Post by toushirokuro on Dec 2, 2017 16:34:56 GMT -6
I expressed in the discord #dicefunkbox chat that I had complex feelings about Rolen as a character, and I wanted to express those thoughts while the third season was still fresh on people's minds as it draws to a close in a more concrete form than just trying to make a length post there. Thus I figured that making a post within the subforum dedicated to the season was most pertinent place to do so where it could be unobtrusive and appropriately placed.
Please read this section here before opening the spoiler and then again after reading it. Let me first say that I've placed this section here intentionally desiring to stress it to emphasize my intentions. I like Rolen, but I didn't at first and it took me a long while of thinking to suss out what was holding me back from liking him and why I was having such a hard time. I like Rolen, just not for what I have been perceiving other people might like him for (If my reading of people's response hasn't been misguided) and just wanted to say that what I felt is (might be) an alternate character interpretation is useful and interesting. I can only hope that this provokes some thought and interest into shifting viewpoints and exploring ideas and characters from multiple angles. I like Rolen, but it took me until my second listen through of the second half of the season to try and be critical of what I was listening to. It has to be noted that I feel I should be critical of the things I love, because I love the podcast, and that criticism and reflection on something does not make that thing worse. I can only hope to make it better for myself and those that would hear me.
{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{My Thoughts and feelings}
Ilium is a story of three women and the man closest to them and how his influence splits and divides them against each other.
I'm going to try and break this down into as many cogent sections as I can and hope that I don't become too rambling in the process.
Rolen
Rolen Hawklight is a Justiciar of The Triad; Tyr, Ilmater, & Torm a trio of male deities. Rolen is raised by Esard Bradun (female) and Tane Hamor (male), what could be considered a heteronormative pair of partners. Paladins and Justiciars are the followers that take acts on behalf of The Triad, as referenced via common D&D understanding. Amidst the named characters present from Rolen's background and Rolen himself, the known Paladins are Rolen and Gylan, both male. Another named characters on the show from Rolen's background Mara is a cleric of The Triad, of Vow of Peace, read inaction, is female. The final example of a character of Rolen's background on the show, Warder is noted for being a stronger Cleric than a Paladin (Episode 17, 7m40s) is unclear as he is both a Paladin and a Cleric (though of unknown domain) this does not necessarily break with the observable trend. See Subnote 1 as why Taramie Asseas does not break with this trend, though there is not establishing evidence concerning her status outside of race, gender and name. Rolen's status is changed when he openly challenges authority from Gylan, an action he takes rather than inaction. His action however is not something by which he finds he has done wrong, it's the system he's placed in. Against what is established Rolen asserts via action his own will.
Though certain elements from Rolen's backstory align into this male action centered sense of authority such as Rolen's advising against Stellarosa joining the Order, and taking it "upon himself to try and act as a bastion of law, justice, and empathy towards the denizens of this strange town", these may not be pertinent to the argument, see Subnote 1. Rolen takes the artifact "The First Frost" and bears it as burden in an action described as 'Big Dick'-ing it, again tying his actions to gender. This although may have been an outcome of the game's statistics, is still what occurs in the text and meta-text intentionally or unintentionally. He takes this responsibility away from Veltari and the option away from Dora, both female. From these actions and conjectures it can be postulated that Rolen (either consciously but unspoken or unconsciously) holds a hetero-normative viewpoint where the male gender takes action whereas the female gender does not.
Winnifred is a male Flumph, that acts as a secretary for the player characters' organization. Flumphs in common D&D understanding are Lawful Good creatures and this is not contradicted by the text of the show, if not reinforced (citation needed). Winnie's role as organizer of the group solidifies the intended direction of the party as many interactions with the setting outside of the headquarters comes through him. Winnie appears to have the strongest relationship with Rolen among the initial group considering both Winnifred's initial trust of Rolen to deal with a distressing situation of asking Bumbershoot a difficult question about preferred blood type (Episode 2 or 3, exact reference needed), and his assertion about Rolen's Vibes (Episode 25, specific citation needed). Secondarily, this Vibes preference also sits uneasy as Bumbershoot's Vibes are "bad" (an only confirmed homosexual re: Lord Danto) Dora's Vibes are "spooky/weird" (a confirmed pan/bisexual polyamorist) while Rolen has "Good" vibes (As of yet unconfirmed, but prior postulation sets him up to be an assumed heterosexual). Winnifred's presence sets up a secondary ally within the organization and interactions with him reverberate through the other characters as well.
Subnote 1: Though the relationship of whether or not a character's backstory and its relationship to a D&D game or audio format podcast thereof can be correlated to the relationship of book's source material to a stage or film production of the story is nebulous.This effect may possibly be exacerbated by the fact that a player has the most intimate knowledge of the character they're playing and short of the writer/screenwriter/director & actor being the original author of an adapted text, there is no way said adapter has the depth and breadth of knowledge as a player does to their character. The effects and meanings of D&D player to table has probably been observed and there's probably more to it, but further detail is unsubstantial to this discussion. However if the comparison can be made that; character backstory:D&D Game :: Book Version:Film Version, then it stands to reason that shown backstory should not factor into thoughts concerning the text of the story of the game, but I find it may be important to keep it in mind for purposes of examining the meta-text influence on the text.
Meta-Text
Skitch as a player provided a well fleshed out, though not too detailed account of his character, not only to Austin, The DM, but to the audience as a whole via the forum. It behooves a dungeon master to utilize provided background material not only to give further engagement and involvement to the player (and by extension the audience who has read it in this case) but to ease the burden of continuous building within the game itself. Given it's shown so much, his backstory has also had a significant influence on what is shown/said on the show. Skitch is also (probably) the most vocal player on the show, both responding to a majority of inquiries on the forum itself when he can and spending time on the discord chat conversing with the audience on a regular basis. Both of these things have given Skitch more "soft power" within the fandom which seems to have also had some meta-text influence in the game, as I hope I can display in the later following sections.
Zoey
Zoey Legrande is at the start of the story the most recent new resident of Ilium. Though she is older than she initially appears, she is still the youngest player character and much of her arc revolves around how she will find and define herself, so Ilium is very much a story of her growth and maturing. How she matures is dictated by those around her that she interacts with, and where she draws her motivation and power shifts throughout the story. With her appearance and the initial arrangement of the player characters, the comparisons to Rolen being a father figure and Zoey being a daughter figure were not only apparent within the audience but also in the text itself. Rolen is the first player character Zoey meets in town as he takes marked notice of the people observing her entrance. His initial use of Dragon chess ingrains in Zoey the desire to attempt to interact with him by doing so again, going to his level at disadvantage (her negative Intelligence modifier to his near maximum) rather than remaining where she may have a more even footing in dialogue. Rolen insists on protecting Zoey from an alternate version of herself (Claire) standing alongside perceived rivals/enemies (the Rocs), metaphorically imposing himself between her and her own impulses and interests. When Rolen attempts to calm and aid the second Zoey (Claire), she instead leaves with Lady Nim, in pursuit of more power (which she eventually obtains in spades) leaving Zoey contemplating her own choices of companionship. Later on Rolen expresses disapproval of Zoey's acquisition of power from Ghaunadaur, though Zoey herself is not reticent of this it is in front of both Dora and Claire (read: another instance of Zoey).
