Asmodeus pretty clearly mocked Serenrae's lack of followers so I am pretty sure he already killed most of them. And Ayden (or Pelor) became a follower of Serenrae to comfort her.
I was gonna say, Brennan very clearly said "the everlight has 2 followers now," so Serynraei (sorry if the spelling is wrong) is definitely post betrayal.
The way Ayden worded that "he would have words with you if he were here" in regards to asmodeus embodying a cleric of the dawn father makes me think he isn't the dawn father.
@@diegomurillo5562 there was an agreement not to reveal true names with the Betrayers so i think it was meant to be passive agressive since he wasn't going to say he was the dawnfather
Brennan's use of the word "Skitter" was very deliberate when describing Umleta. He used it twice which is kind of odd given his infamously broad vocabulary. He was clearly aiming to invoke a spider-like nature in the way she moves and scurries up the walls. Add to this the teasing, black-widow-esque tone of speech and I'm very convinced it's Lolth we're dealing with. Look forward to confirming either way.
Yeah, that was pretty clear spider imagery. I also think the Tortle was Tharizdun. I can see the case for the crawling king, and maybe the one who is covered in chains being the Chained Oblivion may be too on the nose, but I think it fits.
The Wildmother found Exandria when they all fled Tengar because she was feeling a pull to it from something that is as yet unidentified. My theory is that the Luxon is a god who left Tengar earlier than the rest did, and ignited life on Exandria, like the Kryn believe that it did. The pull toward Exandria that the Wildmother was feeling was the Luxon.
The avatars are "young", 50 years at the most. That means the plan to become living beings to infiltrate Aeor is far younger than Bolo, who was characrter alive before the century of war that has raged across Exandria. still a fun headcanon though.
I think that Asmodeus and Sarenrae the Everlight were lovers before coming into “reality”. Which is why the Everlight has hope that Asmodeus could be redeemed and he uses that hope to hurt her. On the ship in space Ashley and Brennan both say I love you as Brennan first describes the beautiful features turning into black horns red heat and being the first of his kin to feel pain when they start to exist.
They also could've been lovers for some time on Exandria. Remember, the Schism didn't immediately happen when they arrived. That would also explain why the Prime deities felt betrayed. Yes, they knew each other before Exandria, but they clearly spent some time, millennias even, coming to realize who they are and what they cherish in this 'reality'.
i feel like they said they were twins? but it could be one of those "we're all twins and siblings in this world of only light and harmony" kind of things
Unlikely that they were lovers. If they were, Matt would have definitely included that in the lore. After all, he did include that The Wildmother and the Lawbearer are lovers who have a strained relationship due to their opposing domains. So if The Everlight and The Lord of the Hells were lovers whose relationship ended in betrayal, it would have been established lore. The "I love you" from Brennan and Ashley were likely just siblings showing their affection for each other.
@@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria eh I disagree. They are the only 2 to ever express that strong affection during that period “before reality”. The Wildmother and Lawbearer are still “together” while clearly Asmodeus and Everlight aren’t. It also supports her holding out hope he can be redeemed and him not only betraying that hope but completely decimating her following specifically. Like in Calamity he doesn’t want to be redeemed and hurts,twists and breaks any possibility of it.
@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria The Wildmother and the Lawbearer are widely worshiped while the Everlight is all but forgotten. That affects how much knowledge there is about them. There’s a difference between a married couple going through a rough patch and two people who dated when they were young.
I love that each of the main cast members are playing gods that are important to their past characters. Vex was the reason Vax made his deal with the Raven Queen. Pike is a cleric of Serenrae and Caduceus is a cleric of the Wild Mother
@@basementdwellergaming6836 i was making a joke, not gonna sit here and argue about it :) btw Artagan was banished to the feywild before the calamity, definitely existed by then
@@thesaturdayproject6345 oh didn’t know if ya knew is all. I’m no critical role pro or anything…. Matter of fact fairly new just have been able to binge watch a lot of it in a short time so able to recall a bunch that still semi fresh in my memory. Someone I play D&D with said they think they made rules for it but no clue as to how or if it’s got any in game traction. Was just trying to be informative with my brief/limited knowledge… hell you said more then I can even recall to be honest, so… so much for that. Lol
I've seen a theory going around that Father Milo is a red herring, and Asmodeus is actually what we think is the Knowing Mistress. Would fit right into how we saw Brennan play Asmodeus in Calamity and would be a really fun twist.
An interesting theory, but I don't think it holds water when put under scrutiny, as the gods were clearly able to recognize each other, despite seemingly some of them having never met in their current forms.
@@digifreak90 True but Brennan made a point about them not actually able to divine which is which. That's the whole reason why Arcadia said "We don't have to tell them more than our names". What they did recognize, they did it from their own deduction and by their own admission, they'not immuned to manipulation. Plus, while I think Umleta is Lloth, I also refuse to believe that Zehir just said "Nah, not interested in this infiltration mission." That's his whole province! The Cloaked Serpent is definitely on this city and he might be closer than we think.
The decimation of the everlights followers already happened. You can tell because Milo notices that Ayden is a cleric or hers and comments on how nice it is that she still has at least one follower
Honestly my first thought after the intro scene was what if the Luxon is the ship? It would fit in for the Kryn story and could explain the fragments scattered since the ship crashed. We don't get much descriptors for the ship itself but it seems to sort of sail through possibility so I could see some correlations there.
When my party finally finished our Witchlight Module and got to teleport back to the homebrew world, our DM started with "Air" and dropped us from the sky into the middle of the ocean (where 2 ships were fighting each other) lol.
I believe that the current idea of the Emissary's "gift" is that they are the one who made the stasis bubbles found all around Aeor, and that the reason Erathis didn't come is that, as the goddess of civilization and innovation, she couldn't fully commit to the plan of destroying Aeor (hence her also giving the Emissary her "love", the protection bubbles.) But that her and Bahamut are cooking elsewhere is also probably part of it! Asha wanting her wife is so entertaining to watch, though, and the Emissary is a *delight*, so I'm happy it turned out this way.
my personal theory regarding the Luxon is that it IS the ship that the gods arrived on. it might have shattered upon impact and since it was created by Ihara the Time Weaver (from Tengar), I imagine it has that similar essence of time and space that the beacons carry
@@absurdus7945 That could still be a possibility... Primordials are "real" and on the material plane... and the pre-gods from Tengar created reality. It's possible that time passing while they're in the ship that primordials were created (by the ship just 'being') and lived millenia already by the time the ship crashed.
@@MaxQuagliotto Now that feels like we’re stretching it I love theories even funny theories but feels like we’re stretching Because here’s what we know 1. The luxon exists in some capacity 2. It isn’t quite divine or arcane it’s ancient energy and magic potential some thing that can’t quite be understood properly 3. Unlike divine magic which is noticeably different 4. The luxon can’t sensed by gods 5. The luxon supposedly created the primordials/titans 6. And the luxon predates the gods and primordials So you’re telling my that the ship of light (probably divine light which would make it divine magic because it was made by the gods so if the ship was pieces of the luxon someone would identify and easily figure out that it was divine in nature not something else entirely) that they were on before it even arrived to exandria made the titans/primordials and while they were on the ship millennia as passed? While my theory that the luxon is a being maybe similar to the gods but whether it came from tengar or is tengar itself or something else entirely I think It never became quite REAL in the same way as the rest Like how when the gods became REAL they started becoming the forms we know them as today fixed and more finite That didn’t happen to the luxon and somehow it kept its limitless potential but didn’t know what to do or what it was So it found a hollow world and split itself across the world creating beacons and primordials in the process And the primordials would’ve have to come from Somewhere and if they were made by a gods they would be divine in nature
I'm thinking that divine magic was created after Tengar. My intuition is that everything in Tengar supercedes all physics/reality of the universe Exandria inhabits. This includes "divine magic" as well. Again.. just my intuition because Tengar is before and infinite at the same time. It's outside of reality and time and space. I haven't looked yet, but is there documentation suggesting that the abilities the beings had in Tengar is considered "Divine Magic" the same way as the "realized" gods in the universe have Divine Magic?
