Thread by @teabeakay

Critical role thinking thread after yesterday. SPOILERS. HUGE. EPIC. THE LARGEST. SPOILERS.

#criticalrolespoilers #criticalrole

So I’m watching the Essek Supercut by thelittlestgoblin on YouTube: . First up this vid is a blessing and the creator must have had prophecy whispered in their ear by a god. Many thanks. #criticalrolespoilers

My overall opinion on Essek has been swinging back and forth like a metronome, because I love our pointy disaster boi but dear god, he’s apparently a war criminal. The Nein will redeem him come what may, but what I’d love that to involve depends... #criticalrolespoilers

(Having said that, I trust Matt, I trust the Gang, and I’m not about to yell at them because they didn’t deal with a grey storyline and character the precise way I wanted. Matt knows what he’s doing, that’s why everything has happened the way it has) #criticalrolespoilers

FIRST OF ALL THO. I’m watching Caleb go to talk to the captive scourger for the second time, and realising SOMEONE HELPED HER GET FREE AND ARMED. ESSEK DID YOU ALMOST KILL CALEB?!? Jesus H Dunamous Christ. #criticalrolespoilers

Is Essek the only operative among the Krynn? Did someone else set that trap for Caleb? Did Essek do it thinking he could control the situation and no-one would really be harmed? Is that why he killed the scourger himself, instead of waiting for execution? #criticalrolespoilers

The very same day as the scourger incident however, Essek teaches Caleb more dunamancy, and says that although it may create more personal risk for him, it’s a demonstration of his trust in the Nein. #criticalrolespoilers

So did he set it up, but Caleb and the Nein surprised him? Was it another operative’s work, or the scourger was simply crafty, and the incident made him realise he cared about Caleb and the Nein? #criticalrolespoilers

He and Caleb even use the term ‘friends’ for the relationship between Essek and the Nein that day, and Essek says he likes it. Is he one shifty uncaring motherfucker, did he genuinely have no heart and started to change, or was it not him? #criticalrolespoilers

For sure the man is a smarmy, arrogant archmage at that point though, and likely still is. But are we trying to redeem a Yusa who lost his way without the Pansophocle, telling himself he didn’t care, or a Halas who did what he wanted and TRULY didn’t care. #criticalrolespoilers

In other words, a true sociopath, or something a little more grey? Something that Caleb never was, but was being trained to become, or what Caleb might have looked like under kinder circumstances but with less guidance? #criticalrolespoilers

Next up, the Lotus Den Incident. Caleb and Fjord persuade Essek to transport them a second time after they gave him poor instructions, but he sarcastically tells Jester there’s nothing more he’d like than to not be around the Nein for the rest of the day. #criticalrolespoilers

He also pulls away from Caleb’s apologetic touch, not rudely, but making it clear he’s not in a good mood, not to push it. I wonder at this point - is he wondering whether the Nein are worth his efforts, or have they started to grow on him already? #criticalrolespoilers

And yet, when Beau asks if he’s mad at the Nein, he says he’s not, he’s just ‘ready to leave’. The entire event is still notable because it’s really the first time we see a proper crack in Essek’s charismatic, enigmatic, polished exterior. #criticalrolespoilers

Even during the scourger incident, his facade (if that’s what it is) didn’t seem to crack. He’d been stern before, but this is the first time we see impatient or cranky. Possibly just the vagaries of live RP, but still. #criticalrolespoilers

Hmm, now watching his reaction to the results of the Lotus Den.. again, vagaries of RP, but we know Matt puts a lot into his voice and face very deliberately. Here Essek seems concerned not just for the Nein, but for Obann’s impact on the world at large #criticalrolespoilers

Is he playing a part, or has he truly started to care? Most everything from last episode implies Essek is conflicted because of the potential impact on the Nein... but did their selflessness start to rub off on him after all? #criticalrolespoilers

In these few episodes he really starts to warm up. He apologised for things, he makes it clear he listens to the Nein and professionally cares about stopping Obann (he also notes he’s been under pressure: see Dairon almost getting caught in the archives) #criticalrolespoilers

I guess what I’m trying to divine here is, when did things change and why? We know it was self interest at first. Was it only that he started to care about these people? Does he care at all about the consequences of his actions outside of the Nein? #criticalrolespoilers

