#campaign 3 meta
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so i think i have too many c3 thoughts right now to be entirely coherent so fuck it, we roll. warning: super long post, i insincerely apologize.
while everyone is getting lost in the sauce about the gods and whether they “deserve to live” and whatnot, i think we the audience (and the players to a lesser extent but that’s just my reading) are missing the forest for the trees. because c3 is not about the gods, it’s about our pcs, moreover, it is about our pcs and their relationships to/with power, control, and responsibility. as conflict avoidant (and avoidant in general) as our party is, we need something big and in your face to really delve into their understanding of their issues and the solutions they believe will solve the problems. the gods are only part of the story because they are the biggest, most in your face representation of these issues. the gods have power; do they use it to control others, to control fate? what are their responsibilities when it comes to what their followers do? does any of that even matter in the face of their annihilation? if they have power and don’t use it, what is their responsibility then? adjacently, is free will even a thing when dealing with time and power on a scale that mortals cannot comprehend? and if we “surrender” to that, if we “just have faith” are we ceding control of our own lives to these far more powerful beings and what would that say about us?
these themes are a continuation of what aabria started in exu where she hammered over and over again that power isn’t inherently good or evil, it’s the choices one makes that matter. and if you choose not to decide, if you choose to avoid the issue, you still have made a choice. and you need to own it.
back in the early days, bells hells were all potential, not quite coming into their power and scrounging around for any semblance of control they could manage. ashton told themself that nothing mattered, that everything was shit, and to care was to destroy themself. they chose to just let things happen. chet believed that the only way he could fully control his own fate was to be a loner. fcg thought they were in control and encouraged others, through admittedly not great means, to make choices and take what small control they could, even as they thought choices were not for them. fearne collected, stole, and held things and others too close to keep them from leaving. imogen fought for rigid control over herself, her powers, and her curiosity about said power. laudna avoided the problem altogether; out of sight, out of mind. if she didn’t think about or care about delilah, it didn’t matter, it wouldn’t hurt her or anyone else. orym ceded control of his future to all the other characters and tried to redo the loss of his husband every time he entered a fight.
nowadays? despite their own perceptions of helplessness, they are undeniably powerful enough to make a difference, to make a real mark on the world. and now they have to deal with the responsibility of that power. while also grappling with those control questions that haven’t yet been solved. they’re level 10 characters- the nein were dealing with the happy fun ball, obann and his cronies, and the citadel, for reference. the hells have power, after spending so long feeling powerless and out of control. and i don’t think any of them is comfortable with this yet. having power has not, and probably will not, solved their problems. ashton still has the hole in their head and chronic pain. fearne keeps losing people. imogen is still being drawn to the red moon. laudna still compartmentalizes and is desperately disengaged with her own power and choices. power and control are ultimately separate factors and beasts, is what i am getting at, and having one doesn’t necessarily equate with having the other.
it’s a lot, is what i’m saying. the hells by and large haven’t solved their personal control and power issues so it’s no wonder they are flailing about and rehashing the god question over and over and over again. because the question isn’t really about the gods, the question is about them.
chet and orym have the most straightforward relationships with power and control in the party. orym is regaining control of his life, regaining the ability to lay down what he wants and expects, gaining the ability to lead in the process. chet’s reconciled the betrayal of his authority figure and more than that has consistently and repeatedly owned up to his screw ups and when his lack of control has fucked him or others up. and i think that’s why the pair of them most successfully separate the gods’ power from the gods’ control over the world.
fcg, he who was made to care for others and who now chooses to do so, has gained a relationship with his goddess. not for nothing was the first major breakthrough the one where fcg made a choice, owned it, and followed through. fortune favors the bold, after all, and the changebringer encourages mortals to seize their fates with both hands. through the tentative first steps of self-care, they have also gained more control over themself and their future. they figured out that murderbot doesn’t have to kill or hurt anyone. through the power of someone else helping them, fcg was able to retain enough control to not spiral. and that’s how fcg sees their new mission: the gods have the power to help others (and use it) so he wants to help them. simple, straightforward.
but here it gets murky. because ashton and laudna in particular see power and control as the same thing. they aren’t separate as far as these characters are concerned. if you have power, why wouldn’t you use it? why wouldn’t you control every single thing you could? why wouldn’t you stop this horrid thing? why would you let this happen? where the pair of them differ is that ashton, practically possibility incarnate, has decided to act. has decided that they have been stuck in a cycle of self-pity and wallowing and, well, if the gods aren’t going to act, even on their own behalf, then fine, they will. fuck it. someone has to. he will put ludinus into the ground for what he’s done and then...well, they’ll be a hero (don’t think i didn’t notice your word choices all episode, taliesin, i am watching ashton like a hawk here). through this decision, this acknowledgement of their own vulnerability, of how much they actually have to lose and how much they will have to fight to keep it, ashton has sent themself on the path towards regaining some control over their life. not for nothing have they been so focused on what power and possibilities their head could bring lately. but don’t think they’re doing it for the gods, oh no. they’re here for all the people like them.
