#ioun

-lets just get the big one out of the way, with the raven queen & vax. you can interpret their relationship any way you wish; it is clear that vax holds incredible respect for her by the end and has accepted his duty under her. in a way there is love there, a queen and her knight. i personally do not think their deals are all that unfair. but people have debated their relationship forever, and it is worth noting in campaign 3 episode 121 "a new age begins", that the raven queen outright says she "held [vax] as my own greedily for too long". so lets read them within the context of how the raven queen ultimately views their dynamic. in campaign 1 episode 45, "those who walk away...", after vax makes his deal, his symbol to sarenrae is "very heavily tarnished, and the metal itself seems to have cracked in three places"; the rq had no need to sunder his faith in another prime diety but did so anyway. she always refers to him possesively as hers - for example in in campaign 1, episode 90, "voice of the tempest", she tells vax: "you are still mine", a small comment but it adds to her own thesis. in campaign 1, episode 103, "the fate touched", she says, "perhaps you will keep me company [...] my beautiful thing". she is deeply possessive, in ways that buck the notion of impartial godhood (when folk insisted no god had humanity in old discourse) and it seems far more overreaching than a deal at times. that didnt come out of nowhere.

-in campaign 1, episode 13, "escape from the underdark", kima says that vasselheim locks away forces and forces people to forget them: "The least they could do was to seal both [Orcus] horns across the world from each other and forget that it even existed. Which worked well until recently. [...] If it couldn't be destroyed, at the very least we could convene and decide a safer place to possibly reseal it and forget. There are magical ways of forcing those of us who know how to forget." this is consistent with c3, where vasselheim at the gods behest hides knowledge of predathos/ethedok/vordo for the entire age, bringing in judicators on foreign soil to ensure that knowledge is kept hidden. the fact that kima, headstrong & independent, easily accepts this fact given her upbringing, shows how normalized it is in vasselheims society. and, in both the horn of orcus & predathos's case, it's clear sealing away and forgetting doesnt solve shit.

-vasselheim is presented as highly conservative off the bat. in campaign 1, episode 16, "to vasselheim", they get defensive and haughty at the notion of vox machina having arcane magic, and they are not allowed to use it within its walls. while we obviously dont acknowledge tiberius now, when tiberius casts a spell to look gold scaled, yonn admonishes him saying "I would be mindful to not do such things so openly in the future". yonn is outwardly racist to tiberius for being red scaled since yonn is a follower of bahamut, the metallic dragon god: "I'm going to take it you don't see very many dragonborn in these parts?" "No, and frankly you're making me a bit nervous."

-in campaign 1, episode 38, "echoes of the past", gilmore states of vecna: "you have enough individuals that believe you're a god, that willpower is strong enough to keep you enduring."

-in campaign 1 episode 41, allura says, "If Vasselheim still stands, I-- knowing its history, that is one of the most fortified cities, the most fortified city in our civilization. It's endured two great wars, and has been the starting point of each cycle." the fourth age does indeed begin in vasselheim.

-vasselheim refuses to aid tal'dorei or wildemount against the chroma conclave. in campaign 1 episode 43, "return to vasselheim", vord says, among a shitton of other quotes about protecting vasselheim, that "should Vasselheim fall, I dare say all is lost" and that "It is only here that those who are the most devout could truly have the hearts and minds to guide us" while it is fine to want to support your own city, it is noted how angry vord gets when the dwendallian empire will not aid vasselheim and how they need aid from others to defend from the titan. this arrogance that only they should survive and know best leads to them invading marquet in c3.

-also in campaign 1, episode 43, "return to vasselheim", going back to that vord interaction:

vord: "It is only here that those who are the most devout could truly have the hearts and minds to guide us, Bahamut forbid, into a Fourth Age."

keyleth: "So, if this is the Third Age, does that mean the Fourth is upon us?"

-in campaign 1 episode 54, "in the belly of the beast", keyleth says something that perfectly encapsulates what theme cr ends up embodying: "You know, as druids, I was raised to have an interesting perspective on the gods. We are taught that nature is the one true powerful force. I have yet to see a god control the sunrise and the sunset, so therefore it's hard for me to sometimes have the same faith in these gods. Personally, I believe that just because you're immortal doesn't make you infallible. These gods can be great ambassadors of their virtues and what they represent, or they can be horrible disgraces to their domains. And just because some self-proclaimed person or deity decides that they want control? Doesn't mean that they have to have control over me. Now, this does not mean that I do not respect the gods and the power that they wield, but, I mean, for the love of Sarenrae, we have seen Pike do many a powerful thing. So, therefore, I do not respect the gods any more than I respect the living people who are standing beside me at this moment. [...] Maybe this [deal with the Raven Queen] can be a fine partnership. A fine endeavor to do with her, and then once we save the world and we retire and some other young prodigies come forward to save the world again, then we can thank her for her services and move on. I don't think you will always need her. And, keep in mind, the one true thing that gives these gods their power are their worshipers. So I guess I'll let you choose what you want to be." keyleth is proven entirely right here with astounding victory; even her comment about pike is proven entirely right when she can still heal when sarenrae is gone.

vord: "i hope not."

