Characters Essek Thelyss Slow Burn

Best Essek Thelyss Slow Burn Fanfics

The best slow burn fanfiction featuring Essek Thelyss (Critical Role) on AO3, curated by popularity. Readers love the anticipation, the meaningful character development, and the eventual payoff of a well-earned romance.

Critical Role 8k Essek Thelyss works 850,000 slow-burn works

Top Essek Thelyss Slow Burn Fic Recs

3 slow burn fics featuring Essek Thelyss, followed by other top-rated stories.

1

Arrangements

Slow Burn

by GrellSutcliff · Shadowgast

The war between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty finally comes to an end.Peace, as delicate and tentative as it is, has been brokered and discussed.Professor, turned Warmage, Caleb Widogast would be wed, as a political symbol, of the effort being made to extend that peace towards the Dynas

249 kudos 98,661 words 21/30 chapters Explicit
2

Soulmarks of Ink and Shadow

Slow Burn

by Dancer612 · Shadowgast

In a world where soulmarks appear as magical script written in the language of one’s soulmate, Caleb Widogast wakes to find drow glyphs etched into his skin—ink-dark, unfamiliar, and impossible to ignore. Across the border of empire and dynasty, Essek Thelyss bears a matching mark in harsh Zemnian s

183 kudos 18,889 words 21/21 chapters Mature
3

I Found You Between the Pages of My Life

Slow Burn

by MissWekfild · Shadowgast

When a sealed box appears in Essek of den Thelyss’ office, containing a script. the acclaimed director and producer of Moonlight Productions finds a new story to tell. In search of authenticity, he turns to Dr. Caleb Widogast, a newly appointed professor of modern history whose research focuses on s

74 kudos 327,366 words 120/? chapters Mature
4

How Can I Love What I Am Destined To Lose

by neverthelessthesun · Shadowgast

Deirta Thelyss may not have been of den Kryn, but she was about as close as one could get without climbing back into the Luxon and trying again. She had been consecuted eight hundred years ago, and was nearly as old as Leylas herself, or so they say. The Light had shone upon her and granted her, fin

463 kudos 53,400 words 29/? chapters Mature
5

body of my body (sky of my sky)

by JPlash · Shadowgast

Caleb should go back inside. Caleb should stand up, go back inside, and forget that he saw anything curled up in the filthy alleyway behind his building. Stay out of trouble. Things die all the time. When he lays two fingers at the vampire’s neck, its skin is chill as the wet cobblestones. He can ju

409 kudos 62,176 words 17/? chapters Explicit
6

Aphasia

by dawl_and_dapple · Shadowgast

Caleb moves closer into his space and holds his shivering arms tightly, and rubs some warmth into his shoulders. “Essek, you can feel it, can’t you?”Caleb noticed it as he left the cottage, once he consciously felt for the sensation. Or rather, a lack thereof. Typically, magic rushes around him like

373 kudos 101,303 words 22/23 chapters Explicit
7

Incise

by unintelligiblescreaming · Shadowgast

“It is Kryn spellcraft. Evil stuff, I’m afraid,” Ikithon tells Bren’s parents, dripping with sympathy. “One of them must have bound your son’s soul to theirs. Injuries and other ailments are transmitted through the bond. But don’t worry. We know how to take care of cases like his, here at Soltryce.”

316 kudos 91,981 words 22/25 chapters Mature
8

Online heart

by Dancer612 · Shadowgast

Caleb can’t sleep. Not with the scars. Not with the itch. Not with the memories. Not with Trent Ikithon still living somewhere in his head. One night, he finds a Twitch stream. The man behind the screen name ‘LogicalGhost’ is calm, brilliant, and impossible to look away from—playing horror games lik

222 kudos 29,729 words 30/30 chapters Mature
9

You Don't Have to Kneel

by Dancer612 · Shadowgast

Caleb Widogast is escorted into the Kryn Dynasty by Trent Ikithon with no explanation and no orders beyond obedience.He expects a mission. Instead, he is presented to the Bright Queen as an offering.Bound by treaty, Caleb is placed under the authority of Essek Thelyss—not as a prisoner, but not as a

172 kudos 8,594 words 7/7 chapters Mature
10

the bird, the egg, the cage

by rnelody · Shadowgast

Ever since you were very little, Dad has told you stories. Stories of heroism, of adventure and friendship and love. Stories of the Mighty Nein.You know they’re not real, because only you and Dad are real. It’s you, and Dad, in Room, and that’s all there is. (It starts like this: Essek Thelyss meets

140 kudos 102,215 words 17/19 chapters Mature
11

Resonant Echoes

by Lise · Shadowgast

A problem shaped like seven unexpected mercenaries carrying one of the priceless artifacts he stole arrives on Essek's doorstep, but he can handle it. Is handling it. Will be able to handle it, at some point, if he can figure out how to avoid them killing him first.(Or: time looping your way into a

103 kudos 28,089 words 5/8 chapters Teen And Up Audiences
12

run in the shadows

by atlasarcana · Shadowgast

THELYSS: I think I could have floated beside him in stasis forever, ignoring the obvious. Once he offered the precise object of my desire, which I had been concealing from even myself, I panicked. INTERVIEWER: And what did you say to him? THELYSS: We fought about it. We had to. In the Nein, it is pr

101 kudos 75,601 words 10/30 chapters Explicit

Find More Essek Thelyss Slow Burn Stories on AO3

Browse the full AO3 archive for slow burn Essek Thelyss fanfiction, sorted by kudos. Then read offline with Fanfict Reader.

Essek Thelyss in Slow Burn Fanfiction

Essek Thelyss — The Kryn Dynasty's gravity-bending Shadowhand, a war criminal who finds his first real friends in the people he betrayed. Essek's quiet treason and quieter redemption made Shadowgast one of the archive's biggest actual-play ships.

Slow Burn — A romance that develops gradually over time, with tension building across chapters or the entire story.

Readers love the anticipation, the meaningful character development, and the eventual payoff of a well-earned romance. Essek Thelyss's (also known as Shadowhand Essek) role in Critical Role makes them a natural fit for slow burn storylines, which is why this combination is one of the most popular in Critical Role fanfiction.

Essek Thelyss Ships

Looking for slow burn fics with a specific pairing? Try these Essek Thelyss ships:

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