#I kinda wish you could undo moving around in a fight if you haven’t attacked or otherwise done anything yet

[mailperson]

Caved and got Bald Nerd’s Gay. Playing using an Xbox controller and with zero knowledge of dnd so once I get used to the bajillion possible inputs at any given time on a controller I do not use ever I will have a better read on how I feel about it

[janetbrown711]

"you've always been strong for me. let me return the favor." Angelina 2 to William 🥺

To say William woke up feeling refreshed would be the most obvious lie of all time. 

His first thought in his painfully groggy head of his was of his location. From what he could sense, it wasn’t familiar. The beds felt cheap, nothing like the royal silk sheets he had gotten used to at the palace. 

His second thought was of Lena. He couldn’t feel her presence, which caused him to snap his eyes open and look for her. 

This third thought was remembering what had happened. 

Freeing Wakko. Hurting his arm. The attack. 

He tried sitting up but a wave of pain shot through his whole body and he was forced to sit back down. However, he looked across the room and saw her. 

Lena was in a bed across the room from him, and it hurt his neck to look at her, but he couldn’t look away. He had never seen her with so many bruises and bandages around her in his life. It broke his heart.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” The familiar voice of his childhood best friend, Helloise Nerz, spoke softly. “How are you feeling?”

How was he feeling? Almost every inch of his body ached and hurt, his wife somehow appearing worse than him, and he was miles and miles away from his children, who he already missed terribly. 

“Right... poor question,” She apologized. “How much do you remember?”

He thought a moment. 

“Last thing I remember is passing out on your doorstep,” He said. She nodded. 

“Good, because that was the last thing that happened,” She said. 

“So... what’s wrong with me, doc?” He joked a little. Helloise chuckled. 

“Nurse. Scratchy is the real doc, I’m just the assistant,” She remarked. 

“Don’t sell yourself short, Helloise. I’m sure you could run this place if you had to,” He said. She snorted. 

“You’ve got a terribly sprained arm that I noticed was already bandaged, but you’ve made much worse, I presume from carrying her highness. You also have a torn ligament in your right ankle, minor frostbite, and numerous pulled muscles throughout your legs,” she read off of a chart. 

“And Lena?” He asked. 

“Broken rib, a minor concussion from what we can tell, fractured fibula, severe bruising on the face, minor frostbite, and blood loss from a severe wound in the right shoulder we cleaned and stitched up.”

William looked at his wife again. 

“How long have we been asleep?” He asked. 

“Three days,” She said. William blinked. 

“Th-three days?” he asked.

She sighed. “William...” she sat on the edge of his bed. 

“The whole kingdom thinks you two are dead, and honestly, you two are lucky to be alive.”

“What? Why? How? What about Yakko Wakko and Dot? Are they alright?” He tried sitting up, but the wave of pain reminded him not to. 

“Well, her majesty the queen threw a funeral two days ago. They said attackers stormed the castle in the night and killed the two of you,” She explained. 

“But what about Yakko Wakko and Dot? Are they okay?” He asked. 

“I haven’t heard any news of the three of them, so they should be alright with the queen.”

“If you could consider being with the queen alright,” he muttered. 

“Right... She wasn’t the best mother, right?” She remembered. He shook his head, sighing. Just then, a low grumble came from across the room, and Lena began to stir. 

“What... where... Will..?” she mumbled as her eyes slowly opened and she took in her surroundings. William wanted nothing more than to rush to her side, but the numerous injuries Helloise had informed him about kept him where he was. Instead, the good nurse went over and started evaluating and explaining the situation to her. 

“D-dead..?” Her face went pale as a ghost. “That means... They’re with... we have to go. Now,” She looked at William, and started climbing out of her bed, nearly collapsing immediately if it hadn’t been for Helloise catching her. 

“Your highness, you can’t. You need to recover,” She said, laying her back down. 

“I can’t leave them with her- I can’t,” She shook her head.

“Lena...” He said softly. She looked at him for a moment, before lying back down and looking away, her expression mostly unreadable. Just then, the doctor came in. 

“Oh goodie, you two are awake,” He said, but he quickly read the room. 

“Er... how are you two feeling?” He asked. William shrugged, while Lena remained silently looking away. 

He then pulled the nurse back outside to talk for a moment, promising it wouldn’t be long. William nodded and let them go, and his eyes went to Lena. 

She wouldn’t look at him, even when he said her name. Something was deeply, deeply wrong. William wished he could read her mind, though he did have a few guesses. For one, the kids. 

William knew they were resourceful and clever, but he honestly had no idea what Angelina was going to do to them now that they were out of the picture- especially if she thought they were dead. 

It sent a shiver down his spine just thinking about it...

“So... your highnesses... what can you tell us about the attack?” The doctor reentered and asked. 

“Oh god... where to start?” he chuckled nervously. 

“If you aren’t ready, it’s totally fine,” Helloise sat on the edge of his bed. “We just... well... the people are curious. You are supposed to be dead after all.”

“Of course,” William said, before taking in a deep breath and beginning. 

.o0o. 

It had been a tense week. William had been mad at himself when he had sprained his arm. He was a knight, dammit, he was supposed to be trained to be better than that. Now it meant he had to postpone any of his own mini training lessons he was giving Wakko and Yakko until later, which he knew Yakko would be suspicious of. He always had a habit of picking up on their anxiety and carrying it with him like it was his responsibility too, which was upsetting for multiple reasons. 

Some of Angelina’s lessons were extremely difficult to try and undo. 

At least Wakko was trying to be optimistic about things. After he had broken him out of the tower, Wakko was spending a lot more time with them as a family, suddenly talking to them a lot more than he used to, which William took as a good sign, seeing as he desperately wanted something to look on the bright side about. 

Dot was happy too, of course, as she was just glad to have Wakko back too. She could hardly tell everyone else was anxious, she was only four after all. 

When the first window broke, William had been up in a flash, and despite his injury, he grabbed his sword anyway. 

“William? What’s the matter?” Lena had asked. 

“Go back to sleep, my love. I’ll handle this,” he kissed her head, leaving their bedroom. 

He walked through the halls, surprised at just how silent everything was. Still, he kept his guard up, not allowing himself to relax for even a second. 

“...this castle is huge! Even with the map she gave us,” a disgruntled, not-too-far off voice said. William ducked behind a curtain for cover. 

“It’s a quick mission though: grab the king, grab the queen, and grab the kid if there’s time to spare,” A lower voice shrugged, and William felt a wave of protectiveness wash over him. Immediately, he burst out and attacked one of the men, and they quickly began a sword fight. 

Unfortunately, William found himself evenly matched by his opponent and realized he was surrounded by allies, some that were even taller than him.

He was kinda screwed. 

Still, he fought and parried and swung and blocked with a valiant effort, though the pain in his arm burned more and more and it was evident he was becoming weaker. His opponent saw this, and got behind, and he brought down the handle of his sword onto his arm, and William dropped his sword and fell onto the ground, growling in pain. 

“Remember, queenie said no blood on her carpets or tapestries,” The tallest reminded his attacker, who was now pointing his sword at his face. “Tie him up. With the strongest removed, we can work on getting that queen and the middle boy,” He ordered, before taking a few and leaving. 

Wakko. 

William growled, and swiped his feet out from under him, causing his attacker to fall to the ground. William then began fighting with his bare fists against the men who tried jumping on and fighting him next. 

However, the numbers were too large, and before William knew it, his wrists were tied and he was captured. 

“Alright, move it, princey,” one of the men kicked him. William gnashed his teeth, but they planned for that, as two of the men held him down, and a third quickly put a muzzle around him. 

“There, now that should get you to behave,” He grinned, pulling William up, and the three men forced him out of the castle, and into the back of a carriage, where he was locked in and left. 

He tried kicking the door open, but it must’ve been solid wood because he got nowhere, and all he ended up doing was exhausting himself. 

