Attendre et espérer

Those strings haunt me: The Orphans of Crookback Bog, an unreleased track from one of the most distinctive Witcher 3 questlines. Matt used this during his introduction for episode 2.

Those haunting strings but there's also dramatic women that are going to get me: The Ladies of the Woods, the best villain theme in the game. I'm 90% sure the Ladies inspired Isharnai and Nana Morri.

What's the calm music that feels like it's condescending to me? That's the Royal Palace of Vizima, a non-antagonist villain theme for the emperor who Geralt has to tolerate.

What's that combat "banana tiger" song? Steel for Humans, one of the standard combat themes.

What's the other combat song that has the women going LELELELELE? Silver for Monsters is another core combat song.

What's that menacing song with strings that also sound like a lullaby? Gaunter O'Dimm's Theme from the Heart of Stone DLC.

What's the one that sounds like a mellow dance song? The Merchants of Novigrad, which Matt used a few times in city and tavern scenes. If you like this one, you'll also like Back on the Path and The Nightingale.

What's the really energetic one that makes me dance in my chair and drum to the beat? Another Round for Everyone, one of the Gwent card game themes that's overly addictive. IIRC, Matt tended to put this on for lively taverns and social events.

What about the relaxing ones with a harp? It's likely one of the many background songs for the Skellige region. The harp and similar instruments tend to pop up in a lot of those songs, and they have overlapping motifs, so it can be a little difficult to find the one you're looking for. Here's the Ard Skellig Village theme that demonstrates a good number of their shared attributes.

because that's a notable pivot from julien! to go from only following occtis because you wanted revenge on his family for destroying your life, to protecting him because you've realised for all they did to you, what they did to him was worse

(and in fairness, yeah, julien lost a lot of family and friends to that attack, plus his primary home. but he still has his mother and hope for his sister. he's still alive, he's not going through the horror of attempting to puppet his own corpse around. occtis lost his home a long time ago and in losing his life has in essence lost his entire family as well - but not to death, that would be easier. occtis is losing family members every time he gets his hopes up about having some ally among his house, any of them that didn't want him dead, and so far having those hopes dashed every time)

it is a big moment, for julien to have primus tachonis in reach and choose to pull occtis out of that situation instead. but i don't think seeing occtis in total trauma panic attack mode in front of his father was any kind of revelation for julien. i think he already knew exactly what the problem was. (and probably has known for a while - julien's a way more perceptive person than he lets on, just most of the time he's pretty selfish with that information)

Eve, the mother of sin, who held the world in her hands and was cursed for not knowing.

Eva, director of the task force, who now holds the world, and still must curse man to save it.

Julien Davinos hates everyone and everything, except that he doesn't. He's bitter and selfish, except that he isn't. He is impulsive to the point of recklessness, except that he's also a soldier who knows how to make and execute a plan tactical His idea of certain people is skewed, and his emotional regulation is stunted, but he's learning.

Occtis Tachonis, despite being very fundamentally different from most (if not all) of his family, was still raised by them and has absorbed many very abnormal things as being normal. He's alive but he's dead, he's not a Tachonis but he is.

Azune Nayar is a sweet, soft boy (who never really got to just be a boy), but he's also a hardened soldier. He's the most sincere person there is, but he's also the best liar out there. He has the capacity to love SO intensely it's almost earth-shattering, but he also has the rage of dragons inside him. He does not see himself for the wonder that he is.

Murray Mag'Nesson, brilliant as she is, sometimes sees so many things that she waaaay overthinks and convinces herself of something that has no basis in (this) reality.

Vaelus has spent decades in service to a fallen goddess, she put forth all her energy to find and protect an artifact of said goddess, then decided to destroy it. She's been hardened by her experiences, yet she shows tenderness and affection to the most unlikely companions.

Tyranny is a literal demon, made in the Pit and put on the material plane for nefarious purposes, and yet she wants to be good and, perhaps even more amazingly, she IS good. She is only just beginning to see it herself.

Wicander Halovar is a scion of a noble house, spoiled and privileged and yet wholly unselfish at his core. He dislikes the discomfort of the outside world, yet is willing to put himself in harm's way to help others. He is incredibly naive and yet wiser than even he knows.

Thaisha Lloy is a druid of the Old Path, whose job it is to guide the dead to follow it, and yet she urged her friend/pseudo-son NOT to walk it. She loves a being who is neither living nor dead; she bade one she loved to turn from the Path, and others to walk it so effectively she created angels.

Bolaire Lathalia is quite literally an object, and yet he has more of a soul (literally and figuratively) than many humans. He has killed, and done so selfishly, yet takes every opportunity to learn how to be better. He is wildly intelligent, yet there is still so much he does not know or understand. He’s nearly a century old with the emotional intelligence of a teenager.

Kattigan Vale doesn’t see himself for all his goodness and potential, he is fixated on his failures, none of which are truly his fault.

Thimble has the utmost faith in her departed best friend Thjazi, but doesn't always see the darker and more complicated parts of him.

Halandil Fang is the raddest dad around, so charming it’s off-putting, and he does not seem like a threat at all, but heaven help anyone who threatens someone he loves.

'god damn I totally get why Hal reacted the way he did to Bolaire wearing Misha, considering what he knows of Bolaire; and why he was so unreceptive to all the accusations Bolaire made about Thjazi during the Convergence. His reaction was incredibly understandable from the perspective of a guy who is already fucking REELING from so many revelations about a man he loved'

AND 'I think Hal was horrified that Bolaire insinuated that because of Thjazi, Hal might technically be his owner if Thimble isn't, and given the history of the Orcs under Azgra, no wonder this instigated such a disgusted reaction.'