Abubakar posted it on Twitter, he said it stands for Specialized Intervention of Lethal And Hazardous Actors. In the post he also mentioned that Silaha means weapon in Swahili, as you said.
Everyone was 14(?) in Calamity. They're probably at least that, plus they are Avatars for Gods, so they probably have some kind of Grace to buff their stats. I like the Luxon theory, but in the panel and Florda Supercon, Travis asked Matt if they could explore the time when the Luxon came to Exandria, and Matt said that it wasn't survivable. According to the History of Exandria, The Luxon "found" Exandria and gave it a spark and created the Primordials, then the Gods came from far away. I also watch the stream with captions, and I liked the distortion in the opening. I mean, if you met an Celestial )or whatever you worship) and they spoke to you, you wouldn't be able to Look at them let alone Understand them. So it fits.
The wiki specifically notes "destroyed" the previous God of Death, not that she 'slew' it like murder. Semantics, maybe, but likely an outcome and not targeted/intentional. We also learned from ancient texts out of Vasselheim that the previous Gods of darkness/winter and Fate, Ethedok and Vordo were devoured by Predathos and those are the domains that The Raven Queen now holds dominion over. I love your theory about the Luxon. in the myth, the Luxon arriving and breathing life into 'rock' does sound pre-divinity, like if you were to put it into a Timeline it would be: Luxon finds Neptune, Luxon sparks life, movement, gravity etc, Primordials shape Exandria, Gods find Exandria, etc etc. To compare it to Greek myth, The Luxon is Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), the Primordials are like Titans, and the Gods like Zeus and the Olympians, but more like arrivals than family. I think the idea that the Luxon IS the 'Ship' that the Gods arrived on, is highly likely. Tengar had an "Orchard of Possibility" among 'stars' and that sounds like a Beacon to a T. Plus, as things become real, they take form, and matter that enters an atmosphere BREAKS APART. The Luxon may have arrived WITH the Gods, not before, and it just what remains of Tengar. (Up until this video, I thought that maybe Luda thinks that the Beacons are the scattered... knowledge beacons from Aeor: The Eravox Protocol.
My best guess is that the luxon is a being of light FROM tengar who left away earlier And instead of becoming finite and losing its infinite potential like the gods did It kept its infinite potential, power and existence in exchange for its memory of tengar so that’s why that being of light was so lonely it felt it had brethren and sisters of light that they no longer had the memory of or had the knowledge to get back to
I like the Luxon predating the gods' arrival and creating the primordials; it adds one more dimension of complexity to the lore. I could also see it being a more evolved form of the gods that matured and left Tengar as part of a natural life cycle. I also loved how Brennan described higher dimensional beings losing dimensions until they became less than they were to hide from Predathos. A sphere becoming a circle, losing all the other circles it used to be.
I'm so excited to see Corellon in this. I replaced my yard with rocks, and did a rock design in the symbol of Corellon. It's such a cool design, such a cool god, and I love how Abubakar is playing him.
My first impression was that the luxon was the Eravox Protocol for rebuilding the god slaying weapon. A failsafe that spread these pieces across the world when Aeor was destroyed.
I was so confused when the distortion of their names was happening, kept trying to mess with my sound settings thinking it was something about my laptop. But ngl THAT WAS DOPE
I think Oumlette is the SpiderQueen because she lowered herself from a rope like a spider does from its silk. She also immediately started trying to seed doubt and discord among the party and that is Lolth's MO.
Crackpot theory: I think the Luxon and Predathos are opposites like a yin and yang. One represents the infinite and one represents the nothing. Both really aren't a god or Primordial (as far as we know). I would honestly be shocked if Predathos and/or the Luxon aren't brought up in Downfall. They seem such integral parts of Exandrian lore, and the "otherness", for lack of a better term, of the Luxon from divinity and primodials could explain Aeor's power to repel the gods.
Just wanted to say thank you for your enthusiasm and effort into making this content! I dont have any irl critter friends so its so fun to get excited with you through these videos. Keep it up!
I definitely think Umleta is Lolth. It felt very much like Brennan drew inspiration from characters like Widowmaker from Overwatch (who is very heavility spider-themed). The way he described her sitting up high and descending on a rope is very much spider-imagery, and the use of "skitter" not once but twice is also a giveaway. Also notice how he crossed his eyes in that same way that Aabria does when she's portraying The Spider Queen, and the way he also speaks in much the same kind of cadence as she does. That's how it seemed to me at least 😊
14:45 Thinking about it, where The Emissary was saying that they carried 'Love', I wonder if whatever power is inside them could be what caused all the time bubbles that froze the people of Aeor.
There was a theory I saw passed around the twitch chat during the episode that the Luxon wasn't aboard the ship from Tengar, it *was* the ship from Tengar. A single, pure light that entered exandria to escape nothingness, and then crashed into the world and shattered into pieces that are now the beacons. I quite liked it
It may be that Brennan and Mat hinted the "they" in the Luxon myth is indeed meant as a plural. Tengar was made of infinite possibility and the ship was made of Tengar. So I guess the beacons are shards of Tengar strewn across Exandria by the crash of the ship
Pre-Schism the gods may have worked with the mortals and told them some version of their lives on Tengar, there may be some version of the first portion of Downfall in the deepest histories. and then the gods realized they do NOT want this information out there so they destroyed what they could which is why there are so few who know.
As a more casual neurodivergent Critter. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. I know this, and Calamity are incredible, I just get a bit frustrated not being able to absorb and organize everything going on… Edit: apologies for complaining. Just needed to vent I guess. And I genuinely appreciate these vids!
I haven't seen a take on this yet, but as a sciency person, the first part in Tengar was like a supernova. If we believed that all of these 'beings' co existed somewhere in the universe and then an uncontrollable moment (the collapse of a star) into an explosion that gives rise to a nebula. The initiation is two stars touching or colliding. The creation moments - actualizing - of the pre gods into gods follows the storyline (the coalescing of matter into complex matter) and exploding outwardly in a shockwave with extreme heat. This would make the Luxon the star exploding in a supernovae and creating matter and Predathos like a black hole - eating the matter. Which would mean all exandrian gods are of the Luxon. Links to space stuff in replies.
I'm fairly certain the darkness that consumed Tengar was the Chained Oblivion. The Tal'dorei Campaign Setting book describes it as "darkness unending, less like a god and more like another world of malevolent, alien intelligence. Life and death do not exist within [..] only the absolute end of all things." And if that is also what Predathos is, we may learn that what Aeor really discovered was a way of freeing it from Ruidus.
So here's what I'm wondering: IF the "nothing" that ran the gods out of Tengar was in fact Predathos, it would seem that it eats EVERYTHING and not just gods. Seems like it negates the existence of everything it touches. Would Ludinus be having second thoughts?
My funny little head cannon (until proven otherwise) is that the pieces of the gods' ship that sailed from Tengar to Exandria only to crash upon entry IS the Luxon. A non-living entity from a place that is molded by the concept of infinite possibilities. If it wasn't sentient, it wouldn't have been forced to adopt a chosen facet like the rest of the gods. Then again, it is possible that the Luxon was part of the group of would-be-gods that didn't survive the perils of landing and simply didn't have the opportunity to converge on a chosen form. Their essence instead scattering and raining down in shards on Exandria like a meteor shower.
I think Edun, from the tengar portion of the episode, is the one who formed Dunamancy. Taken into the away, shattered, becoming pure chance, pure possibility, pure power. That, and his name being Dune but the e is placed in front.
Totally agree with your analysis for the betrayers! I don't think Umleta is Lolth mainly because Kord is said to have taken her out very early in the Calamity before she could really marshal her forces. My Luxon theory is that Edun who 1st plucked the fruit became the Luxon since it wasn't clear if they were unmade or sucked through into the void left behind by the fruit.
