caleb: i am on a mission of revenge. i am constantly trying to grow stronger so i can fix the sins of my tragic past.
fjord: i have an unknown being giving me strange powers and directing me in scary, incomprehensible ways, and i am on a mission to understand what has happened to me.
nott: my goal is to keep this scruffy wizard alive until he’s powerful enough to learn true polymorph and change my appearance to something other than a goblin.
beau: i have some serious trauma with my father that has led me to pursue a life of petty crime, but also some anarchist leanings that are in line with the order i am in. my idle goal is to topple corruption wherever i find it.
yasha: i am a refugee from a nation the empire hates and is at war with, and i owe my life to the stormlord and will follow his directives even though they lead me to stray from my friends.
jester: i am in exile from my homeland and my nominal goal is to find my father, but i spend most of my time performing pranks in service of the traveler, whose worship base i seek to increase.
molly: i am two years old, a full-time tourist, and i want drugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Actually, even before the possibility of him being an orphan was presented, I’ve felt most of Fjord’s decision to just make a lot of sense from a survivor perspective.
I get the feeling Fjord is a person who’s just always had to do whatever it took to survive: move around, take odd jobs, break the law, kiss some ass, leave friends behind. Fjord seems to have two main directives: survive and climb.
I actually feel like this determination and ambition are exactly the potential his patron mentioned.
Fjord wants to be someone. He wants to be important. When they are going to leave Zadash to avoid the war, for a moment he looks upset and says they’ve just started making a name for themselves there. Fjord wants to thrive, to be known. It’s like he has something to prove to the world, show them that he’s someone.
However, as I said, I don’t think most of this attitudes come from vanity or selfishness, but from a very determined survivor point of view.
Fjord is ready to drop the death weight, he avoids getting too attached to the rest of the M9, he’s a wonderful liar, he’s a quick thinker, he’s distrustful, he’s careful with their plans, he’s submissive with authority figures but not above breaking the law, he’s very interested in making money and usually the one to bring payment up when they discuss missions (can’t believe the fandom hasn’t caught up on that)…
…but all in all, he also seems like a good person to me. Fundamentally. Deep down. He might not go out of his way to help, but if he finds himself in that situation, push comes to shove, he will do what’s right. (Pulling Caleb out of the fire, following Jester when she goes in to rescue Kiri, getting Horris out…). He doesn’t want people to get hurt because of them, and I’m confident he’d back out of a job if it seemed like that’s where it leads (something that will probably end up happening with the Gentleman).
Fjord is not actively looking to be good, then, but he’s a good person. He’s just someone pragmatic who does his best to survive and who is willing to do whatever it takes to go further in life. Which, yes, is completely in line with someone who grew up in the streets or parentless and had to learn the hard way how to get by and survive.
(Filing his tusks is an early example of Fjord’s ‘whatever it takes’ approach to survive and do good in life, for example. Going to the academy, searching for Jester, getting a group to travel with… all in line).
So YES to all this.
TL;DR Fjord is a freaking amazing character and I’m extremely interested in seeing where he goes and where he comes form, but so far nothing he’s done has suggested an evil alignment to me, just a pragmatic, probably neutral or chaotic good person trying to get by in a fucked up world and confusing situation… and I would like to thank Travis for making him such a delightful mystery and tridimentional character to watch.
Jester seems like she would buy the most expensive lingerie, not because it’s expensive but because it’s FRILLY and FUN and SPARKLY LOOK LOOK HOW IT MAKES MY BUTT LOOK LIKE A STAR BEAU, and Beau who doesn’t personally Believe in underwear but has occasionally stolen some boxers off laundry lines is like “yeah babe you look sparkly as hell”
Jester, wearing ten thousand gold’s worth of lace and bows and garters and weird straps that don’t seem to connect to anything: I don’t know where all the money went, I had it just a second ago
Molly, lounging in the cart, wearing nothing but strategically draped silk and a sense of mystery: Jester honey you’re doing amazing
Jester, snuggling with Beau, “Hey Fjord, since you’re a rough and tough seaman do you go commando?”
Fjord, appalled: I have a 18 charisma, You don’t get that unless you wear and wash underwear
Nott & Caleb, simultaneously: You can wash underwear????
I see this and I raise you Nott asking “you can wash underwear??” and Caleb responding with absolute sincerity, “you can but you certainly don’t have to”
I was inspired by this post because who wouldn’t want to see Jester in the damn cutest lingerie?
this post was me trying to put those Jester in lingerie vibes out into the universe and you have heeded the universe’s desperate need wow good good!!
But Beau likes to remain positive! And she’s doing her best. First time drawing Fjord and I am…in love…with that g r e e n. Half orc son, holds him up!!
i'll apple your turnover 