#chetney pock opea
Matt, picking up his spiked bat: Anyway, time to mention Oltgar in a random shop in this middle of nowhere Marquesian town while Chetney’s not here.
The Chetney Playlist Analysis
A.K.A Orbit spends many hours of her precious fleeting life reading way too into the sings in Travis’s playlist because someone had to do it!!
Love to @captainofthetidesbreathetidesbreath for hyping this playlist enough to light a fire under my ass; please if you read this reblog and give me your thoughts!
My analysis will be structured thus:
1), a disclaimer about wolf imagery in popular media and in this playlist
2), everything we know about Chetney, and about Ch(U)tney, who I’m treating as a separate, but still important for context, character.
3), a breakdown of each song, pointing out any lyrics that I find particularly significant
4), Wild speculation about the conclusions that can be drawn by combining parts 2 and 3
5), in which I summarize all of the above and, to the best of my ability, predict the sad life’s story of Chetney Pock O’Pea.
1) A Disclaimer About Werewolves.
These songs all have to do with werewolves; that’s the gimmick of the playlist, that’s the distraction tactic Travis is using to gaslight you into ignoring his own narrative genius. But Chetney’s only beena werewolf for a few months out of his very long life! This means that many of the songs that still involve wolf theming/lyrics probably don’t actually have much to do with that part of him. Wolves are also very popular animals that’ve been used as metaphors in many songs for many purposes over the years. This means it is very possible to pick and choose which wolf-y songs you use to construct a specific narrative.
2) Ch(E)tney Facts, Ch(U)tney Facts, and the Venn Diagram Between Them
Ch(U)tney was the oldest Elf still working in Santa’s workshop. He’s famous for his actions at the very end of the One-Shot, but he was actually making his anti-santa stance pretty clear from the jump! Remember that whole bit where he tries to convince the crew to abandon Santa, then roles a nat 20 strength check to lift the gift sack and declares a “new world order?” Note that Chutney isn’t just expressing displeasure, but actively trying to convince others to side with him.
Now what do we know about Ch(E)tney? He was also a toymaker, originally from Uthodurn. He, like Ch(U)tney, prefers the old-fashioned way of toy making with wood. He worked for someone named Oltgar, and had to flee the city after a disagreement in which he messed up his boss “something fierce”, as he puts it. Stabbed with a wooden chisel, mayhaps? Those are the biographical details. In terms of personality, Chetney is intelligent, experienced, and considers himself the leadership type (“respect the alpha” and all that). He’s jumpy and blunt, but also observant, emotionally intelligent, and very capable of expressing real sympathy and concern for his teammates. For skillset, besides the obvious wolf stuff, he’s very stealthy and good at using that chisel to do crime.
So with all that set up, let’s look at the songs!
3) Songs About Fighting (and wolves)
As the title of this section hints, the throughline of most of these songs ishow so many of them concern battles; ones in progress, ones lost, and ones about to begin. Speaking of beginning:
Werewolfby The Frantics
No lyrics on this bad boy, only music and howling! Perhaps the only one of these songs that is exactly as simple as Travis sells it.
Lifeline by Bad Wolves
This one is for sure a cry for help, with lines like “Reaching out, I need a lifeline/I don’t know if I can carry this on my own” reflecting a singer with a burden that’s becoming too much for them. Also important are the lines “It’s a dwelling, call it deep insight/When the best no longer tries to fight/The sweetest sugar swoon/The darkest side of moons”
We Will Rock You (feat. Maria Brink, Lzzy Hale and Taylor Momsen) by In this Moment
Chetney’s attitude and life are written all over this song! The verses follow someone from a boy playing on the street, to a young man with big plans, to a poor old man. The middle verse is the most important here, with lines like “fighting in the street, gonna take on the world someday” and “waving your banner all over the place”
Wolf Totem (feat. Jacoby Shaddix) by The Hu
This is definitely about some kind of fight, either one in progress or one that the singer is asserting their willingness to have. Note the lines “We got your back, we all been low, lets all rise to the brethren code.”
Wolves by Selena Gomez & Marshmello
I agree with @Captainofthetidesbreath that this is about a character we haven’t met yet; almost definitely a lost love of some sort, most likely pre-werewolf but sticking with the theme for the sake of the bit.
Fire Inside by Pop Evil
This one’s about staying determined in a fight that you’ve been preparing for. It’s very much in thematic conversation with Wolf TotemandRock You, with lyrics like “Time to write my story, make history”, and “After all these battles, yeah, I’m ready for war”.
Kidnap The Sandy Claws by The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack
As surface-level obvious as this one’s meaning is, I think it’s actually one of the songs that has the biggest hints towards Chetney’s story! This is more fight/battle theming, but more specific than in any song so far. It’s about an organized and collaborated effort to kidnap and harm a specific powerful person. (Yes it is, stop laughing!!)
Seven Nation Army by SKÁLD
Never looked at all the lyrics to this song before! They’re actually a lot more cynical and defeated sounding than you’d think, with lines like “And I’m talking to myself at night/Because I can’t forget”, and “I’m going to Wichita/Far from this opera forevermore”. Googling around, the song is about leaving a town where your community has become toxic and turned against you.
Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) by AWOLNATION
This song is the first one that I think truly is about being a werewolf. The line “Imma make a deal with the bad wolf, so the bad wolf don’t bite no more” just screams “accepting lycanthropy”. There’s these lines that also read as important to me: “My enemy is a friend of mine in a friendly place to be seen/You know I’ll run away for a couple years just to prove I’ve never been free.”
Animals by Architects
If there’s like a low point/darkest hour to this story, it’s in this song. The lyrics are desperate and defeatist. The most interesting lyrics for our purposes are: “I dug my heels, I thought that I could stop the rot/The ground gave way, now I’ve lost the plot”.
Howlin’ for You by The Black Keys
I think this song lives in the same house as the Silena Gomez song does; very romantic, directed towards a character we don’t know about yet.
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Everyone knows whats up with this song. It’s spooky scary! It’s about a person getting attacked and corrupted by monsters late at night, which is exactly what happened to Our Boy Cheyney.
Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon
A song about a more refined and controlled, but still very dangerous, monster. Maybe a sexy flirty werewolf instead of a terrifying out of control one.
Christmas With The Devil by Spinal Tap
Ok this is the other one that’s pretty surface-level still. Santa but he’s bad and evil and associated with cool badass demon stuff (like werewolves??)
4) Wild (or not so wild) Speculation
If you’ve been paying attention, there are a few recurring things to tease out. One is fighting; many songs (lifeline, animals, fire inside, wolf totem, and we will rock you) are centered around battles won, lost, and anticipated. Two is organization and teamwork! References to “The Brethren code”, “waving your banner”, and generally battles which are fought with many people. Third is Lycanthropy and how it’s used and related to. Thriller, Werewolves of London, animals, and hollow moon all fall into this category.
Now let’s put everything together. Ch(E)tney has a long past with a company that (assuming from Chutney) does not appreciate his work appropriately. Ch(U)tney had a history of convincing people to give up on Santa, and Chetney’s playlist contains many songs about organized groups and violence. We know Chetney is the leadership type. He has strong convictions, violence in his soul, and the ability to be both smart and extremely empathetic and charming when need be. “But Orbit”, you say, “Chetney is a toymaker, which is a traditionally peaceful profession! Who would he be fighting?” The answer to that of course, is Santa Clause! Or Otgar in this case. For a while it was vague speculation, but now I am fully convinced that Chetney was the leader of some kind of violent worker’s uprising in Uthodurn. He’s got all the perfect qualities needed in a union rep, especially a rep who’s maybe willing to start an entire revolt for the cause. A revolt that cumulates in the kidnap and mutilation of his boss, Otgar.
