#and once laudna died it was like a part of imogen died with her

[lessthanimpressedlesbian]

I still marvel at the fact that Imogen was even more afraid of sleeping after Laudna died, on the off chance she'd see her walking into the storm. The same storm that she was so scared of that she thought she'd die if it ever caught up to her. The thought of Laudna disappearing into the storm was more terrifying than the storm itself, and I think it makes perfect sense why she would call on Ruidus to help free Laudna from Delilah's grasp. How could calling on the cursed moon possibly compare to the fear of losing Laudna for good? Imogen would do anything to get Laudna back, even if it means harming herself in the process. Even if it means pulling power from the very entity that plagues her dreams and gave her powers she never asked for. She would do anything to bring Laudna back, and she did.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #cr spoilers #imogen temult #laudna #imodna #i just love them #she was so terrified at the beginning of the campaign #shes always been a little scared of her own power #but losing laudna was something she never thought she'd have to live through #and once laudna died it was like a part of imogen died with her #she had nothing left to lose #it was much easier to lean into her powers than to sit in fear waiting for laudna to walk into the storm and be gone forever #it was never a question how far imogen would go to save laudna #and i think that speaks volumes to her love for her #god i need a love confession soon or im gonna combust #these witches be gay #and my heart cant take it

[soaring-trash]

Here's an insane amount of little things i thought up about imodna :}

Imogen’s first attempts at crocheting where socks that Laudna now religously wears to sleep, they’re on the verge of falling appart but she loves them.

Laudna leaves an ichor stain on every mug she drinks from.

Imogen got spooked once and accidentally electrocuted a wooden mug.

Imogen loves laudna’s neck and unreasonably large amount because it shows that she loves every part of her.

Pâté likes to hang out in Imogen’s scarf like its a baby swaddle.

Imogen likes listening to Laudna’s heart beat, she’s traumatized from when her bbg died so she finds it very calming.

Laudna still sleeps with her eyes open sometimes.

the hound makes biscuits.(Pâté tries too)

Laudna made Imogen an earring like the ring imogen gave her.

imogen holds the blood necklace when she misses Laudna.

#theyre so cute #theyre so silly #theyre gay your honor #theyre in love your honor #I plead my case #critical role #critters #critical role campaign 3 #bells hells #critical role fanart #fanart #laudna #imogen temult #imodna #imogen x laudna #hound of ill omen #pâté de rolo #Pâté #domestic fluff #mugs #socks

[utilitycaster]

Assuming Laudna will open up to Imogen about killing Bor’dor/Delilah possibly still lingering, I wonder if it will cause friction between them. I don’t know why it would but maybe I just want drama between them to make them interesting to me lol. Anyway, It is gonna be interesting to see how the bells interacts after this cause they all have had some growth and regression. You know what I mean? 

So I agree that the reunion is going to be really interesting. While I actually think the parties are on roughly the same page (though Imogen and Laudna might not be; Imogen is still kind of a lone holdout on "but what if I don't care about the gods") they did have wildly different experiences, and I do love drama.

Here's my opinion: I don't actually think Team Issylra regressed. I think there's a very common false equivalence of violence=regression that pops up in the fandom, and I think it's 100% wrong given the setting and genre conventions.

I'm reminded actually of a lot of discussion about the Ted Lasso finale a few weeks ago - there's a good post here, the gist of which is that sometimes a part of recovery is looking less happy. Laudna's entire deal is that she compartmentalizes and suppresses and tells herself it's all uphill from here. Orym has heard multiple people - people who like him, even, who'd consider him a friend or ally - openly say the group that murdered his husband and father-in-law who was basically a father to him and who used his leader (whom he's sworn to protect and who said husband and father-in-law died protecting) as nothing more than bait might have some good points, and he's mostly kept quiet. Even Ashton, who has been in somewhat better shape this arc, believed himself to be undeserving of anything good.

So yeah, Laudna might possibly have reawakened Delilah, but she's actually letting herself experience some emotions and talk about them. It's a pretty major step forward that she's spent so much time admitting to anger and fear, and her feelings about betrayal, and crying on Ashton's shoulder instead of constantly pretending everything is totally fine so that she can be the shoulder to Imogen. Orym's moment with the locket is not, to me, an act of cruelty. It's him saying "why do I keep trying to understand and sparing the feelings of people who never once gave me that grace, and who will use me or murder me without a second thought?" And while Ashton isn't immediately running to Hishari right now because, understandably, they are prioritizing the reunion and stopping the Vanguard, their moment about realizing this is anger and the past was self-pity feels like a breakthrough. He's confronting that past (speaking of false equivalences, there's a similarly common one of "choosing to go along with the main party-wide plot instead of one's own specific hooks=avoidance") and is letting himself whole-heartedly support the party after spending years refusing to have friends because friends leave.

Team Issylra is in the messy part of growth, but they've grown immensely, and that's actually the biggest thing I want to see Team Wildemount respond to.

#answered #Anonymous #critical role #critical role spoilers #bells hells

[tangent101]

Small thought on Laudna's leveling up...

It was most curious in the past to see Marisha choose a roleplaying reason to choose Warlock due to Delilah's increased influence over Laudna compared to her latest leveling up... but I honestly think there is a legitimate reason why Laudna leaned more on her Sorcerer side in leveling up this time. And that's due to the harsh truth that Imogen stated at Nana Morri's Truth-Telling Session.

Let's think about that for a moment. Marisha chose to have Delilah's influence impact Laudna's leveling up at level 7. Laudna had broken Imogen's rock, her relationship with Imogen was strained, and when FCG went berserk Laudna used a new power to almost kill FCG. She was at her nadir.

Now, there was a lot of heavy stuff that went down leading up to this leveling up. We had the "betrayal" of Ashton and Fearne... but Laudna resisted Delilah's command to take the Shard of Rau'shan. She resisted more than once. And when Delilah was encouraging Laudna to seek vengeance, Laudna turned it into "Ashton is a child and I don't hurt children." For all that Laudna has been talking about embracing and using Delilah, she has also been avoiding doing the things Delilah has demanded.

The kicker though... is Imogen. Because Imogen accepted Laudna, she loves her, even though Laudna used Delilah's dread little "gift" to devour Bor'Dor's life essence. And this honestly... Laudna needed to hear this, to hear she is worth loving. But she also needed to understand that while Imogen loves Laudna... that she might accept the things Laudna does... she is not going to be happy about Delilah.

