#egtw

Saw this post from @balleater here and having been meaning to write a meta on the subject, theorizing about what we know.

Essek admits to being seriously traumatized when Caleb talks to him in the Grove.

(141) Caleb: Somewhat hypocritical coming from me, but try to be kind to yourself.  Essek: You, more than anyone, showed me that trauma doesn't define you.

The simplest conclusion is religious trauma, along with neglect and abandonment.

In the wrap-up Matt puts serious emphasis on Essek's parents and family being "very deeply steeped" in the religious culture alongside how Essek has "very much eschewed" the religious culture, that no one has ever genuinely cared about Essek beyond his influence and talent, that his family didn't understand or support his focus on dunamantic research (or his career), and draws clear lines about the negative aspects of Dynasty's theocratic authoritarianism and uncompromising cultural zealotry, at points Mercer even compares it to evangelicalism and doomsday cults.

He also gives us hints that it's a bad situation for anyone who doesn't follow the official faith, like in Eiselcross when Caleb asks questions about the mandated religion and Kryn theories on the beacons:

(124) Essek: It is an interesting idea, though I would caution to keep it close to the chest. Such conversations might be considered sacrilege in some circles of the Dynasty.

Which as word of god tells us Essek had a very bad relationship with his powerful authoritarian den family that didn't understand him or his goals, and he grew up in the Bastion (which is a temple to the Luxon), when the Dynasty laws are founded on the faith and enforced by the military:

(EGtW) The laws of the dynasty, which stem from the faith of the Luxon, are enforced by a network of trusted Aurora Watch captains and soldiers

To the point where Matt emphasized how even petty criminals in the prison were systematically "beaten and emaciated", sacrilege could have ugly consequences, even growing up.

Especially considering that all we know of his father is that he seemed to have a temper to the point of extremely self-destructive tendencies, and that he was possibly military and thus law enforcement (warriors function as both in the Dynasty).

Even in the dinner conversation when he was being outstandingly open, Essek was very careful not to tell the nein anything that could allow other Kryn to question his faith:

Marisha: So his lying about it [consecution] was just about going along with the zealotry and not- Matt: Exactly, because he didn't want people to think that there was something up.

And then there's Essek's massive trust problems, which are specifically focused on the word "trust":

(131) Caleb: We feel we can trust you more than my old teacher. (You see, when you say the word "trust". It's simultaneously like seeing a small hit to the heart... and whatever icy bit that cracked melts away for a minute. There's a moment of him hearing the word and letting it wash over him.) Essek: I'm thankful for the trust you put in me. And I hope to make this up to you.

(124) Essek: I've never really been trusted and so I did not trust. When I- when you gave me trust, it gave me a perspective that was so agonizingly striking. So easy to see that I refused to acknowledge it at first, even. (135) Essek: The more I begin to see Beauregard, yourself return with these markings- I've only just recently learned to trust. It's hard to begin to mistrust so quickly.

Where there's a theory that it might stem from the Dynasty's training for echo knights and dunamancers (when we've heard Essek tell Caleb that the training is comparable to that of scourgers), and we even see the echo knight in Zadash react very strongly to the word "trust":

(13) Mollymauk: We just need to know who we can trust and who we can't.  Thuron: You cannot trust anybody in this city. You cannot trust yourselves. Anyone who has not bound themselves. They are the enemy.

Other context and info gives us that consecution and worshipping the Luxon and following the umavi-written "system of pure faith" created from their interpretation of the beacons (as EGtW dictates the Luxon is canonically silent and unconscious) is required for people to hold Dynasty political/spiritual/military office and influence, to work for the theocratic government (comprised of the 12 noble religious den families), and that dunamancy and the Dynasty's dunamis research is only accessible to those working for the government.

And it seems like Essek hints at unattractive consequences to others discovering he's been lying about his faith (and/or the dangerous nature of his career):

(131) Essek: I just know that I've also survived this long, weaving the intricacies of deceit like I have, by knowing how best to keep myself out of the complications as best as I can.

Finally, we have Essek's relationship with punishment and pain, alongside the Dynasty's systematic religious corporal punishment:

(57) In the shadows there look to be multiple figures. Some human, some ogre-ish with more reinforced bars, drow. Emaciated, beaten. Not looking happy and healthy, but then again, what good Dungeon of Penance would?

(77) ...days of chosen sunlight in which the nightfall is dispelled and the people of Rosohna and Xhorhas bask in the sun. Even those who find pain and challenge in its presence, as it is part of the worship. (EGtW) The Kryn drow who emerged from the shadowed depths of the caverns beneath Xhorhas now endure periods of sunlight as part of their worship. Periods of days, sometimes weeks, will transpire in a state of perpetual evening, enabling the darkness-bound denizens to go about their work. Such periods briefly come to an end to usher in periods of scheduled, mass worship under the sunlight.

New D&D character, who dis?

Fiinaly getting to play in an Exandria game, so here's my Ritchouse Brand, Half-orc consecuted soul'd Echo Knight; Ezracesh Ulkum.

Thought was she was one of those kids born within Beacon radius during one of the skirmishes between the Empire and Dynasty, but having military parents, raised in Bladeguarden the centre-of-army-training and all that indoctrination the Empries famous for has her thuroughly convinced her desire to go east was actually just a desire to get on the battlefield and fight for her country.

ignore the weird almost-too-real dreams of being a dark elf or the fact she can make an echo she's fully ignoring.

EGtW: Essek is a prodigy who displays an unprecedented talent for the manipulation of dunamis energy

c2e57: You follow Essek and as you do, you feel like your pace is quickened. People pass by, other guards, but they blur past like you're unable to necessarily focus. Something is subtly influencing you to make it difficult to really trace the path you take to where you're going. ... Fjord: Do you not feel the same effects? Essek: No. Time is one of my specialties.

Essek, c2e57: Don't deal much in blacksmithing, not my specialty. [His hand rises out of the curtains that is his cloak and his hand passes. These trails of somewhat translucent, gray energy drift off his fingertips for a second and float there before dissipating.]

The wiki describes this scene as showing Pelor's action as cold and violent and I get that's how's Zerxus sees it but---Asmodeus is pretty much Exandria's satan. This man is Lawful Evil at his core. Mr. Lord "Kindness is Stupid" of the Nine Hells. Father of Lies right here. The end of the series pretty much confirmed this. And Pelor knows all this.

And even if that battle isn't really happening in front of Zerxus. But that's the real Asmodeus. And if that's the real Pelor, he just...leaves him alone? He just let's Mr. Lawful "I'm Sworn To End All Mortals" Evil go? Because one human told him too??? A human that didn't even like him. A human who thinks he's above the gods themselves. He's willing to bet the fate of Exandria himself because one human looked into the face of pure evil and saw something pitable within him and chose mercy?

Did Zerxus make him feel guilty? Did Zerxus remind him of someone? Did Pelor think if there was even a chance that it was worth talking? Did he hope Zerxus was right? Does he regret his decision?

Would he do it again?

Yes, as a NG god Pelor can be a tyrant beholden to his own will. But he's one of the only NG gods of the prime deities. The only one accepted in places such as the Dweldian Empire. The other is Raei. The one who chose kindness and paid for it. Other gods are beholden to Law or Chaos or their own domains. But Pelor is beholden to Goodness in of itself. And compassion is written into his commandments.

How it's going: