#also Brennan absolutely SLAUGHTERED me with that 'Why do we tell stories?'

[djpaige]

I mean it was just SUCH. A PERSPECTIVE SHIFT!!! It was-- UGH.

Like, you're watching episode 1 of Calamity, and you open with "Fire." Just that reminder that THIS IS GOING TO BE A DARK STORY. You know this, this is what you're signing up for! These characters are awful! They're all lying about various stuff! They have these ambitions and secrets and lies that will lead them all to RUIN. And you're watching this story unfold, and it's so tense because you KNOW that the Calamity happens. It's already heartbreaking because it's not so much that you know they *can't* stop it, but because you know they *don't*! It's in the lore! It's in the timeline! The Calamity is a thing that happens! TWO THIRDS of the population dies!!! TWO THIRDS!!!

You spend three episodes wondering how the Ring of Brass will mess everything up so bad that the world gets as bad as it can possibly get. Two thirds of the population! Dead!

And then in that fourth episode, Brennan flips that shit on its head. Because he brings in a worse tragedy. One where EVERYONE dies. No one makes it out of Exandria. Complete and total annihilation. And then gently introduces the idea of... what if you could save some of them?

That last fight had characters with HP in the single digits, no spells left, and it was unwinnable if the goal was to win the fight. But the goal changed and became to just survive long enough. You know they can't all survive this. But you sure as shit can hope that they can last those crucial 18 seconds. Just enough to make the difference between losing everyone, and not losing everyone.

It became a story not of how they lost two thirds of the population, but about how they saved one third. And it was an absolute master class in how to use tragedy to tell a story of hope.

#critical role #cr #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #exu calamity spoilers #exandria unlimited spoilers #how do we even tag things anymore. I forget how to use this website for fandom things. #I eat this shit UP I'm realizing #stories like Lord of the Rings and like Rogue One where everything goes to absolute hell #and these characters cling to SHREDS of hope when things are as bad as they can get #and they push just one step further #and one step after that #also Brennan absolutely SLAUGHTERED me with that 'Why do we tell stories?' #I was like 'BRENNAN. FUCK YOU. NO. You put that shit back on the table! Do not take this story above table! I WILL cry and that is a threat