#analysis and speculation

[adracat]

GWitch: A Tale of Two Calibans

In the Tempest, there is a character called Caliban. If you've seen episode 21 then this will sound familiar to you. We're told Guston and Belmeria need Suletta to pilot this monstrous gundam and it's without a permet filter. A true cannibal. Dire stuff, and not what we want for Suletta.

Yet I'm not entirely sure she will. Though she has some characteristics of Caliban, bound in servitude to Prospero, he's a symbol of impotent wrath beneath a slaver's chains, the injustice of colonialism, and failed revolution.

He loathes Prospero and is routinely tortured by the man's magic. Yet Suletta, even while outcast by her family, never succumbs to anger. Hers is a heart filled with love even as her Miranda (Eri) and master forsake her.

Caliban by contrast is unable to forgive Prospero for his misdeeds and scorned by Miranda's harsh treatment of him after her rejection. You can interpret that his love was true and he did not intend rape, but his affection for both Miranda and Prospero has soured into hatred.

It's a bit ill-fitting to place Suletta in the Caliban machine as a monstrous gundam capable of devouring its pilot. But then if it's not her, who else?

The Tempest describes Caliban as the son of a witch whom Prospero took as his servant. 'Hag-born, not honour'd with a human shape'

Elan 5, like Suletta, is the unnatural progeny of a 'witch', in this case Belmeria. And also subject to the injustices of Peil, his Prospero. He rankles beneath his fetters and wants more than anything to gain freedom. We're told Peil steals orphans to be used as research, the effects of space colonialism. He's the closest to a true Caliban this show has.

And like Suletta. he was rejected by Miranda. Only his was an attempted violation. It's no coincidence as I see it that 5lan aggressively harasses Suletta either. They are specifically invoking the Caliban parallel. And it's the same for his sympathetic moments

5lan wants freedom from his chains, to live freely without sacrificing himself for a corporation's whims. He's sly and angry but not without cause. And there's a certain weight to how he was forced into servitude wearing another man's face. It's like Suletta, but unlike her he does not serve with love. Only discontent.

As with Caliban, who allies himself with Trinculo and Stephano in the hopes of killing Prospero, I see 5lan doing the same. Him using a brutish path to freedom because it's all he knows and throwing it all on using a gundam, even if it means his death, would be fittng. We know he wants to live but in the wake of Norea's demise I wonder if he's concluded death is inevitable so why not take Peil down with him? This is just speculating on my part, but I did find his change in attitude strange. He's weirdly calm, it reminded me of 4lan. And that's not a good thing. Most tellingly, while Caliban rails against his master, he isn't freed; a message none of us want for Suletta.

I may very well be reading into things, as is my habit, but the fact these two are juxtoposed is significant. We do have two unanswered gundams coded with a black name, one male and the other female; Calibarn and Schwarzette.

[burningthemidnightcityoil]

ON THIEVES

The Thief is the Active Stealing Class. They steal for themselves, in contrast to their counterpart, the Rogue, who steals for others.

Our most known example is Vriska Serket, a Thief of Light. A background example would be the Condesce or Meenah Peixes, who is a Thief of Life.

Thieving in Homestuck's case of mixing narration and video game logic, means taking something from your target or adversary, and enforcing yourself with it. Mostly, this is in regards specifically to the aspect of the Thief, but valuables are always a constant. (A thief, no matter the aspect, will not say no to loot and treasure. )

An example of how a thief operates can be seen with Meenah, as her many selves serve as the prime example, and her aspect is less esoteric than Vriska's.

... Meenah Steals Life. This comes to be:

Literally stealing your life (Health), as in killing you. As a thief, however, Life (Health) can be used to reinforce herself. This means, in a sense, she can vampirically take your health.

Stealing your Life (Wealth), as in robbing you of a desirable lifestyle. She was Empress of the Troll Empire, and enforced the caste system that left thousands to millions enslaved, abused and fearing execution or just executed.

Stealing your Life (Natural Abilities), by the end of HOmestuck, the Condesce had taken on the various natural abilities of all trolls. In her case, as a thief, this was probably very literally.

Stealing your Life (Growth / Experience), her method of control over Jane Crocker, robbed Jane of experiences and healthy growth. Sometimes, with literal mind control.

There is, however, an additional definition to being a Thief. It ultimately lies underneath their Stealing tendencies.

And that is "Force".

In truth, Force can also be applied to the Thief's contrasting mirror classes, Page / Knight. So in this sense, Thief / Rogue and Page / Knight fall under "The Force Classes".

When Meenah steals Life, she is acting as the Force of LIfe for Trolls. (She isn't creating Trolls, mind, that lies with the Mothergrub), but she is actively directing how Life works for Trolls.

( This contrasts with her Post-Scratch counterpart, Feferi, who seeks to Change Life--mostly hers, but in addition to others as well. )

When Vriska steals light, she is stealing Meaning, Consciousness, and Symbolism. She acts as the Prime Force of Light, actively meddling in the aspect and its power over others.