In the grand scheme of things... If this is 100 years into the Calamity, and the Spider Queen was defeated after the destruction of Aeor... Wouldn't that still be considered 'early' in the event. I mean... 100-150 years of a 1,000 year war is pretty early, all things considered. Just the way I thought about it
The Emmisary is a being of rock and ice, Aeor ends up beneath stone and ice, I bet he's supossed to explode and become eisselcross basically. The first and biggest defense to hide Aeor and its knowledge from future generations
Thank you so much for this video! I watched Downfall ep 1 but felt like I wasn't fully understanding the characters or plot for the entire stretch of the episode. I have faith it will all come together in something incredible with this awesome cast of storytellers and roleplayers, but this breakdown of who they are is super helpful
*_So, we've got:_* Trist as; *Sarenrae, The Everlight* Ayden as; *Pelor, The Dawnfather* Emira as; *Matron of Ravens* Asha as; *Melora, The Wildmother* S.I.L.A.H.A as; *Corellon, The Arch Heart* And of course, The Emissary as a Herald of; *Erathis, The Lawbearer* _Damn,_ What a bunch!
Thank you so much for these videos! There's so much information overload in the campaigns (which I love) that I sometimes miss the vital things to keep note of lol.
In regards to the Luxon, I think it could somehow be connected to Tengar, as the place where Nothing (possibly Predathos) first appeared was called "The Orchard of Possibility" and the Luxon is, as far as I'm aware, directly connected to Dunamancy, the magic of Infinite Possibility.
It's interesting that they marketed this as a standalone series, because I feel like so much of the substance of this episode came from subtext and implication. Trying to piece together if they are gods, the relationships that already exist between them, etc. You'd miss all the fun stuff if you had know prior CR knowledge !
My lore was a little rusty so there were some little things I didn’t pick up on last Thursday, this was an awesome recap and helped me piece things together! Thanks 😊 I can’t help but think how much pressure it would be playing such important characters, especially for such a historically important setting. Like, if Laura makes an offhand joke about wetting her pants that could become the CANON reason why she’s always depicted in black robes. These guys are obviously professionals and Matt and Brennen trust them all, but still. My imagination runs wild 😂
What if the Luxon *was* the ship that the gods traveled on to arrive on Exandria? Tengar was simultaneously a palace and a fountain and a garden and a thousand other forms, just as the gods were infinitely many things before they were forced to become "real." Why couldn't the Beacons be the "real" forms of the fragments of the ship that brought the gods to this world? Tiny pieces of Tengar given physical shape and form.
Thank you. I was so confused by all this. I thought for quiet a while that S.I.L.A.H.A. was Asmodeus, because of all that 'beatuy in the eye of the beholder' stuff from Calamity and because Sil kept changing accents and posture depending on whom they were talking to. But it did not make sense for them to arrive with the primes and meet the betrayers...
Thank you so much for this!!!!! It’s been awhiiiiiile since i’ve watched Critical Role (i got dropoutpilled and now i can’t do the pace of CR) but i’ll follow Brennan anywhere he brings his ol dice bag. In case you hadn’t already found out, Nick Marini is a longtime friend of Brennan’s ever since they met as campers at Wayfinder (LARP camp)! He’s a PC in a 15-year-long 3.5e campaign. Marini was in an episode of the first season of Adventuring Academy, Brennan’s interview series with TTRPG folks
If the luxon was the ship, I like to imagine that while the gods didn’t find exandria until later, after their ship already crashed. That the ship was the luxon and gave life to the primordials and basically seeded the possibility for the gods to become, well the gods.
I really enjoyed Pt1 of Downfall. Thanks for the explicit descriptions. Side note, when our group played Call of The Netherdeep, I played a Yuan-ti Pureblood Enchanter Wizard who worship Zehir and had a feud with Torog, who's devil's had destroyed my temple and imprisoned my human mother. Simply put, I can't wait to see Torog and Zehir get a little more visibility.
It kind of feels like the gods are using the beacon powers of reincarnating a soul in their avatars. Like these are not their first avatars and the remarks between Ayden and Arcadia that when they were young things were fuzzy but they gained their knowledge and memories as they grew sounded a lot like the luxon. That being said it would mean the gods and the luxon are not that separate (I love the theory someone put in the comments that the beacons are just fragments of the ship they came to exandria on).
20:38 tbh I would be surprised if they were any lower than lvl 20, considering they've been biding to gain power up to their respective gods' standards, they must be as powerful as possible.
The Emissary is the former god of death, the Matron of Ravens' predecessor. That's why he's an ice elemental, because the Matron also holds the domain of Winter, so presumably she got that from him. And the Emissary was staring at the blank portrait of the previous god of death, which had been wiped blank by the Matron wiping all knowledge of the previous god of death when she ascended. Then Ehmira's raven Dearest started pecking the portrait, as if to begin carving the Matron's image upon it. The Emissary looked at Ehmira and said "Hail to the new." Apparently the immortal nature of gods plus his domain being death made the Matron unable to completely destroy him. He doesn't seem to quite remember who or what he was. And it's like a degree of his higher thinking has been stripped from him. It's as if his identity has been stripped away, leaving him closer to a drone than a person. Arathis must have taken whatever was left of him into her service, which is when he became what in Downfall is known as the Emissary. I do wonder if his acceptance of the Matron now being what he was is Arathis' influence, and if his former identity would be wrathful.
I never would have thought the Matron would be in on this plan. It's wild to think of a human being achieving godhood and then becoming human again. Like...does she regret it, and leapt at the chance? Or does she feel obligated, being from a similar city? So much to get into! blew my mind
It's really simply to explain. Spend 30 years as a mortal to ensure that you can live forever. People do stuff like this all the time. For example working out really hard to look good in their wedding photos which will last forever. What is a little pain for a chance at forever. Plus she's their link to the mortals world. She understands mortals where they do not.
Hi Luna! Love catching your videos! I fully understand your theory on Zehir, but I also believe it's Lolth. Brennan also mentions that '*she* does a little backflip and skitters up one of the columns' after stating that the turtle was a really bad disguise.
Ayden isn't Peylor, but his son. Asmodeus, when he saw Emissary, said that only four came. In the second episode, we hear him pray to his father and receive a vision from the Dawnfather in return.
This series might get me to subscribe to Beacon so I can see the cooldown episodes or any other content because I was GLUED to my screen on Thursday and stayed up way too late watching the entire stream live. I'm absolutely delighted they're playing the ACTUAL gods and not champions like a majority of us were theorizing leading up to this, but it does make me nervous to see what Brennan is planning as the Betrayers. I'm curious to know if the cast just happened to all want to play Prime Deities or (most likely) Brennan, for lack of a better term, prevented them from choosing to play a betrayer god for ideas he has on how to move the plot forward or how this all ends. Either way, so incredibly excited to see the next two episodes!!!! It's so nice to see the cast play connections to their past characters and while I was sad to not get Laura in Calamity I'm so glad that means that we at least get to see her here in Downfall because I don't think I would want anyone else to play the Matron besides her. Noshir, Abu and Nick are also absolutely fantastic so can't wait to see even more from them too :)
I definitely found all the tone distorting of the gods' original names very distracting, especially when Brennan was doing extended narratives. Made it very hard to sort out what was being said, even with the captions on.
Side tangent: I had a thought and went back and watched the MN eps where they are in the happy fun ball. Halas (like Ludinus) is older than the Calamity. I wonder if any of the MN who are working with BH, or just on their own, will bring up "oh hey, we talked to this guy in a gem who is also like Ludinus. we should have another conversation with him." who has the possession of the gem that Halas is in? The Cerberus Assembly? or that wizard in Zadash that got stuck in the happy fun ball???