5) Putting It Together: The Ballad(s) of Chetney Pock O’Pea.
I’m going to organize this part by rearranging the songs into what I’d consider “chronological” order, and the story as I’m predicting it will form around the songs. This is very speculative obviously, and I’m painting in very broad strokes because I don’t want to go very far beyond what I can glean from the information we already have.
We Will Rock You goes first because it describes a boy, the youngest Chetney we see, and goes all the way up until Chetney is already an old man. This is the point at which the story Travis is telling seems to start. The song fast forwards through childhood and most of adulthood, into Chetney’s old age. Any sort of worker’s rebellion he started didn’t occur until this point. One day there’s a breaking point, when he realizes that his job will never appreciate him despite years of service, and he decides to do something about it in Seven Nation Army. This choice leads to Wolf Totem, a song with lyrics that call people who’ve been laid low to fight, to answer the call of a code. That sure sounds like a worker’s union rallying cry to me! So Chetney’s been calling unhappy workers to action against Otgar, and then we have a song about whatever riots actually occur in Fire Inside. This is also where I’m going to place the two sings that (credit to @captainofthetidesbreath for this idea) I am convinced relate to an important player in Chetney’s story that we haven’t met yet, probably a romantic figure of some kind. Howlin’ For You andWolves both fit here, in that order.
So we have this worker’s revolt, and maybe its not going well orhas reached a stalemate. How do you escalate things and ensure someone hears your demands? Simple! You Kidnap The Sandy Clause! Chetney’s rouge skills have gotta come in handy somewherein this backstory! After the kidnapping comes Christmas With The Devil, and presumably whatever kind of negotiation/torture Chetney puts his boss through. However that plays out, we know it doesn’t end well. The revolution fails, and Chetney is kicked out of the city by the glass blades with his boss injured badly but alive.
So here’s where things get wolfy! We’ve been told this part, at least loosely. In Thriller, Cheyney is alone at night, attacked by something horrific. He fights for his life, but he can’t resist the thriller (i.e the lycanthropy curse) once it hits him. The next morning he has to sit an take stock of what’s happened to him, in Hollow Moon. He decides in that moment that this is a power he can “make a deal” with, that can be a friend in helping him get tey revenge he wants in a few years. So Chetney spends a few months with the wolf, which proves to be a bigger struggle then he imagined. He’s drowning, he’s lost the plot, he’s got the attitude in Animals. This leads to admitting to himself that he needs help, and Lifeline sees him finally seeking out The Bells in what becomes the sweetest song in the playlist with that context. Finally, Werewolves of London is a fun song that’s caught up with Chetney as he is now. Dangerous, fun, getting used to his powers and living it up flirting with big women in the city.
Wowthat was a lot! Please argue with me in the reblogs, I want to talk to people about this small angry man so badly that I wrote 2,000 words about it.
Orbit, you mad genius.
This is perfection and I love everything about it. My only argument would be that “Seven Nation Army” — being about a community that turns against you — is Chetney’s failure in whatever worker’s strike or protest he led, and everyone turning on him. That or a bad reaction from others once they realize his Lycanthropy.I can’t believeI love how seriously we are taking this. <3
Also if his personal antagonist is a union buster or something, I will be so happy. Fuck union busters.
Hmmm you know what you might be right about seven nation army! I’d go with you on that switch for sure. Probably post-Santa killing but pre-werewolf.
The Chetney Playlist Analysis
A.K.A Orbit spends many hours of her precious fleeting life reading way too into the sings in Travis’s playlist because someone had to do it!!
Love to @captainofthetidesbreathetidesbreath for hyping this playlist enough to light a fire under my ass; please if you read this reblog and give me your thoughts!
My analysis will be structured thus:
1), a disclaimer about wolf imagery in popular media and in this playlist
2), everything we know about Chetney, and about Ch(U)tney, who I’m treating as a separate, but still important for context, character.