As an acting Thief, the "Apprentice of a Thief", John Egbert stole Breath--Plot, Motion, Action, Freedom. Specifically, he stole Caliborn's (By beating the shit outta him), taking Caliborn's plot of Homestuck and running with it. John's retcon abilities, which heavily benefited his allying thieves and rogues, Literally Steal the Plot by Changing It. He is the ultimate proof of success when it comes to Role-Playing a different Class (In his case, The Thief.)

And after all, Thieves are all about EnForcing and ReinForcing a thing, by taking it into their own hands instead.

[ambrosiagourmet]

I think one of the biggest tragedies of Laios & Falin and their relationship is how much his actions impact her life. But like. Specifically how much they WOULDN’T impact her life as much if they weren’t both stuck in such a shitty abusive situation.

This part of the Falin-tries-makeup daydream hour comic is what got me thinking about it again because truly it just... it seems like such a like an offhand comment that I'm sure Laios didn't mean to be cruel or anything. That's just like. A little kid not thinking about what they are saying. ESPECIALLY when the kid in question is Laios.

But man they depended on each other SO much as kids. Too much. It really feels like they didn't have any other source of positive reinforcement, or anyone else to share themselves with. So of course an offhand comment like that has a huge impact on Falin.

Or this little bit from one of the flashbacks:

This tears me apart. Do you think it tears him apart to think about? I think it does. I think Laios holds every small failure to care for Falin against himself.

And then there's the Bigger stuff. The way that him coping with his own trauma ended up impacting her.

Like his interest in monsters. Like him going to find a ghost, and accidentally revealing Falin's magic to the whole village in the process.

Like him needing to leave. And leaving her behind.

He shaped her life so much, and he carries so much guilt for it. And again, there should have been other people there to help. The same things that made Laios need to leave home are the things that made his leaving so hard on Falin. She ate alone after that. She shouldn't have had to eat alone just because Laios wasn't there.

She was 9 when he left for school, and he was 11.

Nine. And Laios feels like he failed her because he didn't stand by her through this better. As an eleven year old.

Both of these kids deserved so much better from the world.

[teambyler]

My video "A LAWYER'S EVIDENCE that Mike and Will become a romantic pair in Stranger Things" is out!

Many of you have followed me ( @teambyler ) or read my essays analyzing Byler (I've linked some of the most-shared ones below). I am actually also a LAWYER who has a YouTube channel called RONALD OFF THE RECORD, and I just released my big video on Byler! (I also have another YouTube channel with 45K subscribers that I mention in the video)

I'm prepared to put my professional reputation as a lawyer on the line to comment on a piece of science fiction, because goddammit this is important to me! It is not "delusional" to think Will and Mike will become a couple, and there is nothing wrong with you if want it to happen! This is a video essay I've been planning for at least SIX MONTHS, and I put a lot of work into it. Please share, and please leave comments. Enjoy! =D

0:00 Why this video 1:38 Hate for Byler on the internet 10:16 Case for Mileven 15:21 Case for Byler: Starting premises 17:56 If Will were a girl… 25:30 The evidence! 29:05 EXHIBIT A: The Snow Ball 31:34 B: Mike's reactions to El and Will being upset 34:21 C: Season 3 ending montage 39:16 D: Airport reunion 47:51 E: Rink-O-Mania argument 51:28 F: Heteronormativity, audience expectations 58:25 G: Throwing away the letter 59:55 H: 2nd heart-to-heart scene 1:05:43 I: Mike can't say he loves El 1:13:27 J: Platonic reunion 1:15:12 K: Will's role convincing Mike to say "I love you" 1:20:08 L: Effect of the "love confession" on El 1:39:54 M: The Painting Lie 1:43:22 Honorable mentions 1:45:27 Non-diegetic evidence 2:01:23 Actor statements 2:07:01 Season 5 information 2:10:34 NOT how you write an unrequited love story 2:16:07 Why Byler SHOULD happen (queerbaiting, etc.) 2:28:21 A more powerful story 2:35:45 A personal note

I'm now making this my new pinned post, so I'll list a few of my posts here for people to check out.

ADDITIONS: -28:00 On "We should normalize same-sex friends being affectionate, they don't have to be gay," I should have been clearer. HOMOPHOBIA is the reason for that stigma. Straight friends feeling like they can be affectionate in our society HAS to include normalizing LGBT+ people. -1:16:55 I should've said this more clearly: Will reminded Mike that who HE is, HIS unique qualities, make him worthy of love and make El love him, not dumb luck. And Will of course could convey that because Will loves the actual nerd MIke and everything he is. -1:17:06 Mike making El "not feel like a mistake" doesn't fit El, because she says that Mike looks at her "like I'm a monster, too". Nor did she "push you away because she was afraid of losing you". That's Will, not El. Mike felt love because Will was describing himself. -1:52:36 I forgot to mention that, in the original Nina opera, Nina's lover is ALIVE and DOES return. The Duffers changed the story so that Nina's lover does NOT return, to further suggest Mike won't return! -2:35:22 I'm kicking myself for not being more specific about Mike and Will being heroes in more than one way: I think the theme of bullying from s1 will return, with Will (and also Mike) having to face bullying for being boyfriends in Hawkins.

