Zobey || He/They
Grown queer theatre peep.
Mischief, musicals, Shakespeare, unwieldy Victorian literature, the Golden Age of Hollywood... It's an eclectic mix, to be honest.
So I've got hardly any followers and not a single shred of "tumblr clout" and I'm not even from the US, but...
As far as I'm concerned, we're quite literally all in this together because oh the endless joys of the US/UK "special relationship"... So this is me essentially officially saying that I'm definitely someone you can come and talk to if it's all getting overwhelming (because I think we can all agree these next few years will inevitably hit that point a lot). Even if we've never spoken or even interacted before. So if you need a space to just vent about anything that's going on, or else if you want to talk random theatre stuff as a distraction including entirely inconsequential low-stakes arguments over why you think I'm wrong in my opinion that Ride The Cyclone is severely overrated (because having that kind of stupid inconsequential argument will at least give a moment of catharsis), discussing why certain shows/writers/performers are underrated, going wild over anything Starkid, or spending a frankly absurd amount of time coming up with the most ridiculous pieces of Cornley lore, or overanalysing the storylines of MMNI shows to the point where a significant part of your brain can no longer believe these things were improvised... Well, I'm always gonna be here for all of that. It's going to be a difficult and scary time for the foreseeable future (not just for the US), we're all gonna need to learn to take things one day at a time and finding one thing we can look forward to. And there's gonna be moments when you will need to step back for your own wellbeing. If that moment comes and I can be here for you, I'll be glad to. Even if it's just to have one conversation that gets you through another day.
Starting with the big one: Everly Brothers. I've already spoken quite a bit about my feelings about her (especially as it relates to any HoHR plotline going forward) here and here (scroll down to the last paragraph on that one), but boy do I have a lot of thoughts about Everly Brothers...
So, spoilers for the entirety of Elsewhere under the cut (as well as some vague speculation for Against All Gods) and I feel the need to point out that everything here is just my own opinion based on the information about Everly we were given throughout the campaign plus reading between certain lines. Everly is a...divisive character to say the least and I don't want any of you coming at me for my own opinion of a character who was objectively morally questionable at best.
So...in all honesty, Chris Leask kind of hit the nail on the head when he described Everly as an arsehole in the introduction to Ep 19. And while that's obviously in response to her most objectively and above all needlessly cruel act, I feel as though it's important to keep in mind that Everly had been building up to that moment right from the beginning of the podcast.
Now to get this out of the way as quickly as possible, yes Everly had enormous unresolved childhood trauma; no, that trauma does not excuse or justify any of her morally-questionable actions or decisions. To put it bluntly, while I generally do agree that "hurt people hurt people", I also feel that's a huge oversimplification and often does nothing but remove personal responsibility on the part of the first "hurt person" for their own actions - I was bullied at school and became a bully for a day in turn. I can argue that I only did it because I'd been bullied myself and was taking that pain out on someone else, but ultimately I still need to own up to what I did and me having been bullied did not make it remotely okay for me to turn around and bully someone else when I felt I had the opportunity; I could just as easily have chosen not to do that. And to put it bluntly...there are people who hurt people for no other real reason than because they can, because they see the opportunity of someone somehow weaker than themselves. Just look at the current world of politics... And I'm fully aware that my general unwillingness to give Everly the benefit of the doubt rests at least a little in my teenage years in the Phantom of the Opera fandom where the prevailing ideology was basically "if this serial-killing extortionist gaslighting kidnapper had just been wuvved enough, he would have been the perfect romantic partner for the girl he kidnapped and gaslit multiple times!" At the end of the day...no. That's just not how things work. Not in real life and not in (well-written) character driven narratives. Besides anything else, Everly had multiple characters giving her unconditional love and devotion...and quite literally all it did was enable and exacerbate her worst impulses and behaviours.
