New quickie of this gorgeous creature, J'mon Sa Ord, the Soul of the Jeweled City, is the ruler of Ank'Harel. Loved the latest season of The Legend of Vox Machina, wish I had more time to draw for myself, but I am currently too overwhelmed with work and charity projects. Still I could not hold back from drawing such a beautiful character, I hope you people like them too.
One more post about GCX because talking with Mara Junot was an absolute dream come true. Unfortunately the most my AuDHD brain could come up with was, "Thank you for being Ikora & also Nyoka was my favorite in Outer Worlds 😭" but she was so kind and so understanding and hearing her talk [onstage] about how much D2 means to her and how she wants to inspire / is inspired by the community, was one of the best days of my life.
Mara said she wanted to be "the next Carl Earl Jones" but she is more than that to me. I hope she knows she is loved and cherished by many including myself.
Not every criticism of TLOVM is due to its un/faithfulness to the original stream.
Take the following scenes from the latest season, for example. Neither hails from the source material, but the contrast between them is illuminating.
(Spoilers for episodes 3x02 and 3x10 below the cut.)
Prisoners of Ank'Harel
At the climax of S3x02, J’mon accuses Vox Machina of a crime they didn’t commit; to spare the rest, Percy takes the blame, and the Emperex readies a sentence.
But J’mon doesn’t name the sentence. They only call it a transformation, and lift a headpiece over Percy. This puts it in the same frame as J’mon’s mindless guards, revealing they bear an identical design.
Based on previous episodes, I expected J'mon to explain:
“This circlet will make you as they are, prisoners and criminals I put into service to…”
You get the idea.
But there’s no further explanation. Or exposition. Instead, the show leaves visual cues so the viewers can clock Percy’s imminent fate.
(In the same vein, I appreciate they didn't outright tell us J’mon is a dragon. Raishan uses a humanoid disguise, then Vex’s dragon sense tingles in the Emperex’s presence....We can figure out what J’mon’s deal is from that.)
To The Ends of The Earth.
Compare this to the earth trial chamber scene in S3x10, ‘‘To the Ends of the Earth.’’ The Ashari council states the trial could kill Keyleth, and the chamber is a gallery of anguished-faced statues. Like with Percy’s sentence, they could’ve left it at that, especially since Keyleth will fight against turning to stone once the ritual begins.
Despite all that, Keyleth comments on the statues and prompts her teacher to explain them. In doing so, the show turns to the camera and says:
“So you get it, right? Do I need to say it again? Should I talk slower?”
This is an unnecessary exposition. At its best, it wastes time or breaks the audience’s immersion; at worst, it does both. Season one took pains to clarify that this show is for adults. “Adult” doesn’t just mean swearing, gore, and nudity; adult can also mean assuming your audience can pick up what you're putting down.
Again, neither scene is from the stream. And the first handles its exposition well, in an understated fashion. It gives us enough information to understand what’s happening without being told. But the second scene is excessive. It gives us multiple indirect hints that are good enough to get the point across, but then tells us straight out, regardless.
The second scene is an easy fix if you remove a few lines. What it lacks isn’t faithfulness but subtlety. If this show can cultivate that more often, it has the potential to be great on its own terms.
