Keeping on the windy side of care

Above a few photos from a Saturday morning bike ride on the Mon River Trail. The milkweed is now in bloom, including butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), whose incandescent orange flowers are a beacon to many pollinators. Along the shady, moist banks of the trail, smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and purple-flowered raspberry (Rubus odoratus) are at peak bloom, descending from the slopes in cascading tiers, often intermixed. And then there is the local wildlife, including on this late spring day a hefty common snapping turtle (Chelydra serpentina), likely a female looking for a spot to lay her eggs. I also rescued a juvenile version from the trail - a tiny (armored) tyke that posed a much lower risk to my fingers.

The pungy schooner Lady Maryland sails north from Norfolk, Virginia en route to St. Michael’s, Maryland, October 23, 2025.

Similar schooners were used between the 1840s and the 1920s as oystering vessels on the Chesapeake Bay.

tall ships caught in a squall in Sandy Hook Bay, New Jersey, 2026

I can't get enough of this show or the cast and crew.

I've only dabbled in things like recording and editing and it is a lot of work and to produce a show of this quality has to take more than I can imagine. You can tell the love and care that was put into every bit of this show. Everything from the sound design, to the casting, to the story and worldbuilding comes together to make an amazing show. The voice actors are phenomenal.

The production team gives us consistent show content and plenty of extras like merch, BTS, and official character art. (if you haven't seen the character art check out the youtube videos)

I wonder if Hogwin is in the same, or similar, situation that Wren was.

It’s entirely possible I’m still coping, and the concept of making peace by preparing for war isn’t new. A character who calls themselves Peacebringer being the scariest motherfucker on the battlefield is definitely an image and a trope as old as time - pacifists become pacifists on a trail of blood.

But Hogwin doesn’t really seem on board with it. He’s able, even willing, to do a lot of awful things, like torturing and murdering Hazel and using her form to get to the other champions. But it doesn’t seem like he LIKES it. When he found the knife on his desk I could almost feel a drop in the pit of his stomach, the way he hesitated, the way he tried to keep it from Ari. He even directly questioned whether Beligor was sure about this plan.

A champion who doubts his god.

The show makes SUCH a big deal about the compatibility of champions to their gods. Not that they never disagree, but the bond is so tight because their ideals line up. Hazel and Guile were poster children for a perfect match here - their bond so airtight it made Wren realize something was wrong with his dynamic with Mortaine.

And here’s Hogwin, doing what Beligor instructs without seeming thrilled about it.

And most importantly, the gods LOVE their champions, and they love their gods back. Mortaine even jokes about how often the relationship is romantic or sexual, but even familial love counts here. Liana expected to marry Wren before he even offered to make her his champion. Hazel might be the ONLY person Guile genuinely loves, and he was basically her only family. Aquira’s grief was so genuine when she lost Isla. Even with Mortaine and Wren, while that wasn’t a true champion relationship, there was love, and even the brief times we’ve seen her with Gideon there’s a soft intimacy, as much as Mortaine can show.

I don’t feel any love between Hogwin and Beligor. They’re as distant and business-like as any of his other interactions. Save one, and I am completely blanking on names and google isn’t helping me right now - but the important thing is Bellsy and Hogwin don’t feel tight at all.

It makes me wonder. IS he even Beligor’s champion?

Beligor would certainly have a reason to use a placebo champion to start his war. I mean, if word got out that the champion of war was doing all this, all fingers would point to him. Even using Hazel’s image to frame Guile can only conceal him so much, after all, especially once the murder weapon is identified.

And on a more seat of the pants speculation…I honestly thought at first that Hogwin was Judge’s champion. I dunno. They seem like they’d fit way better.