Fjord thjoughts based on the events of Episode 22:
Having had a little more time to digest a healthy meal of delicious backstory, I have now amended my theory about some of the things that went down this ep.
Firstly, I’m pretty sure Fjord’s patron is Bane / The Strife Emperor, in case his interacting with Bane’s symbol wasn’t obvious, Bane also matches the key characteristic of the unblinking yellow eye in the Tal’dorei setting guide.
Secondly, I was wondering how Matt was going to fit this in with the Hexblade subclass, because officially, Fjord’s patron is the Hexblade - a sentient sword (and a malicious one at that). I do think that the Eye Fjord absorbed will likely function as an arcane focus - allowing him to sword and board essentially like a warcaster, possibly with some added bonus damage. Based on how the Hexblade subclass works (absorbing weapons to attune to them, essentially) and with added DM flavour, I think we can assume that Fjord also attuned with the Eye. Having it appear as part of his blade really solidified the cool direction I think Matt is taking this: fulfilling the subclass’s mechanical origins by having Fjord’s patron literally possessing his sword, making it a sentient weapon.
Thirdly, I’m currently on the fence as to how complicit Fjord was in actually entering into this pact (he’s been very hazy on the details), but I do think that he’s being actively corrupted by Bane’s influence - exemplified in things like his yellow eyes and his increasing flares of malicious intent, numerous times over the past few episodes where he has actively advocated for party members and NPCs to walk into harm’s way. If he wasn’t of an ‘evil’ alignment to start off with, he’s beginning to skew that way.
Finally, I hope Travis feels fucking lucky that he’s the only person thus far that no one has pulled an insight check on for his backstory, because I can feel Fjord lying through his filed teeth.