Imogen is very much the first person that Laudna has been in love with, at least since she died and came back. This allowed Laudna to embrace a part of herself that... well, that she never had a chance to indulge in while growing up in Whitethrone. She's got to have sex! (Sure, we've not seen Laura and Marisha state in-game that they are going off and fooling around, but the general impression when they chatted during 4-Sided Dive is that they're having a physical relationship (and "enhancing" it with magic). ^^;;

This brings us back to the Truth Telling Session... when Imogen admitted that she is repulsed at the thought of Delilah watching them being intimate. She doesn't want Delilah to get off watching them as her own personal pr0n service. She wants to get Delilah out of Laudna's head, to free Laudna. That is her big desire.

That was the big bucket of ice cold water on the next leveling of Warlock. Her "enabler" (Imogen) has stated she does not like Delilah being a part of their relationship. In doing so... Laudna has taken a step back, for the moment. Thus Laudna going with a level of Sorcerer and Marisha stating that "there's not much left for me as a warlock." It's going to take a bit for Laudna to end up embracing Warlock again... possibly Imogen dying or being subverted and working to free Predathos. And honestly? I think Imogen's story works better if she is not corrupted. She's not her mother.

#critical role spoilers #critical role speculation #critical role meta #laudna #imogen temult #southern gothic #imodna #delilah briarwood #critical role

[pennamenotfound]

I feel like one of the reasons that the Bells Hells are so interesting and compelling to me is that they’re all so angry. Anger is so interesting to me because of its volatility. The way it can, more than any other emotion, be twisted. Think of how much more volatile Percy was in campaign one because of his revenge boner than Caleb in campaign two with his deepset guilt and grief.  

And like, sure, we had anger before in the other campaigns.

Like Percy was super angry obviously, and Vex had her rage, and Scanlan had his moment (what’s my mother’s name) in Campaign one, and you could probably pull moments for the rest of Vox Machina. Grog’s a barbarian, he rages all the time. Plus with his herd. Okay, sure. Vax certainly had his moments. Keyleth at Raishan. (I don’t think Pike realy had any real anger moments in her arc.) But their stories don’t rely on their anger as much as Percy and Vex, and not nearly as much as Bells Hells. 

In the Mighty Nein, there’s Beau who is super angry at the world, justifiably so, but the rest of the party not so much. Caleb and Yasha are guilt and grief. Cad’s faith. Jester definitely had her problems with emotion, but anger wasn’t really part of it so much as learning to let herself feel something other than happy. Fjord’s journey to Melora was much more about introspection, Veth’s journey back to herself was certainly emotionally taxing for her, but it’s back to greif and loss for her. Kingsley is all about discovery, and Essek was about finding friendship. 

But Bells Hells. They’re all so angry. With maybe the exception of Chetney, but he’s also a werewolf which is its own sort of instability. 

Ashton’s a given---Tal’s so good at anger in his characters. Perfect punk, angry at the world, angry at their situation. *chef’s kiss* perfect barbarian

Imogen has such rage bubbling. “We’re gonna sunder you, Delilah Briarwood” for one, but also, with her mother. With her powers. 

Fearne with her parents. The way she was discovering her anger had so much potential, and I really wanted to see her actually throw some fireballs or something.

Orym. I saw the look on Liam’s face when he had that insight check whisper from Tuldus. Dude, Otohan and the Ruby Vanguard killed his husband and his dad (I know, father in law, but Orym says dad.) He’s the nice one, he’s said it before himself, but... under the surface, i think he’s got some rage in him. 

FCG. Oh, FCG, with their unpredictable rage mode. Trying so desperately to be the caretaker when they don’t even know what they are. The professor in Yios gave him a lot of good information, but there’s a lot they don’t know. 

For me, with FCG and Orym both, it’s a lot of aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you want to go apeshit?

And then Laudna. Laudna, with the most to be angry about. She was murdered by the Briarwoods, and spent the next thirty years with her murderer in her head. Looking like a corpse. Not knowing if she was dead or alive. Being chased out of towns all over Tal’Dorei until she ran all the way to Marquet. No friends, even before she died, before Imogen. And she’s really the most interesting to me. Because we don’t see a lot of rage with her. Even with Percy in Whitestone, it’s forgiveness. It’s understanding. The only time I remember in the campaign her really being angry was when FCG turned on the party that time, and that was related to Delilah’s manipulations. 

Orym said once something like she had the worst thing out of all of them happen, and yet she’s the happiest, and how is that? And she goes, well, because the worst thing that’s happened to me already happened. 

And it’s so interesting to me because we could, in another universe, have another Ashton in Laudna. Because, really, very similar things happened to them. Both died. Both put back together not quite right, not quite in control of their situation. Feared, even. 

But she’s so loving, caring, and not wrathful, and honestly, I’d kind of love to see some anger from her. And I think we might see it if Imogen gets hurt.

Anyway i’m unhinged about bells hells. I love vox machina and mighty nein but I’ve connected most to bells hells because I’ve been watching CR since CR3 started, and I love my angy bois. 

#bells hells #critical role #cr3 #critrole #vox machina #mighty nein #chetney pock o'pea #imogen temult #ashton greymoore #fearne calloway #orym #fcg #laudna

[adustbaginturmoil]

I adore how every member of Bell’s Hells can be described as monstrous in appearance, they truly are hellish.

Laudna and her form of dread. A tall, spindly, and unnaturally flexible and twisted body, adorned with either a mantle of branches, or a mourning veil dependent on how much she lets the dark necromancer inside of her take control.

Chetney and his grisly transformations. Losing control in both the bright, and red moons alike, skin ripping replaced by fur, and strangely stretched bones twisting until they form something far more animal than human.

Imogen and her scars. Although ever present, the unnatural light brightest when she casts magic, and her loss of control results in mass destruction. A rising figure barely contained by flesh, ripping reality, with eyes and scars aglow. Red and purple.

Fearne and her fey monstrosity. When she’s in the fey wilde, her pupils stretch themselves into goat-like rectangles, and she gets ever-so furrier, hair longer, and scragglier, sharper edges than before. And in case you ever forget about her form there, she has a claw like hand to curl around your throat to remind you while you're encased in her flame.

Ashton and his head. A hole in a person’s head allowing you to see through their skull, and skin decorated with gold, showing you the lines where their body fell apart. When they prepare to attack, through the glass shines various lights indicating precisely how they will decimate you. What’s worse, they were soft once. Can you imagine the slow spread of stone over flesh? Inhuman.

FCG and their eyes. When a switch is flipped, his eyes go from a nice, pleasant blue, to a murderous red. An amicable personality turned sour. The scariest part? It’s a design feature; not bug.

Throughout this post, you were likely wondering about Orym, who’s kinda just a guy. A halfling man with a history of loss, attempting to do good.

But we’ve all heard the poem, haven’t we?

