azureflight

[azureflight]

Either the final boss of the next campaign is a mortal Vecna who figured out how to destroy Predathos, or I call bullshit on Matt's fireside "reveal."

[azureflight]

CR3 is so allergic to consequences, they went and undid the consequences of CR1.

[azureflight]

The best thing about C3 is that it's finally over.

And of course it ended in the exact same way we all knew would end circa episode 50, what a shocker! Congrats, you have consolidated your IP and got rid off that pesky copyrighted pantheon from Wotc/Paizo. You have also destroyed what narrative coherence or internal logic your setting had along with it, but oh well! Business comes first.

And of course, the cannibalization of C1 by the C3 is complete. After gross retcons during the campaign itself, it wasn't enough for C3 to have a trashfire ending in and on itself, it had to go out of its way to sully the ending of C1 too. The tragedy, the organic live play consequences, the roll of the dice, the real choices, and the beautiful bittersweet ending that had came from all those... Gone to the wind in the history's most ham-fisted ending to a campaign ever.

After years of being what many considered to be the pinnacle of D&D gameplay, Critical Role finally gave a disaster class in what not to do:

A railroaded shitshow with zero consequences and no logic.

A cast stuck in decision paralysis because they were scared shitless of deviating from the DM's preplanned ending. A DM scared shitless of delivering any negative consequences whatsoever to his players. 121 episodes of painful slog through to a predetermined ending which they have utterly failed to justify and validate, yet nonetheless cannot abandon.

This entire campaign could have been a simple announcement on their main website. If they really wanted a story, Matt could have sat down with their writer friends and come up with a short story/novella/novel to explain how they got where they needed to go. Making it a long campaign has been a catastrophe.

What made Critical Role great, what made it a success and a brand in the first place, was that it was real D&D live play. Roll of the dice, improvisation, cooperation and chaos. This prerecorded, edited, railroaded mess with zero stakes ain't it. This is just a scripted show, and not even a good one.

Gone are the days where Sarenrae cut Pike off because Ashley was playing needlessly cruel. Gone are the days where Matt forced an alignment change on Vex because Laura was playing her as an obscenely greedy kleptomaniac. Gone are the days where Sam had to make a real choice between using a 9th level spell slot to Counterspell Vecna or casting Wish for Vax. Gone are the days Molly perma died because that's how the dice rolled.

Zero stakes, zero consequences. Nothing organic about this entire campaign, not one bit. The only reason FCG died, is because Sam wanted it to happen due to irl health issues. What a disgrace.

What's peddled as a grand cosmic reordering of the whole setting, instead has zero, and I mean ZERO, impact on the actual setting and how literally anything works.

And all the consequences that should arrive, never will. Because it cannot due to meta reasons. Not because there is any coherent, cohesive explanation as to why. Simply because it cannot. Because this is not a real story emerging from organic D&D play. This is a pathetic attempt at eating your cake and having it too. This could have been used to fundamentally revamp how everything worked from magic to death. This could have been used to change the game system. Instead nothing changes, because they cannot dare. If there is one word to describe this entire campaign, it's cowardice.

I see people around talking about future consequences and plot hooks for C4, and I cannot help but have a bitter laugh. Nothing will happen. Nothing can happen. No one in this story, player or NPC can ever question, challenge or undo what has been done. There will never be a push back in universe. There will never be anything remotely negative about this new status quo, no matter how logical and obviously apparent some may be. Because this is not an organic, natural, roll of the dice + player choice direction for the setting. This is a business decision shoved down our throats. Now the entire universe will just accept this and defend it brainlessly, because that's what the meta demands. Matt and the players will forever defend this mess and keep rationalizing the validity of this absurdity with complete seriousness, because they must.

And then there are people who are trying to glorify this abysmal show, because of the "message". I'm sorry, but a story validating your ideology and a story having good quality are completely irrelevant to each other. Never mind the fact that ideology and morality on display are rage filled, repulsive nonsense too.

Anti-god arguments never made sense. At their best, they are ungrateful whining about mortals being a top priority on a list, instead of being the only priority. Complete absurdity, when you remember mortals do not care about even each other to such degree, let alone showing such devotion to gods. Tyranny wank was even funnier. Gods never demanded worship or obedience, the cosmic protection they granted to whole planet was for everyone regardless of faith. Yet some in the fandom, and apparently the cast, thinks that unless gods exclusively serve the absolute interest of mortals to the exclusion of rest everything else, then it's bad and wrong. Where does that entitlement come from? No idea. Don't you dare ask how such an arrangement was supposed to work with free will either.

And of course the champions are now tasked with finding their gods or something because...? Why? Who the fuck cares? Since no power comes from them, and nothing needs them to function, why the fuck would anyone ever care? Well, no answer to that neither, because the real answer is "I wanna keep my setting as is, just without bothersome copyright issues." Alternatively, because Matt and the rest of the cast, simply do not understand how religion and faith works.

Lol at the people claiming to care about refugees and open borders screaming about "muh colonialism" against gods. Lol at people going "no one should have that much power" while simping for level 20 chars. Lol at the so called pro-LGBTQ community cheering for a forced transformation/closeting as a "solution" and a "salvation" for existing while an obsessive and power man doesn't like you. Lol at all the greedy, entitled, envy fueled psychopaths who think no good deed counts unless they personally profit.

In 2025, I don't know what a fantasy story could have done to be a worse anti-Semitic meta narrative, other than outright being about hooked nose bankers. Congratulations, you have forcefully converted a refugee minority under the pain of death. Their main crime was having more than the natives. Brilliant!

