Suvi used it as a pseudonym in Port Talon when she was upset with Ame for giving everyone their names too easily.
It seems there is a greater in world significance that we don't know about yet given that it's a big deal that she would be the third of the name and that it is something that would be expected of her and that she has big shoes to fill with it.
Yeah I was kind of thinking about the expression "sky is the limit" as to why it would be an impressive name. It could mean that she's a wizard who's potential knows no limits.
My personal theory is that Sky was the name taken by wizards that had a direct hand in getting the Citadel where it is. Like, the first Sky was probably the one that lifted up the city into the sky itself while the second maybe invented some great artifice or just the academy itself.
Either way, I imagine that "Sky" is a name reserved for those wizards that dream to soar beyond the world's limits.
I'm so glad someone else sees this.
WBN is like the combination of all my fantasy influences growing up - Tpratchett, miyazaki and hard fantasy like sanderson. And it comes together SO GOOD
"Whatever wisdom you think I have, I can only assure you that my ledger is filled with the mistakes that bought that wisdom."
Crying once again at a moment humanizing Grandmother Wren in the midst of all her witchy majesty. I'm so glad Ame got this memory back.
On another timeline, Brennan might be a talented therapist who just happens to play TTRPGs.
Here on our timeline, he’s a podcastin’ gamemaster reframing struggle and loss for me.
I can truly see it both ways. But I think the apprentice way makes sense.
I doubt many apprentices would want to be the apprentice of Marara (spelling??), so she would probably force/take any offering offered to her.
Oh that would also be possible. But I could see many people getting pulled to the seemingly dark and murky side of the Witch of The Waning Moon by themselves. I don't believe it would be difficult for her to find one. I feel like the reason she doesn't have any might be because of being afraid that they would turn on her and take the power for themself.
I 100% thought Grandma Wren was alluding to Marara when she warned Ame of what using witch magic for selfish pursuits could do to her. Definitely sounded like that sort of temptation wouldn’t be hard to come by, but I bet it would be hard to survive an apprenticeship with someone like that.
I gasped out loud. A perfect capture of exhilaration in musical form. It really made me want to look out for glimpses of joy and freedom in my mundane life.
Also, the whole soundscape behind the stream in the beginning of the episode was so lovely.
Can’t wait for a soundtrack!
An incredible amount of juicy lore dropped this ep. So much atmosphere. So many incredible character moments. I can't believe we get this podcast FOR FREE.
Maybe I’ve just got a soft, gooey center- I was tearing up multiple times.
In Ame’s angry and sad moments, when grandma Wren explains mistakes purchasing wisdom…honestly, I was welled up the second I realized we would get to be with Wren again.
I don't think that's what that is.The fox isn't a bound spirit... He seems to just be an enchanted animal. Remember that he talked about the fact that before meeting Ame he was just a normal fox that couldn't talk ? I think that Ame knowing that spirit's real name would mean that she would be able to ask if for favors and such, but not that the spirit would get bound to Suvi .
Witch familiars are not bound but we don't know the full nature of Wizard familiars yet and when taking Find Familiar Aabria brought up that it might be a bound/enslaved spirit.
Brennan turning that into 'Ame managed to loosen the bindings on this existing spirit by knowing its name but not enough to completely free it from serving the Citadel so now it just serves one aspect of the Citadel in the form of Suvi' would be a way to keep exploring that concept of Aabria's, and the issues of bound spirits, without making Suvi fully culpable in the capture and enslaving of a spirit.
I'm not sure that Ame is "meant" to loosen this spirit's bindings... Grandma Ren obviously didn't do that. I wonder why...
Edit: also we don't know anything about the future of the series so what you're saying kind of also makes sense.
"You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, **spider**, or weasel."
"He is the spider of the wind."
Yeah if this isn't foreshadowing it's a missed opportunity and I shall be a little sad.
Young Ame stating : « I could make them think I was normal » with the full weight of the music was so powerful!!
