#Analysis

[angstandhappiness]

LMAO MOOD

in almost every other children's book where the main heroine is swept away to a land of whimsy she's shown having a lovely time; braving dangers occasionally, trying to find her way home, sure, but ultimately delighting in the magic around her. meanwhile alice spends her entire time in wonderland like

[tempestandwhirlwinds]

I find it so fascinating how Lucy Gray haunts the narrative and how Snow can't help but try to recreate the "man kills the woman her loves" dynamic in over Victors of District 12.

When Haymitch wins his games, Snow kills his family as both a punishment and warning. But he makes sure that Lucy Gray is killed by Haymitch's hand, using the poison that Snow has such an affinity for.

When Snow tortures and manipulates Peeta before allowing him to be rescued, we can clearly see the same setup. Snow was hoping that Peeta would kill Katniss, the girl he loves, in yet another recreation of what he (thought?) he did to Lucy Gray. But this time, it didn't work. Because Katniss was too valued by the people around her, and then later, because Peeta was able to overcome his brainwashing.

I can't help but see Snow's obsession with this dynamic as a way to prove to himself that love means nothing in the face of violence and self-preservation. Or perhaps it was his way to justify his actions, to show that he's not singularly monstrous for what he did. Or maybe he was trying to give himself closure with not knowing if Lucy Gray survived - Lenore Dove was dead by Haymitch's hands, so surely the same could be said for Lucy Gray?

But either way, we can see how the mystery of Lucy Gray Baird really, truly HAUNTED Snow until his dying breath. Even if she wasn't in the situations he was dealing with, he certainly found a way to put her there.

[chapelh1ll]

Here's my Sam Winchester x Preachers Daughter analysis for those who care!!

@mothercain

[humanradiojmp]

First impressions with The Gaslight District trailer

Really enjoy how the animation is done. Almost seems like some of it was done maybe on twos instead of ones (24 fps is average and considered animating on ones, so twos would be half at 12 fps) giving it a slightly choppier feel in some instances. Could be wrong on that part, but do know going back that there’s moments where the point of impact is delayed to give an extra punch to whatever is happening. With the editing, gives an impression those are some serious moments.

Stylization very unique and different than the previous two shows. I remember in GlitchX 2023 it was mentioned they were pushing themselves with the stylization and their attempts at getting it right, and it shows. It almost makes me think of a video game with how the graphics are, and I mean that in a good way. Lots of clean but dramatic lighting and solid models for the characters. some of the camera angles also gives this idea, like when it pans from the side to the front of the house (shop?) makes me think the beginning of a cut scene. Plus, some of the details on skin and hair make me think of almost cell shading for comics where there’s a slight line to indicate muscle or hair strands.

Speaking of that particular moment, I’m almost getting earlier 3D animation, like from the 90s-2000s, specifically Monster House. Something about it gives me that same vibe. Also kind of resembles Claymation with the texturing and such, but clearly computer animated.

Honestly just going over the trailer a few times the animation is soooo good. the studio really is getting better and better every episode of their series. Like thinking how Murder Drones started verses how it ended in graphics alone shows how they improved. There’s even signs of better quality between episode one and four of Digital Circus. and it just looks so professional. Big round of applause for everyone who works there/for them for their efforts.

Both from the synopsis of the video and a few things in the video itself indicates the series is going to be quite a doozy. Undead gangsters in a (potentially) gothic punk environment. Whole bunch of conflict from that alone I’m sure, plus what’s going on with our main lead (trying making out her name but just can’t quite get it; if someone could tell me what it is, that’d be great). The main character seems to be loyal to the family she’s part of, but also curious as to where she came from. One scene shows a part of a conspiracy string board with a photo of her and what I’m assuming is her father figure, a torn paper reading “where do I come from?” and a newspaper clipping about humans and how they’re tied to a prophecy involving the destruction of the Gaslight District. Probably suspects she’s not actually undead, or was a human that was killed and revived but with her memories fuzzy at best (We got quite a few characters with memory problems in the Glitch verse. First Tari in Meta Runners, then N in Murder Drones, Pomni and the rest of the humans in Digital Circus and now our main girl here. Is having some form of amnesia a required trope for Glitch? /j)

I swear I know the voice of the main girl, but I can’t put my finger on it. Big butcher bug looking guy kind of sounds like Pete from all the Mickey Mouse stuff (grew up watching a lot of Disney stuff don’t come at me for the first idea I got) but a lot more gravely.

I feel like I’m going to say this a lot, but very unique designs for the cast. With things like animation what makes them stand out from one another is the designs of the cast and world as a whole. There’s some gangly boney like characters in the background and then the main cast. There’s the bug butcher that also almost makes me think of the Kraang from TMNT 2K12, a guy with a loaf of bread for a head, skin degrading skeleton guy, and our main girl that looks mostly mummified if the wrappings around her body are any indication. Not to mention that giant thing with the eye both in the thumbnail and family photo. I feel like @endomentendo is really going to get a kick out of the designs here because a lot of reminds me of their art, at least with some of their OCs. I want to push my capabilities of drawing characters that aren’t quite perfectly human so I might try my hand at drawing one of these guys for practice. (anyone else notice one guy eating cars that has a head that I think is supposed to be a luggage bag but looks a lot like Caine?)

Intrigued by the soundtrack. Like the hollow-ish bell sounds in the first half and then the more hopeful, light track of the second half that’s paired with the violence. Bright happy music with sad or violent things has got to be one of my favorite tropes. And sound design in general is really good. with the whispers and the different sound effects like the gun shots and punches and drowning, all well done.

Overall, a testament to the team’s work and skill, and showing another example of someone’s creativity being highlighted in a way they may not have had the chance before. I vaguely remember how Part Time Seagull (the creator of The Gaslight District) was working/planning to make this a series, but 2D and had some concept art, which is how he was found by Glitch. It really is great that the studio is trying to help people have their dreams realized and helping others showcase their works and ideas (thinking how GlitchX 2024 was more of a showcase of others’ works then their own). Truly a powerhouse of indie animation.

Watch the trailer here:

[cugzarui]

i would like to add some notes to this

a lot of those unexplored elements you mentioned did actually get explained either in the show itself or in other places. gem weapons for instance, are not actually gems get by default as many gems dont have them. and those that do have them dont always have actual weapons as the gem weapon. lapis' weapon is her wings, volleyballs weapon is some kinda decorative wand thingie, etc. the weapon is just another avatar of the gem much like their physical bodies, except its an inanimate object.

a lot of the unexplored elements you mentioned were probably going to get explored but the show got cancelled. specifically im talking about homeworld/gem culture, as well as that whole alternate history thing with interesting stuff happening even without steven around. that last part wouldve been explored in steven universe future if it wouldve been allowed more episodes.

finally, a lot of the unexplored elements of the show i believe were never meant to be fully explored. steven universe does this thing quite often where it will present something in enough detail to show you there's something there, tell you the general shape of it, get you interested, but leave enough obscured that youre compelled to complete the picture yourself. and i think this is very much intentional. its a show that seems specifically designed for fandom. to be obsessed over, rewatched and reimagined by fans who get to experience it for years since their childhood, and who will continue to engage with it years after it ended. and by all accounts it succeeded with flying colors.

Steven Universe is interesting to me because it’s got the most extreme dichotomy between ideas that would be better fleshed out in a show for adults, and ideas that are interesting specifically because they’re native to an unironic children’s show.

[milkfordragons]

Hi Milk, do you think there's any possibility of Will not really desiring sexual intimacy with Hannibal? Not because he doesn't desire him but we don't know if Will likes the idea of penetration, and we don't have any canon proof if he is into men.

Would Will actually want to be penetrated by Hannibal?

The first thing I will say is that I don't think we needed any "canon proof" if Will was into men or not, because I don't think he categorizes Hannibal as men, but as a complete unique form of life that wouldn't really fall under any sexuality. Will is into Hannibal, regardless if he's into men.

As for the rest, it’s often assumed that if either Will or Hannibal hesitated in desiring sexual intimacy, it definitely wouldn’t be Hannibal. His inherently sensual nature, fluidity, and overt passion toward Will make it easy to believe he would embrace physical intimacy without reservation. Will, on the other hand, struggles with invasion, control, and the mingling of violence and pleasure in his psyche.

While we lack explicit evidence of Will’s sexual fluidity, what we do know is that he lives in a near-constant state of invasion: by Hannibal, by other minds, by his own intrusive thoughts. This pervasive lack of personal boundary could make him wary of certain aspects of physical vulnerability. Specifically, penetration may be something he instinctively resists, not as a rejection of intimacy with Hannibal itself, but as an extension of his broader discomfort with being entered, seen, or possessed too completely. It isn’t that he would never allow it, but rather that it would take time, trust, and a shifting dynamic between them for him to reach that point.

