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densitywell · 5 months

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the thing about "Chetney and FCG couldn't control their actions, Imogen is influenced by Predathos, Laudna has her abuser in her head, it's not comparable to what Ashton did!" is that you can split hairs and build a decent case for why what Ashton did is uniquely terrible, and how no amount of trauma and desperation can compare to a biological imperative or an outside malevolent influence, if you think they specifically deserve punishment. if you think he alone is unworthy of sympathy. but that's missing the point, which is: these conditions are essentially fantasy representations of the same types of real things that drove Ashton to take the shard. the Hells' monstrosities and wisdom saving throws don't separate them from their humanity but underline it, and the people who don't have the exact number of stress points they can take before they have a violent meltdown written on a sheet, or whose voice in their head telling them everyone they love will betray them isn't actually attached to an evil wizard.

the point of the Hells is not that there is a clear delineation between when someone is in control of their actions and when they aren’t but that there isn't, and that everything we do is buried beneath the weight of our desires and our histories and our bodies, and ultimately our responsibility. the point is that they’re all 'ticking time bombs' because of the lot they've drawn in life and the lessons it has taught them, and the point is that they're gonna fucking make it work anyways. the point is when Ashton tells Chetney that the next time he fucks up massively they'll be there for him and help him pick up the pieces, and that that's what the Hells are doing for Ashton right now. it's Chetney telling Fearne that both she and Ashton fucked up, and finding a way for her to get her anger out that isn't hurting either of them. it's Laudna knowing she can't control herself around Ashton and the shard and running away until she's calmed down. and it's the rest of the Hells welcoming her back with open arms in the morning, giving her patience and not judgement. the point is that these people who have been rejected and punished for their fuck ups their whole lives can try to be the best versions of themselves for each other, and be loved and forgiven even when they fail.

#critical role #bells hells #cr3 #ashton greymoore #crposting #i have. so many feelings abt them you guys #bhposting #cr

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angstywaifu · 2 months

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The Lost Sister - Part 5

Synopsis: Xaden is known as an only child due to his sister who 'died' during the Rebellion. Little do they know she didn't die and has been so close this entire time.

Garrick Tavis x OC A/N: Thank you for all the love on this little series guys! Literally makes my day seeing you guys interact with it. Little bit of a shorter one, but I hope you like it. Been thinking about maybe taking requests? Obviously I am still quite new to this so I may not be good at writing everything. But if you have any ideas feel free to throw them my way :) The Lost Sister Masterlist | Masterlist

Challenges only happen once a week, so the next few weeks I continue to feel Imogen’s gaze on me every time we’re in the same room. Which is only a few times a day for meals and battle brief. But every single time I feel her eyes on me, watching my every move. I get the feeling the only reasons she hasn’t tried to start a fight already is us being on the same squad, and the fact I am Xaden’s sister.

As we stand around the mats watching the matches take place, I can practically hear my heart beating in my ears. I know I can hold my own on the mat, but something about the prospect of me being called up with Imogen terrifies me. The boys have assured me its nothing and I am over thinking. But the looks they give each other, mainly Garrick, do not convince me in the slightest. And despite how many times I had asked Garrick directly, he would not budge. I hadn’t talked to him or the others in the last few days, mostly keeping to my fellow first years in my squad. I wasn’t the only one who had noted their annoyance at me ignoring them. With Violet and Rhiannon commenting on it. Multiple times Garrick had tried to get me alone between classes or at the end of the day.

The moment I’ve been dreading is here. Emetterio points a finger at Imogen and I with a smile on his face. “My two best female fighters. Lets see what you can do.”

I’m kind of glad Garrick and Xaden are busy with their own fights to see us called up. But Bodhi is not. He goes to move but I give him a look, trying to convey I do not want him to interfere. He falters for a second before nodding and staying in his place. He’s probably going to get an earful from Xaden and Garrick later. But I don’t care. I need to know why she’s been acting the way she is. And if Garrick and Xaden get involved before the fight starts, they have the power to call it off.

Imogen starts circling the mat as if I am her prey. As if she’s out to kill me. As much as I would like to think my squad and being Xaden’s sister keeps me safe, the reality is people die in the riders quadrant. Nothing keeps you safe here.

”You need to keep away from what’s not yours Riorson.” She spits out at me.

What's not mine? Her eyes flick to Garrick a few mats away who is still focused on his fight to see Imogen and I have been paired up. That’s when it clicks. There is either history there, or she wants him. And here I come, essentially back from the dead and either put a divide between them, or wrecked any hopes she had of being with him. She’s jealous. And honestly who wouldn’t be. As per usual he is fighting without a shirt on, and its definitely a site to see. All the girls near his mat are watching him. She thinks I’m his. If only her words were true.

I don’t get a chance to respond back. In a blink of an eye Imogen has run at me and starts berating me with punches I can barely keep up with. Occasionally she gets a hit on my ribs, stomach or the side of my face. She’s coming at me with every thing she can. She tires for a second and I step back before launching a well placed kick to her stomach, sending her stumbling back before I am on her again. She not as lucky as I was when it comes to blocking punches and I manage to her a few decent hits on her. One of them lands on her nose, sending blood down her face and across the mat.

I vaguely hear male voices yelling that sound like Garrick and Xaden. But I block them out, focusing on the fight at hand. My luck runs out and she gets a well placed knee into my stomach causing me to double over, earning me a knee to the face and a sickening crunch to my nose. The familiar taste of blood trickles into my mouth. She pushes me to the ground and I have enough time to shield my face before she’s punching me again. Someone tries to pull her off but they are pulled away. I use the distraction to flip us over so I am on top. She comes at me with her knees and elbows, and manages to get a foot up and kick me off her. I land on my back and my head hits the hard ground in stead of the mat with a loud thud. I barely hear Imogen approaching me with the ringing in my ears. I look up in time to see her foot coming for my face, barely rolling out of the way in time. Her eyes flare with anger as I get away and am able to get back on my feet. I need to end this fast. The knock to my head has definitely given me a mild concussion paired with the knee to the nose I received earlier. If she gets another good hit on me I’m done. I need to win this to get her off my back.

She screams and runs at me with all she’s got. I can use her anger against her. She won’t be thinking straight. I plant one of my legs between hers, duck under her arms and use my ground foot to pivot around her locking my arms around her neck in a choke hold and locking both her legs between mine. My extra weight throws her off and we land on the mat with her on top of me, but I manage to hold on.

She claws at my arms and tries to kick her legs out. It takes all my energy to keep her locked in place. But slowly I feel her become weaker and weaker. Around the mat others yell for her to fight back and yield. If she’s anything like me, she wont yield. This is personal. After another minute her arms fall away and she passes out in my arms. I don’t even hear Emetterio call the end of the fight due to the ringing in my ears. But I know its done. I push her weight off me and do my best to sit up.

I look to my right and see Imogen coming to on the mat next to me covered in blood from where I got her in the nose earlier in the fight. We just stare at each other for a few second before she nods her head at me. Once we’re both healed and recovered I’ll have to find her and talk to her. A few other second years come and help her up and lead her towards the doors, most likely to the healers quadrant.

I go to stand but a big pair of arms wrap around me and pick me up as if I weigh nothing. I don’t even have to look up to see who it is as their familiar scent invades my senses despite my nose feeling like it should no longer work. I look up into Garrick’s hazel eyes as he walks with me bridal style in his arms out the doors and towards the healers quadrant.

