you wanna know what really gets me about Orym?
A lot of people have been talking about how hard Orym’s grief is hitting. How Liam is coming from a place where he truly knows how it feels to lose a loved one and then, six years later, still miss them horribly (Orym, his husband, Liam, his mom). And I think that’s absolutely beautiful, how Liam can tackle such a realistic situation in such a poignant way. I want to see what he ends up doing with Orym. I want to see how Orym’s story unfolds.
But you know what I haven’t seen much remarked upon?
It hasn’t fully been established what Orym’s true sexuality is, but the reality is that he, a man, married another man. He is queer in every sense of the word. And his sexuality is played 100% direct and serious. Chetney didn’t laugh at the prospect of Orym marrying another dude. None of the cast snickered or made fun of the fact that it is a gay pairing. Hell, just a few episodes ago, the party was playing therapy for, you guessed it, another (ex)romantic pair of men.
The world of Exandria doesn’t have time for homophobia. And the cast of Critical Role (hell, the company itself) does not tolerate it in the slightest.
And you know what that results in? People watching get to see the story of a queer man go through grief and loss and sadness just like any heterosexual character would, in any other media. Only this time, it’s queer.
And dear god is that not refreshing. To see not only the remnants of a happy and thriving queer couple, but to see a layered, nuanced, and beautiful story of grief and longing unfold in a space where the queerness of it all is never questioned. It is never made fun of, or scorned. It is accepted.
I don’t know, something about the fact that “So I can remember my husband” is never met with any sort of prejudice or hatred, and is instead met with comfort and sympathy. How Travis, a man who grew up in Texas, where homophobia is very very present, as Chetney says “Will must have been very happy”.
Just the idea of a story being told in media of a multi-faceted, layered, beautifully tragic story of someone losing their partner just so happens to be queer.
It makes me really emotional that a story like this exists.
tangentwithtanner
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