[id: five screenshots of the seekers, overlaid with text posts.
thaisha with her hands clasped together: ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID????? kindest regards,
julien scowling: medieval knight raising the visor on his helmet just so you can see him rolling his eyes.
occtis looking deeply upset after his death: diversity win! your friend survived the lab accident and is now something distinctly nonhuman.
vaelus putting her fingers together and staring intensely at the funeral: if you ever feel stupid or weak or powerless, just remember that I, am not. And I am out there, very dangerous and I am looking for you. Good luck
thaisha putting her hand on occtis's shoulder in the first episode: "yikes! / I'll see u tomorrow kiddo / always carry a switchblade and ibuprofen."
This is going to end up super long, so I'll make it nice and brief on the dash. I'm starting to build character playlists for everyone in c4. Most of them only have one or two songs thus far, but I'm pretty happy with what I have! Of course I'd love to hear what you think and any suggestions!
(Lots of Lord Huron, Crane Wives, and Oh Hellos inside)
A lot of the Lord Huron recs came from @skeletonsofstars. What can I say, you've got that discography on lock
Thimble
Take Me To War- The Crane Wives
I've built myself a reputation / That my bark is much worse than my bite / but I keep snapping at Goliath's hands / with all of my tiny might
Thimble is objectively tiny and fragile, and much of her character is bravado to try to make up for that fact. She hates being reminded of her size and will absolutely throw her tiny might at anyone who doesn't respect her until they're dead or groveling.
In the Wind- Lord Huron
Death is a wall, but it can't be the end / you were my protector, you were my best friend / Well they're saying that you're gone and that I should move on / I wonder how do they know where the road goes?
There's a deep, all-consuming grief she's running from. I also strongly considered Life is Strange here like skeleton has, but I really prefer the denial this song portrays. She doesn't want it to be real.
Azune
Doombop! - The Toxhards
First thing I did / when I crawled from the wreckage / was scream 'please don't call 911'
Stay with me here. We don't know much about Azune yet, except that he's absolutely one to suffer in silence. I really feel like this one is dead-on. Plus, it's got a nasty boss in it!
Kattigan
Hymn for a Scarecrow- Tally Hall
Birds may believe at a distance/ you wear a grin and keep perfectly still/ driven away with persistence/ I wonder if they have wondered or will ever wonder
This is my favorite song for a man who's convinced he's empty inside. He puts on a convincing face, but when will everyone find out there's nothing behind it? Does he actually want everything to end instead? (I was very tempted to give this one to Bolaire instead because, well, masks and what's "real")
Bilgewater- Brown Bird
When every day's like a war between the will to go on/ and a wish that the world will spiral into the sun/ turn your head towards the storm that's surely coming along
There may not be a reward. There may not be a great ideal, at least anymore. But there's work to be done and you gotta do it. This is the hymn of a purely functional man. Do no harm but take no shit.
Twenty Long Years- Lord Huron
I've a tale or two to tell you/ but the booze just makes me slow/ I could wrack my brain remembering/ but I guess maybe I'll just go
This is a song for a man who feels he's wasted a life, and that what little is left isn't worth very much anyway. It also sings like a simple drinking song that would be sung along to at a bar, which feels right for him.
Thaisha
Never Meant to Know- Tally Hall
See the sky and all the land together again/ see the way the earth can stay below/ Who do we think we are? / everything plays a part/ there are some things we are never meant to know
This is my favorite druid song, and one I also gave to Caduceus. There is the sky above and the land below. There are some things we'll never know, and that's the way things should be.
New River- The Oh Hellos
But though the aeons may pass as slow as the sand in the hourglass/ every grain that we've counted/ claims that even the mountains can change
Thaisha is one of the characters with the strongest and loudest anti-shaper convictions. She loves this world and the people in it. This is a song about change, and how it can be both gradual and sudden. Both in the mountains and in the self.
