#and every one of his moonweaver dreams in the lucien novel are just so good

[dent-de-leon]

animated nein please show us one of Mollymauk's dreams where he got to meet the Moonweaver--

[dent-de-leon]

Leo, is that Molly on the left and Lucien on the right in the book cover?! Do you think we're gonna get some inside on their thoughts in relation to each other? Like maybe Molly reacting to Caleb and Jester from inside Lucien's mind?

Yes!! It took me a second to see at first, but it’s easier to notice if you split the cover in half. The shading and red lighting kinda obscure it a little, which is very interesting, but you can see that Lucien’s horns are mostly bare (there’s just the little sun charm, whereas Molly’s horns are heavily adorned in all this fancy silver) and Molly’s got his tattoos and ornate coat, whereas Lucien’s half has only the scars and he’s wearing the heavy winter coat from Eiselcross.

Just the fact that Mollymauk is there on the cover at all--and he draws your eye more than Lucien--makes me think he’ll be more present in the narrative than they’ve let on? I mean, he and Lucien are each given half the cover. Even if we don’t really cover anything from Mollymauk’s time, we know this book will go into all of Lucien’s moments with the Mighty Nein in Eiselcross: 

“Author, Madeleine Roux, delves into the mind of one of Critical Role’s most infamous yet tragic figures, in this original novel that chronicles Lucien’s early life with the Tombtakers through his final dealings with the Mighty Nein.” 

So I think we’re going to see that shard of Molly gradually peeking through the longer Lucien travels with the Nein. And I’ve always wanted to see what exactly was going on in Lucien’s head when he was really confronted with the Mighty Nein and kept getting those flashes of fleeting memories--kept feeling Molly’s heart and soul lingering somewhere in the back of his mind, love and guilt and a torrent of emotions that were not his own eating away at him. 

We also know on some level Molly was absolutely present when Lucien took the body. He knew what was happening, but his soul was caged, unable to break free for so long. Matt actually describes through King's dreams what that felt like for him, and it sounds terrifying:

“Every now and then, your mind occasionally begins to recall memories through an occasional nightmare. Flashes of blurred memory, and time spent locked with another familiar, yet revolting place. The shell of loathing inescapable interior, looking out from your prison, pushing against your invisible binds. When your heart found the strength, giving all that you are to help those who gave you purpose in return.” 

I can't believe we're actually going to be seeing the other side of this?? How it felt for Lucien to know Mollymauk was locked away somewhere, another consciousness wrestling with his own--

Also, I kinda want to talk about the two different sides of the cover a bit, because I just think it’s so good. 

First off, I think one of the things that really catches my attention about the divide between these two is the horn charms. Whereas Molly’s moon charm is glowing with light, Lucien’s sun has gone dark. Molly’s features on the cover are so much clearer, because he’s standing in the light, whereas Lucien is shrouded in darkness. Lucien feels much more like Molly’s shadow here, and he’s almost lost in the overpowering, burning red of the Somnovum, which is very fitting.

Even Molly’s little symbol on the bottom of the book--the same one that was on his D20--deliberately shows the moon on Mollymauk’s half and the black sun on Lucien’s. I just love that it lines up like that. And of course there’s also the moons on the lining of Molly’s coat. 

Love that Mollymauk is the Mighty Nein character that was given the moon motif, because that’s just one of my favorite things thematically. Seeing it so clearly represented here also makes me a little hopeful that we’ll maybe see Molly’s relationship with the Moonweaver come up at some point. 👀 Also, I absolutely need this book to tell me if Lucien/Molly is Ruidus-born--

And it’s an interesting choice to give Lucien the sun charm at all, because it’s something from Molly’s portrait art, and presumably only the kind of thing you’d associate with him? I don’t see Molly keeping something from Lucien, or Lucien wearing jewelry that noticeable and flashy. 

But--it’s not a perfect match of Molly’s sun charm. Molly’s sun is gold and red, whereas Lucien’s is black. It...looks like the sun’s been eclipsed. So if Lucien’s associated with a solar eclipse--a moon blocking out the sun--and Molly is the moon, what’s that say about the two?? Even with Lucien in control, Molly is still breaking through? Lucien’s name is also Latin like the rest of the Somnovum, and it means Light. Which makes the allusion of Lucien to the sun feel all the more purposeful to me. I don’t know, I feel like there’s a story there. 

And the crown, that crown!!! It’s got the Eyes of Nine on it, that’s absolutely terrifying?? It looks like something wrought from the ruins of Cognouza, I absolutely love it. It’s the only thing that both Lucien and Molly share in the cover too, which is fascinating. Is it just to demonstrate that both Molly and Lucien’s lives were bound to the Eyes? An acknowledgement that they were both a potential vessel for the Nonagon? 

Or is this where we finally find out what it was that made every incarnation of Mollymauk feel like royalty? King said he chose his name because, “The very last feeling I felt was a...royal kingliness. Kingsley.” Is there something in both Molly and Lucien’s past beyond just the Eyes that made him feel that way? Did Molly/Lucien really have a crown and royal lineage once? I just!! Have so many questions--