So there’s a strange bit of Crit Role/LoVM AU fodder that ambushed me out of nowhere recently. I can’t take credit, because it was born of one of the many reaction videos I’ve been watching of the series (I’ve been watching so many…), and one reactor’s speculations regarding some of the imagery in “A Silver Tongue” in particular put some thoughts in my head…
This is really just a lot of out there “what if” without any real substance, a fun idea for a fanfiction perhaps, but I needed to get it out of my brain.
(Below cut, because spoilers for campaign 1 events…)
Specifically, it was house of k’s reaction to episode 8 that put this idea in my head. He’s got some really good insights in his reactions, he takes notes on things and theorizes and it’s been fun to watch. Check him out maybe if you like reactions.
But there are a few reactors that have commented that the Everlight’s silhouette against the sun-disk looks a bit like an eye, and also a few who have noticed the eye flash when Percy shoots Anders. In house of k’s reaction, he commented on both, but also that the two almost looked like negatives of one another (black-on-fire, fire-on-black), and speculated that the two might be connected, that whatever was going on with Percy might be a sort of dark reflection or counterpart of the Everlight.
Which, sure, those of us who have watched the campaign know that’s not what’s going on. But…but…
The Everlight is the goddess of redemption, and if an inverse existed, wouldn’t it make sense for it to be a god of vengeance?
We know in the setting of Exandria, that godhood can be a bit…fluid. There are gods that have been ousted, killed, forgotten, replaced. New gods can happen. Gods that are gone can come back. The Everlight herself is an example. She was forgotten save by a few followers, and only in recent years as of the first campaign is she making a comeback.
We also know that, at least in typical D&D lore, shadow demons like Orthax, aren’t like most other demons. They aren’t created in the Abyss from damned souls like other demons. Not at first, anyway. They’re what’s left when some bigger, nastier entity is destroyed, and some small part of it survives to recollect itself in the Lower Planes.
And that they typically trade souls to other entities rather than feed off of them directly. But Matt seemed to hint in describing Orthax as being bigger and nastier than the average shadow demon, and by suggesting that it was because the demon had been feeding (presumably on the souls claimed by the List). And that’s definitely what he seems to be doing to Percy after Glintshore.
The idea of Orthax as a forming or remnant god isn’t new, there were a couple of very interesting fics around the concept back in the day, but the idea of a connection to the Everlight could be interesting. The idea of twin gods separated on either side of the divide between the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods is interesting (and the parallel motif of twins separated is interesting to think about in general). The idea of twin gods, one nearly forgotten, the other destroyed and lost to mortal memory entirely…
TL;DR - What if Orthax was the remnant of a god of vengeance destroyed in the world’s ancient history, a god that was the Everlight’s twin and opposite? That’d be pretty wild, right?
A bit of a ramble of my thoughts on episode 8, “A Silver Tongue”, and it’s potential impact on later episodes… Mostly de Rolo sibling thoughts.
(Gonna talk about later campaign stuff, so don’t read if you don’t want the streams or the series spoiled. And I don’t know what tags people are using for spoilers, so I’m just going to put it all under a cut…)
I really, really liked this episode the most out of the three we got this week, and I’d like to ramble a bit on what it feels like it’s setting up for later events concerning Cassandra, Orthax and the List.
In the campaign, at least to my memory, when Cassandra’s name appears on the gun, it feels like a moment played for drama against the context of Cassandra’s betrayal. But this episode feels like it’s establishing a different motive.
As early as episode 6, we see how quickly the news that she’s alive cuts through the tide of rage following his revenge on Stonefell. How much “I have a sister.” says in so few words about what that means to Percy, that he finally has something in Whitestone to fight for, something to hopefor.
In episode 6, Percy abandons the group’s plans the minute he sees Stonefell. He was the one Percy was least looking forward to. Stonefell is a murderer and a sadist, but he’s always been the Briarwood’s stooge. But in episode 7, he’s willing to negotiate with Anders, because he has Cassandra hostage. Anders who betrayed their trust, the face he saw when murder entered his heart. His revenge is taking a backseat in that moment, because of course Cassandra is what matters. And then episode 8 gives us that long, tense scene where Keyleth is working to save her, and Percy is watching despite Anders standing there, pouring a drink and gloating. It takes a lot to break Percy away from that moment, for the fear he holds for his sister’s life to go after Anders, and even then it’s when she’s in the best hands available in that moment.
