Caleb Widogast - Blog Posts

Twitter sketch dump :D This time with a little bit of a Critical Role S2 flavor. Nott, Caleb, Frumpkin and an attempt at Yasha.

Last post of the year! Someone inspired me to make Mighty Nein ducks and since I'm meeting the #CriticalRole crew in April, I'll be making more. Enjoy Jester, Caleb, Nott, and Caduceus ducks. And stay tuned for an update on what's coming in the new year!

Commission for a friend who sent me a very sultry calendar ;) She's also acquiring some ducks I had made previously but she wanted some cats too!

Gods above, I love me some Empire kids 💜

listen, i enjoy campaign 3 but i know who my favorite daddies are :) (click on the pictures to enlarge them for more details! 💜 they're supposed to be viewed side by side but they look really small on mobile)

i'd wanted to draw Beau and Caleb portraits ever since i'd watched the c3 episode they appeared in (which i did like two days after it aired) and i'd been hoping to finish them before the mighty nein one shot but hadn't been able to in time. however, i have now! i'm only halfway through the live show but i do know that these designs do not contradict the official stuff too much, so i thought i could post them. i was very happy to see the empire siblings appear in c3 when they did, and it was a lot of fun trying to convey the solstice spookiness that i liked so much about those two eps 👀🔴

tip jar!

New Hat!

Did someone cast Find Familiar? 'Cause Frumpkin popped in to show me his fancy new hat! What do you think?

(Pattern design by pattern_leka_toys on Instagram, handmade by me)

Just a small DM-Moment, but I REALLY like how when Caleb is trying to manipulate Toya a bit in the boat/ensure her cooperation and Liam has to roll Persuasion and rolls like dogshit (RIP that 6™ XD), instead of taking an easier route of having Toya merely dismiss his words (ofc there are times and places for a players words to genuinely be ineffective!! But it can feel bad if you're trying real hard/speaking with alot of thought and you just roll real bad), Matt has it so that Toya is simply. . Very, very understandably distracted by the presence of the scary lady who choked her to unconsciousness just an hour or so earlier XD 😬 😂

Feels like such a good choice that opens up further roleplay (esp. since Beau/Marisha hadn't spoken up too much in the convo w/ Toya thus far), without discounting Liam's really good speech (unfortunately weighed down by that 6™ XD 😂)

Ludinus your ex correspondant traitor / grooming victim and Ikithons runaway protege are in love now. yeah they're making out. they live in a cottage with cats and have a couple portrait.

i am laughing at caleb and nott assuring each other that if things go sideways they'll be the first out the door, together, and nott says, "they'll never know who we were!" and caleb confirms, "caleb and nott" which is so hilarious in retrospect because THEY didn't even know who each other were. if they'd left? yeah, the others never would have known who they were. they only would have known caleb and nott, never veth and bren. and neither of them even know they're both using fake names yet

Everyone who doesn't speak German, I want you all to understand just how good Liam's German accent is.

Especially compared to for example Matt's (as the Zemnian guy in the bar) - that's what I'm expecting an American guy to sound like when he's doing a half-decent German accent; like, well that's not reeeally what I speak like, but sure, I get what you're going for.

Liam tho? This is genuinely how we all sounded in my highschool English class. Hilariously authentic. No notes from my part.

Here's a CAT

So far my favorite bit of re-watching C2 is Caleb being asked about the Academy and immediately deflecting by summoning a cat. "My backstory? HERE'S A CAT, ASK NO QUESTIONS."

YESSSS~~ and to my recollection he doesn't even hesitate to do so, yeah? Just with his full chest, 'Caleb Widogast'

I remember another post a while back said that it was the Nein who made Caleb 'Caleb', or something along those lines, and that it's who he became - I don't recall the details but I remember it was a real neat take LOL XD

absolutely charmed by the fact that in the first few eps Caleb uses his full name when talking to stangers / the crowns gaurds. in his mind he still isnt caleb. at least not yet. so why should he change his alias?

I did a watch-through of c2e1 a few months ago so I'm going off my memories of that, but I recall realizing that - during the Circus Performance - Caleb was clapping a little along w/ everyone else during each performance (which in itself felt more to me like he was blending in). . . Until the fire act.

I've seen others mention how still he gets when stuff from his past is brought up, and I forgot if he went fully still here, but it stood out to me that while the others were clapping, impressed, he wasn't clapping at all™

My Therapist: "American-Accent Caleb isn't real and cannot hurt you." Caleb c2e1:

look man. look

essek saying "bren" out loud, claiming a position on caleb's side as the mouthpiece of his regards to astrid, did something to me. i can't tell if it opened a wound or punched me or gave me a hug. all i know is that i am feeling so many emotions right now

more under the cut because i'm about to get rambly:

"bren aldric ermendrud" is a separate character from caleb widogast. he's a young boy learning how to make magic. he's a deeply traumatized and indoctrinated teenager. he's the boy who curled up with astrid and eadwulf in a freezing tower for warmth all night.

essek never met bren. he met caleb and he's never known him as anyone else. if i'm remembering correctly, caleb never even said the name "bren" to him during the campaign, and neither did any of the nein.

essek knows caleb widogast. he knows the man who held up the object of his worst crime and then kissed him in the bowels of a ship and made a floor of infinite stars for them to walk through together. he knows the person who healed over bren's wounds—thinly, but enough. he knows the man that the boy has become.

astrid knows bren. she barely knows who caleb is. she still calls him bren after hearing him referred to as caleb repeatedly. she can't know him as the man he is, she only knows the boy. there's some of bren in caleb, but there is no caleb in bren.

essek saying "bren sends his regards" is him gauging astrid's reaction, on one level—if she freaks out, which she did, she's in opposition to caleb's cause and thus a threat. on another level, it's essek delivering a very different subtextual message from caleb: "the boy who loved you is giving you one final warning."

because essek is a threat to astrid. their last meaningful interaction was slinging spells at each other in the blooming grove. and that's funny in a "current boyfriend vs ex girlfriend exclusively fight each other" kind of way, but it's also deeply tied to caleb's recurring theme of transformation. "bren sends his regards" also means "i have healed enough to love enough for someone else to know this name and use it with my consent. and this someone else is your enemy. what does that make you think i've become?"

it also does a fantastic job of communicating subtle offscreen discussions that have happened over the years since the end of c2. we don't have the details of when or how caleb told essek his birth name, but we know that he did, and we know from all of c2 that the name bren occupies a place of immense emotional weight for caleb. it functions similarly to a deadname in terms of who uses it and for what purpose. trent exclusively calls caleb bren to wound him and place himself in a position of power. astrid calls him bren to remind both him and herself of who they used to be—same with eadwulf, though obviously he's not here.

the first time we hear essek say "bren" is on caleb's behalf and confronting one of the narrative representations of caleb's trauma. it's four words that manage to communicate "i, your enemy on a hundred levels, can speak for both the man i love and the boy who loved you, because i know him in his entirety."

astrid knows bren and essek knows caleb, but only essek can speak for both. because at some point, caleb gave bren to essek. and we know this from four words. four IMPROVISED words.

god. this moment is just so fucking good

spent way too long making a shadowgast propaganda slideshow for the tumblr ship poll….. EVERYONE GO VOTE NOW FOR THE BEST SHIP IN THE BRACKET!

My brain was still like "COSPLAY ASHTON" so I thought I'd work out what I need for it. I've discovered that the base of the outfit should be fairly simple it's all the buckles and the hammer that make the list of things I need very long. I'm still halfway through a Caleb cosplay so if I do this it will be next year.

Critters, has anyone made a shadowgast pet name compilation? If so, please send it to me 😭 I just want every moment Caleb called Essek “dear” 😭

Fitting in the rest of the romance/bromance of the M9 and NPCs just makes the whole situation better:

Nott canonically is in love with Caleb and everyone knows it and is kind of cool with it (Yeza, who drinks his respect women juice and knows what kind of woman his wife is, supports it and actually kind of gets it cause who knew self-destructing anxious wrecks hiding absolute chaotic dumbassery was his type??? Not him!). So sometimes Nott will just. kiss Caleb on the mouth in greeting and goodnight and all that happens is Caleb gets flustered and Jester demands one as well

“Nott we run a detective agency together everyone knows that fulfils the homoerotic quota for mouth kisses now lay one on me”

Fjord is good. He’s fine with no mouth kisses from Nott (but sometimes their bantering/arguing just gets.,,,,,,real intense,,,oh boy)

It also means Luke is brought up knowing who his biological parents are but since he is born from the trickster womb of Nott and grew up with the M9, as years go by he sometimes introduces other M9 members as his parents. Fellow friends and other parents are bewildered by the tirade of powerful and influential figures who all apparently sired this little halfing Luke please this giant goth woman with wings is not your mother,,,,,please,,,stop calling her Ma Yash

No one in the M9 really knows what weird connection Caduceus and Fjord have with the Wild Mother and each other, and Ducey doesn’t swing any way, but there is something very married in their morning meditation sessions, week-long “discover yourself” trips and the fact that Fjord may love Jester and Caleb but he is most vulnerable with the other cleric. They are often mistaken for husbands by any religious faction they encounter and honestly they keep getting free shit out of it so who cares???

While Jester may have the curse of accidentally seducing any WLW who comes her way (Yasha and Beau both have accepted themselves as the foundation of said curse and love it), Fjord is bisexual bait and has his own curse of seducing any Dom/Top within a mile radius, usually by getting his ass beat in the process. Avantika was not a fluke when Darrow and his duel Fight Pit/Spa date shows otherwise

Honestly though, it’s Caleb who happens to incidentally seduce the most people, and it is usually other wizard twinks with crippling issues with authority. Essek is always welcome in the tower and often in the bed as well if he’s up for it :))))

*Meanwhile, two thirds of the triad, Fjord and Caleb, grabbing onto Beau* sir, ma’am, people who know better, this is my emotional support lesbian

*Jester, grabbing the other arm* And this is my occasional bed partner and blue bestie

*grabs onto Yasha* and this is her wife and my other female friend who I occasionally kiss on the mouth

Jester’s mum is delighted by her daughter’s many and wonderful partners but her father is A Gentleman and has had Enough of his daughter crashing his places to throw impromptu “sleepovers” we cant keep replace the furniture Jessie we just cant

Honestly, people from outside the group has given up on figuring out what the fuck in happening in the M9 and chalk it up to the kind of shit that happens when you live co-dependently with people you saved the world with

(The fact that there’s been rumours of a similar group on a different continent just cements the fact. It’s been decades and some of them are important political figures,,,,,and one is apparently dead??? But sometimes he shows up on the wings of ravens or some shit and people have to accept him and his antlered wife and their purple bf starting some shit in public almost immediately,,,gross)

y’all are missing out on the funniest relationship dynamic of CR2

Forget about the tangled web of love that stretches between the M9 (barring Caduceus our aroace king of staying out of drama), I would love if the love triangle between Fjord, Jester and Caleb just somehow naturally fell into a little triad all on its own.

Like no dramatic love confessions, they do that shit constantly with each other in secret little ways, but just Jester coming home to her mother like

Jester: mama I want to introduce my partners to you

The Ruby: ah yes that handsome orc boy that you kept going on about, he was so–

The Ruby: wait, partners???

Jester: lmao yeah I have Fjord, who rejected an eldritch monster he was accidentally raising to get close with Mother Nature herself, but that hobo wizard who eventually cleaned himself up and became one of the most powerful casters around is also my bf.

The Ruby, the actual sex god on this plane of existence and all others: hell yeah my daughter deserves the best, get ‘em my baby girl.

The dynamics of it are so funny as well. Like, Caleb is a highly respected wizard now under the tutelage of several powerful figures, so any time he goes to some sort of elbow-rubbing-fancy-pancy wizard event he of course brings his beaus.

And people are like??? “Ah yes, members of the iconic and world-saving group you are part of Mr Widogast, they must be of such high pedigree.”

And then someone recognises Fjord as Captain Tusktooth who had some sort of fake accent going on for years at a time (and didn’t he sleep with that Captain lady who was horny for water or something??? And then get her killed by the pirate king? There was something about a forbidden eldritch god?) and is praying that Mr Widogast’s other partner is normal–

but the first thing that Jester tells anyone is: “have y’all heard about my mother, best lay in the land? I am the daughter of the greastest sexer around and my childhood imaginary friend is my personal god, anyway how are you?”

Even better, out of the three, the tiny blue tiefling is the only one who can pick up and hoist their partners around, making the comical sight of long-cat and long-suffering Caleb being slung bonelessly over one shoulder, while a blushing Fjord is held like a football under the other as Jester parades them down the street in her cute frilly dresses.

Fucking FjordxJesterxCaleb is where the good shit is at wake up sheeple

y’all are missing out on the funniest relationship dynamic of CR2

Forget about the tangled web of love that stretches between the M9 (barring Caduceus our aroace king of staying out of drama), I would love if the love triangle between Fjord, Jester and Caleb just somehow naturally fell into a little triad all on its own.

Like no dramatic love confessions, they do that shit constantly with each other in secret little ways, but just Jester coming home to her mother like

Jester: mama I want to introduce my partners to you

The Ruby: ah yes that handsome orc boy that you kept going on about, he was so--

The Ruby: wait, partners???

Jester: lmao yeah I have Fjord, who rejected an eldritch monster he was accidentally raising to get close with Mother Nature herself, but that hobo wizard who eventually cleaned himself up and became one of the most powerful casters around is also my bf.

The Ruby, the actual sex god on this plane of existence and all others: hell yeah my daughter deserves the best, get ‘em my baby girl.

