I have genuinely not been able to stop thinking about Thaisha’s relationship with motherhood from the C4 premiere. We have her own description, - given in a drunken confession to Tyranny - that she abandoned her family to pursue her Druidic calling…but I cannot get over the idea that the rest of the text does not necessarily support this view she has of herself.
At the very beginning, before she arrives at the funeral, Hal encourages their grieving daughter to lean on her mother. He seems like a caring father, would he encourage this if Thaisha was not already a supportive figure in their daughter’s life?
Following that, when Thaisha arrives at the funeral, Shadia goes to her for comfort without hesitation. There is no sense that their relationship is anything but warm. This doesn’t mean that their relationship was not strained in the past, but the word “abandoned” had a certain finality that does not seem to fit the relationship that we are shown between mother and daughter in the first episode.
Additionally, there is evidence later in the episode that in at least one culture of the world it is normal for a child to be raised by one parent while having a good relationship with their non-custodial parent. When Hal’s other daughter Hero arrives at the funeral with her mother Eloise, she greets her father warmly and then goes to spend time with her half sister. Would we say that Hal has abandoned this part of his family? Because neither Hero nor Eloise seem to give the viewer the impression that we should think this.
Later, during her verbal sparring match with Julien, Thaisha makes reference to a moment in the past where she could have stopped him from teaching her son Alogar, but chose to put aside her negative feelings towards Julien in this circumstance because she saw that this was a positive relationship for her son. This statement implies enough of a relationship between Thaisha and her son that she could know that this is a truly good situation for him and also shows a level of maternal self-sacrifice that I wouldn’t expect to see from a truly selfish mother.
And these are just her interactions with her biological children! We also get the reveal that she sees Occtis as a son as well. The implication that one of Thaisha’s default states is *maternal* seems to be everywhere in Aabria’s scenes we’ve seen thus far. (Side note: I desperately hope that we get Aabria and Alex at the same table in order to dig into this dynamic further.)
When I hear Thaisha’s drunken description of herself as a woman who has abandoned her family to pursue her own dreams, I can’t help but hear the echoes of words that I’ve said to myself anytime I choose to do something solely for myself that doesn’t involve my partner or our daughter. I can’t help but hear echoes of all of my friends who are mothers themselves when they feel guilty for taking a night out and leaving the kids home with dad, or when they take trips home to see family that they haven’t seen in decades while leaving their children behind, or for working outside the home (out of necessity or desire) instead of staying home to raise their kids.
Of course the only evidence that we have right now is from a single episode that mostly only takes place over the course of a single evening. Nevermind the fact that we don’t get to see Alogar at all to get a sense of what that relationship looks like and how it differed from the relationship between Thaisha and Shadia. Do I expect to discover as the series continues that actually Thaisha has been a perfect mother who has never done anything wrong ever? Absolutely not! But based on the reactions I’ve seen to the first episode, it seems like a lot of people are taking Thaisha’s statement at face value when I’m not sure that this is supported in the text. Let’s not forget that so many of us are coming out of a society that is deeply unsupportive of a woman’s desire to have an identity outside of motherhood. (And this is before we factor in the additional mysogynoir that exists when that mother is a Black woman.)
Is Thaisha a bad mom or does Thaisha just think she’s a bad mom? The real answer is that I don’t know! (But my guess is that the true answer is somewhere in the middle.) And I think that’s incredibly exciting because motherhood is not a theme that we get to explore very often or with much depth in high fantasy settings. What I do know is that history has shown that Aabria has proven herself over years of AP performances to be absolutely incredible at portraying capital-C Complicated Women. And as a mom myself I am so excited to what she brings to a long-form story about a woman who is essentially balancing the dual roles of “fantasy career woman” and mother.
Gorgug means a lot to me as a mixed kid with a racist parent.
I once saw someone on here refer to Gorgug and his parents as an allegory for transracial adoption and I've never forgotten that. It felt so true to me the second I read it. Gorgug growing up being physically different than his family but also perceived differently. Digby and Wilma had to cut off their family to protect Gorgug from their racism. How does that feel for him? Being seen as dangerous and big and scary? It rings so close to being a black man in a white family. Being scared of embracing being a barbarian, talking more white, slouching. Convincing other people you aren't like other orcs, that you aren't like them. Gorgug doesn't rage, he worries. He sings a song when he's mad. And yes that's mostly because Gorgug just isn't an angry person. I believe that. But do you think there's a part of him that doesn't hit back or yell because he knows there will be severe consequences? Do you think he knows that people will look at him, hulking, at seven feet tall and punish him first? And do you think that maybe his parents knew that too, that that's part of why they taught him the song?
