#wbn Hakea

[itsallaboutthebirds86]

New headcanon that Mirara’s mask is hereditary to the station, and no one in the history of the Coven of Elders has ever seen the face of the Witch of the Waning Moon, only knowing her by name and voice, like trying to recognize shadows from one another

Imagine Mirara showing up to her very first Conclave, staying silent under the mask, and the other witches not noticing anything’s off until Hakea slowly looks over to her and says “well? Are you going to introduce yourself, new sister?”

[stephank]

some witches, now simplified enough to make them move a bit

with compositing I'm gonna try to aim for that kinda Rankin/Bass animated fantasy film look, some Last Unicorn vibes with that bloom going

[utilitycaster]

I do want to plug The Re-Slayer's take again if you're not listening: it's short and goes very fast (it's edited to have no real table-talk, so it plays like a scripted podcast even though it's actual play) and despite being all ages...think AT:LA or Doctor Who and how fucked up things can get. Also the core cast is great (I was already a fan of Jasmine Bhullar and William Jasper Cartwright but Jasmine Chiong has won me over as Farah, a cranky older blood hunter woman), they've had some great guests (those listening on the main feed - Christian Navarro is about to show up!), and some of the main cast of CR has shown up as very fun NPCs!

[oh-shes-lit]

I've had a theory that Hakea was strongly on Ame's side for a bit, that her domain of growth would oppose that of mirara whose domain is death, especially when the coven seems to have been slowly shrinking over time - surely as the witch of growth she would be invested in keeping the coven alive, growing new witchlings and new positions to be kept

But damn

She's the one that started the whole thing, this is literally her life's work, she has no inheritors and as she slowly inches towards death so does the coven

(sidebar i really adore the way the witches so clearly embody their domains. They don't just gain their powers from them, they act towards the world as a force of their station)

[funderberker-thefrog]

when mirara wears a mask and yet you're still the most two faced bitch in the room

[hoarding-stories]

The Fox being so cartoon-like in the midst of this fight is everything to me

[kipper-face-penny-bottle]

The Coven of Elders as Chappell Roan Looks

Please let this list find its target audience on Tumblr

Indri

Mirara

Gramore

Hakea

Ame

[queerlyvictorian]

Because the question didn’t end up being finished, I want to do my best to explain the rest of the Coven of Elders’s familiars. We all know about Ame’s fox being mischief and selfishness (or impulsivity, depending on how you want to word it) that can interferes with forming and maintaining community. I totally agree with Indri’s polar bear being the predatory viciousness she doesn’t present in polite company.

Mirara’s crow? Crows are known for being sociable, loud, and aggressive. They also have tight knit families and mourn the dead. They’re a lot. That’s not necessarily something a witch of entropy and nothingness would want to internalize.

Gramore’s hawk? Hawks are loyal, quick to anger, and hold grudges. While very forward and intimidating, Gramore doesn’t strike me as necessarily having too short a temper. I would think that strong emotions could infere with the effectiveness of a hunt. The Witch of the Wild Hunt would also have to interact with a lot of predators, and the politics of that could make always holding grudges inconvenient.

Hakea’s boa constrictor? Boas are often docile, slow-moving, curious, and apparently easy to tame. For a witch who is responsible for tending to Orima’s domain, who has to answer to many of the literal forces of nature, I would imagine a certain backbone is required that means that while curiosity and a certain gentleness might sometimes be called for, it would only be in select circumstances.

Anyone who knows more about the temperament of these animals, feel free to chime in with your thoughts? I kept with scientific animal behavior rather than allegorical associations, because these NPCs were created by Brennan “Animals Facts Guy” Lee Mulligan, but one could point out that Hakea having a snake familiar means she’s secretly cunning. Only time will tell if any of this is true, as I don’t have great read on Hakea other than, as @quiddie called her in the Fireside Chat, “Sleepy Time Grandma” lol. We don’t really know many of the witches’ real personality other than Indri, who I think we know pretty well now, despite her having possibly the thickest mask (lol and she’s not the one who wears a literal mask).

[samcat18]

The way the air got absolutely taken out of my lungs by the end of that ep. We got so close. The setup of the high persuasion roll and hakea saying such sweet things to ame.

AND THEN

[18catsreading]

Oh my god! Indry just voted no against joining the man in black, and Hakea voted yes. I was not expecting that. I honestly thought it would be four against one.

[pan-fried-stupidity]

Love so much that Hakea, a witch whose subclass in the playtest is built to magically grapple and restrain everything complimented Ame's use of a restraining spell

Also love that Erika used the witch's grasp/cackle combo, goated 1. 2. punch, sad we didn't get to see it fully tho but that combat was so good I loved it

[ligmamancer]

We need to convene the coven to figure out how tf to spell all these witches names bc right now it is the WILD WEST

[utilitycaster]

to elaborate on Indri and cross over a bit into Critical Role's current plot (spoilers for both WBN and CR):

Indri, Witch of the Wind and Stars, embodies a domain of the self, independence, and self-sufficiency. She lives at the north pole in a beautiful castle surrounded by an immensely hostile environment.

In the current arc, and specifically in the current episode, she has engineered a plot to dismiss the domain of the World's Heart, the seat on the Coven of Elders pertaining to community, humanity, and connection, held by Ame (Erika's PC). Such a dissolution of the domain would mean the death of Ame, its recently ascended witch.

Ame is able to save herself and her seat thanks to the help of her friends, particularly Suvi's (Aabria's PC) knowledge and intelligence gathering and Eursulon's (Lou's PC) fluency in the language of spirits. Through this group effort, as well as other adventures that put the coven's founder, Hakea, Witch of the Wandering Green, on their side, they learn that the coven cannot end their gathering with only four remaining witches lest the covenant that created it be dissolved.

