#Gautier on Himself

[moeblob]

What if I straight up didn't explain myself? What if I just said trust me on this? Would you?

[bastart13]

"Does that FE3H character have a bastard child?" tier list

One of the funniest things my sister and I have done with FE3H is create the Sylvain-Dimitri bastard tier list aka. on a scale from Sylvain to Dimitri, would that character have a bastard child?

Sylvain sleeps around and bitterly assumes every woman wants a child from him, so duh, while Dimitri would be so ashamed of holding hands with an unmarried partner, he would immediately marry them and claim all responsibility on the spot

The Gilbert tier is "they might if they weren't rizzless"

[indigowallbreaker]

"When your bf lightens his hair to match yours."

The idea of pink haired Sylvain has hung around me for a good while now, so I commissioned @fulgurbugs to make him a reality! Turning it into a slightly Sylveth piece was my own indulgence <3

Fulgurbugs was amazing to work with as always! I cannot recommend them enough. They got the coloring exactly right on Sylvain's new hair and dealt with my various "Wait actually can you change--" messages.

Behold my pastel cuties!!!!

[lafcadiosadventures]

gautier was sad beards weren't ourageous anymore, but at least he should be pleased that artists are still considered "useless" these days, so that's a sliver of romantic anti bourgeois spirit that has lived on

[superdaisypowerhour]

Sylvain is such a good actor that he convinced the entire three houses fanbase that he’s nothing more than a stupid philanderer.

[slxthserenade]

Whenever they see each other, all the Sylvains in Askr probably go “Hey Sylvain !” “Hi Sylvain !” “Looking good Sylvain !” in the style of Ken.

[see-arcane]

When it comes to the question of 'Would polyamory have saved them?' in terms of Nosferatus (Thoseferatu), the ranking goes like this:

Nosferatu, 1922: Orlok is way too interested in the Hutters, but in like. A weird bug way. All the plague stuff might have been avoided if the Hutters just let him cling ominously to a wall in their house. Maybe give him a little sippy cup of blood once in a while. He mainly just stares at them all night. It's fine. They're fine.

VERDICT: Polyamory would have saved them, if only on paper. Orlok is not their third, but he is there. Staring. No telling if it actually makes him happy as he has no expressions, but it's chill. The rats are just hanging out. The Hutters are very careful with their bread knives. It's fine, it's cool.

Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979: Everyone's names are Draculafied, but for all intents and purposes, they're filling the same roles as Orlok, Ellen and Thomas of 1922. That said, Orlok (called Dracula) is the saddest wettest most soggy and mournful death-bringing immortal ever put to screen. He undeadifies Thomas (now Jonathan) and begs Ellen (now Mina sorry, 'Lucy') for a scrap of love rather than just blood. Acts like an elementary schooler with a crush. Wanted to collect the full Harker-Hutter duo so so bad, it's the first thing he's wanted in centuries p l e a s e

VERDICT: Polyamory might have saved the three of them specifically, but it'd be hell for everyone else as evidenced by Thomas-Jonathan turning full Nosferatu by the end and riding off to sow more death. The full polycule would have been a tripled plague on the world. But it'd be almost worth it to have all three of them still kicking.

Nosferatu, 2024: Oh man. No. No no no. At best, Orlok introduced the Hutters to the concept of antique BDSM, but the cadaverous bastard himself is a terrible dom. All aggro, no aftercare, no safewords, no acknowledgment of consent beyond some bullshit ~but we have a covenant~ technicalities to coerce both Hutters into a corner. Also, textbook abuser beats in threatening loved ones and assaulting Thomas and Ellen as shows of power. The Hutters deserve a better third, with or without the supernatural super-death plague.

VERDICT: Polyamory might have saved the Hutters if they had a better undead addition to their situation--I recommend Gautier's hedonistic dream-trysting Clarimonde, she'd show them a good time--but with Orlok? Fuck no. He's just in it to plant a flag of 'I'm owed access to you because you pinkie promised as a teenager!!' ownership on Ellen and be weird at Thomas in full 'It's not gay if I'm the top/I will prove I am more Man by making you the Woman' mode. Utter trashfire of a relationship in the works there.

That being said, the very rancidness of that hypothetical throuple is such an enticing gothic trainwreck to envision.