EDIT: I hit 1000 subs, only to discover THIS VIDEO CANNOT BE MONETIZED. ='( I think I put over 100 hours of work in this video, and this isn't sustainable for me unless I get support. This also means I can't make public videos with the same quality -- using show clips and music makes a stronger impact. I've considered deleting and reposting an edit, but that would losing all the wonderful comments and CUTTING OUT THE LAST SCENE. ='( ='( ='( NO. FUCKING. WAY.

So this is what'll happen: future videos NOT use clips and music to the same extent, except versions I post on my Patreon. And I need Patrons because I don't make money as a social-justice lawyer, and rely on that plus YouTube ads. Here's the Patreon link! (Any future video will be clipped, with the full version on Patreon) https://www.patreon.com/c/theruleslawyer

Some other @teambyler posts:

Mike was saying "I love you" to Will

Questions to ask if ever you have Byler doubt

How the Duffers have set Will up to have a happy ending in Season 5

The most heartbreaking way Byler can culminate (and how I predict it will) (I know this is less likely than an "escape from Camazotz" possession scenario, but I still want this to happen =D )

How the Duffers likely will make the general audience AWARE of Byler and CHEER for Byler

-teambyler

[yujateaandpi]

Oughh it’s 2:00 AM and I’m having Thoughts and Emotions about Marceline the Vampire Queen. Like— she’s a punk bisexual and cool as heck but she’s also a terribly sad immortal with mom issues and double dad issues BUT BUT ALL of her parental figures gave her unconditional love so strong that it fundamentally saved the human race. Marceline saved the humans who hated her because her demon dad passed on the legacy that helped her grow powerful and her mom sang her lullabies and her adopted father clung to every shred of his breaking mind to protect her childhood. She was so loved! She was so loved! And that love never went away it stayed inside her even when all three of her parents hurt her so badly that the pain stuck for a thousand years. And all of the ways they hurt her were BECAUSE they loved her, so Marceline never learned to differentiate what it meant to love someone and hurt someone. So she hurts the people she wants to protect, she’s rough with the people she wants gentleness from, she abandons the people she wants by her side. And so much of the show is her collapsing and falling apart because she can’t figure out why why her relationships are all so broken. And then little by little she gets closure with each chapter of trauma— with her demon father, with her mother’s memory, with dear Simon— which then allows her to finally be at peace with herself and accept love— pure as it is— and give it back.

[rexomi]

Something something. Making Solas a liar in Veilguard actively brings back a problem they fixed working on Inquisition.

On December 20 2019 VGS posted an interview with Trick Weekes about their work on Solas. This whole sentence is a link so its large enough for mobile but also disclaimer this is before they changed their name so deadname warning.

Here's a transcription I found here which is where i took the screenshots above. Since I know not everyone has 40 minutes to listen to an online radio interview.

I however highlighted the main point since most of you are not reading the screenshots anyway but skimming through. Rant under Read-more. Also bc i try to not be too negative on people's dashs but also i wanna ramble some more.

"But he lied a lot more. And it really weakened his character."

You can tell this happened during the game. Solas lies only once within Inquisition. He says something he can't be vague about and you push him so he lies, badly. He usually tells the truth vaguely. Typically Solas lies no more than Blackwall.

I fully believe that if in Inquisition your inquisitor figured out that Solas was Fen’harel and asked him bluntly to his face he'd confess. He might even be impressed. But why would you ever start to think that. No one assumes that their coworker is actually Poseidon regardless of how much they love the beach and ocean.

He hides in your expectations.

You can't ask him about being an ancient elf or being Fen'harel of myth because those aren't very probable. They're astronomically low to be truth within that universe. And outside, no one finished DA2 and went i wonder if one of our next companions is the Dread Wolf. Sera said, impossible things can't be surprises. He doesn't have to lie so when the truth comes out it's becomes obvious on a second playthrough.

They then actively bring back a problem they fixed in Inquisitions development. That they were open about fixing. That having a character that outright lies to you makes you have no intention of even hearing out the character. It retroactively undercuts Inquisition bc i see people trying to find Solas' lies in it when they aren't going to find any beyond the court intrigue.

It undercuts any lore we do get from Solas bc people dismiss it outright as being a lie from Mr "I abhor blood magic". I feel like shaking people's shoulders like no, dont do it.

They retconned him guys i have proof from 2019.

