#udalla fon

[bloodyshadow1]

something that really stuck with me during talks was Marisha saying that what happened to Beau with the Soul taking responsibility and apologizing to her is a fantasy never seen in stories for victims of abuse, because she’s a 100% right.  In media, there are often 2 stories that are told (when the victim of abuse is the protagonist) 

1. Society has failed the abused and it’s up to them to take matters into their own hands, often getting vengeance but rarely justice, if it isn’t a tragedy, where the protagonist doesn’t get either.  Most often seen in movies as the short runtime and focus required fits the abuse as a whole plot.  Ex you’ve been beaten by your husband constantly, but the cops won’t do anything because X, Y, or Z, so you need to take matters into your own hands learn karate and kick boxing to get strong on your own and beat your abuser to show you’re not weak. or increasingly common, the people in power know that you and others are being abused, but because of the abuser’s status it would reflect poorly on the establishment to punish them so they let it happen. (which it seemed the Soul was doing)

2. It’s something in the background that shapes the abused as a character and used as an explanation for how they are.  Often times this leaves the abuser as a nonentity only existing in the backstory, and more often than not forgotten since the plot doesn’t revolve around them.  maybe the Abused will get the chance to confront their abuser somewhere down the line when they’re facing their ghosts but a lot of the time it’s framed as letting the abuser go if the abused is stronger than they were, sometimes even forgiving them in some weird way for making the protagonist stronger in some twisted way.  Ex you meet your parent who used to beat the crap out of you after school everyday to ‘toughen you up’ after years and after gaining super powers to fight monsters, you could crush them like a bug, but instead you forgive them, despite them not doing anything worth forgiving except maybe an apology, because their ‘tough love’ shaped you into the person you are today.  Something I know at the very least have seen a hundred times

Beau’s story is the first story I’ve ever seen where society (the Cobalt Soul) acknowledges her trauma and the abuse she went through, even though it isn’t actually the Soul’s fault because it was Zeenoth specifically who took the money to kidnap her, Zeenoth is still a member of the Cobalt Soul and such had the power to kidnap her and make her protests disappear.  Udalla Fon, the Head of the Wildemount archives, personally apologizes to Beau, they let her know that what happened to her was not the norm, nor was it acceptable, they inform her, that they’ve already brought Zeenoth into custody and he is awaiting trial. Beau didn’t have to do anything other than let it slip in passing during a moment of anger that she was kidnapped for money in front of Dairon, an expositor and someone who saw potential in Beau, and it was being taken care of.  

It got to the point where Beau didn’t even seem to think of Zeenoth as someone who abused her, that he was just a teacher who was bad at teaching her personally and just another part of the establishment that she had to deal with if she wanted to stay an expositor. Instead of you know..., the guy who was bribed into kidnapping her from her family home.  Marisha is right, I can’t think of a single story where society doesn’t fail a character when it comes to dealing with their abuser, yet here in a dnd show we see it and it is amazing.   That for once an abused character doesn’t have to scrape and scrap to be treated like a human being and respected as such.  Even better, they don’t even try to act like it’s for the greater good since Beau is an expositor in their ranks now so things worked out making it okay.  No, they reflect on what happened and tell Beau sincerely, that while they appreciate her and are happy that she is an expositor, that in a kinder world they hope she would find her way to them willingly instead of being forced.  There’s no, ‘well it sucked but it made you into the woman you are today so it makes it okay in the long run,’ from them, it’s, you deserved to make the choice yourself and we’d like to think that you would find your way here, but are sorry that you never had the choice to make.

The storyline almost comes out of nowhere because it was building in the background since Trostenwald, since episode 4 of the campaign.  Beau got justice even though she didn’t have to seek it out and it was a delight to see

#critical role #the mighty nein #cr 2 ep 125 #beauregard lionett #udalla fon #cobalt soul #talks machina #marisha ray