-this is a bit of a stretch, and open to interpretation, but in campaign 1 episode 18, "the trial of the take", it is mentioned that "Through the blessing and touch of Melora in this district they are able to treat the land as magically fertile territory to grow." in campaign 1 episode 57 "duskmeadow" this is reinforced with "There's almost like a lush forest that curls around the outside of it that doesn't match the rest of the indigenous trees you've seen in this area of Othanzia", and of the raven queen's domain: "the downside is that the power of these glyphs that prevent undeath also prevent any actual vegetation from existing in this area as well. So all the ground that you've come across: no grass, no natural vegetation. It's just dirt and ash and dust." with the theme in c3 of the gods being a colonizing force, these things show me that the gods will twist natural order - melora is putting non indigenous plants in a new area, and the matron doesnt allow anything to grow when death is a cycle, nothing to even decompose. i may be reaching for sure, but well before c3 i noticed this and it fundamentally bothered me, and ive seen others note it too.

-in campaign 1 episode 57 "duskmeadow", the raven queen says: Without death, life has no meaning. "Finality drives change, innovation, greatness. It is the end that I bring that drives all of your gracious creations of this land to make the world better than we did, than those before me did."

-from campaign 1, episode 103, "the fate touched": "gods, as they currently exist, their worship is what sustains their importance and viability in the various planes."

-in campaign 1, episode 104, "elysium", sarenrae says, "Understand, in order for any of us to directly interfere to seal a god like we did once long ago, we would have to tear down the Divine Gate and that would release an entirely new armageddon upon your world."

-in campaign 1, episode 104, "elysium", sarenrae says of her followers, "we learn from each other."

-in campaign 1, episode 104, "elysium", sarenrae says, "but for everything great that we may have created, you continue to create far better. Our existence brings threat. We've brought two calamities before. We try and avoid a third. Whether we diminish in time or just maintain this balance, it's you, and your children, and your children's children, that hold the keys to the future of your lives, your people, your culture, and us."

-this one is more up to interpretation but i think of it often. in campaign 1 episode 105, elysium, vex sees pelor behind the sun: "you can see the faint features, the soft cheeks, the hairless head, and the bright warm eyes of he who brings the dawn". to me, this felt like a poetic proof that the gods were people behind their divinity.

-pretty much the entire vecna arc reiterates again and again, via the gods themselves at times, that mortals do not inherently need the gods anymore but the gods need them. quoteth ioun, in campaign 1 episode 106, "the endless atheneum": "We, the creators, did breathe the beauty into this world, we planted the seeds that would blossom into this incredible weave of Exandria. However, what is the purpose of the parent but to teach what they can, then set the children free? [...] We now stay to inspire, to guide, to guard the Gate, to keep the hate of ignorance we spawned in our hubris from burning away everything. The rest is up to you. We need you, perhaps, but you do not need us."

-in dalens closet, vax who has spent time in the raven queen's realm says "i am imperfect. as are the gods."

-now we're in campaign 2 territory, and references ive noted start later on. this example could be unrelated, but i note it: in campaign 2, episode 45, "the stowaway", they find a pre calamity mural of the cosmos: "one, there's no Divine Gate shown [...] You get the sense this was designed before the Divine Gate was ever created. Number two, there is an additional shape. Smaller than the rest. A tiny, ruby-like circle that floats in the Astral Sea, that is not tethered to anything, and seems to not really fit within your understanding of the cosmos." predathos, that you?

-in campaign 2, episode 60, "a turtle by any other name", kord says with such anguish, "we've all done terrible things." definitely caught my ear, that he knows wrong was done.

-throughout all the campaigns, characters wonder at breaking cycles. there are literally too many examples of this to count, but id particularly note any conversation where the m9 talk with the bright queen. for this angle, ill cite beau in campaign 2, episode 63, "intervention", explicitly saying "we can help you break the cycle" to leylas, and leylas saying it is impossible, to her eyes, to break. they can all see it even if they cant really see it. it is a function of their universe.

