#C2e137

[the-caleb-widogast]

rewatching c2e137 where the nein meet cree coming down the fleshy hallway of ick just gives me so much brainrot and thoughts. matt described both cree's and caleb's and beau's eyes all lighting up like red beacons filling the hallway at the end and the entire cast (sans matt) all came to the conclusion that beau and caleb were about to turn on them. asking each other like 'one on six?' or liam saying 'you might lose beau and caleb' and god the ANGST if that actually happened. marisha didnt comment on it but you could see her face journey realizing that beau was gonna fight her friends next session. liam's just ecstatic he gets to kill his party again, a la round two of the fight under the caves in asarius. it was a dark pit settling in the stomach of the nein realizing, once again, they have to fight their own party once again whose mind isnt their own. what id kill to know what was running in their thoughts. did beau wish she spent more of her ki points? did caleb wish he used more of his spell slots? so they'd have less to hit their party with. we've already seen beau in a battle royale situation and shes already insane. her proficiency bonus to her hits often mean an automatic hit and there's the insanity of stunning strike. caleb's the master of control in the battlefield but he often steps aside to boost his friends instead with haste or enlarge but what if he doesnt have anymore friends to protect. strip away the humanity and its two empire kids, far from their empire, far from their home, far from their own minds.

(it didnt happen sadly but all the angsty fanworks during this week between episodes was beautiful and heartwrenching and gods id take a dunamantic time machine to go see it again because tumblr search bar is bullshit.)

#critical role #caleb widogast #beauregard lionett #empire kids #empire siblings #empire sibs #c2e137 #the mighty nein #mighty nein

[foldybikes]

aaah cognouza is insane! I love it! flesh teeth stone hell city! screaming people and gigantic eyeballs! yes!

meeting the first of the somnovem. as the entirety of aeor seems latin themed in name, and we hear about timorei, ira, elatis and luctus, hm are those references to their personalities? fear, wrath, elation, sorrow? timorei seems scared shitless and ira sounds like they want to eat everyone alive.

I mean somnovem is like eeeh sleeping nine, cognouza has cognosco (to know) from gnosis (knowledge), but I'm not sure where he's going with the -uza part.

#I LOVE IT SO MUCH #cosmic horror <33 #not even halfway through the ep and already so psyched #also thanks high school latin course you hardly ever come in handy and when you do I've forgotten like 90% akdjgl #critical role #critical role spoilers #cr2 #m9 #c2e137 #foldycr

[haorev]

Rewatching “Welcome to Cognouza” and it finally stuck that apparently Guadius’ pronouns are they/them

#critical role #cr2 #c2e137 #gaudius #the somnovem #I think I’ve noted it each time I’ve watched it but now I’m like oh huh yeah no that’s what’s up

[septembermonologues]

yasha and caleb’s dynamic cracks me up

#do you think they vibed w caleb and yasha’s friendship at the end of m9 enough that they decided ‘ah fuck it lets just do a whole campaign’ #c2e137 #k watches mighty nein #critical role

[yashley]

ashley in c2e137

#critical role #ygifs #ashley #cr2 #SIGH.. HER.. #ashleyin

[gorgynei]

The Somnovem and Predathos Theory

Can we talk about Predathos and the Somnovem? I've been dying to talk about Predathos and the Somnovem. There's something here, I smell it.

Theory under the cut, its a doozy.

First of all, "Factorum Malleus" (translates to Creator Hammer) and "Malleus Keys" (translates to Hammer Keys). Aeor and Predathos have a concrete, canonical connection. Ludinus went deep into the Genesis Ward, found the Factorum Malleus project, and developed it further into the Keys to release Predathos. It's unclear whether Aeor also wanted to release Predathos, or if they were just trying to use part of its power to create god-killing weapons, but regardless, Aeor knew about Predathos. Thats a big deal and it explains why the entire pantheon held a ceasefire during the Calamity to completely wipe them out.

Knowing that Aeor has a connection to Predathos makes their fanatical Cognouza ward more suspicious. It's possible that the Somnovem were actually worshiping/serving Predathos but all record of it's existence was wiped with Aeor's falling, so we never knew.

When the Nein first learned about Cognouza, it was due to a psychic wave put out by Vokodo in his final moments, flashing them all into Vokodo's memories. This is similar to the flash that Imogen put out when she gave into Ruidus's power in e33-e34, even down to Bell's Hells being forced into their own memories. While not concrete, the shared usage of emotion-driven psychic waves and memories is notable.

The Somnovem believed in the power of the mortal mind and imagination. In other words, they believed that a brain could manifest psychic power, and they were right: Imogen Temult is living proof of that. They share in the ideas of the power of the mind, even down to the Somnovem communicating telepathically and in dreams.

The Somnovem, or at least members of it, also share many sentiments with the Ruby Vanguard. The Ruby Vanguard wants to release Predathos in order to destroy the pantheon, release mortals from fate, and embrace freedom in that. Ira, upon meeting the Nein, says "Creation is born from destruction, and if all that is worthy of us is destroyed, then so much more can be created or forgotten. All the Gods and the fates that threw us to torment and death, they all will pay" (c2e137) which mirrors that idea extremely closely. Timorei says "You know the terror of the end, mortal ones. The nothing, the acceptance of fate or even oblivion. We-- we cannot end. No, at all costs, oblivion must be destroyed" (c2e137), once again bringing up the idea of disrupting fate and the natural order of things. It's possible that what was originally interpreted as the Somnovem being split on whether to bring Cognouza into the world could have actually been a much larger debate on whether to bring Predathos into the world and destroy pantheon, at least in part.