But Will seems far more eager to be the one doing the invading. His fascination with dissecting Hannibal’s mind is obsessive, and his jealousy toward those who have accessed parts of Hannibal he cannot, like Bedelia or even Alana, suggests a deep-seated desire for exclusive, unrestricted entry. Hannibal, for all his expressive intensity, is also an enigma to Will, someone he has attempted but failed to fully penetrate, both mentally (in totality) and physically. In this sense, the idea of Hannibal allowing himself to be invaded, yielding in a way he never does, would hold immense appeal for Will. It would be an act of ultimate access, proof that he has been granted something no one else has.

Their intimacy, then, would be less about traditional roles or expectations and more about their ongoing battle for control, dominance, and understanding.

[winter-wise]

At the end of Sunrise on the Reaping, Beetee's wife is pregnant -> if the child survived, they would have been 23 at the time of Katniss' games, and 24 at the time of the third Quarter Quell -> the child would only be eight years older than Katniss herself -> if Beetee's kid was reaped, Katniss would plausibly have been old enough to remember it -> in the trilogy, there is no mention of Beetee having any children, but Katniss does mention that the children of Victors tend to end up in the arena, so she likely witnessed this in at least one Hunger Games -> that kid definitely died in the Hunger Games as further punishment for Beetee

[that-one-unhinged-dadvid-blog]

Anyone else notice how nervous Max looked before hugging David...?

The poor boy probably never received hugs, and has only seen it in tv shows and stuff, and was unsure about if this was a good time for a hug or not, and just wanted to hug his dad camp counselor :(

Even when he hugs David, his face is super scrunched up, like he's still nervous if this is the right time or if he's even allowed to. Despite KNOWING how David is. Jesus, what did Max's parents DO to him?

And the fact that the hug is so quick, like Max had to gather up all his courage to do so, is also really fucking sad. Someone protect this child

Also, the fact that he hugged David during PARENT'S day, and how people in cartoons and tv shows usually hug their parents; the hug was DEFINETILY meant to signify how Max now sees David as a father figure. I love these 2 sm.

[im-ignoring-canon]

Thank you!!! This actually raises another point of mine which is that a MAJOR part of the original series was that the school system is really fucking awful when you're neurodivergent. The whole thing with loads of teachers being monsters out to get percy in particular? Metaphor. How he succeeded so much more at camp where it was designed to help him? Metaphor. The deal with even the well meaning adults trying to 'protect' him by not telling him he's different so he can try to be 'normal'? Metaphor!! LITERALLY HOW PERCY WAS LABELLED STUPID AND DISRUPTIVE BECAUSE HE WAS BATTLING TWICE THE OBSTACLES HIS CLASSMATES WERE??? Congratulations motherfuckers the whole series was a metaphor. The point of everyone calling him dumb was to show how the school system fails kids like Percy with disabilities, and it makes me sooo mad that the fandom has fallen into the same trap.

This isn't even a hot take, but Percabeth weren't smart x dumb. They weren't even book smart x street smart. They were strategic x strategic. Their minds worked in very similar ways that complimented eachother. It's why they were such great friends, it's why they were a formidable team, hell, it's why they could fight a war against a deity with an army of forty fricking kids and win. They shared their braincells, in the most beautiful sense of the phrase and THAT'S why, for me, they're perfect together.

[gureshinlover]

Things you might have missed in God of Tides companion outfits [PART 1]

i also posted this on twitter btw

At the end of GoT myth, Rafayel gives MC his heart and power, and that's how (in Rafayel's branch) MC got the aether core in her heart. This concept is engraved even in their myth outfits, or at least, that's my interpretation :]

There are a lot of diamond shapes in the outfits, so this isnt all of them but the collage on left shows the important ones imo. And i realized this after making the collage, but the outline of mc's accesories on her chest seems to be echoing the same symbol (pls tell me im not crazy)

Another thing i noticed 👇At first i thought that all the protocore symbols in the outfits must be representing the same thing, just with different depictions. But on Flux Nexus we can see similar diamond shapes, so maybe the different shapes we see on GoT fits also represent different stuff

(this isnt to say that rafayel is directly connected to that stone btw, i'm aware that cutscene was about xavier and sylus but i'm just focusing on the shapes)

The lower part of the image above is about the "<" shape: It's used a lot in the GoT myth outfits and i just assumed that its because it looks like a fish tail, so it must be a lemurian thing? But after rewatching the ch3 cutscene i realized that the "<" shape might be related to protocores instead (i still like the fish tail theory tho... I might be thinking too much about that Flux Nexus cutscene anyway)

[👆Examples of the < shape, it's literally used everywhere in the design]

Anyways i was able to get God of Tides from the rerun and i had already bought mc's outfit before so i decided to post the results of my overthinking about the outfits and stuff. I'll be posting things that might be obvious to some people cuz it's fun to look at the details together with everyone✨✨

[astralsyst3m]

I have Thoughts on Martin Blackwood so welcome back to Astral's Autism Analysis Time!