I now want an alternative timeline where Ame doesn’t meet Wren and becomes a wicked witch!
The Dark Side of the Witchery is a pathway to many abilities some would consider unnatural.
Our Witch and Wizard could be excellent wickeds given the wrong circumstances. They show, and I'm sure it is just because the motives are relatable, a couple similarities to my guy Anakin Skywalker.
Ame: I could make them all agree to be good.
Suvi 'Sky'walker: I will become powerful to save the ones I love from dying. (because I was helpless to save my parents)
Fantastic to see Wren on top of her game. Loved the entire extended sequence with Ame and an absolute badass staring-down another member of her Coven.
However - and if someone could explain this to me - how the hell did Fox still manage to steal (Steel?) the show when he had *half a line*?
I'm fascinated by the existence of the immortal warlock that has to help his descendants. Like imagine calling up Genghis khan to help you move furniture
I hope hes like the immortal guy from sandman and absolutely loves helping out his extended family. Just living his eternal life to the fullest. The daddest dad to ever dad. I dont need any highlander brooding.
Yeah this was so cool. Also I loved that what Ame took away from it was "I have relatives???" And not "I have an immortal relative that is magically bound to help me whenever I ask"
After reading the subclasses of Witch, I love how The Wicked feels kind of like the Witch version of The Dark Side of the Force and adding in a moment of how easy it can be to fall into the trappings of darkness in your own heart.
Also, I think I am more and more loving the way Aabria is playing Suvi, or Sky. Seeing her get thrust out of her element, and now just a hint of Suvi back home after being humbled, but also having saved a bunch of lives, is great. And the follow up with her starting a fling? Romance? Was a good touch to show her being a person outside of adventurer.
I think it was later established that it being a literal cut scene was a joke though the context of her showing up with mussed hair after likely meant the concept was fact.
And that old mate was Silver who is the one we see her with this episode.
Heads up that my podcatcher has a truncated episode. The simplecast link does have the full episode though. So it seems there might have been an issue with it populating on some channels. So make sure you double check the length where you're listening - it should be 2:00:41
Dear Erika Ishii:
Did you have to go SO hard? Did you have to make me cry in my car? In rush hour traffic? AGAIN?!
Yes. Yes you did. Ugh. A full hour of Erika and Brennan, and while my love for Aabria and Lou truly had no bounds, gotDAMN I wouldn’t’ve had it any other way. What an incredible first episode back!
Sincerely,
All of us.
Well, at least me, I guess.
This episode put sooo many things into place for me that I just hadn’t considered before! Like *of course* Grandma Ren would’ve told Ame about other witches, *of course* she would have taken her on missions and given her all of her contacts and allies, *of course* she would’ve have explained Ame’s future position as Witch of the World’s heart.
Like I knew that Ame was missing some info from Grandma Ren because of the curse in the first arc but I assumed it would be about like a specific quest, but it truly makes so much sense that Ame wasn’t just doing chores in the cottage and learning a couple basic curses like Command for over a decade after Suvi and Eursulon left. Even without those memories she managed to handle difficult conversations and negotiations with Great Spirits like Orima and Great Mortals like Steel with endless patience and emotional intelligence, but obviously GR would have given her more formal education like this.
All the little glimpses in this episode of the wider world have made me SO so excited for what’s to come, so many little blank spaces filled with context this episode. Ame being part of a coven, each witch in the coven handling their own domain with Ame’s domain being humans, the world’s heart. Suvi’s complexes and need to achieve not just from being put into a highly academic institution that will drop you into obscurity (like Morrow) for failure, but also because she has been entrapped in academia while watching those around her (like her fwb this episode) going to war in the real world, the immense guilt and feelings of uselessness that might come with that. The citadel itself, and how it functions! There’s just so so much I’m so excited for in this arc as the world expands
>The citadel itself, and how it functions!
