Making my ways @andanonameamouse - Tumblr Blog

caleb and essek could both credibly be described as 'into older men' but for essek it's more of a conventional 'grey hair and professor energy' thing and for caleb it's like 'when I make a self-deprecating comment about getting old I want my otherwise youthful-seeming partner to fix me with a haunting stare in which I can see a hundred years of history pre-dating my birth and call me "boy" in the most patronising tone possible' and they're both so valid for that

Trent ikithon, Astrid, and Eadwulf are going to get a bad grade in human rights violations. Something that is both abnormal to want and impossible to achieve.

#cr spoilers #trent ikithon #ikithon #essek thelyss #m9a spoilers #m9 animated #the mighty nein #astrid becke #eadwulf grieve

Essek being tall without magic makes Caleb's sass at the float even funnier now

#essek thelyss #shadowgast #caleb widogast

arcanemarion

Fuck it reposting this on its own too as a response to this:

First off, I don't want to completely bury the other things mentioned, because I do think that a lot of people interested in Essek are often also very interested in the wider culture and history of the Kryn Dynasty itself (I know I am!). For as integral as it is to the larger plot of C2, they really only just scratch the surface of it in the campaign. I'd love for there to be a story of some fashion (EXU, novel, more comics, etc) that digs even more into the Dynasty or has a character very directly affected by these events and its actions, but I think to a degree Matt's intention is often to leave plenty of space for people to come in and tell their own stories in these kind of in-betweens. We already know the short answer versions for Den Duendalos and what happened with Nogvurot, and exploring those in some fashion (my kingdom for a PC that grew up in Nogvurot and ended up being a consecuted Kryn soldier) would be very interesting and fun.

But to break down the Adeen fascination (at least for me):

In Episode 99 "High Seas, High Stakes" : when Jester asks Essek if he'd ever talked to Adeen, he responds "We once knew each other, for a while," and upon her follow up of "does he suck" his answer is "that is a word, yes." His manner is fairly neutral, nonchalant even - so it's entirely possible it could be nothing, but it also isn't at all out of character for Essek to obfuscate in this way. However when Beau asks what it feels like seeing Adeen in his place, Essek squares his shoulders, looks smug, and answers "Honestly? Freeing."

Now of course, he's just gotten clean away with treason, but it's not really a stretch to imagine that there could be a note of self-satisfaction and justification at seeing Adeen in particular taking the fall.

This little interaction to me (and others) signals that the relationship between Essek and Adeen is at a minimum a step above "guy I disliked in passing". There's definitely some kind of significant familiarity implied, and Essek tends to be (or at least is meant to be) much more deliberate in his machinations. Adeen was specifically set up to be his fall guy (Link to transcript of Episode 90, "Bathhouses and Bastions", when Essek tells the M9 of Adeen's capture). Having Modify Memory cast on him is likely what caused him to flee, and Essek likely planted the further evidence of the crystals to lend more credence to his supposed guilt. Him allegedly being part of the Angel of Irons which already had ties to an agent in the Empire (Vence) was a way to make a plausible link between the two for having means and motive for also handing over the Beacons. All of this is planted.

The thing that confused me for a while is when Fjord attempts to question Adeen while disguised as Vence, it's very obvious that his memory has been fucked with. The scene is clearly meant to seed the idea to the Nein that something else is going on here and someone else is responsible for what happened, but from a "logical" perspective, it's a little confusing why Essek would allow them to directly interact with Adeen in the first place if he wanted to be perfectly sure that he could control the narrative of Adeen's guilt. What we could infer, then, is that Essek is arrogant enough and confident enough that any admission of guilt is enough for the Bright Queen, and therefore the chances of the Nein being be able to change his fate is slim, so it doesn't much matter (and he ends up being right). Afterward, he notably doesn't bother to correct the Nein's assumptions because while they at first recognize that Modify Memory is likely cast, they eventually come to the conclusion that Adeen was mind controlled by Obann when he actually wasn't.