Though Zoey initially enjoys the more stable power provided by Ghaunadaur than her prior magics her opinion of this power comes into more of a steadied reluctance to a new unsettling part of her existence from the death of Nim (Which she is ultimately blamed for whether justly or not) (Rolen even continues to attempt to protect Zoey throwing himself in front of Lady Nim's tutelary spirit during their altercation). This power however is replaced by a gathering of deities, including The Triad, but only directly after asserting her intentions to maintain the barrier which fall in line with Rolen's and Warden Light's, both representatives of The Triad in Ilium. (Noted that this is due to a random meta-textual mechanic, but said random instance still played a role in the text and this underlying theme.) After this point it is clear that Zoey has cast her lot in with both Rolen (and The Triad by extension), convincing her clone/sister/metaphorical other side and attempt to maintain the barrier in opposition to her initial goal, and still attempting to turn Dora to the side of maintaining the standing barrier. Even once The Spine has been destroyed and Guilt dispersed, Zoey pulls into a final step of resembling Rolen by telling Dora "I should never have placed that ultimatum upon you" (Episode 32 52m48s) by leaning into an indirect approach as Dora is already aware of from prior experience with Rolen. Even when Rolen returns to Ilium with Zoey as Mayor he attempts to shape things towards his position by offering to pen the new laws of the town, though Zoey is content to ignore this while still aiding in the search to return Warden Light from the Shattered Mirror Prison. By way of influence from people within the barrier Zoey's goals go from 'I'm going to prove myself better than what I'm told I am' to 'I intend to remain where I am, work with what I have, and maintain a status quo'. Whether this can be said to be for the greater good of more people is debatable, but the town of Ilium would undoubtedly benefit from some form of structure rather than none. Whether it is Zoey's responsibility to give up what she desired (or be convinced to) for the greater good is a more dense topic that deserves examination against another example, See below concerning The Warden and his daughter. Her guilt extends from not having achieved more with her life and not having more control of herself and her abilities, or at least one can extrapolate, as she never traverses into a mirror to rid herself of her guilt.
Claire-Elise Legrande is originally an effect of Wild Magic from Zoey, creating a copy of herself in her current form from her jealousy (specific citation required). Claire begins actively antagonistic by attacking Zoey and then passively so after allying herself with The Lillie's, named for a noted in text yonic symbol for a secondary layer of meaning, and Lady Nim. Then she manipulates Zoey into allowing Claire to seize power over the organization she had been working within. Without Zoey's situation to hamper her, Claire does more for herself than Zoey manages to get accomplished in the same timespan. Her agreeing to help keep the barrier up alongside Zoey stands to reason that Claire has the same sense of theatricality as Zoey but also stands to show that she doesn't fully trust in the methods that got her to where she was, adopting Zoey's ideals in place of her own. This is made more apparent when Stellarosa-Magnificente Legrande enters Ilium proper and Claire and Stella have what is described as "The Saddest Slap-Fight in the History of Mankind" (Episode 36 3m00s) that Claire hasn't gotten over her inner seated jealousy of their sister. Having wended her own way to where she was had not up seated her problems but her lack of magical volatility translated into an attitude and action volatility. Zoey perhaps realizes her own shortcomings by seeing them in Claire when offered the touch of Ghaunadaur, imposing herself rather than allow Claire to do it. Zoey in this action prevents her metaphorical self and wants and desires from growing out of control by taking the corrupting tentacle. Even Winnifred is at least somewhat complicit in shaping Zoey's outlook, referring back to his comments concerning The Avant Guards Vibes, He comments to Zoey that Dora's vibes are spooky/weird (Episode 25, specific citation needed) possibly because at this point Zoey still has her power from Ghaunadaur, and can't risk upsetting her about people she seems to be in league with now. This wouldn't necessarily be a lie for Winnifred a noted in text Lawful Good being, but it does behoove him not to allow himself to agitate a thus far as seen wild card of a person.
It stands to reason that a comparison of A father figure and daughter figure be compared to other examples in the text. Warden Light is an angel who lives in the tower called "The Sacrum" acting as a single guard of the panopticon that is Ilium. Grace Rosemary is the daughter of Warden Light and his departed husband Lucas Rosemary. The text states that Lucas was previously the person creating the mirrors that Warden Light places the criminals of Ilium in, however this has not fallen to being Grace's job. Both Light and Grace act in passive aspects in the enforcement of Justice in Ilium, requesting criminals be brought in and crafting the mirrors in which they are imprisoned respectively. Leaving the prisoners to work through their own problems rather than directly intervening in attempts to reform is definitely very passive but does he intend for them to be reformed? From the one instance of Light imprisoning someone (Bumbershoot) he does not appear to give clear instruction as to the punishment about to be endured . Also there are mirrors positioned high up into the tower, such that if someone were to suss out what they needed to know and perform it, they run the risk of falling to their deaths/severe injury (as Veltari was at risk when extricating Mardis). All this shows is that either Light is truthfully indifferent to his prisoners, or has genuine malice for their committal of crimes.
Light's form of guarding/reforming crooks is very passive while his guarding of his daughter is very over-protective and active. Light keeps Grace locked up in the top of the Sacrum, though she notes that she routinely sneaks out, to see the town and obtain her tutelary spirit (She says as much in Episode 24, specific citation needed) At which point Rolen had convinced Zoey to remain outside the mirror of Mardis for reasons unclear but doing so prevents her from meeting a young man unintentionally. He continually interrupts her attempts to justify her desires in front of The Avant Guards showing this is probably a common occurrence (Episode 23, specific citation needed). Grace sneaks out of the tower to convene with Dora to plan to obtain some form of freedom but doesn't want to abandon her father though ultimately plots against him (Episode 28, specific citation needed). And direct consequences of felling the tower were said to include Warden Light becoming hostile to the party which does it, for effectively removing a symbol of his patriarchal control of his daughter (Episode 25, specific citation needed). All of this seems relatively over kill as Grace may be a child by Light's standards, but she's said she's almost 50 (citation required) and being a gnome Aasimar this should put her within the adult lifespan range. Now keep in mind that though Grace may be naive but this is more likely stemming from a lack of worldly experience rather than biological underdevelopment. More than likely this over-protection stems from Light believing that if Grace were to move about the streets of Ilium, he would have to become more active in his guarding of her from danger and possibly become a tyrant to the people of the town which would not be justice, so it is better to keep her locked within the tower. This reasoning however would be fallacious under an argument from consequences, however Light must ultimately know that he is failing at his job.
There had to come a point where in after she showed her Tutelary Spirit Light must realize that Grace had been leaving the tower and he probably confronts her about this, then it must happen again as she leaves from the tower to conspire with Dora later. He both fails to reform his prisoners and keep his daughter safe to the degree he desires but this is where Light and Rolen differ. On more than just certain morals of philosophy Light aggressively polices and mandates his daughter's actions, whereas Rolen subtly and softly influences his coworkers. Whether or not it is right for Zoey to change her values to better service the greater good is comparable to Grace's working with what she's got (Life with her angel dad), staying where she is (The Sacrum) and maintaining the status quo (forging the mirrors for Light's prisons). In a prior post I made, I drew similarities between Light in Dice Funk and Lucifer in common perception. I don't know whether or not further investigation down this is needed or relevant, but I will not go into it for now.
Meta-Text
Chris was the most recent player to join the Dice Funk Players at the start of the campaign, however he had played previously in games with Skitch (Episode 1 06m20s). When he joined the game his backstory was some what bare of detail but had motivation and backing characters and those backing characters were expanded upon as the campaign progressed with glimpses of Stellarosa outside of Ilium. There was a clear linking of Chris and Skitch's characters from the outset with their prior existing relationship and their meta-text prior knowledge of each other's play style.
