#also idk hot take but i think molly didnt entirely hate lucien during tneol like he did in the campaign

[valdrift]

one thing i noticed in tneol and rlly liked is . idk if its a role reversal exactly, but the way molly and lucien reacted to each other. compared to when he was alive, molly now seemed to have this acknowledgement and acceptance that he and lucien were one in the same. like molly's still his own person, but he knows that the two of them can't exist without the other and that acknowledgement carries over in the way he spoke to lucien, using inclusive language like "we" and "us", while lucien vehemently denied it with a "there's no us, it's just me" attitude. it also shows in the way molly tried to sway lucien's opinion and get him to do the right thing bc they are One and if molly knows what lucien's doing is wrong, then lucien should know too. but lucien's obsession with separating who he used to be vs. what he now is (i.e. the nonagon) gave him this sense of delusion that no, he's the one who's right and he's the one who's real. but it's been stated that molly is all the good parts of lucien (his generosity, loyalty, and care) and lucien's denial of it only plays into his theme of performance and his belief that he can completely separate his past selves with his present. i think it makes the ending more bittersweet when lucien finally accepts molly and they both die together