but laudna? oh, laudna feels completely out of control. has for a while. her typical avoidance and compartmentalization strategies were completely failing her in issylra. in the face of all of this, she feels powerless. so what does she do? reach for control the only way she knows how: by using someone else’s power and giving them another foothold with which to control laudna’s own life. again. and after? laudna’s overwhelmed, she’s guilty, she’s worried about what everyone else will think. notice that she doesn’t yet seem worried about what delilah could do to her; it’s the betrayal to her friends, how they see her that worries her most. that she wasn’t strong enough, powerful enough, big enough to find another way (never mind that the facts of the situation were overwhelmingly on her side, especially before she called down delilah). that she lost control again. she’s a puppet on delilah’s strings so long as delilah has power that laudna wants or needs, why would the gods be any different in her eyes?
so, strangely in the middle, we have imogen. imogen, who intimately knows that power and control aren’t the same. but unlike chet and orym, in imogen’s experience, the more power she has, the more out of control she becomes. the more power she gets, the more she’s drawn to that damn moon whether she wants to be or not. sure, the circlet helps now but it’s a band-aid, a temporary measure, and imogen knows it. and even it couldn’t completely block out her dreams. the cost she pays for her powers continues to climb (she lost her mother, her best friend and two of her party members were murdered for it, this solstice could end the world because of ludinus and ruidusborn like her, she can’t tell how overwhelmed laudna is without her powers). imogen, who questioned whether the bad guys have a point before any of this really kicked off.
and fittingly outside this strange intersection is fearne. fearne has no interest in the gods, really. she doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. however, she did just receive a vision from the duskmaven which honestly almost seems tailored to her specifically. the duskmaven’s champion, her person, is trapped in unending agony, caused by his love for his person. that fearne understands all too well. what she really cares about is her people, her new family. and so, she’s caught in the middle. because right now, all the group can agree on is that they want to stick together to take down ludinus. so where is that going to leave them, exactly, once he’s gone? where will that leave her, with a potential chet/orym/fcg vs laudna/ashton/imogen split, when she wants them all, when they are all hers? and how will her newly found sense of responsibility play into the next stage of the hells’ fight?
so i think that intersection between power, control, and responsibility is why certain characters are moving forward and why others are stumbling backwards. and why certain characters are gung-ho about saving the gods, others indifferent, while others are finding non-god reasons to involve themselves in the plot.
#bells hells#critical role#cr campaign 3#bells hells meta#critical role campaign 3#control parties have control issues re-re-redux#my meta#long post#campaign 3 meta#team wildemount#team issylra
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"i know i cry a lot" | imogen meta
okay now that i've kind of caught up-
can we talk about the conversation that the group had about imogen's emotional health?? because it was both really good to talk about but also really... not helpful at all?
you can tell that the group sees right through imogen when she say's she's fine- but they also don't seem to really follow up with their concerns?
"she goes to sleep every night crying," fearne says, and here's the thing- imogen doesn't disagree.
though that just might be a laura joking thing- that's so sad??? that someone could even say that about imogen's life and it is even plausible that it's true??
and THEN: "i'm not going to do that anymore, i'm strong" - imogen
is also both healthy and not healthy??
not to get meta but laura said once (i forget where) that in college/young adulthood that she was so sad that she decided she was going to smile and trick her mind into being happy because she didn't want to be sad anymore- and she said herself that it's a terrible coping mechanism
genius of her to use that as imogen's coping mechanism here, now.
but once she says that there's some singing of "survivor" and then... just no follow-up?
orym moves the conversation along and i can't help but notice... that imogen despite what she's just said... does still like she's going to cry.
and just. ugh.
our purple haired sorceress is going through it :(
#imogen temult#critical role#critical role meta#cr meta#campaign 3#campaign 3 meta#imogen meta#critical role spoilers#campaign 3 spoilers#cr spoilers#crit role spoilers
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sam's character, veth, put the core in devexian, and powered him up, and so the first aeormaton since the fall of aeor awoke.
devexian made sure fcg, sam's character, was able to be awoken as he was.
and fcg, using the core inside him, utilized it to save his friends once and for all.
the cycles of this game....
#critical role#cr spoilers#critical role meta#robots#fcg#devexian#sam riegel#van speaks#campaign 3#aeor#veth brenatto#campaign 2
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Laudna going through a spiral about whether Ashton is a bad person because he wanted the power of both shards and did something stupidly dangerous to do it vs. Laudna deliberately feeding Delilah by using Hunger of the Shadow on Bor'Dor and Willmaster Edmuda.
Absolutely love it. Girl please keep projecting your worst fears about yourself and destructive habits on your friends and get scared of them without ever stepping back and assessing your own actions, it is delicious.
