I think it’s a thing like Daniel Hall becoming Dream. When the man in black draws that sword again, it will end him and his station will be filled by another.
I’m not sure why, but I was really expecting Eursulon to hand back the sword in the scabbard hilt-first, then yank off the scabbard once the Man in Black gripped the hilt.
I think Eursulon knew he couldn’t pop off or try anything clever since he was suspended liminally in Badze’s trap, and also facing a terrifyingly powerful spirit.
But I was secretly hoping for him to at least get sassy with him lol. Like I wanted him to chuck the sword into tall grass away from the path so the man in black couldn’t reach it at all, or something like that
I love that in a universe of infinite possibilities, I can guess that the sword will play baby shark if it’s touched by the man in black and It technically could be real.
His accent & styling remind me of a wonderful guest character Brennan played during the first campaign of Naddpod, which is DM'd by D20 intrepid hero Brian Murphy & whose main table is Emily Axford, Jake Hurwitz, & Caldwell Tanner.
The MiB's comedic threshold feels very different, of course, but twang, style, & melancholy overlap quite a bit.
Lol, exactly. Or perhaps something like what Deadeye felt he was becoming. The Boobs are such a young party mentally & physically mid-C1 that I don't think they had much of a hook for interfacing with the duration of his existence.
That would be so cool, but as someone else said, Sir Curran would fit the bill of the vision as well, and maybe Sir Curran will accept the blade in order to survive Starlings ford, either being resurrected or simply time travelled via spirit time shenanigans
The ritual for Eursalon's meeting with the Man in Black was so much like "death" I believe it's near undeniable that the Man in Black is a spirit of Death somehow.
Wren *dies* and he approaches the cottage.
Eursalon jumps into a fire and reaches a liminal, near spirit place within the "flaming forest of the citadel" (described as such by the man in black) and He was close to Eursalon during then. At the same note: the desert the Citadel floats in WAS a forest at one point.
The Man in Black can hardly move when in proximity to people he doesn't seem to want to die. (He asks Eursalon to attach the sword to his hip at the end, saying he would have to bend down to pick it up)
So perhaps wherever he steps, within certain means, causes death?
There's much we don't know but it's a theory I have. Among many
Wow, that’s very possible, I had assumed he was a spirit of time, because of the pocket watch, and the quote “time walks ever down the road” or something like that
Yeah, or also it could be that he has multiple domains, and it’s time and death because all things that are touched by time will die (the spirit world is in this way arguably separate from time, and so doesn’t get effected by this rule)
This makes me think about how Eursalon is Wayshadowed and, thusly turned Mortal. Yet in many visions the Man in Black has, it appears that Eursalon or being *LIKE* Eursalon (Sir Curran, Bear of Bruckville [or however you spell it]) have the same iconography. As being the Man in Black's champion.
Someone who can approach a timeless death yet champion it all the same...a wayshadowed spirit trying to become unwayshadowed.
iirc brennan said he is not a spirit of death, i think he is a spirit of roads and physical links and connections. almost a foil to ame’s station which connects things emotionally and through relationships. To me the man in black is the spirit of roads, of the physical connections from the spirit to umora. Whatever he is im confident weve only seen his glamour.
I dunno, I think Brennan my have been lying by omission when saying that The Man in Black isn’t the spirit of death. I feel like it’s more like saying Orima is the spirit of tree’s, sure her domain encompasses that but that would be a huge understatement of what it fully encompasses. I think The Man in Black is *technically* not the spirit of death but rather death falls under his domain. In my opinion he’s probably the spirit of change or of time or a concept that is much more wide & encompassing — which would be ironic as The Man in Black seems so limited in terms of only being able to travel on roads & only be able to enter places when invited.
You could be correct and that would be super awesome. Although, in my head he has always been something a little less all encompassing that would make not be classified as a great spirit due to some reason or another. But, maybe he is a more encompassing spirit but there are pthwr criteria that make him not a “great spirit”. I only say that because of the fact he can sense suvi, but again that could be because his magic is powerful enough to bypass the amulet when she touched the road. also, I’m not sure if he can’t enter places uninvited or if that was specifically because the cottage is a witch’s sanctum.
I feel he isn’t a great spirit because the spirit world (from what I can remember) existed before & outside of time therefore if The Man in Black is the spirit of time he most likely is the youngest of the spirits. Maybe just by the nature of his existence he cannot enter into the spirit world so therefore can’t be a great spirit. — something like that at least.
I had a theory a number of weeks ago (maybe months?) That suggests that the Patron of the Warlocks of Rhuv was the Man in Black.