I am done. I cannot take a story seriously, when that story refuses to take itself seriously. I don't care for C4. Nothing in it could ever matter. I was here to follow a real D&D live play. I don't care for whatever this shitshow is supposed to be.

[azureflight]

The time has come for Akane fans to embrace this meme

Aka Akasaka waiting until after the series has ended to start Akane's yandere arc is so perfect for this series...

In an ironic way, this is the most coherent and in character thing to come out of the entire ending. But the rest everything else is so hand-wavy and retconny, now this part looks like it belongs to another series. And indeed it does, considering this is from a post-ending light novel.

I don't care for Aka's next work, but if we get a "Deranged Necromancer Akane" spin off, sign me up. I'm all for Akane in her Delilah Briarwood era.

[azureflight]

"Oshi no Ko: Futari no Etude" light novel and the extra manga chapter both have some bizarre stuff

Akane walks away from acting and instead starts investigating occult!

Akane figures out that the Tsukuyomi girl is magical and capable of bringing back the dead!!!

AKANE INTENDS TO BRING BACK AQUA!!!!!!

Or at least keep pushing her investigation until she fully understands everything and doesn't mind if her path leads to hell. (After being warned by a literal god.)

Necromancer Akane, the true ride or die girl, the one who doesn't move on, fully giving into her Yandere powers. You go girl.

Those of you who will read Aka's next manga, I'm making a call now:

At some point, that fantasy series will make a reference to Akane the Necromancer. You can refer back to this post when it happens.

[azureflight]

LMAO Akane is literally calling out Aqua's plan for being needless bullshit, bruh!

Is Aka self-aware about botching the ending? Or does he somehow think Aqua not asking for help is supposed to be part of the "noble sacrifice?" Probably the second.

2 episodes to give us Ruby suicide and a random meteor wiping out the planet, so we can end this farce in full jump the shark territory.

[azureflight]

Yeah, nah. We actually do literally see inside Aqua's head and have consistent access to his inner thoughts throughout the entire manga. Not only did you fail to read my post properly and conveniently ignored the part that explains why the depression angle cannot be supported with "well maybe he was faking", you also apparently didn't even read the manga.

Go back and reread all 163 chapters. We are constantly inside Aqua's head.

Oshi no Ko's ending is unironically indefensible

Yes, I said indefensible. And I am going to prove it.

There are essentially two angles with which some people are trying to justify this ending, and neither of these work. The first one is this:

"This is a heroic sacrifice. Aqua has to die to protect Ruby. It's so sad and noble. Not every story has to have a happy ending you know?"

Why doesn't this work? Because Aqua doesn't have to die. There are a million and one ways to get rid off Hikaru and protect Ruby, that doesn't require Aqua to die. What's worse is that Aqua himself knows this. This isn't some hidden knowledge only revealed to the audience but kept from the character himself.

He has two willing and capable accomplices in Akane and Ichigo. He knows that they are. These two have worked with him in various different times, cooperated to protect Ruby, and have multiple times affirmed their desire to kill Hikaru/help Aqua/protect Hoshino twins. Akane has done so as early as their fake relationship days and Aqua knows, for a fact, that she means business. He know he can rely on them, and he knows they want to help.

And imagining a workable plan/conspiracy without killing Aqua, is not hard, not even for the average audience. People get away with murder all the time in real life. Only 50% of murders in the US are solved, and Japan itself is notorious for recording everything as "suicide" unless they catch the killer standing next to the corpse with bloody hands. And there is nothing in Oshi no Ko setting to imply a more cut-throat law enforcement or a more rigorous investigative prosecution.

Officials never bothered to dig deeper into Ai's murder. They went with "oh this crazed fan murdered her because she had kids, and then killed himself, case closed." They never bothered to figure out how in the hell did that guy figure out her address, or whether he had any accomplices or not.

People didn't even know Gorou was killed. There wasn't even a real missing person's case about him. This 30 something doctor disappeared without any warnings and everyone went "oh well, that happens." If it wasn't for the crow goddess intentionally leading Ruby and Akane to the corpse, no one would ever find out about it. And of course, they had zero leads. They will only ever solve it, if they can, because of Niino's confession. Guess who trapped Niino and got that confession our of her? Spoiler alert: Not the police.

Indeed, Aqua's own suicidal plan rests on the assumption that police will look at only the most superficial of evidence and go for the simplest answer.

They could have killed Hikaru, bury his body in a ditch and make it look like he skipped town after Niino got caught and started singing. Combined with increased public scrutiny due to the movie, it would be an extremely easy sell and the simplest answer to reach for. This is just one plan those 3 could have gone with. Spare a moment, and I am sure you all can come up with plenty more workable plans.

So what happens if Aqua's sacrifice is actually completely unnecessary? Well, then his death becomes meaningless, pointless suicide. He had a million options, and instead he chose to kill himself because???? Because he would rather die than spend another moment listening to Akane? He really dislikes talking to Ichigo he would rather die? The prospect of dating Arima Kana was so repulsive he wanted to just end it here?

Dumb, and meaningless. Not a heroic sacrifice, but a worthless suicide, by a moron.

The second excuse, tries to rationalize the suicide angle. It goes like this:

"Aqua was a depressed, suicidal guy, and in the end he fell victim to his demons. He just couldn't heal. It's a terrible tragedy. Not every story has to have a happy ending you know?"

Why doesn't this one work? Because at this stage in the story, Aqua isn't actually depressed or suicidal. You read that one correct. I am not saying he shouldn't be, I am saying he isn't.

