#Mage of Heart Analysis

[mageofmercy]

Everyone has qualities of different aspects within them.

These qualities change and shift as you go along, If you're having a bad day, you may feel a little more stubborn than usual (Rage) If you're having a good day, you'll probably find yourself saying yes more often (Hope)

Those examples are most obvious, due to them both being mood aspects. You'll find that if you're more hopeful, even as a rage player. You'll find yourself exhibiting qualities adjacent to the aspect of hope too. (Breath and Mind)

This all is true. but I at times think of the aspect wheel as 12 series of flashing lights, some glow bright, others more dim. Sporadically and spontaneously throughout the day. Which means that we use all the aspects at certain times.

The aspect from our true classpect is the aspect we either use the most, feel the most comfortable in, or just what our class helps dictate who we are and how we personally use it.

Our class is how we find that aspect. our classpect is who we truly are.

Take the destruction classes for instance. they find that they really dislike their aspect. It's not at all comfortable by any means. And Bards for a time barely use their aspect at all. Princes just straight out hate their aspect. so what's the deal? The class and aspect combo. The classpect just shows what true self, your jig, your groove, the rut, the challenge, and what you find to be not yourself. You can't say to a page of breath to be a thief of blood. Lol that's impossible. But only because it's as far ways from them as humanly possible.

But you can tell a page of breath to be a knight of life or hope. and they may even believe that they're that for a little while. Until they eventually grow out of that. "It's definitely a phase mom."

I say when we personally god tier is when we realize who we truly are. dying to the self and choosing what it means to be that classpect. for Pages, Princes, bards, etc. that's hard to do. But a witch, thief, and Sylph, etc. would have a damn easy time realizing who they be.

So if you don't truly know who you are. Go ahead and keep looking. It took me years upon years to realize I'm a Mage of Heart.

[autie-stuck]

could you analyse a sesh with a prince of blood, a knight of heart, a mage of life, a mage of mind, a mage of time, and a witch of hope?

Wuhoh. That's one mentally ill session.

I’ll start with a quick rundown of how the classpects would interact with each other

The prince of blood and witch of hope will be at consant odds, with the prince desprately self sabotaging their relationships and the witch drying desperately to hold everything together. I could see the witch getting especially upset at the prince while trying to self sabotage because the witch is trying so hard to hold everything together and this is the thanks they get? They won't have a fun time.

And all the mages. Oof mages are especially troubled, and will go through a lot throughout the session. The mage of time self isolating out of panic, and sprinkled with a high possibility of someone dying right in front of them or they themself dying.

The mage of life would likely be shoved into a leader role that they can not mentally handle, forced to make decisions they do not have the confidence to make.

The mage of mind would likely succumb to the witch of hope, forcing themself to grit their teeth and get through the session without a complaint. This won't last long, they'll break eventually.

The knight of heart would naturally hide behind themself, likely not knowing how to do anything else. They’d get along with the mind player as they would be going through similar things. I could see them having the closest relationship within the group.

Now, we know a session is not viable without a knight, a time player, and a space player, which we are missing the latter. However, I personally like to subscribe to session fuckery so let’s see how we can make this session alive.

The mage of time would know the session is already doomed, and would try to explain this, likely getting nowhere with the witch. The session would be an absolute mess until the witch of hope sucks up their pride and understands that the session is doomed.

If god tiered, the witch can go absolutely drunk on hope, making a universe tadpole, or at the very least a ghost imprint of one to be created.

The mage of life can bring the tadpole to life, leaving the knight to take care of it. I wouldn’t be surprised of the knight went to the time player for assistance as well.

Once met with the Ultimate Reward, the time player should be able to release the tadpole, making the new universe.

Congratulations, thank you for playing.

[giftofclasspects]

oh! could i get a session analysis for:

heir of space, seer of life, maid of hope, thief of rage (prospit dreamers)

sylph of light, rogue of heart, page of breath, mage of time (derse dreamers)

none of these people know eachother before the start of the game. it’s a wacky session

OKAY! This is exiting. I'll take these one by one and then go through how their personalities interact. Prospit Dreamers: Heir of Space: Space is patience and setting. It's the process before the end result. Heirs are passive witches, so they manipulate their aspect indirectly. An Heir of Space would have the kind of personality that would inspire people to be more patient. They'd encourage others to take their time and sniff the roses and stuff. Seer of Life: Life the aspect that tells me you're going somewhere. It's growing big and strong, be it physically, mentally, economically, you name it. A seer of life would research general improvement and wellness and share these findings with others. I picture those "sigma males" who are constantly telling people how to manage their lives and their money, but probably in a way that's sillier and less mean. Maid of Hope: This is a cool one! A maid would rely on other people for their aspect. So picture somebody who is naturally very pessimistic who's surrounded by inspiring individuals. It's their job to learn how to find this positive potential within themselves in order to be self sufficient. Thief of Rage: Someone who is generally antagonistic, but not good at it. Over time, they improve in their hurtful ways. These players will usually have good reasons for poking and prodding at their coplayers and just making them feel worse, but other times its just for selfish gain. Derse Dreamers: Sylph of Light: We have an example of this class inside the comic, Aranea! As a Sylph, she had many ideas that she wanted to share with as many people as possible, but she struggled with her own relevance and how to put that into action. Aranea may have been a meanie in the comic, but that doesn't have to be the case for all sylphs of light! Rogue of Heart: Nepeta Leijon! A rogue is one who struggles to even relate to their aspect, passing it on as other people's responsibility at first. With time, they can grow to take back their aspect and enjoy it for themselves. Think of Nepeta, making ships of all of her friends, but never fully confronting the idea of her own love interests. She couldn't accept herself and her own emotions. Page of Breath: Tavros Nitram! A page will cover up a flaw in their aspect by making up a load of nonsense to seem more confident in their aspect than they actually are. Tavros believed the key to a healthy self esteem was repeating empty affirmations untill you feel better. His relation to the breath aspect was one of somebody chasing an ideal. Mage of Time: This is somebody who has suffered from impatience and action, who will use that experience to attain their goals. The challenge with a mage of time is to accept other people's input. Now for the fun part. The synergy with these classpects. The Heir and the Mage are both very crucial to this session, because this is a larger session that needs those strong opposing aspects to keep everyone grounded. The Seer, Rogue, and Mage will be good to come to within a crisis and high stakes situation. The Thief, Maid, and Page will probably cause a lot of problems for this session, either on purpose or accident. The Page will definitely need the Heir and Maid to develop into a crucial component to this session that might be able to pull everyone together, regardless of their differences! This was very fun to analyze. - Mod Jade

[botanicalcanopus]

Okay. I know you said you don't do session analysis’ as a blog, so there are absolutely no stakes/expectations here and I’m cool if you ignore this ask or just say no. But do you want to have a crack at how a session with my OCs would go? They’re all brothers.

It’s with a;

Prince of Heart

Knight of Time

Thief of Space

Mage of Mind

(The matching classpects with two canon characters was a complete accident 😭)

I don't mind to try! I will preface this by saying this for anyone who has never encountered my rambling: I believe that classpects (while useful for determinating some fun facts about the character) depend entirely on the characters personalities. Essentially meaning just because we've seen a Prince of Heart in the comic doesn't mean they're gonna be exactly like Dirk.

