#and considering how dedicated and singleminded she can be about what she finds interesting...

[da-janela-lateral]

To be part of something big.

[alternis-dim]

I’ve never played terraria what is it about?

to be completely honest, Terraria isn’t a super story driven game. it’s one of those things where you can go through and not know a single thing about the lore without losing out on anything, y’know? it’s just sort of fun to dig around the flavor text and the developer comments to see how the world works. the amount of depth they put into what’s basically a roguelike sandbox is impressive!

there are all sorts of weird, nitpicky details, so tldr: the universe of Terraria is one where the forces of the world try to maintain a perfect balance of light and darkness, and this balance is messed with by the interference of an elder god. the player confronts bosses linked to said god, gathers npcs, and generally just tries to survive for a while. the game is advanced into a hardmode when you kill the world’s core, which releases spirits of light and dark that it was protecting the world from. this triggers a massive shift in the map, as well as a series of boss events which eventually lead up to a godly confrontation.

long and SUPER info-dumpy version under the cut (I am so sorry)

lore released by the developers explained that the setting of “Terraria” is really more of a multiverse than a single setting (which is a fun way to do a game where you can generate multiple maps and do multiplayer, imo!). each potential “world” that exists in the multiverse is sentient and strives to maintain a balance of light and dark- a rule which had been established by the Gods in order to ensure fairness for all creatures. the sole purpose of this sentience was to ensure that the balance was maintained, and this desire for balance resulted in the existence of some strange environments (biomes in the game).

the first two of the three are the only ones relevant before hardmode, and only one of those two will generate in any given world. one of them is the Crimson, which in reality is a sentient creature whose “body” is composed of all Crimson in the multiverse, creating a hivemind across universes. the other is the Corruption, a barren wasteland created from the sins, negativity, and vileness of living creatures. both of these environments balance out light with dark in separate ways: the Crimson has the singleminded goal of restoring balance to the multiverse at all costs (and has consumed many worlds in this process), while the Corruption knows nothing but causing pain and desolation.

beyond this worldbuilding, the actual “lore” of Terraria begins with an elder god, Cthulhu, whose origins are a mystery and whose only goal seems to be the subjugation of all life. this dude absolutely tore up the multiverse for a while, but was eventually held at bay when the Dryad race took him on head-on; their connection to the planet made them uniquely equipped to deal with him. they weren’t able to kill him, but instead incapacitated him by tearing his body apart, separating his organs, bones, brain, eyes… what remained of Cthulhu fled to the moon in an attempt to recover, and the shreds of his body are sort of just Around. all but one of the Dryads died in the conflict, and the last one hasn’t been seen for a very long time prior to the game.

it’s been a long time since said battle, but in that time a strange cult started to rise to power with the goal of reviving Cthulhu. they started to set about this by abducting the Mechanic, an unparalleled technological genius, and forcing her to construct mechanical replacements for his body. as of the beginning of the game, she’s finished everything but the brain.

you, the player, exist in one of Terraria’s worlds! the first npc you meet is the Guide (explained in the lore to be part of an order dedicated to the preservation of knowledge in hopes of protecting people and the world), and he guides you through the process of surviving in a setting where many things want to kill you, while also instructing you on how to attract various npcs to live with you and help out. certain events throughout the game will trigger battles with various parts of Cthulhu’s body (the Eye of Cthulhu, the Brain of Cthulhu, the Eater of Worlds (implied to be his spine, I believe?), and Skeletron (the skull and arms, bound to an old man cursed to guard the entrance of the dungeon in which the Mechanic is trapped). 

The final challenge of pre-hardmode is descending to the Underworld, which has a fun bit of lore which the Guide tells you nothing about; throwing a voodoo doll of him into the lava summons the Wall of Flesh, the guardian of the world’s core and the only thing that stands between the world and the ancient spirits of light and dark it has imprisoned. (several bits of lore imply that the Guide is straight-up a human avatar for the Wall of Flesh; using a voodoo doll of the Clothier does not summon him, and an npc later in the game calls the boss the “wall of [guide name]”)

killing the Wall irreversibly shifts the map into hardmode, in which whatever dark biome you have will start spreading virulently. remember how earlier I mentioned that the world always attempts to keep light and dark balanced? the world compensates with the generation of a new environment called the Hallow, which is the realization of complete purity. this makes it equally as dangerous as the dark biomes, though. The Hallow is so “pure” that it’s sterilizing, and it spreads just as virulently as the dark biomes and is equally hostile to the “imperfections” of the world. both the dark biome and the Hallow will eventually overtake the map without player intervention, though this does take a while. triggering hardmode also releases a whole bunch of harder enemies, new npcs, and other fun stuff. 

