Topher

Topher
Type	NPC
Actor	Brennan Lee Mulligan
Character Information
Pronouns	he/him
Also known as	Toph
Creature type	Humanoid
Race	Half-firbolg Demigod
Age	9 (before the fall of Aeor)
Languages	Common, Elvish, Giant[presumed]
Place	Gwessar
Family	Trist (mother) Amaris (father) Haylie (older sister) Unnamed paternal grandparents
Connections	Gilly (dog)
Status
Status	Alive (during the Calamity)
Appearances
First seen	"Downfall: Part One" (3x99)
Last seen	"Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)
Stream	Downfall (2 episodes)

Topher was the half-firbolg son of Trist and Amaris, who lived during the Calamity. As an NPC, Topher is played by Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Description

Appearance

Topher was a 9-year-old boy who looks human, but whose fuzzy ears denote his firbolg ancestry.

Personality

He was a smart and curious child who was easily amazed and interested by new things, and wasn't afraid of sharing his thoughts.

Biography

Background

Topher was born nine years before the fall of Aeor, as the second child of Trist and Amaris, having an older sister called Haylie. They grew up being in contact with their firbolg family, although they found the stories of their grandparents very repetitive.

"Downfall: Part One" (3x99)

Topher and his family traveled to Hawk's Hill to wait for the Aeorian ship that would take his mother and her companions to the flying city. During their time in the town Toph and Haylie were amazed by fruits they hadn't seen before, and when they told Trist that there was people playing a card game nearby, she encouraged the boy to observe, learn how to play, and then defeat the other players; as the young kid was leaving with his sister and their dog Gilly, Ayden (his mom's friend) encouraged him too, and cast Guidance on him. After a while the siblings came back, and Haylie explained that Topher had been allowed to play using acorns, but he had lost everything; one of the other players, however, approached the boy feeling guilty and gave him a gold piece, saying that Toph reminded him of his younger brother (also a terrible player), and leaving the half-firbolg very happy with his new coin.

When Trist was saying goodbye to her family she asked her children to be good with her grandparents, even if their stories were repetitive; Toph also got distracted with Madeen (the follower of Asha, one of Trist's friends), and told her how big of a lady she was, leaving her surprised. When Trist finally left, Amaris stayed with his children and Gilly, as well as with Purvan Suul and Galdric as unexpected guardians to protect them on their way to their destination.

"Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)

Fan art of Topher and Haylie facing the fiend, by Cyarna Trim.

When Hawk's Hill was attacked by devils, Toph called his mother using his father's sending stone and asked her if she could send ships from Aeor to help. Despite his father's concern, he wanted to help people, explaining that Haylie had already left. Shortly afterwards, he reunited with his sister and a large fiend loomed over them, gloating about how much they loved to destroy the followers of the Everlight. The monster, however, was obliterated by the matching sending stone shot by Trist across the ocean. Topher took the stone, and he and his sister realized they wouldn't be able to speak with their mother ever again. Regardless, they expressed out loud how much they loved her, and using their demigod powers they started floating across the battlefield, producing light to protect the people from the fiendish army.

Later life

After the destruction of Aeor the Everlight asked the Matron of Ravens to keep her mortal children alive as long as possible, and to resurrect them if necessary. The goddess of death told her that she could not do that, but she summoned their threads of fate, very shiny and close together, explaining to the goddess of compassion that Haylie and Topher were destined to do great things, and that eventually they would reunite with their mother.

Character information

Notable items

• A shiny gold coin given to him by a criminal
• Sending stone that used to belong to his mother

Appearances and mentions

• Campaign Three: Bells Hells
  • "Downfall: Part One" (3x99) (first appearance)
  • "Downfall: Part Three" (3x101)
  • "A New Age Begins" (3x121), mentioned only, unnamed

Quotations

• Haylie and Topher: (thinking of their mother) I love you, double, triple, infinity. [...] I love you, mom.

Trivia

• His name is a short form of Christopher. In its current form, the last part comes from the Ancient Greek phóros (carrier/bearer).
• He and his sister are the first known half-firbolgs in Critical Role canon.
  • They are also the first confirmed demigods born of the union of a mortal and a god, and even though their mother had taken a mortal form herself and lived as a human, these children still inherited some of her divinity, being able to fly, produce light, and repel fiends. Toph described it as them having light "inside them", and apparently the release of that light started with a humming.
• When he hugged his mother for the last time, he put a slingshot he had made from a tree branch in one of her pockets. There were constellations carved in it that he learned from Ayden.
• According to Matthew Mercer he and/or his sister has living descendants.

References

Art: