Do NOT google that... trust me.

STOP IT’S BEEN MONTHS. MONTHS!

More of my art @alwaystiredshark

do you think that was dierta? like, is this the archetypal case for consecution that Essek thinks of, when he imagines this - his mother's childhood, the experience she must have had at age idk roughly 12 when she first started seeing flashes of someone elses life?

how often did she tell this story to her children, thinking she was relating to them a story of a miracle that she has been granted, and essek just sat there hearing his mother tell him a horror story and smiling about it.

(and let's be real, the themes of "identity" and "who you are" and "memories making you you" and what it means to remember and to forget -- these are fucking central to the story of the mighty nein.

molly's conviction that these flashes of memory he's getting are not his, even if they are happening to his body - vs. the feeling the consecuted have that the memories of their previous lives are them, that they are the same person living multiple lives. the fact that consecution would be a horror story to molly, too.)

and on top of all this - what about the other child in that scene? her friend? The young orc boy who was out playing with his friend and suddenly watches her go blank and empty and look at him while seeing someone else. And when she comes back to herself, she'll be different - wiser, maybe, and more knowledgeable and with a kind of serenity and joy, but different. A person who knows what it's like to be a soldier and a mother and all sorts of other things besides. How could that possibly be the same person as your friend you were playing with yesterday?

In discovery writing you typically figure out the story as you go, not to say there isnt a plan, but it isn't intensely outlined leaving the author to make stuff up as they go. Plot and character voice tend to emerge over the course of writing. The trick is to then in subsequent drafts refine the stuff you came up with during writing to make the story support those ideas from the very start.

The somewhat meandering plot of campaign two is refined to focus more on the most compelling parts of the story overall (the war and Beacon) while still touching and establishing those important character bits that we had to wait a long time to have emerge in game.

Beau in the animation resembles a bit of her midcampaign self in her devotion to detective work while still keeping ideas of abrasiveness we see from the start of the campaign. The idea of who she would become is thus better implemented and seeded from the start of the story while also acknowledging her flaws. This still feels like Beau most importantly!

Likewise Essek was a character in game Matt intended as a villain but in the improve process that plan was changed to align with character actions. Thus the Essek we get in the "second draft" gets written from a place to seed what we know he will eventually become. He still does villainous things but his character is spelled out more and to prepare the viewer for his change of heart.

these four are staying in the viper’s den, embedded inside institutions that are under attack, they will have to manoeuvre in a way that is incredibly calculated because the risks are so high, we’ve seen evidence already of exactly how ruthless and deadly the sundered houses can be on the basis of one interaction, look no further than Murray and Teor in episode 3

if the table ends up being Bolaire, Hal, Azune, and Murray, all four are members of different institutions in different parts of town,, it’s likely there will be times where they are each on their own surrounded by people of uncertain loyalties trying to enact their agenda without getting burned

- its the order of foot soldiers, Moash originally wanted to be a normal soldier (he was never in it to be special or in command)

- their second ideal is “I will step forward when others step back”. Moash is the one character we see step forward and say that the singers are right. you can argue whether you agree with him or not, but the fact remains that he takes a stand that few other humans do. He strives to accomplish the task of a changed world where the singers are in charge

- their third ideal is “I will be the foundation upon which others can build”. Moash absolutely views himself as part of a larger whole (that whole being the cause of the singers). He knows he’s not the most important guy he doesn’t want to be the most important guy. Also he likes manual labor and literally building foundations so you know

- during peacetime, stonewards were historically explorers. Moash was a caraveener before he went to the Shattered Plains

- also historically stonewards were stubborn to a fault and filled with resolve. do I even have to say it

- this is also thematically interesting in parallel to Bridge Four because the stonewards and windrunners are the two main military orders, but the stonewards are grounded in the earth with their surges as opposed to the windrunners who end up detached from the earth literally. this could be juicy

let’s break it down. so we can see that piltover’s prejudice comes fearful negligence of the monster they created. abuse of resources, labor, then the Day of Ash solidifying that divide. because of this, their opinions are based on rumors of how dangerous Zaun is, not because of what they know. they quite literally fear what they can’t see.

If we analyze Caitlyn’s interactions with all s1 criminals, we see this gentle nature displayed despite what she’s taught against them. First with Gustave on the airship, then with releasing Vi, then with Huck in the sumps, and finally with Jinx, choosing to lower her rifle. Caitlyn gives all these characters the benefit of the doubt, and over the course of the show, all of them betray her (to varying degrees, Vi included).