The dynamics of it are so funny as well. Like, Caleb is a highly respected wizard now under the tutelage of several powerful figures, so any time he goes to some sort of elbow-rubbing-fancy-pancy wizard event he of course brings his beaus.

And people are like??? “Ah yes, members of the iconic and world-saving group you are part of Mr Widogast, they must be of such high pedigree.”

And then someone recognises Fjord as Captain Tusktooth who had some sort of fake accent going on for years at a time (and didn’t he sleep with that Captain lady who was horny for water or something??? And then get her killed by the pirate king? There was something about a forbidden eldritch god?) and is praying that Mr Widogast’s other partner is normal--

but the first thing that Jester tells anyone is: “have y’all heard about my mother, best lay in the land? I am the daughter of the greastest sexer around and my childhood imaginary friend is my personal god, anyway how are you?”

Even better, out of the three, the tiny blue tiefling is the only one who can pick up and hoist their partners around, making the comical sight of long-cat and long-suffering Caleb being slung bonelessly over one shoulder, while a blushing Fjord is held like a football under the other as Jester parades them down the street in her cute frilly dresses.

Fucking FjordxJesterxCaleb is where the good shit is at wake up sheeple

Mighty NEIN!

Imagine Percy meeting the Mighty Nein. Yes, there’s a trigger-happy goblin and an adorable tiefling and a woman that he should really introduce to Grog, but then he meets

- The one who made a pact he didn’t quite understand with a powerful evil entity that threatens to harm him if he doesn’t do its bidding

- The one who lost his family in one tragic night and was driven mad so now he spends his time trying to make things right

- The one who grew up with a big family until a dark magic tainted his home and now he just wants to be with his siblings again

- The one who’s smart but standoffish and her self-assured attitude isn’t doing her any favors (not to mention she wears blue and is secretly motivated by a need to prove she can exceed her father’s expectations)

“…No no no no, this won’t do. You’re all coming with me. Have you ever had snow mead? Whitestone has some of the best honey in all of Tal’Dorei. Vex’ahlia! Vex’ahlia darling, go tell the children they have four new siblings!”

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Pros to having the wildemount gays all live together: 

Gardening buddies

Empire sibs collectively dying from queer exposure

wlw mlm solidarity

xhorhass gays get to welcome empire sibs home after a long workday and honestly, i think we all need this

collective couch snuggles probably.

THERE ARE LIKE TEN CATS AND DOGS COMBINED HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS CONSEPT I’M-

Cons:

There are none.

Everything is as it should be. UwU<3

I’m always here for time-travel Molly/Caleb fan fiction but I just pictured the well adjusted post campaign Caleb experimenting on new time spells with Essek and accidentally traveling back in time and saving Molly and for some reason it’s hilarious to me

Like…

1) Caleb surrounded by all the disasters of early campaign Mighty Nein and their all like….Caleb are you okay? You seem okay I’m worried

2) Caleb/Molly/Essek where Caleb misses his husband, Essek, and his love, Molly, and his crush, Kingsley

3) Caleb meeting Essek again and going…Well this is awkward my traitor to the dynasty husband without all his character development

4) Just like…all of it there’s so much comedy potential. Imagine well adjusted Caleb having a conversation about mental health with any of them

5) Caleb just absolutely destroying Trent Ickithon

And like yeah there would be some angst cause he misses the future and has to do it all again but I just think it would be a Really Fun Fanfic

I see you all and you are all Right and Valid

I like Shadowgast as much as the next person but…what if, by some miracle of fate, they managed to get Molly back.

Do you think the Mighty Nein will forbid any new members because they’re too far into the nine schtick and can’t back down now.

Like it’s mostly clear that the nine nein are now Beau, Yasha, Jester, Veth, Fjord, Caleb, Caduceus, Essek, and Molly. Fan artists can finally draw three squares of three and have it look cool. But what happens if they pick up a new member?

Bam. Now there’s ten. How will they justify the name they meta gamed up on a whim that has become a centralized motif of the campaign now?

I just think it would be funny if shenanigans ensued.

I like Shadowgast as much as the next person but...what if, by some miracle of fate, they managed to get Molly back.

A ruddy wizard with a tragic past, what's not to love. I hope that when they make the Mighty Nein animated series, the design for Caleb looks similar to this; I love his nose.

my sweet sweet boy caleb

Fast doodle of my favourite dirty wizard and goblin rogue for the prompt "friends".

Every two months or so Molly comes back into my brain and makes me cry, to combat this I drew him being very normal and not gay at all with Caleb (I am sleep deprived as fuck rn guys)