#DQXI spoilers

[daezedglownut]

I really love how the game starts out with you saving Gemma, and you think “ok, they’re obviously pulling the ‘childhood friend to lovers card’ here” except you finally leave your hometown, meet a twink in prison, see the world, and if you CHOOSE to, you can “marry” him, and end up closing the game with you saving him in the same way IN THE SAME PLACE.

Only this time the scene has bedroom eyes.

Incredible.

Idk, I just love how the game lets you play the Luminary 100% straight if you want, OR as “the only gay in the village” who only really seemed to emote and smile when he was taking part in a pride parade, and got a less than traditional happy ending - and it’s played completely straight! (Pardon the pun…)

Don’t even get me started on Sylv’s Act 2 adventure, and how it subverts the “those evil gays are recruiting our innocent kids” trope, and instead tells this beautiful story of queer community and how, with the right support, all these closeted guys felt safe enough to Be Themselves and start their new life - despite their age (Tetsu 🥺💕)

And again, none of this is played off as a joke.

I truly love this game like no other.

[jubilfetv]

i have so many of these

[elikha]

Cringe luminerik angst (I think about this often🫡)

“And you never knew

How much I really liked you

‘Cause I never even told you

Oh, but I meant to”

[fridka]

Warning, spoilers for Serena for act 2

so we just got to that part of the game, and oh my god… I don’t entirely trust the finality of this event, because there’s been a couple copouts in the story so far in that regard, but.. damn, it still hit like a truck

A couple wips under the cut if anyone’s into that

[lubbee]

Confession

[twonatic]

Finally completed DQ11 after putting it down for what 3-4 years

[magentasky234]

Playing DQ11 again and realised that Erik and Veronica's arguing reminded me of Erik and Mia. I think Erik sees her as a sister like Mia.

Spoilers under the cut:

He was one of the saddest about her death, saying "No..." when she faded away and reaching his arm out. He also said "No!" and punched a tree. He truly cared about her, despite their arguing. He lost a sister a second time.

[dontmindme2600]

I love Erik insisting that we go to find his fuck ass Orb immediately after the MC finds out his village was destroyed and has to read two whole emotional letters from dead relatives. “Don’t worry, you can tell me about it later.” That man truly does not give a fuck, he longs for The Orb.

[arorabbit]

a little overdue, but heres my blog intro/pin!

hello, u can call me hypno! im a minor, im genderfluid + sapphic and use they/zem pronouns!

u can contact me thru asks or dms (mutuals only)

terfs, facists, proshippers, and primarily NSFW accounts DNI. (the block button is free!)

i mostly make shitposts here/reblog cool art, but my art blog is @mewhenwhenthe.

fandoms:

nier automata

omori

dragon quest xi

ships:

dqxi

sylvendrik

mia/gemma

omori

heromari

sunflower

kimbery

sunburn

cactiflower

nier automata

2b/9s/a2

6o/21o

9s/eve

aus (ask me abt them!!! (not forced)):

nier automata

helping hand au (my favorite child of aus /hj)

p5r au (MAJOR wip, but still ask me abt it)

dqxi

jasper lives au

omori au

ps i TOTALLY dont run omori food administration blog @humphreys-all-you-can-eat ahahahahahehheheheheh

edit log under cut

[edit july 28 2023: added 9s/eve to n:a ships list]

[edit august 18 2023: added p5r au to au list, made these logs smaller and under a cut]

[fuddledance]

an old edit but i still like it

[daezedglownut]

I thought I’d already found all the possible little hints in XI that Sylvando/Sylvia is trans-coded.

There’s the throwaway party chat line at the French private school:

Ah, to travel from place to place collecting mini medals, learning all about the world and blossoming into lovely young ladies! The students of this school are so lucky!

If we find any mini medals on our travels, we should bring them back here right away so that we can blossom into lovely ladies too! Wouldn’t that be wonderful, honey?

There’s the fact that Sylv in Act 2 bends down to pick up items in the exact same way the girls at the academy practice with mini medals, echoing the statue at the gates of ‘La Collectrice’ - “an elegant young lady picking up a gold medal in a distinctly dignified fashion”.

