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brookheimer · 1 year

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hi! i started following you when i found your veep posts after i finished the show! I've been enjoying your posts discussing the shiv pregnancy plotline and i love all of your analysis posts! ❤️ i'm also REALLY hoping they don't pull an amy plotline on this, but i don't think they will. and this message below got really long, i'm sorry!

i think shiv's plotline is also a new way to look at femininity and womanhood through her eyes. she's considering if it will hold her back professionally, and also how people may see it as an excuse to treat her differently or fragile bc of it -at least that's how i took the fall scene and her conversation with tom on the steps. it does seem like she might be trying to prove something to her mom. she also mentions their mom the most (maybe the same/more than roman does?) and their conversation last season in italy wrecked me, personally.

i don't always agree with shiv, but at those exact points it's just like the aspect and pain of how she's seen or treated differently bc she's a woman is emphasized and it stabs right through me. like, i get it. i can truly understand what it feels like, and they portray that perspective perfectly.

awww oh my god hi !!! so glad to have another veep expat onboard here there are disconcertingly few of us. and yes i completely nd totally agree -- i'm - gulp - maybe looking forward to the pregnancy plotline possibly?? like, do i trust succession to do it well? not entirely. but do i trust it more than any other show currently airing that i can think of? ummm yeah probably. i am also a known Complicated Female Character Aficionado and while i have always liked shiv a lot, for some reason i never quite resonated with her the way i have some other female characters -- not entirely sure why that is, maybe it's the wealth, but maybe it's the lack of focus on her inner life in prev seasons. not that she isn't complicated or interesting, but that a lot of what we know about her really only relates to her relationships with men and how she exists around them -- which is obviously an incredibly huge aspect of her character and the lives of women generally (i fuckin know it is for me), but we haven't seen much of who she is outside of that. and even if she's literally nothing outside of that, i still want to see and explore it, because that's character depth too (she's so wrapped up in roy-style masculinity that she literally doesn't know who she is outside of it etc).

to me, the most interesting shiv scenes have largely been the ones she shares with other women -- with gerri, with her lawyer friend, with the woman she talked out of coming forward about cruises, with fucking caroline?? like, there are just a lot of Career Women Who Shove Down Femininity To Exist In Masculine Worlds in television these days, and i just want to see some more interiority with shiv, because i know it's there, we get hints of it and it plays across snook's face in every scene. i'm not saying i want to be explicitly told every aspect of her life -- god, no, that would be an entirely different show -- but that i want some like focus on her, not her relationship with tom or logan or kendall or roman but something with the purpose of developing her. more than any other character on the show i feel like i just know so little about her life before, beyond, outside of waystar royco. and if there isn't stuff beyond that, then i want to see that too! i just think there is so much that could be done with shiv that hasn't been quite covered already (it is an ensemble show, after all) and i'm really hoping this plotline will kind of fill that void. maybe it won't, maybe it'll suck, but maybe it will be the deep dive into shiv i've been waiting for. praying and praying and praying succession does for shiv what i so desperately wanted veep to do for amy brookheimer fr <3

#ok so fun fact i accidentally ended up writing out like five more paragraphs of thoughts bc this is literally my Pet Issue i'm sorry yall #i will probably be posting that next as a separate thing LOL #so sorry for not shutting up about thsi everyone. but to be fair. you are literally asking ME the girl notoriously obsessed with narratives #about female characters who struggle with being perceived as female forced to reconcile with their gender and their relationship with it #and the fact that maybe they do desire 'feminine' things (like family/love/etc aka basic aspects of human life we have inexplicably dubbed #feminine and turned into like Death Pits for 'strong women') esp when thru especially humiliatingly 'feminine' (again - perceived as fem-#inine bc pregnancy isn't just feminine blah blah blah but the roys and their ilk sure fucking see it as such) experiences like pregnancy #you're asking ME to not be insane about a shiv roy pregnancy plotline? that could literally heal the world from the disaster of veep s7???#be so for real rn #LOL #but yes thank u for the ask hard hard hard agree <3 that convo w caroline fucking destroyed me bro #asks #succession #shiv roy #succession spoilers #honeybunchcalum #casey shut the fuck up about shiv roy

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pr · 1 year

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i'm starting to give myself anxiety that our foster kittens may get adopted into an indoor/outdoor home and ill be completely unable to protect them

#we live in an area with coyotes owls hawks bobcats....and i mean even w/o predators the statistics for outdoor cats are fucking bad #and im especially scare abt shiv bc we keep joking that shes so close to being a foster fail #but like i want to keep fostering and if we have 2 cats we cant do that #BUT what if she gets adopted into and outdoor home?? a black cat?? what if we couldve saved her and we didnt???#im so anxious i dont want to do this if theyre just going to be let back outside after being rescued from outside #op

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pynkhues · 7 months

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not sure if youve written abt this before but what is your take on the shiv/kendall/roman's pre show mental breakdowns that are alluded to?

