#and the fact them being close is lore or at least a legend and i like to think legends to some extent are all true

[stolememory]

I was reminded by my friend of the lore in Khajiit legends of Azura going to Mora for advice and knowledge (kind of being a mentor figure) and the two of them help maintain the tides and phases of the moons and all I can say is I think I need an Azura rper for my Mora so they can be friends

[harveybwabbit92]

Speedy ultra facts (Revised, with a few more facts):

4 out of the original 6 ultra brothers are actually related to each other.

Taro and Ace are brothers, Seven is their cousin.

Jack is married to one of Mother of Ultra's sisters making him Seven, Taro and Ace's uncle.

Seven has a sister and brother.

Seven was raised by his sister after his mother died.

Seven, Jack and Taro have children.

Seven is Zero's father.

Taro is Taiga's father

And Jack has an unnamed son.

(And I guess Ace counts too? since he's Ultraman Z's godfather.)

Taro and Ace are the sons of Father and Mother of Ultra.

Ace is adopted.

Mother and Father's real names are Ken and Marie.

Ultraman is a university professor.

Leo and Astra are twins and princes.

Zoffy is apparently the grandson of ultraman King.

Zoffy smokes (in the manga he does anyways)

An Ultra-baby appears in it's capsule for a few seconds at the end of Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends in the crowd of ultras who have been unfrozen.

The baby parents are a red(or silver) father and a blue mother.

Jack is one of the few original ultra brother's who stays in regular contact with his human host.

Ultraman Mebius's favorite food is curry.

Zero has a childhood friend named Voice who is a musician.

Ultra's mouths can open and close considering they also need to eat and drink.

Father of Ultra is terrified of angering his wife.

Taro and Ace used to have a pet dog.

Apparently there are cats and dogs in the Land of Light, though they look very different from their Earth counterparts. (Cos Aliens)[though in the comics the pup looks like a normal dog, but in the show it looks like white puffball wit' spider legs.]

Mother of Ultra has at least two sisters, one of whom married jack and the other is Seven's mother.

80 is adopted (at least in the manga adaption he is.)

80's adoptive father's name is Ultraman Red and he's Father's best friend.

Color timers were surgically grafted onto an ultra's chest in early childhood. (Taro has his as a young child in Ultraman Story and Ultraman boy has one...but then there's Geed whose timer really was grafted onto him after birth...Ah, I'm not going down this rabbit hole.)

{(Okay, I went and reviewed the wiki and some other sources on this the Color timer thing has been sort of retconned, They changed the age for Color timers to teen or adult Ultras who have the choice if they want to have a color timer or not (there are lot civvy ultras who don't have a color timer), and that it's mainly for Ultras whose jobs require them to travel off planet or for Ultras who are active warriors in the IGDF. but for the earlier installments (like the original 60s lore) it was at birth.)}

The reason Ultraseven doesn't have a color timer is cos he wasn't meant to be a fighter. His original mission was to scout out and draw a map of the milky way galaxy.

The creator of Pokemon was inspired by Ultraseven, in fact the reason it's called Pokemon is because the name Capsule monsters was already copyrighted by Tsuburaya.

Most Ultras are born through gestation capsules.(However according some of the novels *they might be outdated and thus not considered canon anymore* There are a few that still make babies and give birth the ol'fashion way.)

Fuma, Gai and Jugglus are from the same planet O-50.

The inhabitants on O-50 Aren't born ultras their original forms, As much as it sucks are human-like in appearance, but they do have super abilities to sort of make up for it. The only true way to become an Ultra on O-50 is by being chosen by the Light ring or The voice of light to become one.

The Light Ring/Voice of light is this big blue halo that floats over the planet O-50 that sometimes gives people super powers... ([there's not a lot info on O-50 other then the few snippets from the R/B novel, Orb saga and Fuma's voice drama, so work with me here])

O-50's trial to become an Ultra requires one or more people who must climb to the very top of the planets highest and deadliest mountain: Crusader's peak. Now, they can do this completely on their own or be summoned personally by the Light ring. (According to Fuma a lot of people fail the trial because they either kill each other or die on the climb up.) Anyway when they reach the peak the Ring will pass judgement if they're worthy or not, if they're found worthy then it grants them the power they need to turn into an ultra....If not then, it'll electro yeet them off the mountain like it did with Jugglus.

Though not inhabitants of O-50 themselves, the original R/B/G siblings crashed landed there and got the power to transform into their ultra and Kaiju forms, from the Light ring while to fighting off a monster they'd accidentally woke up while fighting off a gang that had chased them off their home planet.

According to Fuma, Grigio is considered an idol on O-50.

Now on to U-40 Where the inhabitants are called Ultra-people who are all born human in appearance, they're just ultras but human size.

the ancient inhabitants of U-40 through unknown means created the Ultra mind. (It's a core of light that works similarly to the plasma spark.) which helped them achieve a higher state of spiritual evolution that transformed them into ultras.

Unlike their M-78 counter parts the U-40 ultras can't naturally grow into giants; except for this small group of eight warriors who have achieved the ability to grow giant, though much like the creation of the Ultra mind this isn't fully explained on how or why this can happened. (though in Titas's backstory it hints at that it might be connected to resolve and finding balance within one's self.).

Despite that the few inhabitants of U-40 that can turn giant prefer to stay small or in their human forms rather then their giant forms.

Unlike the land of light U-40 still has it's sun and thus has day and night cycles, though one of it's two moons was destroyed by the Heller Army (the bad guys of The⭐Ultraman anime.).

[.....Though, I think I heard somewhere that the Land o light Ultras use technology that's similar to switchable film windows or something to mimic a night-cycle (Well, indoors they do anyways.) but I could be misremembering.]

Titas is a dark giant.

Titas was born in the dark nebula to two soldiers in the Heller Army but his parents didn't want him to follow in their footsteps, so they sent him as an infant to U-40 where he could grow up safely and choose his own path.

Ultraman X possibly dated an alien space cat monster Mu who looks like a cross between a Beholder from DnD and a cat, she also had memory erasing farts.

X doesn't remember dating Mu...

Ultraman thought humans were too primitive to have develop the ability to fly, He was proven wrong moments later by getting hit in the face by a jet being flown by his host Shin Hayata.

Ultras aren't completely made of energy, they actually have skeletons and organs that are sort similar to a human's but also having a few extras that are very alien.

Ultras stop aging at around 10000 years and 1 ultra year is equivalent to 300 human years.

[circeyoru]

collection of overlords??? I love it so muchh 😭💗💗. I have some questions for this, does reader have any connection to Lucifer? By that i mean are they close and does he visit them from time to time. Or does he just ignore them as long as they don't bring harm to his family and to most of the residents of the ring? I feel like for someone like reader that owns all of the overlords soul, Lucifer would at least be acquainted with them (all of your writings are so addicting, I've already read all of them twice by now)

Go to MASTERLIST for the works. This ask is for {Collection of Overlords}.

Thank you for liking this newest story!! And my writings!! I can't believe there are part 2 requests. Now there's ask!! AHHH!!

Anyways. Back to the topic at hand~ A bit of lore too

Simple answer yes. (ok end of this post, just kidding)

Okay, essentially, I see Reader/you with this background. You were the Ruler of Hell, before Lucifer and Lilith's arrival. Since Lucifer was a powerful angel then fell, you let him hold the title of King of Hell since you saw him to be the one with more power. And the fact that if he used holy magic on you, there wasn't much of a way you could counter it. However, Hellborns still see you as a royal of the highest rank, but they don't rebel against Lucifer or Lilith's reign so it's all okay.

You were the one to help Lucifer and Lilith rise to power once they arrived, nothing like what you did to the Overlords. You introduced them to the demon nobles and the sins of different Rings of Hell. Naturally, they were stationed in Pride where you were formerly. The Overlord system wasn't in effect yet, it only started when Lucifer and Lilith's reign became less public and their focus shifted. You suggested a new hierarchy ranking that was specific to Sinners since there were a vast number of them and they do aim to stand in power. There can't be a rebellion and the Hellborns were in line because of their respective Ring's Sin. What of Pride? Because either the King or Queen were taking their duties, you took the role of maintaining a balance.

Your relationship with Lucifer in the beginning was a mentor and mentee type, since you had more experience with ruling, you showed him the ropes. Then it turned to friends when he was in his Kingly position. While others may see you two as rivals with your 'army' of Overlords and Lucifer's angelic powers, you two respect each other on serious matters. Plus, Lucifer understands that you basically still hold authority over Hell like back in the old days, but you just don't show it. Your history as the Ruler of Hell was painted as a legend that the Hellborns passed on to their children from generation to generation.

You notice how there are eyes everywhere? I'll adapt it to you being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. That's how you keep an eye out for things and know when to act.

Fun fact: Lucifer makes you ducks too, it's basically like a private phone between you two. It's still a bit awkward when you hold up the ducky to your ear. You're also his unpaid therapist when it came to listening to him rant and whine about missing his daughter, Charlotte all the time.

[melina-mellow]

I wanna come out and say something:

Ekko fans are completely justified in expressing their annoyance and frustration with his tag being clutered with the majority of TB stuff and not enough of just about just him as a character.

However!

People need to understand that—shipping stuff aside— Jinx, his relationship with her and the fallout of that relationship, is a very core part of what makes Ekko who he is and how it influenced his arc as a character and should not be taken lightly or completely dismissed.

They are not mutually exclusive.

The AU episode—which I will be completely blunt on and say it— gets completely misinterpreted by both TB shippers and non shippers alike, for just being about Jinx/Ekko and their relationship.

For starters. Ekko Arcane is not Ekko League of Legends... at least not yet.

Season one Ekko is less focused on making Zaun as a whole better and more about getting revenge on Silco and making sure that his community he built with the Firelights is protected and thriving. His motives, while still good and similar to his original dream are more... limited...for a lack of a better word.

After Silco's takeover, Ekko didn't just give up on Jinx, he gave up Zaun as well, instead choosing to focus only on his people and his community.

This is something Ekko himself admits in the AU episode btw. (Which, again, gets completely glossed over by both shippers and non shippers alike)

He let the hurt of Jinx's rejection when he tried to save her and his hatred for Silco blind him and taint his dream of a better Zaun.

The AU episode—the one people will call filler— is first and foremost to give Ekko hope that Zaun could be better. That he should not have given up on that dream.

As for Jinx/Powder. Well... Is she not the living, breathing and walking personification for the amount of damage Silco has done to Zaun?

Ekko wanted to undo the damage Silco has done... but did he not give up on the person who was perhaps the most damaged by him?