“Demons run when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war.“

#bells hells #bells hells meta #cr3 #marquet campaign #critical role #CR #FCG #fcg critical role #ashton greymoore #fearne calloway #Chetney Pock O'Pea #cr fresh cut grass #laudna cr #cr laudna #Imogen temult #critical role campaign 3 #campaign 3 #orym of the air ashari #cr orym #orym cr

[mintywolf]

So okay here are the notes on my overly-intricate, still-unwritten CR Daemon AU

The catalyst was mainly me thinking about how absolutely unsettling Pâté would be in a universe where everyone has talking animal companions that are an extension of their soul. Matilda lost hers (a rat named Patter), so the major part of everyone’s fear and distrust of her is not that she looks off, but an instinctive, soul-deep dread and disgust because she has no daemon.* So, to blend in better and to alleviate her own crushing loneliness, Laudna (who has renamed herself because she doesn’t feel like the same person anymore without him) started carrying around a dead rat and pretending he talks. :(

(*apparently.)

And Imogen is the first person in a very long time to regard her with compassion rather than horror. She’s still weirded out by her lack of daemon but once she finds out how she lost him she’s very upset and angry on her behalf. Her daemon (a tressym) is more sympathetic than she is at first and wants to approach and comfort her because she’s so distressed that Laudna doesn’t have a daemon, about which Imogen is initially a little jealous, but once it sinks in for her how absolutely lonely she’s been and for how long (and maybe after they’ve gotten to know each other a little better unless this is like, how they came to understand each other’s soul so well) Imogen’s daemon voluntarily breaks the taboo by letting Laudna touch her. (Out of politeness she also gives Pâté a little nose boop but he kind of freaks her out.)

Now originally this was just going to be a sweet little oneshot about Imogen and her daemon finding a daemon-less weirdo in her garden shed and showing her the first kindness she’s seen in 30 years but I am just incapable of NOT getting overly involved in the Briarwoods backstory, haha.

Sooo back in Vox Machina era Ripley, under the Briarwoods, was doing experiments on Dust and daemons and discovered that the burst of energy released by severing someone from their daemon could be used to open a temporary gate into another world. They pointed her research in that direction, intending to use that power to draw the Whispered One into Exandria. Meanwhile Delilah, intrigued by the severing, started doing experiments of her own on unsuspecting castle staff and citizens of Whitestone. The subjects that didn’t die immediately without their daemons became obedient, soulless thralls that were easy to command, if short-lived (so this is this universe’s equivalent of necromancy) but it wasn’t quite what she was looking for. She wanted to become immortal by separating her daemon (a wolf* ) from herself so that it could travel far distances from her and persist after her death to attach itself to a new vessel. (*originally I had Delilah’s daemon as a pine marten because despite having read the books numerous times I always forget that Pan doesn’t settle as an ermine, he ends up a pine marten too. I chose it because they are elegant and auburn and devious and apparently have a pleasant scent. But it’s kind of a rare animal in fiction so I didn’t want to copy the book that closely even in an au based on it. A wolf is kind of a too-generic animal for her but there’s a reason it’s a wolf.) So poor Matilda and the others were invited to the castle “for study,” which led her to believe that Delilah had taken an interest in her magical abilities and was going to become her tutor but alas. :( The other six and their daemons in the study died outright and though Matilda survived the severing, Patter died shortly afterwards, so Delilah, getting impatient because of the approach of VM, considered her a failed attempt and abandoned her, not realizing that Matilda’s own magic had caused her Dust to cling to her and retained some scraps of her personality and agency so she was more than an empty husk like the other thralls.

Making some final adjustments, she tried it again on Cassandra de Rolo, and this time it worked. Cass was severed from her daemon, which survived, leaving Cass under Delilah’s control while she had her daemon imprisoned. Finally she performed the severing on herself, but her magic and its resentment at being parted from her caused her own daemon to become corrupted by the ritual. (So idk maybe it even started out as a pine marten but ended up . . . that. Vax’s daemon started out as a snake but changed into a raven when he became the Matron’s champion and Percy’s daemon was mutated by Orthax so settled daemons being forced into a new shape under extreme duress is possible in this au. I kind of like the wolf —> Hound of Ill Omen foreshadowing though.) Meanwhile VM were on their way. Percy knew that Ripley was doing some kind of nefarious Science under the Briarwoods but they didn’t know exactly what yet. Then they were suddenly attacked by an extremely messed up looking wolf, which took back Delilah’s stolen grimoire and escaped and they were all like wtfffff because they’d never seen a daemon without a person nearby before and it’s extremely unsettling. Especially one that looks like THAT. So they knew something bad was going on in Whitestone even before they got there and saw all the daemon-less people shambling around pathetically. So even though the plan to open a gate for the Whispered One was foiled (temporarily) by VM, her other experiment worked — she was able to send her daemon far away from herself before she was killed and it moved on to her clones, prolonging her life for another year. After Vox Machina finally burned through all of those as well it went off in search of a new vessel and eventually found Laudna but, unable to bond with her like a regular daemon, it forced its way in. So her Hound of Ill Omen is Delilah’s old daemon, gnawing at her ribs, resentful of Delilah for separating them but resentful of her for not being Delilah, whispering promises of power if she will just accept it as her own.

#continuing from a discord discussion and putting it here so it's easier to find

[cassafrasscr]

Here's the thing... I don't feel particularly good about Fearne taking the shard.

Like, Ashley seems happy and excited about Fearne's new form and powers, and I am glad about that.

I really just can't shake the feeling that Fearne was ultimately pressured into taking the shard. They should have taken more time to discuss it and actually listened to Fearne's reasons for not wanting it. Chetney was the only one who asked her about it, and he still tried to persuade her to change her mind.

Laudna and Imogen didn't ask at all, only talked about how disappointed they were that she was hesitant to take the shard's power. I know they're leaning into the whole 'embracing their darkness and power' thing, but they of all people should be most sympathetic about Fearne being afraid of how doing that could change her for the worse.

I think at least part of this is the disconnect between IRL time and in-game time. Above-table, it's been over a month since Ashton’s failed attempt to take the shard. In-game, it's been no more than 2 days. It's only been a few hours since Fearne found out the truth about who her real father is. Most of that time has been spent on the team-building scavenger hunt. There hasn't actually been time to properly process all that.

There's also the issue of Fearne's bodily autonomy to consider. For any character, taking the shard would mean accepting permanent changes to both their physical body and their powers. Ashton didn't even get to keep the Shard of Rau'shan, and look what it did to him! He lost an arm; grew a new, completely different one; and very nearly died permanently. Putting that much pressure on Fearne to accept that level of risk and self-alteration when she'd already said no is not good friend behaviour.

