#I love zerxus

[otterlyart]

*Record Scratch* You're probably wondering how I got into this situation...

#critical role #cr #exandria unlimited #exandria unlimited: Calamity #exu: calamity #exu calamity #zerxus ilerez #criticalrolefanart #critical role fanart #otterlyart #This piece gave me conniptions but i've gotta post it now or i never will #I love zerxus #There's a really great picture of Luis on twitter that this was based off of #I also wanted to give a little nod to Avalir being the city of crowns so it's reflected on his armor. #He's got the little top of the mountain as a diamond above the crown and the remaining mountain below #PLEASE zoom in on this pic there's so much work in that chainmail

[thespoonisvictory]

pov you've been shackled by a devil to do his bidding for centuries but you won't let that bit of goodness go and doesn't that kind of prove your whole worldview right anyway. that there is no suffering nor circumstance that can tear everything worth saving away. and all you can do is hope that someone will do what you would have done, that someone is coming to help like you did. and the thing that keeps you going, that keeps that bit of humanity there. is that you truly, truly believe they will. every day zerxus ilerez wakes up to an office job in hell.

#zerxus ilerez #exu calamity #exu:c #GOD I love paladins #critical role #cr

[el-makes-art]

If you look down and see the stars, what will you see when you look up?

[ID: digital fanart of Zerxus Ilerez from Exandria Unlimited: Calamity. He stands in the palm of a giant, clawed, bloodstained red hand. Beneath him is a plaza; its tiles form the rays of a sun, but where the centre should be is a void in which a dark, stary sky can be seen. End ID]

#exu spoilers #exu calamity #exandria calamity #exandria unlimited #EXU #critical role spoilers #zerxus #what an opening #I mean just wow #I’m loving calamity so far #loving the omens #the hubris #the dramatic irony #the FORBODING #so so good

[trashyshrew]

“All things end - lives, stories, even ages.” 

#critical role #exu calamity #critical role calamity #laerryn coramar seelie #loquatious seelie #nydas okiro #zerxus ilerus #patia por'co #cerrit agrupnin #the ring of brass #oh #my #god #this story was DEVASTATING and i loved it #if the characters don't look like they are supposed to oops #i drew first and looked things up later

[gingersnipe]

Zerxus pulls the true heart of the Lord of the Hells across the threshold of the sundered Tree of Names and into Exandria...

a master study of Nicolas Poussin's Agony in the Garden, EXU Calamity-ified

#critical role fanart #ahss #artists-guild-of-exandria #exu calamity #zerxus ilerez #patia por'co #nydas okiro #loquatius seelie #asmodeus #critical role #THE COOLEST THING I HAVE EVER MADE #a love letter to the greatest dnd actual play there has ever been #quiddie #my art #ginger art

[pocketgalaxies]

pelor is like my champion is a legendary archer and the lady of whitestone and sarenrae is like my champion single-handedly re-established my power through dedicated worship and ioun is like my champion is a world-renowned storyteller and adventurer and the raven queen is like my champion is a mythically quick and deadly assassin and asmodeus is like my champion was the knight who protected the greatest city in the world and then the spider queen is like. my champion is a 19 year old brat who somehow talked her way into becoming my publicist.

#'i knew you were a good friend' 'are we friends?' 'yeah! i mean you're in my head i hope so.' 'interesting.' #i'm losing it i love this #1h20m exu2e2 #text #critical role #exu #exu: kymal #cr lb #opal cr #spider queen cr #r: vox machina #zerxus ilerez #1k

[rabbit-exe]

rewatched exu calamity and brennan really rocked up to the critical role studio and said "I'm gonna hurt that paladin So Bad"

#the fuckin!! the hour-long second! in which brennan literally says to luis 'you get a front-row seat to watch what happens to them' #fuckin!! frozen in time!! watching his friends get Tree Exploded! GAH... #'zerxus you watch as patia's head twists past the point that she can remain alive' COOL GREAT THANKS BRENNAN #exu calamity #god I love all four episodes of that tragedy so much. perfect #brennan heard that zerxus is grieving his dead husband and estranged from his son and looked at luis like a lion looks at an injured gazell #Emotional Wound Time #all of these characters are so fucking tragic I love them #the way brennan plays evandrin too... AUGH #I'm chewing the legs off the goddamn furniture over here #hare.txt

[lananis]

Is this the first of these sorts of dreams I've had?

I don't think so.

#critical role #cr spoilers #exu spoilers #exu calamity #zerxus ilerez #lananisart #criticalrolefanart #i blame this on being raised catholic i love a good tragedy #tw child death

[threadcountart]

The final fight of EXU Calamity really was the Ring of Brass playing hot potato, except the hot potato is Hope and the players are bleeding out and getting struck down the more they play, just barely doing what they can before passing on, ensuring the remaining players have a chance to do what they need to do to keep Hope in the air.

Zerxus defending the group, purposely taking blows before the sun rises and he is no longer himself.

Nydas making sure he “doesn’t miss” when he goes down

Patia releasing a nineth level Wish from her body as she falls

Cerrit diving in with the Natural 20 against Vespin Chloras

Loquatius’s readied Healing Word just in time as something that would have killed Laerryn hits her

Laerryn finishing the spell just in time and ensuring (with Nydas’s inspiration) that Cerrit makes it out to find his family.

Hell, even Vespin Chloras in that brief moment of clarity, buying Avalir more time through Zerxus. And Callum Staffwright and Orwyn too. The desperation and determination throughout the finale is just so heart wrenching.

