#and he will die immediately when its a dungeon

[blangkocharti]

it would be really funny and shocking for tubbo to get a piece of etoiles's lore while impersonating etoiles

[coldwind-shiningstars]

Dungeon Meshi is obviously primarily about food, eating, and crucially survival through eating, but it's also focused on other aspects of survival. Sleep, rest, social ties and social exclusion. There's even extensive commentary on things like personal grooming (Marcille’s hair, Toshiro becoming depressed and no longer shaving), clean bathrooms, and other things. When it comes to disability these things are referred to as instrumental activities of daily life (IADLs), which are more complex things like shopping, housework, and cooking, which people need to do to survive, and activities of daily life (ADLs) which are the basic bare bones needs: eating, toileting, etc. Dungeon Meshi is concerned with the logistics of living and finding joy in those logistics.

This is super related to disability! Yes, Laios is autistic, this has been apparent from the beginning. But what does being autistic mean for him and the story? Mostly, it means his desires, goals, and the ways he goes about achieving them are strange, foreign, or baffling. He has different priorities than other people and the way he expresses those priorities are strange. They affect how he socializes, how he eats…

So, it absolutely makes sense that there would be a minor sideplot about activities of daily living and what it's like to be out of sync with everyone else when it comes to prioritizing things. It's Mithrun Time (he's gonna mith all over the place) and I'm so SO interested in the interplay of disability, caregiving and the logistics thereof, and intersectionality & privilege. Who needs care? How do other people feel about them needing care? How do they receive that care? And who do we think is worthy of receiving care and how does that interact with all these other factors?

Bunch of manga and extras spoilers past the cut:

“So, what's wrong with you?”

I see a lot of people talking about Mithrun's non-eye disability as a depression allegory, which I think is true, but I think it's also metaphorically/symbolically both a traumatic brain injury and a trauma response to sexual assault. The sexual assault aspect is pretty clear if you look at any of the symbolism of the actual disabling event: just look at it.

Mithrun is lying in bed and the goat comes to him, lifts him up and puts its mouth on his abdomen and lower pelvis. The eating is sexually charged, as is the particular way he struggles and protests. It's intensely violating, and things that were once desirable are lost. And the dungeon lord group therapy session involves a lot of people talking about the demons like an abusive lover; Mithrun, even though he wanted to kill the demon so badly, still says that they're gentle.

As for the brain injury, chronic TBIs can cause a wide variety of symptoms. Some immediately relevant ones are anhedonia (lack of enjoyment), executive function issues, poor interoception (trouble understanding what's going on in your body), cognitive impairment affecting ability to reason/multitask/plan/solve problems, changes in behavior and personality, depression, agitation, and restlessness. We see… basically all of these, in Mithrun, as downstream effects of the loss of desires. He can't tell when he's hungry, tired, or out of mana; he can't perform ADLs consistently even if he knows he'll die without doing them and dying without doing them will interfere with his long-term goal, he had drastic personality changes, he oscillates between impatient and totally withdrawn.

Brain injuries can also affect more complex tasks and ability to sustain lengthy periods of complex cognitive work. A common example is losing the ability to read and process longer passages; maybe you can read the words but you can't read a paragraph, or maybe you can read paragraphs but now you get a migraine after 15 minutes. Mithrun's skill loss is not related to reading but the effect is similar – he is and was extremely skilled in a particular area of magic, but also disabled in ways that specifically hinder his skill in this area – to teleport things properly you need depth perception and a sense of direction, and he lacks both of these! And while he's still an incredibly effective fighter it seems like he pretty frequently makes those sorts of mistakes.

This is treated often as a gag and it is genuinely funny but it’s also very real, to no longer be as good at the thing you were good at before you became disabled. Kui takes several throwaway gags seriously later on, not just this one. Another ~gag that's not really elaborated on is the bathroom thing, but I appreciate its inclusion anyway, since even if it's presented humorously it doesn't feel meanspirited in a way a lot of “diaper jokes” do. I think people need to talk a lot more about bathroom issues in a wide variety of disabilities, and I think it's nice that a guy I can already picture the “poor little meow meow” posts about also has this issue, you know?

Preferences vs Desire

Even referencing PTSD and TBIs it's hard to really grasp what having no desires means, and the characters don't generally ask, while Mithrun explains it in vague terms. “Desires” is a very broad term and indeed he has lost access to a wide but related variety of things. Unfortunately this lead to him often being treated as nonagentic.

Mithrun does still have preferences, even if he doesn't express them and has no desire which would drive him to seek out pleasant things and avoid unpleasant ones. He'll comment on the taste and texture of foods, for example – sure seems like he has an opinion!

People treat it like his preferences don't matter since he doesn't usually bring them up unprompted, and he's often in situations where there aren't other options.

Kabru seems best at not doing this (and, noncoincidentally, also seems to be the best at actually caring for him; the Canaries have a lot more Resources theoretically than Kabru And Mithrun Eating Monsters And Kabru's A Bad Cook, but although they are loudly distressed by the two of them disappearing it seems to have positively affected Mithrun's general health)

But, uh, acknowledgement that someone has preferences at all is a really low bar to clear and Kabru also doesn't seem to fully understand how Mithrun's brain works. Mithrun’s caregivers want him to eat when they want him to eat. They want him to rest and drink when they want him to.

He lacks the desire for a number of mundane things but also seems to lack the ability to tell when he needs them. He can't explain why he faints; is “I am out of mana” considered a desire for more mana, one that can be eaten? He can't sleep on his own; it's not only that he lacks “the desire to go to bed” but he can't do anything with his own exhaustion, even if he notices it. He comments on the unpleasant taste and texture of several meals; he may be unable to want to not eat it, but he definitely can tell when he dislikes something. But he also seems to be unable to tell when he's hungry.

Kabru will acknowledge these preferences but there's not really other food options, and Everyone Must Eat. Kabru doesn't know the details of Mithrun's condition yet but you can see the immediate frustration here and the way he offers food to him like Mithrun's a child.

Sure, he won't directly communicate preferences, so that makes it extra hard, but you can always just ask, and if he tells you he tells you.

The pathway between opinion and taking actions about it may be lost in Mithrun but the dungeon forces other people into a similar position – it forces them to eat food they don't want to eat so that they can survive or accomplish other goals. We've seen this with Marcille from the beginning. It's difficult with Mithrun because it seems like there is always going to have to be some sort of someone else overriding his autonomy – yeah, he's not hungry but he still needs to eat or he'll faint. Yeah, he's lying about whether or not he's clean but he still needs to wash or he'll die. Yeah, he needs to take a rest instead of keeping moving or he'll faint. But he's not unique in being in a situation where he has to do nonpreferred things. The difference is more that he lacks the ability to independently do anything when it comes to ADLs, preferred or not, which makes it into someone else’s choice and responsibility.

There's also a theme in Dungeon Meshi that comes up a bit of people being pushy about ADLs but from a slightly different perspective, and they're usually right. You see this in Senshi most commonly; he pushes the residents of the Golden City to actually eat even if they don't need to and can't taste it, and while he's correct in that Yaad does get enjoyment from the food even without taste he's still not quite listening to Yaad. Similarly, Kabru is correct in that he can get Mithrun to sleep without a sleeping spell, but he also ignores the way Mithrun says several times that he doesn't expect massage to work. There's a few aspects to this – wild but expected that the elves would choose the “just knock him out with a spell” route, the “easy way” Senshi always talks about when it comes to magic, instead of actually paying attention to other solutions. But also, generally, people know their bodies best, and sometimes even if you're really sure you have the trick to help them you have to listen to what they tell you.

tvtropes dot org frontslash DisabilityTropes

This is going to be a harder section just because it's so subjective; it's nearly impossible to think about the ways in which disabled people are viewed by the people around them/wider society with any degree of objectivity just because there are so many factors that go into it. But I do think Mithrun is consistently treated as relatively nonagentic and there are several ways this can manifest: being treated as a doll/pet/child, being treated as a weapon, and being a surface for people to project onto.

He's framed or treated as childlike intermittently through the manga; scattered about, just a little vibe in the way he's drawn, like the "say aah" above and Pattadol and Cithis through the teleportation scroll :

That's a middle aged man! And he's framed like a toddler getting picked up or misbehaving.

Which doesn't mean they care about him any less; his squad is really fond of him for someone who's technically like their parole officer. How dare you do this to our captain! They love him dearly; this is obvious and he comments on it! They respect him, too, as the leader and as a strong fighter. But loving someone and thinking they're a skilled fighter doesn't mean you respect their autonomy fully.

There's also an element of everyone projecting their own issues onto him; Kabru with their shared Dungeon Trauma. The canaries all suggesting wacky, midlife-crisis desires. He doesn't ever express that he minds any of this, except when they try to stop him from making particular decisions. They also don't often understand why he'd be motivated to do a particular thing, and in fact some of these projections may actually be correct! But while noodles and pottery may be good later-on goals for him, I think it's striking that a) Kabru was the closest to correctly guessing what desire Mithrun might acquire now and he was still guessing the exact opposite (suggesting a desire to not eat Falin but to help Laios, vs Mithrun's actual desire, which was to eat Falin with no thought given to the promise he made at all) and b) it's a desire that actually makes perfect sense with what we know about him, not something totally new.

And, finally, he's a weapon: people are willing to caretake him because he's good at killing things dead. If his only desire is to kill demons dead, it's easy to start seeing that as who he is. I don't think he'd argue that “trying to kill demons” takes up the majority of his life (it's his only goal and he's obsessed with it) but even if there's only one thing that matters to him he has autonomy (in the sense that he can make his own choices about what to prioritize and formulate his own plans) and personhood.

Politics and privilege – who gets to access care?

One of the things we're first presented with when it comes to Mithrun is that he is intensely capable at handling dungeons. Yeah, there's the immediately visible prosthetic eye and the navigation issues, but the Canaries are built up as being incredibly dangerous and skilled, and he's their captain; they all immediately defer to him. He's intense, he curbstomps an entire room of guards, he's efficient, he's brutal, he's strong physically and magically.

In short: yeah, he's very disabled. He's also still very useful.