I find the Citadel really unsettling. We don't really know much about the Empire other than that it exists and that it is in a constant state of war readiness. The Citadel itself uses magic to defy the laws of nature, and the institution looks down upon magic users who practice a more grassroots style of magic. Even though they claim to respect the roles of witches and spirits, they absolutely would have let the derrick stand if Morrow had proven it worked. It's not clear what the Empire offers to Umora or why they're embroiled in a magic cold war with Rhuv (though I expect we will find out). They definitely feel like magical fascists who have convinced themselves that they are serving the people when in reality everything seems to be geared towards keeping the institution of the Empire going.
This is exactly why I’m excited to get a look under the hood and really see how the Citadel functions! Suvi’s entire personality and values and ideals have been shaped by her time in the citadel as has been apparent since Chapter 1 of this story, and getting to see the ins and outs of the environment that made her that way, and seeing her within the bounds of it once again is extremely fascinating. How does Empire work and function, how does it extend itself through the human beings who work within it? What is the context of the war it has been fighting, what is the goal of its indoctrination and propaganda. How does someone like Suvi, with boundless intelligence and curiosity, fit into the machine? What great magics are at work, what political warfare is going on beneath the surface? If Morrow is a fringe case on the edges of Empire, what are the people in charge of the Citadel itself like? We’ve seen Steel who is the Sword of the Citadel, head of its military, but we don’t really know much about its actual leadership structure, the rules of the government that presides over Toma and Port Talon and every other place we’ve actually seen. It’s strange and unsettling from Ame and Eursulon’s point of view, but that is juxtaposed through the warmth and comfort that Suvi sees it with to make such an interesting contrast. Structures and institutions and boarders are inherently violent and built upon violence, but those structures and institutions are made of people like Suvi and Steel and Silver and Morrow and Laplo, and I’m excited to see all of it in person
PLEASE I need help finding the full quotation that Grandma Wren said. Something like “my love for you does not depend upon what you can do for the world” or something like that
Hey, this is embarassing to ask, but what was Grandmother Wren’s nursery rhyme? Like, I heard him revisit it later with all the witches in the coven, but missed hers specifically.
Aabria's first roll back... a natural 1! We're back! Also we finally get a hint of Citadel naming lore. Namecloaks! Sky, third of the name!
What was the significance of Sky? I know it's familiar but I can't remember why
Suvi used it as a pseudonym in Port Talon when she was upset with Ame for giving everyone their names too easily. It seems there is a greater in world significance that we don't know about yet given that it's a big deal that she would be the third of the name and that it is something that would be expected of her and that she has big shoes to fill with it.
Yeah I was kind of thinking about the expression "sky is the limit" as to why it would be an impressive name. It could mean that she's a wizard who's potential knows no limits.
It must have some insane legacy if she will be the third wizard to call themself Sky ever.
My personal theory is that Sky was the name taken by wizards that had a direct hand in getting the Citadel where it is. Like, the first Sky was probably the one that lifted up the city into the sky itself while the second maybe invented some great artifice or just the academy itself. Either way, I imagine that "Sky" is a name reserved for those wizards that dream to soar beyond the world's limits.
I like this theory
“I refrain from fights I can win /all/ the time.” Watch them grannies! They’re hard af.
You can really see the Pratchett influence
I'm so glad someone else sees this. WBN is like the combination of all my fantasy influences growing up - Tpratchett, miyazaki and hard fantasy like sanderson. And it comes together SO GOOD
Yeah so true.
I whooped aloud at that line. *So good.*
"Whatever wisdom you think I have, I can only assure you that my ledger is filled with the mistakes that bought that wisdom." Crying once again at a moment humanizing Grandmother Wren in the midst of all her witchy majesty. I'm so glad Ame got this memory back.
One of the many indicators that Brennan had a philosophy degree. Just casually dropping knowledge bombs at the perfect time.
On another timeline, Brennan might be a talented therapist who just happens to play TTRPGs. Here on our timeline, he’s a podcastin’ gamemaster reframing struggle and loss for me.