I would be fine with Fearne taking the shard if (instead of everyone just continuously insisting she should take it) they had respected her initial decision and let her gain the confidence to change her mind on her own.

I also would also have liked to see Fearne learning to stand up for herself and her decisions as part of her 'embracing your power' character arc. Drawing boundaries with your friends and actually enforcing them is really hard, but it’s also necessary for building healthy relationships.

Trusting Fearne's judgement on what's best for her and respecting her decisions would have been better for rebuilding the broken relationships between Bell's Hells. As it is, I don't know how much is actually going to change between them after this retreat.

Not to mention how some of them - mainly Imogen and Laudna - have kind of been trying to force something to happen between Fearne and Ashton. Like, I make no secret of being an Ashrym shipper, but I wouldn’t be comfortable with it even if I did ship Callowmoore. Like I already said, it's been 2 days max since Ashton exploded. That experience really rattled their relationship and it'll take more time and work to rebuild. If Callowmoore is going to happen, let it happen naturally.

I'm glad Allura took the time to remind them that, while the moon mission is urgent, it is still just a recon mission. Once they gather and hand off the information, they'll have more time again to step back and take a breather, and potentially decide not to involve themselves any further if they don’t want to.

(Obviously they're not gonna ditch and leave the Ruby Vanguard to VM and the M9 to deal with - they're all too invested in the outcome to back out, and it's the central plot of C3. But knowing they have the option, and that they'll have some time to make that final decision is, I think, important for their character arcs going forward.)

I dunno. Maybe it's a hot take, but it just kinda leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth.

#critical role spoilers #critical role #cr3 #cr3 e80 #fearne calloway #bell's hells #meta #long post #hot take

[pixelmator5]

Laudna’s Lack of Control

You know what, why the heck not, part 1 of 6 of a may or may not be finished group of posts about CR3 EP63 and its effects on the 6 PCs (yes including the one that died.)

Laudna’s been through a lot, and that’s putting it lightly. All her life, she has experienced a lack of control. When she was young, no one viewed her like an actual person, no one around her at least. We see and hear about how a boy her age when she was young attempted to lure her into a sense of security before throwing dirt in her face. He was likely not the only one who did this. When she was young, she had no control over the social life, or the way the rest of the townspeople of Whitestone viewed her.

Then the Briarwoods came. Whether the townspeople knew how they did it or not, they took the place of the previous leaders of the once peaceful city. Once again, Laudna, at that time Matilda, was forced to watch as her home gradually declined under the Briarwoods rule, unable to do a thing to stop it. She had natural magical capabilities, but even they wouldn’t help in this situation.

Eventually Whitestone was in such disrepair that nothing could be done. Matilda begged her parents to leave the city, but without to funds or anywhere to stay once they left, the group of three were left to rot in the dying town. Once again she had a total lack of control. Until a letter came. The Briarwoods had invited her family to dinner. Finally, a way for her to take control of something. She had hoped that they would take an interest in her innate magical abilities, teach her how to use them, make her stronger! She’d finally have control over something in her life!

That was 30 years ago.

She died that day, at that dinner. She was skeptical about going in the first place, but her parents had talked her into it. Practically forced her. Once again, she suffered from her lack of control.

When she awoke hanging from the tree she thought it was the gods giving her a second chance, a way for her finish the life the Briarwoods had cut short. But her body was changed. Her skin was cold to the touch, her eyes constantly seemed to be bulging from her head. Her bones dislocated easier, her hair fell out in clumps, it was as if she was still dead. Then the voices started. Well, voice, Delilah Briarwood was in her head, but Matilda, if that was even still her name at this point didn’t want that. Control. The thing she still lacked.

Eventually, she met Imogen, she helped, she understood what it was like, being ostracized, not having control of what people think of you or the control over your own power, and eventually, they met Bell’s Hells, a ragtag group of nobodies banded together with little to no common ground between them. But she liked them, and together with Imogen they decided to stay.

Delilah’s has been living in the woman now named Laudna’s head for 30 years now. Advising her, empowering her, controlling her. Laudna knew she had to get rid of her. She didn’t want her there. But this came to a front when something happened. Delilah took complete control, took something, shattered something, she caused Laudna to betray Imogen. Laudna’s tether, Laudna’s friend, the one who wasn’t afraid of her. She took Laudna’s feeling of safety, to control she had in this small part of the world.

When Laudna died she became a prisoner to Delilah in her own personal hell. Fitting that the one who originally took her life tormented her in her afterlife, reminding her of all the things that had happened prior to her original death. When the Hells came to rescue her, Laudna was happy, she knew she would be safe. When Imogen told her to fight back, Laudna said she couldn’t. That it was up to Imogen and the hells. She relinquished control, she left it all up to the others, knowing they would help her. This was the only time where she was fine without the control being held in her hands.

When Laudna awoke next she was in Whitestone, seemingly Delilah free. At least that’s what the gnomish woman told her. Releasing control finally did something good, at least this time. So she continued travelling with the group. They uncovered secrets, revealed a conspiracy... they were separated. She thought she was doing something good, ignoring the speech and continuing to try and damage the Malleus Key, but it didn’t work, and control was stripped from her once again as she was teleported halfway across the world with no way to get back, once again separated from Imogen.

When the party met Bor’Dor after the split she thought it was great, another person like her and Imogen with seemingly no control over their magic or what has happened in their life. But eventually, things started to seep through the cracks. It started with the guards at the temple, it almost seemed like he knew what he was doing. But surely that was just Laudna’s imagination, he was on their side afterall, he had no reason to lie, right? She offered to help teach him how to use his magic, help him control it, like she had learned to do... but it was all a lie. Well, maybe not all of it, but enough of it... and he tried to kill them.

Laudna was distraught, she was sure he was telling the truth, but he betrayed her, he took what little control she had around her and he took it himself, manipulating it to his own will and she just could not handle being manipluated again. Manipulated by someone she trusted just like she was manipulated by Delilah, and losing her sense of control all over again...

And there it was, there was her chance. Deni$e had restrained him, he was so easy to get to, she could take her control back from him... and she did. With the same low heartbeat that was there when she took the gnarlrock from Imogen and broke it in her grasp... she had her control if only for that brief moment where she and she alone got to decide if he lived or died... but what will be the cost?

Laudna until this point had never been able to control anything in her life. How others perceived her, the trauma she’s had to go through. Her death, and rebirth. Delilah forcing her way into Laudna’s mind. Nothing, until she had complete and total control over someone who until recently had his own form of control over the others, and she takes it 

#critical role #critical role campaign 3 #critical role spoilers #critical role c3 #laudna #delilah briarwood #matilda bradbury #cr3 ep63 #well this definitely came out more like a summary than an actual analysis but I feel like it gets the point across #hope you liked this one #may or may not continue working my way (working my way!) through the group #see you maybe next time

[conceptstage]

"How do you know if someone still loves you after they get angry with you?"