William was alone for quite an amount of time, and he tried everything he could to break free of his restraints but nothing was working. He cursed his stubbornness that caused him to sprain his arm- if it hadn’t been for that he was confident he would’ve been able to take down the six men. He was a knight for god’s sake- he was supposed to be able to protect his family. 

He was supposed to be able to protect his family. 

After a long moment of silence and stillness, the door opened and Lena was thrown in next to him, and William caught a glimpse of the outside and noticed it was snowing lightly. 

He didn’t dwell on that, his eyes falling onto Lena, who looked horrible. Tears were streaming down her face as she looked at him, slowly and painfully crawling her way over and lying against his chest. William did his best to hug her with his hands tied. 

Neither of them could say a word, but both knew exactly what the other was feeling, and they did their best to embrace and comfort each other. 

Then, the carriage began to move.

They didn’t capture Wakko.

Despite everything, William sighed a breath of relief.

Silently, the couple rode for hours, not knowing where they were being taken or why or who was behind any of this, though they had a few guesses.

William was just glad he still had her... even if it wouldn’t be for much longer.

He loved her with his entire being, nothing would ever change that, not an evil queen, and not even death.

However, his mind quickly went to his kids.

Wakko was alive- at least, he hoped. The attackers said they couldn’t get blood anywhere, hopefully, that meant they just ran out of time to find him and he was okay.  

But if they were killed, William had no idea what Angelina would do to them. They would have no protection from her now. They could be hurt, or worse...

William hugged Lena a little tighter.

After an hour or two of riding, the temperature inside the carriage got notably colder, the snow outside picking up.

William prayed for a miracle.

They continued riding on, William even drifting to sleep at one point, when they were suddenly jerked awake. there were shouts from out of where they were, and William and Lena sat up best they could, though Lena was in a lot more pain. Suddenly, the carriage lost control, and started to skid and slide, though William and Lena had no idea what the cause was- but it didn’t matter because not before long, it crashed into a tree and everyone was thrown into the air, and landed with a crash and crack. 

William winced at the sound, closing his eyes but when he opened, he saw it-

The doors were busted open. 

Quickly, William scooted out, gesturing for Lena to follow, but she was closing her eyes and cringing in pain, and William realized she had injured her leg in the fall. Knowing they didn’t have much time to run, he carefully got her out, having her arms go around him with the tie, and having her hold herself up best she could with her remaining upper body strength as they ran into the woods, as far away as they could manage, also while looking for something they could use to untie their hands- and also a hiding place for when the attackers began to search. 

Luckily, William was well trained in tracking so he did his best to make sure his footprints in the snow made zero sense and were misleading at best, praying they wouldn’t be able to follow, but he didn’t know who or what they were, so it was hard to be certain. 

Eventually, William and Lena made it to a cave and they hid in there for a while, With William finding a particularly sharp rock he used to untie his hands, remove his muzzle, then untie Lena, and remove her muzzle. 

“William,” she said with teary eyes. 

“Lena,’ he replied, becoming overwhelmed with the desire to hug her, but noting her injured state, he instead just pressed his forehead against hers, and she did the same, placing her soft hand against his face as she cried softly.

“We can’t stay here for long- a bear probably lives here,” she said. 

“Just for a moment, we need to rest- figure out where we are, and what our next move is,” He said. 

“We’re so far from home... how are we going to get out of this?” She asked. 

“I... I don’t know, Lena,” He admitted. “But we will, I promise.” 

They stayed hidden for quite some time, having only one close call when one of the tracker’s voices was close enough for them to hear, but William was ready with the sharp rock in case he got too close, but he never did, so they were alright. 

Well- alright, considering everything that just happened. 

Eventually, the sun started to rise in the woods, and it slowly dawned on William that the coast was clear, and they were free to go. 

But... free to go where? They had no idea where they were- were they even in Warnerstock? They could be in foreign lands for all they know- a place where they didn’t even speak the language and they could be killed for sneaking in and-

Wait. Lena was the Princess, and knew all the languages of the neighboring kingdoms, and would likely be given aid. William was panicking over nothing. 

However... Lena was looking rather weak. She lost a lot of blood, and her injuries were only pilling up. 

“Where do we go?” Lena asked as he was looking at her.

“Well... I don’t think we can go home... as something tells me your mother was behind this...” He stroked his chin. 

“You’re telling me,” she huffed, before wincing in pain. 

William snapped. “I know a place where they can’t refuse us,” he grinned. 

Lena blinked. “William... Acme falls is in the middle of nowhere and perhaps one of the first places they’d go looking for us if we were missing,” she frowned. 

“Well- not unless your mother wants us to be dead. Then she wouldn’t have to or want to look anywhere,” he said. “It’d be just like it was when we had just gotten married.”

“When we just married...” Lena trailed off into the memory, a look of sad nostalgia written on her face. 

“Look... I’m going to go and try to figure out where we are, so we can head to Acme. Will you be okay if you stay here?” he asked. 

“I don’t think I have a choice,” she tried to joke, but William knew she hated it. He kissed her forehead. 

“I love you,” He said. “I won’t be long.”

“I love you too, Wiliam,” she replied, and William ran out of the cave. 

It took about an hour, but eventually, William discovered that yes, they were still in Warnerstock, and found the direction they were to go to if they wanted to go to Acme Falls. It would be quite the trek, especially if this snow continued to fall, but he had determination on his side. 

He was not going to die here, nor was he going to let Lena. He would carry her in his arms if he had to, simple as that. 

.o0o.

“So... yeah. We hiked for hours to reach here, the strains and pulled muscles and frostbite are from trekking through the snow, and that’s how we got here,” William finished his tale. 

“Oh William... that’s terrible,” Helloise looked at him sadly. 

“That does explain a lot... you two should really be getting rest now, yah?” Scratchnsniff remarked, reading over their charts one more time. 

“Rest, yeah...” he nodded slowly, though sleep was the last thing he wanted. He wanted to go back to the palace asap, and kill Angelina, and get his kids back. He was confident Lena felt the same.

Though...  they wouldn’t be able to do much good in this state... especially without a plan. 

“We’ll leave the two of you alone... you’ve been through a lot,” Helloise said.

“Thanks,” he gave a weak smile, which she returned. 

His eyes then went to his wife, who still wasn’t looking at him, staring intently at the ground and wall. 

“Lena, my love, what’s the matter?” He asked. Lena snorted. 

“That’s your first question?” She snarked. 

Okay, that was on him. That was a pretty dumb question. 

“What are you thinking about?” he tried again. Lena crossed her arms.

“It isn’t fair...” she said. William sighed. 

“I know it’s not fair that-”

“I’m not talking about my mother o-or the attack- I-i’m talking about you,” she snapped. William paused. 

“What do you mean?” he asked. Lena sighed, wincing at the pain. 

“Damned broken ribs...” she muttered. 

“I meant... It’s not fair. Time after time after time I end up hurt or crying or abused- it isn’t fair. You’re always so strong William, it pains me. When is it my turn to be strong for you?” she said, wiping away tears and trying her best not to cry. 

“Lena...” William reached out to her as much as he could, his arm nearly touching her pillow. Lena continued to look away. 

“I’m serious. No matter what happens, you’re always so strong and so brave and comforting. I just- I feel so inadequate,” she whispered. 

“Lena, you aren’t inadequate,” He said softly. “You’re just...”

“Damaged?” she said, matter-of-factly. “Don’t pretend it isn’t true- I know what my mother has done.”

“Lena, I don’t care. I love you,” He said. 

“And I love you- but... I just... you’ve always been so strong for me William. I want to return the favor, just once...” She looked at him. 

“Lena, we’ve both lost so much... this shouldn’t be something we measure or keep track of,” He said, and Lena placed her head where his hand is on her pillow. 

“I miss them, William,” she whispered. 

“I miss them too, my love,” he whispered back. Lena kissed his hand. 

“We’ll get them back, Lena. I promise,” he said. Lena nodded, kissing his hand again and closing her eyes.