Ah! I don't think I have written about it before, anon, so thank you for asking!

I've been percolating a bit of late on @waystarresourceco's recent posts which have indicated that neither Kendall nor Shiv went entirely to college in America, with Kendall having his EMBA from INSEAD, not Harvard Business School like many of us (including me!) thought (he did do his undergrad at Harvard though), and with Sarah talking about Shiv going to the UK for college.

I'm interested in that for a whoooole range of reasons, haha, but what I think is particularly relevant to your ask is that it sort of emphasises this divide between the four siblings, with Connor and Roman having been sent away as children, and forever fighting their way back in there after, and Kendall and Shiv being kept close as children, only really leaving in early adulthood, but also forever having a sort of mmm, close and given seat at the table as favourite son / heir apparent and treasured / only daughter.

After all, in many ways, both Kendall and Shiv were on the same path, right? Logan laid a map for Kendall which Shiv scoured and did her own variation of to try and best him at the journey. Kendall was groomed for a role, and Shiv was groomed to be a perfect daughter, only to decide she wanted to be the perfect son. The effect of it though I think was that both of them spent formative years under pretty stifling expectations, while both Roman and Connor were forced in their formative years to develop a degree of independence because they were pushed from the nest.

As a result, I do think Kendall and Shiv both tend to thrive within structure, and that they both tend to fall apart when that structure isn't there, while Roman and Connor have learnt to thrive without it, and struggle to exist when they're forced to live within it.

Because I think that's really the implication of all of their meltdowns - Roman's seems to have occured when he had to try and work under Frank in the LA office on projects he hated, while Kendall's and Shiv's both seem to have happened when they're too long left to their own devices. It's all spill, right? Just the context of their respective abuse means it leaks under different forms of pressure.

#i think especially that it makes sense too in like #mmmm #higher education is both this really huge and interesting space for social discussion and mobility and progressive thinking #but it's also absolutely a symbol of class and wealth #which i think checks out with kendall and shiv both possessing a progressive language #and the way they both like to think they lean left even when they just lean selfish #but how that space away from home out from under logan's thumb away from expectations #while also potentially facing up to some hard truths about the politics your father's made a fortune off #was probably a bit of a molotov cocktail to deal with mentally #and roman and connor would've faced that too but i suspect in different ways #i also think all four of them are socially naive which won't help with any of this #but especially shiv and kendall #which again is probably symptomatic of all of this right?#idk! i hope this makes sense haha i'm still on a lot of cold and flu meds #hbo succession #succession meta #welcome to my ama

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zaricats · 2 years

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I still think a lot about Festen parallels, with Michael and Helene both being ostracized within the family and him specifically sent away to boarding school so they wouldn't find out about Christian and Linda being abused, and as much as Roman does also have in common with Christian I feel like you can really see a lot of that dynamic in how Kendall is set apart and isolated from his siblings. There's a kind of tragic irony to the distance between them and not understanding each other's pain.

ive never seen festen (it looks super interesting, tho, i'll have to add it to my watchlist) so i cant speak on that, but yes! kendall is undeniably super isolated both emotionally and oftentimes physically from his siblings. i actually just read that new yorker article about jeremy, where they talk about how he isolates himself from the rest of the cast even when theyre not shooting in order to get in character skdkdkkd

i think a lot of it has to do with being the eldest son (barring connor lmao); kendall is the one up for ceo in the first episode, and all three siblings seem to accept and expect that outcome. being raised as the successor, being treated as the strongest dog, would just inherently emotionally separate you from the "weaker dogs". for all the trauma the siblings share from growing up in the same household, kendalls may have been a different flavor, one that roman especially wouldnt be able to understand very well.

also, i do think logan works towards kendalls isolation as well, especially once he has the waiter thing as leverage

#if kendall had been regarded as the strongest dog up until logan doesnt make him ceo when he said he would #its easy to assume that shiv and romans and even connors (who is so distanced) primary emotion would be jealousy #bc from their perspective kendall has logans approval and love which of course is what they all want #roman especially would have a hard time seeing past that & recognizing how suffocating kendalls position may be #i think theyre all astoundingly isolated tho #theyre all incapable of being truly close & honest & vulnerable with each other #succession #kendall roy #asks #myplasticadversary #i will For Sure be coming to you when i do watch festen though

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fightingdragonswithwho · 1 year

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i knew i was invested in shiv x tom but it’s becoming apparent that i’m even more invested than i anticipated