Part 6

@riorgail @going-through-shit @fw-gt

#fourth wing #fourth wing fanfic #violet sorrengail #xaden riorson #garrick tavis x reader #the empyrean #bodhi durran #garrick tavis #garrick tavis imagine

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utilitycaster · 5 months

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Could you elaborate on that Orym-grief post? I find it interesting and I love ur character meta

Sure! The main thesis, is, well, the post: Orym has a healthy attitude towards his own grief and deals with it well, but isn't good at handling how the party feels. And, secondary to that, the fandom tends to flip this around in their perception of Orym.

Orym is very aware he is grieving and that this will be a life-long thing. He misses Will and Derrig very much and their absence is a hole in his life. He also has built a life around it. It's a process, certainly, but a process he trusts. He allows himself to feel his feelings (the gravesite sequence in Zephrah), but he also very much wants to live out his life (the feeling of failure when he died, his general enjoyment of things). He's a relatively subdued and quiet person, but he clearly finds a lot of joy in life.

The thing about grief is that it's a unique sort of pain, because there's really nothing to be done about it, and it is, typically, something that will always be there. The process is to find a way to live with that absence and make space for it while also making space for new things. It's an important lesson! It's also not how you should deal with other problems, because it's not really solution focused (or rather, the solution is "it is what it is, and it really hurts, and eventually, time will make it hurt somewhat less though it will flare up in specific situations.") For more on this: Caduceus covers very similar territory; his understanding of grief is incredibly strong, and his understanding of other problems often falters.

With grief, the answer for the living is ultimately "keep going," and that's the thing with Orym: he sure does keep going. But I think it leads him to push past things without stopping to unpack and solve them, because in his case (a guy with a great mother, a happy upbringing, a career he enjoyed, and a loving marriage, who then experienced a devastating loss) the answer really was "yeah, it really hurts that my husband and his father, who was essentially the only father figure I had, were senselessly murdered in an attack on my home. But let's put one foot in front of the other."

However, this is not actually great advice for much of Bells Hells. Several of them genuinely have conditions that lead to a complete loss of control and self that could harm or kill others, and they are at varying levels of dealing with it, potential to the peril of others. Orym notes that Fearne's impulses might put the party at risk, but he never does anything to address it other than say "hey, we need to work together." He even skirts around it himself! I think it's valid for him to approach Fearne to have a backup plan about Imogen potentially joining the Vanguard, but he says his piece and then goes and does that in private instead of fully hashing out why she'd say this in front of the people who were murdered by them, which means the root causes are never addressed. A lot of this party needs to be told both "hey, your feelings here are really valid and you should express your anger" and "hey, get your fucking shit together once you've done that." Orym tends to treat them either like they're grieving (a gentle "hey, we need to keep going, we need to get back"), or treat this like a group endeavor without delving into the individual.

I really suspect the reason we are having such a massive blow up right now is in part because this party has, for so long, been told "hey, your shit? It could ruin it for the rest of us, and we're a team," and Ashton very much went against this. I would not, frankly, be surprised if Imogen (for example) is angry not just only Ashton, but also generally, that she pushed down her stuff and maybe didn't make more efforts to contact her mother and work through that.

Essentially, Orym is really good at smoothing things over just enough to keep everything on task, but eventually, if the gear is broken, no amount of grease can keep it from jamming, and that's what just happened here with Ashton. This is what only repeated quick fixes and no preventative maintenance looks like.

(As for why the fandom thinks the opposite? I personally blame that most putrid - in several senses - belief, that conflict is always to be avoided, mixed in with a longstanding really toxic and genre/medium-ignorant attitude towards death and grieving. I think this goes hand and hand with the really pervasive attitude early on that Bells Hells were so open and honest instead of the truth: it was just a pleasant veneer.)

#answered #puffinator-0 #cr tag #orym #posts that are part of my grand theory of cast dynamics

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aeoris4lovers · 1 year

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i think ashton’s got a big storm coming when we switch teams. and by that, i mean i think they’re about to get aggressively cared about, whether they like it or not.

i have a feeling that he probably won’t be doing so hot after the end of 51 — this is, what, the third time he’s had the experience of something going wrong and then waking up (mostly) alone? i can’t imagine those parallels would be lost on him, and taliesin said some stuff on 4sd tonight that seemed to suggest that ashton is going to be pretty solidly in “it’s happening again” mode.

and who are they with? orym and laudna. you know, two of the people in the party voted most likely to ignore their own problems by focusing on someone else’s (along with fcg, of course). orym is for sure having lots of bad feelings about not being able to stop otohan again and finding out his family died for what was essentially a test run, and when he’s not doing great, his main coping mechanism is to just focus on worrying about someone else instead. and laudna is definitely super worried about imogen and freaked out by not having her there, and i think she needs someone else to focus on and take care of now that she can’t give that attention to imogen. and god only knows they won’t be able to let that out on each other because then they’d actually have to think about their own shit.

so what are they going to do when they see that their other friend is having a certified bad time? they’re going to make that their problem and ashton is going to experience the full force of his two designated helper friends who not only genuinely care about him, but also really need someone to care about so they don’t totally lose their minds. and that’ll only be amplified if my other suspicion is right and that team starts delving into ashton’s backstory, because i have a feeling that’ll be...a bit rough.

i don’t know, i’d just really like to see ashton get a healthy dose of “everything is fucked but these people do in fact give a shit about you and they’re going to be so annoyingly insistent about it that even you can’t deny it.” i think it’d do them some good, and i think laudna and orym are arguably in the best position out of anyone in the party to give it.

the hells have been slowly chipping away at ashton’s walls for a while and it’ll take a long time for them to get all the way through, but i’d like to think the split gives orym and laudna a shot at making a really good dent.

#is this just wishful thinking? maybe but i think its definitely possible #its just a matter of how they decide to play it really and id love to see it go this way #i just need ashton to get some love okay #cr theory #ashton greymoore #laudna #orym of the air ashari #c3 #bells hells #critical role

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disgruntledcleric · 9 months

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I keep thinking about laudna and pate's relationship, and what exactly pate's personality and, well, existence says about laudna. Frumpkin was essentially an emotional support animal/tool to caleb, important to him but not revealing much to an observer about caleb himself. But the dynamic between laudna and pate is so bananas: obviously he's her puppet to use and abuse as she sees fit--much like she feels herself to be delilah's puppet. That's only emphasized now that pate has sapience of his own, and can act independent of laudna; she's constantly telling him to shut up, shoving him around, etc. It seems like she works out a lot of her feelings of frustration/being out of control and powerless on him, since he's a safe target--after all, she's spent the last 30 years being a target of hostility, run out of towns, hunted and threatened, so she generally strives to be non-aggressive with people to avoid more of that. She's also expressed fear that giving into her negative emotions will get someone around her hurt. Pate represents the most safe target, since he's functionally unkillable, and also as his creator, she seems to feel a sense of entitlement to treat him as a punching bag sometimes. Marisha has talked about how delilah's control of laudna has shaped laudna's perception of, well, everything, so this makes perfect sense.

