#vax meta

[sparring-spirals]

Went through my kith and kin tag after that last post and once again lying on my floor thinking about. vex snarling at vax about his judgement being swayed by a pretty face-

(another person vax is brave enough to love, even if its dangerous. looking for the good and the kindness and the humanity among the darkness, trying to bring it forward, let vex experience it, even when it can leave him bleeding)-

and vax snarling at vex about her judgement being swayed by her desperation to be accepted-

(another time vex sees a way to secure safety and security and approval, which is safety and security, in a different form. for her, her and vax and trinket and everything she loves, safe in one place, where they can belong, they can stay)-

and. oogh.

Holding these twins in my hands. squishing them like playdough. one of them fights desperately to find the kindness and good and light even when its a fools errand. leaves himself open and hurt for a little bit of light. if it keeps vex safe, happier. one of them counting and calculating and running and cruel because the world demands it. keeps the counter going and going and does the hard things if it keeps vax whole, and okay. one close range and one long.

they'll hurt each other if it keeps the other whole. they'll gladly get hurt if it keeps the other safe. the world is harsh, and they are surviving. what the fuck. theyre such a fucked up pair. they love each other so much.

[dandelionjack]

> new series release (space babies) coincided with the uk seeing the northern lights for the first time in years

> the devil’s chord coincided with paul mccartney’s long-missing hofner bass guitar being found, by a doctor who fan no less

> boom coincided with an actual meteor crash

> 73 yards is coinciding with a rise in bizarre supposedly-occult animal sacrifice rituals in britain (the folk horror part) and rishi sunak finally calling a general election (the political drama part)

> hypothesis: russell t davies has somehow managed to tune in to the universe’s divine frequency ??

> conclusion: messing with the forces of fate, cause&effect and coincidence, even if it’s for the pop culture franchise you’re showrunning, actually turns it into an egregore, but only if it’s been going for long enough (sixty fucking years to the dot) and watched by enough people (tens of millions). which it has

> ergo, postscriptum: television magick is real and is being unintentionally performed by the creators + audience of the world’s silliest science fiction show

> /jk. unless?

[parisoonic]

i am not immune to a meme

[blorbologist]

ok im going to get off my usual perc’ahlia soapbox to outstretch my hand to the vaxleth mains (hi babes we really in it now) and say holy shit

these new parallels between Vax and Keyleth

(or if not new so very strengthened)

LIKE. LISTEN.

She did not choose this path, she did not, she embarked on the same journey her mother did. For her family, for her tribe, out of love, out of duty. Like her mother before her. Made to pass through fire. 

One day a mantle will rest on her shoulders and though she can take it off it writes its weight into her skin. She sees it in the mirror even when it’s not there. She did not choose this power or this responsibility and she rises, she rises to the challenge.

He did not care what he chose, only that he chose for his sister to live. Whatever the fuck he chose, it wasn’t this, he had no idea what he signed up for but he will not balk, he will not falter, he can’t because his sister breathes. For his family, his family of one, out of love, out of duty. They have a deal. Do not go far from me. 

Today, he can’t take it off. It clings like a lover’s touch (such loneliness in her eyes), he can’t forget it even for a second, can’t rid himself of what the mantle he has taken up. This role is his now and he will not forget it

Voice of the Tempest, Champion of Ravens

Yall got some good fuckin food is all I’m sayin

[jibril-thelibraryangel]

I just had a realization, Vax repeatedly coming back and not letting Keyleth truly move on…. It’s exactly what he did to Gilmore in campaign 1 when he started seeing Keyleth.

How he told him he was in love with someone else and then immediately kiss him

How after every mission he kept coming back to him to repeatedly tell him he couldn’t be with him but that he still love him

How he didn’t hesitated to follow Gilmore into a dark corner of a castle wearing nothing but a bathrobe he gave him

He might now be an immortal demigod champion of the Raven Queen but deep down he’s still the same scare little elf boy starve for love and unable ever let go.

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

Suppose Predathos is a hunter, a true predator, and the gods are its natural prey. In that case, a few things may be happening behind the scenes.

In nature, predators lean towards targeting three kinds of prey: the old, the young, and the infirm. But who among the gods would fit any of these categories?

Well, for one, The Knowing Mistress. She's still in hiding, recovering from wounds received during the Calamity. And if her chosen physical form is anything to go by, she could very well be the eldest member of the pantheon.