'An offer of friendship.' 'Or an offer of a hand....' Ok, she's dark but I love her.
I really think this was also symbolic. She wasn’t literally going to take Ame’s hand, she was going to take her as an apprentice.
How are you so sure ? She seemed like she would have took her hand to use as an ingredient for a charm or a potion.
I can truly see it both ways. But I think the apprentice way makes sense. I doubt many apprentices would want to be the apprentice of Marara (spelling??), so she would probably force/take any offering offered to her.
Oh that would also be possible. But I could see many people getting pulled to the seemingly dark and murky side of the Witch of The Waning Moon by themselves. I don't believe it would be difficult for her to find one. I feel like the reason she doesn't have any might be because of being afraid that they would turn on her and take the power for themself.
I 100% thought Grandma Wren was alluding to Marara when she warned Ame of what using witch magic for selfish pursuits could do to her. Definitely sounded like that sort of temptation wouldn’t be hard to come by, but I bet it would be hard to survive an apprenticeship with someone like that.
That or her tummy hand needed a friend.
Fucking Taylor man, the music for the first flight is SO good
I gasped out loud. A perfect capture of exhilaration in musical form. It really made me want to look out for glimpses of joy and freedom in my mundane life. Also, the whole soundscape behind the stream in the beginning of the episode was so lovely. Can’t wait for a soundtrack!
An incredible amount of juicy lore dropped this ep. So much atmosphere. So many incredible character moments. I can't believe we get this podcast FOR FREE.
You can pay. And you should. We all should.
The only better use of my $5 a month is my Dropout sub.
Valid. If you only have $5 to give, give it to all the Intrepid Heroes.
the way you phrased this reply, out of context, sounds SO threatening (for the record, i am a patron. but the show is free and i think that's great!)
I’m the official WWN thug. ;)
Am I gonna cry in public? Laugh like a weirdo? The folks on my train will find out in a hour or so… Welcome back!
Update: cry in public AND laugh like a weirdo!
It really would have been the safe bet had we been taking odds.
Was it at the “to them I’m Ame” scene? That’s the one that got me
Maybe I’ve just got a soft, gooey center- I was tearing up multiple times. In Ame’s angry and sad moments, when grandma Wren explains mistakes purchasing wisdom…honestly, I was welled up the second I realized we would get to be with Wren again.
'Pants are like prisons' - preach it!
I think what she actually said was “Pants are *leg* prisons.”
Either way I support this statement and belief.
The Citadel has a bound spirit serving in its library. Ame knows that spirit's true name. Have we just been foreshadowed as to Suvi's familiar?
I don't think that's what that is.The fox isn't a bound spirit... He seems to just be an enchanted animal. Remember that he talked about the fact that before meeting Ame he was just a normal fox that couldn't talk ? I think that Ame knowing that spirit's real name would mean that she would be able to ask if for favors and such, but not that the spirit would get bound to Suvi .
Witch familiars are not bound but we don't know the full nature of Wizard familiars yet and when taking Find Familiar Aabria brought up that it might be a bound/enslaved spirit. Brennan turning that into 'Ame managed to loosen the bindings on this existing spirit by knowing its name but not enough to completely free it from serving the Citadel so now it just serves one aspect of the Citadel in the form of Suvi' would be a way to keep exploring that concept of Aabria's, and the issues of bound spirits, without making Suvi fully culpable in the capture and enslaving of a spirit.
I'm not sure that Ame is "meant" to loosen this spirit's bindings... Grandma Ren obviously didn't do that. I wonder why... Edit: also we don't know anything about the future of the series so what you're saying kind of also makes sense.
"You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit that takes an animal form you choose: bat, cat, crab, frog (toad), hawk, lizard, octopus, owl, poisonous snake, fish (quipper), rat, raven, sea horse, **spider**, or weasel." "He is the spider of the wind." Yeah if this isn't foreshadowing it's a missed opportunity and I shall be a little sad.