Veltari
Veltari is a Tiefling Bard who begins working for an antagonist but comes to the side of the protagonists. It can be said that Veltari alters her goals to match those of someone who can keep her safe. Having been a survivor of abandonment, she has become sufficient by working in service of others who can help her ensure her safety. Whether that's a conscious unspoken decision is up for debate but it's shown through the text starting with being an agent of Danto then aiding Rolen/Light to escape her current situation. Veltari comes into the story proper at Episode 10 intent to find Bumbershoot von Victrola on orders of then Count Danto. However by this point Bumbershoot has already been imprisoned within a mirror under Warden Light's "supervision". Accordingly Veltari takes steps to attempt to retrieve Bumbershoot then attempts to follow up by preparing to assassinate Warden Light. However it's said by Austin that Attempting to traverse into the mirror which holds Bumbershoot is the end of the character attempting this, and that's for a clear meta-text reason of Leon no longer being on the show. It's also illustrated within the text that Removing Light and by proxy the barrier would be a task surmounted by challenging Warden Light, and by extension Grace, Rolen and by extension Winnifred, two of whom have provided shelter if though temporary in Ilium to Veltari, and one of whom is said by meta-text to be a challenge powerful enough for the whole party to need to confront. Before finding there is some other method to obtain freedom via examining her guilt she's taking all available methods of attempting to gain an edge, ensuring she would remember Grace's existence after having her memories altered via the magic mouth spell (Episode 24, specific citation needed).
After finding out a method prior unknown to leave she sloughs off her prior plans that she had been making with Carrie (Who she had previously japed with about killing Rolen in Episode 20, specific citation required), alters her alignment out of the evil range, And changes her outlook on guilt (more about which further down). Presented with an impossible task and cut off from any outside aid, Veltari the abandonment survivor changes herself to continue her own survival in the same vein she had been using prior rather than assert herself on the opposed side and run the more clear risk of dying. She survives the one way she knows how and changes to meet to power dynamic where she is. And that change works for her. Whether or not ROlen's gifting to Veltari his prized sword from his caregivers may not necessarily break with the assertion of a male action centered viewpoint because she is not a part of his Paladin Order nor a part of his Religious organization as a follower of The Triad. When she jokes about having conned Rolen as they leave Ilium (Episode 29 49m50s) it's not too far fetched to think that might be a subconscious fact. When Veltari tells Lord Danto in their conflict that he would have had her killed if she hadn't obeyed and acquiesced to him, but it's not hard to see how that could also be how she views Rolen, save the fact that Danto's evil makes him more prone to problematic changes, while Rolen being good makes him more predictable and stable to attempt to survive with (I draw this conclusion from a line Lauren as Dora gives in Episode 19 that I expound more upon in Dora's section).
Bumbershoot only ends up existing as a plot point for a new Player character and a background character (As we only see Alice when her actions relate to The Avant Guards)and ends up effectively dead. After changing her motives and alignment she has one final meeting/date with her love interest Carrie and then the two don't interact again, Carrie having left once her arrangement with Dora panned out. Veltari says she doesn't want to piss of Carrie (specific citation needed) but is likely more fearful of Rolen and Light than she is willing to be with Carrie. Her relationship to Wulf is altered to fall more in line with the ideals that Rolen might hold (he even goes as far as to tell Veltari that her notion that a gesture of giving Wulf a new pendant instead of the old one is better than trying to have given him the old one if she could) and he no longer benefits her, only Zoey during their conflict with Dora. In a way Rolen's influence on both Zoey and Veltari helped bring Wulf to their side tangentially rather than directly as he could have (Given the narrator/DM stating that Wulf has an attraction to Rolen) See Subnote 2. In Episode 23 (specific citation needed) Rolen becomes vocally combative about Veltari joking about killing Winnifred, causing her to back down and backpedal into safety, and just after which Dora throws Veltari into the line of fire from Rolen about her plans. Rolen notedly doesn't attempt a direct stopping of Veltari's plans with regards to Warden Light because he's only just learned of it and as stated before doesn't act directly.
Veltari's Guilt stems from her abandonment as a child and her actions that killed people but she doesn't begin this way. Veltari comes in similar to Dora in that she does not view her actions as deserving of guilt and acts in accordance to her own wishes. Her change in goals & alignment also change her views on guilt, but it could be that she is using the perception of guilt to work to her own motives; survival. In essence what do the Forms have essence in? They exist outside of the Great Wheel of Existence, but what if a concept reached a plane where they didn't already exist, e.g. Guilt where such a concept has never been before? Do they create that concept by interaction with the objects or entities of that world? Or do the objects and entities of that world not interact it at all? It's shown that in Season 2's finale a world where Sacrifice never existed the world itself with wholly unrecognizable. If the Forms only exist in places where they've been before it means that the entities of that place have knowledge of how it works or should work. Whether or not entities of a place can influence what a Form is and does through history and mental context may be present in the scenes of Rolen and Veltari dealing with the guilt, as Rolen's guilty hangups all extend out of situations wherein he was made to be in the wrong by others that he saw as the right thing to do and Veltari's guilt lie on both situations not in her control and actions she took of her own volition. This is all to say that Laura jokingly as Veltari claiming she tricked guilt (Episode 29 50m 09s) also might not be too far a field of what's going on.
Subnote 2: Dice Funk over the course of it's run has had an odd trope that I ended up noticing during this season. At near the midpoint of the season there is a betrayal of some player character, by another character. In Episode 19 of Season 1 Rinaldo Kills Jayne after she attempts to sell him into slavery at the bawdy house they're in (for a double dose of this), and then in Episode 17 of Season 2 Sheriff Kay tosses Drop off the Violet 1 Leaving him to die. I didn't actually notice this until after I had listened to Episode 19 of Season 3. At the assumed midpoint there is a point where Veltari wants acknowledgement that Rolen owes her for how she helped him, however Rolen instead chastises her saying he owes her nothing (Episode 19 1hr19m45s). At this point Rolen is very weakened from his self-imposed trial of bearing The First Frost across Ilium, and I thought Veltari would take the chance to attempt to force what she needed from him as it was only her, Rolen and Dora present outside the Sacrum. However she doesn't and instead attempts to influence Wulf to be closer to her as an ally.
Meta-Text
Laura entered the game after the start and became the newest addition to The Dice Funk Players supplanting Chris from that role and came on the heels of the other longest term player leaving. She also came in as the then only Evil aligned Player character replacing Bumbershoot in that role. Coming in in this fashion wasn't helped by the fact that enough of the audience was concerned whether her alignment matched her actions that this grievance made it to air prior to her changing of alignment and whether or not that was fair or not or just "tainting the jury pool" (that's the closest phrase I have to describe the phenomenon) remains to be seen. What did occur though whether intentional or not was 'the more toward the side of the character of the player with the most soft power to the audience Laura's character got, the more popular she seemed to become'. Whether cause and effect or not, how the meta text the text and the audience interact is interesting to note if only at a glance.
Dora
Theodora "Dora" is a Nixie Warlock of Ghaunadaur that becomes the main antagonist of the story of Ilium. Dora stands as a rejection of guilt. It's not established whether or not Ghaunadaur is a younger deity or newer the godhood then The Triad in the text, however it is known that Ghaunadaur's presence to Dora is a more recent development in her life. Given the established time stream of the Feywild where Dora originates from is nebulous at best (specific citation needed), but that both the Lucas name remains extant in the world at large, and Ehlonna Industries being still extant brand of Veltari's guitar (Episode 10 1hr22m15s) displays that is likely not thousands of years past the events of Season 2 where Dora makes her first appearance and that Dora has been noted as being thousands of years old (specific citation needed). Theodora constantly does things that are in her own interests and in Ghaunadaur's interests as well. She follows words of instruction from him and has brief conversations with him as well. Her working status alongside Rolen is fraught with an oppressive undertone. Rolen likely sees Dora as an extension of the chaotic forces in existence around him that he tries to waylay and work against, while Dora likely sees Rolen as an extension of the strict nature of dogmatically enforced laws. Given Rolen's association with The Triad and Light's association with The Triad (Dora having been there the longest she undoubtedly has a shade of him arriving being an extension of Light's desires) it's not a wonder the interactions the two of them have are rather flippant and on the verge of conflict.