But who is in charge of her protection? Who is hiding her from her enemies? Who has made it their duty to shield her from further harm?

The Dawnfather.

The Dawnfather, who's scrambling to consolidate as much power as possible. The Dawnfather, who's fighting tooth and nail and doing whatever is necessary to keep a foothold in Exandria.

Sure, he could be doing it for selfish reasons. But this is the god who saw Ioun sacrifice herself so that he could defeat Tharizdun. He has made her safety one of his top priorities. Pelor refused to entertain Deanna's question of whether the gods were worth defending - perhaps because it was not only an insult to him, but an insult to Ioun.

If Predathos is unleashed on them all? She will be the first to be led to the gallows.

And The Dawnfather will do anything to ensure her survival.

[demigoddessqueens]

I always wondered why Vax calls his sister by her full name a lot but she never calls him by his full name

I think that’s just his moniker, like his “extra” step to be more caring to the ones he loves

Canonically he is the one who gives everyone their nicknames but Vex is his twin, his literal other half and extension of their mother whom they love and avenge.

[genderlesssinner]

Braius and Vord

I still just in general don't know how I feel about Braius he's definitely been the catalyst for a lot of fun moments. It's such a Sam Reigal thing to do to make a prank from the previous game into a tragic back story for a new character

This whole conversation is such good shit

And as I've seen others point out Pike, my love, a cleric of the Everlight, stepping in and standing up for a guy who's lying to like everyone in this room, a paladin of Asmodeus is... Oof. It's beautiful but awful

I can't wait to see what the Truthbearer armor actually does if it has some fun stuff. All I can think is permanent zone of truth on the wearer and that would be hilarious

"He made the gift of a holy relic like an epic burn, how??" Taliesin's comments are always the best

[setsailforthestars]

Vex and Vax get it so right.

Being a twin, and an identical one at that, is having a part of your soul detached and walking around in a different body. “Do not go far from me” is not a request but a demand, because you cannot bear it.

It’s a disorienting feeling looking at another person and seeing a mirror of yourself, but you blink and they’re just a few steps sideways of who you are. They’ve always been there, as constant as your own reflection, and nearly as accurate. They’ve always been who you wish you were.

When you grow up joined at the hip against the world, sometimes with no one else but them, it feels like every fight, every disagreement pushing you apart is the most devastating hurt you can imagine. It feels unfixable, until you cannot bear to be apart any longer and you fall back together like you were meant to be.

There is an incandescent rage flickering in your heart on their behalf at all times, even at the mere thought of an injustice against them. And when they’re hurt, or worse, of course you’re going to do everything you can to make it right. To fix them.

There is also sorrow. The knowledge that someday, somehow, inevitably, you will be the only one left. And you will be alone, and only half a person because you could not bear to make yourself whole when that would mean separating yourself from them.

And maybe one of you is the strong one, maybe one of you needs the other more, maybe you both think that about yourselves.

Maybe you would sacrifice yourself over and over so the other may live — selflessly, but also secretly selfish — so you don’t have to be the one left behind at the end of it. You don’t have to be the one who is alone.

[utilitycaster]

I think the reason people are often really obsessed with talking about Keyleth's rage is that it never came to fruition. Marisha said after the fact that she considered taking barbarian levels, both because Keyleth was frustrated and upset and because of her respect for Grog, but she ultimately didn't - and in making that choice, was able to achieve those highest druid levels and become the force of nature she is. So it makes it really easy to say "oh, if only Keyleth had done this! I wish she explored her rage more!" when you don't have to actually deal with a depiction of Keyleth who is unkind or overly violent or morally gray, nor one who had to make a huge trade-off to indulge that anger.

[druidposting]

Im sorry but the whiplash Liam must have felt between seeing his beloved baby boy that he thought would never ever return after the conclusion of Dalen’s Closet, and then instantly getting collapsed into a micro ball to be used in the god-killer machine

[hypnothesis-au]

Part 6 >Part 7 Part 8

[blorbologist]

Yawns, g'morning.

I'm thinking about Vaxleth and episode 51, as. Most of us are, really. Holy shit.

