G 🍁

Is media literacy dead?? Vax is a heroic character. He has always, always sacrificed himself for the greater good. He will always sacrifice himself for others. His refusal to bend for the Whispered One was literally THE OPPOSITE OF SELFISH!! He did it to save the world! He is a hero and has been for a majority if not the entire show!

What is with these, quite frankly, insane takes about Vax not submitting due to his ego and wanting to “save face?” Did we all watch the same show? You know, the one where there’s a character who has barely any ego and sacrifices himself for his sister and friends over and over? I mean, if people are not able to understand the hero’s journey to this degree, I fear for the ability to grasp much media at all. When heroism is now being spun as selfish and egotistical, that’s not just a bad take, it’s a dangerous one.

Because yeah, we can say this is fictional and regardless of how people perceive Vax’s actions, it’s how he was written so people should bear with it and not be so offended. However, if you view a character’s act of heroism as inherently selfish, what if a person commits such an act in real life? Would you call them an egotistical person just doing it for vanity? If a solider chooses to leap onto on a grenade for comrades, we don’t say “wow, just doing it for his ego, what a loser.” No we honor such people because of the costs of their sacrifice. Are there some people who “play the hero” for attention? Sure, but that isn’t what this is. This isn’t a commentary on narcissistic manipulation. It’s a character journey that leads to one man standing up to a vile, liar of a villain so others can do the same.

Them writing Vax as a character who doesn’t submit is completely in line with his arc. It’s not about ego or pride when he doesn’t bow to Vecna. For one, the idea people seem to have that they would’ve been able to regroup had Vax given in and Vecna would’ve kept his promise is ludicrous. He’s a villain, since when are you supposed to trust anything a villain says? Especially when he had just admitted to spinning an unholy web of lies for so long to convince them to kill him so he could resurrect. But yeah, sure, that guy would just let Vax go so they could regroup.

a lot of the criticism ppl have towards keyleth from s4 applies to many of vax’s actions in s2 and s3

“not trusting vax” he didn’t trust her in s3

“she’s driven by emotions” he is too - hence why he’s the champion and the reason he dies

“she acts without thinking” ummmm yup so does vax

“too trusting. eg believe the whispered one” her whole arc in s3 disproves that entirely

He’s definitely not getting less of the criticism right now strangely 😂The interesting thing about Vaxleth is that they struggle to see things from each others perspectives. Ironically it’s their opposing viewpoints that drove Vax and Keyleth towards one another. He liked how she was kind of goofy but more optimistic and sweet vs his more realistic and combative nature. They challenge one another to see a different side of things in a way they wouldn’t have without the other. So yes that can sometimes come across like they don’t trust each other but fundamentally they do.

Vax choosing to become the Champion wasn’t necessarily an emotional decision. It was him choosing to submit to what he thought was the best course to save Vex’s life and he was willing to take on that burden, again the self-sacrificial kind of thing. With Keyleth though when she submits to Vecna it’s a snap decision she makes. It’s not that she’s even trusting Vecna, it’s that in that moment she likely isn’t thinking it through much at all and is simply blindly hoping her choice would save Vax. Her whole arc was about her parallel to Delilah and how, regardless of what happened, she’d be willing to do anything to save Vax. In that way it contrasts Vax who is willing to sacrifice himself to save his friends, she just wanted him to live. Again, understandable but no less selfish in the thought process. Now as I’ve said in other posts, I don’t think Keyleth herself is selfish at her core. She’s the leader of the Ashari for a reason but this season showed that there’s very much Keyleth, the Voice of the Tempest and Kiki, the young woman deeply in love. Unlike the others who are better coming to grips with reconciling both sides of themselves and holding them in tension, Keyleth is still struggling with this and because of that struggle she can make these kinds of weighty decisions.

poor woman gets so much criticism it’s so misogynistic

percy literally chose to save pike over the whole of whitestone and he’s not called selfish

Everyone throwing around the word “misogynistic” is getting tiring. People can see that a character makes a selfish choice while not thinking that character is personally selfish. Keyleth submitting was selfish and obviously surprising because the other members of Vox Machina didn’t suspect it. Even Grog goes to step forward but Pike holds him back. The thinking here is that she’s the one closest to Vax, in a sense she should know best that he wouldn’t have wanted her to bow to Vecna to save his life, that wouldn’t be worth it to him. He’d rather die than see all of Vox Machina capitulate.

