***Spoiler Warning: This interview contains spoilers for “Tusk Love”***

“Tusk Love” began as a bit in Campaign 2 of “Critical Role.” Matt Mercer created an entire bookstore with adult romance books upon Liam O’Brien’s request. But what no one could have anticipated was how big a moment it would truly be. Laura Bailey’s Jester Lavorre was immediately drawn to “Tusk Love” when Mercer explained the novel, notably the half-orc character Oskar.

“Tusk Love” came into play throughout the Mighty Nein’s adventures. It is often brought up by Bailey although Mercer would sometimes slip it into scenes as well. It was also incorporated into “The Legend of Vox Machina” as a fun Easter egg. What began as a joke has now become an actual novel. Written by acclaimed fantasy author Thea Guanzon “Tusk Love” is an artifact brought from the world of Exandria into our world, the real world.

This is not the first time Critical Role has brought a piece of Exandria into the real world. O’Brien’s book of fairytales, “Critical Role: Der Katzenprinz & Other Zemnian Tales,” is a peek into the stories that shaped Zemnian citizens. In an exclusive interview with Temple of Geek, Guanzon explained how the smut plays an important role in the story. Her exploration of Exandrian classism, and the society’s feeling on sexuality. Guanzon also shared how she approached writing the novel with Jester in mind as the audience.

Thea Guanzon Was The Perfect Author To Bring Tusk Love To Life

There was an inherent challenge in making “Tusk Love” an actual novel. What started as a running bit needed to actually be a good novel. This couldn’t be treated as a joke. The right author needed to understand Exandria and “Critical Role.” While also having the ability to paint an entire world based on a few offhanded jokes made during Campaign 2. Guanzon was the perfect person to take on this challenge and not just meet, but exceed all expectations.

Thea Guanzon:

“It was my first time writing something that was a bit more lighthearted than what I usually write. I just had a blast with it. I am just grateful that Critical Role gave me that opportunity.”

Temple of Geek: Can you talk to me a little bit about how the collaboration between you and Critical Role began?

Thea Guanzon:

“So, I don’t really know what went down with their selection process. All I know is that my agent emailed me at three in the morning Manila time, and she was like, ‘Hi Thea, do you know Critical Role? Because they want you to write a book for them.’ And I screamed so loud that I ended up startling my cats.

Can I just say it was really cute of my agent to be like, ‘Hey, do you know Critical Role?’ I was like, ‘What? Of course, I know Critical Role!’ And then I replied, I didn’t even play it cool. I just immediately said, ‘Oh my God, yes, what is it?’ And then she got back to me with, ‘So they’re looking to publish “Tusk Love,” ’ and at that point I screamed again and my cat went flying across the room.

Temple of Geek: What was your research process for “Tusk Love,” given that it kind of started as a bit for the players in Campaign 2?

Thea Guanzon:

“It did. Yeah. So, my brief for this project was basically to write something that was an homage to the classic historical romance novels and bodice rippers of our world, but they were very clear in that they wanted it to be an homage and not a parody, if that makes sense. There had to be an obvious love for the genre written into the book. I feel like they couldn’t have picked a more willing author to do that because historical romance is probably my most read genre of all time. I am a fantasy author, but most of what I read is historical romance.”

Temple of Geek: Were you able to speak to Dani Carr or Matt Mercer when you were fleshing things out, or was it more that you would write and then send it to them to get approval?

Thea Guanzon:

“Dani Carr worked very closely with me and my editor Sarah Peed, on this book. She was in charge of correcting a lot of the lore, a lot of the canonical aspects. She was responsible for just making sure that it fit the vibes and the world of “Critical Role.” Matt Mercer was there as well.

So, I actually went on my first editorial call with the Critical Role team, and at the time they told me that it was an editorial call, so I thought it would be a typical publishing editorial call. I would meet my editor, I would meet Dani, I would meet everyone else on the publishing side of things. So, I was joking around with everyone. I was laughing. I was fixing my hair on camera. Suddenly I get a notification that a new person has joined. And I looked up and I was looking at Matthew Mercer’s face on the screen, and I was like, what is happening right now?

What I remember is that I did ask him something that I thought I would never ask Matthew Mercer. I was like, ‘So how smutty are we allowed to go with this?’ And then he was like, ‘Yeah, we have license to go a little bit wild with it.’ I was like, oh my God, I can’t believe that actually happened.