#especially from shiv’s pov #there’s just so much there #the way her voice breaks during their conv #the vulnerability of the hand holding #watching their scenes from s1 and realising shiv was actually happy to say yes #and how safe she felt with tom #and how that blew up #and then the ‘i wonder if the sad is be with you is worst than the sad i get from being with you’ of it all #it is just so good #succession #tom x shiv #not cm

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strawberries-and-summer-days · 3 months

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"Shells and Secrets"

Pairing: Show!Luke Castellan x posideion!fem!reader

Summary: you and your best friend luke take your daily walk together but this time its different

Contains: kisses (making out), fluff, swearing, angst

Word Count: 1180

A/N: im back again! And in case you can't tell im obsessed with luke and the beach so here we are!

"Come on Starfish," Luke's voice reaches you before he does, grabbing your arm and dragging you along to the beach. "I don't care that you want to sleep, it's five o'clock in the afternoon you can sleep later."

You mumble your disagreement. Nothing should stand in the way of a girl and her sleep - especially not her needy best friend. Even if she's in love with him. A girl and her sleep should never be separated. A conversation you've had with Luke many times - not the in love part though - that is just for you to keep for yourself.

"I'm going to jump you in the middle of the night," you grumble to him, ignoring the grin that spreads across his face.

"Hmm, a beautiful girl jumping on me sounds pretty damn good," Luke smirks.

"But you're forgetting the best part," you say as your feet hit the sand - you're now on the beach. "The best part is her jumping you with a shiv or smothering you with a pillow."

Luke's grin grows even wider. "Yeah but see I'll fight back so you'll need to be in a place of control and you know what that means? A beautiful girl jumping on me and straddling me."

You fight the urge to blush because he just called you beautiful twice. Ignoring the butterflies in your stomach you take off in a run down the beach. Luke yells after you and starts to chase you.

"You can't escape me, Starfish!" he cries, wrapping his arms around your waist and tugging you to a stop. You try and wriggle free but end up just tripping over and pulling him down onto the sand.

You're flat on your back and Luke is braced above you, his hands on either side of your head, his mouth inches from your own. The moment freezes between you two and your breaths mingle.

Why isn't he moving? Luke has never shown interest in you before, he's always had girls lining up to date him - sure he's never dated any of them - but he's never looked at you the way he looks at them.

But now, now that he's inches on top of you, his mouth inches away from your own, his dark curls tickling your forehead. He's looking at you in a way he's never looked at anybody.

You clear your throat and that seems to snap the bubble that has surrounded you. Luke clears his own throat and stands up helping you up as well. "You uh, you okay?" he asks.

"Yeah I'm fine!" you smile and start to walk ahead again trying furiously to cover the blush that's spread across your cheeks.

Luke watches you walk ahead with a soft look on his face. He's been desperately in love with you since the day you had accidentally dunked him in water when you were learning to control your powers. You had instantly cracked a joke and quickly apologised when you noticed the way he was staring at you. In that moment all other people had fallen out of Luke's head so he was staring at you for much different reasons than you thought.

Up ahead, you stop to look at a shell and your hair falls in a curtain around your face. Luke stops and watches as you pick the shell up and walk to the water washing it off to get a better look. He smiles at you admiring shells and not worrying about training, or other people just being yourself.

Eventually you sit down on a log, and wait for Luke to catch up to you. "Hurry up you slow shit," you call out to him and he shakes his head jogging over to the log you're sitting on. He sits down next to you and rests his arm- Your arms are touching. Every thought falls out of your head. Your arms are touching after literally lying on top of each other before - whether it's intentional or not it still sends tingles up your arm.

"How are we going to celebrate your new half-brother Starfish?" Luke asks, nudging your shoulder with his own. You hum in thought resting your head on his shoulder, not noticing how he's slowed his breathing down to make you more comfortable.

"Maybe we could dunk him in the ocean, oooh or we could get Annabeth to do something!" you say laughing.

Luke chuckles, his laughter rumbling through you. "I think we could get her on board." You lean further into Luke unconsciously and he basically stills - this you notice.

"Luke?" you pull back and look at him with concern. "What's wrong?"

He starts to mumble under his breath but at your insistent look he clears his throat. "Uh, nothing."

"Luke?"

He avoids your gaze, dropping his head to look at the sand. "Luke?" you say placing a hand on his thigh. He tenses up again so you instantly rip your hand away worried that he's hurt. "Shit sorry, are you hurt." Luke's hand whips out and grabs yours.

"No! Its, its not that," he says as his gaze settles on your mouth. He rubs his thumb in circles on the back of your hand.

"Then what is it?" you say placing a soft hand on his shoulder. "You can tell me y'know? I'm your starfish." You run your hand over his shoulder and up his neck.

