The Sundered Houses are the five noble and highly magical families that have positions within the Chamber of Lords-Advisory in Dol-Makjar, in Kahad, Aramán, and that survived the destruction of the Obridimian Empire when it fell into darkness after the destruction of Tansul, Shaper of the Sun.[2]
History[]
The houses opposed one another during the Shapers' War, with the priestly houses of Tachonis and Halovar fighting on the side of the gods, while House Royce, House Cormoray, and House Einfasen fought against them.[3] In the following decades they became collectively known as the Sundered Houses due to their various losses during the revolution,[4] and because the bulk of their lands were literally sundered when Tansul was slain and the sun stopped shining in their lands. The Sundered Houses are those that found a way to survive and became powerful nobility in the city of Dol-Makjar, with lesser nobles acting as their vassals.[5]
At the end of the War of Axe and Vine, Lady Aranessa Royce of the Sundered House of Royce fell in love with and married a rogue hero called Thjazi Fang. The match turned out to be an unfortunate one, as only two years later he became a central part of a rebellion against the nobility he had married into.[6] After many years of conflict, during which House Tachonis and House Halovar became even closer allies, Thjazi Fang was captured and sentenced to death.[7]
As of the eve of Thjazi's execution, the Sundered Houses were considered to be more powerful than ever,[8] and they had gained a more active political role in the Chamber of Lords-Advisory to the Revolutionary Council, which sentenced Thjazi to death.[9] House Tachonis and House Halovar were leading the process of execution, even though they were not supposed to be openly involved in it.[10]
The next day it was revealed that the Sundered Houses were making moves to redistribute resources and close some branches of the city's Revolutionary Guard and Arcane Marshals, replacing those soldiers with people loyal to the houses, with House Einfasen as the overseers.[11] In addition, they had pushed the Council to ban the use of magic in public markets and other places a month prior to the execution and a day later forced the current head dean of the Penteveral to resign or have the ability to cast magic on school grounds be revoked;[12] House Cormoray used this process and the rise of the new dean as an excuse to present their Scholarship for Arcane Service, to allegedly teach magic to even more people.[13] Moreover, this Sundered House was also becoming more involved in the Archanade museum. While these movements had some level of coordination, people like Azune Nayar thought that the houses were still following their own individual interests and weren't closely allied with each other.[14]
The houses and their vassals[]
These houses are the members of the Chamber of the Lords-Advisory:
House Cormoray[]
During the Falconer's Rebellion, House Cormoray used sorcerers on the battlefield. Their favored color is white.[15][16] They produce wines.[17]
- Lady Amariya Dacen Cormoray, a noblewoman connected to the Chamber[16] Lord Temoday Wurnst appears to be a friend or ally of Lady Amariya, as well as a benefactor of the Archanade.[18]
House Einfasen[]
They are a martial-focused house, suggested to have little arcane ability.[19]
- Sir Harondus Einfasen, Lord Knight and head of the house,[20] with ambitions to oversee the security of the entire city by privatizing the functions of the Revolutionary Guard[21]
House Halovar[]
House Halovar is one of the oldest and most powerful houses, originally a house of priests, the family of flame, the "golden-crowned", who served Tansul, the god of the sun[22][23] and now priests of the Candescent Creed.
