So I've already shared parts of this on a discord server, but I have to scream about Ketheric Thorm on here as well. Obviously spoilers about the character under the cut! It's a long one.
The entirety of act 2 is about him, right? Jaheira, Shadowheart and numerous other NPCs shit on him for his fickle faith. First Selune, then Shar, then, as we meet him, Myrkul. You hear about his changes of faith on a whim, you hear that he's the person responsible for the shadow curse, he is painted as a villain, plain and simple.
You can figure it out pretty early on that Isobel was resurrected and that she is his daughter; the detail as well that he wants Isobel alive is so on the nose, it gives him away completely but there are still a few questions that remain unanswered, mainly about his faith.
And then you get to the mausoleum and the picture assembles; this entire tragedy, the death of hundreds if not thousands and the complete ruination of a landscape was all, ALL because you had this absolutely wrenched, heartbroken father who had lost everything and nobody answered his grief. He was left woefully alone, the Goddess whose daughter his daughter was involved with did nothing to save Isobel.
Imagine outliving your wife and your daughter. Imagine dedicating your life to fight the Lady of Loss, your Lady of Silver's enemy, and then be left so completely alone and in silence with your grief, with your loss. It's so, so poetic how and why he turned from Selune, and it's so understandable as well; he broke. His spirit completely broke. He couldn't deal with that void of having lost the only two important people in his life, seemingly undeservedly so. He was going mad with this and a lot of his ire was likely targeted at Aylin who, in his eye, represented Selune; she's literally her daughter, after all, and it was implied that even before the deaths of his family, he sort of saw Aylin courting Isobel as Selune taking his daughter from him, despite his service. This relationship was clearly not seen by him as a boon of "giving his daughter to the Moon-maiden".
His ways in the past clearly didn't spare him from tragedy and having to cope with it (which he clearly didn't, he snapped under the weight of his grief). He was clearly angry and unable to do anything, furious and helpless, which is a dangerous combination. A good part of his first change of heart must have been fuelled by a sense of revenge.
But then Shar didn't provide any balm to his aching heart either. If you read his letters in Grymforge and in act 2, he is so focused on enacting the will of Shar because he believes that healing lies in oblivion. Everything would be easier if he could just forget, if the damn world could just forget, if nothing was remembered because without Melodia and Isobel, nothing was worth remembering.
Then came Myrkul. Literally the only god who was not only able, but WILLING to give back his daughter to him. Imagine spending your all, EVERYTHING you have to serve two gods who would not give a single shit about the greatest suffering in your life. You were basically nothing, your loyalty didn't matter for shit, everything that was taken from you amounted to no recognition whatsoever: you should simply cope and seethe. Your grief will not simply go unanswered (which is not inherently antagonising) but ignored.
And then comes this supposedly evil entity who can alleviate your pain just like that, snap of a finger and it's a done deal.
I am so serious when I say that I believe Ketheric's main incentive was to extend Aylin's immortality to Isobel as well. You can read in her diary that she feels a taint after having came back, and there are things not even Selune can cleanse, but at this point, Ketheric doesn't care about Selune, vengeance is secondary if not tertiary, he's done that war during his Shar years and what did it give him? Literally nothing.
He doesn't even care about the fact that Isobel is still her cleric. He cares about the single most important fact: Isobel is back. Life is worth living again, there is something for him, and it was not Selune or Shar who gave it to him but Myrkul, and for this singular gift, he would raze the world for the Lord of Bones. Like people can clown on him for being disloyal but the man has the loyalty of a dog bonded to its owner.
He is powerful and is willing to go to insane lengths for crumbs. What is raising a single life for a god? Nothing. It has happened and it will happen again. But Ketheric will go to the ends of the earth to serve the single god who actually listened to him. The one god who didn't ignore him.
He knows that what he does is not the morally upright thing! He is so insanely self-aware that allying with Orin and Gortash and doing this entire plot with them only to then betray them is morally reprehensible at the best of times, he knows that people hate him, etc-etc. He was a Selunite at one point and he's not stupid. He just doesn't care; it could be literal Asmodeus and he wouldn't care as long as he got what he wanted, no matter the price.
He is probably the only one from the three of the chosen who has complete clarity over his situation, he almost sways (if you pass the check during his confrontation), he is not an inherently evil man blinded by power.
But he is inherently loyal to those deserving, and as of the story's standing, completely broken by his grief. In his eyes, at this point, the only one deserving loyalty is the one who actually listened to him. Isobel lives. It doesn't matter that she hates him, that his entire life has fallen apart, that literally nothing else that is good has come of it, because Isobel lives.
I don't think he regrets a single thing. His consciousness might tear at him at the end, but I believe he would do everything over again, exactly as he did, because in the end, his daughter was brought back. Because what would a grieving, broken parent give to bring back their child? Everything. Absolutely everything. And it's such a simply given answer, no second thoughts, no doubts.
Nobody can tell me that this man is fickle. Nobody. This man was willing to burn the world to the ground, create a Boudica destruction layer all by himself for the one single thing he wanted. For any God that would listen.
