Jester/Loop

Equiping an armor tutorial

(original post)

theobald doesn't trust lapin because lazuli didn't trust the church. he loves arcane magic and he sees the way the bulbian church forbids its use. lapin is the living embedded embodiment of the church in the castle. he is a constant reminder of the way lazuli's work has lain untouched, unresearched for decades. theobald loves amethar and would never blame him for candia's magical progress lying fallow for 20 years, even if that's who is actually to blame. it's easy to blame lapin for what he represents, even though he personally is not responsible and does not even wield bulbian magic.

from a metagame level, in session 0 zac is more or less forced to play lapin as sneakier and evasive in combat. he has a secret and he can't be found out before the show even starts. murph and theobald see this behavior and it gives murph a reason to play theo as hostile to lapin. zac the player can't rebut the accusations or explain himself without giving away the game, and he's not going to just let theobald bully lapin, so he argues back.

this is why to me the 'oh shut up' line works. like lapin doesn't need theo's apology. he knew the game the whole time even when theo didn't. he needed theo to not know the truth because the stakes were too high to let anyone into his secret. theo's dislike of lapin was founded in real deeply held feelings of losing people he cared about and seeing the church suppress what he loved, even if lapin wasn't the right target for that anger. lapin argued back because he wasn't going to let himself be a doormat and if theo hated him because he was bulbian, that was just a testament to the ruse working. he doesn't need to hear 'i misjudged you chancellor' because lapin has known that the entire time and he was counting on it. he needed theo to believe that for his survival. they could never be close in any capacity while lapin held that secret.

Offscreen kian is saying “bros…” all solemnly

Og under cut