3), a breakdown of each song, pointing out any lyrics that I find particularly significant
4), Wild speculation about the conclusions that can be drawn by combining parts 2 and 3
5), in which I summarize all of the above and, to the best of my ability, predict the sad life’s story of Chetney Pock O’Pea.
1) A Disclaimer About Werewolves.
These songs all have to do with werewolves; that’s the gimmick of the playlist, that’s the distraction tactic Travis is using to gaslight you into ignoring his own narrative genius. But Chetney’s only beena werewolf for a few months out of his very long life! This means that many of the songs that still involve wolf theming/lyrics probably don’t actually have much to do with that part of him. Wolves are also very popular animals that’ve been used as metaphors in many songs for many purposes over the years. This means it is very possible to pick and choose which wolf-y songs you use to construct a specific narrative.
2) Ch(E)tney Facts, Ch(U)tney Facts, and the Venn Diagram Between Them
Ch(U)tney was the oldest Elf still working in Santa’s workshop. He’s famous for his actions at the very end of the One-Shot, but he was actually making his anti-santa stance pretty clear from the jump! Remember that whole bit where he tries to convince the crew to abandon Santa, then roles a nat 20 strength check to lift the gift sack and declares a “new world order?” Note that Chutney isn’t just expressing displeasure, but actively trying to convince others to side with him.
Now what do we know about Ch(E)tney? He was also a toymaker, originally from Uthodurn. He, like Ch(U)tney, prefers the old-fashioned way of toy making with wood. He worked for someone named Oltgar, and had to flee the city after a disagreement in which he messed up his boss “something fierce”, as he puts it. Stabbed with a wooden chisel, mayhaps? Those are the biographical details. In terms of personality, Chetney is intelligent, experienced, and considers himself the leadership type (“respect the alpha” and all that). He’s jumpy and blunt, but also observant, emotionally intelligent, and very capable of expressing real sympathy and concern for his teammates. For skillset, besides the obvious wolf stuff, he’s very stealthy and good at using that chisel to do crime.
So with all that set up, let’s look at the songs!
3) Songs About Fighting (and wolves)
As the title of this section hints, the throughline of most of these songs ishow so many of them concern battles; ones in progress, ones lost, and ones about to begin. Speaking of beginning:
Werewolfby The Frantics
No lyrics on this bad boy, only music and howling! Perhaps the only one of these songs that is exactly as simple as Travis sells it.
Lifeline by Bad Wolves
This one is for sure a cry for help, with lines like “Reaching out, I need a lifeline/I don’t know if I can carry this on my own” reflecting a singer with a burden that’s becoming too much for them. Also important are the lines “It’s a dwelling, call it deep insight/When the best no longer tries to fight/The sweetest sugar swoon/The darkest side of moons”
We Will Rock You (feat. Maria Brink, Lzzy Hale and Taylor Momsen) by In this Moment
Chetney’s attitude and life are written all over this song! The verses follow someone from a boy playing on the street, to a young man with big plans, to a poor old man. The middle verse is the most important here, with lines like “fighting in the street, gonna take on the world someday” and “waving your banner all over the place”
Wolf Totem (feat. Jacoby Shaddix) by The Hu
This is definitely about some kind of fight, either one in progress or one that the singer is asserting their willingness to have. Note the lines “We got your back, we all been low, lets all rise to the brethren code.”
Wolves by Selena Gomez & Marshmello
I agree with @Captainofthetidesbreath that this is about a character we haven’t met yet; almost definitely a lost love of some sort, most likely pre-werewolf but sticking with the theme for the sake of the bit.
Fire Inside by Pop Evil
This one’s about staying determined in a fight that you’ve been preparing for. It’s very much in thematic conversation with Wolf TotemandRock You, with lyrics like “Time to write my story, make history”, and “After all these battles, yeah, I’m ready for war”.
