Glintshore is going to mean something different in The Legend of Vox Machina than it did in the original campaign
At this point in campaign 1, Vex and Percy has not yet hooked up and had been dancing around their feelings for each other. Laura and Taliesin have both said that Vex and Percy would never have admitted their feelings for each other hadn’t Percy died and Vex made her plea to him (true love’s Nat 20).
In fact, Taliesin has said that he was ready to let Percy die permanently and move on with his backup character (fun fact: it was actually Mollymauk from Campaign 2 that was his backup C1 character) but Laura’s choice and the Nat 20 roll was too much to simply ignore (and thank god for that because Perc’ahlia is my prized ship and my Roman Empire).
The timeline of things being very different in TLOVM means that we’ve gotten a sort of sped up development of not only the relationship between Percy and Vex but the relationship Percy has with himself. As we’ve been seeing in the show, Percy seems much lighter, much less burdened by the weight of Orthax and revenge. In episode 6, we see him have a touching moment of with Vex about the future, talking about his hopes for Whitestone.
In the campaign, he was still carrying around this weight of guilt and shame in a way that wasn’t dealt with like it was in the show (with his self sacrifice in Ank’Harel, taking responsibility for inventing guns- bringing widespread consequences across all of Exandria). This never happened in the live stream. Glintshore ended up acting like this penance: Percy dying at the hands of the very weapon he created.
Since we’ve seen a more “carefree” happier Percy in the show, and he’s already had his moment of self flagellation, Glintshore is going to mean something else in the show.
Of course, we all know this is going to be a wake up call for Vex to finally admit her love for him and stop pretending she can just fool around with him -heart be damned. I think it’s going to mean a lot for Vax and Keyleth too.
Since they’ve set up plot line that Vax is the one concerned about Keyleth’s long life span, I feel like Percy’s death is going to wake Keyleth up tot he fact that everyone she knows and loves will die before her, and she’ll see a little bit more where Vax is coming from- and I think Vax is going to start to realize that Keyleth can handle herself around loss and that he’s being an absolute fool by pushing her away.
Like Marisha’s said in interviews, these upcoming episodes are going to deal with facing fears- and I think Percy’s death and finding a way to resurrect him is going to touch on a lot more of Vox Machina’s fears than just Percy and Vex. I can’t wait to see how it plays out.
Can someone with editing skills please do a video for the animation only people so they too can experience the crushing weight and wit of Percy's definitely-not-a-suicide-note that they fished out of his pocket after he was resurrected?
Glintshore already happened in the animation so it's a fair guess the note isn't making it's way (making it's way) into the show. I think it's a fandom duty to share this suffering. It seems only fair.
Since I know we both have a lot of feelings about Cloak & Dagger, I'm curious what you think about how Percy's death was adapted into the show. While I totally get the changes it's also so tragic to me that we lost Scanlan rallying everyone else to kill Ripley. It's such a good moment, and while his quiet moment with Pike at Percy's grave still hits it's... it's not the same.
My feelings about it match my feelings about the rest of season 3, which is... mixed. Not bad! Not by a long shot! And I definitely understand all the constraints both Doylist and Watsonian... But yeah, mixed. It ties in with some earlier changes that, again, make sense, but even as I discovered the campaign just after season 2 made me go :-/
This turned into character exploration and got long (like - ridiculously long), hence the cut!
The thing with VM is that, unlike the M9, they rely heavily on archetypes. They were built on archetypes, arguably: the broody gunslinger, the naive/sheltered nature girl, the horny bard, the stupid barbarian, etc. Each of them has aspects (both in terms of their place in the narrative and their own sense of character, which is more inward) that are rooted in things that can be both tropes and stereotypes:
like Percy being Haunted, metaphorically and literally, by his past, plus the responsibility/guilt of having created weapons the likes of which this world had never seen before (narrative), and also having a tendency to assume he's the smartest in the room and the only one willing to make the Hard Choices (character);
or like Scanlan, the bard who constantly seeks hedonistic pleasures, no matter how brief or ill-advised and with no regard for the consequences (narrative, ish, since Kaylie was the only aspect of his backstory they got to digging into); and also a man with so few ties that bind (bound?) that he had little to no regard for his own life and took precious few things seriously (character).