in hardmode you have to battle the body replacements the Mechanic built, and after clearing a couple more world-related bosses you’ll be able to start finding cultists around the dungeon. killing them triggers a boss fight which then leads to a map event where you have to destroy four Celestial pillars which rain down godlike power on your map. once they’re defeated, you have to confront the Moon Lord. (the details on the Moon Lord haven’t really been cleared up by the development team, but based on the fact that the Cultists are involved in triggering his summoning event, he’s missing several body parts, and he comes from the moon which the lore stated was where Cthulhu fled to recover, it’s very likely that he’s a weakened Cthulhu.) defeating him is considered endgame.

there’s all sorts of other weird and fun lore, too. the game seems to heavily imply that the setting of Terraria is post-apocalyptic, considering the existence of abandoned houses and civilizations, functional mineshafts and minecarts, swarms of undead underground (including ones wearing mining equipment), apartment complexes in the Underworld for some reason, floating islands with abandoned homes, technology such as wiring and phones, and an explicit statement from the developers that the denizens of the dungeon used to be a thriving society until a curse caused them to live beyond their bodies and become mindless monsters… that last one’s interesting, since it’s very possible that the Mechanic and the Clothier come from that civilization.

WOW THAT GOT LONG I AM SO SORRY I JUST THINK IT’S NEAT

none of this is necessary at all to know to play the game, I just like flavor text and reading

[dent-de-leon]

If you were to take the information we have now, and write the entire rest of vld, how would you write it? Not as someone who ships things a bunch or has any bias or anything, but purely doing what's absolutely the best thing moving forward in the show. What would you do & what would be your primary focuses? (Again, not your ideal dream now- ideal for the show and to do justice to it's plot & characters.)

I mean, it’s kind of hard to say what would be “best” for the narrative from my perspective since it isn’t my story and I might be misreading things and not really see what it is the creators really want to convey. Since “what would you do with everything” is a huge question, this will basically be centered on characters and there development. But anyway, just from my own point of view, I guess here’s a few things–would move forward with the idea that Kuron is a clone. 

I’d give him an arc where he struggles with identity issues and feeling bond to the empire. Throw in some mind control because that explains the headaches and things, but I’d have him fight it. Ultimately, when he realizes he’s a clone, he runs away to find out more information about Operation Kuron for himself (while ensuring he’s far enough away that he can’t be used to spy on or unknowingly hurt Team Voltron). Have him eventually sever his mind from the galra and be welcomed into the team as one of their own, becoming the Ryou of VLD. 

On the other end of the spectrum, I wouldn’t give Lotor a redemption arc. I might be too influenced by older series but like, I just don’t feel like he could pull it off. I also don’t think he wants to. I imagine he’ll occasionally work with Voltron or even the BOM, but I don’t think their goals will ever properly align. He has his own agenda. Redemption arc also implies you admit you’re wrong, and I don’t think Lotor is at any place right now to feel that way. Even when the series ends, I don’t think he’ll feel like “one of the good guys,” more like someone who did what they believed was necessary and still remains a very guarded person.

Hunk needs another character focused arc, since the Balmera was quite some time ago. I’d like some followup on the potential of him being a diplomat that the writers had mentioned–and he was recording alien lines in one of Bex’s posts I think, so it seems that’s very possibly in relation to that? Hunk is interesting because he’s very amicable but also doesn’t trust others easily, he has good intuition like that. But the Balmera arc has also cemented his motivation as a character. He wants to help free others from Zarkon’s control. I’d like to see some more followup on that angle too, either freeing prisoners or leading revolts. Because that’s clearly something he really cares about. Hunk’s kinda faded into the background lately because he wasn’t involved in the lion switch, he doesn’t have a clear link to the galra empire like Keith, Pidge, Shiro, or Allura, so. It’d just be nice to bring him back to the forefront a little. 

