#Prince of Time Analysis

[kooldewd123]

there's something to be said about the choice to use "prince" as the main signifier of military rank for the andalites. because it kinda obscures the truth of the situation, doesn't it? a group of kids getting magic powers from an alien prince sounds whimsical and delightful. a group of kids getting pulled into a war by an alien colonel sounds tragic and horrible. the slow reveal of what "prince" actually means over the course of the early books is perhaps the most underrated twist of the entire series, because it fundamentally recontextualizes the entire premise of the series without the reader even consciously realizing it.

[queen-lucy-the-valiant]

"Edmund, I've got a bad feeling" is such a funny line if you take it in context with the "the last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid" line from PC. Because Caspian and co are probably like... yeah bad feeling, it's Eustace, what good feelings could you have? but then Edmund's probably thinking something like... dear god, please don't let this be as dramatic as the last few times, we don't have enough men to fight another war rn.

[m4rs-ex3]

"i would do anything for you"

the first time:

the second time:

the third time:

[thethiefandtheairbender]

While Aang is primarily associated with air throughout the series — bringing and being valued for his fun loving spirit, his emphasis on freedom ("you taught them to be free"), his arrows, his bison, his people and having Spirit, and indeed his spirituality and easygoing nature — I think in many ways the element that reflects Aang best is water. (This also ties into why he suits Katara as a partner.)

Let me explain.

For starters, water is the first and last element we see him bend in the series (outside of his little air spiral for Momo) and within the Avatar State.

Water can be the element of healing, which is what Aang hopes to do in ending the war and saving the world. It can be the element of immense destruction as well (Koizilla, or the mighty ocean) very similarly to a grief induced Avatar State. Finally, being coerced into the Avatar State and into bloodbending — both include being controlled from within and simultaneously being out of control, albeit in different ways — are likewise paralleled.

Last but not least, like the moon and the tides, Aang may continually leave the shore... but he also likewise always returns.

He comes back from supposed death (the iceberg), literal death (book 2), and the verge of death (destruction of his energy; potential destruction of his sense of self and culture in Sozin's Comet, on the anniversary of his people's genocide no less) throughout the seasons. He can "get so angry you aren't even you anymore" but also returns to himself and by proxy, always returns to and likewise reaffirms Katara and her sense of self as well the same way her bending and love of her bending does.

Air is freedom, but water is cyclical and rooted in community... both things that the Avatar cycle as a reincarnation cycle necessitates and nurtures, and I think that's beautiful.

[starlit1daydream]

Introduction to my Classpecting Ideas

This felt like a good idea for something to put out before I put my Knight & Page analysis out there, since I plan on making this a 6 part series. (Potentially 7 if demand for a Lord/Muse addendum is high enough).

So, I'll be laying out my most important philosophies on the subject here for future reference.

Classpecting is...

Point A. Classpecting is malleable.

There is not one rigid, set definition for any Class pair, or any Aspect pairing. The freedom of the author is that they may assign any symbolism to a concept that they may like.

What I mean by this is that people often seem to think that manifestations of an Aspect within Homestuck's narrative paint that object or idea as a concept inherently tied to that Aspect.

Example: Pumpkins & Void. You would not believe the amount of people in the early fandom who swore by the idea that pumpkins were inherently just Void constructs because of their role in Homestuck's narrative.

No? Pumpkins symbolise Void in Homestuck itself and Homestuck itself only only due to a running gag inherent to Homestuck itself.

Anything, with enough narrative basis and existing thematic ties, can serve to symbolise an Aspect. Furthermore, two different authors may have different ideas of what Aspect something represents.

Some authors may see alcohol, for example, as a Void-bound concept owing to its obfuscation of fair judgement. Some may see it as a Light-bound concept owing to the idea of 'in vino veritas' and the tendency of drunkenness to induce truthful confessions. Some may see it as a Life-bound concept owing to its associations with hedonism and impulsive behaviour.

With enough narrative consistence, anything is possible. Homestuck's narrative is not as rigid of a point of reference as some people would swear by it being. This is deeply important.

Point B. Classpecting is not the whole of a character.

I can't exactly phrase this in a satisfactory manner, but... a Classpect is not a personality type in of itself. An individual being a Prince of Heart does not instantly make them Dirk Strider. It merely means that their core value is identity & selfhood, and they interact with it by destroying it. It is that simple!

I see, time and time again, Classpecting blogs acting as if a Classpect is indicative of a character's whole personality and giving guides as to the exact behaviours & quirks a character with that Classpect should have.

I am imploring you to explore wider possibilities when it comes to this. Even if it means sharing a title with a canon character! It doesn't mean you have to just rewrite that canon character because that's not how Classpecting works.

I've seen fanventure characters share titles with canon characters. (Sovereignstuck's Annomi Errata & Dynama Zarrow sharing titles with Dirk & Porrim respectively, and Porrim herself is also a player in that narrative, mind you!)

I've seen fanventure characters share titles with eachother. (Vast Error's Dismas Mersiv is a Rogue of Mind. One of my fantrolls is also a Rogue of Mind!)

In every instance, they are fundamentally different people. I cannot put it any simpler than this.

Point C. Classpecting is always applicable.

That is the perfection of the Classpecting system. You can give a title to any character, from anything ever made. It's not even that difficult if you're half-decent at media analysis!

Quite literally all you need to do is ask yourself two questions.

"What's this character's core value?" and "How do they interact with that?" Do that, and you've got yourself a Classpect.

That's the beauty of it! It's obviously not going to be as airtight as a story that has the Classpecting system baked directly into the narrative, but it's still going to work out!

Hell, do it to yourself! Do it to your friends! The world's your oyster. You can do anything you want, forever, for the rest of time. I'm a Seer of Life! My best friend is a Page of Blood! My mother is a Witch of Hope! Go wild.

Post formatting

For my Classpecting posts, I'll aim to give two related definitions for every Class.

Definition A is the narrative function, what the Class says about the person and how they interact with their Aspect as an abstract concept.

Definition B is the practical function, what the Class says about their role in the session and how they interact with their Aspect as a SBURB construct.

Therefore, we get an idea of both the abstract, personal definition of a Classpect, and the functional, game application of a Classpect.

I'll also aim to give about two or three examples for each individual title about how you could write a character with them, since there are always going to be multiple directions you can take with a Classpect.

Conclusion

tl;dr - what I'm trying to say is this. Classpecting is malleable, easily applicable & capable of saying any number of things, and my posts will aim to give two concise definitions of both narrative and practical function for every title.

I'll get the Knight:Page analysis done either today or tomorrow, and the rest of the Class posts will be staggered releases in order of poll results. Thus, the order is going to be:

Knights & Pages, Deficiency and Exploitation.

Mages & Seers, Experience and Comprehension.

Witches & Heirs, Adherence and Manipulation.

Princes & Bards, Instability and Destruction.

Thieves & Rogues, Inundation and Redistribution.

Maids & Sylphs, Maintenance and Generation.

And, potentially...

7. Lords & Muses, Absolution and Dominion.

And then, subsequently, the order for the Aspect posts, which I've decided based on relevance to the canon, roughly speaking anyways...

Space & Time, Genesis and Terminus.

Breath & Blood, Fluidity and Stability.

Light & Void, Potential and Simplicity.

Heart & Mind, Instinct and Dialectics.

Life & Doom, Progress and Stagnation.

Hope & Rage, Conviction and Iconoclasm.

I look forward to the next post. Until then, take care.

[raayllum]

like there's something so Sick and Twisted (affectionate) to me about how 7 seasons in, Callum is the only one who recognizes Claudia at this point, specifically through recognition of her continued violence.

Like Soren isn't sure of who she is / who she is to him at this point, hence his uncertainty around whether he could bring himself to kill her. Aaravos sees her as Leola 2.0 despite the fact that while they have similarities, Claudia is also wildly different from Leola and far more like who Aaravos has become than actual Leola would ever want or be comfortable with. Terry is actively trying to protect her and bring her back, while also mourning her and their relationship ("I thought maybe you'd see something lost within your heart") and also not seeing her entirely clearly.

And that's not to say that Callum sees Claudia entirely clearly either, but there's something about him going "I know it's you! Stop hiding!" after she's just committed a murder, both in juxtaposition and in alignment with her statement in the same season of "I'm still nice. I'm still me." Because she is still Claudia to him, he knows it's her, but not out of any perceived niceness (lingering goodness), but because of her violence.

He knows her, but not in the way she wants him to, but in the way that she's forced him to know her.

[princessofghosts-posts]

Thinking back about Percabeth travel through Tartarus made me more sad about the fact that we will never know about Nico's first travel.

Idk if in TOA or TSATS he talks about it to Will or someone else,but I really wish we could know more about it. The only things we know are the following:

He went alone,so no Bob with him that could have helped him like Annabeth and Percy,at the start of SoN;

His meeting with Akhlys,where she straight up told him he was perfect in his misery and she couldn't make him more miserable than that;

He saw Tartarus for what it really was all the way in,and almost went insane for that;

He got captured when he got to the door by Gaia's army and then was bought for a bit in his father temple,before putting him in a jar in Rome.

And apparently Nyx is obsessed with him and his darkness,and like Akhlys,she think Nico can't change and he's perfect in his darkness. And this is something that's only talked about in TSATS,unlike the others,so it's a pretty "new" information. But that's it,we don't know anything else and this will be probably one of my greatest regret.

Did Nico hesitated to jump because he realized something was wrong and could see the real Tartarus? Did he already knew about this "privilege" of his,since Tartarus is in his father's domain? Did he ask Bob for information before jumping? Did he research or knew about the gods down there that could have helped him? And if he didn't,how did he knew about Akhlys's dead mist? How did he met her since Bob didn't bought him to her? Did she gave him the mist without trying to kill him like she did with Annabeth and Percy,because she liked his misery,or Nico had to endure a near-death experience? Did he also met Nyx? If he did,did he went though her house like Percy and Annabeth? Since he is immune to the mist in Tartarus,can he also see beyond the darkness of Nyx's house? Did he met other gods or primordial? Did Tartarus watched his travel but didn't interfered,like he did with Percy,because he knew Gaia's plan? And if he did interfered? Did Thanatos helped him (he is one of Nyx children so he can go in Tartarus without a problem) since he technically work for his dad? Did he felt being followed by monsters and,without knowing it,by also Gaia's army? Did he met old enemies like Percy and Annabeth? Did his title as ghost king made things more complicated in case there were vendicative spirit around? Did the fact that he was Hades'son/the prince of that place gave him more downside? Was his travel more easier than theirs since the monsters knew about Gaia's trap for him,so they didn't interfered and let it unfold once Nico got to the doors? How did Nico felt knowing he was walking and seeing Tartarus body? Did Hades know what he was planning to do or was too busy with his split personality to understand what was happening? Did he cared? How did Nico felt once he got to the doors and got kidnapped? Persephone gave him the seeds,so she probably had an idea of the dangers he was going to face,how did she felt about that? Did Nico thought that Persephone cared about him? Did he thought of his dad too? Did his powers snapped too down there,like Percy's did? Did he felt the change or only realized later on when he turned Bryce into a ghost? Did he felt getting weaker by the moment or Tartarus didn't had the same effect to him? How Nico felt once he was out of Tartarus,in Gaia's hands,and was bought to his father temple: a place where he should be safe? And what about the jar,did the giants put him in there while he was conscious and trying to fight,or he was knocked out before he could get out of Tartarus? If he was knocked out,how did he felt we he understood he was trapped in a jar under the colosseum–that he was in Italy? How did he felt while watching Percy,Jason and Piper coming to his aid? Was he guilty since they were getting hurt for him? Was he relieved since someone cared enough to safe him? Was he feeling useless since he couldn't do anything to help them and was too weak to even move? What did he felt when he met Hazel,after so long,without knowing if she was still alive? What did he feel as the ship descended into Arachne's cave,and noticed another opening to Tartarus? Was he panicking inside? Was he having a silent trauma-respons? Did he wanted to get the farthest away possible with it? Did he wanted to take everyone else with him and shadow travel away because he couldn't do that again? And when Annabeth and Percy got pulled over the edge? And when he tried to get them out,putting himself on the edge of the same place he just got out again? What was he feeling? And when he watched them feel? Was he having flashback of his jump? Was he screaming in dispears? Was he dissociating because the trauma is too much? Was he feeling guilty because he couldn't do anything to help them? Did he had nightmares about their fall?

There is so much we don't know about,and it has so much potential to explore and ground to cover. You can probably write a whole separate book about it,of more than 200 pages (if someone will write or wrote a ff,or know about a good one on this topic,please,share it in the comments,I'm desperate for Nico's first travel in Tartarus ff).

Nico is the first ever survivor of Tartarus. He is the first: before him no one ever made it,and Percy and Annabeth made it out of it thanks to Bob's help. And Bob helped only because Nico was a friend to him,and talked about Percy. And the fact that we still don't know nothing about his travel is truly a crime.

There are so many dark topic you could talk about,especially because Nico travel was more dangerous than Percy and Annabeth. In HoH everyone was going to the Doors because they wanted to go out and take part in the final battle,so nobody was actively trying to hunt them down expect Polybotes and Tartarus (idk about him). But for Nico,that went there when the Doors were freshly opened? And Gaia probably knew he was coming and her trap was probably pre-organized only for him? Everyone was either hunting him down,or was waiting for the right time to jump at him. Akhlys encounter was a straight up nightmare,the one when you throw up after waking up. Nico probably felt more devasted when Misery herself told him how she couldn't make him more miserable. You can't tell me Tartarus wasn't watching him,since Nico was the first demigod in ages to venture in his body. He was probably keeping a close eye on him and either didn't interfer because he didn't care,or because he was aware of Gaia's plans. And I need more of Nyx interacting with Nico,because her obsession waa probably born from his first travel. Maybe they didn't met,but if Akhlys loved his misery so much,who say she wouldn't talk about him with other primordials? The dark topics and trauma here are>>>>>

[geekgirles]

In Defence of Beauty Marked

I've been giving it some thought, and I feel that nowadays we judge Beauty Marked too harshly instead of acknowledging it had flaws and virtues. Maybe we even focus on the wrong flaws.

From what I've seen, the episode's main criticism seems to be its heavy-handed message on feminism, especially how the writers use Sam to deliver it. To be precise, people dislike that Sam signed herself up for a contest she had no interest in just to make a point, which I've often seen was perceived as an example of her "not being like other girls" and looking down on more traditionally feminine things like beauty pageants.

While I admit this issue could have been solved by simply making the pageant mandatory and Sam rebelling against something that was imposed against her will, the truth is, Sam's as much of a proactive character as a reactive one, so it makes sense for her to go out of her way to make a point. So the fact that it was a voluntary event really worked against Sam's point in the first place.

I also have the feeling the Phandom's less forgiving reaction towards this episode might be a result of how, in recent years, more and more people have begun to denounce how femininity is often vilified in media. A campaign that I 100% support!

After all, beauty pageants are vilified for the wrong reasons, more so in the 2000s, where most shows featuring them either played it straight (Jake Long, Pucca, The Fairy Odd Parents), or had one of the characters denounce it as sexist (aside from Danny Phantom, Shake It Up also comes to mind). Now, I must admit I'm not their biggest fan either, but at least I understand beauty queens aren't inherently vapid idiots (for all I know, they can be wonderful people and have a degree in astrophysics), and focus my vitriol towards all the abuse happening backstage (pageant parents are a special kind of evil). However, in itself, beauty pageants aren't necessarily a bad thing, just a different kind of competition.

Just like there's nothing wrong with having more tomboyish interests, characters (and real-life people) who care about "girly" hobbies still have a right to exist outside of being the butt of some joke or the writers' punching bag. After all, we're people. We have layers and contradictions and that's beautiful.

I, myself, happen to be a hopeless romantic who loves dresses and skirts, and shopping for bargains, and cute and adorable things. But at the same time, I can be pretty foul-mouthed, I love myself some badass and even gory action scenes, I love weird animals as much as "cute" ones, and I prefer sneakers over heels any day of the week.

However, I feel people tend to misplace this sentiment onto Sam, seeing her as a proponent on "classical" femininity being bad. And they seem to treat this episode as proof, even though that's not what's going on at all.

Without going on too much of a tangent, the thing about Sam is that she's actually quite feminine herself. It's just that the Angry Goth Aesthetic and her design sometimes eclipse that. Ironically, her design also highlights that feminity.

Out of the major teenage girls in the show, the only ones wearing a skirt are both Sam and Valerie, just like they're also the most accesorised ones—with Sam wearing a choker and a bracelet on each wrist, and Valerie wearing her headband, necklace, earrings, and bracelets. And would you look at that! The girls whose designs include some of the most feminine elements also happen to be the ones spending their free time kicking ghost butt!

Layers, people!

Even outside from that, Sam's also been shown to have other girly traits or interests: even if she was embarrassed to admit it (which is normal for 14-year-olds), she was looking forward to the homecoming dance; she has great empathy for living creatures (mostly plants and animals), and AGIT went as far as to confirm she's a horse girl; she's usually seen with an adorable plushie spider backpack and bat slippers; she has great maternal instincts and the potential to be a very doting and loving mum...

Her problem with the pageant wasn't that it was feminine. In fact, at no point does she look down on the other girls for wanting to participate in it (she only got mad at Paulina for giving her a make-over that wasn't her style, and the feeling was very much mutual). Deep down, moments of hypocrisy aside, Sam understands that every girl has her way of being herself, which is something Dora openly mocked her for.

Sam was against the pageant not because she doesn't like girly things, but because Dora had quite openly stated how she intended to strip the girls of their agency in order to mould them into perfect little princesses—which we later learned actually meant turning them into submissive, mindless drones for her brother to marry.

Dora: Well, here's a statement. (holds a hand out towards Sam, standing beside her.) It says I'll never win in this outfit." Sam glares at Dora and puts her hands on her hips. Dora: Still, Ms. Manson has a point. (She walks towards the girls, now all standing in a row.) You girls are unique individuals with strong opinions and independent minds. Sam: You're darn right we are. Dora: It's my job to make you forget that and mold you into happy little princesses. (She smiles with her hands clasped together)

The point of the episode wasn't "femininity is bad", rather "objectifying women is bad".

A message which was exemplified all throughout the episode through the boys' actions, something that actually annoyed all girls, not just Sam, right off the bat, as soon as Dora announced she'd be appointing one of them as a judge.