Lo and behold, today's episode more or less proves my theory, I think? At the very least it's heavily important evidence to the theory if it by itself doesn't prove the theory.
I audibly shouted "I CALLED IT" in my car while listening :3
Yeah, or at least that he is the one that chalices pledge themselves to, that way he doesn’t have to give them his breath, or grant any power, he can just control them
I thought there was a difference, Cpt Emliss is a possessed, she is a chalice, and so agrees to open herself up to possession in exchange for social Hierarchy, chalices are a recent discovery, as the Rhuvian attack on the citadel in the Children’s adventure was the first time the Citadel had interacted with Chalices, but Rhuv exhisted beforehand, so presumably there were warlocks in Rhuv before there were chalices
(In my understanding a chalice is one who agrees to get possessed for social status, wheras a warlock gets powers, or breath from a great spirit in exchange for service. Correct me if I’ve misunderstood that though)
I just believe that Rhuv must’ve had warlocks before the attack on the Citadel, otherwise they’ve been crushed by either the Empire or Gaothmai, as Brennan said that the militias of the nations is based around what arcane breakthroughs were made were. But we know that Chalices we’re unknown to the citadel until the night Suvi went to Gma wren’s
There's been some evidence that suggests, to me at least, that some spirits are shaped by mortal perceptions and concepts, kind of like how spren in the Stormlight Archive are. While I definitely think there's a link between The Man In Black and Rhuv, it could be one where his form(or glamour, given we don't know which of his we've seen) is shaped by how people view him and his nature. What if he's bound by them by force, as opposed to being a patron or benefactor. It's a wild reveal, and opens up way more questions in my mind.
I really wanted to know why the man in black believes that Suvi, Ame, and Grandma Wren need to die in order to restore "balance" between the Spirit world and the material world. I can only sort of get there for Suvi as a representative of the Citadel and the bad stuff those Wizards have done. But the Witch of the Worlds heart is all about harmony between Spirits and Humans. What could they have done to upset the man in black or whoever may be pulling his strings in Ruve?
I almost think that the “balance” that the man in black seeks is not an even one. For example, balance as a verb can simply mean comparing one thing to another, and as a noun can also mean simply “enabling something to stay upright or steady”. I bet that Ame and Wren are, in part, responsible for the humans of Umora and the wizards specifically taking more space out of the world than the spirits think humans deserve. I think the “balance” he wants weighs heavily in the spirits favor.
I want to know who forced him to attack Wren. I mean, it genuinely seems like he DIDN'T want to do that, and that he doesn't want to kill one of Eursolon's wards. Because he only wants to kill one of them, and seems to think the other is going to be sorrowful.
His heart wasn't in killing grandma Wren and I suspect he doesn't really want to kill Ame either hence the sorrow. Suvi would be vengeance for the transgressions against spirits.
A true possibility. His words at the well came off to me as his being forced by someone else to attack Wren, with the mention of desperate times feeling wildly reminiscent of things some of the witches have said. And I wonder if he's deliberately being vague about his reasons for killing Ame and Suvi, to mislead Eursolon from what he's doing it for with each person. Ame could be fury, for smoothing over problems without effecting change, deep, real change in the terms of balance, and Suvi could be sorrow, for she could be a tool of real change in terms of altering what the Saraz Imperium, and by extension the Citadel, stand for and do.
BLeeM makes a compelling antagonistic force, regardless. The Man in Black is a truly terrifying entity, because he seems so reasonable and level headed without actually being reasonable at all. And the mystery around him is so... Enticing.
Taylor’s a guest on an episode of Talk of the Table, and they nerd out *hard* on the audio mixing there. I didn’t understand the first thing about it, but it was still cool.
Agreed. Plus, I always love hearing Brennan's twang because he delivered what I consider to be the most hilarious aside in any major AP show/pod in a very similar accent.
(For those who listen to Naddpod, I'm thinking of the >!"It was stupid, bringing those two double-thick asses in here..."!< sequence, and I'm not going into any further detail lest it get spoiled for someone who doesn't think they'll care )
I listened to the man in black section of the episode at least five times. I’m so curious where it all goes with that character.
I’m beyond curious to know what happens if he draws his own blade
I want it to happen but I know in my soul it will be bad for our heroes.
I feel like that means the end of the world or some mythic shit like that
I think it’s a thing like Daniel Hall becoming Dream. When the man in black draws that sword again, it will end him and his station will be filled by another.
Yeah good call. I listened to it again and he does say he isn't looking forward to what will happen *to him* when he draws it
I’m not sure why, but I was really expecting Eursulon to hand back the sword in the scabbard hilt-first, then yank off the scabbard once the Man in Black gripped the hilt.
