you know, it really does make perfect sense in retrospect why ludinus was not only okay with trent's volstrucker program, but also admitted to finding it useful for his own means. when imogen asked liliana how ruidusborn are awakened (exalted, presumably, for the purpose of being a potential vessel for predathos), liliana responded, "through turmoil. and training."
that's....not very different at all from how trent created the volstrucker. the only real difference is that ludinus' exalted ruidusborn are for an even worse, potentially world-ending purpose
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[ID: A digital illustration of Orym and Dorian Storm from Critical Role. Dorian has his arms around Orym's waist and Orym is gently holding Dorian's face. Dorian is smiling with his eyes closed as Orym looks up at him affectionately. End description.]
So excited for these two to be together again
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Imogen is really just walking proof that the things Liliana did were not “necessary.” And I kind of think Liliana’s deference to her daughter in their last conversation is indicative that she is slowly realizing this. Being confronted with the essentially younger version of herself who also left home to seek out answers, who has pretty successfully avoided the pull of Perdathos (something Liliana told her to do, weird that), and who is proof that Ruidiusborn can successfully work with those on Exandria aligned with the gods and not be “persecuted,” like Ludinus told her, all really shines a light on how weak her justifications to herself have been.
And that's the tragedy here! Liliana thinks she's made this huge sacrifice for her daughter and for people like her, but she's been taking the easier path this whole time. And now she is seeing that! Imogen is making the bigger sacrifice by fighting to keep Perdathos at bay, despite the pull and the welcoming feeling and it (possibly) being a literal part of her. So like, if we want to talk about why Imogen is a counter to a lot of great CR villains because she choses to do good, well, we need to acknowledge that Liliana is one those villains. And Orym and Ashton and the rest of BH have every right to dunk on her because they see someone just like her make better choices every day.
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dorian saying "opal's getting a little dark" over the sending stone all those eps ago. "A LITTLE," DORIAN? "A LITTLE"?!?!?!?! SHE'S POSSESSED AND UNHINGING HER JAW TO SCREAM AT YOUR HIMBO FRIEND. SHE'S TERRIFYING MATTHEW MERCER!
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the "you should be wary, because only one side of this table is underestimating the other" -> "i wish for you in the future to find someone who will mourn you when you are gone" -> "do you think that'll break through, or do you think you'll be surprised?" pipeline <3
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I’ve mentioned this elsewhere but it feels relevant again in light of the most recent episode. Something that’s really fascinating to me about Orym’s grief in comparison to the rest of the hells’ grief is that his is the youngest/most fresh and because of that tends to be the most volatile when it is triggered (aside from FCG, who was two and obviously The Most volatile when triggered.)
As in: prior to the attack on Zephrah, Orym was leading a normal, happy, casual life! with family who loved him and still do! Grief was something that was inflicted upon him via Ludinus’ machinations, whereas with characters like Imogen or Ashton, grief has been the background tapestry of their entire lives. And I think that shows in how the rest of them are largely able to, if not see past completely (Imogen/Laudna/Chetney) then at least temper/direct their vitriol or grief (Ashton/Fearne/Chetney again) to where it is most effective. (There is a glaring reason, for example, that Imogen scolded Orym for the way he reacted to Liliana and not Ashton. Because Ashton’s anger was directed in a way that was ultimately protective of Imogen—most effective—and Orym’s was founded solely in his personal grief.)
He wants Imogen to have her mom and he wants Lilliana to be salvageable for Imogen because he loves Imogen. But his love for the people in his present actively and consistently tend to conflict with the love he has for the people in his past. They are in a constant battle and Orym—he cannot fathom losing either of them.
(Or, to that point, recognize that allowing empathy to take root in him for the enemy isn't losing one of them.)
It is deeply poignant, then, that Orym’s grief is symbolized by both a sword and shield. It is something he wields as a blade when he feels his philosophy being threatened by certain conversational threads (as he believes it is one of the only things he has left of Will and Derrig, and is therefore desperately clinging onto with both bloody hands even if it makes him, occasionally, a hypocrite), but also something he can use in defense of the people he presently loves—if that provocative, blade-grief side of him does not push them—or himself—away first.
(it won’t—he is as loved by the hells as he loves them. he just needs to—as laudna so beautifully said—say and hear it more often.)
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Even putting aside the Dorym of it all... I kinda feel like part of the reason Orym misses Dorian so much is that Dorian is kinda the next most normal person in the Crownkeepers and Bell’s Hells. Which is honestly a little wild to be saying about a runaway prince in disguise. But like...
The Crownkeepers have/had:
- A himbo dwarf Sorceror who has been singled out by a Lesser Idol in a fursuit.