We had our suicidal, depressed Gorou/Aqua. We had him since the start. But the story developed him towards healing. First we saw that Aqua can actually be freed from his guilt and be happy, during the time he though his father was already dead. He was unburdened and free, happy to continue his life instead of being without purpose and feeling an even deeper void.

And later, deep in the movie arc where he was all but hellbent on self-destructing to take down Hikaru, he was once again pulled from the brink, truly this time. Ruby-Sarina reveal was the start of it. That gave him a sense of duty to survive.

Afterwards we have seen that the personification of his guilt, self-loathing and lack of self-worth, the shadowy apparition of Gorou, turned into a normal guy. A chill, a bit jokey, supportive guy even. He has forgiven, not only himself, but the very target of his vengeance. He wasn't merely thinking or trying, he had actively forgiven Hikaru and put it all behind.

We have him enjoy a regular day with Ruby, go on a date with Kana, and repeatedly express desires about the future including education and career. Indeed, even as he is pulling the knife committing to his plan, he shares his hopes for his own future, his desire to live, all the things he wants to do and experience. Aqua who stabbed himself and jumped off with Hikaru, was not a suicidal depressed dude.

Indeed, the story is trying to frame this as heroic sacrifice, not mindless depression fueled suicide. And I have already explained why that angle doesn't work neither.

So the only two potential ways that this ending could have worked, were botched. The heroic sacrifice doesn't work, because it is unnecessary. Depressed guys kills himself doesn't work, because he is not like that anymore.

Could the story make either of these two endings work? Sure.

You want a "heroic sacrifice"? Than do a real heroic sacrifice. Make Aqua die fighting off some guy who was attacking Ruby. Make him stand on the way of a knife or jump in front of an incoming bullet targeting her. Whatever you do, just make it so him dying is actually a consequence or necessity of her survival, and not some needless, mindless suicide.

You want a "depressed suicidal guy cannot heal and succumbs to his mental illness" story? Then remove the parts showing his recovery. Show that ghastly shadow continues to haunt him and taunt him. Show that he has no real plans for the future. Show that he avoids contact with people and pursues no joys, only the "mission". Don't have an entire chapter where he talks about how much he wants to live and how much he has to live for from his own mouth.

But truly, nothing exposes a botched ending, as well as putting it side by side with a successful one. And bittersweet, tragic, sad, dark, bleak endings, are neither rare, nor impossible to pull off. Indeed, there are a plenty, and the only polite reason I can think of why anyone would defend Oshi no Ko's ending, is that they are young and have not yet been exposed to the giant canon of anime, manga movies, games, tv shows and books out there that do it right. So I am now going to give bunch of successful examples and yes, to simply share them is to spoil their ending, but it is no issue. Their watch value is not reduced by knowing. Indeed, if you go in armed with the knowledge of the kind of ending that awaits you, you might pay greater attention to how its built up. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something.

SPOILERS FOR VARIOUS MOVIES AND A TTRPG ACROSS DECADES

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*

*

*

*

*

Do you want a story where a man tries to fight off against a corrupt system or a terrible conspiracy, but all of his efforts are in vain and it all ends horribly?

The Parallax View (1974), Blow Out (1981)

Do you want a story where the bad guy wins, there is no resolution for anyone, and all the struggles of the hero is for nothing in the end?

No Country for Old Men (2007), Chinatown (1974)

Do you want a story where people with self-destructive habits cannot let go of their ways, cannot heal, cannot rise above their failings and then meet tragic ends?

Requiem for a Dream (2000), Uncut Gems (2019)

Do you want a story that acts like it will follow the typical mystery/investigation thriller formula, only to reveal in the end that the usual and expected win and vindication for the hero will be no where to be found?

Seven (1995), Arlington Road (1999)

Do you want a story, that has a mostly comedic setup and tone, but slowly builds tension in the background before it all comes crashing down in the complete tragedy for everyone in the final act?

Parasite (2019)

Do you want a story where a morally compromised, emotionally damaged anti-hero tries to protect a child, whose naive crush he cannot reciprocate?

Léon: The Professional (1994)

Do you want a story where the hero intentionally gets himself killed by the bad guy, because that's the only true way he can defeat the villains and protect the innocents?

Gran Torino (2008)

Do you want a story with a pair of twins who share a strong and loving sibling bond, have a dead mother, a shit father, a vengeance to seek? One that has a bittersweet ending, complete with a beautiful romance cut tragically short?

Critical Role Campaign 1: Vox Machina (2015-2017)

[azureflight]

Oshi no Ko's ending is unironically indefensible

Yes, I said indefensible. And I am going to prove it.

There are essentially two angles with which some people are trying to justify this ending, and neither of these work. The first one is this:

"This is a heroic sacrifice. Aqua has to die to protect Ruby. It's so sad and noble. Not every story has to have a happy ending you know?"

Why doesn't this work? Because Aqua doesn't have to die. There are a million and one ways to get rid off Hikaru and protect Ruby, that doesn't require Aqua to die. What's worse is that Aqua himself knows this. This isn't some hidden knowledge only revealed to the audience but kept from the character himself.

He has two willing and capable accomplices in Akane and Ichigo. He knows that they are. These two have worked with him in various different times, cooperated to protect Ruby, and have multiple times affirmed their desire to kill Hikaru/help Aqua/protect Hoshino twins. Akane has done so as early as their fake relationship days and Aqua knows, for a fact, that she means business. He know he can rely on them, and he knows they want to help.