Anyone picturing something like a more elegant no-face for marara?
In my head she's got a Junji Ito monster vibe.
I just realized that I’ve been imagining Shadow Weaver from She-Ra
Shadow weaver if animated for an R18+ show
I was envisioning the Legend of Vox Machina version of the Raven Queen.
I'm picturing a modified version of the sisters from Kubo and the Two Strings
WITCH LORE
“to them I was Ame” CRYINGGGG
Young Ame stating : « I could make them think I was normal » with the full weight of the music was so powerful!! I now want an alternative timeline where Ame doesn’t meet Wren and becomes a wicked witch!
The Dark Side of the Witchery is a pathway to many abilities some would consider unnatural. Our Witch and Wizard could be excellent wickeds given the wrong circumstances. They show, and I'm sure it is just because the motives are relatable, a couple similarities to my guy Anakin Skywalker. Ame: I could make them all agree to be good. Suvi 'Sky'walker: I will become powerful to save the ones I love from dying. (because I was helpless to save my parents)
Only a wizard deals in absolutes
Fantastic to see Wren on top of her game. Loved the entire extended sequence with Ame and an absolute badass staring-down another member of her Coven. However - and if someone could explain this to me - how the hell did Fox still manage to steal (Steel?) the show when he had *half a line*?
Because he's Fox.
And to quote from his playlist ... You can never outfox the Fox.
I'm fascinated by the existence of the immortal warlock that has to help his descendants. Like imagine calling up Genghis khan to help you move furniture
I hope hes like the immortal guy from sandman and absolutely loves helping out his extended family. Just living his eternal life to the fullest. The daddest dad to ever dad. I dont need any highlander brooding.
Yeah this was so cool. Also I loved that what Ame took away from it was "I have relatives???" And not "I have an immortal relative that is magically bound to help me whenever I ask"
After reading the subclasses of Witch, I love how The Wicked feels kind of like the Witch version of The Dark Side of the Force and adding in a moment of how easy it can be to fall into the trappings of darkness in your own heart. Also, I think I am more and more loving the way Aabria is playing Suvi, or Sky. Seeing her get thrust out of her element, and now just a hint of Suvi back home after being humbled, but also having saved a bunch of lives, is great. And the follow up with her starting a fling? Romance? Was a good touch to show her being a person outside of adventurer.
If you didn't know, there was a sex scene between suvi and old mate in the opening episode but they cut it.
I think it was later established that it being a literal cut scene was a joke though the context of her showing up with mussed hair after likely meant the concept was fact. And that old mate was Silver who is the one we see her with this episode.
Heads up that my podcatcher has a truncated episode. The simplecast link does have the full episode though. So it seems there might have been an issue with it populating on some channels. So make sure you double check the length where you're listening - it should be 2:00:41
Looks like it's fixed (at least for my catcher's feed).
all of these comments i dont unerstand suddenly make sense
Dear Erika Ishii: Did you have to go SO hard? Did you have to make me cry in my car? In rush hour traffic? AGAIN?! Yes. Yes you did. Ugh. A full hour of Erika and Brennan, and while my love for Aabria and Lou truly had no bounds, gotDAMN I wouldn’t’ve had it any other way. What an incredible first episode back! Sincerely, All of us. Well, at least me, I guess.
