The Seer

First appearance: S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena (Fate of the Arbiter, Part 2) · watch it on YouTube

The Seer is an ancient, white-scaled, blind dragonborn blacksmith who works the forge in the Faithful’s hideout, the resistance that fights the Arbiter in secret. He can see what lies inside a person and hammer it into a magical item, and he has a habit of handing out unsettling prophecies, then announcing he’s tired and falling asleep on whatever is nearby. He bumps into anvils, smells people instead of seeing them, and insults the craftsmanship of a newcomer’s gun. As Lyrus warns everyone, he is a great deal sharper than he lets on.

Story

Fate of the Arbiter: Sands of the Arena

The Seer first appeared in S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena (Fate of the Arbiter, Part 2), after Lyrus led Flynry, Toddleheim and their companion into the Faithful’s base, an old smith shop turned makeshift military camp. By the forge, a dragonborn with completely white eyes stopped hammering. Flynry whispered that there was “a bit of irony in his name,” and Toddleheim told him he was terrible. The Seer then fumbled straight into his own anvil, tried and failed to shift it, complained that someone had left it there, and offered “a little bit of blind humor there.”

He asked the newcomers whether they were pure of heart, and assured Flynry that the past doesn’t define anyone. He had been “quite a ruffian” himself in his younger days, back when “the ladies, they liked me.” In Flynry he saw “a weary soul,” and he forged a plain gold loop that flattened at his touch into a spinning compass rose, the Atlas of Endless Horizons, which could open the way to other places and planes. In Toddleheim he saw “another traveler, someone looking for that last hurrah.” He handed over a potion of longevity that he had been saving for himself, and it took twelve years off the old wizard’s face. He followed it with a gold ring, “a piece of a whole,” because he wasn’t skilled enough to make the entire Orrery of the Wanderer. These were priceless artifacts, he said, and he barely had the supplies to make them.

He told them he sensed they would do what was right with these gifts and added, “She will save us all,” without saying who “she” was. Then he lay down on a box, possibly mistaking it for a bed, and started snoring. Lyrus explained what had just happened: the Seer hadn’t made a magic item in over 25 years, so he must have seen something very special in them.

Fate of the Faithful

When the Coriander Society heroes reached the Faithful in Coriander Society - Fate of the Faithful Part 2 (A Crossover), Lyrus introduced them to the Seer with a warning not to startle him. The Seer let him know he could hear him, and smell him: “You smell like shoe leather.” He spotted John Carmichael’s gun, Krontaka, without needing eyes, mocked its “shitty craftsmanship,” and predicted it would wither into dust within 30 or 40 years. The gun itself seemed to take offense. In Asena he sensed “the nature of a dragon… though not one from this plane.” He liked her stolen smart laser (“certainly a monstrosity. I like it”) and foresaw her decimating many a foe with it.

His readings turned darker after that. He told John he saw a path that diverged, one way leading home and the other into a duty thrust upon him, with a choice coming between what he wanted and his honor. Lyrus agreed to a reading only if it was quick. The Seer told him he would fight “again and again. Until you are amongst the sand.” When Lyrus demanded, “What the fuck does that mean?”, the Seer replied, “I don’t interpret it. I only see it.” Once Lyrus had stormed off, the Seer spoke kindly of Orin, Lyrus’s late father, and agreed with Asena that Lyrus was not a great man, adding with a toothless grin: “Not yet.” Then he felt his way out along the walls. Lyrus called him “that old charlatan” who could see just fine and only liked the sympathy.

John asked him to reforge a sword from the tombs on Ashen into a knife for his cat, Chester. “You act like this is the first time I’ve made a dagger for a cat,” the Seer said. He promised to consult “the Fates and the Dungeon Master… That’s what they call the higher powers.” He gummed the metal and pulled a glowing turquoise crystal warhammer as tall as himself from his robes. He had also just finished a replica of a silver ewer for Lyrus. When John reached into the Seer’s mind, both men’s eyes swirled silver, and John learned the replica was meant to be swapped for the real artifact to keep it out of the wrong hands. Through the vision he also glimpsed pieces of Kenny’s secret mission to find The Tumult. The Seer, normally good at rooting out spies, had found no moles among the Faithful, but he admitted his vision “has been clouded as of late.” When everyone put their hands in to seal the plan, the Seer joined the circle too, swinging his hammer like a cane and smashing through the pots on the way.