My favorite piece of dialogue is when Asha goes up to Zaharzht and Tells them how much they miss them and then Zaharzht goes "If I promised to take care of you, would you let me torture you forever?" and Talesin really delivers the heartbreak in their voice with "You already do..." 😭
I think the gods that disappeared in the beginning are not Ethedok and Vordo. If only because there is some mention of them on Exandria, meaning it's more likely they reached Exandria and were eaten when Predathos followed them and the gods were trying to seal him. But it just goes to show how much the gods lost... also kudos to Brennan for inciting in me an existential fear I haven't felt since I was a kid watching The Langoliers. Is there anything more terrifying than nothingness?
Calling it now, the Emissary is the child of the Wildmother and the Lawbearer (hence their matter of fact nature and elemental body) that the Wildmother is unaware of. Not sure of the cosmic fuckery that resulted in this, but it fits everything we know so far, i.e. Ioun knowing more about the Emissary that she isn't revealing, The Emissary clearly having a real connection to the Lawbearer when staring at the chains, their elemental body, etc.
I think the halfling is Lloth. At one point Brennan makes reference to it by describing her as descending as if by a thread. I initially thought the Tortle was the Chained Oblivion but I think Torog makes much more sense. I think of the Betrayer Gods, the 4 we see are the most likely to "play nice" if even in deceit. Based on just HP alone they are at least level 20. I say at least because if they are avatars of Gods then Brennan might be using the heroic level rules. Most "gods" don't have statblocks to reference with the notable exception of Asmodeus. And he is if memory serves CR 25 or 26. So I'm expecting the players are in the equivalent of level 25. I'm atso not expecting a ton of combat for that reason, except for maybe against the Betrayers maybe.
Then who created the primordials? The problem I have with different luxon theories is that the luxon isn’t just the origins of the beacons but also the origin for the primordials and for that to happen the luxon would have to come BEFORE the gods and primordials And if the ship of light they were on were created by them they would be able to sense its power and its said that none of the gods is really able to sense or comprehend the luxon they know that its worshipped and that it has beacons but they haven’t met it personally At least that’s what the text in the wildmount and taldorei guide suggests
@@absurdus7945 Is what we know of the Luxon actual fact or just what the dynasty believes and follows? That could be the through line of what we really know versus what the gods know to be true
I'd really love it if Asmodeus were just one of the others. Like, if he's the ultimate liar, it would kind of be on-brand for him to be screwing with everyone, here; could make for a fun twist. I feel like people are behaving with too much certainty that it _is_ him for that genuinely to be the case, but it's fun to think about.
Umleta's movements were very descriptive and other than the word skitter being used more than once she was also described as suspending herself in the corner of the ceiling and repelling upside down from the top of a statue by strands of something which is extremely spider oriented. This is more than enough confirmation for me that she's Lolth. The only one I wasn't sure about was Abubakar Salim's character.
I'm pretty sure they're all level 20. This is partially based on some of their rolls and stated modifiers during skill checks (their pb is +6 which makes them lvl 17+). It's not concrete proof, but Nick's choice to multiclass like that wouldn't make sense if they weren't pretty high level. We also know that he has at least 6 levels in paladin because he has the Aura of Protection feature. It also seems pretty safe to assume that Asha has unlimited Wildshapes, which only comes at 20th level, but this is also totally the kind of thing that Brennan would handwave for the sake of the story. Also, they're gods. It's very "go big or go home" energy.
I believe they are at least level 17 because at one point Silaha rolls for deception and has a +11. Assuming that they have +5 to charisma, that means they’d have to have a +6 proficiency bonus. If I had to guess I’m gonna say level 20 ngl. They are gods after all.
Ooh what if the Luxon was the Ship itself, the power of possibility can come from when the ship was exposed to the raw cosmos before it was shielded by the gods, then when they crashed into the world the ship shattered and its fragments scattered across the world and those are the beacons
I think the beacons are the scattered pieces of the ship. Based on the description we were given, it's unlikely the ship landed and really seems like it just plowed into Exandria, scattering debris across the planet.
I think a big part of them being mortal avatars is that their personalities have been in part influenced by the mortal lives they've lived. That way they can play more their interpretation of the character without contradicting what the character's actually like. Because you're being generous with Aydan. He's absolutely nothing like the Dawnfather we know. And it's a shame that arguably the most villainous of the Prime deities (and therefore possibly the most interesting) is being portrayed as Jesus. But... on the other hand Asha as Melora is quite different as well. But it makes sense. The Wildmother from the get go understood they were going there to destroy Aeor. No compromise. And she's manifested as a wolf, demonstrating that this avatar is deliberately channeling a much more aggressive side of the Wildmother than she normally displays. She's TRYING to be different because it's what she must be to get this task done. So none of the cast's unique portrayals are lore breaking. I just wish Aydan was more interesting.
I’m unsure as they probably rolled stats and health, but based on Emhira’s hp compared to averages, they’re probably all level 20 (either +5 to con or +3 and tough). I think that the ability checks we’ve seen also back that up.
Asmodeus pretty clearly mocked Serenrae's lack of followers so I am pretty sure he already killed most of them. And Ayden (or Pelor) became a follower of Serenrae to comfort her.
I was gonna say, Brennan very clearly said "the everlight has 2 followers now," so Serynraei (sorry if the spelling is wrong) is definitely post betrayal.
@@2o7o7dragon its sarenrae, you overcomplicated it by a mile lol
@@2o7o7dragon bruv, google exists xD
The way Ayden worded that "he would have words with you if he were here" in regards to asmodeus embodying a cleric of the dawn father makes me think he isn't the dawn father.
@@diegomurillo5562 there was an agreement not to reveal true names with the Betrayers so i think it was meant to be passive agressive since he wasn't going to say he was the dawnfather
Brennan's use of the word "Skitter" was very deliberate when describing Umleta. He used it twice which is kind of odd given his infamously broad vocabulary. He was clearly aiming to invoke a spider-like nature in the way she moves and scurries up the walls. Add to this the teasing, black-widow-esque tone of speech and I'm very convinced it's Lolth we're dealing with.
Look forward to confirming either way.
she also used a rope to come down, which sounded to me like an allusion on spidersilk
Also the way Brennan portrayed her in the sense of pacing of speech and tone was very similar to Abreeya's Spider Queen.
@@Tenderleaf This is what locked it in for me, it was one of the first things Brennan did with her.
Yeah, that was pretty clear spider imagery. I also think the Tortle was Tharizdun. I can see the case for the crawling king, and maybe the one who is covered in chains being the Chained Oblivion may be too on the nose, but I think it fits.
Lolth is almost a guarantee.
Brennan does literally refer to the Archmage as the Goddess of Knowledge on Ashley's huge insight check.
The Wildmother found Exandria when they all fled Tengar because she was feeling a pull to it from something that is as yet unidentified. My theory is that the Luxon is a god who left Tengar earlier than the rest did, and ignited life on Exandria, like the Kryn believe that it did. The pull toward Exandria that the Wildmother was feeling was the Luxon.
I HAD THIS THEORY TOO
And one of them did disappear sooner than the others. It's possible that instead of being destroyed they were thrown to somewhere else.
Bolo is a Avatar of a betrayer, God. This is my new headcon
The avatars are "young", 50 years at the most. That means the plan to become living beings to infiltrate Aeor is far younger than Bolo, who was characrter alive before the century of war that has raged across Exandria. still a fun headcanon though.
@@davidbergfors6820we know it is not possible, Bolo was alive and well before the calamity
@@boniakarlo bolo was an Avatar of a betrayer, God during Exandria Unlimited: Calamity.
I think that Asmodeus and Sarenrae the Everlight were lovers before coming into “reality”. Which is why the Everlight has hope that Asmodeus could be redeemed and he uses that hope to hurt her. On the ship in space Ashley and Brennan both say I love you as Brennan first describes the beautiful features turning into black horns red heat and being the first of his kin to feel pain when they start to exist.