Spoilers for The Magnus Archives under the cut!

Martin Blackwood is a man who was born to a sickly and abusive mother and a neglectful father. It's never fully said if the abuse ever goes to physical abuse, however at the very least his mother emotionally and mentally abuses Martin. Martin is a man who had to learn to manipulate people for his survival, how to lie to appease his mother, how to calm and appease people who are angry at him and wish him harm. He can't be angry, he can't show his anger because it only ever makes things worse. So he lies, he smiles and he does his best to remain kind.

Martin at his core is a kind man, a man who wants those around him to be happy, who tries his best to take care of others because that's what he knows how to do, he knows how to take care of people, it's what he does.

Martin in the early seasons of The Magnus Archives does everything that he can do to be helpful. He would likely have tried to stay under the radar if not for the dog, however because of that he does what he can to show that he is useful and that he's able to do the work.

He cares for the team and genuinely does what he sees himself best at and makes them tea, he likely writes down memorizes how they like their tea so that he doesn't have to bother them over it more than once.

Martin, despite his large heart, is still angry. His anger isn't something he shows outwardly like Tim or Melanie, no it's something that simmers, that exists in the background, that he pushes away because anger won't help survival. Because in all likelihood his mother used her anger on him and he doesn't wish to make others feel how his mother made him feel.

The burning of the Statements in season three shows part of this anger, the glee that he gets from being outwardly petty instead of slowly and methodically getting what he wants or needs from small manipulations over the years.

It's highly likely that a good amount of the planning done against the Head of the Institute in season three is done by Martin throwing out his ideas, either to the group or telling them to someone else who could then pass the idea off as their own, or give credit if they wished.

Throughout season four Martin goes to his roots of manipulation, doing what is needed to gain Peter's trust so that he can keep Jon safe, because that is his priority. That is the man he cares for.

Martin is a man who manipulates when necessary, a man who cares only for those closest to him.

Martin is also very much a parallel to Basira in similar ways to how Jon and Daisy are parallels.

Martin, like Basira sees in black and white, good and bad, monster and human. He insists that Jon, despite his Eldrichness is human, because to be anything else is to be a monster and monsters are bad. In the end Martin is asked and begged by the man he loves to kill him. Just as Basira treats Daisy, just as Basira is forced to kill Daisy.

Martin wants Jon to smite Oliver not just because Oliver is an Avatar and therefore a monster, but also because he is jealous, because Oliver was the one to wake up Jon when he couldn't. Oliver is the man to bring Jon back from the brink of death when Martin couldn't.

Martin, like all characters in The Magnus Archives is an incredibly complicated and flawed man. Martin is human and humans are flawed.

[xjackjackx]

An Analysis of Chosen and Dark's "Friendship" (And Why I Don't Like ChoDark)

This is frankly something I've felt and wanted to talk about for a long time, so here it is: my ramblings about Cho and Dark's relationship (based off pure canon on-screen) and why ChoDark is, in my opinion, a pretty bad and uncomfortable ship.

The biggest issue with ChoDark is that a lot of the foundation for their relationship is either outdated or straight-up false. Whether it be that they were friends rampaging for seven full years before Chosen got remorse halfway through, or that Dark wanted to impress Chosen or anything.

AVA 11 kinda threw that out of the window by revealing Newgrounds was in 2011. At most two months since they met.

The first thing to note is that Cho and Dark's friendship was formed strictly out of Chosen's sympathy and Dark's opportunism. Chosen has always held more mercy for stick figures (except AIM cause fuck that guy apparently), so when he saw Dark begging for mercy he gave him a chance at friendship. Dark - who, as we see later, is a coward prioritizing himself above others - immediately jumps at the opportunity without a second thought (which, in hindsight, should've warned Chosen about the man's loyalty to others). Their whole relationship began with Dark using Chosen's kindness for himself. The first thing they do together is to start destroying everything in their sight; whether it was Chosen or Dark who started it, it doesn't matter.