I don't know, I just have a lot of thoughts about his character.
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WAIT WAIT WAIT HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE
So normally we only get fullblown, extended and dedicated flashbacks for heroic characters in One Piece, the characters who we're meant to root for. The literal only TRUE exception we've had to this rule was Big Mom's flashback. Even fucking Doflamingo's flashback was tied to Law and Rosinante's
So the fact that we haven't gotten a single fucking GLIMPSE at Crocodile's backstory is?!?
Like sure, we haven't gotten like a Moria flashback, but you know, he literally told us all we needed to know himself, AND we got to see glimpses of him in the Wano flashbacks. Arlong didn't get a flashback of his own, but he did get to cameo in Fisher Tiger's flashback. And Rob Fucking Lucci got a flashback that was 6 whooping panels long
BUT CROCODILE?? Not only do we know almost Fuck All about his story, but also have never gotten as much as a glimpse at it? But his backstory has been HINTED and TEASED at multiple times??
GUYS. FELLAS
Like. I am SURE the "Full Backstories for Heroes Only" rule is going to get broken again, but with Imu and Blackbeard already there just BEGGING to have their beans spilled, can we even be sure Sir Fucking Crocodile is somehow going to become A Villain So Dangerous To The Narrative that he ALSO should also recieve a Full Fucking Backstory?? For his Nefarious Schemes?? AT THIS POINT??
Y'all
I think it's more likely Oda's been saving up Croc's backstory because it might just completely recontextualize his entire character
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Rolan HC (Dad-Rolan)
He spoils his baby.
Here's a drabble:
“Help Daddy” baby Marika said and pulled at the leg of his trousers. “Up!”
Rolan was sitting by his desk in his office, trying to figure out the last details of a spell he had been working on for a while. Well, technically it was an improvement of an already existing spell and he just needed to get one more equation out of the way.
But that didn’t matter. If Marika wanted up, she would get up. Faye had made plenty of remarks about him spoiling Marika. So be it. He grabbed her and placed her on his lap.
“Help Daddy work” she said and grabbed onto the quill he was holding.
He distracted her for a moment with a tickle while he replaced his own notes with blank pieces of paper. She squirmed on his lap and giggled.
“Alright then, what kind of spell are we making?” Rolan said when the giggles died down.
“Green!” Marika said, which was her current favourite colour.
“Green” he mused and tapped the paper in front of them. “Are you writing this down?”
Since three year olds can't write, Marika made a scribbly line and a circle.
“Very good” Rolan continued. Marika's face lit up. His heart fluttered. “What more should the spell do?”
Marika's brows furrowed and looked like she was thinking very, very hard. Rolan didn’t have to think very hard about what would follow.
“Sparkles” Marika said when she had thought for a while.
“Ah, sparkles, a fine choice” he said and tapped the paper again. Marika made another scribbly line and a triangle.
When Marika was satisfied with her ‘notes’ she looked up at him expectantly. He did a simple prestidigitation and conjured a shower of green sparks. The child let out a squeal of delight and clapped her hands. It was probably the tenth time he had conjured the same thing for her in less than three days, it didn’t matter. When Marika's eyes lit up, mesmerised by the sparkles, it was the only thing that mattered in the whole world. He pulled her close to his chest.
“Daddy best” Marika said.
“I love you” he said and placed a kiss on top of her head.
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Making my separate post because I don't want to derail the other one but yk that post that says (rightly so) that even if you aren't able to sleep just lying down and not doing anything is more restful than doing something to pass the time? That's 100% a fact, and it has helped a bunch of people myself included, i think about that often.
However. As someone who has also been told this same thing in situations where it absolutely does not apply i do want to add some caveats.
If you are unable to sleep because you are experiencing a manic/hypomanic episode, don't force yourself to lie still, your restlessness might make matters worse, it will absolutely not be restful, and it is better to find something to do that will tire you out (for eg my therapist recommended jumping jacks)
If you are unable to sleep due to a sensory issues and find yourself barreling towards a meltdown, don't just lie there hoping things will get comfortable on their own. A meltdown is not restful. You do not deserve that suffering, change what you need to till you feel at ease enough to rest (even if not sleep)
If you are unable to sleep due to severe anxiety, don't just lie there and wait out the night. If you are that tense and high strung that is not restful. If a distraction is the only thing helping you with certain obsessions or paranoia then depriving yourself of that will not help. Take a while to practice your self help techniques till you feel unwound enough to rest (even if not sleep)
If you are unable to sleep due to some kind of psychosis, likewise allow yourself to work through it till you aren't as tense or distressed by it
If you are unable to sleep due to disturbing intrusive thoughts/impulses, allow yourself to find a release and talk yourself down to calmness, especially if you find the distress intensifying when your thoughts spiral out from a lack of something else to focus on
Lying down and doing nothing even when you can't sleep is good because it is restful. If it isn't restful this will not help. Remember that only you know best what is helping you. And please if someone says that just lying down won't help them then believe them and let them solve their issues the way they feel best. Maybe there is more at play than you know
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