Ghaunadaur having given Dora the form of companionship she desired tacks her to stray away from an establishment of prior power structures and her interactions with Warden Light reflect this as well. Dora is never shown to be lying to Warden Light, either knowing his ability to discern lies and/or not wishing to walk herself into a trap, but their interactions are constantly tense no doubt due to both neither looking past the other's outward presentation. Light shuts down Dora vocally and adamantly when the group entered Light's home though she was probably the person who had done the least as she had not destroyed the door to the staircase, nor was she the one to attempt to dispel his altered memories, though neither Zoey or Rolen seem to have the nadir of Light's ire. Rolen states that he finds Not just Ghaunadaur, but also Dora to blame for all that's gone on 87.5% to quote (Episode 25 specific citation needed) but no matter who between the pair of Light and Rolen blame her she seems to cast it aside as irrelevant.
There is one point wherein Dora does something majorly telling of her opinion of Rolen. In Episode 19 at 1hr13m30s Dora backs up Rolen for selfish purposes and Dora sends a mental Message to Veltari saying "Hey he needs this, and let's let him have this, that way he doesn't murder us". That Dora says this Veltari could be one of 2 possibilities. One; she realizes Veltari's innate need to adapt to survive and is looking out for her, which is less likely. Or Two; Dora is afraid of Rolen. Dora is purported to be "always at considerable confidence" (Episode 26 specific citation needed), she fords into a poly-amorous relationship with people she's interested in, she rebukes Rolen when he's mad at Zoey and Dora, she rebukes Light when he's being hypocritical in holding The Avant Guards captive, she tells off Mardis to think about things from someone else's perspective, she kills Garic without thinking twice, she waltzes right up to a mind-flayer's home without backing, Tells off Warden Light during their fight in the tower of The Sacrum, Negotiates without doubt with an Archdevil, and almost gleefully destroys The Sphere without care to its consequences, so why is she scared of Rolen? Because she knows that Rolen wields his intentions and power softly, possibly akin to the civilization near her in the past in The Feywild. Ghaunadaur is noted as being akin to an abusive boyfriend to Dora, but it's not too far to make the leap that Rolen could be viewed as an abusive father figure. He blames Dora for the things she does though she rejects this blame, he attempts more care with Zoey and to make her more like him. It's not the kind of "I'm going to threaten the things you love directly" kind of abuse one could apply to Ghaunadaur, but similar to the "I'm going to make your mental state taxed and social contacts reject you indirectly" kind of abuse Rolen represents. Dora learns the lesson from Bumbershoot's mistakes and internalizes it.
Lady Nim dies in the altercation that takes place between her, Zoey and Rolen, where Claire and Veltari take minor part in setting things up, as Dora views from afar. When Zariel asks for who murdered Nim, Dora decides consciously not to blame Ghaunadaur, and seemingly unconsciously not blame Rolen. Rolen is the one who struck the killing blows to Nim's Tutelary spirit though Zoey's shark escapade is all that gets mentioned. Given that if Nim had simply died her spirit would have returned to the Layer of Hell she was supposed to return to once the barrier went down, it is more Ghaunadaur's fault for Nim's absence. In a way, Dora's fear of Rolen plays as big a factor for why the group ends up in Carcerai in Episode 37 as DOra, Gahanadaur, Zoey and Ogma, because if Dora fears having Rolen continue to be involved directly she chooses not to blame him or the other abusive male figure in her life, her god.
Dora enters a relationship with The Rocs and attempts to live happily alongside them wanting to provide for them as companionship that she received from Ghaunadaur. Over the course of the season she builds this relationship with them the best she can, however it is interrupted by Zoey who by this point is strongly under Rolen's influence while he is preparing to leave and Zoey intends to keep the barrier in place. Her sister Claire provides for them a polymorphing spell so the Robin can be solid once more and Zoey provides the polymorphing mask of Asriel's creation. They're right to be suspicious because the act of her doing this is more than likely the act that brought them to attempt to rescue her in the altercation between her Asirel and Dora. Zoey (like Rolen) used soft influence to aid to dissolving Dora's relationship and pushed her further away from people she cared about. Dora seems to not wish to hurt Winnifred by leaving as peacefully as possible and probably believes he wants to escape Ilium and return to his home, though feelings from Winnifred's side may be shaky as discussed prior.
Dora aligns herself with Asriel after she informs him on Ghaunadaur's behalf that "War is Coming".However by the point Dora can reach Asriel he has altered from his previous philosophical aligning to her. While imprisoned he felt no guilt for his actions until Rolen and Veltari induce him to the concept. He leaves the mirror prison and seems to move on with his life sustained on the brains of small animals (EPisode 20 specific citation needed) no longer killing humanoids or entities he could have qualms about killing. Dora comes to him and he allies with her and Ghaunadaur not wanting to invite the ire of an abomination God, but he mentions that the two of them aren't friends and are only allies temporarily until they win (Episode 30? citation required). When confronted by Claire and Robin he begs for his innocence only for the two of them to slay him while he has essentially become a helpless animal. He reneges on his acknowledgement of guilt and the story punishes him for it.
Dora cannot be guilted because she rejects it as a concept. Garic attempts to assert to The Avant Guards that they will kill him by depriving him of the mask and Dora without a second thought kills him without ambiguity. Her interactions with The Stalker display this as well, not understanding why it desires to kill her and ignoring it when it makes a last ditch attack on her before she bursts The Sphere. Her and Ghaunadaur's actions don't carry the weight of guilt to her and she's never shown to apologize for her own actions, perhaps their outcomes but not what she's done. Though she wishes to keep the barrier in place for those who need it, she desires to have the original removed. She respects the outcomes of the establishment of guilt, but doesn't care for it's initial purpose. That the one person who doesn't accept the ideal that has formed around her and restricting her would be the one to bring it down is most appropriate.
Subnote 3: I want to at least make it clear to clarify any bias I might have. I like Dora, I'm pretty certain she's my favorite character up before the last episode, which as of this writing I have not heard. I like her because her actions are comical and interesting and It's hard to have a character that rejects whole concepts in opposition to the party they play in and not end up with a character that is a total terrible person. I've liked her from the outset, and this re-examination of her alongside Rolen hasn't shaken that from me.
Meta-Text
Lauren is another returning player from the previous season, but the backstory for Dora told to the audience is sparse especially for a character that was introduced in the prior season. The only things known about Dora's character initially are she's a trickster and follower of Ghaunadaur with The Stalker's reveal seeming to come as a surprise to both the player and the character. It's been said about the previous season of Dice Funk that it ended in a Total Party Kill because of Lauren's choice. While I can certainly see and agree partially with that idea it must have placed a large amount of pressure on Lauren while playing her character this season and as it's turned out may end up that her actions as Dora cause the deaths of the player characters. Only time will tell once the final episode of the season is posted tomorrow.
Conclusion
The way Rolen interacts with the other Three Main Player Characters dictated the standings and outcomes of their conflicts.
All of this is to say that I hope I've just scratched the surface of feasible meanings in the Season. The characters are more complex than I feel they've been noted for, and are played remarkably because imagining someone not as talented at conveying the story as the players and DMs might have painted them all in a very negative light.