That's where most of us thought they spent all the seven years rampaging together with Cho taking a while before he grew a conscience. But then AVA 11 revealed that Newground was in 2011. In what was at most two months, Dark became a maniac focused on destruction while Cho began to feel sorry for what he was done and wanted to stop. It's implied he mostly stuck around and didn't stop Dark because he had poor social skills/was afraid of Dark, as he seems pretty uncomfortable around him (Flashback implies he tried to plead and reason with Dark, but that was most likely Cho twisting around his memories to make himself look better; not the first time he would've been selfish). Meaning it was seven years of Chosen alone with a guy he didn't actually like who, as we learn later, never knew the real Chosen.

Then comes S2, where Dark plans to destroy everything and everyone with the ViraBots. This is what finally gets Chosen to stand up to Dark and try to stop him. While he has to get physical, nothing seems to imply he wants to outright harm Dark until he gets an entire fireball thrown at him. Which is another thing I want to point out: I've seen many people accuse Chosen of "betraying" Dark, but... he tried to talk things down, used small physical action (when you take in the fact both of these guys are gods, being thrown on the ground is basically nothing) and didn't even seem to actively hurt Dark, just make him stop. Dark tried to fucking kill Chosen with that fireball, or at least heavily injure him. Dark was clearly the traitor between the two and I frankly won't be hearing otherwise, especially since this lines up with his earlier characterization of immediately selling out Alan and later info about his wristband, we get to that in a minute. Cho is a morally gray person but he's fully in the right and the victim in this specific moment.

But regardless, the two continue to throw hands. The big thing here is the Vira-Band. It's not just a generic power-up, it specifically grants Dark immunity to laser beams.

This is way too specific of an ability to be brushed off. Dark specifically created a weapon against Chosen. And unless we're arguing he made something so powerful in the 10-ish minutes that Chosen was gone, he had it made in advance. Combine that with Dark quickly turning on Alan and how he easily he decided Chosen needs to go, it becomes clear that Dark was actively planning to betray and kill Chosen. Or that, at the bare minimum, he was ready to kill Chosen if they ever turn on each other.

So, combining all their screentime and knowledge together, we get this:

Chosen spared Dark out of the genuine kindness in heart, but very quickly changed his mind upon calming down following his post-Alan rage and realising Dark's fucking demented. Despite this, he never made any attempts to stop Dark, the implication being that he either still saw good in Dark or was too afraid of him to stand up. And when he did, he put in all he had to stop him, and currently little implies he misses the guy.,

Dark first joined Chosen out of personal convenience, and thought of him as an ally he can destroy with... while apparently planning to betray and kill him. This is admittedly a bit contradictory, but given all the information we have, it's safe to say Dark saw Chosen as more of an extension of himself, someone who shares all his beliefs, and when Chosen proved independent he got angry and tried to remove him from the equation to continue uninterrupted.

And this is where my main issue with ChoDark lays (ignoring the possibility they're siblings since hollowhead relationships are confusing af). To clarify, I'm far from being against Foe Yay/shipping enemies together together. The issue is that a lot of what I heard about ChoDark just... isn't there. It's, for me, a ship built primarily out of outdated interpretations that are contradicted by the release of AVA 11, and fanon moreso than canon. They didn't spend seven years destroying as friends, Chosen spent seven years together with a man he was uncomfortable around and couldn't stand up to despite seemingly wanting to, to the point his likely-false memories show him pleading with an ignorant Dark. Dark didn't want what's best to Chosen/to help him, he wanted to spread personal destruction for himself and tried to kill Cho the moment he stepped out of line; hell, he was seemingly planning this for a while given the Viraband's existence. Chosen, at least from the very limited information of his post-Showdown, doesn't seem to miss Dark all that much. And why would he? It seems like he never liked the guy, at least not anymore. There is nothing to miss, at least from the actual canon content.

A lot of the content for ChoDark revolves around ignoring what's seemingly their canonical characterizations and dynamic for a fan-made one, which also involves frankly ignoring Dark's canon personality for a fan-made one... at which point are you shipping Chosen with Dark, or an OC with Dark's name and face? That's moving past the argument ChoDark is glorifying a toxic relationship, as there really is no other way to describe "Guy hangs around with friend he's uncomfortable around because he can't stand up/has no one else, and said friend is only using him".

