#and I thought to myself “Dankovsky would probably do this”

[mocktortis]

Daniil Dankovsky will attempt to climb the walls like spiderman before he admits he needs help getting something off the top shelf.

[lazy-sixteen]

Daniil why would you say that???

Watching Pathologic (classic HD) while on break from suffering in Pathologic 2, and it really struck me how different the first meeting with the Bachelor was in each game.

Pathologic 1, well, only a screenshot can do it justice,

(Yes . . . far be it from me to call myself a person of mystical inclinations. However, when I look at you, I get the feeling that nature is playing jokes on us. It is as if both the left and right hand have clutched the head to realize for the first time they are two parts of a single whole.

>Why?

>I get that feeling too. Does that mean that we are alike?)

That's like the first thing he says to the Haruspex, and while yeah everybody in Pathologic talks like that to a degree, even in game, in character that's a wild thing for Dankovsky specifically to say.

We just spent an entire playthrough as this guy mocking and/or having breakdowns over the existence of the supernatural - especially precognition. And in strolls this 6'2 resting murder-face dude with half-a-medical degree, widely thought to be a serial killer (kinda true), and Dankovsky's like,

"BTW, my heart is telling me we're kinda two halves of the same whole.😊❤️"

Absolutely hilarious. Even funnier is that the Haruspex, grumpy at baseline and currently having the worst day of his life (so far), can agree with him. Great first impression all around!

Then over in Pathologic 2, the Bachelor is high-key fumbling, like fumbling so hard you can get an achievement for it.

Carpetbagger - Remind a colleague of the Hippocratic Oath -- and fail

Not to meme on the guy (who is of course, multi-faceted and at his core deeply altruistic even if he often seems to have trouble expressing that on an individual basis), but initial Pathologic 2 Bachelorencounter is Daniel at his most prickly prick.

He gets Artemy's name wrong (possibly on purpose and definitely twice),

condescendingly demands the Haruspex be his errand boy,

basically calls himself the smartest person in a room of 2,

and can accidentally imply that he left a couple of orphan children to die because he doesn't treat mutts (he actually refused to treat the orphans' dogs).

Yikes - no wonder Artmey spends the first couple of Days taking cheap shots at the guy.

I mean in both Haruspex routes eventually he ends up very friendly with the Bachelor, which makes senses on a thematic level given the some of the Haruspex's major themes/ideals are connection and community. You could say their first meeting was changed to be funnier ("Vorakh") or more in character for the expected tension between two people under a lot of stress who can both be difficult to get along with at baseline

However, what about if we look at it from a meta-narrative level?

While you can play Pathologic 1 as either the Bachelor or the Haruspex on your initial run, it's pretty common knowledge who you are supposed to play first.

"Daniil Danokovsky's Fun Steppe Vacation was just the tutorial for Artemy Burakh's Tormentous Nightmare" - HBomberguy in Pathologic is Genius and Here's Why

This means that the player in Pathologic 1 has already been introduced to Daniil - even if Artmey hasn't - and the game reflects that! You the player know the Bachelor, you've been him, and you probably got really attached after keeping him alive for 12 horrible, horrible days.

Even though you know he can be a bit sanctimonious and dismissive, the player knows he's rational and compassionate and thus already used the evidence at hand to figure out Artemy hasn't killed anybody!

Of course one of the first things you (the player) would want to do as the new protagonist is check on your former avatar, and the game rewards you for it! Talking with the Bachelor on Day 1 as Artemy can raise your reputation - which is super critical. It might be the increase that keeps you from getting hunted in the streets or starving as shops refuse to sell food. What a great first (Second?) impression!!

Daniil's unprompted "hey are we soulmates or is it just me?" line is funny, but meta-narratively it is also true. They are the player's first two avatars, taking turns being puppeted by the same you as protagonists through the same overall story to two opposing conclusions. They are (your) right and left hand. You've played Dankovsky, (you) know this and having previously been the protagonist this new Dankovsky seems to subliminally know this too.

Meanwhile over in Pathologic 2, the only route is the Haruspex - disregarding the Marble Nest (worst day of Dankovsky's life [so far, ad infintuum]) which has enough time fuckery going on that I shall disregard it for this analysis - you can only be Artemy Burakh.

Either under the assumption that the player of Pathologic 2 hasn't played Pathologic 1 or that they've played all of Pathologic 1 including Changeling' Route's extended murder hide and seek between Dankovsky and Burakh, We (the player and Artemy) don't know Daniil when we meet him in Pathologic 2 as anything but the broken man we saw in the depressing into.

Is he our friend this time? Is he our enemy? Whatever he is, he's certainly a sanctimonious prick.

(Today's tragedy won't be the last. I was blessed with a naturally high intelligence, and my observations indicate that a very deadly visitor has come to this god-forsaken town. That's all I can say for now.

>...I don't like you, Bachelor Whatever.)

In Pathologic 2, both the player and Artmey meet Daniil Dankovsky at at his worst, and slowly work-up from there because both of us are meeting, getting to know, and building a relationship with him for the first time.

This is actually parallel to how you first meet the Haruspex in Pathologic 1 as the Bachelor!

If you are playing in the intended order, both the player and Daniil don't know anything about Artmey besides the serial killer rumors, and likewise you meet him at his worst - (in prison and later he murders a young woman to get Daniil the infected heart he needs to try and develop a vaccine). Much like we see the worst of Daniil's classism, arrogance, and inability to connect beyond quid pro quo (hehe, latin) in our Patho2 intro; in Patho1 we initially only see Artemy's standoffishness, brutality, and stubbornness.

Interestingly, following Daniil's themes/ideals of transcendence and rationality we (the player and Daniil) don't actually end up connecting much with Artmey on the Bachelor's route. The player is influenced by the puppet, and why would Dr. Daniil Dankovsky - whose route is plagued by betrayal, manipulation, and the difficulty of connecting to even people who do selflessly care for him (like Eva) - make friends with a violent, possibly dangerous guy who practices a sort of medicine Dankovsky doesn't believe in?

(I couldn't find a good screenshot for this, but mentally insert a picture of Artemy doing a roadside dissection)

Basically if Daniil is the player's protagonist he won't reach out, because in-character why would he?

If Artemy is the player's protagonist, Daniil will try to be friends in Patho1 (because of the player's previous actions affecting both avatars) or in Patho2 Artmey will eventually connect with him because that's in-character for him.

Overall, I suppose this means that Danii's instant and uncharacteristic buddy-buddy attitude with Artemy on the Haruspex route Patho1 is completely justified from a meta-textually narrative, as is his horrific fumbling in Patho2.

And it is also very, very funny.

[shmowder]

Piercing anon back again! I’ll admit my thoughts on Clara were 100% inspired by the fact as a teenager around her age I myself did my own piercing which ended about as well as one would expect it to end. Also didn’t even think of artemy with pierced ears but now I will never get it out of my brain and I shall consider it canon modern au artemy wears a single one in the right ear.

Speaking more on Daniil “prunde” dankovsky he also strikes me as the type who if someone he was with romantically had piercings he’d roll his eyes and go “well I guess they look acceptable on you” but I feel like he’d only really give that pass to minor piercings like a nose ring or maybe at the extremest snake bites but anything more crazier and he’s back to prudevsky mood. Not piercing related but I could see Clara in a modern setting where it’s possible doing stick and poke tattoos as well maybe I’m projecting a tad bit of Clara, I could also see Eva having a tattoo or two possibly but having since gotten them covered up or they just weren’t in a visible spot to even begin with.

sorry for rambling none of my friends aren’t in Patho and I have to let someone know about my in depth headcanons over this subject sorry 😭

PLEASE DO RAMBLE, PLEASE I BEG I WANNA HEAR MORE.

I mean really, you're apologising for rambling on the pathologic rambling blog? That's literally all I do in here. I absolutely love listening to what other people's ideas, and endlessly talking about my own.

God Artemy with a single earring is going to be the death of me, oh my god Artemy with a septum piercing. Just Artemy in general with any piercing... Artemy with a belly button piercing someone please take me to the back of the store and shoot me.

What kind of earring would he wear? Maybe a handmade one by the kin where it's weaved from swyrve and dried plants? maybe one in the shape of the steppe letters? since the Kin clothes ingame do use the letters as a print for their clothes. It could even be one his mother used to wear and Isidor kept save in a box as a memory, planning to give it to Artemy when he finally gets the Menkhu role.

Or maybe an earring that Murky and Sticky made for him from clay, dried rose petals and colourful stones. The options are so many.

And the right ear too 👀 That is so clever. Do you know who else would wear subtle queer signals? Yuilia. She would 100% have a single earring in her right ear. Prude Dankovsky even complains about her wearing pants and dressing like a man, which was uncommon for the type period.

Artemy probably picked up on the meaning from his days in the army where homosexaulity was more of an open secret between men. Daniil definitely knows the meaning but doesn't want to pierce his ears in order to wear one, he definitely uses other signals instead.

Prude Daniil definitely has some suppressed fantasies about piercings and tattoos, which make him seem disgusted by the notion. I'm just saying Daniil getting a glance at Artemy's belly button piercing or seeing your periced nipples poking under your thin shirt is all that it would take for him to see piercings under a new light.

When it comes to tattoos, I think Peter would be the best at giving them. I mean they still get infected, that man cares not for medical hygiene, but they look absolutely amazing at least.

The Kin might prefer non permanent tattoos. Something made from clay that stains the skin for a long while but washes out after a month or so, like henna! Artemy can give tattoos, but his art skils are worse than a 6y old attempting to write their name with a dry marker on a board for the whole class.

Eva would definitely want a matching tattoo with you, Andrey would, too. Maria wouldn't want it on her own body but she'll definitely get a rush from seeing her name tattooed on yours.

I like to think Alexander Saburov got a tattoo when he was a teenager that he is very embarrassed about and got removed while he was in the Capital, he denies that fact whenever an old person in town recalls the story of how angry his mother was the day she found out.

I think Nina had a tattoo, like a spider or a snake. But she kept convered up.

Aglaya probably has one too but not a willing tattoo? More like the inquisition symbol permanently marked somewhere on her back or arm. It's a very tiny symbol with a serial number. This symbol yk? Or it could be on her chest, directly on top of her heart.

Maybe in meta reality, it's her doll's brand and production number, and the only reason hers show on her body is because she is aware she is a doll. So the other's can't see it, much like they can't see how the whole town is made out of sand.

For Clara's stick and poke services, I see her being actually decent at art. Her lines are confident and it goes much smoother than her DIY piercing business. She does small doodles of animals mostly, the souls n half love it and ask for tattoos of their other halves aka pets.

You'd expect she gets busted a second time when one of the angry mothers drag her kid to Katerina Saburova to complain about what Clara did to her angel child. Except Katerina just asks Clara for a tattoo of her own, a small spider on her ring finger.

Capella 100% asks her for a tattoo of a butterfly or an infinitely symbol, any hipster tattoos you could think of.

Khan is... Khan is too scared of needles to ask for one. So he forbids the whole of dogheads from getting any.

[phantomjack]

My first experiences/impressions with Pathologic Classic HD

So yeah this is my first post on this blog and its gonna get super self reflective on my part which I really want to share with the world without like...my actual identity behind it because ill man up admit i’m a little ashamed. But I also value honesty, which sounds a little hypocritical but hey thats humanity! 

anyway more/spoilers  under the cut

So I got into pathologic the way a lot of people did, watching the Hbomberguy video, and immediately my brain was hooked, the game was an instant hit with me and I quickly devoured as many video essays on it as I could. Eventually I watched Codexentries excellent breakdown of the bachelor route and became obsessed with Daniil Dankovsky’s existential nightmare. I watched Sulmatul’s playthroughts of the haruspex route. I read peoples breakdowns, fan content. Pathologic 2. Spurred on by the promise that the game wasn’t as bad or as hard as people made it out to be, I bought the game during the winter sale and began to play.  I knew the tips. I had a guide. at the time of writing this I have beat day 5. and...well people were right. If you know what you’re doing the pain of the game is lessened significantly. The walking isn't as bad as people say it is, with a little patience the game is winnable. I could avoid a lot of beginner fallings and the unexplained jank of the game. I was...confident.  My first two days went by without incident. It wasn't until the third that things really started to settle in. The third day is when the first infected district appears. The first time I really had to go INTO a house holding the anxiety inducing infected house theme.  but the thing that finally got to me was a quest you can do on day three that I didnt do. There's a child in an infected district whos going to test a shmowder, something that will probably kill him. You can take it off him at 50% infection.  I never finished the quest.  At this point I was planning on doing the medicine test quest on day 4 that would probably infect me, and it wasn't like I wasn't well off on rations with some medicine. plus you HAVE the shmowder from that one quest. it would not be a problem for me to save this child. So why didn’t I?  I don't know. and that’s what finally got it into me just how amazing this game can be. I went to work the following day thinking about it. Thinking about just why I didn’t finish that quest and dooming that fictional child to his death. What would I do in real life if I was given that decision...what would I do. Would I risk...barely anything to save a child? I didn’t do it in the game when there was no risk to myself, it was Dankovsky who would take on the infection after all, and I know I can take care of him.  Pathologic made me think. I thought I understood everything, that I was in control of everything. That I could game the game back in its face and somehow win, but just as I was sure I could, it swept the rug out from under me and made me question everything. to steal something from codexentry. Even though I perfectly avoided getting infected, even though I had a firm grasp on the survival mechanics, I gamed the economy in my favor, even with all that...the game still found a way to hurt me. 

[governorsaburov]

The days and nights had worn on since the plague had stopped spreading. Dealing with the aftermath was its own demon, and it rested its heavy weight on Alexander Saburov’s shoulder.

The Kains and Olgimskys were practically destroyed. Only Kasper remained of the former, and Victoria was the only free Olgimsky left. Big Vlad had disappeared in the Termitary- and it was safe to say that he had probably died there. And the younger was currently jailed in town hall, keeping him there until Saburov could come to a decision about his fate.

Kasper’s case was settled. He’d be the ward of Andrey Stamatin for the next three years. He had yet to make a decision about the young Victoria, which hinged upon his decision about Young Vlad.

Daniil Dankovsky would be leaving to the Capitol.

He was currently his guest, looking worn and ragged from running around, still bearing scars from when he contracted the Pest, hair shaved at the sides, and a face that had aged roughly in the last month and a half. The man was not even thirty, and he looked nearly as old as Saburov did. He was resting on the couch- his snakeskin coat now replaced with something not as flashy- you could hardly recognize him from when he first arrived in the Town on Ghorkon. In fact, the only thing that remained the same was the carpet bag of medical equipment that was always with him- it may as well have been attached.

Saburov himself was not as dressed as he was dealing with the public. Right now, in his own home at the Rod, he was without his green coat, wearing a plain white shirt with his black pants, purple cravat discarded for now.

Clara is upstairs, away from everything. Supposedly reading, but Saburov wouldn’t be surprised if she had found a way to listen in, despite being grounded. He didn’t mind. He would do much the same if he was in her position.

He takes a bottle of vodka and pours himself a glass, and offers one to Dankovsky.

“I’m not much of a drinking man, myself, personally,“ he admits, “but it’s a small luxury that I enjoy from time to time.”

Saburov pulls out a chair from the table to sit across from Daniil, and holds the glass in his hand.

“You’re going to the Capitol,“ he states, mulling over his thoughts.

“I am aware of your position, and aware from the late Inquisitor the state your research and your reputation was left in. I’ve asked so much of you already. This whole town has. I would like to help you, Bachelor Dankovsky.“

@afoelikedeath

[miserabull]

gimme those good good grief thots :eyes:

It shocks me that you, of all people, would ask me for my Grief takes since you get them fresh and still hot from the oven, but fine this is a bit of a double one because I think P1 and P2 Bad Griefs are different enough to warrant it.

First impression:

So, I met P1 Grief first. And I'm gonna be real with you, I wasn't too impressed by his character model. But the way he speaks? The over-the-topness, the sheer disrespect? I was sold. Keep talking weird to me, crime boy.

Playing P2, Grief was already dear to my heart, and with the delicious addition of the Apple Basket/childhood friends thing he easily shot up to the top of my Faves list, solidified by his awesome design and just... the way he’s lounging there on his dumb throne when you walk in. It was one of the moments where I was like, oh, I get it now.. This character was made to appeal to me, personally.

Impression now:

I've gone over all of his dialogue several times. I've picked it apart and discussed it with anyone I could find that wanted to. I have theories, and ideas, and many feelings... I dunno what to say, man, it's kinda embarrassing. Come over and talk to me about Bad Grief. Really love this guy.

and listen to my Grief playlist pls

Favorite moment:

For P1 Grief it’s probably the 'hehehe, see this amulet? I know what you are and I got it to protect myself from beings like you' part. Though every conversation he has with Daniil is a highlight too, and if you told me to pick a favorite line I'd probably end up copy+pasting all of his dialogue. Special mention to when he referred to Dankovsky as “the bitchelor”

For P2 Grief...hmm, hard to pick. The blowing-up-the-train tracks quest comes to mind because even though he acts so weird during it, and there's definitely something shady going on there(what with the creepy kids that set you on it, or Grief going all the way out into the steppe just to be like 'lol what are you, dumb?') it’s a surprisingly nice moment since you are able to sit with him there and watch the fire(even if at the same time you kinda want to choke him for playing you and wasting your time).

I also love his whole "HEY, CUB. Rubin is acting odd and he won't tell me shit, I'm kinda worried. I gave him this hideout right next door, please do not go there and don't check on him. Oh noo, you got me to hint at his secret location... but I will never tell, don’t ask hehe" thing

Idea for a story:

...as you(Micah) pointed out on your answer, we have that Stakh/Grief fic in the works. So. Ya know. That’s an idea.

Putting that aside, give me baby Grief's ascension into crime and how he ruined all his friendships. I wanna hear about the lines he crossed, how that felt on all sides, how he built his gang cred, all that.

I am also always down for speculating on what exactly happened between him and Andrey.

Unpopular opinion:

I don't know if I have one for P1 Grief, because there isn't that much fandom content of him. But I guess maybe that I think that the “he's actually a ruthless killer” twist is, uh... lukewarm. Like, I like that there is a twist and that we find out the one thing he's been passionately denying was indeed his fault all along and that he's much more dangerous than he seems, but 'blahblah thirst for blood and violence' feels like such a bleh motivation.

About P2, I feel like the fandom underestimates him tremendously, and often treats him as just a huge softie and a goof, which is not only annoying as hell, but also overlooks that P1 Grief seemed much less dangerous up until the Changeling route too. I don't think they are going the exact same way in P2, he's much more sympathetic this time around(and younger, and anxious), and I think his reflection tells the truth(albeit maybe incomplete or twisted a bit, the reflections all seem so defensive of their 'masters'...hmm, there’s food for thought), but even with only the Haruspex route out I think it’s reasonable to assume Grief is lying about more than a few things and is capable(and likely responsible) for a lot more than he seems. To quote the Artemy-Lara's reflection dialogue:

"And the most taciturn of us all, Bad Grief. / He speaks so much yet does so much more. "

Favorite relationship:

Oh, you know. Rubin. I could go over how I think they are opposites in some ways but also really similar in many other important ways, and how there is clearly a meaty, complicated history there...  but I'll just be honest and say that I love the potentials in that dynamic, the contrast of their personalities(plus the shared history). Friends-to-enemies-to-tentatively healing friendship-to-lovers. It's just very good shit.

Platonically, I'm a huge fan of him and any of his fellow Apple Basket buddies. Each dynamic there has something special, and I love thinking about it. I'd also love to see more of him interacting with Aspity, since we know he visits the Hospice and listens to her.

Favorite headcanon:

For both Griefs, I like to think he's pretty decent at sewing and makes and/or customizes his own clothes... He has a very particular style, nobody else would get it right.

But also, uh, well... I guess this one is kind of personal, but the way I perceive gender is that it's all performance, roleplaying that people take very very seriously, and you know what Grief is very good at? Putting on a fun performance and playing it up in a satirical way. I like to think if you go Diurnal Ending and Grief is starting again free from the pressure of his role as gang leader , he'd turn it up to eleven as time goes, get some make up and earrings, experiment, mix and match, wander, never quite settle. He's a man, kinda maybe sorta, but mostly just when it’s funny.

[silenthillmutual]

Writer’s Tag

tagged by @stvlti!!

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag some of your favorite authors! 

i’ll go ahead and do this in order from least to most recent. god why are so many of these nsfw?? how much do i write while hypomanic?! (endy please don’t answer that). all but one of them are for pathologic<3

Lines

20. when you want to escape, say the word

Out where they are, in the midst of the steppe, Daniil can smell the flowers and nothing else.

19. white whip *

If he could see his own hands, maybe he would have a solid answer.

* this is a collection of prompts from tumblr, not one singular story, and as such i picked the first line of the most recent chapter

18. disclosure

This bar doesn’t feel right on Dankovsky’s skin.

17. i won’t be satisfied ‘til i’m under your skin

He knows it’s a dream from the tight hold on his hips, the lips pressed to his shoulder so the other man’s nose can rest in the crook of his neck.

16. alarms are struck and shore is shook

He can’t recall if he’s ever been this far out in the Town.

15. what it means to be a family

For what very little it’s worth, the school is not a far walk from his lab.

14. closer

The breeze that comes in through the window isn’t really enough to cool Daniil off.

13. with love from me to you

My dearest Katerina,

I dreamt of you once more, an intimate scene from what will soon be our bedroom.

12. lurasidone

Usually when you conjure up to mind the image of a man who is truly free, you see yourself.

11. i’d suffer hell if you’d tell me what you’d do to me tonight

Artemy looks at him as though dividing him into sections for easier disassembly.

10. the sun goes up and the sun goes down, i drag myself into the town *

His first instinct is to hunch his shoulders up to his ears, arms trembling under the weight of what it is he’s holding.  

* this is a collection of prompts from tumblr, not a singular story itself, so i picked from the most recent story in it

9. simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The idea comes to them later than they’d have liked, staring at Daniil’s tensed shoulders, curled as he is over his desk.

8. in theatro ludus

“Tell me what you see.”

7. to have a home

The sunlight filters in through the windows hazily, and Daniil wakes up with a sudden start in his chest.

6. how do i get you alone?

By the time he makes his way back to the Lair, he's exhausted.

5. What happens in the closet...

It’s almost laughably obvious he doesn’t have much experience in this area. 

4. honey, there is no ‘right way’

Artemy doesn’t stop to think about the consequences of his actions, he just does them.

3. volenti non fit injuria

It starts off because Andrey says, “You’d be cuter if you shut your mouth.” 

2. take a bite, help yourself

There are two different modes of hunger warring for dominance in Daniil’s stomach, sitting with his back a little too straight against the chair, grip a little too tight around his pen.

1. honey & venom

In retrospect, Daniil can trace his understanding of relationships to one man – not his first love, but his second.

Patterns

i have a tendency to start in the middle of a scene instead of having all the actors come on stage (so to speak) one at a time. in general i think my opening lines are kind of clunky, it’s something i think i should work on. some of these opening lines sound better in the context of the line that follows (5 and 1). a lot of these set up a sensory experience - 20 (smell), 19 (sight), 18 (touch), 17 (touch), 14 (touch), 11 (sight), 10 (touch), 8 (sight), 7 (sight/touch), 2 (touch). i hadn’t really thought of that before but maybe i should play around more with smell and hearing... food for thought.

Favorite

19 is sort of cheating because i used the prompt as the actual first line, but as it wasn’t original i went with the second line. divorced from its context i think 8 is the strongest, but 12 in its full paragraph context is my favorite:

Usually when you conjure up to mind the image of a man who is truly free, you see yourself. You are, after all, a remarkable person, someone who has accomplished many things in your life. They haven't all been easy - oh, far from it. There are those who questioned why someone such as yourself would even bother finishing high school. You were, to quote, "such a pretty young thing" and sending you to university would be "such a waste" when you could be doing more important things, like birthing children and mending clothes and other chores you repeatedly denied an interest in. And when you cut your hair off for the first time at age fourteen, your mother cried and asked what happened to her baby girl. You didn't have an answer to give her, because at the time you didn't have the words to articulate that you'd achieved the greatest freedom imaginable: revoking your assigned gender at birth. Your parents are the sort of folk who believe in predestination, and you were indoctrinated with the idea that fate was immutable.

Well. So much for that.

it’s not my most well-loved fic but i am proud of it, probably in part because i wrote about my experience w bipolar disorder before i was officially diagnosed with it. so it means a lot to me!

oh boy uhhh i am tagging.... @lawliyeeeet, @kunoiichi, @darkpaladin, @qawerian, uh.... i am drawing a blank right now but if u see this and u write. u are tagged.

[2ofswords]

Since I am so tired of reading „I know Dankovsky sucks and his ending is horrible“, before every comment that defends him, I will now throw myself into the fires of discourse and write an essay about:

Why The P1 Utopian ending does not mean Danko is an asshole

(A bit of swearing and a lot of spoilers under the cut)

Since I already spoke about being tired of disclaiming a lot, here are some of them. Firstly: This is NOT a comparison and I am definitely not saying, that his ending is better than the ending of the Haruspex or the Changeling. That would be ridiculous and I wholeheartedly belief that the other characters have morally better endings. (Though I will make one ending comparison at the end of this essay just to make myself even more of a hypocrite and there will be a comparison of one aspect of all three P1 endings, that is not made to compare their general quality but… well… this specific aspect of the ending.)

Also this essay isn‘t about Dankovsky not being an asshole. This is not a character analysis, I am only talking about the ending and his relationship regarding his path towards it. There are entirely different arguments to be made about his character that I will not talk about. Surprisingly a character is not only defined by the outcome of their story.

And last but not least the weirdest disclaimer of them all: While my arguments try to defend Dankovsky in his ending I totally understand if you still think his ending makes him more of an asshole. Killing a lot of people is always a dick move and the decision is still a horrible one. I do not really want to argue that people are wrong for judging him based of his ending. I just want to explain, why we also do not have to feel ashamed for deciding to not judge him as a complete asshole based on the main outcome of his route and why his motivation isn’t only based on spite or even ruthless calculation. Also, I think that there is a lot to say about his decision, that isn’t really said and that these are interesting aspects. Sorry to say it, but I just wanted to have a catchy title. I just really love this ending and it’s complexity and wanted to discuss it aside of calling it the evil Danko ending.

So. Let’s start with the easy argument that some people are talking about.

Argument 1: Danko completely lost it and holding him accountable due to his rationality defies the point of his route.

This one is… one of the weaker arguments, but I will still elaborate on it. The entirety of his route is built upon loss and failure. While the Haruspex starts with a mob that wants to kill him and works his way up, the dynamic of his route is him seemingly starting on top of everything and slowly loosing his bearings and by the end of the story this man is already driven to madness. Being used as a pawn in politics, getting daily “fuck you”-letters from the Powers that Be, realizing your lives work is already destroyed and all of your colleagues are probably as doomed (and being the one responsible because he was their leader), realizing that Aglaya – who was the one person who seemed to be his ally at the end – used and betrayed him just like everyone else, having the one truly honestly kind person commit suicide at least partly because of his failures, witnessing his own helplessness against the plague (an enemy that should align with his expertise as a doctor), being hated from day one by almost everybody in town, realizing that the political allies are totally bonkers and also preparing to off themselves (Victor! You seemed moderately sane at the beginning. The betrayal!), getting almost beaten to death while trying to help the town while spending all these days in an hostile place that slips into chaos… yeah I think you really aren’t in the headspace for rational thought. It is a miracle that that guy hasn’t completely broken down and day eleven and to some extend day 9 and 10 are showing him as completely unhinged already, only leading up to a decision, that isn’t really made out of spite or coldness but rather desperation and blind tunnel vision. The day eleven mission involves him going on a rampage against a military squad because of a vague hint and he only checks after the killings, if Andrew is even there. That isn’t a calculated action it’s about a man being completely shattered and making everybody suffer because of that. (Which is also horrible, but an entirely different sort of tragedy.) By now he just shouldn’t be the one handling the situation at all but the local powers sure want to wash their hand of any guilt that they haven’t already attracted. Also – and more importantly – the Polyhedron literally is the one good thing happening to this man. After going into it on day 9 he thanks Khan for reminding him of a childhood he has forgotten! He has a shit week, he is completely beaten down (quite literally) and this is the one happy moment he finds in all this chaos. Clinging onto that is surely not rational, but it is human. We all know that the Bachelor has the tendency to survive on willpower alone and here clinging to the tower and its miracles is literally his only motivation to continue his route at all. Of course he is going to protect it at that point, if thinking about any other option bring nothing but utter misery and the acceptance of complete and utter failure. After all Dankovskys route is about the limits of his rational worldview and how it hinders him more that it serves him in a world, that isn’t defined by rational beliefs. Of course he will be out of it by the end and actually loosing his composure is an important part of his suffering and character development in the story. His ending is not a sign of rational thought but the last consequence of being enraptured in a web of circumstances that forbid him from making rational decisions in the first place.

Truth to be told, I don’t really like this as an argument. I love this thought as a peace of characterization. As much as I love his ending and the horrible consequences and the actual failure it imposes, when we look at the other playable characters. But it doesn’t really help us here. It doesn’t change the fact, that Dankovsky destroyed an entire town just for a dream, a man-made building, a promise of utopia that we never witness ourselves. He still destroyed so… so much! But… let’s look a bit deeper into the motivations behind that exchange.

Argument 2: The Trolley problem

“There is a runaway trolley barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:

Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person. Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?” (Wikipedia)

There is a variation to this question and interestingly enough it is one of the morality questions Aglaya asks in Pathologic 2: Would you push a man down a bridge, to save the children from a train? The curious thing is, that we can see all healers giving the same answer, (even if we have the choice to choose differently, since it is… you know… a dilemma). Necessary sacrifice is a constant of all three routes and every single protagonist has to kill in order to save a larger amount of people. Still, the game never answers moral choices with a simple answer and here with the Utopian ending we can see the darker side of this moral dilemma in full force (to a lesser extend this also applies to the Humble ending, since it also involves the Trolley problem, albeit on a smaller scale.) If we take the Kain’s studies about the focus and the soul seriously and see the Polyhedron as a method to ensure immortality seriously – or if we at least assume that Dankovsky wholeheartedly believes in that concept – than protecting the Polyhedron at the cost of the town suddenly becomes the Trolley problem at a significantly larger scale. The Polyhedron could ensure the survival of humankind but only at the expense of the town and it’s infected inhabitants. After all death is to Dankovsky but an affliction that can be healed just like the plague and consumes far more victims (if not all of them even if one would survive the disease). And that poses the question: When does the Trolley Dilemma stop working? What if there are two million people on the tracks and one million on the other side? What if there are hundred people on one and ninety nine on the other? What about five million vs. four million and nine hundred thousand? Can a human life be counted against the life of several others? If we look at the game itself and the healers answer in their daily life, it seems kind of simple: Yes, it is possible. The effort of saving is worth dirtying your hands after all. Risking at least your own life seems like a fair deal and no route really works without at least some degree of human sacrifice. But on this larger scale… it seems absurd. And… well… it is. But still. If we just try to empathise with the Bachelors mindset. If there is a possibility to cure humanity’s mortality… if there is a sliver of possibility (and since Thanatica is destroyed the Polyhedron seems like the only possibility at this point)… what kind of sacrifice is worth preserving it?

I myself have my own answer to that question. In Germany the Constitution starts with the sentence “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar” or: “Human dignity shall be inviolable.” (This is the official translation though a more direct translation would be “Human dignity is inviolable” which is more of a statement and less of a law) Even if the effect of that sentence in politics is very debatable and it is incredibly vague and not really a usable sentence as a law… I really like it. The human rights as a concept as well as equality can be concluded from the fact, that human dignity is something that cannot – under any circumstance – been taken away and is always a thing that must be considered just by being human. It is… nice. And it also means, that a human being cannot be seen as a mere object and has its own agency. A human being is not quantifiable in their existence by any parameter, be it birth, skin colour, gender, sexuality, religion, interests, talent, job, body, etc… It is incredibly important… and incredibly interesting in our scenario. Because if life isn’t quantifiable at any circumstance… the Trolley Dilemma has a solution. There is no way to tell, if one life can outweigh several others and deciding over their lives is something and judge over the worth of their live is something one should never do. Thus Dankovsky’s choice to save the Polyhedron and outweigh the lives of the infected seems morally wrong.

But… is that the answer the game has? Well… the artbook of Pathologic 2 states that the design of the game is about enforcing ambiguity and I would argue that the first instalment is no different. Firstly: In times of crisis lives become quantifiable. That is part of the tragedy. The healers’ lives are suddenly worth preserving, while others appear as nameless numbers in a daily statistic and caring about the individual dignity seems impossible. As already said the act of killing in order to preserve life is almost mandatory in every single run. So, what about human dignity? Can it even be preserved under such a dilemma? (And there is probably a point to be made about everybody being dolls and thus not even a being with dignity and agency at all… but I digress) Especially doctors have to face this dilemma and they have to make these judgement calls, weather they like it or not. The game doesn’t answer it but makes different variations of the same dilemma that we may judge differently. The Utopian ending is one variation.

What I want to say is, that – if we take the Kains’ believes seriously and see the survival of miracles against the law of nature not only as progress but as a question about human mortality itself – the question if the Polyhedron is worth saving is a very different one. I personally think that the idea of the focus still feels too esoteric to be a real point of interest but on the other hand… it is not like we haven’t some proof when we visit Khan and listen to his testimony. It is not that this place is above it’s miracles, and we know that a lot of the mysticism is grounded in reality, be it by the very real ways of the Kin or the past existence of Simon. So only thinking of the polyhedron as an abstract concept is… well doing it a disservice if we take the other parts as serious. Yeah it is made out of it’s own idea but… you know being like “it cannot exist but it can sure puncture the earth and kill everything” is… a weird way of thinking and it sure is a McGuffin (and even called that in the Artbook) but as we said, the game is about ambiguity and the only way to look at its existence is not only “evil tower of doom”. Is it worth keeping? Eh… I wouldn’t say so myself. I still think the Utopian ending is pretty shit and seeing the tower as salvation for our mortal lives is pretty farfetched. But the question for this essay is: Is it wrong to think, it is worth keeping? And from Dankovsky’s perspective, who sees it as the only possible chance of curing human mortality… Well… the answer at least isn’t as simple anymore. But – and now we are getting somewhere – the argument about the complexity of human value can be also made without even relying on Kain-Bullshit.

Argument 3: The Utopian Ending is the only ending, that completely gets rid of the plague (at least from Dankos point of view)

But wait you say, the other endings also defeat the plague! There even is a cure, something our beloved Bachelor of Medicine never archives. What is this lunacy?