Interestingly, though, their oft-contentious relationship makes it easy to forget that laudna is the one who designed his personality! So what does that say about laudna, that she made him an outlet to play her negative emotions out through, yet relentlessly punishes him for having that personality? Laudna being not very self aware & spending a lot of time quashing her emotions and hating herself is an ongoing theme; you can see it in her people pleasing, in her placing imogen on a pedestal while believing herself unworthy, in her trying desperately to pretend she's fine when the team gets split. She almost never admits what's going on inside her head. Pate started out as a tool to alleviate her sense of isolation, but the more she put herself into him, the more he became a tool of distancing herself from the things she doesn't like about herself, by putting them into him.

Also, he's super horny, but laudna herself is not particularly horny. She's surprised and flattered when anyone suggests she's desirable, but never really puts herself out there or makes the first move (only exception seems to be ira, who is a big ol' spooky freak, so no wonder she figured she might as well shoot her shot with him). But being horny is like, pate's primary personality trait. which is superficially funny, but also deeply sad, because it suggests that laudna genuinely wanted that kind of connection, and shunted it off into pate as a desire she had to distance herself from but couldn't completely kill.

And yet, she obviously has some kind of morbid affection for him; putting the parts of herself she doesn't like into pate allows her to find something endearing in them, and also allows her to distance herself from those things, and also lets her exert a sense of control over someone else, a sense of control she desperately wants.

idk. It's easy to just laugh at how ridiculous pate is, but he's actually such a great, subtle extension of laudna herself, bringing to light parts of her psyche that would otherwise go untapped, moreso than any other magical familiar i've ever seen. Marisha is so good at adding things to her characters that pull unexpected traits to the surface, and matt is great at picking them up and running with them. It's so fun to watch.

#critical role #laudna #sorry for the wall of text i just love laudna okay

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ophernelia · 7 months

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! LONG READ

I heard you want to make a machinima. I think I could help with that. Welcome to the first session of machinima bootcamp!

Alright, stop booing me. I know I kept you waiting for months. It took time and I had so much more learning to do myself! I am by no means an expert, but I think I could offer some helpful advice. This is just how I do things so feel free to use what resonates. “Where do I start? It’s as easy as opening the game up and recording, right?” That’s one way to do it for sure. The way I do it requires a lot more planning. Blame it on me being a Capricorn lol. A LOT of work goes into making Lykaia. Episodes usually take me a week or two to make. From writing the script, to filming and editing, it takes hours upon hours to produce. I love doing it. It's like a passion project, so the hours of free time I pour into it are really healing. Whatever you create, make sure it’s something you really do love. Here’s how I made Lykaia and how I intend to make other series going forward.

*Lykaia specific info is annotated.

One thing you have to have before anything else is a story. One that you are genuinely interested in and enjoy telling. It’d be best to refrain from doing whatever gets views or whatever you think the community might enjoy. In order to stay consistent, you have to enjoy what you’re making. You have to know what story you want to tell. You don’t have to have everything planned out from start to finish, but get a good idea of what you want to explore first. The first season of Lykaia was just for me to try out machinima making. I didn’t have much direction with the story. Lykaia is just the cinematic version of my gameplay save. Lou and Imogen were my current household, so I figured I’d tell their story. It can be something as simple as that. A favorite household you love playing. A favorite story trope you’re into. Whatever inspires you. Try not to focus on how the masses will react to it. There’s an audience for everything. The viewership will come. Don’t let that discourage you or be your main focus. Enjoy the process of creating. Create for creation’s sake, not for praise or viewership.

What makes a good story? I’m not sure. Sorry! I still wonder if Lykaia’s story is good. Though, even if it isn't, I just like telling it! Having interesting or complex characters is a good tip though. I quite like the idea of there being very few or no true villain in a story. Complex lives, complex people. It’s good to get an idea of who your characters are. What do they like? What do they dislike? How do they behave around people they’re close with? What was their childhood like? How do they speak? What do they look like? Where are they from? How do they handle conflict? How do they handle romance? There’s a bunch of questions you can ask to work on building out your characters. Once you’ve got a good idea of who your characters are at this starting point, you can build outside of their world. Make their friends, make their family. Figure out where they’re from geographically. How does their environment impact their life? What’s the place they live in like? Do they like living there? Where is it? What’s the climate? Are you using in-game world names, making up your own, or using real life places? How does all of that impact the story line? Are they a small town person or a city person? Go in depth thinking about all these questions. I’ll include a list of these questions for you to answer. You don’t have to share these with me! It’s simply for you to plan things out on your own. Again, you don’t have to have everything planned out. Nothing has to be permanent. Watching characters grow and their environment change is entertaining. Just know where you want to start at least. Playing the game can help give you some inspo too! The sims have a habit of being pretty messy on their own. Once you figure out what story you want to tell, you’re ready to move forward.

*Like I mentioned previously, Lykaia is essentially the cinematic version of my gameplay save. The stories I told myself when playing their household, I am now telling to you. However, over the course of making the show for the last few months it’s really grown and developed. With the addition of characters like Savannah and Owen, to developing a thoughtful storyline for Rory, all of that has come as I’ve worked on the show. I’ve always had a thing for storytelling growing up. Won young authors competitions all throughout my schooling, but never did much with it in adulthood until now. When I say I take the time out to really develop the cast, I do. Lykaia takes place in several worlds. I even develop those out too. I think about the culture there. How close they are to other worlds. All of that really helps build a deep lore for your series that your audience and yourself will enjoy.

As for making the cast, I won’t go in depth about actually making your characters in CAS. That process is pretty straight-forward and solely up to you. Make your cast look however you want them to. Use cc, make the cast with vanilla TS4, it’s up to you. I can’t offer much advice about that. It’s a pretty personal process. (Personal as in, you do what you wanna do lol. Not in a ‘I don’t wanna share my process’ type of way.)

The next step after that is world building. This part should be a lot more simple if you’ve planned out your story. I mean literally world building. If you want a really unique looking series, it’s time to start building babe. Build your own lots, edit the worlds, do it all. I mean really go in! You can use inspo from Pinterest to help. I do that often. Check out the world building inspo for Lykaia here. On occasion I’ll use a build made by the community, but for the most part I make my own. It makes you feel like you’re actually immersed in the world of Lykaia. It’s a different San Sequoia, a different Copperdale, etc. It’s important to make your worlds your own. Get an idea of street layouts and everything. Try to envision the world your characters live in. “But there’s only so much you can do with TS4!” I actually disagree (Well, since discovering these mods.) and there’s a few mods that really help drive that home. These are the most pivotal, but there’s a variety of other ones that are helpful too! Like the Better Build/Buy mod and even CAW by TwistedMexi but it isn’t out yet. Still in development.

The TOOL Mod by TwistedMexi. The TOOL mod allows you to take objects off a lot, but that’s not all you can do. Rotate, duplicate, scale objects and more. If you ever wonder why my game looks different from the EA base worlds, it’s because I edit all of them. Add more trees, add more deco buildings, add more debug objects, etc. World customization is essential. However, it is a very tedious process. Editing San Sequoia for S2 of Lykaia took me about a week in total. Primarily because I’m still learning how to use TOOL effectively, but because I put a lot of details into my worlds. I add cars around. I use S4S to make hidden objects show up in-game. It’s a long process, but having a world that’s really unique is so rewarding. Sure, we all have access to the same sandbox but we don’t all make the same things. That’s the best part about the community. The creativity is boundless. Have you seen that one person with an Ancient China savefile? Bonkers. So creative. You can do some crazy stuff with this game. Don’t be afraid to push it to its limits.

