#i love essek so much

[folksong-weaver]

My favorite kind of guys are scraggly wizard with problems and smug elf with white hair.

#i love essek so much #all he’a done so far is teleport them around and flirt with caleb #idk when he does the war crimes but i think he can do some warcrimes as a treat

[theangelofthewaters]

Omg Essek please I need to see my floaty boy again

#cr 3 #critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role essek #shadowhand essek #crit role #essek #i love essek so much #essek x caleb #caleb widowgast

[anna-dreamer]

Possibility

#critical role #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #shadowgast #anna draws #i love them #so much

[alliekitaguchi]

Uncle Caleb “you will listen to me and your mother and do nothing reckless ever” Widogast married and in love with Uncle Essek “we all commit treason in our adolescence” Thelyss

#I know luc loves his gay wizard uncles so much #Essek #Caleb widogast #shadowgast #Essek thelyss #critical role #mighty nein

[sldlovescartoons]

Just a thought, Essek and Yasha would definitely have some wild-ass conversations about food. Once he got a bit more comfortable and started to get more open to sharing, they would find out that the drow had a lot of opinions about food. Because Essek is a fancy elf, but he’s also a drow who lives in the sundered wastes of the God War. The others think what Yasha eats is weird, but Essek thinks HOW she eats/prepares it is weird. Because the dark elves just refine under dark/wastes ingredients into fancy foods.

“Lights sake, at least fry them first.” Essek says after watching Yasha eat a cricket she just picked up out of the grass before realizing what he said, how much of a dick he sounded like, apologizing, and promptly throwing himself into dissociation for 30 minutes.

They prepare giant spider legs like they WANT to get poisoned. They need to be throughly washed and cooked at VERY high temperatures, you absolute maniac.

The Nein are worried that the two are going to actually come to blows over the proper ways to prepare Rat, and Yasha is insisting on grilling and barbecue and Essek is offended because “When I was 44 the tunnel to our hunting grounds collapsed and the chefs had to supplement all the meats they got from the Underdark with livestock and lots of Rat. They found dozens of ways to cook rat that year, and you have listed none of them! Not even a mention of any cranberry and date fillings- absurd-“

And like everyone is glad Essek’s opening up and they don’t want to put a damper on it but Yasha is actually going to kill him. But they also have no idea how to even approach these conversations at all because they have no stake the Great Fried Cricket Debate.

#critical role #cr2 #cr2 meta #essek thelyss #yasha nydoorin #the mighty nein #ramble #I love them so much

[inkyugrey]

this is how wizards flirt

#shadowgast #caleb x essek #shadowhand essek #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #caleb critical role #critical role #critical role art #shadowgast fanart #critrole fanart #the mighty nein #cr m9 #m9 #episode 136 #wizard rizz #this is how it happened in my head #they are in gay love #your honor i love them so much #my art lmao

[quinn-of-aebradore]

Essek Thelyss; Barbie Edition

#it’s 11pm I have an allergy headache and it’s time for Bullshit XD #this is an Excellent format I love it so much #critical role #essek thelyss

[essektheylyss]

I keep lingering on the fact that Chetney says that the only thing left when he came home was toys, because on its face it's such a strange detail.

He says it as though he feels like it was an indication that his family left the one thing that was associated with him, that he cared about, that he has essentially crafted his whole identity around, which indicated to him that they were left there because the family didn't want them—and by extension, didn't want him.

But what if there was something else? What if he'd misinterpreted? What if they were trying to leave them as a point of connection, like a coded note that they were thinking about him as they fled? What if a misunderstanding left Chetney alone for his entire life, and it was entirely his fault?

It's like, god, his confession feels so concrete (in a way that Travis is very good at when talking around backstory) such that it really starkly outlines what he doesn't say. And gnomes live such long lives that, yes, you could have relatives walk in and out of your life with some regularity and spend a lot of time independent and distant without ever severing the connection, and it doesn't feel like the circumstances in the family were so bitter that the family cared so little as to simply abandon him entirely, at least not without extenuating circumstances.

I just keep thinking about it and the more I think about it the more I want to know what happened, because there's something else there—but the thing is, a large part of Chetney as a character is that sometimes you do feel such resentment for so long that by the time you even think to reconsider, things (or people) have changed or passed, and there isn't always a satisfying answer to be had.