Don't you guys think that Jinx's initial rejection to be saved by him was something that sparked the flames of Ekko giving up on, not only her, but Zaun as well?

The AU is something Ekko needed to see. That it's not just Jinx but Zaun as a whole that can be better. And taking that first step to making Zaun better, is to first reconcile with the person who made him lose hope in that dream in the first place.

I want to close out this post again by stating that Ekko fans are completely justified in expressing their frustration at people "reducing" Ekko to his relationship with Jinx all the time.

But honestly I need people to understand one of the sad truths is; unless you look for supplementary content about Ekko from his amazing lore from LoL. Ekko in Arcane... Just does not get that much focus and him being linked to Jinx so many times is a consequence of Jinx being so popular (even before Arcane) and her being the main character of Arcane.

People are also completely fair when they criticize TB and the fact that the show never gave them enough time to properly flesh out their relationship.

This is a sentiment something most TB fans will agree on with you on. Which is why most of us (cause I do love TB a lot) were so angry about the cut scenes, which we know from the art book would have focused on Ekko and Jinx reconciling as well as Jinx making amends with the Firelights.

That's really all I have to say.

The only other thing I can hold onto now multiple people who have worked on Arcane are interested in continuing Ekko and Jinx's stories, and exploring their dynamic together.

Which, I've already made my thoughts known that if we do get this fabled "timebomb spinoff" that it should focus on Ekko and Jinx individually before they get to reunite and that their reconciliation should not be immediate.

That's all for now....until my next rant/analysis!

I wish I could say I hope Silco burns in hell for all he did. But I have a feeling he already is :)

[chirrups]

OH SHIT VERY PRETTY GOG ART IN THE YEAR 2025!! AND ITS X HERMITCRAFT.. HELL YEAH

Love the species picks!!! I saw the second recent post first and I guess didn't properly read the description, but DID see the talon braces on Scar and went "Now hold on...." loe and behold, Hagsfiend Xisuma! I would perhaps suggest a slightly natch'd(? hagsfiend'd?) Hypno to give him the natched'ga (bad spelling; haven't read the books in years, but I mean the yellow-eyed hypnotizing magic that the Hagsfiends used in the Legends series). Also Joe has starsight. To me. Grian too but while Grian ignores it entirely, Joe gets weird about it.

YEAR OF OUR LORD 2025 AND HERMITS OF GAHOOLE IS BACK!

DASJHSJDHA THANK YOU! I just love researching to pick animal species to assign to minecraft youtubers, they should really give me a degree in it.

(au rambling + doodles beneath, you have been warned)

Nachtmagen!Hypno is such a powerful idea. Though honestly, I kind of want to keep magic shenanigans just to Xisuma due to admin + hagsfiend morality lore.

Instead of fryngot (the yellow-eye power), I would bend it a little to give Hypno some kind of fleck-power in a similar vein to Mist/Hortense in the books. Perhaps he was hatched in an area with a high density of flecks and it gave him a similar minor paralysis ability to a hagsfiend’s fryngot. Not enough to yeep another owl but enough to make them very uncomfortable (or he could just be like that, who knows).

But, Hypno being literally divined to have classically dark magic Nyra-style but just kinda being a guy is also hysterically funny to me.

Let’s compromise. Ambiguously-and-suspiciously-nachtmagen!Hypno who might have hagsfiend magic powers but also just might not. He’s awfully dark-feathered and ragged for a Tyto. No one knows. No one is even certain if Hypno knows.

On the Joe Hills point, YES! He does have starsight, how on earth did you read my personal notes for this au??? /lh.

And I’m completely with you, he is definitely soooo weird about it. He gives out prophecies but starsight doesn’t actually have words with the visions so I imagine it’s literally just him writing poems about his dreams and then reporting it to other Hermits like it's real-life fact.

He has something like a 50/50 accuracy rate and doesn’t actually make too much effort to take it seriously to begin with. World’s least reliable prophet except when he’s right which is sometimes.

Grian might actually have firesight to me (instead of starsight to match his colliering job) but I could also read it as him being just super paranoid and liking staring at flames a bit too much.

In this AU, he is very moon-adverse, and if we wanted to be angsty about it, I could imagine him not taking the idea that he has any celestial body-related power well at all (even if starsight is only related to stars in name alone).

In either situation, you’re right. He is ignoring everything, the future cannot reach him if he closes his eyes to it.

(I also just might just leave Grian's maybe precognition powers ambiguous because lore-wise because I don't want to stack his plate as op's special-est little guy too much.)

[sapphicseasapphire]

Remember when I said I’d make some informational posts about the Cryptid au? Well, here’s some lore! I originally wanted to talk more about Wind. But I can’t talk about Wind without also talking about Legend! So buckle up while I tell you about an old, old war.

Legend is Mer. Wind is an original species that I call Aquili. On my character sheets, before I came up with the name, I called him a Sea Monster. But then I thought about it for two more seconds and realized that in a world where monsters are in fact real, tangible things that are always evil and are constantly being fought, doesn’t calling someone a monster sound a little derogatory? And then that SPIRALED.

So throughout Hyrule’s history, there have been many creatures that make their homes in the sea. Among these are the Zora, an amphibious group that make their homes on land but close to water; the Aquili, an amphibious group that make their homes underwater but close to the surface; and the Mer, an entirely aquatic group that live 100% underwater. They rarely interacted with each other, peacefully keeping to themselves until an influx of monsters started driving them out of their homes.

The spike in monster population took place just before the events Ocarina of Time. The Zora were least affected affected because their homes were on land, but the Mer and Aquili struggled. They fought back the monsters as they invaded their territories, and eventually, the threat of the monsters led them to cross each others borders. And suddenly, they had a turf war on their hands. They simply didn’t have enough space to coexist while the monsters lurked. And so they fought.

The timeline splits. Legend and Wind both know different conflicts, but neither end well. In Legend’s era, the war is won. The Mer were victorious, they drove the Aquili away and lowered their numbers enough that they aren’t a threat anymore. The term “Sea Monster” is Mer propaganda, meant to villainize the Aquili and turn any sympathizers away. The war might have been won centuries ago, but the Aquili are still out there, still scraping by, weakened but never defeated. Legend has been taught all his life to fear them. He’s been taught to call them monsters and to fight them on sight. He’s been taught that there’s a reason that the Mer were able to win, and he must live up to that standard.

Legend was attacked when he was young. He was chased out of his territory by an Aquili scavenger, forced above the surface to escape. Except it’s law in Mer controlled areas that so much as breaking the surface tension of the water is grounds for banishment. Since Mer are completely aquatic, it’s dangerous for them to go on land. Plus, Aquili, being amphibious, go above the surface on occasion. Anyone following them is seen as a traitor. Unfortunately, even though Legend was only a child and only trying to escape a very dangerous situation, the law was strict. He had no loophole. He was banished, forced to take refuge in the surface kingdom of Hyrule. And that experience did not help him see Aquili in a kinder light.

Wind, on the other hand, had an entirely different perspective on the war. In his era, the war never really ended. There were no victors, no losers. When Hyrule flooded, the war just sort of… fizzled out. Of course, with the extra ocean comes even more, even bigger monsters for the Mer and Aquili to try to manage. There are still skirmishes between the groups. A lot of fighting around borders. Occasional battles and invasions. The conflict, while it might not be as intense as the war in Legend’s era, is still very much ongoing.

Except… there’s this little place in Wind’s era. A little island where Aquili and Mer alike seek refuge. A common ground, an area of peace. Outset Island is populated entirely by both Mer and Aquili who wanted an escape from the war. The ones who gave up on holding any territory underwater and settled on land. There, everyone’s welcome. Wind’s parents left him there with his little sister and his grandmother to save them from the constant fighting. But they believed in their cause, and so they left to reclaim their territory- their home. They never returned.

Wind sees the war as something that’s far away. He lives in a bubble of peace. He’s friends with Mer. He doesn’t have these prejudices. He knows not to venture too far into the ocean (hence why he sails on a ship instead of swimming everywhere), but other than that, he doesn’t have to worry about it.

When Legend and Wind meet, immediately their cultural differences are made very, very clear. Legend is cold to the young boy (colder than usual, that is) and no one can figure out why. Wind’s such a little bundle of energy! His laughter is infectious and his enthusiasm is contagious. Why does Legend avoid him so much?

I had this idea in my head that Wind’s so far separated from his culture, he doesn’t even know that he’s called ‘Aquili.’ All he’s heard from everyone in his life is ‘Sea Monster.’ On Outset, the Aquili called themselves that with pride as if they were never anything else, so Wind never saw any issue with that.

So one day, when talking to the rest of the Chain, Wind calls himself a Sea Monster. And Legend LOOSES IT.

Suddenly, Legend rushes over and pulls Wind into his arms and just hugs him as tightly as he can. Because this child should not be saying such things about himself. Legend’s been dealing with his own prejudice this whole time, but hearing it come from Wind’s own mouth actually breaks him. He cannot pretend anymore. He cannot separate himself from the conflict, he cannot use the blanket description of ‘Monster’ for all of the Aquili, he cannot blame the child in his arms for the desperate soul that chased him from his home.

“You’re not a monster,” he’d whisper into Wind’s shoulder. “Don’t ever say that. You’re not a monster.”

Wind’s just confused because he didn’t say he was a monster. “I called myself a Sea Monster. There’s a differen… oh”

And Legend has to watch the light leave his eyes as Wind realizes what he’s been calling himself… what everyone he knows has been calling themselves… is so fundamentally wrong.

It’s Legend who tells Wind about his heritage. As much as he can think of that isn’t propaganda. (Which… isn’t much). Legend tells Wind that he’s called Aquili, he tells Wind about the Aquili that he knew in his era. He hates that he knows so little.

And then they start to bond. Wind is definitely in shock about the whole thing, maybe a bit of denial. Legend just feels so sorry for being so harsh towards him in the past. But they go swimming together, they catch and eat seafood together. Each of them are learning from each other. They heal.

Okay that was long. I have many more thoughts about this! Like what the war looked like in Lorule, what it means for Legend and Ravio. But I’ve rambled long enough haha! I’ll make a post about that later if you’re interested, but for now, thank you for reading haha!

[grimmcheems]

Yakuza Hinami AU🌸

This has been brewing in my head as an idea for like years lmao😭. Idk but I always thought it’d be kinda cool if Hinami’s father was also an important figure in the underground of ghoul society aside from being a doctor bc Jason fr tore him up and Mado was on his ass too. That mixed with the fact that Hinami does become involved with ghoul society later on in canon made me love her even more.

