#But the thing is. The writer dev has also made it clear that she didn't actually write Victor's obsession as romantic

[felassan]

Some more DA:TV and related snippets from Sylvia Feketekuty, Part 2. rest of post under a cut due to length and spoilers. [Post One, Post Three]

The dev team really wanted to deliver on Emmrich's romance [source]

Sylvia Feketekuty has now left BioWare so there are likely some things she can't answer now "just because I can't look them up with certainty anymore" [source]

When Emmrich is first introduced, he has a skull helmet. Why does it never ever appear for the next 40-100 hours? "The helmet does indeed look wicked! I believe it actually shows up on his shelf in the Lighthouse eventually. (If I had been a smarter writer I would've asked if we could have it appear again, that one's on me.)" [source]

User: "In another post you mentioned shops in Nevarra City near the Necropolis. How far IS Nevarra City itself is from the Necropolis? Do only senior MWs get to go?" / Sylvia: "I'm reluctant to say what the distance is since I never defined it in game so it's Unknown™. But I imagine they can either walk or take a carriage, depending. Also I never imagined junior MWers are forbidden from going into town or such. It could be they have set hours and times where they're allowed. But got to get all those chores done first..." [source, two]

On the DA:I goat scene ([link]) - "The GOAT! God bless them, that was a delight." [source]

Brian J. Audette, on [this thread] - ""Better late than never" addendum to this thread. I just noticed that Isle of the Gods' writer Sylvia is on here now and I'd be remiss not to tag her in this thread. I can't say enough wonderful things about having worked with Sylvia on this mission." [source] / Sylvia: "Thanks Brian! You tackled an absolutely jam-packed mission with aplomb." [source]

Jo Berry: "Thank you for everything and everything else, on both Veilguard and Inquisition. Sunlight on your road, wherever it goes." [source] / Sylvia: "Thank YOU for all your writing Jo. Seriously, you were a godsend on Veilguard and DAI both." [source]

Trick Weekes: "It's been fantastic working with you, Sylvia, and I know you're going to crush it with whatever you do next. Thank you for finally letting me make you "the person who has to do journals so Trick doesn't" on one of our projects." [source] / Sylvia: "Thank you Trick! I'll miss working with you. It was an honour to finally be given the awesome responsibility of the journal system that still haunts my dreams." [source]

John Epler: "sylvia did you see i told the world Emmrich sleeps standing up like a horse" [source] / Sylvia: "It's days later but: yes. Yes I did." [source]

User: "As someone who also has a truly debilitating fear of death, Emmrich is so special to me. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it represented in such a clear and concise way." / Sylvia: "Thanks, definitely felt that fear myself. I really wanted to express it clearly and was hoping would resonate with others." [source]

User: "Do you have any thoughts or opinions on what nickname Emmrich might have gotten from Varric if he'd ever gotten one?" / Sylvia: "Oh man that's a good question, but ultimately since I didn't write Varric, that must remain a mystery. Nicknames can only be bestowed. ("Bones" like someone suggested below is funny though.)" [source]

User: "If Emmrich's hobby is alchemy/plants, Vorgoth's is art, and Audric's is architecture... what's Myrna's? (Next to Emmrich, she's my favorite Watcher - sorry Vorgoth!)" / Sylvia: "Myrna has a one off line, you may not have heard it yet, where she talks to Vorgoth about getting tickets to the Sword of Drakon.* She enjoys a night out at the theater, whether it's a play or an opera. *(I think that's the play I named, I hope I'm recalling my own line haha.) It's a bit indulgent of me, but I chose Sword of Drakon because it was one of the plays I made up for a series of codices in DAI about Orlesian theater. I had a lot of fun with these and wanted to give them life once more. [link]" [source, two]

User: "During Rook’s disappearance in the prison, how did Emmrich react? Considering their intense romance, did he fall into depression, or did he show a more vulnerable side? Could his fear of death have influenced the situation? In the immortal romance💀, Emmrich promises that nothing will separate them, not in this world or any other. How likely is that? Would he go to great lengths for Rook, even crossing boundaries? Or, at some point, would he accept Rook's death?" / Sylvia: "1) Very strongly! I think it's a bit more interesting if I leave details to your imaginations, but Emmrich feels things deeply and probably had some sleepless nights. 2) So this I can't say much on even though it's a juicy topic. The truth is, I wouldn't even know unless I was actually sitting down to write it. Again, Emmrich feels things very passionately, but this is the kind of scenario where I might want the player's choices to have an effect." [source, two]

User: "Any chance that color scheme [of Emmrich's coat] was based off the corpse flower?" / Sylvia: "I couldn't find anything on the colour scheme and the corpse flower. Afraid this one's a mystery to me." [source]

User: "I'm really curious if there's a Nevarrese language? We have Orlesian, Antivan, Tevene, Qunlat..." / Sylvia: "I wondered that myself, especially given its ancient ties with Tevinter and also Orlais which would certainly have affected the languages of power and influence. Could also have roots with the Planasene. We never talked about one though, as far as I know, so the answer remains...unknown. 💀 (I did introduce tomb-script, the language you see etched into stone in the Necropolis, but I thought of it as more of a specialist's language for occult and magical things specifically.) (If we did define a Nevarran language in some corner of the lore, now I'm going to feel embarrassed, but I don't BELIEVE we did.)" [source, two, three]

User: "I wanted to ask if you have anything you can share about MW grave dowry jewellery - is it the sort of thing they keep on at all times? Also, would Emmrich like jewellery gifts or give them to Rook?" / Sylvia: "I figured it would be something they wear most of the time, or at least in public. You don't want to be without your grave-gold if you pass away! Emmrich would love to get jewellery, especially if it marked a special occasion like his other pieces do! He'd also probably like to gift Rook a piece of grave gold himself, though he knows a non-MW Rook might look at that part askance." [source, two]

User: "Question: how much if anything can you tell us about the circumstances surrounding the emergence of Emmrich's magic and him going to the Mourn Watch? In my mind, his parents' death could certainly be a catalyst for the emergence of mage powers, but I'm so curious why the butcher's boy goes to what seems the equivalent of Nevarran Harvard instead of a regular Circle unless he immediately demonstrated outstanding ability?" / Sylvia: So timeline wise, I think his magic manifested after he was taken in. This part isn't canon, so much as a background thought I had that maybe the spirits of the Necropolis nudged the MW to scoop up this future corpse-whisperer. It seems like a kind of place ripe for that sort of omen. That said, it could've also been a kindhearted Watcher who saw how shattered and alone this young boy was, and thought an upbringing in the Grand Necropolis would be the better place to deal with his grief. It's the kind of thing I want to leave open unless someone goes back one day to fill it out!" [source, two]

User: "what’s the overall Mourn Watch opinion on the whole Weekend at King Markus’s the other Mortalitasi are pulling? I can’t blame Emmrich for not wanting to be involved with that political mess!" / Sylvia: "No clue what you're talking about. King Markus is in the finest of health!!!!! ahahahahaha (To my mind Emmrich's response indicates a tension between the orders, but that they're going along with the polite fiction to avoid a mess. I can't say what the future holds though.)" [source]

User: "Ah, one last note: whoever decided “DA liches are immortal protectors and not always evil?” Chef’s kiss. It’s all I’ve ever wanted!" / Sylvia: "Thanks again! It was in Emmrich's first draft. The other writers and editors gave me good feeback on lichdom and the philosophy behind it especially" [source]

User: "I'm an ICU nurse, and that is imagined to confer a comfort with mortality. Suffice to say Emmrich has been a huge comfort to see." / Sylvia: "Thanks so much. I really wanted him to struggle with it while also engaging with it, because it's something I find hard as well. And I hoped it would find purchase with players." [source]

User: "If you’re willing, can you share a bit about the other orders within the Mortalitasi? Is there a rivalry with the Tevinter Imperium?" / Sylvia: I'm afraid I don't have much, sorry. I left the other Mortalitasi orders a big open canvas in case we wanted to invent more some day. (We've mentioned the palace Mortalitasi are separate from the Mourn Watch, so there's one. As you probably caught, Emmrich's not a fan of theirs.) Is there a rivalry with the Tevinter Imperium? I can't really point to anything in the game talking about that, so I hesitate to call it canon. But to my mind it would be very natural and also very funny. So if that ever manifests, I approve." [source, two]

User: "was any of Emmrich's design or personality modeled on British actor David Niven? I think there is resemblance just wondering if that was intentional." / Sylvia: "Oh I love David Niven. But the more direct actor influence for me was Peter Cushing in a few old Hammer Horror films." [source]

User: "just wanted to say thank you for creating the character of Josephine in Inq!! Helped me learn some stuff about myself when I was younger and meant a lot." / Sylvia: "Thank you so much on all counts! I'm glad the lovely Lady Montilyet was there for you (and enormous credit to her actor, Allegra Clark. She absolutely nailed Josephine, straight away.)" [source]

User, on Emmrich: "He mentions he thought he would marry - is that permitted for Mortalitasi when it wasn't for regular Circle mages? Can they now raise their own children?" / Sylvia: Mortalitasi have a lot of power. I imagine the Nevarran Chantry might grant them permission to marry outside the Circle more regularly than in places where mages are given less respect. (Mages can also marry within Circles, so no permission needed in those cases.) The same might be true for mages raising mage-born children in Nevarra, but I say that with less certainty. I think that's a topic I would've wanted to discuss with the rest of the narrative team." [source, two]

User: "is there a particular reason why emmrich is always wearing a glove on one hand?" / Sylvia: "I like to think it's mostly because he works a lot with his hands. The glove seems useful if he has to, say, grip a rough outcrop of rock when traversing the Necropolis, or deal with a bitey corpse." [source]