“I promise too. No matter what it takes, we are going to get our babies back.” 

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14

[safflora]

What’s the deal with Historia? (Post chapter 122)

One of the Hot Topics I’ve seen lately has been the identity of the father of Historia’s baby. I have mostly ignored this question in favor of focusing more on trying to discern Eren’s motives and goals and thinking up overly speculative theories on Titan lore. What is interesting to me, however, is the related concern over what the current situation means for Historia’s (and Eren’s) character development. So much time and care has gone into developing Historia, I just cannot fathom that Isayama would be undoing that now. I have too much faith in him as a writer for that. I feel he’s earned it. But now I have a theory that might explain where he is going with all this:

I think Historia may have received some memories of the first Ymir and the origin of this world under titan rule. I think, perhaps, this is what we saw in those memory shards just before Eren entered Paths: Historia, moved to tears (weren’t we all!) by what she has learned, recounting it to Eren. From that point, she and Eren have been working together to free Ymir and free the world from the titans. Here’s what I’ve got:

1. Eren and Historia have a close relationship, but the specifics of it have been intentionally obfuscated.

First of all, we’ve seen a special relationship develop between Eren and Historia. Ever since their conversation after Reiner and Bertholdt’s escape with our Ymir, that’s been clear. We know they’ve spent a lot of time together. Enough to make Mikasa jealous. Enough for Jean to remark on their “holding hands”. I’ve suspected that they’re in on something together, and now we’re starting to get clearer signs of what that could be. But aside from these hints, we haven’t gotten to see them actually interact much. Eren and Historia have a close relationship, but the specifics of it have been intentionally obfuscated. Why? The same reason we haven’t been allowed to see much of Eren’s thought process. It must be because their relationship is important to the big endgame plan that we’re meant to agonize over until it’s finally revealed.

2. It may be possible that all this contact has revealed important memories/visions to Historia as well. I think the source of these memories could be the Founder Ymir.

This is well illustrated in this post by Momtaku. We know that contact with Eren has revealed her own hidden memories in the past, and there is reason to believe that could have continued. The memories revealed to Eren have become increasingly complex as time has gone on and more information has been uncovered. Could the same be true for her? It may be possible that all this contact has revealed important memories/visions to Historia as well. In the past, this was easier to explain. She was simply having her own hidden memories uncovered. It’s not like she is connected to a titan and able to see past or future holders’ memories. But I believe she may also be able to receive others’ memories. We saw hints of this at the moment she killed her father, and in the anime when she read Ymir’s letter. Could she now be receiving them from another source? I think so. I think the source of these memories could be the Founder Ymir.

3. The Founder Ymir does have a will that she can and does exercise to some extent through Paths.

It’s implied in chapter 122 that Ymir is the one who sent visions to Eren as a child. Eren says as much when he asks her if she is the one who led him all the way there to Paths, as if he could sense he had been led in some way. At this point in the story, I don’t think we have time for another bait and switch here. I think we’re being told this actually is the case. The titles of Chapters 1 and 122 seem to me to confirm this. What this means is that the Founder Ymir does have a will that she can and does exercise to some extent through Paths. I’d speculated in chapter 115 when Zeke was resurrected by Ymir that she was pulling some strings. I got away from that idea a bit after chapter 120 when it seemed that Zeke’s royal blood had forced her to save him per his dying wish. Now I think my first idea is more probable. What Zeke was remembering in his dying moments was the conversation in which Eren tells us his intention is to end 2,000 years of titan rule, which is what Ymir seems to want as well. It is also clear in this memory that contact with Zeke is necessary for this to happen. So Ymir intervenes. She is leading Eren to her.

4. It appears that Founder Ymir can see something of the natures of her people and selects who to interact with. Historia’s primary motivation in life is to help people exactly like Founder Ymir.

She singled out Eren. This may have something to do with the nature and history of the Attack Titan and its relationship to Ymir (which I may explore more later), though her first messages reached him before he possessed it. It may also be that he just has a spirit that values freedom over all else, abhors the enslavement of others, and never gives up a fight (the result of having a father who possessed the AT?). Either way, it appears that Founder Ymir can see something of the natures of her people and selects who to interact with.

She may also have some connection to our Ymir, being the only other character we’ve seen who was able to see Paths. Lots of people have outlined the parallels between Founder Ymir and 104th Ymir. If Founder Ymir can watch her subjects and has some understanding of their spirits, I can certainly imagine her feeling some sort of kinship with 104th Ymir, allowing her to be conscious of Paths for a time. How fitting that our Ymir was so instrumental in Historia’s personal development, helping her find the strength to determine her own path in life. A path which is defined by her desire to rescue others who are made to believe they are worthless… In fact, Historia’s primary motivation in life is to help people exactly like Founder Ymir.

If Ymir knows this, wouldn’t Historia be the perfect person to reveal her story to? No matter who, no matter where, Historia will come to her rescue.

Taking another, completely different angle, her name is Historia, y’all. Did Isayama name her that because she is the one to receive the truth of the History of the World? (The World being the condition of being under titan rule, the thing Eren and Ymir wish to destroy, not the actual, literal physical world and all the people in it. Come on now, folks.)

5. Historia and Eren are working toward the end of freeing Ymir and thereby freeing the world of titans. Historia is co-mastermind of this whole thing.

If we follow this line of thinking and take for now that Ymir likely revealed her story to Historia, I’m going to make another leap and conjecture that the distressed Historia we saw in the memory shard in Chapter 120 is her telling Eren what she has learned. I mean, that’s pretty much what I looked like after reading 122.

If this is true, she is the one who has motivated Eren to get to where he is now. They have a shared goal. Historia and Eren are working toward the end of freeing Ymir and thereby freeing the world of titans. Their natures, their stories, make them uniquely situated to be motivated to do this and to achieve this goal together. They have been in cahoots all this time! Historia has not been controlled and manipulated by the forces around her as it appears. She is where she intended to be. Historia is co-mastermind of this whole thing. She is a true Queen.

Now, this all raises some questions:

- At what point did this occur? It could be soon after the award ceremony. It could have been years later, the event that prompted Eren to go over to Marley, meet with Zeke, and steal the War Hammer. It could have happened in stages in those intervening years. We just don’t know enough right now.

- How should we interpret Eren’s reaction to seeing Ymir in Paths for the first time? He’s purposefully been made hard to read in all the recent chapters, so this is difficult. He does seem to be somewhat surprised. As for why, we can only speculate. I think there was still a lot left unknown to Eren and Historia about the specifics of how this plan would work. Eren knows that his goal is to contact Ymir somehow and that it requires getting to Paths, but he doesn’t seem to be prepared for anything beyond that. He doesn’t know what it’ll be like there or what she’ll be like. Maybe he’s surprised that she’s a rag-clad little girl and not some glorious goddess. Maybe he expected the grown Ymir, old enough to have had three daughters. Maybe it’s not a look of surprise at all. It could be the look of someone who has realized how close he’s come to his goal, that the moment is finally upon him. (Is he smiling or upset about the “scenery”? Is the dress white and gold or black and blue?)

This “always here all alone” comment feels to me like an odd first remark about her presence. It feels like he already knows something about her.

- What is the point of Historia’s pregnancy? Who is the father (and does it matter)? Shoot, y’all, I don’t know. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that her baby will be Ymir reincarnated. Maybe? I don’t hate that idea. I just feel like I don’t know enough to figure out how that all works. Is it just a symbol of being Freely Born Into the New World™?

(お前は自由...だ? can’t quite make out that last one --> you are free)

Maybe, but I hope there’s a more concrete purpose. Is it merely the natural result of all the ~contact~ that Historia and Eren have had? I will make no claims and offer no opinions.

- Why does Historia look so upset? Well, one explanation is that the world is kinda falling apart and a lot of people are going to die and also she’s been made even more keenly aware of the depth of the evil that can exist in people. That seems pretty likely to me. She could be worried about how things are going to turn out. As I’ve stated, I don’t think they know all the details of this plan. There’s the possibility of failure. She might just be upset that all she can do right now is sit around and wait to see how things turn out without lending a hand to the efforts of her loved ones.

