#btw I just wanna say all these posts are not meant to be hashtag discourse

[caeslxys]

I have so much swirling around in my brain about vox machina and bells hells and the mighty nein and I am going to make it all of ya'lls problem. anyway i think it's kind of funny that people think c2 is the forgotten child of critical role because of all the direct relation to c1 through player character back story and connections because, like, yeah.

but wasn't that part of the magic of the mighty nein's story?

vox machina ended with those characters as legends, as written-about historical figures in exandria, as rulers and leaders and councilors of cities and nations in their own right.

the mighty nein? no one knew about lucien, no one knew about aeor. the mighty nein was so deeply mistrustful and surrounded on all sides by people allied to them more by at-the-moment-common-goals and pure, often selfish intrigue than genuine trust that it wasn't until Allura made her appearance in episode 80 (out of 141. over half of the entire story) that not the characters but the cast breathed a sigh of relief.

and when that story ended, almost all of them found a way to settle down. cad went back to his grove. fjord and jes and kingsley took to the sea for a life of piracy. yasha settled down with beau for a peaceful life. veth went back to being with her family. only caleb and beau and essek (who, it's important to note, was on the run) remained explicitly intertwined with the politics of wildemount and exandria, and even that was mostly in secrecy.

What callbacks would there even be to c2 at this point in c3's story (because I do think we will get more, the deeper the hells dive into the assembly's involvement and the secrecy within these cults (?) associated with ruidus at all) outside of Ludinus, the Cerberus Assembly, and dunamancy?

I have hopes of seeing Astrid at some point, given that she's a part of the Cerberus Assembly, but if we're not getting name drops and cameos like Vex'ahlia and Keyleth and Percival for the nein, I don't think that comes from c2 being forgotten or pushed to the sideline. I think it's just a consequence of their particular story.

(and, who knows, maybe Astrid does show up and maybe she does mention an intelligent, fire-wielding wizard educated specifically on the magics within and around calamity-era ruins such as aeor as well as the limits and possibilities of dunamancy, and his partners: a deeply respected expositer of the cobalt soul who has been entrenched in weeding out corruption from the assembly alongside him and a mysterious drow with a mastery of dunamancy and deep knowledge of the calamity-era ruins themself. maybe that's exactly the kind of experience the hells will need)

#critical role #the mighty nein #vox machina #bells hells #thoughts thoughts THOUGHTS THOUGHTS #btw I just wanna say all these posts are not meant to be hashtag discourse #it is literally just me word vomiting bc I have SO MUCH inspiration for critical role that I have no time to otherwise dedicate #to writing fic of making art so my brain is just constantly Critical Role Thought Soup #and I Need To Let Some Of The Pressure Out Of My Brain Before I Implode #also! I personally have hopes for Tharizdun connections too #ALSO SORRY I AM STILL ON MOBILE I WILL ATTEMPT TO REMEMBER A READ MORE LATER #but yeah! I don't think tmn is being forgotten or glossed over #it's just that their story was never history's story. it was theirs #they wanted their friend back! THEY WANTED THEIR FRIEND BACK 🥲 #anyway can you tell I'm activitely missing the mighty nein and am also dreading tomight's laudna-less episode #words #yes ​I will put all my extraneous thoughts into the tags of every post and NO I don't care how long that makes them #thoughts