#lorewarden

@thornsandflames is a very, very attractive orc.

great question! i've been turning that scene over in my head a good bit (as you can probably imagine haha). i'm not sure that i would call it foreshadowing, per se—or at least, not as overt as their episode five dialogue—but i do think it served two important purposes (besides giving us a rare tender moment between Tarchon and Korris).

first, it served as a reminder that the fight between Tarchon and Celadus was not only about Achillia. in fact, it was arguably Celadus' harsh words about Elata in 1x08 that pushed Tarchon over the edge.

TARCHON: I see how [Achillia's] eyes fall upon you. And yours upon her. CELADUS: I am your father, Tarchon. Yet I also stand a man. And you would deny me the same comfort that you seek from your whore? TARCHON: (pauses) Then cast off bonds of father, standing only as a man. And call me son no more.

not Celadus' smoothest moment! and previously, at the party in 1x05, he had referred to Elata as an "unworthy distraction"; even she had registered his "disapproving eye."

i do still believe we're heading for tragedy here, and the reminder that Elata was something of a wedge between Tarchon and his now-deceased father will make it all the more painful when the two are separated—he forsook his father over her (at least partly), and it was all for nothing as she was soon torn from his grasp anyway. that's the kind of knife-twisting DeKnight has always gone in for.

and second, the scene highlighted her absence from the villa/ludus and the narrative more broadly. we've never seen a slave have a romance with someone who doesn't live under the same roof before. without the aid of Korris (who reminds us he also has to petition for Ashur's favor), Tarchon has—and we as the audience have—no way of knowing whether Elata is even alive or dead at any given moment; whenever she is not under Ashur's roof, anything could have happened to her. (i am once again in mind of poor Diona from Gods of the Arena, whose capture we were not privy to as it happened outside of the villa.)

NPC: Animated lumber barrel

I can't emphasise enough that it should only ever be an NPC.

Made by this fantastic person: