honourablejester:

Okay. I’m. I’m there. I’m at the end. I have … sort of some words. And I just …

Brennan gave them every chance. Every single chance. Anywhere he could reasonably or even unreasonably give them just that little bit extra. Cerrit’s extra reaction. One more bardic inspiration on Laerryn’s last arcana check. He gave them every extra bit he could.

And it doesn’t feel cheap. It doesn’t feel like cheating. Because it fits the theme. It fits the whole fucking theme.

Because the theme of this show is redemption, is hope. Not necessarily through victory, not through saving yourselves, not through winning. But by giving someone, somewhere, one more chance. One more second. One more option.

So many people gave so many chances.

Cerrit’s dying colleague, Orwyn, giving his children a way out of the city.

Zerxus taking that one extra chance on Vespin, granting him that one second of freedom to tell them where to go and to buy Zerxus one more hour.

Patia flinging a light into the future and guaranteeing that at least something of Avalir and the Age of Arcanum would survive.

Nydas buying time and an army to get the civilians out.

The Sphinx saving him in return.

Alessander thinking to save the school.

Aria showing up to get the broadcast out.

Loquatius making sure that no one would stop the evacuation for their own selfish reasons.

Eaedalus trusting Zerxus even when he’s wearing the face of a devil, getting Elias out.

Zerxus buying the druids of Cathmoira enough to time start mass continental evacuation.

(Even fucking Asmodeus choosing to abide by the deal)

Tempus taking a Taxman off the board as Zerxus falls.

Cerrit buying Laerryn one more round by killing Vespin and saving her life.

Nydas saving his last fucking action, his last breath, to try and give Zerxus a way out of damnation.

Patia giving her last breath and everything she gained and lost to the Tree of Names to fill Laerryn’s Leywright at the end.

Laerryn trying, uselessly, to save her back even as she falls.

Loquatius saving his action to give that one last heal at the crucial moment.

Laerryn sacrificing Avalir and Cathmoira, everything she is and was and loved, to save the world.

Calum fucking Staffwright dying to get that one last battery online.

Everyone, alive or dead, giving Cerrit every last chance to make it out, to keep even one promise.

Everything, everything, everything, in this last episode, in this story, has been about giving someone somewhere some last chance against the inevitable night. One second of redemption, no matter what mistakes have damned them. One moment to make a difference.

And it doesn’t always work, not everyone will accept or deserve the chance, and sometimes it fails catastrophically, but even if you fail, even if you die, keep trying to give someone somewhere one last something anyway.

And they did. All of them. All the way to the last.

Even, and especially, the DM.

This story started with Zerxus, the Redemption Paladin, and it did that for a reason. That was the theme. All the way along. Redemption. One more chance, no matter what you’ve done. One more chance. One more try. One second of hope. Even at the last.

To quote Brennan: At the end of it all, hope will return, as many times as it needs to.

This was a story of the Calamity, and they could have chosen to tell a story of hubris and despair, but they all, every single one, every single chance, chose to tell a story of hope instead.

And I am in fucking floods because of it. Fuck.

fia-bonkginya:

another calamity thought that i have like. every day. is that patia cast teleport in the finale. she cast teleport. she had that spell, she had access to it, she had the slot for it. she went off by herself and she cast teleport. and she used it to send all of her knowledge to a child who was safe, a child she trusted.

but the thing is. the thing is. she could have teleported herself. she could have so easily gone off alone, spoken to her grandfather’s statue, and left. left avalir, gone somewhere far away. do you understand. she could have left. she had the spell she had the slot. and patia por’co, instead, sent her knowledge and her memories and a small reminder of what the city once was to a girl who could make something better, and she fought and died with her friends, her family.

she could have left. and yet, i think, she always knew that she couldn’t.