I say all of this to try and get out what I've been thinking and feeling, not to be incendiary or accusatory.
In closing concerning Rolen, he plays Dragon chess and plays it well for a reason. He doesn't rush in, he waits for follies of his opponent, and baits trappings to work to his advantage.
Ilium is a story of three women and the man closest to them and how his influence splits and divides them against each other.
I'm going to try and break this down into as many cogent sections as I can and hope that I don't become too rambling in the process.
Rolen
Rolen Hawklight is a Justiciar of The Triad; Tyr, Ilmater, & Torm a trio of male deities. Rolen is raised by Esard Bradun (female) and Tane Hamor (male), what could be considered a heteronormative pair of partners. Paladins and Justiciars are the followers that take acts on behalf of The Triad, as referenced via common D&D understanding. Amidst the named characters present from Rolen's background and Rolen himself, the known Paladins are Rolen and Gylan, both male. Another named characters on the show from Rolen's background Mara is a cleric of The Triad, of Vow of Peace, read inaction, is female. The final example of a character of Rolen's background on the show, Warder is noted for being a stronger Cleric than a Paladin (Episode 17, 7m40s) is unclear as he is both a Paladin and a Cleric (though of unknown domain) this does not necessarily break with the observable trend. See Subnote 1 as why Taramie Asseas does not break with this trend, though there is not establishing evidence concerning her status outside of race, gender and name. Rolen's status is changed when he openly challenges authority from Gylan, an action he takes rather than inaction. His action however is not something by which he finds he has done wrong, it's the system he's placed in. Against what is established Rolen asserts via action his own will.
Though certain elements from Rolen's backstory align into this male action centered sense of authority such as Rolen's advising against Stellarosa joining the Order, and taking it "upon himself to try and act as a bastion of law, justice, and empathy towards the denizens of this strange town", these may not be pertinent to the argument, see Subnote 1. Rolen takes the artifact "The First Frost" and bears it as burden in an action described as 'Big Dick'-ing it, again tying his actions to gender. This although may have been an outcome of the game's statistics, is still what occurs in the text and meta-text intentionally or unintentionally. He takes this responsibility away from Veltari and the option away from Dora, both female. From these actions and conjectures it can be postulated that Rolen (either consciously but unspoken or unconsciously) holds a hetero-normative viewpoint where the male gender takes action whereas the female gender does not.
Winnifred is a male Flumph, that acts as a secretary for the player characters' organization. Flumphs in common D&D understanding are Lawful Good creatures and this is not contradicted by the text of the show, if not reinforced (citation needed). Winnie's role as organizer of the group solidifies the intended direction of the party as many interactions with the setting outside of the headquarters comes through him. Winnie appears to have the strongest relationship with Rolen among the initial group considering both Winnifred's initial trust of Rolen to deal with a distressing situation of asking Bumbershoot a difficult question about preferred blood type (Episode 2 or 3, exact reference needed), and his assertion about Rolen's Vibes (Episode 25, specific citation needed). Secondarily, this Vibes preference also sits uneasy as Bumbershoot's Vibes are "bad" (an only confirmed homosexual re: Lord Danto) Dora's Vibes are "spooky/weird" (a confirmed pan/bisexual polyamorist) while Rolen has "Good" vibes (As of yet unconfirmed, but prior postulation sets him up to be an assumed heterosexual). Winnifred's presence sets up a secondary ally within the organization and interactions with him reverberate through the other characters as well.
Subnote 1: Though the relationship of whether or not a character's backstory and its relationship to a D&D game or audio format podcast thereof can be correlated to the relationship of book's source material to a stage or film production of the story is nebulous.This effect may possibly be exacerbated by the fact that a player has the most intimate knowledge of the character they're playing and short of the writer/screenwriter/director & actor being the original author of an adapted text, there is no way said adapter has the depth and breadth of knowledge as a player does to their character. The effects and meanings of D&D player to table has probably been observed and there's probably more to it, but further detail is unsubstantial to this discussion. However if the comparison can be made that; character backstory:D&D Game :: Book Version:Film Version, then it stands to reason that shown backstory should not factor into thoughts concerning the text of the story of the game, but I find it may be important to keep it in mind for purposes of examining the meta-text influence on the text.
Meta-Text
Skitch as a player provided a well fleshed out, though not too detailed account of his character, not only to Austin, The DM, but to the audience as a whole via the forum. It behooves a dungeon master to utilize provided background material not only to give further engagement and involvement to the player (and by extension the audience who has read it in this case) but to ease the burden of continuous building within the game itself. Given it's shown so much, his backstory has also had a significant influence on what is shown/said on the show. Skitch is also (probably) the most vocal player on the show, both responding to a majority of inquiries on the forum itself when he can and spending time on the discord chat conversing with the audience on a regular basis. Both of these things have given Skitch more "soft power" within the fandom which seems to have also had some meta-text influence in the game, as I hope I can display in the later following sections.
Zoey
Zoey Legrande is at the start of the story the most recent new resident of Ilium. Though she is older than she initially appears, she is still the youngest player character and much of her arc revolves around how she will find and define herself, so Ilium is very much a story of her growth and maturing. How she matures is dictated by those around her that she interacts with, and where she draws her motivation and power shifts throughout the story. With her appearance and the initial arrangement of the player characters, the comparisons to Rolen being a father figure and Zoey being a daughter figure were not only apparent within the audience but also in the text itself. Rolen is the first player character Zoey meets in town as he takes marked notice of the people observing her entrance. His initial use of Dragon chess ingrains in Zoey the desire to attempt to interact with him by doing so again, going to his level at disadvantage (her negative Intelligence modifier to his near maximum) rather than remaining where she may have a more even footing in dialogue. Rolen insists on protecting Zoey from an alternate version of herself (Claire) standing alongside perceived rivals/enemies (the Rocs), metaphorically imposing himself between her and her own impulses and interests. When Rolen attempts to calm and aid the second Zoey (Claire), she instead leaves with Lady Nim, in pursuit of more power (which she eventually obtains in spades) leaving Zoey contemplating her own choices of companionship. Later on Rolen expresses disapproval of Zoey's acquisition of power from Ghaunadaur, though Zoey herself is not reticent of this it is in front of both Dora and Claire (read: another instance of Zoey).
Though Zoey initially enjoys the more stable power provided by Ghaunadaur than her prior magics her opinion of this power comes into more of a steadied reluctance to a new unsettling part of her existence from the death of Nim (Which she is ultimately blamed for whether justly or not) (Rolen even continues to attempt to protect Zoey throwing himself in front of Lady Nim's tutelary spirit during their altercation). This power however is replaced by a gathering of deities, including The Triad, but only directly after asserting her intentions to maintain the barrier which fall in line with Rolen's and Warden Light's, both representatives of The Triad in Ilium. (Noted that this is due to a random meta-textual mechanic, but said random instance still played a role in the text and this underlying theme.) After this point it is clear that Zoey has cast her lot in with both Rolen (and The Triad by extension), convincing her clone/sister/metaphorical other side and attempt to maintain the barrier in opposition to her initial goal, and still attempting to turn Dora to the side of maintaining the standing barrier. Even once The Spine has been destroyed and Guilt dispersed, Zoey pulls into a final step of resembling Rolen by telling Dora "I should never have placed that ultimatum upon you" (Episode 32 52m48s) by leaning into an indirect approach as Dora is already aware of from prior experience with Rolen. Even when Rolen returns to Ilium with Zoey as Mayor he attempts to shape things towards his position by offering to pen the new laws of the town, though Zoey is content to ignore this while still aiding in the search to return Warden Light from the Shattered Mirror Prison. By way of influence from people within the barrier Zoey's goals go from 'I'm going to prove myself better than what I'm told I am' to 'I intend to remain where I am, work with what I have, and maintain a status quo'. Whether this can be said to be for the greater good of more people is debatable, but the town of Ilium would undoubtedly benefit from some form of structure rather than none. Whether it is Zoey's responsibility to give up what she desired (or be convinced to) for the greater good is a more dense topic that deserves examination against another example, See below concerning The Warden and his daughter. Her guilt extends from not having achieved more with her life and not having more control of herself and her abilities, or at least one can extrapolate, as she never traverses into a mirror to rid herself of her guilt.