Bonus points that Imogen and Laudna are the biggest enablers of each other and not at all inclined to check each other's negative behaviors. Imogen still has a healthy fear about her powers, though, especially right now.
Meanwhile Laudna is still convinced that Orym is fine and the stable one while no one questions how Orym got Hex or that he's willingly using Ludinus' Quintessence Array to drain Edmuda of her life force. A totally normal stable good guy thing to do. Definitely no nosedive here. Although Laudna is irritated at him for pressuring everyone to keep going and not back down, and that he got the Quintessence Array use and not her. (Because again, she is trying to feed her own need for power.)
Somehow Fearne is the only one who's beginning to think they all might be going too far and getting scared, but they're not really listening to her. She saw her potential to become Dark Fearne and actually reevaluated her life. (Even if she's still a chaos being.)
Bell's Hells are great because they're like NPCs who ended up as the B-Team who keeps happening to be in the right place at the right time to be in the middle of all these events leading to this cataclysmic events that are so much bigger than they are. It's FUN that it's happening faster than they can recon with it and they're getting more and more desperate to not go under in a way that is actually making them go under faster.
They're seeing it in each other but not in themselves. That's the tragedy. They're so desperate to win it doesn't matter at what cost anymore. They're all just competing to see who can sacrifice themselves for the cause first while dragging their enemies down with them. They're going to end up being the monsters someone else has to fight, even though they kept trying to do good and fight the darkness.
#critical role#critical role spoilers#critical role meta#critical role campaign 3#Bell's Hells#Laudna Critical Role#Delilah Briarwood#Orym of the Air Ashari#ashton greymoore#imogen temult#fearne calloway
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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.
#critical role#cr#4 sided dive#critical role spoilers#cr spoilers#not a Vax hate post#he’s just complex#campaign 3#vox machina#cr3#bell’s hells#bells hells#campaign 1#cr meta#vax'ildan
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I already said this in my other post but this really deserves to stand on its own and honestly I'm crying over it so it has to get written down somewhere, but when Bor'Dor took a pull from Ashton's pipe, the smoke turned into an image of him shooting a Fire Bolt at the janky, creepy, lovingly set up dummy that the Hells had made for him. The target that his own targets made out of admiration for him, out of affection, out of genuinely wanting to see him grow his potential.
Ashton's pipe showed that the greatest, most heroic moment of Bor'Dor's life was casting Fire Bolt at that target, and getting to celebrate it with the rest of the Hells. It was feeling accepted for the first time in his life. Feeling respected. Feeling like he belonged, like he and his magic belonged and weren't some horrible, dangerous thing that they would fear him for or would have a temple come and cart him away for.
These people—who he somehow either followed across an ocean or luckily ran into—who he specifically stayed with because he intended to kill them for sabotaging the Ruby Vanguard's plans. For killing "his friends" in Marquet.
These people were the ones he finally felt accepted by. Not the Ruby Vanguard.
He gave Ashton the first piece of mental relief and relaxation they'd felt in years, maybe ever. He gave them jerky, and made them fruit leather, and caught a little fish and had Prism Enlarge it to make sure they could eat. Was he telling himself it was just to ingratiate himself to them, to get closer so the knife would be easier to twist? When did ingratiating himself become "I wanted you to like me"? Did he have to keep convincing himself it was all part of the plan, that he didn't really like them, that he didn't want to keep them alive but he had to to get his revenge, that he could let them die at any moment and this wasn't just him getting attached because how could he get attached to people he meant to kill?
Did Bor'Dor realize, in the moment that he decided to try killing them in that cave, that the Vanguard had only ever seen him as a weapon? That his "friends" who'd died in Marquet (he'd watched Ashton throw some of their bodies out of the Hole just days ago) wouldn't have sought revenge for his death the same way, because he was nothing more than a tool for one man's schemes? Did he realize he had more in common with Orym who'd lost all his loved ones to Ludinus and Otohan and the Vanguard—with Laudna and her myriad of terrifying, beautiful magical gifts and her desire to do good with them—than he'd ever had in common with anyone in the Vanguard?
Is that part of why he just tried to run?
It didn't have to be this way!
Bor'Dor healed most of the group right after fighting the Taker. He knew that his Vitriolic Sphere probably wouldn't kill all of them, that they had health potions and could recover. He just needed to get away. Get away so that they couldn't come after him, and he didn't have to see how he'd hurt the only people who'd welcomed him into their hearts in years, and he could tell himself that maybe they did die and he'd fulfilled his mission, and could tell himself too that maybe they didn't die and he hadn't actually killed his only real friends in the world.
I saw you! In Marquet! You murdered my friends!
Was he really still angry at the Hells for killing Ruby Vanguard members? Or was he trying desperately to fight back against how much they cared about him? How much they had genuinely reached out and taken him in? How much it was going to hurt him to hurt them? Was he trying to cling to his original purpose, so that he could ignore how much it hurt to kill the first people who'd seen his magic and said "you're amazing" and meant it? Who'd said "can I try something", "what else can you do", "it's nice to know I'm not alone, because you're in the same boat as me"?