So, I sent them my preliminary manuscript for it, and then they sent it back to me. I was just going over the notes, oh, here’s a note from my editor, blah. There was a note from Liam O’Brien and he was just asking a question about the bandits, and I was like, oh my God, did Liam O’Brien actually see this? So, it was a very wild time for me.”

“I Had To Write The Book That Jester Wanted To Read”

What began as a joke grew into an important part of Jester’s story. “Tusk Love” seemed to deepen Jester’s crush on Fjord and was one of her first windows into romance. Although as she matured in the campaign these opinions grew with her. But this was an important piece of Jester’s formative understanding of romance. Guanzon wrote “Tusk Love” with Jester in mind as the key reader. While the book needs to speak to countless readers Jester is the first. This must be a novel that Jester not only could, but would fall in love with.

Temple of Geek: I was talking to a friend of mine after I finished it, and I was like, as soon as you read this book, you’ll 100% understand that moment where Beau goes, ‘Wait, did you learn romance from smut books?’ It was so like, oh, all of Jester’s perspectives on romance make so much sense because this is actually a very healthy romance. But if you have never had any other perception of it, this is going to be a wild choice going into your first relationship.

Thea Guanzon:

“Yeah, exactly. I was definitely keeping Jester in mind while I was writing this. They always say that you should write the book that you want to read, but in this case, I had to write the book that Jester wanted to read. So, Jester’s preferences or her personality that I gleaned from following the stream is mostly what informed a lot of the beats in this story.

Temple of Geek: This was my first time reading a book that I would classify in that romantacy genre that has become so popular. How much of the story was established going into it versus how much you got to really create on your own? Because unlike if you were writing, let’s say, one of the character stories, there isn’t anything you really have to adhere to other than Jester found it. And there’s a half-orc name Oskar that she has a giant crush on.

Thea Guanzon:

“The Critical Role team gave me free rein with what the plot would be like, with what the characters would be like. All that I had to do was stick to what Laura Bailey ad-libbed during the stream. So, I started out with the bare bones or the facts that like, okay, so his name is Oskar, her name is Guinevere. She’s the daughter of a traveling merchant.

They meet on the Amber Road and there’s a scene on a ship, and then Oskar is rowing a canoe, and towards the end, he had to be carrying her through a field of wildflowers. So that is what we know about the book based on what was established during the stream. So, my main job was to connect all of this together and to sort of extrapolate a plot out of it.

Temple of Geek: That seems like such a cool writing prompt almost of like, here’s three scenes, make a book now.

Thea Guanzon:

“Yes, that’s exactly what happened. I feel like it worked for me. I think because, so I started out as a fanfiction writer, this was basically me writing fanfiction. So, it was nice to go back to my roots for this project.”

Oskar & Guinevere Are The Heart Of Tusk Love

“Tusk Love” plays with many of the tropes of romantacy and historical romance. The protagonists Guinevere and Oskar are perfect examples of this. Oskar is a brooding adventurer with a softer side. While Guinevere is a sheltered lady betrothed to a mysterious wealthy aristocrat. However, each of them have a depth that brings out a new side of them as the novel progresses.

Temple of Geek: Can you talk to me about our two protagonists in this book and kind of how they maybe stand out from other protagonists you’ve written before in this genre?

Thea Guanzon:

“I don’t necessarily know if it was a goal of mine to set them apart from other fantasy protagonists because “Tusk Love” is purposefully a tropey book. Oskar and Guinevere follow archetypes. He’s a brooding warrior with a tragic past and she’s a sheltered lady straining under the weight of societal expectations. My primary concern was more of infusing them with enough personality and character development in order to make them feel like real people amidst all of these tropes.

Although I guess that they do stand out in the sense that they’re basically historical romance protagonists trapped in a fantasy novel where there’s orcs and magic. Oskar in particular is just a regular guy off to see his family, and then suddenly he gets roped into becoming the male lead of this fever dream bodice ripper romance, and it’s his worst nightmare.”

The Smut Scenes In Tusk Love Are Key To The Characters’ Growth

One of the big draws of “Tusk Love” has been the fact that this is a spicy romantacy set within the world of “Critical Role.” This is like nothing they’ve ever published for a number of reasons. However, while the smut aspect is entertaining and titillating there is a depth to each scene. Guanzon clearly put thought into why each smut scene happens and how it ties into the larger evolution of Oskar and Guinevere’s romance.

Temple of Geek: How did you approach the balance between their physical relationship and the evolution of their emotional relationship? Because I thought it was very cool how both of them grew and developed. It wasn’t at a 10 immediately.