She might just be annoyed at this guy hovering over her. The worst case scenario is that the pregnancy was never part of her plan and that she’s actually upset about it. Please no! Thankfully I think there are enough plausible alternative explanations that I can avoid despairing over this for now.

- Why does this have to be a secret from everyone? The single most frustrating question to me right now. The only thing I can come up with at the moment is that they felt it would be impossible to convey sufficiently the need for the actions they had to take without inciting opposition earlier than was ideal. I’m not really satisfied with this and very much hope there is a better explanation.

So. Simply put, I think there is reason to believe that Historia is going to end up being one of the most important, badass, and well-crafted characters in this story. I have faith in Yams. Could be I’ve just got to be drunk on that to keep carrying on right now, but I’ll take it.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Liz Liveblogs Bravely Second: Chapter 5, Part 2/2

And now for the actual story of Chapter 5: This is Our Coup de Gravy!

There were... so many Coup de Gravies in this chapter. Too many. It seems like everyone had one

You know, thinking about the Sidequest Roundup last time, I don’t think I’ve ever said how much I love the way Bravely handles obtaining jobs. It would be so easy to just hand you a magic job crystal at different story beats, but no. You have to fight someone using the job you wish to obtain. You have to figure out how it works and overcome its abilities at their most powerful before you can use them against others. It serves as both a neat tutorial for how the job works, since you’re on the receiving end of most of its attacks, and proof that you deserve to have the job since you overcame its user. It feels earned every time you get a new job. It’s kinda like how I feel about the Island Trials in Pokémon Sun and Moon, where you have to fight a difficult boss of a specific elemental type, and once you do you gain the ability to use the strongest move of that type. I dunno, I just really like this trend in games of proving your worth for the skills you gain by besting them in combat

Anyway, let’s head on to the Harena Sea Caves to stop Geist from performing his heist

You could absolutely stab a man with that compass

Oh, come on, Edea. When did you get possessed by Rev? Just now? When we walked in? How long have you secretly been a ghost child?

Heyyy Templar Braev to the rescue! TBH, I’d stop running if Edea’s dad was staring me down

Wait... Geist didn’t recognize him until he said his name? Dude, like, even NPC #67 knows Braev, get with the program!

I wonder if the exploit I used to insta-kill Rev the first time will work again. I also wonder if Geist might be able to undo that

Oh, it’s backstory time. Geist left his ill son because he got called to do an exorcism in a foreign country. I guess he was probably a priest, fitting with the Bestiary tidbit of his name, Grace, being given to those respected by the Orthodoxy. But the girl wasn’t possessed, she was sick. Patient Zero for the Great Plague. And she was taken onto his boat because she wanted to go home one last time. But she was used to spread the disease around. He still blames himself for what happened and wants to make up for both spreading the Plague and his botched attempt to revive his son

Geist may be the bigger problem with his Undo abilities, so I’m gonna focus on him

Rev actively refused to move on because he loved his daddy and didn’t want to go without him. Ohhhhh my god, kiddo, that’s so sweet in a morbid way

Stop being dramatic, Geist. Best timeline rules dictate that we’re keeping you alive. You’re not dead. Relax

Undo HP after Rev possessed someone does work, it just took him until he was about halfway down to start possessing people

This poor kid’s in a tough spot. I don’t expect him to understand the full implications of “rewrite time to fix things.” He just thinks they’re gonna make everything better. He doesn’t understand the Butterfly Effect, and how it’ll erase the future. He just thinks what he’s doing will make his dad happy, so he’s gonna do it

At least we got through to Geist. Changing the past could wipe his son from existence. A second “death,” if you would. And harming Rev is the one thing he could never do

Now that is a cute hug. even if it’s between a man drenched in blood and the ghost of his son possessing armor that’s a full head taller than him

And Geist does know Braev... but on a personal level. Braev was a young priest back when he worked with the Orthodoxy

And there it is. Geist sent a warning back, which allowed them to gather a team of physicians to find a cure. The Plague would have been much worse without that warning, but all Geist can see are the people who died in the first place

And he finally gets some closure. His son doesn’t care that he’s a ghost in a suit of armor, he’s just happy that he can stay with his dad. And his actions did save plenty of people. It’s just that the guilt has been crippling him for years. Now that he’s free, he’s allowing himself to be arrested for crimes of the present, and no longer for assumed crimes of the past

I really appreciate Edea’s speech to Rev here. She talks about how she used to blindly believe everything her dad told her until the events of the last game. It broke her heart to fight him, but ultimately, in doing so, she started to actually understand him instead of just parroting what he said. And when they met again? It was as equals, and their bond was stronger than it had ever been. So she encourages Rev to come up with his own ideas, try to understand his father’s, and then come together as equals. Truly understanding each other, instead of blind faith, because that’s the best way to support your loved ones. And she says this all in front of Braev, too, and the pride he feels towards her is so evident. It’s moments like this that make this game a great sequel. Edea’s come so far from the person she was at the start of the last game, but she’s still not flat in this one. Sure, the focus is more on Yew and Magnolia’s development, while Tiz and Edea had the brunt of it in the last game, but our returning party members are still growing, too, and it’s nice to see them in a mentor role

Phase 2 of Magnolia’s plan: use the compass to lure out the Kaiser. Unfortunately, it seems something’s come up on Kamiizumi’s end of this plan, so now we’re off to Florem Gardens to help

Also, I love how Kamiizumi is so useless with the pendant call. He can’t work the thing at all

On to Florem Gardens. Good to see my old grinding grounds are doing well. I’ll be back for more next chapter!

Aww, they called Edea’s dad with the pendant. It’s really nice to see them getting along in this game

Yew’s call to Norzen didn’t go half as well, though. Turns out Norzen, Braev, and Kamiizumi have a shrubbery group chat

Altair is now telling them about how he and Vega would call each other using cell phones and video phones. The more things change, the more couples keep talking forever on the phone playing “No you hang up”

Chill, Kamiizumi, I’m like, one screen away. We’ll be there in two minutes

Oh dear lord Angelo set up shop in the forest. And Aimee’s here, too. Time to beat her down using her own job I guess

So they think the last timeline was a dream, but Angelo’s memories of Aimee’s dying words spurred them on to being an actual couple. Also, they’re still gonna fight us, because definitely fight people who made you mad in (what you assume are) dreams?

Also, Aimee is literally from Florem Gardens. They met there. That’s why the shop’s there

Some neat tactics going on with them, with Angelo inflicting the party with fire weakness and then having Aimee use Firehead to give all her attacks fire damage. Not much else of note though

And Yew just totally hired them to open up shop in Gathelatio. Not... sure they deserve it, but I guess they were the least attached to the Kaiser’s plan in the first place

...thanks for all the help, Kamiizumi

Oh good lord there’s so many cats here. I see where this is going. We’re gonna have to take on Minette, aren’t we

Kamiizumi’s cat’s here. Forgot that was a plot thread

Hide the compass in Sagitta? With how easily Geist got in? I don’t know if that’s the best plan

Ah, I see. We’re feeding the cats false information to report to Minette, who will lead the Kaiser right into our SP Cannon’s blast. Not a bad plan

Of course Tiz is “all catted out.” He’s been my dedicated Catmancer for a long freaking time

Alright, Elder Sirius. Time to shoot that Skyhold out of the sky

I appreciate Yew’s conviction in stopping Denys. He may be his brother, but he’s also gone (or about to go) too far. And I’m sure Yew feels responsible for it, since this all started after Denys lost his hand due to Yew’s mistake

Making Yew be the one to fire the cannon seems a BIT cruel to me, though

I can’t believe that plan actually worked

Minette’s gonna buy time for Denys, Janne, and Nikolai to escape, and they’re all treating it like she’s gonna die, but guys. We haven’t killed a single person this timeline. We have fought six of your people and the worst they got is prison! You really think we’re gonna kill the kid and only the kid?