Well here is the catch: A cure does not destroy its disease. Or at least it is an unreliable method. Sure, if everyone is cured and/or the disease helps to build antibodies, then it does help to get rid of it. But the sandpest seems to leave the bodies and not finding these remnants and antibodies is one essential part of the Bachelor’s route. It is the reason Rubin needs a living heart in the first place. The disease doesn’t seem to stay and no antibodies seem to be developed. (And even if I try to avoid material of Pathologic 2 in this analysis since there are differences in the Canon I still at least want to mention, that the Panacea as well as the shmowder do indeed not help against the disease after it is cured and a person can be reinfected. I do not know, if the same is the case in one and if you can test it out.) But if there are no antibodies, the cure could only eradicate the disease if every single infected person is cured at the same time. Good luck with that! That’s not bound to be a complete mess in this town!

This is backed up on day 12 in the Bachelor’s own route. When he is presented with the options the other healers have, he always asks both of them the same question: How does that ensure the future of the town? The Haruspex makes a cure yes. But what if the disease returns? After all the underground water he talks about still exists and there is no telling, if it will ever reemerge. It already happened once… The Haruspex doesn’t answer with “no, that will never happen”. He says that they will have enough cure if this is the case. An optimist, I see. And definitely not a satisfying answer if we consider a scientific perspective. What if the cure runs out? What if they find out too late and the plague spreads outside of town? A cure is not a waterproof system against plague. (You know what works better though? A vaccine.) Daniil’s mission was always to eradicate the disease and this would not do the trick. Having only a cure is risky. And it might not be a permanent solution.

The same applies for the Humble ending. If one asks the Changeling what would happen if the blood of their sacrifice runs out she answers “There will always be people willing to sacrifice themselves” Which is… just great. Constant human sacrifice just doesn’t seem that sustainable. And it also means that there will be constant loss of human life. Something that might even lead to more sacrifice in the long run (although that would be a reaaaaly long run considering how long the sacrifice of the Clara’s bound is supposed to last.) But it sure as hell doesn’t make the plague disappear. What if there are no willing sacrifices? What if Clara is gone and there is no one to perform a miracle? Clara’s ending relies on faith by nature and putting your trust in it is easy from a player’s perspective but even harder when there are lives at stake, the success unsure and these questions to consider.

Dankovsky’s ending is built upon uprooting the plague and eradicating it. The problem is that it is everywhere and not easily destroyed. As Lara very adequately realised: There is no source. His ending is the consequence of that goal and even if it loses in every other aspect, this is the one, where it wins. It actually destroys the problem itself. Building a new town and keeping the tower it cannot reach, actively minimalizes the possibility of the plague reappearing. And a more permanent solution might save more lives than one that sounds more humane at the beginning.

Okay, to defend the Haruspex for a change of pace: In his route he actually does believe that his method eradicates the disease as much as Dankovsky is convinced that his solution does the trick. For him the source is the Polyhedron and the way, it wounds the earth. With it removed the plague will not reappear. But why should Dankovsky share this belief? No one tells him! The inquisitor says that the Polyhedron is the root of evil but there never is any actual proof for that. Even If the Polyhedron is partially responsible and Danko actually does acknowledge this, it is the bloody mess of underground fluids that are in fact the source (which is ironically confirmed by the Haruspex himself). As he tells the inquisitor herself at the last day: The source and the cause can be too different things. It already seeped through Andrey’s spiral to the upper layers. The damage has already been done and in fact the Polyhedron is now the only save place, where nobody is infected. Everything else needs to be destroyed to eradicate the disease but why even destroy the Polyhedron? Wait. Why even destroy the Polyhedron? What good would that even do if we would consider it? What the fuck would Dankovsky even do with the destroyed Polyhedron, how would that save the town?

Argument 4: Dankos ending isn’t about the town vs. the polyhedron at all!(From his perspective. It totally is for the player though!)

I experienced something weird while playing the Bachelor’s route in P1. And with that I mean that I experienced something weird, that I wasn’t already expecting. After hearing so much about the fabled Polyhedron love, assuming that he sacrifices the whole town for its sake and hearing from the inquisitor in Pathologic 2 again and again how obsessed he is, I waited for the revelation. The moment Dankovsky would completely lose it and become utterly and undeniably obsessed with the children’s tower. That moment… never happened. Or well… it happened remarkably late and with less impact than I thought. Until day 9 the tower isn’t even a point of interest to the Bachelor, which is two thirds of his route. But even after you witness the miracles of the Polyhedron yourself, you still can argue against its glory. You can agree with Aglaya on day 10, that it seems dangerous (even if that could also be tactics, but until this point there is not really a reason for that). Hell, you can tell Peter on day 12, that his ideas will always only exist in his mind and blueprints and that the new town they will create will not work out! That is so weird, if the result of his run is, that he sacrifices the town for the Polyhedron! Why is there always an option to speak against the miracle we want to save? Isn’t that completely strange?

If we take the town vs. polyhedron conflict serious then… yeah it is. But is this all, what his end can be about? I would argue against it. Because what finally tips him to his solution and completes his view on the map of the town isn’t the Polyhedrons glory: It is the towns underground water and the Haruspex telling him, that the deeper layers are infected. That is, when he flips his shit and he even has an “oh no, it can’t be!” moment. Weird, isn’t it? If he would be set about destroying the town, why agonizing over this information? But from his point of view it is a nail in the coffin, the realization, that the whole towns ground is seeping with infection and if not eradicated, it will reappear. The Bachelor doesn’t have a cure and the Haruspex, while promising that he has a solution, sure as hell doesn’t explain how that would work and insists on arguing his own case without interference. (Which is completely understandable but doesn’t clear the situation.) The Bachelor has no means on his own to fight the plague outside of destroying the town. This is his only option to call of the bombardment of the Polyhedron and the tower and from his point of view, destroying the tower would archive absolutely nothing. It is free of infection, why destroy it? What would ripping it out do aside from letting even more blood seep out? In his own case, this would be completely useless, thus destroying the Polyhedron does not save the town! When the Bachelor flips the switch and guides the trolley in a different direction, he isn’t guiding it from hitting the Polyhedron to hitting the town. He guides the trolley from hitting the town and the polyhedron to only hitting the town! And by the way to only hit the town which his infected people while everybody else evacuates in the tower. (Which is confirmed by his ending cutscene, where people are actually present. After all it takes the healthy to built the new town). In his own mind, the Bachelor is saving people, not killing them! He does what he can so that the most of them survives and in his case, destroying the town is the only method to ensure victory at all.

If we stick to his own route – as I am doing right now – we have two counterarguments against this theory. The first one: But isn’t that only the failure of finding a better method? And: yes it is. As we already discussed in the first argument, the Bachelors story is about failure and the game itself is about necessary sacrifice, lose-lose situations and making the best out of a desperate hopeless scenario. Which leaves us with the question: Could Dankovsky have found a better solution? And… maybe. If he was more attentive, made different choices, would have been nicer to the Kin… There always are “ifs” but I would argue that the ones in this scenario are… pretty small odds for a change. He does genuinely try to inspect the abattoir and find a solution and ensure it’s safety and is almost punched to death as a result. The Kin regard him with absolute hostility, and for a good reason but it doesn’t help his case. Without Burakh’s knowledge and caste-rights making a cure would be (almost) impossible. He isn’t allowed to do any normal doctoring the one time, he tried to gain some blood from dead people, multiple guards had to die in order to ensure this absolute act of evil to go unnoticed. Thus he has to rely on Rubin’s secret lab. The possibility of Simon and his powers against the plague also aren’t usable… The Bachelor doesn’t even get to see his corpse after all. What choice does he have other than eradicating the cause itself? It’s definitely not the elegant solution that he was hoping for but there is a reason for him switching to inspect everything after ruling out a living plague carrier. These are the desperate means of finding a solution when his own knowledge of medicine has already failed him and the hopes of providing such medicine are already dwindling. Saving the town is simply not an option, the moment itself becomes the source of the plague.

The second counterargument is this one: Why not side with another healer, when they provide a better solution? And this is also a very valid argument. And thus, the moment it becomes an option, we as the Bachelor can choose to do so. If he has the cures that are necessary to ensure another healers victory, it is completely possible to avoid that ending. He doesn’t have to stick with it as well as the other healers do not have to, so judging him based on the other routes being better outcomes becomes obsolete. He has the ability to use these options, but if we lack the cures, his own solution is the only one. (Of course you can also save the other characters bound and then still decide to destroy the town, but using this scenario as his only motivation, when you can totally decide for yourself is a bit harsh, isn’t it?)

Of course, this argument collapses the moment we play any other route and he is trying to convince us to save the Polyhedron and abandon our own plans. However his own route can be considered his own perception of the story and our knowledge, how much he knows about the others paths is pretty limited and dependant of our choices as the player. Also, seeing his character and the changes made with that in mind, we can actually explain, why they appear. Of course, everybody tells Artemy how much the Bachelor is in love with the tower, when we’re not seeing it to that extreme in his route! It is necessary to fulfil his role in the Haruspex route. Of course, both the Bachelor and the Haruspex will appear as demons in Clara’s route. They do offer nothing but destruction from her point of view and both solutions seem destructive and spiteful, if they try to convince her. Everybody seems on board with seeing the characters in her route differently, but I think that the same applies to the Bachelor and the Haruspex in each other’s route, since their roles in the game changes. Or at least the perspective changes based on the others worldview. The Haruspex seems a lot more dangerous and his medicine a whole lot shadier, while the Bachelor seems to be more in love with the tower and ready to abandon everything for it, because it seems that way in comparison to the other persons knowledge of the situation. This is also backed up by the doll ending, where the Bachelor is being called out as the villain most of the time. In other routes he appears more villainous than in his own route, because we do actually have the means of comparison. But this is our perspective and not actual character motivation. We as the player do have the choice to work toward an ending. We can with our knowledge of the game go the extra mile to secure enough cures from the very beginning and help another healer. We are aware of the fact, that Clara and Artemy are other playable characters and we know from the very beginning that their beliefs have to be of value and their solutions will be backed up by their own routes. We know the opposition these characters stand in and while we see the different routes we may judge them for ourselves. And while Clara definitely knows and the other two healers show some sensibility towards this opposition (the “left hand, right hand”-quote comes to mind), at least the male healers are basing their decision upon their beliefs and not some outside point of view (while Clara watches and not-so-silently judges them). They even try to help each other and even provide the key insight to their own plan’s destruction (the Bachelor guides the inquisitor eyes to the Polyhedron and its structure, while Artemy outright tells Daniil of the underground infection). Of course they do not have the full picture! How could they, this entire game is about them not having it and making terrible mistakes! Dankovsky doesn’t have the ability to judge his own solution how the player does. And while judging his ending based on this information is completely valid and sensible, implying that he knows this detriment and still goes through with everything feels… a bit unfair to say the least. The conflict of the town vs. the polyhedron is an important debate in the game. And yes, Dankovsky’s role is being the advocate of the polyhedron, but man, this guy has the tendency to get manipulated into advocating random shit! The town vs. polyhedron debate is as present with him, as it is with the Haruspex. With the Polyhedron being the source in his route, he really has no choice but to remove it. After all, this guy really has no reason, to protect the Polyhedron. Of course he doesn’t! He would never sacrifice the town for the sake of his own ideology!

Argument 5: Let’s talk Nocturnal!

I promised one comparison, didn’t I? Still, we are now diving into abstract talk about the games’ themes and less about character motivation. Consider this more of a bonus and a different thought and less as an argument for Dankovsky himself. Comparing one ending to a different one does not make one of these characters more or less of an asshole. And comparing Pathologic 1 to Pathologic 2 obviously doesn’t tell us anything about the canon of either of those games, since they have vastly different results and we have no idea what the Bachelor’s endings will look like in Parhologic 2 (though I would be surprised if we couldn’t destroy the town and save the Polyhedron. But who knows, in Artemy’s case the army only pisses off.) Still, I think it is very interesting to talk about both of these endings side by side.

And I will begin this comparison by telling you that I love this ending! I am so happy that it exists and I think it is glorious and I think it’s existence is really important. I am so happy that Artemy has a reason to destroy the town. But is this okay? Or – as a comparison – is this a better idea than the one Dankovsky had?

I would argue that these endings have a lot in common. They both preserve their own ideals and establish a radically new order at the cost of the town itself. They both kill a shit ton of people for the miracles they have witnessed along the way. One could even argue that the Nocturnal ending is more horrifying. Firstly, more people die. While the Bachelor saves the uninfected, Artemy saves only those who “live with earths will” which seems to be like… the ten guys chilling in the abattoir and some of the kids. We know that there are only mere hundreds of people left of the kin and since everybody in the termitary doesn’t seem to count… who even gets saved? It’s at least as vague as the question who isn’t infected and can be saved at the Utopian end. But – more importantly – Artemy definitely has a choice in that matter and decides to sacrifice the town for the sake of the past. (If you’re not me. In my playthrough I got the courier note twenty minutes before 22:00 and the game was like “what are you going to do, such a hard choice” and I was like “I literally do not have the time to get this thing to town hall”. And then Aspity was like “you made your own conscious and completely willed decision” while Artemy just awkwardly stared at her…) But even disregarding that, the ending is surprisingly similar. Yet I see no one judging either the Haruspex or his ending for being overly cruel and well… killing a lot. Actually, I only read posts defending it and saying that it is as morally okay as the diurnal ending and could also count as a good end. And… I kind of agree. The sacrifice of the diurnal ending is pretty steep and destroying some species – while the worms, herb brides and albinos definitely show human qualities – is pretty fucked up as well and preserving them can seem worth the cost. (Oh my, do not say we arrived at the problem of human value again!) Still… It is destroying the town for its miracles. That is literally what this ending is about, yet our asshole sense does not tingle at all! Why is that?

I think there are two arguments for this difference between our outlook on the Nocturnal and the Utopian end. The first one is that the Kin and its culture is very endangered and protecting it just seems more morally sound than protecting some rich dudes. Which is very fair and the Kains are very fucked up. Buuuut, it isn’t like there is the termitary quest that preludes the diurnal ending. Finishing the game doesn’t exactly mean that we abandon the Kin. Part of its beliefs and culture, yes. Definitely, and as I said I still think the Diurnal and Nocturnal ending are pretty balanced. But a part of the Kin is assimilated and is coping and while protecting its culture and very real traditions is completely valid, the Nocturnal ending also destroys parts of the Kin (the Termitary part) as ill fitting for living with the earth…. So… hm… It’s not as easy as saying “but you help the Kin in one and some rich dudes in the other”, since the Kin itself are also torn and we are still only allowing a specific way of living. A specific worldview containing the miracles of the town… On the other hand, the polyhedron and its miracles can also be considered endangered and unique. It is a one of a kind structure as is the miracles it can provide. The Stamatins are pretty unable to reproduce it, as the game likes to tell us and destroying it would destroy all hopes of a one in a time event to come to life. Also there are talks about the Utopians being a faction of the entire town with one third of the population agreeing on their beliefs (as it is the case with the other ideologies). And the plans Peter and Maria make do sound interesting, dreamlike and… well unique. Something that can also only happen in this circumstance. But alas… we do not know that much about it and their word is only what we have. And this is the second aspect that makes the Nocturnal ending more relatable: Buildup. We witness first-hand what this Nocturnal world would be (sometimes for better and sometimes for worse), we know the beings and the miracles of the earth. We do not really get in touch which the utopian ideas and only have the rambling of good old Georgji which… yeah that doesn’t help their case! But there are kids calling this new town an “eternal adventure” a miracle that can come to live and I would say, that this thought is quite beautiful. And it certainly is unique, which is the main argument of the Nocturnal ending. Wonders, plague and miracles. Destroy one and the other will vanish. So… what is worth keeping a miracle? The answer now seems even harder to grasp. Maybe even impossible.

But we also do not have every puzzle peace. I still have hope for the two different routes and with them there are the possibilities of new realizations and also new endings. I myself am really curious if we either get an option to save the town or a reason to destroy the Polyhedron as the Bachelor. (And I am very curious as well, if Clara will get a second ending. What would that even be? An all destruction ending to set everyone free???) There also could be more elaboration on the Polyhedron and its inner workings. Maybe we will even understand what the Kains are talking about! There are some allusions to a more concrete Kain worldview. The nut-game while very disturbing makes the entrapment of the soul way more real and gives the focus some context. (It also doesn’t only connect it with the polyhedron since “anything can be a focus. A polyhedron, a room, a nut”.) The same applies to the clocks and their connection to the save system, which makes the miracles of the Kains way more real. And I digress. Only time will tell.

Conclusion:

I think it is clear by now, that this way too long text isn’t really about giving answers and more about perspective. I myself would say that the Bachelor’s choice is terribly misguided most of the time and the only possible method to save anything at best. But I do not think that it is made with its destructive force in mind. What I wanted to show is, that the motives and the narratives surrounding this ending are way more complex and also really, really interesting. (I just wanted to gush about this game!) As are the characters that comment on the situation at hand. And reflecting on how we judge them can say a lot about our own view and the world (this one as well as the Town on Gorkhon).

[loveamongthesailors]

Well, Pathologic 2, you’re One years old! It’s as good a moment as any to reflect upon and shatter the time-lines you’ve drawn out for us. OR; Reading His-Story Against the Grain

i saw this post about pathologics incongruous timeline stuff the other day and i ended up Getting Into It.. this piece draws on stuff from patho classic but its focused on patho 2, especially on a comparison ov the Diurnal and Nocturnal “endings,” and contains spoilers for both games, probably, i guess, on varying levels ov abstraction and explicitness. i/m going to attempt to stand on a street corner and point towards Pathologic’s overall construction/presentation ov “time” as the Now-time, Exploded time, Messianic Time.

from dear daniil dankovsky, on Angels; “An angel is a nightmare. Their purpose is to instill primal, oppressive horror. I think if angels existed, they’d resemble a divine pillar of light---from the heavens to the earth. Devoid of anything remotely human.” We commend this Puppet for his drama but would like to take a slightly different approach. Even awful dreams are good dreams, if you’re doing it right.