User, on Emmrich: "On my 1st run I played a trans Rook and romanced him. It felt incredible how he was so accepting of Rook's identity, and in return she could support him as he did a transition of his own as well. Beautiful mirroring!" / Sylvia: "Thanks very much! If those scenes worked, it's thanks to some people at work who kindly gave feedback that helped get the tone right." [source]

User: "I've been wanting to thank you for writing Luck in the Gardens for 4 years. Hollix was the first time I ever saw a non-binary character given a real voice." / Sylvia: "I loved writing Hollix in that story, they were a treat, and I'm glad they meant a lot to you. (And a shout out to a nb friend who gave me some good feedback on the character, I don't think the story would've been as clear without their help.)" [source]

User: "I was curious about Audric from TN, and if he originally was planned to have an appearance in veilguard, and what he's up to now" / Sylvia: "Love Audric, but I never planned to bring him into VG. I'm not AGAINST it, but I didn't want the short stories to feel like required reading for the game, and I liked where his arc ended in DatDM. That said, I dropped in a few references to Audric to let people know he's around and well. And I imagine he's doing what he loves: being a force of order, in the library. (And reading books during the more quiet hours below.)" [source, two]

User: "As a consumer of (and probably future creator of) so called "erotic" fanficfion, I'm wondering how you feel about the fact that fans make it about a character you created?" / Sylvia: "No issues with it whatsoever. We put sex and romance into the game itself, after all. I think people use fan art and fanfiction to extend their time with a story they've grown fond of, or to figure things out. So it feels like a natural extension of that." [source]

User: "Maybe one day my rook will join the mw!" / Sylvia: "Well, the Grand Necropolis is always eager for more company...🪦👻" [source]

User: "did the flame eternal (short story) come first or the flame eternal (quest)? i’ve been wondering if the quest was named after the story or vice versa" / Sylvia: "I wrote the scene first, the short story came after. But I named the quest AFTER the short story had come out, so I'd say the quest is named for the story because I liked the callback." [source]

User: "1.I know John answered already that Emmrich sleeps like a horse but is there really no bed for this man? 2.How would he react to a bouquet made for him?" / Sylvia: "1. Unknown. Perhaps he brings out pillows and a blanket for the slab in his room (after scrubbing it, of course!) Perhaps he goes home to an elaborate silk-covered bed in his Necropolis apartments. Or the horse thing. (TBH: I never decided myself, so I've leaned into impish mystery). 2. Emmrich would be absolutely delighted and flattered by being presented with a flower bouquet." [source, two]

User: "I hope it's okay to pop here but it might interest you to know a lot of us have been headcanoning that he has a secret bedroom behind one of his bookshelves! It seemed to line up with his sensibilities somewhat." / Sylvia: "That would honestly be great. Pull out the right book and snooze time." [source]

User, on the cemetery date: "This makes me feel like Mourn Watchers include the dead in important personal milestones/events and, if so, I love that so much. Like they want to share these events and the joy/love/excitement/etc. with those who have passed (and perhaps linger.)" / Sylvia: "That's absolutely how I thought of it too." [source]

User: "was there any game/book/show/film that inspired the Mourn Watch and Emmrich? When I saw them in the preview content, I got reminded of the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir and playing through the game cemented those vibes." / Sylvia: "I hadn't read any Locked Tomb when writing Emmrich, I think we must both just have impeccable taste. (I actually tried to stay away from contemporary stuff on necromancy when writing him, out of a superstitious fear I'd be unduly influenced. I do want to talk about influences later though!)" [source]

User, on Josie: "Do you think she’s open to having kids/adopting with the Inquisitor? Lord Ontranto and Yvette are so ahead!" / Sylvia: "I think that falls firmly within the category of what you imagine she and your Inquisitor's romance looks like, which means: absolutely, if that's where you imagine life would take them." [source]

User: "Emmrich, his story & everything surrounding him absolutely played a huge part in helping to lift me up & connecting me with new friends online" / Sylvia: "Thank you! And I'm very glad to hear Emmrich and his fellow Watchers helped you out when you needed it. He'd be pleased to know so himself." [source]

User: "Was it ever considered for him to appear in the game?" / Sylvia: "(short answer is no, but I wanted to let people know Audric's doing well.)" [source]

User: "I enjoyed your short stories in Tevinter Nights. Emmrich mentioned working out in the morning. What does his morning routine look like, and what kind of exercise does he do?" / Sylvia: "Thanks so much! Those stories have a special place in my heart, so that's especially nice to hear. On exercise: He likes a brisk stroll, and does morning stretches, and for something more strenuous, he likes to go swimming. Why? It's a workout where you don't have to worry about sweating. That just seemed to align with his fastidiousness in a funny way to me. (I also imagine exploring the Necropolis keeps him active, climbing all those stairs and crumbling ledges and the outsized walls of hallowed tombs, etc.)" [source, two]

User: "Harding will turn to a MW Rook who's been talking nerdy necro shop with Emmrich, and goes (paraphrasing), "You're so different when you're talking about this stuff than you are when you hang out with us!" and I loved that" / Sylvia: "Yes indeed! And thanks. I really wanted a beat where you realize MW Rook has learned to swap between being a fancy nerd and talking a bit more like "regular" people in Thedas. It seemed like a fun trait for that background." [source]

Sylvia, on how she came to BioWare: "No formal training. The closest to practice I had was running tabletop RPGs for friends, which actually helped me a lot with understanding the different kind of RPG players out there and what people want out of a story. And honestly: I just kept applying, over and over. That was my main virtue. I was rejected the first couple times I applied to BW. And rightly, I think, I wasn't ready and practicing in between really helped me become a stronger writer." [source, two]

Some more on this topic ^ from Sylvia: "To be honest: mostly luck, some perseverance, and then writing skills, in that order. I was rejected at least twice from BW before I got in, and I think they were right to do so. I wasn't ready yet. The third round someone I knew passed on my sample to a writer there, I did two more rounds of samples while taking feedback and revising over the next month. And then I was lucky enough they liked it enough to interview me. I wish I had better advice than perseverance. I think having a small, completed game, even something text based or a mod, isn't bad either. Even if it's short, it shows you finished it. But: my entry was over 15 years ago now, and to be honest I'm not sure what BW's applicant process are anymore. I don't want to be discouraging though. I would say keep applying, and make friends with like minded people who also want to make games, and best of luck." [source, two, three, four]

User: "I've been wondering something about Mourn Watch Rook's background - their bio says they were found as a baby + raised by the MW, and they reference it in-game, but then they also say they were a street kid and left their old life behind to join the MW to Taash. I'm just curious how one - being raised by the MW - lead to the other - street kid era. I just hc'd it as a euphemism for my Rook's party girl phase lol but it did leave me a little confused." / Sylvia: "This is a case of the background changing slightly over time, and me not squaring it in time with dialogue. In my mind: MW IS found by the Mourn Watch, raised by them, and work for them. But MW Rook also had period(s?) growing up where they explored Nevarra city, to explain why they're more. street savvy and worldly than your typical Watchers who never leave the city. I've seen people noting some discrepancies, and in a perfect world I would've caught those lines in time to smooth them out to encompass the whole story. But perhaps your Rook gives slightly different answers to different people for their own, mysterious reasons! (Or, in reality, it's writer error.)" [source, two, three] "Anyhow, I encourage any head canons that help square these discrepancies" [source]

User: "I romanced him on a Rook that I perceived as about 42ish and my running interpretation of the lines acknowledging her being young were either Emmrich not realizing how old she is, a running bit between them, or some cute form of flattery to not remind her of her own age haha" / Sylvia: "That's adorable, I love it" [source]

User: "1. What would Josie's ideal date be? 2. Could adopted kids be heir of the Montilyet estate or would it go to Yvette? 3. What does Josie think of the Crows?" / Sylvia: "1. I think she'd try to structure something, but the Inquisitor taking her away from her strictly scheduled routine to relax would actually be better for her. A picnic in a garden, a stroll around a lake followed by a meal in a quiet little restaurant. Something with a soft evening. 2. I don't think I ever said so in the game, but to my mind Josephine had some nieces and nephews in line to be heir. If she adopted a child and thought they'd be a better candidate, they could absolutely inherit the estate. (And of course, she could bequeath money or personal effects as she liked.) 3. She thinks of them as a necessity in Antiva, and that it's important to appease them. There's probably highly placed Crows she would get along with. But she'd never be comfortable with them. At the end of the day they're contract killers, and she's no lover of violence. (If I actually DID mention who Josephine had lined up to inherit the estate after her, but just forgot, I will ask for mercy because the game came out over 10 years ago.)" [source, two, three, four]

User: "Would you ever consider making a playlist on spotify of the sort of music you could picture Emmerich listening to? Or perhaps sharing any of the music you listened to while writing Emmrich?" / Sylvia: "I actually have an itunes playlist of what I listened to when writing Emmrich on my old computer. If I dig it out, I'll post a screenshot! (A lot of ambient stuff, probably unsurprisingly)" [source]

User: "I utterly, completely adore the way Josephine was written, she's such a wonderful and complex character. Her history as a bard, her ruthlessness, her kindness and sweet nature and how CUTE her romance is." / Sylvia: "Lady Montilyet herself would be flattered to hear you liked it." [source]

User, on Sylvia's comment about Peter Cushing being a go-to for what Emmrich would be like: "This makes me so unbelievably happy given my love for Peter Cushing 😭 my love for Emmrich was inevitable." / Sylvia: "I want to talk a little more about it later but Cushing was such a wonderful actor. Wish we'd had him around even longer." [source]