At the risk of oversimplification, even within his particular disability, he's much more disabled than Marcille is (she lost something relatively simple and easy to miss, she has no catatonia-moment) but less disabled than Thistle, who seems to still have at least one desire related to the king but is still primarily catatonic. It seems like Thistle is not unusual among ex-dungeon lords, even if there's enough noncatatonic dungeon lords to form a support group later. When Milsiril finds Mithrun, she immediately intends to mercy-kill him – this seems to be a condition the elves are familiar with but consider terminal, at least to the degree Mithrun is affected, and people seem unfamiliar what it means to keep living in this state because Mithrun is unusual in that he survives at all. And he's “allowed” to survive initially because he's not as disabled as he could have been (still has a desire) and that desire is useful. They aim him at the dungeons and off he goes. It takes twenty years for him to recover enough to do it, sure, but they're elves. They can wait. He can still be useful.

Relatedly, when he loses the ability to pursue his desire he's immediately much worse off than he was previously.

The no-desire catatonia is something that can recur and the elves continue to not know how to handle it. If Kabru wasn't there to problemsolve I think he'd have just… stayed there with his increasingly distressed squad.

Speaking of his squad, there's also a fascinating power dynamic going on with just the inherent structure of the Canaries; criminals are assigned as his caregivers. There's the inherent unfairness to the criminal Canaries about them being given extra duties, this strange rich noble guy who's now their Responsibility. There's so much possibility for resentment in normal caregiving relationships, much less being forced by your jailor into caregiving someone. But there's also an element of the power the prisoner Canaries now have over him and his most basic ADLs and needs. Assigning Cithis to his care is such a can of worms! The dynamics of the situation are frankly awful for both of them; of course she resents him initially. It would be strange for her not to. When Pattadol catches her making Mithrun do embarrassing things, she instantly reminds Cithis of her lower-status – she's forced to care for this nobleman and then forcibly reminded that she's beneath him.

She's responding to having menial, low-status tasks forced on her by trying to humiliate him, and although he doesn't have the ability to care enough to stop her it's still a deliberate removal of dignity. He's the instrument with which she is punished and she punishes him in return (until it's not fun anymore and she understands him a bit more.)

Mithrun is a long-lived race, who has structural power over the shorter lived races simply because of how long they live. The dwarves and elves try to actively keep certain knowledge from other races, restricting their access to technology, and other expressions of distance. Senshi spends nearly the whole first season not listening to Chilchuck trying to explain that he's an adult and treating him like a child, and Kabru repeatedly says that the elves do the same thing (and tbh we see them doing it). There's even the fact that it took him twenty years to recover enough to join the Canaries again; a shorter-lived race might have died from old age in this time, or become too old to work in this capacity, and then wasted away without the drive to return to the dungeons. But they're elves; the other elves can afford to wait, and he's not going to age out of dungeoneering any time soon. Being an elf probably contributes to his wealth in the same way skin color contributes to wealth inequality in the real world.

Dungeon Meshi doesn't really go into race in the sense of skin color much, and Kui is writing from a different cultural standpoint than I am. While tallmen are quite accurate when it comes to skin/hair color (yes, even Kabru and his blue eyes; it's rare but possible) and cultural references, the elves, uh, absolutely are not, both in the sense of “dark skin & pale hair and eyes trope” and sense of the royals having jet black skin.

Still, I feel like race is so connected to care and caregiving in the real-world west that I would be profoundly remiss not to mention it. Skin color might not matter to elves in the racism sense, but it matters to humans and humans are the ones writing and analyzing this story. (And I fully expect as the fandom grows with anime-onlies people will like Mithrun more because he's white (has white features) than they would if he had darker skin, because fandom is also baseline racist.)

I don't think we can just not mention that Mithrun is pale-skinned and both Cithis and Kabru, his primary caregivers over the story, both have dark skin.

Racism means white people are more likely to get good medical care, the type you need to get diagnosed and prescribed caregiving. Racism means wealth distribution is uneven, favoring white people. Race affects immigrants taking on undesirable jobs like caregiving for low pay. Racism is a profound stressor which means it contributes to who becomes disabled in the first place in that it can worsen health outcomes.

Similarly to race, gender may not be very obvious when it comes to this subplot within the story but the gendered dynamics of caregiving in the real world are something I do want to touch on. There's an oft-cited statistic about how men are much more likely than women to divorce their partners when their partners are diagnosed with a serious condition; I don't like relying too much on those sorts of statistics because they can be so misleading but it does gesture at something very real, culturally. Even if men aren't supposed to be caretaken, women are supposed to be the caretakers. Certainly, it's not Mithrun's fault that he can't cook and can't do laundry and probably can't do most housework, but I do also think about all the posts passed around about “my boyfriend who won't do housework.”

Again, none of these privileges make him less disabled and less in need of and deserving of care, they're just worth talking about when we talk about caregiving in general.

It's Rotten Work, Even If It's You

People expect disabled people receiving care to be grateful, to accept anything, and to try and make it easier for the caregiver if they're able. Requiring care is an incredibly disadvantaged position, even as actually receiving it can be so tangled up in privilege. Caregiving is tremendously difficult work, it's true, but there's a particular vibe people want from disabled people – all those movies about not wanting to be seen as a burden. Never complaining. Being grateful.

And, uh, well…

Mithrun basically accepts anything his caregivers do, but he's not grateful at all! I appreciate that in a disability portrayal. He'll also lie to and ignore his caregivers, which is Annoying but is definitely an expression of autonomy even if he's probably not doing it specifically to express his autonomy. He's not going to thank you. He's not going to make it easy. He'll accept a lot of things considered “undignified,” and he's not mean or unpleasant in the sense that he's taking advantage or anything, but he's certainly not a model patient.

He's running off back into the dungeons just when you think you've finally gotten him somewhere safe.

There's always a strange tension in caregiving, I've found. It is incredibly intimate but a lot of it is done by total strangers. A number of caregiving tasks are viewed by the wider world as entitled but placing those tasks in the hands of strangers is a remarkably tough place to be in. As a disabled person, I've had to accept my bowel movements being discussed with my parents’ friends, all sorts of being physically moved places not against my will but without my permission, even my pubic hair being shaved off by a stranger (nurse) while I was unable to speak or move. When people are feeding you, making sure you use the toilet, rubbing your feet to make you sleep, helping you with hygiene – people are working so hard to help you. Are you supposed to just accept them doing whatever they want to you?

There's also a dynamic where people will say they don't mind caring for you, they're happy to do it, and then as the years go by and you continue to need care the resentment just builds up. Caregiving is hard work. It's often thankless. The goodness of people’s hearts can run dry, when it's been twenty years and you still can't bathe yourself.

Aaand I need to continue in reblogs, because I'm out of space for images. Please hold. edit: you can find part 2 here

[heliianth]

extremely bewildering to me that people think silva is like. a good dad. obviously due to the talk he and killua have about never betraying friends. and its like... people see that scene in isolation and think "wow killuas dad is such a gigachad" and never reevaluate this opinion based on information we get later

like almost immediately after silva freeing killua from the family dungeon we see him do a sinister laugh about how one day killua will return because, essentially, he knows him better than he knows himself. and then later we find out that silva was totally aware that killua was being magically brainwashed to abandon his friends in moments of mortal peril. all with the usual zoldyck family backdrop of brutal dehumanization and torture

and its like.... did you not catch any of that? am i going crazy? because silva is so deliberately using kikyos obsession with killua to play good cop/bad cop and weaponize his compassion so that when illumis needle eventually causes him to leave gon to die killua will feel so ashamed not only for doing that at all but also for breaking the promise he made to his dad whom he loves. and that broken promise will make him return, spirit broken, for atonement in the way killua has done many times on a smaller scale. but sure. i guess silva giving killua permission to leave his own house is a gigachad move

[rottenpumpkin13]

Zack gets AGSZC to play DND. What happens? Do they miraculously finish the campaign or does it go down in flames?

The DnD Game That Ended In Flames

Zack: Picture this—you’re all sent to survey a rundown reactor in the sleepy village of Nibelheim, and—

*Sephiroth raises his hand*

Zack: Yes, Sephiroth.

Sephiroth: Why would Shinra send three SOLDIERs and one infantryman to survey a rundown reactor?

Zack: …Uh… I don’t know. And you’re not SOLDIERs. You’re a fighter, Genesis is a wizard, Angeal is a Paladin, and Cloud is a Rogue.

Cloud: What are you supposed to be?

Zack: I’m the Dungeon Master. Anyway, so you have to hike up the mountain to—

Cloud: People have been known to go missing and die when they trek up Mt. Nibel. I wouldn't really recommend it.

Zack, ignoring him: As you begin your trek, you encounter a fork in the path. One trail looks—

*Sephiroth raises his hand*

Zack: What is it, Seph?

Sephiroth: Cloud doesn't recommend it.

Zack:

Sephiroth:

Zack, ignoring him: As you begin your trek, you encounter a fork in the path. One trail looks—

Sephiroth: What if we die—

Zack: PEOPLE DIE, SEPHIROTH.

Sephiroth:

Zack: One path leads through a dark forest while the other is a bit more dangerous, but climbs steeply up the mountain. What do you do?

Angeal: Obviously the path that climbs up the mountain.

*Everyone agrees*

Zack: Alright. As you climb up, the trail becomes treacherous! Rocks start to loosen beneath your feet—

Cloud: I told you so.

Zack: I'm going to yell at you and you won't like it.

Sephiroth: May I use my perception to scout ahead for dangerous spots?

Zack, rolling the dice: You spot a loose section of the trail and warn the others. But the path is still unstable!

Genesis: I cast a spell to help stabilize the rocks. You'll see, I'll save us all with my talent and sheer skill.

*Zack rolls the dice*

Zack: The spell causes the unstable rocks cause a landslide. You’re hit by a falling boulder.

Genesis: WHAT?

Angeal: How bad is it?

Zack, rolling the dice: The boulder hits Angeal with a fatal blow. He is now dead.

Angeal: HOW?

Sephiroth: Genesis killed him.

Zack: Yeahh…your path to the reactor just got a lot harder. You continue up the mountain, saddened after Angeal's death. Then you spot a Nibel dragon perched on the rocks. Its hungry eyes gleam as it notices you! Cloud, you’re up first!

