#Imogen is such a lovely blend of contradictions. its great. also don't get me wrong she IS protective in a sense but I feel like she's

[sparring-spirals]

uh, would you mind sharing your thoughts on Imogen? Your analysis on how jester and vex represented the two different sides of the offense and defense coin was interesting and I was wondering what your thoughts on Imogen were? That is if you don’t mind people asking

The mentioned Jester/Vex meta here.

Oh boy, would I like to share my thoughts about Imogen :')

(You absolutely do not need to apologize; I love to ramble on about character analysis and I also really fucking love talking about Imogen, specifically.)

I didn't include her in the original post mostly because. Well. We really don't know her yet! 10, 11 episodes is so early in getting to know a char, vs both Jester and Vex who have a campaign and few years worth of growth and analysis and data points to reference. So before I say anything else, big fucking flashing disclaimer that: I know its early! Things are VERY subject to change. This is all speculation, I am likely wrong, etc.

That said.

On the sliding scale of offense/defense mentality that I have apparently built, I think Imogen is a fascinating blend of both, although she definitely inches more towards offense, especially under fire.

More specifically: She strikes me as someone who sets up all her baseline rules to play defense, except all her plans B-Z immediately go for the jugular.

Imogen, in theory, is the kind of person to play it safe. By default, she comes off as relatively nervous and trying to get by without rocking the boat, or hurting, inconveniencing, or offending others. Lies with exceptional ease if she needs to get out of trouble. She is constantly, actively maintaining a literal defense against the ongoing barrage of other peoples thoughts. So. Yeah. That's pretty defensive.

Except. When it’s not. Except Imogen flips to the offense on a dime. When things start looking dicey, or when she wants to know something, or she just ... Wants to. We see her get ravenously, rudely curious. We see her projecting into people's minds to pester and intimidate, we see her lie audaciously and convincingly without batting an eye, we see her casting calm emotions or causing a ruckus. We see her shooting fucking lightning, bombarding psychic attacks, etc.

The second-guessing? The caution? Gone, replaced with a kind of terrifying ruthlessness. Fast, effectively, and with essentially zero hesitation. She’ll open herself up for danger and backlash if it means she gets shit done.

Don’t get me wrong, Imogen has a killer self preservation instinct- and I mean that both metaphorically and literally. It is evidently just outweighed by a sense of ravenous curiosity or a particular objective.

Jester offers friendship and means it (as an offer and a threat). Vex charms you from an arms distance while she mentally calculates your worth (your value, your danger). Imogen will lie and ask for help and be harmless and a little lost until she very suddenly isn't, and you find out her mind was elsewhere the whole time- in yours, on the objective, on her friends.

In terms of protector, protection, protecting- I think Imogen acts protectively, but less as an ingrained quality and more in service of one goal or another. (And most of the time that goal is: protect self. Protect Laudna. etc. But when it isn’t, that’s when it gets interesting.)

Imogen is playing defense by default, until she very suddenly isn’t. And she’s a smooth enough liar that you might not recognize the shift until it’s too late. :D

#critical role #Imogen temult #character meta #c3 #imogen meta #my meta #Imogen is such a lovely blend of contradictions. its great. also don't get me wrong she IS protective in a sense but I feel like she's #goal oriented in a way that both vex/jester weren't exactly? ya girl has some tunnel vision when she has a goal. #and sometimes the goal is protecting herself/friends and sometimes its getting info or fighting for her life #or distracting a chef long enough to let her friends escape. HASHTAG: COMMIT. #sorry this got quite long I got very excited and cannot be succinct about imogen #spar speaks #ask away! #thanks for letting me ramble about imogen tbh always love an excuse to do that