#family: fjord

[shorthaltsjester]

the mighty nein - critical role

this is a place where i don't feel alone. this is a place where i feel at home.

[essektheylyss]

I keep lingering on the fact that Chetney says that the only thing left when he came home was toys, because on its face it's such a strange detail.

He says it as though he feels like it was an indication that his family left the one thing that was associated with him, that he cared about, that he has essentially crafted his whole identity around, which indicated to him that they were left there because the family didn't want them—and by extension, didn't want him.

But what if there was something else? What if he'd misinterpreted? What if they were trying to leave them as a point of connection, like a coded note that they were thinking about him as they fled? What if a misunderstanding left Chetney alone for his entire life, and it was entirely his fault?

It's like, god, his confession feels so concrete (in a way that Travis is very good at when talking around backstory) such that it really starkly outlines what he doesn't say. And gnomes live such long lives that, yes, you could have relatives walk in and out of your life with some regularity and spend a lot of time independent and distant without ever severing the connection, and it doesn't feel like the circumstances in the family were so bitter that the family cared so little as to simply abandon him entirely, at least not without extenuating circumstances.

I just keep thinking about it and the more I think about it the more I want to know what happened, because there's something else there—but the thing is, a large part of Chetney as a character is that sometimes you do feel such resentment for so long that by the time you even think to reconsider, things (or people) have changed or passed, and there isn't always a satisfying answer to be had.

[its-your-mind]

Actually, I don't think we've done a full introduction of your friends here, if you want to… - c2e96

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 2 Part 7 Group 31

Propaganda and further images under the cut

Archive Staff: Jonathan Sims, Sasha James, Tim Stoker, Martin Blackwood

Mighty Nein: Caleb Widogast, Nott the Brave/Veth Brennato, Fjord, Jester Lavorre, Caduceus Clay, Beauregard Lionett, Yasha Nydoorin, Mollymauk Tealeaf/Kingsley Tealeaf, Essek Thelyss

Archive Staff:

They’re trying their best to understand

Mighty Nein:

Originally, they were only seven, and the Nein part of their group name was a running joke about rolling nines and Caleb's German accent. Then, after Molly's untimely death, the group picked up Caduceus, making seven again. Later, they ally with Essek, who makes eight. And finally, through the power of love and found family, they defeat a villain named Lucien (who inhabits the body Molly had, it's all very complicated), and revive the body to become Kingsley Tealeaf, who looks at Molly as his brother but ultimately makes the group Nine. His revival is literally an act of divine intervention, fueled by the love and loss they all felt after chasing their beloved friend across the continent.

Internally there are other fantastic family bonds. Caleb and Nott/Veth having an incredible bond, Caleb and Beau being the Empire siblings, Molly and Yasha being the circus kids, Beau and Fjord, Cad and Fjord, the chaos crew, Nott and Jester, it goes on and on. They all change each other so significantly, they grow together, and canonically even though they live apart, they all have regular meetups in the tower Caleb created for all of them, with a stained glass window in Molly's honor and rooms dedicated to each member of the group. Even now in the new campaign, they've had cameos that prove years later they still work together and have each other's backs.

This is THEE definition of found family, these assholes were thrown together through circumstance and mostly hated each other to begin with right up until three of their own were kidnapped and then it was ON. And when Molly died, they took his ideals and turned them into a legacy SO POWERFUL they took Essek from a cold, self motivated war criminal to a man willing to die for his friends. They refused to let Beau face her abusive family alone! They helped Yasha heal from her trauma! They took down the whole Cerberus Assembly for what they did to Caleb! They saved the whole dang world together WITH THE POWER OF FUCKING FRIENDSHIP 😭! THEY LOVED MOLLY SO MUCH THAT IT SAVED THE WORLD! THEY NAMED THEMSELVES AFTER A STUPID PUN AND THEN THERE REALLY ENDED UP BEING NINE OF THEM! I WOULD DIE FOR THEM!!!

official art by Ari Orner, fan art by exmakina and tobyjamessharp

[mockingmolly]

The 30′s episodes in c2: In our mutual acknowledgment that we’ve been going about things in ways that are A Bit Fucked Up, with much deliberation, and on the condition you still Do Not Ask abt my personal history, I’ve decided to trust you to hold me accountable in an attempt to do better moving forward. Maybe you’ll allow me to do the same? Oh and btw we still think you’re SUPER cagey - could you stop making blood pacts maybe? :/