Orlok: "This is my contractually entrapped undead forever-bride, Ellen, and our wife, Thomas." :)

Dracula, wishing he'd stayed home on his end of the Carpathian mountain range: "You mean groom?"

Orlok: "I said what I said." :)

[daggerfall]

I feel like we're all aware of the headcanon that the Hooded Figure that leads you to your death at the hands of the Worm Cult, is actually Meridia - given the fact she has the same model and voice as the Groundskeeper and the glowy Meridia from Coldharbour.

But do people still remember the theory that General Gautier (Darien's dad) isn't a real person?

The fact he's always wearing a full face helmet, the fact Darien has few memories of his childhood and none of his mother, the fact they work together in close proximity in the town guard.

Darien himself isn't a real person - he's a creation of Meridia - so who's to say General Gautier (never given a real first name) isn't Also a fake person, likely a daedra with some sort of glamour to make people not question him any further?

IM JUST SAYING...

[the-paradigm-web]

Woman Bitten by a Serpent, by Clésinger…...

This captivating marble carving caused a great scandal in the 1847 Parisian Salon. A suggestive image of a naked woman writhing from the pain of a bite inflicted by the snake twisted around her wrist, or that may be just a cover story for something else? Scandalous like few, critics claimed that this masterpiece was produced from a life cast of the commissioner's mistress, Apollonie Sabatier

- also muse to Baudelaire and known as "La Présidente" - as to claim the artist was lazy, unskilled and immodest, and pointed to the dimpled flesh at the top of her thighs to strengthen their point. Proof that there is no such a thing as bad publicity, Clésinger had his friend Theophile Gauter orchestrate the scandal to grow the sculpture's success.

Auguste Jean-Baptiste Clésinger

(1814-1883) was a painter and sculptor known for the sensuality of his works. Trained by his father, also a celebrated sculptor belonging to the Besancon school of painting, he began exhibiting in the Parisian Salon in 1843 and earned immediate success. He produced plenty of acclaimed busts, such as those of Rachel Félix, Louis of Savoy and his dear friend Theophile Gautier.

His works are displayed in places of the highest distinction such as the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, and was much admired for the funerary monument of Chopin in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, where he is buried himself, along with many others. After a failed marriage he met his model and mistress Berthe de Courrière, to whom he was still devoted until the end of his life. He received the Légion d'honneur in 1849.

• Height: 56,5 cm (22.2 in). Width: 180 cm (71 in). Marble, 1847.

fIr Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

[faerghusfucker]

omg hiiiiii hi sylvain what are you doing on my tumblr page teehee 🤭🤭🤭🤭

BALL SYLVAIN IS DONE AT LAST guys i had a really hard time with him lmao. EVERY OTHER MAN IN THIS HOUSE IS LIKE “they don’t really enjoy formalwear so they went with something simple!” but not sylvain!!!! i KNOW this flashy mf is dressing to the nines for this ball, he is ON THE PROWL he is here to GET BITCHES and have a homoerotic sword fight with felix later but shhhh

like i said before, sylvain kinda took it upon himself to give all the guys makeovers for the ball and it ended up as a house-wide get-together in his room because mercedes and annette heard abt it and then dragged ingrid along because they felt bad for her lol. he had that suit jacket commissioned FOR THIS EVENT the second he heard abt it, sylvain is a fashionable guy but i think he loves gaudy shit like that too. no shirt for him because he’s a WHORE and he cannot leave the house without his collarbone exposed. he got zero girls at this ball and blamed it on felix for ruining his vibe. oh well!

i don’t see faerghus as being a land with much of a preoccupation with formal events tbh. it’s such a cold and solemn place that i think if they are having balls it’s for serious shit like coronations and maybe weddings but ehhhh idk. when there ARE balls and such, matthias does not trust sylvain to dress himself. he has servants choose his outfits and he keeps that man WITHIN HIS SIGHTS because. if sylvain is gonna make a bad name for house gautier it will not be on his watch!!! this is the first ball sylvain has been at without his father and so he just fully LETS LOOSE and dresses as slutty as his heart desires and probably pregames this event A LOT (to the disappointment of everyone else in the house). sylvain is the disappointment of the blue lions but he’s MY disappointment

here’s the updated lineup, you can see my headcanons for each design on the posts i made for them :3 they’re in my homepage post lol. ashe is next!!!!!