The op I'm referencing also pointed out that while Wilma and Digby clearly love Gorgug, they fail him in some ways. And that hits just as hard. These well meaning white people defended their son, they took him in and they love him so much. But they never told him why all of his things break. They never got a bigger house or changed his room. They didn't sit down with Gorgug and talk him through his fear of anger. Of being too big and too scary, of hurting people. They didn't know to. Because they aren't orcs. They'll never understand that part of him, no matter how much they love him. So maybe they just ignored it, maybe they thought the problem would go away.
Something sticks in my chest when I think about Gorgug and his relationship to being an orc. When I think about this giant green kid, in a tiny home with tiny gnome parents. This kid who asks everyone he can find if they're his dad. Because something is missing, even with these parents he loves more than anything . Who love him more than anything. This young person who wants so badly to be an artificer because his gnome parents may not be in his genes but they are a part of him. And he is told that he can't be, that he's too angry and too big and too strong. He won't be able to think in battle. He needs to choose. He needs to decide between his innate rage and his passion for tinkering. But he doesn't decide, because he wants to do both. And he knows he can. He's done it his whole life.
This is probably one of the only misfits and Magic post I'm going to make for the week. But.
You can dislike the ships and misfits and magic but if you try to stop other people from liking them. I'm going to look at you funny. Especially the people who don't like Evan and Sam. Because I have been given no good reason
"Well if you look at their relationship through a romantic lens it diminishes everything"
Actively no. Art is subjective for one and for two. A lot of black fans enjoy seeing a black fem plus sized character be treated with gentleness and care because we so rarely get that in media.
"Well it diminishes K and Evan"
Did we even watch the same show?
"Well I like insert ship here better"
Okay like it in the corner and leave us alone. I love Evan and Sam it's really fun. And especially it's a very fun as a multi shipper who enjoys a bunch of the mismag ships. I personally think they're just one weird polycule but honestly I love this for the Mismag shippers
this bit was of course hilarious but also sam equating being private as being sneaky explains literally so much about her every interaction with everyone
Ok, I've been thinking about this and I'm really curious. If you got to pick a Prime Deity to represent at the Downfall table (or a similar situation, playing the mortal avatar of an immortal god) which one would you pick?
RULES:
Assume whichever of the following two scenarios is most comfortable for you: either A) everyone else who was at the table is playing the characters they played in Downfall, unless you want their character, in which case you replace them and they happily take a week off. Or, B) you are going to be playing a Downfall-esque game with your favorite D&D players (friends, other CR cast members, faceless perfect beings of your imagination, etc.) wherein you get to choose your character first and everyone will seamlessly accommodate you.
No, you can't choose The Luxon or one of the minor deities. Maybe that will be a different poll later.
No, you can't choose a Betrayer God. That poll is here.
If you got to play at the Critical Role Downfall table, which Prime Deity of Exandria would YOU be depicting the mortal avatar of?
Avandra, the Change Bringer
Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon
Corellon, the Arch Heart
Erathis, the Law Bearer
Ioun, the Knowing Mistress
Kord, the Storm Lord
Melora, the Wild Mother
Moradin, the All-Hammer
Pelor, the Dawnfather
Raei/Sarenrae, the Everlight
The Raven Queen, the Matron of Ravens
Sehanine, the Moon Weaver
Voting ended onAug 9, 2024
Below the cut is a short description of each deity's domain, ripped straight from the chart on page 21 of Explorer's Guide to Wildemount.
The Change Bringer: Change, freedom, luck. Chaotic good.
The Platinum Dragon: Honor, justice. Lawful good.
The Arch Heart: Art, beauty, elves. Chaotic good.
The Law Bearer: Civilization, law, peace. Lawful neutral.
The Knowing Mistress: Knowledge, learning, teaching. Neutral.
The Storm Lord: Battle, competition, storms. Chaotic neutral.
The Wild Mother: Seas, wilderness. Neutral.
The All-Hammer: Craft, creation. Lawful good.
The Dawn Father: Healing, sun. Neutral good.
The Everlight: Atonement, compassion. Neutral good.
The Matron of Ravens: Death, fate, winter. Lawful neutral.
The Moon Weaver: Illusion, moonlight, night. Chaotic good.
Help Izzy asking brennan in this episode that she wanted to not have her son die was so cute,,, he was like “ok” and in that moment I knew whatever happened, Johnny Manhattan was gonna live,,,,, that’s not just a strong marriage that’s a good DM
one of the most important rules of DMing that I have always loved and Brennan has always personified is that, the moment it is no longer fun, you have failed. TTRPG's aren't just about rules and dice rolls, it's about having fun with people you like, and Brennan is really good at showing what that looks like
Exandria is a world that I unironically love so much that I fail to talk about it but I am ENDLESSLY curious why there's no lore connection between Sehanine and Pelor. Like?? The sun and the moon? And no one has never done anything with that?
Kinda want to stat out an OC in reaction to Ayden because. Hello??
andulkaphoto
snowghoul
romaincrisis
janainaart
prguitarman
vaporwave
blakekathryn