You can see Denys actively fighting with his Big Brother Instinct to protect the kid. But he renounced that to be the Kaiser. Best he can do now is send the lion with her, just in case

Please. Child. Just stop the cat puns. You keep making it so tempting to actually kill you

Okay, I know this kid was experimented on and crossed with cat DNA or something equally ridiculous, but her backstory and mannerisms REALLY say “I’m a cat who was turned into a human”

She became a cat to... please her mom? What? Why would her mom be upset her daughter WASN’T a cat? Did the experiment fail? Or did she just have a kid and go “you know, I should’ve just adopted a cat instead”

Holy shit, I was gonna say “not a hard fight” but then Minette got off a lucky full-party Catnap+RIP combo and totally wiped the team

Definitely sticking a Clothespin on Yew this time

I probably went about that in the dumbest way possible, but we beat her

Child! I will take you in if you just! Stop! The cat puns! That’s it! That’s all I ask of you! Maybe people are abandoning you because every time you open your mouth you make yourself as insufferable as possible!

Oh no Kamiizumi just adopted her. Dude... dude please break her of the cat pun habit

Hey! She’s not a cat! She’s a human who thinks she’s a cat! Stop telling her she can sleep in front of the fire all day every day! How about you freaking rehabilitate the kid and then send her to school like Gho

You are adopting a daughter, not a pet

Minette is one of the worst characters in this whole series. I can’t even muster any sympathy for her because all she is is a GIMMICK with a cute face. She isn’t even a character! She’s just the human embodiment of cat puns! And I hate it!

So Norzen, Rifa, and Pudgius just enchanted a crystal to trap the Skyhold. Guess we’re storming it again already, huh? I’ve gotta say, after the Empire being constantly one step ahead last timeline, it’s nice to be the ones in control for a change

And Norzen knew Minette’s mom. He was working to make a cure for the Plague. It killed so many that it mostly died down, but they saw that it was going to make a comeback, even worse than before. Minette’s mom noticed that no cat got infected, so she used them as the base for her vaccine, and tested it on herself. And died. But not before giving the vaccine to Minette, who the scientists took in and studied, and in doing so found the cure they needed to stop the Plague for good. Nope. Still feel nothing for Minette. This is a half-assed justification for making a Walking Gimmick. Minette could be deleted from existence and I would not care and it is entirely to do with the fact that her entire character is Cats™ and Abandonment Issues™ with no further substance

Back to the Skyhold. The big diamond in the center is looking quite a bit worse for wear now that the SP cannon landed a direct hit on it

I hate this stupid dungeon and its useless map that does a really awful job of showing how platforms overlap

On the way back to where we fought Anne. Everyone’s treating this as a point of no return, but I’ve gotta wonder about that considering there’s three jobs, one summon, and several more Catmancy skills left in locations that I can’t access yet

“Regrets... are like rutabagas - far better overcooked than left untouched in the pantry.” Altair I have never eaten a rutabaga in my life, your metaphor is lost on me

Oh, we’re finally going to hear about Vega. Good, I was looking for a reason to be invested in Altair and his story

Wait... Altair’s from the Celestial Realm? Does that make him a Celestial? Does he know the Celestial/Player from the first game (and probably also this one, since I’m assuming it’s the same Celestial guiding the party both times)? ...is he aware that I’ve been making fun of his metaphors and the way he pronounces his name for a while now?

Vega was his wife. A great Calamity befell the Celestial Realm, so they planned to take a ship and flee to Luxendarc... but Vega never made it to the ship. Altair didn’t realize she wasn’t onboard until after the ship had left on its one-way trip to another dimension. He doesn’t say it outright, but he probably doesn’t even know why she never made it or if she’s even alive anymore. He never said goodbye to his wife. He wasn’t expecting to need to. The last time he saw her was never supposed to be the last

Since a female voice narrates the ends of chapters, and what seems to be Altair’s theme plays there, I can only assume that that’s Vega. I don’t think she’s THE Celestial that guides the party, but I do wonder if the two know each other and The Celestial/Player is showing her what they’re seeing. Or maybe just intercepting messages from her

Yeah, I’m sure this is a “final” battle and your backstory is entirely irrelevant, Altair. The Kaiser is definitely the Big Bad, just like Braev was last game. Definitely

So I have Magnolia as a Black Mage and the brim of her hat is just barely covering her eyes. It almost looks like she’s trying to hide tears behind it, which is especially noticeable since she had the biggest reaction to Altair’s story

“With the right dressing, a simple piece of lettuce can become a salad.” Have you ever even eaten a salad before because it takes more than one piece of lettuce to make those. Otherwise it’s just lettuce with some sauce on it

Altair, we both ship Yew/Magnolia, but maybe lay off the kid a little? I know your romance went poorly, but I have no intention of letting these kids die. That only ever happens accidentally

“Give Tiz the pendant. ...I believe he has something to tell someone.” Agnès probably already knows... but I think they both need to hear it spoken. Two years can be a painfully long time to wait just to hear someone say “I love you, too.”

And all I can think of during this is poor Edea. I think she loves Alternis... but as a brother. The Alternis that she’s in love with, the one who grew and changed, the one she shared an adventure with, who she came to care for beyond their shared history but as an equal... well as far as she knows he isn’t in this dimension anymore. She’s already had her Altair/Vega situation, a goodbye that never was. Of course, if my theory’s right and one of the Alternises running around is Ringabel, then she may have another chance. But as for now... she just has to sit here listening to her new family get resolutions that have been lost to her

So I did end up grinding out the Bestiary entries for Skyhold just on the off-chance it was a one-time location and let me just say: Ranger Edea is terrifyingly strong and I love her

Dammit, Denys, just stay still so I can fight you, rip your sword out of your robot hand, and then steal your job!

Oh fuck OFF, Janne!

“In the end, you understood me. You’re a true friend, Yew.” Yeah, he’s a much better friend to you than you are to him. It’s a two-way street! So kindly take that newfound modicum of introspection and use it for something, you brat

So it’s a Janne/Nikolai dual boss as they cover Denys’s escape. My team’s level 65 and pretty damn tough at the moment, though. Nikolai’s gonna have a hell of a time trying to out-heal Tiz’s Exorcism HP Undos and Janne’s barely gonna make a dent with Yew’s Spellcraft-boosted Healing

“Now isn’t the time to wallow in sentiment!” Sure, Janne. “Stop thinking about the past!” Yep. Sure. You fucking hypocrite

Whaaaaaaat the fuck was that rumbling. What did you three idiots doooooo!?

Don’t know why Nikolai thought using Sacrifice was a good idea. Janne’s really useless on his own

Guys. We haven’t killed anyone this timeline. Stop being dramatic! We aren’t going to kill you. ...but you are going to prison for Mook #4′s death, Janne. You brought that one on yourself

“Only death can stop us” or some really good chains, you know

Atta boy, Yew. Don’t compromise your own morals for these idiots

“You can still change the world without destroying the past!” And that’s the crux of this whole game, isn’t it? What’s done is done. We’d all like to go back and change things. It seems like it would be so easy to erase the mistakes of our lives... but things aren’t that simple. How much good can come of the bad? If the Plague hadn’t happened, a cure never would have been developed, and the technologies and medicine that arose from it can be used to great benefit in the future, and so on. This is a game about accepting the bad and moving on. Working not to undo your mistakes, but fix them and be better the next time similar situations arise. And as someone who struggles a lot with self-blame, that’s really powerful to me

“But... what about my revenge!?” Oh. MY GOD!!! I get that you’re 16 and moral complexity seems to fly right over your head, Janne, but have you listened to nothing this entire game!? I actually hate you more than Minette, and she makes insufferable cats puns every. Fucking. Sentence. I swear you two are the worst goddamn characters in this game. Give. It. A. REST

Oh, so Janne’s motives are entirely selfish, too. Because according to him, he’s not looking to see his family again. He’s not looking to bring back his parents because he loves them and thinks they deserved better. No, he just wants to undo the years of emotional suffering and living on the streets he had to go through in the aftermath, and he’s taking it out on everybody else

God, fuck, why do people like this character!? Is it because he falls into the “tortured-but-physically-attractive character with a tragic backstory, so even if they do awful things they’re sympathetic so I can change them (or have the other participant in a ship with them do so)” archetype? Because fuck that archetype, it’s been romanticized to hell and back and I have literally always hated it. I’m not shy about my distaste for Kylo Ren in the new Star Wars films, a certain villain from Pokémon Sun and Moon, Merula Snyde in Hogwarts Mystery, and I’m certainly not shy about my distaste for Janne Balestra, the most self-centered brat in existence still trying to pretend that just having a tragic backstory somehow justifies all of the shitty things he’s done in this game, with no effort to make amends on his part. People don’t deserve to get off with no consequences like that!