And imagining a workable plan/conspiracy without killing Aqua, is not hard, not even for the average audience. People get away with murder all the time in real life. Only 50% of murders in the US are solved, and Japan itself is notorious for recording everything as "suicide" unless they catch the killer standing next to the corpse with bloody hands. And there is nothing in Oshi no Ko setting to imply a more cut-throat law enforcement or a more rigorous investigative prosecution.

Officials never bothered to dig deeper into Ai's murder. They went with "oh this crazed fan murdered her because she had kids, and then killed himself, case closed." They never bothered to figure out how in the hell did that guy figure out her address, or whether he had any accomplices or not.

People didn't even know Gorou was killed. There wasn't even a real missing person's case about him. This 30 something doctor disappeared without any warnings and everyone went "oh well, that happens." If it wasn't for the crow goddess intentionally leading Ruby and Akane to the corpse, no one would ever find out about it. And of course, they had zero leads. They will only ever solve it, if they can, because of Niino's confession. Guess who trapped Niino and got that confession our of her? Spoiler alert: Not the police.

Indeed, Aqua's own suicidal plan rests on the assumption that police will look at only the most superficial of evidence and go for the simplest answer.

They could have killed Hikaru, bury his body in a ditch and make it look like he skipped town after Niino got caught and started singing. Combined with increased public scrutiny due to the movie, it would be an extremely easy sell and the simplest answer to reach for. This is just one plan those 3 could have gone with. Spare a moment, and I am sure you all can come up with plenty more workable plans.

So what happens if Aqua's sacrifice is actually completely unnecessary? Well, then his death becomes meaningless, pointless suicide. He had a million options, and instead he chose to kill himself because???? Because he would rather die than spend another moment listening to Akane? He really dislikes talking to Ichigo he would rather die? The prospect of dating Arima Kana was so repulsive he wanted to just end it here?

Dumb, and meaningless. Not a heroic sacrifice, but a worthless suicide, by a moron.

The second excuse, tries to rationalize the suicide angle. It goes like this:

"Aqua was a depressed, suicidal guy, and in the end he fell victim to his demons. He just couldn't heal. It's a terrible tragedy. Not every story has to have a happy ending you know?"

Why doesn't this one work? Because at this stage in the story, Aqua isn't actually depressed or suicidal. You read that one correct. I am not saying he shouldn't be, I am saying he isn't.

We had our suicidal, depressed Gorou/Aqua. We had him since the start. But the story developed him towards healing. First we saw that Aqua can actually be freed from his guilt and be happy, during the time he though his father was already dead. He was unburdened and free, happy to continue his life instead of being without purpose and feeling an even deeper void.

And later, deep in the movie arc where he was all but hellbent on self-destructing to take down Hikaru, he was once again pulled from the brink, truly this time. Ruby-Sarina reveal was the start of it. That gave him a sense of duty to survive.

Afterwards we have seen that the personification of his guilt, self-loathing and lack of self-worth, the shadowy apparition of Gorou, turned into a normal guy. A chill, a bit jokey, supportive guy even. He has forgiven, not only himself, but the very target of his vengeance. He wasn't merely thinking or trying, he had actively forgiven Hikaru and put it all behind.

We have him enjoy a regular day with Ruby, go on a date with Kana, and repeatedly express desires about the future including education and career. Indeed, even as he is pulling the knife committing to his plan, he shares his hopes for his own future, his desire to live, all the things he wants to do and experience. Aqua who stabbed himself and jumped off with Hikaru, was not a suicidal depressed dude.

Indeed, the story is trying to frame this as heroic sacrifice, not mindless depression fueled suicide. And I have already explained why that angle doesn't work neither.

So the only two potential ways that this ending could have worked, were botched. The heroic sacrifice doesn't work, because it is unnecessary. Depressed guys kills himself doesn't work, because he is not like that anymore.

Could the story make either of these two endings work? Sure.

You want a "heroic sacrifice"? Than do a real heroic sacrifice. Make Aqua die fighting off some guy who was attacking Ruby. Make him stand on the way of a knife or jump in front of an incoming bullet targeting her. Whatever you do, just make it so him dying is actually a consequence or necessity of her survival, and not some needless, mindless suicide.

You want a "depressed suicidal guy cannot heal and succumbs to his mental illness" story? Then remove the parts showing his recovery. Show that ghastly shadow continues to haunt him and taunt him. Show that he has no real plans for the future. Show that he avoids contact with people and pursues no joys, only the "mission". Don't have an entire chapter where he talks about how much he wants to live and how much he has to live for from his own mouth.

But truly, nothing exposes a botched ending, as well as putting it side by side with a successful one. And bittersweet, tragic, sad, dark, bleak endings, are neither rare, nor impossible to pull off. Indeed, there are a plenty, and the only polite reason I can think of why anyone would defend Oshi no Ko's ending, is that they are young and have not yet been exposed to the giant canon of anime, manga movies, games, tv shows and books out there that do it right. So I am now going to give bunch of successful examples and yes, to simply share them is to spoil their ending, but it is no issue. Their watch value is not reduced by knowing. Indeed, if you go in armed with the knowledge of the kind of ending that awaits you, you might pay greater attention to how its built up. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something.

SPOILERS FOR VARIOUS MOVIES AND A TTRPG ACROSS DECADES

*

*

*

*

*

*

Do you want a story where a man tries to fight off against a corrupt system or a terrible conspiracy, but all of his efforts are in vain and it all ends horribly?

The Parallax View (1974), Blow Out (1981)

Do you want a story where the bad guy wins, there is no resolution for anyone, and all the struggles of the hero is for nothing in the end?

