Grog was young and trying to impress his uncle. It was easy for him to see villagers as capable of defending themselves, and they do try, and therefore are fair game. Enemy combatants, as it were. But he always had a thing for little-folk, and Wilhand was incapable, and didn't try to defend himself. Plus baby Pike in the locket was adorable. He says to his cousin "he's not a fighter". I think they put enough in there to adapt and explain it. Grog is like a Rottweiler who loves kittens, and just meeting Wilhand made him actually think.
One thing they haven't really talked about here is that Wilhand left his family to serve the Everlight, who is the Goddess of Redemption. Now, Grog was a teenager, and we only see him kill people who are fighting back. I just find it interesting that the flash of the locket gets him to pause - perhaps the Everlight was looking out for her servant? That said, Grog isn't gentle - in the very first episode Keyleth points out that he pretty much wants to murder everybody, and he responds "Yeah, pretty much." But he believes in a fair fight, which makes him very different from his uncle.
I agree; I think it definitely isn't until Groon beat the ever-loving crap out of him that Grog started to consider more carefully how he uses his strength - and for what he uses it for, let alone where it comes from. But he definitely always had the more honorable traits to him; just the fact that he stood up to Kevdak here and bought time for Wilhand to get away from his murderous uncle implies Grog was already questioning how the Herd was doing things. In a way, the everlight was probably seeking to redeem the Herd of Storms by pulling Grog away and allowing him to be molded into somebody who had the strength of character to challenge Kevdak.
Agreed! Might be the best 25 minutes of anything, ever! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 Maybe spoilers below? Just to be safe... I've never cried from a fight scene before. Holy crap! When I rewatched it during dinner I had to make sure to not be eating during that scene for fear of choking on m,y food due to sobbing. They were happy tears but I must've looked like a lost child at the mall.
Matt Mercer, when doing the original Critical Role campaign live stream was a MASTER at pulling the rug out from under the players at the table and the audience watching at home. He knew exactly how to end a session on an absolute cliffhanger. Its cool that this show does the same.
Grog's father was dead before the home game started; unfortunately, a necromancer didn't let him stay that way. Part of the story of the scar across his chest. Pike's hair turned white after she was bisected by a glabrezu and resurrected, and Scanlan travelled with Dr. Dranzel's troupe before he joined Vox Machina.
I thought about Grog's family like that to. Achara. That Kevdak is like Scar, he even has a scar, and Grog is going to have to be like Simba, restoring proper order to their respective worlds.
One of the reasons Grog's "Heart" comment about his strength got rejected by Groon was because Grog was saying it flippantly, he didn't believe it. He needed to actually think about it to come to his actual answer. You're right that violence was all grog knew, he didn't see the people he killed as people because his uncle and herd basically told him they were not. Seeing Willhand's family picture helped push him out of those thoughts and questioning things he had previously taken for granted. It's a good point that the "theme" of this season could be "Bad Parents" or specifically "Bad Fathers". Almost none of VMs parents are "good" parents, even Keyleth's father keeps pushing expectations onto her (He's probably the best of them and does love her but never actually ask her about things and makes a lot of assumptions which feeds her inferiority complex). Even in these last two episodes, we see pike's closest family member is her great-great-grandfather. Where are her parents, or grandparents? That's spoilers but Scanlan's song at the end of season 1 episode 9 will give you some hints. About Grog's father (some slight spoilers for the VM origins comics), he is dead, in the original story he is actually there when Grog rescues Willhand but doesn't defend Grog when Kevdak banished him, then gets injured and left behind by the herd, leading eventually to the scar on Grogs chest, which you'll need to read the comic to have explained further.
Awwwwww, comparing Grog to a whale :333333 I actually feel sorry for Zanror, because Grog has Pike and Wilhand and Vox Machina in his life, but Zanror now has nothing but a belief that his father is wrong, and only because of that he stood up to Kevdak. And was beaten for it, twice. Poor guy.