Cloud: I’ll use my sneak attack and aim for the dragon’s weak spot.

Zack, rolling the dice: You deal significant damage. Sephiroth, your turn.

Sephiroth: I cast a fireball at the dragon.

Zack, rolling the dice: The fireball engulfs the dragon, hurting it. Genesis, you’re up.

Genesis: I taunt the dragon.

Angeal: HA! Like that'll help. Looks like you'll be joining me in death.

Zack, rolling the dice: The dragon is enraged and charges at you. Angeal, you die.

Angeal: I'M ALREADY DEAD.

Zack: Oops, sorry about that! *Zack rolls the dice* Genesis, the dragon is defeated and you live!

Genesis: Success.

Angeal: AKSJDGSJSKS

Zack: You finally reach the reactor. It looms before you, its structure old and decrepit—

Sephiroth: It’s typical of Shinra. Their greed causes them to neglect everything hidden from the public eye. What the public can't see, they do not care about.

Zack: A-ha! See? See why you need to survey the reactor? How do you proceed?

Sephiroth: We leave immediately and do not engage with the danger.

Zack:

Sephiroth:

Zack, ignoring him: You advance inside and notice something strange. On one of the doors near the core of the reactor, you see a name engraved: Jenova. Sephiroth's mother’s name!

Genesis: The plot thickens.

Sephiroth: What is this? Why would her name be here?

Cloud: What happens if we investigate the surrounding area?

Zack: The room is filled with strange machinery and pods containing…creatures. What do you do?

Sephiroth: I investigate the machinery and the pods. I need answers now.

Cloud: I’ll keep watch for any signs of danger.

Genesis: I'll sit quietly and eat an apple.

Zack: Angeal, what will you do?

Angeal:

Zack: Oh yeah, you're dead.

Zack: Anyway, as you investigate the pods, you discover grotesque, half-formed creatures floating in the mako. Suddenly Sephiroth finds a data log that reveals the horrifying truth: Jenova is not his mother, but an alien entity.

Sephiroth: I shall love her either way.

Genesis: That is the saddest thing I've ever heard you say.

Zack: Genesis, you have a choice here. You can either comfort Sephiroth in this moment of shock or make fun of him. What do you do?

Genesis: I choose to make fun of him.

Zack: Really? Damn.

Genesis: Well, well, Sephiroth. It appears mommy dearest is an alien. I can't say I'm surprised. After all, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Zack, rolling the dice: This angers Sephiroth greatly. Genesis, you are now in mortal peril.

Genesis: WHY DIDN'T YOU MENTION THAT BEFORE?

Sephiroth: I choose to murder Genesis.

Genesis: HUH?

Zack, rolling the dice: Yeah, you're dead man, sorry.

Cloud: This is why we don't make fun of people's mothers.

Genesis: She isn't even his mother! She's an alien!

Sephiroth: The more you insult my mother, the more I feel inclined to recreate our fictional game in real life.

Zack: The creatures in the pods start to twitch. It seems your discovery has triggered something. What do you do?

Cloud: We leave the reactor and head back to the inn.

Sephiroth: A sound choice. After all, it's only the two of us now.

Zack: You head back to the inn, but in the middle of the night, Sephiroth slips out and heads to the manor library, searching for answers.

*Sephiroth raises his hand*

Zack: Yes, Sephiroth?

Sephiroth: I’d never do that. I adhere strictly to protocol and my rank. I would not abandon my men.

Zack: You have no men. Only Cloud.

Sephiroth, turning to Cloud: He's insulting your masculinity.

Cloud: Not cool, man.

Zack: Hang on! You have the choice to either follow Sephiroth or stay put at the inn.

Cloud: He might need my help. I should follow him.

Zack: You go after Sephiroth at the manor. You reach the library door. But you feel as if once you go inside, you will never be the same again.

Cloud: Just let me go in.

Zack, rolling the dice: Angeal dies.

*Angeal flies at him, but Sephiroth holds him back*

Zack, unbothered: As you step inside, you see Sephiroth at a desk, reading over a thick book. He looks up as you approach, his eyes filled with a strange intensity, bags under his eyes spinning tales about his lack of sleep. He looks depressed, sullen, confused.

Genesis: That's just what you see when you open his office door on any regular day.

Zack: Sephiroth shows you the book, which contains detailed records of experiments involving Jenova. The more you read, the more you realize the horrifying truth about her origins and the experiments conducted by Shinra.

Sephiroth: This changes everything.

Zack: Sephiroth, you have a choice: you can either take out your anger on your surroundings in a fit of rage, or return to the inn with Cloud. What do you do?

Cloud: Well that's a fucking no-brainer. Clearly he comes back to the inn with me. Why would you even include that as an option?

Sephiroth: I choose to burn Nibelheim to the ground in a fit of rage.

Cloud: WHAT?

Sephiroth: Gaia needs to pay for the sins committed by her children.

Cloud: WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

Zack: Sephiroth begins to channel his rage, summoning flames that spread quickly through the village! Nibelheim is engulfed in fire as villagers scream and flee!

Cloud: I have to stop him!

Sephiroth: You are too weak to save anyone.

Cloud: !?

Cloud: Zack, how do I stop the fire and save the people??

Zack: Hm, you can try.

*Zack rolls the dice*

Zack: In a shocking turn of events, the fire is contained and all but one person survives the fire.

Cloud: Who? Is it my mom?? Is it Tifa?? WHO DIED?

Zack: Angeal dies in the fire.

Angeal: I ALREADY FUCKING DIED YOU IDIOT

[roosterforme]

Would you graciously give us a glimpse at what it was like the first time Maria invited Bob to her room ?

*loud screeching* *screeching intensifies*

Maddie, I would love nothing more. When Bob first moved in with Maria, he mostly kept to himself. Maria thought he was quiet and reserved, but not in a bad way. He had an adorable smile that he always seemed to bestow on her when they were in a room together, and he smelled good. Like really good. One evening, she found him sitting on the living room floor, his long limbs comically large compared to the sets of Dungeons & Dragons dice he was sorting into organized piles. She watched him from the doorway for a moment, a smile finding its way to her lips, before she made her presence known....

"Hey," she said casually, even though she wanted to moan when she walked close enough to be able to smell his shampoo. Or his laundry detergent. Or whatever it was that she liked so much.

"Maria," he replied, flumbling some of his dice as his cheeks turned a little pink. "Hi." He started to quickly sweep his dice into the tray near his knee with his big hand. "I was just... actually, there's really no cool cover story here. I'm sorting my dice by color like an absolute dork."

She laughed which made him smile as she waved him off like it was nothing to be embarrassed about. "Don't let me stop you. Actually... can I help? It looks kind of fun."

Five minutes later, they had opened a bottle of wine which was sitting on the table with two glasses, and Bob was telling her about his new character while she helped him organize his dice.

"I like this one the best," she said once the bottle of wine was empty. She was poking a sparkly orange d20 with her index finger, and for some reason, Bob leaned in a little closer and pushed a few strands of her hair back from her face.

"You can have it," he told her when her gaze snapped up to meet his. "Since you like it."

Her eyes were wide, and her lips were parted as her tongue darted out to wet them. "Thanks," she murmured softly, wrapping her fingers around the die and taking it to her bedroom with her for the night.

Bob was still thinking about how soft her skin was when he got home from work the next day. Maria was already there, opening her mail. "This one came for you," she told him with a smile, sliding a box across the coffee table.

Part of him was nervous to open it in front of her. She was going to think he had some sort of shopping addiction at this rate. When he unboxed another new dice set, he winced in her direction, but she just laughed in response.

"Should we go ahead and sort them into your collection?" she asked, holding out her hand to look at them. "We could open another bottle of wine."

Honestly, nothing sounded better to Bob. He poured two glasses once again, and they sat on the floor together. As soon as Maria added his new dice to the appropriate color pile where they left them on the living room shelf, she crawled back toward him.

"I kind of wish there were more to put away," she told him. "Hanging out with you is fun."

She looked and sounded sincere. He wanted to touch her again. But this time she beat him to it, crawling right into his lap, letting her fingers brush through his hair.

Maria kissed him, and she tasted like the wine. Her body was soft and warm against his, and when his hands made their way to her hips, she encouraged him to keep going. When he touched the bare skin of her lower back, she stroked his tongue with hers.

"I have an idea," she whispered, nipping at his lips while the combination of her voice and the wine started going to his head. "Why don't you come to my room and see where I put that orange die. It's very close to my bed," she told him as she pulled her shirt over her head.

He was on his feet, helping her up immediately. Maria and Bob stumbled down the hallway to her bed, making out and leaving a trail of clothing along the way. It was a few hours before he took the time to locate the d20 on her nightstand.

The Bradley Bunch

[enpr-ss]

TWO HOURS??!?!?!?!! WE ARE FEASTING TODAY GIRLIES

Etho “I suck at parkour” Slab nailing the lava area while being chased by ravager and vexes.

“What is this garbage!” One of my favorite Etho catchphrases.

Sir how did you get up there. And of course your strategy is to camp even when Tango changed it to stop you from doing that. Dies and immediately does a level 1 treasure run. Peak Etho.

HE’S SO GREEDY!! “Can we get four more embers” dude you want 25 embers on a level 1 medium run? Man is delusional. I CANT BELIEVE HE GOT AWAY WITH IT!!! BRO. Tango must have been fuming. Etho has some frost ember loss aversion here lol.

DOES HE HAVE 3 LOOT AND SCOOTS???

“I am not going to be greedy…. I’m going to get my crowns and get out…..You would treasure hunter me just before I leave.” THE DUNGEON IS TROLLING HIM SO HARD. the sheer petulance in his voice, the slight shakes in his mouse => excellent storytelling

His strategy is solid. And of course he’s the first one to figure out the spider passage, with its high risk and rewards. Of course he likes it. LOL ONLY 21 FE ARTIFACT WHAT A SCAM HAHA. He doesn’t even care about getting out on a “worthless” run. This guy. He’s always one short.