Claire-Elise Legrande is originally an effect of Wild Magic from Zoey, creating a copy of herself in her current form from her jealousy (specific citation required). Claire begins actively antagonistic by attacking Zoey and then passively so after allying herself with The Lillie's, named for a noted in text yonic symbol for a secondary layer of meaning, and Lady Nim. Then she manipulates Zoey into allowing Claire to seize power over the organization she had been working within. Without Zoey's situation to hamper her, Claire does more for herself than Zoey manages to get accomplished in the same timespan. Her agreeing to help keep the barrier up alongside Zoey stands to reason that Claire has the same sense of theatricality as Zoey but also stands to show that she doesn't fully trust in the methods that got her to where she was, adopting Zoey's ideals in place of her own. This is made more apparent when Stellarosa-Magnificente Legrande enters Ilium proper and Claire and Stella have what is described as "The Saddest Slap-Fight in the History of Mankind" (Episode 36 3m00s) that Claire hasn't gotten over her inner seated jealousy of their sister. Having wended her own way to where she was had not up seated her problems but her lack of magical volatility translated into an attitude and action volatility. Zoey perhaps realizes her own shortcomings by seeing them in Claire when offered the touch of Ghaunadaur, imposing herself rather than allow Claire to do it. Zoey in this action prevents her metaphorical self and wants and desires from growing out of control by taking the corrupting tentacle. Even Winnifred is at least somewhat complicit in shaping Zoey's outlook, referring back to his comments concerning The Avant Guards Vibes, He comments to Zoey that Dora's vibes are spooky/weird (Episode 25, specific citation needed) possibly because at this point Zoey still has her power from Ghaunadaur, and can't risk upsetting her about people she seems to be in league with now. This wouldn't necessarily be a lie for Winnifred a noted in text Lawful Good being, but it does behoove him not to allow himself to agitate a thus far as seen wild card of a person.
It stands to reason that a comparison of A father figure and daughter figure be compared to other examples in the text. Warden Light is an angel who lives in the tower called "The Sacrum" acting as a single guard of the panopticon that is Ilium. Grace Rosemary is the daughter of Warden Light and his departed husband Lucas Rosemary. The text states that Lucas was previously the person creating the mirrors that Warden Light places the criminals of Ilium in, however this has not fallen to being Grace's job. Both Light and Grace act in passive aspects in the enforcement of Justice in Ilium, requesting criminals be brought in and crafting the mirrors in which they are imprisoned respectively. Leaving the prisoners to work through their own problems rather than directly intervening in attempts to reform is definitely very passive but does he intend for them to be reformed? From the one instance of Light imprisoning someone (Bumbershoot) he does not appear to give clear instruction as to the punishment about to be endured . Also there are mirrors positioned high up into the tower, such that if someone were to suss out what they needed to know and perform it, they run the risk of falling to their deaths/severe injury (as Veltari was at risk when extricating Mardis). All this shows is that either Light is truthfully indifferent to his prisoners, or has genuine malice for their committal of crimes.
Light's form of guarding/reforming crooks is very passive while his guarding of his daughter is very over-protective and active. Light keeps Grace locked up in the top of the Sacrum, though she notes that she routinely sneaks out, to see the town and obtain her tutelary spirit (She says as much in Episode 24, specific citation needed) At which point Rolen had convinced Zoey to remain outside the mirror of Mardis for reasons unclear but doing so prevents her from meeting a young man unintentionally. He continually interrupts her attempts to justify her desires in front of The Avant Guards showing this is probably a common occurrence (Episode 23, specific citation needed). Grace sneaks out of the tower to convene with Dora to plan to obtain some form of freedom but doesn't want to abandon her father though ultimately plots against him (Episode 28, specific citation needed). And direct consequences of felling the tower were said to include Warden Light becoming hostile to the party which does it, for effectively removing a symbol of his patriarchal control of his daughter (Episode 25, specific citation needed). All of this seems relatively over kill as Grace may be a child by Light's standards, but she's said she's almost 50 (citation required) and being a gnome Aasimar this should put her within the adult lifespan range. Now keep in mind that though Grace may be naive but this is more likely stemming from a lack of worldly experience rather than biological underdevelopment. More than likely this over-protection stems from Light believing that if Grace were to move about the streets of Ilium, he would have to become more active in his guarding of her from danger and possibly become a tyrant to the people of the town which would not be justice, so it is better to keep her locked within the tower. This reasoning however would be fallacious under an argument from consequences, however Light must ultimately know that he is failing at his job.
There had to come a point where in after she showed her Tutelary Spirit Light must realize that Grace had been leaving the tower and he probably confronts her about this, then it must happen again as she leaves from the tower to conspire with Dora later. He both fails to reform his prisoners and keep his daughter safe to the degree he desires but this is where Light and Rolen differ. On more than just certain morals of philosophy Light aggressively polices and mandates his daughter's actions, whereas Rolen subtly and softly influences his coworkers. Whether or not it is right for Zoey to change her values to better service the greater good is comparable to Grace's working with what she's got (Life with her angel dad), staying where she is (The Sacrum) and maintaining the status quo (forging the mirrors for Light's prisons). In a prior post I made, I drew similarities between Light in Dice Funk and Lucifer in common perception. I don't know whether or not further investigation down this is needed or relevant, but I will not go into it for now.
Meta-Text
Chris was the most recent player to join the Dice Funk Players at the start of the campaign, however he had played previously in games with Skitch (Episode 1 06m20s). When he joined the game his backstory was some what bare of detail but had motivation and backing characters and those backing characters were expanded upon as the campaign progressed with glimpses of Stellarosa outside of Ilium. There was a clear linking of Chris and Skitch's characters from the outset with their prior existing relationship and their meta-text prior knowledge of each other's play style.
Veltari
Veltari is a Tiefling Bard who begins working for an antagonist but comes to the side of the protagonists. It can be said that Veltari alters her goals to match those of someone who can keep her safe. Having been a survivor of abandonment, she has become sufficient by working in service of others who can help her ensure her safety. Whether that's a conscious unspoken decision is up for debate but it's shown through the text starting with being an agent of Danto then aiding Rolen/Light to escape her current situation. Veltari comes into the story proper at Episode 10 intent to find Bumbershoot von Victrola on orders of then Count Danto. However by this point Bumbershoot has already been imprisoned within a mirror under Warden Light's "supervision". Accordingly Veltari takes steps to attempt to retrieve Bumbershoot then attempts to follow up by preparing to assassinate Warden Light. However it's said by Austin that Attempting to traverse into the mirror which holds Bumbershoot is the end of the character attempting this, and that's for a clear meta-text reason of Leon no longer being on the show. It's also illustrated within the text that Removing Light and by proxy the barrier would be a task surmounted by challenging Warden Light, and by extension Grace, Rolen and by extension Winnifred, two of whom have provided shelter if though temporary in Ilium to Veltari, and one of whom is said by meta-text to be a challenge powerful enough for the whole party to need to confront. Before finding there is some other method to obtain freedom via examining her guilt she's taking all available methods of attempting to gain an edge, ensuring she would remember Grace's existence after having her memories altered via the magic mouth spell (Episode 24, specific citation needed).