User, on death and working in death care: "In the end, it’s always about memory." / Sylvia: "That's so true. We want to be remembered, or to have something that lets people know even a little about who we are. (It's why I'm glad newspapers still print obituaries, you can read about the most amazing lives.)" [source]

User: "I was starting to think the game was reading my mind and tailoring to me once he said his favorite color was lilac, and I was given the option to say darker purple." / Sylvia: "I'm glad you enjoyed Emmrich and his romance. And that the bit about colours worked for you, I was trying to think of what would be something fun there, and purple is one of my favorites too. (Fine taste!)" [source]

User: "“Down Among the Dead Men” is one of my favorite chapters from Tevinter Nights. I loved Audric and I was so happy when Myrna mentioned him in Veilguard! Was there any chance he might’ve appeared in game?" / Sylvia: "basically I didn't plan it, but I wanted to let TN readers know Audric is living well" [source]

User: "If Hezenkoss was also you ALL of that was a sheer stroke of brilliance!" / Sylvia: "Thank you! Hezenkoss was me, so glad you liked her. She was a blast to write. Oh my god, I meant to write Hezenkoss was one of my favorites not "me". (I think I snipped out something and consequentially sound like a maniac in that post above. SORRY. She is not me, I wish I had that kind of confidence.)" [source, two]

User, on behalf of their friend: "Well, spontaneously I'd be interested if she can say any more about Emmrich's past romances. Was there someone really serious among them, or all just fun and casual? I'm also curious how the whole mage training works in Nevarra. Are some trained from the start by the Mourn Watch or does everyone go to the Mortalitasi equivalent of a Circle first?" / Sylvia: "1. I think there was probably a mix of more serious romances and more casual ones over Emmrich's life. The serious ones just never panned out. (Until Rook, if you're romancing him.) 2. I pictured the MW taking in promising members from other circles, but I left their selection criteria vague on purpose, in case we needed to define it later. Of course, there's also exceptions. We've seen they take in some orphans or foundlings (MW Rook and Emmrich, for example) when fate, chance, or pity allows it. (I had an idea spirits might sometimes nudge MWers to take in someone, but that's not in the game, so it remains, I suppose now, my own head canon.)" [source, two, three, four]

User: "Emmrich is every bit the warm and kind academic that I looked up to in my undergrad/postgrad days, and I have taken time in the game just to wander the Grand Necropolis and take everything in." / Sylvia: "My pleasure, and thanks very much for saying so. (Props to all my teammates, it took a lot of people to bring those characters and places to life, and they were all so enthusiastic about our weird gothy corner of Thedas.)" [source]

User, on Emmrich's dream: "One of few cases where writers don't go for "actually immortality is lame" lesson to appease the audience for whom immortality is unattainable. Refreshing to have a character who wants to live forever, can do it, and it isn't treated as a mistake. One of the boldest bits of writing in the game." / Sylvia: "Thanks Mary - that was one of my aims, because so many times in stories, immortality is a fool's errand. I wanted it to have its rules, and its price, but not something disastrous or out of reach." [source]

User: "The MW as a whole was beautifully done and the way they handle life and death was deeply healing and aided tremendously in my own personal journey with grief." / Sylvia: "I'm very glad meeting Emmrich and the Watchers helped even a little, that means a lot to hear." [source]

User: "Amazing work in veilguard and inquisition honestly and the flame eternal was such a fun read! Unless it’s been answered before my query is where do the Mourn watchers live/sleep? Is it a case of they live in the higher parts of the Necropolis or do they live in the city and commute?" / Sylvia: "Flame Eternal was a fun one, hadn't written a story that short before but I enjoyed introducing Johanna and Emmrich's dynamic back in their good old days... As to your question, there's one line of banter between Emmrich and Neve that talks about this (so, very easy to miss.) The Mourn Watchers live and sleep in the upper (safer) levels of the Necropolis." [source, two]

User: "does mortal!Emmrich return to the Necropolis or spend more time in the world first? He plays detective with Neve & camps in Ferelden with Harding feels like he’d want to experience more of the world before returning home." / Sylvia: "Impossible for me to say what the future will hold with certainty, but I think Emmrich's enjoying exploring the world too much to go back to living in the Necropolis full time just yet. He'd certainly want to keep visiting regularly, but there's so much more to see." [source]

Sylvia: "The Watchers have a special place in my heart." [source]

User: "I just wanted to say how much I love Emmrich" / Sylvia: "Thank you very much! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed getting to know him." [source]

at this point tumblr stopped letting me add to this post !

[lycanpunk666]

Okay so like. In general I think it's good to have multiple interpretations of how a certain plot point went if it's not explicit-- As I think that fandom hive mind is bad and can get really boring. However, I think that in general there's a difference between "multiple interesting implications of a specific ending" and "failure to read between the lines" (though this is generally pretty subjective considering stories in general all have to do with personal perception). On the second note this isn't necessarily about interpreting a story 'wrong' this is more about failure to grasp an author's intention about a scene just because it's not spoon-fed. I'm talking in circles and being overly neutral here but generally speaking, for the sake of argument, I like to treat fiction as having two parts to it that I separate (similar to how I separate what is my favorite thing from what I think is the best): How I perceive what the "real" story is/what is actually occurring entirely based on canon events and deducted subtext (I think a lot of samgirl Tumblr does this in the supernatural fandom, as an example), vs personal expansions/wider guesses based on what I think SHOULD be happening-- which might just get a bit more prevalent in my mind if I just. Think an author is making a really stupid writing decision (I do this constantly when talking about shows like disventure camp) This post is more about open discussion and I don't want to make it seem like I'm judging people

[lorbanery]

I've been tweeting a bit through mine and @ark-shifter's first play-through of Gotham Knights on Twitter (you can see my ongoing list of the explicitly queer parts of the game (including Tim's canon bisexuality, The Squad making plans to go to Pride, and multiple pride flags as far as the eye can see) here). But I wanted to talk a bit more extensively about Dick Grayson in the game and how the writers and devs so carefully made him Schroedinger's Queer.

And just to be clear about this from the start: This is not a callout post or an accusation of queerbaiting. I'll explain more why later, but my stance is that they did an excellent job and I love the way they handled it.

Needless to say, but saying nonetheless: Spoilers under the cut.

First let me explain what I mean by Schroedinger's Queer.

Basically, every bit of queerness that comes up around Dick is circumstantial evidence. It might be confirmation that Dick is queer, but there might be some other reason for it.

I realize that's not very clear, so here's the examples I can remember off the top of my head:

During one of Dick's cut scenes, Alfred makes him some tea and serves it to him in a souvenir bi pride Bludhaven mug. You could interpret this as that mug being his mug, that he bought it because he identifies as bi and wanted the mug because of that. But he might have bought it because Tim is bi and it meant something to him because of that. He might have bought it for Tim. Or maybe he didn't buy it at all, maybe it's Tim's mug that he bought for himself when he was visiting Bludhaven. Babs emails Dick about an interview that he did, specifically mentioning the number he did on the interviewer. The email includes a snippet of the interview where the male interviewer talks about Dick being extremely flirtatious with him, and quotes him answering a question about his type with, to paraphrase, "I don't have a type, all people are beautiful." You can interpret this as an at least semi-authentic interview where Dick's answering genuinely, even if he is playing up a flirty public persona. Or, given the number of discussions of Bruce's flirty playboy persona (there's video of a half-naked table dance with an ice sculpture) in the game in general, you can just interpret this as Dick picking up where Bruce left off and taking on his own flirty playboy persona where he says things he doesn't really mean to throw the public off the scent. There's an email exchange between Babs and Jason where they make plans to attend Pride in costume because Babs overheard Dick and Tim talking about going together. You could interpret this as Tim and Dick talking about going without including Babs and Jason because Dick and Tim are the queer ones and it's a queer event and so they want to go. But they don't say why Tim and Dick talked about going without including Babs and Jason. Maybe Tim just brought up wanting to go but not wanting to go alone and Dick was like "Yeah totally, I'll come with you" and they were going to ask Babs and Jay to come with but they beat them to it. Tim tells Babs about this boy who flirts with him and just asked him out and he said yes. Babs is super encouraging and tells him that if he ever needs any advice, she's dated a lot of guys and she learned nothing, so he should just ask Dick. This could be Babs telling Tim that Dick has better experiences dating men than she does so he'll have better advice than her! But it could also just be about Dick being Tim's oldest brother and the one he asks for advice first anyway for things interpersonal stuff. Maybe she genuinely thinks that he's learned more from all the dating he's done. Or maybe it's just because he's a guy who's dated before and will know better what a guy wants out of a relationship.

Now I, as a queer and a firm supporter of Queer Dick Grayson, am certainly inclined to read these things in the gayest possible framing. But someone who is straight and/or inclined to see Dick as straight can easily just see someone who's supportive of his bi brother and uses hypersexuality as a means of distracting people from thinking he's roaming the streets at night fighting badguys (which, I'll be honest, is less effective for Nightwing than it was for Batman, but that's besides the point).

Like, say, the people who own the character and have a financial interest in discouraging any evolution of the character that could be controversial and/or they see as fundamentally changing him.

There have been efforts to introduce queerness into established superheroes (in both Marvel and DC) for DECADES. A lot of times when you see something in a comic that seems really gay and you're like, "How did the artists/writers NOT REALIZE" they absolutely did realize and are doing everything short of explicitly confirming it in-panel because the higher ups won't let them.

Tim Drake was originally introduced in 1989, basically as a way to reintroduce Robin with a more personable character than Jason had. He was not allowed to be explicitly queer until 2022.