Ashton looked up from their food reluctantly. They had buried their face in their meal in the hopes that the Taste of Tal'dorei entertainers (each dressed in a low budget chromatic dragon onesie and cardboard mask) would choose a different victim. That was also the reason they'd chosen to sit next to Laudna, her pathetic pouting was terrifying and no one else was coming within annoying distance of her.

"This about whatever weirdo bullshit is going on between you and Imogen?" She wrung her hands nervously, looking down in her lap with her dark hair obscuring her face, and nodded. "Did you mess up?" Another nod. "Well you must be really goddamn desperate to come to me for friendship advice."

Laudna cleared her throat. "She is upset with me. She hasn't spoken to me since."

Ashton hummed thoughtfully and shoveled more food in his mouth. "Good. That's a good sign."

She looked up at him then, her eyes staring much farther into his soul even than usual. "Good? How can it be good?"

Ashton shrugged. "People don't bother getting upset at people they don't care about. You gotta let her work through it on her own and she'll come to you when she's ready."

Laudna seemed skeptical and pushed her food, uneaten, around on her plate like she was just looking for something, anything, to do with her idle hands but rub them together. "But… I miss her."

He hesitated. This certainly wasn’t his area of expertise, but Laudna of all people feeling pessimistic unsettled something deep inside him that he thought he’d long buried. "She misses you too. And once the 'missing you' part is bigger than the 'upset with you' part, she'll find her own back."

"I just want to do right by her. She's the only person that has cared for me since the day I died, I just want to make her happy."

They paused for a moment, then sat a hand on her arm resting on the table. "And I know she knows that. Just don't push when she pulls away, let her come to you." They pat her arm, her skin cold to the touch, awkwardly and pulled back. "And by the way, you dreary fuck, she's not the only person who cares about you." They gestured to The Hells at the table across the way, all chatting and laughing. Imogen herself was wearing a cheap ribbon wig attached to a wooden tiara, meant for children, to cover her bald head and was grinning at something Dusk was saying to her. "You're a woman with options now." Orym glanced over at them, quickly assessed that some feelings talk was going on, and smiled slightly when Ashton sneered at him before turning away to give them privacy.

Somehow Laudna's spindly shoulders hunched even further but she nodded once more. "Thank you, Ashton."

He shrugged. "So long as you keep the fucker with the dick lightning away when he makes his rounds again you're welcome to my bad advice anytime." For the first time in hours, Laudna cracked a smile.

#critical role #laudna #ashton greymoore #imodna #imogen x laudna #critical role fic #For some reason the potential friendship between Laudna and Ashton fascinates me #I can't wait to see where it goes

[stickandthorn]

Laudna as a character was such a good metaphor for the effects of trauma, especially childhood trauma, and I wish I’d thought about this sooner. (This is very long, so rambling under the cut)

Trauma is oftentimes the source of a character’s strength/power/story in media. This isn’t a bad thing, I’d say, because dramatic, and therefore often traumatic events, make good stories. I don’t disagree with that, or think it should change.

But it’s not a trope that’s reflective of life. Trauma doesn’t give you any sort of strength or superpower. It usually sets you back emotionally and developmentally, and causes debilitating issues potentially for your whole life, especially if it happened while you’re young. It can be overcome to an extent, a very great extent sometimes, but it is something you have to overcome.

Once again, at any time, but especially when you’re young, your energy was so focused on dealing with this ongoing trauma that you didn’t have time for the developments and experiences peers without that roadblock had. Oftentimes, your self discovery and development doesn’t happen till much later in life because of the presence of that trauma.

I feel like Laudna is such a good example of this, both literally, and more in abstract. Delilah is a very literal and very good metaphor for the presence of trauma in your life. It haunts her, it makes her do things she doesn’t want to do, it tells her things to manipulate her, it hurts her relationships with the people she loves.

Take the gnarlrock: Delilah shattering the gnarlorck despite what Laudna wanted, and that hurting their relationship for a time, feels like such a good metaphor for when issues caused by your trauma, whatever they may be, affect your relationships. It wasn’t Laudna’s fault, but at the same time, Imogen was right to feel hurt. Same with melting FCG. Delilah taking over feels just like when you lash out at friends because of trauma, and then later regret it.    Laudna’s personality also felt so true to what it’s like to have that kind of trauma. Developmentally speaking, she was very behind her peers (remember, she’s around 60). She grew up reasonably isolated in a small town, died when she was very young, and then was a social pariah living in the woods alone for years. She feels like she was still discovering herself, honestly sometimes it felt like she’d barely even started. 

Almost everything about her was caught up in her past trauma. So much of her personality was her spookiness, her uncanny presence, of owning this rotting body she was left with. Her love of decorating came from all the abandoned houses she had to live in. She named everything after foods from her last meals. She constantly had to battle Delilah being in her head. Despite being fun loving, she was so firmly, so entirely staked in her past. When Dusk asked her out, all potential other feelings or mistrust of Dusk aside, you could feel that jolt of not being caught up with her peers, of missing these experiences everyone else had had.

But, of course, Imogen wasn’t from her past, and Imogen was very important to her. Imogen was her first relationship with anyone besides the dead lady in her head in years. And Laudna flung every part of herself at that relationship. Unrelentingly supportive, completely devoted, while they did genuinely love each other, it was so clear that Laudna was trying to hold onto this first connection with all her might, and give her the chances at life she never had. It wasn’t the worst relationship by any means, but Laudna’s refusal to acknowledge any flaws in her first person in years is pretty telling of the unhealthy aspects.

And yes, Delilah sometimes gave her warlock abilities. But Laudna was a sorcerer before she was a warlock. She had her own magic. Which’s was subsequently changed by the trauma of Delilah. Even in death, she didn’t think of herself, really, she thought of all these powerful women she’d known, and confusion. 

But it’s not that she was powerless. She was trying to fight Delilah, she was trying to see through her manipulation. She was forming relationships with the rest of the party and making these new friends, she was exploring her life in a way she just hadn’t been able to before. But recovery is slow.

But of course, dnd is random, and then she died. I’m not mad about it, stories will happen as they do and believe PC death should always be on the table. Besides, who knows if she’ll be resurrected in some way. But for now, this is a very sad but good metaphor to look at.