BUT. The great thing about VM is that they rise over those archetypes.
Vex, for instance, is a particularly complex and layered character, projecting an illusion of flirtatious self-confidence to the world but struggling with a broken sense of self-worth ingrained into her by racist, classist assholes when she was young. She's dragon-greedy, but her hoard goes to her family first.
Grog, the chaotic neutral half-giant barbarian, likes nothing more than to hang out with the two gnomes from the get-go - and not even out of a duty of protection because they're small and frail compared to him, but because he loves them, and thinks they're both as badass and awesome as anyone might think looking at him. (Pike especially - best buds!)
Keyleth is sheltered, and struggles under the weight of her future, but she has strong opinions that come out too blunt sometimes. She's not a shy wallflower! She's coming into her own immense powers, and she's wise enough to see through Percy's self-confidence and use of his extended vocabulary as a weapon to the heart underneath (their friendship is so great)
Vax, whom we might mistake for an edgy, broody loner from his chosen profession and fashion sense, is a goober who loves his sister more than life itself, has an ongoing prank war with their barbarian, and tends to step into the role of team's big brother before the Sunken Tomb turns his life and sense of self upside down.
Pike, a delightful mix of chaos gremlin and silk hiding steel - both nurturing and a little shit, thoughtful and blunt, soft-spoken and eager to fight and drink and dole out damage.
And that's how they start!
Bringing it back to TLOVM, one of Scanlan's aspects I wish had made it into the show is his disregard for his own life. In very early episodes (until the end of the Underdark arc) it's clear that he (/Sam) doesn't appear to take things as seriously as he should, but if Pike isn't in immediate danger and he is, he won't go out and risk himself. I think that changes when Tiberius disappears in the middle of the K'varn fight. Scanlan still grins and jokes through fights, and exhibits a certain amount of self-preservation, but it becomes more of a "if an asshole's going to die today it might as well be me" and gradually turns into "I've GOTTA keep those people alive." He's not suicidal, he just... cares 56%.
("And thus ends Scanlan," Sam jokes as he fails his 2nd death saving throw against Rimefang. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine! You never need to worry about me. Haven't you guys learned that by now? I'm fine!" Scanlan says when Keyleth hesitates to Polymorph the giant roc he's standing on - in flight.)
He's not a hedonist so much as a cheerful nihilist.
And Kaylie changes that.
It's not sudden; Scanlan still pulls stupid/death-defying stunts because it's funny (hamster-balling into an orc camp singing "Trololol" as a diversion), to protect VM (jumping down a tower with a sword to save Vax, singing at a giant demon to dominate him instead of running), or both. But it stacks. And having to stay alive because he promised Kaylie, even at the cost of not helping Pike, ends up messing him up badly. Suddenly he has a purpose in life! Suddenly he's not allowed to die! ohfuckohfuckohfuck -
It's such a rare type of character arc and part of the reason I have so much love for this story (and character).
Bringing it back to TLOVM for real this time, in the cartoon this aspect of Scanlan's character and arc is completely absent, replaced by a much more common "cowardly lion" trope. You know, the character (often smaller/weaker in some respect than the "standard" characters) who will want to run from danger, which is often played for laughs, and (sometimes) will learn to stand their ground as part of their character arc. It was present as early as the Kickstarter trailer. You can see it first in 1.02, when they're entering Brimscythe's lair through the portal, with Scanlan is the last to go, and he goes "I'm just gonna keep a lookout from here" before Vax grabs him by the scruff of the neck.
I don't... like that trope much. For a number of reasons tied to things like gender and/or power dynamics in fiction. Chalk it up to my growing up reading European comics and books - our little guys are much more liable to be smart and wily, and the narrative often rewards these qualities more than straight-up heroism. (The things I read, anyway.) Anyway, it looks like the "little guy = coward" thing is much more prevalent in US fiction than European fiction.
And (especially in hindsight) I am so disappointed they went that way with Scanlan in TLOVM.