And its like if you hate Solas is this even satisfying? Like that's not Solas. His motivations are gone (that's a whole other post) and so is his core personality trait. It's like they went here's the Dreadwolf but during the ten years they replaced the smug asshole who was insufferably right with a 20 yo senior chihuahua that doesnt have any teeth.

My favorite villains are those that tell the truth. Because nothing hurts more than the truth. Can you imagine if he told you the truth. If he told you horrible things that you dismissed as lies to only be true. Wouldn't Varric’s death have more weight if he told you Varric was dead only for you - for everyone - to see him in the Lighthouse. If it was a spirit who took his shape to help you or even because it saw something worth reflecting in your memories.

So you dismiss him until it's revealed near the end oh he was telling the truth and you have an oh shit maybe he was right about other things but its too late to try and stop any of the truths he told you which could be from allies/companions betraying to stuff about Ghilan'nain and Elgarnan.

Like the only way to redeem Solas was to listen to him and by going out of your way to address problems he sees and you can find the alternative to tearing down the Veil by a series a little puzzle pieces throughout the game.

Have it be he will only listen to you if you listen to him. That he'll reject your other solution bc why the hell would he trust you if you couldnt extend the same.

Like Solas couldve been a great villian and he should've been great for both the haters and those that liked him. Not only the romance but for those who became his friend. Like i keep coming back to if i hated Solas would i be satisfied with Veilguard.

And the answer is no because that isnt Solas.

Tricking him has no weight bc he's an idiot in Veilguard like not even in the ending bc doesn't notice you switch the dagger around like right in front of him but none of his actions make sense. Ppl have mentioned the regret prison makes no sense for Elgarnan and Ghilan'nain bc they don't have regrets.

Attacking Solas has no weight because he literally needs the shit kicked out of him by a dragon for it to even begin to work. They literally need him to be at deaths door before its realistic that Rook could take him in a fight.

Redeem has no weight bc of the massive retcons to his motivations. They had to retcon the post credits scene bc even if Flemythal went hey i don't want you to do this Dai Solas wouldve went okay but that doesnt solve my other problems with the veil including the corruption of spirits and the fact its in literal shambles so i guess is still coming down.

I'm just disappointed. By the end of Trespasser they had a great villian and they just tossed it to the side and reverted him and people are arguing about a character who's sole defining trait in Veilguard is a problem they solved before Inquisition launched.

Basically we can sum it up with a screenshot.

[cirrus-grey]

ALICE: So each of the cases is categorized on four metrics with a standard integer scale, that’s your DPHW.

GWEN: Okay. Now I’m pretty sure I need to try and keep them as even as possible.

ALICE: Ok, so, it makes sense that if you’re low on “W” that means we should probably prioritize processing cases with a higher rank on that metric to bring the average up, right? … So, it’s just a hunch but I bet if we have a look at old cases and then try and sort by “W” we can find out which cases got the biggest scores in that metric and reverse engineer what you need … Now, unless I’m wrong, which, let’s be honest, is pretty damn likely, when we cross reference this shortlist for common terms we’ll find out what Freddy thinks you need and that... is... more... Bonzo?

Loving finally getting a breakdown for why DPHW is important, here.

Now I, like the utter nerd I am, have been tracking the DPHW of each case on a spreadsheet, and therefore was able to do some quick sorting just like Alice. Bonzo is definitely our highest W scorer of the lot – he’s got 2 of the 5 cases ranked as “8” on that metric, though he tends to score pretty high on P and H as well.

However.

We are not low on W. When you add up the total DPWHs of every case we’ve gotten so far, you get:

D – 136 (average score 3.2)

P – 148 (average score 3.5)

H – 210 (average score 5.0)

W – 218 (average score 5.2)

W is the highest metric. So either it needs to be the highest, and the balance only works if it’s at the top...

…Or Freddie is lying about what’s needed, and intentionally trying to send things haywire.

Not too much mercury or the world ends, not too much sulfur or we all go mad…

[drew-the-pic]

[sepublic]

Yesterday, Glitch released this in teaser for today’s Knights of Guinevere announcement.

Right off the bat, it seems that our Princess is meant to be some sort of amusement park attraction; Given her dreams, is she a biomechanical animatronic programmed to believe she’s real? Or did they actually bring back the dead as an attraction, because it’s that kind of futuristic dystopia in space, if Park Planet is any indication? Perhaps the title alludes to some sort of stage play gone horrifically real.

It also makes me think of Disneyland animatronics and given Dana’s past with the company and her issues and past artwork it sure is. Indicative, perhaps.

There’s a mention of ‘Blue Lung’ which is probably a fictional disease, but a quick search brings up Cyanosis, in which your skin turns blue due to inadequate oxygen. The Princess is probably supposed to be blue based on her dreams and the posters but hmm. Again given the potential amusement park setting I wonder if it’s a commentary on Disneyland’s handling of COVID.