-in campaign 2, episodes 74, "manifold morals" & 76 "refjorged", beau & caleb meet a researcher called demid sunlash who is obsessed with ruidis. "Ruidus itself, some are believed to have been either a pre-creation, back when the elements themselves were consuming all of Exandria, but others believe may have not originally existed, may have been a creation by the Betrayer Gods and was some sort of long-running mysterious plot that was cut short during the end of the Calamity and when they were banished away. That's what I'm certainly curious about." he says there are "too many prying eyes and ears" when beau & caleb ask for information in public.

-in campaign 2, episode 89, "lingering wounds", matt says, "Mind you, based on the scrolls that had to be hustled out of Vasselheim by Obann and members of the Angel of Irons cult, you have information to at least make you think that that information is very, very, very intentionally near impossible to find." to me this is good setup for vasselheim completely concealing the two dead gods, and far more.

-let's talk about jester & artagan, what i think is c2's main thesis that fits into c3. jester's mere belief in artagan causes him to gain more power. i will not be including every single snippet, as this is brought up multiple times, but here are the strongest examples: in campaign 2, episode 94, "with great power..." artagan explicitly says "With each new faith, I could find myself, I could feel myself becoming what you believed." it becomes established more & more through the narrative that jester may be equal to/have more power than artagan; in campaign 2, episode 96, "family shatters", beau wonders this aloud, saying "i think she might be, like, more of a god than this fuckhead is"; in campaign 2, episode 107, "devoutness and dicks", artagan tells jester "whatever strength I've been giving you, it's just been more of a boost"; artagan tells jester "i trust in your power, you've proven it time and time again" in campaign 2, episode 114, "an open window"; in campaign 2 episode 124, "a walk to warmer welcomes", artagan says "you're the magic ones, silly mortals"; and in the finale, artagan outright says, "You don't need me. You never did. [...] You've proven that, how strong you are. I better give you a push here and there, lend you some of my power, but all the rest is you."

-aeor's mere existence is a massive setup to what happens in c3, and i think most of its moral arguments exist in that campaign. but we visit it and note all of it in c2. it is known that "[aeor] had wished to construct weapons or a weapon, that would be capable of perhaps even killing a god. And for a brief moment in time, both Prime and Betrayer turned an eye towards this city and brought it to ruin" (from campaign 2, episode 108, "frigid propositions"). when beau researches in campaign 2 episode 110, "dinner with the devil", she finds records that aeor "was driven by the belief that mortality-- the gift of magic to the mortal was a gift as well as a challenge by the gods to eventually show that the creations can become the creator," and says "that belief varied throughout the populace there, but those in power firmly felt that there was... there was a drive to, whether it be to save Exandria from the destruction of the coming Calamity by eliminating the Pantheon entirely, or for personally selfish reasons. There's no specific record." it's gray territory why aeorians wanted to do this, and if they did all want to, even early on. this is further hinted at in campaign 2, episode 122, "nothing ventured, nothing gained", where the writer of the somnovem journal is "pontificating about their politics, and whether they were indeed a unified people as some archivists suggest". "it suffered tumult within", confirms halas, who studied it, in campaign 2, episode 125, "the neverending day".

-there are soooo many hints to ludinus. in campaign 2 episode 48, "homeward bound", the m9 find that the cerberus assembly is studying dunamancy and how to control it, and a set of notes near the research says "I surmise [the kryn] have been learning to bend and break the threads of destiny for hundreds of years. Be this truth, I cannot imagine the Raven Queen looks down upon them favorably either, though the thought brings a laugh to my lips", which could be ludinus's notes. in campaign 2, episode 84, "titles and tattoos", oremid lets slip that "whatever Ludinus is attempting to ascertain with this beacon, is important". yussa expresses caution about ludinus's intelligence and allura is scared of him a few episodes later in campaign 2, episode 87, "punishment and politics"; in campaign 2 epiaode 109 "frigid propositions" , vess says not to trust ludinus. campaign 2 episode 115, "fetching friends & frosty secrets", dagen disagrees with him being called good people. ludinus nonstop sneers at the kryn's "religious drivel" in campaign 2, episode 88, "unwanted reunions". in the aeor arc the m9 find an aeorian ruin that ludinus & his annex is overseeing excavation of; in campaign 2, episode 119, "malice and mystery below", caduceus is told "what catches you odd and makes you feel the shiver down your spine as you climb through this tree, is the way that it's twisting, the coloration of the leaves and the branches: Very reminiscent of the Savalirwood, specifically the corrupted portions of it"; this connects ludinus to molaesmyr's corruption, he's exploring its cause.