Ends of the Earth- Lord Huron
I was a-ready to die for you baby/ doesn't mean I'm ready to stay
Thaisha has such a deep love for the earth and the vastness of the world, and made the choice to chase adventure rather than put down roots and settle down. Every time she goes back, she mourns what she leaves behind. But every time she still makes the choice to leave again.
Bolaire
Lapis Lazuli- The Oh Hellos
I must have found a new cone in my eye/ what other lapis lazuli was hiding behind my colorblindness?/ what did I miss, what did I miss, what did I miss?
Bolaire is, oddly, so young and so old. He's newly living a life, or has newly decided that what he has IS a life, yet at the same time he's not childish. He's seeing a lot of old things with new eyes.
Taken for a Ride- Tally Hall
I'm not listing lyrics for this one because it's more the vibes. I could have put two or three more Tally Hall songs here, they have this upbeat and sarcastic and slightly inhuman patter-sound. Hymn for a Scarecrow could also have gone here, but I gave it to Kattigan instead.
A Self Called Nowhere- They Might Be Giants
It's a thing named 'it'/ in a bottomless pit/ you can't see it there/ the sunken head/ that lies in a bed/ of a self called nowhere
Oh I love a character with a weird sense of self. As much as Bolaire insists that he's perfectly safe and practically human, is he really? How does his mind work? What is he hiding, or what does he not know is down there? If he continues on a course with that casket and other relics of the Shaper he killed, will a new facet of him rise to the top?
Linger Longer- Cosmo Sheldrake
Ring the bell, sound made crystalline/ ring out for the cause of all notions/ April's dew becomes autumn's wine/ leave everything always unbroken
Every Taliesin Jaffe character gets a Cosmo Sheldrake song. That's just the rules. This one is the ghost waltz.
Vaelus
Behold the Grave- Dirt Poor Robins
Behold them here/ These tortured grey folk/ no comforts we spoke/ could wake them now
This is HER VIBE SONG. This is the battle hymn of someone who has devoted their life to stop the undead. It's also badass as hell and has a great spooky breakdown.
Frozen Pines- Lord Huron
Cause I know I don't wanna stay here forever/ it's time to be moving on/ I don't wanna be the only one living/ when all of my friends are gone
Frozen pines is THE elven immortality song. It's also, I feel, referencing her state of denial/bargaining. She's latched on to Occtis because he came back, he can bring other things back too. She's never said as much, but I think she's going to try and use him bring back Sylandri. This singer knows the person they long for is still out there, they just need to find them the way back.
Ancient History- The Crane Wives
My body's aching like a knock-down drag-out/ and my poor heart is an open wound/ it's ancient history/ that's bleeding out of me/ so what am I supposed to do?
Vaelus is old, to the people around her. Her fresh trauma is their ancient history. So what is she supposed to do?
Digging Up the Past- Lord Huron
The way is cold and lifeless but your memory keeps me warm/ guess I'll just keep walking towards the tombs that glow within/ digging up the past and dreaming of what might have been
Skeleton had this one and I agree. It's the same vibes- she's all about the past, unable to let it rest in peace. If she lets go, what does she have left?
Julien
A Lady- Tally Hall
I know a lady, good and evil/ showed me that I was a gentleman
This one is also just vibes. More than a little morally gray, more than a few things over justified in the name of his Lady.
World Ender- Lord Huron
I had a life and a place in the world/ I had a sweet talking wife and a beautiful girl/ I know I'm never gonna see them again/ gonna tear the world up till I have my revenge
It's THE vengeance song, he's THE vengeance guy. He didn't come back from the dead but boy he's close. I'm glad that the vengeance seems to be working out for him.
Where Your Eyes Don't Go- They Might Be Giants
Should you worry when the skullhead is in front of you? / Or is it worse because it's always waiting where your eyes don't go?
I'm just so incredibly interested in how haunted Julien is. Nobody's really talked about it yet. Anyway this is a song about being haunted and never being able to know it. Would it be better to know?
