laura as the raven queen taking a pause and then saying "it is the path i chose" in response to the everlight saying that she has the hardest burden of all of them. and rembering vax's arc with the raven queenâchoosing to take the raven queen's bargain to return from death, scanlan calling it a brave choice (i don't know whether i think scanlan meant it but it's the words that interest me here), the final moments where all of vox machina tried everything they could think of to persuade the raven queen to let him go and vax made it very clear that he had accepted this and was prepared for it. it wasn't his choice to start with but it was his choice by the end, and the echoes of that through time as the raven queen (specifically as laura) says it of her own path
#i just think it's neat.#critrole spoilers#cr3#critrole#cr downfall#cr1#i looked up the scanlan quote bc i was looking to see if vax had ever said anything similar#this is just about vibes tho really
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"the tendency of this fandom to only engage with what THEY want these characters to be#as opposed to what their creators are trying to do and the stories they want to tell" slap this on a bumper sticker, you just summed all cr discourse (about PCs at least) in 2 sentences
It truly is maddening (and it's not by any means exclusive to the CR fandom). The reason why the discourse always goes the way it does is that at the end of the day, the loud fanwanky people only see what they would do, if they were self-inserted into the story, as a valid choice; and they are, more broadly, fundamentally disinterested in what others think or feel. There are several examples of this, and the variety of spaces within the fandom that produce these ideas is an indicator that this isn't endemic to one specific group of people.
-Keyleth is an important character whose feelings and choices are validated by the other PCs and cast even if they still disagree with them, in spite of how she and her preachiness get in the way of the Murderhobo Jubilee? It's not because the cast are all friends and they genuinely believe Keyleth is valid and are interested in how these discussions and choices can guide the story. It's because Marisha is the DM's girlfriend, and also here's my totally unbiased theory that my pet favorite players Sam and Travis secretly hate Marisha and Keyleth.
-Vax's presence is still felt and nodded to in the post-canon VM oneshots? It's not because he was an important character who mattered. It's because Liam wants to make everyone talk about his tragedy because he has Main Character Syndrome. Scanlan Wishes for Vax to appear at the wedding? It's not because he cares about Vex or because Sam and Liam wanted a sweet tribute to Vex and Vax's relationship and by extension Liam and Laura's friendship. It's because Liam thinks Vex's life should always revolve around Vax, and Sam wants to enable him and jerk himself off as the one who facilitated it.
-Beauyasha and Fjorester become canon? It's not because the players wanted it and it happened naturally. It's because there was a secret behind-the-scenes push to "force" those ships to become canon instead, and like, Dani Carr is some sort of shipping puppetmaster who made the players do it, and "they" (whomever "they" is) decided to sink Beaujester or Widojest because it was "obviously" going to become canon before the pandemic hiatus gave them time to "make the corporate-approved ships happen".
-Beau and Caleb try to reform the Empire and dismantle the Cerberus Assembly from within? It's not because it makes sense for their stories or that people who would take this position regarding a corrupt government might have a valid perspective that differs from your own. It's because the people at Critical Role Productions LLC are all spineless neoliberal cowards who won't commit to real activism. The best activism, after all, is violent, and violent revolutions have always resulted in stable aftermaths, and the real world has never demonstrated that this mindset is foolish.
-Relatedly: Caleb doesn't kill Trent personally? It's not because the most poetic justice would be to deny Trent the thing he wants most from Caleb. It's because "Limo Brain" is too obsessed with tragedy to have the stones to do "what needs to be done".
-Asmodeus, DnD Satan, turns out to also be CR Satan? It's not because it fits with the cosmology and the lore; it's because Matt Mercer is too attached to the "establishment", and the Prime Deities should have actually turned out to be the bad guys because of my personal baggage about Western religion and Christianity they're a little mean to my blorbo sometimes.