#critical role #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #laudna #cr meta #long post

[whitestone-is-for-lovers]

waiting game

post c3e33, major character death, 722 words

[ author's note: I started writing this after episode 33 because I was stressed about "oh no if Laudna dies, Imogen's going to mourn, and I can't handle that" so this was apparently the way I chose to cope. pretty proud of myself for anticipating Calm Emotions and sleeping with Laudna's body, ngl ]

The first night, Imogen doesn’t sleep.

She can take first watch, she tells the others, and Orym says he’ll stay up with her, and she says no, thank you but she wants some time alone. His lips go flat and he nods like he knows exactly what she means. She turns away quick so she won’t cry. She’s done enough crying.

She takes first watch. She watches Laudna’s body.

She waits for the twitch of a finger, a green glint in her eyes. She waits for a shuddering first breath, for Laudna’s lips to round out Imogen’s name.

She waits for life.

There will be life again, there will be. It’s a waiting game now, that’s all. Imogen can wait. Laudna was dead once, she reminds herself. And then — this is the important part, the part she must remember – then she was alive again. Now the pattern repeats, she is –

Now Imogen will wait until she is alive again. It’s simple.

Imogen waits.

She sobs, sometimes. She can’t help it and the noises come out choked. She tries to be as quiet as possible, and that means gasping for air and rocking violently back and forth back and forth back and forth. Reaching blindly for her magic, she smothers her mind with a thick layer of Calm Emotions, but it doesn’t make her stop shaking. Maybe she’s cold, she thinks vaguely. She doesn’t care enough to find a blanket. It’s not like she’s going to freeze to death, and if she did, well –

She touches Laudna’s face, traces the bumps on her nose. It feels like sacrilege to touch Laudna like this, in ways Imogen always dreamed of touching her. It feels like Laudna is going to wake up any moment – she might — and Imogen would pull her hands back lightning fast, and she would be embarrassed, and Laudna would be alive –

Quick, admiring brushes of her fingers across Laudna’s brow bone, down her jaw. Gloves off, because Laudna was never scared of the livid purple lines running down her arms, Laudna was never scared, Laudna always giggled at the small zap of energy where skin met skin. As lightly as she can manage, Imogen presses the pads of her bare fingers to the tiny mark next to Laudna’s eyebrow, to the little patch of discolored skin where jaw meets neck. Laudna said she was born with it. Privately, Imogen’s always imagined kissing it.

Gods.

The thing is that Laudna – she refuses to think of this as Laudna’s body – doesn’t feel any colder than normal, really. And she sometimes sleeps without really breathing anyway. It’s so easy, so easy, to rest her hand over Laudna’s and imagine that this is any other night.

Then the tears come back, and the tremors, because she remembers everything and she wishes she didn’t.

Time to Calm Emotions again. That helps, a little bit, for a little while. Makes her mind feel like molasses. The feeling used to scare her, but right now she needs some separation. With her mind a little muddy, she can look at Laudna like she used to.

In death — death death death, her mind bounces around the word until she covers her ears, reminds herself that this is familiar territory to Laudna, that she will come back — 

In her current state, she forces herself to reframe, Laudna looks much the same as she did before. Same pale tint to her skin, same limp arms and legs.

No smile, though. Imogen loves Laudna’s smile, loves her silly pointed teeth and her cracked lips, but Laudna’s face is blank and relaxed now. She’s sleeping, Imogen tells herself. She’s just sleeping, and having good dreams.

Imogen watches Laudna. She knows the party is relying on her to stay alert, make sure there’s no danger hiding nearby, but all that seems unimportant when Laudna is lying next to her. When Laudna is not moving. When her chest is not rising and it is not falling. But it will soon, it will soon, Imogen just has to wait.

When Chetney comes to take second watch, Imogen doesn’t talk to him. She barely even moves, really. Just curls up next to Laudna, hand in hand, and she watches Laudna’s face until she can’t keep herself awake.

And when she wakes up the next morning, Laudna still hasn’t.

ao3

#cr3 #cr fic #imogen temult #laudna #imodna

[ahelpfulpeach]

lord the party dynamics are gonna be wild the next few sessions. I mean I think this’ll effect everyone pretty much indefinitely going forward, especially once we figure out what will ultimately happen to Laudna, but lord just

like you have FCG, who saw more of their ancient past, but who still has no real ANSWERS. who is meant to help, and lost a friend. who just saw his friends laid strewn and bloody around him, just like last time. who brought Fearne back to life despite being scared of even healing someone earlier on in the day, in case it hurt him and made him lash out again. who saw and experienced these people they’ve grown to care so much about feel so lost and despondent and hurt. who saw Imogen, someone they have linked minds with, level an entire city block with her grief.

who was, to my understanding, linked with Laudna when she died.

Ashton, who was brought more clarity about their potential origins, who had to relive a traumatizing moment of losing their family. who was so thoroughly beat down in just one turn, despite being a protector, the muscle. that status was thoroughly challenged. who ran from the battle for multiple rounds, during which others went down.

who was the last one to have a real in depth conversation with Laudna. who spent their time since the very beginning making sure this wet paper towel of a woman didn’t die because she’s soft and he’s not anymore. who carried her lifeless body almost the entire episode. who’s willing to go into debt to a woman they’re afraid of, just after clearing it, in order to bring her back. 

Chetney, who’s trying to keep things together. he’s been alive for so long, of course he’s seen people die. who didn’t want to be left behind as a sole survivor. who tried so hard to defend the others, to next to no avail. who has dangerous power, and tries to reassure the others who have it too. who’s trying to ensure they can still go, still move, still do something, and maybe save Laudna in the process.

there’s Orym, who’s already been the survivor once. who knows it was him or Laudna. who knows he’s alive, in part, because Laudna is not. who knows his best friend in the group had to make that horrible decision. who likely thinks he didn’t do his job, protecting, well enough, and that’s why they’re in that position. who likely sees his own loss and grief echoed in Imogen. who had an instant to make that grief go away and be with his love and his family again.

who has a second chance to complete his mission. who is willing to confront his perceived failure at bringing Otohan in, to go to his leader and beg for the life of his friend.

and poor fucking Fearne. who was dismissed by Otohan, not powerful enough. who died. who saw something worrying, terrifying, grabbing for her, drawing her in. who knows that’s what is waiting for her next time. who was revived only to have to choose between Orym and Laudna moments later.

either her longtime friend, someone she loves. the one she’s gone on adventures with. the one she sleeps next to every night. the one who helped guide her into a new way of considering the world, an entirely new morality. the one who protects the whole party. the one she knows has others elsewhere looking forward to his return.