It's great to see how invested you get in the characters and the story. If you haven't already, you guys should try a tabletop roleplaying game one-shot. If you find a game master who's a good storyteller, I bet you'd love it 🙂
@@Achara I'm Scandinavian, so I'm afraid I can't speak to what your local roleplaying community looks like. Here's what I would suggest: ask around among your buddies - does anyone know of someone who runs tabletop roleplaying games to have some fun? As a game master of over 30 years I can tell you that many of us especially enjoy playing with newcomers. New players tend to not get caught up in the rules, but get caught up in the story and characters instead- and that's what it's all about! If none of your buddies know of anyone who'd like to run a one-shot or an ongoing campaign, I'd suggest you turn your attention to Facebook. Search for roleplaying events or roleplaying groups in your city/area. And remember: there are a lot of both bad and good storytellers out there. Please don't loose heart if you have one or two bad game nights. If you stick with it, I promise you, you'll be able to tell your own story together with people that think and feel just like you. Roleplaying games are all about storytelling: your story - singular AND plural! In tabletop roleplaying games the sky is the limit. Go find your friends. Go find yourself. Go save the world. What are you waiting for?
Well, with Grog, there's a difference between being manipulated and trying to impress to fit in. It's not the same, despite what a generalist would say or psych. Grog was trying to impress his uncle and cousin, they were his family. Remember S1, Grog wants to kill people, kill the enemy, he has no conscious. And it's not that Grog has a big heart or gentle, as in the previous ep showed, he really didn't believe that, his will and strength comes from something else (no spoiler).
3:08 - *“If you kill all the people you're trying to extort money from, you're not gonna get any money.”* That's because this is a new and foreign concept to them. They were raiders; their M.O. was to take everything, burn anything they couldn't take to the ground, and _move on._ Like a swarm of locusts. If you told one of them to get wool from a sheep, the concept of _shearing_ the sheep wouldn't even occur to them, and they'd come back with the blood-dripping hide of a sheep they'd just ripped off its brutally slaughtered carcass. 3:19 - _"And he's got an actual Vestige!" - "Yah, but I didn't know that's what they were!"_ Travis Willingham can deliver that line with such conviction, because that's _exactly_ what he experienced at the table. He had just written that his evil uncle had "Titanstone Knuckles" as a cool bit of flavour-text in his character's backstory, and had no idea that Matt would remember them and _years later_ turn them into vital plot elements. 4:14 - *“Awww… That's cute.”* And luckily the intelligence of a dragonfly isn't much lower than Scanlan's. 😉 For context, in campaign 2, Laura Baley's new character Jester polymorphed into a moth, in order to spy on someone - but Matt looked up the intelligence score of a moth and found that she'd be _way_ too dumb to keep her goal in mind, so she spent the entire hour being distracted by bright lights and munching on the fabric of a curtain. ruclips.net/video/sAS1a8AaBYU/видео.html 13:53 - *“I was wondering if we would get to see the epic fight. They're making us wait! Why?”* Because that fight needs an episode of its own…
18:40 Speaking as a middle-aged, cis-gendered, straight, white, male I identify with Grog, here. My demographic has been the most oppressive to society for decades (centuries, really) and that has been made absolutely clear in recent years. Whenever I meet a woman or a minority I understand the initial mistrust and hope for an opportunity to prove that I'm no misogynist or MAGA.
I wish they made Grog's turn more understandable. I think I'd have made Pop Pop, instead of cowering like everyone else, show Grog kindness as he's already very optimistic and that could be realistically the first time Grog experienced that which lead to him seeing people as more than just bugs to squash. The family thing seemed like a strange realisation because you'd think he'd had seen parents and children die beforehand since they attacked settlements.
I think Travis did base Grog on Kratos however that was from the first series of God of War games. However Grog got a beard long before Kratos did, so who is copying who?
Grog was young and trying to impress his uncle. It was easy for him to see villagers as capable of defending themselves, and they do try, and therefore are fair game. Enemy combatants, as it were.
But he always had a thing for little-folk, and Wilhand was incapable, and didn't try to defend himself. Plus baby Pike in the locket was adorable. He says to his cousin "he's not a fighter". I think they put enough in there to adapt and explain it. Grog is like a Rottweiler who loves kittens, and just meeting Wilhand made him actually think.
One thing they haven't really talked about here is that Wilhand left his family to serve the Everlight, who is the Goddess of Redemption. Now, Grog was a teenager, and we only see him kill people who are fighting back. I just find it interesting that the flash of the locket gets him to pause - perhaps the Everlight was looking out for her servant?
That said, Grog isn't gentle - in the very first episode Keyleth points out that he pretty much wants to murder everybody, and he responds "Yeah, pretty much." But he believes in a fair fight, which makes him very different from his uncle.