33 YEARS.

For a character who basically existed as a second attempt to give Batman a Robin again because they were invested in Dick being Nightwing so they didn't want to revert him back, and they let Jason be killed, but Batman had only been without a Robin for his very first year of publication. So they needed someone in the position and they needed someone who was least likely to cause a visceral reaction in their readers like Jason did. (Which, to be clear, isn't to say that Tim hasn't evolved into a really interesting, nuanced, and generally wonderful character in his own right; or that the folks who actually created him didn't create him also conceive him as a fleshed out character.)

But we're talking about Dick Grayson. Who, at this point, has existed for 83 years. Less than twenty years shy of a century. He's existed almost as long as Superman and Batman — Superman was introduced in 1938, Batman in 1939, and Dick in 1940. He may not hold exactly the same place in popular culture that Superman and Batman do, Robin is still a legacy character, "Batman & Robin" is a phrase that basically everyone knows, and when you ask the average person who Robin is, they'll answer or describe Dick Grayson.

And Dick Grayson is not allowed to be queer.

He's too well-known. He's too popular. He has too much publication history where he's written, ostensibly, as straight. It doesn't matter that a large swath of his fans are, themselves, some flavor of queer. It doesn't matter that citing his publication history is patently ridiculous given the nature of the superhero comic industry. It doesn't matter that real life people have revelations about their sexuality at all points in life and "some point in their twenties" is literally one of the most common and far from the latest. It doesn't matter that bisexuality exists and would allow Dick to be queer without invalidating all of the (extremely popular) canon relationships he's been in over the years .

And this is when we swing back around to the question of how is this not queerbaiting.

First let's define queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is a term for media where the narrative hints at characters being queer — or that queerness plays a large role in the romantic plot(s) — but in actuality it's either a very small part or never actually exists at all.

A really blatant example of this was the marketing campaign for the first season of Riverdale. A clip of Betty and Veronica kissing was used in the ads and commercials. By featuring it in an ad for a show that hadn't premiered yet, they implied that some level of queerness between Betty and Veronica would be a regular, if not prominent, feature of the first season at least.

In actuality, the kiss was a single, one-off moment that, in the narrative of the scene, was just meant to surprise the girls running cheerleading tryouts and it never came up again.

With that in mind, I can see how reading all of these hints at Dick being queer with nary a peep of actual explicit confirmation might make people cry queerbaiting. But I don't think it is. For a few reasons.

One of them, I admit, is pure vibes. This all feels, to me, like a genuine expression of queerness. I don't know how many, if any, of the writers or devs of Gotham Knights are queer. But as a queer person — particularly one who's read queerness in Dick Grayson for a long time — this felt not only true to Dick's character, but true to a queer reading of his character.

Particularly in conjunction with word from on high that Dick isn't allowed to explicitly be queer. It's as queer as they could safely make him without getting in trouble or having DC scrap the whole project or give it to someone else.

And then ... there's everything else. All those bits and pieces and details that I mentioned in that Twitter thread. The rainbow flags, the gay neighborhood, the pride flag colorways for the bike, the number of explicitly queer NPC's just roaming around their version of Gotham. It would be one thing if it was just a one-off bit of idle dialogue about Tim's boyfriend and the interview snippet and maybe a rainbow flag above the arcade, maybe even the Pride mural in the gayborhood. That's what I would expect from a kind of well-meaning but kind of clueless dev team who doesn't really understand queer culture.

But you don't populate your game with gay NPC's and let players ride around on a nonbinary pride colored bike if you're not genuine in your desire to give some real, genuine, thoughtful queer rep.

[faroreswinds]

Man, as much as I've seen people talk about how much Claude was butchered to make Edel/gard look better, can we also talk about how much the Church is made to look so much worse too? Like, people have ALSO been saying that too lol, but man looking at them and Claude together REALLY makes the priorities of the Hopes writers blindingly clear.

Now the Church sends assassins, now the Church is reluctantly helped by the Kingdom ("if I don't help them my people will get upset :(" just not giving a shit that the Church is completely innocent and is being wrongfully persecuted thanks Dimitri really appreciate it), now Rhea gives a shit about the Federation not being blessed by her, now Sothis is a complete and utter bitch.

Now the Church has all the qualities about it that, just like Claude, were either not there at all in 3H or have been waaaay over exaggerated in Hopes. Which all just so happen to make Edel/gard look either more understandable, not as bad, or outright correct and good, none of which were really the case in 3h (given she, uh, wants to commit genocide and is murdering everyone).

I just can't believe how little of a shit they gave to actually keep to the spirit of 3H. They really went "yes the foreign man IS violent and untrustworthy and wants to rule over everyone forcefully and yes the Church IS bad and not good," which were two tired tropes that 3H had done AWAY with (and outright subverted!). And then the devs have the nerve to say they tried to keep to 3H as much as possible as to not invalidate it, meanwhile people are using Hopes to say that it has the REAL Claude and the REAL Church that "wasn't in" 3H. I just have to ask: was pandering to the cute little waifu worth it? Certainly doesn't seem like it.

If I recall, the lead dev was quite openly bias for Edelgard in the interviews. But @renisfan can correct me on that.

But you know what's weird? Yes, the Church has been made to look so much worse... but mostly by word-of-mouth. It's mostly the characters who shit on the Church, rather than the Church doing anything that sus.

Not so say the Churhc didn't so sus things in Hopes. But most of the crap lobbied towards them is just talk. Talk not substantiated by actual substance, like in-game evidence.

Here is some things the Church does do in Hopes that goes mostly ignored by the game , characters, and fanbase:

Helps rebuild towns outside their borders with no expectation of returns despite being refugees themselves

Rhea doesn't allow Catherine to force her own religion onto others

Shelters refugees when they can

Tries to help the poor and those affected by war

Provides aid to the war effort in any way they can, such as soldiers

This is only seen in AG though, and mostly in supports. Despite all this, characters rag on the Church as if it has absolutely no redeeming qualities.

It really feels like the game just gangs up on the foundational side of Houses and murdered it.

The amount of "Edelgard good" and "Church" bad in Hopes is staggering. Claude got caught in the crossfire because he's not allowed to be his own character. He hitches a ride on Edelgard's routes in both Houses and Hopes.

[lookbluesoup]

Good addition! Yeah, I am glad the Omega quest does offer a chance for the WoL and/or player, at least, to state their own opinion about it!

And yeah I mean I don't expect them to just completely regret everything or turn on Hydaelyn completely. The Ascians were committing mass murder on their own too and just letting them kill everyone to force the Rejoinings wouldn't have been right at all! Hydaelyn did play an important role in saving the Star. Just would have expected there to be a bit more questioning about decisions she made for them, secrets she kept, etc. and less trusting her implicitly all the way to the end and beyond as if everything she did was completely justified, like she's still divinity LOL

I definitely walked away from it thinking they meant plants and animals and... aether in general, based on the shade of Hythlodaeus's explanation! He just says living energy, not souls, and ofc in the Sundered world you don't need souls to cast magic or even summon Primals, you only need a healthy natural world around you and ample aether/belief.

I assumed restoring the souls that were integrated into Zodiark would take less energy than averting the Final Days themselves. Those souls aren't even back in the Lifestream, you see them wandering around outside Zodiark's prison, and Elidibus could physically separate himself from Zodiark, too.

But a lot of that does come down to interpretation and it's one of those scenes I could imagine having a lot of subtlety or slightly different meaning in the original language, so I'm really not certain, that's just my best guess based on what seems logical to me!

And also irl the concept of a "soul" versus "living thing" seems to be interpreted very differently depending on who you ask. I know in some animes like Wolf's Rain there's completely sentient characters like Blue who, because she's a half-breed, isn't even allowed into Paradise. And of course in some religious circles there's insistence that only humans have souls, not animals. Seems heartless to me! But not knowing the writer's stance on it, that could affect a lot.

But yeah! Throughout the game it seems pretty established that souls "recycle" and reincarnate over and over into new bodies bereft the memories of their previous lives, but I don't know if it's ever really clearly stated that new souls are created, even the lore in the Through His Eyes story just says that souls manifest into bodies born naturally, which could mean new ones or just that bodyless souls floating into the lifestream jump into them:

And though not everyone gets the Echo, a lot of people who didn't have it before manifested it when Elidibus created the star shower and images of Amaurot - people of course far weaker than the Warrior of Light.

I took Emet Selch's comments on your greater wholeness to mean that not every fragment survives the Rejoinings. I seem to recall (but don't have the source, unfortunately, so I can't 100% be sure) some dev stating that G'raha has been rejoined an equal number of times to the WoL, which is why he's also so strong... and either way, implies other Scions who also have the Echo are missing a greater number of soul pieces than you.

I know there must be more lore out there that I'm missing, I know vaguely some side quest stuff but not well enough to quote it or speak on it, which could definitely change things a lot! But you're right, at least as far as I know, it's not super duper clear on that LOL

I also feel like the conclusion of the Pandaemonium raids might actually clarify a lot of the uncertainties here. They've already set up a lot of parallels and inversions with the main story (I haven't run the 7th Circle yet at the time of writing this, also, so forgive me if I'm misguided here!) But it's made a few passing mentions of stuff that would be on-topic here if expanded upon, like souls and the Ancients relationship with grief:

And yeah, that's a good point about the Codex entry! I assume it's left vague for players to make up their own mind about their Azem and why they weren't involved. I was thinking of the scene in Anyder where they seem perplexed by Azem's lack of answer - implying Hydaelyn's followers, at least, didn't know of any accord between the two, and she didn't see fit to fill them in:

(Also way to speak like a cult leader Venat, some very strong 'only we know the truth, we will be isolated and hated by everyone else' language there LMAO)

Hydaelyn in Endwalker

At the risk of looking stupid online I'm going to field my perplexions about Hydaelyn that've been bothering me for months lol This post is... a little Hydaelyn critical. But I do offer that in good faith, I LOVE the character and I'm not trying to just trash her, I'm genuinely interested to hear other perspectives about it. (But please be nice, everyone is entitled to their own take)

Also this is not in response to anyone else's post. I haven't even seen any Hydaelyn posts circulating lately. I'm not vagueing anyone or trying to start drama. Just trying to sort out my own feelings about this character.