When addressing the Bright Queen afterward, Essek does not caveat his accusation and results of his interrogation with the Nein's doubts and instead leaves it up to them to try to intercede, but to basically no effect. The Bright Queen basically goes "well someone's gotta be punished", and Essek doesn't try terribly hard to refute this stance, saying and it would likely be difficult to get much more out of Adeen because "he's in a difficult physical state" (how convenient, Essek), but that "the confession stands. But hopefully mercy can be considered." He's very wishy washy about it, because of course he intends to do no such thing, but it's necessary for appearances, as everyone in the room and the audience, upon their first viewing, has no idea that he's the one behind all of this. Further, while the Bright Queen maybe could have been swayed to not outright executing Adeen if they didn't decide to make him part of the prisoner exchange, that would have taken a lot more advocating from the Nein to get there. Being exchanged to the Empire was probably about as 'merciful' as it was going to get.

Essek was probably always going to need a fall guy, so Adeen's existence as a character rather than a complete random one in passing isn't evidence in and of itself that their connection is significant. That said, although "we once knew each other, for a time" is pretty vague, there's plenty of room for argument that Essek's reasoning for choosing Adeen is more than just convenience, primarily because Adeen probably wouldn't have been a suspect without Essek deliberately making him one. It's possible that they were once the equivalent of bitchy coworkers, but it's also possible that Adeen did something significant enough in their shared past that put himself in Essek's line of fire. If you need to frame someone for Treason and you have the opportunity to pick who that person is, it makes sense that you'd pick someone you have beef with.

Or maybe he just sucked. Alas, we may never know.

But yes - give me more Dynasty anything.

andanonameamouse

This is a good discussion but your point that adeen ran after the modification is just assumption and neglected in your cited evidence. The timing of him running would align with the mind control breaking over the cult, and the imperial agents even mentioned the help they were getting for aligning with the kryn attack from a mole there. It's likely he was genuinely under control.

arcanemarion

That's a fair point, but his behavior when he's being questioned (ie: "I recognize you [Vence], why??") doesn't align with Yasha's experience as being under Obann's control. She seems to remember what she did and "why" she did it - she says as much during the discussion just after Fjord talks to Adeen, but Adeen is very confused and erratic and specifically doesn't understand why he remembers doing these things.

This might be an inconsistency between Matt and Ashely's storytelling, or maybe we could explain it that the modify memory somehow crossed wires. Adeen could be taking the fall for two different people - Essek and whoever was actually working with the Angel of Irons.

If I've missed something specific, please do link to it!

andanonameamouse

I think it's possible that he only ever met obann (or insert random cult member, assuming they didn't work through executive command and anonymous stones) and essek (who knew what vence looked like from the m9) added him to link him to the assembly as well as the cult.

They only ever asked about vence and the beacon, nothing about what he could've done for the cult.

And the point about the cult member in xhorhas aligns with adeen scheduling the raid

https://www.kryogenix.org/crsearch/html/cr2-85.html#l4h24m41s

arcanemarion

Fuck it reposting this on its own too as a response to this:

First off, I don't want to completely bury the other things mentioned, because I do think that a lot of people interested in Essek are often also very interested in the wider culture and history of the Kryn Dynasty itself (I know I am!). For as integral as it is to the larger plot of C2, they really only just scratch the surface of it in the campaign. I'd love for there to be a story of some fashion (EXU, novel, more comics, etc) that digs even more into the Dynasty or has a character very directly affected by these events and its actions, but I think to a degree Matt's intention is often to leave plenty of space for people to come in and tell their own stories in these kind of in-betweens. We already know the short answer versions for Den Duendalos and what happened with Nogvurot, and exploring those in some fashion (my kingdom for a PC that grew up in Nogvurot and ended up being a consecuted Kryn soldier) would be very interesting and fun.

But to break down the Adeen fascination (at least for me):

In Episode 99 "High Seas, High Stakes" : when Jester asks Essek if he'd ever talked to Adeen, he responds "We once knew each other, for a while," and upon her follow up of "does he suck" his answer is "that is a word, yes." His manner is fairly neutral, nonchalant even - so it's entirely possible it could be nothing, but it also isn't at all out of character for Essek to obfuscate in this way. However when Beau asks what it feels like seeing Adeen in his place, Essek squares his shoulders, looks smug, and answers "Honestly? Freeing."

Now of course, he's just gotten clean away with treason, but it's not really a stretch to imagine that there could be a note of self-satisfaction and justification at seeing Adeen in particular taking the fall.

