Hey folks. Belated Ludinus post from the Indianapolis liveshow because I had another big deadline recently lmao, and only just got to it.
Ludinus has got a floating island in the Shattered Teeth! With a little cottage and a garden, made by magic rather than craft! There's been a good deal of discourse on this by now, namely "he's engaging with the world now through gardening!" vs. "he's using magic/AI to pretend to engage with the world now." I'm not sure I buy either - the AI argument, that his cottage and garden are fake bullshit and proof of how he doesn't engage with reality, seems a little too grounded in contemporary politics and not with the text of the show. No one was mad about how much of a cheater Caleb was when he used magic to make the Tower; I know it's different, permanent vs. impermanent dwelling etc., but I think it's still a reasonable comparison to be made. As someone who's played a bunch of spellcasters, I can't tell you how many epilogues I've written for myself that involved the use of Galder's Tower to build a cute little post-campaign homestead. In terms of the garden, it's a thing I'd need more detail about - is he growing food? Flowers? Magical components? There aren't overt wizard spells that could build you a garden like there are for a cottage, so there's a little more evidence that this is something he's physically tending, but I want to know more about it, especially because...
The cottage and garden are "quaint"! "Of beautiful elven make"! It's a "beautiful little cottage"! Especially in light of a long-ago comment by Imathan Talviel, that Ludinus "forgot his elvish roots" when he left to start the Cerberus Assembly, I've always been fascinated by how much Ludinus does or does not engage with elvish culture and values. He's obviously vain, and cares about beauty in both himself and his conjured home - and yet, he hates the Archheart, as he hates all the gods. He sticks to elvish architecture and style in all things, even when he's alone, even though he's abandoned (and destroyed) elvish cities, and even though he was raised in a city dedicated to the Lawbearer, who doesn't have much to do with elves at all. I rather like to imagine that he had a secret affection for the Archheart as a child, loving magic and beauty and chaos a little more than his Lawbearer parents would have approved of, only to have that childish delight and rebellion ripped away with everything else in the Calamity. How does he reconcile his love of magic and beauty with his hatred of the god of the same? Does he even think about it? Thinking in adjacent-media elf terms - how does he deal with the cultural weight of being a kinslayer against other elves? Is this something that matters in Exandria? Did it matter when he was young, and now no one remembers how much of a huge deal it is?
Big fan of monstrous Lud with reflective cat eyes. AND he causes Stress by looking at Orym? Fucking cool as hell, honestly, I've been waiting for him to get physically scarier as all this power and meddling came to bear on his physical form. And when he points Bells Hells to the Fatestitcher, he says he "smelled" souring oaths on the wind. FUCK yeah eldritch Ludinus, oh my god.
I'm not sure what to think in terms of the illusory message being prerecorded vs. not. I think it's a pre-recorded message, maybe with delays or triggers or whatever, but I do still like the idea that he might have just been projecting from a different location. The evidence I have for real-time projection is the cup of tea, which makes it feel like he knew they were coming today, but not when, and so he had to get up and do the projection in the middle of tea time, unless he specifically choreographed the message to involve a teacup. Either way, Ludinus is out here with his goddamn tea and his robes and his nice hair. He totally got dressed up for this. This man can't look unkempt for ONE SECOND.
But he's OLDER! Which I take to mean that he isn't using the harness anymore??? "A tiredness?" Old man shit. We'll see how long he lasts not using the harness, given that now he wants to "endure," I don't know how long his personal discipline to not hurt people for his own gain will, uh, last, without an audience and a sense of being a Hero about it.
In terms of his personality and bearing, yeah, he's still a self-absorbed dick. It's nice that he's at least approving, mostly, of what BH accomplished? He doesn't (yet) have overt plans to fuck shit up more? But again, it remains to be seen how this goes. When he talked about having "followers" the only thing preventing me from saying "Ludinus PLEASE don't start a second cult," was my uncertainty that the Vanguard was actually his first cult. For all we know this could be, like, number seven.
