#I meant in depth and detailed theory

[padfootastic]

not the same anon and i agree w what u said but idk what u mean abt the discrimination mainly being fanon bc it is mentioned in the books that werewolves suffer heavily in poverty bc they are shunned from the wizarding world + anti werewolf legislations are brought up as well. i mean the general consensus abt werewolves seems to be that most ppl are scared of them and think they are dangerous, even out of the full moon

okay yeah i get how it came across that way lol i didn’t bother elaborating only sozz

so. what i meant was: the books give us like a…telling of lycanthropy discrimination, yeah? it tells us people are scared (altho tbf, it’s shown to a certain degree as well w greyback and all), tells us about the anti-werewolf legislation etc etc. what it shows is like. remus in shabby clothes. remus leaving hogwarts in poa before the angry howlers start. remus infiltrating werewolf packs. remus being a ‘privileged minority’ bc of his exclusive education and social capital.

what we don’t see is like. any visible barriers remus faces either bc a. wasn’t imp to narrative so wasn’t shown or b. he ran away before things could reach that point.

if we really wanna deconstruct remus’ identity & barriers he faced (which i don’t lol) we cannot ignore the fact that he was an outlier even amongst werewolves. for one, he was formally educated & is a wand user. two, he wasn’t living in ‘abject poverty’ (had a cottage and all, yeah?) three, had super privileged pureblood friends which affords a layer of protection to him. four, access to wolfbane (supposedly expensive and complicated to make). five, social capital in the form of dumbledore who got him a professor job. six, had a wife and child, got to make his own family.

and that’s just what we do know of him. i’m not even counting the potential happy family he could’ve had with hope and lyall or anything else. so honestly, what we know of remus particularly, it’s more privilege than not. i’m not discounting that werewolves face discrimination in the WW (considering how blood-obsessed it is, that’s impossible) i’m just saying remus had multiple shields from the worst of it.

[meo-eiru]

*cracks knuckles* here I am again. this time with Micah as my victim

so at first,

you definitely should add some more story to him. so far, if I'm being honest, he feels a bit too plain to me. but oh boy, what a potential I see here!

alright lets begin

omg look at him! such a hypocrite! how smart it is, to put all blame on MC while being just as (actually even more) sinful. and he sure hides well; it's your fault, isn't it? oh you and your sinful mind.

buut despite him not really being my cup of tea, I still do like a good old concept of ugly insides, hidden behind a beautiful shell (if that's the vibe you were going for).

Micah seems so pure, so holy, almost like an angel (you played smart by adding a lot of white in his design) – but behind that pristine facade? he's ugly. and that shell eventually starts to crack, because no matter how pure he may seem, Micah is just as human as we are, and definitely not a good one. and what are we, if not a bunch of cruel, egotistical animals? and deep inside he's exactly that, sickeningly human. with that in mind the very first comic you did abt him is actually pretty hilarious to me. your desires? what about his desires, which are strong enough to ruin your whole life?

I kinda feel like he's also a little pathetic in his own way; if he can't make you fall for him, he will break you. isn't it like a very cowardly move? he wants you badly enough to use whatever method it may require to have you, but will never admit it.

but let's talk about that strange desire to destroy MC's purity. why? to make you just as dirty as he is? cute, but doesn't seem like a full explanation to me. he's a priest, right? and even despite those dark insides of his, I feel like Micah still kept at least some of the priest mindset. I mean, they're raised and taught with a very strict discipline. so I feel like deep down, he feels bad (not ashamed, but in a "how dare they" way) for his attraction to you, and punishes you for that attraction. it's not your fault, of course, but who cares? you managed to destroy his perfect, clean facade, which he was methodically building for his whole life with simply your existence. isn't that unfair? so now you must fall into the depths of hell with him.

I like how we can't justify him. Micah is perfectly aware of what he is doing. and of twisted nature of his feelings too, I think, yet still chooses to indulge in his desires, even if it hurts you, the person he was supposed to love and cherish. he makes me feel an absolute, poetic rage, and I love a character I can hate. (don't get me wrong, it meant to be a praise)

and I absolutely adore his design. also if I was on point with the idea you meant for him, that is wonderful too. if a character makes me feel something, I like that character. but girl, you really should add more details about him. because everything I've written here is, basically, just my own brainstorming and bare theories. Micah needs to have more meat on him for a full character analysis >_>

but anyway, I actually have a question.

what if MC wasn't in any way pure? what if they're a complete opposite of that word? count it on my love for hunchback of notre dame

unlike the nun MC, I suggest a MC who fully embraces their sins. like an evil succubus, they enjoy the joys of being tainted. they know what influence they have on their dear Father Micah, and isn't ashamed of that. I feel like that would make a pretty interesting story

(cough cough draw him blushing and moaning and my life is yours darling)

Another absolutely incredible ask I'll have a field day answering.

I do agree with him being a bit under developed at the moment. Micah was a bit unfortunate as in he was never meant to be an actual character. He was just a momentary creation who existed for me to study color theory. A beautiful man of flowers who didn't have an identity.

Then he joined the cast when I was busy with working on commissions and the 5k celebration comic so I didn't have the time to draw his introduction comic with the things I had planned for him, though I've been trying my best to explore him a bit more thru asks like this one. The fact that I don't want to spoil the stuff I'll draw in his comic is also holding me back a little.

I think Micah is evil, but not completely bad. A man who was born twisted, who was raised into goodness, and even with all the love he received never truly got rid of his inner darkness, but just once, just for one moment, I think he had good in his heart. And that is when he first saw you.

With all his twistedness, all his evilness, all his darkness, I think that love he felt for you was truly pure. Because in his eyes you appeared truly beautiful, like a pure lily.

But Micah isn't a pure man, neither does he want to be. So he prefers to pull you down to his level, so that you two can be sinful together. A truly impure way of feeling that pure and innocent love.

I have gotten asks about him with a more rowdy darling, one who isn't a nun or one who is more sinful. I've been really brainstorming about it but I don't think it would work. Not because I personally can't force the story into being like that but because I think it was just not meant to be like that.

You see I do come up with the characters, but I don't control their actions. If the character is unwilling I can't shape the story to my will. Because that story is their life and they control it. The best I can do is to try to fill the gaps I can.

I might prefer submissive yanderes, I might want Micah to have a more sinful darling instead but it wouldn't be Micah's story anymore. That's one of the reasons why he's so different from the rest of the boys. I'm not super into very dominant guys, I could probably count the ones I have with one hand, it wasn't my intention for Micah to be the way he is, but I don't think he could've been any other way.

Micah was just meant to be manipulative, a gaslighter, a dirty man who'll pull anything to push you below him.

I guess me looking at my stories from an actual novel or manga perspective also contributes to this. Father Micah exists to shine with a darling who he can soil.

Now the darling can maybe go against him in the future, she might rebel or give in to his sinful ways, but that's a different story.

[cherllyio]

Macaque will be trapped in The Underworld - A season 5 theory

Now, why would this make sense? Because it would fit perfectly with his characther devolpemt so far.

So, lets look at the evidence for that.

Macaque has through these 4 seasons gone from someone who does everything for his own sake, because of his own personal trauma, to someone who is starting to develop direct friendships with our main cast. (which this person talks more about in depth)

Therefore, it would make sense, if we start going into the most mysterious part of this monkey’s past: His time in the Underworld.

This would make sense for two reasons:

We could get answers on how he ended up in The Underworld in the first place (aka Shadowpeach lore)

We could get answers on WHY all our mystic monkeys are getting accused of breaking the sky, but we would also get some more answers about this guy, The Traitor.

The Shadowpeach part makes sense, therefore I want to go into more details with the whole “Macaque meeting The Traitor” - part of this theory, because they are actual scenes that indicates this in the trailer.

As this person mentioned in a breakdown of the trailer, it looks a lot like here that Macaque is getting sucked into Li Jing's Pagoda (because of that flashing light that looks awfully similar),

and after I made a timeline of the trailer, I realized that Macaque doesn’t really show up in the following scenes after he supposetly gets trapped in the Pagoda.

So, from a story perspective, it looks like Macaque stayed behind to fight off Li Jing, while the others got away in the car, while he himself got captured. This would then lead to Macaque again getting trapped in The Underworld, so they could keep an eye (pun intended) on him.

This would then result in Macaque getting (PTSD) flashbacks to his time in The Underworld, where there is a pretty realistic chance, in that time, he MET the Traitor.

Think about it. The Traitors whole goal is “chaos”, and our mystic monkeys are nothing but CHAOS. (talked more about this here)

There is also the fact that a theory (you can find it here) going around that The Traitor was the one who released Azure Lion from his prison, but erased his memory so he didn’t remember how he even got out:

(Season 4, ep 10)

Wukong: Wait, how are you here?

Azure: What, what kind of question is that?! You know exactly how-

Wukong: No, here and now. I put you in The Underworld myself. How did you get out? How did you get the scroll? I know for sure you didn’t steal it, you couldn’t have.

Azure Lion: I- I don’t know… I was…

Wukong: Azure! Who gave you that scroll? Because whoever it was, they must have known this would happen. WANTED this to happen, and they used you to do it.

Azure: I just wanted to make the world a better place.

There is then a good chance that he did something similar to Macaques memory, where one of thoughs memories could be his final fight with Wukong.

The Traitor could have made it so that Macaque remembers it as Wukong DIRECTLY killing him, but as David Breen mentioned, that’s just how Macaque views it.

Therefore, that’s what is going to be Macaque next character development in this season:

What happened in the past? More specifically what ACTUALLY between him and Wukong. Because we, the fandom, don’t know, but maybe MACAQUE doesn’t even know himself.

We can also, with this new information, figure out another important of his next arc: The theme of understanding.

We also know that a lot of the reasons for Wukong and Macaques fallout, is because they MISUNDERSTOOD a lot what the other actually intended.

We also know that Macaque is starting to realize that too, in the way he reacted when he saw his and Wukongs fight again: He realized HE MISUNDERSTOOD what Wukong had meant.

The seeds have been planted everyone, and we are know going to see what they are turning into. And that is a story of Understanding, growth, and friendship (or whatever the hell their realtionship is at this point).

[elrielffs]

This is just a loose theorizing by me about Gwyn's role in the future books and how this ties to Azriel and an Elriel story.

It's not meant to be anti-Gwyn. I actually really like Gwyn as a character but it does incorporate Lightsinger Gwyn and for some, this is anti-rhetoric.

This is just me kicking things around in my noggin' and nothing concrete but just loose attachments.

Under the cut cause it's kinda long.

I was thinking about some of the details we've been given in story and some meta things from SJM's pinterest. I don't really subscribe to the pinterest as end all be all but I do think some things are very interesting on it.

I do think SJM is pulling from various fairytales and myths, particularly Blodeuwedd, Koschei the Deathless and other Russian folktales, and The Little Mermaid. We know SJM takes inspiration from fairy tales.

First we have Blodeuwedd which SJM saved titling Elain. The story of Blodeuwedd is that she was made to be the perfect wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes but rejects him and falls in love with another, Gronw Pebr.

In the Koschei and the Deathless, we have Ivan Tsarevich who has 3 sisters that marry 3 winged wizards. Ivan saves Marya Morevna, a warrior princess, from Koschei and marries her.

I think the first two speaks for themselves on how they relate to ACOTAR so I won't delve to much into it but you can see how it relates to the story that is playing out.

Last is The Little Mermaid. We all know this story because of Disney and also it's probably one of the more well known fairy tales' but the broad strokes of the ORIGINAL telling is: The Little Mermaid falls in love with the human prince, makes a deal with the Sea Witch for her fins to be turned into legs to be with him on land, the prince falls in love with someone else, and the Mermaid is tasked by the Sea Witch with killing the prince to get her fins back but she can't do it because she loves the prince too much and instead turns into bubbles/foam/becomes an air spirit.

How does this relate to Gwyn?

Gwyn has been described many a time with ocean/water like imagery and has been stated to have nymph heritage. Her eyes are constantly described as the sunlit sea and she even says the quote," I am the rock on which the surf crashes."