“What am I supposed to do!?” How about you grow the fuck up, listen to what we’ve been telling you this whole game, and stop taking your frustrations out on everybody! Get a therapist! Open up an orphanage or something so other kids don’t end up on the street like you! You’re the one who decided that rewriting time and killing anyone with even the slightest connection to the Balestra deaths was the way to handle this. Honestly, your lack of direction is not our problem to fix now that that’s out the window. The only thing Yew’s obligated to make right is his relationship with Denys

Oh, nice! Yew’s gonna hand control of the Crystalguard from House Geneolgia to the Orthodoxy. That won’t stop corruption entirely, but I’m sure Agnès will make good use of being able to control the knights sworn to protect her and her faith

And the other Houses in control of the guard are in agreement. Enough of using the Crystalguard as a tool against each other, now we’re letting Agnès decide. One, unified voice in the organization, instead of the warring factions it’s been made of

And Braev, Goodman, Norzen, and Lotus will help out, as counterbablances to Agnès, representing the needs of the four Continents (with Crystals on them. Sucks to be Caldisla, I guess)

Yew’s finally figured out who he is and what he wants out of life. He’s not just the kid following Crystalguard orders or filling in for Denys out of a sense of duty. He’s seen the corruption and he’s going to work to change it. To make the organization he was told was his to inherit into something worth inheriting. Something to be proud of. And now, he’s not doing it alone. He sounds just like a certain blonde in our party...

And Nikolai and Janne agree to help us... without even the slightest hint of an apology from Janne. Fuck you, just leave the story already

And Denys’s in the Geneolgia mausoleums beneath Gathelatio. Time to kick some sense into big bro’s ass while surrounded by the corpses of our ancestors?

I can’t help but notice the game’s letting me walk around but still hasn’t addressed the shaking during the fight. I get the feeling there’s another boss coming and it isn’t Denys

I got off Skyhold and literally nothing happened, but I don’t think that’s the end of the rumble shenanigans

Ah, making use of that tiny door next to Yew’s house. Down into the Crypts we go!

I love how Alfred’s first thought upon seeing Nikolai and Janne is “Hey, it’s you jerks who betrayed Yew! Get lost!”

And we didn’t even need Alfred, because Denys left the door open instead of locking it behind him, as would be smart. Though in his defense, the only people he’d want to stop could just use Alfred’s key, and Denys doesn’t seem like he wants Alfred to know who he is just yet so it’s safer to leave his old butler alone than sneak in and grab the key

Denys has the other key because he told Alfred he wanted to lay flowers on his mother’s grave before he was exiled. So even if her son wasn’t the favored heir of House Geneolgia, they still had the decency to bury her with the rest of the family

I love how Alfred really loves the Geneolgia kids, more than even their father. He doesn’t want to believe that Denys is the Kaiser, it seems so out of character for the boy he knew, but when it’s Yew saying it... how could he not believe?

No, Yew, let Nikolai and Janne turn themselves in to the police. I know you still hold some affection for them (despite how much Janne doesn’t deserve it) but they totally committed some atrocious crimes and need to atone in some way

“A crime is a crime. How can we hope to reform others if we cannot admit our own trespasses?” And that, right there, is why I have sympathy for Nikolai and not Janne. He’s willing to admit he did wrong, and willing to attempt to make it right. Janne may be going along with him, but he still hasn’t apologized and is throwing a minor fit about explaining himself. His behavior is beyond unsympathetic, no matter what his backstory is, and his “reformation” comes across more like he’s just doing it to please Nikolai. Like when a child begrudgingly apologizes because their parents told them to, but you can hear it in their voice that they don’t mean it

The Geneolgia Crypts. The location of the final summon, one of two remaining places with Catmancy skills... and the last story-mandated asterisk. Time to find Denys

I know it plays in a lot of locations, but I love the music in the Crypts, “Dungeon of the Nature.” It’s somber, but grand. Soft, not bombastic, but still powerful. It’s great, I’d recommend people look it up if they haven’t heard it yet

Why are there instant-kill rabbits in here

Also can’t help noticing that the other enemy types are female mummies and ghost knights. Doesn’t seem like the Geneolgia family is really at rest, does it?

So it’s a maze, where I have to light each crystal to unlock the door, huh? Not too complicated

Susano-o Obtained! He’s been changed from non-elemental to Dark, but it’s otherwise our same old friend from Default

I find it bizarre that Amaterasu is listed after Susano-o, despite unlocking earlier. I suppose most people would run into Susano-o first, since there’s literally nothing out by Amaterasu’s anchorite and no reason to go there

I also appreciate that the two “strongest” summons are named after sibling gods from Shinto mythology, though I do wish there was a Tsukuyomi to go with them, considering the abundant moon symbolism in this game

Ah, is Yew’s fear of ghosts from being down here as a kid? He says he came down to bury his father and pay his respects, but he doesn’t remember it well because he tried to forget. He didn’t want to remember how lonely his childhood was because of the emotional divide between Denys and his mother, Yew and his mother, and their father. Going off to school was his first taste of freedom

“It’s... perfect.” God, can we give Michael Sinterniklaas an award for just the delivery of that line?

Hey, Denys. Fancy seeing you in what is clearly a boss room. No hard feelings for what comes next, yeah?

OH MY GOD I put my 3DS down and the screen went black for two seconds. Scared the hell out of me I thought I was gonna have to play part of that over again

I can just leave the room. The stairs are right there. The game is letting me walk right past him and go... but that won’t solve anything, will it?

We stand at the grave of Foundar Geneolgia. Captain of the Crystalguard, first leader of the Three Cavaliers... and completely corrupt beyond belief, using his position to take out personal enemies by accusing them of being enemies of the Orthodoxy, all to keep his own power. Sometimes to gain more

This was the standard of House Geneolgia. Those who deviated, who tried to be better... what remains are unmarked gravestones. Still here, within the family, but shunned and forgotten. Even in death. Denied the opportunity to be remembered by the lives they touched and shackled by the legacy of a bloodline they were unable to escape. Lost to an underground cavern for eternity.

And that’s his goal. Denys, disgusted by his ancestors and bearing the weight of a bloodline he never asked for, planned to travel back in time and kill Foundar, erasing the entire Geneolgia line and their sins with it

He’s so caught up in his plan that he’s failed to see something that I think Yew’s already figured out: these brothers are the only members of the Geneolgia family left. They aren’t beholden to the laws of the family anymore, because who will enforce them? Each other? There’s no guarantee someone worse won’t spring up in the place of Foundar, but Yew and Denys together can take what their bloodline has been given and turn it into something worthwhile. Erasing the past is a gamble on a brighter present. Working together is a guarantee of a brighter future

*squints* There’s a single dead pixel on my screen right in the middle of Denys’s face right now and it’s driving me nuts

“So you, too, would slumber in an unmarked grave. We are more alike than I thought...” And you always have been. If you’d spoken openly to your brother, you would have noticed who he is deep in his heart. Someone who doesn’t care for money or power, who takes in and cares for others as if they were family, an idealist who wants nothing more than a better world for those they care for, even at the cost of their own life... You two make quite a pair.