Kidnap The Sandy Claws by The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack
As surface-level obvious as this one’s meaning is, I think it’s actually one of the songs that has the biggest hints towards Chetney’s story! This is more fight/battle theming, but more specific than in any song so far. It’s about an organized and collaborated effort to kidnap and harm a specific powerful person. (Yes it is, stop laughing!!)
Seven Nation Army by SKÁLD
Never looked at all the lyrics to this song before! They’re actually a lot more cynical and defeated sounding than you’d think, with lines like “And I’m talking to myself at night/Because I can’t forget”, and “I’m going to Wichita/Far from this opera forevermore”. Googling around, the song is about leaving a town where your community has become toxic and turned against you.
Hollow Moon (Bad Wolf) by AWOLNATION
This song is the first one that I think truly is about being a werewolf. The line “Imma make a deal with the bad wolf, so the bad wolf don’t bite no more” just screams “accepting lycanthropy”. There’s these lines that also read as important to me: “My enemy is a friend of mine in a friendly place to be seen/You know I’ll run away for a couple years just to prove I’ve never been free.”
Animals by Architects
If there’s like a low point/darkest hour to this story, it’s in this song. The lyrics are desperate and defeatist. The most interesting lyrics for our purposes are: “I dug my heels, I thought that I could stop the rot/The ground gave way, now I’ve lost the plot”.
Howlin’ for You by The Black Keys
I think this song lives in the same house as the Silena Gomez song does; very romantic, directed towards a character we don’t know about yet.
Thriller by Michael Jackson
Everyone knows whats up with this song. It’s spooky scary! It’s about a person getting attacked and corrupted by monsters late at night, which is exactly what happened to Our Boy Cheyney.
Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon
A song about a more refined and controlled, but still very dangerous, monster. Maybe a sexy flirty werewolf instead of a terrifying out of control one.
Christmas With The Devil by Spinal Tap
Ok this is the other one that’s pretty surface-level still. Santa but he’s bad and evil and associated with cool badass demon stuff (like werewolves??)
4) Wild (or not so wild) Speculation
If you’ve been paying attention, there are a few recurring things to tease out. One is fighting; many songs (lifeline, animals, fire inside, wolf totem, and we will rock you) are centered around battles won, lost, and anticipated. Two is organization and teamwork! References to “The Brethren code”, “waving your banner”, and generally battles which are fought with many people. Third is Lycanthropy and how it’s used and related to. Thriller, Werewolves of London, animals, and hollow moon all fall into this category.
Now let’s put everything together. Ch(E)tney has a long past with a company that (assuming from Chutney) does not appreciate his work appropriately. Ch(U)tney had a history of convincing people to give up on Santa, and Chetney’s playlist contains many songs about organized groups and violence. We know Chetney is the leadership type. He has strong convictions, violence in his soul, and the ability to be both smart and extremely empathetic and charming when need be. “But Orbit”, you say, “Chetney is a toymaker, which is a traditionally peaceful profession! Who would he be fighting?” The answer to that of course, is Santa Clause! Or Otgar in this case. For a while it was vague speculation, but now I am fully convinced that Chetney was the leader of some kind of violent worker’s uprising in Uthodurn. He’s got all the perfect qualities needed in a union rep, especially a rep who’s maybe willing to start an entire revolt for the cause. A revolt that cumulates in the kidnap and mutilation of his boss, Otgar.
5) Putting It Together: The Ballad(s) of Chetney Pock O’Pea.
I’m going to organize this part by rearranging the songs into what I’d consider “chronological” order, and the story as I’m predicting it will form around the songs. This is very speculative obviously, and I’m painting in very broad strokes because I don’t want to go very far beyond what I can glean from the information we already have.