#kinda like. opposite of fjord actually. #with fjord you have the idea that you can change and things can change but sometimes you CAN go back and find someone who loved you #anyway like. yeah I keep thinking about how much the vibe also feels like how essek talks about his family. #just so distant and very much the black sheep of the family but there's still genuine caring even if there's not understanding #I do think about longevity so much okay. do not get me started about long-lived characters I will not stop #critical role #cr meta #chetney pock o'pea #cr spoilers

[kaltacore]

no but essek's abnormal behaviours in the last arc and especially in episode 140 are my roman empire. which is ironic because aeor is something of a roman empire itself. but in all seriousness, it was the episode that made me realise i love essek and his development so much and it kinda summarised it even before caleb's epilogue.

and i mean the "it's not fair" scene specifically. it's like, an epitome of his whole character progression from a person who put An Objectively Important Goal above all else without hesitation to someone who can't help but care for people around even more than his goal, no matter how big and relevant it is.

the mighty nein - and he alongside them - pretty much saved the world and freed an ancient city from thousand-year-long suffering. they defeated nine extremely powerful menacing entities who managed to stay out of everyone's sight for years and were so close to achieving their goal and dooming exandria in the process. they did the impossible and became heroes and somehow, they survived, even though they had bidden farewells a couple of hours ago because they had already understood what they had been facing. and nevertheless. they made it.

and none of them was celebrating.

mighty nein are basically essek's only friends. he knew them to be very unusual people, to put it lightly, loud and stubborn and completely inescapable once they consider you to be one of their own. and they showed him so much kindness and put so much faith in him, they were here playing the most atrocious music ever and digging clay in his backyard for a spell they invented just to help one of theirs and asking him if he could bring them pastries the day after they found out he was lying to them and had started a war. they were chaotic and weird and sometimes unbearable but most importantly they were carrying so much hope with them all this time - a hope they could end the war, a hope they could stop the angel of irons cult, a hope they could get better, a hope he could get better, and now, finally, that they could save their lost friend.

and that hope shattered, just like that, the moments after they'd already made the impossible. they saved so many souls - and then could not get back just that one.

for essek "my intentions were never good they were important" thelyss it just. shouldn't have mattered. they won. it could have been worse. people die and when they die they rarely come back. they should've been happy everyone else barely made it alive.

but for some reason, mighty nein being so defeated after they saved the world exposed him to that overwhelming feeling of injustice and unfairness. and i mean, there were many things essek considered to be unfair, but when i watched his first appearance and his interactions with mighty nein later on til their reunion in aeor arc, i wouldn't dare to guess that one of the things on that list would be something that personal. and personal not even to him.

the thing is, essek didn't even know who that guy was. why mighty nein cared about him so much. he had an idea, i guess, that he was their friend once, or someone in that body was. it was also a person who wanted to unleash a terrifying horrific aberration onto the material plane. it was a person very dedicated to killing essek and his friends - and they still didn't take any pleasure in fighting him. essek didn't feel strongly about lucien or molly, because he never knew them.

i don't think he mourned his death and failed resurrection. he mourned mighty nein's hope, the one they put in him when they had no reason to, the one they offered yasha in the cathedral and the one they kept after the spell for veth failed and the one they carried til the very end because they wanted it to reach molly. they had saved people with this hope. they had saved nations. they had saved the world. but they ended up feeling like it hadn't even been worth anything.

how desperate would it feel, witnessing people who for some reason always saw good in you when they absolutely shouldn't, who made literal miracles out of nothing, who ended wars and fought gods and tricked the hags and freed cities from horrors beyond anyone's comprehension purely because they thought it was the right thing to do and also loved their friends this much, silently crying over a dead body they couldn't bring back to life? how desperate would it feel to realise that with all your knowledge about time you dedicated your life to and threw away any principles for, you can't undo this? no one can. some things are left to fate alone and this time it wasn't kind to them. no matter how much good they did, they still got slapped in the face.

and it was, i think, such a genuine moment of empathy. like, essek is the character who prefers to put up a facade and act distant and self-composed but this time he just. walked away unable to watch this. the could only say to fjord that it wasn't fair. even when he was caught off guard in nicodranas he was able to explain himself and his motives to an extent even though he was a nervous wreck whose extra important plan went to hell the second the only people he cared about appeared. this time he had nothing to elaborate on. it just wasn't fair. it wasn't fair his friends didn't get what they wanted the most. it wasn't fair he couldn't do anything to make it right.

it is such a sad and beautiful and even cathartic scene because it is about person who started a war that destroyed so many lives - and then met this ragtag group of weirdos who saw a lonely stand-offish guy and said "hey, let's be friends!" and didn't even wait for him to answer. he saw them being serious and calculated and he saw them being ridiculous and extremely stupid, he saw their mistrust to outsiders and their loyalty to each other, he made spells with them and paid a visit to their hot tub, he ate their stale pastries and drank their hot chocolate mixed with whiskey, he was welcomed amongst them and in their wonderful home, both in xhorhas before they even found out what he had done and in the tower when they already knew - and then, he saw them mourning their loss, defeated and helpless, and he, a person who believed there were things more important than whole nations, let alone just one life, couldn't help but share the pain they felt. a pure display of compassion from someone who detached himself from it, who didn't believe he could grow into a better person capable of it again, but became one nonetheless without even realising it