- A bubbly girly-girl Warlock who is apparently her own patron (and the Spider Queen's here too, I guess)
- A Rabbit-folk Paladin who used to be a bartender in Fantasy Vegas and is now devoted to the goddess of death.
- A kleptomaniac Faun whose adoptive grandmother is an eldritch hag with the power to alter fate. Also, has a pet monkey that shits fire.
- Does Cyrus count? He’s an NPC. In any case, he’s basically the same as Dorian, but More Himbo and less useful, lol.
- A woman so intense she is literally always on fire.
Bell's Hells has/had:
- Fearne (I already explained her)
- A Werewolf who makes toys and hates Santa.
- A walking corpse who is haunted by the spirit of the necromancer who raised her from the dead. Also enjoys puppeting a dead rat.
- A purple-haired Psychic who gets her powers from an imprisoned eldritch moon monster.
- A Barbarian punk who is half Primordial Titan, half Beacon, all attitude. Also, they used to be an Aasimar before his cultist parents meddled with powers beyond mortal understanding.
- A chirpy, sentient Robot who is technically a therapist, but also really bad at it. Recently discovered religion and is real annoying about it.
- An 80 year-old man who is an erstwhile member of the legendary Vox Machina. Also, known liar and coward.
In contrast, you have Dorian (runaway prince) and Orym (just some guy).
I feel like they probably met each other for the first time and were both like, 'THANK THE GODS, SOMEONE WHO ISN'T TOTALLY BONKERS,' and just stuck to each other. Like two acquaintances at a party where they didn't know anyone else. 😂😂😂
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Addiny my whole two cents to whether Orym is wrong to keep bringing up his murdered loved ones, and my view is no he isn't. Like it doesn't fucking matter if the Vanguard has a point about the gods, that's never been the issue here. The issue is that they have enacted murder throughout Exandria, are supporting an oppressive regime on Ruidis, and have no regard whether releasing an entity that even the gods are afraid of will destroy Exandria. They are not the good guys. Your argument doesn't matter if your actions are so deeply awful. And a man who has been directly affected by this has every right to remind his friends of the actual consequences of this group's actions.
Yes many of the Vanguard have been hurt by religion, and you can empathise with that. You know who else has been hurt? Fucking Orym. Why is the Vanguard allowed to discuss their pain when justifying their arguments but Orym isn't? The reality is you can't have a nuanced conversation when you're arguing that the death cult might be right, because at that point you're basically excusing the countless deaths that have happened in front of a person who is a victim of the death cult. And that is just gross. Orym is a stronger person than me for all the times he's had to listen to it.
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in regards to orym only admitting how badly he's struggling to dorian/always reaching for the sending stone instead of his current party members, I suspect it's because dorian's not with the team right now, and therefore he's not someone orym feels he needs to be strong for. orym has been told he's the moral center of his party numerous times (ashton has even admitted to him that this isn't fair! but it's still how he's perceived) in addition to being a keep-a-stiff-upper-lip-and-support-your-friends kind of guy. if he cracks, he's got to be afraid that's going to have a ripple effect on the stability of the group. so of course he's going to reach out to the one party member he doesn't feel he has to support, where it won't effect the larger dynamics of the group, who also happens to be someone who is removed from/untouched by the kind of trauma and heartbreak the party has been dealing with and feels more connected to a past that was kinder. dorian is the ideal candidate for orym to open up to emotionally, well beyond any shipping lenses
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Also, Liliana saying 'take Ludinus out of the equation, is freeing Predathos so terrible?' is obviously bad for the reasons listed in the show, but also...ma'am, you can't take him out of the equation. He's the one who wrote it on the board.
And on some level, she clearly realizes this, because she also tried to argue that Ludinus is just following Predathos' plan, except that also doesn't work, because that implies that Predathos is okay with what Ludinus has done.
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OBSESSED with Marisha's and Liam's choices the moment the Bells have a minute to stop and actually realise what happened, get swarmed by the feeling of grief. Like yeah, what can make you see you don't have time for half-measures and dancing around someone more than death, losing a loved one, even more - them dying to save you. Hey? I love you. We should say it more, I think we don't say it enough. I love you. Hey. I've been so patient and so have you but what the fuck are we doing. I miss you. I'm struggling. Can you get here? I need you. Hey. Why are we losing time we have when all could end any moment, why are we not living, why am I not spending days I have left telling you how much I care, showing how much you mean to me, getting all the moments with you I can get? Hey, I love you, I miss you, I love you too, I heard you, I am coming back, hold on just a little longer. I love you i love you i love you i love you
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