So yeah. This is my personal analysis of Chosen and Dark's relationship/"friendship" and why I'm personally very uncomfortable with ChoDark as a pairing, platonic and especially romantic. Their canon friendship, based off what I see at least, was based off Chosen being too kind/submissive for his own good and Dark exploiting that while preparing for the moment Chosen stops being fun. Something that makes for an awful and fake friendship, let alone romance.

KingCho is superior anyway and deserves its own post btw

[bababonzer]

Can someone smarter than me help dissect the meaning behind this painting? I can’t find a whole lot online

I looked at the artist’s other work- all fantastic. I saw one more of a male figure clutching at the same area of their lower back.

This painting is called “Lato Oscuro” completed in 2017 by Mihail Dinisiuc insta here https://www.instagram.com/mihaildinisiuc?igsh=M2pjcGlqdTQzOG5y

The title translates to “dark side” in English

At first I thought maybe it was an expression of nerve pain, but the way the dark tendrils wrap around the arms, the marble pedestal, and the colorful silks along the ground lend to a “display” - and that’s not even accounting for the pose of the subject. The pose is indicative of suggestive vulnerability (obv it’s his magnificently rendered tukus)

Surface level, I could see it as “trying to rip out the darkness (or probably more apt desire) to appeal to the viewer, or society, at large”? But failing to do so in the very act of removal being rooted in the presence of the desire in the first place.

The figure is nude and headless. The parts of the body that are usually well put away are on stage (behind, genitals, even the soles of the feet). But not the head. Not even the back of the head. Is it slung low in effort? Or hidden to denote something purposeful? Like is this a specific person or is this a mindless feeling of some sort of urge to be rid of the darkest unseen parts of a person?

It could also be that I’m looking at the force of the pull and immediately jumping to ‘rip out’, it could just be that the figure is using the tendrils as a grip to spread himself. Which is also pretty cool

Also the locket! What’s up with that????? It’s open and displaying the insides to the viewer just like the subject. Usually lockets hold images or things you want close to your heart. Is this an admission of the ‘dark sided’ desire? Or what

Am I reading too much into a beautiful painting of this guys ass??

Idk help me out I just want to figure out what this could mean. I need outside input

Mihail Dinisiuc (b.1989 ) Republic of Moldova

[mxliv-oftheendless]

Hey, so a while back, I saw an AMAZING thread from LOTR fans about Frodo cursing Gollum and placing a gea on him and so damning Gollum to inevitably fall into Mount Doom and take the Ring with him—and how this is a recurring theme in the Legendarium where curses and oaths have real power and are not to be messed with. And while again the thread was AWESOME, it also made me think of something.

So we all know how Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo in Fellowship of the Ring, and then when Frodo fights back, Boromir screams that he’ll kill them all and curses him and all halflings to darkness. Given how we’ve established that curses have serious power and all of them come to pass—is Boromir laying a curse on Frodo? Because you could argue that it worked on Frodo but all the other hobbits seem to not be damned to darkness (I would argue the Scouring of the Shire doesn’t even count because the hobbits were able to rebuild). So what’s going on? Is it that Boromir didn’t really mean it? Did the curse only fall on Frodo?

[sassyandsodone]

more mommy issues thoughts? 👀

I am ALWAYS ready to talk about this man's mommy issues.

And he has TWO moms! His bio mom and Baalphegor and he has mommy issues coming from both sides.

He obviously never knew his mother since he's a cambion, she died for him to be born. And because he's a devil, he was probably never supposed to know about her. As far as the inhabitants of Baator are concerned, she was nothing, she meant nothing, and he should think nothing of her. For most of his early years he probably had zero concept of a mother figure. The most authoritative woman around him was Baalphegor. And she probably thought nothing of him at first. But I think he wanted her to like him (he wants everyone to like him.) So, she decided to give him a little attention and see what happens, see if he could be an ally as he grew.

And he latched onto some motherly "love" for all he was worth. Feel like the two of them had something weird going on. As he got older I personally think they probably slept together at least once as both a way to prove their bond to each other and as a fuck you to Mephistopheles. I love to believe she made Raphael the devil he is. I mean, his way of operating doesn't have much in common with his father. Meph is the lord with no mercy. Something Raphael does possess. But Baalphegor? She was a diplomat in hell terms, liked by everyone including Asmodeus. Her influence likely kept Mephistopheles from getting demoted by Asmodeus. And Raphael is a devil and a gentleman, more like Baalphegor than his father.

And then she disappeared. And now he has EVEN more mommy issues