No Country for Old Men (2007), Chinatown (1974)

Do you want a story where people with self-destructive habits cannot let go of their ways, cannot heal, cannot rise above their failings and then meet tragic ends?

Requiem for a Dream (2000), Uncut Gems (2019)

Do you want a story that acts like it will follow the typical mystery/investigation thriller formula, only to reveal in the end that the usual and expected win and vindication for the hero will be no where to be found?

Seven (1995), Arlington Road (1999)

Do you want a story, that has a mostly comedic setup and tone, but slowly builds tension in the background before it all comes crashing down in the complete tragedy for everyone in the final act?

Parasite (2019)

Do you want a story where a morally compromised, emotionally damaged anti-hero tries to protect a child, whose naive crush he cannot reciprocate?

Léon: The Professional (1994)

Do you want a story where the hero intentionally gets himself killed by the bad guy, because that's the only true way he can defeat the villains and protect the innocents?

Gran Torino (2008)

Do you want a story with a pair of twins who share a strong and loving sibling bond, have a dead mother, a shit father, a vengeance to seek? One that has a bittersweet ending, complete with a beautiful romance cut tragically short?

Critical Role Campaign 1: Vox Machina (2015-2017)

[azureflight]

My God Oshi no Ko, what a garbage ending!

I cannot believe Aka Akasaka just wrote about: A depressed, suicidal char who never had any real love or real bonds get killed and then get reincarnated. Get that love and those bonds, have so many friends, family, allies who love and support him, care for him, want to protect him, only for the char to just go and fucking kill himself anyway for no reason. AND trying to pass that shit off as some sort of noble sacrifice instead of the absolutely moronic suicide it is.

WTF is this garbage? No seriously, wtf is this? WTF is the message here?

"These depressed fucks could never make it even if given a second chance, lmao fuck them"?

"Suicide is totally cool and great bro"?

"I can't write a half-decent ending even if my life depended on it"?

I cannot fucking believe how absolutely garbage this is. Wew lad. After a whole ass manga of solving problems and saving lives and careers by keeping an eye on people, supporting friends, rubbing 2 braincells together, just go and randomly die.

Aqua ain't protecting shit. I don't fucking care how many times you tell me what a genius plan and glorious sacrifice this is. It is none of those things. It's stupid and completely needless. Aqua literally died because he didn't wanna make a plan with Akane and Ichigo. He literally killed himself because he couldn't be arsed asking for help from someone who literally owes their life to him and have repeatedly confirmed it to him that yes, she will help him with everything and will protect him.

But nah. "I'll rather die than slightly inconvenience anyone."

"OMG Aqua, what a great sacrifice."

FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU AKA AKASAKA. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!

4 Fuckıng years and you couldn't come up with a better ending than glazing mindless suicide? You absolute bellend.

Remind me to never read anything from this clown ever again. What an absolutely disgusting ending. Pure garbage.

[azureflight]

We got Percy back, I don't mind anything else!

Oh thank god. THANK FUCKING GOD!!!!!

For a moment there, I legit feared they might change things to the point of perma killing Percy. But it turns out, they instead tied it to Vax's eventual demise, which I have no problem with.

Loved the fight with Ripley, so bloody dynamic and fluid. Loved how they keep tying in Keyleth's aramente shenanigans in. Kinda don't mind not doing Bard's lament. Animated story didn't build towards that, and that was always something more understandable and fitting on the table top game than it could ever in animated form.

Also love how they are tying things together slowly in the background for the "whispered one" plot, because they way we return to that plot in game, is, again, only fitting for the game and would feel forced and stupid in an animated show.

Somethings that work in a role-play, rule of the dice, spontaneous environment, feel ridiculous in a scripted format. People have automatic expectations and judgements that depend on the media. I understand.

Loved that Keyleth's bitterness over Percy's death was clouding her own vision even in her own quest for Raishan.

Loved what they did with Orthax's soul prison. Again, how it was handled in game, only made sense for the game. But this depiction? This was glorious, perfect even.

[azureflight]

I need Percy resurrected yesterday

I know they are making changes and it terrifies me. And with that song "Not How It’s Supposed to End", bruh. No. Give me happily ever after Perc'ahlia, now.

No I am not okay with trade offs between Vaxleth neither. I have accepted Vax's death and the tragic end to their love with Keyleth. Losing Percy in the show wouldn't make it a switch or a balance, it just makes me sad about both of them.

I fear they may never resurrect Percy because they didn't even bring it up in any shape or form, didn't even try. And then casually killed Kash, the only character in the animated series to have established resurrection power (RIP Kashaw Vesh, I was not ready for this neither.) But I can accept the change being the perma death of a side char. I cannot accept Percy dying. We still have the Raishan plot pretty much the same after all the changes. Ripley lives or dies I don't care. I need them to find a way to bring back Percy.

Bring back Percy, and do it this season, please. Please God, I need my Perc'ahlia happy ending!

[azureflight]

THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA SEASON 3 STARTS ON OCTOBER 3!!!!!

I am so hyped for this! Proper adventure fantasy story that's fun and compelling. Let's fucking goooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

[azureflight]

HotD is not a prequel to GoT. It's a soft reboot for the tv franchise.

WARNING: The author is overdosing on copium and hopium, smoked directly from a colossal tin foil hat. Beware.

We have all groaned at the mention of the prophesy in the very first episode of the first season of HotD. "Why even bring that up?" was the common, understandable response. After all, that whole TPTWP/Azor Ahai thing went absolutely nowhere in GoT. There was no need for anything from any of them, they stupidly gave WW a dragon which allowed them to pass the Wall in the first place and then it turned out WW were not a big deal as Arya solo-killing one dude with a dagger they had since season 1 episode 2 was all it took.