There's a pattern here: fans had expectations that they'd built up for themselves after projecting and building up fanon and deciding what players meant before they explained themselves fully, and when the players strayed from that, they were derided for all manner of reasons. I think we're seeing that same pattern play out in C3 as the story progresses in a way that fans dislike, and in fact we have seen fanwank spread whenever someone does anything that interferes with personally catering to a) the favored ship and/or b) the favored philosophy. (Orym, Ashton, FCG, Percy, Pelor...all valid when they affirm the Fandom Opinions and all disdained when they don't.)
Don't get me wrong, I think there's a place for comfort stories that deliver a personal catharsis. And I'm not going to dismissively say "well if you want it so bad make your own" because, as an artist, I am very familiar with the fact that creating is hard and draining and sometimes you just need to consume instead. But when you become so wrapped up in yourself and your feelings to the point where your perspective is the only valid one, someone else's feels like a betrayal when it isn't. It's always "They aren't doing what we wanted and here's why they're terrible people because of it" and never "Hmm, why is this what the cast wants? Let's examine that."
This isn't a new phenomenon, but I think it ultimately stems from not assuming that other people can differ from you in major ways in good faith. There are a lot of reasons for that (some more understandable than others), but I think you rob yourself of the potential to enjoy something new when all you do is demand what you already want. No matter what you're doing or where you are in life, you tend to become a better and wiser person when you open your mind to what other people have to say, no matter how mundane the subject matter. Sometimes the stories people have to tell are challengingâand the only healthy way to deal with that is to engage with them on their own terms.
#critical role#cr discourse#asks#long post#for the record i think VLD fandom became such a shitshow partially for this reason#but also. and admittedly i'm biased. VLD was basically a show for no one#this by the way is part of why a faction of fe3h fandom capes so hard for crimson flower (which is basically a glorified bonus route)#and absolutely abhors the idea of byleth being religious and enjoying her job as a teacher#and why some cr fans are so vehemently opposed to the prime deities being good and characters being connected to them#religious trauma that leads a character to reject religion and that being framed as a valid choice is okay to want to see#but it is also just as valid for a character to find religion to be a healing and positive experience#seriously 'gods bad' stories are not that difficult to come by. they're just not doing that in THIS story and you're mad about it#instead of doing the work of finding a story that WILL do that meaningfully
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Okay okay Iâve seen some takes regarding Orym on twitter (specifically about his relationship to Laudna) that I feel the need to refute but I have a lot of thoughts and also I donât want to get into fights so hi tumblr! rant below the cut đ
(tl;dr I think the bellâs hells are doing the best they can in a series of complicated situations, but people are expecting a kind of inter-party conflict to come from it that doesnât line up with the text and I donât get it, so I guess I must become Orymâs #1 defender, feat. a defense of the c3e63 decision, Ludinus Daâleth hate, and big big feelings about Keyleth and Vax)
Take: Orym is uncomfortable with Laudnaâs weirdness/creepiness, as evidenced by him always bringing it up and trying to hide and obscure her undead presence.
My opinion: Laudna loves the fact that sheâs creepy. She revels in it. Orym/Liam pointing it out in narration is part flavor text, part acknowledging an important aspect of Laudna. Itâs like how he always makes sure everyone knows that Orym is Small. Not to mention, Marisha brings it up in her narration as much as Liam does.
During Laudnaâs resurrection ritual, Orym says, âI donât know what Bellâs Hells will be without your darkness, Laudna. Or your light.â He values both sides of her!
Regarding Orymâs disguises for Laudna (i.e. dressing her in white in bassuras, adding flowers to her hair to give her more color in hearthdell), again I donât think this is a sign of Orymâs discomfort with her. Remember, Orym is a bodyguard. His job is to protect others, protect the group. Yes, several members of Bellâs Hells will draw eyes, but notably, Laudnaâbeing undead-ish, with the Unsettling Presence feature and a canonically scary physical appearanceâmight strike fear into others. And fear makes people more willing to resort to violence than, say, being surprised by the presence of a robot or a faun. Itâs not about making her palatable, itâs about keeping all of them safe. Itâs bodyguard behavior.
Also, Orym only does this when they are actively avoiding drawing attention to themselves, and as far as I know, Laudna has only had a problem with it once.