To be completely honest, something I haven't really seen many people talk about is the absolutely horrendous attitude Tucker and Danny adopted during this episode. I hate to say this, because I love them both dearly, but they were such pigs! Literally the only one who acted as less of a feminist than these two this episode was Aragon, and that's because being a misogynist is his whole shtick.

While it's framed as they getting carried away because they're finally popular with the girls, it still doesn't change the fact that Danny and Tucker spent almost the entire episode (or the entirety of it, in the latter's case) reaping the benefits their new position as pageant judge (and his best friend) gave them to get special treatment and dates out of the contestants.

Doesn't that sound eerily familiar?

A judge (and his best friend) abusing his position to get favours and dates with beautiful girls, who in turn only accept because they hope in doing so they'll get first place.

With the rise of the #MeToo movement, that can get uncomfortable to watch. I mean, even if it was clearly meant to be a humourous moment, Danny literally snapped his fingers to get the girls to act as his bodyguards and to sic them on Dash.

It really says something when the most chivalrous guy this episode was Dash. No, seriously. Even if he clearly wanted payback from Danny hogging all the girls all week, he at least came to their defence when Danny seemingly chose Sam as the winner the first time. An action which, even though we as the audience know isn't what happened, can easily be interpreted as Danny playing favourites with his best friend, yet still be shameless enough to extort dates and favours from the rest of the contestants.

That is definitely not a good look.

I guess what I mean to say with all this is that, while Beauty Marked is far from flawless and didn't exactly pass the test of time, its message and Sam's involvement in it is actually one of the few things that aren't all that bad.

[the-words-we-sung]

Young Royals week: day 1 - playlist

S1E1 playlist

Bad - Farveblind Wannabe Ghetto - Fata Boom It takes a food to remain sane - The Ark I see you - Nadia Theran Blah blah blah - Armin Van Buuren

(Inspired by my song analysis serie)

Thank you @youngroyals-events for hosting this event!

[catcherwrites]

TDP Colour Association Survey

I wanted to try something a little wild and wacky with all of you. Below is a survey of different TDP characters - asking what colour you most associate with them:

I’d really appreciate it if you filled it out! I’d super DUPER appreciate it if you shared it with others to boost the sample size. When I have enough responses I want to be able to post the results here for everyone.

Just some things to mention first:

This is completely anonymous - I won’t have access to any personal information. All I’ll get on my end are the answers you’ve chosen

This is completely voluntary - I can’t force you to take this survey, you are free to skip any questions you don’t feel like answering

There is no guaranteed outcome - I really want to post the findings, but that depends on the number of participants I get in the end. I also can’t compensate you for your time with anything other than a thank you

With that out of the way, thank you for reading my spiel. If you’re interested in helping, fill out the survey and/or spread it around (reblog, share, etc) so others can respond!

[theadhddimsenion]

It's been a long time since I've had to crush some bad takes on my boy blitz but just when you think a hate wave is over there comes in one last splash to get ya. *sigh* well time to come out of retirement.

I was browsing reddit one day and noticed that perhaps one of the few remaining blitz antis was doing rounds on the main sub and as I was banned from said sub I decided to make this post instead.

This idiotic anti was proclaim that what made blitz so supposedly awfull was "malice" and a bunch of out their ass takes like how he was remorseless and sexist so yeah pretty old news there just standard blitz basher bullshit.

Now for the part where you are all here for the part where I pull this terrible "agurment" apart piece by piece.

Now as the crux of their argument lies on a fundamental mischarateraztion of blitz. We all know blitzs most defining trait and flaw is his self hatred. He believes himself unworthy of receiving anything good in life and only worthy of giving and when anyone tries to do right by him he pushes them away believing that they will either abuse him or be hurt by his mere perence in their lives we all know this. So what this anti was either failing to understand or deliberately choosing to not understand was that blitz actions especially in full moon and apology tour where motivated by "malice" i.e a desire to hurt people only in the loosest sense of the word as yes it was a desire to hurt people so they would leave but not because he enjoys it but because he up until Apology tour was certain that no one would care that he left and would ultimately be better off that he did which apology tour proved wasn't true, stolas said as much if no one cared about him there wouldn't be a hate party. And as for the "remorseless" part that is also blatantly disproven by the evidence above blitz has always been nothing but remose!! As I have explained he feels remorse for merely existing and has been stubbornly refusing to let anyone tell him he isn't worthless because admitting that he wasn't a burden would mean accepting that he pushed people away for nothing which is what he has been working on his whole arc!

Minor side tangent here but this guy also seems to be a fake stolas fan because they spout the same "cheating is always even if he was being abused" crap as the majority of stolas haters do as well as believing that octativa should never forgive her father for "ruining her life" like my guy stella ruined her life by abusing her husband on the daily and making it so stolas felt forced to just endure endless cruelty for his daughters Sake! Like maybe if you don't want an unhappy marriage don't beat your partner!! And then there the part where he likens the full moon deal to bank robbery on blitz part and treats stolas as if he was an idiot for the whole thing I mean for fucks sake!

[gothicrepetitions]

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Ep.22//Ep.34

[syrupspinner]

ive been playing a lot of collective unconscious lately

at first i was gonna make a post talking about multiple ynoproject games before i realized that i just had too much to say about this one. also, this was written before the update dropped

header made by callisto on steamgriddb

if you dont already know what yume nikki is, i consider it a must-play if you enjoy analyzing games. its effectively a rorschach test with just enough fuel to point you in an interesting direction that nobodys pieced together in quite the same way yet. the best way to play it is either for free on steam, or on ynoproject.net, which also hosts a handful of the fuckton of games that act as entries into the yumenikki-like genre. perhaps the most notable among these games, along with the classics like yume 2kki and .flow, is collective unconscious, a yume nikki fangame designed with the website's massively-multiplayer functionality in mind.