When Cognouza was transported into the astral sea, it was harassed by a "terrible psychic storm" that drove them mad. Psychic storms haunt all of campaign 3. There's the red storms on the surface of Ruidus and Imogen's dreams, both intimately connected to Predathos and to the power of the mind. Cognouza could have targeted by a powerful psychic wave directly from Predathos, which would explain the strange mind-melded state they end up in and the madness that permeates the entire city and anyone who gets too close.

Additionally, Ruidus flared in 836 PD. Cognouza was also destroyed in 836 PD. It's impossible to know if these are completely connected or pure coincidence, but if Cognouza was a long-running Predathos plot, it's destruction would likely warrant an outburst from the moon.

While delving in Aeor, Lucien discovers a mural depicting "a ring of nine red ovals, with a dazzling starburst in the middle, and that decorated with a single open eye. Enlightenment" (from the Nine eyes of Lucien). Every other symbol of the Somnovem has been just nine red eyes. This "starburst" in the middle could be a subtle nod to Predathos, especially with the way it seems the nine ovals are inferior to this one, greater eye. Lucien seems to believe this represents enlightenment, and he's probably correct. The Aeorians are famously non-religious, so fanatical devotion to a god-killer and it's ideals may have still only looked like extreme belief in a particular school of thought, rather than worship to a particular entity.

There's the obvious too: the nine eyes being red. Red can mean a lot of things. There are plenty of red things in Critical Role that are totally unrelated to Predathos and Ruidus. But when red is the primary colour and representation of unchecked alien energy, and a strange fanatical city with possible connection to that energy is also red? It stops being so chance. Not a big thing on its own, but worth mentioning.

When Cognouza was destroyed, Kingsley felt the "strange black chains that invisibly wove through that city" break and heard an "angry, unknowable, primal, ancient cry". It's widely assumed that this is Tharizdun due to the chain-imagery and general madness that the city is connected to, and I do think that's likely, but if Tharizdun is actually somehow connected to Predathos (both of them are alien beings that got locked away, after all), it could be both of them.

*gestures wildly at all of this* do you see?? do you SEE???? There's something. There's something here.

#btw if you're curious about how i know that malleus keys translates to hammer keys: malleus is a small bone in your ear that's also #known as the hammer (bc its shaped like a hammer) and factotum is a word meaning ''someone who does everything'' so #factorum -> creator and malleus -> hammer #cr spoilers #critical role #cr speculation #cr theory #critical role theory #predathos #somnovem #cognouza #aeor #mighty nein #bells hells #bell's hells

[essektheylyss]

Stray: Sewer level, aka Critical Role c2e137 simulator

#hmm. flesh tunnels. #listen i KNOW I'm a month late let me have this #stray game #critical role #honestly. i love it. #take me back to Cognouza pls #i miss it

[greentiefling]

Maybe my favourite part of last night’s episode was after the first guy screamed and everyone was in various states of confused/horrified like-

And then there’s Taliesin just:

#I mean he probably HAS seen it before #cr spoilers #critical role #c2e137 #critical role spoilers

[lunarthemooncake]

“Please, I want to die among the stars” is such a pretty quote and you’ll think it’s from a memorable, pretty, moment but no it’s from the cast joking about a feral god weasel that’s unable to die

#critical role #cr spoilers #c2e137 #jesus yall i wasn’t expecting the rush of notes 💀 had to mute it

[casukaga]

ep 137 live doodles! ✨

🌟 Instagram | Twitter | Youtube 🌟

#still kinda wanna draw the other beauyasha scenes #just because. #i’m a simp for anything with them just being lovey or interacting at all 😔💕💕 #critical role #crit role #cr #cr spoilers #c2e137 #the mighty nein #beauyasha #yasha nydoorin #beauregard lionett #caleb widogast #veth brenatto #jester lavorre #fanart #live doodles #casu art #my shtuff #casu art c2 spoilers

[gammaalanna]

matt pls...

Ashley with the most appropriate reaction...

#critical role #critical role spoilers #crspoilers #yasha #ashley #matthew mercer #c2e137

[mockingmolly]

✨✨ c2e137 moodboard ✨✨

#critical role #cr liveblogging #the mighty nein #c2e137 #cr spoilers #fun times y’all!!

[widogastontask]

In some ways, it’s probably a good thing that Essek isn’t consecuted, because honestly, can you imagine some teenager in the future suddenly and without context getting visions of his trip to Aeor; the god weasel, the heretical dunamancy, the hot wizard and his insane friends, THE TERRIFYING LIVING CITY MADE OF FLESH...like buddy, good luck with reconciling that one with whatever childhood you just had.

#cr spoilers #c2e137 #musings on the drawbacks to remembering your past life #critical role #essek thelyss #seriously though #as though adolescence isn't challenging enough #suddenly you've got a memory of that haunting scream that Matt somehow produces #just echoing through your dreams

[ethuils]

Caduceus is learning!

#critical role #critteredit #criticalroleedit #critroleedit #the mighty nein #cr spoilers #*gifs #c2e137 #caduceus clay #beauregard lionett #yasha nydoorin

[sparring-spirals]

I love that theyre all still addressing and asking questions to Sheepleb the same exact way they would Caleb, and when they inevitably get a clueless "ba a aaaa" in response theyre just like "yeah ok thank you caleb". Fantastic.

#critical role #cr spoilers #c2e137 #sheepleb with 2 int: baaaaaaaa. the m9: yes our wise wizard this is a good point #they love him and all his animal forms #caleb widogast #sheepleb #the mighty nein #shitpost

[catrollsdice]

The wizards are flirting

#essek gets braver and braver every day #wizards are in lerve #petition for caleb to get laid #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #shadowgast #matt mercer #liam o’brien #c2e137 #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #critical role #cat watches cr