#<bc of balthazar lmao

[i-mybrunettelady]

it is an ancient ascalonian belief that lighting candles invites the favor of the gods. in every proper home of the ascalonian rites, one is lit for each of the six; as long as it burns, there is hope for that home and for ascalon. candles also invite the spirits of long gone warriors to protect and inspire ; for world is loss and grief, and faith and hope, as balthazar's scriptures teach us. so take heart, o' heretical daughter of ascalon, o' vain godkiller, and rejoin the war eternal. light a candle for those you've lost; say your prayers to the gods you still believe in. and say a prayer to yourself, as you know that death is not the end, but the end of the beginning. did your little adventure to the domain of the lost teach you nothing, after all?

[devotedlystrangewizard]

warlock dialogue comes in two flavours and they are you telling others "this is such a bad deal bro who do you even take me for" and others shitting on you. and i guess also limited edition the patron showing up every so often flavour

[4giorno]

"lets play doctor"

im throwing my character out the window so i can heal him with astarion until i get this line

[ryssabrin]

the worst part about romancing astarion is i want to keep him in the party all the time bc he's adra's bae but omg rogues are so inefficient in combat lmao

[vroombeams]

constantine au ?? can we hear more ab that bc i am obsessed

hiya nonnie you sure can!!

like if i were to just do a one-to-one fic of the movie... mark as constantine, oscar as a way less goofy chas for sure. i THINK one could stick lando in there as angela, and just give him a fictional twin who has died offscreen. seb is gabriel. obv. fernando would Have to be balthazar even though aesthetically jensonthazar would be HOOOOEY! but realistically jenson i think i would cast as a much much hotter version of father hennessy lmao

the alternative version would be like, an inspired-by thing that i've been sort of rotating in my peanut shell of a brain. but is a similar setup, so mark's an exorcist, oscar's his apprentice who gets involved with halfbreed demon lando, bites off more than he can chew, disasters happen probably!! there would be a lot of same bits to it, like same universe with the angel & devil proxy war + seb would probably still a gabriel-esque figure etc. might toss demon jenson in there you know for fun and sport and spice

writing that alt version would very much be like, oscar falling in with lando and lando needing help (or is he just trying to lure oscar and by extension mark into TROUBLE) and mark trying to like. stop oscar from dying

just generally a whole mess of thoughts but we love tossing the blorbos into a film noir sort of situation!!! biblical/supernatural detective stories and all that!! i'm so sorry this really is just a jumble of thoughts tl;dr i like the idea of mark being a gritty chainsmoking exorcist and seb being a feral demi-angel and that's really what shaped this whole thing

[chemicalcyan]

lmao okay so last summer I had a dream that there was a new legend called like Balthazar or smth (I also remember some characters calling him “the judge”) and he looked like the Spot from Across the Spiderverse, like tall and lanky with a doughy middle, except he was entirely black and had that wispy revenant smoke coming off him. He also had a big stupid cone hat and a semi-translucent shroud. Such an iconic silhouette… Also glowing red markings on where I’m assuming his face would be.

Despite this horrific and otherworldly appearance everyone treated him as comic relief??? and several legends had voice lines referring to him like “classic balthy” “what a clown” “he’s up to his balthy brand of mischief :/” as if his lore was well-established in universe already. He also did not speak at all.

I don’t know if this was his passive or his tactical or what but I remember that he could pull his smoky black shroud tighter around himself and enemy throwables would bounce off him/reflect back instead of damaging him. The inverse of this ability was that he could open his cloak to “eat” the enemy projectile and it would temporarily amp his weapons, like when you charge a sentinel or rampage, at the cost of chopping off some of his health.

I wrote this dream down after it happened but didn’t think anything of it until Alter came out bc the portal stuff reminded me of him. I think it would be so funny to make him a real character bc he was such a freaky dude

[ticklish-touch]

OK, random question, what would be your OCs favourite anime/TV show/movie/etc?

I've...honestly been mulling over how to answer this bc I have so many OCs with many different tastes, meanwhile I myself haven't actually seen a lot of anime or series (at least compared to a lot of ppl I know).

So at the very least I decided I'm just going to list favorite genres, and the first OCs that come to mind 👍

Balthazar: Anything animated that isn't too dark or gruesome. Especially any and all animated Disney classics. He especially has a fondness for Mary Poppins. He does enjoy and appreciate modern-day CGI animated movies as long as they still have heart & soul behind them (Tangled, Moana, Encanto).

Inzi: He loves romances of all kinds. Probably still unironically loves The Notebook.

Nate, Jamie and Kent would all love the recent DnD movie. Nate is the weeb of the group, he eats up shounens and isekais.

Kenni: He likes slice-of-life or romance series with bittersweet elements. He loves Miyazaki movies.