Very demure. Very mindful.

There’s also the name angle to consider. Though it could be argued that if you leave home and don’t want news of where you are getting back to your dad, you’d probably go by a pseudonym or a stage name. So I don’t think that Sylvando/Sylvia not going by Norberto is a very strong piece of evidence at all.

Adding to that, the fact he ran away from home could yet be seen as a gay young man running away because he didn’t feel accepted at home. But it could also be a trans character doing the exact same thing, so I’d say it’s still very plausible. Not to mention Sylvando inadvertently following in his mother’s footsteps during Act 2 with his gang of gay little ducklings, as mentioned by the Ringmaster is actually a really cute detail, however you want to slice it:

I saw her when I was just a child. She was simply the most incredible performer… She led a parade of people out of a kingdom destroyed by monsters, and on to a new home and a brighter future. And she kept them smiling from start to finish! You can’t imagine how inspirational it was for those of us who were lucky enough to wave them on their way.

You remind me of her, you know. The look on her face as she proudly led all those people out of danger, spreading joy and laughter wherever she went…

Then there’s the fact Sylvando/Sylvia goes by female pronouns in the JP version of the game. Again, not concrete evidence based on the fact that “extremely flamboyant gay male characters” in JP media are often (sadly) treated in the exact same way, reducing them to a comic relief sort of “hodgepodge mix of everything queer” Okama stereotype. This doesn’t erase their cisness or their homosexuality. But I can see why from a western viewpoint it might seem like really strong evidence of their transness when it’s something particular to Japan that got lost in translation. The closest comparison I can think to make to “make it make sense” is in the west where gay femme—but entirely cis—males call one another “she” and “her”.

However, I found what could be the most concrete “HEAR ME OUT” evidence completely by accident:

Boxer shorts are a common suit of armor in the Dragon Quest series. They are generally considered a gag piece of equipment notable for their low defensive properties and they can only be worn by male characters.

And wouldn’t you know it, only the Luminary, Erik, Rab, and Hendrik can equip the boxer shorts in XI…

I checked.

Now. I don’t want to say this is canonical or 100% proof by any means. Sylvando could just be a flamboyantly gay man who has too much self respect than to be seen dead in those striped monstrosities. After all, I can’t imagine someone like Jasper would deign to equip them either lol

What I love most about Sylvando/Sylvia is how open to interpretation the character is. I’ve seen so many conflicting theories that are all written beautifully, and all hold merit. (I myself enjoy dabbling with how I interpret the character depending on the needs of the story I’m writing, and whatever tf my gender is doing on any given day…)

And the best thing about Sylvando/Sylvia is the overwhelmingly positive reception to the character from fans. How Sylv could’ve been a cheap throwaway gag without substance, yet arguably became the character who ‘stole the show’ at every turn and got some of the best storylines.

In the end, I didn’t want to save the world for the rest of Erdrea - I just wanted to do it so Sylv could go home and make up for lost time with his adorable, crotchety dad! 🥺💕

[corneille-moisie]

I wanna talk about this twin eagles statue in the entrance of the Kingsbarrow (There are potential spoilers in this post ! It's indicated where they are, but you might want to avoid this post all together if you don't want anything spoiled at all. This being said, hurry ! Play the game ! XD)

There's a lot of imagery going here, but let's begin by the beginning.

The twin eagles is the symbol of Heliodor, right ? It's on its banners, it's a huge golden statue, in the castle, at the bottom of the staircase leading to the throne room, it's on King Carnelian's brooch, it's on the heliodoran guards' capes, and it's on the armour of both Hendrik and Jasper, amongst other things :

Hendrik and Jasper, at this point in the early story, are considered heroes, according to the book found in the house in the far eastern part of town (yes, the one some tourist is looking for, for a side quest), and inseparable, to some extent. I always assumed that the twin eagles were symbolizing the two of them.

But that's also pretty easy to assume, so let's dig a little more.