They also could've been lovers for some time on Exandria. Remember, the Schism didn't immediately happen when they arrived. That would also explain why the Prime deities felt betrayed. Yes, they knew each other before Exandria, but they clearly spent some time, millennias even, coming to realize who they are and what they cherish in this 'reality'.
i feel like they said they were twins? but it could be one of those "we're all twins and siblings in this world of only light and harmony" kind of things
Unlikely that they were lovers. If they were, Matt would have definitely included that in the lore. After all, he did include that The Wildmother and the Lawbearer are lovers who have a strained relationship due to their opposing domains. So if The Everlight and The Lord of the Hells were lovers whose relationship ended in betrayal, it would have been established lore. The "I love you" from Brennan and Ashley were likely just siblings showing their affection for each other.
@@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria eh I disagree. They are the only 2 to ever express that strong affection during that period “before reality”. The Wildmother and Lawbearer are still “together” while clearly Asmodeus and Everlight aren’t. It also supports her holding out hope he can be redeemed and him not only betraying that hope but completely decimating her following specifically. Like in Calamity he doesn’t want to be redeemed and hurts,twists and breaks any possibility of it.
@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria The Wildmother and the Lawbearer are widely worshiped while the Everlight is all but forgotten. That affects how much knowledge there is about them. There’s a difference between a married couple going through a rough patch and two people who dated when they were young.
The big Lolth clue for me in regards to Umleta was the rope that she descended down, like a spider web/silk.
I also assumed Lolth from that moment on. I'm open to being wrong, but that was my first take.
Same
I love that each of the main cast members are playing gods that are important to their past characters. Vex was the reason Vax made his deal with the Raven Queen. Pike is a cleric of Serenrae and Caduceus is a cleric of the Wild Mother
@@alexisoneil7179 no traveler representation though :'(
@@thesaturdayproject6345the traveler is only a idol not a full god, and at the time of these events might not have even existed.
@@basementdwellergaming6836 i was making a joke, not gonna sit here and argue about it :)
btw Artagan was banished to the feywild before the calamity, definitely existed by then
@@thesaturdayproject6345 oh didn’t know if ya knew is all. I’m no critical role pro or anything…. Matter of fact fairly new just have been able to binge watch a lot of it in a short time so able to recall a bunch that still semi fresh in my memory. Someone I play D&D with said they think they made rules for it but no clue as to how or if it’s got any in game traction. Was just trying to be informative with my brief/limited knowledge… hell you said more then I can even recall to be honest, so… so much for that. Lol
@@basementdwellergaming6836 boah im really sorry i realised it came off as aggressive and didnt get to edit it before you saw it :)
I've seen a theory going around that Father Milo is a red herring, and Asmodeus is actually what we think is the Knowing Mistress. Would fit right into how we saw Brennan play Asmodeus in Calamity and would be a really fun twist.
An interesting theory, but I don't think it holds water when put under scrutiny, as the gods were clearly able to recognize each other, despite seemingly some of them having never met in their current forms.
@@digifreak90 True but Brennan made a point about them not actually able to divine which is which. That's the whole reason why Arcadia said "We don't have to tell them more than our names". What they did recognize, they did it from their own deduction and by their own admission, they'not immuned to manipulation. Plus, while I think Umleta is Lloth, I also refuse to believe that Zehir just said "Nah, not interested in this infiltration mission." That's his whole province! The Cloaked Serpent is definitely on this city and he might be closer than we think.
The "nothing" has to be predathos, because it aligns perfectly with what we know of them (also note that the lighting went red during that segment)
The decimation of the everlights followers already happened. You can tell because Milo notices that Ayden is a cleric or hers and comments on how nice it is that she still has at least one follower
hahah yeah, dude thats so f*cked up
Honestly my first thought after the intro scene was what if the Luxon is the ship? It would fit in for the Kryn story and could explain the fragments scattered since the ship crashed. We don't get much descriptors for the ship itself but it seems to sort of sail through possibility so I could see some correlations there.
This is it for sure -- my thought as well. Luxon is definitely the ship itself.
Begs the question, what would *gods* need with a starship?
@@troikas3353 Escape from Tengar as was shown in the episode
Could be the ship... Could be remnants of other inhabitants of Tengar 👀 another way for them to die ?
@@troikas3353 are you telling me Sybok located Tengar as well? Sha Ka Ree!
When my party finally finished our Witchlight Module and got to teleport back to the homebrew world, our DM started with "Air" and dropped us from the sky into the middle of the ocean (where 2 ships were fighting each other) lol.
I believe that the current idea of the Emissary's "gift" is that they are the one who made the stasis bubbles found all around Aeor, and that the reason Erathis didn't come is that, as the goddess of civilization and innovation, she couldn't fully commit to the plan of destroying Aeor (hence her also giving the Emissary her "love", the protection bubbles.) But that her and Bahamut are cooking elsewhere is also probably part of it!
Asha wanting her wife is so entertaining to watch, though, and the Emissary is a *delight*, so I'm happy it turned out this way.
Perfect timing from your kitty, if any beings embody that spirit of nature (the Wildmother) it has to be cats lol!
my personal theory regarding the Luxon is that it IS the ship that the gods arrived on. it might have shattered upon impact and since it was created by Ihara the Time Weaver (from Tengar), I imagine it has that similar essence of time and space that the beacons carry
Problem I have with that is that the luxon is supposedly is the one who created the primordials
@@absurdus7945 That could still be a possibility... Primordials are "real" and on the material plane... and the pre-gods from Tengar created reality. It's possible that time passing while they're in the ship that primordials were created (by the ship just 'being') and lived millenia already by the time the ship crashed.
@@MaxQuagliotto
Now that feels like we’re stretching it I love theories even funny theories but feels like we’re stretching
Because here’s what we know
1. The luxon exists in some capacity
2. It isn’t quite divine or arcane it’s ancient energy and magic potential some thing that can’t quite be understood properly
3. Unlike divine magic which is noticeably different
4. The luxon can’t sensed by gods
5. The luxon supposedly created the primordials/titans
6. And the luxon predates the gods and primordials
So you’re telling my that the ship of light (probably divine light which would make it divine magic because it was made by the gods so if the ship was pieces of the luxon someone would identify and easily figure out that it was divine in nature not something else entirely) that they were on before it even arrived to exandria made the titans/primordials and while they were on the ship millennia as passed?
While my theory that the luxon is a being maybe similar to the gods but whether it came from tengar or is tengar itself or something else entirely I think
It never became quite REAL in the same way as the rest
Like how when the gods became REAL they started becoming the forms we know them as today fixed and more finite
That didn’t happen to the luxon and somehow it kept its limitless potential but didn’t know what to do or what it was
So it found a hollow world and split itself across the world creating beacons and primordials in the process
And the primordials would’ve have to come from Somewhere and if they were made by a gods they would be divine in nature
@@absurdus7945 that is because it is a creation myth, we're all speculating here
I'm thinking that divine magic was created after Tengar. My intuition is that everything in Tengar supercedes all physics/reality of the universe Exandria inhabits. This includes "divine magic" as well. Again.. just my intuition because Tengar is before and infinite at the same time. It's outside of reality and time and space. I haven't looked yet, but is there documentation suggesting that the abilities the beings had in Tengar is considered "Divine Magic" the same way as the "realized" gods in the universe have Divine Magic?
"Air... and Darkness. Mab, sitting on her throne looks down on you coldly." ;)
@@zaecus poor harry
11:19 "... and nature doesn't care about how much destruction is wrought..." And a cat appears in the background
The word 'silaha' is Swahili for 'weapons' so I want to know what S.I.L.A.H.A. is an acronym for!
Abubakar posted it on Twitter, he said it stands for Specialized Intervention of Lethal And Hazardous Actors. In the post he also mentioned that Silaha means weapon in Swahili, as you said.
@@JosePerez-jl9bu Awesome! I missed that tweet, but I'm so happy that he answered the question. Thank you for letting me know. :)
Shit, I Lost A Huge Applecrate
@@levindeed 🤣🤣🤣
Everyone was 14(?) in Calamity. They're probably at least that, plus they are Avatars for Gods, so they probably have some kind of Grace to buff their stats.