The other "out of universe" thing to keep in mind when discussing and analysing Everly as a character is...well, to put it bluntly, there are members of Mischief who have made very little secret about their feelings regarding organised religion - nothing too alienating or relentless but I think it's fair to say that, judging from the little comments that are made here and there (not just in an HoHR context but in various interviews and Mischief Movie Nights) the general opinion of organised religion is not necessarily a positive one. And in Everly, we have a character who practically embodies all the worst aspects of such a thing such as actively trying to convert people (largely through some level of fear and/or violence), using the religion/belief system to justify various atrocities, religious hypocrisy, etc. Along with what Everly does and how she behaves (as well as things like Adam Meggido explicitly identifying her as a sadist), I personally think it's fair to say that no matter how we as individual listeners respond to Everly, from a narrative standpoint, she is essentially the Villain Protagonist of Elsewhere. Now, I know I know, "death of the author" and all that, but this is something that I don't think can be discounted from the overall discussion of the character, arguably even more than in a traditional scripted narrative since the plot is by design largely driven by the character (and Adam) with only certain things worked out in advance separate to the kind of person Everly is - we are clearly intended to view Everly a certain way and that way is negatively; whether we actually do or not is up to us (though I admit that I do struggle to see the other side of this argument despite some people trying very hard to persuade me that Everly is not a bad person).
Now having said all of that, I do think we need to talk about Everly's childhood because a lot of it does clearly set the stage for what comes later. Obviously the big one is her father gaslighting her into thinking she was somehow "wrong" for trying to save her mother's life and Righteous reinforcing that belief by putting the blame for their father murdering their mother squarely on Everly's shoulders. Besides the obvious lasting trauma of witnessing her father bringing an axe down on her mother's head and then being told that it was her fault, Everly basically grew up in an environment that subconsciously taught her that the response to clearly being at fault for something is to essentially never admit it and seek a scapegoat: Jonas is the fanatic who murdered his wife by bringing an axe down on her head, not the literal child who risked her own life to save her mother; Righteous went with Everly to get the flower that would save her mother's life, so even if Jonas' twisted logic were right, Righteous would be equally responsible for their mother's death. But neither of them are willing to admit fault and force the blame onto Everly and (unfairly) accepting that blame causes Everly nothing but pain. This is where I am willing to accept the whole "hurt people hurt people" thing applies to Everly because on a very fundamental level, she's internally linked the concept of "admitting wrong" (I know it's phrased as being wrong in the podcast but to me especially during the cave sequence in Ep 19, it seems that Everly's issues lie more with the act of admitting wrongdoing than actually committing wrongdoing in the first place) with that pain, so what does she do? She forces others to shoulder the burden of consequences of her wrong choices, particularly Mister Shadow.
The other area where her childhood trauma has impacted her as an adult is, for lack of a better term, her self-esteem. Specifically, her ability to make her own decisions (or at least admit that her decisions are made on behalf of herself rather than on behalf of some greater entity). And to be fair, this isn't just rooted in her childhood trauma but her encounter with Azulin...which quite literally sets the rest of her life (until the final battle) into motion, even if it takes her until adulthood to realise it. Everly has effectively spent her entire life in full service to others and, like a lot of "followers" in life, basically has no clue how to be a good leader except by following the example set by the people she herself follows/has followed. And those examples are...not great, to put it mildly. Jonas teaches Everly that a leader is ruthless, doesn't suffer "traitors" of any kind and never admits when they're wrong, and that rule through strength and fanatical devotion is the way; Pedante teaches Everly that a leader belittles and dismisses their underlings even when they're clearly trying their best to impress and very occasionally (i.e. when they resort to pretty much outright begging) are boons - literal and figurative - offered. And again, we can see the results of that in how Everly treats the others throughout the campaign, along with the classic thing of someone who has been denied power throughout most of their life suddenly being handed it on a plate through being able to claim that she's the Chosen Prophetess of a minor deity and said power immediately going to their head...it's not really any wonder she's a terrible leader in terms of actually bringing out the best in her underlings and actively inspiring them to do the best they can for their cause and themselves... Which is also why I'm hoping that we'll at least get to see what kind of goddess Everly makes at some point in Against All Gods. I've spoken before about the possibilities and issues with the concept of an Everly redemption arc but really, it all boils down to one simple issue: Everly, as of the end of 'Elsewhere', is all but explicitly ready to unleash hell (pun fully intended). After a life of subjugation for one reason or another, she has suddenly found herself truly all powerful - her actions are neither being dictated by an unseen force like Myopia or by her fanatical devotion to another, but for the first time (possibly for ever), she is not only able to make her own choices but admit that she's choosing to do things for herself. Now, whether she actually will admit that these choices are being made on behalf of herself is another matter entirely, but for the first time, whatever choices she makes - good or bad - she has nothing to hide behind to say "this made me do it". Throughout the campaign, we heard her use either Pedante or the quest or the battle with Righteous as her excuse for doing some pretty objectively heinous things; that shield (for lack of a better word) is no longer there for her, and the choices she now makes and whether she chooses to accept responsibility for them will determine a lot with regards to a possible future redemption arc.