The fact that Allura says she doesn’t really understand her magic on Naxzela, in fact what she says specifically–“I haven’t been trained.” Okay so, let her train. Let her go on her own personal quest to find a mentor. Maybe one of the Alteans survived–hell, maybe Pollux exists in this universe and Romelle has similar enough powers that she can teach her. Or maybe one of the druids goes rogue and tries to teach Allura what they understand about magic and can theorize about other Alteans’ use of it. But let her have a proper teacher, let her learn, let her discover more about her people and her history. She was a princess, so why wasn’t she trained in the first place? Were there some aspects of her magic Alfor didn’t want her knowing about, and if so, why? At any rate, I think Allura deserves to know what it is she’s dealing with and have a fair chance at mastering it. Figuring everything out yourself can not only be extremely difficult, but also very isolating. Let her have some support there. Keith got to train with the BOM, I say let Allura train with another Sacred Altean (I believe that’s what Coran called them?)

I know everything worked out very well with Pidge finding Matt, and I’m happy for her. But I can’t help but feel like things will not turn out quite so well with her dad–and if the garrison is in on the galra empire’s dealings to some extent, she might discover some things about her dad she’s not proud of, and quite frankly, I’m Scared of it. That aside, I think Pidge will do more copiloting with Matt, and I’d also like to see her work alongside her brother with the rebels a fair bit. As for Pidge’s own journey, I think she’s done a lot of self discovery already. I like the path she’s on right now. If anything, I’d maybe like to see her grow more in tune with the rest of the universe like the olkari taught her, maybe expand a bit more on that philosophy and what it means to her. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day, if anyone is still a paladin (or something like it, depending on whether or not the Lions still exist) I think it’d be Lance and Pidge. I’d like to see the two of them continue to explore the universe and defend it together.

So on the note, let’s talk a bit about Lance. I’ve mentioned lots before how much I love his parallels with Alfor, and I think that’s very much where we’re headed. To me, that’s who Lance needs to be. Not the Black Paladin, not the leader of anyone. But someone who can carry on the legacy that Allura entrusted him with. His strength as a character was in learning to put others above himself and do what’s best for the team. That moment was really integral to him, and I think as time goes on he will continue to head down that sort of path. He needs to learn to see the bigger picture, to embrace his role as someone who’s strong enough to steady others rather than just focusing on himself. 

Allura didn’t tell anyone else about her very personal connection to the Red Lion, Allura never said Keith was like Alfor, Allura never told anyone else the significance of her armor. She’s the one who helps Lance embrace his new role, and Lance in turn is the one who welcomes her to the team. So to get into that other part of the question about not putting bias on ships into it, it’s kind of hard not to, since the two things I really ship are also the ones that I see as most prevalent in the narrative and puts these characters’ best interests at heart. Lance is still so clearly in love with Allura. And when she smiles at him softly, or he tells her she’s the heart of the team and believes in her enough for her to awaken her own inner power, like–I think they’re meant to be. 

They each help each other balance out their own insecurities and have grown incredibly supportive and protective of one another. I also think Allura feels like she’s able to be more open with Lance than the other paladins right now, seeing as she told him so much personal information about herself and her own beliefs. That sort of comfort doesn’t come easy, and they are growing very comfortable together. When Lance rushes to her side on Naxzela and helps her stand, lets his hand linger on his back a moment, she doesn’t pull away or feel offended by it (and we know from episode 1 she’d have no problem saying so). Instead, these types of things are comforting gestures. I think they’d be very good for each other. (Also on the topic of ships, just put me on record saying Hunk and Shay should be a thing. I think that’s a given.)

Also, would like more backstory about Coran personally, and maybe some flasbacks of him and Alfor. Let him and Allura mourn more and let them have those moments to just stop and breathe. I’d also like some sort of parallel to the original storyline where Coran believes his wife and son died but then his son sort of returns and that’s a whole thing. I think a more serious character focus episode like that would be good for him.