“That means we’re going to get a great artifact, the best one ever.” Gets a 23 Artifact. “I’m going back to medium! This is baloney, man!” LOL GET SCAMMED.

Silk Road is such a good name for the spider passage.

HE GOT ETHO WALLED AGAIN HAHAHA. but he loot and scoots on by the ravager. Plot armor. “Happy tunnel leads to misery bridge” LOL TRUE

28 COINS! HE KEEPS GETTING TROLLED BY THE DUNGEON. SPEAKS IT INTO EXISTENCE. “Even if I get an uncommon card here” gets the lowest uncommon card. Even Cub and Tango are counting his dings LOL.

He needs more pockets to stuff all of his treasure in! “Oh we gotta need to leave” ember pops up behind him. The shaky cam, the sneak card playing all too late, no clank block… the dungeon wants him to stay in SO BAD! It’s even getting sneaky about it. 39 COINS! “Tango doesn’t need to know about this.” Tango sighs.

Man will nearly die to clank and hazard multiple times and still refuse to buy blockers. And then the other hermits gleefully reporting his dings.

“Eleven! Oh my god this is just getting ridiculous” -Cub

with the last indignant “thirteen!” before the cut

THE TREASURE DING AND THE SLOW HEAD TURN BACK. TECHNOBLADE MOMENT.

“I’m not running hard after I fail until I build up my deck” buys frost seeker and treasure cards and tomes instead of blockers.

I cannot believe he got a refund. He deserved that ravager fair and square. That’s favoritism. Tango just wants to see Etho suffer in Hard (same). And Cub and Jevin joining the peanut (heh) gallery to heckle him along. And Cub coming in strong on the trolling right on the get go.

“What’s your run success rate Tango, huh?” ETHO TRASH TALKING BACK!! Trolling his audience with greedy plays LOL.

His greed kills him so much.

Dude that etho wall jumpscared me too! He unstuck that ravager what a pro.

[dunmeshi-darlings]

this might be a really like niche thing if you are doing requests of course but what about a tiger beastman reader with marcille it can be sfw or nsfw either or its all good!

Nobody knew you were a beastkin at first, it was something you held in secret. After all, Beastmen are viewed in not the most pleasant of lights. When the party had seen your tiger tail they had assumed you were a beastkin like izutsumi, which you quickly said was the case. You weren't ready to tell them the truth yet, yes they treated izutsumi perfectly fine it was just...you were scared, beast man are viewed as either criminals that were punished or dangerous people that did this to themselves. you were planning on telling them just...just when you thought the time was right.

However that decision was made for you one day, The group had been travelling and had been ambushed by a particularly fierce monster. You all were fighting it as best you could but you watched it knock laios aside and charge Marcille. You knew you had to do something, you couldnt let her die...you couldnt let her get hurt. she had been so kind to you since you joined, always willing to help when you needed it. Talking to you about magic and how she could tell you had potential with magic she could feel it (she could sense the beastman magic but didnt realize it). You couldnt let anything happen to her.

You sprinted at the charging monster as you began to take your form, Bones shifting and popping into place, skin stretching and pulsing as it shifted, Your jaw extending as your teeth grew and pushed forward into fangs, nails extending into long sharp claws. Everyone's eyes were on the monster so nobody saw you at first, too focused on the monster that was about to attack marcille. However their attention was immediately drawn when a deep guttural roar rang out through the dungeon as a large figure slammed into the side of the monster which was only a mere few feet from marcille. The monster and this new being thrown to the other side of the dungeons room from the sheer force of this mystery attackers launch.

The fight may have only lasted a short moment, but that moment was a bloody and visceral one. Swinging claws and gnashing teeth, Blood, fur, scales, and viscera splattered in every direction around this violent brawl. Eventually the mysterious figure flipped the monster onto its back and sank its massive fangs into the monsters throat, it let out gurgling hisses as it tried to fight back, but the figure bit down harder and a muffled cracking was heard. The monster continued to fight even though the party could see it was slowing down its movements, however the figure gave on hard yank of its head and a loud snapping was heard and the monster fell limp in this beings jaws. It shook its head a few more times, smaller cracking noises resounded as it made sure its target was killed before it slowly let go of its throat and stood up, staring at the party who looked on in shock.

Standing before the rest of Laios party, Its muzzle dripping blood and scraps of flesh stood a massive humanoid tiger. Its Muscles rippling under its dense orange fur, twitching every few seconds, Like springs ready to launch this behemoth of claws and fur at its next target. But the being simply wiped the blood off its mouth as it began to speak. "i....im sorry...i wanted to tell you all...i promise i did..i just...i didnt know when it would be right." You spoke, slowly shifting back into your normal form as you prepared yourself for the worst. you expected them to berate you and be upset that you hid this from them and say they dont want you around. But it was izutsumi who spoke up first. "i knew you smelled like a cat." Catching you and everyone off guard as they couldnt help but chuckled.

Laios was perhaps the most excited of them all, He had stars in his eyes as he asked you question after question about your tiger form, asking how you got it and what its like. Chilchuck simply shrugged and said he didnt blame you for not talking about it, that it was a private matter and how he isnt the most forthcoming person either. Senshi scratched his chin, making comments about needing to adjust your portions of food since you have a much bulkier frame you need to keep fed hidden away. However it was marcilles reaction that had you the most curious, she had a blush on her face as she thanked you for saving her and she looked almost...nervous?

You tell her that its ok, that you couldnt just sit by and let her get hurt or worse. And that even if you got kicked out of the party, you had to make sure she was ok. This caused the elf to blush more, the tips of her pointy ears a crimson hue as they wiggled, her awkwardly giggling and saying thanks again. Of course she quickly shouted about your injuries, Sure your thick fur protected from alot of the attacks but some of them definitely got through and it was only now you were starting to feel the stings of various gouges and bite marks.

Marcille began tending to your wounds, using her magic to heal your wounds and make sure you were ok. Normally her healing magic, while fast, hurts almost as much as the wounds. But she was being particularly gentle this time, using the magic slowly and it felt almost like healing magic from the gnome school of magic. You asked her why she was doing it this way and another blush crossed her face, she smiled softly "well...i dont want to see you hurt either..so im taking my time with this and making sure it doesnt hurt to much...i just....ive been thinking about you lately, and especially after what you did earlier...risking yourself and exposing your identity like that to protect me...you mean alot to me." She says taking one of her hands and placing it softly onto your cheek, using her magic to heal a cut that had crossed your cheek all the way back to your ear. You felt the wound heal quickly as it was a shallow cut...but she didnt move her hand, it sat there for awhile. It felt like she didnt want to move her hand away, like she was treasuring this moment. And so you took a breath and put your hand over hers, tilting your head into her hand. Commenting how she means alot to you as well. The two of you staring lovingly into each others eyes for a moment before chilchucks voice quickly makes you two separate.

As night fell you began to settle in, making your cot as you got ready for sleep. However you stopped when marcille walked up with her pillow. "hey, do you mind if i sleep with you tonight?" she asked softly, a grin across her face as you grinned back and motioned for her to nestle in as she did so. You wrapped your arms around the elf woman and pulled her into a soft hug, she hummed softly and happily in your arms as you two lay together. "you know how chilchuck feels about in party relationships." you say jokingly causing the elf woman to roll her eyes. "oh that grump can deal with it, besides. Ill just say im sleeping here to make sure your wounds have healed properly thats all." She says with a wink, the two of you smiling as you nestled in for the night. Perhaps you could get used to this whole, being open and honest thing.

[dead-girl-tells-stories]

Almost finished reading Dungeon Meshi and I got an idea

So in Dungeon Meshi or Delicious in Dungeon, there are these... dungeons.

And from what I have gathered dungeons can be made naturally or artificially but both types have the same few things in common.

They are made to contain demons

They attract adventures

The dungeons have lords who manage/control the dungeon and are given the power to do so by the demons

I know that I'm skimming over some important bits, but long story short, the demons come from an alternate dimension called 'The Infinite Realm' and feed off of people's desires, the Lord of the Dungeon's specifically.

That being said... (incoming dp x dc prompt)

Beings from the Infinite Realms aren't ghosts but demons. And while they do still have obsessions, they lack desires. And so, they've become something they hunger for.

Danny learns this the hard way when he accidentally eats his parents' desire to hunt 'ghosts'.

When the endless, all-consuming hunger, that had been growing inside himself became just a bit satisfied by the action, he got scared. He ran to Clockwork, who immediately explained everything to him.

From there he became terrified. He didn't want to eat people's desires, especially considering that he had some of his own. But CW explained that while other demons will most likely never be satisfied no matter how many desires they consume, because of Danny's halfa status he may be able to. (Also it would be a bad thing if the baby starves itself. No one wants the baby to starve!)

To test out this theory, CW pulls (more than) a couple of strings, and soon his dungeon was set up in Gotham City in the DC universe.

He felt a bit bad since he had to set up shop in another ghost's/demon's territory, but Lady Gotham seemed to have taken a liking to him.

Danny takes his time searching for the most desperate person he can find, (Lady Gotham is leading him to some of the most desperate people in her city, aka the Batfam.), and appears to one of them as a fawn (signifying his hunger and current 'lack' of power). He then looks deep into their mind and offers them the power to fulfill all their desires.

The Batfam? They should be better than this, but damn they were in a tight spot and the city is going to shit because the rouges have been more active than ever, and their family is on the verge of crumbling!... And the answer to fix it all was right there, just within their reach.

They held the fawn in their arms gently. Its ivory wings, coat of starlight, and piercing Lazurus green eyes. Gotham began to change.

A few years later, some members of the JL and the JLD are once again trying their hand at clearing the dungeon but are a bit discouraged because last time their team was wiped out completely.

It was inconvenient how their powers were nullified whenever they were inside the dungeon, but they had yet to find a spell to counteract it.

In an attempt to get past the third floor, they teamed with a team called Team Phantom, which comprised two young adult siblings, their 12-year-old sister, and a few teenagers.

Morally, they were against this. No one this young should be trying to clear the dungeon! But on the other hand, this team was the closest to getting to the fourth floor.

Sucking it up, they teamed up with the young dungeon dwellers and quickly found out why they were so close to getting to the third floor.