[featherquillpen]

Ferdinand von Aegir and Masculinity

One of the ways we can interpret Ferdinand's arc in Crimson Flower is as a reparation of his relationship to masculinity.

There are multiple lines of evidence suggesting that Ferdinand holds patriarchal beliefs at the beginning of Three Houses.

Ferdinand's line at the very start of game about how he is "Ferdinand von Aegir, legitimate son of the Aegir family." The preoccupation with legitimacy, both in the fiction of Three Houses and the real world, comes from one of the central tenets of patriarchy: control over reproductive labor so that men can pass down power and property to sons they are sure are their own. It is impossible to be fixated on legitimate sons (the production of heirs who can inherit property within the confines of marriage) without being fixated on controlling women (forcing them one way or another to produce sons for the men who married them, and only the men who married them.)

Ferdinand's one-sided rivalry with Edelgard. Why does he need to prove himself to be better than her so badly? I figure there are multiple reasons, but very likely one of them is that she is a woman who stands to inherit a great deal of power, which is something that happens very rarely in Fodlan. All the noble houses we hear about in Three Houses are run by men (Duke Aegir, Duke Riegan, Margrave Gautier, etc.) The young noblewomen at the Academy are all under intense pressure to marry, and there is a lot of evidence to suggest that they and their houses would then be under the control of the men they marry (Ingrid's whole story especially suggests this.) All the histories from the library talk about Kings, Emperors, and Dukes running the three nations in the past. This situation with Edelgard becoming the female ruler of a nation is unprecedented, and it seems to make Ferdinand feel insecure, especially since she's supposed to be the figurehead and he's supposed to be the power behind the throne (as established by the Insurrection of the Seven, his advice box question about how he wants to be Emperor.)

To be clear, I'm not saying that Ferdinand holds these views consciously. It's just that he, along with every other character in the game, lives in a society and has unconsciously absorbed some of the beliefs common to noblemen in that society (he's far from the only one!)

(Incidentally, this is why I get really annoyed when people say that Dorothea hates Ferdinand early in their arc together because of a misunderstanding. That's not true! Dorothea hates Ferdinand because she perceives him as a sexist nobleman, and she's right. Give her some credit!)

Character Growth

What I really enjoy about Ferdinand is that he's stacked high with character flaws, but he gets to learn and grow so much as a person, and the arc of his relationship to masculinity is no exception.

There are multiple support chains where he learns to accept women's boundaries and give them more autonomy. There's the support chain with Dorothea, of course. But there's also the support chain with Bernie, where she lays down a boundary with him and he learns to accept it. There's the support chain with Mercedes, which starts with Ferdinand lecturing her about exactly how she ought to be religious, and ends with him stealing her adoption paperwork to empower her to free herself. There's the support chain with Marianne, which starts with him lecturing her on how to be a proper noble and ends with him telling her that only she can define her own purpose in life.

There's also the obvious marker of Ferdinand's changing relationship with masculinity, which is his long hair post-timeskip. If we look at the character designs for other men in FE3H, we can see that he has the longest hair of any man in the game, by a long shot. The man with the second-longest hair is Linhardt, and he has a tea party line about girls getting jealous of his appearance. Generally, it seems like hair shoulder length or shorter is normatively masculine, while hair longer than shoulder-length like Linhardt's and Ferdinand's is not. So Ferdinand now feels secure enough in his relationship to masculinity that he can break the mold that way.

Crimson Flower

One more important point is that Ferdinand is able to go farther in repairing his relationship to masculinity in Crimson Flower than in other routes. There are multiple points of evidence for this.

First, there's Ferdinand's support chain with Edelgard, exclusive to CF, which is paired with some changes to his support chain with Byleth. In CF, Ferdinand is able to accept that Edelgard is better suited to lead than he is, and accept that he might be able to thrive in a support role instead, a more healthy take on masculinity than his earlier drive to prove that he must be more worthy to lead. Of course, this growth does not happen in the other routes. He continues to set himself against Edelgard, and with her out of the picture, he goes on to become the most powerful person in Adrestia, just like he wanted from the start.