Essentially, if he’s still in a place where he’s motivated only by potential harm to those he’s attached to, that’s still arguably a fairly selfish place to be acting from, and the Nein have a lot of work to do before he even really deserves any redemption. #criticalrolespoilers

To borrow from Campaign One, are we looking at Percy before VM found him (hoo boy), during the Briarwood arc (better but still No Mercy Percy), during the Conclave, after Glintshore, or after that final emotional breakdown in Vassalheim (y’all know when). #criticalrolespoilers

Anyway BIG NOTE: In the conversation post-Lotus, Caddy even says that the Nein know there are traitors on each side and he knows Essek could be one, but they hope he’s not. And NO ONE INSIGHT CHECKED HIM despite him looking... at the very least shocked. #criticalrolespoilers

Ah, and now we have another layer. Was Essek keen to get the Dynasty focused on the Obann threat because he was worried about the consequences, or because he wanted to use it to end/stop the war? And why precisely did he want to end what he had started? #criticalrolespoilers

So many questions my fellow critters. So very many.

Angst note: how many times did Jester message Essek when he was in the Empire being an angst traitor? #CriticalRoleSpoilers

Onwards! Now we reach post-Rexxentrum times. When Nott asks Essek if everything’s alright, Matt makes a point of saying he looks a little sleep deprived. Busy times being Shadowhand, or a guilty conscience causing uneasy sleep? #criticalrolespoilers

Oh man, no-one insight checked Essek AT ALL when he told the Nein that not only was the Taskhand involved with the AoI, but he stole the beacons and gave them to the Empire. It made sense given Obann’s plot, and they trusted Essek, so... #criticalrolespoilers

Nothing on his reaction to them saying where the beacon was, that the empire wanted to give it back, that they wanted peace talks. Or when they asked to interrogate the Taskhand! I would love to have ‘heard’ Essek’s thoughts in that moment, holy shit. #criticalrolespoilers

*tiny scream* alright, when the gang realised that if the Taskhand was mind-controlled by Obann he should have a mark like Yasha, and then Essek finds out there’s no mark, and yet Fjord determined the Taskhand is confused... #criticalrolespoilers

Essek begins to postulate on possible arcane reasons for the disparity. I bet it’s simply that the Taskhand was willingly part of the Cult - spread the rift devices, organised the attack on Rexxentrum - and then Essek added the bit about the Beacons... #criticalrolespoilers

Before knowing that Obann left a mark on his victims. The PANIC that must have caused pointy boi! #criticalrolespoilers

This all explains too why Essek was SO RELIEVED at how well telling the Bright Queen about the Taskhand, and convincing her to agree to the peace talks, went in the end. Pointy boi was breathing hard #criticalrolespoilers

Perhaps explains why Essek finally went to the Xorhaus for dinner. He felt the end of the war was near. He was almost free, had almost stopped the carnage, and his friends were none the wiser. He thought he could let his guard down. #criticalrolespoilers

Perhaps he’d also thought that if the Nein got close to the Assembly, someone might let his identity slip, and that didn’t seem to have happened #criticalrolespoilers

Caleb: ‘You don’t strike me as having much of an appetite for war’
Essek, immediately: ‘No, I have an appetite for knowledge’

#criticalrolespoilers

An interesting insight into why Essek is alone: Beau asking about people who’ve died researching Dunamancy...

Beau: maybe the lesson is that it’s way too much power for any one person to be fucking with.
Essek: it is possible. But that’s why you take care, and that’s why you work alone. #criticalrolespoilers

Kind of reverse logic compared to what we know about archmages, and how their working alone without anyone to watch over them can lead them astray. Essek is peak arch mage. We may as well call his tower Isengard, tho he hasn’t gone far down that path. Yet.

Essek, when directly asked by Jester why he’s suddenly wants to talk to them like friends( he takes awhiiiiiiile to word his answer, and driiiiiinks, which is telling, now)...

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: The Dynasty - I’ve lived here my entire life - and while there are benefits and there are places that are much more challenging to live in, I find it frustrating at times. I find that the obsession with this Luxon entity belies what the truth may be,

#criticalrolespoilers

That these artifacts, I theorise, have nothing to do with a divine being, but are just perhaps artefacts designed in the Age of Arcanum, and misread, in which case it is being misused, or at least only the surface has been scratched of what’s possible.