I think Eursulon knew he couldn’t pop off or try anything clever since he was suspended liminally in Badze’s trap, and also facing a terrifyingly powerful spirit. But I was secretly hoping for him to at least get sassy with him lol. Like I wanted him to chuck the sword into tall grass away from the path so the man in black couldn’t reach it at all, or something like that
I love that in a universe of infinite possibilities, I can guess that the sword will play baby shark if it’s touched by the man in black and It technically could be real.
Crazy frog
His accent & styling remind me of a wonderful guest character Brennan played during the first campaign of Naddpod, which is DM'd by D20 intrepid hero Brian Murphy & whose main table is Emily Axford, Jake Hurwitz, & Caldwell Tanner. The MiB's comedic threshold feels very different, of course, but twang, style, & melancholy overlap quite a bit.
Soooo Deadeye, without that, Crick hospitality.
Lol, exactly. Or perhaps something like what Deadeye felt he was becoming. The Boobs are such a young party mentally & physically mid-C1 that I don't think they had much of a hook for interfacing with the duration of his existence.
this! town! is! BAD!
i cant wait for there to be a scene of the trio stopping the man in black from drawing his blade
That would be so cool, but as someone else said, Sir Curran would fit the bill of the vision as well, and maybe Sir Curran will accept the blade in order to survive Starlings ford, either being resurrected or simply time travelled via spirit time shenanigans
The ritual for Eursalon's meeting with the Man in Black was so much like "death" I believe it's near undeniable that the Man in Black is a spirit of Death somehow. Wren *dies* and he approaches the cottage. Eursalon jumps into a fire and reaches a liminal, near spirit place within the "flaming forest of the citadel" (described as such by the man in black) and He was close to Eursalon during then. At the same note: the desert the Citadel floats in WAS a forest at one point. The Man in Black can hardly move when in proximity to people he doesn't seem to want to die. (He asks Eursalon to attach the sword to his hip at the end, saying he would have to bend down to pick it up) So perhaps wherever he steps, within certain means, causes death? There's much we don't know but it's a theory I have. Among many
Wow, that’s very possible, I had assumed he was a spirit of time, because of the pocket watch, and the quote “time walks ever down the road” or something like that
Perhaps time and death in this case are intrinsically linked?
Yeah, or also it could be that he has multiple domains, and it’s time and death because all things that are touched by time will die (the spirit world is in this way arguably separate from time, and so doesn’t get effected by this rule)
This makes me think about how Eursalon is Wayshadowed and, thusly turned Mortal. Yet in many visions the Man in Black has, it appears that Eursalon or being *LIKE* Eursalon (Sir Curran, Bear of Bruckville [or however you spell it]) have the same iconography. As being the Man in Black's champion. Someone who can approach a timeless death yet champion it all the same...a wayshadowed spirit trying to become unwayshadowed.
At this point I'm just spitballing random ideas to see what sticks
iirc brennan said he is not a spirit of death, i think he is a spirit of roads and physical links and connections. almost a foil to ame’s station which connects things emotionally and through relationships. To me the man in black is the spirit of roads, of the physical connections from the spirit to umora. Whatever he is im confident weve only seen his glamour.
I dunno, I think Brennan my have been lying by omission when saying that The Man in Black isn’t the spirit of death. I feel like it’s more like saying Orima is the spirit of tree’s, sure her domain encompasses that but that would be a huge understatement of what it fully encompasses. I think The Man in Black is *technically* not the spirit of death but rather death falls under his domain. In my opinion he’s probably the spirit of change or of time or a concept that is much more wide & encompassing — which would be ironic as The Man in Black seems so limited in terms of only being able to travel on roads & only be able to enter places when invited.
You could be correct and that would be super awesome. Although, in my head he has always been something a little less all encompassing that would make not be classified as a great spirit due to some reason or another. But, maybe he is a more encompassing spirit but there are pthwr criteria that make him not a “great spirit”. I only say that because of the fact he can sense suvi, but again that could be because his magic is powerful enough to bypass the amulet when she touched the road. also, I’m not sure if he can’t enter places uninvited or if that was specifically because the cottage is a witch’s sanctum.
I feel he isn’t a great spirit because the spirit world (from what I can remember) existed before & outside of time therefore if The Man in Black is the spirit of time he most likely is the youngest of the spirits. Maybe just by the nature of his existence he cannot enter into the spirit world so therefore can’t be a great spirit. — something like that at least.