The final thing I want to talk about (because this is getting ridiculously long and I'm so sorry for that) is Everly's cruelty. Which is where a lot of the "Everly is a good person really" arguments tend to lose me. Everly is an objectively cruel person. As I said before, Adam Meggido quite literally explicitly identified her as a sadist while in the midst of playing her actively delighting in depriving a Christmas Elf of his Christmas Spirit...for the crime of singing a slightly annoying song. At practically every opportunity, Everly makes the active decision to belittle, humiliate, undermine or outright physically harm, the only real exception being Quarrel which is presented as first being its own means of humiliating and belittling Mister Shadow, and then Quarrel becoming just as ruthless and cruel as Everly herself is - again, with the pair of them ending together at the end of Elsewhere and minus the more humane influences of Shadow and Agnes, I don't see how Everly as a goddess will be anything but terrible when we meet her again... Obviously, the major act of cruelty everyone remembers is her murdering Parvel for no other reason than Shadow displaying greater loyalty to him than to her, but that was essentially the culmination of a lot of things that had been building since the very first 10 minutes of the campaign when she sent Shadow off to fetch her berries and then didn't eat them once he'd done so. Violence in many forms has been Everly's first answer to a lot of things throughout the campaign, so when she's confronted with a relatively minor form of betrayal in Shadow choosing to prioritise Parvel's safety over hers...in a way, it's not really any great surprise that her answer is to forcibly remove Shadow's "distraction" from her own safety... A question was asked in the HoHR discord server which was basically "why do we give Ghoul the benefit of the doubt but not Everly when both are guilty of pretty much the same crimes?"; it's a decent question that sparked a decent debate; for me personally, the answer is that besides the obvious fact that Ghoul's violent antics are played a lot more for blatant comedy throughout HoHR than Everly's are throughout Elsewhere (with the turning point on that front, for me at least, coming in Ep 4 when she killed Princess Cecily for betraying them) - with Everly's actions, especially towards the rest of the team and especially towards Mister Shadow being played increasingly for drama rather than comedy as the campaign goes on. There's a lot about Elsewhere that paradoxically feels darker somehow than HoHR and personally, a lot of that is rooted in both the contrast of Dave Hearn's and Henry Shields' respective styles as DMs - where Dave is fairly laid-back and willing to "yes and" until something gets far too ridiculous and Henley and Gluebrick are huffing bleach in a cupboard, while Shields mercilessly consequences every single action - and in the main character arcs on display: HoHR is fundamentally about a group of nowhere-close-to-perfect individuals bonding and growing and becoming better people (yes, even Ghoul especially since actually getting out of hell), whereas Elsewhere is about a group of nowhere-close-to-perfect individuals breaking down increasingly further with two of the group (Agnes and Shadow) becoming better people largely through recognising and rejecting the dangers of the path they've been set on...and two of the group (Everly and Quarrel) becoming worse people largely through refusing to acknowledge that they're even on that particular path in the first place.
It's never really felt surprising to me that one of the major fallouts from the betrayals in the final episodes of the campaign was everyone in the group realising that, to whatever degree, it wasn't Pedante that they'd bought into but Everly herself. Pedante is the embodiment of always being right, but Everly's the one that really demonstrates what such a mindset can turn a person into: she can never admit to being wrong, every action she takes is justified...which effectively gives her license to do whatever she wants. And what she wants is to use her status to insulate and justify her worst impulses. Even in the final episode, when Shadow outright begs for Pedante to heal his dying mother, Everly refuses to lend her voice to his pleas. And she can't even justify it beyond Shadow's own inevitable impending betrayal of her...which is down to her own actions! Everly has no reason to let Agnes die except for the fact that it would hurt Shadow. And the fact that her ultimately saving Agnes (her first and only real active decision to save someone throughout the campaign, by the way) is still framed as her acting as though Agnes and Shadow needed her forgiveness despite, again, their attempted betrayals being routed in actions she (and Quarrel) had taken is yet another reason why I feel trying to immediately jump to an Everly redemption arc now straight from the end of Elsewhere would be the wrong choice from both a narrative and a character standpoint.