In Coriander Society — Fate of the Faithful Part 4 (A Crossover), he helped Lawrence with a divination. He admitted that Ralzamon’s presence in The Void “has certainly clouded my vision.” Lawrence came out bleeding from the ear after piercing a mental fortress and the draining effects of The Shadowlands. The Seer was completely unbothered: “It’s just a bit of divination. I don’t understand what the big deal is.” He handed John the finished cat knife, a Damascus blade with a rainbow, oil-slick sheen that bent the light. He had finished it the first day (“It was child’s play”). He also left the party a parting glimpse of the future.

By Coriander Society — Fate of the Faithful Part 5 (A Crossover), with Ralzamon defeated, the Seer stumbled in and announced, “My vision, it’s become clear again.” He asked Asena how it felt to finally beat the foe she had chased. She found it a little anticlimactic, and he observed that once the things we chase longest are gone, “we almost miss them.” He even conceded to John that he “may or may not have been wrong” about Krontaka. Lyrus said he would probably let the Seer decide what to do with the ewer, and described him as “like a sharp spoon.” While the Seer slept, John quietly kept the real ewer and gave Lyrus the replica. He also left the sleeping smith a farewell gift: a hypno gun, to keep listeners entranced by his stories.

Fate of the Arbiter: The Hall of Fates

In S2E17 — Fate of the Arbiter - The Hall of Fates — Toddleheim, Locket and Flynry reach the Grandmaster, the recap remembered him as the old, blind dragonborn who forged the party their items, “as he saw past what he couldn’t see to see inside of you.” Toddleheim was still about twelve years younger from the Seer’s potion. The hideout still had the box the Seer once “conked out” on.

Personality and Abilities

The Seer is very old, with worn white scales, white blind eyes and missing teeth. He shuffles, stumbles and sleeps wherever he lands. He plays up his frailty and blindness for laughs and sympathy, but he hears and smells everything and notices whispered schemes. He is blunt about other people’s craftsmanship and generous with gifts once he decides someone deserves them. He calls himself a “homebody” and is forever tired. He finds his own title “a little on the nose.”

His gift is seeing the true nature of people and things, past and future, and he has dreams that are usually true. As a blacksmith, he turns what he sees in a person into a magic item. He also makes ordinary masterwork pieces, like the replica ewer and the cat knife, though he has “given up forging firearms” because they are too unpredictable. He carries a glowing turquoise crystal warhammer and swings it one-handed. His sight can be clouded by dark presences such as Ralzamon’s.

Relationships

• Lyrus: Fellow member of the Faithful. He calls the Seer a charlatan and a “sharp spoon,” trusts his judgment, and hates hearing his prophecies.
• Orin: Lyrus’s late father, whom the Seer remembers as “a great man.”
• Flynry: Received the Atlas of Endless Horizons from the Seer, who saw “a weary soul” in him.
• Toddleheim: A “kindred soul”; the Seer gave him his own potion of longevity and a dimensional ring.
• John Carmichael: Traded insults and winks with him, got a hard prophecy, a cat knife, and eventually a grudging apology about his gun.
• Asena: Liked him and his taste in weapons. He sensed her draconic nature and foresaw her victories.
• Ralzamon: His presence in the Void clouded the Seer’s sight until he was defeated.

Memorable Quotes

• “A little bit of blind humor there.” (S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena)
• “May this serve to guide your feet, no matter what plane you choose to set them in.” (S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena)
• “I can hear you, Lyrus. I can smell you. You smell like shoe leather.” (Fate of the Faithful Part 2)
• “I don’t interpret it. I only see it.” (Fate of the Faithful Part 2)
• “You act like this is the first time I’ve made a dagger for a cat.” (Fate of the Faithful Part 2)
• “It’s the things that we’re chasing for the longest. Once they’re gone, we almost miss them.” (Fate of the Faithful Part 5)

Appearances

• S2E6 — FoTA - Sands of the Arena (Fate of the Arbiter, Part 2)
• S2E17 — Fate of the Arbiter - The Hall of Fates — Toddleheim, Locket and Flynry reach the Grandmaster
• Coriander Society - Fate of the Faithful Part 2 (A Crossover)
• Coriander Society — Fate of the Faithful Part 4 (A Crossover)
• Coriander Society — Fate of the Faithful Part 5 (A Crossover)