It comes out in the final meeting that one of the other witches, Mirara, didn't know that destroying Ame would destroy the coven, and Hakea realizes that the plan was actually to also get rid of Mirara, leaving a coven of 3. Ame smooths this all over before it turns into actual violence by pointing out that perhaps Indri's intention was to inaugurate new witches (which they can do); but a crucial nat 20 insight reveals to her that Indri, in pursuing the power of unanimity within the coven (and perhaps leaning in too hard to her role) had intended to whittle the coven down to one: herself. She was possibly behind the more recent dissolving of two other seats. But Ame keeps that insight to herself, and Indri does recover as best she can and at least outwardly behave with all the generosity and kindness of a host and equal towards Ame from there on out, acknowledging the kindness Ame showed her and the debt she owes.

Brennan outright says it on the fireside: this confrontation ends because Ame has a bunch of friends and companions and is good with people and gains the support they provide. It also ends with the ancient, powerful, experienced witch of self-sufficiency needing to be rescued by the nascent, level 3 witch of community.

I think this is really helpful too in understanding why Ludinus Da'leth is such an unsympathetic figure. Matt said he found connection "beneath him". King Imathan Talviel of Uthodurn said he seemed stuck in the past and would not share his gifts nor engage in the community of Molaesmyr other than to heckle the priests. Ludinus himself doesn't say he was abused or pressured by those around him in his youth to follow the gods, only "told"; while this could be understatement, at least as told it seems as though he took other people's choice to find meaning in something he despised as a personal attack. The Cerberus Assembly is famously a nest of backstabbing strivers and its members don't care for him. The Vanguard is similar; Otohan thought little of him (and he of her), as does Zathuda, and while Liliana says he trusts her, she has her own doubts and Ludinus has said little of her other than to dangle her before Imogen. Essek, 7 years ago, told him to try making friends and he does not appear to have listened, and then, when he approaches Bells Hells (already a group hostile to him, due to him trying to feeblemind, attack, kill, and otherwise thwart them repeatedly) he acts as if he's doing them a favor and refuses to answer their questions, take responsibility for any of his actions, or give credit where due.

I suspect Indri will continue to be an antagonist and that some of her behavior is a front, but she is, at least, able to admit that she faltered and Ame did her an undeserved kindness, and in doing so she appears at least a little sympathetic. Ludinus's refusal to make any sort of connection to others seems to have left him utterly miserable within inches of a near-millennium-long goal. He's asking Bells Hells, people he's wronged in horrible and life-changing ways, to grant him a gift he seems to have scorned and rejected for his entire life; at least Indri recognized a freely offered one she did not particularly deserve for what it was. At some point, you do run out of chances.

[funderberker-thefrog]

ok I'm caught on !!! disappointed but not surprised that eursulon and wolf guy didn't fuck BUT ANYWAYS im thinking

so suvi saw hakea become the first witch at the end of a quest???? so MAYBE stations that have been lost could have a new witch still?? wouldn't be an easy process but hey, not impossible it seems !

also this was centuries ago and brennan used the word 'quest' specifically, sooo maybe talking to her we could know more about the times were knights were still around?

all of this is me wishful thinking stuff tho lol but would be very interesting

[hoarding-stories]

Okay, pulling from the transcripts of episodes 26/27, here's the spelling of the witches' names:

Indri, Witch of the Wind and Stars

Nif, her apprentice

Gramore, Witch of the Wild Hunt

Baksha, her apprentice

Hakea, Witch of the Woodland Green

Mirara, Witch of the Waning Moon

[booksandstuffsthings]

Hakea, Hakea, Hakea. Aahhhhh also indri i fear for your life babe. Mirara wants her unity and is not afraid to kill you to get it while ame is considered dealt with. This ep was too good yall, I feel bad for everyone who is not watching wbn at this point. To start Ame??? Girl why would you lie in the place where lying can be a death sentence. But yeah I love Ame this ep, she is trying to do right by suvi but it's so unfortunate that suvi sees any attack of the citadel as an attack upon herself. Genuinely ame lying was an understandable decision, but the best option would have been to not say anything at all or obfuscate, but I get that eursulon kinda pushed her hand. Ame really is trying to stick by suvi, like her going against tephmet and what they were saying. Like ame is trying. Also tephmet, I get them like being a revolutionary is hard, but don't be mean to ame. What happened to the tolerant left smh.

Suvi, my dearest!!!! Love her. Her breakdown is so deserved and long coming. I feel so bad for her, but the indoctrination is indoctrinating. Like babe, it benefits empire that many parts of it are turned away and don't understand fully what the others are doing. It benefits empire when "bad actors" or fucking unsanctioned individuals to bad shit. Like morrow was a million billion percent picking up what the citadel and the empire were putting down and they are vague about that shit so that they can say ohhhhhnoooo we didn't want that to happen and have plausible deniability but still profit from it. Like it's a huge tower in a desert, the lack of metaphor is screaming at you. Also a quote to remind y'all.

"They plunder, they butcher, they ravish, and call it by the lying name of 'empire'. They make a desert and call it 'peace"

But yeah, the empire's princess suvi maybe isn't in the best place to hear about this. She's so tired, y'all. And like yeah, I can see why. But at the same time it's so easy to claim ignorance and to in fact be ignorant, and that is by design. I think once she thinks through her breakdown a bit more she'll sort of get it but what they are asking her to do is so hard. But it is the right thing to do and I know she will come around.

Eursulon was over it this ep I really can't wait to see his and suvis convo. I felt so bad seeing him retraumatized