So now, let’s get to Keith and Shiro. Because the thing is, their stories are inexorably intertwined. If Keith’s been trying so hard to save Shiro, only to find out he’s still missing Shiro, well–I can’t imagine that would play out well. And I’ll just say right now, he’d be the one to either find or save Shiro. He has to, because that’s how the narrative sets it all up. Keith is the one who will never abandon Shiro, who puts his absolute faith in Shiro, who would go to the ends of the universe and back again just to stand beside him. And it would be remiss to mention them without noting that a great deal of the overarching story revolves around the theme that Keith will always be there to save Shiro, no matter what. This is it for him. No going back. “As many times as it takes.” 

This would also serve to mirror two different storylines. Firstly, there’s the original Golion, where Akira (Keith) tried to save Ryou Shirogane at the very end. And in fact, when forced to choose between him or Voltron, he chooses Shirogane. Ultimately, Ryou disagrees with that choice and ends up getting himself killed, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. You know, kind of like how it seems Keith would always choose Shiro over everything else. This singleminded dedication also mirrors Zarkon choosing Honerva over the rest of the universe. Both Keith and Zarkon are galra Black paladins who have sworn to do everything for the person they love. And whether you read Keith and Shiro’s dynamic as romantic or not, there’s certainly enough very intentional parallels with zaggar to indicate the former.

Also, going back to the question of what’s best for the story, and if we consider the possibility of lgbt representation–noting that Lauren said anything they intended for it was already there in that first season, then I think the thing that makes the most sense is sheith. Lines like “Your friend desperately wants to see you,” “Nothing was worth Shiro’s pain,” “How many times are you gonna save me before this is over?” “As many times as it takes,” “It’s good to have you back,” “It’s good to be back,” “This one’s for you, Shiro,” “Shiro was the one person who never gave up on me, I won’t give up on him”–they’re all very powerful. And incredibly intimate. To me, everything about their dynamic, including deep buildup and parallels, really lends itself to a more romantic relationship. To me, that suits the story more than it doesn’t. (And from a bi guy’s perspective who also struggles with the pushing intense emotions and relationships away like Keith, his side of things in particular really resonates with me.) 

It’s also worth noting that this isn’t just a one way thing, and Shiro very much saves Keith as well in his own respect. He was Keith’s anchor, he was there when no one else was. He can trust himself to be vulnerable with Keith without fear, he can take solace in that comfort that still comes so easily. He can let his walls down around him. He can show signs of “weakness” and Keith will never think any less of him, Keith will still insist he’s the leader they need and it’s Keith who gives him more of that spark to keep fighting. They’re always validating each other, can seamlessly work together. And the fact that they alone formed Blazing Sword, Voltron’s greatest weapon, is a testament to their bond. 

So anyway, if I can just return to this idea of Keith needing to save Shiro, or vice versa–thematically, I think it’s very important that’s the note Voltron ends on. Because Keith is someone who’s always suppressed his emotions, who’s been led to believe it’s easier to be alone than be hurt by loving others. And then you have Shiro, who now fears he’s a weapon, a monster, someone fundamentally unfit to lead or even unworthy of being a paladin. Someone who seems more afraid of letting others in, who keeps his walls up. And then you have Zarkon’s fate–this cautionary tale about how you have to make harsh sacrifices, about how loving someone too fiercely can be dangerous and even your ultimate downfall. That you have to think about this abstract “greater good” over personal loyalties. 

But here’s the thing. Keith and Shiro can’t fall into the same trap as Zarkon. As the new generation, they have to be able to surpass their predecessors. And ultimately, Keith and Shiro should be able to save each other without the rest of the universe coming to some great cost, without losing fundamental pieces of themselves. Rather than being doomed by love, for Keith and Shiro, I think that will be their salvation. For them, I think that’s the lesson that they need to learn. That Keith doesn’t always have to suppress his emotions, that it’s okay to love. It’s okay for Shiro to let himself be vulnerable again, it’s okay for him to lean on others when he needs it–the way Keith always did with him. Neither of them have ever seen the other as a monster–even with Keith’s galra blood and all the galra have done to Shiro, even when Shiro and Keith were both so afraid of themselves. It’s a way to escape this vicious cycle set by both the old Voltron series and VLD Zarkon’s legacy alike, and I think it’s the kind of message that’s best to relay.