The All Worlds are Clickable Mod by Awingedllama works so well in conjunction with the TOOL Mod. I’d say it’s almost necessary to have both. This mod does just what it says on the tin. It makes all worlds in TS4 clickable. No longer will you see that red circle with a line through it. You can walk anywhere. It also helps to place objects using the TOOL mod. Sometimes figuring out the grid is hard, it's easier to point and click. I highlight an object with TOOL and click wherever around the world I want to place it. Now, this will cause some routing issues with your sims. They’ll walk through stones, lakes, etc. Taking the mod out is an easy fix for this whenever you want to just play your game normally. I rarely play my game these days, but when I do I leave it in, it’s kinda funny to see Victor Feng running through the lake in San Sequoia.

Emptied Newcrest & Willow Creek by Awingedllama is also a great mod if you want to take things a bit further. It gets rid of everything and I do mean everything. Think TS3 empty create-a-world. It does so by hiding certain objects, so don’t be surprised if they don’t show up in game for other worlds. It makes things look a bit wonky, but if you really wanna start from scratch, then this is a great way to do it. You can completely customize the look and layout of your world. Add more tropical vegetation or more tepid vegetation. It’s up to you. It does take an immense amount of work and I’d recommend following this tutorial to get the backdrops for the worlds in game. Also this tutorial if you’d like to add custom debug houses.

* Lykaia’s world is based on TS4 worlds, but with real life influences. Copperdale is meant to give that east coast small town vibe. Heavily wooded areas that experience a lot of rain. (Just because I love really gloomy weather irl.) It also makes doing ambience easier. The sound of rain is easy to throw in. San Sequoia is meant to be like San Francisco. Del Sol too. I usually just go in and add more trees and vegetation. Place more cars and deco people to make the worlds feel more full. I also add in other little objects that are specific to the series. More places to sit. Just to overall make the worlds feel more lived in. TS4 can feel like a ghost town at times. Green Haven is a new area within Lykaia that I am currently working on. It’s a full town I’ve built from scratch using the emptied Newcrest and Willow Creek mod. Inspo for it is on my pinterest. It is supposed to mimic small towns in upper Cali.

In the next session we'll start talking about filming, sets, lighting, etc. If you ever have any questions, just send me an ask!

#resources #opie's machinima bootcamp #ts4

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darkdisrepair · 1 year

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imogen temult: a retrospective

in honor of the new year, here's a meta about our favorite purple haired girl, by looking back at what's transpired in 2022 and what she has ahead of her in 2023:

topics:

imogen, liliana, and gelvaan | imodna trauma | fcg and therapy |

tw//suicidal ideation, trauma, death

imogen, liliana, and gelvaan

let's start with the most glaring recent plot point- and one of the most painful.

liliana working with otohan was something i had started to guess ever since we learned that she was alive.

did i want them to be gay for each other? i mean, yes.

but how devastating for imogen, to learn that the mother she has been looking for her whole life is working with the person responsible for so much of her trauma: otohan haunts her dreams, killed three of her friends, and- there are probably better words for it- but tortured imogen's powers out of her, essentially.

for someone who claims to have left her daughter to protect her- how is keeping her in the dark about otohan any better? how is any of this secrecy helping her more than just telling her what she's discovered?

and it's worse because imogen craves her mother's love. imogen craves to be loved, in general. she wants so desperately to have a parental figure- someone to relinquish responsibility, someone to cry to, someone to ask advice from- and the more i think about her backstory... she's not given much of it, is she?

shunned by her town, abandoned by her mother in childhood only to be abandoned, again, when she rejects imogen's attempts to meet up, estranged from her father...

all the mentor figures in her life- laudna, bertrand, and eshteross- have died. she has seen all of their bodies, she has seen their blood and for bertrand and eshteross- she has seen them walk into the storm.

i can't help but think: imogen loses, and loses, and loses. the world has taken so much from her and it's heartbreaking because people need things to cling on to.

the lord of the rings is a perfect example of this: tolkien made the shire so idyllic, so beautiful, because the hobbits needed something to fight for. something to come home to.

gelvaan might be beautiful but it is not her safe haven.

her ritual contribution proved that. "i don't know how much longer I would have lasted," imogen said, and that, too, is devastating.

the town drove her to at least contemplate suicide, and even in sleep, gelvaan is supposed to be comforting but heralds a storm.

not that places mean everything, in terms of what to fight for, but that would make it easier, wouldn't it? to have somewhere to come home to, at the end of it all, that isn't haunted by dreams of red storms and the memories of how painful life was, there?

imodna trauma

well speaking of how painful life was- laudna's death still haunts imogen (and laudna but that's a different discussion).

in some ways, their distance now reminds me of the rock "breakup" and yet, it's even sadder this time because they're not not talking because they're angry or betrayed- it's because they both are so insistent that the other be okay that they don't allow themselves the grace to admit that they themselves aren't.

imogen is trying so hard to return things back to normal. she doesn't want to talk about her powers, she doesn't want to talk about laudna dying, she doesn't want to think about it.

i think it's because she can't, because if she starts i don't know if she knows how to piece herself together.

i think imogen is afraid to confront the depth of her pain over laudna's death, in particular, because she's afraid of "breaking" again, like otohan broke her.

it's hard to explain: but laudna's death and otohan pushing imogen to a breaking point was more than just what it was. it also creates this extremely unhealthy relationship with dealing with emotions/having an emotional outlet.

because really the only time in canon that imogen has really, truly been able to break down is in times of immense trauma, and against her will- and that caused a dangerous release of power that (in imogen's mind) could very well have been the final blow in all of her friend's deaths.

so now, you have both the physical trauma of losing her friends to otohan, but also this mental block of "if i let myself feel, i will hurt the people i care about."

bell's hells and therapy

and the pain and the stress doesn't ever stop coming, for imogen, and though the group notices, i don't think they really understand her well enough yet to really see that otohan trauma (and imogen might not, either).

now, this is no hate on fcg- but he in particular seems to call out imogen's pain the most, while presenting very surface-level solutions.

"i'll create a safe space," they say, but then they allude to imogen crying a lot and being fragile and then don't actually?? listen??

i think fearne/ashley has done the best at starting difficult conversations with imogen, and has, more than anyone, pushed both imogen and laudna to having hard conversations in the past.

she tried to get imogen to talk about her new ruidius friend and she asks imogen if she thinks she intended the blast, and she really does seem to listen.

but fcg is prone to bringing things up and then using spells/conventional therapy techniques, or what they see as "what SHOULD be done when x boxes are met" without slowing down and really getting everything out of the therapy that is actually important.