Luke seems to ease into your touch. "Luke?" You lean forward hoping he will tell you. Instead he just stares at you with the same look from earlier. Sighing you slip your hand into his hair and run your hands there a few times. "Alright, take your time. I'm here when you're ready to talk." You stand up and let go of his hand walking to the shore letting the waves lap gently at your ankles.

"Y/n," Luke's voice is soft when he stops at your side. You twist to look at him but are met with the soft press of his lips. You pull back stunned and Luke starts to swear.

"Shit sorry, Starfish I- I don't know why I did tha-'' You shut him up by basically launching yourself on him. Your lips smashing onto his own, hungrily kissing his mouth.

It takes Luke a few seconds to realise what's happening and then all at once it's like a leash snaps and he wraps his arms around your waist pulling you impeccably closer. He parts your lips letting his tongue explore your mouth with heartbreaking softness.

Your hands slip into his hair and you stumble backwards tripping over each other's legs until your back hits the sand and once again Luke is on top of you.

You pull back slightly, catching your breath. "Well, that was well said."

Luke smirks and looks at you with such adoration your heart melts. "Right back at you Starfish," he winks and fights the urge to kiss you again, instead a large smile grows on his face.

"We should probably talk about this, hey?" you say grinning back up at him.

"Yeah let's talk..."

#luke castellan x y/n #luke castellan #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan x you #luke castellan x fem!reader #pjo fanfic #percy jackson fanfic #percy jackson fic #pjo #fanfiction #fanfic #emma writes ₊˚⊹⋆

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goldlightsaber · 11 months

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shiv might've fucked kendall over, but i think she saved the family.

i know it sucks (fucking TOM? TOM???) but think about it. if kendall became CEO, they would've all resented each other. they had that moment of living out their CHILDHOOD fantasy ("he told me when i was 7") of him becoming king, and they did the ceremony and they crowned kendall, because the only people it really fucking mattered to was THEM. the only reason kendall cared was because of them. because of his father. but there's a reason his crown was a mushy pile of disgusting goo that is inedible. it's because of what roman said -- it's all bullshit.

despite everything, now that the company is out of their hands, their entire life identity, especially kendall's, has been wiped clean. their entire lives revolved around this empty thing, and for what? they are starting from nothing, yes, but they are phoenixes reborn from the ashes. and despite everything, they will have each other. it might take a long time for them to forgive each other, but where will they have left to go if not their mother's carribbean vacations, bruised and broken but human again?

#succession #succession spoilers #fucking FUCK #kendall roy #shiv roy #roman roy #text

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appsa · 1 year

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People seeing kendall bringing up all this dirt abt connor and roman to attack logan as him "protecting" them is a little weird cause like. Guys we've seen this before 😭 kendall is always trying to place himself on a place of higher morality wrt logan and say the right words to come out the other side looking like the bigger person when functionally he's done fuckall. He did this in season 3 when he was all "fuck the patriarchy" and "time's up" etc when he was forcing himself into his ex wife's house, surrounding himself w women for his image and then using his financial power to silence them into agreeing w everything he said.

This is the same except he's finally able to actually talk about his family's issues instead of nebulously talking about some "foundational rot" in the company, and even then he STILL can't talk about his own abuse and the way logan has hurt him because that would be admitting that harm was done at all, so he uses his brothers' abuse as weapons against his father. All this while still treating said brothers as a joke because only he and shiv are the serious, smart, level headed siblings when their decision making so far in the season has literally been irrational reactionary shit to get back at their father.

He does care for his siblings, no doubt, but this argument was specifically about how shiv and kendall were strung along, and about logans broken promises to them. They did everything right- shiv got married and kendall got clean just so they could please logan and have a shot at being ceo and they both still failed to measure up to Logan's expectations (not to mention at said marraige and sobriety too) and thats what theyre angry about. But instead of talking about That they bring up their brother's shit that they specifically did Not want to talk about, especially when they didn't have a grudge against logan like they did. It was honestly really cruel of him to dig things that were painful for his brothers just to take a dig at logan for some cheap satisfaction and it'll probablyyy be the end of the season again before they realize any of this so like. Yeah. This is just kendalls manic monday again (ft. shiv) except instead of faceless victims of the patriarchy he's using his own family as meat shields against his dad now which. Is probably some repetition from their childhood and means that the show is coming full circle

#ANYWAY.#succession #men will waste their time in therapy and then do shit like this to process childhood trauma