These kids were skilled. These kids were powerful. These kids were trained. On top of that, they didn't care about their lives! Because these kids? They wouldn't- no! They couldn't die, and they were using it to their advantage.

The JL/JLD now had much more to worry about than clearing the dungeon.

[eldritch-spouse]

Okay... I have an idea

Icons walking into their Queen in the Dungeon while she is crushing a prisoners head with her heels. When she notices them she just smiles with flowers and shit while a her clothes have minor (major in her heels case) blood stains.

Bonus if its because the Queen is short and someone teased her about it so she is releasing her rage by watching a prisoner die because they were under her.

TW: Gore.

Vesper asks what you're doing in the dungeons. It's hardly a pretty place for someone like you, you're above that. Although, seeing the pleasure written all over your features, if he's failed to bring enough violence into the bedroom, you simply only needed to tell Vesper. He'll make sure things are a lot more to your tastes next time! Now, can he have the absolute delight of licking you clean?

Rinx sighs in relief. He doesn't like his possession treasure out of sight. If you wanted to play around here, why not tell him? He flicks whatever bits of gore clings to your upper body away and shakes his great head. The prisoners have nothing you can take from them except their lives. If you wish to steal away their last moments alive, then do so by all means, just warn him of where you are next time.

Vorticia snickers. That's a waste of perfectly good slop for the pets, you know? In fact, some of the dungeon guards delight in feeding prisoners to each other as torture. So really, she's volunteering to help you find some other skulls to bash. But first, the Queen's grabbing that gory mess you made and sliding it down her gullet. Come on, you clearly need more stimulus, you remind her of her teenage kids.

Zizz wonders why you left the bed to do this. You must be really upset. A mind without proper rest is unstable, you wouldn't be playing in muck if you were well. Zizz is at least happy that you seem to know your way around the dungeons. He'll ask what has you so upset even as he starts readying a bath for you.

Cero groans. Really? He can't leave you alone for two seconds you're already getting grime all over your heels? Sincerely, you're like a child. He drags you away by the arm and has you change clothes, that set is being trashed immediately now that it's been dirtied with peasant gore. You can explain you were defending your pride, which will at least make the King understand your ire, but he's still mostly upset about the damage to your outfit.

Livius joins in. No questions no problems, just lands a hit to that prisoner with tenfold the force of yours, reducing them to a pulp. That was fun! You're so angry! What's happening! He's angry too, why not check the other cells?

Kalymir is thanking whatever cosmic power is out there to allow him this view. It's one he's currently burning into the forefront of his brain and furiously pumping his cock to. He doesn't even stop when you look at him, just motions to the prisoner with his free hand as if you aren't quite done yet. At some point, the King moves closer, panting against the top of your head, inhaling the gore, your fury- You're quickly dragged into the next cell.

[dungeon-strugglers]

✨New item!✨ Wishbone  Wondrous item, very rare

This goose furcula has been enchanted and engraved with powerful runes of fate. As an action, two creatures may each pull one side of the wishbone to break it in two. The creature that breaks away the larger portion of bone is granted one use of the wish spell. The other creature immediately dies, and its soul is consumed when the wish is used. To determine which creature dies and which gets the wish, they must choose evens or odds before breaking the wishbone, and then roll a die. Once the wishbone is broken, it loses its magic.

Henrietta ran home, taking a narrow deer path that wove through brambles and under grasping branches. It was long past dusk. Her mother was certainly going to be cross with her for playing in the forest after dark.  Nevertheless, little Henrietta was grinning broadly. She had made friends with a strange woman in the woods who gave her a gift: a wishbone! The small forked bone was grasped in her hand, proof that she hadn’t imagined the encounter. According to the old lady, she would need to break the bone with another person before she could make her wish.  Luckily, her brother Henry was outside gathering kindling when Henrietta arrived. He didn’t believe her story about the ugly green woman or the wish, but eventually agreed to participate. She was going to wish for a pet dog, one that could talk and dance, or maybe fly, she hadn’t decided yet. Henry said he would wish for endless kindling, so he could be done with his chores already. They each grabbed one end of the wishbone and pulled-

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[luvvs-1820]

a headcannon ive had for a while:

What if mcyt members with limited lives bleed and ones who can die endlessly dont

Take tubbo on the qsmp for example, he made a silly joke and now has 2 lives, like an egg. So when he lost his first life, he bled while being attacked in that dungeon. Like he gets hit and sees blood and is immediately like “thats not good”

And when richas kills him, he bleeds and richas is like “hes just being silly” and the other eggs are like “wtf”. Tubbo swipes at richas and he gets cut a lil and bleeds, all eggs do. Because they only have 2 lives, players dont bleed because they have unlimited lives.

Fit starts getting concerned when tubbo screams to stop, it wasnt a normal “noooo plz” its like a “PLEASE NO I DONT WANNA DIE” typa scream. Fit is more concerned and a little scared now because he can see blood.

And then tubbo is dead.

He doesn’t respawn.

And the pieces fall into place;

When tilin died, there was blood.

When juanaflippa died, there was blood.

When trump died, there was blood.

When bobby died, there was blood.

When tubbo died,

There was blood.

[nyxshadowhawk]

I Read The Silmarillion So You Don't Have To, Part Eight

Previous part.

Picking up right where we left off...

Chapter 19: Of Beren and Lúthien, Part Two The greatest love story ever told, cont.

Back in Sauron’s prison, only Beren and Finrod are left. All of their companions have been killed. Sauron intentionally left Finrod alive, because he knows just from looking at him that he is a powerful prince of the Noldor, even if he doesn’t know which one. The wolf comes to eat Beren, but Finrod has had enough. He wrestles a werewolf into submission with his bare hands, like fucking Heracles!

Finrod vs. the wolf by @maglorious

Finrod kills the werewolf with his bare hands and teeth. Despite this unrivaled badassery, his wounds are too severe. He bleeds out in the dungeon of the tower that he himself built. He has just enough time to say goodbye to Beren, knowing that by the time he reincarnates in Valinor, Beren will be long gone.

Thus King Finrod Felagund, fairest and most beloved of the house of Finwë, redeemed his oath; but Beren mourned beside him in despair.

Beren and Finrod by yi tiao zhi xian chong

Not gonna lie, I’m so sad. I love Finrod! He’s one of the only Noldor who’s not a hot mess, and I’m gonna miss him. At least he’s the first of the Noldor to be reincarnated; Mandos (the Vala of death/purgatory) forgives him before the Curse is officially lifted at the end of the First Age, and the Lay of Leithian says that he joins his wife Amárië and his father Finarfin in Valinor. When Galadriel finally crosses the sea at the end of the Third Age, she sees her brother again for the first time in thousands of years.

I’m gonna cry. We need to move on!

Right then, Lúthien and Huan arrived at the tower gates. Lúthien sings a song that causes the walls themselves to shake.

Beren hears her singing, and sings back a song about the Big Dipper, which (in Elven lore) represents a sickle that was placed in the sky by Varda as a direct challenge to Morgoth. It represents hope and the promise of Morgoth’s defeat. Then he faints.

Sauron hears them singing back and forth to each other, and smiles. He’s already salivating over the reward he’ll get for turning Lúthien, the beautiful daughter of a Maia, into one of Morgoth’s slaves. He sends werewolves out to intercept Huan and Lúthien as they cross the bridge to the tower. Huan easily kills every single one of the werewolves, until Sauron sends Draugluin, the oldest and greatest of werewolves.

Lúthien and Huan in in Tol-in Gaurhoth by Randy Vargas

After a long and bloody fight, Draugluin flees, drags himself back to Saruon’s feet, and dies. Sauron knows that Huan is prophesized to die after killing the biggest and baddest wolf, and that was Draugluin. So, that menas that now Huan can die. Sauron wants to do the job himself, so he turns himself into an even bigger and badder wolf to kill them.

Upon encountering wolf!Sauron, Lúthien immediately faints, because his eyes are terrible and his breath is worse. (That’s a bit damsel-y of her, but I can’t judge her too hard — it’s literally Sauron.) As she falls, she somehow manages to throw a corner of her enchanted cloak in his face, and its magic makes him momentarily drowsy. That’s enough for Huan to strike. Huan pins Sauron down by the throat. Then we get another old mythic trope of Sauron shapeshifting into multiple forms while Huan holds him fast — he becomes a snake and then a “monster,” and finally his usual humanoid shape.

Lúthien stands triumphantly over Sauron, and threatens to strip him of his body and send his incorporeal form running back to Morgoth with his tail between his legs, unless he surrenders the tower. Sauron surrenders, and Huan lets him go. As soon as he’s free, Sauron takes the form of a vampire (which in this context I’d take to be some kind of bloodsucking bat thing?) and flies off.

With her magical voice, Lúthien declares that she is now the lady of the isle, and all of Sauron’s captives and thralls go free. All, that is, except Beren. Huan and Lúthien desperately search for him, and find him still lying, catatonic, by Finrod’s body. Lúthien assumes he’s already dead, and cradles his head. Beren wakes up in Lúthien’s arms, and they gaze at each other. Cue The Sun! The evil fortress crumbles as the dawn comes, just like in a Castlevania game.

But the story’s far from over. Sauron was only the Disc One Final Boss. Beren and Lúthien still need to do what they set out to do in the first place — steal a Silmaril from Morgoth.

Huan goes back to Nargothrond, and finds it in chaos. All the prisoners that Lúthien set free had gone there, and told the people of Nargothrond what really happened to their king. The elves immediately turn against Celegorm and Curufin. The mighty sons of Fëanor don’t have the balls to face Sauron, but Lúthien, a girl, took him down! The elves once again appoint Orodreth their leader, but Orodreth won’t have the brothers executed for their treachery. Kinslaying was the whole reason why the Noldor were cursed in the first place. So the brothers are banished from Nargothrond. Celegorm loudly declares enmity, while Curufin just gives that unsettling smile.

No one goes with them, not even Curufin’s son Celebrimbor, because all of them can see how bad of an idea that is. Only Huan follows them; Celegorm is still his master.