or Laudna. a new friend. someone she cares for, who she talks up every chance she gets. the one who invited her and Orym into her bed to help assuage their loneliness after Dorian left. who is so bright and joyful. who took her hands and said she had a family, whatever her parents wound up saying. who has her best friend sobbing over her body, begging her to come back.

who may or may not have fudged the coin flip. who knows now the extent of Imogen’s grief and rage. who would risk returning to her grandmother, who always demands a price, who took years of her life, to bring Laudna back.

and then of course, Imogen.

who watched her friends get carved down one by one all in order to trigger her latent power. who could do nothing to save them. who wishes she hadn’t tried to run. who doesn’t know what would have happened if she stayed.

who saw Orym die, someone who believed in her. someone she confided in.

who saw Fearne die, a friend. someone she had fun with. someone she got the chance to be playful and warm with.

who wasn’t even there for Laudna’s final breath. twice, she reached out, and heard nothing back. two times during that awful fight, the music she’s grown so used to went silent. who, despite her best efforts, her begging, her willingness to go with Otohan, couldn’t save this woman she loves. who unleashed terrifying power she never dreamed she had, and still couldn’t bring her back. who was willing to play into anyone’s hands, Otohan’s, Delilah’s, Hexum’s, anyone, to have Laudna back.

who had the chance to have her back, and had to watch Fearne choose someone else. who has to grapple with the fact that though she cares for Orym, she didn’t want him saved if it mean Laudna wouldn’t be.

who had to grappled with the fact that Laudna was, again, killed to send a message.

who spent the rest of the episode demanding Laudna’s body be treated with respect. who held her when they had moments to pause, a body that probably doesn’t feel all that different to how she does when she’s asleep. colder, heavier maybe. without the telltale slow, weak heartbeat, or shallow, infrequent breaths. so close to normal, but not quite there.

who pressed a kiss to her forehead, and has to be hoping it’s not a kiss goodbye.

and the party at large too. Laudna was a source of joy and light and enthusiasm. she made people laugh. she got them little gifts, fixed little things for them. she offered what comfort she could when she could. she made sure Zhudanna always had fresh fruit and eggs. she cared so much about bringing people happiness and fixing things and leaving places and people better than she found them. she was, I think, the emotional heart of the group, and they’re going to sorely be missing that in the coming days.

#cr #cr3 #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #cr3 spoilers #critical role 3 spoilers #critical role 3 #PROCESSING SOME EMOTIONS #god everyone had it ROUGH #edit: whoops you didnt see me utterly misspell otohans name several times

[gaygoetia]

Bell's Hells: how age gaps inform their group dynamic

I've been thinking a lot about why I love this group and their dynamics so much and one of the interesting things about Bell's Hells compared to VM or M9 is that it has the widest age range across all of the PC's.

Previous Campaigns

As far as I'm aware, Vox Machina were all in their 20's throughout Campaign 1, apart from Scanlan whose age was never explicitly stated but who was likely still fairly young in gnomish terms.

EDIT: I've been informed that Pike was actually in her 30's/40's and Scanlan was 69 at the start of the campaign. Still young given gnomes live for centuries though.

During Campaign 2 everyone in the Mighty Nein was in their 20's or 30's apart from Caduceus who was about a century old (but once again, still young by Firbolg standards)

So how old are the Hells?

It's still early in the campaign and some of the Bell's Hells ages are as-of-yet unconfirmed but here's what we know so far:

FCG is an aeormaton, meaning their physical form must be at least 850 years old, though his memories only go back a few years (to when they were fixed up and reprogrammed by Dancer) making him simultaneously the oldest and the youngest of the group.

Chetney is visibly elderly even by gnomish standards, meaning he is likely at least a couple of centuries old.

Fearne is at least a century old herself though she is youthful in appearance due to her fae heritage.

Laudna is 53 but hasn't visibly aged since she died and was resurrected at 20 years old.

Orym's age isn't stated but we can make an educated guess that he's in his 30's. We know Orym's late husband Will was in his mid-to-late twenties when he died 6 years prior to the start of campaign 3, meaning if he was still alive he'd be 31-35. Given that he and Orym grew up together they were most likely close in age.

Ashton is a bit of a mystery as I don't recall any reference to his age so far. From their behaviour and what we know about his backstory I'd personally put them in their late 20's but he could well be younger or older.

Imogen's age isn't explicitly stated either but she is described as a "young woman" and is said to be the same age that Laudna looks (having not aged since she was 20). This means Imogen is likely in her early twenties, potentially making Laura's character the youngest in the group two campaigns in a row.

Although they're no longer in the group, we know Bertrand was in his late 80's or early 90's at the start of Campaign 3 and Dorian was 27.

The Group Dynamic

In my opinion, the bigger age range changes the dynamic to feel a bit more like a dysfunctional family or close work colleagues than previous campaigns. While the found family element was obviously there in both previous campaigns as well, the overall vibe was of a group of friends.

The age differences in C3 give the individual relationships in the group a bit of a different flavour which is a lot of fun.

Chetney and Fearne have that attitude of "I'm old I can do what I want" while Orym and Imogen try to be responsible and reign them in and Ashton watches in amusement as the chaos unfolds. Laudna is your classic "out of touch middle aged aunt trying to prove they're down with the kids" while FCG is like a friendly uncle who offers advice and worldly wisdom but also takes a genuine interest in "what the kids are into nowadays".

Individual Relationships

I won't discuss every combination of relationship in the party cos this post would be a million words long but here are a few where age is a key part of the dynamic.

Chetney and Orym. In my opinion, since their heart-to-heart where Orym opened up about his late husband, they've had a really sweet familial dynamic. Their bonding over woodworking has big "apprentice and his teacher" energy and Chetney has a fatherly vibe with Orym that doesn't seem to extend to any of the others.

Imogen and Laudna. While I definitely don't see their relationship as familial (I actually think they have romantic feelings for each other) age does factor into their friendship in an interesting way. Laudna is very protective over Imogen and likely wants to keep her away from the kind of pain and trauma she herself went through at that age.

Ashton and FCG. I'm sure people will disagree with me here and that's fair but imo there's kind of an older sibling-younger-sibling energy going on with these two. FCG is technically older but their memories only go back a few years and they're very naive in lots of ways. Ashton is highly protective over him and often teaching him new things (the vibe reminds me a little of the Elric brothers in Fullmetal Alchemist).

Romantic Implications

Age gaps inevitably inform dynamics in romantic relationships as well and this is particularly interesting to think about in fantasy settings where some "races" live significantly longer than others.

So far, in terms of inner-party romance:

Chetney has shown clear interest in Fearne since the beginning. Relatively speaking, they're pretty close in age even though she appears much younger. In terms of lifespan, he's close to the end of his life whereas Fearne likely has many years ahead of her. However I don't see this being an issue if they do get together. Fearne seems like the kind of person to enjoy the time they have together in the present and move on quickly after it's ended.