Mild spoiler alert for Act I after this sentence, as I mention why you're in the Kingsbarrow, what you're fighting in there.

So, two eagles, right ? With weapons. Sitting on an orb.

You get to the Kingsbarrow to retrieve an orb, and to get this orb, you'll need to fight two grim gryphons.

Let's take a look at the weapons on that statue.

A sword, an ax, and a torch. While these can be found in Dragon Quest games since the very first game, I want to point out something else that is going to be a tad bit more spoilerific as I'm going to refer to Act II of the game and your 8th party member. (like... it's weird to only have 7 party members, don't you think ? ;) )

The obvious part here is that both swords and axes are weapons Hendrik can be equipped with, and, sure, you just used a torch to get out of the sewers with Erik, so here's that for direct references, but...

A torch is a symbol for light (duh). Not only is the Luminary someone who can bring the light back to Erdrea after Yggdrasil fell, but he can't do it without the spark of light that Hendrik figuratively becomes by turning Cobblestone into Last Bastion. ("spark of light" being used verbatim by Queen Marina to refer to Hendrik, and again, by (actually) King Carnelian to refer to both Hendrik and the Luminary, both in early Act II)

Then again, and this time, spoilers alert for Act III, after Yggdrasil fell and it is revealed that Jasper is on the bad guy team, Hendrik kind of loses his "twin" knight fellow. But do you know who also turns out to be a knight ? Sylvando. In Act III, Don Rodrigo sends your party to the Kingsbarrow to bring to light that friendship is a very strong weapon. Ultimately, it unlocks a pep power that involves both Hendrik and his ax, and Sylvando and his sword, and which also unlocks the last part of both their skill trees : Fraternity for Hendrik, Chivalry for Sylvando. Friendship/torch + Hendrik/ax + Sylvando/sword = Twin Eagle Statue in the Kingsbarrow lol.

But THEN AGAIN, the whole thing might also be a symbol strictly for Hendrik, as, still in act III (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER ->), he feels like it's his duty to fight the ghost of Jasper, so his soul can be put to rest. As a result, Hendrik gets the Twin Eagle Armour, as his old companion's soul is now cleansed from Mordegon's influence, now that they finally shed light on what actually happened.

Now, I think that wraps up this info dump that I didn't realize i would do when I first set foot in the Kingsbarrow... I'm gonna go back to the game lmao. Time to go to Hotto :)

[incorrect-dragonquest-quotes]

11: how many of those have you had today?

Erik lying in a pile of popsicle wrappers: now is not the time to talk about my flaws as a human

[hydroidmedusa]

Ain't it the pits when everyone in your party has something to say about the area you're in, but your mans is stuck with telling you how to advance the plot?

[blvcklizard]

Act 3 wouldn't hurt anywhere near as much if, throughout the whole game and especially act 2, there hadn't been multiple plot relevant instances of the party going "the Luminary was never meant to fight alone, we made it that far together and we will stay by his side no matter what" only for the Luminary to turn around and leave them at the first opportunity.

I'm not even saying this to criticise the time travel plot (I dislike that for a different reason, although to be fair, the gameplay was super fun and I love Veronica lol. Anyway), this is actually a pretty interesting characterisation of the Luminary. Not in the sense of "asshole that doesn't give a shit about the feelings of the people that risked their lives to stay by his side" but how far he really is ready to go to undo his mistakes. It's at the very least implied that he blamed himself for Yggdrasil’s fall, and enough to throw away so much and disregard his friends' wishes. I don't believe he didn't think of them; they were all in for saving Veronica and Erdrea before they heard about the consequences, and he probably didn't even hear what they said. He failed at the one thing he was destined to do with terrible consequences, and he's ready to leave his friends, who actively decided to stay by his side despite all hardships on multiple occasions and who said that losing him is too much for them, if it means he can go back. It's that selfish selflessness that's written into his character.

[optmstcontmblr]

So how long is Dragon quest XI exactly? Cause every time I think I'm coming up on the end or something it just keeps going. Which isn't a bad thing, quite the opposite really but like seriously, how long is it?