We are also told about Lightsingers in the same book that Gwyn is introduced: They are ethereal beings who will lure their prey to them, appearing as friendly faces. Only when their prey were in their arms would their true faces emerge.

This shares many similarities to Sirens: creatures that live in or by the ocean, that lure victims to them with an alluring voice. Sirens have also become synonymous with mermaids, merging into one creature with siren and mermaid being used interchangeably to describe the one being.

Gwyn has show these same characteristics in story. Gwyn is shown to be a singer and have a beautiful voice and to also glow when she sings.

When Nesta hears Gwyn sing she describes it thus:

Drawing any listener in.

Nesta also says this about Gwyn upon first meeting her:

Gwyn also tells Nesta at one point that Nesta wouldn't like the "real" her.

I won't go too in depth to the Lightsinger theory because there are plenty of other posts floating around breaking it down better than me but suffice to say that there is a correlation between Gwyn's voice/singing=some type of power. This easily translates into Lightsinger/mermaid/siren imagery and theory.

Now this next part is just me spit balling and is more fast and loose and how this could tie into an Elriel story:

We don't know too much about Koschei in story except that he's a Death God and older brother to Stryga and the Bone Carver, beings who traveled from another world to Prythian (Daglan/Asteri?) and a powerful wizard that cursed Vassa.

At one point he tells Azriel he has "been preparing for you". What could this mean? Why has he been preparing for Azriel?

Why would Koschei, who is a powerful wizard, bargain with the Acheron's father, a human nobody? Is it because he is Elain's father?

Rhysand speculates that there's a possibility that the priestess have been infiltrated. We saw with Ianthe that not all priestess's harbor good intentions and in ACOWAR that the library can be broken into.

It has been highly speculated that Merrill, a priestess in the Library, is up to something. Is she in line with Koschei?

Who works under Merrill? Gwyn.

We know from HOFAS that the cauldron is corrupted by the Asteri/Daglan, a fact speculated by Azriel himself in the bonus chapter.

Is possible that Koschei as a Daglan/Asteri had a hand in corrupting the cauldron to mix up Elain's mates? Is that how Koschei "prepared" for Azriel?

And what about Gwyn working under Merrill? Gwyn could be manipulated and unknowingly assisting Koschei/Merrill or she could be working for them for some kind of favor--returning her sister Catrin to life?

Also, the fact that Gwyn and Catrin are twins can be used for shenanigan's. What if Gwyn is actually Catrin? (This is purely speculative on my part by the fact that they were made twins rather than just sisters.)

It's also mentioned that Catrin had webbed fingers. I love this little detail and wish Gwyn had them too but is there a reason she doesn't? Could this be to distinguish Catrin and Gwyn at a later date besides hair color?

Could Merrill/Koschei know about Gwyn's Lightsinger heritage and be using her as way to lure Azriel away from Elain?

What is one of the gifts Elain gets Azriel? Ear plugs.

We know it as a gag gift but we also know that Elain has visions--we don't know how fragmented or how fully she receives them but is is possible that she saw something that inspired her to give Azriel the ear plugs?

Is this to upset the balance of the 6 pointed star mentioned in HOFAS?

Could Gwyn, unknowingly or knowingly be working for Koschei to infiltrate the IC via Nesta and the training, lure Azriel away from Elain? Could Gwyn fall in love (this part is not needed, it can be just business on Gwyn's end) with Azriel but realize thru her connections with the Valkyries and training and Azriel that she can't go thru with it?

Let me reiterate, I don't think Gwyn is evil. I think she could be manipulated, coerced, or promised something she can't refuse to help or go along with Koschei/Merrill. She might not even know it's Koschei she is helping or that she is even in fact assisting. She could be manipulated into using her unknown Lightersinger powers.

Gwyn (the Mermaid) is promised/manipulated into using her Lightsinger powers by Koschei/Merrill (Sea Witch) to lure Azriel (the prince) away from Elain (the woman the prince loves) but the end she can't go thru with it either because she realizes it's wrong, realizes she's being manipulated or because she can't do that to Azriel.

I know there is more that can be conjected but this is already quite long and I didn't even delve into the Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty parallels.

I realize this could have been posted before and nothing new but I just wanted to put my thoughts out there and hear some more of my fellow Elriels!

[44ants]

An Avid Listener

DBH Conner/ F!Reader One Shot

Sort of Yandere?

My first one shot! (I believe that's what it's called anyway. Or is it an imagine?) I'm currently hyper-fixated on DBH so I need to get it out of my system. This is pretty much just slapped together and not planned out at all.

"What are you listening to?"

"Can't you just fucking leave me alone? I'm trying to get this report written so I can leave!" Gavin whined exasperated. He glared at Conner from the corner of his eye. He desperately tried to shield the right side of his face with his hand, hoping the android would take the hint and leave.

"I'm trying to diversify my music choices. It was recommended to me that I ask others what they like to discover my own preferences. If you tell me, I'll leave you alone." Conner negotiated, rubbing his hands together before politely holding them behind his back. He hoped to look innocent and endearing to achieve his goal.

"Why the hell do you even want to listen to music? It's meant to provoke emotion! You know? To make you feel things?" Gavin wasn't even sure why he was entertaining the conversation at this point. What good was arguing with him if he always had a comeback locked and loaded?

"That's exactly what I'm hoping to achieve." He countered and cocked his head.

"I'm not even listening to music. It's a podcast."

"I have not listened to any podcasts yet. What is it about?"

He decided it was best to just give up and slammed his phone down on the desk. Conner leaned over and read what was on the screen: 'Myrtoalett'. It translated to 'Bog Toilet' in Swedish and the cover was of a crucified fetus. "Interesting. I'll come back to you and give you my feedback once I've finished listening." He turned to head back to his own desk conjoined with Hank's who was currently passed out in his chair.

"Please don't." Gavin murmured, "And good luck! There's, like, 400 episodes!"

Skimming roughly through articles and the basic summary of the podcast, he found that it was a talk show that covered serial killers, murders, and the paranormal. There were three hosts: Jeremy Tompson, Elias Rask, and Y/N. He decided he'd listen once he made it home with Hank.

To say the least, Conner was hooked. Every free moment he had that didn't require his full attention was spent listening to Myrtoalett. He struggled with finding the humor in some of the hosts' jokes and found some conversations a little too vulgar and distasteful, but actually paying attention to details of old cases despite already having a vast knowledge of them was very addicting to him. It brought a strange amount of satisfaction to him to anticipate where the case would go next and hearing every little disgusting detail of how serial killers enacted their murders. He took enjoyment in ignoring any previous knowledge he had about axe murderers or famous killers and just immersing himself in the stories. The comradery amongst the hosts was amusing as well, but mostly he found his enjoyment in the podcast from listening to this Y/N girl. There were three distinct roles between the hosts. Jeremy was the main host, went into the episodes with no previous knowledge about the topics, and forced the others to elaborate by asking questions. Elias provided the most comedic relief and went into in-depth conspiracy theory rants. Y/N was the main researcher. She seemingly spent weeks researching the topics they spoke about and mainly talked the most. He admired the dedication she had to finding each and every detail, no matter how minuscule. Conner thought she'd make a good detective and her story telling skills enraptured him. Her voice was soothing no matter how gruesome the topic and perfectly dictated the feelings you should have. Oh? The final victim of the Toy Box Killer is escaping? He felt like he was on the edge of his seat. A soldier is retelling his experiences from the Edwood Experiments? He was horrified. Police were describing what the inside of Ed Kemper's house was like? He was intrigued. JonBenet Ramsey's father discovered her corpse? There needed to be justice! This was exactly what he was looking for in discovering new media! Finding something that would evoke new emotions for him to discover since his deviancy.

It wasn't just her story telling that intrigued him, but the fact that she gave out such little details about her life compared to the other hosts. Rarely did she indulge the listeners in personal aspects of her life. It irritated him to no end to listen to Jeremy and Elias speak about their upbringings or what serial killers were from their state and knowing nothing about Y/N! He couldn't help himself but to look into her more. There was nothing wrong with that, right? She was a celebrity! Their podcast had a pretty big following. It was only natural that there would be so much information about her on the internet! It wasn't a crime to have access to what everyone else did! Looking into her criminal record using his access from DPD wasn't wrong either. With how much knowledge she had about criminals, it was possible that she herself was a criminal! There was nothing wrong with just making sure she wasn't! It was his job to keep people safe and ask questions when necessary. It didn't help that she was the only female on the show and was often compared to the female victims of murderers! He needed to keep what tabs he could on her and make sure fans didn't get any funny ideas! It wasn't smart for them to put thoughts like that into people's heads.

It wasn't long before his life revolved around the podcast. It wasn't long before he had listened through each and every episode and consumed every piece of media he could find about it. It wasn't long until he felt absolutely empty waiting for a new episode to be released. One episode a week wasn't enough for him. What was supposed to keep him occupied besides the one hour of entertainment he got on Saturdays. What was he supposed to do when they took breaks for holidays and vacations? Relistening to old episodes was the only thing he could do. What was he supposed to feel if Y/N wasn't there to tell him what to feel?

The longer he spent obsessed with the show, the more his emotions became twisted. His sick fascination with serial killers only deepened. It wasn't sick, right? He wasn't the one making a whole show about it! He wasn't the one talking about people who built entire structures and hotels to rape and kill victims! He wasn't the one that made jokes about Y/N being trapped in a basement, all tied up, being forced to have things done to her without her consent. He didn't have those thoughts. He didn't have those feelings of excitement and thrill at the idea of holding her down and having complete control over her. He didn't.

He didn't fantasize about being the one to save her from a murderer or a kidnapper. He didn't.

He didn't think about finding where she lived and going to her house. He didn't

He didn't think about finding out her schedule and 'accidentally' running into her at the coffee shop she loved. He didn't.

He didn't think about the best ways to impress her.

He didn't daydream about her every waking moment.

He didn't think about what it'd feel like to hold her lovingly.

He didn't think about what she'd feel like in his arms. Writhing and screaming.

He didn't.

[gffa]

What I mean when I say, "I think we have to have learned our lesson by this point [with Star Wars shows and 'Deep Lore']–whatever deeply complex ideas we try to come up with, the shows themselves basically never match anything near that level of detail, depth, or complexity." is exemplified by the excitement over the Zeffo references in Ahsoka. Basically, hieroglyphs in episode 7 of Ahsoka that translate to "praise Kujet", who was a sage from the Zeffo people who are an ancient, mysteriously vanished people from the video game Jedi: Fallen Order and Kujet specifically has ties to having a great amount of power on Dathomir in some form. It's very tempting to want to take this and think that Filoni is going to build something major out of these connections and I'm saying, we have got to have learned our lesson by this point. Filoni does not care about the supplementary material, nothing in this series or his episode of The Mandalorian or The Book of Boba Fett or even particularly any of his TCW/Rebels work have born this kind of connectivity out. He likes to include things, like there's an almost-nod to Revan in TCW, but it's not meant to go anywhere, it's just cool. The recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series included a planet named Jabiim, which was a significant planet with an important story in the Legends Clone Wars era, but within the show, that connection does not affect anything, it's just the name of a planet, a cool nod. Hell, I wouldn't even necessarily put money that Filoni himself chose the nod to Kujo/the Zeffo/JFO, it could have been a set designer who was frantically looking up anything to do with Dathomir on Wikipedia and thought it would be a cool easter egg to put in there. Or maybe it was Filoni, it's not impossible that this is a deliberate signpost to where this is going! But I think looking at the established patterns of these shows and how little these easter eggs have ever born real fruit and temper our expectations. Go wild with the speculation, that's great! But Star Wars is not laying out a roadmap where you can find the clues and guess the ending by the easter eggs, they're fun little discoveries, but I don't believe for a single solitary second that Felony is counting on us to pick up on the clues to put together a strong case for worldbuilding. And I'm not saying this to be a pill about it, either! I just think we'll build more satisfying theories if we understand that the source material itself isn't always going to build up the way we wish it would, that instead we'll have more fun if we treat these as extra bonuses, rather than the real foundation of what the "lore" of Star Wars is!