And when he gave up... when he didn't try to fight back... when he begged for the end because there was no point anymore...
The Vanguard wasn't enough to stay alive for. And he'd just betrayed the only people who'd ever completely accepted him. There was no point anymore. No point in fighting. No point in living. He was done. He'd had enough.
Bor'Dor Dog'Son deserves his peace. I'm glad he got it.
#Critical Role#campaign 3#cr spoilers#critical role spoilers#campaign 3 spoilers#critical role meta#critical role theory#c3 meta#c3 theory#Bree's stuff#about me#about Bree#fuck I'm crying again
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all the absolutely unhinged instructions and Liam/Orym stress-commands while travis was moving the piece
vs travis taking the lead on laura's turn and just so gently telling her where she needs to move the thing with ZERO chetney input
the cast is so much better at communication than bell's hells lmaooo
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Ashton, head covered in gold cracks and opal, asking Imogen, arms covered in purple webbing cracks, crawling, asking how she feels about them, the cracks. Imogen, who just blew the buildings, but also Otohan, away, saying they felt bad, marked her as different. Till laudna came to town, and she saved her. Then they felt good, proof she survived. Ashton, head glued with cracks, nodding, knowing it's better to break than shatter when you fall. Imogen, staring down still crying, at the wrapped body of laudna, saying they feel like evidence now. Ashton, looking at the rest of their friends alive, and the growing cracks on Imogens arms, saying that No, it's proof. She's a fuckin' superhero, she saved them.
#critical role#critical role spoilers#cr spoilers#cr c3#critical role campaign 3#laudna#cr laudna#imogen#imogen temult#cr ashton#cr meta#imodna
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Bells Hells level 12
Chetney takes a level in Blood Hunter. He gets +10 hp and gains advanced transformation, which gives him a second use of hybrid transformation; and allows him to regain 3 hit points at the start of his turn if he has at least 1 hp but less than 50% of his max.
Laudna takes a level in sorcerer. She gets +9 hp, an additional sorcery point, a new spell, and one 5th level spell slot.
FCG takes a level in cleric. They get +6 hp and an ability score increase or feat. Their wisdom increased by 1, so they took either fey-touched, shadow-touched, observant, skilled, telekinetic, or telepathic.
Fearne takes a level in rogue, and chooses the arcane trickster subclass. She gets +4 hp, mage hand and 2 wizard cantrips, 3 wizard spells, and another 5th level spell slot. She also gains mage hand legerdemain, which allows her to pickpocket and pick locks with her mage hand (i.e. at a 30ft range).
Imogen takes a level in sorcerer. She gets +6 hp, an additional sorcery point, and an ability score increase or feat.
Orym takes a level in fighter. He gets +7 hp and an ability score increase or feat. He took the Tough feat, giving him 2 additional hp per level (+24, and +2 for each subsequent level). His intelligence also went up by 1 mysteriously -- my guess is that he got a variant of the fey-touched feat from his deal with Morri.
Ashton takes another level in Barbarian. They get +9 hp and an ability score increase or feat, and their number of rages per long rest increases to 5.
(This post will be updated as we learn what ASIs/feats they took.)
#critical role#note watches c3#critical role campaign 3#critical role spoilers#critical role c3#critical role meta
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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
#Vaxleth is! not one of my main ships.#EXCEPT for those dozen-ish episodes where Vax is a Revenant and the angst is top tier and OH BOY DOES THIS DELICER#deliver*#cr spoilers#critical role spoilers#critical role#critrole spoilers#vaxleth#vax'ildan#keyleth#keyleth of the air ashari#cr c3e51#c3e51#campaign 3#vox machina#ludinus da'leth#cr meta
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VERY LONG POST EXPLORING C3 AND WHY SO MANY PEOPLE MIGHT NOT LIKE IT/MY PERSONAL GRIPES WITH IT.
I ended up exploring a bit of that Reddit community of critical role fans (not the main one) where they basically gather together and commiserate how much they hate C3. It's frustrating to read because at some point you can tell they make no effort to engage positively with the campaign and have a penchant for hating anything about it.
But, from the perspective of someone with very little emotional connection to the past campaigns, I kinda get why C3 feels so different and, in my opinion, it's all about personal stakes for the characters.
As writers, we constantly hear that we must give the characters something personal to care about so that the reader may care about the plot - yeah city-destroying laser beam is a big stake, but if main character's loved one will be used as a sacrifice to the aliens to activate the laser beam unless they do something, the tension doubles.
And with a shallow look over the arcs of the past campaigns, especially the fans' favourites, a pattern I find is of those with heavy personal stakes:
People often point the Briarwoods arc as a favourite. It's not just about bringing down the powerful Briarwoods, it's about avenging Percy's family and bringing his beloved Whitestone back to its past glory, all mixed with the fighting of personal demons.