#criticalrolespoilers

So. My interests leave me not trusting anyone, not feeling like I in some ways belong, and as such I spend a lot of my time in solitude.’

He doesn’t sound whiny/angry loner. He just sounds... sad and lonely, and a bit frustrated.

#criticalrolespoilers

Caleb: Why trust US with your interests?
Essek: Because I’m thankful to have met you. I don’t have much in the way of friends, due to the expectations placed upon me..

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Essek:... and you are driven, you are adaptable, you’re clever, and not shackled by blind devotion to one flawed society or another. I think you all have what it takes to survive in this cold, cruel world, as is something I pride myself on. And...
#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: I haven’t felt a kinship with... anyone, in a long time.
Caleb: is this friendship safe for you here?
Essek: nothing I do is safe.

#criticalrolespoilers

Goddammit, he seems honest, open, vulnerable, lonely, adrift and sad...

#criticalrolespoilers

(Bed time for me, back to analysis tomorrow)

Weeeee’re back. And I’m watching Essek’s eyes go wide when Caleb asks Jester what the worst thing she’s ever done is.

And then we have Essek’s answer - god I wanna know his thoughts. And unlike i thought, there was no zone of truth in place at that point!

#criticalrolespoilers

When he elaborates on why he thinks he’s responsible it’s very telling: ‘it’s complicated. When I say bad in the sense of what is largely assumed to be.. considered a bad thing. It doesn’t bother me necessarily, he wasn’t a.. Great man. He had little aspirations.’

At the time we all went ‘family issues, gotcha’, but now, it seems like it might be a peek into the man, or the facade, that Ludinous Daleth (excuse my spelling) called ‘cold’. This is the archmage emerging again.

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek also talks so calmly about the Luxon, and the rebirths it enables. The idea of Dynasty souls now having been sprinkled through the Empire because of the theft of the beacons. Is that Matt just focusing on the moment, or a lack of concern from Essek?

#criticalrolespoilers

Because he really is so calm... and knowing what we know, it really does seem cold.

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And when Beau says the empire found another beacon, his reaction is FLAWLESS. No twitch. But he does then tell them not to tell the Bright Queen, if they want an end to the war. No sign of panic that they know, tho. Tricky tricky pointy boi.

#criticalrolespoilers

Nott: You care more about stopping this war than serving your Queen?
Essek: (puts his words carefully) The Dynasty is where I live, the Dynasty has many great things it does and provides. I don’t necessarily believe with this theological focus to the point where -

- it continues a cycle of warfare and bloodshed.
Caleb: War is a cycle and an addiction.
Essek: of course, I’ve seen it happen many times, and will continue to happen.
Caleb: it has little to do with its people.
(Essek nods)

#criticalrolespoilers

Now that’s telling. Either he’s lying through his teeth, or Essek sees war as inevitable, especially if the Dynasty insists on claiming any beacon that’s discovered. A power game.

#criticalrolespoilers

So if he didn’t care if he started a war by stealing the beacons, perhaps it really was less that he didn’t care about the lives that would be lost, but considered that loss inevitable, and -

#criticalrolespoilers

an acceptable price when weighed against the knowledge that could be gained, what he saw as a need to know if the Luxon is a god or just a mortal invention, the need to know if the Dynasty is slaving itself, rather than freeing itself.

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I think I saw @otdderamin commenting on this possibility yesterday, that Essek saw the war as inevitable. This certainly seems to bear that out. (Everyone go read their analysis).

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Essek also admits to being one of the peoples scrying on the Nein when they arrived in the Dynasty, but says it was part of his assignment. Now THAT I’d love to know the truth of.

#criticalrolespoilers

He deflects from the question about whether there’s anyone he’d keep scrying on if they were naked by asking the Nein if they know where the additional beacon is. Deflection? Wanting to steal that one and his fellow traitors in the Empire haven’t told him?

#criticalrolespoilers

Ok, here’s an interesting one. Essek recommends again that the Nein don’t tell the Queen about the extra beacon if they want to stop the war, and Nott poses the idea of stealing it back. Essek asks questions, as though he doesn’t know the answers -

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: Is it in the hands of the Emp-
Nott: Cerberus Assembly.
Essek: of the assembly?
Caleb: At the top.
Essek: That both makes sense and confirms that you should not attempt to take it from them.