As a character, I adore Everly Brothers. I think she's utterly fascinating. As a person, I think I would do everything I could to avoid her. I admit I don't really understand when people see a character who is almost specifically designed to be a villain and decide to express their love for that character by attempting to minimise all the traits that make them a villain... It's like...I love Chris Bean because he's such a pathetic pompous overly-ambitious twit of a man, you know? Similarly the reasons I adore Everly as a character are all inherently tied up in how utterly and genuinely awful she is and above all else, I desperately do not want that gone when she returns in Against All Gods. I want her to be all the megalomaniacal energy of Pedante, Myopia and a brainwashed-Valentine combined. I want her to be bringing her terrible leadership skills to heaven and screwing it up for everyone else. Whether I ultimately get that or not remains to be seen (though I will say that I have a lot more faith in the collective storytelling abilities of the HoHR crew that if we do get an Everly redemption arc at some point, it will be well done). But what I absolutely do not want is a sudden off-screen (as it were) transition to an Everly that is no longer an awful person.
So I've been repeatedly listening to Elsewhere and my brain being the total mess it is, I can't help analysing pretty much everything about it to hell and back (pun intended). And what is this site for if not for inflicting one's brain-thoughts on everyone else..? So I've decided to gather my thoughts in a collection of essays (I wish I were kidding on that; some of these got damn long) that I'm imaginatively calling 'Zobey's Elsewhere Essays' that I'm basically gonna drop as and when I feel like it.
This is basically just a warning to any of my followers who don't listen to Hell or High Rollers or Elsewhere and currently have no idea what I'm on about to block the "hohr elsewhere" tag. I just need to get these thoughts out of my head somehow because it's gonna drive me mad otherwise...
shoutout to the guy who created a parody account of cinemasins where instead of pointing out every single flaw in a film, he just pointed out things he liked about the movie. you're so right cinemawins its so much more fun to like things
CinemaWins once said "Every movie, with very little exception, is someone's favorite, I like to find out why." and that sentence alone is worth more than every single thing the CinemaSins guys have ever created.
So my mother, pretty much out of nowhere, has admitted that she thinks I'm probably autistic, is currently in the process of finally accepting the fact that I'm trans along with that, and has apologised for essentially having a philosophy of "throw [me] in at the deep end with regards to everything to toughen [me] up" when I was a child...
I genuinely cannot stress just how weird this is. I mean, it's nice that she's (finally) demonstrating willingness to educate herself on things, but it's weird. I don't know how to feel about this, to be honest...
I'm curious : what are ur thoughts on evershadow??
Short version: Best toxic ship ever. I'm serious. The way I see it, there are ships where everything's (mostly) nice and healthy and the whole thing is very sweet (e.g. Eric/Thunden); there are ships that are frankly rather weird but the more you think about it the more it grows on you and you definitely wouldn't say no if the canon actually went there (e.g. Ghoul/Grot - no? Just me? Okay...). And then there are ships where you almost actively feel bad for shipping it because it's just...so unbelievably unhealthy on pretty much every level. That's where EverShadow sits for me.
Elsewhere spoilers under the cut because I have spent way too long thinking about their relationship. (This is the long version, btw - and when I say "long", I mean it).
So, even right from the start it's very clearly an unhealthy dynamic. Not having been at the Session 0 and not having a Patreon level that means I can access cast interviews and stuff, I have no idea if Shadow addressing Everly as "my love" in Ep 1 of Elsewhere was a genuine mistake on Chris' part that he and Adam just rolled with (pun fully intended), or if Shadow was always planned to be pining for Everly, but either way, their relationship right from the start is defined by him trying his best to impress her and her responding by just...putting him down. And it only gets increasingly worse from her making him fetch her berries and then not eating them once he has.
And it's worth pointing out that the unhealthiness definitely isn't all from Everly's side, especially at the beginning. In fact, the dynamic doesn't really become muddied in that regard really until Ep 8. From Eps 1-7, the relationship between them is pretty solidly defined by Shadow being...well, let's face it, borderline obsessed with Everly and Everly not only not being interested in Shadow but being actively annoyed by him - which, let's face it, is somewhat understandable for someone who has been put in that position. What's more inexcusable is her active cruelty towards him, especially once they pick up Quarrel (who...honestly, I could and have spend hours dissecting as a character because his progression is truly fascinating). Speaking purely for myself, I spent the first few episodes genuinely disliking Shadow for how hard he was trying with Everly while she was making it inescapably clear that she just WAS NOT INTERESTED - and I don't mean that as any kind of slight against Chris Leask at all; paradoxically Shadow became my favourite character very early on in Ep 2; I just happened to dislike that one aspect of the character, although some of those interactions were admittedly very funny. The turning point for me came at the end of Ep 6 when Everly encouraged Shadow to turn himself in and made the explicit hope that he would die as a result which even by that point was still...a tad extreme, let's say.