There’s also this poster for Star Snuff which could be a band? Or some fungal infection and it’s the same disease as these Blue Lung Blues.

All of this is to say, the first project Dana made after cutting ties with Disney following the cancellation of her first passion project was about how Disney fucking sucks.

[bisexual-buck]

"But Buck was trying to get Eddie's attention."

Well I have some thoughts on that! I think Buck does like Tommy, and there's no confusion for him about that. His feelings for both people can coexist!

My interpretation of last night's events for our chaotic bisexual kind of played out as him trying to get both Tommy's and Eddie's attention at different times. And not really knowing why. I think he was having feelings he couldn't really process because he didn't have the right context for those feelings and hasn't really felt them before.

So call me a clown but my thoughts are that he was definitely feeling jealous of both of them. With Eddie, he's primarily been close with only women outside of the 118, not other guys. Buck's subconscious feelings (not known to him at the time or even fully now) may have been along the lines of "Eddie likes women, I have no competition" and then in swoops Tommy (someone Buck already thinks is really cool and wanted to get to know even if he didn't quite know why yet) and his brain goes "I have competition" about both Eddie taking his new interest's attention and Tommy taking his long time interest's attention.

But then Tommy comes back into focus and clearly shows interest in Buck, so it clicks! This was that feeling! Part of the puzzle has been solved— it's just the rest that isn't as obvious to him yet.

Because without understanding his sexuality, Buck has likely only ever viewed Eddie as a friend even if along the way he has felt things that friends don't typically feel. So what we have right now is an opportunity for Buck to explore his bisexuality as a completely separate thing from Eddie, and then come to understand what he has also been feeling for Eddie without realizing before.

Or I'm completely wrong but only time will tell.

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

What does Alecto want?

This is something I thought about while I wrote that post about Gideon's immortality.

When people speak about Alecto the book and Alecto the character, there is often an assumption that Alecto wants revenge for John turning her into a Barbie, and that our main characters want to kill God.

I'm not going to get too much into what I think the endgame might be for Jod (I'll leave it for another day) but I have some observations about Alecto!

First, people think Alecto wants revenge for the initial act of ripping her soul out and stuffing it in a Barbie body. I'm honestly not so sure that's her main concern!

Initially, Alecto's main fear is dying:

This is presumably what frightened her when in pain as Gaia, and what frightened her here, starting her life with John at the end of the world.

Of course, in the middle, there's her actual murder, and how she felt about it:

This fragment is so interesting. Most of this chapter the dialogue is in quotation marks, indicating it's not the memory of John and Alecto but current dialogue between John and Harrowhark.

John tells Harrow what happened. He is the one who asks her if she remembers what Alecto said. She (Harrowhark) said “What else did I say?”. And when Harrow says “I still love you”, Jod remembers that Alecto was also willing to love him despite what he'd done.

But Harrow is left without the answer to one question. “Where did you put the people? Where did they go?”

After this paragraph, she will say there are things she doesn't understand:

Apparently Alecto's memory isn't fully accessible, or she can't know Alecto's thought process, or there's bits of her memory gone for other reasons, whether it's John's intervention (unlikely, given how much incriminating stuff Alecto does remember) or because that's what was most traumatic to her and—unlike John's tale of apocalypse—nobody later reminded her. (Diegetically, of course, Tamsyn is simply saving that reveal for Harrow's arc in Hell.)

In any case: after being told the entire story about being killed and turned into a Barbie, Harrowhark still says “I want to understand why she was angry”. And that's seemingly tied to why John was terrified.

And the text directly relates that to the missing population of the Earth.

There are three things that very nearly make Nona fully recover the memory of who she was. One is when Pyrrha very nearly says her name, and Nona doesn't want to hear it. Later she doesn't seem to be lucid enough to react to Ianthe saying it, but she does react to this final line: Ianthe yelling “John loves Alecto!”. In the meantime, however, there's one more thing that shakes Nona deeply enough she has an actual heart attack:

And it's the sight of the Tower that makes Nona lose the will to live:

She also gets a couple passages where the sight of devils touches some deep, frightening memory. And we are given one last clue:

The River is dead.

We knew as early as HtN that the River is broken in some way. Its waters are described as brackish, salty, dirty, full of ghosts represented as rotting corpses. It doesn't seem to flow anywhere as rivers should. House religion says the dead wait as mad ghosts until John conducts his Second Resurrection. John of course has planted House theology with his idea to conduct “a flood” at some point and start over (“empty is just another word for clean”, etc.), once his revenge is done. He needs souls to not move on, in order to do that. We know through Abigail and Dulcinea that there is another shore, a Beyond that they've managed to exceptionally reach.

Alecto seems upset, above all, by what happened to the River, and that it remains unfixed.

Alecto states that she no longer fears death. She has experienced it (“I died once… no, twice”, and that's before her brief tenure as Nona).