Beren and Lúthien bury Finrod on the highest point of the island. (It was his island first, after all.) Then they spend some time catching up with each other before planning their next steps. They wander as far as the Forest of Brethil, Beren wants to bring Lúthien safely home to Doriath before setting out again, but Lúthien tells him there’s no chance of that. She’s not about to wait in some treehouse while he goes and gets himself captured again. Wherever he goes, she will go with him, and if they die, they’ll die together. Their options are either to wander the earth as exiles, or to try to claim the Silmaril.

Before they can formally resolve to pursue the Silmaril, Celegorm and Curufin just happen across them as they’re fleeing Nargothrond. Curufin scoops Lúthien up and into his saddle. Enraged, Beren flings himself onto to the horse (this is so famous that it’s known as the “Leap of Beren”). He grabs Curufin around the throat and drags him off the horse. The horse rears, and Lúthien goes flying. Beren tries to choke Curufin to death, but Celegorm charges at him, on horseback, with a spear.

At that moment, Huan decides that he’s more loyal to Beren and Lúthien than to Celegorm, even though he’s spent literal millennia as Celegorm’s pet. Huan launches himself at Celegorm, so that his horse swerves, too afraid of the giant dog to approach Beren. Beren raises his knife (which is cool enough to have a name, Angrist) to kill Curufin, but Lúthien tells him to let him go. Reluctantly, he does. He tells Curufin to go do something useful with his life, and keeps the horse for Lúthien, so Curufin has to ride back sitting behind his brother. Curufin curses Beren to die “a swift and bitter death.” As the brothers ride away, Curufin, like the spiteful little ass he is, shoots an arrow at Lúthien. Beren jumps in front of it, and it hits him square in the chest.

Curufin by @bohemianweasel

But don’t worry, Beren’s the protagonist! He’s not gonna die that easily. Huan fetches some healing herbs (probably athelas), and Luthien uses them and her own magic to heal Beren. After that, Beren has a case of “I’m the protagonist so I must do everything alone to protect my loved ones”-syndrome; he leaves Lúthien in the middle of the night, trusting Huan to take care of her. He takes Curufin’s horse and rides to the far north, until he sees the peaks of the Thangorodrim. At the threshold of Morgoth’s realm, he assumes that he’s never going to see Lúthien or see the sun and moon again, so he sings the “Song of Parting.” In his song, he says that even if the world were to crumble into the abyss from which it was formed, it’s all worth it just because Lúthien can exist for a brief moment.

Of course, Lúthien set right off after Beren as soon as she found out he was gone, just like Sam insisting that he’s going to Mordor with Frodo. Lúthien already saved Beren once, and she can do it again! She again rides on Huan’s back. They stop at Sauron’s fortress and put on disguises. Huan disguises himself as the werewolf he killed, Draugluin, and Lúthien disguises herself as a vampiress named Thuringwethil, who is one of Sauron’s messengers. (Did you know there were vampires and werewolves in Tolkien?) They look so scary, that none of the monsters in the Forest under Nightshade bother them. When they catch up to Beren, he initially thinks that Sauron’s minions are pursuing him, and that he must have hallucinated hearing Lúthien’s voice, until she reveals herself.

Beren is really regretting that he promised Thingol a Silmaril. It’s starting to sink in just how impossible of a task that is. He thinks it would have been better for Thingol to kill him than to take Lúthien into Angband. Though I understand the impulse to want to keep your true love safe, I think Beren is underestimating Lúthien a little bit. She’s more capable than he gives her credit for. Huan speaks for the second time to offer ominous advice: Beren still has the option to turn back, but that would mean that he and Lúthien become exiles. Lúthien has already become mortal by choosing to stick with Beren, so, she’ll die no matter what he does. Either she’ll die alone after Beren’s life ends, or they can risk facing Morgoth. It’s kind of a lose-lose situation, unless by some miracle they manage to get a Silmaril. (And even if they do get a Silmaril, then they’ll still have to deal with the sons of Fëanor and that whole mess.) Huan tells them that he can go no further, but he hopes they’ll meet again.

Beren and Lúthien resolve to face Morgoth. They basically don’t have a choice at this point. They put on magical disguises again, Beren as Draugluin the werewolf and and Lúthien as Thuringwethil the batlike vampire. They arrive at the gate of Angband, which is so huge and terrifying that it makes the Tower of Cirith Ungol look like a vacation destination. At the gate is a huge and terrifying wolf called Carcharoth. Morgoth also heard the prophecy about Huan’s death after defeating the greatest of wolves, so he personally nurtured this werewolf into the biggest and baddest of them all by feeding him corpses of Men and Elves. Carcharoth sees Draugluin arrive at the Gate, but he knows that Draugluin is dead. He doesn’t trust the strange vampire and werewolf, and denies them entry. Then, through some deus ex machina, Lúthien is suddenly filled with divine power and commands Carcharoth to go to sleep. Okay then. That was easy.

Then Beren and Lúthien went through the Gate, and down the labyrinthine stairs; and together wrought the greatest deed that has been dared by Elves or Men. For they came to the seat of Morgoth in his nethermost hall, that was upheld by horror, lit by fire, and filled with weapons of dread and torment.

They basically walk straight into Hell. Welp, there’s got to be a descent into Hell in every great hero story! Katabasis, yaaaaay.

Beren maintains his disguise, but Morgoth immediately dispels Lúthien’s disguise. She looks straight into his terrifying face. (Remember, Sauron kept an aura of fear about him to make everyone in his vicinity cower in terror. If that’s Sauron, then imagine how scary Morgoth is.) She tells him that she’s a minstrel, and that she’s come to sing and dance for him. Because, y’know… Morgoth regularly has bards casually wander into his fortress looking for work. But Morgoth, like literally every other man in this story, immediately lusts after Lúthien. Tolkien says that he conceives of “a design more dark than any that had yet come into his heart since he fled from Valinor,” which is saying a hell of a lot.

Luthien and Melkor by Pete Amachree

Lúthien begins singing and dancing before Morgoth’s throne, and of course, her song is magical. She sings a song that’s so beautiful, it temporarily blinds Morgoth, and all of the evil creatures in his court — wolves, orcs, even Balrogs — fall to sleep. The Silmarils burn with white fire. Remember, the Silmarils are blessed so that nothing evil can touch them, and being surrounded by good magic makes them really weigh on Morgoth’s head. Lúthien opens her magic cloak, flies up to Morgoth’s face, and throws her cloak in his eyes, putting him to sleep. Morgoth literally falls out of his throne, crashing into the ground like a falling tree. Kind of undignified for the Dark Lord. Beren takes his knife, Angrist, and cuts a Silmaril out of Morgoth’s crown. The quest is complete!

Lúthien singing a song of enchantment by Pete Amachree

I love how Lúthien does most of the work. I love how proactive she is! Tolkien doesn’t write many women, but the women he writes are badass!

The Silmaril shines through Beren’s hand. Because he’s a good person, it doesn’t burn him. He figures that he may as well take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity and claim all three Silmarils, but his knife snaps, and a shard of it hits Morgoth in the cheek. He doesn’t wake up, but Beren and Lúthien realize that they need to get the hell out of there before they run out of luck.

When they make it to the Gate, Carcharoth has woken up, and he pounces on them. Lúthien is out of magic and can’t do whatever thing she did before, but Beren holds aloft the Silmaril. It shines in the wolf’s face, but Carcharoth bites off Beren’s hand. (I bet this is a reference to Fenrir biting off Tyr’s hand in Norse mythology.) Unfortunately for Carcharoth, swallowing the Silmaril is like swallowing a live ember. He runs around madly, howling, terrorizing northern Beleriand and causing a lot of damage to both good and evil creatures alike. Tolkien says that this is one of the worst things to come out of Angband (which is saying a lot, considering the Battle of Sudden Flame happened, and there are dragons still to come).

Carcharoth by Xavier Collette.

Beren faints, because the wolf’s fangs are poisonous (and also because it must be pretty damn painful to lose your hand). Lúthien sucks out the poison and dresses the wound, but they haven’t made it much further than the Gate, and Morgoth has woken up. Time is running out.

It would be bitterly ironic for Beren and Lúthien to succeed at getting a Silmaril away from Morgoth only for it to be swallowed by a wolf. But then a miracle happens. Guess what? Guess what it is? What does Tolkien do to get his characters out of every impossible scrape? That’s right, it’s the Eagles, baby! It’s not random, though — Huan tipped them off.

Beren and Lúthien are flown to safety by Ted Nasmith

Thorondor and co. swoop down and pick up Beren and Lúthien, flying them to safety. As they leave Angband, storms rage and volcanoes erupt, but Morgoth can’t do anything. They pass over Gondolin as they fly (what a way to find out where Gondolin is). Eventually, they reach the border of Doriath. Huan is there, and he and Lúthien both tend to Beren. It takes a while for Beren to recover, but he eventually does. He gains the epithet Erchamion, “one-handed.” (He’s in good company with Maedhros.)

After all of that, Beren and Lúthien still don’t have a Silmaril. But at least they’re both alive, and they wander in the woods like old times. Lúthien doesn’t mind going into exile with Beren, but Beren doesn’t think it’s right for a princess to live that way. He takes her home, still Silmaril-less and having eaten his words.

Meanwhile, Doriath is in a bad state. Everyone thinks Lúthien is dead, and has fallen into despair. Daeron has got depression. Thingol went to Melian for advice, but she tells him that he made his bed and now has to lie in it. Thingol gets a (now very outdated) message from Celegorm saying that Finrod and Beren were both dead, and that Celegorm would marry Lúthien in Nargothrond. Thingol decides that this means war, but his spies inform him that Lúthien is gone and Celegorm and Curufin are exiles.

Finally, Carcharoth the mad wolf breaches the magic wall of Doriath, because the power of the Silmaril is stronger than Melian’s magic. It’s the first real threat to assail Doriath in centuries, and all of the woodland Elves are terrified. Just as it seems like things can’t get any worse, Beren and Lúthien return to Menegroth. And there was much rejoicing. Thingol is amazed that Beren is still alive, but still hates him, and blames him for every bad thing that happened. He asks to see the Silmaril. Beren uses a bit of clever wordplay and says that the Silmaril is “in my hand,” i.e. the hand that was cut off and in the wolf’s belly. Thingol actually accepts this, and laughs. He finally, finally realizes that Beren isn’t just any Man. He seats Beren on his left, and Lúthien on his right, and they tell the whole court the epic story of the Quest. Thingol finally gives his blessing, and Beren and Lúthien are married. It’s about time!