(this is no hate to sam i think fcg's perspective is FASCINATING i just don't think it's right for imogen)

#imogen temult meta #imogen temult #imodna #imogen x laudna #laudna x imogen #laudna #critical role #critical role meta #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #campaign 3 #campaign 3 spoilers #bell's hells

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professorthaddeus · 2 years

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as sort of a follow-up on my post about fcg’s pseudo-therapy style, i think the contrast between their conversation with laudna and orym’s conversation with imogen was a really interesting look into the difference between saying the “right things” (programming!) and speaking from a place of experience

a quick disclaimer since i’m talking about therapy-adjacent stuff: i’m not a mental health professional (yet :p) and i’m not trying to make any judgments on what fcg and orym did right/wrong here—while fcg’s general angle of wanting to fix people is definitely flawed, i honestly think he handled the conversation with laudna in this episode pretty well! i’m more interested in how his purpose as a Help People Robit translates into how he actually tries to help in complicated (human!) situations, and oh man, the way his approach juxtaposed with orym’s in their respective conversations was very 👀

so from what i got, fcg and orym’s advice to laudna and imogen essentially boiled down to the same thing: when you’re ready (and in laudna’s case, when imogen’s ready), talk to your friend. but the way they each got there felt vastly different—fcg seemed to go about it in a step-by-step way, and you can almost see those steps progressing in the conversation:

1) assess the situation (fcg asks about what happened with an emphasis on laudna’s perception of it—e.g., “and you think she’s upset at you?”); 2) have the patient talk about her feelings (”do you feel any better having told me?“—which is also pretty indicative of the methodical way fcg’s proceeding tbh); 3) find an underlying cause (”are you jealous of imogen in any [subconscious] way?” “for having a heartbeat?” definitely no projection going on there); 4) provide affirmations/sympathy (”that’s a very noble thing to want for someone” ”i’m so sorry you’re going through this”); 5) get to the solution (”I could try to arrange a neutral space, a safe space where you both could talk“)

orym's talk with imogen, on the other hand, felt much more like a natural conversation between two friends (and ofc part of it is that orym’s reaching out to imogen in concern while laudna explicitly goes to fcg for help—and aah i love that and i love what laura and marisha are doing; it makes so much sense that imogen needs to be prodded before she can vent while laudna is desperately looking for advice in her distress). orym sits back and listens while imogen expresses what she’s been bottling up, and when he interjects, he does so from a place of personal observation (with the recognition that he could be wrong because he hasn’t known them that long)—”i watch you and laudna together, and you guys are so close”; “I see you get down on yourself”; “that dead lady’s got a lot of love in her heart”—as well as with an air of speaking from experience—”when you have a falling out with a friend...”

and really, hats off to sam and liam, because it fits so well that fcg, who only has 2-ish years of memory and is a literal robot, follows a flow chart of how to help someone in need, while orym, who has clearly grown up with emotional maturity and a great support system from at least his in-laws, speaks gently and with an understanding that these things are complicated (and that everything feels even more tangled, more dire, when the relationship is so important)

#this post is such a mess dksfjl hopefully it's readable?#but i had a lot of Feelings and people have written such good metas abt imogen & laudna through these convos #that i wanted to express some of what i got about orym and fcg's perspectives #in any case SUCH a juicy episode calamity was my favorite thing ever but man i've missed the BH too #critical role #orym #fcg #cr spoilers #c3e25 #cr meta #my meta #my ramblings #cast appreciation

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tiamat-zx · 2 years

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So I've had a thought or two about what may come next, should she come back.

And I feel like whether she chooses to be "Laudna" or "Matilda" is up to her. The first REAL choice she'd be making entirely of her own accord, free of Delilah's influence.

And to be honest, that depends on how she'd feel about still being "Laudna" when that in itself was her way of running from the past. Distancing herself as much as possible from that "Different Life" that in reality was never truly different. That past trauma never let go, despite her attempts at trying to break free.

To her, "Laudna" was essentially a patchwork veil, an identity crafted by her own hand the same way she'd always been gifted at crafting, emulating the powerful ladies in her life: her mother first and foremost, Delilah, Fearne, and most recently Imogen. A blank canvas in an attempt to repaint her existence just to blot out what she was before.

It's why she had insisted that she did not have a last name, only wishing to be called "Laudna".

But that veil had always been threadbare, just barely clinging together like she had been clinging to some semblance of a life.

She was very much trying to force herself to be so blasé about her past, the epitome of "fake it 'til you make it".

Until she didn't make it and slipped into Death's embrace once more.

Then we finally saw what lay beyond the veil. And what we saw was her true self, as everything we had seen her to be up to this point was but a carefully constructed mask.

She did not have a happy childhood. She was belittled and alone, even at home. Even the little boy she had a crush on had been mean to her. Impressionable from a very young age, and that never went away, thus the aforementioned emulation: drawing on Delilah's charm and guile being an example, despite being the architect of her demise.

The person she was and sadly still is, Matilda, was always there, hiding in shadow. And even when going under a new name for three decades, the moment we see her revealed in the tree just to speak with Imogen, that's her. Stripped of all of her masks, the veil ripped away, it was her at the absolute end of the proverbial rope, tired, just wanting it to end. Tired of being unable to fight back.

She was tired of playing Death's waiting game. And had Bells Hells not gone after her, she probably would have welcomed oblivion.

But just seeing her friends, seeing the person she had made her prerogative to give the best possible life ahead of her as she had lost her own, made her dare to hope one last time.

And now...

Whether she wants to continue living as "Laudna", the veil of shadow that only served to hide who she truly was knowing that she can never truly hide behind it again...

Or to come out and walk in the sun as "Matilda" for the first time in so long, to be as free as the bird that she had hoped would take her away, to truly live and be herself...

Again, it's up to her.

Either way, Marisha Ray has truly outdone herself with this character, who will absolutely be forever changed regardless of the identity she picks. She truly is her magnum opus character.

#critical role #cr spoilers #laudna #matilda #bells hells #cr meta #long post #who knows what will happen next?#marisha ray

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ichayalovesyou · 1 year

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This is my carefully curated playlist based on Tumblr's favorite Mafia movie, Goncharov! It is arranged into story order but you can enjoy it on shuffle as well! Normally I color code which songs are about who, but this time around I wanted to leave it up to interpretation, although I think you might be able to tell who my favorite character is lol!

Winter In Naples

“You Need The Fear of God Put Back Into You Goncharov”

Taikatalvi by Nightwish from Imaginaerum • Ruler of Everything by Tally Hall from Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum • Birds With Broken Wings by Ben Caplan from Birds With Broken Wings • Istanbul by They Might Be Giants from Flood • The Cat Came Back by The Laurie Berkner Band from Laurie Berkner’s Favorite Kid Songs • Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz from Gorillaz • Champagne Taste by Eartha Kitt from Totally Crazy • Amar y Vivir by Carlos Rivera from Mexicano • Crazy = Genius by Panic! At The Disco from Death of a Bachelor • Farewell Wanderlust by The Amazing Devil from The Horror and the Wild • Time is Running Out by Muse from Absolution • Aha! by Imogen Heap from Ellipse • Modern Day Cain by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME from Modern Day Cain

The Ball

“Your Husband Is As Tasteless As His Counterfeit ‘Boots’, Dear Sister”

Vampire by People In Planes from Beyond the Horizon • Don’t Mess With Me by temposhark from The Invisible Line • There’s A Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of It Yet by Panic! At The Disco from A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out • Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps by Daniel Boaventura & Carlos Rivera from Your Song • Careless Whisper by George Michael from Ladies & Gentlemen The Best of George Michael • Real Men by Mitski from Lush • As The World Falls Down by David Bowie from Labyrinth • I’m A Funny Dame by Eartha Kitt from The Essential Eartha Kitt • Sin un Amor by Carlos Rivera from Mexicano • Bad Romance by Lady Gaga from The Fame Monster • Señor Amante by Kika Edgar from Señor Amante • Take Me To Church by Hozier from Hozier • Disarm by The Civil Wars from The Civil Wars • Femme Fatale by Coyote Kid from The Skeleton Man • Monkeys Uptown by Iron & Wine from Kiss Each Other Clean

Two Cigarettes, One Flame

“A Perfect Pearl Need Only Circumstance, No?”