VM is a group of main characters, but as a result it feels a lot like Vax, Percy, Vex and Keyleth are The Main Characters (especially Vax and Percy, which has its own lot of disappointment attached). Season 1 was entirely Percy's, which is fair (it's the Briarwoods arc after all), but not knowing anything about the campaign at the time I watched it led me to assume there would be 7 seasons, each focused on a different member of VM. Season 2 was better about leaving other characters room to grow and develop, but the main thread was Vax's deal with the Matron of Ravens and its ramifications. And in a way season 3 brought it back to Percy again, to the point that after killing Thordak, all that mattered to Vex and Vax was tracking and killing Ripley instead of trying to mend things with Keyleth, or taking care of a grievously injured Scanlan. (yeah, I'm still kind of bitter about that, btw.)
So. Glintshore.
One of the reasons this moment hit so powerfully in the campaign is not just that they were all together, or that Percy died with no hate in his heart but with the grim, pragmatic determination of "the world will be safer if Ripley never leaves this island" (another LOVM change I shake my head at), or the way these very talented actors convey the shock and horror of their characters losing one of their own. It's - like you said - the fact that Scanlan, of all people, is the one who rallies them and takes charge, and is absolutely ruthless about it. And it shouldn't have been a surprise.
Scanlan, at his core, isn't really kind - not to others, and especially not to himself. He has a small nurturing side that comes out in inspirations and buffs, the Mansion, and a consistent willingness to make his friends look awesome. Scanlan isn't a trickster. But Scanlan is a clown in that Sam often sets him up to be the butt of the joke. (he gets better and better at that as the campaign - and campaigns - progresses.) And Scanlan is a showman, and as such likes to keep an ace in his sleeve to flash and save/dazzle his friends with.
And this time? It failed. He tried, and tried, and in the end everything he did failed. Percy's dead. Ripley is contained, but Percy's dead.
And it would be so, so easy to see Scanlan as only the guy who makes dick jokes and never takes anything seriously, but at this moment he is Dead Serious (emphasis on "dead"), and I think it unsettles people used to either ignoring him or dismissing him. (And to be clear, I don't blame them! Some people went through the entirety of CR and/or TLOVM either loathing Scanlan's guts or patiently waiting till another character spoke and that's 100% okay! That's what the "block" button is for!) But this moment on Glintshore is what happens when the clown puts their red nose in their pocket because things are going to hell and nobody else is stepping up right now. (Grog steps up, too. He's the one who helps Vex and Keyleth focus, and keeps an eye on Kynan. Grog and Scanlan carry the (remainder of the) team in that moment, fucking fight me on this.)
So, yeah. Am I glad to have seen season 3 and find the changes interesting in a narrative sense, and how they create a different reality than the campaign canon? 100%. Am I still gutted we didn't get to see the so-called "joke character" (as in a character created as a joke and a character for whom everything appears to be a joke) step up, in defiance of both (external) stereotypes and (internal) expectations, and take care of everyone in a way that feels respectful to Percy's memory? Also 100%, big time.
I know a lot of ya'll were disappointed by how things turned up in episode 7
*BUT*
I'd like to remind everyone that Ripley is still alive as we see her getting away on the boat. So, that final showdown to kill her is still very much happening. It just seems that for time's sake and not to mention the level of cinematic impact, they're having Percy just die once instead of twice, like in the OG streams. His death packs a way bigger punch when it is more isolated and not 'oh he died, revivify, oop he died again ressurection' like having it be this big tragic moment lands way more and raises the stakes. You know death is not nothing to these guys, as it sometimes can be with DnD because of cleric abilities and such.
All that being said I really think the big showdown is still coming with Ripley, and I got a feeling the end of this season (i.e., episodes 10-12) will tie together Ripley's death, Raishan's death and the Bards Lament just shifted to flow a lot smoother. I still think those moments from the OG streams in Glintshore will come back with the group killing her for Percy together in this big moment, as well as Vex's confession because, make note, she still hasn't said she loves him at this point.
So all ya'll just hold your horses for now, cause I got a feeling the next three episodes are gonna pack all kinds of emotional punches, so get ready!
Bonus: Close-up of this one specific panel that has me by the throat, because apparently they wanted to instil as much pain as possible and now I’m crying.