She might be ready to leave John behind and move on, but.

What if she can't move on?

By which I mean: what if she—a Resurrection Beast, intimately acquainted with the spiritual dimension that is the River—what if she knows that she could never cross it as it is now, if she were to die? What if she knows that she would be absorbed by the stoma in the River's current condition, or float around insane forever? What if the sum of all necromantic transgression is that Jod committed ecocide on the afterlife and true death is no longer possible?

What if she needs the River to be healed in order to die?

To conclude, two other tidbits:

1. When Nona, trying not to engage with her Alecto consciousness, briefly considers just giving up and dying, she says:

2. Palamedes speaks of the Beyond (after briefly witnessing Dulcinea as she is there in TUG) right before he describes Paul as an end and a beginning. I don't think this is accidental?

[adracat]

Esoteric+Divine Composite: Suletta

Suletta's position as an amalgamation/twist on Miranda and Caliban is obvious along with Utena. But what are some of the lesser known? She's a character shaped with symbology ranging from norse and greek myth to alchemy. Fenrisulfr, Hercules, Hermes/Mercury, and the Red King.

Fenrir

I've already broken this down a bit in a previous analysis, and in light of the finale, she finally fulfills the Ragnarok prophecy.

The freed wolf who eclipses the 'sun', heralding an end to the Gods(Benerit and SAL)

And her method of devouring Odin Miorine is consuming her in holy matrimony as the new cycle of the world is born.

Hercules

This one might be a surprise, but it's true. Suletta is undeniably coded with Heracles/Hercules symbolism, beginning with his 12 labors. In the very first episode of GWitch, she slew the invincible Nemean Lion and 'skinned' his coat

And her final labor is the subjugation of Cerberus, the multi-headed dog of the underworld.

Take note, before Hercules descends and encounters Cerberus, he's inducted into the cult of Demeter and Persephone. Notrette as Anesidora is revealed to be our Demeter, chthonic goddess of agriculture. And prior to this battle, Suletta speaks with the Persephone of our tale, inducting her within the mysteries.

You can draw other parallels between the various herculean labors and Suletta's duels. Such as the Grassley battles echoing that of the Hydra or Elan/Peil as the man-eating Stymphalian birds.

Suletta's godlike strength suddenly doesn't seem like an accident, does it?

So why was this done, other than for fun symbolism? The answer all boils down to Hermeticism, as it often seems to. Specifically this painting of Hercules, called Allegory of Wisdom and Strength

I'm unsure if it's common to interpret this image as another symbol of As Above, So Below but it's clear to me Okouchi has. We have Hercules focused on earthly matters while the greek personification of wisdom, Sophia, is focused heavenward. The light of enlightenment crowns her brow. Both are in frame and not in conflict; As Above, So Below. Coincidentally (or not) Sophia is one possible ciphered translation for Baphomet; a blatant esoteric symbol of perfect unity.

Mercury/Hermes

This is of course obvious considering its in her name, but there's one mythological parallel I want to highlight. The tale of Persephone/Kore. It was Hermes who descended into the underworld and retrieved the 'defiled' Persephone, escorting her safely above and reuniting her with her mother

Suddenly, Shaddiq's dramatic comment about Miorine's defilement doesn't seem so off-color. They were intentionally harking to Persephone Mio who was taken by Hades, Prospera here.

The Red King

I've already discussed this a bit here, but let's recap. Suletta is derived from Soletta. Her signifying colors are Red and Gold as Holder, both key to the Red King. She was 'eaten' by a lion (aqua regia solution) before being reborn, her metaphorical sun blackened with despair (dissolving).

All of it culminating into a Great Work, banishing gundams, defeating SAL, and saving Eri; her Filius philosophorum (Philosopher's Child) All miracles.

Oh and finally married her White Queen ofc, though their union was cemented with a tomato by then. In GWitch's version of Theogony Hermes wed Persephone, accomplished the 12 herculean labors, created a philosopher's stone, and completed Ragnarok

Note: Considering the proper name of Fenrir, Fenrisulfr, Okouchi might've been trying to be cute. Sulfur girl indeed

[innie-belle]

Mark kept a French propaganda poster from WW1 in his home office. This shot is centred on the poster, with Mark looking off the side.

The words “Help me…!” are highlighted.

Two empty scotch glasses sit next to him. One still has a bit of alcohol left inside of it. He’s drinking by himself in the middle of the day.

“Pour le dernier quart d’heure…”

Translation: “For the last half hour…”

The poster is lying that the war is almost over. That it can be won if supporters send money. That it’s going to end in 15 minutes. He clings to the idea that he and his wife are just going through a “phase,” that this is just the last tough stretch before things improve—just like the propaganda war poster claims victory if only citizens keep believing and contributing.

“Aidez-moi…!”

“Help me...!”

This plea could represent his internal desperation, which he refuses to say out loud in his marriage or in general as his mental health declines.