Thea Guanzon:

“”Tusk Love” is not a slow burn by my standards, and I usually only ever write slow burn, but I didn’t think that I should unleash my typical 150,000 word manuscripts on an unsuspecting franchise with an existing fandom. So, by my standards, there was a bit of a speed run involved with it. I made it so that they are attracted to each other right from the start, but of course there still has to be narrative tension. In order for that to happen, the emotional intimacy had to progress at a more gradual pace.

For the audience to believe in this kind of love story, it was very important that I establish that they are what each other needs, even if they don’t want to admit it at first. Guinevere needs Oskar’s steadiness, his selfless care. While Oskar needs Guinevere’s cheerfulness, softness, and the ability to make him laugh. He really needed to laugh at that point in his life, and she was good for him in that sense.

I also really enjoyed the opportunity to deepen the emotional intimacy as well as hit more beats of character development while writing the smut scenes. Because there are moments during the smut scenes where there are new fears that are unearthed, there are more aspects of the self that are discovered. I think that is what makes a good smut scene. It’s not just there for the sake of them banging. It’s there for character growth and it’s there for deepening the bond between two characters.”

Tusk Love Establishes New Elements Of Exandrian Lore

There are countless elements of “Tusk Love” that make it worth picking up even beyond the genre itself. Dani Carr teased the fact that within the world of “Critical Role” this novel was written by a citizen of the Dwendalian Empire. This bakes in certain perspectives and biases about the whole of Exandria. She also teased that “Tusk Love” would touch on the Cyrengreen Forest a corner of the map that has yet to be explored in “Critical Role.”

Temple of Geek: Can you talk a little bit about exploring elements of Exandria that haven’t been fleshed out before? Because going into it, you already were a fan, so you got to really establish things like the Cyrengreen Forest that we haven’t seen on stream.

Thea Guanzon:

“I was of course very excited to be able to leave my own little mark in this franchise that I absolutely adore, but I also wanted to be respectful to the creators and not back them into the corner of, this is what this unexplored location should be, in case they decided to explore it later on. I also don’t think they would’ve allowed me to do that. So, with regards to Cyrengreen in particular, I just approached it from the perspective of how people in Wildemount view it. What their attitudes are towards such a place, what the rumors were about it. There’s still that sense of mystery regarding the location.”

Temple of Geek: One of the things I think I was most excited with this book is that it’s essentially an artifact from Exandria that’s brought into our world. As a writer, how did you approach writing with the perspective of an author in Exandria from the Dwendalian Empire? How did you infuse it into your writing with, like you were saying, approaching the Cyrengreen Forest from the perspective of people in Wildemount, that sort of piece of it?

Thea Guanzon:

““Tusk Love” was a very interesting project for me. It’s basically the Dwendalian Empire’s version of a contemporary romantic comedy. It was fun to write it from that perspective. My main inspiration was, as I mentioned, the historical romance genre in our world, but there had to be changes to certain aspects to make it in accordance with the norms of gender and society. For example, it’s already been established that the world of “Critical Role” has a very positive view of sex work and courtesans are very much respected. So we made sure to incorporate that.

Also as a whole, women in Exandria have agency, and for that reason, there was not an emphasis on Guinevere keeping herself chaste and preserving her virginity. Unlike what you would find in say the typical Regency romances of our world. There’s also a scene where Oskar does not immediately assume the gender of Guinevere’s betrothed. That would’ve been out of place in our world’s historical romance. But it definitely reflected what was more normal for Exandria, which is inclusive when it comes to sexuality and gender.

On the more technical side of things, I had to be careful to strike a balance with the world building because the text had to remain accessible to readers. But at the same time, it had to seem like it was written by someone in that world. For example, a romance set in New York would not necessarily contain the entire history of New York.

This is why I think that the road trip format, the road trip plot works well because it basically serves the purpose of a travel log pointing out interesting things to someone who is from Exandria, but who might not have necessarily visited those places yet. Like Guinevere who was very sheltered and who lived in the Shimmer Ward in Exandria all her life.”

Tusk Love Shows A New Perspective On Magic & Magic Users In Exandria

Magic and mages are built into the DNA of Exandria because of their place within Dungeons & Dragons. However, our understanding of magic users within this world is tinted by the mechanics and game play in “Critical Role.” Even the novels that follow Laudna or Lucien and the countless graphic novels are still tinged with the readers understanding of the rules surrounding magic. “Tusk Love” is the first time that has been completely stripped. This shows how regular people within the world of Exandria feel about different mages without the knowledge of how they fit into an adventuring party.