The 30′s episodes in c3: We’ve only known each other for less than a couple months but we’re family and you all know me better than I know myself. We would and have died to keep each other safe, and those left that *haven’t* died would go through literal hell to return those that did to life. A couple of you have outright tried to kill the rest of us but honestly nbd! we all have bad days :)

[c-kiddo]

got to tha episode/scene in which the gals go get tattoos while caleb and fjord eat fish and chips and also caduceus tells them about green beans and destiny and how they're the same and just absolutely drenches some chips in vinegar

[natp20]

post-campaign m9 being happy and living their best lives never fails to make me cry

[aeoris4lovers]

it’s very important to me that, in the years following campaign two, jester’s two families slowly become combined as marion unofficially adopts more and more of the nein.

it starts with fjord, for obvious reasons. he was already going to be her son in law anyway, but once she finds out he doesn’t have parents of his own, she fully absorbs him into the family, insisting he needs to eat more and adjusting his clothes before he leaves and playfully scolding him for not keeping in touch often enough. fjord doesn’t really realize what’s happening until he and jester come to visit her one afternoon and she calls them “her babies.”

caleb is a close second. she’s had her eye on him since the night they all spent at ryn’s place in the fire plane, and it doesn’t take long for her to put together why he looks at her and jester spending time together the way he does. caleb, like fjord, doesn’t realize what’s going on for some time — not until he accepts a teaching position at the academy, she gives him a tight hug and tells him how proud she is, and he can’t help but think about how much it reminds him of his mother’s reaction on the day he was accepted into the academy.

next is kingsley, who (though he would never admit it) frankly needs all the surrogate parents he can get to give him a crash course in how the hell to be a person. anyone watching them would have no problem believing they’re family — not just because they’re both tieflings, but because they exude the energy of a mom very insistently loving a teenager who acts annoyed but secretly likes it — and kingsley is the first to actually start calling her mom.

from there, the family just keeps growing until it encompasses basically all of the nein — even essek and, some time later, astrid and eadwulf are taken in. caduceus and veth never fully get the same parenting treatment (caduceus has a perfectly loving family of his own and veth is more like the family’s wine aunt that marion hangs out with when they get together), but their families essentially become like lavorre extended family and they still get included by default when she yells to babenon that “the kids are here!”

and speaking of babenon, he has absolutely no intention of getting wrapped up in any of this. he wasn’t even planning on being the father to one child, and sure, that didn’t go to plan, but it stops there. one (ridiculously charming and nigh impossible to resist) child is more than enough. marion can be a mother to the rest all she wants, but he’ll have no part in it. his family is just her and jester...

...and that lasts for all of a few months before it starts to fall apart. the more he commits to doing the dad thing with jester, the more it starts to spread to the others when they’re with her. and who could blame him? it’s impossible not to start seeing them that way when marion won’t stop calling them “the kids” or “our babies” (or, when they’ve done something particularly stupid, “your children”). if there’s one force in the universe that can match the power of jester’s cuteness, it’s marion’s love for her kids; his will is simply no match for the two forces combined.

sometimes a family is a famous courtesan, her long lost love who runs a massive organized crime operation, the child they secretly had together, that child’s adventuring party, two party members’ pre-existing families, and the formerly evil strays the party took in.

[feralmamaofthevoid]

We finished watching the Mighty Nein and both reunions. I wanted to make more post throughout but the few months have been rough. This chaotic found family has gotten me through a lot of stress and rough health issues. I am so grateful to have found Critical Role and the critter community. I hope to get more involved with others and make some post of my own soon.

What a wild ride it's been!

[annemarieyeretzian]

fjord saying “we have the sapphire of the sea,” and turning to jester and smiling and saying “which is, of course, yours.” and jester saying “it’s a beautiful ship, you guys. so lovely.” and caduceus saying “that’s wonderful.” 🥹

[archersxartxblog]

you know that feeling when you have a horrible idea?

I just thought of the possibility of Caleb and Fjord being born in the Warden's twins universe. and I don't mean like how I was originally going to introduce them, but like Young Ingo and Emmet are still in Hisui When both Caleb and Fjord are born, Zisu is basically their step mom.