But the Quest isn’t done yet. There’s still a mad wolf terrorizing Doriath, who conveniently brought the Silmaril right to Thingol’s doorstep. Beren, Huan, and a bunch of Elves (including Thingol) go hunting. Lúthien stays behind, but has a bad feeling about it. Carcharoth bites Beren in the chest with his venomous fangs, and Huan attacks him. The dog of Valinor and the dog of Morgoth fight each other, and Huan succeeds in killing Carcharoth, but not without suffering a mortal wound himself. Carcharoth was the greatest of wolves, and it’s time for Huan to die. He speaks for the third and final time, telling Beren goodbye. The king’s captain of the guard, Mablung, cuts the Silmaril from the wolf’s belly. He puts it in Beren’s other hand, and it gives Beren just enough strength to hold it aloft and declare the quest fulfilled. Then, Beren and Huan both die on the forest floor.

The quest fulfilled by Anke Eißmann

So, that’s that. There’s no happily ever after to this love story. The minute the quest is fulfilled, Beren dies. Hope it was worth it, Thingol.

Lúthien embraces Beren’s body when he’s brought back to Menegroth. She tells him to wait for her upon the Western Sea. Beren’s soul hangs around in the Halls of Mandos, even though Men don’t stay in Valinor after they die, because he doesn’t want to leave Middle-earth without seeing Lúthien again. Lúthien dies of despair a little while later. When her soul arrives in Valinor, she sings for Mandos. If she could sing for Morgoth, she can sing for Mandos, too. Like Orpheus singing for Hades, she sings a song so beautiful and sad that Mandos is moved to tears. (It’s the first and only time that Mandos has ever been moved.)

Namó Mandos by Elena Kukanova

Mandos goes to Manwë to consult with him about what to do in this very exceptional circumstance, since only Manwë knows the will of Eru Ilúvatar. Manwë gives Lúthien a choice. She could live for eternity amongst the Valar in bliss, and forget Beren, or she could reincarnate with Beren, but become truly mortal, and pass from Middle-earth upon death.

It’s obvious what Lúthien chooses.

Until Arwen (who’s just an expy of Lúthien), Lúthien was the only one of the Elves to truly die, and to have left Arda permanently. But in having made that choice, she creates a line of descendants with both human and Elvish ancestry, uniting both races of Children of Ilúvatar. Middle-earth is better for it.

Fate of Beren and Lúthien, by breath-art

[jrwi-autistic-swag]

Round 5/Final Poll!

Pictures and propaganda are under the cut!

Spoiler warnings for Riptide episodes 106/107 in the propaganda!

Gillion Tidestrider (Riptide)

HE IS LITERALLY. THE AUTISM CREATURE EVER. HAVE YOU SEEN HIM

Dude do I really need to say anything and ALSO ITS NOT JUST AN UNDERSEA THING WE SAW CASPIAN AND EDYN he didn’t want to tell his crew he’s autistic because he was scared and the elders were TOTALLY ableist Ty

IT IS MY DESTINY

he is autism

Lack of understanding of social cues, special interest in birds, trouble communicating and understanding emotions

he is so autistic to me. he loves birds. he doesn’t know how to process 90% of his emotions. he’s just. so autistic to me ok he’s awesome

I'm too tired for coherentness but. Fish man. Autism. Thank you.

He's literally the POSTER child for autism!! Literal fish out of water. He literally gets so excited on Loffinlot because he finally understands social cues. He has a high sense of honor, and a pretty much black and white perception of right and wrong, but with SOME actual gray areas, which is much more realistic to actual autistic people. I hate it here.

he

TWO WORDS: AUTISTIC. FISH. NEED I SAY MORE.

Literally look at him Just look at him

He gives of the vibe, also he reacts the same way as I do in most social situations. Also he is literally a fish out of water, and at least in the beginning had practically 0 knowledge of "proper social cues" and that lead to people misunderstanding what he thought would be the correct reaction. This is an example from a rather recent episode so SPOILER WARNING!! But when he heard crying in the dungeon his immediate thought was that someone was scared or hurt not that someone could be luring him into a trap

Peter Sqloint (Apotheosis)

LOOK AT HIM. LOOK AT HIS BIG BROWN AUTISTIC EYES. LOOK AT HIM SILLY LITTLE EXISTENCE. HE LITERALLY IS THE "me and the bitch I pulled by being autistic" WITH RUMI. HE IS SO SILLY

His special interest is rocks, he named his pet lizard lizard, he pulled quite possibly THE BADDEST bitch…like?!

I mean just look at him, he’s just a little goober and like yippee as hell

listen. listen. listen. there is no other character more autistic than peter sqloint. his special interest is rocks and lizards. he used unfathomable otherworldly power to duplicate his lizard. half the campaign was spent talking about rocks and trying to find a good log for his lizard. he is the most autistic autist and i’ve ever seen in my life. he canonically has trouble maintaining eye contact and making eye contact in general. listen to me. he is autism incarnate. i would die for him

have you seen his rock collection? or his missing of social cues and norms? and also the fact he is a charlie slimecicle character? literally nobody more autism than him

Have you seen him? He is the definition of the meme “me and the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic”

[vintagerpg]

Escape the Dark Castle (2017) is so goooooood. After one play, it immediately joined our regular rotation of board games. It essentially takes the idea of an adventure gamebook like Fighting Fantasy, but tears the spine off and randomizes the story. You and your friends (it’s co-op) escape the dungeon and proceed, card by card, through fifteen rooms in hope of finding a way out. In those rooms are all manner of monsters, traps, mysterious strangers and other challenges to overcome, mostly through rolling special dice. Should everyone get through the regular rooms in one piece, all that remains between the players and egress is a terrifying boss monster. Should any character die, the game is lost. Shuffle the cards, pick fifteen new ones and try again.

Items give small advantages and healing. Expansions add wrinkles (like the curses and plagues, which make things harder, or flaws, which, despite the name, are beneficial, single-use special powers). There’s even a moody dungeonsynth soundtrack on vinyl and cassette. All of that stuff enhances a game that is already great. It is exciting to play, fast paced and keeps player’s attention even when all seems lost — like Return to Dark Tower, fortunes can turn rapidly. Escape the Dark Castle is harder though — we’ve only won two times out of probably close to 30 plays [edit: our average has improved since writing this, but not by a large margin].

A huge amount of the game’s appeal rests on the shoulders of the art of Alex Crispin that decorates all the cards. He captures something of the vibe of the early 80s UK RPG scene — the art is black and white and scratchy, its subjects a mix of gross, brutish, gloomy and silly — but also feels modern and un-nostalgic (as much as the art reminds me of Fighting Fantasy, it also reminds me of Marc Rude’s art for Earth A.D. and the pointy illustrations that cover black metal records). The result is an excess of delightfully grim atmosphere. Who’d have thought dying would be so much fun?

[sethnakht]

there's an au in my head where vader shows up at jabba's palace before luke but after leia's capture on a tip call from boba fett. leia, captive on jabba's throne, senses his arrival well before she sees him; watching his descent into the throne room, she regrets conjuring the spectre of "powerful friends" to scare jabba. vader has strangled several guards by this point; jabba doesn't care; he receives vader as though they were old business partners, without a translator. vader interrupts jabba in the middle of a self-congratulatory overture - jabba is harboring the leader of the rebel alliance, he says, pointing at leia, and must surrender her immediately. this escalates; jabba offers han instead, vader counters that jabba will relinquish the princess or die, jabba reaches for the controls to his rancor pit, leia averts her eyes, unwilling to key vader into the trapdoor beneath his feet, and suddenly vader is gone and she and the whole throne retinue are sliding, lurching, falling; they're the ones in the pit, and when she looks up, she sees vader staring down at them with an ignited lightsaber, surrounded by poorly aimed blaster fire. she looks away just as he begins to deflect it.

vader has decided to pay boba and lure luke and punish jabba all at once; he leapt over the throne and pushed its occupants with the force, pickled frogs and leia included, into the rancor pit. he still fully intends that leia be made his prisoner - he doesn't want to kill his best line to luke - he simply assumes that since she's survived him, she can survive anything. as it happens, leia does escape the rancor because it feasts on the stunned jabba first, breaking the chain that connected her to him; dodging the panicking attendants, who also end up eaten or mauled, she finds the pit entrance and secures herself by bringing down the threshold gate. if vader's right about leia, though, he's wrong here about luke, who isn't provoked into appearing. becoming impatient - having slaughtered every guard who hasn't fled - vader deprives artoo of luke's hidden saber and decides to draw luke to him where he cannot fail to appear. stuck between gates in the dungeon, leia shrieks and missteps, slicing open her boot and her foot on a misplaced axe; vader has materialized silently, like a shadow that shouldn't be in the desert. he's in a foul mood; ignoring her limp, he pulls her out by the chain still attached to her neck (because he's petty and hasn't forgotten her comment about his 'leash') all the way to his private ship (the nubian j-type that symbolizes and effected his removal from tatooine, the ship he has in the comics). with usual bumbling luck (let's say his restraining bolt no longer works because jabba is dead), threepio trails them and ends up boarding too, commenting blithely about the ship's royal trappings.

well aware luke is on tatooine, vader doesn't leave the planet; flying in a way that leia first thinks is just intended to keep her off-balance, he heads for the lars homestead. lashed to the co-pilot's seat and without a sense of their direction, leia looks at featureless sand and can't help but call up the map in her mind to where obi-wan would have lived. it's popular fanon that vader can't read leia's mind owing to natural mental shields; I could see exploring an alternative where he can sense her strong emotions, where he does swoop in and catch the fish swimming right at the surface - only that what he catches is what she's chosen to sacrifice, or what she sees no reason to hide. what to him is a prize is to her an acceptable loss. so maybe in this au, there's this history between them: on the death star, she'd given up that obi-wan was part of her mission, anticipating that he'd be on alderaan and out of reach, while protecting the location of the rebel base; maybe that's why she survived her interrogation, because vader had gone so distracted with the bait that he'd lost interest in the fish. point being, vader is well aware that she's thinking about obi-wan right at this moment, and leia is chilled to realize, just from the quality of his silence, that she knows that he knows.

