Something about Laudna’s backstory is I would. L O V E. For her to have a conversation with KiKi in the future. That would be such an earth-shattering moment for both of them. But that would be Marisha talking to herself lol.
I love how Marisha categorically rejectsthe whole “What doesn’t kills you, makes you stronger” type of stories with her characters. I mean, she directly said that in talks, but is also nice to see how her work shows it.
For Keyleth, “What doesn’t kills you…” stays with you your whole life, in form of anxiety and self consciousness. Stays with you in form of mourning and the truth of watching you family go away in the thousand years+ that you’re going to live. You have to work through it, help those you can help, learn how your voice carries power, and learn what being a leader means.
For Beau, “What doesn’t kills you…” Fucks you up beyond belief. Distorts your value as a person and how you approach your relationship with the world. Damages how you treat yourself. You’ll have to re-learn, with the help of friends and those painfully new formed relationships, how to heal, and how to let people in. You forge yourself a new and shinny found family and start working in the true meaning or yourself.
For Laudna, “What doesn’t kills you…” well, it actually did kill you, but then it didn’t. It robbed you of years, it isolated you for decades. Your killer is now trapped inside your head, making you uneasy, haunted. But you wanted new friends and ways to help them, so in spite of all that, you go out, being unapologetically yourself, and offer that eagerness to the world. Facing some rejections sure, but not letting those bringing you down, you already went trough worse.
Her works will NEVER say “I’m better because x happened to me”.
Her works DO say loudly “I was dealt a bad thing, but in spite of that, i’ll do my best to move forward. Its going to be awkward, painful and hard. Its going to be messy and sometimes not only upwards. But i’m working through it with everything i have” and i love her for it.
The OTHER lovely thing about Laudna’s backstory is that: Characters with “collateral damage” origin stories, often have arcs based around revenge and vengeance. And there’s good reason for that! There is catharsis in those stories, and a lot of them circle back to “you shouldn’t let revenge drive your life” anyway.
But Laudna’s story is very explicitly hers. It’s not about revenge, it’s not about getting even or vanquishing those that caused this. Laudna might find out more about her death, she might end up deciding to get rid of Delilah once and for all, but even then, her story will be about her-living.
We can speculate all we want about whether she was meant to be Vex, or Keyleth, or the mechanics of how she came back to life. But when we come to the here and now: the most relevant part is Laudna, herself. She didn’t know when she died. She doesn’t really need to know. It only matters as much as Laudna needs, or wants it to matter.
I just feel like Marisha very intentionally set it up so that Laudna is not her tragedies, or her enemies, or her referential past- she is the person living through all of that, and past, all of that- whatever that looks like.
Somebody should tell Marisha that Deep Speech is the language of eldritch horrors from the Far Realms like Beholders and other abominations. Barely anyone actually speaks on the Prime Material Plane.
[ID: A tweet from Sam Riegel @.samriegel which reads: “Happy birthday to a woman who is effortlessly amazing every day of her damn life. @.Marisha_Ray” There’s a picture attached of Marisha behind the scenes on the photoshoot for Variety. She’s wearing a white pantsuit that’s shining like leather with a tailored blazer and tight-cut pants, a low-cut crop top beneath, a stiletto Louboutin heels. She’s sitting primly on top of a table with her legs neatly crossed and holding a black hand fan with the word “shade” printed across it. She looks absolutely fantastic. /end ID]
[ID: A tweet from Liam O’Brien @.VoiceOfOBrien which reads: “Happy Birthday to one of my bestest besties, @.Marisha_Ray! Love you more with every passing year!” There are three pictures attached. The first is of Marisha standing in the darkness behind a lit set. She’s holding a large nerf gun and has a wild look in her eyes. The second photo is of Marisha with Liam’s dog Sprigg, a black miniature dachshund with cream markings and a yellow collar. Marisha is seated on the ground and holding Sprigg as he stands on her leg to kiss her. The third and final image is a screencap from an episode of Critical Role during the socially distanced era of the second campaign. It shows Marisha’s and Liam’s frames side by side, with Marisha reaching out of her frame toward Liam, and a boxing glove on a stick reaching into Liam’s frame from the same angle as if it were Marisha’s arm. /end ID]
