So how do we feel about the epilogue quest to the story of Salthorin, "Return in the Moonlight"? I feel kind of icky. Everything in this quest seems subtly wrong if you look closer.
I expected the Essail curse to be about how their ancestors did something wrong (joined the demons in the war maybe?) and got rightfully cursed by Misarte and how the modern-day Essail don't deserve to suffer for it.
But it turns out it's kind of the other way round? Seralyth and Sage Tasso were actually heroes, and the modern-day Essail have nothing to do with these events at all. But we are kind of expected to see their "punishment" as deserved?…
(Disclamer - I only played some of the previous seasons so far, and I know very little about lore in general, so feel free to correct me.)
(Also I'm glad it's not just me and other people feel this way too.)
So we consulted Arden, and Eironn communed with his magic tree, and that's what we discovered. Misarte had a beef with Dura during the war against the Hypogeans 2000 years ago, so she forbade her people from joining Dura. (Misarte is a Hypogean sympathizer! Pass it on.) But a small heroic group of wilders led by Seralyth and Sage Tasso disobeyed her and went to help save the world. They accidentally got their holy artifact infected by Saida in the process.
(see that "first and foremost?")
And as revenge for disobeying her and for infecting her artifact, Misarte cursed them. They would have all quickly died in a terrible, painful way if Seralyth and Tasso didn't lead them into caves, which are Halthor's domain.
And I think that's a great twist!
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First, it's a nice parallel to the dwarves' quest in this season. They too had to reconsider/confront their relationship with their god and their past. Dwarves were able to find their own strength, realizing that they don't have to rely on their god. I'm sure the Essail will reach a similar realization after finding out how "their" goddess failed them, right?
Second, knowing that you didn't suffer for some terrible crime your queen committed, that she didn't fail you, that she fought for a noble cause - it might not retroactively make the exile and the curse easier to bear, but it kind of makes the Essail martyrs.
The Dark Forest wilders will have to reconcile with the implication that they are descendants of the cowards who decided not to join the war, and that can introduce some interesting character development for them too, right?
As well as the fact that the Essail have been paying the price for the wilders' blissful lives in the Dark Forest. I mean, if the past Essail didn't join the war, who knows how it would have ended?
And the fact that Seralyth was a hero before the absolute power corrupted her and turned her into a cruel tyrant. That's much more interesting and tragic than if she was always an asshole.
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But then they ruined everything.
First, it by denying (literally with no reason) that these were the reasons behind the curse.
We've just been told that it's EXACTLY what they were punished for!
That's what we just established, but let's pretend that it isn't true. Because it's too uncomfortable.
And then in the last 10 minutes of the quest, they produce groggy Saida out of nowhere and throw her under the bus.
Now this is all her fault. And Misarte's involvement has been reduced to nice, clean, politically correct symbolism of "cutting off" the Essail from the Dark Forest like an infected Tendril from the Sylvan Egg.
No, Indris, that's exactly what it was! A genocidal control freak's revenge for disobeying her.
"Kind and tolerant" my ass!
But I mean, what else was Misarte supposed to do, right? She had a disagreement with Dura, remember?
We shouldn't have expected the kind and merciful Misarte to swallow her pride and ask Dura (who has been sealing up demons left and right after the war) to also take care of Saida, who took shelter in the Tendril. Totally not an option. Genocide of her own people was the only solution.
And I'm not sure, but I think now we are told the Queen wasn't corrupted by her absolute power over her people, but by a demon. And that kind of removes the responsibility for her action from her, which I absolutely hate as a story bit. But I mean, try staying a benevolent ruler after being corrupted both by your merciful goddess's curse and by a demon you've been locked up with for millennia.
So the tragic irony of her turning from her people's hero and savior into their worst nightmare has been reduced to "a demon made her do it".
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And I really don't like how they portrayed the Dark Forest Wilders in this quest. I feel a whiff of this condescending, entitled "holier than thou" attitude. Like, come on, Indris, our beloved kind and merciful goddess couldn't have done anything wrong. No matter what the facts say, it has to be you guys' fault. You just have to sincerely apologize for everything and go through these humiliating trials, and maybe she'll consider lifting the curse. By the way, look how peaceful and idyllic our lives are. Aren't you jealous?
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(yes, let's make Eironn decide whether a whole city full of innocent people deserve to stop dying in a horrific painful way. Did he really consider "No" as an option? Why is it even a question worth consideration for him?)
This duel that Eironn offers Indris. I understand it's an old trope of judging your new acquaintance in an honorable fight to conclude that they are a good person worthy of your trust or some saccharine stuff like that. But there is a time and place for that! It's definitely not when the survival of a struggling little nation is at stake. People are literally dying while you are having your fun little duel, Eironn!
What if Indris didn't show himself well in that fight? Like, what if he wasn't able to fight well that day? Maybe from his eyes still not being accustomed to the sunlight. Or from severe allergies (his immune system not knowing what to do with all these new allergens and freaking out).
And what if it was Feli visiting the Dark Forest instead of Indris? Would Feli be challenged to a duel too?
A good guy shouldn't challenge another good guy for a duel over innocent people's lives.
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And that quest with ducks is clearly put there for contrast, to show that in the Dark Forest people are more reasonable and peaceful, being able to solve their problems by talking things over.