They have her father’s kagune up on display as decor, she obtained it at some point and Akira is pissed about it(though she does not know it is being used this way), newer members don’t know why it’s there and think better than to ask directly, so the older members just got used to referring it as “Daddy”😬

I rly need to start providing the initial context to my ideas bc there’s so much that goes on in my head for my AU lores before I draw a particular setting of it and which characters I choose to include. Hinami is basically a selective mute in the beginning of this after her father is killed by Mado and her and her mother form a close relationship with a ghoul investigator (Nakajima, but before they figure out that Ryouko is one of heir suspects but after his partner is killed by Touka) Later on Hinami is on the run and living in disguise with Touka until her parents followers find her and try to raise her to be the next leader of the group.

The yakuza group is named “The Winds , which is sort of a play on how her parents were inspired by it when naming her, and sort of used as a one liner by elite group members and those who manage to escape the hands of the Doves by saying “it must’ve been the wind”(or something similar to that phrase, it it also how the Doves speak about them in public settings as to not cause alarm and used to brush off any inconveniences they experience from the group itself).

Uta is the spokesperson of The Clowns and they often butt heads with Hinami over territorial disputes and whatnot, so his visits are frequent and he is rather surprised when he sees her for the first time again when she’s older and sees just how far and high up she managed to climb in ghoul society. He mostly teases her and Yomo does not appreciate it. Yomo joined her group at some point because he wanted to maintain ties with Ayato, and he does reveal himself to be his and Touka’s uncle and last living relative (it always bothered me that he never said anything to either of them about that in canon but at least he treasures his niece)

I also gave Uta a lot of color, he was gonna be paler but I thought more color to his face would suit him. He also has a soft expression bc his eyes are closed.

Banjou sort of takes care of the more visual side of things when it comes to Hinami(he does her hair but who does her nails?!?), I love how they have a bond in canon but in this he’s mainly like a big brother and he is always concerned with the way she is presented to others because she’s their leader.

She practically becomes like a legend and spoken of like a myth by the CCG and has a SS(-) rating. They’ve never seen her in combat and only have her combat with Mado on her file record so they base it off that, and she never really has to step in because other people take care of things for her. However being the head of the group they gave her a high rating as well as factoring in her chimera type kagune she’s sure to deal a lot of damage to anyone who’d cross her path. A lot of the wierdo investigators dream of having parts of her like a trophy someday, hence the dialogue of an investigator wishing he could see her kagune up close and in action someday.

[maverick-werewolf]

Werewolf Article - (Play As A) Werewolf Video Games

The results of the poll for this month on my Patreon are in, and the winner is an opinionated article on werewolf video games! Apologies in advance if any of my opinions here anger you. I was asked for opinionated, so I went opinionated and did not hold back.

For clarity's sake: this will be a relatively concise list of SOME video games in which you can or do play as a werewolf. It will NOT include every single game in which you can or do play as a werewolf, nor will it include certain kinds of playable werewolves that exist in gaming, for the sake of brevity. You'll notice some missing and then want to be first to tell me I left out [thing], but I assure you I am aware of those too. I am also not going to list games in which you can play as a werewolf but it requires either user-made mods or else playing in a custom campaign/tileset/server (like Neverwinter Nights <3), only games wherein you can play as a werewolf as part of base game or expansion pack mechanics.

This IS a tiered list. It is tiered based on the werewolf gameplay mechanics and elements in the game.

Let's get started. I will begin at #9, go to #1, and then I will close with some words on some other games that didn't make the numbered list.

9. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Note: your player character will never have torn-up clothing or use his claws like in this artwork/like the enemy worgen do

I'm just going to list Cataclysm here because, frankly, I don't even want to discuss WoW at Shadowlands and beyond... even if discussing the model update will reach into that era of content. Obviously, I don't play WoW anymore and haven't in quite a while, but yeah, I used to really enjoy it. Played it for many, many years. Probably too many.

Cataclysm was a pretty outright bad expansion, but it did add playable worgen (something I obviously wanted from day 1 after seeing the worgen mobs running around), and they can even turn into human form, which is a must for me in terms of actually being a werewolf instead of just a wolf-person, which I wouldn't even roll. That was a nice touch I didn't actually expect from the devs.

Unfortunately, the model update turned them into something far "cuter" and more cuddly than I liked, not to mention adding preposterous fur options like stripes and merle, but the human form customization was nice. Still, the model update drove me toward playing different races, like maining my kul'tiran and night elf instead of the worgen I was always ultimately pretty disappointed in, given his wearing fine armor and wielding giant weapons. Anyway, the entire game took a huge nosedive not long after the model change, so it's a moot point for me regardless.

As for the deeper worgen lore beyond "they are werewolves with a funny name": I hate it with all my heart. I did my best to ignore every scrap of that and how they are just self-parodies, to delete the Gilneas/worgen starting zone quests from my entire brain, and especially to ignore the fact that they were all preposterously British despite England being one of the last places historically to even have many werewolf legends of its own. I have an article about that here if you are interested in the topic. The game made all of these things very difficult, especially how hard they wanted to drive home that the worgen are silly posh British parody dog-people strutting around in waistcoats and tophats instead of being fearsome cursed werewolves. So I won't bother going into all that.

The mechanics are fun except for the fact that you have to wear armor and use weapons, so ultimately you just look like a beast-person instead of a werewolf, especially after the model change making them far more appealing to a certain demographic. If Blizzard had wanted to put in effort, they would have made your gear look tattered and would have made you swap to claws when you turn, but that would've been a lot of work. They could have at least added a specialized class or something and then also given it to some Horde races to make the precious Horde players happy. I don't know. I just think werewolves wearing fine clothes and armor and wielding weapons is immensely silly. They're supposed to be werewolves.

So while they are extremely far from perfect, the worgen are at least relatively fun in that, if nothing else, you can go between werewolf and human forms and run on all fours as fast as the fastest ground mount, and I am deeply surprised they did either. I immensely enjoyed both of those things during my time playing a worgen, and they helped mitigate the great disappointment otherwise in many other regards - though not enough to keep me from maining other races, especially later on. But, in the end, WoW sucks now and it's unrecoverable, and WoW Classic is a joke, so I'll never be playing a worgen again anyway.

8. Diablo II

I'm sure you were looking for this one - the werewolf druid in Diablo II (preemptive sidebar: I am not going to talk about Diablo IV). I love his design and gameplay mechanics. He's fantastic. However, he is of course yet another instance of "the werewolf must be a druid," which I personally find a little tiresome after so much of it. But hey, this was one of the earlier games to do that, so it predated a lot of the craze.

At any rate, the Druid class in Diablo II obviously gets a werewolf form. It also gets a requisite werebear because werewolves can almost never just be werewolves, but at least the werewolf does not completely suck. You can also summon wolves, which is a bonus.

While I'm not really that big on Diablo-type gameplay - I prefer either third-person or else a proper isometric, party-based RPG - so Diablo II didn't really hold my interest a lot, the werewolf druid is very fun and a very cool werewolf, the setting is great, and the werewolf suits the dark Gothic feeling and look of the game that is enjoyable and well conveyed in the first place. The werewolf druid is a great addition that I am glad they added.

7. Baldur's Gate II

Let me make something perfectly clear: Baldur's Gate II is, in my opinion, the best game ever made (only Uncharted 2: Among Thieves also makes this rank for me). Combined with BG1 to create the Baldur's Gate Saga, it is one of the best stories ever told and also my favorite game mechanics-wise, again alongside Uncharted 2 even if yes, I know that those games could almost not be farther apart in terms of mechanics. I absolutely love BG2 beyond words. Please note I am talking about the original Baldur's Gate II, as released in 2000, not the "Enhanced Edition," which is a disgrace to the game, the entire series, and a piece of garbage. It's shamefully difficult to find the original game anymore, but it's worth it over playing the EE; trust me. I'll try to spare you any further ranting on this topic, as the original Baldur's Gate Saga is something very close to my heart.

Anyway, the werewolf in BG2 is - once again - a druid, specifically a druid subclass called Shapeshifter. It doesn't really have any werewolf gameplay mechanics in that you are not treated differently for it, nor do you transform out of your own control. In fact you will be spending the majority of your time in werewolf form, which can get quite tiresome. I'm not the biggest fan of a werewolf holding normal conversations with NPCs, etc. But regardless, it's there, and I love it, and it looks awesome, and that's more than I can say for so many games. Plus, you get cool bonuses and stuff. The power of it varies over time and with the progression of your character. I will not go too deeply into it, as I am actually an insane D&D video game nerd and even today I can spend far too much time building characters and tweaking numbers and doing ridiculous tricks in D&D games to powergame. If you want just one of my credentials I beat BG2 on the hardest difficulty with Ascension and no other gameplay mods. Long story short, the Greater Werewolf is quite powerful, and it shouldn't be a detriment to your party to either be one or bring along Cernd, one of my favorite companions.

So don't listen to the people down on the Shapeshifter in BG2. You can get mods that make them overpowered, anyway. Also don't listen to my complaints about it not feeling werewolfish enough because that's nearly impossible to come by anyway if you're not playing the #1 game on this list. Go try one out. It's fun! Plus, BG2 is the best game ever made.

6. Altered Beast

What are some of Mav's favorite things? Ancient Greece, hoplites, hot men, werewolves, dragons, tigers...

When I found out Altered Beast exists and is a game wherein you play as an awesome hoplite dude and turn into a werewolf, a green dragon, a tiger-man, and ultimately a werewolf is still the most powerful of all his forms, I was ecstatic. I had to play it immediately.

I wasn't disappointed. It's a fun, unforgiving game, because it was made before video games started becoming what I think we're supposed to call accessible today. I don't know what else there is to say about the game if what I've already said hasn't convinced you to play it. The werewolf form is your first transformation, and your most powerful is a golden werewolf. Me being me, I appreciate that a werewolf form is still the best in the end instead of being outshone by other creatures, and even the other forms available are all very cool.

As I said, I really don't know what more one could ask for of this setting and gameplay. I've never been picky about genre; I play a very wide variety of video games and have plenty of fun, and I certainly had fun with this one.

(Note: I'm not going to talk about that 2005 Altered Beast remake, I like to pretend it never happened)

5. Werewolf the Apocalypse: Earthblood

I'll be the first to admit I'm far from the biggest World of Darkness fan ever, as has brought many insults my way already, but I was pleasantly surprised by the mechanics of the werewolf form in Earthblood. I will not call it the "crinos form," as that terminology is so immensely silly that I could no longer take it seriously if I did. So anyway, the gameplay actually lets you feel like a werewolf, and you even get two stances you can swap between for different combat styles instead of anchoring werewolves down to just doing one thing. I'm not going to wax on about the lore, the story, etc. - but man the werewolf mechanics really are fun. It is, of course, the main draw of the whole deal, and they didn't slouch on that element.

It's important to me that a werewolf feel powerful and also violent. Werewolves should not be cuddly, or else they are no longer werewolves. Painting hallways with the blood of my enemies as if I'm recreating the Ninja lead-up in Metal Gear Solid while in werewolf form is cathartic and a good way to give the player a sense of being a werewolf instead of just an animal-headed person. This is a very solid "play as a werewolf" game, and one of the few games that exist with the primary purpose of letting you really play as a werewolf, whether you are a predetermined character or not. Be warned, the game is notoriously janky, but if you're like me, you're enjoying the werewolf mechanics enough that you don't care - or you can be even more like me and not give a toss about "jankiness" in a game in the first place.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

While a significant and crushing downgrade from the werewolves in certain other Elder Scrolls entries - more on that momentarily - at least Skyrim let you become a werewolf in the base game. No waiting for an expansion pack and no waiting forever until you move on (thanks, Oblivion). However, the differences between the mechanics of werewolves in past entries and the Skyrim werewolves are many and tragic. I confess I did not play Skyrim much, partially as a result of these exact elements, and partially because I just don't spend much time playing video games anymore, among other things.

In Skyrim, being a werewolf becomes what is colloquially called an "awesome button," letting you turn into a big, strong, cool werewolf that can eat people to extend your werewolf timer. It's great and enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't actually feel as if you are truly cursed with lycanthropy or smelly lupus or whatever silly name Elder Scrolls gave it (yes, I know the name, but that doesn't make it less silly). You have no real disadvantages to being a werewolf, such as having to worry about when you will transform outside your own control - because you never will, which is an immense downgrade in terms of feeling werewolfish and adding appropriate challenge and downside to being a werewolf. You also don't have to worry about being forced to devour a civilized race in order to sate your accursed hunger. Instead, you're doing that on purpose to turn out of werewolf form again, because the more you eat, the longer you stay transformed. Still, the werewolves in Skyrim are good - they just don't compare to previous entries. But I certainly appreciate them and the fact that they are present in the base game.

3. The Sims 3

Trust me, they do look better in game, but I couldn't find any of my own screenshots because it's been a hot minute since I played this.

You probably think I'm trolling you, but the werewolves in The Sims have always been pretty fun; I remember when the ones in 2 first came out, I enjoyed them like crazy. The ones in 3 rocked and were easily the best variant; too bad the game is relatively difficult to get running properly, and many aspects of the werewolves are delicate and easy to glitch, including your entire Sim's werewolf form design. I am not going to talk about those abominations that were added to The Sims 4, because they are some of the worst things I have ever had the misfortune of seeing and are not werewolves by any metric.

Sims 3 changed the aspects of Sims 2 werewolves that I didn't like, such as how being a werewolf altered your sim's entire personality over time and how the werewolf form always looked the same. They made the system much more robust. Frankly, the Sims 3 werewolves are some of the better werewolves in gaming, especially for the kind of game that The Sims is (expect assorted dog jokes, for example, given it's The Sims, yet it still isn't half as bad as it could be). I also love the wolf-man design; it works much better with Sims than something bigger and more wolfish. Certainly far better than whatever the hell is in Sims 4, which again, I will try my best not to talk about.

Anyway, I absolutely recommend Sims 3 if you enjoy Sims games and werewolves and want to have some werewolf fun. I'd probably still be occasionally blowing my finite amount of time on this earth playing it if I had it properly running on my current PC.

2. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Bet you didn't expect to see this one, did you? You thought I was gonna say Skyrim as #2, right? Actually, I bet you thought I was going to say that one as #1.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is a game many would consider unapproachable today. I enjoyed it. Obviously, I played it for the playable werewolf, and I had fun! They work similarly to the ones in Bloodmoon, but, in my opinion, they still aren't as fantastic as the Bloodmoon ones. But the game does force you to actually live and behave as a werewolf - I love the werewolf hunter[s] mechanic - which, again... it's almost the only one of its kind other than Bloodmoon. For that, it gets #2 on this list.

And that means you know what makes #1, untouched in its glory, undimmed by time...

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Bloodmoon

Alright. Have I ever talked about how this is the single greatest werewolf game ever made? I think I have, but let's get into it again.

I like Morrowind in the first place. I think it's hands down the best of the Elder Scrolls series and, frankly, the only one really worth dedicating much time to (forgive me). I played it when it first came out, and while I have never been the kind of person to pour hours into any ES or even any other open world game, Morrowind held my attention even as a kid - before I knew about "open world" and before it was such a buzzword - whereas other games before and after it struggled to do so or else failed entirely. Morrowind was groundbreaking for its time in many ways. And then they announced the expansion pack called Bloodmoon that would let you play as a werewolf. I was so excited I could hardly stand it, and even with my extreme werewolf pickiness, I was not disappointed. At all.

This is a game wherein the werewolves are treated as a serious threat, they are insanely rare to encounter in the wild in any capacity (I actually became a werewolf through a random encounter because I ran around on Solstheim obsessively every night rather than just becoming one through the story - it took me many nights, IRL, to encounter one), and when you do run into them, they are likely to destroy you. You are insanely, over the top powerful when you turn into a werewolf, yourself. Some would even call it stupid. I would not. You run at the speed of light and your jump turns into borderline flight. It's basically gliding. You're also preposterously powerful in general. I love it.

Most importantly of all, however, is that you are actually forced to roleplay as a werewolf. You will turn each night, and you must consume 1 victim NPC of any of the playable races. Solstheim is full of assorted enemies that will work for this, but when you go back to Vvardenfell, it can be harder to find a nightly meal while avoiding devouring any quest NPCs. Plus, you have to manage your gear before and after transformations, and you have to be sure you are never witnessed transforming. The entire system is in-depth and very awesome, making you actually feel like a cursed being that has to worry when the sun starts to set, forcing you to run far from civilization.

I cannot put into words how much I adore this game's werewolf system. Nothing compares. This is a real werewolf system, instead of "play as a wolf-person" or "hit the awesome button to become a werewolf for a little while with 0 consequences" like basically every other werewolf game out there.

So long story short, if you claim to love werewolves and want to play as one in a video game, and you haven't played Bloodmoon, then you're lying to yourself and the whole world. Shame on you.

And now for things that didn't make the list...

10. Assorted Acknowledgements

This category is for ones I don't even really have a lot to say about, but I figured I would mention them.

Terraria - You can get an item that lets you turn into a werewolf when night falls. It's pretty fun! I like the mechanics of it, plus it has a neat werewolf design, to boot. I dock serious points in this game for straight-up replacing the zombies with hordes of werewolves in hard mode, though. "Werewolf infestations" and werewolves being zombie stand-ins these days is preposterous and overdone. But I had a lot of fun running around as a werewolf and exploring, so it's absolutely top of the non-tiered list especially as far as werewolf mechanics go.

Pillars of Eternity - The "werewolf" in this game is one of several animal-person forms the druid can get, continuing the common theme in gaming of druid werewolves. The wolf is decidedly the worst of the lot, less useful even than the prey animals available. Put bluntly: they are basically terrible, and you're an idiot to ever use this form when there are so many build options available. There are also lots of other RPG options available. As in other games out there in the world. You should play those instead.

Guild Wars 2 - You cannot actually play as a werewolf in Guild Wars 2, but I figured I would mention it because lots of people do. If you want to roll one of the Norn giant race, either as a pretty giant woman who is the mommy stepping on you from some men's dreams or as the ugly tiny-headed cartoon men, you can get an ability to turn into a werewolf for like 30 seconds; it's far from exciting. And like so many werewolf abilities today, it comes with the option to also turn into other humanoid animals with different abilities. I've heard that, of them, only the cat and bear are useful, which is not a shocker as video game logic goes (game devs think wolves straight up suck at everything lol). I didn't play a Norn during my stint with Guild Wars 2 - I played a male human. He's Nolan North, so he's obviously the only choice and also why I played the game as much as I did.

The Elder Scrolls Online - This disgraceful abomination of a "game" is terrible in every way and could not have been a bigger disappointment on the promise of an "Elder Scrolls but MMORPG" concept even from the very beginning. It was never good, it only ever got worse, and I am happy to say I abandoned it long ago (I am not happy to say I was playing it in early closed beta because of the promise of werewolves - and I played it far more than I should have, so I am not coming at this from ignorance). It is a game with designs so ugly and unremarkable that you want to quit and walk through the woods just to remind yourself beauty still exists in the world. ESO clearly had no idea what direction to take itself in from the moment it dropped, and it certainly was never created with the pretense of playing like an Elder Scrolls game but being massively multiplayer. It has no sense of mood or atmosphere whatsoever and possesses writing that will make you long for the riveting tales in other low-rent, low-thought MMORPGs. You can play as a hideous weird sad werewolf model that is absurdly small (most likely smaller than the race you are playing as, which means you actually shrink when you transform) and should have been left in beta, which functions like a worse awesome button werewolf than the ones in Skyrim, because you also suck gameplay-wise especially depending on the dev's mood with the meta. It is terrible, as is everything about the game. ESO also went out of its way to completely wreck all previous Elder Scrolls werewolf lore that was actually really good. Anyway, don't play this. Your time is worth more than that, even if you don't think it is.

That covers some of the best! Requisite apologies if I didn't include your favorite.

( Free Newsletter  — Patreon — Wulfgard — Werewolf Fact Masterlist — Twitter — Vampire Fact Masterlist — Amazon Author page )

[cynthiav06]

I loved the Vengeance saga, an absolute banger. Might be my second favorite after the Wisdom Saga, but here's the thing:

Odysseus wounding Poseidon or even being able to use his trident or trapping Poseidon amidst the storm is all extremely unlikely as in impossible even in the Epic canon.

Before everyone starts a riot, here's why.

Poseidon is a god. Not just any god either, one of the Elder Gods (as in first olympian gods). In fact before the Dark Ages of Greek, from at least Homeric Era to Classical Era, Poseidon was called Wanax or was at least heavily associated with him by the Myceneans and was the old King of the Gods according to them. But I digress.

Point is Poseidon is basically an Eldritch horror on legs while Odysseus, despite his brilliance and strength, is just a mortal, not even a demigod, a human. Albeit one blessed by the wisdom goddess.

Poseidon is a God of storms. And sure Epic might have some different connotations but apparently not cause Hermes himself quotes in track 2 of Vengeance saga Dangerous that no mortal can survive Poseidon's storm I.e he created it so he's the stormbringer confirmed. Plus, Odysseus himself does say that he will make Poseidon stop the storm.