Tyranny
Shallow River- the Crane Wives
May the whole sky fall/ May it all come down/ Waste it all for the truth/ for the fool in her wedding gown
Ok so I'm of the opinion that Tyranny is absolutely carrying a torch for Wick, but knowing he is maybe carrying a torch for this other girl she will absolutely never let that slip. She'll do anything for him, to her own demise. This is a song to say "this one is not for me".
Soap- The Oh Hellos
It's gonna hurt like hell/ but we're gonna be well/ I'll give you my best shot
This song is my favorite use of metaphor and imagery, and I bestow it unto my favorite bubblegum bitch. I see her singing this to Wick, but also to convince herself. You can make soap out of oil and water, with lye made from wood ash. The same way, you can combine the incompatible parts of yourself by using the mistakes you've made to clean them up.
I'm also considering Bubblegum Bitch. Just because why not?
Halandil
Zephyrus- The Oh Hellos
I want to spin something out of nothing/ lead from gold/ spring from winter/ story from moted sky
Hal sets down roots. He is entrenched deep in this city, in his family, in his community. This is a song about staying put, nurturing the place you choose, staying soft enough to be gentle in the face of a life that wants to make you hard.
Sleep Talking- The Toxhards
Honey, I'm lost again/ I'm looking for someone in the sky
I wanted originally to give him Apple TV for the lyrics "what about the war? What about the kids?" But I just couldn't justify the rest of it lol. This is still I think a good pick- the themes of suburban malaise are strong in this whole album and I wanted to give him a song from it. Hal hasn't really gotten a chance to be by himself and properly mourn. This is his song for Thjazi.
Your Enemies - Erin McKeown
You see a daughter who is slipping in two/ a daughter just like you/ and you know that familiar script because/ it happened to you
This song is so flexible- I couldn't pick between Wicander flipping the script on his family, or Hal worrying about himself and his family staying safe in the den of snakes that is Dol Makjar.
Murray
Rockslide- The Crane Wives
I hear a rumbling, honey/ up on the peak/ this wild weather's got the mountain shaking weak
This is a good old country tune, about how shit is going DOWN and there is no time to be standing around. It's time to start SCRAMBLIN'.
You're Nobody Till Somebody Wants You Dead- Saint Motel
You're nobody till somebody wants you dead/ and the list it grows and grows and grows and grows...
This is my favorite Saint Motel song type- an upbeat, peppy tune about people who absolutely hate each other. I hope that's the kind of game she's going to play!
Mount Saint Helens is About To Blow Up- Bill Wurtz
Mount Saint Helens is bout to blow up/ and it's gonna be a fine, swell day/ everything's gonna fall down to the ground and turn gray
I'm on the fence about this one- it might be too idealistic for her. But it might be the right amount of wacky nihilism for her. Open to criticism.
Wick
Dear Wormwood- The Oh Hellos
I know who I am now/ I know what you've made of me/ I know who you are now/ And I name you my enemy
Not all of the lyrics fit here, but this is a song for realizing what you've been told is wrong, and finding yourself outside of it.
Your Enemies- Erin McKeown
Wars she fought, she didn't start/ Wars she fought, she played your part/ till in her heart, she got smart/ Stopped being the star actor on your stage
AND YOU'LL HEAR IT AGAIN
This song is so flexible and multipurpose. It's about Wick betraying his family, and also trying to help Tyranny become her own person.
Strangler Fig- The Crane Wives
You built your kingdom around me/ now I'm trapped within your walls/ and all i want is to break free
Ah, religion. Ah, realizing the life that was built for you was also built to trap you completely. How much of that life does Wick want to escape? How much does he think he can save?