 IX

         “A Klee painting named ‘Angelus Novus’ shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned toward the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe which keeps piling wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing in from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such a violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.“            

         on the content ov patho and in a real Life context, im also going to be discussing genocide ov Indigenous people, colonial Violence, police brutality, and anti-Black violence in this piece. i’ll also be contextualizing some views on History through the writing ov Walter Benjamin, a German born Jew living in the early 20th century, and friend ov Bertolt Brecht, who you may be familiar with if yr into patho. In 1940, shortly after writing On the Concept of History (referenced here),while fleeing persecution for neutral grounds, he was trapped in catalonia by a franco government cancellation ov travel vistas and,under threat ov repatriation to nazis by the spanish police, commited suicide on the night ov september 26. His theses were passed on by surviving members ov his group who were granted “safe” passage after his suicide, being later taken under the care ov Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno. His Grave reads -in German and in Catalan, reproduced here in english-

"There is no document of culture which is not at the same time a document of barbarism"

(from section 7 ov On the Concept of History)

    i will also be using sections from baedan, which has been dear to me over the years, on Benjamin’s Concepts. some songs will be dispersed throughout (featuring Laurie Anderson, Owen Pallett, and some good ol tmg), with relevant links beneath. you’ve heard that old Brecht aphorism about dark times, singing, whatever? i’m nearly sick to death ov it. these stories, in addition, will be based on a few things i know Myself. follow the threads as you see fit <3

Because History is Stories...That we half-remember... And most of them never even get written down. And so when they say things like "We're gonna do this by the book," You have to ask "What book?," Because it would make a big difference if it was Dostoyevsky or just, You know... Ivanhoe.

xxx

“Read what was never written,” runs a line in Hofmannsthal. The reader one should think of here is the true historian. ~ Walter Benjamin, omitted notes to the theses on history  

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Isidor Burakh: All I wanted was for you to understand, not to follow any particular fate.

...

Isidor Burakh: The Town needs to move forward, but it doesn’t insist. Facing the Future is the the way of Love. Facing the Past is the way of Love. But the two are incompatible, and it broke my heart. //// //// //// ////

      so,,, depending on who you ask within Pathologics narrative, the history ov the Town-on-Gorkhon stretches back to Time Immemorial, constitutes a few hundred years ov settlement, or only goes back about as far as You have been playing the game. You’ll hear conflicting narratives around just about everything in this Town. Simon Kain, hundred something years old, mystic, spiritual founder ov a several hundred year old settlement. an executed general’s vengeful daughter, Artemy and Rubins foggy backstories ov military service, what military?, what war? Who sent in the Military and Inquisition, how can We get at the Powers that Be? looking outside ov the narrative and towards history for these sorts ov questions will give us All and None ov the answers. 

       The Termitary (internment/interment/intermediate/immediate/intermittent)  looms over the Home ov Isidor Burakh, Menkhu and sole Medical Practitioner ov the town(excepting disciples. consider the spread ov knowledge, what different Knowledges are at hand and how they perpetuate...we can see how Isidor himself looms from his grave Quite well!), colleague ov radical intellectuals from the Capital and serving with Simon in tandem with the Mistresses to hold the Town together by force. Everything is Happening at Once.

        Look at What/Who is Moving this Story Forward. Different ruling families will give you again, different Numbers, different Stories. One can’t trust the Numbers, we say! and One can hardly trust the Stories either, mind you. This engenders an approach based on following Patterns, exploring Roots, pulling back the curtain to ascertain the shape ov things, reading the lines so to speak. one Bull or Several bulls? silly question. again, we’re trying to looking beyond the Numbers. consider Time as a Multiplicity. consider Rhythmic and Linear time, Time Stratified, Unending Time, Plague Time and Empty Time, Lived Time and Time un-Lived, if one pleases!

XVII                                                    

           “Historicism rightly culminates in universal history. Materialistic historiography differs from it as to method more clearly than from any other kind. Universal history has no theoretical armature. Its method is additive; it musters a mass of data to fill the homogoneous, empty time. Materialistic historiography, on the other hand, is based on a constructive principle. Thinking involves not only the flow of thoughts, but their arrest as well. Where thinking suddenly stops in a configuration pregnant with tensions, it gives that configuration a shock, by which it crystallizes into a monad. A historical materialist approaches a historical subject only where he encounters it as a monad. In this structure he recognizes the sign of a Messianic cessation of happening, or, put differently, a revolutionary chance in the fight for the oppressed past. He takes cognizance of it in order to blast a specific era out of the homogenous course of history—blasting a specific life out of the era or a specific work out of the lifework. As a result of this method the lifework is preserved in this work and at the same time canceled*; in the lifework, the era; and in the era, the entire course of history. The nourishing fruit of the historically understood contains time as a precious but tasteless seed.”                                                   

*The Hegelian term aufheben in its threefold meaning: to preserve, to elevate, to cancel.

          Everything is happening at once, already, and, for the purposes ov Our story, A plague is on. (why is there a plague on?  in this Specific Case, read: Specimen, there is a plague on because infection serves as a very useful allegorical device. haha. see also dominant theories ov infectivity in russian imperial medicine, policy, and social science) Crisis as Inflammation. Violence and Control intensified along multiple vectors. Mobs, Witch Burnings, The Quarantine, districts carved up and kept under surveillance, the Town Police, Arsonists, government or Otherwise, the Military, the Inquisition, Hangings in the square, tallies ov the Dead in the Termitary... Was any ov this new? did it Crystallize from thin air? here’s an aphorism: There’s Nothing New Under the Sun. what can we find beyond the Sun’s reaches? what has the Sun given us, and what has Earth? shall we keep them apart? whose bodies are restricted in their movement over the earth, and how severely are they restricted? who is targeted? who enforces the control? is this what Crisis looks like? when did the Crisis start?

VI                       

           “To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it ‘the way it really was’ (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger. Historical materialism wishes to retain that image of the past which unexpectedly appears to man singled out by history at a moment of danger. The danger effects both the content of the tradition and its receivers. The same threat hangs over both: that of becoming a tool of the ruling classes. In every era the attempt must be made anew to wrest tradition away from a conformism that is about to overpower it. The Messiah comes not only as the redeemer, he comes as the subduer of Antichrist. Only that historian will have the gift of fanning the spark of hope in the past who is firmly convinced that even the dead will not be safe from the enemy if he wins. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious.”

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But do not be scared Surely some disaster will descend and equalize us A crisis Will unify the godless and the fearless and the righteous

...

In a certain slant of light the feeling will hit me Like a man against the waves and a violent wind Waking up in a bloody morning With the warmth of his forgiveness around me The shared dream left me shaking The memory is threatening to capsize every ship upon the sea

xxx //// //// //// ////

      Pathologic, having mapped out these lines, and being a concatenation ov narrative fiction that could not have existed without the precondition ov colonial expansion and the Extermination and Assimilation ov Indigenous populations and Life ways, can be can be unwound through a conventional historical approach by investigating various moments, epidemics, and movements in The Steppe (and all Land and Living Beings subsumed by Russia’s internal colonization) and looking for similarities, sources, influences, reflections, distortions... You’ll never find quite an exact parallel to the events ov pathologic, and you will find that the Trick that the devisers have given you in fact resides in laying out what can be gleaned from the Tangled view.

“…they make the work a process of learning or experimentation, but also something total every time, where the whole of chance is affirmed in each case, renewable every time,”

         — Gilles Deleuze, Difference&Repetition

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“For Benjamin, the conclusion of the movement of history through time is not some inevitable utopia—capitalist, communist, or otherwise. Rather than viewing the progression of civilization as an accumulation of gains and reforms toward freedom and justice, history can be seen as the continuous defeat of the exploited by their oppressors; the intensifying alienation of beings and their re-construction into capital. History not only serves to justify today’s rulers, but also to encode our memory with a narrative that reads historical events as a necessary chain of events along the path toward some future revolution or techno-utopia. He describes this as “a view of history that puts its faith in the infinite extent of time and thus concerns itself only with the speed, or lack of it, with which people and epochs advance along the path of progress.”

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     In your Twelve Days in the town as a Healer, what did you see? piles ov wreckage, debris, bodies stacked under streetlamps flickering in the night? a town spreading across a steppe? a Utopia growing through the Earth? do you think you saved any lives, and was any-body's life yours to save in the first place? a Plague moving through living organisms? a Plague moving through non-living organisms? did you observe any Organisms, living or otherwise, over the course ov the play? do you have Mirrors in your house? have you seen a still, clear, body ov water recently? what are the waterways where you live called, and have they been called anything else in the Past or Present? did you become the Haruspex, and following what paths does becoming-haruspex entail? are you winning, son?

When the hunger turns in on itself, it begins to devour its host Who do you turn to for help? Who do you love the most? When the word comes down the wire that they're looking To make an example of you Skin and bones around a campfire beneath the stars No good end in view I dance with the ones that brought me I dance with the ones that brought me here

xxx

         did you observe a Fever? can you feel a Fever? can you Imagine a great crack ov lightning striking across the Steppe, illuminating in raw detail the beauty and horror ov all that you have experienced? how would it smell afterwards? can you smell the Twyre on the air? is Twyre even a real thing? what may influence your imaginary ov its scent? Feel small, dirty hands reaching out for beetles, marbles, raisins, souls within nuts and names without people. Living on pemmican, Living on military rations. razors, fish-hooks, scalpels and syringes passing through the hands ov children as well. noticing the flows present in everything, spots where they are arrested, and the intensities they assume. we could run through the Game and Count up the Number ov Clocks present, and we could also look at how many hours we have Clocked in our Playtime, and the date ov this Play’s Production. did the Kains succeed in their mission to Produce Time? was this the Kain’s mission Alone? how is your mental Clock? We got the Body Count at the end of the day, and commentary too. cant beat that courtesy, *hem hem* but again, looking beyond the Numbers. how many Bulls did you see? when is a question also a trap? 

XVIII                                                  

       “‘In relation to the history of organic life on earth,’ writes a modern biologist, ‘the paltry fifty millennia of homo sapiens constitute something like two seconds at the close of a twenty-four-hour day. On this scale, the history of civilized mankind would fill one-fifth of the last second of the last hour.’ The present, which, as a model of Messianic time, comprises the entire history of mankind in an enormous abridgment, coincides exactly with the stature which the history of mankind has in the universe.”

what are the Consequences ov inserting Living Beings into a Linear Framework? where did Architecture come from? how was this Story constructed? What do you remember about the Town? 

We can take the Diurnal “ending” as a fairly straightforward allegorical Byway for the Forces ov Progress. Boundaries are set, You are not the Town, the Town is your Soul-and-a-half.( wikihow to not be a cartesian dualist, consider also Spinoza if laying bare the path ov immanence was ov interest to you) What lays beneath the Sunlight? what still lays beneath the Earth? What time is it? things are weirdly cozy, in some ways. mimesis, echoes, ghosts. Are their voices still heard? grace tallies up the bodies. are You ready to Leave Artemy here? is this a comfortable future for you to imagine? how are you with uncertainty? Does the costume itch? do you ache at the seams, or are your joints sore from all the strings pulling at them? got arthritis? i’ve used stinging nettle. can a Story devour a human being? why would something with that power stop at One?  

What Do You Think Will Happen Now?

One can also make the Choice to step into the Darkness. One with many names has returned to the Earth,(”One” ov many False Deaths and Smart Tricks too. love ya girl <3)... taya as mistress-ov-bulls, grace as mistress-ov-dead, changeling as mistress-ov-absolutley-whatever. Mistresses, Mist, Tresses, Bulls, Brides, Worms, Plague...the Theme/s to note here is/are Multiplicity. Is there a difference between imagining the future and the past? Where are you? Where did You come from? the Nocturnal ending already asks enough questions to make me quite happy. sitting next to the Girls now, looking out at the New Sky. same as the old sky, Full ov Magic. if we take Death ov the Author into account, we could say that the Polyhedron belongs to the Dead in more ways than one. We can see your house from here! i wouldn’t say we’ve even gotten to the Prophet yet. When did our Hero leave us? did We have any use for Heroism? the Steppe is in the Stone Yard now. The World is returning to Life. what does it mean for me?

how many angels can dance on the head ov a pin?

how many worm brides can dance in the cathedral?

   ....“The way in which the dead are present is as the “caress” of a “breath of… air,” as an “echo,” or as a sister who one no longer recognizes. In other words, the past is present and everywhere, touching us every moment and “in the voices we hear,” but only suggestively, in and in spite of our own inability to recognize it. But the possibility for redemption, the weak messianic power, lies in the chance that we might.

In the intimate, ever-present opportunity he describes there is a tremendous deal at stake. For, he writes in the fourth thesis, the “refined and spiritual things” that live in the class struggle “as confidence, courage, humor, cunning, and fortitude, and have effects that reach far back into the past… constantly call into question every victory, past and present, of the rulers.”

Later, turning to the historians he criticizes as tools of the ruling classes, Benjamin makes it clear in his seventh thesis that their resurrection of the past is an entirely different kind. The nature of the sadness—rooted in an indolence of heart—that Flaubert described feeling in his historical study of Carthage is clearer, Benjamin says, when we remember that the historian’s empathy is always with the victor, and thus with the present rulers. It is the kind of sadness, then, that gathers to the loyal servant or minion in knowing that it is being used for its ruler’s purposes”

         “Figured another way, the task of interruption requires us to locate the clocktower that we could fire upon to stop the day. Homogenous time no longer flows through the monolithic machines in the city centers. Now, a range of technological advancements have diffused and integrated the machinery of time into our very thoughts and rhythms. Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by and permeated with devices which serve to manage the regime of time. Where once a singular apparatus mediated our relationship to time, its dictatorship is now imposed by an innumerable array. A desire for interruption must now reckon with the countless apparatuses that segment our memory and integrate our very being into capitalist time. But rather than waste time lashing out against all these clocks one after another, let us cut through to what underlies them.

           History’s servants promise us a shining future. Whether by means of technological innovation, hard work and sacrifice, or the Revolution, we are assured of a heaven-on-earth of light and crystal. But all of these glimmering apparatuses can only serve to adorn the monumental pile of wreckage in which we live. All around us, the carnage and corpses of our ancestors form the architecture of our daily existence. Not only the walls and freeways and shopping centers, but the smart phones, pornography, surveillance and entertainment systems—all monuments to the same enemy that has never ceased to be victorious. Capital, Leviathan, civilization, society: so many names for the process which turns life into an assemblage of death, which would integrate us as machines into a grander machinery. Futurity is the logic that drives this regime of subjection and assimilation, but is also the science which desecrates our memory of those who also struggled; the treachery which turns their struggles into so many more ideological cadavers. Where living beings once struggled to be free from futurity’s domination of their lives, we are told that they dutifully sacrificed themselves for society’s future. We too are called upon to procreate and raise up children who might one day live better lives than we. But just as we were born into the halls of the dead, so too would our children be the stillborn janitors of these halls, breathing circuits embedded in a massive cybernetic cadaver. Ghosts call out to us: they ask that we tear apart the sutures of this Frankenstein’s monster which they’ve come to constitute. They call on us to cremate their remains and bury the ashes, to end the reign of the dead over the living.”

//// //// //// ////

"I am not afraid," ze said "Of the non-believer within me Nor delight at the pain of my enemies Nor tears for any friends I have lost" ...

I’ll never have any children I’d bear them and eat them, my children

I’m gonna change my body In the light and the shadow of suspicion I am no longer afraid The truth doesn’t terrify us, terrify us My salvation is found in discipline, in discipline

xxxx

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“It is apparent from the foregoing that all accumulation is cruel; all renunciation of the present for the sake of the future is cruel.”

— Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share, Volume III

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“The Haruspex is blood and organs... ...The Haruspex’s overarching idea is the interconnectedness of everything and restoring the connections... ...The Haruspex hears (rhythms)... ...The Haruspex: water + forward vector. „ — [from the game’s design documents]

“ The Haruspex, a butcher, a killer, one could even say a murderous psychopath, gets the warmest character arc. It’s about love. „ — [from the game’s design documents] 

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Infinity Mirrored Room—All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins -

Yayoi Kusama, 2016

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       A long “personal” anecdote: there’s music on the air and i hear a familiar buzzing. it isn’t twyre growing, nor it is the hum ov flies. we Keep bees here, to get honey.  I should try to remember to bring some to my wife tomorrow, though making the journey on its own is a bit daunting these days. 1 hive, 2 hives, the bees build and swarm and our Keeper rearranges the frames, adds in new boxes, tries to give them enough space that they'll stay within our domain. I think about the complex roles being fulfilled within the hive, and how any egg can grow into a so called “Queen” if need be. These Hives haven’t always held the same populations, sometimes a swarm will depart and won’t be Recovered. Look around the neighborhood, find the buzzing tree, you may be able to get them back yet but... have you tried getting a swarm ov bees into a box before? good luck finding the queen! (hoping i don’t have to do this but a bit excited by the prospect at the same time.)

        Our honey bees didn't originate from this region, i see them in the “yard” alongside native bees (one tries to plant for Everybody) but obviously, Our Hives are here so i’ll always see more ov the honeybees as long as they’re occupying them. Native bees to our Bioregion are leading very different lifestyles. Different threats, dynamics, and places in the ecosystem as well. Bumblebees are the most Beloved. Native Bees here- vital pollinators, ground and stem burrowers, more solitary souls than most, but are any ov us really alone? what are their favorite flowers?

