#cr2 spoilers

[sky-scribbles]

OK, but I love that Essek might be appearing in the Mighty Nein series before he meets the Nein! It's not just me wanting More Essek (though I do) or wanting to see more of what was going on with his dealings with the Assembly (which I also do). I think this could be super fucking interesting from a narrative construction standpoint.

Because I cannot see how you can include Essek from early in the series and not make it clear to the audience that he's the Dynasty traitor loooong before the Nein find out. Essek having stolen the beacons will not be a surprise. It looks to me like the cast are swapping out surprise for a fuckton of suspense. (Suspense vs surprise was explained to me when I was studying narrative structure as 'surprise is when a bomb goes off that the audience didn't know was there. Suspense is when they see the bomb being placed and have to sit there begging the characters to realise it's there.' In this analogy, Essek is the bomb.)

When we watched C2, the question was is Essek the traitor? In the M9 show, the question for new watchers will be when will the Nein realise that Essek is the traitor? When Essek meets the Nein, the countdown starts ticking; people will know that he is a danger. He is manipulating them. He is going to hurt them. Will the Nein realise before it's too late? But then Essek starts really befriending them, showing more of his loneliness and vulnerability, and... I think the mood will shift. Oh, shit, he really cares about them, doesn't he? What will the Nein do if they find out? Do I even want them to find out? What if they reject him and it makes him worse? He can't keep this up much longer, this is unbearable, they're going to find out - OH FUCK THEY'RE FINDING OUT -

It's such a fascinating choice and I think it goes to show that adaptation is an art form in itself! The actual events in the world will be the same, or at least very similar, but a new format means you can show those events in a totally new way and create a completely different tone! Narrative structure is the fucking coolest! I'm so excited for this show!

#critical role #cr2 spoilers #mighty nein show #essek thelyss #sorry the narratology nerd in me is jumping out #my cr meta #(him being introduced early is by no means certain but it might be the case! so forgive me I must gush)

[fandomestuff]

WHAT IN THE CRITICAL ROLE JUST HAPPENED TO ME

I'm watching cr2 for the first time and I'm at episode 98

And Veth is talking with Yeza about maybe settling down in Nicodranas... And he just asked her to be careful and not put herself in too much danger

And after what happened this past monday ((we are all still crying)) Matthew Mercer from early 2020 hits me with a line directed at early 2020 Sam Riegel

"There are a lot of tales of heroic sacrifices"

...........

I'M SORRY???

RIGHT AFTER FCG'S HEROIC SACRIFICE???

WHAT IS HAPPENING

#if anyone says “proof that it's all scripted” imma block you #that was such an out of body experience fr #i was just knitting and listening in the background #and then matthew mercer hits me with that line #what the fuck #AND THEN YEZA SAYS “I WANT A WIFE. NOT A POEM” #I LOVE THAT MAN #gimme a yeza pls #critical role spoilers #cr3 spoilers #cr2 spoilers #critical role #mighty nein #bells hells #veth brenatto #yeza brenatto #fcg #fresh cut grass #rip fcg #still crying #it's around 1:29:30 if anyone wants to check #edit: and then they fucked right after this talk #typical mighty nein interaction #this is about veth and yeza not sam and matt btw #although who knows #/j

[its-your-mind]

the transgender swag exhibited by the m9 is off the charts.

Four of them go by chosen names. Beau’s dad wanted her to be a boy, and is disappointed that she isn’t. Fjord remade his personality to mimic the only father-figure in his life. The two strongest people in the party are both girls. The person with the long pink hair and undercut and teal/pink mushroom aesthetic has the deepest voice in the party by a COUNTRY MILE. Caleb grew his hair long and shaved his beard as soon as he felt it was safe enough. Mollymauk Tealeaf is there.

#critical role #the mighty nein #I am aware! that Molly is canonically fucking around with gender shenanigans #but like. what the fuck the cast went off with the gender vibes all at once without consulting each other #11/10 #nott the brave #caleb widogast #jester lavorre #mollymauk tealeaf #beauregard lionett #fjord stone #yasha nydoorin #caduceus clay #c2 spoilers #cr2 spoilers

[fairymonk]

We love some good foreshadowing

#tlovm #tlovm spoilers #the legend of vox machina #tlovmedit #critical role #critroleedit #the traveler #artagan #cr2 spoilers

[thefinalfronturl]

“I don’t care that he taunts me, but he doesn’t need to be breathing anymore.”