Temple of Geek: One of my favorite things was getting to see how everyday people in Exandria view things like magic users. We as audiences watching D&D, it’s like, well, yeah, he’s a warlock and she’s a wizard or sorcerer. So, having Oskar’s perspective of like, oh, it’s the freaking hippie ones, I was like, this totally makes sense. They wouldn’t be like, oh, you’re a druid. They’re like, oh, it’s the freaking forest ones great. They’re so annoying.

Thea Guanzon:

“Yes, I really enjoyed directing his interactions with the hippie mage.”

Temple of Geek: Can you talk to me a little bit about the fire spirit and what inspired that piece of it? Because I thought that was such a cool detail, she had this fire spirit within her that really fed on things like anxiety and fear and all that.

Thea Guanzon:

“It was basically like she was patterned after those people who can summon elemental spirits and all that. That was sort of what I envisioned. I just really liked the idea of fire as a catalyst for her emotions, because fire symbolizes passion and distraction, and it is a great destructive force, but it is also something that can be useful. It can bring warmth during cold nights. It can light the way in dark places.

I think the positive side of fire magic was something that Guinevere needed to learn because in a sense, it was also a positive side of herself. She and the wildfire spirit are basically the same person. So, in order to learn how to harness that power within her, she had to stop being afraid of it and to really embrace who she was.”

Temple of Geek: It was such a great journey. I also love that the first time Oskar saw her, he saw her set everything on fire, and he went, she seems cool, the pretty girl just set everything on fire. That’s fine. That seems normal.

Thea Guanzon:

“Yeah. She was burning up all those men, and Oskar was just like, oh, she’s so pretty.”

Tusk Love Features An Easter Egg Tied Directly To Jester Lavorre

“Tusk Love” and Jester Lavorre are intrinsically connected. Because this is a book she reads there can’t be any outright Easter eggs tied to her. However, Guanzon, with an assist from Carr, found a way to tie in something from Jester’s life that makes her excitement surrounding this book even more entertaining.

Temple of Geek: Can you talk to me a little bit about incorporating Easter eggs in a way that is clearly an author from this world, incorporating pieces they know? I loved the Opal of the Ocean because reading that, I was like, oh, I think that’s Jester’s mom, and I love that this is Jester’s favorite book.

Thea Guanzon:

“I have Dani Carr to thank for that. She was the one who suggested a character called The Opal of the Ocean. When she floated that to me, I just couldn’t not write it in. I have this head canon of the Ruby of the Sea, getting her hands on “Tusk Love,” and then reading it and then thinking maybe I should sue Matilda Merceria for libel.”

Temple of Geek: I feel like Jester went, ‘Mom, you’ve got to read this!’

Thea Guanzon:

“Well, I think Easter eggs, aside from that, the Easter eggs that I personally put, they were probably more for the fans than the actual Exandrians themselves. I remember when I put two horse characters, I was like, this time, let’s make sure these horses make it all the way to the end of the book.”

Tusk Love Includes A Surprising Exploration Of Classism In Exandria

The DNA of “Tusk Love’s” comedic origin is felt throughout the novel. However, there are serious examinations of corners of Exandria. Guanzon includes a look into the classism that is prevalent within Exandria. She shows how it impacts the romance between Oskar and Guinevere as well as Guinevere’s development as a character.

Temple of Geek: One of the things I also found really interesting about “Tusk Love” is the exploration of classism. It’s not just, wealthy versus working class. You had new money and old money and working class. Can you talk about playing in those different areas and how they bump up against each other?

Thea Guanzon:

“At the top of the hierarchy, there’s old money, which is reference to the aristocracy who have these illustrious bloodlines and generational wealth that has granted them power and privilege since birth. Then there’s new money who are basically the merchants and the industrialists who have worked to acquire enough wealth to rival or even surpass that of the aristocracy. But the aristocracy looked down on them because of their humble origins.

Guinevere’s family belongs to new money, and they have a chip on their shoulder because of that. They try to buy their way into the uppermost class by marrying their daughter off to an aristocrat. So as the story progresses, Guinevere begins to question this way of things. Eventually she’s like, ‘What’s so important about a title anyway?’ For the first time in her life, she meets people who are working class and she realizes how privileged she’s been.