So my main takeaway from MSQ was that love is, ultimately, what saves you. That humans (including Ancients!) aren't perfect, and cannot love perfectly, but the shared love of you and others is still what saves you.

And, also, that grief is a part of life. Mistakes are a part of life. Conflict and loss happen, but they need not destroy you. Stand for doing right as best that you can, forgive yourself and keep trying, keep loving - both yourself and others.

There was an incredible amount of emphasis on not judging or hating one's enemies, about accepting the humanity in all of us and coming together, which I really loved.

There was also, of course, a huge rejection of self-sacrifice and martyrdom.

I saw all those themes in the Dark Knight quests a LOT (especially before the English translation changed so many scenes), and I assume Ishikawa was continuing that theme from Shadowbringers onward.

So again! I don't hate Hydaelyn!

But I feel like... at least in the English translation, she is still treated with excessive reverence, like a goddess, by the Scions - even ones it didn't really make sense to after her origin came out, like Y'sthola.

And at least on my first playthrough, while I like Venat a lot and love the drama of the Final Days pushing everyone into points of desperation, to their breaking points, and her decision to sunder the world definitely did ultimately help (help!) make it possible for us to defeat the Endsinger... I dunno.

To me she was still subject to the same arrogance as the rest of the Ancients. Whether her decision paid off or not, she still took into her hands the fate of the entire Star, she still made a decision that would result in millions of deaths.

And if we're going by Hydaelyn's own assertion, that each reincarnation is their own person, not just a missing piece of a whole... then to achieve her goal of a better world, she killed all the remaining Ancients except those three.

She chose to create a world where death and trauma would affect generation after generation - and she can say that it was for the greater good, for the world to survive. But that was essentially the Convocation’s justification too, in creating Zodiark and orchestrating the Rejoinings. Committing genocide to prove that genocide is wrong… is not noble.

The cutscene with her sundering the world, where the people insist they'll return to a world free of sorrow underneath a burning sky, could also NOT be how it actually happened. It had to be representational of her feelings and conclusion. Becoming Hydaelyn took coordination with her followers and planning.

At least in English, idk about the original Japanese, Hythlodaeus's shade describes the time of the Sundering as if the world wasn't in utter ruin at that point. It was beginning to heal, they had restored some natural systems, but the Ancients were short in numbers. At that point, they were done sacrificing their own people, in time they were going to sacrifice other life - plants and animals, to restore those lost brethren.

At the very least, Hythlodaeus's completely different account shows that the two sects of people post-Zodiark were viewing their sacrifice and end goal in completely different ways. Ethics aside, whether the competing goal was achievable or not… we will never know, because Venat stopped it from happening.

But I don't think either recounting has a monopoly on the truth. There was no One Truth, there were just competing needs and perspectives. And though Venat insists that unity is necessary to avert the Endsinger - she perpetuates this division. Azem refused her followers call to help summon Hydaelyn, and I think that's significant.

But I'll also acknowledge that Azem didn't manage to save the Ancients, either.

And you could argue that the Ancients were their own worst enemy. They kind of were.

Hermes was a really, really great caricature of severe, untreated Depression. And he had the powers of a god. His creations were sent to find a specific answer in the world beyond, and like their creator, they didn't have the tools to process hearing an answer other than what they were expecting. They were trapped in their own perspective. He was looking for answers in the stars, instead of in himself. Their own pain and inability to engage with emotion in a healthy way overwhelmed every encounter they had and created the very reality he so feared.

He did not use the proper channels for peer review before sending them out on their mission. Those rules, those checks and balances, that community approach to design, existed to protect the Ancients from their own power, and he deliberately acted in secret. He isolated himself from society, convinced himself his pain was something nobody could understand, made an island of himself and doubled down on his own jaded beliefs.

I don't know what kind of mental health facilities were available to the Ancients - we just don't have that information. But I do know that he was treated with patience and forgiveness by a significant number of colleagues, and his quirks weren't held against him. People did try to help and accommodate him, even if they didn't always understand. He had been promoted to a powerful position. I don't know if it's fair to blame anyone in particular, or even their society, for what happened. Because again... everyone was doing the best they could with what they had.

If anything, the problem was that literally any Ancient could have made a similar mistake in the right situation. They were ALL that powerful. Eventually chaos would happen. Sundered souls can certainly create destruction, but not on the same scale.

I don't personally agree with Hydaelyn's decision not to reach out to the Convocation. I understand being careful, and thinking through what the next step should be before acting. But there's a LOT of "maybes" in this argument:

And ultimately, it's her doing the same thing as Hermes, putting the power of judgement over an entire people in her own hands. She's assuming that she is in a unique position to decide the fate of the entire Star. It's not evil. But it's arrogant. She wasn't special among the Ancients, gifted with some unique wisdom. She was doing the best she could from her own perspective.

Plus... if half your population, and then another half again are about to sacrifice themselves... what have you got to lose by outing Hermes and/or trying to work with the Convocation to avert that loss of life? We don't have all the details, I'm willing to accept that there were circumstances that made it impossible, or at least made Venat decide against trying it. But even so. What did you have to lose leading up to the summoning of Zodiark? There was already panic and destruction at that point.

Hydaelyn sacrificed a lot of people to accomplish her goals. She made a goddess of herself and manipulated people like Minfilia on that basis. She killed so many children and stole so many lives even just by reincarnating Minfilia over and over on the First. She misrepresents the nature of the Ascians to the WoL, keeps secrets, and essentially charges you with being a crusader in her Holy War.

It's Emet- Selch who tries to bridge the gap. Not Hydaelyn. It's him who's willing to consider trying to achieve his goals without bloodshed, if you, the WoL, are strong enough. He says this to himself, out of anyone else's hearing. There's no reason for it to be a lie.

And just before Mt. Gulg, you can see Emet starting to question his beliefs about humanity because of the WoL's accomplishments. Hydaelyn has nothing to do with that. It's all you. And Emet succumbs to his own weaknesses too, so we never get to know what that might have happened if you'd had more time with him. He's not better than her.

But I think it's significant that he's the one who reaches out. Who's willing to consider a compromise at all.

In war you make sacrifices, I get that. But she was not more heroic, somehow, than the Ascians. Both sides were doing terrible things and denying the agency of mortals in order to achieve their ideal world.

So to me... she was not a benevolent incomprehensibly wise mother figure. Much like in real life we go from being kids who trust our moms implicitly, to adults who realize our mother was human and made mistakes, I think we’re supposed to recognize that Hydaelyn didn't do everything right and its our job to carry the future forward for subsequent generations, to learn from what came before, and hope that our own children do the same and forgive us for our own mistakes.

I think its very important to note that the WoL is just as much the Convocation's creation as Hydaelyn's. Without being rejoined as many times as they were, the WoL wouldn’t have survived. She saves you from the Ultima Weapon, Emet-Selch saves you from Elidibus, and its their powers combined that save you and your friends from the Endsinger. You are the legacy of each side’s imperfect love, equally.

WHICH brings me to my point of perplexion. Hydaelyn continues to be venerated. NPCs who know what happened continue to emphasize her side of things. I feel I must be missing something, because to me, the finale of Endwalker essentially shattered any idea that this was a Light vs Dark kind of story. People made choices. People made mistakes. It wasn't good or evil. It was human. We survived in spite of our mistakes because love was more powerful than our imperfections.

The Scions sacrificed themselves one by one just like the Ancients. And got brought back using energy from the Star... not all that different than what the Ascians had planned to do with their own brethren. I just don't see much functional difference there in the sentiments between either side.

I don't think we're supposed to hate Hydaelyn. I don't think she was evil. But I don't think she was better than the Ascians.

So while I don't expect, or want, characters to be condemning her left and right in the narrative, it's still baffling to me that there's such consistent, explicit reverence for her.

[icharchivist]

Hi same nonny as usual haha! You asked for my thoughts on the spring troupe so now that I've finished the summer troupe debut I'm going to knock out two birds with one stone! I liked summer troupe a lot more then spring troupe. Not that I didn't like spring troupe! I just think that they didn't really communicate with each other?

The only reason why sakuyas issue with swordfighting was resolved was because masumi happened to be eavesdropping on a convo with the director, and why someone knew about itarus injury was because of citron noticing. I'm not saying there was no communication at all these two issues just. Bothered me so much the swordfighting one a lot more then the injury. The thing that bothers me about the injury is that itaru wasn't like. Told off for not telling anyone about his injury. Cause he could have seriously damaged his foot or something. I get that in the future there's probably going to be character development for itaru that lets him open up more to his troupemates. The swordfighting one just felt like a cop out to have a "moment" between sakuya and the director instead of having sakuya discuss that stuff with his troupe (which, bleh do not care for the characters flirting with the director at all. wish it wasn't there but I get why they do it.)

Despite my griping I did really enjoy spring troupe! They were fun! They just felt less trusting of each other then summer troupe at the end of day. And I get that char Dev will prob happen bout that but still haha. That's my thoughts on spring troupe! I could just be horribly misremembering the entire episode but oh well!