#critical role #critical role fanart #cr spoilers #the mighty nein #the mighty nein echoes of the solstice #echoes of the solstice #caleb widogast #beauregard lionett #empire siblings #critical role spoilers #cr2 spoilers

[onesmolhurts]

 ẅ̸̦̰̉͝e̶̜̝̱̟͇̎̀l̷͕̭̖͖̘̂̂̂̃ĉ̴̜̬̋o̸̗̖̒m̸̙̿ẻ̶̘̊̅͂ 

#nonagon #caleb widowgast #critical role #the mighty nein #my art #critical role fanart #fanart #critical role campaign 2 #cr #cr2 spoilers

[dissonancies]

Liam talking about what Caleb is doing with his time: “-and he'll spend time in the study, and wonder if he'll get a visit from, uh...his Kryn friend, this week.“

Laura and Ashley immediately:

#critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #the mighty nein spoilers #the mighty nein reunited #the mighty nein reunited spoilers #cr2 spoilers #i don't know how to tag this i'm sorry lmao #shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #''his kryn friend'' c'mon now

[mollymauk-widogast]

I can't wait to watch Essek and Caleb fall for each other all over again. The flirting and dancing around another. ESSEK ABSOLUTELY CRUSHING THE SCOURGER FOR TOUCHING CALEB. The manipulation to try and get things from another. THE LESSONS IN DUNAMIS!! The forehead kiss on the boat, and Caleb looking in to his soul and tells him, "You were not born with venom in your veins. You learned it. You learned it "

I wanna see the moment when Essek figures it out. The oh fuck I'm screwed moment when he realizes he loves all of them and that they are the only friends he's ever truly had. I wanna see ESSEK CALLING HIM A YOUNG MAN IN THE TOWER.

The realization that they're both just imperfect people going through fire, they've been burnt, and that they are healing. APE-LEB picking hurt Essek up and trying to get the healers to heal him. Learning to trust and the small touches that feel like they weigh tons. Then the eventual making it out despite everything, and making a life together.

#critical role #critrole #the mighty nein #mighty nein #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #shadowgast #caleb x essek #cr spoilers #kinda i guess? #cr2 #excuse me while i scream #liam obrien #matthew mercer #critical role spoilers #cr2 spoilers

[sassy-cass-16]

LISTEN MAN. listen. When Essek and Caleb have their conversation at the top of the tower and Caleb tries to tell him that he’s done things on par with his betrayal, and Essek shuts him down, it’s so much more than that. It is so much more than that. 

More under the cut because I could write a whole essay on this one interaction

Caleb starts off with “The one thing that has stayed true, though, is that I—well, I carry a lot of sins, like you do.” It’s emblematic of Caleb’s entire worldview from the moment he got out of the sanatorium. He feels that the things he’s done, the things Trent had him do, are the only constant in his life between when he was Bren and who he is right now. He feels that the guilt is constant and inescapable, which is an idea he first expressed to Yasha earlier on in the campaign. 

And then he throws out a lifeline to Essek. He tries to bind their guilty threads together. He tells him that they are alike. He’s trying to comfort him, in his own way. It’s not entirely wrong, but Essek is three times his age and knows that their situations are not the same. He knows that his own crimes were premeditated. He knows that he made the personal decision, the active choice, to do what he did, with foreknowledge of what was going to happen. 

And so he tells Caleb as much. He says “Not anywhere like I do.” He tries to force Caleb to look at their situations in their full context. By this point, Essek has interacted with Trent, he knows the power and lack of restraint that the Assembly has. Caleb has told him that Trent was his teacher, that he’s familiar with him. It’s not hard for Essek to make the link between how slimy Trent is, and the amount of guilt Caleb feels, and figure out what really happened. And what really happened was that a young man was coerced. 

Caleb knows that, but he also carries that guilt for a reason. He did have other options—not past a certain point, not past when Trent made him a volstrucker, but he did have them. He believed that what he was doing was right, but he knows now that it was deeply wrong and horrific. He did hurt people. So he pushes back, he says, “Don’t be so sure.” He’s not listening to Essek’s deeper meaning here. 

and Essek is having absolutely none of that, because he sees this thirty-something boy whose crimes are heavy but nothing compared to his own, and he shuts it down. He gets Caleb to look him in the eye, and he looks Bren Ermendrud in the eye and he tells him, “I’m pretty sure, young man.” 

And the “young man” is important on multiple levels. Firstly, Essek is literally reminding Caleb of their age difference—Essek’s about 120 years old compared to Caleb’s 33, and for a drow who’s interacted mostly with people centuries or millennia older than both of them, that’s not nothing. That has meaning. He’s reminding Caleb of cosmic insignificance, in a way, which fits with the ninth floor of the tower being covered in stars. And it's not out of nowhere, Essek brings up the point a bit earlier. It's a shallow undercurrent through the whole conversation, but this is the point when Essek makes it mean something.

Essek is also reminding Caleb of their differences in order to absolve him of some of the guilt he’s carrying. it’s a mirror to the “venom in your veins” moment, when Caleb drew Essek into the Mighty Nein, dragged him into redemption, by exposing their similarities. That moment happened in the bowels of a ship, which represents the forced and necessary closeness of the moment. This moment, Essek’s response, happens in a place of infinity, which is a much more natural place of common ground for the two of them. The first one was out of necessity, it was Caleb trying to prove that he’s changed as much as it was him trying to prove that Essek can change. The second one is a choice made because Essek wants to show Caleb kindness, in his own way. 