-leylines & planes shifting are mentioned a few times vaguely in the story. i think a good implication of what they will do in c3 is in campaign one, episode 112, "dark dealings", where artagan says about him being trapped in the feywild, "Things rearrange every eon or so, and the ley lines that guide the paths shift, and I haven't been able to get back since." when the m9 finds ryn's notes in campaign 2, episode 129, "between a ball and a hot place", she suggests a lot is happening around that: "The theories on a pattern of change begin to peek through in some of the notes. A slow shift in the structure between the planes, and a possible sudden shift in the cosmic tapestry down the road. And you can see a lot of these notes, there's a combination of worry and excitement gleaned from them. This person is just pontificating about possible cosmic events down the road that could be catastrophic or very exciting and unique, remaking of the cosmos. [...] Possible change that could spell disaster or balance? Who knows? For instance, an example theory of the magnetic poles suddenly flipping earth. [...] I continue to find an aberration in my data pertaining to Exandria. A cyclical, months long, slow surge in low-level magical interference that then recedes just as slowly. Something that tangles my readings and upsets my analysis. It is too faint to identify the arcane nature at source, but I worry if this pertains to the shifting between the veils. Could be something very interesting. Something very frightening. Very wonderful. More tests are required."

-in campaign 2, episode 135, "the genesis ward", caleb finds aeorian papers that describe that "there are some books that detail elements of the study of creation, specifically creation of the Pantheon. Speaking of growing proof, from their perspective, that mortal minds and imagination gave form to the gods, not the other way around. There is elements of research regarding that and debate and papers fighting for both perspectives throughout that one particular book."

-the somnovem are definitely batshit, but they retain some sense of the past; in campaign 2 episode 138, "where there is a will..." they say that mortals face "the trials and toil of running the divine maze, under the alien minds of false gods".

-much like jester, zerxus also does not gain divine power from the pantheon. in calamity episode 1, "excelsior", it is said he "is a wielder of divine magic with no devotion to any deity to speak of. He has mastered the ability to call upon the divine simply as a champion of the people of Avalir."

-in calamity episode 1, "excelsior", purvan says, "She was one of us [mortals]. She does remember from whence she came. It is not their world any longer. Why would she not welcome us behind her?"

-in calamity episode 2, "bitterness and dread", brennan ponders, "if [the gods] have wars, if they squabble and bicker with each other, how inhuman can they be?"

-the hall of oracles in avalir is described in calamity episode 2, "bitterness and dread', as having "a connection to the divine without the use of gods"

-in calamity episode 3, "blood and shadow", loquatius says a theme of c3: "History is not true, all right? History is whatever people decide to put out into the public."

-you may dismiss zerxus as crazy, but in calamity episode 4, "fire and ruin", he hits the nail on the head saying that "[the gods] came and you shaped. you took, and you shaped, and you changed, but you didn't create a thing". and that "you are a child and you are lost. how do you not see that?"

-in calamity episode 4, "fire and ruin", evandrin says "Laerryn's vision was, from whence do the gods come? By what token do they award themselves that title, and what realms beyond could we explore"

-in calamity, we see that vespin chloras is not the wholly evil person we are taught he is throughout cr beforehand. it's a good tally in the idea that history was not taught without bias.

-in calamity episode 4, "fire and ruin", evandrin says, "I do not know whence the gods came from, but I know that you found it in your heart. I promise you, Zerxus, I will find that place. I will find the secret of how these worlds were made, and I will come and find you and bring you home." there is more acknowledgement the gods are alien, and evandrin will find their home.

-in exandria unlimited, episode 1, "the nameless ones", there's a ship called the blightstar with ruidian imagery, which contains the crown that will one day doom opal. i wouldnt say this is narrative foreshadowing entirely the way the others are but it was too important not to share

-throughout exu prime, there is heavy emphasis on the theme of power being just power, for us to decide what we wish to do with it, the theme that ends up entirely defining c3's finale. in exu episode 3, "a glorious return", gilmore says, "Now, the Spider Queen herself is dark, is evil, but the vestige is simply power and it is whatever you make it into. Power simply is." in episode 6, "the gift among the green", thrascuur tells the crown keepers "you have to decide what you will do. What you will become. And the last I will say is this: power is neither good, nor evil. it simply is." in the final exu episode, with a high history check, orym realizes (via dm narration): "It's just power, and even though this vestige was marked by the Spider Queen, it is wielded by a friend, and she can decide what she will make of it."

-in exandria unlimited episode 6, "the gift among the green", thrascuur tells the crown keepers, "The world constantly changes, and that's not the gods. That's the men that walk upon the earth, and you are those people that will change the fate of the world."