Everly really starts taking the reins in terms of driving the unhealthy nature of the relationship from Ep 8 onwards and I like that the shift in the dynamic coincides with Shadow's drive to better himself and Everly's just...everything getting increasingly worse with each passing episode. Speaking entirely personally, I do feel like Everly probably had some feelings for Shadow - not enough for an actual relationship between them to ever be able to thrive and I like that the culmination came with the objectively awesome first kiss on the back of a dragon underwater, but I don't think that internally she was as disgusted by him as she seemed externally - like...Adam played her as genuinely perturbed each time Shadow stopped showing an interest.
The other thing regarding the relationship that I think is worth highlighting (because I think it's something we're all aware of subconsciously even if it's not brought up much) is just how well and seamlessly it transitioned throughout the course of the 20 episodes from something pathetically and hopelessly one-sided that's pretty exclusively played for laughs, to something that seems weirdly plausible, to something that is actually and repeatedly acknowledged to be incredibly unhealthy and frankly almost disturbing by the end. Because while we can all agree that Shadow (and Chris probably) genuinely wants Everly dead in the aftermath of her murdering Parvel and on some level he's just biding his time and trying to lull her into a false sense of security until he can get revenge (because obviously Chris couldn't just kill Adam's PC and the driving force of the narrative before the climax of the final episode), the possibility that despite all of that he may also genuinely still have feelings for her is also there, and I kind of love that it reaches a point in the aftermath of Parvel's murder that that possibility very audibly becomes as uncomfortable for everyone that was actually in the room playing as it is for us just listening to it. If I have one criticism of the HoHR franchise, as it were, it's that very occasionally, you can kind of feel a particular vibe or moment being telegraphed in advance to a degree that it lessens the emotional impact when it hits. For me, the biggest example of this is in the Henley flashback episode with Jakom (or however you spell it). Like...I'd honestly be very surprised if there was ever any doubt in anyone's mind that that little boy (who is explicitly there to act as a parallel to Gregothy in the episode that showed what Henley did to make Sylvie want to commission his murder) was going to turn out to be living happy ever after by the end of it. So when he inevitably died...yes, it was sad but it wasn't as heart-breaking as it possibly could have been. Another example was when Thunden was listed among the potential suiters for Lady Subzero Susan; like...on some level, of course Thunden was going to end up being the one betrothed to her by the end of that. Fortunately this doesn't happen nearly enough to be a genuine problem with the franchise - and the moments where it does happen are kind of bound to happen by the narrative. Whereas pretty much everything about Everly and Shadow's interactions from the moment Everly kills Parvel feel both in-character for both of them and spontaneous (whether they were or not, because obviously unless we're in the room we can't really tell). And I love that the sheer toxicity of the ship reaches the point where Chris and Adam seem to just...not even want to try and play it for anything other than drama in those last two episodes.
I'll be honest, as a fan of toxic ships in general, far far too often we see those ships either downplay the toxicity or else play the dynamic for laughs. I love the fact that here, Shadow has a breaking point; maybe he does still have feelings for Everly by the end of the final episode, but he can't move past the fact that she killed Parvel - the only member of the group to fully reciprocate his care and devotion without pretence or expectation - and what makes that act unforgivable beyond just the deed itself is that it wasn't done for any real sense of the "greater good" as Quarrel tries to rationalise it in the final episode, but out of pure spite that Shadow displayed loyalty to something other than her. And the fact that their final interaction of the campaign has Everly on one hand take pity on Shadow and cure Agnes...while also on the other hand framing that act of kindness as Shadow needing her forgiveness for attempting to betray her...which he only did because of her own actions... *chef's kiss*
An additional note on a potential redemption arc of a certain ex-follower of Pedante (because clearly that paragraph in my general 'AAG thoughts' posts wasn't long enough already...). Again, spoilers under the cut for Against All Gods and the ending of Elsewhere, so...don't read it if you haven't heard them.