We also got Vax'ildans overarching arc with the Raven Queen and Scanlan's with Kaylie and his self-worth/discovery in the party.
In campaign three, the struggle of Fjord getting over Uk'otoa's influence and turning to the Wildmother, rediscovering himself. Bright Queen's Favor with freeing Yuza, uncovering Nott's past, grappling with their preconceptions of the empire and the dynasty, and meeting Essek. Losing then Recovering Yasha from Obann. Traveler Con.
This post about the first third of the C2 comparing it to C1 explains quite well how M9 is driven by the party's personal stakes over any obligation to any institution.
Not only personal stakes that build the value of the campaign, but places that grow as their own: Whitestone, Emon, Zephrah, Xhorhas, the Menagerie Coast, Zedash, etc.
That's what's missing from Campaign 3: anchors and personal stakes.
Bells Hells doesn't really care about anything! We're entrenched in the Ruidus plot ever since we learned what ruidusborn means in the beginning of the campaign and yet, what does that mean to them? It was the subject of Imogen's dreams and afflictions but what else? The main victims of it will be the gods, but they repeatedly state how much they don't care for the gods and are in doubt if losing them would be bad anyway.
In a certain perspective, I don't blame them - the plot has grown so massive and subjective, while they haven't - they're still level 10 nobodies against a god-eating moon-shaped monster and the insanely powerful guy that wants to free it.
Bells Hells doesn't care for the places they walk through! Only two members of the party are actually from Marquet! Imogen and Dorian. And both are running from their past! so they don't even want to be there! Ashton hates everything about it and all the others have no reason to cling to it.
Jrusar was such a great city with great dynamics that were only half explored and they don't seem to care to return to it even though so much goes unexplored. Yios meant nothing nor did Heartmoor or the Taloned Highlands (and its apparently juicy political intrigues nobody cared to explore) and barely a mention of Ank'harel or the Silken Squall.
WHY do we keep going back to Taldorei???
Marquet as a whole goes mostly unexplored and underused in the campaign and it's so upseting.
Bells Hells have nothing to lose! They hold no personal stakes to the plot, most of them don't have families and those that do feel like something so distant and impersonal, no place or city they love or feel connected to, the only thing they owned (the very valuable skyship rip) they destroyed with barely any consideration. Their morals feel like the only thing at stake and even that feels already lost.
C3 is pulling too much from past campaigns. From the moment they first contacted the VM people, it felt like a mistake, and every appearance since has felt so much like fan service (especially bc specific fan favourites are the recurring appearances, no variety). The time spent in Whitestone, the connections to Delilah, everything with Keyleth, etc.
This last one, in particular, contributes to that group of NPCs feeling, always revolving around some other character struggle - who cares what is going on with Bells Hells when Vax's trapped in an orb and Keyleth is half dying, and Caleb is in an anti-magic collar, and Trent is probably loose, and this character and that character...
We haven't spent proper time with C3-exclusive NPCs excluding Nana Morri since episode 50! No Lord Eshteross or Xandis or Ira or Jiana Hexum or the Green Seekers or Milo. It was so special to me having Dancer and Imahara Joe around even if briefly.
And Lord Eshteross death left such a huge gap in the dynamics of the party with the world. I think it was premature, especially because the thirst to avenge him (which I suppose was meant to fuel their hate and intention to kill Otohan) lasted so little and from there on out began the heavy and meta-gamey (and personally, OOC) relying on VM characters.
The ticking clock on the apogee solstice strained much of the campaign and brought this looming fear of 'if we don't take care of it nobody will so we can't waste time', therefore the alternative paths and personal arcs fell to the sidelines in favor of the elephant in the room, so it felt like several episodes of dragging towards this event, then the peak of ep 50-51, to re-start the drag of post moon beam.
Guest PCs are a whole other can of worms I'm not ready to explore also bc it entails a lot, but it's a shared sentiment that people miss Dorian and what he brought to the table.
On a personal view, the Hellcath Valley was my favorite arc. Bassuras felt so tactile and real and gritty, we had a clear objective of infiltrating the Paragon's Call and retrieving Armand Treshi, Deathwish Run, the mystery of Dusk unveiling into Yu, Fearne's parents encounter, Ira, Imahara Joe and reveals about Dancer and D., first FCG nervous attack, Otohan battle and Laudna's death. SO MUCH.
Special mentions to everything Jrusar and Shade Creepers, Heartmoor and the Museum, Savalirwood, and the time spent on the Silver Sun.
I miss these small-scale objectives, I miss the C3 NPCs, I miss Marquet, I miss turning our eyes to these character tensions and exploration, I miss the one-on-one talks, the unity they shared in those dire moments.
I can't wait to leave the Predathos plot and all the repetitive discussions within it behind.
This doesn't cover everything (interpersonal relationships are a whole other spectrum of discussion) but a few things I feel puts an obstacle towards people liking this campaign when comparing the past ones.