          I think about Bees a lot now. I’m standing here thinking about Bees, and where I’m standing is in between the entrance ov the Hive and their favorite Ceanothus (see also soap brush, red root, buckbrush, see medicinal uses...). Very precious grounds to these Bees, not somewhere where I’m welcome. I Haven’t always known as much about bees. I get stung right inbetween my pinky and index fingers, on the palm ov my hand. yeowch! Bad luck, but i could still use a shovel the next day. This was an anecdote about Paying Attention to Your Surroundings.

       The Ceanothus isn’t flowering anymore, and hasn't been for a few “weeks” (i think?) The Bees have other concerns now. In fact, it was heavily damaged in a snow storm a couple years back, and half ov its branches collapsed under the weight ov the ice. Its a bit ov a twisted thing now, what remains still flowers but what remains is not so much. At some point in the future upon yr reading ov this, it will have been cut down and possibly dug out ov the earth. I wouldn't be surprised if a few more, smaller, iterations made their way to this space in remembrance/ tribute. The branches lost in it’s first wounding are still stacked up nearby, all sorts ov creatures love that stuff. Dead trees in the back that Birds still frequent stay for the birds. We never get that many plums because we’re not smart or quick enough, or as willing to take one great bite ov a fruit and let the rest fall to the soil. I didn’t really get stung by a Bee in a situation exactly like what i described up there, it’s drawing on a few different times that sort ov thing happened. I hope you’ll forgive me for my obscurantist tendencies.

       Looking past the Hives and onto the Streets, I am a White Settler(family fled the reach ov the Soviet Union to integrate into America, family fled family to a different part ov land under the Reaches ov said “America”,cave fled family but stuck with the Land, recurring patterns, what would my views be if i had grown up in Czechoslovakia? geography, chronology, trick questions) living in a segment ov Town that, until 1968, was a legally a Sundown Town, see Racial Restrictive Covenants. I still don’t see than many Black ppl around my neighborhood. I do see grocery store parking lots swarming with cop cars, more cops than i can Count, at least two k9 units, all to pursue One Black Body through the rainy night, My own Body lets me move through the world without these Forces being brought upon me in this intensity, lets me Watch.

          Certain alignments ov directions ov Struggle have brought me into the position ov the Other at the end ov the cudgel, a body in a crowd under the looming eye and long barrel ov the sniper, the surveillance camera. Visibility is a Trap. Any ability i have to Get Off The Hook is based not on Luck or Fate, but due to the way the color ov my skin is reflected in the eyes ov Those in Power. what can i do from inside This Skin, and what can i do with the veil ov a mask obliterating my “selfhood”? How are we to heal? If you didnt read this into my Musical choices already- im a bit ov a flaming/smoldering queer. sitting in the planned parenthood lobby, one among many, gripped by recollections ov the devastating history ov HIV/AIDS and a cluster ov other Crises, memories ov beloved souls lost to policies and hegemony ov extermination and neglect. blood in vials, piss in jars. how does the time spent waiting for results feel?(how long? weeks months?)

           I have more free condoms on hand than i’ll ever get through. A veritable theoretical eternity ov Safer Sex. There are Reasons why Queer Institutions give access to free condoms. But i’ve gotten them from some delightful Quakers as well. on another squeamish, libidinal subject, administering self injections isnt so daunting when you’ve seen it done a Million times before. It’s like watching somebody sneeze, or pinching yourself. HRT as potions, mechanical intrusion to will a slow transformation. getting into the fat is easy, some other avenues less so. “This requires the Gentle Hand of a Surgeon, step aside!” i know a lot about what Doctors Don’t Know. (veins and arteries as streets- easy. nerves as streets - you hear this a bit less. streets as eyes, the opening ov your mouth with a railroad track running down it, eyes as streets, whose streets? fuck streets! tear up the concrete)

          The aforementioned streets are closed to Traffic due to the Quarantine, and i hear folks and families from the neighborhood walking/hoverboarding/skateboarding/biking down the street,(mostly the new work from home yuppie class and their spawn respectively, but there's some real ones around here too. all ages. have yet to live anywhere that people don't ask me for cigarettes) chattering away, masks or no masks. If i take a long walk down past the cemetery, I’ll find myself passing by a Native American Youth Home, created to provide support for a population that is currently disproportionately represented in this Town’s already Massive Homeless population. (their covid19 resources and donation info) Even with the Plague on, New Condos are built and Old Condos stay empty. Who do the bones in the soil beneath my feet belong to? When did all ov this Start, and how Long will it go on? why does the Map look the way it does? I would rather listen carefully than dig. This Story is not the only Story, nor should any be.

      do i remember how the damp asphalt smells Here after Lightning Strikes? do i remember the feeling ov my body thrown to the concrete and the chaos and disorientation ov Crowds mobbing over me, slick with rain and sweat? who saw, and how many hands reached out to lift me up, who saved who? is that my blood trickling down the sidewalk? Flashbangs and Flashes ov Lightning, take yr pick. you can get similar experiential learning in the moshpit. this is an anecdote about Paying Attention to Your Surroundings.

i’ll try to bring us nearer to the point with baedan’s conclusion, a reflection on the First thesis from On the Concept of History. I will leave it up to You to investigate the original text if you are so Inclined.

//// //// //// ////

           “For every pretty theory that presents itself, study it only in the way that a cat studies its prey: for the enjoyment of the hunt, to be sure, but also so as to seize upon whatever unique revolutionary chance may appear as in a flash of lightning. So that when that narrow gate opens, you pounce without a moment’s hesitation. In the meantime, by all means, enjoy the diversion of the theory’s lines and moves, but if you are to avoid becoming its tool you must ever have in mind to shatter the system of mirrors and confront the dwarf that has been pulling the strings all along. Faced with this ugly little creature behind all the lines of play you’ve enjoyed and suffered, able at last to read the lines of its face and the dark of its eyes, as time stands still and the entirety of the past falls to you, you will have to make a deeply ethical decision that nothing in all the games before could prepare you for. The only decision that truly matters.”

//// //// //// ////

Artemy Burakh: Any Choice is Right as long as it’s Willed.

//// //// /// ////

Hansel and Gretel are alive and well And they're living in Berlin She is a cocktail waitress He had a part in a Fassbinder film And they sit around at night now Drinking schnapps and gin And she says: Hansel, you're really bringing me down And he says: Gretel, you can really be a bitch He says: I've wasted my life on our stupid legend When my one and only love Was the wicked witch

She said: what is history? And he said: history is an angel being blown backwards into the future He said: history is a pile of debris And the angel wants to go back and fix things To repair the things that have been broken But there is a storm blowing from paradise And the storm keeps blowing the angel backwards into the future And this storm, this storm is called progress

xxx

TLDR; pathologics shitty timeline is cool because it fosters a metagame where the imperative is to make history explode in real life.

specific thanx to: every1 included above, my local subversive lit dealers, Whoever gave the talk last ABF about Queer Wanderings in the anti-nazi Underworld, have not stopped carrying those stories with me since. thanks to the Dear Listener, thanks 2 my wife for pragmatic and personal encouragements <3

a personal acknowledgement to the lives and legacies ov the dxʷdəwʔabš (Duwamish) people, past and present, First People ov the Land i currently Occupy, alongside the entire City ov so-called “Seattle.”

[divine-motion]

marble nest thoughts bc fuck i love pathologic

everything about the list of people who are dead and who aren’t made me Big Depressed. artemy... taya... lara... grief... eva... notkin... peter... so many dead...

“andrey stamatin is as good as dead as long as his brother is” BRO...

at least murky wasn’t on the list even... maybe she’s safe from the plague. do you think she brings those funeral wreaths to artemy?

rubin being the only survivor out of their friend group makes me emo. did he make up with the others before they died? is he okay? ... he’s not. what am i thinking.

the way that mr daniil dankovsky is so extremely dedicated to defeating death, yet overworks himself and doesn’t seem to interested in taking care of himself properly, and the amount of times he references suicide - “i’d rather shoot myself than fail” and when he finds the two infected people he asks “is there a gun here? with three bullets?” - it’s so. so so interesting to me. this is a dlc about him refusing to die... is it just about refusing to die as long as he doesn’t achieve what he wants? if his death meant he would finally defeat death, would he choose death? ... i don’t think i even need to ask that, this all points to Yes, Yes He Would

all the Dadkovsky content confuses me. a guy said “where there’s children there’s suspicious activity around” and my two options were “good work i don’t like children either” and “why the fuck are you wasting time on what some dumb kids are doing”

that’s very paraphrased but personally i just don’t see daniil as a person who’s good with kids. like he can be decent with them but in general i don’t see him having too much patience with them? that’s my personal headcanon though of course. also of course i chose “are you all insane, you’re not supposed to shoot kids” to that one army guy bc i do think daniil has that much basic decency

fucking. finding artemy’s panacea and the bottle breaking when i tossed it out. soul-crushing.

pathologic is so mean

this isn’t exactly my first time playing marble nest i did actually play a few minutes of it when i first got pathologic 2, before i even played the actual game, and it was when i was feeling really Depressed and decided playing video games would make me feel better. i don’t know why i thought pathologic 2 would make me feel better. err anyways i got to the steppe people and the worm operation, but when i failed i got even more sad and immediately turned the game off

accidentally found the infected people before i could get to that operation again but rest assured i’m trying to scrounge up whatever could help me succeed on this operation. i know it’s probably useless and i’ll fail no matter what ‘cause i don’t got a scalpel but i want to try

(obviously don’t tell me if it is useless or not)

when i went to go see aspity and i talked to the lad out front and i had to give up one of my items ‘cause the only other option was “ugh you and your stupid steppe superstitions”

damn it daniil dankovsky can you be less of a jerk so i can keep my stuff??

also aspity showing me the proper way to die had that dril tweet that goes “so long suckers! i rev up my motorcycle and after the dust settles there is my motionless dead body” or however it goes

“the children are asleep” “what children” “the ones inside that big tower? the polyhedron?” “what tower” “... um... are you overworked, doctor?” “you’re overworked”

pathologic is a comedy

i don’t like geogiy kain very much. the conversations with him are interesting but they also make me want to knock that old man’s teeth out

“are those who don’t seek to ascend to godhood unworthy of life?” thank you daniil. for once. exactly what i wanted to say to this old bitch

daniil is pretty obviously disdainful toward the people of the town, like, several of his dialogues always allude to it. “ungrateful bastards, all of you” “no one in this town is healthy, not in every sense” “more steppe superstitions” and such. i do think he thinks of people as numbers a lot of the time, but his quest to exterminate death is still something that i think he thinks is in service of people, all people, no matter how much he might look down upon some of them.

that said he’s still very concerned with protecting the healthy over those who are suffering. his map says “the living are here” and, no matter how doomed the infected districts are, the sick are still alive.

i love how the camera is lower is as daniil than as artemy. the bachelor is just a manlet menace

fuck i just got it. the many people around town named after birds. “birdies, birdies, gather ye here, around the marble nest”. and they gather around the house when the bachelor is going to die.

i mean i think i got it, anyways, could be totally wrong

again a nonsensical post of me spouting words wildly bc i have no one else to talk to about my special interest

[roaldseth]

Dankovsky (patho) or/and Gale (dds)!

You said “/and” and I am taking thatopportunity.

DANKOVSKY:

Why I like them

Second-handfavoritism—from you. Sometimes I like characters because of other people thatlike whatever said character. Psych myself up for something, I will attach toit. And I like his appearance. He has an appealing design, and I have to saythat characters describing him as corpse-like in passing sometimes ispersonally appealing.

Why I don’t

… well,he is kind of an asshole. Realistically, I wouldn’t bother with people likethat, but in terms of character traits it makes him interesting.

Favoritescene

TheMarble Nest as a whole. The cycle storytelling is very appropriate in terms ofthe endings that can be chosen, and the fact that there’s essentially no way to“win.” It’s a lot of traveling around aimlessly that gives an air ofhopelessness, whether you complete or botch the quests, you can’t reach thecharacter’s ultimate goal, but you can get yours as a player.

Favorite line

Wouldn’tsay it’s “favorite,” but the only thing I can readily think of atthe moment is: “what’s in you pockets, pumpkin?” Or at least I think that’swhat he says when you want to barter with small female children.

Itseems like one of the few times he’s actually “welcoming,” kind of likeGordon Ramsay when he talks to children versus talking to people that thinkthey know what they’re doing. I imagine him squatting down or kneeling or something to met the girls’ levels when saying it.

Favoriteoutfit

Newremake outfit > original outfit.

… hedid have those platform boots in his original art…

OTP

Burakh/Dankovsky

I willadmit that I entered the Pathologic fandom—if that’s what you can call it—allsorts of backwards. I’ve read fanfiction before actually “experiencing” thegame, and if fanfiction has ever made me ship a ship, it’s with these two. (Ihaven’t braved google translate, but) they way people write them like somesnarky (vaguely domesticated) couple is something I can get behind.

brOTP

I don’tknow. Dankovsky and Isidor or Rubin? They were colleagues, right? Or Andrey for That One Time In College feeling?

HeadCanon

Unsure.

Unpopularopinion

Also unsure.

A wish

maythe remake be release by the end of the year.

Consideringit’s impossible for him to escape his fate: may healways have a good bed to sleep on, enough food to not starve, and an abundanceof smowders and ammunition.

Anoh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Honestly,I’m not quite sure. I haven’t given it enough thought. I mean: the man’sdealing with a plague. His life can’t get much worse.

5 wordsto best describe them

100%done with everyone’s shit?

Or:Steadfast, analytical, irritable, influential, and tired.

Mynickname for them

If I’m trying to becheeky, I’ll refer to him as Dr. Dank or Dan/Daniel, but most of the time Itake the time to say/type out “Dankovsky” or use the common diminutive “Danko.”

GALE:

Why I like them

I like his logic and level-headedness. He’s the one to suggest something out of probability, butwill place his tactics in gambits—quick to adjust and assess for situation andwhat’s called for.  He’s onlyan advisor, but will take action if deemed appropriate.

Not to mention he’s brain AND brawn. Hisbiceps give me vitality.

Perhaps there’s also a fondness for him “notcomprehend[ing]”—that he has to put a little bit more effort to awakeningto/understanding emotions. It’s a sense of (wanting to see) accomplishments andgrowth, I suppose. When everyone else around you seems to be achievingimportant life goals/markers, and you just can’t or at such a slower pace thatit get’s discouraging. But, in the end, Gale does get emotions, and it’s all themore satisfying seeing them.

Why I don’t

Not applicable. Everyone loves Gale.

Favoritescene

TheChurch’s forced interrupt in chapter 3 of Quantum Devil Saga.

It’s aninstance of vulnerability that does not really get translated within DigitalDevil Saga. The novel takes the time to point out that Bishops’ “headspaces”are very important, fragile pieces of a tribe. It invokes a feeling of pity and“feeling sorry for” this near non-human(ly described) character being subjectedto the higher power. The description given clearly displays Gale is in pain,but Serph’s calm, articulate reaction gives off the impression that it issomething that has happened before. Of course, Serph doesn’t take lightly tothis. And once everything is all said and done, Gale just comes back/wakes uplike it was no big deal, shrugging it off saying it was his duty.

Favoriteline

The firstthing that had come to mind was: “We have the advantage. Proceed.”

To me,there was nothing quite like going into a battle and hearing that being spoken.It’s done so distinctly casual. No second thoughts. No smugness. Just stated. If I wasan enemy and heard that, it would’ve probably made me very uncomfortable.

Andit’s also this distinction of approval.

Favoriteoutfit

DDS uniform > QDS uniform

I prefer the grey to the navy because it gives off more of amysterious, undefined existences, rigid, static, techno dystopian air. And the hood shiftsto a way more appealing design, in my opinion. I don’t understand the “windows”(but I will admit I do prefer it being closed), and the earpieces (that I don’treally know what to call if it even has a name) looks like it’s designed forsomething audio/sound related in DDS, and it’s not really defined/hard to interpret in QDS.

Plus, itdoesn’t look like DDS Gale is hiding a mullet under that hood.

OTP

I’llship him with Lupa, I’ll ship him with Angel.

brOTP

Galeand Cielo, Gale and Serph; might as well toss Gale and Roland in there, too, as a concept/could-have-been dynamic.

HeadCanon

It’smore of a theory than headcanaon, and a rather extensive one, but simplified:David knew Greg—that they were colleagues in the International EnvironmentalStabilization Committee—and that’s why Gale reacted strongly in relations toLupa.

Unpopularopinion

Not really an unpopular opinion, but more of a point to be made.

I remember readingthreads and post from younger days of this fandom that generally grouped theLokapala into being a “terrorist group” or the one’s acting in some sort ofextremist way, but Gale is the one shown to have reacted to fear and terror asa resource.

When Gale is the playable character, Roland points this out saying: “I suppose you could scare civilians and then use their confusion as a tactical diversion… That’s what you were going for, right Gale?” 

Argilla suggests that Gale might actually be amused by their panic when saying: “I’m starting to feel sorry for them… Don’t tell me you’re enjoying it.” 

Gale is not a terrorist. He did not initiate the action that caused the panic and confusion, nor was the source—god retracting data from the earth—political or ideological or anything of that ilk, but it’s interesting for him using what is around him with that in mind. Not to mention the scarcity we see of his counterpart, David Gale, is during the aftermath of a terrorist attack against the Cuvier Syndrome Isolation Ward.