I like the Luxon theory, but in the panel and Florda Supercon, Travis asked Matt if they could explore the time when the Luxon came to Exandria, and Matt said that it wasn't survivable. According to the History of Exandria, The Luxon "found" Exandria and gave it a spark and created the Primordials, then the Gods came from far away.
I also watch the stream with captions, and I liked the distortion in the opening. I mean, if you met an Celestial )or whatever you worship) and they spoke to you, you wouldn't be able to Look at them let alone Understand them. So it fits.
The wiki specifically notes "destroyed" the previous God of Death, not that she 'slew' it like murder. Semantics, maybe, but likely an outcome and not targeted/intentional. We also learned from ancient texts out of Vasselheim that the previous Gods of darkness/winter and Fate, Ethedok and Vordo were devoured by Predathos and those are the domains that The Raven Queen now holds dominion over.
I love your theory about the Luxon. in the myth, the Luxon arriving and breathing life into 'rock' does sound pre-divinity, like if you were to put it into a Timeline it would be: Luxon finds Neptune, Luxon sparks life, movement, gravity etc, Primordials shape Exandria, Gods find Exandria, etc etc. To compare it to Greek myth, The Luxon is Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), the Primordials are like Titans, and the Gods like Zeus and the Olympians, but more like arrivals than family. I think the idea that the Luxon IS the 'Ship' that the Gods arrived on, is highly likely. Tengar had an "Orchard of Possibility" among 'stars' and that sounds like a Beacon to a T. Plus, as things become real, they take form, and matter that enters an atmosphere BREAKS APART. The Luxon may have arrived WITH the Gods, not before, and it just what remains of Tengar. (Up until this video, I thought that maybe Luda thinks that the Beacons are the scattered... knowledge beacons from Aeor: The Eravox Protocol.
Not only that but the luxon is supposedly to be the one who CREATED the primordials
My best guess is that the luxon is a being of light FROM tengar who left away earlier
And instead of becoming finite and losing its infinite potential like the gods did
It kept its infinite potential, power and existence in exchange for its memory of tengar so that’s why that being of light was so lonely it felt it had brethren and sisters of light that they no longer had the memory of or had the knowledge to get back to
potential but no self, oposite from the gods, makes sense
I like the Luxon predating the gods' arrival and creating the primordials; it adds one more dimension of complexity to the lore. I could also see it being a more evolved form of the gods that matured and left Tengar as part of a natural life cycle. I also loved how Brennan described higher dimensional beings losing dimensions until they became less than they were to hide from Predathos. A sphere becoming a circle, losing all the other circles it used to be.
The minute Ashley started talking to her kids…. Everyone knows exactly what you are doing with that.
2:09, 5:44, 6:31, 8:05, 11:18 Cat! ❤
I'm so excited to see Corellon in this. I replaced my yard with rocks, and did a rock design in the symbol of Corellon. It's such a cool design, such a cool god, and I love how Abubakar is playing him.
My first impression was that the luxon was the Eravox Protocol for rebuilding the god slaying weapon. A failsafe that spread these pieces across the world when Aeor was destroyed.
Wasn't Whitestone where The Dawnfather and the Knowing Mistress fought the Chained Oblivion?
yes
The final battle against theresdun I believe.
Yup and that's where the knowing mistress was severely wounded.
5:20 I got early campaign Orym vibes from Ayden. Which was both surreal and weird unnerving. I love it
7:40 fun fact! Aiden is written across the shield in Ogham script (the Scratches on the upper left side of the shield)
I was so confused when the distortion of their names was happening, kept trying to mess with my sound settings thinking it was something about my laptop. But ngl THAT WAS DOPE
I think Oumlette is the SpiderQueen because she lowered herself from a rope like a spider does from its silk. She also immediately started trying to seed doubt and discord among the party and that is Lolth's MO.
Crackpot theory: I think the Luxon and Predathos are opposites like a yin and yang. One represents the infinite and one represents the nothing. Both really aren't a god or Primordial (as far as we know). I would honestly be shocked if Predathos and/or the Luxon aren't brought up in Downfall. They seem such integral parts of Exandrian lore, and the "otherness", for lack of a better term, of the Luxon from divinity and primodials could explain Aeor's power to repel the gods.
Just wanted to say thank you for your enthusiasm and effort into making this content! I dont have any irl critter friends so its so fun to get excited with you through these videos. Keep it up!
I definitely think Umleta is Lolth. It felt very much like Brennan drew inspiration from characters like Widowmaker from Overwatch (who is very heavility spider-themed). The way he described her sitting up high and descending on a rope is very much spider-imagery, and the use of "skitter" not once but twice is also a giveaway. Also notice how he crossed his eyes in that same way that Aabria does when she's portraying The Spider Queen, and the way he also speaks in much the same kind of cadence as she does. That's how it seemed to me at least 😊
That clip of Fjord's Oath to the Wildmother always get's to me. Such an incredible scene
14:45 Thinking about it, where The Emissary was saying that they carried 'Love', I wonder if whatever power is inside them could be what caused all the time bubbles that froze the people of Aeor.
There was a theory I saw passed around the twitch chat during the episode that the Luxon wasn't aboard the ship from Tengar, it *was* the ship from Tengar. A single, pure light that entered exandria to escape nothingness, and then crashed into the world and shattered into pieces that are now the beacons. I quite liked it
I have never clicked on and liked a video faster. Thank you so much for the deep dive and theories.
Tiamat is gonna be five kobolds in a tracksuit
It may be that Brennan and Mat hinted the "they" in the Luxon myth is indeed meant as a plural. Tengar was made of infinite possibility and the ship was made of Tengar. So I guess the beacons are shards of Tengar strewn across Exandria by the crash of the ship
Logically I can't see Vasselheim having record of gods who never made it to Exandria.
Unless somehow they got a piece of Aeorean history as well in the form of this mind-video
Pre-Schism the gods may have worked with the mortals and told them some version of their lives on Tengar, there may be some version of the first portion of Downfall in the deepest histories. and then the gods realized they do NOT want this information out there so they destroyed what they could which is why there are so few who know.
As a more casual neurodivergent Critter. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. I know this, and Calamity are incredible, I just get a bit frustrated not being able to absorb and organize everything going on…
Edit: apologies for complaining. Just needed to vent I guess. And I genuinely appreciate these vids!
Ohhhh same. I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I am way beyond lost.
I haven't seen a take on this yet, but as a sciency person, the first part in Tengar was like a supernova. If we believed that all of these 'beings' co existed somewhere in the universe and then an uncontrollable moment (the collapse of a star) into an explosion that gives rise to a nebula. The initiation is two stars touching or colliding. The creation moments - actualizing - of the pre gods into gods follows the storyline (the coalescing of matter into complex matter) and exploding outwardly in a shockwave with extreme heat. This would make the Luxon the star exploding in a supernovae and creating matter and Predathos like a black hole - eating the matter. Which would mean all exandrian gods are of the Luxon. Links to space stuff in replies.
I'm fairly certain the darkness that consumed Tengar was the Chained Oblivion. The Tal'dorei Campaign Setting book describes it as "darkness unending, less like a god and more like another world of malevolent, alien intelligence. Life and death do not exist within [..] only the absolute end of all things." And if that is also what Predathos is, we may learn that what Aeor really discovered was a way of freeing it from Ruidus.
So here's what I'm wondering: IF the "nothing" that ran the gods out of Tengar was in fact Predathos, it would seem that it eats EVERYTHING and not just gods. Seems like it negates the existence of everything it touches. Would Ludinus be having second thoughts?
Ludinus is too prideful and arrogant to have second thoughts. In his mind, he is always right even when he isn't.
@Failed_Vestige_of_Exandria yeah you're probably right
The way Brennan described it I imagine Tengar was made entirely from divine energy. So Ludinus might assume only the divine would be consumed.