Rags and Roscoe: Any and all horror as long as it doesn't involve children getting seriously hurt. They don't watch horror to take it seriously, they watch it to riff on it. Roscoe also enjoys any movies or series that paint robots and AI in a positive light, or has them win against their human oppressors. Which are few and far between.

Terry: Murder mysteries. Murder on the Orient Express would probably be a fave. Also he'd love Mob Psycho 100, he'd see a lot of himself in Mob. Paranorman is another huge fave (again, he sees himself in Norman).

Laurence: He really likes sitcoms. Community, Seinfeld, probably grew up loving iCarly lmao. He also likes animation of any kind that has a bit more of an adult element but doesn't go too overboard with it (Futurama, Bob's Burgers, some older 2D Dreamworks movies).

Might add more to this later but this is all my brain has been able to produce after like 2 months, I'm so sorry

[wetcatspellcaster]

hi! hello! I'm not sure how to open this and this could've been a comment, but okay well so I ran into your fic (the canon playthrough, as it were) some days ago, and read the first part, had a wonderful time, and then clicked open an honest lie and had to go, oh, this has act 2 spoilers, I'm barely through act 1, let's mark it for later. cut to today: I'm almost done with act 2, i have an afternoon off, what better time to read?

i have been here with like, staggering chest pain of the feelings variety for an hour now. an hour! you are so good! and then, I get to chapter 6, and realise - oh no, I have to stop reading, HERE, because I haven't spoken to Balthazar yet. Do you know how devastating this was, for me? do you know how difficult it was to face the fact that my own quest to not be spoiled would make me have to put this fic down? (I didn't. Btw. Put the fic down. I was like well I'll get there in a day or two anyway. It'll be fine!) and now my chest hurts more and i have discovered plot elements i knew nothing or at least not much about (at some point tomorrow I'll learn exactly who orthon is and it'll be such a lightbulb moment)

I realise this is all sounding rather accusatory for an ask that is essentially meant to say: your writing is incredible! i am in love with Rosalie! I'm thrilled, I am truly having a wonderful evening, and also "we go to a bookshop together. I'll pay, but you need to carry everything that I buy :)" killed me. It was the smiley face that did it. thank you for writing this incredible piece! i am going to now read party favours as a sort of "there there its okay your heart is being shredded in your chest by this canon: have some fake dating as a treat" treat. thank you again for writing! etc

hello lovely, thank you for your message (obsessed with the phrase 'this tumblr ask could've been an ao3 comment' in part two btw, the new fandom version of 'this meeting could've been an email'. except, tumblr asks and ao3 comments are both wonderful things, so this is the opposite of a problem!)

Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you enjoy it lmao, I always worry that game retellings are overdone/too self indulgent, so it's very funny hearing someone keeps spoiling bg3 for themselves, it's like the opposite of my constant fear!!! anyway, i hope you're enjoying your playthrough regardless :') good luck for the orthon fight lmao :'))

And I'm glad you liked the table conversation! I truly think Rosalie has like 17 date ideas and Astarion is just like "sorry man idk how to be a person :)". He put down going shopping bc he was just copying her answers lol. But I think the best way you to use your boyfriend's vampire strength is to turn him into a hardback book pack mule tbh, Rosalie knows what she likes and she's living her best life.

Best of luck for the gauntlet and beyond xx

[fatespins]

thinking about companion guides for my collection of fools, starting with riley bc there is never not a time where i am considering him:

riley can be encountered in the emerald grove in act 1. he claims he was sent here by the dryad grove he lived in bc something important awaits him here; what exactly, he’s not sure yet. with halsin gone he assists as a protector, although he isn’t trusted by kagha since he holds sympathies for the refugees. he can be recruited after defeating the goblin leaders and bringing back halsin (he doesn’t leave the grove before then bc he doesn’t want to risk something bad happening while he’s away); conversely, if u side with the goblin camp and/or the absolute, he turns hostile and u have to kill him :( (although slaying a seraph probably brings u a high approval gain with minthara lmao)

things that get u riley approval:

kindness to animals and nature (including monstrous ones, ie leaving the owlbear mother and giant eagles nonviolently)

petting scratch and the owlbear cub

rejecting raphael’s deals and helping wyll break his contract with mizora

destroying the book of thay + the shit in balthazar’s lab

supporting stoney and boney by buying a statue from them

freeing oskar the artist

participating in every single activity at the circus of the last days (literally just starting a conversation nets approval lmao)

things that get u disapproval:

cruelty for the sake of it

choosing violence as the first option in most scenarios

siding with orin and/or gortash

accepting loviatar's blessing

taking any deals with devils

not delivering justice to those who deserve it (resolving conflict peacefully with fezzerk when you first encounter barcus, for example, nets disapproval, whereas killing him in moonrise towers later nets approval)

he becomes hostile if a durge character accepts bhaal’s blessing teehee

romancing him is hard bc riley doesn’t make first moves except in extreme scenarios. you have to flirt with him first and half the time it just goes right over his head. being persistent gets through to him, although it’s important that he isn’t pushed into sex right away or else he’ll call the whole thing off; choosing romantic options in dialogue is better than choosing sexy options in the long run.