After the memorial is when Caitlyn decides enough. These criminals have lost the benefit of her doubt. Her guard is up, she’s doesn’t trust strangers anymore. There have been far too many unforeseen consequences because of that, and her mother and other innocents paid the cost.

Caitlyn decides she will no longer give the criminals she encounters the sympathies she once did. As seen by the Hellfire montage and the loyalist spy found in Jinx’s gas trap, that she then sends to jail. She treats them as information sources, not people that deserve to be heard or sympathized with for the choices they make. We see Vi’s concern with this and then the tenderness that resurfaces before they kiss, displaying that gentle nature again as though to prove it’s still there, buried under guilt and revenge.

Then, comes the final betrayal that is Vi. The line “I keep telling myself that you’re different but you’re not” has layers, and while intended to be about “Jinx’s blood in her veins”, that sisterhood, also could reference the way she keeps trusting people that everyone told her to doubt and having it thrown back in her face.

It’s not that Caitlyn believes all residents from Zaun are criminals like Piltover does, out of fear and Ambessa’s abuse of military power and martial law. Caitlyn is shown by her constant checking of Ambessa in Act 2, “Arrests require cause.” She focuses away from Jinx and tries to detach her bias from the investigation, going back to her roots and most importantly herself.

We can feel the benefit of the doubt creeping back and now they’re raising alarms, pointed at Ambessa. But she’s still tangled in her web, unable to prove anything or make any moves. So the investigation continues, it’s all she can do.

Then we see that all roads lead to Singed. The most evil criminal of them all, surely irrational and irredeemable. And we get this beautiful quote, “Why does anyone commit acts others deem unspeakable? For love.”

And it just shoots everything into perspective for her. That she can’t blame or hate criminals for their choices, that everything has Context and we are all just products of our environment, trying our best. Even the worst, like Singed. Even people like Caitlyn. She understands why people make mistakes now but no good deeds can erase them. There’s still damage that demands to be answered.

Now we’ve come full circle. Caitlyn in Act 3 displays this ultimate Benefit of the Doubt™️ that is (in part, trusting Vi about Warwick) but mostly releasing Jinx from her confinement so she and Vi can escape together. There’s no guarantee that Jinx is better, less destructive, any of things she wants to hear. That she won’t orphan another kid. But she trusts in the hope that Vi displays in her, who was once a criminal herself with no record, locked away because no one gave her a chance.

We know that Wick insisting that sparing Thjazi would be better for the Halovars' public image and that it would be more in-line with (his interpretation of) the Creed's teachings is what finally got Yanessa to snap and bring Wick into the fold. And that Yanessa really doesn't like the way Iris believes so strongly in the Creed and quotes her own book of manipulations to her, yet Iris was the one to mold Wicander's belief in the Creed, his interpretations. Plus Yanessa flat out said that the Creed was written in a manner to limit others and provide her and House Halovar with all the control/power, rules for thee but not for me.

So to have Wicander running around, the public face of the Candescent Creed and House Halovar, preaching acceptance and the most tolerant readings of her book, undermining all the control and exclusionary elements she purposefully baked into it. It must have created so much extra work for her and those who knew the truth to keep Wick's wanted changes under wraps and reachihng a limited crowd, to prevent the schism that multiple, highly-divergent readings can cause.

Just the power of honest belief and wanting to do right by others.

We know that Wick insisting that sparing Thjazi would be better for the Halovars' public image and that it would be more in-line with (his interpretation of) the Creed's teachings is what finally got Yanessa to snap and bring Wick into the fold. And that Yanessa really doesn't like the way Iris believes so strongly in the Creed and quotes her own book of manipulations to her, yet Iris was the one to mold Wicander's belief in the Creed, his interpretations. Plus Yanessa flat out said that the Creed was written in a manner to limit others and provide her and House Halovar with all the control/power, rules for thee but not for me.

So to have Wicander running around, the public face of the Candescent Creed and House Halovar, preaching acceptance and the most tolerant readings of her book, undermining all the control and exclusionary elements she purposefully baked into it. It must have created so much extra work for her and those who knew the truth to keep Wick's wanted changes under wraps and reachihng a limited crowd, to prevent the schism that multiple, highly-divergent readings can cause.

Just the power of honest belief and wanting to do right by others.

plus them taking time to show how they would've gotten some of those abilities narratively is so cool and I have to assume part of that was a natural consequence of Liam taking the time in the campaign to describe his process of gathering all his spell components and how he built himself back up

beau and caleb: *with tears in their eyes* "we don't know much about it, we only know that (facts about that thing that even other scholars find impressive). we wish we knew more 🥺"

the rest of the nein: "that's alright. you've been a great help! let's make a plan-"