She learns to dissect her parents’ attitudes towards those they deemed lesser because of economic status because she eventually realizes that it is so ironic that new money is looking down on the working class while the nobles at the top are also looking down on new money because they’re commoners. It’s really a vicious cycle, and by the end of the book, Guinevere is determined to break free of it as we all should.”

Temple of Geek: I thought it was so great having this very fun, silly romance with big, smut moments, and then as you’re going like, ‘Oh, this is really looking into the classism in a very serious way.’ It was such a cool layer. Honestly, one of my favorite parts of it was how quickly Oskar was like, ‘Oh, your parents suck, and I don’t think you know that.’ It was such a cool moment for me because he was judgemental, which I understood, but he very quickly shifted to, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t be judgy to her. She’s stuck. Be judgy to her parents who are awful.’ I thought that was such a great detail to include and it really made their instant bond feel very authentic to me.

Thea Guanzon:

“I think that that was something that Guinevere needed to realize, because out of the two of them, Oskar is the one who has a healthy parental dynamic because his mom was a really great person and a really great parent. Guinevere probably did not really have any idea of what a great parent looks like. I think that Oskar had to put it for her in very blunt terms in his usual grumpy manner.”

Temple of Geek:  I think one of my favorite moments comes near the end with the boat fight and just the moment where her betrothed really shows his true colors and even the bad guy is like ‘This guy?’ It was so funny to me. It was just such a great moment.

Thea Guanzon:

“I love that. I just really like the idea of everyone fighting, being on opposite ends of a conflict, but they all unite in this lone singular moment to say, eat the rich.”

Thea Guanzon Reveals Her Favorite Part Of Writing Tusk Love

“Tusk Love” brings a lightheartedness to Exandria. Although there is darkness within the story this is a love story between two truly good-hearted characters. Comedy, smut, romance, fantasy, and yearning are all key pieces of what brings “Tusk Love” to life. The exploration of magic in Exandria with the mechanics of D&D stripped away, and examining classism within this world. All of these are woven together to craft this story, but Guanzon revealed that there was a specific aspect of writing “Tusk Love” that stands out for her.

Temple of Geek: Was there a particular moment when you were writing “Tusk Love” that really stands out to you as your favorite thing to write?

Thea Guanzon:

“I think basically any interaction that Oskar and Guinevere had wherein the grumpy-sunshine trope came into effect. All of these collectively were my favorite thing to write because I really love the grumpy-sunshine trope, and it was just so fun to be able to present my own spin on it, and in the world of Critical Role no less.

Temple of Geek: What are you most excited for “Critical Role” fans to experience when reading this book as a “Critical Role” fan yourself?

Thea Guanzon:

“I just hope that people have a lot of fun with going back to these familiar places. I also hope that people enjoy the action scenes because when I was crafting those scenes, I wanted to sort of mimic the rhythm of a traditional tabletop role playing game. I hope that people are able to pick up on that as well. And I also hope that readers will see the parallels between Oskar and Guinevere with Jester and Fjord that I sprinkled in because I enjoyed those moments.”

Thea Guanzon Is Interested In Bringing More Of Matilda Merceria’s Stories To Life

Critical Role continues to bring aspects of Exandria to life through novels and graphic novels. This often means the origins of characters established by the players or Mercer. However, “Tusk Love” and “Critical Role: Der Katzenprinz & Other Zemnian Tales,” set a new precedent. Guanzon revealed where in the world of “Critical Role” she would like to play if she were to return to the franchise.

Temple of Geek: If you were to further explore the world of “Critical Role,” would you want it to be similar to this where it’s a book from Exandria, or would you want to tackle one of the characters that we see one of the players created?

Thea Guanzon:

“Oh my gosh. I do not believe enough in my capabilities as a writer to do justice to a character story. I think I’ll just stick with being Matilda Merceria for now.”

Temple of Geek: I’m sure we’ll want more Matila Merceria,

Thea Guanzon:

“Early readers have been asking for a sequel to “Tusk Love,” and I’m like, yeah, okay. Let’s call it Tuskier Love.”

Temple of Geek: Perfect! You got it. It’s right there. We just need a one shot of Jester desperately searching for the sequel book.

Thea Guanzon:

“Oh my God, yes! Yes, definitely. I kind of want there to be a one shot of Jester stalking Matilda Merceria and barging into her house like, hello?

Temple of Geek: Jester’s like, I need more of these. Matilda’s like this is the first in a series. What are you talking about?

Thea Guanzon:

“Or Matilda’s like, what are you doing in my office?”

“Tusk Love” is available for purchase now.