Instead of asking his wife for help or admitting what’s not working, he might channel his need for help into external distractions—like alcohol, lectures, or overworking.

Helly later becomes the first person he’s actually honest with—someone he doesn’t need to perform “noble suffering” around.

Context: France in 1917-1918 was totally worn out.

The war had dragged on longer than expected. These types of posters are state propaganda because they reduce the brutal, messy reality of WWI to an idealized / romanticized narrative to manipulate the general public of France.

No mention of the trauma, disillusionment, or class inequalities—just a narrative. Sort of like this episode brushes over Mark’s role in the dissipation of his marriage since he hasn’t faced his own trauma with alcoholism that started with his father since he was a child.

(Confirmed by Devon Scout Hale in Season 1.)

It’s how Mark and his father bonded. So he drinks two glasses to himself. Same with sharing a flask.

It’s also possible his father was his first experience with “death” that he never got over.

So the “help me!” is a double edged sword. The propaganda is for you to feel emotional and to help through sending money, but the real message is seemingly “help me break out of this manipulated / idealized narrative.”

Which he does in the final episode.

[tare-anime]

I love to see Loid's protective side towards Yor growing at a steady pace.

Loid has always been so protective towards Yor from the beginning, even before he himself was aware.

As shown at chp. 5

Here, he has just met Yor, but the moment Swan dared to stomp on her feelings, he got agitated and defend her right away. Even though, he still able to stop himself, and rationalize things.

It happened again during chp. 30

Look at how fast Loid's expression changed from "Hey, what are you doing here, Fiona?" Into "I dare you to say another word about Yor (grrrr)", at the exact moment Fiona dare to imply how worthless Yor was.

Still, after this time, once again Loid rationalized all of actions are for mere mission sake, even though we know during later chapter that he dislike the disguise that imply he and Fiona were married couple.

During Wheeler arc, at chp. 86, Loid finally aware about his "weakness". And that weakness is someone named Yor.

(smh. 🙄🙄 This man really is slow in learning about feelings. But he is getting there......)

Nevertheless, this realization really evoke his protective side. And almost immediately after this moment, he started to actively move to protect Yor, even in the slightest sign of possible 'attack'.

At the latest chapter, chp. 94, a.k.a only in 6 chapters later, he even starts to actively use his physical power to prevent even the slightest discomfort to happen towards Yor.

Look at how hard Loid gripped that man's arm for daring to suggest tying Yor up. And that glare??? Geeezzzz.....

Now, I have a desperate need to see Loid going full attack towards someone who dares to hurt Yor either pysiologically or (is it possible?) physically in somekind of situation like maybe something like (shameless self promotion here) my fic.

Please Endoooooo, I'm begging you..... 🙏🙏

Give us more protective and jealous Loid.

I need to see it 😫😫😫😫😫

[midnightsdarkangel]

I don't think Ive seen anyone breakdown this scene, but hi I really wanted to talk about Grian's characterization so far in volume 2 starting with his scene with HG in the latest chapter and where I think they're going with his character in DDVAU.

To star this off I want to talk about how Grian views HG (save for Valentines) Its always met with disdain or irritation, and I think its because of how HG presents himself to Grian, a cop, a threat. This means there's always a level of caution met with him and mild irritation.

So when Grian wakes up to HG in his room in ch18 its cold. There's this wall already up between the two because of how HG treated him in chapter 15. He was threatened. So already the second he's awake he's on the defense, he wont let HG get to him, hes in control of his emotions.

Or well, this WOULD'VE worked until he realizes HotGuy has interrupted the one thing Grian could distract himself with. Grian went for the DS to avoid dealing with Hotguy and i'm going to assume Grian's done this before when he visited. So being cut off is something Grian wasn't expecting, being forced to confront Hotguy in his space-

Hes genuinely mad.

(the fact that Grian has this red hue over him, the expression turns from this casual oh you annoy me to oh you have actually genuinely pissed me off is so clear in the way Doody draws Grian that I wanted to point out because LORD THE CHILLS I HAD)

But Grian lashes out, his reaction is explosive because he was thrown off, its such a quick moment also, something as simple as his DS being covered and being forced to deal with Hotguy was the breaking point and LORD WAS HIS REACTION INTENSE.

He's genuinely upset.

He's frozen, hes curled up faced down with fists punching the bed because that man has been pushed too far. Hotguy has repeatedly since the incident, been in Grian's space whether he's wanted it or not and its not letting Grian breathe. They do note a few times Grian didn't ask Hotguy before this to leave but I think that this was brewing over time and again its an impulsive reaction- the DS being obstructed isnt the issue here and it seems random for him to be so angry over it but I think this was built up over time from the stress Grian's been experiencing. Hotguy reminds Grian of the school, of Mother Spore and the trauma that he was left with. Its no wonder he just wants a break from it.