Vulture- Bear Ghost
Nail your child to your gospel/ watch it burn/ tell them all how to think/ you paint the world in black and white/ and eat their praise/ hallelujah
This song I don't think QUITE fits yet. Wick still harbors a strong connection to what he wants his religion to be, and is really conflicted about it. I might actually give it to Thaisha, because it's such a strong "fuck this manipulative religion" song. However, when the singer screams "if I abandon dignity and bend my knees could I just die in peace?" I feel something deep and validating. Maybe this song doesn't describe Wick, but I think he would get something from listening to it.
Occtis
Back From The Edge- Lord Huron
I came back from the edge/ where you go when you die/ I fell back down to earth/ from a hole in the sky
Listen. This is THE song for undeath. It's hard to say anything else about it. It's simply the correct answer.
When I'm Dead- Bear Ghost
Hanging euphoria by a thread/ Just out of reach/ As it ever was when I'm dead
Sorry bud, you came back from the dead and it wasn't what it was supposed to be.
Spill Your Guts- Creature Feature
It doesn't take much/ to strip us to the bone/ it doesn't take much/ work to make us croak
This one's a little up-tempo for an Occtis song, and perhaps a little cheerful about the frailty of human life, but it's also irreverently visceral in a way that I think Alex is playing with. A human body is a precious thing, but it is also just a thing. A weak, soft, fleshy thing that will eventually disintegrate, no matter what you do. It's a memento mori song- death is coming for us all, so what's all the fuss?
Rule #21- Memento Mori- Fish in a Birdcage
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust/ Filling up my coffee cup/ one wink to shake me up/ I never wanted to sleep
Speaking of memento mori songs! This song is one of my favorite picks for the undead and the nearly dead. It's a dark tango with a frantic air to it, that I think is a good snapshot of Occtis. Despite all that has happened, he's moving and thinking clinically. "I never wanted to sleep" can refer to actually sleeping, which perhaps Occtis did not do enough of in life, or to death, which of course he never wanted.
Body- Mother Mother
Take my heart, pull it apart/ and take my brain, or what remains/ and throw it all away
I love the visceral imagery in this song. It's almost like the singer is being picked apart by scavengers and disconnected from his body, which of course Occtis is extremely so. Skeletonofstars introduced me to this song and the next, and I can make no edits because they're both perfect picks
The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace- The Amazing Devil
You're not a coward cause you cower/ you're brave because they broke you/ yet broken still you breathe
Well, Occtis doesn't really breathe, but still the sentiment stands. Thanks again skeleton for introducing me to this song!
Secret of Life
To die for good, it must be earned/ The ways of death can never be learned/ And the life I lived is only dust/ the darkness comes for all of us
Usually I think this is THE warlock song, but of course Occtis somehow unlocked The Secret Of Life, so he can have a second Lord Huron song (as a treat)
Teor
Little Lion Man- Mumford and Sons
Weep, little lion man, you're not as brave as you were at the start
Ok. You know. It's Little Lion Man. He's. He's a. You get it.
Brother- Lord Huron
Don't turn away/ Don't tell me that we're not the same/ We face the fires together/ Brothers till the end
We know so little about Cyd, and we know so little about Teor's life before this campaign, and even Teor doesn't know where he and Cyd stand, really. However, they're brothers. And that means a whole lot to Teor.
also, love that occtis is so incredibly awkward in everyday life, but the moment you put him in combat, he starts leaning into people's faces and spitting out the most ominous one-liners.
"I don't know if I'm technically qualified as a person anymore." when he avoids an attack.
"I'm sorry, Frons, that you're having a hard time." as his brother is literally getting pummeled in front of his eyes.
"What do you have in there?" as he starts pulling out bits and pieces of a demon's neck (the same way his father pulled out raimond's skull, but we're not talking about this right now).
he's really proving julien right about what's going on underneath all that sweetness. he does have a little something of his family, after all.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THATS IT? WE GOT THROUGH ALL OF THAT STRESS AND ANXIETY, FUCKING YASHA SHOWS UP AND FINALLY MEETS UP THE GROUP AND THATS WHERE YOU END IT?!?