The complete meaninglessness and worthlessness of the whole prophesy and the sheer weakness of an anti-climax that was the Others (White Walkers) threat is one of the main complaints people had with the entire S8 of GoT, especially the book fandom. And it always felt like a stupid twisting of the knife to keep talking about it in HotD, since we know it goes nowhere and means nothing.

Now, we know that's not how it's gonna go in the books. Not only is GRRM on the record talking about it, but 2D are also on record bragging about making it all up on their own. But this is the show and it's already not following the books, so talking about it in show canon is moot.

Unless...

Unless of course, HotD is the start of a second, separate show canon, distinct from GoT.

Now, when I first heard it in season 1, I assumed, like many others, it was a misguided attempt at making references to the OG show in order to hype up the audience and create connective tissue to get us into this new story. And indeed, as HotD repeatedly brought it up again and again, I too have rolled my eyes so far back I almost went blind.

But with the first episode of season 2, now HotD did something else. It didn't just allude to a prophesy that went nowhere, to a threat that was a big fat nothing. Instead, it straight up contradicted GoT.

The infamous "Beyond the Wall" episode was first broadcasted in 2017. Fire & Blood got published in 2018 and came with a specific passage, a letter from Alysanne to Jaehaerys, about how her dragon refused to cross the Wall. This info was not available before in any books, thought it was speculated by the fandom as a possibility. The book directly went against GoT, it felt like GRRM saying "no, wtf, no."

GRRM also gave HotD the info about Aegon I being a dreamer and the whole conquest being motivated by a prophesy about the Long Night, and TPTWP.

HotD did not have to include any of this. Targaryens and their dragons and Dany was good enough hooks for GoT/asoiaf audience. No one knew about Aegon I being a dreamer or having a prophesy, so no one would be upset by such an "omission" either. Indeed, including this bit of info earned them only derision and rebuke, continues to do so.

So why persist? They talked about it again and again in season 1, but by the time they sat down to write the scripts for season 2, the feedback was out there, not only from online fandom but also from professional critics in the industry. This prophesy is not crucial or fundamental to Dance's story neither, they could skip, tone down, ignore. But they don't. They changed so much from the books, a borderline fanfic at this point, yet they insist upon talking about this and hyping it up against the collective negativity of the fandom. Why?

HotD is the first spin off from Got/asoiaf IP that HBO purchased. S8 was such a massive let down, what had been an iconic cultural cornerstone for a decade, almost instantly dropped from discussions, unless it was to talk about "shows with shit endings." There was talk of "remaking" it, almost as soon as the last episode aired, which was of course nonsense, but it explains the mood.

HBO sat down and commissioned bunch of spin offs, not only to milk a popular franchise, but also to keep it alive after a massive blow. And GRRM was particularly backing HotD, talking about how Dance was a story he always wanted to tell.

Now, with HotD's success, we have Dunk&Egg coming, as soon as 2025 if all the news is to be believed. A script is being developed for the Conquest, there is talk of reviving Nymeria's show. HotD did its job of salvaging the IP after what could have been a franchise killer of a garbage ending to GoT.

Thinking on it in very general terms, everyone agrees that asoiaf books will eventually get another shot at adaptation. Of course they will, everything does. Reboots and remakes never die. But when, where, how, is the question, and I think we have the answer.

HotD is where it starts. This show is not a mere prequel to "Game of Thrones". It is the starting point of a new show universe for asoiaf franchise. And the first thing they did to set it all up and signal that commitment, is to talk about the prophesy, the Long Night, and how that's not gonna go like it did in the GoT.

HotD brought up Aegon I's prophesy upon hearing it from GRRM, keeps talking about TPTWP, keeps alluding to the super important threat of WW and now went out of its way to inject that "dragons cannot cross the wall" lore bit, not because they have a bizarre compulsion to make references to a failed plot line that pisses everyone off, but because they are specifically developing towards another shot at that plot line, one that promises to be better.

HotD is not a GoT prequel. It is the first installment of the new asoiaf-show universe. D&E, the Conquest, and maybe even Nymeria when it arrives, will follow this new canon, and all of them will eventually lead to another adaptation of asoiaf novels.

When? No idea. Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows Part 2 was released in 2011. A remake of the novels, now in tv series format, is currently being developed and projected to release at 2026. Apparently 15 years is seen as enough. Will it be longer for asoiaf? Maybe. Shorter? I do not think so.

But it is coming. We always knew it would eventually, some how, come, but I think we now know how and where it's coming from.

[azureflight]

VOX MACHINA SEASON 3 LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Tokyo Vice was awesome, Shogun was a masterpiece, but hands down this has been the best adaptation of a fantasy story in the last decade, maybe even longer. I have full faith in this entire crew, no fears, no doubts, my body is ready!

[azureflight]

So, GRRM posted this a few days ago

While the praise heaped upon Shogun is absolutely correct and 100% deserved, that's not the part that's stuck with. (But seriously, go watch Shogun, and then go read the entire Asian Saga, go!) Rather, it is this part:

This is important, because "oh, show is the show and the books are the books" has been his go to defense against any fandom outrage about any changes.

Now he is suddenly completely making a 180 turn?! "How many children does Scarlett O'Hara have?" was his go to quote to demonstrate separate canons for books and adaptations existing and being equally legitimate.