Another interesting difference we can find in his paired endings. Returning to the concept of patriarchal lines of succession I discussed above, most of Ferdinand's paired endings feature him becoming Duke Aegir, marrying, and producing heirs, thus perpetuating the patriarchal line of succession. Ferdinand has only three paired endings in which he either does not become Duke Aegir, or makes sure that he is the last Duke Aegir, and all three of these are exclusive to Crimson Flower. In his endings with Edelgard and Hubert, he doesn't become Duke Aegir at all, but devotes himself to serving Edelgard as an advisor. In his CF ending with Constance, they become "one-generation nobles" who "pioneer the reformed class system." This shows that Ferdinand has broken free of the idea that he needs to pass down noble power through a patriarchal line of succession.

[frickingnerd]

dating sylvain & felix

pairing: sylvain jose gautier x gn!reader x felix hugo fraldarius

tags: wholesome fluff, polyamorous relationship, protective!felix, affectionate!sylvain (& later affectionate!felix), happy ending

while sylvain and felix both had a crush on you, sylvain was the one eagerly suggesting a polyamorous relationship!

honestly, he would've never imagined himself open to sharing a lover with someone else. but if that someone else is felix, sylvain doesn't seem to mind…

in fact, he's actually eager to share you! he knows how bad felix is at showing his true feelings, so sylvain feels obligated to help him out!

sylvain over eagerly plays the wingman for felix, always nudging him towards you and giving felix tips on how to be more romantic

though the two boys show their affection in different ways. sylvain is very verbally and physically affectionate, while felix shows his love through acts of service!

felix is very protective of you and he'll often get into fights with men either talking badly about you or hitting on you! the same goes for when people talk badly about sylvain…

some people look down on the three of you due to the unconventional relationship you have. but felix always defends it, while sylvain teaches the two of you to not let gossip get through to you

the three of you are inseparable and as the years pass, the boys begin to share traits with one another that weren't originally there

felix grows a bit more physically and verbally affectionate – though only in private – while sylvain gets more protective of you in battle!

[onebizarrekai]

wanted to do some color-themed oc + otherwise groups… maybe got a little carried away!! 💦💦 I was just making these for fun, but now my brain is all over wondering what they'd be like working together on something. a game show. a social experiment on an island. they have to work together to solve puzzles or fight things and run into each other along the way. you know how it is.

I started thinking about how edward would immediately become the leader of team red, how drew is surrounded by a bunch of ladies with a thirst for violence plus an evil god chicken, how arthur would dedicate himself to protecting his group (and tolerating felix) and how he carries the entire team, how team green has the most argumentative people that are barely being held together, and how team purple is pretty good at getting along and has a comical dynamic considering it contains dez, monster people AND louis. I was gonna say team blue is the obligatory disadvantaged team, but they have the most hilarious family dynamic and are led by the biggest pacifists of everyone here and will probably end up befriending a dragon. also kage is there and he's the weird uncle.

list of characters:

team red: edward quinton (ibvs) 16 year-old with stringy powers ellie (fatal flaws/dreamswap) 25 year-old engineer kazune (hopeless) 25 year-old shady guy xaki (greyscale) 12 year-old violent runaway ari (reverie) 20 year-old mystery zinnia (???) 17 year-old mystery with an axe team orange: drew jovel (ibvs) 15 year-old with healing powers crystal mccrae (fatal flaws/dreamswap) 24 year-old bodyguard kevin (fatal flaws/dreamswap) chicken october (october) 16 year-old vampire katherine schultz (bizarre saga universe) 25 year-old evil fire demon noble team yellow: arthur von licht (fatal flaws/dreamswap) ?? year-old political fighter cassie blanchet (hopeless) 12 year-old traumatized child isaac beamer (ibvs) 16 year-old student with art-related powers madeline lockwood (bizarre saga universe) 24 year-old with ice magic felix wolfe (ibvs) 17 year-old student who keeps summoning demons team green: ani gautier (fatal flaws/dreamswap) ?? year-old craftsperson nevin jovel (ibvs) 15 year-old with self-destructive powers brooke (reverie) 20 year-old college student jet (dintis) ?? year-old evil noble joey (hopeless) ?? year-old shady guy saria (bizarre saga universe) ?? year-old maniac team blue: alix (greyscale) 12 year-old student blue lebeau (fatal flaws/dreamswap) 26 year-old yoga teacher dark (dintis) ?? year-old distressed gay man nick rivas (hopeless) 12 year-old traumatized child kage (kagehara cinematic universe) ?? year-old speedrunner team purple: dez gonzalez (ibvs) 16 year-old student with energy powers louis lopez (ibvs) 17 year-old student that is a demon-fighting wizard miles newton (fatal flaws/dreamswap) ?? year-old guy (criminal) endy (oldie) ?? year-old vampire with magic powers shima (kagehara cinematic universe) ?? year-old Demonic Being