I'm genuinely not saying that it can't be done well, or even that it can't be done at all. I just don't think that it can be done well within the scope of this specific campaign. If it's going to be done at all, then it needs to be at a time when Everly is (one of) Adam's active PCs, not just a "Final Boss" antagonist like I'm guessing she will be here.
The thing about redemption arcs is that they can, by definition, only really stand a chance of succeeding when the character involved...well, seeks redemption. That doesn't necessarily mean renouncing everything they've done or even actively apologising, but it does require the character to develop some degree of understanding of the damage of their actions and a resolve to do better. And that's the problem when you try and apply the concept of a redemption arc to Everly: she's just not there yet.
When Elsewhere ended, it ended on a note of Everly explicitly rejecting the path towards redemption. Yes, she healed Agnes and let her and Shadow go...but what she said as she did that was "this is an act of forgiveness, and it shall be my last". Everly, as of the end of Elsewhere, is out for vengeance. Which makes sense when considering the final battle in that series was quite literally all about vengeance. Her letting Shadow and Agnes live (for now) isn't enough to put her on the path to redemption when, in the same breath, she's still expressing the implicit desire to engage in the kind of behaviours that led to Shadow and Agnes attempting to betray her (and Quarrel). Throughout Elsewhere, it became clear very quickly that Everly was only a "hero" in the loosest definition of the word - as I said in my previous post, she was fundamentally not a good person: petty, selfish, spiteful and willing (even eager in some cases) to do objectively terrible things with little to no provocation. And nothing about the ending of Elsewhere really changed any of that. To put it bluntly, we can't go straight from the end of Elsewhere to the new quest group presumably only meeting Everly at the end of this current campaign (say, around the same time that Henley and Ghoul met Davemodeus, relatively speaking) to a full redemption arc by the end of the campaign. It would just be far too rushed.
At best, I could see this campaign ending with the possibility that Everly is finally ready for a redemption arc (if it ends with her being defeated but not killed). But I just can't see how a redemption arc could play out within this campaign and be done justice if it continues to go in the direction it seems like it will. I'd much rather have to wait for a well-done redemption arc for Everly (well...actually if I'm totally honest I'd much rather not give her a redemption arc at all) than have one sooner but feel shoe-horned in because it was rushed through.
Of course, all this depends on how the campaign actually plays out which is sort of impossible to tell considering we're only technically 1 episode in and the fandom is still struggling to deal with the fact that we may well end up with a giant crab who seems unable to do anything except (poorly) disguise himself over a character whose backstory actually ties in to the overarching plot...
So...I have already relistened to the first official ep of the new campaign so many times and I need to get my thoughts out because my brain is going to explode if I don't. If you haven't listened to 'Brekkus of Champions', all of Elsewhere, or the main campaign, do not click 'Read more'. Don't do it. There's gonna be spoilers right out the gate beneath the cut and I'm not gonna be held responsible for you spoiling yourself...
So first thing's first, I'm already pretty sure that Grot is gonna be my favourite character in this campaign. I don't know what it is about Adam Meggido and playing borderline-psychotic devotees to a leader who may or may not even deserve such intense devotion (I feel like there's possibly some questions that need to be answered there...) but Grot is already by far the funniest iteration of that character archetype. And that's not meant to be disparaging towards Eric or Everly at all because I 100% adore both; I just think Grot - by virtue of being a one-foot-tall mushroom who's devoted to Ghoul of all things - has more scope for comedy within that character archetype than Eric/Everly did.
Also, I know it's almost certainly not going to play out this way, but I genuinely wish that all 4 Potentials could stay. Partly because I think all of them have the potential to bring something genuinely interesting/fun/useful to the team, but also because listening to Shields and Chris try to keep track of two PCs each would be objectively hilarious. Obviously these were all recorded a while ago so it's probably already settled, but personally, I think the best combo to keep (bearing in mind potential plot developments and dynamics and obstacles they might face, etc) would be Milo for Chris and the wizard for Shields. But really, any of the four could stick around and it would be a lot of fun. If I have to guess, I think the eventual group will consist of Ghoul, Grot, Fingers and Labubu. Which would be absolute chaos and I'm totally here for it.
