I saw a handful of recent criticisms of Bolaire with respect to history and museums and such, but regardless of my opinions on those two things, I donāt think heās inconsistent with C4 on that. The more I think it over, the more I think itās actually in step with Brennanās perspectives.
Throughout the first arc, the academia of history and any strategic benefit gained from it have been resoundingly unhelpful. Bolaireās research on Termina and the box was useless; Brennan didnāt even bother asking Taliesin for a roll for that effort in episode 2. The prophecies studied by the Totality are useless because they're only good for enacting the Shapers' will. The magical artifacts left by the Shapers for their faithful to enact their are useless outside of that context. The sorcerous houses that gained power directly from the Shapers are on their way to being useless unless they replace that source. Thaisha's entire first arc was about how the Old Path can't save them because it's useless without free will and knowledge to guide people along the way, and the Sundered Houses are assaulting both of those. History isn't going to save anyone.
And yet, Brennan (and perhaps Taliesin in part) created the Archenade, a museum to hold the weapons that killed the Shapers and artifacts of the Shapers. Almost no time is spent on the actual content of this museum, the staff within it, or whether people even visit it on the regular. It carries the significance of a nondescript office building. It is a place where people do paperwork of some sort, thereās things in it, and some people go there on a whim sometimes. There was a gala there. Hero got an internship to do stuff and things, such as making factoid cards for the gala.
Because it doesnāt matter.
If Brennan wanted us to know a key detail about the museum, he would have said it, but this isnāt a story about preserving history, so the museum is just a useful location for events and things. We know enough to know what Bolaire has been filling his time with and has fixated on as his work at the Archanade, but that work isnāt actually that important to the campaign. Whatās important about the Archanade is that House Cormoray swooped in and took it over, and Bolaire and Hal narrowly saved the Pariah Blades from their looting by stealing them first. Itās important because the Houses held a gala there to show off their dominion over the institution, and House Halovar staged an assassination attempt because it was a convenient place to attack numerous factionsā reputations.
Museums are political tools of the people in power. Thatās why the Archenade is in the story. The way to fight them is to take the source of historical authorityāthe artifacts themselvesāaway from those factions and return them to the cultures they belong to. Thatās the full extent of the significance of the museum.
Taliesin picked up on that immediately. As soon as Bolaire realized Amariya Cormorayās fascination with the Pariah Blades, he used every opportunity to try to mislead her about which ones were real/fake, where they were stored, and that they had been moved, ultimately attempting to steal them from the museum with Hal. Theyāre just swords; completely nonmagical weapons that give absolutely no advantage to any caster in any way except for their significance in killing Azgra. Brennan began Amariyaās conversation with Bolaire stating exactly that, so we know that Amariya didnāt harbor any delusions about either. Bolaire nevertheless immediately insisted that the one they were looking at was fake. He didnāt act because he expected Amariya to become some all-powerful entity while swinging Shayās Blade around, and she didnāt either. Both of them were attempting to manipulate each other because of the cultural significance and political weight, and even with their crappy rolls and thinly veiled disdain, they each wanted to remain within the bubble of social decorum. Theyāre aware of the game and committed to playing it.
This isnāt new for Brennan either. In The Unsleeping City II, after a combat in a museum, Brennan had an indigenous NPC to take back artifacts that had nothing to do with the plot or PCs. There was simply an opportunity to have that happen, and Brennan decided it was worth announcing. The players watched and the general reaction was āright on.ā When Brennan thinks a thing should happen and knows it wonāt undermine the main plot, he makes it happen, without any involvement from the players.
Brennan and Taliesin are on the exact same page: history is ultimately a collection of stories, and all stories can be used to control the masses. Custody of historical artifacts is primarily a display of dominion over that culture. Bolaireās entire characterāhis custom subclass, his backstory, his spells, his personalityāis built around using stories to enact violent change in the world. His attitude of a hammer searching for nails is perfectly in line with the fact that he was created as a weapon. Theyāve been remarkably in step.
I realize that a lot of audience members donāt like that, especially the historians and people who just generally like history. It sucks when a show doesnāt do justice to your field. Iām a lawyerāit happens all the time. (No, really, Brennan fucked up IP law in Starstruck and it was a major plot point for a specific character.)
But Brennan decided that was going to be a core issue in C4, and Taliesin simply said āyes, and.ā
Bolaire has been a fun exploration of what opinions a weapon would have if it knew its purpose. He is personally is opposed to the idea of being stuck in a box, which is why he resented Thjazi for threatening it, but then he willfully walked to the box (the Archenade) and sat there every working day since he got the job. Bolaire loves stories, and he loves storytellers, but he sucks at telling them and he doesnāt have many original ideas, which is why he decided to curate a museum instead of trying to join Halās troupe. And Taliesin meant for Bolaire to suck at storytelling; his imagined reunion with Termina was 99% copy/paste of Teorās reunion with Cyd. Taliesin decided to narrate that unprompted, because the audience needed to know just how terrible Bolaire is at this. The one story Bolaire told āwellā was his pre-programmed role in a play that killed a god. He was never meant to know or tell any other story. So his ideal job is to arrange the display of god-killing artifacts so that visitors can imagine the rest of the story in their heads.
However, the story of how the gods fell wasnāt one worth telling in C4, so we spent no time on that aspect of the museum or Bolaireās work. For example, we donāt know where or how the pariah blades were displayed except that theyāre in the Lloy wing with all the other (found) weapons that destroyed the gods. Were all the blades in close proximity or spread out across a room with dedicated information on each? Did it have artistic renditions of Shay delivering the final blow? How many plaques were there explaining parts of the final battle? Why did Bolaire decide that was the best way to display them? No idea. We know far more about Bolaireās office, rather, his secret office filled with his favorite pieces, none of which have anything to do with the gods. Even then, only a handful of items have been mentioned.
That isnāt a mistake; itās intentional. Brennan and Taliesin both had opportunities to elaborate and instead focused on other things. The whole point of Bolaireās section in the first arc was getting him to leave. Heās not any different from the Pariah Blades. It's the same message both in game and above table: Bolaire's job of conveying the story of how the gods fell was fine, itās not a bad thing at all, but it's over; his new job is to remake the afterlives and end the Shapers' control over mortals. They donāt linger on it because it doesnāt carry enough weight to warrant it.
Again, no one has to like any aspect of C4, but this part of the story is something Brennan and Taliesin shaped together. We canāt discuss any aspect of the Archenade or the Panto without assessing decisions by both Brennan and Taliesin because every interaction between a DM and the one PC connected those facets is by default a joint effort. Criticizing only one of them for it just seems like itās an excuse to criticize that person, not an actual inspection of the story as a whole.