I know I said I'd also do summer troupe in this ask but it's already horribly long and I'm writing this on my phone. I'll get to that later. Thanks for reading my rambling that has not been proofread at all or edited. Hopefully it makes some sense hahaha. Thanks for introducing me to a3 it's tons of fun.

aaahh thanks for sharing!!!

honestly i kinda get where you’re coming from. I really love Spring, but it’s especially now in insight of their development. On first read, i think the thing especially was that the chapter was more about setting up some of the most major issues of the universe (the debts, the way  to arrange themselves in that new environment ect..) that therefore the characters issues may be not as focused as the others chapters?

(also for character flirting with MC there will be only 2 in main stories that do that a lot, one of which is Masumi, and the other isn’t much flirting as just hopelessly in love. Not much we can do about it but honestly once you move on from spring if this really holds you down, it will ease off at least, even if there’s a few thingss here and there stil)

Summer was the moment i really fell in love with the game, i really, really adore Summer’s dynamic and it was just. so good to go through.

As for the things you bring up about Spring, on one hand on first read i think i get you, but yeaaaah in insight of all we learn about the characters, it’s really not that far fetched ahah.

For Sakuya imo it’s really just that he freaked out because of his abandon issues and i don’t really see him discussing it with Spring yet at this point? Like. Sakuya is terrified of not being good enough and being abandoned as a result, like all of his relatives ever did. So he tries to compensate. When Masumi just brought up that they’ll just replace him, i don’t find it far fetched that Sakuya freaked out about it and failed to explain it to Masumi at the time. 

Those very same issues also lead Sakuya to hold on everything bad ever to himself. The reason he opens up to Izumi, more than her just coming to him there, is that she already proved before that she wasn’t willing to abandon him, if only by how she took up the theater because of his passion to start with. And, just, timingwise. 

And i think Sakuya wouldn’t have taken reassurances from his others troupesmates who have already made clear they believed in him, because i think Sakuya would be more crushed with the idea that they’re just being polite and kind with him. Because he knows he’s failing and the others’s way to reassure him would probably have made it worse. He needed reassurance 1) from the director who at this point has already started to be giving more constructive critisms, 2) Masumi, who’s the one who caused those insecurities by the fact he doesn’t hold back. But i don’t see him reach of to Masumi with how hostile Masumi has been to everyone up until that point. (i have more thoughts but that’d be me overreading it too but dKJFDLKF a3 makes my brain go brr)

As for Masumi, this kid has serious communication issues (only child with no friends and no parents around? oof) and i don’t think he would have reached out to Sakuya or even figured something was wrong otherwise.

Are those just easy way out for the writers? maybe, but that’s just how writing is isn’t it? if you want to make even some “artificial” conflict, you need to make it believable why this conflict exist even in the first place. 

Honestly the swordfighting issue doesn’t strike like that to me, and those are all about things that are shown in the Spring chapter itself, but i suppose since i also know those things are expended on, it does add a layer of “this was made with depth for their characters in mind” imo.

Also i think if Masumi hadn’t eardropped, Izumi would have talked to him about it, being the mediator and all of that, and i think Masumi would have understood then. I don’t think Masumi was unwilling to understand, but that he lacked the groundwork to understand it. and we mostly were spared from having to repeat the scene with Izumi telling him about it.

Idk if i see Sakuya managing to tell it to Masumi even after this talk? I think Sakuya is the kind to take all of his pain in silence and assume responsibilities for everything that goes wrong, and i don’t think he would have felt comfortable opening up with that, especially since, as he tells Izumi, he genuinely feels like *he’s* the failure about it (and as Izumi tells him, it’s not his fault if others people don’t try either. Sakuya was made to believe that he had to take full responsibility when a relationship doesn’t work because of his relatives, and i think he was set on doing the same with this Massu’s situation, and the reason he could share it with Izumi is because she’s not the person he’s taking responsibility for). On top of that, Sakuya remains Masumi’s elder, and Sakuya does want to be someone people rely on - he wants to be a big brother figure, and i think he wouldn’t have wanted or known how much of this responsibility he could share with Masumi knowing that. And i don’t think it’s healthy! but it’s perfectly understandable from Sakuya’s perspective and the specific way he shoulders responsibilities because i will fistfight his family his family sucked.

As for Itaru, on this one we only got the reveals about how deep this lack of trust Itaru had for people ran only recently, so imo early on you just need to take it at face value and hope when you get to know more, it’ll click. Realizing he doesn’t want to be alone anymore and wants to be more with Spring is a turning point from this set up about him, so he can only develop from here.

For why no one really told him off about it, i guess i can understand the grip ahah. imo i think everyone worried already enough that he was talking about leaving the company this was the priority to discuss and i do think talking about his ankle at that point may have not worked with the pacing of the emotional moment. I wouldn’t have minded seeing some of them being more worried about it in general though.

In the end the thing with Spring is that aside from Tsuzuru, they are all people who come from background where communication isn’t their forte. Sakuya fears he’s never good enough, Masumi never even had to face how lonely his life had made him until now (and i think he specifically lashes on the director because it’s the first time he feels like he wants a connection with anyone in his life and he doesn’t know what to do with it. I find his obsession creepy imo but i also see where it’s coming from), Itaru has severe trust issues and rather be solo in general, and Citron hides a lot about himself.

and i think, we have Tsuzuru has never been really alone ever, and he takes a lot of responsibility, (though there’s a few things about his background we learn later that shows he still has similar struggles than the rest of his troupe regarding some.. broken connection, which he vagues at in the Spring chapter (... which is something i only noticed on my reread knowing that so i wouldn’t blame you for not catching it))  but he’s also trying to do things for himself for once in his life. Ultimately he knows how to communicate more in general but he has that going on for him, and especially, i think his way to communicate or connect may be too foreign for the rest of the troupe for a smooth connection off the bat.

All of them are trying to connect in their own ways coming from those complicated feelings they have about connection imo... and i do find it fascinating. 

I see Spring a lot like, the kids who had to grow up too fast and the adults who are unhappy with where their adult lives have taken them and the expectations pushed upon them who yet are trying to cope on their own mostly because they have reasons to feel unsafe otherwise. (Tsuzuru is a bit in between imo bc he’s not “unsafe” yet and he’s already taking himself back in hands with the expectations things, but anyway, i am. trying to keep it short, believe it or not) And they’re still navigating where that leaves them as people, and where that leaves them in their connection with others, and especially with each other because in the end they’re all yearning to connect especially with one another, and just don’t know how to reconcile this desire with who they have been all this time to cope through all of this.

All of this is present in the Spring intro chapter but ^^” i could imagine that without having the full picture those aren’t things that may be easily picked up as important for their characterizations. But honestly there’s a throve of details in the writing to flesh them out when you know where to look and i find it fascinating. (but also i like. relived this chapter 5 times, 4 of which after i’ve seen most of their development, and my first read is so long ago i think i just overthink everything DLKJFDLKF and like, Spring was one of my least favorite at first read bc i struggled to connect with them, so it’s not like i don’t get you, it’s just. nowadays, spring is care spring is love and i cry over their intro chap a lot.)

Anyway i guess i get what you felt still, but, idk maybe i feel strongly about it ahah, i like the way the characters stand out from one another even in the moments that are probably just.. stupid, but in a “they wouldn’t know how to do better because of what’s holding them back” way.

i feel like “lack of communication” is a problem every troupe have to various degree and for different reasons, but the whole thing is about trying to figure out how to fix that and work it with them. Some are more forward than others (like, Summer, mostly because Tenma and Yuki are stubborn and loud and straightforward in their own way)(”than others” i have so much to say about this i’m holding back dLKFJD) but i think it depends also a lot on some thematic it wants to tackle and the spirit of the characters in each troupe. It changes as the story progresses but yeah after all, they are all strangers. And while the game mentions they have a few months to prepare for their play, it was reckoned that every play takes one month to prepare, so it doesn’t really give a lot of time on their first play to really figure out everything they need to work on.

Spring, in essence, as a season, is about blooming back after Winter, after sadness and hardship, and learning how to slowly open up again. So imo their intro chap have to reflect that slow progress for them. While Summer can afford to be more loud, straight to the point (and even there it’s not always easy), Summer is full of learning from their mistake, living in the Now, in the Moment. So their season thematic reflects a bit in their intro chap at least. (ofc they all grow from there though but that’s still interesting imo).

anyway i rambled LDFJDLKFJFDLK

I didn’t mean it in a way to say your reading is invalid though!! sorry if it feels that way, i’ve tried rewriting it a few times DLKFJDLFK i just have a lot of emotions about Spring and the points you mentioned made me think about some stuff about it. 

ANYWAY

if you want to share your thoughts about summer too and the rest you’re always welcomed o7 i’m glad you’re still enjoying your stay, and i hope you’ll keep enjoying the ride!

And Take care!

[jay-bee-me]

200 Followers celebration!

For I finally reached 200 Followers here's my celebration!

It contains 2 elements! First this emoji ask meme:

So send me

🌈To get a fictional character based on your blog/what I know about you

✨To get a book recommendation (please add a genre if you aren't into sci-fi or fantasy)

💫To get a series recommendation

🌸To get my thoughts on you/ first impression

(beside the first and the last one you can sent on anon when you feel more comfortable with it)

Part 2 is the following creepypasta! If you don't like scary stuff just skip it and scroll on. I don't mention any critical things as far as I can judge. If you read it but think I should add trigger warnings please tell me (you can just sent an anon ask and tell me what tw I have to set) I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable and will add any trigger warnings!