This little interaction to me (and others) signals that the relationship between Essek and Adeen is at a minimum a step above "guy I disliked in passing". There's definitely some kind of significant familiarity implied, and Essek tends to be (or at least is meant to be) much more deliberate in his machinations. Adeen was specifically set up to be his fall guy (Link to transcript of Episode 90, "Bathhouses and Bastions", when Essek tells the M9 of Adeen's capture). Having Modify Memory cast on him is likely what caused him to flee, and Essek likely planted the further evidence of the crystals to lend more credence to his supposed guilt. Him allegedly being part of the Angel of Irons which already had ties to an agent in the Empire (Vence) was a way to make a plausible link between the two for having means and motive for also handing over the Beacons. All of this is planted.

The thing that confused me for a while is when Fjord attempts to question Adeen while disguised as Vence, it's very obvious that his memory has been fucked with. The scene is clearly meant to seed the idea to the Nein that something else is going on here and someone else is responsible for what happened, but from a "logical" perspective, it's a little confusing why Essek would allow them to directly interact with Adeen in the first place if he wanted to be perfectly sure that he could control the narrative of Adeen's guilt. What we could infer, then, is that Essek is arrogant enough and confident enough that any admission of guilt is enough for the Bright Queen, and therefore the chances of the Nein being be able to change his fate is slim, so it doesn't much matter (and he ends up being right). Afterward, he notably doesn't bother to correct the Nein's assumptions because while they at first recognize that Modify Memory is likely cast, they eventually come to the conclusion that Adeen was mind controlled by Obann when he actually wasn't.

When addressing the Bright Queen afterward, Essek does not caveat his accusation and results of his interrogation with the Nein's doubts and instead leaves it up to them to try to intercede, but to basically no effect. The Bright Queen basically goes "well someone's gotta be punished", and Essek doesn't try terribly hard to refute this stance, saying and it would likely be difficult to get much more out of Adeen because "he's in a difficult physical state" (how convenient, Essek), but that "the confession stands. But hopefully mercy can be considered." He's very wishy washy about it, because of course he intends to do no such thing, but it's necessary for appearances, as everyone in the room and the audience, upon their first viewing, has no idea that he's the one behind all of this. Further, while the Bright Queen maybe could have been swayed to not outright executing Adeen if they didn't decide to make him part of the prisoner exchange, that would have taken a lot more advocating from the Nein to get there. Being exchanged to the Empire was probably about as 'merciful' as it was going to get.

Essek was probably always going to need a fall guy, so Adeen's existence as a character rather than a complete random one in passing isn't evidence in and of itself that their connection is significant. That said, although "we once knew each other, for a time" is pretty vague, there's plenty of room for argument that Essek's reasoning for choosing Adeen is more than just convenience, primarily because Adeen probably wouldn't have been a suspect without Essek deliberately making him one. It's possible that they were once the equivalent of bitchy coworkers, but it's also possible that Adeen did something significant enough in their shared past that put himself in Essek's line of fire. If you need to frame someone for Treason and you have the opportunity to pick who that person is, it makes sense that you'd pick someone you have beef with.

Or maybe he just sucked. Alas, we may never know.

But yes - give me more Dynasty anything.

andanonameamouse

This is a good discussion but your point that adeen ran after the modification is just assumption and neglected in your cited evidence. The timing of him running would align with the mind control breaking over the cult, and the imperial agents even mentioned the help they were getting for aligning with the kryn attack from a mole there. It's likely he was genuinely under control.

ectofool

crtakespropogandist-deactivated

Why do people act like Essek choosing Adeen Tasithar to frame is some unexplained act of vengeance? Adeen was convenient. Essek did nothing to change his fate, he just slapped him with another charge on the way to the prisoner exchange with some bonus psychological torture via Modify Memory, which Essek didn't feel so bad about because he thought Adeen "sucked". If Essek had been truly out for Adeen's blood in some Monte Cristo ploy, why would he hand him the "I was mind controlled by Obann" defense on a silver platter? Am I missing something?

As far as Neutral Evil lore goes, I'm more interested in the treason Essek regrets NOT committing, because the Kryn government is shady AF and its approach to consecution outside its borders is all kinds of unethical. Remember the curse of ruin psyop? Nogvurot? Den Duendalos? The typhros secrecy? How Essek expressed that the Bright Queen feels entitled to every Beacon, presumably regardless of whose land it's on and what its significance is to those people?

Essek practiced magic for years in service to the kind of government that canonically punishes offenses against aristocrats twofold, and Adeen Tasithar is your Roman Empire?