[six-improbable-things]

world's shittiest screenshot, but here's my new bg3 character, River. They're for a multiplayer save with one of the players of my weekend game (who is also the DM of my other weekend game). They're a wood elf beast master ranger. They have a wolf companion, a raven familiar, and I'm trying to get them to also summon Scratch. (The goal is to have a whole menagerie of animals following them around, lmao.)

The guy I'm playing with is playing a tiefling swords bard, which is funny bc that was my first build in the game. (This is not his first playthrough, but he's in act 3 on his solo save.)

We hit level 4 today, and next time we play (hopefully tomorrow), we're planning on doing the goblin camp.

I also played like 4 more hours (at least) in Maven's save. I hit level nine and finished the Gauntlet of Shar all today. I'm about to enter the Shadowfell, but given that I already killed Balthazar when I first entered the Gauntlet, that shouldn't take long. And then it's on to the finale and Act 3!!! Wild to think that I'm over half way to finishing the game a second time. (At least I think I'm over half way... I'm not 100% certain. There's just SO MUCH in Act 3. But I am over 50 hours (I think) into this save, and my last playthrough took me 90-something hours to finish.)

[and-stir-the-stars]

Balthazar headcanon time:

I have a friend who calls me a goblin because I am constantly ‘stealing’ things from the rest of the group. Like if I have a friend turned away from me and talking to someone else, I’ll take the calculator or pencil or whatever off their desk and start openly fidgeting with it or hiding it on/under my desk. Or sometimes I’ll do it while looking them in the eyes, just for funsies. Anyway, Balthazar is a goblin too and is constantly ‘stealing’ things from the garrison because he likes getting reactions from people (and having their things makes him feel close to them)

[castiel-kline]

cas and balthazar meet again post finale

This one really got away from me, and it got really long. I promise it does answer the prompt but I also made it super plotty for some reason. I hope you don’t mind!

Being taken by the Empty didn’t feel like dying. 

Of course, that’s what was happening to him, but it didn’t feel like that. It felt cold, and painful, and vengeful. Lonely and miserable and laced with glittering knives of regret.

It was his damnation. Not the traditional sense of the word, but true nonetheless. 

But if facing it meant he’d save his family? Save Jack from being subject to the same fate? He’d damn himself to this a thousand times over, without a single shred of hesitation. 

The Empty had him entirely covered in its goo, tendrils snaking under his skin and into his body from every angle. In through the eyes, the nose, snaking down his throat. Under the fingernails, into the ears, scraping through the tattered remnants of his grace and pressing down around his true form. 

It was agony. 

Eventually it subsided, and some of the inky tendrils retracted, leaving him gasping for air that neither existed in this realm nor was truly necessary. He collapsed in a heap, the Empty bubbling around him. He spared a glance up, wondering if the Shadow were nearby to gloat before sending them both into slumber. What he saw… well. Unexpected didn’t quite cover it. 

“Jack?” 

“Hmm. Guess again, Castiel.” 

“No.” Don’t you dare look like him.

“Oh, yes. Because it hurts you to look at him, doesn’t it?” The Shadow leaned down, condescension clear as day in its every move. So wrong on Jack’s face that it twisted something deep within him. It stared him down, watching him squirm, mania-painted smirk stretching wider. “Good. I want you to suffer, so that’s what you’re going to do.” 

“I thought you wanted your peace and quiet,” Cas managed, as more tendrils snaked out over his wrists and ankles. Dragging him a little bit further down, completely at the Empty’s mercy. Somehow he suspected that was the point.

The Shadow straightened, looking down Jack’s nose at him. 

“Of course I do,” It said, emulating Jack’s earnestness. Liar. “But I can’t!”

“What?”

“Wonderboy-” the Shadow gesticulated wildly in the direction of its facsimile body “-woke everybody up when he exploded all over me. So I don’t get to sleep, no, and if I don’t get to sleep then you definitely don’t get to sleep. None at all.” 

Quicker than a blink, the Shadow had fisted Castiel’s collar in its hands, bringing their faces inches apart. 

“At least,” It whispered, eyes wild with an energy Jack had never, and would never, possess. “I get to make you suffer like you’ve made me suffer. So I want you to look at this face, Castiel. Look at it, and know that it’s contorted in tears right now because Papa Bear abandoned him.” 

The Shadow threw him down, the goo swallowing him right back up. Submerged in the dark, he scarcely felt its weight. He was too busy drowning in a fresh cascade of guilt.