[knuiui]

╮TWST Boys feat. "What's your perfume type? "

where celebrity!reader was stopped on the red carpet to answer the question "What's your perfume type?" — and twst boys reaction of it ♡

Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore |Ignihyde | Diasomnia | RSA +

╰ YOU ♡

congratulations! you're a celebrity, the most famous star in twisted wonderland! you have fans who're willing to kneel just for you. your fandom is known as the most dedicated and loyal to you ever since you began your career as an actress, some of them maybe high standing as well. it's quite hard being a magic less human dropped from another world but you could only make do with what you got, so you made use of your talent in order to become an actor!

walking down the red carpet you are stopped by a lady, you recognize her as a twistoker that does those "What's your perfume type?" thing with celebrities.

She approached you and smiled, "Hi Y/n! can I get a little of your time? " she enthusiastically asked, you smiled back and told her her outfit looked so pretty and said yes.

════ “ What's your perfume? ”

Burberry, HER

Carolina Herrera, GOOD GIRL

Dior, HYPNOTIC POISON

"now for the awaited question," you laugh at the suspense. "What's your perfume type?"

you giggle like a school girl thinking about a certain someone, specifically his smell.

you answered, "▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓"

╚ NRC STAFF ☆ (aka your dads)

╰ Dire Crowley

deadbeat crow dad. but seriously when you first arrived he did come off as careless and lazy especially since his always off somewhere instead of disciplining his students he still is. but after your rise as an actress he started to favor you more, and by that I mean giving you less duties than yuu only because you bring some fame to the school it's okay tho you can just casually snatch his credit card for some retail therapy.

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Jean Paul Gautier, LE MALE PARFUM

╰ DIVUS CREWEL

he was not the step parent but he is the parent that STEPPED UP. your actual dad fr. he adopted you legally one week after you've been transported to twisted wonderland, you're name is officially part of his mother's family records 'The De Vil's'. absolutely adores that you're pursuing something you love and nurturing your talent, he bought you multiple screenplay scripts to practice for your first audition. honey, best believe your always that one celebrity that knows the dress code and IS the dress code at red carpet. all of them are vintage 'house of de vil' archival pieces of course ;) . girl dad fr

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Dior, SUAVAGE

╰ MOZUS TREIN

old man. another girl dad that was blessed with three sons unfortunately. he was the one that actually noticed your skill in acting, he brought it up casually to crewel who was very ecstatic of your talent. wished he would've been the one to adopt you first. he prefers to be laid back in his support of you, choosing to watch your movies and shows in his home with his sons and lucius rather than attend multiple movie premiere his back needs some rest too.

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Tom Ford, BLACK ORCHID

╰ ASHTON VARGAS

always been enthusiastic of you since your arrival at twisted wonderland. you're always his favorite even in classes, you get to only do five rings of broom riding then you can rest on the bench while the others perish. after you became an actress he always attends your movie premiere alongside sam, both cheer for you as you walk like the dads that they are. who needs tons of bodyguard if you have him? he's a one man army himself after all. definitely punched a guy that talked rudely about you on red carpet he got banned from that place. overall he's just a proud papa.

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Ralph Lauren, POLO RED

╰ MR. SAM

another proud papa. cheers you up when you have no motivation on practicing for auditions. he's the only person aside from crewel that encouraged you to pursue acting. always is and always will be your biggest cheerleader. legit brings pom poms to the movie premieres you have just to cheer your name, he likes it when you laugh at his antics because he gets to see you genuinely smile. definitely burns sages to keep negative energies away from you on auditions. you always go to him because his good at cooperating and for the jellybeans he gives you after you complete a scene. definitely offered at one point to hex a hater of yours that is getting a little bit too open about their hate about you, you said no, doesn't stop him from carrying it on in secret tho.