A wish

That Lupa was also reincarnated, and Gale was able to befriend him in thatlife as well. That’d be nice.

Anoh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Unfortunately,I can’t think of an answer for this, not that I would want something terribleto happen, I just can’t think of anything.

5 wordsto best describe them

tactical,astute, intelligent, loyal, and… tall(?)… he’s pretty tall…

Mynickname for them

I was going to say that I don’t have any, but then Iremembered That One Time I tried to get a friend to play Digital Devil Saga andhe can’t remember any of the character’s names to save his life. If I refer to him to asanything other than “Green DJ” or “Venus Fly Trap” he probably won’t know whomI’m referring to…

I don’t know, he thought he looked like some futuristic punkDJ, I guess.

[silenthillmutual]

Hello, 9 for the Latin prompt post? Thankyou

Omnia vincit amor; et nos cedamus amori. Love conquers all; let us too yield to love. (prompt)

initially i was gonna write something kinda ominous given the context of this phrase but people on patho twit gave me sappy ideas/feelings, so have this as the last latin fill. ----------

Artemy sits on the stage with his legs swinging back and forth, hands between his knees, and looks anywhere but at the front doors. He can’t believe Daniil Dankovsky, of all people, is running late. This is behavior he’d expect of – well, himself, really. Not that his partner isn’t entitled to his own laundry list of appointments and busywork, but he’s always been punctual. Almost too early, from time to time, beating Artemy to wherever it is they’re heading.

So the fact that he’s running late… It’s giving Artemy some anxiety. Especially given the occasion, what Artemy has planned for this evening.

He wonders at what time he’s meant to assume that Daniil has just stood him up. He knows that isn’t likely, that there are any number of things infinitely more probable than that and now, just for fun, his mind is listing them all: he could have been accosted by Saburov, could have been dragged somewhere else by the kids, could be having his time eaten up by the younger Olgimsky, he could be dead on the side of the road –

The theatre doors practically scream when they get pushed open and Artemy’s back straightens, feeling like a spring pulled out of shape. He’s got his bag in one hand and he’s wheezing as he reaches the foot of the stage, dropping it and pressing his head against the wood. Artemy can tell that he’s run here from the way he pants, and his hand goes to the man’s hair, ruffling it fondly. “Sorry,” Daniil says, lifting his head, marks on his forehead from the floor, “You wouldn’t believe – oh, but that doesn’t matter. I’m here now.”

Daniil looks up at him, and smiles. There’s nothing different about this smile than any of the other times the corners of his mouth turn up, but every time is special to Artemy. The look makes him ache, his brown eyes lively and attentive and turned only on him. It used to make him uneasy to be the center of someone’s entire attention, and still it leaves him speechless.

Which is a very, very bad thing in this scenario where he needs so very much to give a speech. One he has prepared, one he’s written and re-written hundreds of times to make sure the words were just right.

“Right,” he echoes his mind, and he doesn’t mean that it’s right that Daniil’s day doesn’t matter. Daniil wouldn’t hear him correct himself, though. He’d never think of it. When he devotes himself to something, he goes in entirely, and that’s been no different with Artemy. “I had something I wanted to discuss with you.”

Daniil moves so his body is turned toward Artemy. “Should I come up on stage, then? Or would it be better if I stayed down here?”

“Either way, as long as I can see you.” Daniil nods, and looks down. He starts to remove his gloves. Artemy watches, rubbing his palms against his knees.

He wrote the whole thing out, but now he’s unsure where to start.

“It’s been a year,” he begins, and immediately he cringes. It sounds wrong, to start with that. And it feels wrong. It feels impersonal, and somehow dismissive to bring it all back to the Pest. As if that’s been the most important thing between them, the only event of significance. But he’s got to power through, now that he’s picked his direction. “Since we met. And it won’t be long ‘til it’s a year since we got together.”

Now finished with his gloves, Daniil moves one hand to cover Artemy’s. He brings a too-sweaty hand to his lips, and kisses it softly. And he smiles up at Artemy again. “Go on?”

Artemy blinks down at him, blush so furious on his cheeks that he can hardly feel them. His mind is screaming now as he tries to get the words out, pulse racing and skin starting to itch. The theatre feels too cold against his back but his body is on fire and he just – “I’m not good at this,” he says.

“I thought you were doing quite well!” Artemy shakes his head. “You don’t have to do anything special, Artemy. I’ve never been good at big shows of affection myself.”

“That’s not it,” Artemy mutters. “It’s just this string of words. They should sound good for what I’m about to say, but even with a speech I tried to memorize, none of it’s good enough. It should be perfect.”

There’s a huff of breath against his skin as Daniil turns his hand to the palm and kisses it, gently. “You are here. It’s already perfect.”

It’s when he says things like this that Artemy loses it. Loses his track, loses his focus. Loses his will to do things the proper way. He’s still staring at Daniil, holding that eye contact when he blurts out, “I want to marry you.”

Daniil’s face catches in surprise. His eyes glow in the light, and his skin is the softest pink as it grows to darker red. It’s a good color on him, and it matches with so much else he wears. “You -!” Artemy’s anxiety should be through the roof about now, that Daniil hasn’t given his admission a proper response, but he’ll allow that the declaration wasn’t in the form of a question. That, and he knows that this reaction is something good. Daniil never stammers so much when he’s upset. “Are you sure?”

He always does this, asks Artemy if he’s sure about their relationship. He’s told Artemy even if not in so many words that he could do better, stripped out of his layers of posturing and feigned self-confidence when they’re alone. And like always, Artemy responds by rapping his knuckles against Daniil’s forehead. “Of course, kheerkhen. You think I wrote a speech for fun?”

“You wrote a speech for…” Daniil covers his face. “Oh! Oh, Lord.”

Artemy leans in, pulls Daniil’s hands from his face, taking them in his own. Despite his best efforts, the man looks close to nervous tears. “Daniil Dankovsky. Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will!” he shouts. He drops his head against his knees. “Only –“

“Don’t tell me you’re already married,” Artemy jokes. And then he frowns, hoping it really is just a joke.

“And you think I’m ridiculous.” Daniil pulls his head back, still looking off to the side of the stage, smile pressed strangely against his mouth. “Unbelievable, you know. I was planning to propose to you next week. Now, you’ve beaten me to it.” Artemy laughs, and presses his lips to the top of Daniil’s head, smiling against his hair. “I suppose I’ll have some more of this Town’s customs to learn, then? It’s not like any of our friends have gotten engaged for me to observe.”

Artemy hums as he pulls back, hands shaking again. “There is, yes. But I wanted to get you something familiar…” He clears his throat, and moves to pull the box from the pocket on his stomach. “I hope I did this right. I don’t know much about it – but this is the tradition in the Capital, right? A promise ring, or something?” He doesn’t wait for the answer, pulling the ring from its slot and sliding it on Daniil’s finger, his hands still shaking. “And it’s – it’s engraved. I had Gravel help me out with the wording…”

Daniil turns it, and smile. He leans his weight against Artemy’s legs. “Omnia vincit amor,” he reads. He looks up, and tugs at Artemy’s tunic. “Come down here, Master Burakh, so I can kiss you.” Artemy slids his legs from Daniil’s hold and pushes himself off the stage and to his feet, still a little numb in anxiety. Daniil pulls him down by the neck of his sweater, but his lips are soft and slow against his own. “Omnia vincit amor,” Daniil repeats. “Et nos cedamus amori.”

[silenthillmutual]

@milk-teeths wanted dadniil comforting khan during a breakdown. i’ve never written khan before so i hope this turned out okay ;; --------------------

Victor means well. He always does. And Khan knows he's very lucky, to have a father that means well. But meaning well doesn't exactly help in all contexts, least of all this one. One that Victor is far from able to advise him on, and he is not, under any circumstances, taking this spiral of self-doubt to uncle Georgiy. It's not even that Victor had suggested it, but knowledge hung there in the air between them both as they explicitly did not talk about Georgiy "such a pity we have no male heir" Kain.

He'll apologize to his father later, if he must. If he feels the compulsion to, though he knows the man doesn't expect it himself. Right now he just needs to get out. He'd get out of Town, if he could, even with the voice in the back of his head screaming Irresponsible at him. He has a town to look after, a future, a people, and he just wants to run away from it all. There's no privacy here, no place where he can just let the mask go and be sixteen years old and not have to worry about any of this. About leading. About being an example. About people finding out.

And who is he kidding? In all probability, they already know.

The Polyhedron is gone, but the Nutshell at least still stands as a neutral territory. He's counting on Capella's feelings, her connections to reach out to him and tell people to leave the place undisturbed until he's ready to go. It's three hours until nighttime, but people hang around here anyway. He bites his lip as he rounds the corner, but it's blissfully empty.

He almost vomits in the corner. He manages to push back the wave of nausea by leaning his head against the wall. He's not feverish, but God forbid if his father or his sister or worse, Artemy Burakh learns he's nearly been sick. He'll never hear the end of it. He guesses he's glad for it; again, he's made to think about how fortunate he is. Notkin doesn't have this, Capella hasn't in years, but he can't stand the babying. It's how they treat the women here, all of them, and he doesn't know how they stand it. But he sure as hell doesn't want it directed at him.

Khan pushes off against the wall and undoes his shirt buttons, fingers shaking. He needs to unwrap these bandages before he suffocates. He hates that he can't manage it for long, when he knows it's only going to get worse the older he gets. When he's eighteen, at least, he'll be able to talk to someone about it. Burakh, maybe, or Rubin if he won't. They're Olgimsky men, ostensibly, and whatever happens between them all he trusts Capella not to let him down.

...But the idea, the idea of the Capital, of seeing a doctor there who can take this weight off of him...

The door slams open clumsily and he barely has time to tug his shirt back over his chest before he spins around, scowling. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear - but at least this doctor, though bumbling as the others, makes a habit of asking before entering. If, of course, he knows where he's going. Dankovsky blinks at Khan, rather confused, and sighs at himself, rubbing his forehead. "Not again," Khan hears him mumble, and sets his bag down for a moment to look at his map. Over a month now, and he still doesn't know the streets.

"Do you need directions, doctor?" Khan asks, trying his best through the pain to lower his voice.

"No, no, I'll get it!" he says, waving his hand. His face doesn't exactly betray confidence, though, brow furrowing. Khan hears him mutter the word "Whatever" before he shoves it back into his bag, and looks at him, still frowning. "I needed to speak with you anyway."

Oh, no. "I'm afraid it'll have to wait," Khan says, attempting authority in his voice. "I'm indisposed."

Wrong choice of words. Of course he shouldn't have assumed the doctor would be any different here - Capital man or not, he's still a doctor. "All the more reason for us to talk," he says, removing his gloves. He's spent too long around Burakh, putting his hand over Khan's forehead. "You're not running a fever, from what I can tell," he says, apparently oblivious to his own slip, and continues. "Where is it you don't feel well."

"That's none of your concern," Khan says, but as the only adult who hasn't treated him with condescension, he's never been good at sending Dankovsky off. "I didn't call for you."

"Well I'm not leaving," Daniil says. "That would just be ridiculous, and your father and sister would never forgive me."

"I thought you weren't on speaking terms with Maria?" Dankovsky scowls at him, but he can see the man's not going anywhere. "It'll pass anyway, doctor, it's just -"

"Hang on." His voice is coming out slow and suspicious. Khan is unnerved. The doctor walks around him, frowning, and he knows what it is he's got in hand before he shows it to Khan. "Have you been -? Khan, is this where all my missing bandages have gone?"

It's the fact that his voice sounds hurt that's got him to breaking. God damn this time of the month. "I'm sorry," he says, voice squeaking. He hates it.

"Oh - don't cry, please." He watches Daniil squirm uncomfortably, from where they stand a few paces apart, Khan looking elsewhere with his jaw clamped shut. "Just - why? Is there something going on I don't know about? Your... your... What do you call them again? Dog Ears? Are they hurt?"

"No," Khan says, words coming out a little too loud. "It's something different. You wouldn't understand."

"Please explain it to me. I'll try." Khan fidgets. "Casper?"

"I need to bind -" he blurts out. He cuts off his words with his teeth. "Something. It's - I have to do it very carefully. And if I use anything coarser than bandages, I'll hurt myself. Do you understand enough now?"

Things are very quiet for a moment. "I understand perfectly well," Dankovsky says softly. "Better than you know."

"You don't know anything! None of you do!" But what should come out as an angry retort is lost behind tears. He doesn't sound commanding, he just sounds pathetic. "All of it is such a mess now! Everyone's scattered, and even you aren't helping! With your alliance with Burakh, you've got Capella thinking the future won't work out the way we'd intended. And the Tower is gone, so there's nowhere for me to even run to anymore, and - no! You don't get it!"

Khan stops shouting, covering his top lip with his arm. He feels stupid now, having said so much when he's supposed to be... different. More mature. More in line. He hears Dankovsky's "Oh, dear," and feels his shadow shift as he walks closer to Khan. He doesn't have to move his body much to look Khan in the eye to say, "Well, you're right about something - I don't understand a word of what you just said. But that first bit, about the binding - I understand what you're doing, and even with bandages, you *will* hurt yourself. I'll be surprised if you haven't got some internal bruising already. How long have you been binding for?"

"For as long as it's been necessary," he says, tone sour.

"Oh, dear," Dankovsky repeats, "So earlier than I'd been."

He blinks, and turns his head sharply to look at the doctor. His face is neutral. "Earlier than you'd been...?"

"Yes," Daniil says. "That's what I meant when I said I understood. It wasn't just a worthless platitude. I know how much those..." he trails off, looking for the right word, and ends with a flat, "Suck."

Breathing comes a little easier now, such an intense change that Khan almost feels light-headed. "How did you manage? Until you were able to -?" Khan gestures to his chest.

"Lots of layers," Daniil replies. "It helps that I'm usually quite cold, and that it fits my aesthetic. No one ever asks, and no one can tell." Khan nods. "So this sick that you feel, is it your cycle?"

And it's back to uncomfortable now, but at least it's the kind he can deal with. "Yes. I keep getting nauseous. It didn't used to be so bad in the Polyhedron, but now -"

"Closer to the twyre, yes. That *has* made things worse. I've prescribed lots of pain medications for headaches, cramps, insomnia - I don't know how  you all stand it, here."

Daniil is shaking his head, but Khan notices he's smiling. "And yet, you stayed," he points out, and watches the man blush. "You're part of what ruined everything, you know."

"What a surprise," he deadpans. "Howso this time?"

"You and Burakh. Getting along, like Simon and Isidor used to. It's made Capella think there's other options for the future." He shakes his head. "Love matches, and that nonsense."

The doctor keeps blinking, flustered, for a moment before he continues, "Well, do you really want to marry someone you don't love, just for politics? That's hopelessly old-fashioned, and you're meant to symbolize the future -"

"It's not that. I have no preference for that sort of thing, really," Khan says. "I'm only sixteen. But it means I don't -" He stops himself short. This almost feels unsafe to talk about, but... Though he stayed, he is still an outsider, so maybe he can... Offer guidance... "I don't have any way to stand out, now. The Polyhedron is gone. In a few years I'll be too old for the gang. My sister is the mistress. My uncle is the only remaining founder of this town. My father still lives with the ghost of my mother's memory, and even he means more to the town than I will if I don't marry Capella."

Daniil takes a moment to listen, before he hums, and nods. "There are other ways to stand out, I'm sure, if you really want to." He stops. "But do you really want to?"

Khan's fingers clench and fight against each other. "Does it matter what I want? I'm a Kain. I'm going to, one way or the other."

"But then that solves your conundrum. By your name alone, you'll stand out."

"But I won't have made a mark for myself," he explains. "And I have to."

"Why?" Daniil shakes his head. "My dear child, you don't have to do anything. I think it's enough, really, to just be happy."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that," Khan admits. "You, of all people!"

"Doesn't that sort of illustrate my point?" Daniil asks. "I came here thinking differently, feeling differently. Things change. I can't say that the plague should have taught you something, that wouldn't be very fair of me. But - quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu. Don't worry so much about the future. There's no fate, Casper. It isn't set in stone. And I think you'll be happier if you allow yourself to just exist."

He shifts weight between his feet, uneasy. "I don't know," he says. "I'll have to think about it -"

"But promise me that you will," Daniil says.

Khan nods. "I will."

[2ofswords]

I think I kind of figured out why I sympathize with Dankovsky so goddamn much. (I mean... aside from him being a really interesting and amazing character, but almost all of the Patho characters are so that’s not really an argument.) And interestingly enough, a lot about it has to do with his character flaws and how they make a character not only more appealing or interesting but sympathetic as well.

Firstly, I think it is exactly the lack of empathy and his concentration on general topics as well as the tunnel vision that really gets me. I would still call myself a compassionate person but also a very theoretic one and an abstract idealist that dreams of things that has problems to stay in everyday life and also to connect with people. Like... keeping contact is hard for me and I know that I am the person who needs to be approached in the first place to name an example. So the struggle to do good and help people while not noticing the here and now or having trouble continuing close relationships really gets me. The question what to do if you mostly have the big picture in mind and if abstract ideals can do you any good is so important to me because I’m anxious about the same thing and think about it a lot. (It’s also why I always feel a bit uncomfortable when people are acting like forgetting about these close relationships means not caring at all. Totally get seeing him this way and everyone can interpret a character however they want, but… Ouch. That one hits too close to home!) 