Take: Laudna looked to Ashton and Orym for what to do during the scuffle with BorâDor, and Orym encouraged her to let Delilah back in, all because heâs hell-bent on revenge and thinks he can use Delilahâs power to get it. He actively disregarded Laudnaâs well-being to further his own goals.
My opinion: No, she wasnât looking to them for what to do. Marisha said it herself: Laudna was barely present. She couldnât even hear Deni$e suggest keeping BorâDor alive; what makes you think sheâs going to see a singular nod from Orym 15 feet away? She had already done Hunger of the Shadow, was already cloaked in the âpurple-ish glowing hue that hasnât been seen in a while,â and Matt had mentioned the heartbeat long before Liam ever said anything. Laudna had already let Delilah back in before Orym nodded and before she killed BorâDor. It was a horrible situation all around, but Orym did not convince Laudna to let Delilah back in for his own purposes. It is not his fault that Laudna embraced Delilahâs power or that BorâDor died. Laudna made her choice, as heartbreaking and conflicting as it may be, so let her live with it.
And for the record, I think they were justified in killing BorâDor. He attacked them with a pretty powerful spell (he did Vitriolic Sphere at its baseline 4th level, which is the second highest level spell he had) and nearly killed Prism in the process. Yes, BorâDor did a bit of waffling back and forth between âIâm gonna kill you!â and âjust let me die,â but him being a pathetic mess is nothing new. He still tried to kill them all. If they let him live, there was no guarantee he wouldnât try it again.
I donât know how to impress this upon people who havenât already gotten it from just watching the show, but the Ruby Vanguard is a bad group. Ludinus Daâleth is a bad person. He may have convinced some members that his goals are noble, but they arenât. He is misleading people for his own gain, because guess what? The concept of free will exists even with the existence of the gods! People are allowed to worship them or not, and the gods arenât smiting people down for refusing to worship them (otherwise Keyleth would be long dead, yâall. she said out loud to the champion of the raven queen that they should use her power while it benefitted them and then find a loophole to get Vax out of her service. and she is so valid for that. 15/10 would do the same).
We had a PC, a dozen or so NPCs, and an entire arc last campaignâand then a whole 4-part series!âthat dealt with wizard hubris and its unfortunate consequences. Ludinus was one of those NPCs! What makes you think that Mr. âletâs steal a holy artifact and instigate a warâ âshould try friends sometimeâ âEssek looks forward to never seeing his face againâ âTrent Ikithon can keep abusing children itâs not my problemâ Daâleth suddenly has peopleâs best interests in mind?
He and the Ruby Vanguard need to be stopped, and Orym, being a person whose driving motivation is âto protect,â is willing to do what needs to be done, even when it sucks.
Take: ooohoohoo Orymâs alignment might be shifting! We need Dorian to get him back on track!
My opinion: No? To both these statements? Firstly, Orymâs alignment isnât shifting, at least I donât think so. Iâm not an expert on D&D alignments (I think they should be more descriptive than prescriptive/ultimately they matter less than character choices, arcs, and narratives), but I would guess that fighting to maintain the balance of nature and to stop those that would harm others for their own gain is still pretty in line with neutral good? I could maybe see an argument for that being more lawful good, but it didnât seem like those people were talking about a shift along the horizontal axis.
Secondly, I think Dorian would do the exact same thing Orym is doing. Was that not the whole draw of the Spider Queenâs crown during ExU Prime? Power to protect and save his friends? So I donât think Dorian would see anything wrong with how Orym is acting, much less take him to task over it.
Take: Look! Orym told Keyleth about Imogenâs mom and said âI donât careâ when Imogen complained! Bad! Mean! Selfish!
My opinion: idk that felt more like Liam being a brat to Laura than anything else.
