Annotated 3-7
You said it, alt text. I mean, Byron, I know you’re a simple kinda guy, but come ON.
Okay, you all caught it, right? Syr’Nj’s crush on Best begins right here. Sure sure, smart women, foolish choices, but objectively, it makes sense. It’s not just that Best is handsome, talented, sexy, strong, and only showing off his dickishness if you look real closely (e.g., he’s not exactly thanking Gravedust).
It’s also the lyric “They had to be taught what an elf’s help was worth.” Of course, the lyric is a bit of a humblebrag: Best really means what HIS SPECIFIC help was worth. The fact that anyone else in the party is also an elf may not yet have even attracted his notice.
But he did also get Her Grace Pardo to apologize for being racist against elves, which is pretty huge from where Syr’Nj sits. This is the first time since leaving home that she has encountered anything resembling elf pride, whereas the anti-elf slurs have just been constant. Even on someone as willful and centered as her, that shit takes a toll. I probably don’t need to point out the problems with making Payet Best your primary source of self-esteem, so it’s a good thing Syr’Nj is too shy right now to act on this quickly.
I am really, really enjoying the changing expressions on Gravedust’s face as we pass back through these.
I….didn’t even realize Syr’nj ever had a crush on Best. When did it stop? When Best had sex with Frigg, when he threw the children off the ship, or he fought Byron?
I am likewise confused, and suspect the entirety of the annotation to be sarcasm.
It’s not sarcasm at all. In a previous annotation it was mentioned the plan was to misdirect us into thinking the elves would hook up and catch us unaware on the Byron-Syr’Nj pairing. I think it’s on the market chase scene they talk about all this.
That being said I really don’t catch the being attracted part here, even when pointed out. Guess I’m that dense.
I’m not really seeing the attraction either. She seems to have more of a pensive look on her face than anything. Like she doesn’t know what to make of him yet.
She is distracted enough not to be paying attention to what the only other adventurer here she’s actually had any positive interactions with is saying.
I *think* Syr’Nj is startled when Best sings about ” — what an elf is worth,” because, to her, she’s the only real elf in the party. So, Best must be singing that she, Syr’Nj, is the one who makes the whole party worth more. This makes her think that Best must be more perceptive and tactful (and even romantic — he’s singing about her!) than he at first appeared.
She’s wrong, of course. Best thinks he’s better than the average elf, knows nothing about Syr’Nj’s noble lineage, and is sure that he’s the one who really got them the extra ralds. But poor Syr’Nj is nearly as full of herself as Best is, and so she is led astray for a bit.
I think “Syr’nj is massively prejudiced against lost-their-magic elves such that she doesn’t think of Best as an elf”…well, it’s not a reading I can see, shall we say. Nor would it point to Syr’nj having a romantic interest in a “fake elf.”
Also, that’s not a humblebrag. Byron’s line is the closest we get to a humblebrag here: “gosh, stupid me, I just take the 20 ralds that people offer me all the time. What a lousy negotiator I am!”
I don’t think Byron’s line here qualifies as any form of brag at all.
Where do these nobles live? It *looks* like the middle of the Forest of Perpetual Mist and Leafless Trees, but I can’t imagine a place like that would be prime real estate.
Self-esteem? You mean elf-esteem, right?
i’m so irritated that I was not able to make this gag first