It yanked him back up, tendrils leaving him suspended in the middle of nothing. Some of them twisted at his feathers, pulling them just enough to be excruciating but not enough to rip them free. He screamed.

“Be quiet!” The Empty released him, and Cas fell back down, every fibre of his being crying out in pain.

The Shadow cackled, everything about it from the pitch to the cadence to the intention screaming wrong, wrong, wrong.

“You’re never going to regret this, are you?”

Cas glared at it, mustering up as much defiance as he could. 

“No,” he croaked. “Because saving my family? That’s worth dying a thousand deaths.”

The Shadow doubled over laughing again. Then, quick as a blink, kicked him across the face, sending him reeling backwards.

“‘Die a thousand deaths’? Please. You’re pathetic, you know that?”

Castiel pushed himself back up, following the Shadow’s pacing with his eyes. It walked with one arm tucked behind its back, the other gesticulating as it spoke.

“Death isn’t going to be enough for you, hmm. Oh, you know what you’ve never been able to take?” It spun back around, grinning down at him. “You can’t stand seeing the pain you’ve caused. And since you can’t see what’s left of your precious little family- not that they even care that you died, by the way- how would you feel about seeing the angels again?”

No. He must have looked visibly afraid, because the Shadow only smiled wider. 

“Not so pleasant a thought, hmm? Seeing as you killed most of them.” It laughed again, clapping its hands in an expression of glee that would have been endearing coming from Jack, but now simply served to be disturbing. “Oh, yes. It’ll be just like throwing a scrap of meat to a pack of starving dogs.”

Cas shook his head, but the Empty pressed on. It waved its hand, and Castiel was thrown some immeasurable distance away. He pushed himself to a sitting position, and watched in horror as the ground bubbled around him, and his brothers and sisters began to crawl their way out.

He recognized them, of course, because he’d taken care to never forget a single name. He saw Hael first, then Bartholomew, then Jonah and Efram and Ambriel and Samandriel. He saw Raphael, Uriel, Anna, Jophiel. He scrambled to his feet, unable to do anything but watch and wait for their wrath to undoubtedly descend upon him. 

Someone grabbed him from behind and pulled, running and dragging Castiel with them. He didn’t fight it, figuring that whoever had him was going to inflict a world of pain and there wasn’t a thing to do but accept it. They’d gone a fair distance, if there was such a thing as distance in nothing, before they stopped and Cas turned to face who had taken him. 

“Balthazar?” His voice came out strangled, as scarcely more than a whisper. 

“Cas,” Balthazar said, staring at him with something unreadable in his eyes. “Your wings…”

“Balthazar,” Cas repeated, finding himself unable to say anything else, mind swirling in an inescapable vortex of grief and guilt and pain. “I’m sorry, my friend. I’m so sorry.”

“What, for killing me? You weren’t yourself.”

“I was. That’s the problem.”

Balthazar just shook his head. “It’s going to take more than a stab in the back to get rid of me. You do know that, right?”

“If we weren’t already dead I’d offer you my blade to kill me. I deserve nothing more.”

“Castiel.” Cas forced himself to meet Balthazar’s eyes directly. “I know you, and so I forgive you. As I’ve told you before- nothing’s changed.”

Cas smiled bitterly. “Except me.”

“What happened to you?” Balthazar’s fingers traced the air where Castiel’s wings lay mangled and twisted in another dimension. “You look like you’ve been clawed apart by feral house cats.”

“I destroyed everything, Balthazar. So many times.” And he felt like he was being crushed under the weight of all his mistakes. Perhaps this was the torture the Empty preferred for him- giving him back a lost friend, giving him forgiveness- and then ripping it away again. Surely even someone as loyal as Balthazar wouldn’t want to associate with him after learning of the things he’d done.

“You, Cassie? I’ve only ever known you to do what’s right.”

“How can you say that when you saw me make one of my biggest mistakes? When I killed you because of it?”

Balthazar scoffed. “Mistake? Cas, you were trying to stop our control freak of an older brother from letting the other ones out to destroy the world. What about that is a mistake? Sure, Crowley was a bit of a snake, but come on. It can’t have been so long that you’ve forgotten your good intentions.”

Cas didn’t say a word, and Balthazar narrowed his eyes. “How long has it been, Cas?”

Cas sighed. “Nine years.”

“Nine years.” Balthazar’s eyebrows had shot all the way up. “Wow. Not long at all. So what could… no. Tell me you weren’t.”

Castiel frowned. “Weren’t what?”

“Weren’t still kissing the Winchesters’ asses for the whole nine years.”

“They’re my friends, Balthazar.”

“Oh, really?” Balthazar crossed his arms. “If they’re your friends, why did they treat you like one of the guns they keep in the trunk of their wretched car?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it, Cas?” Balthazar sighed, backing down a little. Nine years of death wouldn’t stop them from bickering, it seemed, though he did put a hand on Cas’ shoulder. An uncharacteristic attempt to show solidarity through the sarcasm.

