#imo it's also the biggest misunderstanding with found family narratives (which are often about healing) in general

[essektheylyss]

I have a theory that a lot of the dissatisfaction with the end of campaign 2 stem from a lack of functional acknowledgement, in society and in narratives, that healing does not have an end and is more about learning to discern what can be changed (and what you want to put the energy in to change) compared with what you can learn to live with (and keep deciding to live with)—and that a narrative about healing isn't inherently about working through everything you can change, but instead reaching a place where you are able to make those decisions with confidence and grace.

This is not to say that this is the only reason for dissatisfaction, and you can also fully understand this and still feel like you would've preferred different courses of action! It's possible to say that you would've wanted to see Trent killed, or watched Fjord kill Uk'otoa, or any number of other endings for a given character.

But all of that is immaterial to the question of whether the narrative is complete or not—because it doesn't matter what the characters each individually choose to do going forward. What matters is that they're able to make those choices and feel confident enough to do so on their own terms, which every member of the Nein does feel capable of doing by the time of their epilogues.

#like it's not like getting to that point precludes a person from making bad choices or even choices that other people would disagree with #imo it's also the biggest misunderstanding with found family narratives (which are often about healing) in general #found families going their own way isn't a sign of 'we don't actually care about each other' #it's a sign of 'we feel capable of living confidently without relying on each other 24/7 but are there for each other when it's needed' #ANYWAY I'm going back to work but I did have this thought #cr meta #critical role