That aside, Poseidon is literally the God of the Seas. No god, not even Zeus, can beat Poseidon in his own bloody domain. So Odysseus has no chance.

Even if Odysseus trapped him on land, Poseidon can create earthquakes with his trident, which is also prominent in his lore. So that's a no, no.

Sure, Odysseus could have made Poseidon drop his trident, but even if that happened in no scenario, would Odysseus be able to lift it. Poseidon's trident was forged by elder cyclops and is one of the three absolute weapons of power in Greek myths ( the other two being Zeus's bolt and Hades's Helm). These weapons were designed specifically for these gods and obey none other. Not to mention it weighs a lot, i.e., "only a god can lift it heavy."

In the impossible scenario that Odysseus lifts it(by some miracle or other), Poseidon could just summon it back to his hand.

For all those saying maybe Poseidon can't do close combat, he has fought titans. He has to all but breathe strongly in Odysseus's direction, and Odysseus will literally die, which is why Odysseus's survival is Odyssey is such a legendary feat.

It also beats the point of Odysseus's legends. Odysseus is the King of Ithaca, sure, but he's no demigod. He doesn't even have any special abilities aside from quick thought or the occasional godly assistance. He's basically a mortal that achieves things everybody, even demigods, failed at all through his wisdom, wit, and trickery. He is only human, but his mind is what makes him on par with the divine.

Odysseus resorting to physical fighting against a literal god goes against his very nature. Odysseus is the smartest Greek hero, a strategist, a manipulator, and he knows very well how to play to his strengths.

In the original works, Odysseus escapes Poseidon the second time due to intervention from both Athena and Ino. Ino is the goddess of protection, especially the protector of sailors. She gifts Odysseus with a veil of protection. And Athena pulls her usual strings.

This is Odysseus playing to his strengths. He has the situation in his favor, a plan as he has convinced these gods either with his past deeds or his unbreakable will to intercede on his behalf. By manipulation or sincerity, doesn't matter. He lies, manipulates, tricks, and thinks his way through, so he would never ever resort to a 1v1, that too physical with a god.

[Circe was a special case. He had the blessing of molly on his side due to him earning Hermes's favor. Through a plan]

I love Epic, I do, and I love Jay even more. He's phenomenal and Epic the musical is an absolute work of genius and I know he said he is taking inspiration from video games and anime which might lead to some divergences but this is a bit too big of a liberty from both the source material and the essence of Odysseus. Sure, it's enjoyable and badass, but it's a disservice to the original Odysseus in a way.

Just wanted to give my honest opinion cause I love Epic so much, especially with its imperfections.

[nevesmose]

Bandages on Broken Souls: A Nostramo Culture/Lore Post

Sometimes I think about the wee lower-deck people that were all covered in bandages in the Night Lords Trilogy. Why so bandagey? (Bandagepilled wrapmaxxers, not beating the bandage allegations, etc)

She glanced at the wretch, who was unhealthily tall and sexless in its overcloak, keeping its face behind stained bandages. Several others lurked close to the door, whispering amongst themselves. It was impossible not to smell their sweat, their stinking, bloodstained bandages, and the rancid oil-blood of their bionics.

Those ones. The attendants providing for Octavia's needs as a Navigator. Octavia's attendants.

It turns out ADB does tell us a bit later on:

The chlorine reek of them offended his senses, the way it rose in a miasma from their antiseptic-soaked bandages, as if such trivial protections could ward against the changes of the warp.

This is very interesting to me for a few reasons since it can lead to various interpretations about Nostraman culture, even though it's important to bear in mind that what we're seeing is the degraded situation after however-many thousand subjective years of dicking about in the Warp, Eye of Terror etc.

They believe, or at least Ruven the POV character here thinks they believe, that warp mutation can be defended against with purely physical items i.e. bandages and disinfectant. While it's easy to point to examples of people from all kinds of cultures in the setting using spiritual or metaphysical ways to protect themselves from the warp, I find it interesting that this doesn't seem to occur to the Nostramans.

In fact, unless I'm remembering it wrong (always a possibility tbh) other than a small mention in one of the Gendor Skraivok short stories about there being a secret Lectitio Divinitatus cult among the serfs, there seems to be very little spiritual/religious belief organic to Nostramo itself.

That makes some sense, I think. It is after all Space Gotham, a world of armoured groundcars and looming starscrapers where everyone is living under some form or another of very high pressure just to survive whether that means getting their next meal or keeping their position in high level gang politics. Whatever beliefs the original settlers brought with them to the Sunless World were, I imagine, ground away over time as generations passed and people had other, more visceral concerns.

There are a few scenes in the 1984 nuclear war TV movie Threads that take place in the period about 10-20 years after the bombs have fallen. It's clear that the by now rapidly deteriorating survivors of the pre-war world are trying as best they can to provide some kind of education for their post-war descendants, but this is extremely limited and relies on what they can gather together from whatever books, VHS tapes etc happened to survive the war:

"The skeleton of a cat! A cat's skeleton!"

And we can see that it simply means nothing to the children and young adults whose entire existence revolves around basic survival - mostly food and the things they have to do in order to get it.

This, in a way, is what I think happened to whatever beliefs in anything beyond the material that may have ever existed on Nostramo by the time we see it in the Crusade/Heresy era. It's a sad, stunted little world and I feel immensely sorry for the nasty, skeevy people it produced.

Another factor affecting this would of course be the Night Haunter. You don't really need to have a spiritual/metaphorical figure or system dispensing rules and justice when Konrad is actually real and inside your home making it brutally clear what his views on law-breaking are.

So, in my usual roundabout way, we come back to the bandages again. My view, as I've expressed before in my ramblings, is that Konrad didn't truly eradicate crime on Nostramo so much as eradicate the appearance of it.

There's a legend from Ancient Greece about a Spartan boy training to be a warrior which I'll post as a screenshot below since I think we could all do with a break from my writing style for a bit:

"He could steal and suffer and die rather than be found out" is the relevant part here I think. Much like the idea that snitches get stitches or the mafia code of omertà where one's value in society and life itself hinge on a mutual keeping of silence against any and all authority figures.

We know that even before Konrad arrived, Nostraman society functioned on a gang allegiance basis, so already fertile ground for a very insular and secretive type of culture. But then we add the Night Haunter to the mix and the numbers spell disaster for you at Sacrifice the social pressure in this direction ramps up massively.

It's also made very clear pretty much everywhere that Nostramo is a vicious, predatory society. There's a description in one of the Skraivok stories of Phy Orlon, the canonical smallest saddest uwu-iest Night Lord:

It astounded Skraivok how such a vulpine little thing had made it through the selection process. Even bulked by legionary gifts, Orlon still managed to convey the impression of feebleness. Towards the end, Nostramo had been providing only the dregs of the dregs. No wonder Curze had levelled the place.

Weakness was like the scent of blood in the water to the Night Lords. Legionaries like Orlon would always attach themselves to those they deemed powerful, for protection. That explained the ridiculous batwings welded to the top of his helm in emulation of Sevatar, and why he had appointed himself as Skraivok’s adjutant.

It's like prison or high school. Even the transhuman supersoldier Nostramans still function this way. What hope do ordinary people have?

Not much at all, I think. Just in order to survive day to day it'd be necessary to conceal any injury, weakness or deformity at the risk of having it being ruthlessly used against you by just about everyone.

So we come back to the bandages again. Told you I'd get there eventually. We see that the attendants are in fact completely covered in bandages Joshua Graham style:

‘Lord,’ they hissed through slits in their faces that were once lips. Their bloodstained bandages rustled as they shifted and lowered their weapons.

[...]

She raised a bandaged hand, as if she could possibly bar the warrior’s passage with a demand, let alone with her physical presence.

I can imagine the impulse to cover up and conceal any weakness applies very strongly to warp mutations of any sort. Curdled and degraded over millennia roaming the immaterium in the bowels of a ship with the changes becoming worse and worse the longer they go on, it would be plausible for this to develop into a need to cover up and disinfect every inch of oneself in order to maintain some pretence, however flimsy, of being a capable human being.

The saddest part of it for me, though, is that all of the attendants are like this. It's a situation where everyone is quite literally in the same boat, undergoing the same suffering, and yet they still retain this deeply-ingrained need to hide and conceal themselves from each other. It feels like even here, ten thousand years after its destruction, Nostramo's poison is still influencing them, still flowing through their veins to keep them separated, afraid, and deeply alone.

Oh wow, a few paragraphs from ADB somehow led to a great long wall of text. Congratulations if you've made it this far!

PS: This being ADB I feel obliged to consider the possibility of Ruven either lying or being mistaken. I don't think this is likely since he is a) also Nostraman and b) a sorcerer meaning that if there was any spiritual aspect going on he would more than likely have the requisite cultural/magical knowledge or experience to be aware of it or otherwise detect it. Ruven is a conniving goth thot but he has no reason to lie in that particular bit of his own thoughts.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

I have a couple of older asks that need longer replies, and I’ll try to answer at least one of them tomorrow… but today we have a bunch of shorter ones!

furubatsu asked:

In an ask you answered ages ago, you mentioned how Malleus threw off your Top/Bottom radars at first and I was curious, are there any other characters that made you go "their x! No, wait, y!"

Ooh, good question! The only other character I can think of is Lilia, but he wasn’t as confusing as Malleus: his design threw us off, but the moment Lilia opened his mouth, we figured him out lol

We really very rarely have problems with that, because it’s more about feeling the vibe of a character than anything else.

But Malleus really did confuse us for quite some time…

Anonymous asked:

are you two aware of league of legends? maybe the jhin x hwei dynamic would be interesting…

We know of it, but we aren’t even remotely closely familiar with the lore and stuff, but we actually went and read a bit about Jhin and Hwei after receiving your ask and YEP WE GET IT LOL to be honest we’re flattered that you thought that we might like them… they really do have an interesting dynamic, and the fact that it’s rooted in deep feelings about art and has some much despair and inner and outer conflict honestly makes it very spicy.

And Hwei’s design 👌💖💖💖 instantly love him.

Anonymous asked:

Even though Regina George isn't really fitting for Vil, I bet the in universe rps/rpf community loves casting him as her in Mean Girls AUs and frequently make comments about how Vil should've been cast as her in the musical version and/or remake.

Anon, I 100% agree that the in-universe fandom fancasts him as Regina all the time. He should start asking Mira who is the most “he should’ve played Regina in the musical omg” person in the world lol

But at the same time I feel like this is the reason why Vil doesn’t read comments under his posts sometimes…

Anonymous asked:

One of my favorite 'Kalim Overblots' I've read, we don't even get to see him Overblot.