The second point is high ambition. Trying to do things perfectly and setting ambitions so high and precise (or being hold to these ambitions) that you just cannot archive them at all. Setting yourself up for constant failure and seeming arrogant and foolish while doing so. That is also a character flaw of mine and probably the reason I’m a firm believer that ideals do help even if they are not archivable at all because they make you strive to do better. Having lofty ambitions and suffering for them is just very relatable to me and I refuse to not see any good in it.

I really love the exploration of those topics and I also love how both of these aspects of Dankovsky hinder him and sometimes lead him into fucking disaster. It’s really good storytelling and I love how the game doesn’t pull any punches. That is another thing I love about his character but also about the game in general. They make an intelligent and arrogant character but what normally is the Sherlock Holmes that everyone sucks up to, the tendency not depicted as clever but he is mercilessly beaten into the ground for it. Because… yeah. You piss people off, if you act like you’re better than them and throw around oneliner like they’re candy. (And no, I don’t think it’s always ill intended at all.) It’s a really good subversion of this specific character trope and I genuinely do think his struggle with it makes not only the narrative but also Dankovsky himself way more sympathetic. (I genuinely believe the reactions to a character can be as important than the character themselves for developing sympathy and engagement because interaction and therefore development is always two-sided.) The consequences to his tone can strike back twice as bad and it develops a genuine character flaw but also is deeply sympathetic at the same time. (Day 1 in the Haruspex route comes to mind, where literally everyone trashtalks the Bachelor and sometimes it’s like “Man, he really did a lot of shit really quickly” but sometimes it's also like “Oh my god, you probably didn’t even meet him, how has the town this opinion after he was there like five hours??? That’s horrible, poor guy!”) It paints the character as human and flawed but rooted in this world.

The same goes with the other flaws. I like that they are harshly punished and lead into fucking disaster! But I also feel for him because of this. Having him trying to engage with his own actions because of this harsh reaction and reality is way more sympathetic than just hearing someone being cool without facing any consequences. He has a struggle and boy does he struggle with his flaws and this is why I want him to succeed in the first place! And even if I do not relate (which in this case of prickliness I actually do not… though I can get pretty pretentious I guess…), I love to see it! (And Dankovsky (and Patho-characters in general) being dynamic throughout the story actually helps this matter a lot!) I love him and wish him the best and I actually am invested in him as a good person for this exact reason! Because I genuinely want to engage with the good sides of him because of his struggles. I want to see, how there is something good to be found in them.

So what do I want to say with this? Mostly that I really love Daniil Dankovsky and I think he is amazing as well as amazingly flawed, and still manages to be humane and engaging. But what I also figured out with these vague musings is, that the flaws of a character and our engagement with them as well as our sympathy with their consequences can be a big part about liking a character. They’re not a counterweight to their strengths for some realism reason, they are as engaging and important. It is inspiring to see someone succeed, but seeing someone with relatable or interestingly described problems – even and maybe especially self-made ones! – struggle with them can make us care about them more and not less and actually make us sympathize with them. Showing the problems that we feel for as well as the good or the potential development that come with character traits (since a lot of traits have their good as well as their bad sides), are not only equally important but a big part about our emotional bond. We do not only need to laugh and condemn character flaws, sometimes we can go “yeah, I relate to this and like the character even more. I want to see them as positive despite this flaw, I want to see them get better and focus on the positives, exactly because they have this specific thing they need to work through!”) It’s not necessarily ignoring that but engaging with it out of compassion and/or relating to their struggles. And a lot of struggles and negatives come with positives that will inspire us even more with both flaw and virtue creating consequences. I think about Dankovsky’s tunnel vision as much as I’m inspired by his determination. I feel for his lack of connection as much as I love his idealism and dreams. And I want to actively think that something good can come out of this, that there is change and ways to get better and work out these flaws. And I want to highlight that what he is doing can be worthwhile, that there is good inside him despite these flaws. That is what character sympathy is for me.

But of course, this way of relating to a character is deeply personal. I’m not saying that this is the right way to interpret Dankovsky, it’s just my way of engaging with his character and the reason I find him compelling. And judging someone for the bad things they do (for example judging Dankovsky for wanting to destroy the town) and not engaging with their flaws is completely valid as well. People find different character traits engaging! I know some Patho characters where I cannot get over their flaws and actions but completely get why some people find them compelling for the exact reason I cannot sympathize. I just thought it says something interesting about character engagement in general. Pathologic is really good with showcasing struggles and being harsh about the characters flaws but compassionate about their humanity at the same time. It’s painting a very nuanced picture that cannot be categorized in “good” or “evil” this easily and I think this is why I love a lot of their characters so goddamn much.

[2ofswords]

hmm... Bachelor and Schmowder, please!

Bachelor; thoughts on the Utopians?

Oh dear… Many thoughts, head full. To be controversial and cut straight to the point: I think the Utopians – both as an ideology and the characters – get a really bad rep and I think they do not deserve as much of it. (Some of it, definitely, but not all.) I am just a bit sad about having to justify or defend my utopian beliefs or disclaim them with “but I do not share the most shitty version of it”, when this just isn’t the case for any other of the factions and I think the same about liking the Utopians as characters. I think most of this bad rep comes from the ending (which is pretty shitty but why I don’t think it is entirely fair, I kind of elaborate here. For now I will spare everyone the discussion) and from talking with Georgiy, who definitely has some freaking shitty takes. But I feel only listening to Georgiy’s idea of the Utopian dream kind of has the same vibe as saying Katerina’s point of view represents all of the humbles. (Like… I don’t think people who are complacent are less worth, but I also do not defend the death penalty for heretics.) It’s just the most extreme take the ideology has and there are a lot Utopians who do not seem to share this at all. Even the probably second most problematic Utopian – Maria – already has a very different view and talks about a design, where Utopia incorporates different forms of living and the different sides of town are necessary layers (it is still is not a very good take since it is pretty condescending but – you know – it is not “fuck normal people!”) and actually seems to see the plague as a bad thing that should be stopped. I think the Utopian belief system seems to be the tightest, because they are actually working together on a project from the very beginning but a lot of the details and worldviews still differ. Like… Eva and Peter for example have very different ideals, Eva being more focussed on personal growth and giving people kindness and soul for their own benefit and Peter wanting to accommodate abstract potential and not being focussed on forming people directly but seeing great things that he wants to make real. Or even Dankovsky, whose very ideal is explicitly usable for everyone (and who can tell Georgiy off in Marble Nest and is mostly confused by the Kains in P1). And… well, I don’t know, I just feel really uncomfortable with people having to defend liking progress, which… you know… is a good thing even if the cost of it should obviously be argued about. And wanting humanity to grow and discover what was thought of as impossible… I don’t know I think that is a very neat concept. Even necessary and thinking about not allowing the need for progress, growth and exploration also is a very problematic form of oppression. I just think they get shortcutted a lot to Georgiy being a freaking incomprehensible asshole and to “but they kill a lot of people” which… is completely fair but I think some of their ideas are still interesting, if they would just be a liiiitle bit more chill about them. (To give an easy example: I think using Stillwater as a guesthouse because they need new people for their experiments with it is pretty fucked up. But if they would be like “heeey new person, you could have a normal house but we also have this super freaky cool place that does neat wacky stuff and we would really appreciate you do live there for a while” would be like…. Cool as heck?)

tl;dr: Love the Utopian concept, hate it when the very principle gets completely trashed but man, they need to have a little bit more chill!

 Shmowder; what items would you trade for?

Hm… I will only use in game items for this… I will take charms, scrap name, broken watches and notes. I will give: chalk, marbles, fishing hooks and fingernails. I just want written shit and I like the themes of fortune and time both a lot. And I am not smart and practical enough to trade for usefull stuff in the apocalypse. More broken clockwork I cannot fix, please! And I do not have a lot of useful things to give, but my father fishes a lot and I could get on some hooks, chalk and marbles I just have a lot of and the fingernails I could see myself collecting but also be willing to part with them.  Which means I am pretty useless, unless you need like… need to fasttravel a lot or do not have enough random shit to trade for a shmowder.

[2ofswords]

Since I am so tired of reading „I know Dankovsky sucks and his ending is horrible“, before every comment that defends him, I will now throw myself into the fires of discourse and write an essay about:

Why The P1 Utopian ending does not mean, Danko is an asshole

(A bit of swearing and a lot of spoilers under the cut)

Since I already spoke about being tired of disclaiming a lot, here are some of them. Firstly: This is NOT a comparison and I am definitely not saying, that his ending is better than the ending of the Haruspex or the Changeling. That would be ridiculous and I wholeheartedly belief that the other characters have morally better endings. (Though I will make one ending comparison at the end of this essay just to make myself even more of a hypocrite and there will be a comparison of one aspect of all three P1 endings, that is not made to compare their general quality but… well… this specific aspect of the ending.)

Also this essay isn‘t about Dankovsky not being an asshole. This is not a character analysis, I am only talking about the ending and his relationship regarding his path towards it. There are entirely different arguments to be made about his character that I will not talk about. Surprisingly a character is not only defined by the outcome of their story.

And last but not least the weirdest disclaimer of them all: While my arguments try to defend Dankovsky in his ending I totally understand if you still think his ending makes him more of an asshole. Killing a lot of people is always a dick move and the decision is still a horrible one. I do not really want to argue that people are wrong for judging him based of his ending. I just want to explain, why we also do not have to feel ashamed for deciding to not judge him as a complete asshole based on the main outcome of his route and why his motivation isn’t only based on spite or even ruthless calculation. Also, I think that there is a lot to say about his decision, that isn’t really said and that these are interesting aspects. Sorry to say it, but I just wanted to have a catchy title. I just really love this ending and it’s complexity and wanted to discuss it aside of calling it the evil Danko ending.

So. Let’s start with the easy argument that some people are talking about.

Argument 1: Danko completely lost it and holding him accountable due to his rationality defies the point of his route.

This one is… one of the weaker arguments, but I will still elaborate on it. The entirety of his route is built upon loss and failure. While the Haruspex starts with a mob that wants to kill him and works his way up, the dynamic of his route is him seemingly starting on top of everything and slowly loosing his bearings and by the end of the story this man is already driven to madness. Being used as a pawn in politics, getting daily “fuck you”-letters from the Powers that Be, realizing your lives work is already destroyed and all of your colleagues are probably as doomed (and being the one responsible because he was their leader), realizing that Aglaya – who was the one person who seemed to be his ally at the end – used and betrayed him just like everyone else, having the one truly honestly kind person commit suicide at least partly because of his failures, witnessing his own helplessness against the plague (an enemy that should align with his expertise as a doctor), being hated from day one by almost everybody in town, realizing that the political allies are totally bonkers and also preparing to off themselves (Victor! You seemed moderately sane at the beginning. The betrayal!), getting almost beaten to death while trying to help the town while spending all these days in an hostile place that slips into chaos… yeah I think you really aren’t in the headspace for rational thought. It is a miracle that that guy hasn’t completely broken down and day eleven and to some extend day 9 and 10 are showing him as completely unhinged already, only leading up to a decision, that isn’t really made out of spite or coldness but rather desperation and blind tunnel vision. The day eleven mission involves him going on a rampage against a military squad because of a vague hint and he only checks after the killings, if Andrew is even there. That isn’t a calculated action it’s about a man being completely shattered and making everybody suffer because of that. (Which is also horrible, but an entirely different sort of tragedy.) By now he just shouldn’t be the one handling the situation at all but the local powers sure want to wash their hand of any guilt that they haven’t already attracted. Also – and more importantly – the Polyhedron literally is the one good thing happening to this man. After going into it on day 9 he thanks Khan for reminding him of a childhood he has forgotten! He has a shit week, he is completely beaten down (quite literally) and this is the one happy moment he finds in all this chaos. Clinging onto that is surely not rational, but it is human. We all know that the Bachelor has the tendency to survive on willpower alone and here clinging to the tower and its miracles is literally his only motivation to continue his route at all. Of course he is going to protect it at that point, if thinking about any other option bring nothing but utter misery and the acceptance of complete and utter failure. After all Dankovskys route is about the limits of his rational worldview and how it hinders him more that it serves him in a world, that isn’t defined by rational beliefs. Of course he will be out of it by the end and actually loosing his composure is an important part of his suffering and character development in the story. His ending is not a sign of rational thought but the last consequence of being enraptured in a web of circumstances that forbid him from making rational decisions in the first place.

Truth to be told, I don’t really like this as an argument. I love this thought as a peace of characterization. As much as I love his ending and the horrible consequences and the actual failure it imposes, when we look at the other playable characters. But it doesn’t really help us here. It doesn’t change the fact, that Dankovsky destroyed an entire town just for a dream, a man-made building, a promise of utopia that we never witness ourselves. He still destroyed so… so much! But… let’s look a bit deeper into the motivations behind that exchange.

 Argument 2: The Trolley problem

“There is a runaway trolley barrelling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:

Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person. Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?” (Wikipedia)

There is a variation to this question and interestingly enough it is one of the morality questions Aglaya asks in Pathologic 2: Would you push a man down a bridge, to save the children from a train? The curious thing is, that we can see all healers giving the same answer, (even if we have the choice to choose differently, since it is… you know… a dilemma). Necessary sacrifice is a constant of all three routes and every single protagonist has to kill in order to save a larger amount of people. Still, the game never answers moral choices with a simple answer and here with the Utopian ending we can see the darker side of this moral dilemma in full force (to a lesser extend this also applies to the Humble ending, since it also involves the Trolley problem, albeit on a smaller scale.) If we take the Kain’s studies about the focus and the soul seriously and see the Polyhedron as a method to ensure immortality seriously – or if we at least assume that Dankovsky wholeheartedly believes in that concept – than protecting the Polyhedron at the cost of the town suddenly becomes the Trolley problem at a significantly larger scale. The Polyhedron could ensure the survival of humankind but only at the expense of the town and it’s infected inhabitants. After all death is to Dankovsky but an affliction that can be healed just like the plague and consumes far more victims (if not all of them even if one would survive the disease). And that poses the question: When does the Trolley Dilemma stop working? What if there are two million people on the tracks and one million on the other side? What if there are hundred people on one and ninety nine on the other? What about five million vs. four million and nine hundred thousand? Can a human life be counted against the life of several others? If we look at the game itself and the healers answer in their daily life, it seems kind of simple: Yes, it is possible. The effort of saving is worth dirtying your hands after all. Risking at least your own life seems like a fair deal and no route really works without at least some degree of human sacrifice. But on this larger scale… it seems absurd. And… well… it is. But still. If we just try to empathise with the Bachelors mindset. If there is a possibility to cure humanity's mortality… if there is a sliver of possibility (and since Thanatica is destroyed the Polyhedron seems like the only possibility at this point)… what kind of sacrifice is worth preserving it?

I myself have my own answer to that question. In Germany the Constitution starts with the sentence “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar” or: “Human dignity shall be inviolable.” (This is the official translation though a more direct translation would be “Human dignity is inviolable” which is more of a statement and less of a law) Even if the effect of that sentence in politics is very debatable and it is incredibly vague and not really a usable sentence as a law… I really like it. The human rights as a concept as well as equality can be concluded from the fact, that human dignity is something that cannot – under any circumstance – been taken away and is always a thing that must be considered just by being human. It is… nice. And it also means, that a human being cannot be seen as a mere object and has its own agency. A human being is not quantifiable in their existence by any parameter, be it birth, skin colour, gender, sexuality, religion, interests, talent, job, body, etc… It is incredibly important… and incredibly interesting in our scenario. Because if life isn’t quantifiable at any circumstance… the Trolley Dilemma has a solution. There is no way to tell, if one life can outweigh several others and deciding over their lives is something and judge over the worth of their live is something one should never do. Thus Dankovsky’s choice to save the Polyhedron and outweigh the lives of the infected seems morally wrong.

But… is that the answer the game has? Well… the artbook of Pathologic 2 states that the design of the game is about enforcing ambiguity and I would argue that the first instalment is no different. Firstly: In times of crisis lives become quantifiable. That is part of the tragedy. The healers’ lives are suddenly worth preserving, while others appear as nameless numbers in a daily statistic and caring about the individual dignity seems impossible. As already said the act of killing in order to preserve life is almost mandatory in every single run. So, what about human dignity? Can it even be preserved under such a dilemma? (And there is probably a point to be made about everybody being dolls and thus not even a being with dignity and agency at all… but I digress) Especially doctors have to face this dilemma and they have to make these judgement calls, weather they like it or not. The game doesn’t answer it but makes different variations of the same dilemma that we may judge differently. The Utopian ending is one variation.

What I want to say is, that – if we take the Kains’ believes seriously and see the survival of miracles against the law of nature not only as progress but as a question about human mortality itself – the question if the Polyhedron is worth saving is a very different one. I personally think that the idea of the focus still feels too esoteric to be a real point of interest but on the other hand… it is not like we haven’t some proof when we visit Khan and listen to his testimony. It is not that this place is above it’s miracles, and we know that a lot of the mysticism is grounded in reality, be it by the very real ways of the Kin or the past existence of Simon. So only thinking of the polyhedron as an abstract concept is… well doing it a disservice if we take the other parts as serious. Yeah it is made out of it’s own idea but… you know being like “it cannot exist but it can sure puncture the earth and kill everything” is… a weird way of thinking and it sure is a McGuffin (and even called that in the Artbook) but as we said, the game is about ambiguity and the only way to look at its existence is not only “evil tower of doom”. Is it worth keeping? Eh… I wouldn’t say so myself. I still think the Utopian ending is pretty shit and seeing the tower as salvation for our mortal lives is pretty farfetched. But the question for this essay is: Is it wrong to think, it is worth keeping? And from Dankovsky’s perspective, who sees it as the only possible chance of curing human mortality… Well… the answer at least isn’t as simple anymore. But – and now we are getting somewhere – the argument about the complexity of human value can be also made without even relying on Kain-Bullshit.