After finding out a method prior unknown to leave she sloughs off her prior plans that she had been making with Carrie (Who she had previously japed with about killing Rolen in Episode 20, specific citation required), alters her alignment out of the evil range, And changes her outlook on guilt (more about which further down). Presented with an impossible task and cut off from any outside aid, Veltari the abandonment survivor changes herself to continue her own survival in the same vein she had been using prior rather than assert herself on the opposed side and run the more clear risk of dying. She survives the one way she knows how and changes to meet to power dynamic where she is. And that change works for her. Whether or not ROlen's gifting to Veltari his prized sword from his caregivers may not necessarily break with the assertion of a male action centered viewpoint because she is not a part of his Paladin Order nor a part of his Religious organization as a follower of The Triad. When she jokes about having conned Rolen as they leave Ilium (Episode 29 49m50s) it's not too far fetched to think that might be a subconscious fact. When Veltari tells Lord Danto in their conflict that he would have had her killed if she hadn't obeyed and acquiesced to him, but it's not hard to see how that could also be how she views Rolen, save the fact that Danto's evil makes him more prone to problematic changes, while Rolen being good makes him more predictable and stable to attempt to survive with (I draw this conclusion from a line Lauren as Dora gives in Episode 19 that I expound more upon in Dora's section).
Bumbershoot only ends up existing as a plot point for a new Player character and a background character (As we only see Alice when her actions relate to The Avant Guards)and ends up effectively dead. After changing her motives and alignment she has one final meeting/date with her love interest Carrie and then the two don't interact again, Carrie having left once her arrangement with Dora panned out. Veltari says she doesn't want to piss of Carrie (specific citation needed) but is likely more fearful of Rolen and Light than she is willing to be with Carrie. Her relationship to Wulf is altered to fall more in line with the ideals that Rolen might hold (he even goes as far as to tell Veltari that her notion that a gesture of giving Wulf a new pendant instead of the old one is better than trying to have given him the old one if she could) and he no longer benefits her, only Zoey during their conflict with Dora. In a way Rolen's influence on both Zoey and Veltari helped bring Wulf to their side tangentially rather than directly as he could have (Given the narrator/DM stating that Wulf has an attraction to Rolen) See Subnote 2. In Episode 23 (specific citation needed) Rolen becomes vocally combative about Veltari joking about killing Winnifred, causing her to back down and backpedal into safety, and just after which Dora throws Veltari into the line of fire from Rolen about her plans. Rolen notedly doesn't attempt a direct stopping of Veltari's plans with regards to Warden Light because he's only just learned of it and as stated before doesn't act directly.
Veltari's Guilt stems from her abandonment as a child and her actions that killed people but she doesn't begin this way. Veltari comes in similar to Dora in that she does not view her actions as deserving of guilt and acts in accordance to her own wishes. Her change in goals & alignment also change her views on guilt, but it could be that she is using the perception of guilt to work to her own motives; survival. In essence what do the Forms have essence in? They exist outside of the Great Wheel of Existence, but what if a concept reached a plane where they didn't already exist, e.g. Guilt where such a concept has never been before? Do they create that concept by interaction with the objects or entities of that world? Or do the objects and entities of that world not interact it at all? It's shown that in Season 2's finale a world where Sacrifice never existed the world itself with wholly unrecognizable. If the Forms only exist in places where they've been before it means that the entities of that place have knowledge of how it works or should work. Whether or not entities of a place can influence what a Form is and does through history and mental context may be present in the scenes of Rolen and Veltari dealing with the guilt, as Rolen's guilty hangups all extend out of situations wherein he was made to be in the wrong by others that he saw as the right thing to do and Veltari's guilt lie on both situations not in her control and actions she took of her own volition. This is all to say that Laura jokingly as Veltari claiming she tricked guilt (Episode 29 50m 09s) also might not be too far a field of what's going on.
Subnote 2: Dice Funk over the course of it's run has had an odd trope that I ended up noticing during this season. At near the midpoint of the season there is a betrayal of some player character, by another character. In Episode 19 of Season 1 Rinaldo Kills Jayne after she attempts to sell him into slavery at the bawdy house they're in (for a double dose of this), and then in Episode 17 of Season 2 Sheriff Kay tosses Drop off the Violet 1 Leaving him to die. I didn't actually notice this until after I had listened to Episode 19 of Season 3. At the assumed midpoint there is a point where Veltari wants acknowledgement that Rolen owes her for how she helped him, however Rolen instead chastises her saying he owes her nothing (Episode 19 1hr19m45s). At this point Rolen is very weakened from his self-imposed trial of bearing The First Frost across Ilium, and I thought Veltari would take the chance to attempt to force what she needed from him as it was only her, Rolen and Dora present outside the Sacrum. However she doesn't and instead attempts to influence Wulf to be closer to her as an ally.
Meta-Text
Laura entered the game after the start and became the newest addition to The Dice Funk Players supplanting Chris from that role and came on the heels of the other longest term player leaving. She also came in as the then only Evil aligned Player character replacing Bumbershoot in that role. Coming in in this fashion wasn't helped by the fact that enough of the audience was concerned whether her alignment matched her actions that this grievance made it to air prior to her changing of alignment and whether or not that was fair or not or just "tainting the jury pool" (that's the closest phrase I have to describe the phenomenon) remains to be seen. What did occur though whether intentional or not was 'the more toward the side of the character of the player with the most soft power to the audience Laura's character got, the more popular she seemed to become'. Whether cause and effect or not, how the meta text the text and the audience interact is interesting to note if only at a glance.
Dora
Theodora "Dora" is a Nixie Warlock of Ghaunadaur that becomes the main antagonist of the story of Ilium. Dora stands as a rejection of guilt. It's not established whether or not Ghaunadaur is a younger deity or newer the godhood then The Triad in the text, however it is known that Ghaunadaur's presence to Dora is a more recent development in her life. Given the established time stream of the Feywild where Dora originates from is nebulous at best (specific citation needed), but that both the Lucas name remains extant in the world at large, and Ehlonna Industries being still extant brand of Veltari's guitar (Episode 10 1hr22m15s) displays that is likely not thousands of years past the events of Season 2 where Dora makes her first appearance and that Dora has been noted as being thousands of years old (specific citation needed). Theodora constantly does things that are in her own interests and in Ghaunadaur's interests as well. She follows words of instruction from him and has brief conversations with him as well. Her working status alongside Rolen is fraught with an oppressive undertone. Rolen likely sees Dora as an extension of the chaotic forces in existence around him that he tries to waylay and work against, while Dora likely sees Rolen as an extension of the strict nature of dogmatically enforced laws. Given Rolen's association with The Triad and Light's association with The Triad (Dora having been there the longest she undoubtedly has a shade of him arriving being an extension of Light's desires) it's not a wonder the interactions the two of them have are rather flippant and on the verge of conflict.
Ghaunadaur having given Dora the form of companionship she desired tacks her to stray away from an establishment of prior power structures and her interactions with Warden Light reflect this as well. Dora is never shown to be lying to Warden Light, either knowing his ability to discern lies and/or not wishing to walk herself into a trap, but their interactions are constantly tense no doubt due to both neither looking past the other's outward presentation. Light shuts down Dora vocally and adamantly when the group entered Light's home though she was probably the person who had done the least as she had not destroyed the door to the staircase, nor was she the one to attempt to dispel his altered memories, though neither Zoey or Rolen seem to have the nadir of Light's ire. Rolen states that he finds Not just Ghaunadaur, but also Dora to blame for all that's gone on 87.5% to quote (Episode 25 specific citation needed) but no matter who between the pair of Light and Rolen blame her she seems to cast it aside as irrelevant.