In addition to that, though, Essek also calls Caleb a “young man” in contrast to Trent. He’s establishing himself as the elder of the two of them in a way that doesn’t imply power, it doesn’t even imply wisdom. it’s not him using his age to assert authority over Caleb in the way Trent abused his authority as his teacher. It’s just Essek making a firm statement about taking responsibility for himself. He puts this metaphorical distance between the two of them not to push Caleb away, but to remind him not to get lost in the guilt. 

Finally, I think Essek was probably a little tired of being dragged around by the Nein. He's been having a week. He might have needed to remind one of these people that despite how he looks and talks and how close they’ve gotten, he’s significantly older than all of them (aside from maybe Cad, although we don’t actually know how old he is) and he can handle himself. This moment also happens a few minutes after Jester put him on the back foot, by asking about his favourite food, so maybe asserting himself a bit helps him feel more at ease.

And Caleb's response?

"I will take you at your word."

It's hands-up, backing-down, letting Essek win. Essek has put his foot down about the severity of their respective crimes, and this is Caleb letting him know that he's finally listening. It's not a full surrender, but it's Caleb agreeing to believe Essek when he says that no matter what he's done, it's not on the same level as what Essek did, and he shouldn't take more responsibility or guilt than he already has.

The conversation turns to Caleb's goals after that, and they return to their usual conversation style, but that handful of lines is just so layered and impactful when you break down how these two got to this point. I love it. The push-and-pull dynamic here, where Essek lets a little of the Shadowhand out, is just... chef's kiss. All of this is improvised so goddamn well.

#critical role #campaign 2 #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #the mighty nein #mighty nein #cr2 spoilers #long post

[hinumay-emergencycommisionsopen]

Der Katzenprinz

#digital art #character art #digital aritst #commisions open #art #drawing commissions open #digital commisions #dnd #critical role #the mighty nein fanart #mighty nein #the mighty nein #m9 rewatch #cr m9 #m9 #cr2 art #cr2 fanart #cr2 spoilers #critrole #criticalrole #critical role fanart #cr2 #cr c2 #bren aldric ermendrud #caleb widogast\ #caleb widogast #caleb widogast fanart #critical role art #critical role fan art #frumpkin

[battletailors]

My good ol Mighty Nein baby. A quick sketch to get back into things

#critical role #critical role fanart #mighty nein #veth brenatto #cr2 spoilers #my art

[faggotwilliamwisp]

Him: you better not be cunt slaying caduceus when I get there

My dumb ass:

#cr2 spoilers #critical role #cr2 #Liveshow spoilers #caduceus clay

[its-your-mind]

Say what you wanna about the legacy of vox machina across exandria, but fucking NOBODY is haunting the narrative like Percival “I made the world’s first gun (with help from a demon (and then the idea was taken and copied by an unethical scientist who sold the plans and spread the invention worldwide, leading to artillery-based warfare))” Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski “my family’s estate is the sole-exporter of an extremely rare substance with untold magic-enhancing power (and when control of our home was taken from us by force that powerful substance made it into the hands of dangerously unethical magic users determined to use it to increase their own considerable magical power (and also to experiment on young and impressionable mages to attempt to increase their power artificially))” de Rolo III

#critical role #vox machina #percy de rolo #the mighty nein #c2 Spoilers #cr2 spoilers #orthax #percival fredrickstein von musel klossowski de rolo iii #residuum #c1 spoilers #cr1 spoilers

[staticrevelations]

congrats to Marisha for officially being 3 for 3 with love interests taking her PCs on a romantic (???) flight

#cr spoilers #cr lb #imodna #laudna #marisha ray #mine #cr1 spoilers #cr2 spoilers #bells hells #vox machina #the mighty nein #beauregard lionett #keyleth of the air ashari #c3 spoilers

[otterlyart]

Everyone mark “Nott flirting with Stephen Colbert” off your bingo card.

#cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #critical role red nose day #cr red nose day #who would have thought? not me. or should i say Nott me? I'll see myself out #critical role #otterlyart gifs #stephen colbert #stephen colbert red nose day #cr2 spoilers #non-canon episode #critical role campaign 2 spoilers #but not really? #just want to tag it to be safe

[juncopandi]

Another day, another old painting! This is from 2021, made just after the infamous Team Firestorm heist.

#critical role #critical role fanart #cr2 #cr2 spoilers #should i have been tagging spoilers this whole time? sorry lmao #fun fact my friends and I have a group chat on twitter that is still named Team Firestorm to this day #watching this live was a TIME #caleb widogast #jester lavorre #veth brenatto #and...regrettably #trent ikithon