Like, yes Liam/Orym had his own goals in that convo which were unexpected and uncomfortable, but I donât think he was wrong to point that out. The moment Keyleth swore to take down Liliana, you could feel everyone in Bellâs Hells get really tense, and I am certain that Keyleth, who has 20 wisdom and ~30 years of experience leading her people and politicking, clocked that instantly. And Orym would have clocked that immediately, and in an effort to make sure that their group had the confidence of a very powerful druid and world leader, decided that full transparency was the way to go.
And I donât know, this is largely speculation, but Keyleth having that information might mean that she will make sure Imogen doesnât have to be the one to take down Liliana? Or it might make her more sympathetic and willing to show some mercy to her?
Leaning more fully into speculation bc this relies mostly on inference and assumption: while I do think that Keyleth deserves to know whatâs going on with Vax, withholding that information at this juncture might have been another tactical decision from Orym. We donât know how Keyleth has mourned over the last 30 years, but we know that sheâs been angry and we know that losing Vax was and is devastating. I feel like finding out that the love of your life (âforever and ever and ever and alwaysâ âIâll never get over youâ) is suffering extreme torment such that the followers of his god are in a period of mourning, basically implying that youâve lost him all over again, that potentially the one reassurance that you would see him again has been ripped from you, etc., etc. would cause anyone to break down on a good day. Add on the fact that Keyleth is gravely, gravely injured, and youâre basically asking for her to be completely out of commission, because 1) holy moly talk about new trauma, old trauma, grief, longing, guilt, etc. bro Iâm an emotional wreck just thinking about Vax and Iâm not the one living through it, and 2) that would be a lot of stress on her already extremely stressed body, the consequences of which could be very bad.
Itâs a tough decision to make, and while Iâm not sure I 100% agree with Orymâs, I think itâs a defensible position.
Anyway thanks for reading this far, I hope you enjoyed my analysis. Again, I donât want to fight or get into arguments, but Iâm down for some brief discussions! Emphasis on brief because I can fall into a rabbit hole very easily, which means this will be the only thing I can think of and I have other things I want to do, shadowgast to write, fearnechetney to draw, and this post already took several hours over two days to write after weeks of mental build up.
#eve talks#I am a consistent liam and marisha character lover#so I am not enjoying the way the fandom is pitting two of my favs against each other#the struggles of loving imogen and laudna and imodna#but being scared of searching up stuff for them#bc I donât want to see ppl ragging on my boy :(#why do people want them to scream at each other#they love each other#not every conflict has a villain#and orym is not laudnaâs#cr spoilers#c3e66 spoilers#critical role#orym#cr meta#long post#ftr I referenced the transcripts for the laudna resurrection and e63 while writing this#so I feel pretty confident about my framing of those
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kilvalir's choices works
Below the read more, you will find a compilation of all the choices content I've made so far. Beware of it lives within spoilers, not all the titles of the works ahead are spoiler-free.
Tags
These are the tags I normally use on my own creations.
Writing: #my writing Edits: #my edits Memes: #my memes Below are the tags I use for my own favourite it lives within main character, mr pink-hair up there, Vax VĹŠ-Verdant, and all content related to him, including those made by me, and those not made by me. Vax in general: #OC: Vax Vax with Lincoln: #Vaxlinc
Writing
A note on trigger warnings: all my writing lists any potential content warnings at the top of the work, with the work itself under a "read more" button.