but this soon doesn't matter, because she realizes they're being pursued by what's left of jabba's guard and the millenium falcon. vader is possibly an even crazier pilot in atmosphere than in space, performing stomach-turning stunts like killing the ship's engines and going into a freefall dive to get each attacker but the more distant falcon to destroy itself; the falcon he shakes off by heading straight into a massive sandstorm. droid-like as he is, leia realizes he doesn't rely on the ship's instruments when the storm causes half to fail and they still make it past flying debris. after landing, vader orders leia to put on a flightsuit and helmet before they exit into the storm, lest she take unnecessary further damage. freeing herself of the mask the moment they're in an enclosed part of the homestead - which required passing through a courtyard open to the hostile elements - leia is first surprised by vader's choice of an abandoned hovel, then concerned when threepio reveals where they are. the more details threepio spills (the more the limits of his memory banks are revealed to vader), the more uneasy leia becomes. luke's family died because of the empire. but they'd still be alive, she can't help but think, had she not sent the death star plans to this planet. perhaps enjoying this dark turn to her thoughts, vader doesn't interrupt the flow of commentary. evidently unfazed by his own role in murdering luke's family, he prowls through their home as though it were his own castle. leia can imagine he's designing a trap for luke. silently, she implores him to stay away.

luke doesn't come. a massive piece of farming equipment, left unmaintained for too long and violently unmoored by the storm, smashes into vader's ship, taking out an engine. bounty hunters hired by angry hutts try to finish the job; vader kills them, but not before they've set his ship on fire. and vader starts to go slightly more mad than usual; the tatooine sand in his suit and smoke preventing use of his ship's hyperbaric chamber and luke's refusal to acknowledge his psychic pleading/threats and threepio's obviously mindwiped chatter and leia's scorching presence, her immense grief and scorn, her way of judging without having to speak a word - it all warps, and blurs, as he paces like the suit is cooking him from inside, and touches the wall disjointedly, and makes sudden disappearances to repair his ship with cheap moisturizer parts. for her part, leia is judging. she knows why vader wants her alive, and she's angry to be used again as bait, to say the least. and she's also judging her own chances: she's not eaten, not had access to water, she's lost a good deal of blood, her foot is bandaged with dirty cloth, and luke's lightsaber is hanging from vader's belt, tantalizingly near.

she tries to goad vader, to distract him from his ship repairs and the trap he's creating and the second lightsaber on his belt. he's become predictable, and luke won't come. she has no reason to hide her love for luke, so when vader lashes out mentally - jealously pilfering surface impressions of luke from her mind - he can remain blind to her intentions. only vader is paying real attention to her now that he's gotten to taste those memories, she's fed a hunger she hadn't known could devour, and she understands that he's draining her, taking from her, that she's shriveling up from thirst and regret and this connection. he's seeing her value as for the first time and isn't seeing her at all - and when threepio begins crying for help, drawing vader's attention away, leia is certain she is going to die.

vader wants to know when threepio entered her service. threepio is only too glad to answer exactly. leia is too depleted to care about what he shares - better that he spill the secrets of the dead captain antilles than having vader back in her head - she drifts into unconsciousness, and dreams. she's back at the palace in aldera, in the oval garden, where a stone statue of queen amidala had stood watch over beds of white asters. leia had liked to look into the child-queen's solemn face - her mother had often brought her here to tell her stories of amidala's adventures - but in her dream she is facing the statue's back, a meaningless circumstance that somehow chills her. she circles closer and yet can't get around to the front, and the harder she tries the more the details slip from her, until she can't even remember amidala's face. this too, she has lost.

anyway, that's the setup. it escalates from there. vader is paying enough attention to entertain new suspicions about luke's strong feelings for leia; amongst the many other threatening things he does, he finds desert cacti and makes leia drink the nectar. (for all she knows, it's poison, and the spikes on the surface cut her fingers and press against her face like needles.) leia, still certain she is dying, commits to saving luke as her final act, which she believes means killing vader. vader repairs his ship; leia ensures the self-destruct goes off while they're both on it. vader absorbs the blast, keeping leia alive at the cost of compromising his own life support; suddenly faced with the chance to fulfil her wish, luke's lightsaber in her hands, leia finds herself unable to follow through - because vader tells her to do it.

at last, a figure on the horizon. luke is come.

[lu-is-not-ok]

what are your thoughts on the AEDD egos? I can see how the theme of experimentation and exploitation relate to Gregor but i don't really see what Heathcliff has to do with it

Alright, cracks knuckles. Time to figure out what I can come up with here.

Under the cut we go.

Let's start with the Shock Centipede itself. Cruelty and exploitation is absolutely one of its main themes, but I think there is something more we can look into here.

The Centipede's Mirro Dungeon event involves a choice between shocking it or forcing it into water, two different methods of inflicting pain on it for the sake of a nebulous "better result". I'm going to focus on this aspect of this theme of exploitation specifically - putting someone or something in pain for the sake of progress or improvement.

Another potential theme I want to note here is perserverence. As a boss fight, Shock Centipede does not die upon reaching 0 HP, but rather stays on 1 HP for several turns as a "final struggle", as it's put in its Observation Logs.

Likewise, in its Mirror Dungeon event, while it is noted to stop moving upon being shocked, it notably does not drown when its tank is filled with water. It's clearly in pain, writhing and "dancing", but it doesn't succumb.

Let's apply both of those themes - pain for the sake of progress and perserverence - to Gregor and Heathcliff.

The connections here are immediately obvious for Gregor. Hermann put him through horrible trauma and likely invasive procedures for the sake of making him into what she considered a good soldier. I think the fact that Gregor ended up not suffering from as many side effects as the other Old G Corp soldiers adds to this theme. Gregor was treated as an improvement on the formula, in exchange of him having to go through a war and serve a role in it that he didn't ask for.

However, just like the Centipede, Gregor persevered through it. He survived the war, and he continued to try and live a somewhat normal life. Even as he trauma got in the way, he kept on living. Survival is a Sin, he'd tell Yuri, but who cares? Even if it is a Sin, you should keep on living anyway.

While we don't have enough information on Heathcliff to be able to make as clear of a connection as we did with Gregor... I think we can reverse-engineer here a little bit and speculate on what AEDD means for Heathcliff's potential backstory.

For one, we know two things for sure about Heathcliff's background - he's from the Backstreets, and he was part of a Syndicate at one point in his life.

I think in this case the theme of Pain for the sake of improvement still applies, but in a noticeably different way to Gregor's. Say, have you ever heard of the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?", the idea that the pain you're going through will leave you a better person for it?

In my opinion, that's exactly what Heathcliff's AEDD signifies. The idea that the pain and cruelty he might have gone through in the past is what made him stronger. What is impossible for me to tell at this stage is who would hold that opinion. Is it the opinion of someone Heathcliff knew and who had put him through a significant amount of pain, or is it his own opinion that he developed as a way to cope with his trauma? There simply isn't enough information to know for sure just yet.

Applying the theme of perserverence is a lot simpler here. It's clear that Heathcliff's life was rough, likely full of abuse and heartbreak. And yet, even having gone through all of that, he keeps going. He keeps living on with his chin held high and doesn't let anyone get in his way.

I'd also like to look at their dialogue lines real quick, as I think there's something interesting to be read from them.

When it comes to their Awakening lines, I think they're meant to signify the kind of torment they've been put through in their lives.

Gregor was forced through horrible trauma because Hermann wanted him to endure it, to become a better soldier for it. It was calculated, "just enough to kill", or in this case, just enough to leave lasting damage, but no more or less.

For Heathcliff, it was pain that aimed straight for his heart. While it's in Heathcliff's character to be excited about violence, I think in this case the tone of his line could signify that the person who hurt him saw him as just something to play with. Either that, or that's how Heathcliff views them in retrospect.

Likewise, I think their Corroded lines have both of them almost fully take the role of their own abusers, something that is already hinted at by the E.G.O taking on the form of a labcoat-like suit, the uniform of the people that likely tortured the Centipede itself.

When Corroded, Gregor takes on the role of someone like Hermann, a mad scientist who hurts other people because they are the test subjects. They aren't "people" to her. An idea that gets further carried over by the ID on the AEDD's outfit being crossed out in its Corroded version.

If it wasn't already obvious that Heathcliff considers Cathy as his abuser from his Awakening line, I think his Corroded line cements this. While I haven't read Wuthering Heights, I do know one thing about it - and it's that Cathy and Heathcliff were both toxic to each other. I think that's what Heathcliff's Corroded line ties back to, how Cathy was horrible to Heathcliff partially because he was also horrible to her.

Alright, that was a lot. Thankfully, I think the Sin analysis here is actually quite straightforward!

AEDD is a Gloom damage E.G.O. Gloom as a Sin represents actions done under the pressure of negative emotions. It implies severe emotional stress which. Yeah. Yeah I would fucking think an E.G.O representing the effects of the abuse its users perservered through would be Gloom.

There's also another angle to look at here, and that is the fact that AEDD has its users act in the shoes of their abusers, as implied by the dialogue lines. Whether it's biting back at their own abusers with the exact same tactics they were hurt with, or whether this ties into an idea of a cycle of abuse, I'm not entirely sure. The one thing I am sure of is that it would still count as something motivated by emotional stress, thus Gloom.

When it comes to Sin requirements, they're the same for both Gregor and Heathcliff, that being Gloom and Envy.

Gloom, of course, makes sense, as it's the severe emotional stress that distates one's actions when forced into a situation that AEDD represents.

Envy, on the other hand, represents actions done as a reaction to other people's actions. Which. Yeah. Yeah that is exactly what's happening here. It's Gregor and Heathcliff reacting to and lashing out at the abuse they suffered at the hands of other people.

I never know how to properly end these E.G.O analysis posts but uh. Yeah. There you go. That's what I got on the funny electric bug that symbolizes abuse E.G.O.