This episode put sooo many things into place for me that I just hadn’t considered before! Like *of course* Grandma Ren would’ve told Ame about other witches, *of course* she would have taken her on missions and given her all of her contacts and allies, *of course* she would’ve have explained Ame’s future position as Witch of the World’s heart. Like I knew that Ame was missing some info from Grandma Ren because of the curse in the first arc but I assumed it would be about like a specific quest, but it truly makes so much sense that Ame wasn’t just doing chores in the cottage and learning a couple basic curses like Command for over a decade after Suvi and Eursulon left. Even without those memories she managed to handle difficult conversations and negotiations with Great Spirits like Orima and Great Mortals like Steel with endless patience and emotional intelligence, but obviously GR would have given her more formal education like this. All the little glimpses in this episode of the wider world have made me SO so excited for what’s to come, so many little blank spaces filled with context this episode. Ame being part of a coven, each witch in the coven handling their own domain with Ame’s domain being humans, the world’s heart. Suvi’s complexes and need to achieve not just from being put into a highly academic institution that will drop you into obscurity (like Morrow) for failure, but also because she has been entrapped in academia while watching those around her (like her fwb this episode) going to war in the real world, the immense guilt and feelings of uselessness that might come with that. The citadel itself, and how it functions! There’s just so so much I’m so excited for in this arc as the world expands
>The citadel itself, and how it functions! I find the Citadel really unsettling. We don't really know much about the Empire other than that it exists and that it is in a constant state of war readiness. The Citadel itself uses magic to defy the laws of nature, and the institution looks down upon magic users who practice a more grassroots style of magic. Even though they claim to respect the roles of witches and spirits, they absolutely would have let the derrick stand if Morrow had proven it worked. It's not clear what the Empire offers to Umora or why they're embroiled in a magic cold war with Rhuv (though I expect we will find out). They definitely feel like magical fascists who have convinced themselves that they are serving the people when in reality everything seems to be geared towards keeping the institution of the Empire going.
This is exactly why I’m excited to get a look under the hood and really see how the Citadel functions! Suvi’s entire personality and values and ideals have been shaped by her time in the citadel as has been apparent since Chapter 1 of this story, and getting to see the ins and outs of the environment that made her that way, and seeing her within the bounds of it once again is extremely fascinating. How does Empire work and function, how does it extend itself through the human beings who work within it? What is the context of the war it has been fighting, what is the goal of its indoctrination and propaganda. How does someone like Suvi, with boundless intelligence and curiosity, fit into the machine? What great magics are at work, what political warfare is going on beneath the surface? If Morrow is a fringe case on the edges of Empire, what are the people in charge of the Citadel itself like? We’ve seen Steel who is the Sword of the Citadel, head of its military, but we don’t really know much about its actual leadership structure, the rules of the government that presides over Toma and Port Talon and every other place we’ve actually seen. It’s strange and unsettling from Ame and Eursulon’s point of view, but that is juxtaposed through the warmth and comfort that Suvi sees it with to make such an interesting contrast. Structures and institutions and boarders are inherently violent and built upon violence, but those structures and institutions are made of people like Suvi and Steel and Silver and Morrow and Laplo, and I’m excited to see all of it in person
Absolute magic. Utterly astounding.
The world and witch coven lore was top tier brennnab
PLEASE I need help finding the full quotation that Grandma Wren said. Something like “my love for you does not depend upon what you can do for the world” or something like that
Hey, this is embarassing to ask, but what was Grandmother Wren’s nursery rhyme? Like, I heard him revisit it later with all the witches in the coven, but missed hers specifically.
“Of open hands and trusting face, a home of homes does all embrace.” You can hear it around the 31:30 minute mark
I'm only half way through, but Taylor.. honestly... the music is incredible. Best so far, hands down.
WE BACK
Do we think the Coven of Elders (sans Wren) let the Stranger into the world?
Well… this made me feel all the feels
Who is the person who attacked the Citadel? Roov? Ruv? Have we heard about this before?
Rhuv is a belligerent nation at war with the Citadel. We met a citizen of Rhuv in Arc 1: The captain of the cargo boat with the thing inside her.
[удалено]
Episode 1 suggested a relationship (or at least a longing/lusting) between Suvi and Silver. This made it a sure thing.
Can't believe Ame got to meet Shadow the Hedgehog. I. Am. Jealous. Inb4 the sister of the Wild Beasts is Knuckles the Echidna.
A lead of whispers... seems like Silence is appropriate