#guys I love this mini series so much #exandria unlimited: calamity #ring of brass #vespin chloras #callum staffwright #cr orwym #EXU spoilers #cr spoilers #critical role #EXU calamity #Exandria calamity #threadcount ramblings #cr meta #zerxus ilerez #nydas okiro #patia por'co #cerrit agrupnin #loquatius seelie #laerryn coramar seelie

[natcat5]

Zerxus: Very righteously upset when his friends choose to resist Zone of Truth, is insistent that now is the time for everyone to be forthright and for all secrets to be shared with the group.

Also Zerxus: Does not divulge the fact that the Lord of Hells calls him babygirl

#he limboed RIGHT UNDER that line of questioning about Infernal #it is genuinely really funny #i love this show the characters are fantastic #natchat5 #exu calamity #exandria calamity #critical role #cr #zerxus ilerez #exu spoilers #exandria calamity spoilers

[dndspellgifs]

most of the time im an atheist up until Zerxus starts talking to Asmodeus and then the Spirit of Catholicism enters my body and im like “no don’t trust the literal Father of Lies you stupid slut”

#off topic #guess who finally finished exu calamity #please don't send me hate #i love zerxus and luis #critical role #exandria unlimited #exandria unlimited: calamity #exandria unlimited: calamity spoilers #exu calamity spoilers

[nellasbookplanet]

I've been seeing quite a few interesting meta posts about Zerxus and Asmodeus, and how Zerxus' actions towards Asmodeus are signs of equally deep compassion and arrogance in thinking he personally can fix the lord of the hells by being kind. But what I'm surprised not to have seen is discussion of how the same character trait can be either positive or negative depending on the narrative.

Because do you know who Zerxus reminds me of? Jester.

Jester knew the Gentleman was a liar and a crime lord and generally bad news. She knew Artagan had decieved not only her but all his followers about being a god. She knew Essek started a war. And despite having been hurt and risking being hurt again, she stood by all of them.

And she was right. Her unconditional love was part of the reason all three of these idiots came to grow some morals. The Gentleman stepped away from crime and got back together with Marion. She stood up to a literal god for Artie and he saved her from its wrath rather than selishly letting her share his punishment (thereby unkowingly also saving himself). Essek risked his life to fight Lucien and Trent by their side.

In the narrative of campaign 2, Jester made the right choice to extend trust to the untrustworthy. But Calamity is by definition a tragedy, and we all already know Zerxus is making a mistake for which the whole world will pay dearly. But he doesn’t know, can’t know, because no one knows what kind of narrative they are in until it has reached its end. We all must simply choose our actions and see what happens.

And this is a tragedy. Kindness or cruelty, compassion or evil, action or inaction, nothing can change that. Zerxus' choice was kindness. And so, this time, kindness will be our downfall.

#i will say that zerxus and jester have different motives #jester never thought that she was 'fixing people' #she simply loved them and decided to stand by them despite the risk #critical role #exu calamity #calamity spoilers #cr2 #jester lavorre #zerxus ilerez #nella talks cr

[elissastillstands]

Zerxus, you pull the true heart of the Lord of the Hells into Exandria.

The moment I heard this in the Exandria Unlimited: Calamity finale, I started scrambling for references. I drew this based on Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam.

#critical role #critteredit #exandria unlimited #exandria unlimited calamity #exu calamity #zerxus ilerez #exu zerxus #cr zerxus #luis carazo #creation of adam #digital painting #when he said that the gods were like children. that he kneels to no god. #that the mortals were the ones who brought the gods into being in exandria. #i love laerryn and zerxus and the strength of their belief and the depth of the arrogance #what is the divine in face of mortal innovation. what is the divine in face of mortal will. #also how the champions of the betrayers in exu. in the moment of them actually picking up the betrayers' arms/vestiges. #they did it for utility. #both opal and zerxus did it to save the people they loved. #and then zerxus' convictions held up to the bitter end. he did not surrender and kneel even in death. #obsessed with this. #drawing this reminded me of the good old days when it was archangel and milton-themed art 24/7 for disco and michael and philippa.

[dearest-sparksandstars]

They called us Betrayers…

Twitter || Instagram

#critical role spoilers #critical role #exu calamity #exandria unlimited: calamity #exu spoilers #zerxus ilerez #art #illustration #fanart #digitalart #spoilers #i love him #the angst #help #this is consuming me #critical role fanart

[thesnazzyjazzy]

The year's almost over and this year i got my drawing tablet and started to take a few steps in digital art. And although I sometimes get sad that i didn't manage to draw a lot this year...

I then remember I fucking made THIS

(with like zero prior experience)

(And then a couple more smaller animatics (is calling these animatics correct??))

I rarely feel like giving myself a pat on the back for the stuff i produce artistically™ ,but i think these have some merit to them, even despite their flaws

#artists on tumblr #original art #fanart #animatic #exu calamity #critical role fanart #critical role #zerxus ilerez #system of a down #soad #it's a shame the animatic did shitty across every platform #but luis actually liked and commented on it on ig #so whatevs you win some you lose i guess #ALSO THE STAR ONE IS A DTIYS #I COULD MAKE A SEPERATE POST ON IT IF ANYONE WOULD BE INTERESTED #also i like the concept of the snake bitch so much #it was inspired by a johnny goth song #god i love johnny goth #my art #art

[venndaai]

Listening to Calamity again and this time I’m all up in my feels about sad unrequited pining Patia->Laerryn and Nydas->Zerxus, and Patia & Nydas bonding over being married to Avalir and never following their hearts because they couldn’t devote themselves fully to anyone…

Also freshly charmed by Zerxus. The man was fully convinced the Tree of Names was sapient and he could get it to give Evandrin back by calling it “my sibling” and chatting with it. He’s so earnest and unconditionally loving and so disconnected from the reality outside his own head and his own feelings and I love him

#critrole blogging #more and more I relate to Zerxus as a personal cautionary tale about #the arrogance and foolishness of believing you can fix any problem by just throwing more love at it #calamity blogging