[candycorncrave]

So. Let's talk about Penacony and birds.

-Spoilers for the 2.1 quest (and possibly some of 2.2 if my theories and findings are correct)

Hey all! I'm not too good at starting these essay type things, so we're just gonna dive right in. Disclaimer, these are all just theories complied from random (not very in depth) research I did, and my own thoughts, so take it all with a grain of salt. I just wanted to put this out here for funsies!

With that out of the way, let's dive in!

From very early on into the Penacony quests, there was something that just kept nagging at me. Robin's name, (mixed with the fact that shes a singer.) The family's crest being a Nightingale. Aventurine's design very clearly representing a peacock. Ratio's owls.

There were just too many bird references for this all to be a coincidence, so I decided to do some research on bird symbolism and meaning.

And here are some very interesting things I found!

Now a lot of this is quite clear cut, so I won't go into alot of explanation, but I do find the "rebirth" part quite interesting, especially since it is hinted during the 2.1 quest that she came back from "death".

Let's start with Robin, since she's one of the more obvious ones: "Above all, the robin red-breast is a symbol of spring song and good fortune. Additionally, it also symbolises passion, a new beginning, and re-birth. Therefore, if the bird flies into your life you will be blessed with happiness and joy. Subsequently, most of the symbolism of robins is centred on their spiritual meaning which is believed to be a symbol of divine sacrifice." In native American culture, Robins also have strong ties with family and "heart centered connections."

Next up are Owls: Now this one is also pretty obvious. Dr Ratio's design has very heavy Greek inspiration, and owls in Greek mythology are very clearly tied with Athena, knowledge, and wisdom.

The thing I found interesting about this was all over Sunday's mansion, there are owls decorating a lot of the furniture. Could this have been foreshadowing for his "betrayal" and assisting Sunday? I'm not sure. In my opinion, that seems like quite a length to go to mislead players- especially since it's such a niche detail that most people probably won't think twice about. Maybe it will have more meaning in 2.2. Guess we'll wait and see!

3rd, Another obvious one, Black Swan: They symbolize the opposite of what the white swan does, naturally, so death, danger, destruction, suffering, chaos, mystery, etc.

Even more than that though, "The black swan theory of events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight."

Another one I don't feel the need to dig that deep into. It all pretty much checks out with what we've seen of her character and the events of the story so far. Black Swan is a scary lady....

4th, Let's talk about Peacocks: Now we all know peacocks are commonly associated with general wealth, pride, and flamboyance. I thought that was all there really was to it being such a big contributor to Aventurine's design. But I decided to dig a little deeper and. Oh boy.

Peacocks can also symbolize both death, and life. Now at face value this is quite contrasting, but when you apply it to Adventurine's character- it makes quite a lot of sense. A single coin flip between life and death that keeps landing face up, and yet, it's a gamble he never hesitates to make. Moreso, peacocks can symbolize the freedom and liberation of the soul. (OUCH)

And Let's finish off the doozy. Nightingales: The symbol of the family and the bird constantly following Sunday around and watching everything the entire quest without a sound.

"Nightingales are symbolic of beauty, melody, creativity, purity, and the expression of oneself freely. They are also symbolic of darkness, mysticism, spiritual awakening, and renewal."

Now I found that the latter is often meant when you see a nightingale in your dreams. It is also mentioned if they do not speak back to you in a dream you will soon be betrayed.

,,,, How intriguing.

Also intriguing, Bloodhounds are very well known to be hunting dogs, and birds are prey for dogs.

And speaking of prey,,, are fish not considered birds' prey? And Sparkle, who we see fish around every time she shows up, was the "victim" in Black Swan's quest.

Anyways. I could be grasping at straws with that last part, but I do feel there is alot of stuff going on here with animal symbolism, especially more to dig into with Gallagher and Sparkle. It's all very intriguing

If you read all this here's a cookie! 🍪 Thanks for your time :) I hope you enjoyed the ramblings of a madman. Please feel free to add anything or comment your thoughts! I'd love to discuss

[weightedblankettt]

An Analysis on the Literature Girl Insane MV!

Hey! You might not know me that much, as I’m not active in the DRDTheory community, as I’ve dubbed it, but my name is Blanket! Technically, this is a work of collaboration between the majority of DRDT Twitter, but it’s mainly just an analysis of stuff I couldn’t do by myself.

Okay, and now, onto the video!

So we start off with the spoiler warning. Pretty standard stuff, of course.

Many of my theories beginning here will be based on the colors and what I, personally, associate them with. Of course, the actual MV’s contents will be looked at further down the line. 

As a bonus, take note of what pops up right after that. It’s a question: Do you want to forgive... someone? We’ll answer this question later on in the theories section.

These are mainly just lyrics, but the “final verdict” part catches my eye, as I believe it isn’t in the lyrics further down the line. Perhaps it’s about the current trial? As many people believe, David did not kill Arei. His reasons for lying about doing so are unknown, but we can assume that the singer is calling the listeners idiots, because of their incorrect final verdict. Whatever David wants to do, it’s certainly not leading them to the right one.

Next, these lyrics. While I believe it’s fairly obvious that the pink is meant to represent the typical Danganronpa-esque color of their blood, the color that the word “game” is in is probably relates to David. After all, his hair clips and star eyes, both prominent features of his “facade”, are in the same color.

Here is where the most prominent part of the MV is, to me. The text that flashes across the screen during transition points. The first one, in white text, is an excerpt from Osamu Dazai’s “The Flowers of Buffoonery.” The book, while I’ll spare you the greater details, greatly describes themes of suicide. The story’s main protagonist, Yozo Oba, can be described as so: “-But the narrator, a self-conscious writer, makes frequent first-person asides, breaking the fourth wall as he comments on the quality or believability of the novel he is writing.” 

Something especially telling is this line, from an analysis of Yozo’s character. “Yozo is a person characterized by shame. Although I pretend to be someone who is confident and unabashedly themselves, that is not really true. I have always been ashamed of who I really am. I created a whole persona to interact with others because I believed my true self would never be enough.”

David’s character is someone very similar to that. Someone who has created a false persona to interact with others. Yozo is someone who feels resentful of other people, simply because he is forced to make them happy. “Yozo Oba is the tortured author and unreliable narrator of the three notebooks that comprise the bulk of No Longer Human. [That is the sequel to The Flowers of Buffoonery.] His appearance is depicted in three photographs examined by an unnamed narrator in the Prologue. These three photographs correspond to his appearance in each of the three notebooks. As a child, Yozo is precocious by design—an impish child who uses his antics to hide his fear, shame, and inability to relate to humanity. These fundamental flaws carry over into young adulthood; in the second notebook, he is a handsome young man whose smiling photograph lacks humanity, betraying the depth of terror and isolation that his comical persona seeks to hide. In the third photograph and notebook, he is only 27, but his gray hair and forgettable appearance prevent him from being labeled an ordinary human being.”

The quotes in yellow are from Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express.” The full quote reads as follows. "If you confront anyone who has lied with the truth, they usually admit it – often out of sheer surprise. It is only necessary to guess right to produce your effect." I think the relevancy of this line in terms of David can be explained with his actions so far. Fun fact: Similarly to Danganronpa, “Murder on the Orient Express” is a murder mystery. 

This is just a rickroll. DRDTDev thinks that they are FUNNY!? (They are.)

The “an archaic personal pronoun rarely used in real life, but popularized in fiction by the book” is most likely referring to thou/thy/etc. I’m not sure what this correlates to, but it’s probably important. I couldn’t find the green text, but from what I can tell, the green text probably relates to David’s nihilistic point of view towards humanity. Update: Bleuflower on Tumblr has located the source to be I Am A Cat by Natsume Soseki, so go check her out for that! If I had to say anything about that, it’d probably be relating to MonoTV, however, there’s also a continuation of David’s nihilism towards humanity that was also found in the Osamu Dazai references. The book itself is described as a “mordantly comic evocation of Sōseki's deep pessimism about his own humanity and indeed about humankind in general.”

The white text here is an excerpt from Osamu Dazai’s “No Longer Human,” which follows the same protagonist as “The Flowers of Buffoonery.” I’m sure you can all gather what that means in relation to David, but the main point is that he seems detached from his view of “normalcy.” @shidoutism on Twitter had this to say, as they’ve read the book itself: “OKOK so basically this first excerpt is from 'no longer human' by osamu dazai (its his last finished work because dazai sadly took his own life after publication of the book) now from the limited knowledge i have of david the meaning and message of the book might help in whatever analysis ur doing?? no longer human is about a man who never felt like he understood humans. like the title suggests, he never felt like a person. its revealed the protag was pretty sheltered and rich in childhood but experienced trauma from the familys housekeepers, but he never reported it. thats basically the start of it all as the protag grows up, he finds fear in communicating with humans. so he ends up either isolating himself and/or destroying all of his relationships with people. he's scared of people seeing the real him, so ever since he was a child he started putting up a happy, cheerful front. but it just creeped some ppl out bc it didn't feel genuine, it was more like a clown wanting to so badly entertain others. the protag starts resorting to bad coping mechanisms such as dr/gs and alc/hol and has many relationships with women to drown his sorrows and feel closer to being 'a human'. aaand the end of the book is kinda unsettling as the protag is sent to a rehab center and then when released, isolated himself somewhere far away without people, stating "everything passes. thats the one thing i learned in this living hell [somewhere along those lines]" and the book ends numbly like it feels like nothing”

I don’t know about you, but this sounds rather similar to our “protagonist.”

This quote is from “The Setting Sun”, by, you guessed it, Osamu Dazai. It tells a similar story, albeit with a different protagonist, but I feel like this ties in more with his facade, and how his inspirational speaking comes off to other people. Considering he is in his facade at this time of the MV, it’s safe to say that that’s what this is referring to.

And now, this all falls into place. These are the names of the Osamu Dazai books referenced in the text beforehand. The (I’m), next to No Longer Human, however, could signify how David views himself. Someone so sunken into depravity that they don’t register themselves as human anymore.

The faded text here is the first sentence of Yasunari Kawabata’s “Snow Country”. I don’t know what this refers to in terms of David, but this also seems important.

David still views himself as manipulative. Even if he does love people, even if he does have a semblance of care for those in his life, he views himself as an evil, irredeemable sack of shit, incapable of any emotion other than selfishness and cruelty.

This part is especially intriguing to me. David still wants to live, as anyone else does, but he can’t bring himself to find a reason to leave. His career is dead. He’s worthless, and nobody needs him around. Where would he go? There’s no room for him anywhere, even if he escaped, he’d just be shunned for good now that his entire life has been thrown away. 

The excerpt from “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, describes someone losing motivation to leave the island. The island is a metaphor for the building, that the students are trapped inside, and David has lost the will to leave in the first place. He doesn’t want to leave, because there’s nowhere else for him to even go. He doesn’t have a home. He doesn’t have a fanbase. There’s nothing left.

The text here reads: “If you’re Hythlodaeus, then I must be Morus.” This refers to the work “Utopia”, written by Thomas More. The book follows Raphael Hythlodaeus, a man who claims to be from Utopia, a perfect place for everyone. His surname quite literally means “Bringer of Nonsense,” or something along those lines. While this may be a stretch, I believe that “Hythlodaeus” is referring to Pre-Reveal David, and “Morus” could possibly be either Post-Reveal David or someone affected by his speeches, for example Xander.

Also, I find it interesting how the girl in this frame, most likely David’s “sister,” Diana, and David himself are both tilting their heads at similar angles. It’s possible that their relation is hinted at through this, but I’m not sure.

The excerpt right here is from Kajii Motojiro’s entry in the Kyoto Journal, entitled “Lemon”. While some of the text has been altered, the main story is about a man who finds himself suffering, and walks through his neighbourhood only to find a greengrocer selling lemons. He goes home, and finds himself happier than before. I’m not sure what this means when it comes to David, however if you’d like, you can analyze for yourself and let me know.

https://www.kyotojournal.org/fiction-poetry/lemon/

This part doesn’t have any external references, but I believe that the lyrics here reinforce David’s worldview, that no matter what you do and how hard you try, “nobody ever changes.”