He overblots after an enemy tricks him into thinking he murdered a comatose Jamil right in front of him, leading him to attacking the 'culprit' in a rage with Oasis Maker and then-

Cut to the aftermath.

There you go, another interesting way to make Kalim overblot! I like how it’s still related to him feeling responsibility + despair because of Jamil’s death, it seems like this is the main trigger for Kalim to get an emotional reaction of this magnitude.

Anonymous asked:

Najma and Jamil are basically siblings who like to mess each other but still love each other. I mean Jamil has a better family relationship to her than his parents. That doesn't mean he doesn't like how she often annoyed him.

Azul will likely try to win Najma over for her to accept her brother's relationship to her. I mean having inlaws together is worst.

Aw this is very sweet. I’m glad Jamil has a sister like that.

God I didn’t even think about the Azul-being-into-Jamil aspect of all of it, oh god this guy is going to annoy Najma too, although for some reason I get the feeling that she’s only going to be nice to Azul to annoy Jamil.

But then again, I can’t say anything concrete about her – haven’t met the girl yet.

Anonymous asked:

IDK why but I really like the idea of Ruggie unintentionally 'stealing' Azul's 'boyfriends'. Like Azul is already upset that Jamil prefers Ruggie over him and then finds Ruggie on top of Idia when he arrives at the Board Game Club room (in reality they fell over and accidentally landed in a compromising position).

Poor Azul, this is going to make him overblot again lol  I like how this is turning into a weird romcom, although with how petty Azul is, it could end up turning into an entirely different kind of anime.

Anonymous asked:

when i was starting twst i thought neige was the name of jamils sister

Jamil and his randomly French sister…

[highfantasy-soul]

NATLA Episode 8 - Legends (2/4)

[Masterlist of my NATLA thoughts]

Of course, full spoilers ahead.

<previous/next>

I really enjoy how Zhao (Azula) is a much smarter villain in the live-action than he was in the animated series. While I do love them both, leaning into the Fire Nation not just working off brute force, but rather being strategic and clever with their attacks was a great choice. The Ice Moon caveat for the spirits and Kuruk's spirit knife made the world feel bigger to me than just having the moon and ocean spirits conveniently always sitting there to kill by any means. I don't think the live-action team went in with the idea that the ocean and moon spirits being mortal was 'a plothole to fill' like some claim (yet again, always jumping to the least charitable interpretation of the live-action rather than spending three seconds to think about what it ADDS to the story to flesh that part out), I think they used it to seed a lot of lore and worldbuilding while also giving reasons as to why events played out the way they did.

Like I said in my post about episode 6, it makes a lot more sense to me that Zhao would have easy access to the info (and weapon) needed to kill the Moon Spirit rather than that shlub somehow finding the super hidden library that an archeologist spent YEARS searching for. While it was a cool foreshadowing of the library in season 2, having Zhao discover the moon and ocean spirit stuff in Avatar Roku's temple in the live-action I think makes more sense.

The fire sage being the one to explain the spirit oasis and the origins of waterbending to Zhao was a really cool change! It shows Zhao formulating his plan rather than having it just told to us like in the animated version - it includes the lore behind the ocean and moon spirit without making it so obvious that that's the solution to their problem, it introduces it as the problem and we have to work our way to the solution instead of it just being given to us. The fact that the sages still know and revere (even though they're using it to form an attack plan) the histories of bending is a nice touch. Especially the older sages, they remember the old ways and stories and don't discount the power of the old tales like younger people might. It doesn't stop them from falling into fascism (it stops some, but not all), but it does add layers and nuance to their world view rather than the very surface-level 'all others are bad, we don't pay attention to them' view that was shown mostly in the animated version.

Kuruk appearing to Aang to warn him was super cool!! I like how past Avatars can appear to their current iteration (not to mention they were right outside his shrine) to warn them of something and having it be Kuruk's knife that he can feel added a lot. It's another instance where the Fire Nation can turn anything into a weapon against the world - the weapon Kuruk forged to PROTECT the world from evil spirits and keep the world in balance is now being twisted and used by the Fire Nation to hurt the good ones and throw the world out of balance. Just as Zhao and the Fire Sage took a beautiful story about the creation of the Water Tribes and twisted it into something to harm them, they're taking a weapon of protection and making it a brutal weapon against the light.

UUUGGGHHHH Zhao and his twisted 'justifications' as to why killing the moon isn't actually all that bad. "Killing the ocean would deprive people of their lives - I'm not a monster!" of course he wants a world to rule, so he can't kill them, only fully subjugate them and wipe out their culture! See, they will get to live under his amazing rule, why would he deny them that opportunity?? Watch closely, everyone - that's the reasoning a lot of fascists give when they start trying to eradicate cultural practices - they argue that they're leaving the people alive, so it's not actually bad! We're just stripping away their identity and replacing it with our own! Save the man, kill the savage and all that.

"The Avatar's power is great, but it pales in comparison to the elemental spirits" SUCH GREAT FORESHADOWING WITHOUT GIVING IT ALL AWAYYYY!!!!!!! Also a great way to show the power scale of the world - as powerful as Aang is in the Avatar state, the spirits are the OG - especially the elemental ones. Aang ISN'T the most powerful thing in this world. It sets up how they're going to defeat the fire nation army without Aang in control of the Avatar state really well! They're leaving breadcrumbs rather than telling you the plan in a monologue or just randomly deciding to join with the ocean spirit - a power that hadn't been discussed at all in the animated show.

That Momo fake out death was CRUEL!!!! He just saved a girl's life and we think he gave his life to do it!!!! But it was a great way to introduce not only the spirit oasis, but also the healing properties of its waters. In the animated show, that's not mentioned at all until Pakku gives Katara the water vial and tells her it can heal - it's actually SHOWN in the live-action that it's powers are beyond normal healing. Yue's story about her being healed in these waters makes a lot more sense here as well rather than in the animated series where she tells the story once the moon is in trouble. At the time, it seems like it has nothing to do with the immediate danger, it's just a way to set up that she'll give back that life in the end - a quick lore set-up break in the action. In the live-action, it's directly tied to what's happening - she's doing the same thing to Momo that was done to her to save her life. Her connection with the moon isn't relevant yet, so that part of the story is held till later when it is relevant.

Honestly, I think the spirit oasis is much more impressive in the live-action. In the animated show, it's just a small island of grass with a pond - in the live-action, it's a whole valley filled with life. And I love how NO adaptation can resist showing Zuko fire-blasting his way out from beneath the ice - it's just too damn cool to leave out! I like how Iroh is still playing his loyalties close to the chest - he's not going to outright attack Zhao yet, but he'll definitely stall and not help out as much as Zhao wants him to.

Zuzu!!!! Like always, huge shit is happening all around but Zuko still thinks him capturing Aang is the most important thing in the world. I like that they're keeping that narrow focus for him - one of his biggest flaws - that blinds him to everything around him. He's not concerned about saving Agna Qel'a, he's not concerned about saving the spirits, he just wants to capture Aang and restore his place in the Fire Nation.

His face as Katara says she's gonna fight him and Aang agreeing - oof. Here he is thinking he's Aang's biggest threat and Aang is just handing his battle off to Katara. And Aang's sly little 'go easy' that wasn't to Zuko - the poor thing. So we begin Zuko v Katara round 2!!! Back in episode 2 on Kyoshi Island, Katara stood against Zuko - untrained and terrified, but knowing she needed to protect Aang. She was beaten easily, but now, she's had training. She's had experience. She's forged herself into a warrior and she's ready for everything Zuko can dish out. Well, not EVERYTHING as even in the animated series, Zuko does win due to his extensive training, but she puts up a wicked fight!

I am good with the siege only lasting one day rather than several like in the animated version. Though I do miss the 'you rise with the moon, I rise with the sun' line, it does kind of feel like Zuko kidnapping Aang was more to provide a cliffhanger for the end of The Siege of the North: Part 1 rather than a necessary narrative choice. In a 2-part finale, yeah we want a cliffhanger, but since this is all one episode, like I mentioned in my post about how episode flow has to change given the new format, that just wouldn't have worked out as well as a smooth single-night attack. Aang seeking guidance before the battle rather than getting kidnapped mid-meditation I think was a smart move. (I've always felt like that cliffhanger was a bit of an odd choice anyways because they make this huge deal about Aang not being able to find his body if it isn't right where he left it, but then it's…not a problem at all - his spirit just zooms back to his body - conveniently showing the Gaang where to find him and Zuko and nothing actually comes of that 'threat' of him not being able to re-enter his body. I'll talk about Zuko's speech about Azula later when it's brought up and altered in the live-action).

I LOOOOOVE Zhao's little speech here - his ambition to gain status - to become a legend, has led him to more and more dangerous things. He truly believes he could become the new Fire Lord. Iroh pleads with him not to do it, but Zhao is too filled with the desire for power that he's not listening to reason. Even after Iroh's threats, Zhao isn't concerned in the least - he views the threats 'empty' and is so smug about how 'this could still work out for you'. As if Iroh is like Zhao and would cave to any opportunity for power.

Like always, Aang tries to talk his enemy down - he tries to appeal to their better nature, an idea that they wouldn't want to throw the world into chaos. The exchange here is SO FREAKING GOOD. Aang pleading with Zhao that this isn't power, Zhao so drunk on his own importance that he can't imagine why anyone would give up the chance to wipe out an entire race of benders - and Aang knowing exactly what that's like, how horrifically awful it is. But for Zhao, those are only stories - he's never known a world with airbenders in it, but Sozin went down in history for that 'accomplishment' he, himself, can be in the history books along side such a 'legend' with no thought to the actual real, human hurt necessary to get there.

Aang finally tries the last thing he can - making Zhao the same offer he made Zuko: leave the attack behind and he'll go with them peacefully. But Zhao isn't Zuko - he wants more than just the Avatar. He wants to cause pain and suffering and have people look upon him with fear. I think it's such an interesting take to have Zhao, like June, not view the Avatar with reverence. He's bought into the Fire Nation propaganda that the Avatar isn't actually all that powerful - the Fire Lord has taken that place. Even the legitimacy of the concept of the Avatar itself is called into question - after all, the Fire Nation wants all the power and the Avatar would stop them. That's not helping  them, so the Avatar must be useless.

Unknowingly, Zhao has just struck at Aang's biggest fear: while Zhao thinks the Avatar doesn't matter on its face, Aang is afraid that he's not good enough as an Avatar TO matter.