My funny little head cannon (until proven otherwise) is that the pieces of the gods' ship that sailed from Tengar to Exandria only to crash upon entry IS the Luxon. A non-living entity from a place that is molded by the concept of infinite possibilities. If it wasn't sentient, it wouldn't have been forced to adopt a chosen facet like the rest of the gods.
Then again, it is possible that the Luxon was part of the group of would-be-gods that didn't survive the perils of landing and simply didn't have the opportunity to converge on a chosen form. Their essence instead scattering and raining down in shards on Exandria like a meteor shower.
I think Edun, from the tengar portion of the episode, is the one who formed Dunamancy. Taken into the away, shattered, becoming pure chance, pure possibility, pure power. That, and his name being Dune but the e is placed in front.
Totally agree with your analysis for the betrayers! I don't think Umleta is Lolth mainly because Kord is said to have taken her out very early in the Calamity before she could really marshal her forces. My Luxon theory is that Edun who 1st plucked the fruit became the Luxon since it wasn't clear if they were unmade or sucked through into the void left behind by the fruit.
Because of Brennan's word choice I think Edun and the other being the tried to save him were erased as if they never existed
In the grand scheme of things... If this is 100 years into the Calamity, and the Spider Queen was defeated after the destruction of Aeor... Wouldn't that still be considered 'early' in the event. I mean... 100-150 years of a 1,000 year war is pretty early, all things considered. Just the way I thought about it
@@samuelerrington754 I might be remembering wrong, but I think the calamity only lasted 150 years
The Emmisary is a being of rock and ice, Aeor ends up beneath stone and ice, I bet he's supossed to explode and become eisselcross basically. The first and biggest defense to hide Aeor and its knowledge from future generations
OHHHHHHHHH that is so smart!
Thank you so much for this video! I watched Downfall ep 1 but felt like I wasn't fully understanding the characters or plot for the entire stretch of the episode. I have faith it will all come together in something incredible with this awesome cast of storytellers and roleplayers, but this breakdown of who they are is super helpful
*_So, we've got:_*
Trist as; *Sarenrae, The Everlight*
Ayden as; *Pelor, The Dawnfather*
Emira as; *Matron of Ravens*
Asha as; *Melora, The Wildmother*
S.I.L.A.H.A as; *Corellon, The Arch Heart*
And of course, The Emissary as a Herald of; *Erathis, The Lawbearer*
_Damn,_ What a bunch!
I was waiting for you to decode all of this. Great video! I’m sure this one will blow up!
Thank you so much for these videos! There's so much information overload in the campaigns (which I love) that I sometimes miss the vital things to keep note of lol.
The Ogham script on Aiden's shield is an extra sweet detail.
Wonderful video!!
We did get a clue of Corellon and Gruumsh's fight already happening: one of Trist's friends is a centaur!
Umleta comments on Asmodeus's poor disguise, and "skitters" around. I think she's a very well hidden Lolth as a Swarm Keeper Ranger
In regards to the Luxon, I think it could somehow be connected to Tengar, as the place where Nothing (possibly Predathos) first appeared was called "The Orchard of Possibility" and the Luxon is, as far as I'm aware, directly connected to Dunamancy, the magic of Infinite Possibility.
It's interesting that they marketed this as a standalone series, because I feel like so much of the substance of this episode came from subtext and implication. Trying to piece together if they are gods, the relationships that already exist between them, etc. You'd miss all the fun stuff if you had know prior CR knowledge !
Yeah I was just talking abut this on stream today, I feel like the series would be pretty hard to follow without any context
Thank you! I was kinda lost during this episode…for reasons! You have set me back on the thread!!!
My lore was a little rusty so there were some little things I didn’t pick up on last Thursday, this was an awesome recap and helped me piece things together! Thanks 😊
I can’t help but think how much pressure it would be playing such important characters, especially for such a historically important setting. Like, if Laura makes an offhand joke about wetting her pants that could become the CANON reason why she’s always depicted in black robes. These guys are obviously professionals and Matt and Brennen trust them all, but still. My imagination runs wild 😂
My theory is that the Luxon, or the Beacons are the remains of their crashed ship.
What if the Luxon *was* the ship that the gods traveled on to arrive on Exandria? Tengar was simultaneously a palace and a fountain and a garden and a thousand other forms, just as the gods were infinitely many things before they were forced to become "real." Why couldn't the Beacons be the "real" forms of the fragments of the ship that brought the gods to this world? Tiny pieces of Tengar given physical shape and form.
i 100% think this is what the luxon is. The ship must have crashed and splintered into who knows how many peices
Thank you. I was so confused by all this.
I thought for quiet a while that S.I.L.A.H.A. was Asmodeus, because of all that 'beatuy in the eye of the beholder' stuff from Calamity and because Sil kept changing accents and posture depending on whom they were talking to. But it did not make sense for them to arrive with the primes and meet the betrayers...
Thank you so much for this!!!!! It’s been awhiiiiiile since i’ve watched Critical Role (i got dropoutpilled and now i can’t do the pace of CR) but i’ll follow Brennan anywhere he brings his ol dice bag.
In case you hadn’t already found out, Nick Marini is a longtime friend of Brennan’s ever since they met as campers at Wayfinder (LARP camp)! He’s a PC in a 15-year-long 3.5e campaign. Marini was in an episode of the first season of Adventuring Academy, Brennan’s interview series with TTRPG folks
If the luxon was the ship, I like to imagine that while the gods didn’t find exandria until later, after their ship already crashed. That the ship was the luxon and gave life to the primordials and basically seeded the possibility for the gods to become, well the gods.
I really enjoyed Pt1 of Downfall. Thanks for the explicit descriptions.
Side note, when our group played Call of The Netherdeep, I played a Yuan-ti Pureblood Enchanter Wizard who worship Zehir and had a feud with Torog, who's devil's had destroyed my temple and imprisoned my human mother. Simply put, I can't wait to see Torog and Zehir get a little more visibility.
It’s also canon now that there are two Demigod half-Firbolg children of Sarenrae in Exandria, which is cool
It kind of feels like the gods are using the beacon powers of reincarnating a soul in their avatars. Like these are not their first avatars and the remarks between Ayden and Arcadia that when they were young things were fuzzy but they gained their knowledge and memories as they grew sounded a lot like the luxon. That being said it would mean the gods and the luxon are not that separate (I love the theory someone put in the comments that the beacons are just fragments of the ship they came to exandria on).
My theory - Luxon is actually the Ship the Gods used. Its pieces are pieces of the ship the gods used to escape from Tengar
This actually cleared up some of my questions so well, great video ! Thank you, can’t wait for EP 3 !
Glad to hear it!
The Binary was pretty fun to work out, nice touch by the CR team. Also 🤯Thanks for the shout-out! :)
20:38 tbh I would be surprised if they were any lower than lvl 20, considering they've been biding to gain power up to their respective gods' standards, they must be as powerful as possible.
The Emissary is the former god of death, the Matron of Ravens' predecessor. That's why he's an ice elemental, because the Matron also holds the domain of Winter, so presumably she got that from him.
And the Emissary was staring at the blank portrait of the previous god of death, which had been wiped blank by the Matron wiping all knowledge of the previous god of death when she ascended. Then Ehmira's raven Dearest started pecking the portrait, as if to begin carving the Matron's image upon it. The Emissary looked at Ehmira and said "Hail to the new."
Apparently the immortal nature of gods plus his domain being death made the Matron unable to completely destroy him. He doesn't seem to quite remember who or what he was. And it's like a degree of his higher thinking has been stripped from him. It's as if his identity has been stripped away, leaving him closer to a drone than a person.
Arathis must have taken whatever was left of him into her service, which is when he became what in Downfall is known as the Emissary. I do wonder if his acceptance of the Matron now being what he was is Arathis' influence, and if his former identity would be wrathful.