I'd like to see them trying the same approach in Sal'thoring. Like when there was a riot in the Commoners district over not getting enough Dew and being treated like shit by the nobles. When your only real choices as a Guard Captain are either to disperse these people's desperate protest with violence or let the protest get out of control, giving priests the excuse to cut off the supply of Divine Dew to their poor districts completely.
And we saw Ravion trying to talk sense into Velara twice. It doesn't work. Indris tried talking to the Queen. Feli tried to talk to Velara, and look how well it ended for him. The whole story was about how sometimes violence is the only solution (especially when the violence is backed by a powerful Magister and the power of an ancient artifact created by a god).
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The only person who actually talks about how these people didn't deserve it is Indris:
Oh, wait, no, they gaslit him into thinking it's his fault:
He's already riddled with guilt over what he actually did while being a captain of the guards. He doesn't need more guilt. It's nobody's fault other than Misarte's.
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Tell them, Indris! If somebody has to feel guilt for their ancestors' actions, it's the Dark Forest wilders, the descendants of cowards who decided to wait out the war at home.
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Or Eironn telling Indris to take a rest after his first trial.
For some reason reassuring us that Eironn is still a good and compassionate guy took precedence over the lives of the Esseail, who, let me remind you, are dying right now. There are orphans who eat dirt in absolute poverty or are being mauled by carnivorous mushrooms right now because their parents turned into monsters and were killed by guards in front of their eyes.
Yes, it serves no one! (except from the Essail who are actively dying right now, but who cared about there losers, right?)
So yeah, what's the hurry? What are several new orphans in the grand scheme of things? What's a couple of Essail dying in excruciating pain meanwhile?
But ok, I'll give Eironn the benefit of the doubt; maybe he didn't realize HOW bad the situation was. Maybe Indris forgot to mention all the deaths, so Eironn thought it was a curse of feeling a slight discomfort or something.
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I don't expect Wilders to apologize to Indriss or the Essail in general (I mean, it's not their fault either), but I'd love to see anything other than the self-righteous "Our goddess did nothing wrong, you guys deserve it". Some compassion, maybe?
Can we not make our good guys genocide apologists?
Telling a person who suffered and witnessed the worst of it how it was for a higher purpose, and how "you just don't understand it, you silly Indris," is so unbelievably tone-deaf.
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Dwarves went through painful reconsideration of the role of their god and their past in their lives, and they became stronger and more self-assured through it.
The Essail went through millennia of undeserved torture, and what lesson were they supposed to have learned? "Don't go help save the world from demons if your kind and merciful goddess told you not to?" "Grovel in front of your newly found merciful overlord, and don't you dare to disobey her ever again?"
And the Dark Forest wilders didn't change through it at all.
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By the way, Seralyth telling her people that the surface is a desert overrun by demons might not have been a deliberate lie. If they were banished before the demons were sealed up, that's probably how she and her people left the surface. She probably didn't even know that the war had been won.
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And I don't think Indris was a good person for that story. First, I like Indris but he's in everything that has to do with Salthorin. Can we give other characters an opportunity to shine?
Second, he's already ridden with guilt for the things he personally actually chose to do as a guard. (And I actually appreciate the nuanced take on this situation, because a lot of these things were actually necessary for his people's survival.) And part of his character development is accepting and processing the responsibility for it.
But in the Epilogue we are doing it again but worse. This man doesn't need more guilt! Especially for something some other people did 2000 years ago. Especially if it's a thing you should feel proud about and not guilty.
I think Feli would have been a great choice for this Epilogue instead. I know he wasn't exactly in the shape to do it by the time it happened, but with some story rearrangement, they could have both sent him to deal with the Dark Forest wilders and also kept his well-executed (sorry) and genuinely impactful death.
Think about it. He knows the Tendril the best because he owned and used it his whole life. He's Sage Tesso's direct descendant, so he's personally invested in his legacy. And I'd love to see them try to passive-aggressively bully our precious child into admitting that all of it is his fault, like they did with Indris! I bet fandom's reaction would have been very different.
Or, as a joke, they could have Thador do it! That would be interesting. And it would give Gramps something more to do than serve as a questionable foil for Indris and then sit in a volcano doing nothing.
Or, hear me out: Velara. She somehow managed to run away and accidentally ended up in the Dark Forest. Curse-lifting hijinks ensue. Try to convince her that her Queen was evil (especially for fighting demons of all things).
And of course I'd love to see Ravion. Try to emotionally manipulate him into anything.
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And the ending felt kind of hollow.
The curse has been lifted, the Essail are finally free from their evil goddess' evil will. But it felt anticlimactic. Like yeah, we did a thing. And there is a tree here now. Nothing to look at.
Ravion shows up only for Indris to get angry at him and try and shoo him away. Yeah why would he want to witness the most important event in their people's history?I understand that it's a running gag, Indris getting frustrated about Ravion "slacking off." But is it a good time for that?
Misarte's genocidal hypocrisy got exposed and completely ignored. The Essail's 2 millennia of suffering has been brushed off as their fault.
And the statue of their former tyrant has been replaced by a tree, a symbol of another, more powerful tyrant, as a constant reminder of the one who tortured them for millennia.
A lot of other storylines have a bittersweet ending, but here it doesn't feel intentional. For me, Echoes of Dissent had a great story, but it ended in a flop.
