I watch a show online called ‘Critical Role’ – where a group of nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons. Seriously, aside from having some of my friends on the show, it’s right up my alley anyway! I’ve talked about it before, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea so I wanted to touch bases again on what I’m babbling about today.

Recently the group started a new campaign, and I have been able to finally watch the show live, which is exciting. One of my favorite characters so far has been Jester, the Tiefling Cleric dedicated to a god known as ‘The Traveler’ who is a trickster deity. But the more I watch Jester, the more slightly weirded out I get…

You see, I have a Tiefling Warlock with an Archfey patron, Maeve. The character I play is slightly childish, a little naive. Her voice is soft and a little high. She writes to her patron of her adventures in her magical tome as trade for her learnings, and relies heavily on the influence of her ‘Mama’ to guide her through. Maeve is silly and has trouble explaining things, but it strangely charming for it. It is likely her patron is manipulating her as a tool for his revenge on the world.

Jester is a slightly childish, and plays at being a little naive. Her voice is soft and a little high, with a rich Eastern European accent. She draws cartoons to her deity as a form of prayer as trade for her learnings, and recently wrote a letter to her Mom asking for more money to get her through. Jester is silly and has trouble explaining things, but the audience, at least, finds her strangely charming for it. Her deity has manipulated her in a clever way during the game when she tried to cast more spells than she had slots.

Magic users (though one arcane and the other holy), Tieflings, sweet and trusting, being played a bit by those they rely on for their power, recording their adventures and observations for those powerful beings, with a child-like sense of wonder and voice, and a clear relationship tying them back to their maternal figure. Coincidence? Absolutely! Weird? Also, absolutely!

Maeve was developed and in play before this campaign of Critical Role began, so there is no way that Jester could have influenced Maeve’s creation or development. The actress the plays Jester is not someone I know on the crew, so of course there is no way Maeve could have weighed in on Jester, especially since the character originally appeared in a one-shot some time ago that I was unaware of, which means technically Jester came first. But now I worry – since I’ve drawn parallels between these two, will Jester now influence my growth of Maeve?