The star imagery here is a direct reference to David. Stars are representative of his happy facade, and when he loses the stars, he quits the bullshit. 

…And this frame. Alright, let’s start from the top. The electrocution definition is a callback to Xander, who’s referenced quite a few times in the video. The yellow text, which is from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince”, is possibly a reference to David’s view on other people or himself- That nobody is special unless you were born special. However, the end of the text describes that if the boy were to tame the fox, the speaker, that they would need each other. I’m not sure if this is a description of manipulation, or a codependent relationship, but the David parallels are there. That, and the title of a “little prince” probably refers to David and how he’s idolized by many. The green text is, again, from “The Flowers of Buffoonery.” The full text is as follows. “A man crushed by reality puts on a show of endurance. If that's beyond your comprehension, dear reader, then you and I will never understand each other. Life's a farce, so we might as well make it a good one. But real life is a realm that I may never reach. The best that I can hope for is to loiter in the memory of these four days, so steeped with empathy. Four days that count more than

five or ten years of my life. Four days that count more than a lifetime.”

In reference to David, this is more representative of his true feelings. Not the asshole persona or the facade, but the genuine feelings he has. He already feels far too gone by his own standards, and constantly puts on a “show” for other people in the form of his speeches. 

The red text is possibly a person dealing with depression speaking on one of their symptoms. There’s no way I could find a source for such a short quote. A common symptom of depression is losing interest in things you previously found enjoyable.

The white text on the side describes someone who finds pleasure in solitude as opposed to being bossed around by other people. It’s a reference to David’s backstory, as someone who was pressured into putting on a performance for others, finding comfort in being alone rather than having to play pretend whenever around other people.

The white text at the bottom is a continuation of the white text at the top.

The only theory I can think of for this is that it’s a foreshadowing to either gaps in their memory or the amount of survivors left in the killing game being four. Not sure.

Update: I don’t know how I missed this, but the “11” next to the suspicious gaps refers to this. It’s possible that the suspicious gaps are gaps in their memory now, being as he doesn’t remember having an older sister, but her existence is most likely confirmed, as we saw her. 

This part here is referring to “Catch 22,” when the main character realizes that without a soul, humans are just… matter, if you will. Empty husks.

For this part, I had to call upon my not-so-trustworthy old friend, Google Translate! The translation of this from Latin is “I think, therefore I am (not.)” That’s what makes the most sense to me. We’ll refer back to this part later, for I have a different intention for it in my mind than David himself.

The dark blue text is another excerpt from “The Little Prince.” The prince in question is talking to a castaway, and the main takeaway of his words is that only your heart can tell you what you really need. If you were to simply look with your eyes, then what you truly need would be drowned out by the blinding light of superficial desires. I’m pretty sure that’s what that means. David is looking through his eyes, seeing a cruel world where nobody changes unless they were born to.

Now, let’s get into the next big part of the MV: The crossword puzzle. You might be wondering how this relates to David, but its moreso his own commentary on his classmates. Let’s go back to the latin. Pay attention to this reference of the solved crossword by raspbeyes on Tumblr. It will be very important for you to follow along.

Notice how there’s roman numerals in some of David’s lyrics? For example, this that we established earlier meant “I think therefore I am (not.)” This is referring to Rose. Her photographic memory can be linked to the description of “thinking.” The context of this may become clearer in future parts of the story. 

III. That’s Charles. “If you doubt brittle things are broken.” Is, in my mind, referring to his memories. He has a recurring element of not remembering things, but he doesn’t seem to be aware of this until Chapter 2. For example, his secret- “Your older brother died, but you don’t remember him at all.”

IV. Arei. Her breakdown sequence should be all you need to associate this with her.

V. This is Ace. He’s going insane, obviously, because of the paranoia and failed murder attempt against him. That, and he’s become more disheveled as the game progressed.

XIV. Veronika, correct? Substance to the arts relates to her talent as a Horror Fanatic. Naturally, she’d be related to things like that.

XV. Whit’s refusal to accept his mother’s death, staying ignorant to the tragedies around him, is one of the “happiest” members of the cast.

XI. Mai Akasaki is not mentioned in the current story, and all of her quotes hidden amongst the cast members describe her in past tense. She was someone everyone viewed as reliable, trustworthy, and perhaps, if you exaggerated it, as God.

These two walls of text are both from the same source: Hamlet’s Solliloquy of “To Be, or Not to Be?”

This is what the thing actually means, in case you aren’t aware, which even I wasn’t until just now. It represents David’s suicidal ideology, from what we can assume with the way he’s trying to get everyone to vote wrong in the trial for Arei, quite well. Whether he wants to live, or die, is most likely a constant struggle for David to answer.

Which is why he leaves it up to… whoever can answer.

This is an absolute reference to the trial. The class trial rules are overlaid over the death portrait texture, which is “conveniently” covering David’s face. The seventeen here is also telling, considering what the description has to say about it!

This is what I believe is David’s end goal. To get everyone executed as a result of his own hopelessness. By pretending to be the killer and antagonizing the class, he believes he can easily sway the votes by “manipulating the public” as he always believes he’s done. By getting everyone to vote for him, he can end the killing game and his own “pathetic life” in one fell swoop.

After all, it’s not like he believes they have a chance of winning and escaping in the first place.

And here, is where we left off in Episode 11. David completely drops his facade in order to effectively kill himself, along with everyone else. After realizing the hopelessness of his situation, he makes a drastic turn to accept it readily. Someone who self-sabotages continues to do so because they develop a warped perspective of having control.

And again referring to the description, the 12 near the “Tallying Votes” caption refers to this. It’s David’s way of justifying his selfishness, with a diluted form of justice serving as an “ultimately fair verdict to the trial.” 

However, David has always wanted to be loved. It’s why he even bothers with his facade, because he’s been putting it up for so long that disregarding his persona would effectively ruin everything he’s worked so hard to maintain in the first place. The repeated imagery of applause could also be a callback to his status as a celebrity, especially with how he reacted to Xander and Arei’s reliance on him.

While this does have a small fade of text pointing out that the “degraded copy” is the cover, which is not true because the MV is amazing, but. I believe this–

Oh. That’s literally it. Well, that makes one mystery solved!

Hey, look, we’re already halfway through! nice! Eden’s optimistic personality can be referenced here. She wants to live with everyone, together, and make sure that nobody gets hurt. 

This is another reference to David’s rambling on about how attempting to change is utterly futile, and that nobody changes. 

The yellow text is the definition of a television show, I believe. The blue text is an excerpt from “And Then There Were None,” by Agatha Christie. The full quote is this: “Breakfast was a curious meal. Everyone was very polite…. Six people, all outwardly self-possessed and normal. And within? Thoughts that ran round in a circle like squirrels in a cage…. ‘What next? What next? Who? Which?’...” …Do you get it? It’s a parallel to the killing game. Or, rather, how David views it. Everyone is terrified and scared for their lives, but they still greet eachother with mock kindness.

The blue text on the side is an excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”, and it goes like this: “I am in blood / Stepped in so far, that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” A critical analysis of the original work reads as follows: Shakespeare is saying here that Macbeth has involved himself in so many murders that it is as easy for him to carry on than to turn back. Macbeth compares his course of action with wading across a river of blood, creating a vivid image of his bloody reign. The word 'tedious' reveals the hardening of Macbeth's heart.

And now, the moment I’m sure most of you have been waiting for. Xander. Something I took notice of was that the cracks line up directly with his left eye, while his right eye is the one that’s actually missing in the game. Nonetheless, Xander clearly did mean something to David. Whether it be through his idolization of David, or if he inspired David in some way, his death had an impact on him. Manipulative persona or not. 

XVI translates to Hu from the crossword puzzle. He’s taunting her, similarly to how he did in the trial, although the ??? makes me wonder if it actually IS David…

XII, that’s Eden. I assume it’s because of her optimistic persona that she is standing in someone’s way, although we’re not sure who. 

For the next part, let’s say we take this at face value. It could definitely be referencing David allegedly pushing Arei to commit suicide, although this could also be something he internalizes, with the themes of suicide and wishing to be dead explored previously.

These are all repeats of the previous works included in the MV, like The Little Prince, Ozamu Dazai’s series, Agatha Christie’s works, etc etc.

Now, this is code, I’m assuming, but I tried translating it and couldn’t find anything. It’s a common encryption language. In case you want to translate it, it’s: 3aqxw97pktc8uki458fbdpfoacllex2f07bf8mg24b4mpfx2adc6v3f5yhxjd8i7sf11312zaj5lazet47jod5jczec5mvb6bz2o59r143sf2pe916sczcn7emvbl55ehe9iqb2708tt83482c8tw3c77gn47ojca634gbcfz0016s647wwlakcn46brcle0eam9

NOTE: @glorywelpchild on Twitter says… “For this, it may have been encrypted multiple times by different engines? I'm not a programmer so I'm not really familiar lmao. Another thing, it could be a type of programming the dev knows/commonly uses.”

The VI here is Arturo, but I don’t know what this means. Perhaps the description can give us some insight?

Hmm… Well, I don’t mind. Whatever you say.

Nico’s number is VIII, and this is referring to the defense they put up when asked about their intentions against Ace’s life. They claim they never thought about it, and “even if they try to think, they don’t know.”

This is Levi’s, as per the IX. 

I actually managed to find the original image in the background. It’s a study on Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9’s orbit around Jupiter for several years before crashing into the planet. While the name, Shoemaker Levy, may be a play on Levi’s name, I believe this is also referencing that he may die soon. Maybe this is a stretch, but the symbolism of a comet named “Shoemaker Levy” crashing into Jupiter being right under a symbol that represents Levi, our prime suspect in a game where being caught results in death, is too far to be a coincidence. Part of my theory for Chapter 2 is that Levi is the blackened, after all, but that is in a previous post. Nonetheless, we can move on.

This is “Enterance of the Gladiators.” While it is now associated with silly things like clowns, it was originally a military march song. Hmm, where have I heard this description before?

Ah, that’s right! In the description!

These two are relatively straightforward. The David we meet in the prologue is his facade, and it serves as an introduction. However, we are re-introduced to him with a whole personality change, and that comes delayed from all the others.

This is a direct reference to MonoTV and the throne in the trial room.

The truth bullets. Typical Danganronpa symbolism, and it’s also a neat little reference to Xander’s custom weapon.

References to some of the students. The dresser is Levi, the bowl of fruit is Rose, the gun is Xander, the teapot is Hu, and the candle is maybe J?

The clock is Eden, the portrait, maybe a reference to the game? The stupid kid’s toy might be Whit.

Teruko and Mai. Teruko’s misfortune and Mai’s idealization are both key parts of their characters.

The gavel, another reference. The kitchen knife, Min. The skull, Veronika. The mirror… Possibly Xander because we’ve seen him with broken glass earlier in the MV, but it might be David and his personas making another reference.

The mastermind, sitting atop their comfortable chair.

The noose is Arei, the gas mask is Charles, the mouse is Nico, the theater mask… Perhaps the mastermind again, or Veronika again. The safe is David’s locked away and suppressed emotions. These are all mainly theories based on observation, don’t take it as the wholehearted truth.

David being mentioned again with the hair clips. The lemon has been brought up beforehand, it’s a callback to the journal entry. The dummies represent David’s detachment from his humanity, and the television is a callback to the fact that they’re on a television show.

David views himself as a snake, a liar, a murderer. Snakes are common imagery to use when referring to the Devil as well. The blood is a callback to the killing game itself.

Either a reference to Min, or the fact that all the books are empty could be visual dramatization of David’s feelings. There’s supposed to be something in them, but the books are empty. The “various kinds” could also be how many personas he puts on, if that’s a prominent part of his backstory.

The killing game is being broadcasted, so that counts as terrorist iconography, if nothing else. Dandelions, while beautiful in their own way, don’t belong in a garden. The megaphone is David’s custom weapon, and it’s a way for him to broadcast his speeches to those around the world.