And I think Vax's divine nature played a role in how Ludinus was able to set and bait this trap. I don't think we'd have gotten this outcome if Vax was still a mortal Champion, like his sister. Furthermore, Keyleth’s position as Voice of the Tempest was also critical here.

Let me explain: let's say some other half of a ship could have fulfilled this orb critera. If we pretend that any Champion could do (I think they needed the divine aspect of Vax's unlife but play along here), why not bait the trap for Vex, or Pike, or Scanlan, or Yasha?

Beyond the 'Vax is practically an angel now and has orb properties' angle, I think part of it is the sheer... everything that is mortal. If Percy was captured Vex would have any number of solutions - send Trinket in, attack at range, Rogue it up, or do the sensible thing and bring in friends. The living are variable, you can't count on them to behave as you need.

Ludinus loathes gods and their servants: of course he'd expect them to be predictable - and he'd be right! Vax is not all Vax anymore (see Dalen's Closet and Tal’Dorei Reborn), he's a deathless shepherd and servant of the Raven Queen. Why would he think this through? He has no life to lose, only Keyleth’s to save. You don’t need to consider how to use a shield, you just do. People shape their plans around the steady expectations of gods, their almost immutable domains, and Vax is divine enough for that to apply to him. They'd know he would behave exactly as he did. It could be argued living!Vax would as well, and there are several songs and historical records about him, so worst came to worst Ludinus could hope that this is maintained. But that's an uncertainty, and not fitting for a centuries-long plan.

And now the second part: it had to be Keyleth. They couldn't have used Vex to draw him out, I don’t think, as much as it pains me. Either the story of Dalen's Closet was limited to the guests and any lil kids who heard the Ballad of Derrig or it proves the Champion cannot willingly approach his sister. It took a Wish for that.

Vex has had five kids, spent thirty years protecting Whitestone, and has her fingers in the financial goings on of all Tal’Dorei. By no means does she have a small impact on the world: her smallest taxation decisions could mean poverty or wealth for thousands! But many of her biggest impacts on the future, on destiny, have already come to pass. Her adventures in Vox Machina, the children she bore, the decades of decisions she's already made (I doubt she'd be on the council for even a few years without changing much of her sphere to her liking.)

Keyleth is the Voice of the Tempest. She will, hopefully, live almost two thousand years. Imagine all the lives she will impact in that time! Directly! The Matron must be so familiar with her strand of fate because it touches so many, many others!

Even if Vax, somehow, did not remember her. Even if he was a shell of himself. This is someone the Matron cannot let die before her time (hopefully a thousand plus years from now). This is one person she would have to bend the rules for and see saved, and there's just the man for the job. She would not allow intervention for Vex, or Percy, or those nieces and nephews Vax surely watches. Not Velora, not Scanlan, not Gilmore. Keyleth, with centuries of work to do in this world, with generations to guide, is too valuable.

What I'm saying is... literally no other ship could have pulled this off. None. This was built for Vaxleth, from its very bones. You could have, say, an AU where Vex is the Champion of Ravens (wink), and this would not be certain enough for Ludinus to bank on it. Very likely, but not assured (the Matron could refuse to intervene, or they could intervene in a less 'take me instead you lil red-storm shit' way, etc.).

Evil plans bank on the inevitable. Gravity, greed, time. Their love is inevitable, a law of nature.

It could not have been anyone else

[pocketgalaxies]

marisha ray and liam o'brien truly will just sit there and roleplay and make me Think Things

[merindab]

I’m midway through campaign 1 e113 and thinking about the contrast of these two scenes:

E45

Vs

E113

Percy knows by now that what he did set Vax on his path with the Raven Queen. They both know that Vax is on borrowed time. Vax knows Percy secretly married his sister and he wasn’t even there for it. But he also knows its Percy that will look after Vex when he’s gone.

Vax only ever had Vex. Percy had a family once, then only Cassandra. But in these final dark moments they both know they’re kin, brothers born of struggle and blood and death. Even as they hurtle towards the end Vax is still going to pull pranks because that’s what he does with people he cares for. Percy is going to bluster and quip. They’re family, in all it’s messy glory.

Vax has a tendency to say “we could all be dead tomorrow” before they go into any major fight. But he knows for a fact as they go into this one that he’s already dead. No matter what happens, he’s not coming back. And this is how he tells Percy he loves him.

[nottanickname]

blood pool! blood pool! blood pool!!!