#criticalrolespoilers

If we assume that Essek has already begun to care about the Nein, this could be him trying to protectthem from his mistakes, knowing exactly who has the beacon and just how powerful they are.

#criticalrolespoilers

One could also read it less charitably, as Essek more selfishly preventing the Nein from upsetting his and the Assembly’s plans to stop the war and still have a beacon for research purposes.

Either way, what a fucking poker face from hot boi.

#criticalrolespoilers

And then Caleb damn near hits the nail on the head -
Caleb: you know about these things, what could they do with it, to abuse its powers?
Essek looks at the very least thoughtful: well they have some powerful minds in the Assembly..

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek:.and if they are somewhat dubious, so does anyone of true intelligence and capability (laughs). Few necessary choices are moral choices and ah, in my experience I’d trust uh.. they would have similar interests, of seeing what it’s capable of.

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: Perhaps they can be reasoned with, and perhaps.. (pauses and grimaces), I will think on this.

Well damn, hot boi, feeling nervous? He even drums his fingers on his arm the whole time he’s saying this - as close to a nervous tic he seems to get.

#criticalrolespoilers

In my opinion, this is the closest he gets to looking conflicted before E97.

And the next section is even tricksier. I’m going to switch over to the main video for E91 so I can put down timestamps. This last exchange was at 1:12:00

#criticalrolespoilers

MOAR TOMORROW.

*cracks knuckles* ok lets see if I can finish this today.

Starting 1:13:09, another telling exchange for what Essek asks the Nein, what he suggests, and how he reacts to their trusting him.

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: do you have a relationship with the Assembly?
(Dry laughs from the table)
Nott: Some of them
Caleb: Somewhat. Our sense is um, and I’m sure that you all have guessed this yourselves, but the Assembly has its plans -

#criticalrolespoilers

Caleb: - separate from the King.
Essek: I would assume. (Looks down, thinks, pauses). Well, if they have it, at this moment I cannot see a path to its retrieval, nor any true benefit in attempting to blow things up, if you will.

#criticalrolespoilers

Beau: Man, I am so glad I talked to you about this first!
Essek: raises eyebrows and has... a very neutral look on his face.
Jester: Man that would have been super bad if you just like brought that up, woof.

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek’s face is so neutral throughout this whole exchange, except for these last comments, where he’s drumming his fingers again, and looks down, seems like he’s keeping his face neutral. Now, Matt could just be reading his notes, but -

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek has essentially just probed to see if the Nein knows his conspirators and guided them away from interfering with his plans. And then Beau expresses trust and gratitude. That’s gotta sting, if he truly cares about their friendship. He’s flat out lying.

#criticalrolespoilers

1:14:06

Caleb: As long as we have been so forthright with you already, we are very sceptical of the intentions of the Assembly in this meeting. We are expecting fuckery.
Essek: (looks thoughtful, touches his mouth) As you should, as you should.

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek then looks deeply thoughtful - furrowed brow, looking to the side - as Caleb goes on.

Did he not consider the potential for the handover to be fucked with? Is he making the plans to go help Ludinous, that lead to the Nein finding him out?

#criticalrolespoilers

Caleb: We would like to, erm, pull the rug out from under them. Not to topple the Empire, but maybe to clear the rot a bit, from our Nation.
Essek: and you believe that the individuals that make the laws, and employ them, across your Empire, are more -

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: - capable than these mages? Do you not think there is perhaps a necessary balance between the two, that maintains the order?

(These are the kind of grey morality thoughts we’d expect from a spymaster, no surprise here)

#criticalrolespoilers

Caleb: No
Beau: it’s the dance of the Cobalt Soul and the Cerberus Assembly have been in for hundreds of years now, at this point.
Essek: Understand - the Assembly, and individuals of which I’ve no sum of -

(Well that’s a bald faced lie, Essek)

#criticalrolespoilers

Essek: - seem to be dangerous, and calculating. But anyone of such extended study and persuits I can understand far better, and see eye to eye with, than I can a power-hungry monarch who came into their seat through bloodline.

#criticalrolespoilers

He looks very serious on this point, and seems genuinely contemptuous of bloodline royalty. He repeats the old line about archmages and morality, but the contempt is something we’ve not seen in other archmages like Yussah or Allura.