1. Lincoln x MC angst fic - Heal what has been hurt (change the fate's design), part 1, part 2 2. Abel x MC ficlet - click 3. Excerpt of an unfinished Abel x MC angst - click 4. Abel x MC (ish) - a sinister Judas Kiss piece - click 5. Abel x MC joke fic - click 6. Pictures of You - ILW Main Cast Angst - click 7. In Progress Lincoln x MC Angst - part 1 8. Excerpt of a soft Lincoln x MC WIP - click 9. Little ILW MC Angst Piece - click
Edits
Another note on trigger warnings: warnings for edits are shown by caution emojis and what the warning is for, after the link. e.g â ď¸EXAMPLE â ď¸
Fake CGS and Book Covers:
1. Bashful Abel in a suit - click 2. Horror Abel - clickâ ď¸GUNS â ď¸ 3. Horror Abel looming behind ILW MC - click â ď¸BODY HORROR â ď¸ 4. Suited Up Abel Leaning - click 5. ILW MC (Feens!) striding menacingly through an alley - click 6. Eiko x MOTY MC cover edit - click 7. Abel x ILW MC (Hilkka) reading by a tree - click 8. Blades MC (Raine) flying on a drake - click 9. Blades MC (Maiele), Tyril, and Imtura in battle - click 10. Martin Vanderweil x LOA MC edit - click
Sprite Edits (Part 1!):
1. Abel in Rowan's glasses - click 2. Sleeveless Abel with long hair - click 3. Long-hair Abel in a flower crown - click 4. ILW MC in Abel's sweater - click 5. Pirate Abel #1 - click 6. Pirate Abel #2 - click 7. Pirate Abel #3 - click 8. Horror Abel - click â ď¸BODY HORROR â ď¸ 9. Grandpa Abel - click 10. Crying Abel - click â ď¸DEATH AND ILW SPOILERS â ď¸ 11. Bearded Abel and beardless Lincoln - click 12. Merman Abel - click 13. Abel x ILW MC heist suits - click 14. Amalia dressed as her younger self - click 15. Lincoln dressed as his younger self - click 16. Beckett (TE) as a wood nymph - click 17. Lincoln as an elf - click 18. Tom as a mage - click 19. Jean Jacket Lincoln with his hair down - click 20. Nik Ryder if he was in ATV - click 21. ILW MC (Vax) lookbook - click â ď¸ILW SPOILERS â ď¸ 22. ILW MC (Vax) expressions - click 23. ILW MC (Vax) in the ILW ballroom dress - click 24. ILW MC (Vax) in an immortal desires dress - click â ď¸ILW SPOILERS â ď¸ 25. ILW MC (Rowan) as a snow queen - click 26. TE MC (Anitha) as a mermaid - click 27. Blades MC as a shadow court member - click 28. Desire and Decorum MC as a fairy - click 29. ILW MC (Vax) pride edits - click
Sprite Edits (Part 2!)
30. Lincoln x MC edits - clickâ ď¸ILW SPOILERS â ď¸ 31. ILW MC's Goth Mom - click 32. LOA MC x Martin Vanderweil edits - click 33. ILW OC Expression Sheet - click
Misc. Edits:
1. Rheya (BB) fragment piece, with the cracks removed - click â ď¸BLOOD AND BLOODBOUND B2 SPOILERSâ ď¸ 2. Abel Valentines Cards - click 3. Abel Moodboard - click 4. Gaius (BB) fragment piece, with the cracks removed - click â ď¸BLOOD, DEAD PEOPLE, AND BLOODBOUND B1 SPOILERSâ ď¸
Art
1. LOA MC x Martin Vanderweil portraits - click
Memes
1. Abel vs Horror Connor - click 2. Abel, Jocelyn, and ILW mc - someone will die... - click 3. Horror Connor when you flirt with more than one person - click 4. Abel, Annie, and mentioned MC - she thinks it's fancy? - click 5. Lincoln x MC - a smile might be nice... - click 6. Devon, Power MC - I'm literally shaking.. - click 7. Abel x MC - no principles - click 8. MC and most LIs - please sir, can I have some more? - click 9. Lincoln x MC - breakfast takes a turn - click 10. Abel and Lincoln - on the matter of sleep.. click 11. ILW MC - the key to happiness.. click 12. Abel & ILW MC - frown meme uno reverse (follow up to #5) - click
#it lives within#ilw#playchoices#choices#it lives#it lives choices#it lives series#it lives anthology#it lives project#ilw mc#rowan burke#play choices#choices game#choices stories you play#OC: Vax#choices stories we play#lincoln mcquoid#lincoln aquino#lincoln x mc#vaxlinc#abel flint#abel x mc#jocelyn wu#Amalia de LeĂłn#ilitw#it lives in the woods#connor green#ilb#it lives beneath#bloodbound
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