The letters are from the joke comic that the dev released. You know the one, where Xander writes a letter for David and he accidentally throws it away thinking that it’s garbage. The popular toy refers to the commercializing of the Tragedy, as Veronika explained on the first day of Chapter 2. How horror movies will put black-and-white designs in their films to up the fear factor because of the subliminal/primal fear of the design back in the days of the Tragedy. The flowers… No idea.

This is cleverly disguised, but it’s a reference to the debate between continuing to live and killing yourself. To be or not to be, to stop or to keep going, but they’re both lit up. How are you to do both at the same time? You have to make a choice.

Main Roles are David and Xander. It makes sense, considering they both have full-body moments and we know who they are. The crossed out name is Mai Akasaki, but the cut off name is a bit harder to decipher. Thanks to some inspiration and help, I’ve come to my final conclusion regarding this.

They are related to Arei, 100%. The letters match perfectly.

Even in comparison to Arei, the “N” in her name starts only a bit earlier, but that’s because the first word is probably only two or three letters, in comparison to the four letters in Arei.

Originally, I couldn’t translate any of these. All I could make out was that the first hand was Xander and the second hand was Min or Mai. However. @MAHIRUMILGRAM on twitter managed to translate them! They are as follows:

After this point, the truth bullet breaks through David’s words, similarly to how Teruko is fighting against David, despite the truth bullet being in agreement towards David’s idea.

There’s also this, which could be David trying to deflect us from the truth, or that the lyrics genuinely don’t relate to him. I’m leaning towards the former.

The white text at the top here is from a story, entitled “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” It is about a beautiful city where everyone is happy. However, their city is not as beautiful as it seems. They tell the story of how the townspeople have locked a child in a basement, and left it to suffer. Their happiness, as they’ve been told, requires a sacrifice. “Inside the room, which is behind a locked door, there are a couple of dirty mops, a bucket, and a young child. The child is ten years old, but looks younger. The child is scared and completely miserable. It is never allowed to leave the room. Occasionally, someone opens the door and kicks the child to make it stand up. The person fills the food bowl halfway with corn meal and grease, fills the water jug, and leaves. The child can remember what the outside world looks like and begs and pleads to be let out. The child is naked and covered in sores, and it wails at night in its misery. The people of Omelas all know about the child in the basement. They all understand that everything good about Omelas, from their abundance of food to the good weather, depends upon the suffering of the child. They all understand this because when children are between the ages of eight and twelve, they are brought to see the child, and this tradeoff is explained to them. During this experience, the children of Omelas are disgusted. They want to help, but they are told they can’t. If anyone helps the child by clothing, feeding, or otherwise caring for it, then the perfect happiness of Omelas and its abundance would die. Therefore, no one may even speak kindly to the child.” I wanted to include this because it describes David so well. Someone who has been cast away because they’re deemed useless to society, someone who’s happiness would destroy the happiness of anyone else. I find the story truly fascinating, as it might describe David’s suppressed emotions and the depressive tendencies he indulges himself in.

“Their tears at the bitter injustice dry when they begin to perceive the terrible justice of reality, and to accept it. Yet it is their tears and anger, the trying of their generosity and the acceptance of their helplessness, which are perhaps the true source of the splendor of their lives. Theirs is no vapid, irresponsible happiness. They know that they, like the child, are not free.”

“How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was—such was the effect of them; and yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth [alēthēs]. But many as their falsehoods were, there was one of them which quite amazed me—I mean when they told you to be upon your guard, and not to let yourselves be deceived by the force of my eloquence. They ought to have been ashamed of saying this, because they were sure to be detected as soon as I opened my lips and displayed my deficiency; they certainly did appear to be most shameless in saying this, unless by the force of eloquence they mean the force of truth [alēthēs]; for then I do indeed admit that I am eloquent. But in how different a way from theirs! Well, as I was saying, they have hardly uttered a word, or not more than a word, of truth [alēthēs]; but you shall hear from me the whole truth [alēthēs]: not, however, delivered after their manner, in a set oration duly ornamented with words and phrases.”

Do you remember, in the prologue, where Xander describes the “rumors” against David’s positive front? This is a direct parallel. Here, Socrates denounces the words of his attackers, similarly to how nobody truly believes the rumors except for the critics themselves. Even Xander was fooled by his charisma.

“Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet: If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away, And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes, 240 Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it. Who does it, then? His madness: if't be so, Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd; His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.”

Hamlet blames his own insanity for the death of Laertes’ father. Just like David tries to get everyone killed, and blames himself for murdering Arei, because of his own insanity.

This is a line from the poem “Be Not Defeated by The Rain,” by Kenji Miyazawa. It describes a man wishing to become someone strong, someone who cannot be bested. I believe this is exactly what David wants, too. To be as strong and as hopeful as he is forced to pretend to be, instead of a hopeless mess who would rather die than be seen as worthless.

David reaches the height of his insanity, before finally quieting down after being basked in green light. I don’t know if this was intentional, but I believe that it represents how he’s given up on even death after the students manage to vote correctly, hence the green coloring.

And now, number 19.

I severely doubt that David will actually die in Chapter 3. That is not “foreshadowing,” that is just giving out the answer, and DRDTDev is much more careful than that. I believe this is a final representation of David’s suicidal ideologies. He says he will forget, he says guilt will not weigh him down, but he’s lying to himself. That’s why the stars are still behind him, because he’s still lying. He says he is satisfied, he says he’s okay with death, but when has David ever been truthful with us?

And he leaves an empty throne behind. Not because he is dead, but because he has relinquished his career and his reputation for nothing.

Even though he is missing, nothing else has changed. That is how he views his life.

And that concludes the main analysis of David’s MV! It’s such a beautiful thing, really, I don’t know how to phrase any of it properly. Thank you to everyone who’s read this far, and everyone who helped me out. The decoding and puzzles? Ah, I’ll let you all do that… But, maybe I can help a little! Blanket, out~! See you all next time!

[pinkeoni]

What Exactly Do I Mean When I Say "Will is Jesus Christ?"

(or Why Will is the Chosen One)

Do I mean that Will is actually the second coming of Christ? Well, no, at least not in a literal sense. All I mean to say by this is that—

Will is the chosen one, and he is the hero of the story who is meant to save the world from the apocalypse.

Apocalypse imagery and references to Revelations is all over the place in season 4. The four victims representing the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Henry "One" effectively being a God-like figure, references to Revelations 1:8 regarding Henry, hell I'll go as far to say that Robin playing the trumpet at the beginning of the season is a nod to the sound of trumpets that is meant to signal the beginning of the apocalypse.

The important thing about Revelations being that at the end of the day, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the chosen one, saves the day.

This really robust old post that I made, which was also one of my first theory posts, goes into detail on how Will fits the criteria of a Christ-figure, or a figure in literature or media that is allegorical to Jesus Christ. Will's biggest piece of evidence being his full on burial and resurrection in the first season.

If I'm talking about Christ-figures in the show then I should probably talk about El, who admittedly has much more in your face Christ-coding than Will does. Walking on water, performance of miracles, the mother who got pregnant out of strange circumstances, along with her own resurrection and so-on.

So then, if El clearly has more Christ-coding than Will, why am I placing the title of Jesus onto Will? Is it just because I like him more than El? Is it because I see Will as a more important character than El?

Just as a general disclaimer, I will admit that I do have a major Will bias, anyone who follows me knows that. He's been my favorite character since I first watched the show. Although, my labeling of him as the chosen one has nothing to do a dislike of El or a belief that she is not an important character. I love El, and it's plain to everyone that watches the show how important she is. However, I just don't believe that the chosen one who saves the day is what her arc is building towards.

They've been building up El's chosen one status while also quietly breaking it down in the background, in the same way that they've quietly been leaving bread crumbs pointing toward Will's Christ status while also seemingly suggesting that he isn't that important of a character. Why have a character tell El that she's "the cure," then make a point that she loses against Henry at the end of the season? Why sideline Will for the past two seasons, but throw in lines of dialogue pointing toward his involvement with the Upside Down?

What I believe they are going for is a classic bait-and-switch to subvert expectations in the final season. Lead the audience to believe one thing, while still leaving clues to suggest the other so that when the twist is revealed it doesn't come out of nowhere.

So what is El's arc actually about? I won't deny El's role in the final battle of the show, it's not like she's going to be completely sidelined, but I don't think that her saving the world on her own while everyone else watches is what her arc is building towards. The real core of her arc is El discovering who she is as a girl, rather than becoming a superhero.

I actually made a post awhile ago talking about El’s monster/superhero dichotomy, and it’s actually incredibly important to my argument. The post itself is more in depth, but tl:dr: El believes that she can either be a superhero or a monster, and bases her worth on her ability to save the world and others, an unfair expectation to place onto one girl.

If at the end of the season, El single-handedly saves the entire world, wouldn’t it feel counterintuitive to her arc? She needs to learn that her self worth doesn’t rely on her ability to save the world, and if she ends the show this way, it wouldn’t create a solution for her cyclical train of thought.

Furthermore, wouldn’t this ending be a bit expected, and even boring? This is what El has been doing for the past four seasons of the show. Continuing that pattern would only feel anticlimactic. From a writer’s pov, if you wanted the ending of you show to be dynamic and interesting, you would want to do something new.

So why do I think that Will is the chosen one?

It’s not like I’m pulling the chosen-one-Jesus-Christ label out of my ass just because I like Will. I actually do have many reasons to believe this.

The first one is the confirmation that Will is going to be a big part and focus for next season. It’s been theorized that this means Will is going to become a villian, and while I do love a good Will villian AU, there are many reasons I could list off as to why he wouldn’t become a villian. Without going into it all right now, let’s just say that it would not only go against what Will stands for, but also what the show itself stands for.

Even in show, we have signs pointing toward Will’s chosen status. Let’s start with the fact that Will is the one who kicks the entire show off in the first place, when he is taken by who we later learn to be Henry. Now, this could have just been wrong-place-wrong-time kind of thing, but given how much has been revealed has actually been part of a larger plan constructed by Henry, I highly doubt that mere coincidence is the case.

Let’s look at some more evidence within the fourth season. Let’s talk about the fact that, despite not even being present in Hawkins and gone for much of the supernatural action, Will is still being brought up by name and even implicated in the strangeness of the Upside Down.

Do I think Will is gonna solo-kill Vecna in the climax of the show? Chosen one doesn’t mean only one. No, despite all my rambling about El not being the hero, I’m not gonna deny her importance to the supernatural plot. I think something else the show keeps building upon is the importance of support from friends and family— saving the world is likely gonna be a group effort. I do think, however, that Will possesses some kind of unique ability that is going to be crucial to winning.

What would being the hero mean for Will’s arc? Well, it would give him a sense of control that he hasn’t had before. Will has had a lot of agency and autonomy ripped from him in past seasons, and this would be his way of reclaiming that. It would be the perfect subversion of expectations as well. The character that everyone expects to be just the helpless victim, or hell even the villian, is the one who rises to become the hero who saves the day in his own way.

[cccat-in-a-meat-sack]

Masterlist of information and resources for dissociative disorders, including dissociative amnesia, depersonalization-derealization disorder, and dissociative identity disorder (+ subtypes)

**THESE RESOURCES AND INFORMATION ARE NOT TO BE USED TO SELF-DX YOURSELF. THESE ARE MEANT TO BE A STARTING POINT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DISORDERS. IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU MIGHT HAVE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING, DO MORE RESEARCH ON YOUR OWN. AND IF YOU CAN, SEE AND TALK TO A PROFESSIONAL. FURTHERMORE, I CAN BE WRONG! THESE ARTICLES CAN BE WRONG! YOU CAN SEND US ARTICLES/PAPERS ON ANYTHING HERE TO CORRECT US, AS LONG AS IT IS NOT A CARRD OR SOMETHING ALONG THOSE LINES. THIS IS A STARTING POINT, A LAUNCHPAD IF YOU WILL, NOT THE FINISH LINE. **

I would also like to remind you that all systems are different. Systemhood is a spectrum, and you will see this in multiple articles on this masterlist.

