#character theme ask meme

[utilitycaster]

Here's a fun game! A while back I talked about how when people choose favorite characters by narrative themes, the two most obvious paths through the campaigns to me were Keyleth to Caleb to Imogen (magic users burdened by talent with high expectations and parental loss/abandonment themes) and Vex to Fjord to [no single obvious answer in C3 but Ashton and Laudna both explore many elements of it] (coping mechanism of suppressing every emotion or sign of vulnerability and developing a mask because you are not enough and also too much). Anyway I got a lot of asks that were like "ooh analyze me" and at the time I did not want to, but now I will! Ask me!

Rules:

I am going to need at least 3 characters, one per main campaign. You can, as a bonus, send one C3 guest other than Team Issylra (we haven't seen enough of them yet) and/or one EXU main PC you'd consider a favorite.

I am going to operate in good faith and treat you in good faith but also this is about NARRATIVE THEMES so if I really can't find one I am going to say "this feels like an aesthetically motivated choice" or whatever. It's valid on your part but I'm not really looking for an argument. Basically as with all ask memes this is about my opinion; if you don't want my opinion don't ask for it.

[utilitycaster]

I'm sitting here trying to figure out favorites other than Vex, Jester, Imogen but I can't come up with any other characters I love more than others. Do I just love Laura Bailey characters (I'm very self aware of this) or is there an actual thematic through line here?

There is! Like...I would say that Sam, Travis, and Laura are the cast members who specifically engage the most with certain consistent themes. Taliesin engages with certain types of questions and also just likes to make "guy who is super fucking wrong about something and won't admit it", and Liam tends to incorporate explorations of grief but the other themes vary significantly. Ashley has a very strong and detailed vision for her characters but it's harder to pin down the same theme, and I think Marisha tends to jump around the most thematically.

Anyway I've talked about it before but Laura tends to engage with themes of selfishness/what you can take for yourself vs. what you give [again this is why Laura and Sam often have interesting character interactions], complicated family dynamics, and what you feel vs. what you outwardly express,

[utilitycaster]

alright i wanna be bullied, my favorites are percy, fjord, and ashton, with bonus cerrit

note: no longer taking asks on this topic, answering the ones I currently have

So again, "leader" is a hard to define thing - I know which characters are not the leader but usually there's 2 or 3 who make a claim to it even if I have a bias towards one of them, and all of the main campaign characters are in that 2 or 3. But I think more importantly these are all the characters most likely to make a reasoned stand against the party, notably with regards to selfish behavior. Like...on some level Percy at Scanlan in 1x85/Fjord in the High Richter's house/Ashton at Imogen during the Solstice leadup/Cerrit at Laerryn are all the same speech.

[utilitycaster]

alskdksk would love to know your thoughts on the Percy -> Caduceus -> Imogen pipeline

note: no longer taking asks on this topic, answering the ones I currently have

So not like...the typical arrogance people associate with Taliesin's characters per se, though definitely some of that, but a slightly different one of "oh! advice! wonder who that's for!"

[utilitycaster]

for the character theme meme - Keyleth, Beau, Orym. Also if we’re including D20, I’ll throw in Adaine and Kingston too.

note: no longer taking asks on this topic, answering the ones I currently have, and this is the last one, I'm free of the thing I did to myself.

NGL despite having very close ties to each other, Keyleth and Orym actually have very little in common personality-wise, but these characters are very much bound by/defined by institutions and positions.

[utilitycaster]

If you still doing the ask game, Grog, Caduecus and Fearne

note: no longer taking asks on this topic, answering the ones I currently have

Not sure; Grog and Fearne make sense (chaotic neutral/no filter) but Caduceus is a weird deviation from that, and I've mentioned before that Caduceus -> Fearne is very common and there are a handful of themes of like, a fairly sheltered life but a lot feels aesthetically motivated, and none that really play out consistently with Grog. TBH I wonder for this if there was just something about Jester you didn't vibe with, because that would fit the chaos theme far better; or if that's not it at all. Low int scores? That's all I got.

[utilitycaster]

Keyleth, Molly, Ashton (All the characters I've cosplayed)

note: no longer taking asks on this topic, answering the ones I currently have

So I think it's possible obviously for people doing artistic endeavors to also have a thematic preference and I am not a cosplayer but like...I feel this/questions centering characters people draw really does need to be answered in the context of what they are drawn to for art, because that honestly is probably more relevant. Anyway these all sound like one of the hardest characters in the party to cosplay as so I think the motivation is aesthetic but also you are looking for a challenge.

[utilitycaster]

Vax, Jester, and Laudna are my 3, what do you think?

Honestly I don't really see a clear theme here. I guess maybe challenging/particularly close at times relationships with higher powers but honestly Laudna didn't get much of a chance to explore that and that's a stretch in that I don't see a clear Vax to Jester line here in the nature of the deity and even less so to Laudna, so like...you might just be vibing with those characters for other reasons. (and honestly I don't even know what that reason is whereas sometimes I can kind of guess)