Having flashbacks to people wondering why a "researcher" has teleport prepared

Y'all, please. He's a wartime spy. Come on.

#essek thelyss #essek #cr spoilers #mighty nein animated

sethdomade

Essek should legally be allowed to bite one person who touches him against his wishes a day until he tastes blood.

#Jester’s gonna lose a finger

herenvibing

is this a safe space to say that i don’t really enjoy the fandom woobification of essek at all and that i think it makes him a far less interesting character than he is in canon.

like it’s nice that he took up knitting post campaign but i’m more curious about whether or not he’s allowed inside veth’s home. my instinct says not for a good while

crtakespropogandist-deactivated

Essek takes the most flak for the War of Ash and Light, to the point where a subset of fans think he wasn't redeemed and find each other by virtue signaling about it whenever morality comes up in discourse. Essek's cold priorities at the time are one thing, but disregarding interiority, how much blood is on his hands for "inciting" a war that he didn't have the power to make? What part of the Shadowhand's job description gives him the right to declare war and draft people into fighting said war? Monarchs are not forces of nature; Essek being able to predict that the Bright Queen would leapfrog diplomacy doesn't negate her active decision to do so. She chose to order the attacks on both Zadash and the Ashguard Garrison. In response, King Dwendal also eschewed a diplomatic solution to declare war. We know there weren't reasonable negotiations because King Dwendal wasn't aware of the beacons' significance until M9 brought it to his attention.

Ludinus didn't make a real effort to hide that the Empire had the beacons, and pretty openly expressed the belief that war was inevitable. Of course Essek would take the Archmage of Domestic Protections at his word there, especially since the conflict had been brewing for Essek's entire life. It was probably the reason Essek's talents were utilized for torture, execution, and espionage when he was otherwise too young to be taken seriously. Neither Ludinus nor Leylas could say the same, and they both had first-hand experience with the bloody consequences of war in a way Essek didn't.

And finally, whoop de doo, Essek's reasoning for trading the beacons in the first place was somewhat vindicated right after he did it—the Assembly uncovered a beacon of their own, and if it weren't for Essek's actions, everyone would have been blindsided by the results of the Assembly's experimentation because they wouldn't have known that it was happening.

What I'm saying is free the man from his War-Crimes-Time-Out corner if you don't bring the same energy for Leylas Kryn. If you die on this particular hill because you've got a bone to pick with fans that annoy you...I doubt it generates the satisfaction you tell yourself it does.

essekthelysssideblog

Seeing people who hate that Essek is cottagecore and has morals now is like. I get it but. CR3 is years and years later, there were hints at the end of campaign 2 that Essek was intrigued by the notion of a softer life than the one he'd lived (gardening, trying new dishes, knitting, caring for people besides himself). And he's had years to build that sort of life for himself now.

inanerial

Everyone wants a redeemed villain until they take up knitting, then it's all "Ooooh why haven't you crushed anyone with the force of your magic lately" or "No world saving quests of your own? Guess you can borrow....ugh" /joking

I love a softer life for him <3 Lasting peace for all of them.

inanerial

Also (is it weird to reply to yourself here? I am new to this land) I find it so interesting how we're conditioned to think of the cottage ending as a softening of a person, a weakening, when in fact, frequently they just have more to protect!

An Essek defending the peace he's finally found? Terrifying! Probably more than original Essek! There's a fierceness to having nothing to lose, but a calculated drive to someone with everything to lose. A person defending a home and family (found or otherwise) that they love with all their heart after fighting to find their better self? That's power.

andanonameamouse

Also he's straight up. Still a spy. Doing undercover work for a group of investigator monks. Though I think people neglect that for whatever reason

arcanemarion

Deeply funny to me that Caleb Widogast, Level 20 Wizard, creator of Widogast's Nascent Nine-Sided Tower and a vast number of other spells, man who puts together a whole detailed scheme of exactly how he would change the past if only he can figure out how to go back in time, guy who can turn into freaking Gelidon the Nightmare in Ivory, chooses to not ever learn the Sending spell and instead carry around like 20 sending stones in his pockets, but apparently can't be bothered to have one directly to Astrid whom he helped go into hiding at his favorite porn shop so he can give her a heads up that his partner is gonna show up with seven weirdos in tow to ask some questions.