one of the things that makes me go so insane about hardwon surefoot is based entirely in jake’s “misunderstanding” (his words) of how dnd worked when he started playing at the beginning of c1.
jake thought he was creating a hero, who had been a hero for a while. hardwon, therefore, believed himself to be a hero before and when he arrived in moonstone.
as jake learned the game, hardwon came to the realization that heroes were more complex, and slowly stopped believing he was the hero. instead, moonshine and bev and balnor and so many of their other friends they met along the way were heroes, and he was along for the ride with them.
but. but. it came at a cost.
hardwon stopped believing himself to be a hero so hard that here he is, 200 years later, thinking that his friends don’t need him because he’s not a hero. they're the heroes. he's just a guy who went along with them for the ride.
his confidence only comes back because they’re in trouble. he’s not a hero to himself, not anymore, but he’s never stopped being a hero to them.
and none of that could have really happened in a way that was narratively interesting (at least, not to the extent it has) if jake hadn’t started out with the mindset of creating someone who was already a hero.
and that's why this game, and this show, is so beautiful.
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happy 6 years of naddpod everyone <3
(alt title: the dragon pussy podcast making me cry for 6 minutes straight)
Transcript:
Mee Maw: That's true, but… there's also somethin' else.
Murph: And you see she pushes her cloak to the side, and you see she has black scabs--
Caldwell and Jake: Oh, no! No no no!
Moonshine: Oh, Melora!
Murph: --and deep crick rot all over her chest and neck.
Marabelle, weakly: Jolene? I-- I didn't realize I was gonna get to-- say I was sorry.
Moonshine (pretending to be Jolene): Thank you, of-- of course you're forgiven! I love you so much! You're my big sister!
Melora: You're not cursed. You were born like this.
Hardwon: (desperately) Gemma? Gemma? Gemma wake up. Gemma baby. Hey.
Murph: You see she's-- she's-- she's cold and dead.
Hardwon: Fuck!
Balnor: I couldn't help them. I can barely swing a sword.
Alanis: There's a war coming, and everyone needs to fight. Even old men who don't know how.
Beverly, crying: No, he's-- he's my light. He's my Pelor! He always was! I strayed!
Bev Sr: You tell her the truth, Bev. You tell your mom that I died in the Feywild.
Beverly: (crying) You know I'm bad at lying.
Bev Sr: It's not a lie, Bev.
Deadeye: Yeah, I know I'm down a hand. And an eye. And a life. But I got a soul, and a family. And I finally know which is worth more.
Deadeye: I hate to think about what woulda happened to me, but maybe more I hate to think about who I still would've been if I had never met you.
Rosa: JV, I can't-- I can't find my lantern.
JV: Aw, well look at that? There's a lantern right here.
Rosa: Are you sure that's mine?
JV: Yeah. Yeah, I'll-- I-- I'm gonna go look for mine.
Hardwon: --interpretation. I-- I--
Moonshine: Hardwon, I really don't want you to want to die, because I want you to live so much and I don't want to be alone in that feeling.
Lydia: Elias, is that you?
Hardwon: It's uh-- It's still little Elias. You saved the child, ma.
Lydia: I don't know what I've been these past few years, I don't know what I've been these past few decades. But I want you to know that when I was your mother that... you were wanted.
Murph: Somebody who felt they could never have a child… um, is holding their child.
Moonshine: I-- I didn't want to need you, dad, but… now that you're here… it-- it's kinda nice.
Murph: Your father has given you... a strategy guide on how to beat him.
Caldwell: I have to look away so that the tears don't ruin the pages.
Beverly: (tearful) I don't want to go. I don't want to go. But I have to. It's my duty. I have to do this.
Moonshine: Okay, youngin, I want you to know. I will love you whatever you choose to do. But, here's my two cents: A child has a duty to his father, but a hero has a duty to the world. Now, I've got my opinion of which you are. But it's time for you to decide.
Bev Sr: Thanks, Bev. I always-- I knew I could make the deal, because I knew you'd stop me.
Moonshine: (tearful) I-- I've been wanting to tell you about this for so long, and I just didn't get a chance to. And I don't know if I will, so I just wanted to make sure I told you.
Moonshine, crying harder as she goes on: Paw Paw. You are… You are my best friend. And you are the best part of me. (sobs) And I am so grateful. For-- (sobs) the fact that so much of our lives have been braided together. But… where I'm going, next-- after we beat Thiala, which we will-- you can't come, mmkay? So I just need to make sure that you are taken care of, and I need to make sure that you take care of some people, okay?
Pendergreens: This time, you picked me up. And you were nice to me for no reason.
Pendergreens: If when you come back... if I'm different?
Moonshine: Mhm?
Pendergreens: Just, remember me as I am now. 'Cause I like who I am when I'm around you.
Death: I will take everything from you--
Hardwon: Quit pointing at people!
Death: --until you come with me.
Hardwon: Ok-- I'll go! I'll go.
Beverly: Hardwon, no!
Hardwon: Bring her back, and I'll come. Bring her back.
Lydia: All my life, people told me what I had to be. You don't have to be anything other than what you are.
Lydia: I think you should talk to your friends. Not because you owe them an explanation, but because you deserve to be heard.
Melora: Beverly.
Beverly: Yes?
Melora: I wish you could grow up in a normal world, but the Gods have not blessed you with a normal life. You are… afflicted with duty. Things thrust upon you far beyond your years.
Melora: The world should have protected you, but you have been asked to protect it. What an honor, what an injustice.
Moonshine: How long do Half-Elves live?
Mee Maw: You talkin' bout Hardwon?
Moonshine: I mean-- It's on my mind.
Moonshine: I guess, if I'm being honest, I don't know what it's gonna be like to know Bahumia without Hardwon Surefoot. (tearful) And there's a part of me that doesn't want to find out what that feels like.
Moonshine: There is something sour I probably need to swallow, though. It is-- There's people you meet that are once in a timeless body lifetime kinda people, right?
Mee Maw: Oh, yeah.
Moonshine: Okay.
Mee Maw: And you keep 'em with ya.
Moonshine: Okay.
Moonshine: (crying) It's okay, Balnor. Like all the most powerful things in this world, I knew I was only borrowing you.
Hardwon: Moonshine, when-- When I left Irondeep, I-- I didn't know where I fit in. And then I met you, and you didn't just let me in. You brought me in, and you thought I was good.
Balnor: I hope that you all get to leave this world with the same comfort that I had: knowing that it's in good hands. I love you.
Murph: "Your knight, Balnor."
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