rhowena reblogged
My personal hope for Vax once he's de-orbed is that he goes back to his respawn point in the Matron's realm for a much-needed nap, and as a thank-you for their efforts, the Matron lets the rest of Vox Machina Gate/Plane Shift over for a visit and they all make a big snuggle pile.
rhowena reblogged
Come on Vox Machina, go free your boy!
rhowena reblogged
rhowena reblogged
Continues to be baffling to me how much of the CR fandom refuses to understand that, by the end of C1 (and frankly way earlier in that campaign than many people realize) Vax’s vow to the Raven Queen was totally voluntary, important and meaningful to him, and not something he wanted a trick or lawyer to “get him out of.”
I guess it surprises me to still see this because an intense disagreement about this was perhaps the biggest point of contention (and indeed one of the most interesting parts) of Vax and Keyleth’s relationship. I loved the disconnect they had about it as characters and that they stayed together in spite of it. (It’s part of what made me such a fan of Vaxleth as a romantic story.) But the Vax side of that disconnect they had about faith and fate and the gods seems to have been totally lost in the fandom memory of the campaign.
Vax does not see his service to his goddess as something he would need “rescuing” from and he would resent the assumption. De-orbed Vax would probably first go back to his duty and service, because that was meaningful to him. Breaking the rules a few times to try to save Keyleth doesn’t negate that, it’s just on-brand for a character who wore his heart on his sleeve and often made brash decisions to protect people he loved without thinking it through.
Assorted thoughts:
- One fanfic idea I have is Vax finding himself on the other end of a "take me instead" while angel-of-deathing and going "...Okay, guess I've got a(nother) warlock now" because, really, what the hell are you supposed to say to that?
- Even if Vax was offered the chance to return to life after being de-orbed, I'm not sure he'd be willing to take it any more than, say, Vex would be comfortable just abandoning her duties to the Council of Tal'Dorei and the Chamber of Whitestone. There's a quote from Honor Among Thieves that sums up my thoughts here -- "I’d only ask that you consider that this plane we call ‘life’ is but one of many. To drag your lady-love back to her old life is to deprive her of her new one." -- and Edgin's entire character arc is highly applicable.
- Takes like this portray Vax as the rope in a tug-of-war between Vox Machina and the Raven Queen and I've read fics that seem to come from a place of wanting him to choose them over her, but from Vax's perspective, it isn't and never has been an either/or situation: he offered himself to the Raven Queen to bring Vex back, he pledged to put aside his reservations and serve her fully as part of a resurrection ritual for Grog, he agreed to come back as a revenant because he still wanted to help his friends, and the influence he has on the Material Plane even after his death is a privilege of his station. (The power of love alone doesn't let Zuala or Will bamf in from the hereafter to save their respective spouses.) Furthermore, far from being the jealous monster of fanon portrayals, the Raven Queen canonically praises Vax for his devotion to those he cares for ("Your resolve is admirable. Your love of your chosen family is vibrant.") and in the scenario where Vax knew there was a trap waiting for him at the Malleus Key but went anyway a la Fjord giving up the Cloven Crystal to save Jester (which I lean towards because a. the possibility of Vax angel-of-deathing for one or more of the murdered members of the Grim Verity and making some follow-up inquiries of his own has lodged itself in my brain and refused to go away and b. it would explain why he showed up specifically to save Keyleth rather than getting involved because of the whole 'people trying to kill his goddess' situation), I can see the Raven Queen not trying to stop him despite the consequences of letting him go because doing so would have amounted to trying to strip him of everything that led him to become her champion in the first place.
- Regarding the Vaxleth disconnect specifically, it's heartbreaking to imagine Vax watching Keyleth's futile quest for a way to bring him back, and I suspect that she didn't visit Evontra'vir to try to talk to him (as Evontra'vir mentions other people doing) at least partially because she knew exactly what he'd say to her -- that she should go home and focus on living the life she has instead of obsessing over the one they might have had if things had worked out differently -- and wasn't in the mood to hear it.
- Regarding the disconnect with Vox Machina as a whole ("I think you'll find life is full of unsatisfactory ends", etc.), what's interesting about the orb situation is that it gives them and the Raven Queen a common enemy in the form of someone who threatens to take Vax away from both parties and pushes them to work together to save him. The question of what happens after he's freed would then draw the conflict out for discussion and potentially some kind of resolution that could help them move past the lingering bitterness: on the one hand, I'm pretty sure Vax is going to be severely injured/weakened after spending a month-plus trapped in horrific unceasing agony and will, therefore, need to head back to Letherna posthaste not because the Raven Queen needs him to return to his duties but because he needs to go home and take a nap; on the other hand, if Vox Machina are doing the Raven Queen a big favor by putting all this work into rescuing her champion, immediately yanking Vax away from them would just feel wrong, so I'm hoping she offers a compromise of letting them Gate/Plane Shift over to keep him company while he heals, with the possibility of negotiating some vacation time for him once all the moon nonsense is dealt with. (I'm also hoping this all happens early enough that Vax can join them for some of the later battles because he should get to stab some assholes after the aforementioned month-plus of horrific unceasing agony.)
Everywhere I go, I see his face