And after Anders is dead, we get that beautiful, clear shot through the lenses of the mask when she says his name. We see his eyes are clear, that the minute he hears her voice, his rage and any other influence are washed away. He drops the gun and the mask to run to her.
Later, Orthax will demand Cassandra’s life, and he will use her betrayal to justify it to Percy, but I feel like the real reason they’ve given us is that Orthax sees Cassandra is a threat. She’s a threat to the pact that he’s made with Percy. A hope for his future against the despair he’s lived with, the emptiness that losing his family left that Orthax crawled into to spur his quest for vengeance. She’s threatening his very promising meal ticket of an endless all-you-can-eat soul buffet at the end of Percy’s gun, and his only hope to defend his interest is for Cassandra to die. Cassandra has to die, because her forgiveness represents a future, both for Percy and for Whitestone. A life that isn’t just rage and pain, and the violence that was supposed to keep Orthax fed.
Because if Percy can forgive Cassandra, he can one day learn to forgive himself and believe he deserves that life. He’ll have something to live for, something to fight for against the demon’s influence, and if that happens Orthax loses everything.
He’s been biding his time for years, subtly enough that Percy didn’t know he was there. When he demands Cassandra’s life, it’s an act of desperation, and when he emerges to attack the party, it’s because he’s already lost.
(P.S. I’m really hoping they keep the gold-iris-black-sclera look around for later seasons, to indicate Percy is using Hex. They’ve shown him use it outside of Orthax-murder-mode, and in a situation where I thinkhe used Hex in the game, so the precedent is there for down the line. It’s there in the canon that his struggle with Orthax left its scars on him, and that some fragment of the demon’s power is still at his disposal. And it’s such a look. Those are the eyes I want to see staring down Craven Edge, demanding it give his big dumb older brother back. I want thoseeyes when he says “I will find an abyss so deep and so far, you will never taste a drop of blood again.”
Look, found family Vox Machina feels are the best feels, and it didn’t have a lot of screen time, but Grog and Percy’s unlikely sibling-esque dynamic was one of my favorite things in the campaign.)
If it gets what it wants, I don’t think much of Percy will be left.
—
No Mercy Percy! I finished TLOVM without knowing anything about c1 and I just loved it, especially all the reveals about Percy and Orthax—so I brought back the textured brush! I love painting in this style, I should really do it more. This painting was such a blast! (Hehe)
A thing I noticed watching lovm again, Percy is left handed. But Orthax is right handed. Percy does basically everything with his left hand, he writes with his left, his gun is on his left hip, and he usually shoots left handed. Unless Orthax is in control. When he kills Anders, he shoots right handed. When he fights VM, he does so right handed. When he fights Cassandra, he switches hands, because Orthax wants him to kill her but he really would rather not.
Okay photo gallery
Percy is in control here, so he’s using his left hand
But here Orthax is in control, so Percy uses his right hand
If it gets what it wants, I don’t think much of Percy will be left.
—
No Mercy Percy! I finished TLOVM without knowing anything about c1 and I just loved it, especially all the reveals about Percy and Orthax—so I brought back the textured brush! I love painting in this style, I should really do it more. This painting was such a blast! (Hehe)
If it gets what it wants, I don’t think much of Percy will be left.
—
No Mercy Percy! I finished TLOVM without knowing anything about c1 and I just loved it, especially all the reveals about Percy and Orthax—so I brought back the textured brush! I love painting in this style, I should really do it more. This painting was such a blast! (Hehe)
You can cross Anna Ripley (and Orthax) off The List.
[ID: A digital illustration of Dr Anna Ripley and Orthax from Critical Role. Ripley stands to the right, one hand extended to keep a long-barrelled gun pointed to the ground, her challenging gaze directed at the viewer. She is a white woman with black hair streaked with white and pale grey eyes, dressed in an elegant red buttoned jacket and a dark blue cloak emblazoned with arcane symbols, as well as several ammunition belts and one that holds two vials filled with a green and blue liquid respectively. Behind her is the shadowy form of the demon Orthax, whose face is a mask that is a mixture of a bird-like beak and long horns. End ID.]