I've seen people confused about Iroh's loyalties and his true goal in the live-action - is he really working against the fire nation or not? And some criticism that it seems like he's helping Zuko capture Aang TOO much/ doesn't stop Zhao soon enough from killing the moon spirit. I'd point them, yet again, to the animated series where he very clearly, in The Waterbending Master episode, tells Zuko "once we get to the north pole, the Avatar will be yours". At the moment, animated Iroh is fully on board with Zuko capturing the Avatar. If he plans on trying to influence him not to turn the Avatar in to the fire lord, it's not even hinted at yet, so I think keeping it up in the air for the live-action is staying true to Iroh and Zuko not being 'good guys' - their goals are still to capture Aang. Live action Iroh even attacks Zhao BEFORE the animated Iroh does! In the animation, Iroh threatens Zhao, but doesn’t make a move until Zhao has killed the moon spirit - in the live-action, he attacks in an attempt to save the spirit. Yet another example of people criticizing the live-action for something even more apparent in the animated series - often because they're thinking of the character 2 seasons from now and what they think THAT version of the character would do and trying to apply it to season 1 when that's not even the characterization the animated show gave them in season 1.

I think the subsequent fight in the moonless night is even more emotionally intense in the live action than it was in the animated series. You can FEEL the terror and SEE people dying as the waterbending fails and the fire nation advance. The way this sequence was shot is honestly amazing - it's not gruesome or violent for the sake of it - it's showing the truth of war and the horrific cost of such an assault. Letting the warriors of the Northern Water Tribe have a heroic stand against the firebenders even when their best resource was taken away was great to see. Giving Hahn and Chief Arnook their moment showed that it truly wasn't just about Aang and his friends - this story is about every single person who stands up to fight against tyranny, no matter the weapon they might wield or power they have.

[bearimba]

Thank you so much @invisiblemelonmoose!!! Hope you don't mind me answering your comment with a post, it's just a lot easier to format this way since I have quite a bit to say on the subject >:)c

So right off the bat, none of the kids have an actual connection to the legendaries---no special ✨chosen ones✨ or anything like that. It's more of a thematic thing for characterization purposes. To put it simply, each legendary has a specific word/trait I've associated with it for one reason or another, and so each character exhibits their respective trait in a way that they're supposed to grapple with throughout their game's storyline. Aka, an easy recipe for character growth!

Red -> Moltres (passion) Leaf -> Articuno (composure) Blue -> Zapdos (wit)

Since there's not really much lore for the Legendary Birds (at least not that I can find---there's a bit from the movies but I don't typically work with the animated stuff as source material), I had a very vague starting point, so I decided to go off their elements when selecting traits. Fire is often associated with burning, consuming passion---but Red isn't exactly the most animated guy in canon. Instead of being outwardly enthused, he has a much more mellow but no less intense love for pokemon. Big or small, tough or weak, he has a soft spot for them all. However, he also happens to have a talent for battling that Oak picks up on, for which he encouraged him (to a maddening degree) to pick up battling and eventually the Indigo League. Yet all the nagging and expectations---from nearly everyone around him, not just Oak---wears down on him, and it takes a forfeited match and an extended trip to the coldest, most isolated place in the region to recall that old flame... Blue takes after his grandfather in that he has a lightning-quick intelligence---not that Oak ever seems to be particularly impressed. In a family full of extraordinary people, Blue only ever seems to be extra ordinary. As a result, he goes out of his way to appear confident and cocky, though it's less about having an inferiority complex and more so just wanting to be noticed. He's even compared to Red constantly, who is objectively the better battler and who is the main reason Blue takes on the gym challenge himself. But on his journey, his self-assurance actually causes him to make dumb mistake after dumb mistake that culminates in the loss at the Indigo League. Then Red goes missing all of a sudden, and Blue's left to pick up the pieces of his ego while he and Leaf travel through the Sevii Islands. Out of the trio, Leaf is most definitely the most unfazed. It's not that she's particularly peaceful---watching one of Blue's and hers many arguments will instantly prove otherwise---but overall she's not nearly as passionate as Red or as outspoken as Blue. In fact, she can show an almost icy apathy at times. When Blue returns to Pallet Town without Red and without a Champion title, she's the one to suggest they head out to the Sevii Islands and take a break. But as the situation on the archipelago worsens, Blue digs them into deeper trouble with the remnants of Team Rocket, and they continue to hear nothing but radio silence from Red, Leaf's first instinct is to shove it all down like none of it particularly matters.

Lyra -> Lugia (empathy) Silver -> Ho-Oh (justice)

Ok, this one might need a little explaining since I kind of had to extrapolate here (Lugia's ocean/storm thing is way too close to Kyogre to just go with something water-related, and Ho-Oh is kinda just Moltres But Cooler in a way). In the Tower Duo's legend, the Brass Tower burned down in a rainstorm, during which Lugia tried to quell the fires with the wind. However, that put the rest of Ecruteak in danger, so Lugia had to stand aside and let it burn---its empathy led to its own downfall, so to say. Then Ho-Oh came along and revived the pokemon that had died in the tower (the Legendary Beasts), but fixing the injustice that happened to the Beasts caused the townsfolk to drive them away. Also, we're ignoring the whole blurb about trainers who can "touch the souls of pokemon" or have a "pure heart" bringing the Tower Duo back---I'm regarding that as a legend that's more so about people and pokemon as collectives regaining trust in one another (remember, trying to avoid chosen ones here). Anywaysss, moving on to Lyra and Silver! Lyra is a very empathic person, but she relates to pokemon far more than she does people. She's used to going along with anything and watching the world move on around her, so when she's faced with actual conflict, she struggles to go out of her way to help. Meanwhile, Silver has no problem calling out such infractions when he sees them, but he often fails to consider the fallout when trying to confront it---especially how it'll affect his own pokemon. Their arcs throughout HGSS involve learning from each other (as in their arcs are so intwined it's extremely difficult to discuss them separately) until by the end, Lyra becomes Champion and gains the power and motivation to help everyone, while Silver is... well, he's stuck reevaluating his entire worldview and goes through a teeny tiny itty bitty little existential crisis, but that's a story for another day (aka spoilers that I would like to cover in its own post). Originally, the plan was to pair the johtags to each Legendary Beast with Kris, Ethan, and Lyra relating to Raikou, Entei, and Suicune respectively. However, the fire/water/electric combo felt way too similar to the kantrio kids, and I couldn't really come up with anything original that felt like it would fit. I feel like I can justify it though considering both Kris's and Ethan's journeys have nothing to do with the plot of HGSS (Kris's takes place a few years before during GSC and Ethan's doing his own thing with Eusine during HGSS) sooo......

Brendan -> Groudon (structure?) May -> Kyogre (entropy?) Wally -> Rayquaza (ambition?)

I'll be completely honest here, I've barely fleshed out the Hoenn trio. like. at all. so I won't say much here for fear of writing something that I don't agree with later. But! I can say that while the kanjoh kids all start off with their defining traits, I want Brendan, May, and Wally to work up to theirs. Other than that, I'd have to do way more research into the characters and plotline to come up with a decent semi-faithful interpretation, so this is my formal apology to all the Hoenn fans reading this :( I'll get to it someday I promise!!!!

Dawn -> Mespirit (emotion) Lucas -> Azelf (willpower) Barry -> Uxie (knowledge)

Since I've saved the Creation Trio for PLA, the Sinnoh kids get the Lake Guardians! It's easy pickings, too, since they've already got characteristics practically built into them. I know the matchup here mighttt look off considering the character's in-game personalities, but hear me out on this: Dawn starts out on her pokemon journey purely to spite her mother and becomes Champion mostly because she can. If that's not emotional-led thinking, I don't know what is. She certainly doesn't act emotional half the time---she's level-headed, and clever enough to get herself out of all the trouble she causes---but there is very much a reason why she and Barry get along so well. In addition to that, she does hold a very firm belief that certain things should go certain ways and she will do just about everything to ensure they do. In that respect, she can come across as quite entitled, but it isn't inherently in a mean-spirited fashion. She just needs to figure out what's worth fighting for and what isn't. Lucas is much more stubborn than he typically lets on. He does come off as a little awkward and even bumbling at times, but he's also a trainer nearly on par with Dawn and Barry. Considering he's a dedicated research assistant underneath Rowan and Dawn/Barry are full-time trainers, it'd take a lot of commitment to train his team enough to keep up. Overall, it takes quite a bit of convincing to get him to back down from something once he's set on it. If something's false, he has to correct it (it's not about him being right, it's about getting the facts straight), and if he doesn't agree with a rule, he'll simply ignore it (why should a rule exist if it's stupid anyways?) Though it can be inconvenient at times, it's exactly this attitude that allows him to survive getting blasted back to ancient Hisui. Also a fun fact: Lucas is the only protag to officially have two legendary associations, as his character correlates to Azelf and Dialga in DPPt and PLA respectively (Akari gets Palkia, and you'll never guess who Giratina is left to... >_> ). Barry loves to learn, he just can't focus for the life of him. He's constantly the first to know and the first on the scene, he always uses his losses as a chance to reflect and improve his team, and he even goes out of his way to memorize all he can at the Trainers' School in Jubilife. That's not to say he especially cares about learning subjects outside of his interests, but he absolutely does get sucked deep into whatever catches his eye. Especially after Lucas's disappearance, he devotes all his free time to research just so he can figure out what happened to his friend---and just possibly, with some help, he manages to catch a lead...