There is one point wherein Dora does something majorly telling of her opinion of Rolen. In Episode 19 at 1hr13m30s Dora backs up Rolen for selfish purposes and Dora sends a mental Message to Veltari saying "Hey he needs this, and let's let him have this, that way he doesn't murder us". That Dora says this Veltari could be one of 2 possibilities. One; she realizes Veltari's innate need to adapt to survive and is looking out for her, which is less likely. Or Two; Dora is afraid of Rolen. Dora is purported to be "always at considerable confidence" (Episode 26 specific citation needed), she fords into a poly-amorous relationship with people she's interested in, she rebukes Rolen when he's mad at Zoey and Dora, she rebukes Light when he's being hypocritical in holding The Avant Guards captive, she tells off Mardis to think about things from someone else's perspective, she kills Garic without thinking twice, she waltzes right up to a mind-flayer's home without backing, Tells off Warden Light during their fight in the tower of The Sacrum, Negotiates without doubt with an Archdevil, and almost gleefully destroys The Sphere without care to its consequences, so why is she scared of Rolen? Because she knows that Rolen wields his intentions and power softly, possibly akin to the civilization near her in the past in The Feywild. Ghaunadaur is noted as being akin to an abusive boyfriend to Dora, but it's not too far to make the leap that Rolen could be viewed as an abusive father figure. He blames Dora for the things she does though she rejects this blame, he attempts more care with Zoey and to make her more like him. It's not the kind of "I'm going to threaten the things you love directly" kind of abuse one could apply to Ghaunadaur, but similar to the "I'm going to make your mental state taxed and social contacts reject you indirectly" kind of abuse Rolen represents. Dora learns the lesson from Bumbershoot's mistakes and internalizes it.
Lady Nim dies in the altercation that takes place between her, Zoey and Rolen, where Claire and Veltari take minor part in setting things up, as Dora views from afar. When Zariel asks for who murdered Nim, Dora decides consciously not to blame Ghaunadaur, and seemingly unconsciously not blame Rolen. Rolen is the one who struck the killing blows to Nim's Tutelary spirit though Zoey's shark escapade is all that gets mentioned. Given that if Nim had simply died her spirit would have returned to the Layer of Hell she was supposed to return to once the barrier went down, it is more Ghaunadaur's fault for Nim's absence. In a way, Dora's fear of Rolen plays as big a factor for why the group ends up in Carcerai in Episode 37 as DOra, Gahanadaur, Zoey and Ogma, because if Dora fears having Rolen continue to be involved directly she chooses not to blame him or the other abusive male figure in her life, her god.
Dora enters a relationship with The Rocs and attempts to live happily alongside them wanting to provide for them as companionship that she received from Ghaunadaur. Over the course of the season she builds this relationship with them the best she can, however it is interrupted by Zoey who by this point is strongly under Rolen's influence while he is preparing to leave and Zoey intends to keep the barrier in place. Her sister Claire provides for them a polymorphing spell so the Robin can be solid once more and Zoey provides the polymorphing mask of Asriel's creation. They're right to be suspicious because the act of her doing this is more than likely the act that brought them to attempt to rescue her in the altercation between her Asirel and Dora. Zoey (like Rolen) used soft influence to aid to dissolving Dora's relationship and pushed her further away from people she cared about. Dora seems to not wish to hurt Winnifred by leaving as peacefully as possible and probably believes he wants to escape Ilium and return to his home, though feelings from Winnifred's side may be shaky as discussed prior.
Dora aligns herself with Asriel after she informs him on Ghaunadaur's behalf that "War is Coming".However by the point Dora can reach Asriel he has altered from his previous philosophical aligning to her. While imprisoned he felt no guilt for his actions until Rolen and Veltari induce him to the concept. He leaves the mirror prison and seems to move on with his life sustained on the brains of small animals (EPisode 20 specific citation needed) no longer killing humanoids or entities he could have qualms about killing. Dora comes to him and he allies with her and Ghaunadaur not wanting to invite the ire of an abomination God, but he mentions that the two of them aren't friends and are only allies temporarily until they win (Episode 30? citation required). When confronted by Claire and Robin he begs for his innocence only for the two of them to slay him while he has essentially become a helpless animal. He reneges on his acknowledgement of guilt and the story punishes him for it.
Dora cannot be guilted because she rejects it as a concept. Garic attempts to assert to The Avant Guards that they will kill him by depriving him of the mask and Dora without a second thought kills him without ambiguity. Her interactions with The Stalker display this as well, not understanding why it desires to kill her and ignoring it when it makes a last ditch attack on her before she bursts The Sphere. Her and Ghaunadaur's actions don't carry the weight of guilt to her and she's never shown to apologize for her own actions, perhaps their outcomes but not what she's done. Though she wishes to keep the barrier in place for those who need it, she desires to have the original removed. She respects the outcomes of the establishment of guilt, but doesn't care for it's initial purpose. That the one person who doesn't accept the ideal that has formed around her and restricting her would be the one to bring it down is most appropriate.
Subnote 3: I want to at least make it clear to clarify any bias I might have. I like Dora, I'm pretty certain she's my favorite character up before the last episode, which as of this writing I have not heard. I like her because her actions are comical and interesting and It's hard to have a character that rejects whole concepts in opposition to the party they play in and not end up with a character that is a total terrible person. I've liked her from the outset, and this re-examination of her alongside Rolen hasn't shaken that from me.
Meta-Text
Lauren is another returning player from the previous season, but the backstory for Dora told to the audience is sparse especially for a character that was introduced in the prior season. The only things known about Dora's character initially are she's a trickster and follower of Ghaunadaur with The Stalker's reveal seeming to come as a surprise to both the player and the character. It's been said about the previous season of Dice Funk that it ended in a Total Party Kill because of Lauren's choice. While I can certainly see and agree partially with that idea it must have placed a large amount of pressure on Lauren while playing her character this season and as it's turned out may end up that her actions as Dora cause the deaths of the player characters. Only time will tell once the final episode of the season is posted tomorrow.
Conclusion
The way Rolen interacts with the other Three Main Player Characters dictated the standings and outcomes of their conflicts.
All of this is to say that I hope I've just scratched the surface of feasible meanings in the Season. The characters are more complex than I feel they've been noted for, and are played remarkably because imagining someone not as talented at conveying the story as the players and DMs might have painted them all in a very negative light.
I say all of this to try and get out what I've been thinking and feeling, not to be incendiary or accusatory.
In closing concerning Rolen, he plays Dragon chess and plays it well for a reason. He doesn't rush in, he waits for follies of his opponent, and baits trappings to work to his advantage.
Please read this section here before opening the spoiler and then again after reading it. Let me first say that I've placed this section here intentionally desiring to stress it to emphasize my intentions. I like Rolen, but I didn't at first and it took me a long while of thinking to suss out what was holding me back from liking him and why I was having such a hard time. I like Rolen, just not for what I have been perceiving other people might like him for (If my reading of people's response hasn't been misguided) and just wanted to say that what I felt is (might be) an alternate character interpretation is useful and interesting. I can only hope that this provokes some thought and interest into shifting viewpoints and exploring ideas and characters from multiple angles. I like Rolen, but it took me until my second listen through of the second half of the season to try and be critical of what I was listening to. It has to be noted that I feel I should be critical of the things I love, because I love the podcast, and that criticism and reflection on something does not make that thing worse. I can only hope to make it better for myself and those that would hear me.