initially, i was worried that the collective nature of the game would encourage way more obtuse design. like, if youve heard of namco's tower of druaga, you might know that while english arcade-goers hated the eclectic and bizarre progression requirements, japanese arcades were abuzz with collaboration, people starting cabinet journals that list their discoveries and offer tips. i minored in sociology and therefore have the confidence to declare that this is a perfect example of collectivism vs individualism. anywho, i was worried that the post-fnaf world would encourage this kind of design on a more widespread level again, which would just mean tabbing out into a guide every few minutes. well, youve gotta for a handful of the journal covers and menu styles (the game does a great job at pacing out the rewards while still maintaining reasonable expectations), but those are optional cosmetics, and their obscurity is par for the course. the effects (scuse me, the eidola) are pretty clear-cut too, i feel like yume nikki just kinda handed em out for random stuff (which is great for what its going for!) but i really like the spectacle and circumstance around em here. like, you find the rat one in a random dumpster somewhere, but the weather one is from communing with the gods

ill note now, there isn't the stock speed vehicle like in most fangames, you can just sprint whenever. this isnt a trivial change, and the game knows it. theres one puzzle that is built around needing to sprint with another effect active. personally, i like this change, but i understand why oldheads wouldnt. dont worry, i still take my time, its just nice to speed up a bit without having to sacrifice my cool eidola

unfortunately, the multiplayer aspect wasnt too lively. there were only a handful of other dreamers, and the ones that werent just afk in the nexus were off doing their own thing god-knows-where on the map. i think i ran into one other person organically, ever, and they just ran past me. i suppose this is an inevitability when you put strangers in a sandbox together... especially since most people (hundreds compared to our twenty-odd) were in yume 2kki, the MUCH larger sandbox. anyway, im gonna stop talking about meta stuff and get into what youre all here for: dream analysis. finally, a use for that stupid psyche degree.

oh real quick, the exception to the loneliness thing is expeditions, something built-in to YNO at large. you get exp if you go to a specific location in one of the games, so you can expect a lot of people there. once you get there, youre gonna see a bunch of people standing around the entrance facing the camera afk.

anyway, when i got the soulfire eidola, the obligatory weapon effect, i got some "donut steel" vibes. its kinda funny to jump from a kitchen knife to casting Demonic Flare: Pillar of Hellfire with a floating eye face vigil and arms made of flames. but then i simply got over myself and took this as a surface-level aspect of minnatsuki's personality. you can tell a lot from a protag by how they kill npcs. for example, sabitsuki has a gun, but only uses it for intimidation, leaving the act of killing to some old pipe she found; implying that she is pragmatic, and still sees the act of murder as something dirty and ill-fitting. meanwhile, urotsuki uses a chainsaw, a weapon infamous for being impractical against humans irl but pervasive in fiction due to the sheer cool factor; this tells us she glorifies killing, seeing it as something fun and badass. minnatsuki is similar to the latter, having a fantasy spell as their method, meaning that we can see a hint of escapist desire, to be empowered beyond mundane humanity in a way that equates to the ability to harm others.

other eidola, like her animal forms being a mouse (stereotypically skittish and shy) and a jellyfish (weak and passive, confined to water), and her instument of choice being the meek and obscure kalimba, paints the picture of a girl who feels desperately powerless. she doesnt want to lash out and kill others per se, her weapon is a bit too fantastical for that. she just wants to feel strong, and whats stronger than some arbitrary mythical abstraction of an element of destruction? and dont get me started on the umbra and spectral eidola, letting her fade into nothing or just be untethered to the world. theres something she wants to escape

another thing? very rarely are you given an eidola. with soulfire and umbra you have to actively avoid people trying to stop you from leaving with it. the ones that seem more permissive have caveats: you get rodentia in a back alley from someone hidden in a dumpster, you loot lumen off a corpse, spectral comes from a literal cult ritual, and climate makes you earn the blessings of three separate... gods? before youve earned the right to it. the only real exception is kaliba, because theyre like $20 on amazon. nah but seriously, maybe it represents being a heartfelt gift from a friend? or maybe its granted more readily because its recreational, and doesnt empower minnatsuki in the way weve talked about them desiring?

by the way, i dont think minnatsuki has a gender. not like in a kris deltarune "actively canonically nonbinary" way, but as an unimportant detail left up to interpretation. maybe theyre just a cis person who doesnt care and puts no stake in it as an aspect of their identity, or maybe they just feel alienated from the social concept of gender altogether? i prefer the last one, personally, for reasons ill get to later

that brings us to the eyes. there is so much eye imagery in minnatsuki's dreams. eyes on stalks that watch you, where trying to talk to them is useless. giant murals with a six-armed diety that has an eye on its palm. women in melancholy, whos faces lack eyes. a giant flower hidden in the dark that hides a single large eye. only being able to enter the house in rainstorm city that has the eye symbol next to it. perception plays a toll on minnatsuki, and i think it goes both ways. they feel observed in a burdensome way, and they feel incapable of 'seeing' on the same level as others. or maybe they see too much? is there an event she shouldnt have seen, or does she experience sight at a level above others, recognizing things others cant? the child and spectral eidola may be a wish fulfillment of the former, letting her see the unseen in a literal way, while also letting her overcome limitations that she has seen for herself with the latter

another thing about the design i wanna mention real quick is that so much is diagonal. this is something that the rpgmaker engine isn't built to really allow. like yeah, you can, and this game goes out of its way to make it non-obtrusive by having minnatsuki slide along walls sometimes, but it's not something the foundation was set in mind for. this also brings to mind the idea that minnatsuki doesn't fit in with others. it's not a disease like in .flow, it's not something that's detrimental to her in a literal way. it just causes friction with the world around her, because she doesn't feel as if it's built for how she is. she just doesnt quite fit with the world around her sometimes, the way she moves is just a bit off, like a direction-locked movement system trying to go diagonally

theres also a lot of thematic relevance to the idea of connection and ingroup membership. the game is named from the jungian ideal, a level of understanding inherent to the human mind where process instinct and achetype (the latter basically being our classification of others into pre-conscieved schema like "the wily trickster" and "the tyrant leader"). in addition, the game has a lot of togetherness imagery, with npcs sometimes travelling in packs or existing as hordes (the only exception i can think of are npcs that give you something like an eidola or menu theme, perhaps meaning isolation holds a deep importance), and things acting as notable points of interaction when they are isolated (note that the dungeon-relevant houses in gbc world are furthest from the village, for example). there's also a lot of totem poles, acting as the dream trigger and the centre of the nexus, signalling great importance. in first nation tradition, totem poles are created to honour the lineage of a clan (using designs that are unique to that clan), and send messages such as welcoming visitors and shaming wrong-doers (both of these uses involve establishing in-group membership).