This whole conflict probably could have been avoided if these two had the chance to be closer as kids. If Denys had a single family member to confide in... If Yew had someone to guide him away from the indoctrination of their father... The tragedy is that the only times they’ve been able to speak freely to each other... have been at the end of this game

It’s just a shame Denys wants to fight. He wants to be proven wrong, not just have his baby brother spout nice platitudes at him

Still, I warned this chinstrap-beard-sporting jackass. I’m going to RIP. THAT. SWORD. OUT. OF. HIS. DUMB. METAL. HAND!

(By which I mean I’m stealing the Chaos Blade, the only missable item as far as I’m aware, from him. I was just being dramatic about it so I wouldn’t forget)

No pretense of fighting “The Kaiser,” an untouchable force of nature. Now he’s just Denys. A brother lost to his own guilt. Flawed, human, and in need of a guiding hand to bring him towards a redemption I think he’s willing to start

Aaaaaand of course he has reraise

I mean... that’s a decent argument. If Denys goes back to change the past, he actually ruins the future because he’s given Anne access to the Holy Pillar

And now the party gets the Kaiser job. Almost like a spiritual relinquishing of the role from Denys

I assumed we’d be taking Denys home to rest. Can’t help but notice we took his coat, though. Really shows off the fact that Yew cut off his entire right arm, not just his hand 

Denys was always going to try and make a martyr of himself. It didn’t matter what he did, how bad his actions were, his final act, erasing himself from existence, was supposed to be his atonement. Now what does he do, living with the things he’s done and no easy end to absolve him of it?

It’s like the game thought I wouldn’t recognize Agnès‘s voice immediately

Agnès is willing to give him the chance to atone. Not forgive him outright, but a chance to earn that forgiveness. And why wouldn’t she? Agnès was once the puppet of a fairy herself, nearly driving the world to ruin with the goal of its salvation. Killing countless Duchy soldiers (and I know the game’s gonna act like the random encounter soldiers didn’t exist, but they did) in the name of her cause. Denys really is in the same position as Tiz, Agnès, Edea, and Ringabel were just two years ago

Denys really thinks all of his companions are dead, huh? “The only mercy I need is a quick death, so I may apologize face-to-face.” “Then come with me to the Sanctum.” We’re just gonna arrange a prison meet-and-greet with the other Glanz Empire higher-ups that we didn’t kill, just stuck in prison, and Denys’s gonna have a change of heart and join us, I can already see it coming

According to the Bestiary, Denys met Anne when the Great Chasm “disappeared” (where... did it go?), captured the Ba’al Diamante and seized the asterisks left behind in the crater, and then created the Skyhold using Diamante. So the Ba’al that the Sagitta thought they were firing on, and the one sealed within... is Diamante, which I thought was just the official name for the Skyhold when it appeared on the location intro card. I... I think I know what those rumbles from before may have been

Yew makes sure to note that everything he wrote was told to him by Denys, presumably off-screen. And there’s a little note that makes a similar point to what I did during the fight: his Bestiary entry is listed as Denys Geneolgia, not Kaiser Oblivion, because should anything happen, Yew wants him to be remembered not as the leader of the Glanz Empire, but as his beloved brother

“To meet those who sacrificed themselves for your cause... This is what you truly wish? Then let it be done!” I see you trying to be dramatic, Agnès, but let’s cut the man a break, yeah? Faking him out like this is just a bit mean. The look on his face is gonna be great, though

Yup! And Minette even got adopted with no jail time. Isn’t that great?

“I-I do not deserve...” Maybe not forgiveness, but no one has given you a second chance to atone yet. It’s about time we do

Okay, I know Braev was cutting his restraints, but it still looked like he slashed Denys across the back. Could you imagine if he had! “Grand Marshall! I meant cut his restraints!” “Oh. OH. Oh no. My apologies. I thought this was going somewhere else! Oh dear... someone call a healer! Nikolai!”

Family dinner! FAMILY DINNER! FAMILY DINNEEEEEER! Aw man, get in here, Agnès! It’s the whole dang team! Magnolia, Tiz, Edea, Yew, and Agnès all sharing some down time together is what I live for!

Aaaaaaand Agnès made it sad by asking if Magnolia’s gonna go home to the Moon when her work is done. Now Yew’s sad. And Magnolia’s sad

Denys, get in here! If the team’s willing to forgive and forget, well, I’ve been willing to with you for a while! Family dinner! Estranged older brothers and adoptive extradimensional aunts and all!

I am desperately in need of a reconciliation hug between Denys and Yew right now

“What do you say we go for a bath, Brother?” Or... you can make it weird, Yew. I feel like that’s a few steps past a hug

Just two bros chillin’ in a hot spring, five feet apart ‘cause they’re estranged siblings awkwardly attempting to reconnect

This is good for both of them, really. Just finally getting to chat it out, maybe air some grievances...

Denys never blamed Yew for what happened with his arm. It actually gave him the perfect opportunity to walk out on their father and never look back. One of his big regrets was that he never got to tell Yew that before he was forced to leave. He’s just glad they even have the opportunity to talk again. That he had the opportunity to finally tell his brother that he doesn’t have to bear that weight anymore

And now he’s giving relationship advice to his little bro... awww, that’s sweet, but I gotta wonder what Denys actually knows about romance. Like... at all

Denys’s just sitting here like “Oh this dense kid. It’s so obvious they belong together. Come on, Yew, confess. That’s gonna be my new sister-in-law, I can tell.”

Nothing like a GIANT FUCKING DEATH LASER IN THE SKY to ruin your nice chat with your brother, huh!?

Dammit, I knew Anne was suspiciously absent and yet I still overlooked her. I bet she used Sylvie to overload the Crystals and form the Holy Pillar

MMMMMMmmmmm Skyhold again. I’ve got... a bad feeling about what’s going to happen to Denys. Please don’t go Redemption Equals Death, please don’t go Redemption Equals Death he has so much potential...

Yew’s apologizing to Magnolia because she helped him repair his relationship with Denys, but he still hasn’t returned the favor in helping her defeat the Ba’al and save the Moon. God, I love this kid’s sense of honor

Oh, hey, confirmation that the Moon and Appleberry are still okay. At least until Anne does something again

I knew it. The Matriarch and Sylvie are here

Anne you fairy fuck get over here! I know you’re aware of my existence, you’re the one who asked me to play the original game!

“You’re here already? Not bad! You beat my estimate by fourteen minutes.” Not bad considering I took a day’s break before getting here. That estimate must have been pretty generous

She pulled an Airy on Sylvie and the Matriarch and convinced them to help her. Where the Fairy Flies, am I right?

“Denied!” Denys you ham this is supposed to be serious

Oh... I forgot that Anne sent Denys to the future instead of the past and he still remembers that

You didn’t realize she sent you to the wrong time!? How do you not notice the technology and architecture being way off?

She had no intention of sending him to the past. Of course not. Why would Airy’s sister have you invalidate all the work she had the player/Celestial do last game?

...Master?

Here we go. The freed Diamante, Ba’al that destroyed the Moon civilizations. And Magnolia’s freaking out, but her new family won’t have it! We avenge her people together!

Diamante looks freaking awesome. A diamond unicorn with a skeleton rider, with butterflies in her long, teal hair and shredded wings for arms.

And don’t think I haven’t noticed the background. A woman with a ponytail kneeling behind a chain-link fence, reaching her left hand out towards what appears to be a rocket ship flying off into the distance. The ring on her finger glinting every once in a while

A married woman left behind, longing to reach a ship... Vega...