So starting off, I will say your session has a Time and Space player so it's a viable session (yippee!). The down side to this is that you have more at stake and boy howdy your OCs classpects (without knowing their full personalities) are gonna be constantly treading the line here. Not that their classpects are bad, in fact, they have a really great skill set but the cost is that most of these classpects are prone to mistakes that could cost lots of time and energy (or their lives if shit hit the fan).

A Prince of Heart that is still learning to use their powers or have an uncontrollable attitude can pull a Dirk and splinter themselves to exhaustion, or possibly other co-players if they're not careful. Lots of emotional tampering (by accident or not) will be likely even if it's just "making logical statements".

Your Thief of Space may end up stealing Space (literally or metaphorically) from their brothers and this can be something from storing things in others rooms/inventory or worst case scenario they go full villain and essentially vacuum pack someone. Their whole deal is to find their own path with Space rather than having to rely on what's stolen, which if they are too self absorbed or self isolating they may not achieve.

Now Mages of Mind are also the over rational sort, which isn't bad altogether. However in this scenario, you're already given a splintering emotional time bomb who needs to find themselves and a player whose ego and powers rely on theft. So someone who struggles with understanding why they have to be so logical all the time or doesn't even know/want to plan ahead is also gonna throw a wrench in plans if they don't get support they need to understand their potential and how their braniac skills can better everyone's lives.

Finally, the Knight of Time is our double edged sord here. Knights usually cover up their feelings of inadequacy by ghost the opposite aspect. So while this person may be helpful when they do act, they tend to ghost Space and be all distant and might even be like Dave and put up a cool persona even if they're wrought with anxiety. They'll have to come to accept that their abilities are incredibly useful and that they are so much more than what they believe they are.

So best case scenario: through trials and tribulations, the brothers will eventually learn to depend on each other. The Knight can get some pep talks from the Thief while the Mage and Prince can talk them through logically how it's dumb they feel that way about themselves when they're so cool. The Knight can give their bros all the time they need to work through any emotional out burst or fits of other thinking, and the Thief learns to aid others for once by providing comfort (environments, food, materials, etc). In the meantime the Thief gets all the support with finding themselves and becoming their own person rather than a copy paste persona.

Worst case scenario: Jesus the amount of failed timelines. Like shit does this Knight have it cut out for him. Any too big emotional burst from the Prince can cause literal frenzy or rip their souls (maybe actually doing harms with some sick burns). The Thief if ticked off enough may straight up avoid everything and do whatever they want to do without any input. The Mage can become too lax and not want to deal with solving any questions that makes them think too hard and tank every personal relationship by being too logical. And the Knight might end up like one of the Dave's who just exist in a failed session because they gave into their self doubt and couldn't rise to the challenge.

Lots of warnings but honestly if they act like a good family and talk it out they have really decent odds. This is said without knowing what they'd prototype but these things have a character limit lol. I hope this is something along the lines you were looking for, if not sorry!

[land-of-classpects-and-analysis]

Some days starting up a new analysis is awesome and invigorating. Other days, you stare at your document and feel your eyebrow twitch worsen and the veins in your brain swell and hurt because goddammit how do I start anything with you. How dare you. Come over here, under my microscope, now.

[raayllum]

So Aaravos and Callum have always had some parallels as foils - not overtly, due to limited understanding of Aaravos’ backstory, and what little we do have makes him mirror Rayla far more - mostly due to being the series’ Narrators alongside Viren, mages who will presumably have connections to many or all arcana, etc. 

However, season four has started to escalate that in a few key ways

First, there’s the “through the glass” motif and a theme of transparency running between Callum in 4x01, Aaravos with his literal looking glass, and to a lesser extent, Rayla’s Moonshadow form in 4x02 (but more on that later). Aaravos is a character defined by his isolation, and we see variants of that with Callum in early season four as well. He’s trying to hide how he feels, the same way Aaravos successfully keeps his goals under wraps.

Then, you have the fact that both Callum and Aaravos choose to shatter something rare and powerful by their own volition. 

Although it’s not quite the same in execution as I thought it would be, as I thought Callum may lead to the mirror being shattered, I figured the show would parallel Callum’s smashing of the primal stone with eventual shattering of the mirror in some capacity, just because it seemed too perfect a parallel to pass up. Shattering the primal stone is what ultimately allows Zym to hatch and be freed, so it only makes sense that shattering the mirror would also be the prelude to Aaravos being freed as well.

Additionally, the arc that is set up for Callum after these events is very similar. In s2, Callum is trying to find a way to be a mage again because he wants to feel useful and like he can protect his loved ones. He feels lost and directionless without magic and wants to reclaim who he felt he was becoming. 

Now, some of that is already present in season four. Callum is paranoid and determined to protect Ezran at the drop of a hat. He’s not entirely certain or comfortable with who he is, or at least the position he has at court ( “Let’s go to the High Mage’s office, which is, uh, my office”). However, Aaravos possessing him and the fallout of that amplifies Callum’s previous season two struggles a hundred fold. Forgetting not feeling like himself, he feels like he had every bit of agency utterly stripped away, to not just a ‘powerless’ human, but an outright pawn and puppet. Instead of worrying how he can protect his loved ones, he’s worried about being forced to hurt them. 

This all takes place of course before the turn of the season when Callum does dark magic, so I’ll be curious to see how long or completely the structure holds, but I still think it’s very cool the show is showing not only how the Cycle continues on this microlevel, but also doing their thing where they repeat the Cycle but continually also escalate the stakes. 

[psyoniks]

Grimdark/Inverse Mage of Mind

So from my understanding, there's three main popular theories on how one goes about being Grimdark.

-Influenced by the Horrorterrors -Being consumed by their classpect - Rejecting their classpect

I wanted to just write about how I think a Mage of Mind would go about the last two points, since I just think it would be interesting and we already know how one gets influenced by the horrorterrors. You don't have to read if you don't like class inversion since I'm pretty sure they go together with grimdark(i don't care if class inversion is 'wrong', I think its cool anyways). These are just my thoughts but feel free to correct or add anything since this is pretty far from anything canon.

-Being consumed by their classpect

I don't think we've seen in canon anyone getting consumed or overwhelmed with their classpect, so this isn't really based on anything. Maybe a Mage of Mind being consumed by their classpect ending up grimdark would do whatever it takes to get their desired result, obsessive even, if it means being violent/and or controlling, then so be it. There's too many actions to take and the amount of knowledge hurts the Mage, knowing how one little action can completely doom a session. Maybe they don't trust their teammates to not fuck everything up and accidentally doom the session, since there's so many wrong actions they could take. Or maybe they were hurt from an action someone else took, lack of knowledge ending up hurting the Mage in the end. Either way, i think they try to take things into their own hands as a safety measure or just being selfish, forcefully making or threatening others to take certain actions, just so they could see the outcomes or get the desired results. And from what we know, going grimdark is going off the deep end in every which way possible and I would think this counts.

- Rejecting their classpect

I want to use Eridan, where it's theorized that before he started on a murder spree, that he went grimdark by destroying or rejecting Hope, in turn becoming a Rage player. I'm not sure if that's just because of his class, being the Prince of Hope, so he was able to destroy it. But with using this logic, if a Mage of Mind is one that knows what actions to take and should act on it, then the opposite of Mind is Heart and more specifically Heir of Heart is the inverse of a Mage of Mind. So maybe a Grimdark Mage of Mind would let go of taking action and reject logic, instead letting their feelings and emotions influence their actions. Instead letting others make their own actions and letting things just happen without doing anything at all to act on it. Maybe someone's making a terrible, fucked up session dooming action and the Mage of Mind just doesn't care and lets it happen, OR cares too much but still lets it happen, their emotions taking over and stunning them, unable to act logically. Summing up what I think classpect rejection would look like. Of course not every action that the Mage lets go of has to be dooming a session, but you could imagine how quickly that could mess a session up. This feels more class inversion than someone going grimdark, but I still wanted to add it.

[homestuck-iconz]

classpect my ass (mage of heart) (its our collective classpect + the one for our sona) (iirc we're twinning with meulin??) -moon

ooooo!!! inch resting for sure

Mages - Active Learning class

Heart - The aspect of the inner self, all things biased, and the soul

Mages learn by experience first and formost. It's the big thing that seperates them from seers in my mind.

Alot of people say that mages suffer from their aspect, but I personally think that to be more of a captor thing in general rather than a Mage thing.

And heart is like... The internal self. So you could read your classpect as litterally learning and understanding yourself and I think thats very neat :3

[sparkerinparadise]

oh btw im a maid of heart, sorry to be cringe or w/e. this is the ONLY part of [redacted] i still like interacting with, sorry

[doomedheartgodtiers]

Literally reviving this dead blog to post about this.

I actually already have headcanons for what I think their godtiers all are.

Dee Reynolds - Maid of Rage

Charlie Kelly - Thief of Hope

Frank Reynolds - Bard of Blood

Dennis Reynolds - Prince of Heart

Mac Mcdonald - Knight of Light

Bonus:

Roach - Page of Doom

Artemis - Sylph of Space

The Waitress - Mage of Time

Might actually go in-depth for reasons for these classpects and do a full session analysis if I get the spoons at some point. But for now, yeah.

doomy-stuff

[mageofmercy]

Prince of Rage

Prince of Rage- Active Destruction of Rage

Princes have the power to destroy. They are the axe at the tree, if they don’t like that tree, they’ll chop it down. Changing environments forever through the sheer force of their will. Princes can be dangerous, don’t get me wrong I won’t sugar it. But since they cannot change who they are no matter how they’d sometimes like to? They have to learn to direct the chopping toward the trees that need it, and to leave the healthy trees alone.

Has stubbornness become so deep within your conviction that your very rage falters under the control of your determination to remain defiant? Did that even make sense? To those who said yes, you’re one step closer to understanding the Prince of Rage.

Prince of Rage… When people say they bottle their emotions? This Prince in particular, not only has a really huge bottle. They put all their negativity inside that shit. No matter what it is. Their rage falters under the control of their determination to remain defiant. But why? Because of their conviction to control the pure unadulterated anger toward this world. They have it in them, to protect everyone they hold dear… From themselves.

And because they’re stubborn.

But… The most straightforward path isn't always the best one…

You’ll be surprised to hear me say it, but an inwardly focused Prince of Rage is. Actually the malevolent one. Kurloz in particular, was a great example of this type of Prince.

They were calm. Unsettlingly so. The trolls of that session were unnerved by their kind demeanor… and they were right to be so. He wanted to end them. To bring caliborn, to fulfill the prophecy of the vast Honk. Giving Gamzee his robes to help make it happen. Serving under him, without complaint. 

Yet deep down… he never wanted this.

A chewed tongue, sewn lips. A relationship tainted. A dream, a nightmare so vile that he screamed out a cry so loud that meulin’s ears never recovered.

When I said that Princes have a really big bottle. I really did mean it. It’s just that Kurloz’s bottle reached its top and broke open. Letting out all the negativity and hatred within him that he’d stored up to that point, out.

It’s not healthy to bottle things up. I know we get a bigger bottle every time the last one breaks but… Meulin…? It’s not worth hurting the people around you.

So? That's why I say a benevolent Prince of Rage is outwardly focused. They forget about bottling things up and instead? They use that rage to great effect. They don’t necessarily yell at every soul they see. But they will indeed yell at the person who’s judging their friend. Effectively destroying rage for others. Instead of themselves. 

If they see any negativity in others? They’re more likely to kindly and gently address what was needed. Than to ever scream. Because kindness soothes the soul more than any other outburst.

The Prince of Rage? May have the potential to be the kindest Classpect of them all. Destroying hatred and ill will, accepting it within themselves, but then addressing it by being kind no matter what toward others.

I will repeat myself. This is the Kindest benevolent Classpect.

[autie-stuck]

hai!!! im currently struggling to decide between Maid of Life + Mage of Heart fr my classpect, could you go over your interpretations of each one?

Ohohohooooo my specialty

MAID OF LIFE

Maids of life, funnily enough start out with very little choice in what direction they want to go in life. Everything is very set for them, and they usually don’t see any reason they should stand up for themself/ do what they want.

One way or another, usually their friends have to drag them into doing what they need to do (make their own choices. We see this with Jane in the comic where Jake pushes her to her limit, and she finally releases everything she’s wanted to say to Jake all at once.

Obviously there are better ways for their friends to help guide them to their aspect, but this is what we see in canon.

From this point on they can handle themself and their aspect well (almost too well at times), they just need that first push into their aspect

MAGE OF HEART

Mages of heart… oh those poor sad meow meows. Mages as I like to say are beaten up and have their lunch money stolen by their aspect. Therefore, mages of heart are hurt by their own emotions and the people connected to them.

We can see this in canon with Meulin, she was deafened by kurloz, even if she acts like it doesn’t bother her, which actually leads into my next topic. She also has a problem with toxic positivity, not letting anyone around her or herself to feel bad.

Mages of heart definitely have a large issue with coming to terms with their emotions in general, wether they say how they feel and regret it later or they repress everything. Also yeah, a past lover hurting them is a high possibility.

Often times they’ll almost have this jaded feeling to them, or even a superior “I know more than you about this”. And you can’t even be mad at them or argue because they’re right. They learned everything about their aspect first hand.

[giftofclasspects]

Okay, so

Prospit Sylph of Time

Derse+Prospit Bard of Mind

Prospit Muse of Hope

Dessert Mage of Heart

They tried to speedrun but failed, somehow survived anyway

-cloud

ok!! a lot to dive into, here!!!

one main thing i noticed is that there's no space player. however i think that kind of fits into the whole speedrun idea!

you need space AND time in order for a session to be completed. there's a sylph of time, yes, but we have no space player. i think that contributes really well into a team trying to speedrun sburb- all time, no space.

with that, i think that there will definitely be ... a LOT of issues in the session with no space player. i think that this session would end up super duper scuffed.

i'm not too sure how they'd manage to succeed in making a new earth with this session? i think that if at all, the hope player (since they're a muse) might be able to help solve that issue, but i'm not entirely sure...

but! i think it's a fun idea for a session!

[dalishious]

The Sanitized Lore of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Tevinter is the heart of slavery in Thedas. This lore has been established in every game, novel, comic, and other extended material in the Dragon Age franchise to date that so much as mentions the nation. But in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, when we are finally able to actually visit this location for the first time… this rampant slavery we’ve heard so much about is nowhere to be found. It’s talked about here and there; Neve mentions The Viper has a history of freeing slaves, as does Rook themselves if they choose the Shadow Dragon faction as their origin, for example. But walking down the streets of Minrathous, you’d never know. Because Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for all its enjoyment otherwise, has one glaring issue: It’s too clean.

The world of Thedas is full of injustices. Humans persecute elves, fear qunari, and belittle dwarves. Mages of any race are treated like caged animals in most places. The nobility is corrupt. Although, Dragon Age has not always handled these injustices well, mind you. Many, many times I’ve found myself frustrated with moments that just feel like a Racism Simulator. But what makes it worth it, is when you can actually do something about it. These injustices are things that a good-aligned character strives to fight back against, maybe even for very personal reasons. Part of the power-fantasy for many minorities is that this fight feels tangible. I cannot arrange the assassination of a corrupt politician in real life, but I sure can get Celene Valmont stabbed to death in Dragon Age: Inquisition, for example. Additionally, these fictional injustices can be used to make statements on real life parallels, like any source of media. For example, no, the Chant of Light is not real, but acting as a stand-in for Catholicism, through a media analysis lens we can explore what the Chant of Light communicates on a figurative level.

When starting Dragon Age: The Veilguard and selecting to play as an elf – this should be unsurprising to anyone who is familiar with my bias towards them – I was fully prepared to enter the streets of Minrathous and immediately get called “knife-ear” or “rabbit”. But this did not happen. I thought perhaps it was just a prologue thing, but returning to Minrathous once again, there was not a single shred of disapproval from any NPC I encountered that wasn’t a generic enemy to fight. And even the generic enemies, the Tevinter Nationalist cult of the Venatori, didn’t seem to care at all that I was a lineage they deemed inferior before now. This is a stark difference from entering the Winter Palace in Dragon Age: Inquisition and immediately getting hit with court disapproval and insults. Are we now to believe that Tevinter has somehow solved its astronomical racism and classism problems in the ten years since the past game? Or perhaps are we to believe all the characters who have demonstrated Tevinter’s systemic discriminatory views were just lying or outliers? Because it makes absolutely no sense at all for this horribly corrupt nation to not have a shred of reactivity to an elven or qunari Rook prancing around. But here were are, and not a single NPC even recognizes my character’s lineage. And because this is so different from every single past game, it feels weird.

As an elf, you have the option to make a comment about how “too many humans look down on us” in one scene early in the game. You can also talk to Bellara and Davrin, the elven companions, about concerns that people won’t trust elves after finding out about the big bad Ancient Evanuris… but this is presented as if elves don’t already face persecution. It’s all so limited in scope that it could be all too easily missed if you are not paying very close attention, and coming into the game with pre-existing lore knowledge.

All this made it easy to first assume that the developers simply over-corrected an attempt to address the Racism Simulator moments. And if that was the case, than I would at least give credit to effort; they did not find the right balance, but they at least tried. However, the sudden lack of discrimination against different lineages in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not the only sanitized example of lore present.

In Dragon Age: Origins, Zevran Arainai is a companion who is from the Antivan Crows; a group of assassins. He discusses in detail how the Crows buy children and raise them into murder machines through all kinds of torture. The World of Thedas books also describe how the Antivan Crows work, echoing what Zevran says and expanding that of the recruitment, only a select handful of those taken by the Crows even survive. When you start Dragon Age: The Veilguard as an Antivan Crow, you immediately unlock a re-used codex entry from the past, “The Crows and Queen Madrigal”, that says the following:

“His guild has a reputation to uphold. They are ruthless, efficient, and discreet. How would they maintain such notoriety if agents routinely revealed the names of employers with something as "banal" as torture.”

Ruthless, efficient, and discreet. Torture is banal. This is what the Crows were before Dragon Age: The Veilguard decided to take them in a very different direction. The Antivan Crows in this latest game are painted as freedom fighters against the Antaam occupation of Treviso. Teia calls the Crows “patriots”. And while I can certainly believe that the Crows would have enough motivation to fight back against the Antaam, given that it is in direct opposition to their own goals, I cannot understand why they are suddenly suggested to be morally good. They are assassins. They treat their people like tools and murder for money. Even as recent as the Tevinter Nights story Eight Little Talons, it is addressed that the Antivan Crows are in it for the coin and power, with characters like Teia being outliers for wanting to change that. It makes the use of the older codex all the more confusing, as it sets the Antivan Crows up as something they are no longer portrayed as.

I personally think it would have been really interesting to explore a morally corrupt faction in comparison to say, the Shadow Dragons. Perhaps even as a protagonist, address things like the enslavement of “recruits” to make the faction at least somewhat better. (They are still assassins, after all.) Instead, we’re just supposed to ignore everything unsavory about them, I suppose…

We could discuss even further examples. Like how the Lords of Fortune pillage ruins but it’s okay, because they never sell artifacts of cultural importance, supposedly. Or how the only problem with the Templar Order in Tevinter is just the “bad apples” that work with Venatori. I could go on, but I don’t think I have to.

It is because of all this sanitization, that I cannot believe this was simply over-correction on a developmental part. Especially when there is still racism in the game, in other forms. The impression I’m left with feels far deeper than that; it feels corporate. As if a computer ran through the game’s script and got rid of anything with “too much” political substance. The strongest statements are hidden in codex entries, and I almost suspect they had to be snuck in.

Between a Racism Simulator and just ignoring anything bad whatsoever, I believe a balance is achievable; that sweet spot that actually has something to say about what it is presenting. I know it is achievable, because there are a few bright spots of this that I’ve encountered in Dragon Age: The Veilguard too. For example, some of the codex entries like I mentioned, and almost all the content with the Grey Wardens thus far. It is a shame there is not more content on this level.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is overall still a fun game, in my opinion. But it’s hard to argue that it isn’t missing the grit of its predecessors. The sharp edges have been smoothed. The claws have been removed. The house has been baby-proofed. And for what purpose?

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[tofixtheshadows]

Id love to hear ur interpretation and analysis on falin! She’s one of my favorite characters and and I was wondering what ur thoughts on her are

Man, I struggle to think of anything I could say about Falin that others have not already said. But she's one of my favorite things about Dungeon Meshi too.

So much of the story revolves around Falin, and she's not even there. Tumblr loves to talk about haunting the narrative, but Falin might be one of the best examples of it ever put to page. She's dead. She's alive. She's dead. She's alive. She's alive but she's missing, she's alive but she isn't herself. She's dead but she might wake. She's dead but she's frozen in ice. She's alive but she's sleepwalking. They chase her ghost and they chase her body all through the story.

I think what Kui does with her is fascinating. Not just as character with a personality we can analyze, but as an object in a narrative- that's why I say she's one of my favorite things about the story, because I also mean it in a mechanical sense. As a writer, Kui's really good at misdirection- that is, setting you up to believe or expect something about a character or a plot, and then turning that on its head. It's most apparent with Kabru, but it works really well with Falin too.

Because the precious little sister is a very well known character archetype, right? So is the gentle healer. The heart of the party. The white mage girl. The damsel in distress. The martyr.

And this isn't a Laura Palmer situation, where we find out that beneath her wholesome surface there's something dark and troubled. No, Falin truly is a kind and gentle person. That isn't where the misdirection leads (and that, too, I think, is another misdirection- it's not "Plot twist, she isn't as nice as you thought!", which would almost be too easy).

The misdirection here is more about structure than about character (but also, yeah- a little about character).

What I mean is, with these archetypes firmly in mind, along with a whole other host of fantasy genre expectations, I think anyone who goes into Dungeon Meshi un-spoiled probably expects Falin's rescue to be an endgame event; at least on a subconscious level, where you're not really thinking about it but in the back of your head you're already stretching out the story to place Falin firmly in the distance. Fire breathing dragon at the bottom of the dungeon is perfect final boss material, right? Slay the dragon. Rescue the princess.

And Falin is the perfect prize in the traditional old school fantasy that the concept of the titular dungeon is a send-up to. Blonde (white), soft-spoken, sweet-natured, beloved by everyone. An angelic figure.

Maybe that's why Ryoko Kui gave her white wings.

It is sort of jarring when chapter 23 rolls around and it's already time to fight the red dragon. And it takes a few chapters, but they succeed. And then Falin's impossible resurrection succeeds. But by then you guess that this is not going to be the story you expected it to be.

I want to point out that Falin spends a lot of time getting, well, babied, post-resurrection. Marcille washes her in the bath, despite Falin stating that she's capable of washing herself. Marcille schools her about her mana use despite Falin demonstrating that she is not hurting for mana, and brushes aside Falin's explanations. Both Marcille and Laios refuse to actually tell her what happened. Laios scruffs up her hair like she's a little kid and scolds her for something she can't remember doing. Marcille explicitly calls her a little kid when Falin tries to talk about how much she's grown.

Of course I'm not saying that Laios was wrong to act like a big brother, or that Marcille shouldn't be worried about taking care of her shell-shocked friend in the bath. But the framing of it clearly shows a Falin who is struggling to be heard.

If you'd like to address the big gay elephant in the room while we're here, I want to state for the record that- whether you read her as gay or not -I think Marcille is completely oblivious during this. Because Falin is her little friend from school. Her best friend, yes, but also the young tallman student she, in her infinite elven wisdom, had to mentor and look after. Marcille has not yet accepted that Falin is an adult now, nor has she accepted that she, herself, is only barely past teenagerhood developmentally and is not nearly as mature as she believes. Of course she'd scrub Falin in the bath and fuss over her.

Falin, meanwhile, seems more than aware of her own adult body and the inappropriate way Marcille is treating it.

The mana-sharing scene is, I think, Falin trying to get a little of her own back. How do you like it, Marcille?

And she tries again in bed.

Maybe she's wondering if their relationship will change now that they're grown ups. If Marcille prefers her as a little girl, or at least as a woman who lets herself be guided like one; if Marcille will react badly if Falin keeps trying to assert herself. She also might be subtly trying to signal to Marcille that bed sharing, like bathing, carries a different weight to it when you do it as adults rather than as children.

With all this in mind, the decision to turn Falin from the precious prize they rescued into to the vicious dragon they have to slay, hits a lot harder.

Falin with a powerful, monstrous, destructive body. Falin, who couldn't even stand to cause people pain from using healing spells, slaughtering half a dozen people in brutal ways. And that's not her, she's being mind-controlled, but as an object in the story she has completely flipped. From damsel to threat.

And I love that she carries a little bit of that with her when she's resurrected again.

Because she's no longer the girl who's going to let herself be stifled by her brother's and her best friend's co-dependency, no matter how much she loves them. She's different now: stronger, eyes open, forging her own path instead of following in their wake. Falin is still going to come back to them again, but this time it won't be because they chased her. It'll be because they let her go.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

the elitism in magic education

HELLO 🤡 I have come to you today with an analysis of Fellow Honest's motives and what they imply about the mages and non-mages in the world of Twisted Wonderland, as well as the state of magic education as it relates to one's social status. It's a doozy, so let's get right into it! ***WARNING: Spoilers for Stage in Playful Land!!***

Fellow's resentment of the elite harkens back to something I've always suspected but also something that Twisted Wonderland has seldom gone out of its way to shine a harsh spotlight on. That "something" is the discrepancy between the "haves" and the "have-nots" in terms of magic. With the main setting of TWST being a private magic school, of course the lens through which we view many events will be from this perspective as well... and that limits what we see and hear. Most of the NPCs we encounter (even the annoying ones, such as the Magicam Monsters from the first Halloween event) endlessly praise the NRC students just for attending a famous magic school. If we look closely though, we’ll start to see cracks in the shiny rose-colored lenses (which, coincidentally, is how Fellow’s UM name is written).

To begin with, we are told that only 10% of the human population (for the sake of argument, let's assume that most other races also have low magic rates) is even capable of magic to begin with. Of this 10%, the majority of people with the aptitude for magic only have enough to barely be able to lift a cup. In order to qualify for a prestigious magic school like Night Raven College or Royal Sword Academy, you'd literally have to be the cream of the crop and get lucky in terms of genetics. Magic cannot be learned by someone that was not born with the innate ability for it, and not everyone who is the child of a mage will be capable of magic themselves. This is already one HUGE barrier for entry. We now have more to consider.

Night Raven College is notably a private boarding school. This potentially means that students may need to pay a tuition fee for classes, room, and board. Perhaps this tuition doesn't exist, since NRC doesn't take applications but rather hand-selects its students. Additionally, NRC is based on a British school, and most European schools cost little to nothing to attend. However, it's hard to believe a school as fancy as NRC is a private institution that runs solely on the charity and goodwill of donors (though we do see Crowley happily accepting donations as well, specifically from the local town and from Kalim’s family). Realistically speaking, Stuff Costs Money, and if you Want Stuff, you also Need Money. NRC is not raising these mages of the future out of the goodness of their hearts, NRC is raising these mages because there is profit and prestige to be gained from the endeavor. What if there are students who are picked to go but end up having to leave because they can’t afford it?? This point is just speculative though; I won’t count it as actual evidence since there is no in-game lore which confirms tuition. We do know, however, that students do at least have to pay for their dorm uniforms, as Ruggie has mentioned he could not afford one—hence why he wears a hand-me-down from Leona. We also know students are on their own when it comes to paying for their food, as both Ruggie and Deuce mention being low on cash in reference to buying meals/snacks. Buuuuut even if we discount that money is a factor that gatekeeps some selected students from attending or having the cash to just get by on a daily basis, what we cannot ignore is that money inherently puts some people ahead of others before magic schools even recruit them.

Because the majority of those in Twisted Wonderland are incapable of using magic, magic is not typically included in general education. This means that if your kid manifests magic and you want them to be "ahead of the curve", you'd need to seek out resources for magic training and education. Now, this could mean reading materials, private tutoring, or reaching out to mages you know of. The problem with all of these things is that they tend to require money and/or connections, which are things not everyone has access to. Idia even says in book 6 that Riddle has an “artificially large” pool of magic due to how young Riddle started his magic training, meaning that the wealthy has the resources to just produce “better” mages. The rich also have more money to throw into items to help with magical training, such as bigger and better magestones (which must sell for substantial amount in the first place since Ruggie tries to save some to pawn off later in Vargas Camp) to keep mages healthier for longer (since magestones help absorb blot). This keeps power concentrated in an already elevated class. (Note: research has shown that money opens up and expands one's connections, which still puts the rich in an advantageous position compared to the less fortunate. There are also studies that show impoverished people who happen to have rich friends have a better chance of raising their own social standing just because of the doors and connections that rich friend can open for them.) Look at who in the main cast remarks on having formal magic training: literal royalty like Leona and the upper middle class like Riddle. Again, one could say that because schools like NRC appear to hand-pick students regardless of how much formal magic training they had prior to enrollment. However, the fact remains that it simply looks better to potential recruiters (using this blanket term because we don't know how magic schools besides NRC gets its students) and better prepares the child for magic school curriculum to get an early start on it.

Looking back at the 22 boys that make up the main cast, close to three-quarters or ~75% of them come from at least upper middle-class backgrounds and quite a few could classify as wealthy:

Riddle's parents are both doctors, with Riddle's mom in particular being well-known and well-regarded in their home community.

Cater's dad is a banker; his position is high enough up that he needs to relocate every so often (presumably to service their largest or most important firms).

Leona is a literal prince. Even if he isn't destined to be king, he still has access to the resources and wealth avaliable to a royal.

Azul's mom owns the most popular restaurant in the entire Coral Sea (have you seen how large the Coral Sea is on the world map???), and his stepdad is a lawyer.

The twins' family is said to be well-off; they are able to afford luxuries like fancy clothes and Mr. Leech stresses the importance of manners and presentation. He is implied to have business associates who are also well-off and would like to get in his good graces. (Popular fan speculation is that the Leeches are a crime family.)

Kalim is the heir to a massive family fortune and trading business. He also has relatives (by marriage, I believe) who are royals.

Jamil, as Kalim's attendant, is also from a reasonably well-off family; they receive benefits unique to being closely tied with the Asims, such as exposure to elite society and lessons to acquire various skills, albeit these benefits comes with being in the lower social position of a servant.

Vil's father is an A-list celebrity, and Vil is also one himself.

We don't know the specifics of what Rook's family does, but it must be well-paying, as we learn in book 5 that the Hunts have villas all over Twisted Wonderland, as well as permissions for international travel via warp pads.

Idia and Ortho's family run a secret organization that researches blot. S.T.Y.X. is so secretive that basically only those in super high positions like Crowley and Leona would know about them. Let's also not forget that the Shrouds have ties to the Jupiter Conglomerate and the Olympus Corp, which is a tech giant in the world of TWST.

Malleus is prince AND the heir to his kingdom’s throne. He is also one of the top 5 most powerful mages in the entire WORLD.

Lilia is a renown war general and a close friend of royalty. He raised a young Malleus as well.

Silver is Lilia's adopted son and is actually a prince himself.

Sebek's parents are dentists. They must make mad money. His grandfather is also a respected knight that served alongside Lilia.

Notice how all the dorm leaders are upper middle class or higher; the vice dorm leaders have ONE normal person (Trey); in Playful Land, Trey confesses to living a comfortable life so we know he must be at least middle class.

We can try to argue all we like that NRC doesn't discriminate based on social status for their selections, but if that's the case then why are so few of the main cast from impoverished or low-income families? Only Ace, Trey, and Jack count as squarely middle class. Ruggie is the only example we have of someone from a very low socioeconomic status rising up to be among "elites". The other example is Deuce, who comes from a single parent household and has implied they don't have a lot of money (for example: how the VDC/SDC earnings will help out his family). (Epel is kind of a ??? case because depending on where in the story you are, his family could be in financial trouble or not; in book 5, they imply his entire village is having difficulties selling product until Vil promotes Harveston apples on his Magicam.) Maybe it's unfair to say that 22 students out of 800ish is representative of the makeup of the entire NRC student population (or represents the composition of all magic schools), but Ruggie confirms in his Birthday Boy vignettes that a majority of the students at NRC are decently well-off. This single digit representation of low-income students is also true of real-life elite schools. They are private schools for a reason; it naturally gatekeeps who is and isn't "allowed" to attend, leading to the majority of its students being members of the elite.

Another thing to consider is legacy students. This term refers to the increased likelihood of people being accepted into a school if they had a relative that also attended that school. We know of two instances of this happening: Ace's brother and Sebek's brother also went to and graduated from Night Raven College. Ace even makes a remark during his sorting ceremony that he ended up in the same dorm as his older brother "as expected". If magic aptitude is genetic, then perhaps it makes sense to recruit from the same families--but again, this is inherently restrictive, as you would continuously be culling from the same pools generation after generation.

Back on the topic of bloodlines and family, what about Kalim, who has an extensive family? There will be no shortage of Asim mages going to NRC just because of legacy (Jamil even alludes to the fact that the previous Scarabia dorm leader was an Asim relative, and his recommendation is what got Kalim the dorm leader seat). And speaking of Kalim, consider instances where rich families are able to bribe faculty (lookin' at YOU, Crowley) or donate a large sum to get their kid ahead or to be given priority over others that may be more qualified than them (RIP Jamil). To continue off that point, NRC itself is structured as a "dog eat dog" world. Those with inherently more magical ability have the right to trump over others. You can duel and lose your dorm seat to a more powerful mage, even if you trump them in terms of merit or leadership qualities. Students feel a sense of duty to obey those who have bested them in battle (ie Epel's servitude to Vil). Everyone fears Malleus. Your magical power is respected above all else.

Attitudes surrounding magic have notably shifted from fear of it several hundreds of years ago (around the human-fae war, back when “witch” and “wizard” were used in a derogatory sense) to recognizing it for its strengths and actively seeking it or granting some favoritism to those who have it. There is, in fact, now class discrimination in based on whether or not you can use magic. We got an early instance of this as early as book 1 of the main story, when Riddle insults Yuu for their "pitiful" education and states that they were clearly "born to parents with no great magical capability". It’s something that clearly rubs Ace, who has a magicless father, the wrong way, and he stands up for Yuu. There are other subtle hints about this divide sprinkled throughout the lore. For example, Ruggie has a voice line which he indicates that the slums where he comes from doesn’t produce many magic users. Again, recall that magic runs in bloodlines. This could potentially allude to a past where those without magic were forced into lower income neighborhoods, which results in pockets like Ruggie’s hometown with a high population of magicless individuals living in poverty. This doesn’t appear to be a large scale issue (perhaps its only an isolated case?), but this is worth paying attention to.

This could all translate into the professional world too. Some jobs are entirely locked behind magic (ie you just cannot do them or pursue them if you don't have the magical ability for it). Some jobs DO require magic (ie medical mages like Riddle's parents, magic police force officers, technomantic inventors, etc) and probably additional training that goes with it. As a result, I'd imagine that these magic-intensive jobs pay quite a bit more. There may also be overall more job opportunities for those capable of magic, since magic is so much more efficient than doing things by hand. The magic police force in particular are described as “elite” and members are REQUIRED to be mages or else you don’t qualify. It means more retention of wealth and/or more upward mobility for the few impoverished that are able to enter magic schools. (This is, of course, not including the few and far between cases of regular people who get rich in select industries, such as Kalim’s father.) Recall too that NRC requires its students to take internships during their 4th years, many placements being with very prestigious groups and organizations such as pro-sports teams, labs, tech giants, etc. Being able to attend a prestigious school with connections grants those elite students even more opportunities than the average person.

Then think about what this means for people who fall short of these standards that these magic schools set. We actually have examples of them in book 5 of the main story: when Deuce and Epel are reconciling on the beach, a bunch of delinquents from another school come along and start checking out Deuce’s borrowed magical wheel. Through the NPCs’ exchange, we learn that one of them has enough magic to power a magical wheel, but not enough to do much else. This NPC also couldn’t keep up in class and dropped out of a magic school. He then becomes insulted when Deuce implies he is “a beginner”, so this is obviously a very sore spot for him. Riddle also has dialogue that implies students dropped out of NRC prior to his reign (and since then, no Heartslabyul students have left). Additionally, consider how magic can be used to oppress and lord power over others. Deuce himself is guilty for summoning cauldrons to crush rival delinquents in fights back in Clock Town—even if those delinquents lacked magic themselves. Similarly, Epel is implied to use magic to gain an upper hand against those that bullied him back home. This all implies a social divide between those with magic and those without, and begs of bigger questions.

What happens to the ones that don’t make it? The ones that get left behind? The ones without the magic to make it “big”? This is the root of Fellow’s anger; he’s mad at a system that cast people like him (someone with very little magic) and Gidel (a non-mage) aside. They don’t get the opportunity to make better futures for themselves. They’re looked down on by high-up institutions that basically tell them they’re not good enough.

Knowing all of this, the deck appears to be stacked against the poor and non-mages. It’s no wonder why Fellow is so mad.

THIS ACTUALLY RELATES BACK TO WHAT ROLLO SAID IN 5-2 OF GLORIOUS MASQUERADE… "When you have too little [magic], you're resentful. And when you have plenty [of magic], you're arrogant. You can never content yourselves." The NRC boys are arrogant (this is the side of the story we’ve always known due to seeing the world mainly from their perspective). They are the “haves”, and we see them constantly misusing their power by fighting each other over very petty things (even if it’s against the rules to do so). But everyone else??? They’re scrounging for the scraps. Fellow falls into that former category; he IS the guy that’s resentful because of his lack of magic and how something he cannot control has already determined where he and Gidel will stand in life no matter how hard they work. They can never hope to rise out of poverty, and there’s nothing they can do about it. That must be soul-crushing.

When Fellow praises the NRC boys in that overly exaggerated way, he’s obviously being shady and facetious—however, there is also a kernel of truth behind this behavior. Most other NPCs we’ve met have spoken about the NRC boys favorably just because of their affiliation with a prestigious school. It’s the same way people might be impressed if you walked around in an Ivy League branded hoodie or something. People automatically associate you with the school’s shiny and exclusive reputation, and thus assume you are also intelligent, talented, etc. Then, in the same way being constantly put on a pedestal like this might result in the students getting swelled heads, this only further feeds into the NRC kids’ egos. They so privileged they don’t even recognize it. And that makes Fellow fucking FUME.

Look back at Fellow's dialogue. He is constantly mentioning the prestige of the school the boys go to, or adding on extra compliments about their status and skills. He's ass-kissing to his boss, who is also wealthy or part of the upper class, then insults the boss once he hangs up. Fellow is always in a position where he HAS to be subservient to the upper class in order to make his money and get by, and he finds that entirely unfair. Imagine having to simper and placate people you absolutely despise and blame for your problems every day, people who are gorging themselves on luxuries, coasting by in life, taking everything they have for granted while you get by on pennies—that has to get frustrating.

I want to briefly mention here that, in addition to praising the NRC students to high heaven, Fellow also talks down his own skills. He cheerfully calls himself a loser and says that no matter how much he trains, he could never reach their caliber of magic. Yes, Fellow is exaggerating to get the kids to think they’ve won, but I also have to wonder if he’s parroting the same phrases he was told long ago, from people who doubted him and never thought he’d make it. If that’s the case, then I get the sense that Fellow is in a way “reclaiming” his autonomy and power by adopting those same cruel words and using them as a strength. He admits to being “weak” but is also proud of the fact that he can utilize his magic along with his natural charisma to get a leg up over others. It further fuels his new belief that going to an elite school doesn’t matter, it’s practical skills that will serve you well.

Okay, back to talking about his shitty work situation! Fellow’s employer clearly doesn’t treat him with decency. They berate him, make unreasonable demands, act impatient, etc. They are a typical depiction of a toxic workplace and boss. This can also be read as shorthand for the relation between the rich and the poor, and how that may have shaped (or worsened) Fellow’s views on others of the privileged class. He makes many assumptions about the NRC students without really getting to know them, calling them entitled brats. Why? Because these descriptors likely apply to the higher-ups Fellow has always slaved away for. This, in combination with his own experiences in being rejected from magic academia, has created a person who feels trodden on by society and by the upper echelons who run it and benefit off the system.

Fellow himself is the perfect example of someone who was failed by said system. He has dialogue stating that he was never given the chance to learn because his magic was not considered strong enough. Still, he tried to make an effort to earn that chance among to elites and to study among them. Fellow was rejected, ridiculed, and told he had “forgotten his place”, what he had been born into. There were expectations he couldn’t meet, and so Fellow was thrown away like a broken toy. He has failed not because he didn’t try, but because he was denied the opportunity to begin with. This is where is rage stems from. Fellow despises the students of those same kinds of institutions who kicked him down, students who don’t realize how fortunate they are for their educations and will likely continue to perpetuate the system.

What, then, does that means for his signature spell, which is closely tied to one’s identity? Let’s take a magnifying glass to it. As previously mentioned, the name for Fellow’s spell is written as “Rose-Tinted Dream”, but it is said out loud as “Life is Fun”. The chant for it is, “Come on to the theater” (notably said in English rather than in Japanese). Both the spell and the incantation are references to the song Honest John sings in Pinocchio, Hi- Diddle-Dee-Dee. And… well, the whole UM in of itself is one big cruel joke given his circumstances now.

I think this spell is representative of a young Fellow still full of hopes and dreams, looking forward to studying at a magic school. But then those dreams are shattered and he has to commit terrible crimes to survive day-to-day, and he seems to have given up on his dreams. He even goes so far as to protect Gidel from having the same hopes he once did, telling Yuu to not put silly ideas in his head when Gidel expressed curiosity about school. At the same time, he delights in crushing the hopes of those he deems his enemies (stating that he wanted to betray Kalim to “teach him a lesson” about how cruel the world is). Fellow knows the truth: that life isn’t fun, that it will disappoint you and will put you down. His actions are very cowardly as well—he uses tricks and deception, he runs away from his problems instead of properly addressing them, the NRC students remark on his lack of pride. Fellow has had to throw away so much to scrape by. Yet his UM symbolizes someone brimming with hope—so perhaps it’s a UM he manifested when Fellow still thought he had a chance?? And then people made fun of him for it being so weak?? Alternatively, maybe he didn’t get his UM until after his dreams were crushed so he’s looking back on those nostalgic days of blissful ignorance with rose-colored lenses (which is, again, maybe why his UM magic name is written as “Rose Tinted Dream”). A UM that is a reflection of one’s true self, yet that same identity is one that has been forced to be discarded. That’s the reason why, despite all the swindling and scamming, I don’t think Fellow’s enthusiasm for fun is a lie. That’s the one “real” part of him, but even that’s been repurposed to help him live on scraps, something innocent twisted 😭 and that’s really sad to think about…

But also??? You could argue that Fellow still has a little bit of that lost inner child and hope left in him. He tries to defend Gidel’s understanding of the world and has goals of starting his own school despite how poorly he originally spoke about these institutions. (So Fellow does appear to care about children and their futures.) He also has a childish streak despite being an adult, demonstrated by his use of cowardly tactics, taunting kids, and abruptly quitting his job to then destroy his workplace. Fellow himself states that he “just tries to live a free and fun life”, thus his pursuit of money and pleasure. This could all play into being what defines Fellow and thus his UM. It embodies a spirit of playfulness even when he has been crushed under the weight of an unglamorous life.

I’ve heard people saying that while Rollo is Idia’s dark mirror and Fellow is Ruggie’s. They have similar backstories but ultimately their fates are different and left the former two down far more sinister paths. Just as Rollo is an Idia that turned his anger outward instead of inward, Fellow is Ruggie had he not been given a chance to receive an education to elevate his social status and job prospects. Fellow and Ruggie both cling to rich, powerful benefactors/bosses and do their dirty work to get on by—a big difference is that Leona, while he does also work Ruggie to the bone, also has some conscience. Something else to consider is that while Ruggie prioritizes making a life for himself by studying and securing a stable, well-paying job, Fellow is focused moreso on the accumulation of wealth itself (as he suggests to Kalim he’ll take a bribe to let him go free and quits when there is no longer money to be gained from his boss). Both don’t really care how they get their money (even if it is by dirty means), but ultimately Ruggie’s way of making cash is more sustainable in the long run. Yet Fellow ultimately realizes the importance of school deep down despite constantly denying it when the NRC students tell him of it. Fellow is in denial because that’s the only way he can cope and justify his lifestyle. He’s confused when finally confronted with students who are his ideal of “happy and free”, even when they’re in an educational system that he views as shackling people into strict roles. The way he laments about not being able to go to school is also very reminiscent of an adult mourning a lost or unfulfilling childhood, which is quite a depressing scenario…

Fellow is the one that got the short end of the stick in life. Ruggie met Leona, and Leona technically uplifted him in his endeavors, tutored him into getting decent grades and giving him hand-me-downs and money in exchange for his services. Fellow never had that kind of support system, he was just insulted and bullied into giving up and had to find an alternative way to keep himself going 😔

Personally, I think Fellow could also be a dark mirror to Kalim, no?? They exist on opposite ends of a social spectrum. Kalim has everything and Fellow had nothing. What’s more, Kalim is still wide-eyed and trusting. He is the only one willing to try words instead of fighting him and instantly labeling him as the enemy. Meanwhile, Fellow has become bitter because of how the world has betrayed him. He wants to take that trust Kalim has and show him how cruel everything truly is. Why is he fixated on that? Why even offer in the first place if he never intended on going through with it? Why does he want to rub it in Kalim’s face in particular? Maybe it’s because Kalim seems rich and dumb, as Fellow claims, but maybe it’s because there is envy there. Sure, Fellow is upset about Kalim being a sheltered brat that faces no challenges in life, but I also feel like he’s jealous that Kalim can still afford to think this way. That he can still afford to be cheerful, that he can still be a dreamer. Fellow was alluded to be like that once—but he can’t be like that anymore, not when he has to look out for himself and Gidel.

Side note, another comparison! Recall that Kalim’s Oasis Maker is also a UM that uses a little bit of magic. However, Kalim does not know of many creative ways to use his spell, as there is no real reason to since his home country has lots of canals and irrigation. He therefore deems his UM as pretty useless. Fellow meanwhile has what most consider a weak UM but he fully utilizes it to his advantage and pairs it well with his natural charm to maximize its effects. He had to develop these skills because he was in pressing circumstances in which they would benefit him. This contributes to the “mirror” theme between the two.

Fellow and Kalim have a notable similarity as well, and this is where I feel they can connect. They are both older brothers to a child or children who are magicless. Fellow only has one, and Kalim has many—but the number here isn’t what is important. What is important is that Fellow and Kalim think the world of their siblings and want to support them. To that end, Fellow is willing to be cruel and step on others, and Kalim is all sunshine to keep their spirits up. Fellow has suffered through great poverty and insults and Kalim has survived so many attempts on his life, yet they’ve developed distinctly different approaches to the worlds that have embraced them. Kalim’s wealth could afford him protection and luxuries, so he’s able to live carefree with others tending to his needs. The same isn’t true for Fellow, and so he came out far more spiteful and resentful.

Thinking about it, it’s ultimately Kalim’s words that convince Fellow to turn on his employer. (The other boys certainly wore Fellow down and planted the seeds of doubt, but it’s Kalim that I believe fully resonates with Fellow.) He can so happily talk about why he loves school, even though he doesn’t do well at it (something I presume is also true of Fellow, since he is lacking in tons of magic). It’s not said in a particularly articulate manner, but it’s so candid in its presentation. Kalim is relating to him based on similar skillset (or lack thereof) and sharing fond memories of his time at school, reviving the hopeful “lost child” in Fellow. Kalim is probably the first wealthy person in a long time that was friendly, kind, and supportive to him. And here he is, reassuring Fellow his dreams are still possible, to not give up. That’s the final nail that allows Fellow to be “honest” with himself and his inner child. It’s what leads to that slew of irresponsible actions at the end of the event (letting people free, blasting the amusement park, driving a sinking ship, etc.).

At the end of Stage in Playful Land, we see that Fellow never really let that childlike side of him fully die. (It seems to have been concealed under a desire for money and appeasing his boss.) He shares his dream of creating his own great school to give educational opportunities to non-mages and mages with low magical reserves like Gidel and himself, a school that teaches practical life lessons. He wants to promote his own ideals and to change the system he hates from the inside out. This was never communicated to us before most likely because Fellow had renounced those ideas in favor of blind hatred and a lack of faith in the world and those that dominate it.

Fellow also acknowledges that life may be even more difficult for him and Gidel going forward, as now they lack the money for even food and no longer have jobs. Furthermore, they need to worry about their ex-employers coming after them for what they’ve done. Even so, Fellow faces it all with a smile and reassures everyone that they can transfer or visit to play… “on this shining stage called life”. He and Gidel are able to walk away with their whimsy preserved, and can still be that which they’ve always wanted to be: dreamers.

All of this is to say that Rollo was right all along about magic, he never misses—