Warden Ingo having to tell the twins they're going to be big brothers, Emmet gets to be a big brother. older Emmet in the present is either excited or surprised when Ingo returns with this nephews. Little Ingo coming to the realization that this is his future and isn't sure how to process any of it.

the crazy thing is it could work.

IDK, been trying to come up with something to write/draw and my brain just spat out this.

[shorthaltsjester]

vex saying her and vax were judged when they were younger and percy saying they’ll just take people’s stuff if it happens again

fjord bringing up how kids used to make fun of his tusks and the mighty nein offering to go back and kill them

laudnaish ghoul thing getting bullied by a little boy and bells hells immediately >:(

there is something So moving about people being retroactively protective of those they love. like the act of saying I Can’t Change this but i Would and i Won’t let history repeat i’ll demand that the world treats you better than it has. i love these silly little found families.

[found-family-tournament]

Found Family Tournament Round 1 Part 28 Group 138

Propaganda and further images under the cut

Mighty Nein: Caleb Widogast, Nott the Brave/Veth Brennato, Fjord, Jester Lavorre, Caduceus Clay, Beauregard Lionett, Yasha Nydoorin, Mollymauk Tealeaf/Kingsley Tealeaf, Essek Thelyss

Astral Express Family: Trailblazer/MC, March 7th, Dan Heng (& Welt, Himeko)

Submissions are still open!

Mighty Nein:

Originally, they were only seven, and the Nein part of their group name was a running joke about rolling nines and Caleb's German accent. Then, after Molly's untimely death, the group picked up Caduceus, making seven again. Later, they ally with Essek, who makes eight. And finally, through the power of love and found family, they defeat a villain named Lucien (who inhabits the body Molly had, it's all very complicated), and revive the body to become Kingsley Tealeaf, who looks at Molly as his brother but ultimately makes the group Nine. His revival is literally an act of divine intervention, fueled by the love and loss they all felt after chasing their beloved friend across the continent.

Internally there are other fantastic family bonds. Caleb and Nott/Veth having an incredible bond, Caleb and Beau being the Empire siblings, Molly and Yasha being the circus kids, Beau and Fjord, Cad and Fjord, the chaos crew, Nott and Jester, it goes on and on. They all change each other so significantly, they grow together, and canonically even though they live apart, they all have regular meetups in the tower Caleb created for all of them, with a stained glass window in Molly's honor and rooms dedicated to each member of the group. Even now in the new campaign, they've had cameos that prove years later they still work together and have each other's backs.

This is THEE definition of found family, these assholes were thrown together through circumstance and mostly hated each other to begin with right up until three of their own were kidnapped and then it was ON. And when Molly died, they took his ideals and turned them into a legacy SO POWERFUL they took Essek from a cold, self motivated war criminal to a man willing to die for his friends. They refused to let Beau face her abusive family alone! They helped Yasha heal from her trauma! They took down the whole Cerberus Assembly for what they did to Caleb! They saved the whole dang world together WITH THE POWER OF FUCKING FRIENDSHIP 😭! THEY LOVED MOLLY SO MUCH THAT IT SAVED THE WORLD! THEY NAMED THEMSELVES AFTER A STUPID PUN AND THEN THERE REALLY ENDED UP BEING NINE OF THEM! I WOULD DIE FOR THEM!!!

official art by Ari Orner, fan art by exmakina and tobyjamessharp

Astral Express Family:

theyre so incredibly silly, they are a crew of space travelers that visit different countries on a big space train!!!! and go on adventures to save the universe!!!!

[essektheylyss]

@smallerthanzer0 reminded me of my love for Lie To Me as a teenager which is a good part of the reason why anytime I encounter the concept that lying will inevitably lead to a tangled web that spirals beyond your control and come back to bite you in the ass, I'm just like, lol. skill issue.

[c-kiddo]

man. one of my least favourite caduceus takes is that he's flawed because he's somehow equivalent to an evangelic christian by , god forbid (lol), talking about his religion a lot .. . . do folks not know there are other religions? (also exandria works entirely differently bc the gods are tangibly there . etc). it just feels, projection-y 2 me. also theres other actual flaws he has but whaddever lol

[dent-de-leon]

Do you think the first time Yasha left for a storm, Molly stayed up all night listening to the pouring rain and distant thunder, wondering if she'd ever return? Or did he always know she'd find her way back to them in time, that wherever Mollymauk went, she'd eventually come back for him--