For his future, he says that he'd accepted his end, but having been left to think and look into the ether (which he had "studied and conquered for so long"), he became newly fascinated with the new magic of Exandria after the changes post-ley binding of Ruidus. I do think he'd accepted the idea of his end in the sense of, he knew he might die in pursuit of his plans, but when his clone failsafe failsafe'd, I don't think he was ever actually going to commit suicide, even if he'd believed that he might. As many have discussed, I think he's got a strange mix of a deathwish and a strong, deep, desire to live. At this point, I think he wants to live and can't admit it, because he's spent centuries justifying everything he ever did as something that was for the greater good, for the plan, for Mortality, rather than for himself. Now it's all over, and he wants to live, and he doesn't have an excuse for it. Which I think he's finding really, really difficult.
He says, "We not only freed our people from the tyranny of the gods; we opened the door to endless potential. I now wish to endure, to understand and master these new magics, and shepherd my new faithful in the wake of this new chapter, to manifest what is deserved." What this looks like to me is grasping at something that feels like purpose, so that he can have an excuse to keep going, because he doesn't know how to admit that he just wants to live for its own sake, and he doesn't have an obvious way forward with the if-y nature of the gods at this point. I'm also struck by the words he uses to talk about his relationship to magic, not just "studied" and "understand," but also "conquered" and "master," which speaks to the utilitarian view of magic (and of power in general, as he expressed to Imogen) that he developed over time. I wonder if he ever had joy in magic, or if it was always just a tool. I like to think that he did, once, and that the joy went away as he began to use his magic more and more questionably, to keep its extent and his accomplishments a secret, and as his feelings about the Archheart and the magic that god "gave" to mortality soured.
"I hold you no ill will; in fact, I'm looking out for you." I do think he meant this, even if BH is not into it at all, and it's a mixed blessing. I stand firm in my interpretation that Ludinus has never actually lied to Bells Hells - he's said things that were untrue, but which he believed, which is different from lying, and he's left things out or obfuscated truths like his role in the fall of Molaesmyr. But I do think he means this, and he'll keep popping up as a weird shitty advisor to people who do NOT want to talk to him. I continue to wish for a PC who will be willing to talk to him, so that we can hear a more even-keeled relationship and conversation develop.
"This is why no one wanted you in charge - absolute prick." In the vein of my previous comment, yeah. He is and he will be. But I don't think he ever wanted to be in charge, and if it seems like he does now, it'll be because he's scrambling for a purpose so that he doesn't have to admit he wants to live just because living is good.
His best wishes on the Fjorester wedding - I don't think this is a threat, but rather, it's him acting like the gentleman it's important to him to feel like he looks like. In line with his vanity, his broader self-image involves (in addition to his hero complex) being wise, reasonable, polite, gentlemanly. He rarely breaks this mold, and it's important when he does. He also doesn't tolerate other people breaking it well, as with Ashton "interrupting," or with Braius putting his hand on the Forcecage. But I truly think this was him playing the reasonable, polite person who knows that some acquaintances of his are getting married. It's the only cordial thing to say! I think he'll only engage with the wedding as a nuisance, if at all, rather than as a danger.
He calls Dorian their "wind prince," which leads me to the hilarious conclusion that he does not know most of their names. He knows Imogen, because of Liliana. He probably knows Fearne, because of Zathuda, and meeting her in Yios. For everyone else I'd have to go back and see if their names were ever said in front of him, but god, it's SO funny that he might just. Not have any clue whatsoever who these insane people are that he keeps having to talk to and act gracious towards.
Clown car doorway. Immaculate.
He seems to remain a nebulous figure, I think still because Matt loves him and has a lot of ideas for him, but there are no PCs to deal with him in a way that moves him out of that category of danger/mystery. No one is engaging with him in a curious way, because for character reasons, they all hate him and believe him to be a unilateral villain, even if he's actually more complex, even in his villainy. Imogen almost got there with her comment that because it's Ludinus, "of course it's a trap," which in fact it was not. So I hope in future Exandria content, whether it's a campaign or a novel or something, we get to see a deeper engagement with my horrible old wizard man. I continue to be absolutely desperate for information on his pre-Predathos anti-god plans, so maybe I can keep fingers crossed for tie-in media about that? Hire me, Critical Role, I'll write the hell out of that shit. But as brief as it was, I enjoyed getting to see Ludinus up and around still, and I hope he shows up at the Fjorester wedding and gets drunk and bitchy, or else sends them a completely insane wedding gift signed "xoxo Ludinus."