What happened George? What happened? You were super happy about Dunk & Egg just 3 days before this post, so that's not it.

The script for the Conqueror's story is not even close to being finished, so that's not it.

What happened and where?

I don't know what we're gonna get in the second season of House of the Dragon, but as far as speculations go, this is the first thing that actually made me go "oh shit." What have they done George? Is Nettles truly cut? Or is there more?

[azureflight]

"Nettles does not/may not have Valyrian blood" is a fandom misconception

I keep seeing this argument that "Nettles proves you don't need Valyrian blood to tame dragons" all over social media, including the so called book fandom. I apologize for raining on your parade, but that entire sentence, and the logic its built upon, is a complete and an utter farce. Allow me to elaborate:

First of all, this entire argument is based on a whole another misconception. This second, underlying misconception goes like this:

"People in asoiaf universe/westeros/essos, think/believe only Targaryens/Valyrians can ride dragons, and that's why no one tries to claim them."

THERE IS NO SUCH BELIEF IN THE SETTING! NONE!

I am sure, there are people in that universe, who believe that. But they do not represent a universal consensus, especially not one that is ever accepted by maesters, lords, various other mages or anyone with any ambition on any continent really. The way in universe sources talk about dragonriding is that "Valyrian were the first". First, not only, never only.

Now, no one else has yet succeeded, but they still believe it can be done. And motivated by this belief, they keep trying. Yes you have read that one right. PEOPLE CONSTANTLY TRY TO CLAIM DRAGONS.

Before Dance, during Dance, after Dance, they have never stopped. In main asoiaf era alone, we have Euron, Victarion, Warlocks of the House of the Undying, Slaver Masters of Astapor all trying to get their hands on dragons, all thinking they could control them. If certain book theories are correct, then even the Faceless Men are trying.

Before Dance, we have Elissa Farman stealing three eggs from Dragonstone. During Dance we have multiple people with no blood relation, some we know to be brazenly lying, try to claim dragons. After the Dance there are others trying to get eggs, hatch them, get living dragons etc.

People never stopped trying. And perhaps, even more importantly, there was never any claim by even house Targaryen itself, that you just had to be one of them. Never. They passed legal edicts to forbade people from claiming dragons without the king's permission/claiming ownership over all dragons and eggs in westeros but... That didn't stop people, and of course it didn't, because any other form of "theft" is already illegal and yet people still do it.

Even Jaehaerys I, with his exceptionalism politics, made no such claim that "you had to be a Targaryen". And it would be absurd of him to make such a claim, because Targaryens weren't the only dragonlord family in the first place. There were plenty more in old Valyria, up to 40 houses. It was never a "Targaryen only" thing, and everyone and their mother knew. Valyria was around for thousands of years, and their demise is not so old. Everyone still knows.

Targaryens are the only house to survive the Doom and the following Century of Blood. But even that does not mean what it first sounds like. Something Targaryens were well aware of and again, never denied.

Why? Because adultery exists, that's why. Official, properly named members of a house may die, but that doesn't mean all relatives did. And the Free Cities are full of Valyrians. Most of them are former colonies of Valyria, and their population is significantly made up of Valyrian descendants. Furthermore, Dragonlords themselves have shitton of bastards, running all over Essos and Westeros. Even before the doom, people with dragonlord ancestry were not "rare". Now in asoiaf era they are in the millions.

That brings me to our thirds, yes third, misconception. The claim that the in universe belief is "you have to be a Valyrian to ride a dragon." Again, no. But from a different angle.

Being Valyrian was never a condition. Why? Because not all Valyrians were dragonlords. In fact, among the Valyrians themselves, dragonlords were an extremely small, tiny, miniscule minority. Just around (probably less than) 40 houses, within an entire nation, an entire empire. That is a very, very select few.

"But wait, isn't that a contradiction? You just said dragonlord blood isn't rare and now you are claiming they are an exceptionally small group!"

No. What I am saying is that being a dragonlord, was never a normal, standard aspect of being a Valyrian. Dragonlords all were Valyrians, sure. But among Valyrians, those who were NOT dragonlords, far, far exceeded the number of those whole were. And being a descendant of a dragonlord, requires you to have a single dragonlords as your ancestor. It does not require non-dragonlord Valyrian ancestry. And it doesn't matter if your every other ancestor is from some other nation or ethnicity. A dragonlord's child with an Andal, with a First Men, with a Rhoynar, with a Dothraki, with a Lharazeen, with a Ghiscari, with a Summer Islander, is no less a descendant, and has no less dragonlords blood, than one with a regular Valyrian.

There is a reason, dragonlords performed such intense incest. They never wanted to risk weakening or losing the ability to ride dragons. Because you may not inherent the lucky genes from your dragonlord ancestory if there are non-dragonlord genes in the pool of possibility. Like any other hereditary trait, it can be lost. The other angle, was of course to deny spreading of the power, but that was futile and doomed to fail lmao.

There is a fourth misconception fueling all of this. Yes, there are layers to this. The fourth one being that there was some concentrated effort by Targaryens to deceive and lie about who could posses the magical power to ride dragons, in order to manipulate public and maintain their monopoly. Again, no such thing ever happened.

Targaryens never claimed you had to be a Targaryen, or a Valyrian to ride a dragon. In fact, they very openly accept the possibility of some other, as of yet unknown, sorcery to also achieve the same result. That's one of the reasons they tried to regulate who could own and try to claim dragons (unsuccessfully).

In fact, this last possibility, is raised as an accusation against Nettles. Loudly. By the maester which Fire & Blood uses as source and later by Rhaenyra herself! It is a public accusation and a hostile racist slander, not a dire truth anyone is trying to keep a secret.