“Look,” Balthazar continued. “What you do is your business, but… just tell me there was something good in those years. That it wasn’t just you running around trying to prove yourself to them.”

There was something, in fact, something he’d never expected. Something beautiful.

“I had a son,” he admitted. He’d often wondered what Jack would be like meeting angels that weren’t hell-bent on killing him. He’d imagined Jack meeting Balthazar, or Hannah, or Rachel or Samandriel, but it would never come to fruition. The best he would get was telling them about him, assuming he would be able to escape being choked and stretched and drowned by the depths of the Empty for all eternity.

“Why, Cassie, I’m impressed,” Balthazar said wryly. Oh no. Before Cas could interject and explain, Balthazar continued. “Looks like you really did get that stick out of your ass. And you put it right up-”

“Balthazar! He’s not mine, not like that. He chose me, and his mother was a friend. That’s all.”

Balthazar seemed to enjoy how flustered he was, but his tone was serious. “You adopted a human child?”

“No, he’s a nephilim.”

“Ah,” Balthazar said. “So they changed the rules regarding them in the past nine years, then?”

“No,” Cas said again, getting frustrated. He’d forgotten how much Balthazar loved to hear himself speak. Even if he had missed it, it was still mildly insufferable.

“Well, you rebel Cas, you. But, ah- who was the sire?”

Cas winced. “Lucifer.”

“Oh, my. That is unfortunate.”

“Yeah. Jack’s nothing like him, though. He’s… he’s very much like his mother. And I like to think he’s a little bit like me, too.”

Balthazar looked at him, somehow still reading him like a book after all this time.

“You spoil the poor child, don’t you?”

“I most certainly do not,” Cas huffed.

“Oh, yes you do. You’ve always been soft, but now you’re practically a down pillow.”

Cas’ smile was sadder, again. “I told you I’ve changed.”

“Maybe so. But we haven’t.”

“Thank you.”

Balthazar smiled. “I do have one question though, Cas.”

“Of course.”

“How did you die?”

Well. He supposed it would have had to be asked eventually. Unfortunately his hesitation gave Balthazar another opportunity to talk over him.

“Please don’t tell me it was for the Winchesters.”

“I love them.”

Balthazar rolled his eyes. “Of course you do. And unfortunately I love that about you. Well, go on. Tell me a story.”

Cas shrugged. “I made a deal with the Empty. My life for Jack’s, which- it wasn’t even a question. It said that when I was finally happy, it would take me.”

Balthazar frowned. “What did you in?”

“You know, I’m not really sure. But I managed to save Dean, and that’s all that matters.”

“Oh, Cas,” Balthazar muttered, sounding deeply sad. “Well, at least you were clearly a better father than our dear old absent God. That much is clear.”

Cas’ heart sank. He couldn’t not tell him, though he didn’t necessarily want to break the news.

“Balthazar.”

“What?”

“Um. A lot has happened since I’ve last seen you, and there’s a lot you need to know, but God- God was never on our side.”

--------

They walked aimlessly through the Empty, keeping aware for signs of their siblings or the Shadow, but oddly finding none.

“Well then,” Balthazar said, flippant as ever. Cas was nearly sure he was deflecting.

“That’s all you have to say? You’re not angry?”

“Nope.” Forced cheerfulness. “Never liked him anyway. Frankly, I’m surprised you even met the man.”

Cas paused and stopped moving, feeling something tugging at his grace.

“Cas, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Balthazar had stopped too, hovering closer. 

A pocket of the nothingness in front of them seemed to pull itself inward, caving in like a black hole and then cracking open just a bit. Was this what it looked like when someone died and came to the Empty?

Hopefully not, because the distortion cleared and Jack was standing there. And it was painfully, obviously Jack, clearly indicated by everything from his posture to the grace Cas could feel reaching for his own.

Balthazar stiffened, preparing for a fight, but the minute Jack caught sight of Castiel the angel found himself with an armful of nephilim. He held on tight, feeling Jack trembling slightly.

Having connected the dots, Balthazar caught his eye over Jack’s shoulder and mouthed “down pillow.” Cas shook his head slightly, but turned his attention back to his son.

“Jack? Are you-”

“I’m getting you out, Cas,” Jack said, pulling back. “We’re both getting out of here.”

Balthazar’s stricken expression tugged at Cas’ heart.

“Just me?” Cas asked.

Jack’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“The other angels are awake, Jack. Can you…”

“I… maybe. But, Cas, I don’t… I don’t know them. Why…”

“It’s alright if you can’t,” Cas assured. “But if we can help them somehow, be that bringing them back or putting them to sleep… I need to try to make things right.”

Jack nodded. “I’ll try to help.”

Cas smiled at him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. “Thank you. And thank you for coming to get me.”