- The Photarch Yanessa Halovar, Scion of the Candescent Creed, the elderly current matriarch of the house[24][25]
- Godard Halovar, her son,[26] magically conceived with the blood of Aetheon
- Wicander Halovar, Godard's son, Light Priest of the Candescent Creed
- Godard Halovar, her son,[26] magically conceived with the blood of Aetheon
The vassal houses under House Halovar include the following, who have fought under them:
House Royce[]
The most moderate of the Sundered Houses,[28] closely associated with the fey and their magic, one of the reasons why their power started to wane after the doors of Tír Cruthú were closed ten years ago.[29]
- Lady Aranessa Royce, current liege of the house, known for her marriage to Thjazi Fang
The main vassal house under House Royce is House Davinos:
- Lord Raimond Davinos, a general
- Sir Julien Davinos, his eldest son and heir
House Tachonis[]
Historically, the priestly family of shadow, of the journey through night to the next day, gifted with the rites of funeral cremation and of moving from one realm to the other.[30]
The known members include:
- Lord Primus Tachonis, head of the house and a powerful sorcerer
- Ethrand Tachonis, a sorcerer who held the Stone of Nightsong[31]
- Occtis Tachonis, a necromancer, eighth and youngest son of Primus[32][33]
House Seremai is a vassal house under House Tachonis.[34]
Trivia[]
Names[]
- The houses are sometimes called using an "of" (as in "House of Halovar", "House of Royce", etc.).[35]
- House Einfasen's surname seems to derive from the combination of the German words ein (one) and fassen (confine/catch/capture).[36]
- House Egerion's surname derives from the Greek etherion, which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek aíthō, meaning "to burn" or "to shine".[37]
- House Malterres has a French-sounding surname, composed by the terms mal (evil/bad) and terres (lands). Jacques is also a French first name present in the family.[38]
Miscellaneous[]
- The five Sundered Houses (even Einfasen, which apparently doesn't have talent for it)[19] have sorcerous bloodlines connected to supernatural creatures and/or their planes, and all of them, to a degree, had presence in the Obridimian Empire before its fall.[39]
- The Sundered Houses and the Vassal Houses, even if they have properties in Dol-Makjar, don't reside exclusively in Dol-Makjar.[40][41] Even beyond Kahad they have influence, to the point where the involvement of one of them in a foreign succession crisis can dissuade the corresponding authority from intervening.[42]
- It has been implied that the Vassal Houses have their own minor vassals.[43]
- The Lloy family is considered very important in Dol-Makjar,[44] having crafted the Pariah Blades which slew the God of War, and although Thaisha Lloy considered herself a noble and a rich woman, when compared to Lady Aranessa she admitted the latter was superior in both senses, and that the Lloys aren't a house per se.[45]
References[]
- ↑ See "Branching Paths" (4x05) at 1:11:51.
- ↑
CR Cooldown C4 E007 at 3:40 (subscription required) (Transcript).
- ↑ See "Branching Paths" (4x05) at 1:18:14. See also "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 3:37:55.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 0:27:56.
- ↑ CR Cooldown C4 E007 at 4:14 (subscription required) (Transcript).
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 1:14:59.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 0:35:44.
- ↑ See "Critical Role Campaign Four | Official Trailer".
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 0:12:44.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 0:06:28. See also "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 1:12:18.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 3:26:40.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 3:37:09.
- ↑ See "On the Scent" (4x07) at 0:06:58.
- ↑ See "Branching Paths" (4x05) at 1:18:34.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 0:06:44.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 See "Stone-Faced" (4x04) at 4:13:36.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 4:49:57.
- ↑ See "On the Scent" (4x07) at 0:02:03. Lord Wurnst accompanied Amariya on her visit to the Archanade. He was also with her on her previous visit there. See "Branching Paths" (4x05) from 4:12:36 through 4:19:41.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 3:30:51.
- ↑ See "Branching Paths" (4x05) at 1:21:29. Aranessa mentions Harondus as the figure of authority if she wanted to deal with House Einfasen.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 3:29:15.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 2:15:41.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 0:25:04.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 0:13:25.
- ↑ See "Photarch Yanessa Halovar" from 'Critical Recap: Critical Role C4E01 “The Fall of Thjazi Fang”' (October 8, 2025) on critrole.com.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 1:28:05.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 3:19:37.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 1:21:44.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 3:43:10.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 3:36:55.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 4:58:54.
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) at 3:45:10.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 4:36:42.
- ↑ See "On the Scent" (4x07) at 2:43:52.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 0:48:32.
- ↑ See the Wiktionary for einfassen.
- ↑ See the Wiktionary for etherion.
- ↑ See the Wiktionary for mal, terre, and Jacques.
- ↑ CR Cooldown C4 E007 at 2:46 (subscription required) (Transcript).
- ↑ See "Broken Wing" (4x02) from 3:02:27 through 3:04:04.
- ↑ See "The Snipping of Shears" (4x03) at 4:19:39.
- ↑ See "Fanged Revenge" (4x08) at 3:21:36.
- ↑ See "Stone-Faced" (4x04) at 1:00:10.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 0:38:29.
- ↑ See "The Fall of Thjazi Fang" (4x01) at 3:54:51.
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