#it feels like i've been writing for hours and I might've been#why am i writing this? well good you asked....... *crikets*#i needed to put this out of my head#i needed to put into words why i can't argue the hateful claims while loving campaign 3 and bells hells#bells hells#cr meta#critical role#cr spoilers#rambles#c3
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Guys, I think Liam and Taliesin are finally playing main campaign characters that understand each other, at least somewhat. In other campaigns, their characters definitely loved and respected each other, but there was always an element of “wow I don’t get you.”
Percy’s repression and brutal pragmatism vs Vax’s recklessness and compassion.
The weight of past trauma and guilt on Caleb vs the denial of the past and lack of regret with Molly.
Caduceus’ optimism and faith in oneself and the future vs Caleb’s struggle with hopelessness.
And I think until recent events, Ashton and Orym were there too.
Former indentured servant angry at the world vs former willing bodyguard trying his best to help others.
But then both Orym and Ashton helped keep the group focused when recovering Laudna. In Whitestone, Orym proved not to be overly trusting of authority. After Eshteros’ death, Ashton was willing to trust the powers that be, at least a little. We’ve seen that their outlooks aren’t as different as their approaches might indicate.
Then that conversation on the Silver Sun…
I was by myself. It's not great.
No, it’s not. Well, as a person who is professionally left behind, you're doing a really good job. You should maybe take care of yourself a little bit…
And
You have pain long enough, it just becomes background noise, anyway.
Yeah, I hear that…
Just, so many moments in that conversation, you could see little drops of realization fall.
Oh, they get it.
What it means to be taken in, adopted into a family.
To lose that family, and not know why.
To be left alone with pain and no purpose.
To have a family again, and be willing to do anything to protect it.
To continually carry pain, but keep moving on regardless.
What an interesting pair of characters these frontline fighters are.
I can’t wait to see more.
#critical role#ashton greymoore#orym of the air ashari#campaign 3#cr meta#long post#i’m not quite shipping it#but i’m also unable to be normal about it#so
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cr3e45 meta: the witches, fcg, and ludinus
HERE WE ARE the meta as promised. i will preface this by saying i had a wacky dream last night where laudna and imogen held hands the entire rest of the episode so do with that what you will
of course i usually center the discussion around imogen but we'll also be looking at a few other things too!
topics: fcg, imogen, and humanity | fearne and imogen | laudna and imogen
fcg, imogen, and humanity
one of the best parts of the episode was fcg being able to gain some understanding of his origins- that he was meant to be a harmonious automaton at first, and then was later changed to be more violent
i think fcg needed that comfort, in knowing he wasn't "bred" to kill. i think that's something that's been weighing on them for a while, especially because the BIG moments in their backstory were about hurting their friends-
because it's easy to forget all the good things you do, when a lot of it is bad. fcg forgets that he brought fearne back to life, who then saved orym. they have walked through imogen's dreams with her, as a comfort.
they have done so many good things- and yet it took an academic, with that strength of knowledge, to convince fcg of what imogen in particular has been trying to tell them all along:
everyone has the chance to be good. your past doesn't mean anything, because it can't change- but your present can.
it's harder to accept that you do have control. it's easier to let things happen to you, let other people "tell" you what to think or to do- but really living means that you embrace that burden knowing that's what life means. to choose, and to make mistakes, and to take ownership of that.
it's a beautiful message. and for the professor to tell fcg that he was beautiful, and unique- fcg has only ever been a spectacle to most people. but to be told- i see you, and you are wonderful even though you are flawed- ugh.
just so good. so, so good.
and what's particularly striking in this episode is how starkly it's opposed by the other knowledge the group gains:
that the exaltants, and the ruidusborn, really don't have very much control. no matter what they choose, it seems that their path toward ruidus is inevitable.
pushing forward- choosing to learn, to grow- only results in studies that can't continue because the ethics are shady, of otohan going rogue because she wants to know more, of liliana running away from her daughter-
where fcg's journey with being human is learning to find the way into the light- imogen is learning what it means to be human, and hurt no matter how hard you try not to be.
and that's just such a heartbreaking path to be on- because where is the hope for her? where along this journey is she going to get any information that doesn't feel like a horrible revelation?
yes, she's an exaltant- which is something so unique and special- but the source of all her recent anguish- otohan, and by extension her mother- are both exaltants too.
she keeps getting pushed and pushed into all this anger and explosive power and dreams she can't control and god it's so devastating. she wants so badly to be loved, and learn what it means to know herself and love herself- just like fcg- but ever since she got her powers, really, she's been hurt by her own mind, her own body, her own family.
fearne and imogen
three cheers for ashley johnson, for this episode and the last of us and just the queen she is-
but specifically, in this episode i got the confirmation that i've been suspecting- that fearne is really also trying to lean into what it means to feel, and to experience things outside the feywild, by helping her friends.