Fearne has returned Chetney's flirtations and has also joked that she'll probably "make [her] rounds" through the whole group (personally I hope she does, that would be brilliant drama lmao). She's implied to be polyamorous and unconcerned about the age, gender or race of potential partners so she could really end up with anyone. However I think her open, casual attitude towards sex is likely to be more of an issue in any relationship than her age would be.

Laudna likely hasn't had any sexual or romantic relationships since her death over 30 years ago (if ever?) and she says that she hasn't "accessed that part of [her] brain" since then. The interesting thing about this is that any romantic relationship she has will be likely be her first ever and a chance to experience things she missed out on while alive. Also because she's the only middle aged member of the group, any inter-party romance would involve an age gap, creating a different dynamic depending on whether her partner is older or younger.

Orym doesn't seem quite ready for a new romantic relationship yet (although in my opinion it's hinted that he does have feelings for Dorian). Given he's already a widower, I suspect he would be the most concerned about gaps in lifespan due to the fear of outliving another partner. This could definitely come up if he becomes romantically involved with another party member (most likely Dorian or Ashton who are both Genasi and therefore have shorter typical lifespans than him)

Ashton and Imogen are both young so any partners are likely to be the same age or older. I don't see either of them caring about age or lifespan gaps at all but they may have a partner who feels differently. Their lack of romantic/sexual experience may be a source of insecurity if either of them get romantically involved with Fearne (who's implied to be very sexually experienced) or Orym (who was married for many years).

FCG is a robot and most likely aro-ace so I don't personally see him having any kind of sexual or romantic relationship but if he does, then age gaps are less likely to be an issue than his ageless inorganic body and mysterious past.

Conclusion

There isn't one really. I just love these weirdos. I love stories about middle aged and older people and it's so nice to see a D&D party of mixed ages who love each other so much in all kinds of ways.

#my posts #cr #critical role #c3 #campaign 3 #cr3 #cr spoilers #cr 3 spoilers

[utilitycaster]

is it bad if part of me hopes Laudna stays gone for an extended period, if not permanently? I promise this isn't a spite thing, but the way all of the content for her and Imogen was ship-oriented made it incredibly hard for me to get into either of their characters or find decent analysis on either of them independently, and I'm actually hopeful that Laudna's absence will make independent analysis more prevalent once the hubbub dies down rather than being hamstrung by the "how do we make this about shipping" angle

Hi anon,

I may be the wrong person to ask if it's bad because I think that actively wishing death on any fictional character is 100% guilt-free as an activity, let alone merely stating that you would be interested in an already dead character remaining dead, because they are fictional and not real. But no, I agree with you on pretty much everything here.

Something that has struck me from very early on, and which I've hinted towards a few times this week, is that it is nearly impossible to find meta on Laudna as an individual. There is some about Imogen, but there is very little on Laudna, and I say this not out of ego but as a statement of fact: I've written a not insignificant portion of it (and I haven't written that much, either). Her tag is uniquely, for a popular character, devoid of thoughts on her that aren't actually 99% about Imogen or Delilah. Even the people grieving her aren't really saying much about her; I have been in the tag looking for thoughts and it's almost entirely purely about Imogen/Laudna as a ship or Delilah, not about like...what Laudna has to live for (other than "to be with Imogen") or what she already has lived for, what her future, past, and present actually look like.

I've even seen the sentiment that Laudna really didn't start living until she met Imogen, which is almost as horrifying to me as the sentiment about Orym being more "ready" for death because he's lost a partner. It serves only to erase so much of Laudna's life, reducing her to simply a piece of other people rather than her own self. It is, essentially, exactly what FCG said to her in their rage mode, except said by people who claim to be mourning her: they think she's never really lived. They mourn how she died for someone else, then turn around and celebrate the idea of her living only for someone else.

Some of this is, to be fair, that there's not a ton about Laudna in her own story. I've found it really hard to get any sense about those 30 years beyond 'on the run'; I've even said that I don't have a strong sense of the two years she spent with Imogen since they often come off as disporportionately attached acquaintances. Her relationship with Delilah does not feel like one that has lasted 3 decades, and she seems pretty lackadaisical with regards to addressing it. There's a familiar contempt she has with Delilah that doesn't quite feel earned. Perhaps it would have eventually come out in-game, but it hasn't. Imogen and Laudna both come to each other first with their problems; but they talk in endless circles around each other and never move forward. It's why Laudna's conversation with Ashton was such a delight - because that cagey delicacy was gone. It's why Imogen's conversations with FCG and Orym have felt deeper, because she's able to actually express frustration without being told almost before she speaks that it's all fine.

And, for what it's worth, I don't think Laudna being dead is the only way to address this - an extended period of time apart in any capacity would do it too - but yes, separating the two of them would do a world of good in terms of actually developing their characters as individuals instead of just A Ship, because I honestly think someone unaware of Critical Role looking at the tags in passing would have a decent chance of thinking the character who died this past week was named Imodna.

#answered #Anonymous #cr discourse #cr tag

[stardustedknuckles]

god the way you hit the nail on the head re: imogen and laudna. how can imogen be expected to trust laudna if laudna can’t even trust herself? how can any of them trust her? more importantly, how can laudna blame them for it, if they’re unsafe around her? she can’t fight it off, and as orym would no, the rest of them stand no chance in helping her at their level. oh it’s JUICY.

And see the other part of all of this is that like... I'm not actually hoping that happens in canon. I'm not hoping for inter party angst at any point. I approach these things as a character and their friends against the problem, never character against friends.

And critical role meets me there and it's like a safety belt for me because knowing the story will be told in good faith, I can go angst hounding and know it will resolve in the end. I want Laudna to face up to the fact that she does in fact have issues and the fact that she died does not solve every future problem. I want to know what the future looks like, what switch has been flipped going forward and what her new relation to Imogen will be.

It will be interesting no matter what. It will be interesting if both of them decide not to talk about it. It will be interesting if Imogen wants to talk about it but Laudna can't or won't. It will be interesting if Laudna wants to talk about it but keeps centering Imogen even though she is very much the one who needs some attention also right now. It will be interesting but unlikely if Laudna takes the opportunity to center herself for once and even less likely and even more interesting if Imogen refuses to go there.

The foundation of their relationship was cracked and revealed in the same moment. Things are different now no matter how they behave. But how they behave will shed more and more light on what's important to them. What are they willing to ignore or face? Why? Either way, we learn something.

#cr spoilers #Asked and answered