Pretty Little Head by Eliza Rickman from O, You Sinners • Runs In The Family by Amanda Palmer from Who Killed Amanda Palmer? • 551 by Dessa from Castor the Twin • Wife by Mitski from Lush • The Bed Song by Amanda Palmer from Piano Is Evil • The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives from Coyote Stories • Evening On the Ground (Lilith’s Song) by Iron & Wine from Woman King • Better Love by Hozier from Better Love • Arms of A Thief by Iron & Wine from Around the Well • Where Evil Grows by The Poppy Family, Terry & Susan Jacks from A Good Thing Lost: 1968-1973 • Eric by Mitski from Lush • Angie by Bert Jansch from Bert Jansch • I Want To Be Evil by Eartha Kitt from That Bad Eartha • Don’t Get My Hopes Up by S.J. Tucker from Mischief • You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart by Sinéad O’Connor from So Far: The Best of Sinéad O’Conner • Dulce Mal by The Chamanas from Dulce Mal • Don’t You Dare Forget the Sun by Get Scared from Built For Blame, Laced With Shame

The Clock

“How Can Time Be Still, And Still Running Out?”

Blindness by Metric from Fantasies • Come Away To The Water by Maroon 5 & Rozzi from The Hunger Games: Songs of District 12 And Beyond • Era Escuro by Faun from Luna • Fly Me to The Moon by Melodicka Bros. from Fly Me to the Moon (Space Rock) • Glass Heart Hymn by Paper Route from The Peace of Wild Things • Where Butterflies Never Die by Broken Iris from The Eyes of Tomorrow • I Hope Your World Is Kind by Auri from Auri • Ballad of Jeremiah Peacekeeper by Poets of the Fall from Temple Of Thought • Broken Crown by Mumford & Sons from Babel • Dirt And Roses by Rise Against from Avengers Assemble • Marked Man by Mieka Pauley from The Science of Making Choices • If I Had A Heart by Fever Ray from Fever Ray • I Think I Smell A Rat by The White Stripes from White Blood Cells • Paranoid Android by Radiohead from OK Computer • Cool by Ansel Elgort & Mike Faist from West Side Story • That’s My Boy by Vast from Turquoise & Crimson

Ambrosia, The Blood of The Gods

“I’m Gonna Kill That Mario!”

Familia by Nicki Minaj, Angel AA & Bantu from Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse • Onward & Upward by Tommee Profitt & Fleurie from Gloria Regali • The Horror and The Wild by The Amazing Devil from The Horror and the Wild • Breaking the Law by Judas Priest from British Steel • I’m Always Walking as Somebody Else from American Murder Song from Murder Ballads of 1816: The Year Without A Summer • The House Of The Dead by NADA5150 & Mr.Kitty from The House Of The Dead • Adore Me by StarKid Productions from Black Friday • Kill My Friends by gP. from Kill My Friends • 7 Rings by ChuggaBoom from 7 Rings • Heavy Rain by Youth Man from New Moons Vol.1 • Loki by The Mechanisms from The Bifrost Incident • Warflower by The Mayan Factor from In Lake Ch’ • Dead Butterflies by Architects from Meteor • Man or a Monster by Sam Tinnesz & Zayde Wolf from Man or a Monster • The Weeping Song by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds from The Good Son

The Bridge

“If We Really Were In Love You Wouldn’t Have Missed”

What Love Can Heartbreak Allow by Ben Caplan from Old Stock • The Wolf by PHILDEL from The Disappearance of the Girl • Animal Impulses by IAMX from The Unified Field • Don’t Make Me by MALINDA from Don’t Make Me • Shout by Tears for Fears from Songs From The Big Chair • Don’t Call Me Angel by Ariana Grander, Miley Cyrus & Lana Del Rey from Charlie’s Angels • Heaven Knows by The Pretty Reckless from Going to Hell • Castle by Halsey from BADLANDS • Mineshaft 2 by Dessa from Castor, the Twin • Die Anywhere Else by Julia Henderson & Lorenzo de Sequera from Dusk • A Death by an Unkindness from 4 Songs • Despedida by Antonio Pinto & Shakira from Love In The Time of Cholera • Daughter of the Sea by Sharm & Alison M. Sparrow from Daughter of The Sea • Jane Doe by Hail The Sun from Wake • Bag of Bones by Mitski from Lush • Girl Into Devil (I Belong to Me) by S.J. Tucker from Stolen Season

The Train

“We Could Burn It All Down”

Panacea For The Poison by Flobots from Survivor Story • Here Come the Ravens by Aviators from Dystopian Fiction • All Night Long by Peter Murphy from Love Hysteria • A Sadness Runs Through Him by The Hoosiers from The Trick To Life • The Deep by PHILDEL from Wave Your Flags • Irish Hour by Saint Sister from Where I Should End • There Is Still Time by Lorn from The Maze to Nowhere • Happy by Mitski from Puberty 2 • Burned Out by dodie from Human • Where To Begin by Adam Watts from When a Heart Wakes Up • Hungry Like the Wolf by Hidden Citizens & Tim Halperin from Reawakenings • Dark Matter by Les Friction from Dark Matter • I Found by Amber Run from 5AM • The Hearse (Stripped) by Matt Maeson from Bank On The Funeral • The Wolf in Your Darkest Room by Matthew Mayfield from Recoil • The Devil Wears A Suit by Kate Miller-Heidke from Nightflight • Sinking Ship by CAKE from Sinking Ship • Lessons by SOHN from Tremors • Black Sun by Death Cab for Cutie from Black Sun • Die Today by The Txlips Band & Guitar Gabby from Queens of A New Age • Blood Moon by Saint Sister from Madrid • Cinder and Smoke by Iron & Wine from Our Endless Numbered Days • Girl With One Eye by Florence + The Machine from Lungs

The Apple

“Tell Them I’m Sorry, For I Have No Sorrow Left to Give”

The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid by The Decemberists from Hazards of Love • Conversations at the End of the World by Kishi Bashi from String Quartet Live • My Way by Chase Holfelder from Major to Minor Vol.2 • We Are Your Nightmares by Cast of Nevermore from Nevermore: The Imaginary Life & Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe • Oh Death by Noah Gunderson from Saints & Liars • The Coldest Goodbye by Mary Kate Wiles from Spies Are Forever • Cathedrals by Jump. Little Children from Magazine • Carry Me Out by Mitski from Bury Me At Makeout Creek • Ghosts With Heartbeats by Plastic Patina from Ghosts With Heartbeats • Blood by My Chemical Romance from The Black Parade

“The film is gone, the only proof thereof Upon a boot, a tag mark’d Goncharov...”