she has been so beautifully in tune with laudna and imogen, specifically, and part of it might be guilt but also part of it is i think she's coming into her own, and realizing what it means to love people, and care about them.
she's so, so smart. ashley, and fearne, that is- pushing the envelope with ludinus, trying to get the answers that they want, in her own fey way, innocent and so smart.
and when ludinus leaves- she's so in tune with imogen's emotions. the "are you okays" were so gentle and just so aware in a way that fearne in the first 20-30 episodes would never have been. asking imogen repeatedly even though she said yes the first time-
because imogen isn't okay, and fearne is starting to pick up on that. she's already been trying to get imogen to talk about her new powers, but i think witnessing imogen being taunted by ludinus, hearing liliana's name, seeing the answers to imogen's dreams (and their joint identity of being ruidusborn) being whisked away and being unable to do anything-
she knows. she knows that it hurts because hasn't she felt this before, too? her parents, betraying her in many ways? doesn't she know the anger, and the devastation, of finding out that you, their child, doesn't mean anything compared to the grand schemes that your parents are up to?
and it had been imogen, then, that told her it was alright to be angry, to be mean and rude-
and now, i feel like fearne is returning that grace that imogen gave her, but in her own way- it's okay to fall apart. it's okay to be sad and grieve the life you wanted.
i'm so glad that they're both building connections outside of their original connections- fearne and imogen, laudna and fcg.
laudna and imogen
this will be briefer but i loved the moments of protectiveness we got from laudna. we got traces of it earlier with silvery barbs in the previous episodes but imogen and laudna care so much about each other.
it's good to see that, even without talking, they haven't stopped paying attention to each other. it goes to show- you can be friends with someone without talking to them all the time. you can process your shared trauma separately, without that meaning you don't care.
i think they're starting to be ready to talk about it together. there have been glimpses, i think, where laudna has started to realize that you can get secondary trauma by being in someone else's, and i think that's a good realization for both of them.
and she seems ready to talk? at least i think so? and i think time at grandma's house (though unsettling) seems like it will be a great opportunity for a slow down in the story, at least kind of.
OH AND: the "did he do anything to you?" and "no, he just talked"- but i think with imogen, words have always hurt so much more than physical pain.
the knowledge- "she was right, you do look like your mother."
is so much worse. otohan and liliana. liliana and otohan. coworkers, at the minimum, test subjects together- what else is there?
i think this campaign NEEDS a pause, pacing wise, for the characters' sanities. i think imogen in particular (and not even just because she's my favorite) needs time to process things- because if she doesn't i can really see it getting into dangerous mental health territory for her. which i will probably talk about in another meta ;)
if you've made it this far i commend you for that- i'm sorry for the word vomit!
#critical role#critical role spoilers#cr spoilers#critical role meta#cr meta#campaign 3#campaign 3 meta#imogen temult#imogen temult meta#laudna#fearne calloway#imodna#fresh cut grass#fresh cut grass meta#cr fearne
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absolutely out of my mind obsessed. OBSESSED. with liliana always saying "he" and, even if we know it's ludinus, never saying his name and obfuscating him with predathos, these two pillars of limitless power & incredible cruelty that chain her, stronger than her, in her own words. how he needs her. how he admires & values & even in some way adores her, and maybe more. how she's pulled ludinus back from the very edge. her trying to change him, and zerxus 1000 years ago trying to change asmodeus and jester trying to change artagan and caleb trying to change essek and the m9 trying to change lucien and opal trying to change lolth, and imogen, trying to change her own mother. this cycle of desperate belief in redemption that can succeed or fail, the coin that hasnt landed on a side yet. how that's freedom for some. how that's a whip, a martinet on the back of the reformer for others. the belief in set fate vs the vanguard belief in changing destiny. generation upon generation of hope & abuse that can so easily become one or the other or both at once for eon upon eon. how the gods who created these mortals who seek any glint of kindness desperately wish, in this moment, for redemption themselves. "to reach a hand down to somebody, they need to be beneath you". but the gods are in the sky. and their saviors are on a lonely planet & lonelier moon, locked together by a cycle of violence & desperation started by them so long ago.
#cr spoilers#critical role#campaign 3#exandria unlimited: calamity#campaign 2#ludinus da'leth#liliana temult#critical role meta#predathos#zerxus ilerez#asmodeus#lolth#opal#essek thelyss#jester lavorre#caleb widogast#artagan#imogen temult#lucien tavelle
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Orym's argument against Ludinus Da'leth and the Ruby Vanguard is essentially "The purpose of a system is what it does."
This is a systems theory coined by Stafford Beer around 2001. He posited there is "no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do." It does not matter what someone tells you a system does if it does not reliably do that. The things it does consistently do are the actual purpose of the system.
Ludinus (and Liliana) claim the purpose of the Ruby Vanguard's violence is to free Exandria of oppression from the gods. Orym's point is that they have not consistently protected anyone from oppression. They consistently murder innocent people, indoctrinate vulnerable people into doing terrible violence (including children), support a ruling class that dominates the population through mind control and eugenics, and seek to release a predator so terrifying that the warring alien gods and native primordials worked together to seal it away as a threat to both of them.