As far as Ghoul is concerned, I'm kind of loving that he went through an entire campaign where the final episodes literally hinged on him being the one to have had no character development whatsoever...to now right out the gate demonstrating that actually he has grown and learned from his time in Hell and with the Happy Boys. I mean we saw it in the "bridge" episode where he didn't immediately lash out and kill the gay farmers and even spared Fun Gus, and now we got even more of it in this episode. Like...he's still very much the same in a lot of ways obviously, but it's nice to see that he is actually capable of that development. It's honestly such good storytelling that three of the Happy Boys ultimately failed to escape Hell because of their development while they were there, and the one that made it out actually needed to have made it out in order for his development to truly begin... On that note, part of me is suspecting that with Eric's whole "we don't know what's happened to Henley" thing...maybe they'll find him in heaven? Like maybe him sacrificing his chance of escape to let Ghoul and Gregothy go was enough? Please?
As far as predictions go...obviously they're gonna come up against Everly at some point. And honestly, I can't wait to see Everly as a goddess (beyond the glimpse we got at the end of Elsewhere). Hopefully it means we'll get to know exactly how Quarrel ended up as well (I'm still convinced Everly and Quarrel are between them responsible for the pestilence and rot the campestri were worried about, with the mention of "golden eyes" - which Myopia had and Everly potentially gained when she killed Valentine - and Quarrel having multiple connections to plant-life...). I'll be honest, I'm torn on wanting a Shadow/Agnes cameo because much as I adore them and would never say no to seeing them again...the more we see them the more risk there is of something bad happening to either of them and seriously, those two deserve to have just ended up somewhere out of Everly's line of fire and are just peacefully living their lives as mother and son. They've been through enough, dammit...
For that matter, I know there's some speculation about a potential Everly redemption arc and...honestly I'm torn about that too. On the one hand, I love a well-done redemption arc (emphasis on the "well-done")...but equally, I feel that Everly's actions throughout Elsewhere were such that unless something pretty major changes in her character, she doesn't really deserve a full redemption arc..? Like, if they go down that route, they're gonna have to work very hard to convince me she can come back from the things she did (obviously killing Parvel is the big one but it's not like she was ever really a decent person before doing that; her killing Parvel was basically a culmination of elements that had been building since the first episode). I'm not saying they can't pull it off if they've chosen to go in that direction, but it's gonna be an uphill battle. I feel like Everly got the redemption arc she needed in the battle between her/Righteous/Valentine by making up with her sister and then full-on turning on Pedante. Everly was fundamentally not a good person - yes, she was traumatised by her father, but that doesn't change the fact that she was not a good person; the same way Henley's backstory didn't excuse his actions towards Sylvie and Gregothy - and (unlike the Happy Boys) she never really learnt how to be a good person before getting her power upgrade. So now she's a goddess; and at the end of Elsewhere, she made it pretty clear that she intends to be a vengeful goddess. I kind of don't want that to change through a redemption arc. Or at least I want it to be genuinely earned somehow if it does go down that road and not just "oh we've talked through the trauma of your father killing your mother and making you believe it was your fault and so now you can be a good person" - I mean I have no doubt that these guys will handle any potential redemption with more skill than that, but I've seen far too many attempted redemption where it pretty much does just boil down to that...which aside from anything else is just terrible storytelling. One of the reasons why I love HoHR and Elsewhere so much is because, in one way or another, so much focuses on the concept of the consequences (intended and unintended) of your actions; I can't help but be a little scared that an Everly redemption arc would, in some way, just be ignoring that concept in favour of giving a section of the fandom what they think they want...but then again, I do have more trust in Dave as a DM and the others as players (and storytellers in general) than to think they'd do that. In any case, I can't imagine any of that will occur until the end of the campaign.
I have two: a Noah's Arc blanket (that was originally my brother's) that was given to us by our grandma. And a little white teddy bear called Lord Verysoft (if you get the reference, you are officially awesome), which I used to take everywhere. Even to the swimming pool. It's a miracle he's still intact...
26: If you could live anywhere with anyone you want, where would it be and who would you bring?
London. Definitely London. I genuinely don't know who I'd bring though. As a socially-awkward anxious introvert, I genuinely don't really do well around other people for extended periods of time...and I'm not sure anyone would be able to stand me as a housemate.
Depression and Anxiety is like radiation. There’s always a little bit of it in the background but not enough to kill you. Then once in a while you get a free trip to Chernobyl.
it's a weird emotion when somebody goes "doesn't this just shake you to your core and rewrite your dna and change who you are as a person" and your honest experience of it was that it was ok