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eastgaysian · 1 year

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okay here's one post i have to make. Finally racism confirmed real in succession. other people have talked about this before but it is a huge blind spot of the show not to acknowledge the intersection between racism and capitalism, and the excuse that the characters are the 1% and the 1% are vastly white is pretty weak. the fact that the show sidelines its existing characters of color while every now and then broadly gesturing towards race makes this worse, especially as the show more directly focuses on fascism and just Doesn't bring race into it. like i don't even think race is totally absent as a concern of the writers but it's clearly not a priority. i think a lot about how mo's widow is a filipino woman

anyway. ken and rava's conversation in this sense doesn't really qualify as, like, revolutionary in terms of succession's commentary on race esp since it's a discussion between two white parents about their brown daughter without her present. the point of interest to me really is that kendall completely fails to recognize racism as a systemic issue, much less that he works for and is trying to sustain a company that actively works to perpetuate that hegemony. his questions are why was sophie on the street? why wasn't rava there? in the same episode where he calls matsson homophobic for saying the numbers are gay. socially aware king

it's not particularly revelatory to say that a rich white man doesn't grasp the concept of systemic racism LOL but i do think it's more than that for kendall, and i also think this trait is something his siblings don't share. it's like how he doesn't realize he's in a position of power over anna and she was pressured into attending the recny with him, and his adoption of a faux-feminist stance in s3 while continuing to treat women like shit. kendall's whole concept of Everything, including systemic social issues, goes back to logan. there's no system outside of dad. the doj doesn't find the cruises evidence compelling? that's because they're scared of logan. logan's the source of the evil in the world, therefore opposing him is inherently progressive, leaving kendall with even less of a coherent moral framework after his death. and he's completely unable to process the idea that he could be participating in and benefiting from the greater racist or sexist system, because that's fundamentally incompatible with his logan-based idea of his own identity.

i don't think roman or shiv or even connor share this particular nearsightedness. roman 'we do hate speech and roller coasters' roy knows what's going on but he doesn't really care and he doesn't believe it can be changed (or, maybe more accurately, that there's any point in trying). he doesn't buy into fascism on the ideological level, exactly, but the spectacle appeals to him and he does believe it's profitable to align with it, so he's perfectly happy to do so. i think he's the most similar to logan in this regard. and shiv and connor have actual political ideologies, even if they're far from being meaningfully opposed to fascism, which requires a base awareness of the fact that We Live In A Society and That Society Has Systems In It. for kendall it really boils down to logan and logan alone

#chalkboard

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viterbofangirllovestheuntamed · 1 year

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LXC a little sour to JC not because he dislikes the younger sect leader, some jiang sect disciple would probably shiv him for that, but because he's a tiny bit jealous, LQR occasionally compares LXC's ability to do paperwork/organize things/maintain discipline to JC's and frequently finds LXC lacking, especially in the paperwork department, and in the Lan sect at least it's an open secret that LQR wishes that JC was HIS nephew/son

A Small Selection Of Lan Qiren Comments That Lan Xichen Has Endured Over Years Of Doing Official Paperwork With Shufu:

- *apropos of nothing* I heard that Jiang Wanyin knows all the local farmers personally.

- Where are the source citation footnotes? … WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘the what, now?’?!?!?

- Did you see the way Sect Leader Jiang glared at his disciples when they started whispering during that last cultivation conference? They way they just... snapped to order? Immediately? And barely breathed for the remainder of the meeting?? *deep sigh*

- I must say, Jiang-zongzhu’s arrangement of this graph speaks to a highly methodical and logistically-gifted mind.

- You only referenced data from the last *three* years in this year’s annual report? Hm... Nothing. NO, it’s FINE. I just agree with certain other parties that one can only truly get a comprehensive picture of long-range projections by utilizing statistics from at least the last decade…

#lan qiren #lan xichen #jiang cheng #ASK THE MOD #headcanons #Jiang Cheng's True Love Is Spreadsheets #GRUMPY SINGLE DAD UNCLE SOLIDARITY #(prayer circle for lan xichen)#Have You Bugged Your Mod Today? Well WHY NOT?!#asks #anons #prompts #MOD'S STUFF

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mareastrorum · 4 months

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if essek did it, why do you think he did? i'm at a loss as to how it would benefit him to give her a shiv. (hope my tone doesn't read hostile, i'm genuinely confused)

I haven't taken any of the asks as hostile, so no worries!

The short answer is that Essek would have benefited whether the Scourger succeeded in killing Caleb or not. Longer answer:

To begin with, let's set the stage. In episode 56, the Nein had handed over the beacon, and in 57, the Bright Queen awarded them with emblems that represented their status as heroes of the Dynasty. It was only after the Bright Queen elevated their status in front of the entire court that she assigned Essek (without asking first) to be their "steward" for the time being, including the responsibility of seeing as to their lodgings.

