AVA.

The face of a man who just hyperfocused for eight hours and single-handedly cracked the secrets of how to preserve a soul, only for no one to gaf because of stupid political bullshit (that he caused)

“The sun still shines. And truth remains forever”

Characters created by Sam Riegel and Laura Bailey for @criticalrole

there's light behind his eyes,,,,, he loves books,,,, he can do wonderful magic,,,,

No one forced Caleb to do what he did, to murder, torture, or make a man to kill himself. No one HAD to force him, all they had to do was reminded him that he was serving the Empire. He made the choices himself, and it clearly wasn’t just nationalism that caused him to become a Volstrucker, but it is the constant throughout his decision making. Thats what Ikithon reminds him of, that’s what he, Wulf, and Astrid remind each other, and thats how he was convinced to kill his partners.

And the most important thing the show establishes is that this propaganda didn’t start with Ikithon. Empire above all is what Caleb’s parents taught him. That’s what his mother invoked to convince his father to let him go to the academy. Caleb was already primed for a life of murder because he was raised Empire nationalism, Ikithon didn’t even have to try to indoctrinate him, the work had already been done.