“Of course. I missed you,” Jack said, eyes wide. Cas felt something else inside him twisting.

Balthazar cleared his throat, and Cas gently turned Jack around to face the third member of their party.

“Jack, this is Balthazar. He’s a good friend.”

Jack and Balthazar looked at each other, Jack frowning and Balthazar smirking in a horribly misguided attempt to be friendly. The silence stretched on, utterly deafening. Jack broke it first.

“I… I met an alternate universe version of you that was not very nice.”

Balthazar didn’t miss a beat.

“Well, you know what they say. Don’t judge an angel by their alternate universe counterparts, right?”

That got a bit of a smile out of Jack, though he was still wary. Cas couldn’t blame him, so he kept in contact to keep him at ease.

“We need to find the Shadow. Make an arrangement so that we can take a few angels with us and the Empty goes back to peace and quiet,” Jack said. The self-assuredness was clearly a front, but somehow Cas felt as if he’d have time to help Jack through it. 

“Okay,” he said, nodding at Jack. Jack nodded back, and the three of them started walking. Into what, they didn’t know. 

But Castiel had the strangest feeling that it was all going to turn out alright.

[theythemsam]

My two season 15 Bingos. The Good & The Bad. My hopes and dreams (A Gay Can Dream!) and my nopes and screams (cause im gonna be screaming a lot if those happen :/).

[rimesgarden]

You've been visited by the random OC question fairy! :D ~☆

What does your character think about their past? What would they change about it? How has their past affected their actions and thoughts?

Ive had this sitting in my inbox for forever trying to figure out what to say (or who about, rather)

I think I'll go with Klaus, bc I dont get to talk about him enough.

Klaus Vasburg is Krytan-born Canthan descendant. (his ancestor was actually my gw factions assassin Okada Ringo, who married into the Kurzick family of house Vasburg, followers of Balthazar.) For the longest time he had no idea he had canthan ancestry - least of all that it was kurzick, though he did always feel most drawn to Balthazar.

He found out some time before Balth's return... Somehow, I haven't detailed how exactly but anyway. He promptly took the name Vasburg and joined the Zaishen, going with them when their god returned.

In the Crystal Desert however, when Klaus saw how the campaign was affecting the people of Elona, he couldn't abide it. He'd also grown up a commoner in and around Divinity's Reach, after all. So even before Balth's death he deserted, seeking instead to help the commonfolk.

From there it gets a little muddy for me, but either through capture, following Zafirah, or maybe a combination of the two, he ended up with the Pact. Which was perfect for him, he was looking to atone anyway - for both his own part, and the entirety of the Zaishen Order.

He eventually returned to Tyria and met with my necro, Lina, and that's a whole another story the timeline of which I need to work out lmao anyway. They bond over shared (very shared) canthan ancestry and fall in love and marry, I'll ramble more sometime.

So yeah, Klaus feels... Very conflicted abt his past. On the one hand he doesn't regret joining the Zaishen or the time spent with them, or regret following Balthazar before his mad campaign. On the other, he accepts the guilt of having been part of that, even if he set out to right it comparably early on. He will likely never feel completely free of that guilt. But he's accepted that.

Thanks so much for the question, fairy! 💕

(also sup im not dead)

[i-mybrunettelady]

first of all, sending <3, exams are a ride and i very much understand your pain. second, nyra brainrot! :D i feel like i'm going to word this weirdly, but does she have specific thoughts on any of the six gods? like ones she feels closer to, or relates to more or less, or literally just any thoughts at all? (we talk a lot about balthazar but less about the others, and i've been thinking a lot about the gods in general, so...ye! if you feel like talking about that go for it xD) @kerra-and-company

We talk abt Salty Balty a lot bc he is, well, salty. But Gods and Nyra is a topic I'm always down to talk about :>

So first in the order of business, Alysannyra quite literally means "To Lyssa (be) the glory" in older Ascalonian (and the male version of her name is Lyssen, btw.) And I'm not saying this just for the fun, it's actually foreshadowing of her discovering she was one of Lyssa's humans when she was a small child.

And she's closest to Lyssa because of it. In season 3, in Siren's Landing, Lyssa actually expressed that yes, Nyra's the daughter of chaos and one of Lyssa's people. She calls her little Lyss, which at the time was kinda painful bc she's still grieving for Traho, whose nickname for her is Lyss, but does the goddess care? No. Little Lyss stuck, what little they've had the chance to talk. I imagine Lyssa's like "THAT'S MY GIRL GO FUCK THEM UP" in the Mists lmao

She's also fond of Dwayna, as a traditional guardian deity and the one who, she believes, can soothe all wounds, physical or otherwise. The fact she never really received that immediate soothing doesn't matter here, this is a matter of faith that she potentially could someday.