i believe these themes combined, minnatsuki's dreams letting her feel powerful and connected, paint the picture of a person that is alone and powerless. minnatsuki doesnt have friends, and im not sure if she even has bullies. i have yet to meet a chaser in this game, so maybe that means that nobody even singles her out in a negative way? stares and weird looks, maybe, but only as a collective and not as a personal connection. this is corroborated by the school location, which minnatsuki's dream constructs as a tainted and evil place, half-formed from broken blueprints. she understands it as a flawed idea done poorly; implying that her disillusion is so severe she sees her isolation as an inseparable corruption of the entire system. so, she feels powerless to stop it, as well as alone and friendless

unfortunately, the game doesnt seem to have a proper ending yet. which is a shame, because most solid ynfg theories start with you working backwards from the ending. well, i supposed "social outcast that struggles with confidence and/or self-esteem" isnt a groundbreaking theory, but im still interested to see if this supported or jossed as the game gets more updates. also, i noticed while brushing this up that at some point i switched from they to she for minnatsuki, so i guess the audience has interpreted.

look i could ramble about this wonderful game all day. dont get me started about my thoughts on the event in uncanny world, the lonely girl in snowy shoal, and the random blond girl that can just show up in random places out of nowhere and that takes you one a scooter ride once you get to know her?

im gonna be playing this for a long, long time, and im gonna love every second of it

[willestears]

One of the things i love the most about young royals's characters is how imperfect they are, not only because of their circumstances but because they actually believe they're right, they're not perfect in ANY WAY.

Any of them could become a villain, they all have anti-hero traits just like in real life, Lisa has never been afraid of showing the darkest side of each character, even the protagonist, she doesn't mind showing the most selfish side of wille, risking him to be disliked by people, the key is how she makes the viewer empathize with him by showing exactly that, the raw side of his personality and life, making us root for him but also making us question ourselves when he does something that's clearly morally wrong: "does his circumstances excuse this behavior?" and i think that's just so incredibly genius

[starlit1daydream]

Princes & Bards: Instability and Destruction

I want you all to picture me with an incredibly evil grin on my face right now. That is me. I am a supervillain and you are about to fall for my evil plans. I have been waiting for this.

The Princes & Bards, the most contentious classes in Homestuck; consistently lumped in with the nebulous 'bad guys' and given little thought beyond the absolute ugliest manifestations of their powers and personalities.

The Prince:Bard dichotomy embodies instability, destruction and deconstruction. They shatter their Aspect, break it down to its constituent parts, tear it into a million pieces; it is their scourge, and they terminate it however they see fit.

Similarly to the Knights & Pages symbolising deficiency, the Princes & Bards signify instability; their presence usually means their Aspect is in flux, and often it's due to their presence too in a roundabout way.

Canonical Prince players are Dirk Strider (Prince of Heart), Eridan Ampora (Prince of Hope) and Kurloz Makara (Prince of Rage).

Canonical Bard players are Gamzee Makara (Bard of Rage) and Cronus Ampora (Bard of Hope).

Point A - the narrative function of the Prince.

The word I'd use to describe the Princes is... obsessive. Obsessed, in particular, with eradicating their Aspect. They tend to hold a deep-seated dislike for their Aspect in their lives, and so they seek to purge it in whatever way they can - and yet it still haunts them in every way they can think. If anything, tearing it apart only means it haunts them more.

This destruction often leads to a superficial manifestation of their opposing Aspect; but not nearly to the degree that most people would suggest. It's there, but not the be-all-end-all.

Dirk, for all of his self-loathing and obsession with appearing methodical & disingenous, can't help letting his emotions get the better of him when the going gets tough - and he surrounds himself with echoes and splinters of his 'godawful personality' despite his efforts to destroy himself completely.

Dirk projects outwardly as cold & calculating, like a player of Mind may be.

Eridan is a hopeless romantic at his core, and yet hope & aspiration still form the basis of his character. He's a man constantly hung up on destiny, constantly thinking about his fantasies of genocide & eternal love from Feferi; trying to live up to the image of a tyrannical ancestor he barely knows. And yet, he's utterly without Hope at his core and seeks to eradicate it.

Eridan projects outwardly as a skeptic who believes in science over fantasy, as a Rage player may do.

Kurloz (speculation time!) is a man defined by his own negativity. Appearing calm, collected & rageless; he conceals a deep-seated devotion and a desire to eradicate Rage in the form of removing skepticism & rebellion from his session. He has a hand in puppeteering Meulin and injuring Mituna, all to remove their potential presence as a spanner in the works for his nebulously defined plans.

Kurloz projects outwardly as an exuberant preacher obsessed with spreading the belief in his gods, as a Hope player would do.

And oftentimes, this destruction spreads to their session mates.

The Alpha kids' romantic prospects and emotional stability erodes the more time they spend in the Medium 'til they all reach boiling point.

The Beta trolls lose all hope of rescue and turn to pulling teeth & murdering one another in a desperate attempt to turn their situation around.

The Alpha trolls are too caught up in their echo chamber of gossip & teenage delusion to understand the gravitas of what they're all dealing with, and it shows.

What the Prince needs to do should they aim to be successful is learn to live with their Aspect. Their frayed & fractured relationship with their Aspect can be healed, and once they've done that healing and moved away from obsessive and mindless destruction, they turn their head to the unhealthy manifestations of their Aspect in their session.

They destroy their Aspect where it needs to be destroyed, and destroy through it when necessary.

And this segues quite nicely into...

Point B - The practical function of the Prince.

The Prince's powers of destruction are nothing to be scoffed at.

Dirk Strider showed the ability to tear out a woman's soul.

Eridan Ampora channels Hope as a weapon of mass murder and destruction.

Kurloz Makara erodes the agency of his peers and robs them of the capacity to rebel through his mind control (I'M NOT CALLING IT THAT) and mental manipulation.

The Prince's power to destroy translates physically into immense physical capability, and in any way their Aspect can be manifested; the Prince can tear it down.

Their role becomes that almost of a really weird healer; because in a sense, what they're doing is mending their Aspect by breaking it where it can't be fixed, and allowing it to continue in a healthier fashion.

It's strange, but the Princes are a strange bunch.

Point C - the narrative function of the Bard.