And I think Hotguy in that moment realized he went too far.

( I want to note as well that Grian doesnt actually move until Hotguy speaks, he's braced and tense. He's waiting for a bad reaction for his lash out)

But Hotguy calmly agrees and offers to leave leaving Grian stunned because he was listened to. Hotguy understood him.

Now here's where i'm going to pull up a comparison I realized about Grian in chapter 14. This is not the first time he has impulsively pushed someone away, because don't forget he's done this to Jimmy.

He cuts the conversation off before it can get anywhere, its abrupt.

Something I've noticed with Grian is when he pushes both of them away theres this moment of pause, where he wont look at them. He doesnt want to see what their reaction is. Between the two scenes I find it interesting that with Jimmy, Grian manages to gather the strength to carry on his point, he looks to Jimmy after a moment of composing himself and is firm if not emotionally tired. He's scared of Jimmy's reaction but he needed to put that line down. With Hotguy like i've said, his reaction was unexpected, its abrupt and its scary for him. He's just yelled at an emerald solider (heck, the HEAD of the emerald soliders) to leave him alone quite aggressively, I think Grian kept his head down because he was waiting for the aftermath.

Its so interesting to me because in both these scenes, Jimmy and Hotguy were unintentionally pushing themselves into Grian's space, both were made from good intentions, but it wasn't what Grian wanted and the fallout afterwards leaves them at a loss for words before composing themselves and trying to make the situation light once more.

Now, Im about to throw you all a curveball and say that I genuinely think that DDVAU is trying to hint to us that Grian has BPD (borderline personality disorder)

Why do I think this? We're only a couple chapters in Volume 2 you must be asking me.

And well, I think already there are some foundations being put down in front of us starting with: Attachment Issues.

Have you all wondered WHY Grian pushed Jimmy away in chapter 14 when we have seen time and time again how protective Grian is over Jimmy? He snapped at Hotguy at the mear mention of Jimmy being accused, He freaks out when he sees Jimmy got hurt in the hospital. Both are very visiral and panicked reactions:

And yet, when he sees Jimmy was hurt and Jimmy offers to be beside Grain to preen his wings, he outright refuses, and lord you can TELL Grian wasn't happy doing that.

When he gets what he wants and Jimmy backs off? He's devastated.

I think Grian is afraid of letting Jimmy be that close to him. For what reason? Im not too sure yet but this seemed very much a spur of the moment reaction- a moment of fear from Grian.

I believe that Grian is a very emotive person and at rapid paces, its quite subtle but in chapter 17 theres a moment where Grian pulls away for just a page, the second Jimmy offers again to take care of him Grian is back to that defensive wall, but its not for too long either because Grian is instantly back to being relaxed.

Grian isnt as subtle with his emotions like Scar is, he is very much an open book and while hes better at withholding them when he feels in control of a situation it shows more when he isnt:

And I think its so important to stress why this is a thing in volume 2 and not in volume 1. Because Grian seemed to be perfectly fine right?There was no issues.

This is because Grian has been majorly thrown back.

He got possessed by the spore creature, trapped Jimmy and the school and tried to kill Hotguy which he doesn't even remember, he just has brief moments of paranoia over not remembering what he did but hearing about it from everyone else. His wings are out, Hotguy KNOWS he's an avian, he's seen Jimmy hurt by what he thinks is his actions and has had Hotguy accuse Jimmy infront of him.

He's being pressured to comply with Hotguy lest he wants everyone to know hes a mutant or worse a witch which can change everything.

This man is STRESSED. Majorly so, both being pushed to his limits body wise since he was shot at and also thrown against walls numerous of times and had the spores literally eat away his insides causing his wings to be in a state of distress. But also he is under intense emotional stress seen from the feathers on Grian's face in chapter 14, he doesnt like not knowing what happened to him and Hotguy again has pushed him past his brink.

again why do I think its BPD? I just said that Grians under a lot of stress, its understandable that hes going to lash out. But i heavily think its within the context of him pushing away Jimmy and the newest scene of chapter 1 8 thats really making me lean towards something is going on. That reaction was intense and I think we're going to be getting more insight into Grian as the chapter comes.

Because, he's successfully pushed away Hotguy.

I wonder where thats going to lead us.

[uptoolateart]

Anyone notice how many times Ladybug talked about herself in third person in the London Special?

As soon as she told that lie about Gabriel and Tomoe, she began separating herself from what she'd done. She's coping through dissociation.

Throughout S1-5, she and Adrien were on paths towards integration. They were learning to see that he already was Cat Noir and she already was Ladybug. The strength lay within all along.

But by being untrue, she's gone backwards, splitting her two selves rather than unifying them. She's attempting to compartmentalise Marinette's relationship with Adrien from Ladybug's...which is unworkable.

In a word...our girl is a mess. She's supposedly doing all this to protect Adrien - but who's protecting her?