So the logical conclusion is that the purpose of Ludinus' system is not to free anyone from tyranny, it's to install himself as the tyrant. And it does not matter what Ludinus says it's for or even what he believes it's for. The purpose of a system is what it does. And Orym has been personally and repeatedly victimized by what it does. Why wouldn't he keep reminding them of that?
Add onto that, the Ruby Vanguard is a death cult. They lure people in with believable lies. They use propaganda to control how people view them and to convince people to support them. Liliana has been groomed into a true believer who genuinely thinks what she has been told is true and that Ludinus' system does what he says it will. She has been convincing other people of this for years. Not because she's an inherently bad person but because everyone generally tries to convince others that what we believe is true. It is actually dangerous to let a cultist try to talk you into the cult's perspective. That's why Orym shuts it down.
Orym was already on edge but it's fully in a breakdown after FCG's sacrifice. One more iteration of Ludinus' system consistently murdering the people he loves. But he still told Imogen he wants her to have a good relationship with her mom again. He wants Liliana to make it through the other side of this. But that has to involve consistently stating the reality of what's happening against what she believes.
Ludinus believes in the rapture of the revolution. Burn everything to the ground on a fundamental level and a new perfect society will grow, with him to guide it. The reality is that kind of power vacuum consistently leads to horrific violence and conditions often get much, much worse. Especially for vulnerable people, who often do not survive. A lot about the gods' relationships to mortals probably needs to change, but this an incredibly dangerous gamble to fix it.
The purpose of a system is what it does. Any suggestion otherwise is cold comfort to Orym's family in the ground.
#POSIWID#critical role#critical role spoilers#critical role meta#critical role campaign 3#Bell's Hells#Orym of the Air Ashari#Ludinus Da'leth#Liliana Temult
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theres just something i absolutely adore about the way bells hells can be generally perceived in general by other people.
like how vox machina are these living legendary god-chosen heroes put into the history books and continue to be influential figures to this day. even during their time, they were protectors of the realm, slayers of dragons and gods. theyve taken the role of saviors and defending the side of good, despite how much of dumbass shitheads and callous in their ways and words they can be.
or how the mighty nein were these lesser-heard mysterious group of hypercompetent operatives entwined with criminal organizations, politics, governments, esoteric encounters, and divine or arcane secrets. they were shady motherfuckers whose agendas not a lot of people are privy to, altho we all know its mostly attending to each other's well-being and actually trying to do the right thing, and thats if theyre actually thinking some things through.
and now, the bells hells. the interesting thing is, theyre a group mostly comprised of ticking time bombs, and i feel like people can maybe already get some hints of that impression from them after a while? like. you see this colorful group of idiots. theyre actually pretty nice people. theyre appreciative and indulgent of most weird and even stupid shit. theyre not necessarily great at stealth, but theyve got the audacity to walk in any kind of establishment as if they belong even when they clearly dont, and weirdly enough it works. when faced with opponents, their first move is to fuck with them with some ridiculous shit. ghost haunts, booby traps, fake orgies, explosives as a warning. maybe even talk things out. wont even kill you, hell, they prefer not to usually.
but then you push a little too far. or youre in the way and they cant really afford to waste time. theyve got a goal, and theyre gonna reach it no matter what. and now youve got the most unhinged and feral group of people who doesnt give a shit about collateral damage or hurting themselves as long as they can put you down.
theyre also just so non-stop, and even if they were given time and opportunity to rest, theyre just so full of energy and grit.
during their first episodes, even eshteross was a little taken aback by how fast and immediate they move on to the next thing that needs their focus.
so. looking from the outside. theres this group of weirdos, most of them almost monstrous? just plain out weird and really questionable? in origins. theyre very nice people. very friendly. maybe even kind, sometimes at least. they fuck with enemies' heads, sometimes theyre small pranks, sometimes they just set you on fire. but stop short of killing, maybe even heal you!
but theyve also left so many places exploding and/or on fire. they will fucking ruthlessly win ANY COMPETITION OR RACE as undeniable victors.
the frontliners are beaten up and still standing and grinning with blood on their teeth, the casters have the least compunctions in killing, and the healer is fucking with a lot of the damages dealt within a fight.
theyre as quick to announce a big good like the voice of the tempest as their ally as they were with an amoral fey called the nightmare king whom they fully admitted to have been abducting children and innocent creatures for science.
no doubt, theyre all there to save the world. right some wrongs. make a better change.
but theyre just so. wild? and destructive. even to themselves.
im just curious on what the final image of them as a group will be for them.
#bells hells#mighty nein#vox machina#critical role#critical role campaign 3#bell's hells#the mighty nein#party comparison#is this meta?#cr spoilers#critical role spoilers
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