This is where things get fun.

The Bards are best described as representing decay. Their Aspect passively rots away in their presence, they use it both as a tool to erode it and as something to be slowly degraded in itself. This destruction is often unconscious, and subsequently the Bard has little control over this destructive force; it's like a miasma, surrounding them.

Gamzee Makara erodes his own capacity to question, openly preferring the quiet uncertainty of blind faith; he tells Karkat he'd rather believe in miracles than know the science behind them. He's a boy that thinks pretty lies are better than ugly truths, and by drugging himself up with sopor slime he only compounds that lack of capacity to question. This, of course, then leads to him having his own capacity for skepticism repeatedly taken by the narrative agents that use him as a walking plot device later in the story.

Cronus Ampora is beyond hope, beyond all redemption, designed in every way to be disgusting and hated in every facet. He's an awful, awful man who embodies the worst entitlement and delusion imaginable, falsifying minority identities for attention and using his position of privelege to prey upon those he sees as beneath him; he doesn't believe a word of what he says, and yet he's terrified of being 'exposed' for what he is.

Gamzee is more complex in this regard since he has far more screen-time, and we get to see directly his transition from destroying Rage to destroying through Rage as he goes sober and starts believing himself a God. It's hard to definitively pin down anything about Gamzee since he's... a walking plot device with far too much baked-in bigotry, but there's something to be scraped out of him for sure if you're willing to wade through how really uncomfortable he gets.

Cronus is easier to analyse as a Bard of Hope despite his limited screentime; and there's some really interesting analysis to be found in him being crafted by the narrative to be awful.

Point D - the practical function of the Bard.

Here's where it gets interesting. The Bards erode and decay their Aspect in some very interesting narrative ways.

Gamzee uses Rage as a force for destruction by allowing other people's negativity & overwhelming rage to destroy them. He aggravates everyone he targets into striking him first, before hitting back with three times as much force; we see it with Equius, Nepeta & Terezi very clearly.

Cronus uses Hope as a force for destruction through lies and shit-stirring. He sabotages the image of anybody he wants to victimise, lies and spreads rumours until they're disbelieved and shunned; and he does this very openly to Mituna. It's disgusting, but it's interesting to look at. He's both destroying Hope in Mituna, and destroying Mituna through Hope.

...This got very Cronus-centric, didn't it? I guess he has the distinction of not being written in a way that hurts my brain to think about for too long.

I've been excited for this one for a while; I'm sorry that it was pretty late, but I at least managed to get it out on the right day.

Next week is gonna be another interesting one because it's another group that tend to be villainised quite a bit! Thieves & Rogues are up next.

Enjoy the impending Vriscourse. I'm going to go and nurse the Makara-induced headache I now have.

[raayllum]

Watching a video on the history of unicorns (heartily recommend it) and in its discussion of the design of unicorns and how they got stapled onto religious iconography and then ideas of purity (including maidenhood/female virginity/innocence for better or for worse) it made me think about TDP, obviously.

I know pre-S7, I was thinking that the unicorn resting place was the Garden of Innocence, not Innocents. Now, the two concepts are related — in order to read the map to find the Garden, you need a true (innocent) heart — but the Garden of Innocents indicates that those who are innocent are multiple, and tied there. While it could be a referral to those who find the Garden, I think it's far more likely that the Innocents refers to unicorns themselves, and this is interesting for a few reasons. One is because arc 2 takes arc 1's skirting around the idea of "who is innocent? (implied)" and makes it much more overt and fraught:

Now, TDP evolves to question whether someone being innocent is a basis for whether or not they're spared in the first place — Rayla, Harrow, and Runaan are prime examples — but it is still worth thinking about people who were/are considered to be innocent (Ezran, a child punished for his father's crimes/choices) or should be (Leola) but aren't.

Next, I want to talk what we do know about the Garden before we get to the unicorns themselves, especially because this is more straightforward both in 1) the info we receive and 2) where we receive it being entirely in show canon.

As Aaravos says:

The map to the Garden of Innocents is special, Claudia. Only the true of heart can see it. A protection of sorts.

which raises the question of protecting it from what/who, and by proxy, who we're protecting the unicorns, alive or dead, from as well.

Then we have how Aaravos describes the Garden:

The unicorns had many secrets, and their oldest secret was the Garden of Innocents. A beautiful place hidden from prying eyes where unicorns could find peace and tranquility.

This both does and doesn't make sense. Unicorns having secrets makes sense because they have the star arcanum, and because 7x03 is also about secrets being revealed (Aanya telling Ez hidden history and showing him Duren's greatest secret of the fire rubies, etc). We'll debate later whether "peace and tranquility" refers to literal peace, or like... peace and tranquility in death, so let's put a pin in that for a second.

However, if the Garden of Innocents is their oldest secret... then how can it be also their resting place? Unless it began as a Garden where innocents would gather (themselves included, or those who could read the map or maps if there was more than one) to discuss and spend time together? And a place where the unicorns retreated upon being, presumably, hunted past that point. But as you can see, we very quickly spiral into speculation territory.

For now, let's go over what we actually know about unicorns (or at least, near as we can figure). We know they're connected to the Star arcanum (Tales of Xadia) and that their horns are immensely powerful and rare (3x06). We know from Terry in 7x03 that "they're all gone now". We also 'know' from both Tales of Xadia and the Book One novelization that humans hunted unicorns to extinction (which we're gonna put another pin in, for a second):

Unicorns were the most recognizable creature tied to [Star] magic, but, sadly, they have all but vanished from Xadia, as humans hunted and poached them to harvest for dark magic.

Perhaps the most valuable and sought-after prize of all was a unicorn's horn. Eventually, the humans hunted the unicorns until they disappeared completely from Xadia.

This matches up with what we see in canon, then: very few unicorns still exist; Claudia indeed hunted one for its horn and Viren tried for many years; and dark mages hunted many other magical creatures to extinction pre and during the Mage Wars that followed the expulsion. It fits.

And yet, this is where things start to get messier, however, simply because like most things in TDP, we have other sources that directly contradict all of the above claims from the book one novelization and Tales of Xadia. One such source is a page shown in 2x08 for a brief moment that was translated by fans and also exists in the Arc 1 artbook, which reads:

The only known creatures connected to the stars are the mysterious Startouch Elves and the rare, fascinating unicorns. Dark mages have tried to hunt the unicorns to better understand their power, but their stellar magic and their devious cunning make them almost impossible to hunt.