Now that we have cleared the underlying misconceptions, let's return to the very first one. The one that claims Nettles isn't a Dragonlord by blood, but a completely random commoner who just got a dragon through courage and cunning.

For this one, we will once again need to go step by step. First things first, where does the idea that Nettles may not be a dragonlord even comes from?

Well, it comes from an in universe accusation. The basis of which is racist envy and rage of betrayal. The clown of a maester disparagingly calling her "skinny brown girl" never even saw her. When Rhaenyra accuses her of using some other dark magic to bind her dragon, she also accuses her of seducing Daemon with magic, because Rhaenyra is busy losing her marbles at that moment.

But, none of that means anything. We already do know, you don't have to look like an archetypal Targaryen to have Targaryen ancestry, let alone any other dragonlord. Rhaenyra's own first three sons don't look like Targaryens, yet we all know they are proper dragonlords. We have Baelor Breakspear and Duncan the Small as other examples of obvious Targaryen princes who simply look like their non-Targaryen parent. We have, and I cannot emphasize this hard enough, Jon Snow.

This is a recurring pattern in the story. People who are obviously Targaryens, get accused of, or are seen as, not real Targaryens, just because they don't have the "looks". And each and every single one of those are bullshit moronic bigotry. Nettles is no exception. It is indeed sad, to watch so many of the fandom fall into the same trap as generic westerosi rumormongers and racist dipshits, when it comes to Nettles.

To expand upon this further: Narratively speaking, Nettles' position is pretty much the same as Jon Snow. They both have the blood. Neither of them have the looks. They don't have the papers to prove their heritage neither. And yet, we know Jon Snow is Rhaegar's son and as such, has the possibility of claiming a dragon. Nettles is there to show us two things: Yes, you can claim a dragon even if you don't have the knowledge, the education or the papers to prove your ancestry, because blood is what matters. And no, even if you were to claim a dragon, that does not mean people will now automatically accept you as a true dragonlord, let alone a Targaryen. You will always be doubted, questioned, challenged, accused.

And yet, even with all these misconceptions dismissed, one can still argue the original statement may remain true. That just because underlying fandom "logic" and speculation was demonstrably false, does not mean the final point and the main claim is also false. Reaching the correct conclusion through the wrong way, still results in the correct conclusion. Right?

Not this time. Because, we have access to meta knowledge about how these things work, straight from GRRM's mouth. Something the people of asoiaf, in universe, will never reach.

What's that meta knowledge? It's the knowledge that:

Dragons are magical creatures.

Dragonriding is a magical bond.

Magic in asoiaf is innate and hereditary.

Magic in asoiaf is not procedural, it is not something you can learn and replicate by following instructions.

GRRM, throughout the years, have repeatedly talked about this. As late as his special videos for Max, for House of the Dragon tv show, and interviews he gave around the first season of HOTD.

And over and over again, he repeated the same thing. He doesn't like Dungeons & Dragons style procedural magic. He doesn't like the concept of "magic system". He wants magic to be rare, chaotic and innate. Barely under control, dangerous, unpredictable with unforeseen drawbacks. For asoiaf specifically, he talked about how this magic is all about who you are. Specifically talked about how words, recipes and rituals don't matter. The person who performs them does. He specifically talks about how Daenerys "makes it up as she goes" because magic, in this setting, is innate and instinctual.

He also specifically talked about dragonlords and their practice of incest. And explained that while these people don't know "genes" in the way we do as a modern scientific concept, they are perfectly capable of comprehending what a hereditary trait is and thus acted to preserve it.

None of these are assumptions or interpretations from books. They are straight from GRRM's mouth. Dragons, and the ability to ride them is magic. That magic is innate and hereditary.

So, the irony really is, that while people in the setting think there may be another way and keep trying, it's actually all futile. There is no other way. You have to have that dragonlord blood. You have to get that lucky magic gene. You have to get lucky with your choice of dragon so that it accepts you. Genetics and luck. Both, not either or, certainly not "ackchyually genetics don't matter at all, anyone can do it with a bit of courage and cunning!"

What's really funny is that, this isn't even the only hereditary, innate magic. Skinchanging, greensight, both are hereditary and innate. You are born with it, or you aren't. You cannot learn it from a book, acquire it through hard work and study. Power to transfer your mind into various other creatures, spy on perhaps the whole world, see through past and present, mind control humans, perhaps even time travel. All innate, all luck of birth. Yet I have never seen anyone in this fandom get their panties in a bunch about this, or constantly grasp at various tin foil straws to claim how ackchyually anyone can just skinchange into whatever animal they like/time travel at will with a bit of courage and cunning.

I will not extrapolate further as why I think that is. You all know who you are and know your own inner motivations. All I'm going to say is this:

Life is unfair, so is asoiaf. People are not all made equal in talent and innate capacity, in either world. Some people are born with peek health, a high intelligence and to loving families of means. Others with disabilities, as mediocre midwits or into piss poor abusive parents. And in this magical setting, some guys are just born with the power to own and command flying napalms, and others are born with no magic at all.

Again, sorry to rain on your parade.

Some selection of sources for GRRM's meta info:

[azureflight]

She does. The wound continues to occasionally jolt and pain her. Shadowheart is fine with it though, defiant. She feels complete with her family beside her and openly declares having her family is worth it all.

But why does freedom have to feel like I've lost everything? Perhaps I could have saved them, or perhaps Shar would have helped me forget them. Instead, I've neither...