Critical role spoilers for episode 8 and table top game:
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I am so very happy the included Jester equating Fjord to Oskar out loud. Because the importance of her not viewing him as his own person for a while and more as a fantasy is very crucial to Jester's growth. The moment for sure can be seen as a bit silly, but it's given more weight in the animated version with confusion from fjord. Like yeah they already made it clear with the book cover, but having the line in there really helped hammer it home.
Jester is such a fun character because her arc is about her learning to accept reality, but never in a way that diminishes her or tells her that dreaming and fantasizing are wrong. And fjord is a major part of that. Because her recognizing him as a layered, deeply flawed person, and not just an object to fulfill a fantasy of hers, helps her understand deeper aspects of relationships and the world itself.
Jester getting to play fantasy and have fun, and achieve her dreams while still maturing and becoming more aware of those around her.
small detail there, but i loved/hated how trent transforming wulf felt like a total violation and also painful, and the way wulf fell in line and knew what to do (with astrid too) the moment it was complete. it made it clear how trent uses them as he pleases, willing or not, and the more i think about it the more it gives me chills
Ok NOW I have a very curious theory after watching Episode 8. Spoilers/Campaign spoilers below cut!!! Show only viewers- Do Not Look!!
Terrifying possibility for Molly I never thought about before now: He won’t die.
Instead Lucien will slowly take over- a little bit at a time. (With shorter seasons- why kill Molly then wait seasons to bring in Lucien? Just sprinkle that shit in now.)
It seems like Vess awoken/triggered something in Molly. Big red lights and an explosion. At first I thought THAT was going to be the Lucien takeover moment, because of how his tarot cards were scattered everywhere with the Eyes card notably being face up, and for a little bit he seemed out of it. (Plus the third death card pull.) That scene was absolutely symbolic- Molly’s tarot cards scattering everywhere and Molly himself scattering apart.
Molly says that ‘Lucien’ and his past should stay in the past. So what would be the worst thing to happen to Molly? Lucien butting into his existence. Blackouts, these creepy glowing eyes and blood powers, some crazy evil wizard lady trying to kill him (and by extension the group he’s traveling with.) He can deny his past, but it’s gonna slowly take over.
Also Molly’s death in the campaign felt like The Thing that really bonded the group together, but we kinda already have that moment for the show… So let the boy suffer slowly instead :)
Either way I am excited for where the show is going to take things next. Even though I’ve seen the campaign, I am really loving how things are changed a twinge here and there.
Jester being more worried for Molly than being scared by this whole situation. That's her friend and he's clearly in distress first and foremost. And she's here for him just like he's always there for her when needed
She even collected the scattered tarot cards for him. Gently supporting Molly as they go. Both of them have their issues, what matters is they're here for each other
Spoilers for the campaign so show watchers do not look
I'm gonna be honest, I don't think they'll kill Molly
They've said they rewrote a lot of stuff, and we see a lot of the stuff that had been rewritten and I think Molly might be one of them, sure, if Molly dies, we'll still see Lucien but Idk it feels like we might potentially see what Matt originally intended for Lucien and what Taliesin originally intended for Molly since that's what's happening with Essek, imagine they give all these death flags and then go "PSYCHE, BITCH! HE AIN'T DYING!" and who knows, we may lose Molly but not permanently, he might not die but there could be a point where he unwillingly leaves The Mighty Nein because Lucien regained control of the body and that might be why they need Caduceus cuz Molly got bodysnatched, this could also mean instead of getting Kingsley after Lucien's defeat, we'd get Molly back
Idk it feels like they're building up Molly playing a larger role in the story rather than just being the party member that got killed off and then had his corpse piloted by the BBEG
I could just simply be in denial but Idk, I think this idea holds weight
Deirta coming to the conclusion that the way to turn her heretic atheist son religious was to make him ritually sacrifice her after learning that he commited an act of treasonous apostasy specifically so he could save her honestly contextualizes so much of Essek's decision making skills.