She's lowkey scared of Grenth now, so there's that. I mean she's bound to have a really interesting conversation about her coming back from the dead at some point and for all my PS brainrot mutuals, the Reaper in the Temple of Grenth on level 80 asks you to kill in Grenth's name and they'd help you so, she's been.. lowkey killing in Grenth's name, nice

[phoebehalliwell]

I need u to explain something to me

Phoebe forgave Cole when he spent the whole season 3 trying to kill her because « Balthazar did it » and Cole «changed » (🤷🏻‍♀️). Like Balthazar and Cole were two differents entities and Cole was a victim (I used to think that was bullshit and Cole should have been killed in s3.) Phoebe was even dating him when he was a demon using his power for « good »

So Why did phoebe was so hell bent on killing him in s05 and say that he was evil when he was infected by the Source ? You could argue that Cole and the Source were also two entities ? And that he was under the influence of the Source / a victim ?

In s05,He even tried to use his demonic powers for « good », exactly like S3. I guess i don’t get why in s03, Cole was a « innocent That had to be saved » but in s05 he had to be killed ?

SHORT ANSWER:

LONG ANSWER: 2k under the cut

pt i - 1k so out of universe explanation like as we moved into s4 the show really favored these long overarching plotlines as opposed to something like s2 which really didn't have any big plot just vibes. inching back a lil further i think in s3 the introduction of a demon love interest was really like. like kinda bound to happen now that we've given pleo their type of happily ever after the will they won't they is over the heavens forbid it is over now we need another relationship to add a bit of spice to the mix and what better than like. a demon? so you run phole and they're kinda. your main source of drama consistently throughout the season yes there's the vague looming threat of the source but really it's phoebe and cole weaving together thru these episodes putting meat on these bones. i think the first faux-vanquish was bound to happen, because like the relationship is still so fresh and you haven't even got to the demon-tries-to-be-good point yet you're still in the heat and angst of betrayal like baby. there are still miles to go here. there's no way you're ending this yet. (which like. yeah i agree like. in universe cole totally should have been killed in s3. also out of universe bc like. i can't say i was hella in love with what was going on over there lmao. whoops.)

anyways. we hit season 4 and you have cole being good demon! yeah! but this whole time you kinda know what you're leading up to like the source is being name checked a bit too much here chekhov's demon if you will if the source doesn't actually you know fuckin show up and try to kill them this season well then what the fuck is he doing? but then. what do you do once u kill the source like end ur show r u joking moniee baby let's add some drama ooh u know what what if cole the demon became the source. which i think like. you need someone to become the source someone close to them and you can't do a sister (or can you?) because u need the power of three also what r u gonna kill a sister and you can't really do leo just because you've made him such a softboi healer kind emotional type. but u know who's dark n mysterious with an evil past who is very much tied up in the lives of our girls? cole.

so i think like from the beginning they knew they were doing source cole because how do u pick between the love of ur life and ur sisters the drama so on so forth i think they knew they needed phoebe married to cole before they went all in because you really need that he’s family too pull. but out of universe for the life of me i cannot tell if they were implying cole was actually evil or not. my personal conspiracy theory is that some people in the writers room were like cole is misunderstood and really trying to be good and others were like okay he was underworld’s top demon for 100 years maybe reflect on that?? and both these views are heading towards the same goal (source!cole) but have different opinions on who cole is beyond that plotline. but idk!

and then as a personal opinion i think the source plotline really bogged down s4 like. :/. and i think the show kinda felt that too that this wasn’t really sustainable the show is charmed after all named after the charmed ones if you have a show where there are just two witches one of them’s trying to kill their sister the other just got here and then our third sister is like. queen of hell, but is kinda being a bimbo about it (respectfully) like. that’s not charmed. it could be A Show, but it’s not this show, which i repeat. is charmed. which i think is why they immediately backtracked on the s5 intention to do Phoebe: Queen of Hell and then like snorted a line and powered out the quickest way to get phoebe back in the fold, to which the conclusion was: him or us. the whole core of the drama how do you pick between the love of your life and your sisters like. better decide the answer. you only get one. and obvi it’s gotta be the sisters; again: this is charmed also you already played your back pocket half-sister card you only get to use that move once. which means. sisters have been chosen. cole has to go.

but!! everyone loves cole everyone loves phoebe and cole they’re the ones bringing like. the heat the passion the sex appeal because respectfully piper and leo Are Not they’re the domestic fantasy and paige just got here so she’s not really ready to shoulder that burden quite yet. so like. phoebe and cole am i rite. let’s bring back cole. but u already had phoebe definitively chose her sisters you already had them vanquish cole you can’t really revert back to the same him vs them thing that powered s4 because you already know the answer. (i guess. again this is all just speculation i was not there when this was happening i was 5. wait actually. okay yeah s5 started airing in september 2002 i was 2. lmao.) but you’ve brought cole back what are you going to do with him what’s his main motivation. well. his motivation at first was kill phoebe. then it was i’m in love with phoebe. like it’s always been phoebe. so clearly it must be phoebe again. cole will do anything!! to get back phoebe. but it’s too late. phoebe has already made the irrevocable decision to be with her sisters. so therefore. cole will be obsessed with her and she will reject him at every turn. we’re gonna give cole a lot of screentime in this futile and cringe chase for love tho why? bc julian <3 what a guy. hey should he date paige?