The Bright Queen is clever. She certainly considered that maybe this was a ploy from the Empire to insert spies into her midst, especially because only one of two beacons was returned. From her perspective, assigning her most trusted spymaster to keep an eye on these idiots is exactly what she should do. If they're plants, Essek would sort it out. If not, they were highly valuable assets that could be used against the Empire or as liaisons.

So, let's orient this from Essek's POV. This bunch of chucklefucks that don't know court decorum came into the queen's throne room, intending to ask a favor in exchange for ridding Asarius of a demon infestation. Then a rival noble calls them out for attacking him and other Kryn outside of Asarius. Just before they're arrested, the human (ginger with blue eyes, a Zemnian) pulls out a beacon of the Luxon, announces that he and his friends are not friends of the Empire, and then offers it to the Bright Queen. Now they're the queen's favored, and out of all the people at court that day, she chose Essek Thelyss, the Shadowhand, in charge of the Dungeon of Penance, to keep an eye on them.

But Essek is the one that stole the beacons. He realizes the same possibilities (spies or well-intentioned rubes), but if anyone in the Dynasty knew about the Volstrucker, it'd be Essek. There is no reason whatsoever for Essek to trust the Nein because those beacons were supposed to stay in the Empire. The reason he handed them over in the first place was that he was supposed to share in the research done by incredibly powerful wizards who did not care about the religious significance. Whether Essek knew or not that one had been lost by the Assembly, the Nein's act of returning one negatively impacted the deal he made. There's the possibilities that Ikithon and the other Assembly members betrayed Essek by lying or hiding information, or perhaps they sent the Nein to expose Essek as the traitor to remove a loose end, or perhaps the Nein really are ignorant and they could gum everything up. Regardless of which situation this is, the best outcome for Essek would be neutralizing the interlopers before they come upon, intentionally or not, his involvement in the theft of the beacons.

The problem, of course, is that the Nein are Heroes of the Dynasty, and since Essek is responsible for their care in the Dynasty, failure to safeguard them would also reflect badly upon him. That could also sabotage his position and ability to do the research he pleases. So he can't just kill them. He has to get them killed in a way that would not make him look bad, preferably in a way that scapegoats someone else for the inevitable blame at failing to protect them.

The condemned Scourger attacked Caleb in episode 77. None of the events between Essek's introduction and that point provide a reason for Essek to trust the Nein regarding his personal risk as a traitor to the Dynasty. Here are his subsequent appearances and what happened:

Episode 57: Essek lets Yeza out of his prison after the interrogation yields information on DeRogna's research of the beacons (the potions Yeza made) and that she took the beacon back two days before the attack, which was shortly before the Nein arrived in Felderwin and began heading to the Dynasty. Because of the timeline of events, Essek realizes that must be the second beacon, so now both are accounted for. This also lets him know what sort of research they did with that beacon, and since Yeza only saw one, the one the Nein returned must have been used for something else. This is great intel for Essek, but not a reason to trust the Nein--only to find them useful.

Episode 61: After the Nein report back to Professor Waccoh of their completion of her mission, Essek arrives at the Inn where he lodged the Nein and escorts them to the Thelyss estate that his den has secured for them. Notably, the work they did was not for Essek; they worked for Waccoh and were paid for the trouble. That just proved they're capable mercenaries.

Episode 62: Essek visits the Xhorhaus after the Nein have settled a bit. He's rather cold: declines offer to join for dinner, declines a drink, has to be persuaded to answer why he isn't familiar with the neighborhood, doesn't want to say where he lives, repeatedly says he wants to get back to his research, etc. It's only once Caleb starts discussing magic and how he wants to learn that Essek starts the game they play about trying to get info from the other without divulging anything useful. Essek requests something impressive for the chance he might teach Caleb something. He then asks questions when Caleb shows off his familiar and giant earthen cat paw:

Essek was flat out rude to Beau, and this was before the whole "White Xhorhasian" drink faux pas. But even with an unimpressive persuasion roll, he offers Caleb a choice of the types of spells he could learn and even lets Caleb handle and read the book himself. Again, Essek has no reason to trust the Nein at this point. This wasn't because he believed or trusted Caleb--Caleb didn't persuade Essek of shit. Essek was fishing for information. He was already going to teach Caleb something, and the persuasion roll was probably to see how many spell levels he'd get. What spells does this Zemnian that stole a beacon from the Empire want to know? Would he give into the temptation to read elsewhere in the book? Caleb chose "the bending of fate, destiny" and learned Fortune's Favor and Gift of Alaracity. Essek is slightly less rude to the Nein as he leaves, probably pleased that he learned something useful in exchange for low-level dunamancy spells, plus now Caleb owes him a favor. Favors are a great way to set up the Nein for whatever scheme he intends later.

