C3 E92 spoiler (I also posted just the image, no text/sound in a separate post) - This is my first time playing with adding sound and text. I considered animating it but I didn't have time (and I have other images I want to work on).
Critical Message
Image by LYuenger (me) - voice of Liam O'Brien on Critical Role
Orym after battle, sitting knees to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. In one hand is a glowing sending stone, in the left he's holding the right shoulder (with the double moon tattoo). He's looking up to the sky with a tear running down his cheek. Shield laying on the ground behind him, and both his swords strapped to his back..
a while back i saw a picture @mllekurtz took in the gardens of Villa Taranto and really wanted to do a little study of it. then inserting everyone's favorite wizards into the potential picture was suggested, so naturally i no longer had any other choice but to go through with it. it truly looked like a dreamy garden somewhere in Exandria and the wizards fit in too well 🤌
This Liam instagram takeover is truly a Wild Ride in all senses of the word. Have a snack, he says. No, good sir, with all due respect — YOU are the snack.
wait..... you are telling me a shadowgast shipper came up with the heartbreak prince headline??? THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL TURN ON EVENTS, thank you for your service to this fandom!
I’ve imagined two wizards for years and been a Liam fan since getting into CR early-C2. I only recently got the opportunity to start writing about them at my Adult Job. Liam was lovely both times we spoke. Willingham and Mercer are both awesome too.
And yes, Liam’s always been my heartbreak prince. Now I get to tell him that… on the news. I love my job! ✨
I wrote the original article on BI, so I of all people don’t want to be a killjoy because EVERYTHING in this post sounds like a dream to me — buuuuuut……..
Matt gave me two fairly vague lines about what threads they’re pulling at with no definitive indication of the size of Essek’s part in the season, and how soon we might see him. He also likely had wizards on the brain because I, a shadowgast shipper wearing an Essek shirt while speaking to him, asked a specific question about where Essek might be.
If any part of OP’s post ends up in the series proper, it will be a DREAM. But for now it’s guesswork and I don’t want the fandom to get their hopes up too high off some (arguably very tasty but still vague) hints.
OK, but I love that Essek might be appearing in the Mighty Nein series before he meets the Nein! It's not just me wanting More Essek (though I do) or wanting to see more of what was going on with his dealings with the Assembly (which I also do). I think this could be super fucking interesting from a narrative construction standpoint.
Because I cannot see how you can include Essek from early in the series and not make it clear to the audience that he's the Dynasty traitor loooong before the Nein find out. Essek having stolen the beacons will not be a surprise. It looks to me like the cast are swapping out surprise for a fuckton of suspense. (Suspense vs surprise was explained to me when I was studying narrative structure as 'surprise is when a bomb goes off that the audience didn't know was there. Suspense is when they see the bomb being placed and have to sit there begging the characters to realise it's there.' In this analogy, Essek is the bomb.)
When we watched C2, the question was is Essek the traitor? In the M9 show, the question for new watchers will be when will the Nein realise that Essek is the traitor? When Essek meets the Nein, the countdown starts ticking; people will know that he is a danger. He is manipulating them. He is going to hurt them. Will the Nein realise before it's too late? But then Essek starts really befriending them, showing more of his loneliness and vulnerability, and... I think the mood will shift. Oh, shit, he really cares about them, doesn't he? What will the Nein do if they find out? Do I even want them to find out? What if they reject him and it makes him worse? He can't keep this up much longer, this is unbearable, they're going to find out - OH FUCK THEY'RE FINDING OUT -
It's such a fascinating choice and I think it goes to show that adaptation is an art form in itself! The actual events in the world will be the same, or at least very similar, but a new format means you can show those events in a totally new way and create a completely different tone! Narrative structure is the fucking coolest! I'm so excited for this show!
You’re truly doing the gods work with all these CR articles and Essek questions, cannot thank you enough for your service to this fandom \o/
Thank you! Believe me when I say that as a longtime critter, this is my pleasure.
If people want to support the work I and other journalists do in the fandom space, the best way to do it is by reading and sharing our articles! I appreciate every reader.
Just a reminder to my 25+ year old critters on here, I have a discord server just for us!! It has DnD games, weekly watch parties and so much more. Comment or message me for an invite!!
I have the privilege of being on the GMT+8 timezone, the only known benefit of being a critter all the way out in Asia. It costs a kidney to get merch shipped here, we don’t get live show access, convention visits are impossible, but hey at least we’ve got *reasonable daylight watching hours*…..
As someone who works 8/9 hours from monday to friday, I'm genuinely curious about how y'all handle the (ever increasing) long episodes and how/when you choose to watch them.