"There's a myth being told. You know? It's about the white man. A creature pale as snow. His eyes a glooming red. You should never ever try to get him alive. And never ever summon him! He has medusas abilities and a single look at him and you saying 'no' will immediately turn you to stone for the next 10 years."." wait- wait- wait. Why only 10 years, Kathy? That sounds lame. Like losing 10 years? That's definetly worth to experience how it is being a stone!" Dev and Emma nod agreeingly." Well fine! What other ideas do you have?", Kathrine asks sending a glare in my direction. "uhm. What about 30 years and you forget everything besides the feeling of not being able to move?" I ask 'em. "why not 50 years? That's way more frightening and sounds way more magical?" Emma complains. Dev gives a noise that's implying he agrees. "than that's it?" we all nod to show Kathy our agreement. She then types the new version into her computer. "okay so how do we wanna continue?" she says as she looks at us again. "what about a young boy like 15 years old? And he is trying to challenge himself by finding the creature." Dev suggests. "okay, that sounds good, but I'm going to bed guys" "g'night" we say as Emma already leaves the room. "okay I'll write like a short introduction and I'd say we do it then tomorrow so no one leaves out!" "yeah!" Dev and me say simultaneously. While she's writing Dev and I throw chips in each other's mouth and try to catch 'em. Afterwards we talk another half hour and then go to bed.

It was dark when I woke up. A look at my smartphone revealed it was 4am. I had to grin to myself. It was exactly the time we stated in the SCP document to be the time the white man would show up. I was still impressed by Devs idea to start our own myth. And I was proud of Kathrine to be such a good writer she would write us the creepy pasta about it. The SCP thing we might got by ourselves but none of us had the talent to write a good horror story. The idea came from Deb at least all the facts for the SCP site. Only the years I didn't agree. I thought ten years of being a stone doesn't sound scary. Maybe even like a relief. Ten years without any responsibility... I went to the toilet and bumped into several objects on my way but didn't wanted to turn any lights on. When I was done I decided to go outside for a bit. I couldn't go back into that room with three other people. The air just was bad. I took Kathy's key so I don't locked out myself from her home and went into the garden. It was November and pretty cold but my sweater kept me warm. I sat under the oak tree I always wished to have a tree house in but her parents didn't allow us to build one. They thought it were unsafe but right now it would have been a better option than the bare ground. I breathed in the fresh air. 4.15 am. I thought about the creepypasta. What would it be like to be a stone for 50 years. I mean you can't age as a stone so when you come back you just lost 50 years of your friends and families life but none of your own cause physically your still the same age? Or would you die at the age of 20 cause you would have only had 70 years? I heard a rustle from the hedge in front of me. Was it a cat? But who would leave a cat that early when it's winter? I made a clicking sound with my tongue. "come here little one" I whispered. I heard another rustle. I took my phone and turned on the flashlight to have better vision. I cast it at the bush. Nothing. Then a reflection. It was almost red so it must be a cat with amber colored eyes. Cute, I thought by myself. Another movement. "don't worry." I told the cat. And it came out the bush. Only problem: it wasn't a cat. It was pale. It was a man. It was an almost white man. I gasped. What the hell. Automatically my eyes went to the creatures eyes and in my dumb disbelief I spoke the one cursed word: "no". Because my mind refused to belief what it saw. I felt my body turning unmoveable. The last clear thought of mine was: Well,at least I will find out what it is to be turned to stone.

The next morning Dec was the first to wake up. As soon as he noticed Alex empty bed he knew what happened tonight. He knew it because it was what happened to him. Ten years ago. He knew it because he lived through a similar evening back then. Sure they didn't wrote an SCP but they had other places to put the information. Back then he also thought it only was a joke of the new kid that came to the school one year ago. Back then he was as naive as Alex. When he woke up this night he ignored the urge for fresh air. He refused to be turned to stone again. The whole evening he worried the others would find it strange he told him all the facts. But he didn't questioned anything back then either. He know went down. And searched for the sculpture. The horrified look on Alex's face sent a little hurt to him and he asked himself if the one who hid him back then felt the same. He also wondered how long this have been happening already and how long it will continue. At least none of them actually loses ten years. They all only lose ten years of their friends and famalies life's. He pushed and pulled the sculpture to the cave. The cave he spent the last ten years. And because he knew Alex would hear him he said: "I'm sorry. We will meet again somewhen. I didn't knew he would pick you. When you wake up you have to do the same I did. I don't know what will happen if you don't. But if it was something good I don't think this would have continued so long. Goodbye" then he left this cave forever

I had time to think about everything. And I figured something out. When I look into the mirror in the bathroom of my new friends I met in the last year I still saw the same face. It was even stranger than if I had aged. I wondered whether Dev felt the same back then. Ten years ago. I made a decision. I never knew I would do this. But I was sure to do the right thing. The only option. I went back to the living room where Amy, Cal and Pete were already waiting. "so what will we do tonight?" Amy asks us. "what's about starting the myth of the white man?" Pete asks. And I look at him. And I see what I should have noticed so long ago. The strange oldness in his eyes. I knew it. "No!" Cal exclaimed and got my full attention. "no goddamn horror stories! Stop that! You guys know that always goes wrong! You know the movies! We aren't dumb teenagers from ten years ago! We won't do this!" and when I looked at him I notice that he was like me. We had made the same decision. But I also asked myself: when three of us are already here, how many of us exist? How many of us have to do this? When will this end?

@emo-bi-mess I thought you liked to be tagged in it :)

[kyogre-blue]

My best guess about the Agartha thing is that it has some combination of boring explanations that are just... not intuitive enough and not satisfying enough to be easy to keep track of.

Agartha's fall is thousands of years ago, and the entire continent seems to have been rendered nearly uninhabitable in the process. So it's not surprising Rhea and Seteth don't think anyone from that period survived and just assume some other evil cult came to power in the interim to manipulate things from the shadows. There can, logically, be more than one evil conspiracy other millennia. And the old time Agarthans were just humans with technology. They must have modified themselves to be bone white and also shapeshifters in the millennia since then, so of course Rhea and Seteth wouldn't have known about this unless they'd caught one doing it in the time between. Etc, etc.

This isn't even like... surprising, but because the Agarthans are the biggest villains of the setting AND get so much focus in school phase, it feels weird to keep track of how little almost everyone involved knows about them until basically the second to last map of the game. And then we can't even talk about it because the story is over now, I guess.

I actually really wonder about the Enbarr timeline, because Edelgard says at one point that the entire concept of nobility was established 1200 years ago, which seems to suggest that it was made by... Seiros? So like, are we supposed to take this as humans of the pre-Nemesis was period just lived in small tribes with little civilization or government and then Nemesis did a genocide, so Seiros elevated her allies into a proper city and nation and class structure and oops this bites her in the ass a thousand years later...??

In CF, Aymr - Edel's weapon - reveals its secrets, you cannot repair it using Umbral Steel, like other relics, but you have to use Agarthium to repair it. It's a made in Agartha relic copy.

Oh, interesting. Well, logically, it should be the same as zombie Nemesis's creator sword copy, since he uh... has one. Somehow.

I know I joke a lot about Edel's beef against Rhea'n'Sothis, tbh, after playing CF the "their ears are pointy they're not like us" argument felt like the strongest, but I'd be curious to hear what you think about it when you'll tackle CF.

I don't even know what to think, tbh.

On the one hand, the writing is SO blatant about it that I find it hard to believe the writers didn't realize that Edelgard was attributing Agarthan sins to the Church, whether she did this intentionally or out of pure ignorance. They had to know, right? It's meant to be irony, right??

But on the other hand, I always remember how, when Claude finally talks about Church Bad to people other than Byleth, they immediately agree with him and it's not even slightly meant to read as him manipulating them. So it's not that he has a bad take, it's that the writers think he's right.

So I feel like they might actually want to sell Edelgard as being right about Church Bad too...? But Edelgard is SO blatantly evil... I don't even know. I hate it.

Ah yes, that cutscene. She lets her feelings for her teacher take over her cold and emperor persona one last time or... tries to sway Byleth to her side until the end ? Or the devs really wanted to hammer the "feel sad for her" to sell more goodies/alts in fe heroes?

Since Edelgard basically makes no effort to sway you to her side before declaring war or during or in the five year reunion, and it's fairly clear she never believed you'd side with her, I don't think she's attempting to get you on her side, at least. (Especially since lol you get this scene even in VW where you have no support ranks on her.)

Seems to be just a "don't you feel bad for her" play, yeah.

I don't see Hubert as going behind her back, but Hubert wanting to spite Thales even in death, to the point of telling us where to find him to kill him.

I have a really sus view of Hubert, so I 100% believe he'd go behind Edelgard's back if he thought there was reason to do so. Not to her detriment, his obsessive devotion to her is real, but I get the impression that he doesn't necessarily think all that much of her judgement in the micro.

It's just... something, that he will spite-help Byleth+Claude (whatever) and also Byleth+Seteth and Church (Edelgard's most hated creatures) but NOT Byleth+Dimitri....? Hubert hates Dimitri more than anyone else, I guess. Or are we supposed to read it as Hubert thinking that, without Thales, the Agarthans aren't a threat anymore?

The route stuff is badly handled, is what I'm saying.

Quickly dumping out the Enbarr notes, since I'm sure the Shambhala section will have a ton of infodumping to note.

