Still thinking about Ashton becoming a hero and how much it makes my heart ache that we never got to see Mollymauk grow as a person.
Molly was obviously a hero of sorts before he even joined the Mighty Nein, but he still has so many similarities to Ashton. For two people that would probably find the other grating if they were to meet, they're so goddamn similar.
It was their strange but strong moral compasses that endeared both of them to me so quickly. I think about Taliesin's quote (that I'm probably butchering) from an old Talks episode, one of Molly's core philosophies was "Don't give a fuck about what other people think. But *do* give a fuck about other people." It's so very Ashton.
Molly may have been much flashier, but Ashton and Mollymauk are practically two sides of the same coin. A coin they refused to steal from the pockets of those who actually needed it.
Their similarities really just make me ache thinking about the ways that Molly could have grown too. Because as much as I love him, Molly of course was never perfect, no one ever is, but I would have loved to see him grow to better understand those around him. In one of CR's con panels a fan asked what Molly would've thought about Veth's dilemma, settling down with her family that she had worked tirelessly to protect versus continuing her life of adventures. Taliesin answered that Molly wouldn't have seen the point in Veth going back to her past. Molly was never interested in who he was before, why would anyone else want to return to a former life? Especially one as 'boring' as family life.
That answer really stood out to me for two reasons. One, it reminded me that as lovable as Molly was, he was still an asshole, and Tal's favorite characters to play are ones that think they are right about everything. It rubbed me the wrong way because I had romanticized the tiefling a little too much. Never meet your heroes, kids. Two, I realized that this would have been Molly's response given his personality at his passing. Would he have given a different answer if he had lived and continued to grow with the party, then thought about Veth's dilemma at the same time as everyone else? Of course there's no way to truly know. Maybe Molly would've stayed stagnant in that way. After all, Molly was Taliesin's attempt at playing a character that had no goal, if I recall correctly.
However, I doubt Ashton would have guessed he would be accepting his occupation as possible "legendary hero" when the campaign first started, or even within the first 30 episodes.
Molly started as both a hero and a legend, but never desired more than a little bit of attention and the satisfaction of the deed. Unaffiliated with the past. Ashton was never a hero. They were the by-product of a cautionary tale they didn't even remember enough about to tell. Weighed down by his past, whether he wanted to admit it or not. They wanted answers.
As Ashton begins to find what he's looking for, I can't help but wonder if Molly could have found something to look for. Something to seek. Whether it be the mysteries of his past or the true desire for a future. Who could Mollymauk Tealeaf have become?
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as a writer, taliesin made some fascinating and character-faithful choices tonight. from the awful lack of communication to the brash impulsiveness, it was all ashton, and ashton is self-destructively selfless and selfish at the same time.
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Ash tweet asking “what does the phrase “the feeling of falling upwards” mean to you?”
x
Here’s mine. What’s yours?
x
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so dallon, breezy... do either of you have something you'd like to share with the class?
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