I agree; I think it definitely isn't until Groon beat the ever-loving crap out of him that Grog started to consider more carefully how he uses his strength - and for what he uses it for, let alone where it comes from. But he definitely always had the more honorable traits to him; just the fact that he stood up to Kevdak here and bought time for Wilhand to get away from his murderous uncle implies Grog was already questioning how the Herd was doing things. In a way, the everlight was probably seeking to redeem the Herd of Storms by pulling Grog away and allowing him to be molded into somebody who had the strength of character to challenge Kevdak.
I love that Grog's I'm not going decision mirrors Pike's in season 1, down to the 'what if I need you? '
I am so stoked to see the reaction to the next episode.
Agreed! Might be the best 25 minutes of anything, ever! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜 Maybe spoilers below? Just to be safe...
I've never cried from a fight scene before. Holy crap! When I rewatched it during dinner I had to make sure to not be eating during that scene for fear of choking on m,y food due to sobbing. They were happy tears but I must've looked like a lost child at the mall.
Big ol ditto
Matt Mercer, when doing the original Critical Role campaign live stream was a MASTER at pulling the rug out from under the players at the table and the audience watching at home. He knew exactly how to end a session on an absolute cliffhanger. Its cool that this show does the same.
7:05 when kevdak is beating grog it showed me that even with all the stuff the herd did. the beating grog got was too hard for them to watch.
Grog's father was dead before the home game started; unfortunately, a necromancer didn't let him stay that way. Part of the story of the scar across his chest. Pike's hair turned white after she was bisected by a glabrezu and resurrected, and Scanlan travelled with Dr. Dranzel's troupe before he joined Vox Machina.
At least at the table; would appear Scanlan's past is slightly different here.
We got to see them in the show, and that's enough, heh.
I thought about Grog's family like that to. Achara. That Kevdak is like Scar, he even has a scar, and Grog is going to have to be like Simba, restoring proper order to their respective worlds.
One of the reasons Grog's "Heart" comment about his strength got rejected by Groon was because Grog was saying it flippantly, he didn't believe it. He needed to actually think about it to come to his actual answer.
You're right that violence was all grog knew, he didn't see the people he killed as people because his uncle and herd basically told him they were not. Seeing Willhand's family picture helped push him out of those thoughts and questioning things he had previously taken for granted.
It's a good point that the "theme" of this season could be "Bad Parents" or specifically "Bad Fathers". Almost none of VMs parents are "good" parents, even Keyleth's father keeps pushing expectations onto her (He's probably the best of them and does love her but never actually ask her about things and makes a lot of assumptions which feeds her inferiority complex). Even in these last two episodes, we see pike's closest family member is her great-great-grandfather. Where are her parents, or grandparents? That's spoilers but Scanlan's song at the end of season 1 episode 9 will give you some hints.
About Grog's father (some slight spoilers for the VM origins comics), he is dead, in the original story he is actually there when Grog rescues Willhand but doesn't defend Grog when Kevdak banished him, then gets injured and left behind by the herd, leading eventually to the scar on Grogs chest, which you'll need to read the comic to have explained further.
Spoilers
And Scanlan being a bad father to who knows how many kids himself, a certain gnome included
Something about it being goliaths fighting, trading punches and arm throws makes the fights so much more brutal.
Awwwwww, comparing Grog to a whale :333333
I actually feel sorry for Zanror, because Grog has Pike and Wilhand and Vox Machina in his life, but Zanror now has nothing but a belief that his father is wrong, and only because of that he stood up to Kevdak. And was beaten for it, twice. Poor guy.
Can't wait for your reaction to the last 3 episodes... love your reactions, so much fun 😄
Grog is a gentle giant
13:50 Why wait for the most epic of fights? because we need an entire episode dedicated to it, that's why!
It's great to see how invested you get in the characters and the story. If you haven't already, you guys should try a tabletop roleplaying game one-shot. If you find a game master who's a good storyteller, I bet you'd love it 🙂
I would love that! Where would I look for that type of thing?
@@Achara I'm Scandinavian, so I'm afraid I can't speak to what your local roleplaying community looks like.
Here's what I would suggest: ask around among your buddies - does anyone know of someone who runs tabletop roleplaying games to have some fun?
As a game master of over 30 years I can tell you that many of us especially enjoy playing with newcomers. New players tend to not get caught up in the rules, but get caught up in the story and characters instead- and that's what it's all about!
If none of your buddies know of anyone who'd like to run a one-shot or an ongoing campaign, I'd suggest you turn your attention to Facebook. Search for roleplaying events or roleplaying groups in your city/area.