pt ii - 1k and then an In Universe explanation let’s get started. phoebe has had no longer term relationships. definitely no on screen ones. the closest thing we got to any implication of serious romance was clay in s1. she didn’t get anywhere w eric bc his mind got wiped, the cupid was obvi a no-go from the beginning, and billy Isn’t Real. so this relationship with cole is really like the first serious relationship she’s had in a minute and she fell hard and she fell fast, but could you blame her? cole was literally her perfect guy he built himself to be Literally her perfect guy. and when you find out your perfect guy is a demon like. how do you rationalize that. because quite frankly he has had many opportunities to kill you can he hasn’t so like. he can’t be that bad. it can’t all be fake. you really hope it’s not all fake. and then, like, of course, there’s the belthazor element. like. he literally has a demon form. turns big red and scary. phoebe’s no demonologist. i’m sure she can just rationalize that as a jekyll and hyde situation cole is just some innocent strapped along for the hellish ride manned by some evil beast. but around her, he can conquer that demon. because that’s a demon. belthazor’s a demon. cole is a human cole is good cole is an innocent and he had no power over those things. so i think that’s the mentality that phoebe really carried thru to s4, and then cole becomes human. and then cole becomes the source, but you don’t know it. and cole really tries to fight the source when he’s with her you know true love is the greatest force blah blah blah so like. odds are phoebe doesn’t notice. a) we’re still kind of settling into the “new cole” because he hasn’t been demon-free well, like, ever, so u need to figure out what that looks like and then b) now that he doesn’t have his jekyll-side or whatever you two are free you can be in love and god do you want to be in love you want something that’s yours something to hold on to because lately it kind of seems that everything you love is being ripped away so god please can you just have this one thing that’s yours. so i think phoebe really overlooked any signs of cole’s source possession. she only saw cole. her cole. the man she loved. Which Means When Shit Really Hit The Fan, phoebe doesn’t see this as the source possession finally taking over she has no idea of the internal battle cole has been facing inside himself (and then not to mention phoebe is also kinda drugged up rn on pure evil so we’re not in the Best headspace) phoebe kinda just seeing this as the mask being ripped off. all the clues she’s been ignoring over the past couple months have been finally exposed: cole is evil. (which: the clues actually read as cole is possessed By evil. but who’s gonna tell her that? the seer? no one else knows if anyone should know it’s phoebe but she was so busy trying to pretend everything was perfect that she was finally gonna get to be happy that she missed the source living right under her nose so. whoops.)

and then entering s5 i think phoebe keeps with the mentality that cole was actually evil this whole time. like she didn’t know he was possessed she didn’t know when this possession started so the natural conclusion is cole is just Like This and she’s a bimbo. blinded by love. and i think this really starts to backtrack and put everything else in a negative light because like. had she not been trying to save cole prue wouldn’t have died. also. cole never explicitly told her that belthazor was a separate entity. she had just assumed. because she thought she knew him. but clearly she didn’t because he was the fucking source of all evil and she couldn’t tell because evidently she didn’t know cole at all. he and belthazor were probably just one and the same. he let her believe that, let her see what he wanted to see, so he could have what he wanted. her. all to himself. no one else no other life but him. and i mean again who’s gonna refute that i think phoebe really builds up an echo chamber in her head calling herself and idiot calling cole evil and promising to never fall for it again that by the time cole shows up ready to give it one last shot at good, phoebe’s like no. i’ve seen what you are before. and i’m not gonna get another sister killed i’m not gonna fall for evil again. because!! cole trying to be good in s5 looks the same as cole trying to be good in s3 s4. cole being in love with phoebe in s5 looks the same as cole being in love with phoebe in s3 s4 (actually it’s a lil bit more bonkers and possessive but u get the point). and this is because he was! he was in love with phoebe he was trying to be good, but phoebe, post-source!cole almost killing her sisters, has reached to conclusion that cole that whole time was consciously evil, because she was never able to tell the difference between her cole and source!cole, given the fact he always actively suppressed that side around her. around her, cole never changed, despite getting progressively more evil to the world around him, because his love for phoebe fought it off. which really was the downfall. because if she had seen the markers and seen him as something other than her cole, maybe this whole thing could have been salvaged. but she was blinded by her love for roughly like what. two three months? and in her head reached the conclusion that she was actually blinded by love the entire time. so rather than fall for that again she just kept her eyes shut.