AND 'that doesn't make any of Hal's words justified. It was, in fact, incredibly fucked up that Hal IMMEDIATELY aggressively pinned Bolaire to a sofa rather than simply asking if Misha was alright; and was ONLY concerned with Thjazi hurting Misha, not Bolaire, when Thjazi swung for him; and was so dismissive of Bolaire when he was trying to talk openly for the first time about how Thjazi mistreated him and reduced him to an owned object, in front of a room of people who predominantly love & glaze Thjazi'

AND 'this clearly negatively impacted his relationship with Bolaire and I think Hal realised that and regretted it, when Bolaire was apologising constantly and promising to leave the life he had built with Hal at its centre, and when he specifically asked Azune to help him rather than Hal'

AND 'I think Hal has so much on his plate with the Creed and the incredible work he did with KoTher'ai, his fears for his family and his complex feelings for Thjazi, that it's completely possible that he won't acknowledge this for a long time'

AND 'I think they both need time apart so Bolaire can figure out who he is without Hal, and Hal can come to his own conclusions about whether their friendship was 'real' or not'

AND 'the revelation of how little Hal cares about Bolaire in comparison to other important people in his life (Thjazi, Misha) is going to be devastating for our fucked-up little mask guy who has codependently entangled their lives'

AND 'this will be very good for Bolaire in the long run if the Seekers become part of his wider friendship/support network, which will in turn be VERY good for Hal because their whole ish wasn't healthy in any way and Hal has enough going on that he genuinely can't give Bolaire the emotional support he needs right now'

AND 'I think this is all far more crunchy and interesting than if they had just spoken about their problems like normal people and hugged it out'

Like, the difference between the Thaisha of the ritual, the gentle shepherdess guiding lost souls through grief and joy to freedom, and then this Thaisha Lloy, stone cold, stone faced, just flatly daring anyone to touch what is hers. No explanations, no nothing. Just flat, this is the way it is because I say so. Do we have a problem?

I am getting Delenn of the Minbari flashbacks, because Thaisha Lloy just made a whole combat just go away. Tail between their legs.

There's all these Magpies in the background with their crossbows, Vaelus, Azune, Hal, Murray, half of damned Dol Makjar ready to have a fucking go, and none of it is needed.

Just Thaisha. Just a Lloy. Casually ready to stand her ground.

Like, the difference between the Thaisha of the ritual, the gentle shepherdess guiding lost souls through grief and joy to freedom, and then this Thaisha Lloy, stone cold, stone faced, just flatly daring anyone to touch what is hers. No explanations, no nothing. Just flat, this is the way it is because I say so. Do we have a problem?

I am getting Delenn of the Minbari flashbacks, because Thaisha Lloy just made a whole combat just go away. Tail between their legs.

There's all these Magpies in the background with their crossbows, Vaelus, Azune, Hal, Murray, half of damned Dol Makjar ready to have a fucking go, and none of it is needed.

Just Thaisha. Just a Lloy. Casually ready to stand her ground.

So I wanted to write a post about Thimble because I've looked into the Thimble tag and found a lot of posts about Occtis, and Julien, and Bolaire.

I'm a big fan of Laura-Fuck-the-Healing-I'm-Doing-Damage-Bailey. I've talked before about how much I loved Jester as someone who, when they were younger, felt like they had to distance themselves from all the girly bits of fantasy because it was a genre of big important heroes and girly stuff marked you as firmly a side character, and often an obnoxious love interest who, the second she walked away, all the REAL characters would shrug their shoulders and shake their head and be like "who can understand women?" Because Jester WAS girly and silly and naive and all of that, but she was a whole character and one of the most interesting ones in the show, and everyone around her just wanted to be around her more.

There's still a part of me that feels absurdly bouyed by the cast saying "well, Vox Machina doesn't have a leader, but also the leader is Vex".

This season Thimble has been the absolute best for stand up and cheer hero moments. She's an absolutely filthy build that maybe shouldn't have been allowed when she only had 3 strength, nevermind now at 19. She is a rogue who is able to disengage and move vertically. She has a spell like ability that grants her automatic advantage against everyone of her choice in 60 feet, and as a swashbuckler she also gets sneak attack as long as she's fighting someone on her own. She's got a misty step according to the wiki.

I love that she's been consistently willing to, well, swashbuckle. To be this daring front line person with the understanding that others are behind her to support. That she makes decisions like "I'm staying behind for Teor." I love that she's been right up there in taking desperate measures.

I have definitely enjoyed the situations her small size has put her in. Grates, bags, some dude's pants. Might get accidentally stepped on while stoned. No one will be able to find her if she hides.

I love that she is as connected as she is to this part of Araman that's inaccessible to a lot of the other characters. I love that, while she's not making a huge deal about it, her body has become uncomfortably mortal, and it's possible that's the fault of her best friend in the whole world. I enjoy that, while she fits comfortably into adventure-genre expectations about heroic violence, she's also a commentary on how hollow revenge can sometimes be. I think there's a good chance her tininess and air of whimsy are mitigating some of horror of the murder lust- though also it helps that she's mainly been going after absolute ghouls (sometimes literally). I mean, that's the genre too, isn't it? There are things that are actual evil and they have to be stopped.