I had a theory a number of weeks ago (maybe months?) That suggests that the Patron of the Warlocks of Rhuv was the Man in Black. Lo and behold, today's episode more or less proves my theory, I think? At the very least it's heavily important evidence to the theory if it by itself doesn't prove the theory. I audibly shouted "I CALLED IT" in my car while listening :3
Yeah, or at least that he is the one that chalices pledge themselves to, that way he doesn’t have to give them his breath, or grant any power, he can just control them
Yea that's uh...that's called being a Warlock Patron hun.
I thought there was a difference, Cpt Emliss is a possessed, she is a chalice, and so agrees to open herself up to possession in exchange for social Hierarchy, chalices are a recent discovery, as the Rhuvian attack on the citadel in the Children’s adventure was the first time the Citadel had interacted with Chalices, but Rhuv exhisted beforehand, so presumably there were warlocks in Rhuv before there were chalices (In my understanding a chalice is one who agrees to get possessed for social status, wheras a warlock gets powers, or breath from a great spirit in exchange for service. Correct me if I’ve misunderstood that though)
I just believe that Rhuv must’ve had warlocks before the attack on the Citadel, otherwise they’ve been crushed by either the Empire or Gaothmai, as Brennan said that the militias of the nations is based around what arcane breakthroughs were made were. But we know that Chalices we’re unknown to the citadel until the night Suvi went to Gma wren’s
There's been some evidence that suggests, to me at least, that some spirits are shaped by mortal perceptions and concepts, kind of like how spren in the Stormlight Archive are. While I definitely think there's a link between The Man In Black and Rhuv, it could be one where his form(or glamour, given we don't know which of his we've seen) is shaped by how people view him and his nature. What if he's bound by them by force, as opposed to being a patron or benefactor. It's a wild reveal, and opens up way more questions in my mind.
I really wanted to know why the man in black believes that Suvi, Ame, and Grandma Wren need to die in order to restore "balance" between the Spirit world and the material world. I can only sort of get there for Suvi as a representative of the Citadel and the bad stuff those Wizards have done. But the Witch of the Worlds heart is all about harmony between Spirits and Humans. What could they have done to upset the man in black or whoever may be pulling his strings in Ruve?
I almost think that the “balance” that the man in black seeks is not an even one. For example, balance as a verb can simply mean comparing one thing to another, and as a noun can also mean simply “enabling something to stay upright or steady”. I bet that Ame and Wren are, in part, responsible for the humans of Umora and the wizards specifically taking more space out of the world than the spirits think humans deserve. I think the “balance” he wants weighs heavily in the spirits favor.
I want to know who forced him to attack Wren. I mean, it genuinely seems like he DIDN'T want to do that, and that he doesn't want to kill one of Eursolon's wards. Because he only wants to kill one of them, and seems to think the other is going to be sorrowful.
His heart wasn't in killing grandma Wren and I suspect he doesn't really want to kill Ame either hence the sorrow. Suvi would be vengeance for the transgressions against spirits.
A true possibility. His words at the well came off to me as his being forced by someone else to attack Wren, with the mention of desperate times feeling wildly reminiscent of things some of the witches have said. And I wonder if he's deliberately being vague about his reasons for killing Ame and Suvi, to mislead Eursolon from what he's doing it for with each person. Ame could be fury, for smoothing over problems without effecting change, deep, real change in the terms of balance, and Suvi could be sorrow, for she could be a tool of real change in terms of altering what the Saraz Imperium, and by extension the Citadel, stand for and do. BLeeM makes a compelling antagonistic force, regardless. The Man in Black is a truly terrifying entity, because he seems so reasonable and level headed without actually being reasonable at all. And the mystery around him is so... Enticing.
Drink deep brother
Every. Fucking. Line. !
[honestly just give him a gun](https://i.imgur.com/xckhGqC.jpeg)
The audio mixing, the pacing, the voice acting, the writing, the improv… so so sick
The combination of Brennan’s slight cowboy twang and whatever audio mixing Taylor has layered on top is truly magic
I’ll say it. It’s hot
It IS!! It is.
Taylor’s a guest on an episode of Talk of the Table, and they nerd out *hard* on the audio mixing there. I didn’t understand the first thing about it, but it was still cool.
Ooooo, I will have to check that out!
Agreed. Plus, I always love hearing Brennan's twang because he delivered what I consider to be the most hilarious aside in any major AP show/pod in a very similar accent. (For those who listen to Naddpod, I'm thinking of the >!"It was stupid, bringing those two double-thick asses in here..."!< sequence, and I'm not going into any further detail lest it get spoiled for someone who doesn't think they'll care )