Just thinking about the tests Fin Varra made them do.

Also thinking about how Fin Varra was waiting for them to demonstrate particular noble traits.

Mostly thinking about how each trait Fin Varra was testing them on was the one that that particular person lacked.

Even-more-mostly thinking how of they seemed to excel in every other trait except the one they themselves got tested on.

Stopped thinking when I remembered Rohan got noted for his demonstration of courage, then started thinking too much.

😰 + 👀 + 😭 + 💖

Because Rohan's supposed to be the brave one, right? The courageous leader?

Ivar gets noted for his loyalty. Everything up to that point was about him trying to ditch the others so he could leave and go back to his quest. He deliberately goes a different direction to get away from them and only comes back because it wasn't safe. But he's also honest, guiding Rohan and Angus to the fairy ring, and he's selfless in how he told the other three to save themselves when he got stuck between those moving walls. I think there's some obvious, generalized courage in there too - blah, blah, blah, kept a cool head, all the fun stuff.

Angus is pretty obviously dishonest. He gets them to the fairy ring by lying to Ivar (and laughing about it), and the massive emphasis on him being a thief fills in the rest for us. But he's unbelievably, unquestioningly, and unflinchingly loyal, so that's covered. He's selfless, choosing to go first across the danger stepping-stones (we're only focusing on what he's like up to this point, so ignore the thousand other things he does later too). And if the show wants to rattle off how "fear is a companion of courage, but never its master," then we've got Angus all over that.

This guy is terrified all the time, makes his whole episode with his armour focusing on how nervous he is, he's constantly picking 'flight and lie' whenever he's in danger, always preaching the safer path... and like I've said many times before, he's throwing himself in harm's way at every moment because that chain of loyalty is dragging him along. It's what Rohan has to do to break that Loss of Courage spell: Angus sees his friends are in danger and jumps in - head empty, no thoughts, all action. Except Angus is 'breaking' through his own fear like every other episode lol (every other episode; he's not a coward, just very keen on being comfortable and alive).

So obviously honesty is his weakspot, because even if he's lying to help his friends, it's still a lie and blah-blah-blah hey angus why don't you fill people in on the whole story instead of keeping them on a need-to-know leash all the time? (oh because he grew up with rohan, who argues about every little thing, and the one time rohan learns the whole story about the steps needed to find draganta, rohan immediately gets them to skip half the steps because presumably full knowledge in rohan's hands is a dangerous thing 🙃)

Deirdre's interesting, because although she's honest (too honest sometimes lmao) and courageous (coming along on the quest by herself) and loyal (doing this for her country), she isn't willing to put others onto her level if they're beneath her. Just like how the little people were kinda justified in wondering if Angus would sell the others out for gold, they were also justified in wondering if she'd bother making any sacrifice for people she was pretty annoyed at being stuck with. She would give her life and safety for Kells, but for these three? Ehhhhhhh. And it goes back to being in question while she's pissed at Garrett's existence, too.

Garrett - omg, yes, honest, stop talking Garrett please. Loyal? Hilariously yes. He's suprisingly dedicated to his alliances and friendships. He just happily torments everyone who isn't specifically a friend or ally. Courageous? Yep, he's got that too. His test was built around it. So it was just humility that he had to deal with - and comparing him to the others, the others are very humble by default.

So...

Rohan.

Honest? Yes, kinda. He openly benefits from Angus' dishonesty, but he's not technically the one lying. Unless you count lying by omission, in which case, Rohan is in second place for Liar Liar Pants On Fire by far.

Selfless? Yeah, kinda. He's going on this quest to save the kingdom but his driving motive's really to find out what his destiny is. It's why he sorta bullies Conchobar into letting him go on that quest at all.

Loyal? I mean, mostly. There aren't really any chances to call it into question. But again, he profits off of Angus' friendship more than anything - volunteering Angus for stuff because he knows he can count on the guy. Which is cute and I love that! It says so much about them as individuals and as BFFs! And you could say he's demonstrating his loyalty in how he uses this quest to immediately spring his friend from jail, and how he lets Angus into Cathbad's chambers as their little secret (which happens constantly enough that they've got signals to each other to coordinate it), and doesn't blame Angus for the potion misfiring when Deirdre asks wtf that smell is. So yeah, he's pretty loyal based on what we see. Doesn't need to prove it any more than Deirdre or Garrett does.

As for humble, even though this one shouldn't count since Fin Varra made it up for Garrett later, he's barely that, but he is. Even though he's trying to be more than he is by following his true destiny, he's acutely aware of what he is right now. He submits to Fin Varra quickly and to Deirdre when she arrives, and he's polite enough about Ivar having dangled him and Angus from a tree for a while. He stays focused on whether or not Ivar's satisfied that they aren't the thief he's looking for rather than letting it bleed into any other grudge once he's got the upper hand - y'know, like how Garrett added insult to injury by letting Rohan fall into the lake.

But courage.

Rohan's brave. He's so dumb that he thinks he can conquer anything. If it wasn't for Angus having all the survival instinct they need, Rohan would've died a hundred deaths before he ever made it to Tir Na Nog. Himbo energy - love it 💖

But being inherently brave means he's never had to work up the nerve to do something that does scare him. He leaves so much unsaid when he speaks to people that the apology he gives Angus in "Friends for Life" is an exception. Look how hard he had to force himself to say something! He didn't have a problem apologizing to Deirdre and Ivar, but when it came to saying it to the person he actually needed to say it to, he had to be summoned on the king's orders to wait in an empty room with Angus (who also had to be summoned there on the king's orders) and then stand in silence for a while until he could stumble around on his words and then FINALLY apologize. Like - he didn't seek Angus out for this! Angus had to be delivered to him. I wouldn't be surprised if someone was even eavesdropping to make sure Rohan spat it out before everyone else walked in.

Every other time, he clams up, he brushes it off, he misdirects onto someone else instead of talking to the person he should be talking to (wow, yeah, thinking about it? He does this all the time), or he goes around gathering everyone else's thoughts to make sure they agree with him first.

The episode where he loses that inherent bravery is one of the few times he has to overcome a genuine sense of fear - like he can't do something because he's too scared to do it, not because it's too difficult to take on at that moment and there's Angus losing his shit trying to stop Rohan from taking it on anyway.

Even though everyone uses 'courage' and 'bravery' interchangeably, Fin Varra seems to be the only one who means it in that "doing it even though you're scared" way. Everyone else seems to refer to courage as "not being scared in the first place, or at least having your fear be so manageable that it's only there to give you an adrenaline rush." Hell, Cathbad's fake Bravery Powder is accurately named, since the fact that Angus more or less settles on Laughing Powder instead (can't be scared if you're laughing) makes it a pretty telling substitute. Also it makes him stupid so lmao that's telling for what a lack of fear means in this show

So I do kinda think Fin Varra saw Rohan as a big, dumb soldier that would take the easy way out in danger. Going back to rescue Ivar must've certainly been impressive! To throw away an easy exit to save this other person who's been trying to ditch you this whole time? Wonderful!

Rohan is so damn lucky the test wasn't like a job interview with references, 'cause if Fin Varra talked to Angus for even five seconds first, Angus would've absolutely been like, "nah he just does that lol it's actually harder to get him not to run into mortal danger" and Fin Varra would've been like, "hm ok disqualified" or made the test be "apologize to your endlessly suffering friend in under an hour for the latest shit you did" and Rohan would've failed

and then wat

no show :'(