[deltaruminations]

saw a discussion in a lore channel re: connections between the ideas of “74” and dessknight(1). i don’t have strong opinions about whether the narrative of 74 warrants close comparison to dessknight. i do however think it warrants comparison to dess as the angel. so i wrote a bunch of shit about that lol

(1) obviously 74 itself is a collaborative work that is as much Itoki Hana’s as it is Toby Fox’s, and it’s not About Deltarune and is not meant to be literally descriptive or predictive of any event in Deltarune. but especially given that deltarune has already directly referenced 74’s melody in its soundtrack, i think it’s fair to discuss how deltarune might be pulling from a similar well of themes and narrative interests, and how deltarune might be using 74 as an intertextual reference to underpin its ideas. anyway

on its own terms, 74 is a narrative of subverted damselhood — the “princess” to be “rescued” is actually a monster of some kind, her captivity an illusion that she herself constructed in order to lure in unsuspecting “heroes” who will inevitably fall to her monsters and traps. she does this in order to feel “special” — maybe because she enjoys the fantasy of being desired and pursued as a beautiful maiden rather than being seen as the monster she really is. when the 74th hero manages, against all odds, to reach her, she’s impelled to end him herself, because if she were to be “rescued,” she would no longer be able to enjoy her fantasy.

we can identify a few ideas that this story might share with a hypothetical Angel Dess narrative:

dess has been presented as a ”damsel” — a lost girl needing to be found. at present, the game uses a few techniques to emphasize her presentation as “helpless” and “innocent”: the UNUSED strings (assuming they are, in fact, dess) depict her in moments of childlike fear, possibly in the moments when she first disappeared; and most of the information we have about dess comes from a time before she disappeared, when she would have been a child or teenager, which contributes to a picture of powerlessness.

if dess is the “angel,” however, this means the “powerlessness” is, if not a facade, then an incomplete picture: she’s actually achieved a significant degree of at least coercive power in the time since she went missing, enough power to be able to “pull the strings” of fate and potentially do such things as silence spamton for offering spoilers about the knight, or discard gaster’s vessel, or railroad narration so that kris can open a fountain in defiance of The Legend.

as previously speculated, dess as the “angel” might be complicit in enforcing or even constructing aspects of deltarune’s “canon,” because this story has become her primary source of comfort and “control” in a situation that she believes can never change for the better. this is not the gleeful, fully intentional and empowered narrative-construction of 74’s princess, but it does share the basic idea of a “damsel” crafting or at least maintaining her own prison — in this case, it may be less out of a desire to feel “special,” but rather due to internalized helplessness in the face of a cruel fate, and possibly a desire to see herself as something other than a “damsel” or “victim.”

in the time since she disappeared, dess may have created a fantasy around herself in order to cope with her situation: a fantasy of being the world’s champion or hero, whereby she’s able to “watch over” and “protect” noelle and her other family and friends, ensure that they get to live out their “journeys” and “roles” (things that she, herself, was denied when her place in the story was taken from her), and maybe ensure some kind of “peace” for them in the end. she feels that deltarune’s story is her story — and it’s comforting to her because she knows how it goes. she knows exactly how bad it is, as well as how good it is. dess may have been missing for so long that she’s stopped imagining what a new future for herself could look like; the idea of being found or helped might even frighten her, because it would rip this new norm of comfort and “safety” from her and force her to reckon with an uncertain future — to reckon with change.

so, similarly to the case of 74’s princess, “rescue” represents an existential threat to this “damsel” — it threatens the fantasy of control and greater purpose that she’s created for herself. and, like the princess, dess as “angel” might fight back against anyone who intends to “rescue” her, in order to preserve her self-perception — maybe the very idea that she needs “help” is, in itself, offensive to her, whether or not it might be true.

as mentioned previously, the 74 reference in “WELCOME TO THE CITY” (specifically the weird route version) is immediately relevant to noelle’s situation in the weird route, as it echoes the way that the player’s actions in this route twist and subvert noelle’s potential “damsel”-hood by forcing her into “monstrous” behavior, making her into a prisoner of the player rather than of the queen — simultaneously victimizing her and making her “stronger,” both in terms of increasing her coercive force and of pushing her to question kris’s changes in behavior, possibly “waking her up” to the presence of the player. the persistence of the “gastery” part of the melody in the weird route version might reflect his role and responsibility in enabling the player to take these actions.

but this stripped-down pairing of melodies — 74 and gaster’s theme — could also reflect a broader conflict between the angel and gaster; where a normal route might keep these forces simmering in the background, the weird route, in its transformative extremity and its effects on noelle’s awareness, might be starting to expose and escalate that conflict.

so, we could say that the 74 motif here suggests parallels between noelle and dess’s subverted “damsel”-hoods and paradoxical acquisitions of “power” by way of “helplessness” – maybe noelle wouldn’t have come to question kris’s situation if she hadn’t been subjected to the cruelty of the weird route, just as dess wouldn’t have become aware of “fate” or been able to “pull its strings” if she hadn’t been subjected to the cruelty of being ripped from in-universe existence. we could also say that its presence (if it does, in some part, represent dess-as-angel) reflects dess’s role in controlling noelle’s fate and precluding her (and the rest of the world) a better future in order to prop up her own self-concept as the World’s Protector — the direct foil to gaster’s reckless experimentation with that fate as the World’s Liberator – in a conflict brought to its head by the new variable of player involvement.

perhaps the angel, gaster, and the player all have something in common: they’re all “Eldritch,” out-of-universe forces who are simultaneously powerful in unusual, metaphysical ways, yet still operate from perspectives of “powerlessness” and limitation – the angel can pull the strings of fate, but either can’t or won’t change that fate on her own; gaster can engineer systems that enable change, but can’t implement in-universe change himself, either because he’s physically incapable of it, or because the angel prevents it; and the player can implement in-universe change (by acting through a vessel), but is bound by the options imposed on them by the other two, only able to create their “own” options through oversights or “exploits” – and all three of these forces are making choices about the fate of a world that, itself, has been given no say in the matter.

in conclusion. 74 is a good song. bye

[aotoreiki]

Shadows of Almia has this kinda theme going on with darkness and shadows and light, and that's all well and good, but it's not really explored in a very... clear way. Like, man, they put Cresselia and Darkrai both in the game in some kind of semi-prominent role and then did nothing with it. Lorewise they're both really only there to act as bosses for their respective special stones (+ to be the final boss in Darkrai's case).

Similarly the game brings up the themes of the "darkness" in people's hearts, negative emotions (being embodied in the Shadow Crystal, and experienced by the folktale's king), rekindling light that has been submerged in darkness (the JPN-titular "vatonage") and the three stones shining with their own lights to purify the Shadow Crystal...

Which is, again, great, but very vague and nebulous. I mean, the characters in-game don't even know why the three gems work on the Shadow Crystal, why they exist beyond serving to seal the Shadow Crystal's power or what they actually are (or why the Pokémon guarding them are there and are what they are either!). The Ranger gang never figures that out, they're canonically just working with a very desperate plan that was put together on the fly. Supposedly the Altru side knew more considering they already knew about the fact the Gems even existed, which was only discovered on a stroke of luck almost for the Ranger Union, but we never hear anything on the subject from that side, so... it doesn't matter.

(We were this close to not even knowing wtf was up with the Shadow Crystal either but at least Hastings had those few throwaway lines of dialogue about how it's thousands of years old and contains immense negative emotions. That's... about it as far as the lore goes.)

SO, in my very generously headcanon-based Almia lore, a core theme of the Shadow Crystal and the Three Gems is that of balance.

In giving the three Gem Guardians more actual lore relevance, at some point in my disorganised reading I stumbled on the idea of the three primary virtues (in reference to Japanese culture). These being valour, wisdom, and benevolence. These are also speculated to have influenced the Lake Trio, which makes sense; they are about spirit, and Almia's name seems to come from a word meaning soul, so...

I matched Cresselia up with benevolence, Heatran up with valour, and Mew with wisdom (my lore-specific, later in history passing the role on to the in-game Lucario). Together they created the three gems to seal the power of the Shadow Crystal, a long, long time ago. The Shadow Crystal itself is an immense accumulation of negative emotions and is related to the "darkness" in people's hearts, those flaws of character that if unchecked lead to evil and harmful actions; implied to tap into it in some way in the case of Brighton and his son and in my interpretation, even the otherwise-benevolent king of legend. It was never supposed to be within reach of people to start with; it only became so after a disruption of its originator's balance, after - several evil acts caused immense harm to countless souls.

Basically, the idea is that with the three virtues (and the power of the legendaries corresponding with them), a certain balance is achieved that neutralises the out-of-control power of the Shadow Crystal (etc), same as with balance in self to control those "shadows" in the heart. On the other hand, if this balance is lacking and things get out of control, it causes pain for everyone, which can get worse and worse as it exacerbates itself.

Also, you can't neutralise the Crystal with only one Gem. It'll affect it to a degree for a moment, but it recovers. It has to be all three.

[darkestrellar]

Shadows of Almia has this kinda theme going on with darkness and shadows and light, and that's all well and good, but it's not really explored in a very... clear way. Like, man, they put Cresselia and Darkrai both in the game in some kind of semi-prominent role and then did nothing with it. Lorewise they're both really only there to act as bosses for their respective special stones (+ to be the final boss in Darkrai's case).

Similarly the game brings up the themes of the "darkness" in people's hearts, negative emotions (being embodied in the Shadow Crystal, and experienced by the folktale's king), rekindling light that has been submerged in darkness (the JPN-titular "vatonage") and the three stones shining with their own lights to purify the Shadow Crystal...

Which is, again, great, but very vague and nebulous. I mean, the characters in-game don't even know why the three gems work on the Shadow Crystal, why they exist beyond serving to seal the Shadow Crystal's power or what they actually are (or why the Pokémon guarding them are there and are what they are either!). The Ranger gang never figures that out, they're canonically just working with a very desperate plan that was put together on the fly. Supposedly the Altru side knew more considering they already knew about the fact the Gems even existed, which was only discovered on a stroke of luck almost for the Ranger Union, but we never hear anything on the subject from that side, so... it doesn't matter.

(We were this close to not even knowing wtf was up with the Shadow Crystal either but at least Hastings had those few throwaway lines of dialogue about how it's thousands of years old and contains immense negative emotions. That's... about it as far as the lore goes.)

SO, in my very generously headcanon-based Almia lore, a core theme of the Shadow Crystal and the Three Gems is that of balance.

In giving the three Gem Guardians more actual lore relevance, at some point in my disorganised reading I stumbled on the idea of the three primary virtues (in reference to Japanese culture). These being valour, wisdom, and benevolence. These are also speculated to have influenced the Lake Trio, which makes sense; they are about spirit, and Almia's name seems to come from a word meaning soul, so...

I matched Cresselia up with benevolence, Heatran up with valour, and Mew with wisdom (my lore-specific, later in history passing the role on to the in-game Lucario). Together they created the three gems to seal the power of the Shadow Crystal, a long, long time ago. The Shadow Crystal itself is an immense accumulation of negative emotions and is related to the "darkness" in people's hearts, those flaws of character that if unchecked lead to evil and harmful actions; implied to tap into it in some way in the case of Brighton and his son and in my interpretation, even the otherwise-benevolent king of legend. It was never supposed to be within reach of people to start with; it only became so after a disruption of its originator's balance, after - several evil acts caused immense harm to countless souls.

Basically, the idea is that with the three virtues (and the power of the legendaries corresponding with them), a certain balance is achieved that neutralises the out-of-control power of the Shadow Crystal (etc), same as with balance in self to control those "shadows" in the heart. On the other hand, if this balance is lacking and things get out of control, it causes pain for everyone, which can get worse and worse as it exacerbates itself.

Also, you can't neutralise the Crystal with only one Gem. It'll affect it to a degree for a moment, but it recovers. It has to be all three.