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My question is how deep this goes - is this a sign that he sees people without his level of knowledge and intellect as below him? Is this part of what the Nein - some of them not very learned at all - are melting away, and thus exposing a heart?

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Or is it a specific attitude towards the Empire’s style of power - bloodline monarchy - versus the Dynasty, where the Queen holds power along with the Dens and her council?

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In other words, did he combine his need for truth and his frustrations over blind faith with a contempt for those he sees as below him, or with a willingness to pick the best of two evils rather than not act at all?

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This is kind of what we’re all trying to decide about Essek. Is he an edgelord, arrogant, libertarian fuckboi who’s only upset because it turns out his actions have consequences and the fun he has with the Nein is at risk,

#criticalrolespoilers

Or an isolated genius tending towards anarchy who went too far down the path of grey morality and seeing lives as mere numbers, and had no-one around to pull him back from the brink via perspective and empathy?

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The tension between these two possibilities really plays out in what Essek says in E97, of which @otdderamin is doing an analysis currently:

https://twitter.com/otdderamin/status/1234312443234357248?s=21

#criticalrolespoilers

https://twitter.com/otdderamin/status/1234312443234357248

Let us continue though with E92, to figure out what other lies, half-truths and misdirections Essek committed..

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1:15:59

Caleb does not feel like the Assembly wants to truly end the war, and Essek’s response is very sneaky.

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Caleb: I get the sense that they feel they have found the upper hand, somehow. I want to see the conflict end and I do not get that sense from them.
Essek: what is the biggest danger to secret research?

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Fjord: People finding out what you’re researching?
Caddy: Discovery.
Essek: Discovery. What better way to avoid discovery than to find a way to stop a conflict that pries into what you’re doing?
Beau: He’s got a point.

#criticalrolespoilers

Caleb: You’re suggesting that they want to keep their extra?
Essek: it could be. Or they intend to trap whatever it is they’re delivering and gain an upper hand. Or something else. I’m but one mind, they are many.

#criticalrolespoilers

This seems like diversion, because Essek knows precisely what the Assembly are doing. I’m sure he didn’t trust them, but he knew they intended to return the newly found beacon. It seems like he’s just muddying the waters

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This is a good point to raise the question of how Essek has been communicating with his Assembly contacts, and whether he has been to the Empire to meet with them. Is that why he knows teleport (sans circle)?

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And simply because I’m thinking about logistics, did Essek know the Queen was sending assassins to retrieve the beacons originally, back when they attacked in Zadash and the Nein got the beacon? Who knew what there? Were those Krynn sent to die by Essek?

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1:17:00 is interesting: the Nein describe the potions the Empire has made from the beacons, and give one to Essek. Either his Empire contacts hadn’t passed on this discovery, or Essek’s got a very good poker face, because this info seems very new to him.

#criticalrolespoilers

I’m gonna stick to picking out deceptions to finish this thread - it’s very obvious Essek hasn’t been lying about being lonely, or how the Nein have made him realise how truely alone he is, or how he genuinely sees the Nein as friends.

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3:08:00 Breakfast at Essek’s

I wonder if he cooked or got it catered.

He’s so adorably fucking awkward. Essek y u do dis? Maaaaatt, y u do dis???

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The gang tell Essek the Empire has found Vence.
Essek: Ah? That is good news, it appears both sides now have a Cultist of some esteem in our midst, that bodes well for the negotiation (and then he drinks).

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Related thought: I’m surprised Vence is still alive, since he might be able to testify that the Taskhand didn’t steal the beacons. Though whether anyone would believe him is another matter. Plus the assembly could have modified HIS memory.

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Essek reminding himself to walk around the Nein because he doesn’t need to float is one HECK of a metaphor in hindsight.

Matt: You see him trying to change his instinctual behaviour around you.

Coincidence I’m sure, but a good one!

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I wonder what Beau and Fjord would have found if they picked the locked doors in Essek’s house. Nothing Empire related I’m sure, he no doubt keeps that in a pocket dimension like his spellbook.

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I love the fact Essek is just like ‘dig up my yard guys, go get yoself some clay’ 😂

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Oh he bought the food, when Jester says the pastries could use some work he slyly jokes he’ll have to punish the bakery.

#criticalrolebakery