I think the only difference from VW is that we run some weird plan where a lot of our troops sneak into Enbarr ahead of the rest of the army moving in. Because uuuuh I guess we're weaker than the united army with Leicester? Everything else is pretty much exactly the same, including Dedue's part and the Edelgard death cinematic.

tbh I think it actually ends up feeling even weaker here? I thought it would fit better, since this is the "you like Edelgard but can't agree with her" route, but since she appears so little and her writing is so bizarre and confused... It actually feels kinda worse, since her dialogue feels incredibly inconsistent.

I thought I'd have some more appreciation for Edelgard after this route, but uh. I don't. Hm.

Anyway, onto more interesting points, I am starting to get the impression that Rhea and Seteth don't actually know much about the Agarthans. I think they might not actually know that the mysterious "those who slither in the dark" are from Agartha (and that's why they have beef), and it's basically explicit that they don't know who helped Nemesis make the Sword.

Which isn't an issue, but it's hard to remember that they know so little in practice.

Liveblogging:

A priestess mentions that they lost contact with all church personnel in Enbarr when the war started.

A soldier mentions that some of our troops have already departed for Enbarr dressed as merchants and traveling performers. We have an entire plan to have small squads sneak toward the capital and link up with the main army. The Empire apparently thinks we have abandoned our plans to invade (after Merceus).

Sylvain didn't think he's live this long (in the war)... bby. He wants to strike down the empire for Dimtri...

Apparently, we think Rhea is in Enbarr because of a soldier from Merceus. I guess Judith only told us that the Empire captured her. I already forgor.

The pre-battle blurb also mentions the troops moving in secret and our surprise attack on Enbarr. I don't recall this from VW. We were already outnumbered there, so I guess here with just the Church and Judith's troops, we're even worse off.

Based on the map close up during the pre-battle exposition, it looks like Enbarr was built on the delta where a river forks into two, with both ranches leading into the sea on the west.

Oh, Dedue is here! AC lied to me :( (/jk)

The music for his entrance is uh... imo it's a bit too heroic, given that he's here because Dimitri ended up like that.

He came after Gronder field, so... two months ago, since there was Merceus in between but not anything else. He gives us info on the inside of the castle (layout, presumably) and tells us that Rhea is at the palace.

Edelgard's axe, Aymr, is described as "a Crest Stone weapon designed to Edelgard's specifications, allowing her to use Raging Storm."

Edelgard's class, Emperor, is "With unparalleled defense, Edelgard appears as an unstoppable force in the legendary armor of the Adrestian Emperor." Note that her armor is a boobplate. So like... did they modify it for her, or....

Edelgard is so confusing. Even to the last, she goes on about how determined she is to "free this world" from the "vile grasp" of the "false goddess and her minion." But like... Edelgard has NO basis for beef with Sothis or Rhea. It's so puzzling and empty.

Dialogue with Seteth: He tells Edelgard to return Rhea and release her grip on Fodlan. Edelgard says that if we strike her down, "they" will return. So she can't permit what we desire (????? what? like, you'd assume she means the Agarthans, but everything else points to her talking about the Nabateans). She also knows that Seteth is a child of the goddess and thinks he can't be permitted power over the people. This is SO wild.

Anyway, to get this dialogue, I let Seteth get the last hit. The Edelgard death cutscene makes equally little sense on this route, btw. Edelgard was going "fuck you guys, I didn't think you'd make it this far, but I don't care and I'm never giving up" in the battle, but now she's all "you must strike me down to move forward, I wanted to walk with you..." GIRL WHAT

Hubert going behind Edelgard's back to write us a letter where he's basically entrusting the future and Fodlan to us is like....... l m a o This was whatever on VW, but on a route where we are the Church and those lizards Edelgard hates so much... god.

Anyway, Seteth apparently didn't really believe the Agarthans were behind all this, or else even around at all. He's very shocked and unhappy about Hubert's letter.

OK, unlike VW, where Claude is there for the info dumps and Rhea holds at least some stuff back, here she has no reason to hide anything. And she says she does not know where or how Nemesis got the Sword of the Creator. They only guessed that someone must have given him this power and tried to investigate it, but they never found the answer. They only NOW surmise that it was the Agarthans. ...hang on, do they even know that "those who slither in the dark" are from Agartha....

Felix and Sylvain are together at the monastery, cute. Felix even calls Dimitri by name when talking about defeating the Empire and the Agarthans to let him rest in peace.

Catherine backstory: She was born in House Charon in Faerghus > was called Thunderstrike Cassandra > attempted Officers Academy, was saved by Rhea as a student > was implicated in "a plot to kill the king" (seems to be Duscur) > fled to the monastery since she felt it was safe > Rhea hired her > and had her execute Christophe when he tried to assassinate Rhea, though the charges given publicly were regarding Duscur.

Is that right?

Anyway, next time: Shambhala

[eviltothecore13]

Hi, I am the worried anon and I am really sorry for bothering you with these questions, I know this topic is unpleasant. Also feel free to ignore or delete this ask! I realize it's very weird that a random stranger pours out their heart in someones ask...

I am one of the people who can become obsessed with fictional characters and I became obsessed with Wesker last year. A weird thing about me is that I can accept crimes like murder etc in fiction (but I do not endorse them of course) and can still like and enjoy characters who did those things, but when it comes to sexual crimes I can't (especially if the victim is way younger and that young like Rebecca). When I read about the picture I was devastated. And I became obsessed with asking other people about their opinion. I absolutely hate it when people see it as canon, make jokes about it etc. I always wanted an answer like it's just a joke, not actually canon, just for the player to see n' stuff. It's absolutely unreasonable how much I worry about it since it's just a Video game and I know Wesker did way worse things but I am still scared that it will be officially confirmed as canon. Ik many Wesker fans will be like oohhh he is into Rebecca and a little bit perverted? Funny XD like it's nothing big but it would absolutely destroy Wesker for me. I asked Kamiya a few months ago if it's canon that Wesker preyed on her or if it's just an easter egg and he said ask Capcom. And of course the Resident Evil, Capcom Accounts didn't answer because the people who maintain the Accounts aren't the writers nor devs. But I can absolutely see Kamiya confirming it as canon because something like that is typical Japanese Humor and he wouldn't see it as big Deal to make a character a creep. I love many things about Wesker but I couldn't accept him having a crush on someone who is only 18. And yes, I was diagnosed with OCD some years ago but that's my dumbest obsession so far. Someone on Twitter also kinda tried to convince me even if it's a joke it's canon and that many people misinterpret Wesker and he's absolutely able to be a creep and pervert and showed me answers from Kamiya from ten years ago where he said Wesker hid it well and claimed that without the photo there wouldn't be the Wesker Mode, that he creeped most likely on Jill and even that a former concept Art of Excella resembled Rebecca, maybe because it's his type. (I saw the short haired Excella and she didn't Look like Rebecca tho). I just want an official answer like it's not canon, no lore but that will never come... I love parts of the Wesker fandom but I am always worrying do I enjoy and ship a character who creeps on teenage girls? I know it would be for the best to just leave the fandom but on the other hand Wesker fanwork etc gives me so much Joy... And I am also not sure to tell my potential therapist about that since it's kinda embarrassing... And the weirdo who harasses people about that photo makes me unsure again... Another person asked him if Wesker is a creep and pedo towards Rebecca and Kamiya said do not take everything seriously but I am still afraid that he sees it as canon but no big deal bc funny rather than saying that it's just a non lore joke... As far I am aware a 3D modellist made the photo since it's kinda his hobby and Kamiya didn't stop him because he said playfulness is important... Sorry for the long text

I think it is clear that it was intended as a silly joke, was not intended to be an important part of Wesker's characterisation, and has never been followed up on by anything canon where Wesker never expresses attraction to Rebecca (or, indeed, to Excella, who he mostly seems quite creeped out by--even if her early concept art had been designed to be like Rebecca, concept art isn't canon, and I don't think short hair is enough to be a resemblance really.) Or to Jill, I know people talk a lot about Jill's RE5 outfit, but they forget that while the action figures and promo images show her with it unzipped, in-game it's zipped up almost all the time and also frequently covered with a plague doctor robe, she's not really walking around in a very sexualised outfit all the time. Kamiya tends to troll people and also is not someone who's ever written Wesker in a major way, so he's not going to take his characterisation or questions about it very seriously.

I totally understand sexual crimes being more disturbing to you than murder--far more people know someone who's a victim of sexual crimes than know someone who's been murdered, for one thing, so it's much closer to home for a lot of people. Ultimately though there really is not serious canon evidence for Wesker committing any sexual crimes. RE has a bit of a history of Easter Eggs that can unfortunately get creepy--for instance, Sheva's "secretary" alternate costume in RE5, apparently if you look from certain angles it becomes clear she isn't wearing underwear--clearly this says nothing about characterisation as I don't think anyone seriously thinks Sheva would ever go into combat wearing a skirt with no underwear! Or indeed that most of the characters would ever wear many of their alt costumes (much as I like Leatherman Chris). Wesker Mode is even more non-canon than the alt costumes and literally has Wesker saying Billy's dialogue.

Also, he's a fictional character, you can headcanon and interpret him how you like. I've seen headcanons that vary widely from fics where he's gay, or bi but mostly into men, fics where he's ace or aspec, there's all kinds of possible interpretations of the character that aren't "creeps on women" which is an unfun and offputting interpretation. Don't listen to weirdos on twitter or people just trying to pick fights--it sounds like they don't like the character and are trying to ruin your fun. If you can't just focus on the stuff you enjoy in this fandom and not think about the opinions of people who aren't even Wesker fans, I'd recommend taking a break, and yes maybe speaking to a therapist--I know it might seem embarrassing to have an irrational worry, but that's exactly the kind of thing a therapist is trained to deal with and a good one won't judge.