#c4e18

[masterqwertster]

Primus Tachonis's celestial making is like those crazy people on recipe blogs that substitute half the ingredients for something else because they like that ingredient better and then wonder why the dish didn't turn out right.

[olessan]

Light-touched Rivalry

[screechfoxes]

CRITICAL ROLE 4.18 Vindicta & Vale

[noxious-containment]

that feeling when your family tried to turn you into a celestial angel of death against your will and inadvertently instead turned you into an entirely new undead being that probably also damned your soul into eternal servitude to that same family after you maybe die a second time also you're barely 20 years old

[ariadne-mouse]

it is very delicious that Thaisha's choice to call Occtis to stray from the Old Path is the first thing that fundamentally disrupted the Tachonois ritual to forcibly transmogrify him into a celestial. The Tachonis revel in necromancy and the perversion of death, but their ritual required first that the natural course of the Old Path be followed; Thaisha's core belief is that the natural course of the Old Path be followed, and yet in that moment she could not adhere to it - whether from instinct or emotional attachment or a combination of the two - and it happened to be exactly what was needed. Nice juxtaposition.

[ablueper]

pin coming through to help load the next ballista

[mareastrorum]

I’m really enjoying how Alex and Aabria bounce off each other to explore their characters’ internal biases and limited perspectives.

Thaisha has repeatedly prodded at Occtis to think again about his observations and statements about his family. Why does he think it’s normal to travel with hanging cages for public humiliation of their subjects? Why is it acceptable to abandon a child who is not useful to the leaders’ goals? Why is a specific family needed to escort the dead to a specific afterlife?

And the reason it’s necessary is that Occtis’s perspective is rooted in an idea that superiors are to be obeyed. The reason Occtis interpreted Thaisha’s rebuke as anger that he wasn’t obeying her is because Occtis expected that to anger her. He expects that people he respects would react that way, regardless of whether their actual relationship to him involves some aristocratic or social status where they are above him. That tracks so well with the flashback we saw of Primus acting dismissively to Occtis’s overly-prepared request to study at the Penteveral. Occtis would never have gone without his father’s approval. He’s not a rebel, and he has not yet realized that he conflates obedience with respect.

As for Thaisha, this arc has involved her coming to terms with the fact that the Old Path is not a universal remedy to any of the issues the world faces. Her choice to beckon Occtis off the path saved the world despite that it was counter to her deepest beliefs. Occtis made that choice himself, but it wouldn’t have occurred to him if not for her interference. The Royce family has a fairy-based afterlife promised to them—and it has nothing to do with the Shapers. The Drowned Men willingly sold their souls because it protects them from the machinations of people like the Tachonis family, and the Old Path does not. The Druids of her circle have not found a method to improve any of the Barrowdells, and Thaisha has finally said aloud to them that she doesn’t think the past will save them. That’s so hard to stomach after dedicating decades of work and belief to the Circle of Ancients’ teachings.

So of course Thaisha reacts in fear and impatience to Occtis’s ongoing preference for obedient reverence. That wouldn’t have saved him, and it could doom them all down the road. It’s no longer a matter of simply mentoring a young, sheltered man who happens to be on the same job. He is becoming a force of his own and will be responsible for the impact of his choices. Occtis needs to begin thinking critically of his own beliefs. He’s intelligent! He’s a wizard! He can do this, and he repeatedly doesn’t. Like when he was walking the path through the wood to an unwitting Armageddon, it doesn’t occur to him that he could until Thaisha prompts him. He needs to get to the point where no one needs to prompt him anymore.

We know that it works because Alogar was the Barrowguard who realized the Drowned Men were onto something, and whatever he did at Tannessar helped to interfere with the Tachonis’s plans. Alogar questioned and criticized rather than obey blindly. He helped prevent disaster.

But the terrifying part is that Thaisha doesn’t know where this new path is leading. The Old Path offered some sense of security because they knew the cycle of rebirth was available to all. It’s a tried and true option, and the wisdom of those who tended the path applied to many other aspects of the world—at least, before it was molded and scarred by the Shapers. The fear that comes with this realization is visceral and worsening, and rather than retreat into devotion to this path that wasn’t working, she’s walking forward. Of course Thaisha isn’t able to react with as much grace as she did previously. It’s much easier to be patient and compassionate when you feel safe. She’s still trying, but man, the struggle is great to watch.

[your-turn-to-role]

thaisha: you two were both dying!

julien: i was fine

vaelus: i was fine too

thaisha and occtis, simultaneously: NEITHER OF YOU WERE FINE