One of the big themes with the Seekers is loss and grief and ways people deal with it, and with three out of four characters at the table itâs a pretty obvious thing â the odd one out being Thaisha, because when we see her lose people she cares about, we also see her get them back: sheâs the one who calls Occtis back from the Path, and then we learn that sheâd nearly lost Alogar when he was a child, but was able to save him in time. I do think sheâs grieving, but I think her grief is for the world of Araman as a whole, and sheâs actively working on making it better and restoring it at least somewhat, so thereâs also that.
The Alogar situation makes things kind of strange for me, because it is equated in the narrative to Vaelus and her vision of her sisterâs death, and those donât exactly feel equal, to me.
Now donât get me wrong, loss is loss, sure, but there is a difference between feeling it for a brief moment, no matter how terrible, and living with it. One passes, the other is final. This kind of makes Thaisha an outlier, a little, compared to the rest of the Seekers: we have Occtis dealing with his loss of life and humanity, Julien grieving by way of revenge and Vaelusâs whole thing is that sheâs in perpetual mourning for her Shaper and her loved ones; this also makes Thaishaâs attitude towards Vaelusâs desire to bring back her family and her god seem a bit hypocritical, because, well, weâve kind of watched her do just that with people she cares about, and sheâd later kind of stood by her choices when other druids questioned her. I think Thaishaâs main issue at that moment was with the idea of bringing back Sylandri, and, objectively, it would set a bad precident and isnât a good idea, but Vaelus also hadnât started with Sylandri, her first thought was her family, so youâd think a woman whose first act of magic as a druid was to bring her son from the brink of death would be more understanding, but I also kind of get how an existential threat on the level of the Shapersâ return would leave little room for compassion. You know. For obvious reasons. Agruably though, itâs also not the same. Alogar likely hadnât even actualy died, because Spare the Dying doesnât bring people to life, and giving Vaelus hope when thereâs no way of knowing if true ressurection is even possible to achieve might end up hurting her more in the long run, because sheâs already not willing to let go of the past.
Thaisha is a woman with a metal spine, and it kind of shows in her character. Her will is incredibly strong. She does not settle for the hand sheâs dealt in life, and she does what she can to change it. Her goal is literally to heal the world, and sheâs sacrificed, at the very least, seeing her kids grow up â all for a chance to give them, and everyone else, a better world to live in. It is a noble goal, but itâs also a pretty vague one compared, say, to Julienâs revenge quest. Revenge stories are effective and follow a pretty clear structure, and theyâre pretty easy to show-not-tell because you have an external conflict for the protagonist to deal with that would relate to and showcase their internal conflict as well. Thaishaâs character arc is as it is so far is likely to be pretty introspective, because we already have her conflicted between whatâs right to do as a druid and as a person, and itâs likely to be explored more in the future. There isnât really a personified, defined antagonist for her, because sheâs kind of fighting against the corruption of Araman in itself, and itâs, obviously, not a person you can kick off a bridge or put a name and a face to, so this is going to get all sorts of complicated and metaphysical, and thatâs a likely reason for her character to get misunderstood and misinterpreted.
But, like. Sheâs pretty awesome, and I kind of love that so far a major theme for her character has been thwarting death. In a group of people touched, maybe even consumed, by death and grief and loss, her unapologetic lifeforce in the face of a dying world is really cool. Like, maybe itâs not about death, itâs about rebirth? So where Occtis is dealing with the consequences of his (failed) monstrous rebirth, Thaisha is all about giving the world a chance to be reborn into something beautiful and free. As opposed to Vaelus, who is reluctant to let go of the old world, and Julien, who repays destruction with more destruction.