We Will Rock You goes first because it describes a boy, the youngest Chetney we see, and goes all the way up until Chetney is already an old man. This is the point at which the story Travis is telling seems to start. The song fast forwards through childhood and most of adulthood, into Chetney’s old age. Any sort of worker’s rebellion he started didn’t occur until this point. One day there’s a breaking point, when he realizes that his job will never appreciate him despite years of service, and he decides to do something about it in Seven Nation Army. This choice leads to Wolf Totem, a song with lyrics that call people who’ve been laid low to fight, to answer the call of a code. That sure sounds like a worker’s union rallying cry to me! So Chetney’s been calling unhappy workers to action against Otgar, and then we have a song about whatever riots actually occur in Fire Inside. This is also where I’m going to place the two sings that (credit to @captainofthetidesbreath for this idea) I am convinced relate to an important player in Chetney’s story that we haven’t met yet, probably a romantic figure of some kind. Howlin’ For You andWolves both fit here, in that order.
So we have this worker’s revolt, and maybe its not going well orhas reached a stalemate. How do you escalate things and ensure someone hears your demands? Simple! You Kidnap The Sandy Clause! Chetney’s rouge skills have gotta come in handy somewherein this backstory! After the kidnapping comes Christmas With The Devil, and presumably whatever kind of negotiation/torture Chetney puts his boss through. However that plays out, we know it doesn’t end well. The revolution fails, and Chetney is kicked out of the city by the glass blades with his boss injured badly but alive.
So here’s where things get wolfy! We’ve been told this part, at least loosely. In Thriller, Cheyney is alone at night, attacked by something horrific. He fights for his life, but he can’t resist the thriller (i.e the lycanthropy curse) once it hits him. The next morning he has to sit an take stock of what’s happened to him, in Hollow Moon. He decides in that moment that this is a power he can “make a deal” with, that can be a friend in helping him get tey revenge he wants in a few years. So Chetney spends a few months with the wolf, which proves to be a bigger struggle then he imagined. He’s drowning, he’s lost the plot, he’s got the attitude in Animals. This leads to admitting to himself that he needs help, and Lifeline sees him finally seeking out The Bells in what becomes the sweetest song in the playlist with that context. Finally, Werewolves of London is a fun song that’s caught up with Chetney as he is now. Dangerous, fun, getting used to his powers and living it up flirting with big women in the city.
Wowthat was a lot! Please argue with me in the reblogs, I want to talk to people about this small angry man so badly that I wrote 2,000 words about it.
On 4 Sided Dive Travis said he’s trying to get Chetney to 4 digits age wise and then he says “Keyleth on a hill all remorseful and a crow lands and Chetney’s like What up girl?”
When I heard that all I could think of was the post that said if Chetney ever met Keyleth, he would change the meaning of R.T.A. to Respect The Antlers.
Now I just have the image in my head of BH going to Zephra, Chetney scooting up next to Keyleth and being like “so is there a Mr. Tempest?” And Orym blanching because from what little he knows, that’s a touchy subject.
I’ve never felt so terrified of the fact a simple shopkeeper is about to be ripped apart by a vicious werewolf gnome
[ID: A digital illustration of Chetney Pock O'Pea from Critical Role. He faces forwards with a disgruntled, grouchy expression, looking up to the right. Behind him is a pale blue snowy background. End description.]
FUCK SANTA
Sleepless Nights
Version without the lightning and some close ups!
this painting took AGES to finish and im so happy with how it turned out :D
The man who definitely didn’t kill Uthodurn Santa is coming in through the chimney.
The mental image of Orym, dangling in the dark and holding on to the paw of a greased and half feral friend, knowing something isn’t right but remembering a conversation a day and lifetime ago and holding on all the more tightly.
COMEDY GOLD.
I forgot to post this one… Chetney picking on Dorian is comedy gold.
fresh cut grass saying “get up!” and chetney shouting “I’m up!” “get up! …oh, that’s just how tall you are standing.” “oh, you son of a bitch.”
Sweet Dreams.
POV. You are Fearne keeping watch
it’s been a while since I had made some CR fanart and wanted to dip my toes back in,
Exclusive content (spicy and otherwise) as well as a speed paint process for this piece are now available on my Patreon!