Argument 3: The Utopian Ending is the only ending, that completely gets rid of the plague (at least from Dankos point of view)

But wait you say, the other endings also defeat the plague! There even is a cure, something our beloved Bachelor of Medicine never archives. What is this lunacy?

Well here is the catch: A cure does not destroy its disease. Or at least it is an unreliable method. Sure, if everyone is cured and/or the disease helps to build antibodies, then it does help to get rid of it. But the sandpest seems to leave the bodies and not finding these remnants and antibodies is one essential part of the Bachelor’s route. It is the reason Rubin needs a living heart in the first place. The disease doesn’t seem to stay and no antibodies seem to be developed. (And even if I try to avoid material of Pathologic 2 in this analysis since there are differences in the Canon I still at least want to mention, that the Panacea as well as the shmowder do indeed not help against the disease after it is cured and a person can be reinfected. I do not know, if the same is the case in one and if you can test it out.) But if there are no antibodies, the cure could only eradicate the disease if every single infected person is cured at the same time. Good luck with that! That’s not bound to be a complete mess in this town!

This is backed up on day 12 in the Bachelor’s own route. When he is presented with the options the other healers have, he always asks both of them the same question: How does that ensure the future of the town? The Haruspex makes a cure yes. But what if the disease returns? After all the underground water he talks about still exists and there is no telling, if it will ever reemerge. It already happened once… The Haruspex doesn’t answer with “no, that will never happen”. He says that they will have enough cure if this is the case. An optimist, I see. And definitely not a satisfying answer if we consider a scientific perspective. What if the cure runs out? What if they find out too late and the plague spreads outside of town? A cure is not a waterproof system against plague. (You know what works better though? A vaccine.) Daniil's mission was always to eradicate the disease and this would not do the trick. Having only a cure is risky. And it might not be a permanent solution.

The same applies for the Humble ending. If one asks the Changeling what would happen if the blood of their sacrifice runs out she answers “There will always be people willing to sacrifice themselves” Which is… just great. Constant human sacrifice just doesn’t seem that sustainable. And it also means that there will be constant loss of human life. Something that might even lead to more sacrifice in the long run (although that would be a reaaaaly long run considering how long the sacrifice of the Clara’s bound is supposed to last.) But it sure as hell doesn’t make the plague disappear. What if there are no willing sacrifices? What if Clara is gone and there is no one to perform a miracle? Clara’s ending relies on faith by nature and putting your trust in it is easy from a player’s perspective but even harder when there are lives at stake, the success unsure and these questions to consider.

Dankovsky’s ending is built upon uprooting the plague and eradicating it. The problem is that it is everywhere and not easily destroyed. As Lara very adequately realised: There is no source. His ending is the consequence of that goal and even if it loses in every other aspect, this is the one, where it wins. It actually destroys the problem itself. Building a new town and keeping the tower it cannot reach, actively minimalizes the possibility of the plague reappearing. And a more permanent solution might save more lives than one that sounds more humane at the beginning.

Okay, to defend the Haruspex for a change of pace: In his route he actually does believe that his method eradicates the disease as much as Dankovsky is convinced that his solution does the trick. For him the source is the Polyhedron and the way, it wounds the earth. With it removed the plague will not reappear. But why should Dankovsky share this belief? No one tells him! The inquisitor says that the Polyhedron is the root of evil but there never is any actual proof for that. Even If the Polyhedron is partially responsible and Danko actually does acknowledge this, it is the bloody mess of underground fluids that are in fact the source (which is ironically confirmed by the Haruspex himself). As he tells the inquisitor herself at the last day: The source and the cause can be too different things. It already seeped through Andrey's spiral to the upper layers. The damage has already been done and in fact the Polyhedron is now the only save place, where nobody is infected. Everything else needs to be destroyed to eradicate the disease but why even destroy the Polyhedron? Wait. Why even destroy the Polyhedron? What good would that even do if we would consider it? What the fuck would Dankovsky even do with the destroyed Polyhedron, how would that save the town?

 Argument 4: Dankos ending isn’t about the town vs. the polyhedron at all!(From his perspective. It totally is for the player though!)

I experienced something weird while playing the Bachelor’s route in P1. And with that I mean that I experienced something weird, that I wasn’t already expecting. After hearing so much about the fabled Polyhedron love, assuming that he sacrifices the whole town for its sake and hearing from the inquisitor in Pathologic 2 again and again how obsessed he is, I waited for the revelation. The moment Dankovsky would completely lose it and become utterly and undeniably obsessed with the children’s tower. That moment… never happened. Or well… it happened remarkably late and with less impact than I thought. Until day 9 the tower isn’t even a point of interest to the Bachelor, which is two thirds of his route. But even after you witness the miracles of the Polyhedron yourself, you still can argue against its glory. You can agree with Aglaya on day 10, that it seems dangerous (even if that could also be tactics, but until this point there is not really a reason for that). Hell, you can tell Peter on day 12, that his ideas will always only exist in his mind and blueprints and that the new town they will create will not work out! That is so weird, if the result of his run is, that he sacrifices the town for the Polyhedron! Why is there always an option to speak against the miracle we want to save? Isn’t that completely strange?

If we take the town vs. polyhedron conflict serious then… yeah it is. But is this all, what his end can be about? I would argue against it. Because what finally tips him to his solution and completes his view on the map of the town isn’t the Polyhedrons glory: It is the towns underground water and the Haruspex telling him, that the deeper layers are infected. That is, when he flips his shit and he even has an “oh no, it can’t be!” moment. Weird, isn’t it? If he would be set about destroying the town, why agonizing over this information? But from his point of view it is a nail in the coffin, the realization, that the whole towns ground is seeping with infection and if not eradicated, it will reappear. The Bachelor doesn't have a cure and the Haruspex, while promising that he has a solution, sure as hell doesn’t explain how that would work and insists on arguing his own case without interference. (Which is completely understandable but doesn’t clear the situation.) The Bachelor has no means on his own to fight the plague outside of destroying the town. This is his only option to call of the bombardment of the Polyhedron and the tower and from his point of view, destroying the tower would archive absolutely nothing. It is free of infection, why destroy it? What would ripping it out do aside from letting even more blood seep out? In his own case, this would be completely useless, thus destroying the Polyhedron does not save the town! When the Bachelor flips the switch and guides the trolley in a different direction, he isn’t guiding it from hitting the Polyhedron to hitting the town. He guides the trolley from hitting the town and the polyhedron to only hitting the town! And by the way to only hit the town which his infected people while everybody else evacuates in the tower. (Which is confirmed by his ending cutscene, where people are actually present. After all it takes the healthy to built the new town). In his own mind, the Bachelor is saving people, not killing them! He does what he can so that the most of them survives and in his case, destroying the town is the only method to ensure victory at all.

If we stick to his own route – as I am doing right now – we have two counterarguments against this theory. The first one: But isn’t that only the failure of finding a better method? And: yes it is. As we already discussed in the first argument, the Bachelors story is about failure and the game itself is about necessary sacrifice, lose-lose situations and making the best out of a desperate hopeless scenario. Which leaves us with the question: Could Dankovsky have found a better solution? And… maybe. If he was more attentive, made different choices, would have been nicer to the Kin… There always are “ifs” but I would argue that the ones in this scenario are… pretty small odds for a change. He does genuinely try to inspect the abattoir and find a solution and ensure it’s safety and is almost punched to death as a result. The Kin regard him with absolute hostility, and for a good reason but it doesn’t help his case. Without Burakh's knowledge and caste-rights making a cure would be (almost) impossible. He isn’t allowed to do any normal doctoring the one time, he tried to gain some blood from dead people, multiple guards had to die in order to ensure this absolute act of evil to go unnoticed. Thus he has to rely on Rubin's secret lab. The possibility of Simon and his powers against the plague also aren’t usable… The Bachelor doesn’t even get to see his corpse after all. What choice does he have other than eradicating the cause itself? It’s definitely not the elegant solution that he was hoping for but there is a reason for him switching to inspect everything after ruling out a living plague carrier. These are the desperate means of finding a solution when his own knowledge of medicine has already failed him and the hopes of providing such medicine are already dwindling. Saving the town is simply not an option, the moment itself becomes the source of the plague.

The second counterargument is this one: Why not side with another healer, when they provide a better solution? And this is also a very valid argument. And thus, the moment it becomes an option, we as the Bachelor can choose to do so. If he has the cures that are necessary to ensure another healers victory, it is completely possible to avoid that ending. He doesn’t have to stick with it as well as the other healers do not have to, so judging him based on the other routes being better outcomes becomes obsolete. He has the ability to use these options, but if we lack the cures, his own solution is the only one. (Of course you can also save the other characters bound and then still decide to destroy the town, but using this scenario as his only motivation, when you can totally decide for yourself is a bit harsh, isn’t it?)

Of course, this argument collapses the moment we play any other route and he is trying to convince us to save the Polyhedron and abandon our own plans. However his own route can be considered his own perception of the story and our knowledge, how much he knows about the others paths is pretty limited and dependant of our choices as the player. Also, seeing his character and the changes made with that in mind, we can actually explain, why they appear. Of course, everybody tells Artemy how much the Bachelor is in love with the tower, when we’re not seeing it to that extreme in his route! It is necessary to fulfil his role in the Haruspex route. Of course, both the Bachelor and the Haruspex will appear as demons in Clara's route. They do offer nothing but destruction from her point of view and both solutions seem destructive and spiteful, if they try to convince her. Everybody seems on board with seeing the characters in her route differently, but I think that the same applies to the Bachelor and the Haruspex in each other’s route, since their roles in the game changes. Or at least the perspective changes based on the others worldview. The Haruspex seems a lot more dangerous and his medicine a whole lot shadier, while the Bachelor seems to be more in love with the tower and ready to abandon everything for it, because it seems that way in comparison to the other persons knowledge of the situation. This is also backed up by the doll ending, where the Bachelor is being called out as the villain most of the time. In other routes he appears more villainous than in his own route, because we do actually have the means of comparison. But this is our perspective and not actual character motivation. We as the player do have the choice to work toward an ending. We can with our knowledge of the game go the extra mile to secure enough cures from the very beginning and help another healer. We are aware of the fact, that Clara and Artemy are other playable characters and we know from the very beginning that their beliefs have to be of value and their solutions will be backed up by their own routes. We know the opposition these characters stand in and while we see the different routes we may judge them for ourselves. And while Clara definitely knows and the other two healers show some sensibility towards this opposition (the “left hand, right hand”-quote comes to mind), at least the male healers are basing their decision upon their beliefs and not some outside point of view (while Clara watches and not-so-silently judges them). They even try to help each other and even provide the key insight to their own plan’s destruction (the Bachelor guides the inquisitor eyes to the Polyhedron and its structure, while Artemy outright tells Daniil of the underground infection). Of course they do not have the full picture! How could they, this entire game is about them not having it and making terrible mistakes! Dankovsky doesn’t have the ability to judge his own solution how the player does. And while judging his ending based on this information is completely valid and sensible, implying that he knows this detriment and still goes through with everything feels… a bit unfair to say the least. The conflict of the town vs. the polyhedron is an important debate in the game. And yes, Dankovsky's role is being the advocate of the polyhedron, but man, this guy has the tendency to get manipulated into advocating random shit! The town vs. polyhedron debate is as present with him, as it is with the Haruspex. With the Polyhedron being the source in his route, he really has no choice but to remove it. After all, this guy really has no reason, to protect the Polyhedron. Of course he doesn’t! He would never sacrifice the town for the sake of his own ideology!

 Argument 5: Let’s talk Nocturnal!

I promised one comparison, didn’t I? Still, we are now diving into abstract talk about the games’ themes and less about character motivation. Consider this more of a bonus and a different thought and less as an argument for Dankovsky himself. Comparing one ending to a different one does not make one of these characters more or less of an asshole. And comparing Pathologic 1 to Pathologic 2 obviously doesn’t tell us anything about the canon of either of those games, since they have vastly different results and we have no idea what the Bachelor’s endings will look like in Parhologic 2 (though I would be surprised if we couldn’t destroy the town and save the Polyhedron. But who knows, in Artemy’s case the army only pisses off.) Still, I think it is very interesting to talk about both of these endings side by side.

And I will begin this comparison by telling you that I love this ending! I am so happy that it exists and I think it is glorious and I think it’s existence is really important. I am so happy that Artemy has a reason to destroy the town. But is this okay? Or – as a comparison – is this a better idea than the one Dankovsky had?

I would argue that these endings have a lot in common. They both preserve their own ideals and establish a radically new order at the cost of the town itself. They both kill a shit ton of people for the miracles they have witnessed along the way. One could even argue that the Nocturnal ending is more horrifying. Firstly, more people die. While the Bachelor saves the uninfected, Artemy saves only those who “live with earths will” which seems to be like… the ten guys chilling in the abattoir and some of the kids. We know that there are only mere hundreds of people left of the kin and since everybody in the termitary doesn’t seem to count… who even gets saved? It’s at least as vague as the question who isn’t infected and can be saved at the Utopian end. But – more importantly – Artemy definitely has a choice in that matter and decides to sacrifice the town for the sake of the past. (If you’re not me. In my playthrough I got the courier note twenty minutes before 22:00 and the game was like “what are you going to do, such a hard choice” and I was like “I literally do not have the time to get this thing to town hall”. And then Aspity was like “you made your own conscious and completely willed decision” while Artemy just awkwardly stared at her…) But even disregarding that, the ending is surprisingly similar. Yet I see no one judging either the Haruspex or his ending for being overly cruel and well… killing a lot. Actually, I only read posts defending it and saying that it is as morally okay as the diurnal ending and could also count as a good end. And… I kind of agree. The sacrifice of the diurnal ending is pretty steep and destroying some species – while the worms, herb brides and albinos definitely show human qualities – is pretty fucked up as well and preserving them can seem worth the cost. (Oh my, do not say we arrived at the problem of human value again!) Still… It is destroying the town for its miracles. That is literally what this ending is about, yet our asshole sense does not tingle at all! Why is that?

I think there are two arguments for this difference between our outlook on the Nocturnal and the Utopian end. The first one is that the Kin and its culture is very endangered and protecting it just seems more morally sound than protecting some rich dudes. Which is very fair and the Kains are very fucked up. Buuuut, it isn’t like there is the termitary quest that preludes the diurnal ending. Finishing the game doesn’t exactly mean that we abandon the Kin. Part of its beliefs and culture, yes. Definitely, and as I said I still think the Diurnal and Nocturnal ending are pretty balanced. But a part of the Kin is assimilated and is coping and while protecting its culture and very real traditions is completely valid, the Nocturnal ending also destroys parts of the Kin (the Termitary part) as ill fitting for living with the earth…. So… hm… It’s not as easy as saying “but you help the Kin in one and some rich dudes in the other”, since the Kin itself are also torn and we are still only allowing a specific way of living. A specific worldview containing the miracles of the town… On the other hand, the polyhedron and its miracles can also be considered endangered and unique. It is a one of a kind structure as is the miracles it can provide. The Stamatins are pretty unable to reproduce it, as the game likes to tell us and destroying it would destroy all hopes of a one in a time event to come to life. Also there are talks about the Utopians being a faction of the entire town with one third of the population agreeing on their beliefs (as it is the case with the other ideologies). And the plans Peter and Maria make do sound interesting, dreamlike and… well unique. Something that can also only happen in this circumstance. But alas… we do not know that much about it and their word is only what we have. And this is the second aspect that makes the Nocturnal ending more relatable: Buildup. We witness first-hand what this Nocturnal world would be (sometimes for better and sometimes for worse), we know the beings and the miracles of the earth. We do not really get in touch which the utopian ideas and only have the rambling of good old Georgji which… yeah that doesn’t help their case! But there are kids calling this new town an “eternal adventure” a miracle that can come to live and I would say, that this thought is quite beautiful. And it certainly is unique, which is the main argument of the Nocturnal ending. Wonders, plague and miracles. Destroy one and the other will vanish. So… what is worth keeping a miracle? The answer now seems even harder to grasp. Maybe even impossible.

But we also do not have every puzzle peace. I still have hope for the two different routes and with them there are the possibilities of new realizations and also new endings. I myself am really curious if we either get an option to save the town or a reason to destroy the Polyhedron as the Bachelor. (And I am very curious as well, if Clara will get a second ending. What would that even be? An all destruction ending to set everyone free???) There also could be more elaboration on the Polyhedron and its inner workings. Maybe we will even understand what the Kains are talking about! There are some allusions to a more concrete Kain worldview. The nut-game while very disturbing makes the entrapment of the soul way more real and gives the focus some context. (It also doesn’t only connect it with the polyhedron since “anything can be a focus. A polyhedron, a room, a nut”.) The same applies to the clocks and their connection to the save system, which makes the miracles of the Kains way more real. And I digress. Only time will tell.

 Conclusion:

I think it is clear by now, that this way too long text isn’t really about giving answers and more about perspective. I myself would say that the Bachelor’s choice is terribly misguided most of the time and the only possible method to save anything at best. But I do not think that it is made with its destructive force in mind. What I wanted to show is, that the motives and the narratives surrounding this ending are way more complex and also really, really interesting. (I just wanted to gush about this game!) As are the characters that comment on the situation at hand. And reflecting on how we judge them can say a lot about our own view and the world (this one as well as the Town on Gorkhon).