So Keyleth submitting was a personal, selfish thing because if she was objective she had to have known there wasn’t going to be any benefit or mercy in submitting to Vecna. But as I said in my post it doesn’t mean her choice isn’t understandable. She did just think she’d cured Vax and was going to have everything she’d dreamed with him so to have that snatched away and be told to make a snap decision about his life is cruel, hence why Vecna is such a terrible villain. Nonetheless it doesn’t take away the selfishness of her choice vs the selflessness of what Vax does.

What is with these, quite frankly, insane takes about Vax not submitting due to his ego and wanting to “save face?” Did we all watch the same show? You know, the one where there’s a character who has barely any ego and sacrifices himself for his sister and friends over and over? I mean, if people are not able to understand the hero’s journey to this degree, I fear for the ability to grasp much media at all. When heroism is now being spun as selfish and egotistical, that’s not just a bad take, it’s a dangerous one.

Because yeah, we can say this is fictional and regardless of how people perceive Vax’s actions, it’s how he was written so people should bear with it and not be so offended. However, if you view a character’s act of heroism as inherently selfish, what if a person commits such an act in real life? Would you call them an egotistical person just doing it for vanity? If a solider chooses to leap onto on a grenade for comrades, we don’t say “wow, just doing it for his ego, what a loser.” No we honor such people because of the costs of their sacrifice. Are there some people who “play the hero” for attention? Sure, but that isn’t what this is. This isn’t a commentary on narcissistic manipulation. It’s a character journey that leads to one man standing up to a vile, liar of a villain so others can do the same.

Them writing Vax as a character who doesn’t submit is completely in line with his arc. It’s not about ego or pride when he doesn’t bow to Vecna. For one, the idea people seem to have that they would’ve been able to regroup had Vax given in and Vecna would’ve kept his promise is ludicrous. He’s a villain, since when are you supposed to trust anything a villain says? Especially when he had just admitted to spinning an unholy web of lies for so long to convince them to kill him so he could resurrect. But yeah, sure, that guy would just let Vax go so they could regroup.

Okay, I have to talk about this. This is why I love Vax and why, even though Percy may be my favorite, Vax is probably the best of Vox Machina and the standout of the group. Because while the others do noble things in isolation for important reasons, Vax is noble to his core. Even when faced with certain death, he doesn’t compromise what he knows to be the right choice.

We can see the moment the Whispered One asks him, “What say you, Champion?” Vax knows what making this choice will cost. He loves Keyleth with everything he has, we’ve seen the future he wanted with her, the life he’s going to miss out on, the love for his sister and friends, the fear he’s had of dying but despite all that he chooses to spit in the Whispered One’s face anyway. To not submit to him. Even before that he was willing to die when he flew the Whispered One away from everyone to take the brunt on himself. That is true bravery.

Seems to me that some were almost expecting Vaxleth to have a love story similar to Perc’ahlia when the things is, narratively I wouldn’t want a copy of what we saw with Percy and Vex. I’d say they’re both good because they’re different. Percy and Vex’s love story was incredibly well told and is wonderful in its own right but it’s not similar to what unfolds with Vax and Keyleth. While they wanted to have a love like Percy and Vex, their respective paths made it clear that wasn’t going to happen early on. They’re the star-crossed, deeply in love but tragic Shakespearean lovers as opposed to the more classic yearning and epic declarations of a Jane Austen couple. It’s ships passing in the night, wasted opportunities, dreams unfulfilled and ultimately the reckoning of having to start over. But their struggle is what makes Vaxleth a beautiful love story. Because it shows that love isn’t always about getting swept away in the moment but about choosing the person, over and over, even when it’s uncertain and the road isn’t easy.

While some may be like “why should a one year fling be a lifelong love story?” I’d ask why not? And was it really a one year fling? After all, Vex knew she loved Percy in about the same time but was unwilling to admit it. And they settled down into their married life easily and quickly because they knew there was no one else. I think it’s clear, had Vax not have been in the situation he was with the Matron, he and Keyleth would’ve likely followed the same course. Their “one year fling” would’ve turned into marriage, kids and a whole lifetime of everything they’d wanted together.