Quotes from the movie Goncharov (1973) provided through art by: @theshitpostcalligrapher @when-sanpape-arts @inthefallofasparrow @not-the-blue @cloudmancy

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densitywell · 1 year

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given ashton's specific issues, it's quietly tragic that they don't have someone on team uthodurn to specifically remember them, the way orym and laudna do. fearne goes to the wildmother shrine specifically to reach out to orym, and imogen- well, thoughts of laudna run through everything imogen does. fcg is ostensibly that person, for ashton, but they've known each other for significantly less time than fearne and orym or imogen and laudna, and fcg wasn't emotionally reliant on ashton in the same way. and fcg's had his hands full with meeting frida and all the new feelings coming with that, and maybe it's an intentional reflection of the fact that, as much as they care, fcg is a little self-absorbed, and also still very bad at processing and expressing their feelings.

but when frida asks if they ever had a person like frida has deanna, they mention dancer. which is- fcg was essentially a servant to dancer, she told him what to do. ashton's place in their life is much more parallel to deanna. and i think it makes sense for fcg to mention dancer, given their own issues and belief that someone else has to give them meaning (which is something that could be very interesting to explore in their relationship with frida!!), but. ashton's definitely gonna be worried sick about fcg when we eventually get to team ???, so seeing them apparently occupy fcg's thoughts so little is sad.

#other than that chet and fearne and imogen care about ashton but are understandably focused on deanna/orym/laudna #orym and laudna were rlly the two other pcs ashton was the closest with outside of fcg so #anyways. i hope they see some weird shit in the savalierwood that makes them go 'oh ash would fucking love this'#or deanna and frida straight up are like 'hey tell me abt yr friends'#on the other hand to all of this: sam 'thought fearne was naked this whole time' riegel might have just forgot lol #critical role #cr #ashton greymoore #fcg #fresh cut grass #cr spoilers #also adding: given ashtons specific issues it is tragic also in the way it makes complete sense #of course ashton doesn't have that person!!! they have gone out of their way to not have that person for a long time!!!#they latched onto fcg partially bc he's kind of fucked up and selfish!!#but also you know if ashton was seeing this he would use it to reaffirm all his worst thoughts abt himself and ppl #which. ough. ashton i want to cradle you in my palms like a baby animal #CRposting

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inconmess · 1 year

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Ok. Prefacing this, I know some of the points I mentioned here will overlap with stuff already posted and speculated but this is also my POV and not really leeching off their ideas. (probably you guys wouldn't really care but I have run into problems of "plagiarism" and don't want to risk it)

So the cast split up. Brilliant move, truly. For the sake of convenience, Orym, Ashton and Laudna are the ES (Emotionally Sane) and while Chetney, Fearne, FCG and Imogen are LC (Lost Chaos)

Putting everything under cut cuz this is a long ass post

First, covering the main things about the split up:

LC has all the healers and senders of the group and is majorly the group which relied on having a tether/required the most support from their "better halves." Fearne needed Orym, Imogen needed Laudna and FCG needed Ashton to guide them because they were all naive in some way or the other in the mechanics of the world. And Chetney was relatively close off until he was thrown back to face his past. This group essentially lost the "mature and protective people."

Now for ES. This group consists of people who have their own issues and relied on the fact that people relied on them to cope. They were protectors, the front liners in battle (mostly) and are possibly the masters of avoiding, deflecting and repressing shit. Yeah, they all talk about their shit to each other, Ashton and his regular talks with Laudna, Ashton checking up with Orym... Well, Orym talking when someone asks. But they all are repressing stuff really bad no matter how much they portray talking about it, they have their bouts of silent panic and insecurities and every single fucking shit and this separation is gonna take a toll on that. This group essentially lost its "distraction/support people/the reason they actually held onto their sanity."

Where are they:

Team LC - Uthodurn. Chetney's homeplace, close to his personal shit and FCG's too.

Team ES - Personally, I think they can be in Terrah, for some reason I always think about the "missing week of EXU and the crater" or Issyylra. Not in Marquet or Wildmount as far as I consider it.

(On a side note, I stand corrected, the wrap-up mentioned a pregame with a crater and not a chasm but I mixed the two of them up. Sorry for all the posts I had mentioned it on)

Expectations:

Team LCs: a lot of lore dump, history dump and characters dealing with their personal history while Imogen and Fearne come to terms with how the ritual of Ludinus is going to affect them, Imogen in particular being an exaltant. Does her powers diminish? Vanish? Does it change and mutate? Does the whole thing affect Fearne in some way? She wasn't an exaltant but was Ruidus born nonetheless.

Possible happening of getting a depressed Fearne cuz Orym was her halfling and the lack of their relationship with Ashton so she really doesn't have someone to balance her nature out. Like yeah, Chetney and her have a great relationship in and of itself and while we haven't seen it much onscreen, Imogen and FCG too, but I feel like her main circle was Orym and Ashton so she is definitely going to struggle with that. And take drastic wahs to cope with this loss too, eventually without anyone keeping her in check. Might also become a handler for the group eventually, but not initially.

Imogen will have to deal with her dissonance probably. Reevaluate a lot of stuff. The beliefs of her mom. The reassimilation with her powers depending on whether it's mutated, changed or gone as stated before. And even if it is unchanged, rethinking about her powers, strengthening herself. And not to mention, her dreams. Are they still there? How do they change? And how does she cope without Laudna when she get them?

Chetney's past. Period. And how he needs to control the wolf around this place, especially if the hunters are out there. He has control over it, more than anyone expects, yes. But can he have full control over it? Is that something which is possible for him? Technically his favourite target had been Orym but he wasn't here now. Can he handle his path and learn more about his wolf and control over it at the same time?

FCG is... Well, he has the Aeorean ruins for one, getting to discover more about his own kind and is definitely probably going to have another episode and I am counting on it, tbh. I am expecting each and every one of them to blow up in a certain way. And if they meet up with the Darrington Brigade, his relationship with Dotty is something I wanna see!

---------------------------------------

Team ES: Probably head-on smashes with Ashton's past and personal history, info dump and lore dump on that. Or they are near the Crown Keepers and get to deal with a rogue Opal. Laudna wondered what happened to Pate. Well, first they do need to figure out where they are anyways, and how to fucking communicate and get shit done.

Orym has his guilt and all three of them are spiralling in worry. He comes to know of the cause of the death of Will and Derrig, witnesses Keyleth almost killed by Otohan, failed in disabling the backpack and also was partly the reason Keyleth came there in the first place, luring in the Champion and providing Ludinus with what he needed. And so many regrets and guilt and just the fact that he has been separated from Fearne, who had in her weird sociopathic Fey way been his anchor, was now gone and nothing was to be known on what was up with everyone and is so worried that I am pretty sure he is gonna have a meltdown and go apeshit if he has to also help deal with Ashton's past because he is at that threshold and is barely hanging from the edge of it and really really needs people right now. The wee halfling deserves to go apeshit, blow up and break down, please!

Laudna... I honestly don't know apart from the fact that being separated from Imogen is going to deeply impact her cuz as far as I know, Imogen was the first person to accept her for who she was and they were just on the cusp of developing their relationship and she is worried for Imogen for the most part. Oh and maybe Delilah shows up again!

Ashton, I am rooting for him having to confront his past the most, a possible meet up with the Nobodies, if possible and their overall worry over the whole group, but especially FCG and Fearne. A possible breakdown and apeshit on the horizon along with some memory problems I believe. Not to mention them trying to find a way to find out more about the Dunamis shit that's going around, probably that also messes with their head a little bit...