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Viktor & Rolf - GOOD FORTUNE (it's a women's perfume but he wears it because it was given by you.

Bonus..

╰ YUUKEN ENMA

was dropped on twisted wonderland alongside you. supported your acting career since the very moment you said you'll become an actress he's your number one fan. stayed behind to wait in NRC cause he's a guy ofc, often waits for you outside your audition buildings he likes to think he's one of those bfs that waits outside the rest room for their girlfriend to come back. you often bring him along on set if it's allowed and ppl often mistake him for a model or an athlete, he has a cameo in one of your movies too!

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Hugo, BOSS

╰ GRIM

he's a bit stinky. since yk y'all met him in the fantastically ruined dorm of ramshackle after all. okay maybe not. but he definitely avoids bath to the point yuu has to chase him all around the campus. basically your stinky child that won't let go of your legs once you visit ramshackle. he insists you take him with you on set and you always refused, yuu only got to go that one time because grim was stuck on crewel's office as punishment for breaking 22 vials of potions. when you do come home, you often bring him some blueberry pancakes from this one bakery down the street from your set. guess his scent adapts to whatever he always eats.

════ “ What's his perfume? ”

Blueberry Pancakes

[ferditheas]

the future of Fódlan depends on Sylvain being rizzless and alone

I was taking with a friend about some of the endings in FE3H, and my own personal gripes with what I think some of them mean for the broader message of the game. But those gripes aren't important for this post.

What is important is this: Sylvain's solo ending came up. And it made me realize that, IMO, the best societal outcomes come from Sylvain ending up alone. Here is his solo ending, available on all 4 routes:

As Margrave Gautier, Sylvain devoted his life to improving relations with the people of the Sreng region. With oration alone, he succeeded in helping to create a new way of life for nobles in which Relics and Crests were no longer viewed as necessary. Though he went down in history as an extraordinary lord, it nevertheless became customary to refer to cheaters as "sons of Gautier."

This is... kind of insane, right? That Sylvain is able to do all of this by himself?

Some may say that he also does this in his paired endings. And what he does there is impressive! But I'd argue that those endings aren't quite as definitive as "a new way of life". The closest to his solo ending is probably his Crimson Flower ending with Byleth. (his other 3 Byleth endings mention reforms, but don't bring up Crests).

When the fighting was over, Byleth and Sylvain were married. As the new leaders of House Gautier, they focused their efforts on the restoration of northern Fódlan, which had been deeply scarred by the ravages of war. Once this task was complete, they set their sights on improving relations with the Sreng people in an effort to remove the perceived need for the power of Crests. This accomplishment took a great deal of hard work, but the two refused to give up on their ideals. In time, the two had a large and loving family. They lived happily and loved their children equally, regardless of whether or not they bore a Crest.

And with his Ingrid and Mercedes endings (i HATE that those two basically share an ending btw, justice for them), "not as necessary as previously thought" leaves a lot of wiggle room:

As Margrave Gautier, Sylvain devoted his life to improving relations with the people of Sreng. Under his leadership, nobles were persuaded that Relics and Crests were not necessary as they'd previously thought. Though he went down in history as an extraordinary lord, he could not have done so without the constant support and counsel of his wife [...]

And with Dorothea, the accomplishments are softened with the phrases of "local nobles" and "absolute requirement".

After more than 10 proposals, Dorothea finally relented and agreed to marry Sylvain. Together they inherited Gautier territory. With the support of his wife's counsel, the new Margrave Gautier was able to improve relations with the Sreng people, and thereby convince the local nobles that Relics and Crests were no longer an absolute requirement for survival. Due to their efforts, they went down in history as an extraordinary lord and lady. It is said that what finally convinced Dorothea to marry Sylvain was his promise that they would grow old happily together, and that he was true to his word.

And you know what's funny? The only paired endings where Sylvain becoming a crest reformer doesn't come up are his Felix ending. yaoi ruins lives people, spread the word.

[soullessbullshit]

Okay, hear me out.

Raz and Darien play very similar narrative roles in their respective factions' storylines, but their core characters are night and day from one another.

Razum-dar is cunning, keen, and deceptive. He plays the role of a flirtatious rogue with a daedra-may-care attitude, masking the manipulative, hyper-observant machiavellian that lies beneath (which, looking back at some of my years-old Raz posts, actively deceived me for a while).