Diamante, the diamond ring

Health doesn’t look too bad, but I’m worried about the 100% Mirror. Seems it even reflects physical attacks

It’s gone down to 60% after a round of attacks. Maybe I’ve just got to wear its shield down

It did... something to Tiz that prevents him from doing anything besides Default and Summon and brings its Mirror up for one more hit every turn, but this seems manageable. Turns out attack items count as hits to bring it down, so if I toss one out per turn it can’t do anything

I love the effect of the diamonds on the unicorn breaking away to reveal an electric interior

Reraise was to be expected at this point

They only make you fight it twice and it still revives at the end, but I think it’s poetic that I beat it while I had Magnolia’s theme playing thanks to her special being the second-to-last hit on it

Do what you did to the Moon? “Let the cleansing fires cover the world, and burn for three days and three nights!” Why so specific, Anne? It sounds like you’re quoting a Bible verse at me

You sound ridiculous, Anne. Tone the formality down a peg

“Yes, it is time I atone for my sins.” Denys don’t you fucking dare

Yew, do not give him the compass.

You are not taking this Ba’al to the end of time, young man! No! You aren’t allowed to pull a Redemption Equals Death on me

“I trust you. My sacrifice will not be in vain.” You don’t have to do this! I can keep this boss fight going forever! We weren’t even struggling! I’ve got the resources to keep trying!

Denys, please. You could be Party Member #5. You could have a well-written, non-copout redemption arc. Let’s think about this

God...

...dammit.

[rivetgoth]

Since you’re on a Scream Park kick, I’m gonna ask; what do you think is the nature of Iggy’s relationship with Ogre? Buddies? Lovers? Brothers? I almost kinda lean toward Ogre being the younger, though larger, brother and that Iggy has been “looking after”/manipulating him his whole life. Despite Ogre’s strength he seems very submissive to Iggy and never questions (well, if he can talk lol) anything he asks of him. Thoughts? :D

THANK YOU FOR THIS I WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS LAST NIGHT

So, firstly anyone who’s ever had the *honor* of watching Scream Park with me knows I’ll make stupid jokes about Iggy and Ogre being boyfriends/husbands cuz it’s low hanging fruit and I’m gay, but in seriousness I don’t ship them at all and I actually have no solid certain headcanon. I really wish we got some more backstory on Ogre and Iggy and got to see their interactions more cuz what we do see is really funny and like… cute in a way too and I wish I knew what that dynamic was on nights when they aren’t being paid to murder.

So here is what I do know: I read an article on Scream Park once that said that they were based on George and Lennie from Of Mice and Men, with Iggy obviously being the George of the duo. I don’t know if this was confirmed by a creator or if it’s just the writer’s analysis, but that’s here if you’re curious. I haven’t read the book in like nearly a decade now lol but it sounded kinda accurate from what I do remember, and at the very least I can really see it from Wikipedia’s character descriptions:

“George Milton: A quick-witted man who is Lennie’s guardian and best friend. His friendship with Lennie helps sustain his dream of a better future. He was bound in teasing Lennie since he was young. He is described by Steinbeck in the novel as ‘small and quick,’ every part of him being ‘defined,’ with small strong hands on slender arms. He has a dark face and ‘restless eyes’ and ‘sharp, strong features’ including a ‘thin, bony nose.’

Lennie Small: A mentally disabled, but gigantic and physically strong man who travels with George and is his constant companion. He dreams of ‘“living off the fatta’ the lan”’ and being able to tend to rabbits. His love for soft things conspires against him, mostly because he does not know his own strength, and eventually becomes his undoing. Steinbeck defines his appearance as George's ‘opposite,’ writing that he is a ‘huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes’ and ‘wide, sloping shoulders.’ Lennie walks heavily, dragging his feet a little, “the way a bear drags his paws,” adding that his arms do not swing at his sides, but hang loosely.”

I don’t really have anything too wildly deep to add to that, I guess I just read that and go “Oh yeah, I can see that” and move on LOL. Although I think you could extract a kind of interesting character analysis and headcanons if you’re looking at them as George and Lennie archetypes and you know that Iggy has taken on the job as much for money as for enjoyment (”I’m workin!”), but that’s kind of out there and probably a theory for another day. ANYWAY.

Interestingly I watched Scream Park like a day after rewatching Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and with that still fresh on my mind I got HUGE Chop Top & Leatherface vibes from Iggy & Ogre that I’d never really even thought about before. I love Chop Top and Leatherface’s interactions, I think they’re really funny and endearing, I always got the impression that Chop Top cares about Leatherface and likes his company but since the whole family is fucked up beyond belief the way he shows that can also sometimes be fucked up, y’know. But the fact that they’re always together and the way they team up and work together to kill and Chop Top’s high fiving Leatherface after was always really funny and cute to me and I kinda got that vibe a little from Iggy and Ogre this time around too I think.

Iggy is very very clearly in charge and the “brains” of the whole thing, he’s orchestrating the murder and he’s doing the talking and he’s getting caught up taunting and toying with his victims, so realistically Ogre would be the brawn in the scenario, but I always thought that was kind of interesting cuz Iggy doesn’t really NEED a “brawn.” Iggy is, assuming he’s Kevin Ogilvie’s height, over six feet tall. He’s clearly pretty strong and he’s got weapons. He’s clever and he takes out a good number of the victims all on his own. If Iggy wasn’t so keen on toying with his victims he coulda taken everyone out really quickly imo. He purposely lets Allison live to continue to mess with her. Ogre is kind of there as like… backup. He comes in handy when Iggy is attacked by the one punk kid whose name is escaping me and Ogre charges in and rescues him, so there’s a very obvious logical reason. Iggy knows people are gonna fight back - He’s planning on it, even, considering how much he fucking loves toying with them. Having backup is important. In fact, doesn’t Iggy explicitly at one point call Ogre over to “help him take out this last one,” something to that effect?

I just kind of get the vibe that Ogre and Iggy are a duo and Iggy wouldn’t WANT to do this without Ogre despite his frequent reprimanding, and they have a closer bond than we’re presented with on the screen. Like, they’re pals. Iggy is probably generally not fucking easy to get along with, so the insults can’t be helped. No one probably even knows he exists, he probably lives in the backwoods of Pennsylvania where there’s no laws to stop him from murdering whatever he wants and he’s clearly aggressive and lacking any sort of empathy or consideration for human life and I get the feeling that Ogre may very well be Iggy’s ONLY relationship, whatever it is. Iggy talks to him like he’s really familiar with him- “You dented can, I should leave your ass in here!” like he’s threatening to punish a child LOL. Iggy can be seen sorta directing him where to go early in the film (when he’s first revealed, in his plague doctor mask), and I love how he grabs Ogre by the chin and forcefully directs him to look at something at one point which is a funny little intimate gesture that I think also implies they have an established bond of some sort if that makes any sense at all. Like, there’s just little interactions that although aggressive on Iggy’s end also are just handled with enough familiarity that you can extract a little bit of affection there as well. There’s also the fact that both come to each other’s aid in times of need; Ogre, like I mentioned, defends Iggy and saves his life when one of the victims attacks him, and when Jennifer kills Ogre at the end Iggy is visibly angry and his voice rises in octave and he sounds genuinely surprised. It doesn’t sound like they were just, like, single-night business partners. Iggy doesn’t fucking care about human life enough that he’d react that way if it wasn’t someone he was familiar with on a deeper level.

So I GUESS….. this is all pretty long winded, but in seriousness, with the little bit about them that we do know, I’m leaning a lot towards your initial suggestion. I feel like Ogre and Iggy probably have a brotherly relationship. There’s no way to guess if they ARE brothers or if that’s just the type of connection they have, though (I kinda lean towards them not being biological brothers due to one specific line of dialogue I’m not gonna get into here). Either way, Iggy is definitely in a caretaker role here, and… although I think he’s pretty capable of taking care of himself, I think he also does depend on Ogre’s strength for protection and I think he… likes having his company. After all, he did choose to bring him along in the first place, and despite his threats he didn’t leave him locked in the cupboard LOL.