Keyleth

Character
Name:	Keyleth of the Air Ashari
Occupation:	Half-elven Druid, member of Vox Machina
Relationships:	Koren - father, Vilya - mother
Fandom:	Critical Role
Other:	Played by Marisha Ray (IMDb)
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Keyleth is a fictional character played by Marisha Ray on a popular D&D web series Critical Role. She's one of the main characters of Campaign 1.

Keyleth left her tribe to embark on an Aramenthe, a journey to visit other sister tribes of the Ashari and prove that she can be a leader, to take over from her father. She joined Vox Machina. Prior to the stream, she visited the Earth Ashari, then during the stream, she visited the Water and the Fire Ashari. After completing her quest, she became the Voice of the Tempest and the leader of the Air Ashari.

Marisha mentioned that the inspiration for Keyleth's Aramente was Avatar: The Last Airbender (of which Marisha is a big fan of).

Fandom

Keyleth (and by extension Marisha) was a target of a lot of hate, especially at the beginning of the stream. To a point where Sam Riegel mocked it in one of his ad bits:

"If you're calling to lodge a complaint about Marisha Ray, or the character of Keyleth, or how nothing she ever does is cool, press 3. You'll be given 5 minutes to rant and don't worry, your message will make Marisha feel like shit within 24 hours."

A lot of that hate was thrown at her in the Twitch chat during the early streams, but also on Twitter. A lot of fans didn't understand the hate , and at one point Marisha Ray felt the need to address the issue

When trying to point to the reason for the hate, some fans drew a direct line between the hate and Misogyny in D&D and Misogyny in Fandom in general

By far, the most popular Keyleth ship is her canon het relationship with Vax. Her other ships include femslash ships Vex/Keyleth, Keyleth/Pike and het ship Keyleth/Kash. Keyleth also has a canonic friendship with Percy.

Fanworks

Fanfics

As of 21 October 2020, there are 1637 works on AO3 tagged with Keyleth.

• the most terrifying thing in the forest by mischief7manager]] - "This is what you know about the witch: People go to the witch when they need help. Not often, and not that they blab about it, but it’s a known fact that if there’s something you need, something the clerics and the guardsmen and the liegelord can’t fix, you ask the witch. You pay, and people don’t talk about what they pay but the not-talking makes you think it’s nothing as easy or common as gold, and the problem is solved. So they say." Hundreds of years after the adventures of Vox Machina, a village child makes an unexpected ally of the mysterious woman who lives up the mountain.
• we will stand beside and breathe in their new life by impossibletruths - Keyleth & Percy - Percy has lost siblings enough; he had thought himself free of the fear of losing a loved one. He never expected the bright-haired druid girl to crawl into his heart and stir up those long-buried memories. But then, Keyleth rarely does as expected.Or, six times Percy saw his siblings Keyleth and one time Keyleth called him on it.
• After, And After That by aban_ataashi - Keyleth/Grog - “So you’re here with Keyleth?” “Yeah,” Grog replied, not thinking much of the question until he noticed the way Vex was looking at him. “What?” “I mean… you’re here with Keyleth?” she pressed, raising an eyebrow. Oh. A collection of moments after the epilogue, as two members of Vox Machina grieve and heal and grow, and eventually find something neither ever could have expected.
• twenty five words or less by gingergenower - Oh boy, you are Keyleth, right? Of the Air Ashy? I should have asked that first, this is a massive waste of spells if you’re- Yes, you’re talking to Keyleth, the Voice of the Tempest. I am very busy right now. aka, Jester Lavorre harasses Keyleth, Voice of the Tempest, with the spell Message.
• A little help from my friends by impossibletruths - It all seems pretty simple to him. She knows, he doesn’t, she can teach him. Two plus two equals–– well, whatever. Point is, there's nothing wrong with asking for a little help.

Meta

• I have so many feelings about Keyleth’s campaign 1 insecurities, ^{Archived version} - Tumblr post on what Level 12 means in D&D as it applies to Vilya and her daughter.