Raz deliberately carries himself with an air of shallowness, nonchalance, and overconfidence to ensure that most underestimate him, providing more opportunities to subvert their expectations. By feigning minor incompetence, Raz is able to more easily manipulate not only his enemies, but his allies as well, into lowering their guard just enough to get what he needs. It's through his mastery of this routine that he so fervently excels in the realm of espionage and inquisition.

In several instances throughout the game, Razum-dar has lowered the mask just enough to showcase how ruthless, driven, and pragmatic his methods truly are (reprimanding the Vestige for refusing to let him die in Senalana, killing a seditious extremist in front of his father with zero hesitation or remorse, etc.) His laziness is just as much of a ruse; the guy conducted a full-blown investigation on vacation (which he only took out of mandate in the first place) simply because the opportunity presented itself and his Spy-dey senses started tingling.

Razum-dar has been likened even more so to fellow Fruit Ninja Naryu Virian, as both are incredibly charismatic covert ops who toe the line between distant and gregarious at every turn. That being said, I would genuinely argue that Razum-dar is an even more detached individual than Naryu. For all her "heartless assassin" swagger, Naryu has prioritized attachment over pragmatism or responsibility on at least a couple occasions, while Raz has yet to make a major decision for any known reason beyond responsibility or fixation. Were Raz in Naryu's shoes during the Morrowind DLC, I earnestly believe he'd kill Veya unless physically prevented from doing so.

Darien Gautier, on the other hand, is a lot of what Raz pretends to be. He's idealistic, he's naive, and he's incredibly cavalier. He's an aspiring knight in shining armor with, much like Raz, a genuine knack for his vocation.

In overt contrast to Raz, Darien is an individual with whom what you see is what you get. His methods and occupation take a far more direct approach as a front-line warrior, imposing himself between danger and those he's sworn to protect while beating back threats in direct combat.

For all his growth in his time as the Golden Knight, we only get to see so much of it (easily one of the most glaringly missed opportunities in the game), as he only shows up towards the end of his tenure for half of one DLC that afforded little room for individual characters to breathe. That said, while he does come off as far more level-headed and situationally aware in that time, he clearly retains a more centered version of his defining characteristics from the Covenant questline. Darien is optimistic, encouraging, and hopelessly devoted. He's the radiant heart of every team. He's a warm font of hope and morale. He's defined by his compassion and his desire to do right by those who need it.

While both have willingly sacrificed themselves for others, Darien did so in last-ditch efforts to protect the people for whom he cares, while Raz insisted on doing so out of a sense of pragmatic obligation. While both have manipulated others for the advancement of their objectives, Darien did so as a case-specific (albeit self-indulgent) necessity, while Raz does so both as his modus operandi and as a far broader, pettier pastime. While both are characterized by a fierce devotion to their respective vocations, Darien's is rooted in altruism and a heroic ideal, while Raz's is rooted in personal loyalty and a desire for purpose and fulfillment.

If these two were to work together, beyond the hyper-tangential capacity in which they did so in the Summerset DLC, I believe they'd have very different opinions of each other.

Darien would likely buy into Raz's persona completely, maintaining an active rapport and (ironically enough) trying to get him to take a more active initiative in their objectives. Raz would immediately figure out exactly what makes Darien tick, seeing him as an incredibly simple and useful asset to manipulate, but also a potential liability should his idealism cloud his judgement. He would definitely still enjoy engaging and interacting with him, though he'd be about as surface-level as can be, presuming Darien not to last long as the front-liner he is and devising plans around that notion.

In any moral decision, the two are butting heads. Unless Raz manages to successfully gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss Darien into submission and/or confusion, most of his solutions to such quandries would most certainly prompt a less-than-favorable response, and in some cases, maybe even direct intervention.

The difference between the two is genuinely one of my favorite things to consider while writing Khoshekh, considering the comparable degrees of significance (albeit of wildly contrasting natures) the two play in their life over the years.

No way in Oblivion I'm not absolutely milking the rare crossing of threads come Summerset. Especially with the SBverse Summerset arc occurring nearly a decade into the story after a several year timeskip, rather than literally the entire game happening in the same year (y'all can't tell me that entire questline isn't some table-indulgent high-level post-campaign shit).

That drama's gonna be fun.