This of course goes against everything previously discussed. Unicorns being creatures of "devious cunning" is a far cry from being merely compassionate and innocent. Being almost impossible to hunt doesn't jive with being hunted to near complete extinction. Two of these are from more 'neutral' perspectives... but the Book One intro is from Aaravos, and Tales of Xadian can sometimes have a more Xadian slant, versus the pages written by humans who were followers OF Aaravos.

So which is it?

This level of contradiction is present in about everything we do know about unicorns. From each respective piece, we can fit together certain things to get... glimpses at the full picture. Here is what the book one novelization from Aaravos says:

Unicorns were always the most selfless of the Xadian beings. There came a time when, filled with pity, they desperately wanted to help the struggling humans. After all, it was not the humans' choice to have been born without magic. But the First Elves were wary. They warned the unicorns that kindness was not always returned with kindness; it would be a mistake to trust the species. After all, if humans were supposed to be use magic, they would have been born with it. However, the unicorns' compassion ran deep, and they could not convinced. So, despite the elves' warning, the unicorns bestowed the ways of magic onto the humans. They gifted a few wise humans with powerful orbs called primal stones, which contained vast magical energy. Then they taught them to draw runes to attract and focus the stones' power, and to speak the ancient words used by dragons to release that energy as magical spells.

Here, we get a few crucial things:

The First Elves, specifically, were against magic being shared

The unicorns in general, not specific ones, gave humans magic

They gave humans primal stones, but not arcanums

Tales of Xadia gets both more specific and more vague in some ways:

One heart took pity on the plight of humanity. A unicorn, unique among her own rare kind, saw the strength and ingenuity of the human spirit where others saw weakness and beastly ignorance. Her name was Leola. While elves warned that if humans were meant to wield magic they would have been born with it, she gifted the wisest humans with secrets: the language of the dragons and the runes that shaped spells. With the unicorn’s gift, the most determined minds among the humans could finally harness primal magic. It was difficult and dangerous work, and few could bear the grueling path of a rune mage.

Here, we get:

Leola's name and her as the bearer of gifts, ie. specifically giving humans magic

She did not give primal stones, but secrets. This sounds much closer as to how Lujanne describes an arcanum (i.e. "a secret and a spark")

We see in S2 with Callum and S7 in making primal stones that connecting to arcanums and making primal stones is what is gruelling and dangerous

We know, thanks to S6, that Leola was not actually a unicorn, but nicknamed as one. We know that something she did made it look like, at the very least, that she'd given magic to humans, and she was executed for it. We also know that humans had primal magic to a degree before dark magic, created/developed by or alongside Aaravos, took shape, and that sometime during this period but before the Mage Wars, unicorns were hunted to extinction, leading to the exiling of humanity (from the book one novelization):

But the elves were right about one thing: humans were unpredictable. While most were good, some were not. [Invention of dark magic.] Dark mages and their followers began to hunt and poach magical creatures throughout Xadia, for they needed fuel for their spells. Perhaps the most valuable and sought-after prize of all was a unicorn's horn. Eventually, the humans hunted the unicorns until they disappeared completely from Xadia. The elves and dragons were disgusted and outraged by what they saw. They were convinced the annihilation of humans was necessary and inevitable. But at the last moment, a daughter of the elven leader proposed the Merciful Compromise.

So something took the unicorns out, with the blame laid fairly or unfairly on humanity's shoulders. The unicorns as a group were responsible for giving some form of primal magic, seemingly primal stones, to humanity... but Leola also gave humans magic earlier than that.

Season 7 actually complicates this even further, as we learn what's required (so far as Aaravos is willing to share; who knows, there could be alternative ways) to make at least one kind of primal stone:

[To make a Moon primal stone] requires an exceedingly rare ingredient that can only be found at a place where unicorns once roamed, the Garden of Innocents.

So, did the unicorns give humans primal stones... or were their bones/horns required to make primal stones, and the gift giving got conflated from "you're 'giving' me your bones" to "I need/am taking your bones"?

What I'm going to propose, therefore, is this:

All of the above accounts are correct, just not maybe in the way we'd expect.

Here's what I think happened, with perhaps a more extensive meta to follow on the first part:

Leola gave humans a form of Deep Magic (potentially Love). This allowed them to form connections with primal sources. Them nurturing "primal flames" in Ripples, therefore, does not refer to literal Sun magic, but "a secret and a spark, but enough to ignite the world with its magic" being steadily developed.

After her execution, unicorns helped humanity develop primal magic further (potentially somewhat in her honour). They're not squeaky clean, maybe, but were trying to do more of a net good than negative

Humans having primal magic was not doing enough to fuck with the Cosmic Council, and left the playing field too even, so Aaravos stirred up trouble, maybe encouraged the dragons to be upset about primal/deep magic usage.

This caused the first stage of the Elarion debacle ("and caught the dragons' hungry eye") and for the Stars to leave.

After primal magic was exposed as inferior or made an issue, humans turned to dark magic, and this gave Aaravos a way in. He needed to ensure they'd continue to be dependent on dark magic, and this meant disposing of alternatives.

Potentially, Aaravos encouraged people to hunt down unicorns to get rid of humans having more widespread primal magic and/or to make more (Moon) primal stones. If dark magic is corruption/compromise, than primal magic is more 'innocent', after all. Peace and tranquility indeed

Getting rid of the unicorns also had the bonus of getting humanity and elves split up, making Aaravos' manipulations much easier if they weren't in communication with each other, and letting him mess around to encourage the Mage Wars (and a potential invasion of Xadia back in the day).

I want to do more of a meta on Leola giving humans deep magic and why I think it makes sense later, but the unicorns and their secrets / contradictions within the text are a decently big part of it so, uh...

Hope you enjoyed?

CLAUDIA: I feel bad about Terry. You made the Garden sound so beautiful, like it's just some wonderful peaceful place of rest. AARAVOS: It is beautiful. It is a place of rest. Those are not lies. CLAUDIA: But it's not the whole truth, either. Just like the map and those feathers. We didn't tell Terry that unicorns come here to rest... forever. That this place is a graveyard.