Many of these articles come from did-research.org. If anyone has any other articles or papers for any of the following topics, please either dm me or send an ask. Do not reblog/comment with the article/paper.

**Some links may contain mentions of cult abuse and/or ritual abuse. This will be mostly in the polyfragmented area of this masterlist.

An overview of dissociative disorders

Resources for dissociative disorders

Expert questions and answers (the switching one in this is not very accurate, I touched on it more in the DID portion of this masterlist)

What causes dissociation (focuses more on DID but still important. please note that it's very long and wordy.)

6 DID myths (another long and wordy one. touches on the following: the belief that DID is a “fad”, the belief that DID is primarily diagnosed in North America by DID experts who overdiagnose the disorder, the belief that DID is rare, the belief that DID is an iatrogenic disorder rather than a trauma-based disorder, the belief that DID is the same entity as borderline personality disorder, and the belief that DID treatment is harmful to patients. Iatrogenic, in this instance, means "induced in a patient by the treatment or comments of a physician" according to the National Institutes of Health)

7 DID myths (easier to read, and covers different topics. Confirms there is not a limit to how many alters a system can have.)

Even more DID myths (NOTE. This article will say that different alters can have their own mental health issues. Please refer to "Can alters have different disorders than the body?" in the Dissociative Identity Disorder section of this post.)

You can find the start of the DSM-5 information on dissociative disorders here, page 336

A quick overview of Dissociative Disorders (this one has OSDD and subtypes)

DISSOCIATIVE AMNESIA:

What it is + cases/examples

More information, explanations of treatment, and other important Q&A's

Other information (basically a summary of the above two, but might be a little easier to read)

Amnesia in Dissociative Amnesia

More types of Amnesia in Dissociative Amnesia

DEPERSONALIZATION-DEREALIZATION DISORDER:

Causes, Symptoms, and more

Living with the disorder, treatment, diagnosis, and more (the overview/symptoms and causes isn't entirely accurate, but still provides a baseline)

A more compact version of the above two (but less in-depth)

An easier to read version of the above two (least in depth but covers the basics)

The most in depth (but also hardest to read and contains a lot of long words and sentences without a lot of breaks. tiny font too)

DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER:

Overview of DID

What causes DID? (scroll down to "Risk Factors")

What causes DID? (part 2)

The Theory of Structural Dissociation (the very long and complicated version)

The Theory of Structural Dissociation

Problems with the Theory of Structural Dissociation

What are alters?

Different types of alters (This one goes into detail not only about what alters are, but different types of them and how they help the body/mind. There is some misinformation sprinkled within, so don't take anything as a total fact until you do further research.)

Different types of alters (this one is easier to read and created by a system who is/was in therapy. I am uncertain if the system is diagnosed, but the basic alters and basic functions match up with many diagnosed DID systems.)

Notes on non-human alters (and why you can have entire systems of just non-human alters)

Fictives (this was literally the only article i could find. please send me more.)

A paper that talks about DID and fictives (this one was sent to me and I was unable to read it due to personal reasons)

Is there a limit to how many alters a system can have? (A woman who was diagnosed with DID was reported to have 2,500 alters)

Is there a limit to how many alters a system can have? (A center in Utah who specializes in DID confirms as many as 4,500 alters have been reported)

Is there a limit to how many alters a system can have? (Researchers are still unsure, but up to 4,500 have been reported. Scroll down to "multiple personalities")

Fragments (the most basic definition)

Fragments (scroll down to F)

Fragments

OSDD and UDD

An overview of the types of OSDD

OSDD Type 1 (You can find OSDD-1B and OSDD-1A in there)

OSDD Type 2 and OSDD Type 3 (there was barely any information on these two outside of wikipedia and other not-really-professional blogs that i had access to, but I tried my best)

OSDD Type 2 and OSDD Type 3

OSDD Type 2 and OSDD Type 3

OSDD Type 4 (this will take you to a page called "Trance Disorder". That is what it's called in the ICD-11) (Possession Trance Disorder is also similar, you can find that here)

P-DID/Partial DID

Splitting, is it always trauma based? (the short answer, no. Direct quote: Many individuals cannot split unless a split is strictly necessary for their protection, functioning, or ability to remain hidden as a system. That said, there are exceptions. Some individuals may become so used to using splitting as a coping mechanism that they may split easily in response to seemingly minor stressors. For example, if an individual finds going to the doctor triggering, an alter may split that exists only to attend medical appointments. In some cases, systems may be so destabilized that even trauma processing leads to the creation of new parts.)

Polyfragmented DID: the very very basics

Polyfragmented DID: notes from a diagnosed polyfragmented DID system

Polyfragmented DID (you can find it on the side bar)

More notes on polyfragmented DID from a system, unable to tell if the system is diagnosed or in therapy

Comorbid disorders

Can alters have different disorders than the body? (I couldn't find a link, but short answer, yes and no. Neurodevelopmental disorders are things that are shared by all headmates, since it's all the same brain. So things like autism, ADHD, conduct disorders, those all are implemented into the brain and therefore all alters will have them. For stuff like eating disorders however, one alter may struggle with an eating disorder while others might not. Different alters can also present different symptoms/severity of a disorder.)

This is a post about a system(?) talking about fusion and their experiences

Integration and Fusion (or in simpler terms, integration is the act of breaking down amnesia barriers and building communication. Fusion is the act of fully integrating two parts into one.)

Dormancy (I could not find a good/reliable link, but it's basically when an alter "goes to sleep" for a period of time. This period of time can be long or short, and can happen for a multitude of reasons.)

Final Fusion and Functional Multiplicity

Time loss, Co Fronting, and Co Consciousness

Switching (covers passive influence too)

Passive Influence defined

Basics types of amnesia, not necessarily system related

More types of amnesia

The three most common types of amnesia from the system community, not necessarily scientific

-Emotional amnesia: where you don’t remember any emotions that you were feeling during the memory.

-Greyouts: when you remember what happened but have no memories of it, as if someone told you about the event and you might be able to recall certain details, but you weren’t there.

-Blackouts: when you don’t remember anything about what happened, and you often don’t remember that you missed something.

Innerworlds

Subsystems

Apparently Normal Parts and Emotional Parts

Primary Structural Dissociation

Secondary Structural Dissociation

Tertiary Structural Dissociation

You can find more resources here

A helpline that can help you understand and manage PTSD, dissociative disorders, and trauma can be found at (410) 825-8888 according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness

Crisis Text Line is a Text and Online Chat service provides 24/7 free support to those struggling with various mental health issues, including DID. Online chat: crisistextline.org Text: 741741

NAMI offers a volunteer helpline staffed by knowledgeable professionals who can answer your questions and connect you with valuable resources within your area. Call: (800) 950-6264 Text: Text "Helpline" to 62640

Basically every hotline you could need

Once again, these resources and information are not to be used to self-dx yourself. That means do not read this information and immediately say "oh yea i have this disorder". This is meant to be a starting point to learn more about dissociative disorders. If you feel like you might have any, do more research on your own. And, if you can, see and talk to a professional about it. These articles can be wrong. I can be wrong. We accept articles/papers/studies on anything here to correct us. Our only request is that it is not a carrd or something along those lines. This information is a starting point, and is not final.

Another good post about the basics of DID (not dissociative disorders in general, just DID and subtypes) can be found here

[veeenix]

i have to rant about this or i might cease to exist. 

lokius...

for one, i love queer ships (canon or not) but i also like to stay true to the show i’m watching, and i personally don’t have a big problem with sylki (just a little underwhelmed with it if i’m being honest). but the more i look at loki and mobius’ relationship, the clues and that damn song, the more it feels actually plausible that this could turn into something real.

i’m going to somewhat rank these from 1 downward, 1 being its probably coincidental, down to this is too spot on to be nothing. all while i sip leisurely at my tea.

1. “i’ve studied almost every moment of your life..”

it kind of speaks for itself. its a pretty simple bit of dialogue, and most likely doesn’t mean all that much, but what is mobius’ fascination with loki variants? this is higher on the list mainly because mobius has been assigned this case, he's a detective and its his job to dig deep, he's consumed by his work, therefore it isn't strange for him to know so much about loki's life on the sacred timeline.

2. the tie adjustment scene

trust me, i'd love to put this lower on the list, but theres one thing that makes me believe this is-- albeit disappointingly-- a coincidence. it was improv. maybe that, for some people, is more of an indicator of canon lokius, that tom hiddleston felt that that scene was being led in such a flirtatious direction, however, this scene was more his following along owen's playful presence on set, which just makes it kind of sweet. but this is one of my favourites scenes, regardless of the intention behind it. loki will always be a flirt, after all.

3. loki's bisexuality

as much as i would have loved to see more on loki's sexuality-- perhaps slightly more explicitly given his status as the god of mischief-- i'm not going to hate on sylvie and loki, because that would simply erase the existence of bisexuality, hetero-presenting relationships exist and to deny so would again, erase the meaning of bisexuality. however, the ending of season 1 does raise some questions. loki and sylvie's separation sets up the future of marvel, it needed to happen, so this might not mean much at all and we now know that season 2 will focus on loki searching for sylvie through timelines. but how purely queer would it be for loki to realise some stronger feelings toward one agent mobius, and perhaps loki and sylvie's relationship was something that was meant to stay platonic, who knows? this is considerably more fanon than my other theories, but i had to include it, given that to me, its a reasonable arguement. lgbtq+ characters need to be introduced and this was kate herron's goal from the beginning. she also said that she hoped marvel went further with this new information and explored more thoroughly. forgive me for this more outlandish inclusion, but it has been on mind for awhile now.

4. the presence of the dagger / "love is a dagger..."

we all know this one, we've all screamed over it and we all hope it means something more than just a coincidence. with marvel's history of in-depth attention to detail (comic references, foreshadowing years prior to a movie's release), it feels a little too purposeful, doesn't it? again, i'm trying to keep rank these into something somewhat believable with viable evidence, so something i will mention is that loki has lacked any close friendships his whole life. gaining a relationship like this would hold deep value to him, and parting ways would likely pull forth some deep bittersweet emotions. platonic love is arguably more important than romantic, the need to be understood without judgement and that is what both mobius and loki have given each other. the tears in loki's eyes during this scene is a clear indicator of their care for each other, but whether that goes deeper is unclear.

my thoughts fluctuate on this one. for one, its simply so beautiful and meaningful to loki's development (and mobius') that whether its meant platonic or with an underlying romance, feels like it hardly matters, because it holds as much meaning either way. "love is a dagger", it appears in so many forms throughout the series: mobius giving loki his daggers, only for them to be taken away by B-15 a second later, this hug scene and loki and sylvie's fight in the citadel. its so prominent in this scene, its hard to dismiss, yet marvel fluctuates so much with their details that its hard to tell if this was intended the way i'm seeing. regardless, its beautiful and definitely a worthy inclusion.

5. the lokius song / mobius' apparent jealousy

lets get one thing straight, natalie holt is an amazing composer and i will back that to no end with my spotify wrapped this year, trust me on this. so when i first started listening through the second album, like a true neurodivergent kid, i was memorising every song name and i have to say, i lost it a little when i saw the name of this song. natalie confirmed that sif and loki had a 'thing' during the point that the time loop scene was set, so one cannot dismiss the possibility that she could know a little more about the prior scenes than we realise. i was skeptical when i first saw people's impressions of these scenes, after all, they had all reunited after loki technically betrayed mobius, so it was understandable that mobius wouldn't exactly be pleased with the circumstances that they're meeting again. but something about the way he looks at loki and sylvie when he's leading them down the hall, he just looks kind of heartbroken and disappointed. again, this could have been the result of loki's betrayal, if the way he calls him a bad friend is anything to go by, but the substance of this scene holds so much in it. and his little rant about loki and sylvie's "twisted romantic relationship" breaking his reality, hits a little hard. maybe this wouldn't have meant much if it hadn't been with that bloody song, because tell how just an angry, hurt mobius = lokius? it can be jealousy regardless of romantic feelings, friendships feel it too, but this feel a little more substantial.

worthy inclusions:

sylvie's "he cares about you" comment in the void, and loki's near dismissal of it.

loki falling asleep in the archives, he trusts mobius.

am i the only one that finds it cute how loki hangs out at mobius' desk while mobius is off doing other work?

conclusion:

look, i'm going to be honest here, i grow sceptical of my own arguments at times. these are very minor things, and i didn't even realise they were pushing loki and sylvie in the direction they were until they kiss (in other words, i'm a little oblivious), so i want you all to take this with a grain of salt. i like to stay true to the actual characters and their makers, i don't have unrealistic expectations and i am no director, actor or screenwriter. i am not saying how i think the next season should go, i just wish it could go to in this direction to some degree. i have my doubts, but my hopes too. regardless, i'm just happy to see these characters at all!

this is what so many seem to forget. there may be restrictions (cough cough disney), but everyone working on these shows and movies have put their hearts into it and i want to appreciate that for what it is! this doesn't mean you aren't entitled to your own opinion, of course you are! but just remember the show/characters you've fallen in love with and if you didn't have them at all. i'm overjoyed to see loki with a close friendship after so many years of watching him being proverbially kicked while he was down. ultimately, loki and mobius' friendship (and possible romance) is what technically saved loki and that's something beautiful in and of itself.

I don't think its impossible! but i keep an open mind for both directions their stories could take.

[adarkroomandawallflower]

Hi there, I just saw your recent posts with your take on Data in relationships. Just wanted to ask how would it work if the oc was someone say older and not in Starfleet at all? I ask as being aged out of the Starfleet action dolly role irl I was curious what would happen in that scenario. Would it even be a thing? Thanks 😊

Hello,

Thank you so much for reading my work, & for dropping into my askbox with this cute request!

It most certainly could be a thing, & I can definitely see it happening! Admittedly, it would be difficult, but I think Data & his partner would be dedicated & committed enough to make it work.

I wasn't sure if you meant an older OC who had retired from Starfleet or one who never got in/missed their chance because they were older, so I sort of included a bit of both. I hope you enjoy!

Data Having an Older Partner Who Isn't In Starfleet Headcanons

Although Starfleet is very important to Data, his partner not being in Starfleet wouldn't be a deal breaker for him, regardless of their reason(s)

In fact, I think he would actually enjoy having a partner outside of Starfleet because they would provide a perspective somewhat unfamiliar to him that he could happily learn about (and potentially help him understand his father and his desire for Data to not have gone into Starfleet, which he would greatly appreciate)

Although Data wouldn't require his partner to be part of Starfleet, I think Data would still want a partner who's intellectual and with a science background, so I think he'd still encounter his partner in this instance in some sort of scientific setting/background

I love that in the show, we got a glimpse into the fact that Data enjoys going to conferences, especially scientific ones because that's so on-brand and perfect for him

So, I think that's where he'd meet his significant other, in this case

Since they're older, I can see them being a leader in their field, and holding a conference on their home planet to discuss their past and current work

Data would be eager to attend this conference, especially if he found their work "intriguing"

He would seek them out after the conference to speak to them one-on-one for some more in-depth conversation about their theories and work

*cue an extensive info-dumping session over dinner*

They'd spend most of their time outside of the conference together, and the rest is quickly history!

Data would be constantly captivated by their experiences and story-telling, something that's extra special with an older partner who would have so much to share

Likewise, they would enjoy Data's unique and "fresh" perspective on things, especially historical aspects

Overall, I think their relationship would be best described as a very excited, never-ending knowledge exchange

In the initial stages of the relationship, their interactions would mostly be digital ones: video calls, digital messages, etc. (see the first half of these headcanons for more details on that), since they wouldn't get to see each other physically very often

This would suffice for a while, but eventually, they would both come to miss each other's physical presence, and want to see each other in-person

Data's first suggestion to alleviate this issue would be to have his partner come aboard the Enterprise with him, as a civilian/family member

Of course, that would make things easier, since he could spend all his free time (when he has it) with his partner (see the second half of those same headcanons, if you want more details on this scenario)

However, if his partner didn't choose this option, and would rather stay on their home planet or place of work, then they'd have to get creative

Data's second suggestion would be that he could schedule his Shore Leaves to be on their home planet/place of work, which his partner would happily agree to (as would the Enterprise crew, since that's the only way they'll get Data to use the probably years of Shore Leave he's racked up)

This would end up being really nice because he could spend months, maybe even a full year with them at a time

They could also take some vacations together during his "short work breaks", as they both would come to call his extended Shore Leaves

I think for this kind of relationship to work, both partners need to have comparable or equivalent physical companionship needs that are made clear in the very beginning of their relationship

For Data, I think these occasional bursts of extended physical contact with his partner would be enough for him, and therefore, would also be enough for his partner

That doesn't mean they don't miss each other, though, because they definitely do! It's just not that sort of deep, melancholic missing that makes one or both partners emotionally distressed

This is something he would also appreciate about an older partner, as a younger one would be more likely to require more physical contact than this (and would likely be more emotionally distraught at the extended periods without physical contact)

Data would also appreciate the routine-ness of this arrangement because overall, it would be relatively organized/determined ahead of time (something his partner would appreciate, too)

This might be a bit of a hot take, but I think after everything Data had been through in Starfleet, he would have seriously considered resigning at least once (aside from his semi pseudo-resignation in "The Measure of a Man"), if not multiple times

And if he had a partner outside of Starfleet, I think that would potentially solidify this consideration

He would consider and discuss this possibility with his partner, and would take these discussions seriously

His partner wouldn't want him to resign on their behalf, but would certainly encourage him to continue thinking about it, if it was something he truly wanted

Even if he ultimately decides not to resign, I think he would choose to eventually retire from Starfleet, and when he does, he'd retire to his partner's home planet/place of residence (or somewhere both of them would like to spend the rest of their days)

Data's retirement would be the best time to have him as a partner, in my opinion, because you could do literally anything and everything with him

Want to teach at an intergalactically-renown university together? He'd love to!

Want to get a cute little cottage in the middle of nowhere and lounge around with each other and your cats all day (maybe even stay at Noonien's old place/planet)? Fine by him!

Want to get your own little spaceship and aimlessly explore space together? He's so down!

The possibilities are endless

No worries about him being in constant danger or him having his rights revoked when its convenient for Starfleet

Just fun, happy adventures with him and Spots #7 - 12!

[megashadowdragon]

a blackbeards role on egghead incident island one piece theory

Back in chapter 1079, we saw that one of Blackbeard's ships was approaching Egghead Island. Ever since then, we have been wondering which of his crew members is on the ship, and what role they will play. This theory will aim to answer these questions & more Let's get in to it

This would seem to suggest that Blackbeard's ship had already arrived at Egghead before the Straw Hats and before the Navy fleet, and they have been lurking the shadows this whole time. But who is here?

Let's assume that Lafitte is at least one of the Blackbeard Pirates that have come to Egghead, then the question becomes: Why? What is the motive? It may connect to the fact that Blackbeard witnessed the Seraphim, which he recognised as Pacifistas with Lunarian traits.

It's worth remembering that Oda revealed the hobbies of the Worst Generation in SBS: Vol 82, and Blackbeard hobbies were listed as gambling and studying history This is most likely how he already knew about the Lunarians, and it gives us a potential hint toward his motives.

The most apparent motive for Blackbeard to get involved at Egghead would be for Devil Fruits, but it is also true that Blackbeard would be greatly interested in prices such as the intel from Ohara. Egghead Island is an absolute goldmine of potential treasures and intel.

It seems at least that it was witnessing the Seraphim that inspired Blackbeard to get involved, but how much more does he already know? This raises the question: Do Blackbeard and Vegapunk have a prior connection? I believe that this question is the key to the answers we seek.

Ever since chapter 577, we have been wondering what Marco meant by Blackbeard being 'abnormal;' and then there are the curious details from chapters 134, and 966 about Blackbeard and people from snowy islands never sleeping. But what does it all mean? How does it all connect?

Things start to become even more curious when we realise that Vegapunk's home island, Karakuri, is a winter country, and Egghead Island is also a winter country in it's natural state. Does it not seem that Oda is implying a connection between Vegapunk and Blackbeard?

This may seem like a massive reach, but I feel quite confident in the idea, and it is actually one of my oldest theories. Blackbeard is Vegapunk's biological son! The test subject that led to the discovery of Lineage Factors & the reason Vegapunk abandoned his original lab

If this is true, then it adds a whole new level of depth to Blackbeard becoming involved in the Egghead Incident! But we'll come back to that in the conclusion. Let's get back to what Blackbeard and his crew will actually do when they become involved.

Since chapter 576, we've known that Lafitte's main powers seem to revolve around hypnosis. If he one of the crew that are here, then this seems like the first thing that will be relevant. Lafitte would be able to use this power to gain access to almost anywhere on the island.

It's also widely believed that Devon has come to Egghead with Lafitte. With the combination of these powers, it's near impossible to tell if anyone is truly who they seem to be. This becomes interesting when we consider the parallels to Alabasta, and Vivi's potential return.

For now at least, it seems like Blackbeard's crew are simply there to gather intel, but soon they will make their move, and this will change everything. On that note, it's also worth considering that someone else may be involved in their plots. Gecko Moria!

If Blackbeard has manipulated Moria in to obeying him, then the potential threat they pose at Egghead becomes even scarier. Using Moria's power, they would even be able to revive and control Vegapunk's dead clones. Shaka in particular comes to mind.

I believe that exactly this is happening behind the scenes during the current events, and just when things are looking good, then the Blackbeard Pirates will show themselves.

Now we get to Blackbeard's most inspired and shocking move of all.

Since chapter 1080, we've learned that part of Blackbeard's current scheme is to create his own official country. To this end he tried to use Coby as a bargaining chip, and this is likely also how he will use Garp as leverage.

However, if we go back to chapter 957, we realis that the World Government has actually been looking for an excuse to get rid of Garp. Blackbeard is likely to be shocked when they refuse his bargain. This will inspire him to take the most audacious gamble that we've ever seen.

With Lafitte, Devon and Moria clearling the way fr him, Blackbeard will use Van Augar's warp powers to quickly travel to Egghead Island and steal all of the prizes. Devil Fruits; Green Blood; Ohara intel; Ancient Kingdom tech; and a Gorosei as a hostage!

But the chaos and misfortune caused by Blackbeard's actions still doesn't end there. There is one character in particular who is likely to get caught in the middle and suffer the ultimate price. Even light cannot escape a black hole! The death of Kizaru!

saint jay garcia saturn

@bottlepiecemuses

[solradguy]

I’ve never thought about Sol having sex (<-lie) but genuinely it never occurred to me that if Sol had sex then he might pass down his FoC Prototype Gear genes. Do you think he could command them? Like in a non-parental, Command-type Gear-type way. Would they be Dragon-Install children?

Oh geez, this sounds like a nightmare Sol would have where Justice is the mom, and he would shoot up in bed and Jack-O’ would say, “What’s wrong? Go back to sleep.” And Sol would look over and Jack-O’ would be Justice in pajamas! And then he would shoot awake in bed! All a dream! And then he would look over at Aria and then-

All of this is ruined if you subscribe to the theory that Sol had rawdogged Justice though. Dizzy’s not even a little Dragon-Instally…

The depth of Sol's Gear abilities has never really been fully explored (probably because he hates being a Gear and mostly avoids tapping into it) so I'm not actually sure if he could command other Gears like Justice or Dizzy could? I'm gonna assume probably not though because being able to rip control of at least a few Gears from Justice during the Crusades to make them easier to kill would have been an insane advantage and we never got anything saying he ever did or considered doing that lol

But, kinda like what you're saying here, it might be a difference between him being a Flame of Corruption Gear and all the others being Scales of Juno. Justice says she couldn't control him in Missing Link because he's a "prototype" but they hadn't dug into the two different Gear seeds yet back then. It could have just been the difference in Gear cells preventing the control from working. I don't actually know what would happen if there was more than one FoC Gear.

Based off of how Sol talks about the FoC and the obvious side effects we've seen of it, I'm going to guess that maybe SoJ Gears are inherently more orderly than FoC Gears, which more naturally just want to go apeshit bananas without a real cohesive "leader" element keeping them in line. We can't know for sure though. Sol is the only major source of information (AFAIK) we've been given for Flame of Corruption-type Gears. It might turn out that the two seeds are basically the same outside of some aesthetic differences and Sol's just ended up making him want to kill all of the time because Asuka fucked it up somehow.

Dizzy has a canon install form via her +R instant kill "I Can't... Contain My Strength." Mechanically, it's completely unlike Sol's in-game install (or HOS's DI Sakkai "instant kill"), but she definitely has a powered-up state that changes her physical form like he does:

Since Ky now has an install that makes him stronger and changes his body too, it might be fair to assume that any substantially powerful enough Gear can go into an install state no matter if they're FoC or SoJ.

I don't think Sol would have had the time to rawdog Justice (or even want to; they turned his fiancée into a giant murder monster) without someone else knowing or seeing it happen. I do think Dizzy wasn't originally meant to be his kid though and it was written in without taking the timeline into serious consideration lol Either Gears can delay their pregnancy for insane periods of time or Asuka somehow got a... tissue sample... and made it happen via mad science. I hope it's the former because the latter is dark even by GG standards.

Dizzy biologically being Sol's offspring crumbles apart under any amount of scrutiny lmfao It would be cool if they actually explained that in more detail some day. Top 3 biggest Guilty Gear mysteries tbh

[tenaciousdecapitator]

To Boldly Go: A Camilla Noceda Character Analysis

I am of the opinion that Vee Noceda might hold a record for how fast a fandom changed their opinion on a character that they once considered untrustworthy and suspicious (and I’m sure the very intentional casting of the 2010s’ most sympathetic voice for a shapeshifter helped with that) but in terms of characters we already knew, very few other shows handled the reveal of a character’s true depth better than Thanks to Them did with Camilla Noceda. And a significant portion of that-at least from what I’m interpreting-is inherently linked to another major reveal of the episode: that Camilla and Manny Noceda were both involved in the early generation of what basically amounts to Star Trek fandom.

Bear with me here, and let me explain. (Info/theory dump under break)

When Cosmic Frontier is first mentioned in the episode, it’s in the context of Gus pointing out the similarities to their current situation. When he lists names like Captain Avery and Chief Engineer O’Bailey, the Trek fans watching (particularly those familiar with DS9) have a little chuckle about the reference and how Gus and Hunter will definitely identify with the characters, assuming that will be the extent of this amusing copyright-friendly shout out.

And then Gus reveals the closet, and we learn so much about Luz’s parents in this one brief shot (though I’m sure the TOH crew would’ve preferred a full episode): 

The sheer amount of merchandise, years upon years of ‘Galaxy Con’ loot and collectables and homemade props The amount of guest lanyards, each from a different summer of memories.

The subtle but important suggestion that Manny had worked hard to update and improve his Circuit cosplay, countless hours of research and studying paused frames and crafting the fine details.

The implication of Camilla getting prepared in a hotel bathroom, making sure her turquoise body paint was properly sealed and Manny’s mask was comfortably positioned before heading out to the familiar sanctuary of the convention hall.

The realization that some viewers might have, a link between Star Trek’s real-life impact on how many people who watched the show would later pursue scientific and medical careers and Camilla’s current job as a veterinarian. 

How narratively fitting, that a girl who engages so passionately in modern fandom traditions like AMVs and commissioned fan art would be the child of two people who shared a love of the fandom that started it all, and quite possibly was how they met in the first place.

But then we wonder, why is this all hidden? What would cause Camilla to hide these clearly still important relics of her past down in the basement?

We get part of the answer soon enough: She grew up, became a parent, and became far more conscious of how other people perceived and judged both herself and Luz. She tries being supportive of her daughter’s enthusiastic interests and strange habits, but social and societal pressure, along with the weight of her own past regrets, causes her to try to steer Luz away from making the same “mistakes” that she once did.

Though, maybe when Luz was younger, she had a bit of time to go back to old habits. Manny’s enthusiasm would’ve been infectious, helping her remember the good times instead of dwelling on the bad. Perhaps one night they hired a babysitter for Luz and managed to watch a movie that, despite its unfortunate choice of lead actor, was an affectionate parody of Cosmic Frontier that showed its appreciation for what the series meant for its actors and fans.

But without Manny, that spark of enthusiasm and nostalgia wouldn’t last long. Every record and reminder of what Camilla used to share with him would be boxed up, hidden, and left behind as another childish pursuit that she couldn’t afford to waste time on as a single mother.That plan to bury that part of herself deep and never let it grow too much within Luz might have continued as she expected, but Manny, fortunately, had other ideas. He must’ve recognized that spark of creativity and passion within Luz, he surely knew what would be left behind once he was gone.

So he leaves Luz a gift, a memento, something that she would identify with and obsess over and create social bonds through like he and Camilla once did with Cosmic Frontier.

And wouldn’t you know it, ol’ Circuit’s calculations were correct. Luz becomes hooked, enamored, she sees herself within Azura like her parents must have identified with their favorite show’s characters.

Her love of the series is a constant theme throughout The Owl House, it inspired her to express herself, face challenges, make friends, defend the people she loves, and find someone who enjoys the fandom enough to understand her like nobody else could.

What does Camilla do in response to her daughter’s newfound hyper-fixation?

She supports Luz, as much as she can, despite the weight of expectation on both of them. Helping her buy the next books, the new merchandise, even costume parts. One year, not long after they move to Gravesfield, they manage to have enough money to buy convention tickets. Entirely for Luz’s sake, of course, Camilla is too old for this sort of thing, and hardly recognizes most of the characters kids are dressing up as nowadays. But if her eyes linger on some familiar faces at the autograph tables, or she starts absentmindedly humming along to a certain show’s theme song being played over the loudspeakers, well, that’s her business. Old habits are hard to shake.

Speaking of which, I only noticed this after a rewatch, but Camilla’s fandom experience arguably makes an appearance earlier in the series:

When Jacob’s doing his whole “delusional defeated villain trying to claim he’s the hero” bit, Mrs. Noceda’s response before delivering the righteous justice of La Chancla is “Yeah...a lot of bad guys say that.” On first watch I thought this was simply calling out IRL examples of scumbags with a self-centered ego, but later I realized she’s commenting on it in terms of its use as a somewhat cliche trope. As if she’s watched and read this kind of speech dozens of times before.

For a long time, possibly almost a decade, Camilla manages to avoid directly confronting her past. She works as much as she can to support Luz, the forbidden relics are locked away downstairs, everything’s fine. But then the Hexside Kids show up at her doorstep, bringing with them a bit of the same Boiling Isles culture that allowed her daughter to express herself freely.

She tries to keep it quiet, awkwardly denying any knowledge of the merchandise in her basement, but these new kids are her kids too, for now, and she supports their interests as much as she did with Luz. So if Hunter needs help stitching together an Engineer O’Bailey cosplay, or Gus needs some show-accurate props for his own outfit, well. She’s just being supportive, in a neutral and parental way, that’s all.

Once the portal is open and Luz starts to say something she’ll regret, however, Camilla can’t maintain the facade of a responsible, respectful, socially acceptable parent any longer. That old spark within her, the part that never really left, shows itself more than it has in years.

She offers an alternative, something Luz would’ve never expected, defiantly and proudly stating that she’d be going into the portal to the Isles alongside them. It’s the specific wording that gets me, though, “It is our DUTY to help your friends get back to their families!” Seems to invoke the sort of “I’ll be your fearless champion” type speeches that Luz sometimes makes. However, we recall from Yesterday’s Lie that Camilla knows she isn’t great with on-the-fly improvised roleplay scenarios. She’s “not imaginative enough”. So it’s entirely possible that Camilla’s taking inspiration from lines that she hasn’t heard in a while but still knows by heart, after hearing it recited at the beginning of hundreds of episodes. A socially acceptable single mother and hard-working veterinarian would never consider something like this, it’s too risky, too dangerous, too many unknown variables on the other side of that portal.

But Camilla Noceda grew up watching others face the unknown, for the safety of others, because it was their duty. Their “ongoing mission”. 

She might not understand anime yet, but for Luz’s sake and Manny’s legacy, she’s willing to learn.

[pumpkinrootbeer]

I am DYING to talk about Alastor. He’s absolutely my favorite, I love sassy little shits, especially when they’re otherwise the picture of manners.

I do think he made a deal with Lilith. They were gone for the same amount of time, he clearly isn’t at full power (wings clipped! Mouth sewn!!) and he at first didn’t seem to like Charlie at all. Sure, she’s powerful, but nobody knew that, especially not her. She annoyed him, but grew on him for sure and how he wants to protect her but can’t since he’s not able to summon his full power yet. Charlie may be able to get him out of his deal, or maybe he thinks she can use her relationship with her mom to convince her to let him go. Hence the favor!

My theory is Lilith asked him to watch over the hotel and possibly to kill Lucifer. She had to get into heaven somehow, and what better way than to betray the man she left Adam for? She sewed his mouth shut so that he couldn’t tell anyone and sent him to help build her daughter’s dream. Possibly also to sabotage it? Although we don’t see him doing this beyond the first episode. Husk clearly knows something, because when he comes back Al specifically turns to Husk in warning before turning to Charlie’s hug.

ANYWAY would love to hear your thoughts!!

I LOVE ALASTOR genuinely its really fun to see an ace character who isn't a robot, or emotionless, or comically innocent. super fun time for me specifically. also quick sidebar, how they went about showing his depth by him literally loosing it was so satisfying and works so well for his character. hazbin baby im so sorry i doubted your writing so onto the theories! i do 100% think lilith and alastor are connected, and i dont think it would be stretch to say she's the one who owns his soul. the reinforced detail of 7 years obviously is a big piece of evidence, along with his hate of lucifer, but her being in heaven reinforces it more for me honestly because of Zestial's line in episode 3 "Some hath spun wild tales of you falling to... holy arms?". imo its either lilith or a character we havent meant yet. (ive seen people throw eve's name around 🤔) now weather or not she wants him to protect charlie and/or the hotel is another matter. its gonna be pretty hard to predict what exactly the terms are and what she wants from him (if anything!) until we get more content. i dont think its really much of a stretch to come to that conclusion and im not not saying i believe it, but im not really sold on it. if it turns out canon i woudnt be surprised tho lol

him hanging around charlie could be her mom wants him to protect her, hence the annoyance he holds towards her at first, or it could be she has status! sure they dont know how strong she is but shes the princess of hell, and everyone respects that to some degree. her side is the winning side! (another side bar alastor actually truly believing in her makes me so so emotionally ill 😭 like he didnt doubt shed be able to rally people. and he lowkey encouraged her with his little shit talk pep talk. mi amor... babito....)

the stitches across his mouth, the way he dances around his 7 year absence, the way he completely switches up with husk when his deal is mentioned could all be unrelated but hazbin doesn't exactly do coincidences. the details are all very purposeful, ever since the pilot, so i do think he cant talk about it.

i also am inclined to believe that he didnt make the deal for his power and the deal is actively restricting it. for one, its more interesting imo. two, the line "once i figure out how to unclip my wings, then i'll be pulling all the strings" he clearly thinks he'll be stronger out of the deal, which sure, could be his arrogance. or the reason why hes so arrogant is because he used to be able to back up his talk 100%. i mean the kind of sheer confidence he has is absurd, he wasnt scared of adam, he wasnt scared of lucifer. he acts like someone who is just not used to being weaker than anyone. part of the reason hed be so desperate for freedom is because the deal is literally a threat on his life. he almost died for them!

tbh not sure if husk knows the specifics of the deal or not, because that scene in the finale could just be alastor being alastor. "haha bitch u thought" type beat. either way!! im pretty pumped for s2 and seeing alastors inevitable downward spiral. beat him up again. also maybe he makes some more friends pretty please