And remember: there are a lot of both bad and good storytellers out there. Please don't loose heart if you have one or two bad game nights. If you stick with it, I promise you, you'll be able to tell your own story together with people that think and feel just like you. Roleplaying games are all about storytelling: your story - singular AND plural!
In tabletop roleplaying games the sky is the limit. Go find your friends. Go find yourself. Go save the world.
What are you waiting for?
Matt Mercer and his cliff hangers are legendary
I always love a "What up, 'Braw?" intro 🤩🥰
Loving your reactions, very insightful, and I appreciate the personal reflections
Well, with Grog, there's a difference between being manipulated and trying to impress to fit in. It's not the same, despite what a generalist would say or psych. Grog was trying to impress his uncle and cousin, they were his family. Remember S1, Grog wants to kill people, kill the enemy, he has no conscious. And it's not that Grog has a big heart or gentle, as in the previous ep showed, he really didn't believe that, his will and strength comes from something else (no spoiler).
You two are great to watch when it comes to this show. Fantastic!
I love the series capturing the brutal cliff hangers Matt used to end on during the live streams.
It’s pretty messed up that before Grog was like current MCU Thor he was like young Kratos in the first God Of War
Please do the next 3 episodes straight away. It gets... so awesome.
For S2E10 be sure to watch the credits to hear the song
3:08 - *“If you kill all the people you're trying to extort money from, you're not gonna get any money.”*
That's because this is a new and foreign concept to them. They were raiders; their M.O. was to take everything, burn anything they couldn't take to the ground, and _move on._ Like a swarm of locusts. If you told one of them to get wool from a sheep, the concept of _shearing_ the sheep wouldn't even occur to them, and they'd come back with the blood-dripping hide of a sheep they'd just ripped off its brutally slaughtered carcass.
3:19 - _"And he's got an actual Vestige!" - "Yah, but I didn't know that's what they were!"_
Travis Willingham can deliver that line with such conviction, because that's _exactly_ what he experienced at the table. He had just written that his evil uncle had "Titanstone Knuckles" as a cool bit of flavour-text in his character's backstory, and had no idea that Matt would remember them and _years later_ turn them into vital plot elements.
4:14 - *“Awww… That's cute.”*
And luckily the intelligence of a dragonfly isn't much lower than Scanlan's. 😉
For context, in campaign 2, Laura Baley's new character Jester polymorphed into a moth, in order to spy on someone - but Matt looked up the intelligence score of a moth and found that she'd be _way_ too dumb to keep her goal in mind, so she spent the entire hour being distracted by bright lights and munching on the fabric of a curtain.
ruclips.net/video/sAS1a8AaBYU/видео.html
13:53 - *“I was wondering if we would get to see the epic fight. They're making us wait! Why?”*
Because that fight needs an episode of its own…
KEEEVDAAAAAAAK!
18:40 Speaking as a middle-aged, cis-gendered, straight, white, male I identify with Grog, here. My demographic has been the most oppressive to society for decades (centuries, really) and that has been made absolutely clear in recent years. Whenever I meet a woman or a minority I understand the initial mistrust and hope for an opportunity to prove that I'm no misogynist or MAGA.
These two are going to lose their shit next episode!
Episode 10 is fire!
12:47 Oh, you're adorable! ❤🧡💛💚💙💜
Hey, At least they didn't end the episode with another death. Right? keke...
I know this probably this doesn't belong here, but i hope cinepals reacts to ryan george's skit about when animals stare at nothing LMAO it's funny
You guys should check out new anime, blue lock. It's crazy and amazing.
I wish they made Grog's turn more understandable.
I think I'd have made Pop Pop, instead of cowering like everyone else, show Grog kindness as he's already very optimistic and that could be realistically the first time Grog experienced that which lead to him seeing people as more than just bugs to squash.
The family thing seemed like a strange realisation because you'd think he'd had seen parents and children die beforehand since they attacked settlements.
I would strongly recommend watching the streams, if you want a better explanation
Why is everybody skin so shiny?
Bootleg kratos
lmao this person doesn’t know
Goliaths in D&D came along way before Kratos. He's a copy of them not the other way around.
Yeah, like Dracula's a ripoff of Edward Cullen.
I think Travis did base Grog on Kratos however that was from the first series of God of War games.
However Grog got a beard long before Kratos did, so who is copying who?
@@xboxman1710 God of War was originally released in 2018. They started their home campaign in 2012.