Possible faces we can see:

The Crown Keepers (secretly rooting for them), Darrington Brigade, Possibly members of VM and M9, a few past NPCs (sorry I haven't watched much of the other two campaigns so maybe you can tag a few of the names you expect to see?

#long post #critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #post c3e51 #speculations #I am starting to blank out so the speculation ends there...#But all the other speculation posts are awesome too!#any other think you wanna add please RB and comment so we can have a fun time!#orym deserves to break #orym #ashton greymoore #laudna #imogen temult #fcg #fearne calloway #chetney pock o'pea

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utilitycaster · 1 year

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Someone needs to fight back by drawing Imogen with sharp angle+narrow frame glasses that sit just on the end of her nose so she looks down through them, and they make her seem distant and haughty about everything.

Ok so anon I know this is you joking (and while personally I'm like let's just not do the glasses*, I agree that angular art styles for Imogen are really good and love to see them), but like...frankly, I'm in a hotel for the night for work and have very little going on so I just want to talk about Imogen! I think she has a somewhat elusive personality, especially compared to Laura's past two characters, both of whom were pretty extroverted and I think the fanon is simply so wildly different from reality that despite her central role she at times feels like an unknown quantity.

Imogen is not sweet and retiring. She's not terribly haughty; but she's definitely a little sharp, even from the start. She's frustrated with the administrator at the Starpoint Academy despite asking for what is essentially a significant favor, and doesn't attempt to hide it - and that's in episode 1. The fanon idea of Imogen didn't even get past the half-hour mark of the first episode of the campaign before zoning out, briefly coming to at the word "headache" because the sickfic fodder alarm went off or something, but Imogen is prickly and possessive of a certain ruthlessness from quite early on. Nor is she the innocent - her first thought to cover up the noise in the hotel room is to grab Dorian and unbutton her shirt. The idea of Laudna being the prickly, worldly one and Imogen the sweet ingenue should have been dead before Bertrand.

I think the best way to describe her though is that she is walled off. There's the figurative but extremely real psychic walls, which she's only recently been able to let down, but in general Imogen just doesn't quite mix into groups. There's always a certain amount of distance that she holds. It's an incredible change from Jester, who was famously the one to bridge gaps, or even Vex, whose post-adventuring career is the most openly political of Vox Machina's. I think Orym's leadership pep talk, while a good thought, fails, because Imogen is comfortable playing the leader in a lie, but ultimately she wants to neither lead nor follow.

Anyway, that's the thing about Imogen: I genuinely do not think she consciously believes herself better than other people, certainly not in an "I'm so awesome" manner; but she does hold herself aloof. She has concrete proof of the terrible thoughts that strangers have and I think does not realize the flaws of her own thought patterns as a result. I don't want to say it's a lack of shame or embarrassment but it certainly feels faintly atrophied. It's like the social contract has been just a bit corrupted. I think I described it before as that she sees hypocrisy as "not honestly saying what you're thinking to your allies" rather than being about a discrepancy of word and action. I also wonder if the fact that Imogen spends so much time in people's heads is tied to the fact that it took her until she was 26 and had no other options in order to leave Gelvaan, despite the fact that she wasn't happy there.

I'm really interested to see how it goes because I don't actually see this as a story that can resolve purely because of the power of love and friendship. I suspect Imogen is just starting to realize these things about herself, and I similarly suspect she doesn't really care for them...but I don't think she knows quite how to stop or change nor does she entirely want to.

I think this sense of being caught between so many things - always being the secret third option - is really well demonstrated with her powers. A pretty consistent theme in Critical Role through both Campaign 2 and 3 is regarding the sources of power and their disconnect from any morality - power simply is, the wielder's choices are what matter. Imogen started out wishing to be rid of her abilities, and she's increasingly moving to embrace them, even as she simultaneously has found out that the source of her powers is likely a literal cosmic horror and her mother is much more than a voice in her dreams. It's fascinating to me that the people she tends to be most honest with are the people with the most unknown pasts, and I feel she's moving towards an era of reinventing herself. Which will put that big question of aloofness at the forefront - it is, to be fair, faster to go alone, and easier to reinvent yourself when the people who knew you before aren't around.

Anyway this is a really long way to say "haughty, not really, but she is all angles, in multiple senses of the word."

*tangent here but: I was scrolling the Imogen tag recently and something I noticed that's very telling is that most art of Imogen in glasses (and to be fair a lot of art generally) isn't described, but when it is, the description also almost always leaves out her glasses. Which really puts the kibosh on the idea this was ever about normalizing glasses or uh, any aids for people with visual impairments, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#answered #Anonymous #imogen temult #critical role

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anglinasjolie · 2 years

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I loved the finale, almost everything made sense, the reveal was good (Mona’s reveal will always be the best one hands down), everything was fine till Imogen had her baby I mean it was illogical for her to keep it (although i’d love that) but WHY would they give it to Ezria??? They made a whole ass speech about grooming to give Imogen’s baby to Ezra? A man who essentially committed statutory rape????? MAKE IT MAKE SENSE! They’re rewarding Ezra’s behavior atp.

On a lighter note, we better get tabogen next season.

#pll original sin #pll os #original sin #imogen adams #imogens baby #she should’ve keep it tbh #anti ezria #pretty little liars #ezria hater #tabogen

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revvethasmythh · 8 months

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Actually thinking very hard about what, exactly, is compelling about Relvin. imo, there is an inherent mundanity to him as a character--that's really the core of what he is, Just Some Dude, caught in the crosshairs of something much bigger than him that he can't understand let alone fight. A guy who tries, but it struck so deeply by decades of grief that even the trying can be hard. A man who loves his daughter but doesn't know how to help her and maybe can't stand how much she looks like her mother. Very mundane. Very human. Very relatable, both the good parts of him and the ugly ones. I know that I personally find a lot of interest and texture in what the mundane looks like, especially in contrast to the wild escapades of adventurers or powered people. It's why, perhaps, Relvin is a character that feels more relatable and approachable and miles more understandable than someone like Liliana, who's motives are opaque, who's goals are unclear, and who's intentions are currently unknown/incoherent. We can sit here and ask ourselves "what does she want?" until kingdom come, but even Imogen doesn't know and she is also sick of the not knowing. Liliana wants to free Imogen--but who knows how. She wants Imogen to run, but doesn't tell her why. She left Imogen to find answers, but we have no idea if she really accomplished that goal despite repeated conversations with her (all of which essentially repeat the same info shared in the previous convo).

At least we know what Relvin wants. Wanted. To build a family. For the two halves to become a better whole. That's approachable, that's human, that's tragic in the face of everything that's happened, and, yes, that's mundane. But god is there texture to that mundanity where there isn't all that much even in the comparatively extraordinary life of Liliana.

#really just thinking about why average and mundane is interesting in this context #because just because something is extraordinary does not mean it is more interesting!#I think some of the best characters/most interesting stories can come from a place of relative mundanity #and the fact that the core of Relvin's character can be established so strongly in so little time (one convo) compared to liliana #is telling perhaps #anyway not maintagging this lmfao #sorry for the relvin-posting today but I'm beset by relvin thots and tbf I'm just making good on my url change. so

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