Episode 63: Essek is present in the Bright Queen's throne room when the Nein report their findings from the Overcrow Apothecary to her. During this conversation, Caleb admits to the Bright Queen that he had received some training to become a Scourger, though he did not complete it. When Essek is asked if he believes them about the cult of the Angel of Irons, he says he does, and even says he trusts them, though he declines to join them on this quest. Essek has not had any reason to trust the Nein by this point. He flat out lied. Even Fjord commented "'Cause he's been checking on that shit," because he and the others felt Essek was likely keeping an eye on them via Scrying (since they discovered hovering orbs in the Xhorhaus). Maybe their strangeness and civility (even if a little racist) made them endearing, but that's a different issue from trust. Essek wants them to chase down this cult precisely because it is dangerous and could get them killed. All the better that they die in service of the Dynasty, because then he won't be blamed for something sanctioned by the Bright Queen herself.

Episode 65: Jester sends to Essek asking about the Arbor Exemplar in the Barbed Fields, and while she asked for more, he only provides the name, notes it's dangerous terrain, and says they're doing him proud.

Episode 70: When the Nein return to Rosohna and report to the Bright Queen, Essek is again in the throne room. Before Essek is singled out, Caleb requests from the Bright Queen more training from Essek and info on the newly captured Scourger (which they just learned about, and Caleb suspects is Astrid). The Bright Queen says that the Nein haven't quite earned that much trust yet. Once Caduceus explains that the Nein want to fast and safe travel to the Flotket Alps, Essek makes himself known and offers to take them there, again declining to do more than transport them. Essek does not accompany the Nein to see the Scourger, but considering it's his dungeon and he is a spymaster, he was probably Scrying or otherwise tracking what transpired. Of course, it turns out that she isn't Astrid. Later, Caleb returns to the Lucid Bastion and waits to speak to Essek. Caleb confirms he was not actually a Scourger, but knows some about them. Caleb also requests a chance to speak to the Scourger again, even if Essek is there, and that they not accelerate the execution. (He didn't even ask for a delay.) Essek says he'll see and leaves.

Sidebar: Essek absolutely wants intel from this Scourger. He would know they report to the Assembly, and he would not know whether they are aware of his deal with the Assembly. As a condemned captive, her word against his isn't going to mean anything anyway, so the potential of the Scourger outing Essek is practically nil. Thus, there isn't any real risk at letting the Scourger say whatever she wants to say to Caleb. If anything, observing undetected meant better intel.

Episode 71: Jester sends to Essek, who arrives with an armed guard (weird) to teleport the Nein to the Flotket Alps. Before they go, the Nein left ball bearings on the ground to see if Essek floats (he does) and then pretend to berate Dairon, their "housekeeper", for leaving them out. Essek seems to find the whole thing amusing, then teleports them. They got a mishap because of the roll, but then arrive in the mountains. Again, stuff that could be endearing, but why did Essek have an armed guard...? That's so weird.

Episode 72: The Nein poke a little fun at Essek for the mishap, but he leaves via a Teleportation Circle.

Episode 73: Caleb asks Jester to Send to Essek to ask about the status of the Scourger's execution date, but Jester instead requests a delay. Remember how Caleb didn't request a delay before? Now he's requesting a delay indirectly; he didn't even ask Essek himself. (Man, that would seem rude from Essek's POV.) Essek responds that he'll try, but notes his den has no further interest in keeping the Scourger alive. When Caleb asks Jester to pass on that he might be able to help because of his history, Essek responds the same, but cracks a joke since Jester ended with "You pooping?" Essek's trying to endear himself to Jester, but we can't conclude whether it's sincere or subterfuge. After all, if she told anyone he joked, he could easily deny it. That was specifically for her.

Episode 74: The Nein send to Essek and ask him to come to the Xhorhaus so he can teleport them and meet someone. They briefly discuss the Scourger, and while Essek managed to get an extension of 2 weeks on the execution, he needs more of a heads up for Caleb to visit the Scourger again. Caleb then says here is a formal request, and Essek says he'll deal with that arrangement then. They introduce him to Reani, he dispels an enchantment on a paper hiding some items, then he teleports them to Mythburrow. At the end of the episode, Matt notes they're racking up quite a debt to Essek.

Let's pause there.

Each prior time the Nein went to the Dungeon of Penance, it was impromptu. They had just been announced as Heroes of the Dynasty when Essek personally took them to the dungeon to see Yeza as their first stop. The Nein were permitted to visit the Scourger unescorted as soon as they learned about her. Now there needs to be notice? It couldn't be because of the execution because the Bright Queen mentioned to begin with that the Scourger would be executed. There was no change of plan other than the extension that the Nein requested only a day prior. Why would Essek need to give anyone notice about someone visiting a condemned prisoner held in the prison that he manages?