#sorry. i cannot shut up about this. this scene stuck with me the moment i saw it and i just couldn't get it out of my head #i mean. i liked essek well enough. i just got attached to other characters more. but then 'it's not fair' happened and it sealed the deal #it was just. so beautiful. so sincere. so important for a character who just started to learn how to care about people #his reaction wasn't intentional. it didn't change anything. but it showed how humane he had become. how deeply he cared #mighty nein are no joke pal #they're gonna make you feel all these unknown emotions like sympathy and love and affection even when they're incredibly painful #essek experiencing closeness and attachment in all their forms. as something beautiful and something aching. is so important to me #they saved him because they had good hearts! and these good hearts sparked so much joy around them! #but if a good heart grants you an ability to experience joy so profoundly. it makes everything else feel like that #you get it. i hope you get it. anyway e140 did so much psychic damage on me i probably will never recover #in a good way mostly <3 but yeah. yeah. it makes me feel a little insane #the mighty nein #essek thelyss #critical role

[residentinsomniacartist]

Thinking about Caleb and how so much of his story ends with him finding meaning in the temporary.

He spent so long chasing a way to bring his parents back, but in the end he had to accept that they were gone. They were temporary. He has his memories of them now, but that’s all. And he has to find peace with that and find a way to remember them fondly, even though they’re gone now, truly and completely.

He and Essek love each other dearly, but there will come a day when he will have lived his life and grown old and Essek will still be Essek. But even so, every moment they spend together is still meaningful. Even if it ends, it means something.

Just. Caleb and loving things even when they won’t last. Maybe because they won’t last.

#Even Caleb and Molly/Kingsley too #cause I can never stop with my Widomauk bullshit I love them So Much #Molly lived his life on borrowed time and he knew it #and King was Molly’s second chance at life #and Caleb only has memories of Molly now and he has to be ok with that #and maybe find a way to love Kingsley despite those memories #I’m So Normal about them can you tell #caleb widogast #critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 2 spoilers #cr campaign two #essek thelyss #shadowgast #widomauk in the tags

[tssaii]

Caleb with his Kryn friend

(posted this on twitter way back July 2022. Feels timely to post this here now after The Mighty Nein Reunited hihi)

#i still havent watched the vod god forgive me #I LOVE THEM SO MUCH #critical role #critical role spoilers #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #sad bois #sad bois in love #SQUISH #the mighty nein

[fortuitus-art]

“Maybe we should put the books down for the night?”

✨MANIFEST✨

#i just love them so much #manifesting for tonight! #critical role fanart #critical role #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #dungeons and dragons #dungeons and drawings #artists on tumblr #digital art #sketch #illustration #art #fantasy

[bloopitynoot]

Dear CR smut writers,

Please never stop creatively coming up with unholy usages of Mage Hand, Hold Person, Unseen Servant, & Immovable Object.

Sincerely,

Anyone who ships the wizards.

#critical role fanfiction #I love these tropes so much #for the shadowgast shippers #shadowgast #essek theyless #or maybe for the blumentrio #blumentrio #caleb widogast #astrid beck #eadwulf grieve

[acommonanomaly]

I realized I haven't drawn Essek yet and that is just unforgivable here have some floaty hot boi

#critical role #cr2 #mighty nein #essek #essek thelyss #critical role fanart #my art #nixie wants me to draw molly next #who am i to deny my bestie? #i could have spent way more time on this #but i'm trying to just keep the art flowing #lest my muse desert my again for a year #but anyway yeah i love essek #so fucking much omg love hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim

[alliekitaguchi]

emily: imagine two wizards..........

liam, smirking: i do. often.

#he's a shadowgast truther #i love him SO MUCH #liam o'brien #critical role #essek #caleb #shadowgast

[sky-scribbles]

Fandom: Critical Role (Campaign 2) Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast Characters: Essek Thelyss, Caleb Widogast, Jester Lavorre, Uraya Hythenos, Beauregard Lionett, Devexian Tags: Aeor Is For Lovers, Developing Relationship, Slow Burn, Wizard Study  Sessions, The Aeor trip but with twists, Character Growth, Demisexual Essek Thelyss, Worldbuilding Warnings: Canon-typical violence Summary:

Two  wizards venture into Aeor - and find that something has woken in the  dead city’s depths. Something dangerous. Something that will force them  to decide what their pasts mean to them, and what they mean to each  other.

Chapter Eighteen: Fortune's Favour

Five months after their journey to Aeor, Caleb invites Essek to Rexxentrum.

#critical role #shadowgast #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #cr2 #sky's writing #gravity and all that's born within #it's complete. this is the final chapter. thank you all so so much #this fic has been part of my life for so long and I have loved it dearly <3