I never would have thought the Matron would be in on this plan. It's wild to think of a human being achieving godhood and then becoming human again. Like...does she regret it, and leapt at the chance? Or does she feel obligated, being from a similar city? So much to get into! blew my mind
It's really simply to explain. Spend 30 years as a mortal to ensure that you can live forever. People do stuff like this all the time. For example working out really hard to look good in their wedding photos which will last forever. What is a little pain for a chance at forever. Plus she's their link to the mortals world. She understands mortals where they do not.
Hi Luna! Love catching your videos!
I fully understand your theory on Zehir, but I also believe it's Lolth. Brennan also mentions that '*she* does a little backflip and skitters up one of the columns' after stating that the turtle was a really bad disguise.
lol i knew youd come thru. literally commented “luboffin save me” on the episode and this is exactly what i met
Haha glad I could help!
Ayden isn't Peylor, but his son. Asmodeus, when he saw Emissary, said that only four came. In the second episode, we hear him pray to his father and receive a vision from the Dawnfather in return.
This is by far my favorite breakdown video to date! Amazing! ❤️ and the kitty 😂 she wanted to be a part of the review 😂
This series might get me to subscribe to Beacon so I can see the cooldown episodes or any other content because I was GLUED to my screen on Thursday and stayed up way too late watching the entire stream live. I'm absolutely delighted they're playing the ACTUAL gods and not champions like a majority of us were theorizing leading up to this, but it does make me nervous to see what Brennan is planning as the Betrayers. I'm curious to know if the cast just happened to all want to play Prime Deities or (most likely) Brennan, for lack of a better term, prevented them from choosing to play a betrayer god for ideas he has on how to move the plot forward or how this all ends. Either way, so incredibly excited to see the next two episodes!!!! It's so nice to see the cast play connections to their past characters and while I was sad to not get Laura in Calamity I'm so glad that means that we at least get to see her here in Downfall because I don't think I would want anyone else to play the Matron besides her. Noshir, Abu and Nick are also absolutely fantastic so can't wait to see even more from them too :)
I definitely found all the tone distorting of the gods' original names very distracting, especially when Brennan was doing extended narratives. Made it very hard to sort out what was being said, even with the captions on.
Side tangent: I had a thought and went back and watched the MN eps where they are in the happy fun ball. Halas (like Ludinus) is older than the Calamity. I wonder if any of the MN who are working with BH, or just on their own, will bring up "oh hey, we talked to this guy in a gem who is also like Ludinus. we should have another conversation with him." who has the possession of the gem that Halas is in? The Cerberus Assembly? or that wizard in Zadash that got stuck in the happy fun ball???
I think Yussa has the gem with his soul.
My favorite piece of dialogue is when Asha goes up to Zaharzht and Tells them how much they miss them and then Zaharzht goes "If I promised to take care of you, would you let me torture you forever?" and Talesin really delivers the heartbreak in their voice with "You already do..." 😭
I think the gods that disappeared in the beginning are not Ethedok and Vordo. If only because there is some mention of them on Exandria, meaning it's more likely they reached Exandria and were eaten when Predathos followed them and the gods were trying to seal him. But it just goes to show how much the gods lost... also kudos to Brennan for inciting in me an existential fear I haven't felt since I was a kid watching The Langoliers. Is there anything more terrifying than nothingness?
Calling it now, the Emissary is the child of the Wildmother and the Lawbearer (hence their matter of fact nature and elemental body) that the Wildmother is unaware of. Not sure of the cosmic fuckery that resulted in this, but it fits everything we know so far, i.e. Ioun knowing more about the Emissary that she isn't revealing, The Emissary clearly having a real connection to the Lawbearer when staring at the chains, their elemental body, etc.
I think the halfling is Lloth. At one point Brennan makes reference to it by describing her as descending as if by a thread. I initially thought the Tortle was the Chained Oblivion but I think Torog makes much more sense. I think of the Betrayer Gods, the 4 we see are the most likely to "play nice" if even in deceit.
Based on just HP alone they are at least level 20. I say at least because if they are avatars of Gods then Brennan might be using the heroic level rules. Most "gods" don't have statblocks to reference with the notable exception of Asmodeus. And he is if memory serves CR 25 or 26. So I'm expecting the players are in the equivalent of level 25. I'm atso not expecting a ton of combat for that reason, except for maybe against the Betrayers maybe.
I love this actually!! I've had a hard time caring about the gods bc.. well,, they're Gods. Making them people was Such a smart moove.
20:12 I think she’s Loth because she sounds like Brennon doing an impression of Aabria.
Then who created the primordials?
The problem I have with different luxon theories is that the luxon isn’t just the origins of the beacons
but also the origin for the primordials and for that to happen the luxon would have to come BEFORE the gods and primordials
And if the ship of light they were on were created by them they would be able to sense its power and its said that none of the gods is really able to sense or comprehend the luxon they know that its worshipped and that it has beacons but they haven’t met it personally
At least that’s what the text in the wildmount and taldorei guide suggests
@@absurdus7945 Is what we know of the Luxon actual fact or just what the dynasty believes and follows? That could be the through line of what we really know versus what the gods know to be true
8:50 - Blink Cat!! She owns a Blink Cat 😅
I'd really love it if Asmodeus were just one of the others. Like, if he's the ultimate liar, it would kind of be on-brand for him to be screwing with everyone, here; could make for a fun twist.
I feel like people are behaving with too much certainty that it _is_ him for that genuinely to be the case, but it's fun to think about.
Level Wise we're looking at minimum lvl 9, since Rary's telepathic bond is a 5th level spell
Umleta's movements were very descriptive and other than the word skitter being used more than once she was also described as suspending herself in the corner of the ceiling and repelling upside down from the top of a statue by strands of something which is extremely spider oriented. This is more than enough confirmation for me that she's Lolth. The only one I wasn't sure about was Abubakar Salim's character.
I'm pretty sure they're all level 20. This is partially based on some of their rolls and stated modifiers during skill checks (their pb is +6 which makes them lvl 17+). It's not concrete proof, but Nick's choice to multiclass like that wouldn't make sense if they weren't pretty high level. We also know that he has at least 6 levels in paladin because he has the Aura of Protection feature. It also seems pretty safe to assume that Asha has unlimited Wildshapes, which only comes at 20th level, but this is also totally the kind of thing that Brennan would handwave for the sake of the story.
Also, they're gods. It's very "go big or go home" energy.
I believe they are at least level 17 because at one point Silaha rolls for deception and has a +11. Assuming that they have +5 to charisma, that means they’d have to have a +6 proficiency bonus. If I had to guess I’m gonna say level 20 ngl. They are gods after all.
Ooh what if the Luxon was the Ship itself, the power of possibility can come from when the ship was exposed to the raw cosmos before it was shielded by the gods, then when they crashed into the world the ship shattered and its fragments scattered across the world and those are the beacons
I think the beacons are the scattered pieces of the ship. Based on the description we were given, it's unlikely the ship landed and really seems like it just plowed into Exandria, scattering debris across the planet.
I think a big part of them being mortal avatars is that their personalities have been in part influenced by the mortal lives they've lived. That way they can play more their interpretation of the character without contradicting what the character's actually like.
Because you're being generous with Aydan. He's absolutely nothing like the Dawnfather we know. And it's a shame that arguably the most villainous of the Prime deities (and therefore possibly the most interesting) is being portrayed as Jesus.
But... on the other hand Asha as Melora is quite different as well. But it makes sense. The Wildmother from the get go understood they were going there to destroy Aeor. No compromise. And she's manifested as a wolf, demonstrating that this avatar is deliberately channeling a much more aggressive side of the Wildmother than she normally displays. She's TRYING to be different because it's what she must be to get this task done.
So none of the cast's unique portrayals are lore breaking. I just wish Aydan was more interesting.
Awesome recap!
I’m unsure as they probably rolled stats and health, but based on Emhira’s hp compared to averages, they’re probably all level 20 (either +5 to con or +3 and tough). I think that the ability checks we’ve seen also back that up.