Probably to make sure that Scourger has a fucking shiv.

Episode 75: At the beginning of the episode, before returning to Rosohna, Essek notes the Nein are ridiculous, tells them to have fun, and even calls them "friends." Again, that makes him seem endearing and less formal, but it's done out in the boonies. If any of them tried to tell someone from the Dynasty that he had done any of those things, he could probably deny it. So his reputation is safe, and it makes it seem like he likes them.

That's twice now he's been nice without any reason to trust them. Hmmm, sure seems like building some plausible deniability to me.

Episode 77: Jester summons Essek to the Xhorhaus. They discuss that the Bright Queen would like the Nein to find where the remaining beacon is in the Empire. Caleb attempts to fish for whether any particular Assembly members come to mind that Essek wants investigated, but he replies that he could list all of them if Caleb likes. Beau's insight check to see if Essek is sincere about ending the conflict fails. Caleb attempts to fish for a last known location of the beacon, and Essek gives an unhelpful answer that it must certainly be moved frequently. That's Essek being rude; they already know the beacon was last seen in Felderwin because Yeza said DeRogna took it from there 2 days before his capture by the Kryn. Essek is being intentionally and obviously obtuse. Fjord asks if others are on this quest, and Essek answers yes, but declines to give the Nein a way to identify them. Then they bring up the condemned Scourger, and Essek only recommends speaking to her soon; no specified date. Caleb asks if that day works, then Essek assents and offers to escort him.

That sure is a suspicious moment to suddenly decide to be helpful, isn't it? Sure is weird that he went back to being rude after being openly amiable and even joking with them, isn't it?

Then, when they arrive at the prison:

That is a really weird thing to say after the Nein were permitted to visit this same prisoner unescorted without notice as soon as they learned about her. Of course, then the attack happens. Matt doesn't mention whether Essek entered the cell before, during, or after Caleb starts talking to the Scourger, but Essek kills the Scourger after the attack.

Looking back at all the events that occurred leading to this point, Essek has not had any reason not to think that the Nein are somehow working for the Assembly or otherwise would expose him to the Bright Queen if they discovered what he had done. The key issue is that if the Nein placed their loyalties to either the Empire or the Dynasty over their loyalty to him, they could ruin him. That circumstance hasn't changed by this point, so the only reason to keep any of them alive is that they're cute. There's his entire life in the balance if he keeps letting them run around, especially if they search for the other beacon.

With that in mind, setting up the Scourger to be able to attack Caleb only puts his reputation at risk, and Essek has already taken steps to minimize that problem. Caleb was the one that requested a delay. Caleb was the one that wanted to speak to the Scourger. Caleb was the one that volunteered he had been training to be one. Caleb was the one that offered to fish for information useful to the Dynasty. Each was a push on the Dynasty's normal procedure and/or a personal risk to himself.

And what does Essek have to gain? It would be easy for Essek to frame this as the Assembly's pet Zemnians putting themselves at risk for small gains, and they're so devious even the best prison in the Dynasty was not enough to secure them perfectly. All the more reason to demonize the Empire and the Scourgers. It wouldn't matter if Caleb died or not; the attack was simply fuel for propaganda. Remember, Essek did not want peace. He wanted war. That bolstered his position as a spymaster, distracted the Dynasty from anything he was up to, and provided cover for the Assembly's research. In the long-term, it would just be one more incident to point to if Essek ever needed to sow dissent about Caleb's mental or emotional stability or the risk posed to the Dynasty by the Assembly.

And if Caleb died? One less member of the Nein to worry about. They'd gotten Essek some decent intel about the beacons, about DeRogna's research, and about the Scourgers. But that's it. They've done him no favors, they aren't directly useful for his research, and they're a massive liability.

Either of those outcomes specifically required violence. It wouldn't be enough for the Scourger to just rage in her chains. She needed to somehow get loose and have a weapon. Spells wouldn't have been a sufficient/sensible threat; she wouldn't have possibly been able to prepare spells from a book, and cantrips wouldn't have done much on their own against someone as strong as Caleb. But getting the Empire-trained assassin a shiv sure would have been a threat to a wizard made of soggy paper, and no matter how it played out, it only made the Empire look more monstrous.

So, yeah, I absolutely believe Essek went out of his way to make sure the Scourger would have an opportunity and weapon to attack Caleb. Risking some human's life for one more justification to prolong a war he started? That's the sort of shit I would expect from a neutral evil Shadowhand.

#my asks #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #the mighty nein #this wasn't supposed to be this long #i am juggling this and writing #i won't be sleeping tonight because i have shadowhand essek being a neutral evil schemer on the brain

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