#and...link? what do i even call them to differentiate

[backspacedlc]

coworker learned i'm playing loz games & told me about minish cap Link's sprite looking like he has a upper pony tail & with Totk Link having a ponytail... i had to put them together bc ponytail lads (ㅅ´ ˘ `)

[sickeninglyshoujo]

a/n: i saw the renders (you know the ones) and became feral with need for dad!ghost, other cod dads coming soon, sorry to my friends for being forced to read me word vomit this in chat over four hours. ao3 link coming soon warnings: pregnancy talk word count: 1.8k

Simon doesn’t like when the baby wears the skulls but you do because it reminds you of him

When he grew up he equated the skull mask to terror, the baby only has positive thoughts about it and gets excited seeing it yelling out “daddy!” if she sees the motif in public, mortifying Simon and delighting you. Onlookers growing even more concerned when you coo back, “Yes, that is daddy!” pointing to the Halloween display of a grim reaper statue.

I can tell you that Simon is a master at baby rearing

Simon would absolutely carry the baby under his arm like a football once her neck is strong enough even if you don’t like it because it’s more comfortable like that

It’s second nature to him somehow

Even when you’re stressed about the baby and can’t get her to stop crying somehow Simon just comes over and says the one thing you haven’t tried because he can differentiate between her cries

You were afraid about introducing the baby to Riley, but Simon wasn’t. “They live in the same flipping house, he has t’ get used to her!”

“But not when she’s newborn! Let her get a little bigger first!”

“No better time than now! She’ll never be afraid of him then and he’ll protect her!”

“They call them malingators for a reason!”

“Riley is a well-trained retired soldier. He’s not going to hurt the baby.”

The first meeting had Simon holding the baby in his arms and stooping down to Riley’s level, Riley nosing at the baby’s sock-covered feet hanging from Simon’s arms, sniffing excitedly. You stood above Simon, wringing your hands together, ready to jump in between the two at a moment's notice.

“This is your baby sister, Riley,” Simon instructed the dog whose ears moved, listening to his master’s voice, “She’s your new assignment, boy.”

“Bloodthirsty, isn’ he?” Simon asked you with a grin as the dog yawned and stayed calmly seated, beginning to lick at the baby's booties.

“Shut it, Si.”

Riley is the baby’s shadow. If she so much as sniffles he’s darting across the house trying to find out what’s wrong. It’s like Simon’s watching over her even when on missions 

Simon hates that the dog is named Riley because he thinks it’s stupid and is constantly begging to rename the dog. You refuse because you like the constant reminder of your husband. It doesn't matter that he shares the family name.

When you first bring the baby home from the hospital Simon is in constant awe at how tiny she is. Like a little doll he keeps telling you to the point he sounds like a broken record

Simon constantly worried about baby being cold 2k24 and always has a blankie in the diaper bag or draped over the baby carrier.

After missions he would look for you first when he came home before stripping off the dirt and grime of missions and now it’s the baby. He used to think you were his reason to keep trying to save the world and now it’s her. It only stings a little but that is soothed when you see the awe in his face when she coos at him from her crib

It isn’t long before Simon is trying to get you to agree to try for another “Jus’ one more love,” he'll mutter into your neck after the baby is put down for the night and you two have retired to your bedroom only to be batted away weakly

“Oh no, Si! No more babies and no more sex! Not if you’re going to talk like that!”

“But yer such a good mum. We should have a houseful.”

Simon would petition you to quit your job because it’s bad enough the baby has to deal with him being gone on missions they shouldn’t have their mum gone too

“I make more ‘an enough for you to stay home with her!”

“The money isn’t the point, Si,” You coo at the baby on your lap, “I don’t need to be a housewife and I like working!”

You giggle whenever the other 141 men are over because they will carry the diaper bag slung over their shoulder and completely at odds with their uniforms.

It heats your cheeks to watch your burley husband in full military uniform when you greet him on base, bouncing your baby on his hips, playfully pulling her hands away when she gets too close to a switch or something she shouldn't touch, particularly when other women notice him too

It would swell your chest with pride when you and Si were out with the baby and he’d get longing looks from women when he was doing dadly things like pushing the stroller or rifling through the diaper bag for her bottle or burp cloth. 

“You have to have seen the way women look at you when you’re carrying the baby.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“You’re practically tormenting them, Si! And me too! You’re all big and tough! You’re in uniform or in a compression shirt and then you’re holding onto her in just your arm while she can’t even wrap a hand around one of your fingers!”

Simon doesn’t understand your point, “I’m tormenting you?”

Heat flushes your cheeks, “I like watching you be a dad to our daughter.”

The baby has essentially four dads as all of 141 takes care of the baby when they come to visit on leave

You worry about them spoiling her, “She’ll get too used to being held Si!”

“Then damn well let ‘er!”

“What about when they leave!”

“You think they’re leaving?! Soaps brought a bloody duffel!”

Because when you have the baby Captain Price, Soap, and Gaz are all going to visit. Moving into your cramped guest room for easily the first month after the baby’s born, Gaz and Soap fighting over who gets the futon and who has to share the bed with the Captain.

They need to see the baby!

They never thought Si would settle down but that was before you and your endless patience with the grumpy military man set in his ways.

You didn’t miss when Price clapped him on the shoulder after Simon showed off the baby for the first time, “You did well, Son.”

“Thank god she got the missus’ looks!” Soap crowed, “I was worried she’d get L.t.’s ugly mug!”

“I was hoping she would Johnny,” you peer down at the baby in Simon’s arms and trace a finger down her cheek, “She did get his eyes though. You know those were the first thing I noticed when we started talking, Si? How sad your eyes were.”

“Don’ have “sad eyes”.”

“I thought you did. And you were wearing that silly skull balaclava too, so I couldn’t very well fall in love with your chiseled jaw or the cute scar on your lip,” Soap and Gaz howled in laughter, missing the dirty looks from Ghost (You did too, eyes entirely on your daughter swaddled in a soft terry blanket in her father’s arms)

“Hey L.t. let me give you a few more scars for the missus to kiss!” Gaz ribbed

You never minded patching Simon up after missions. It gave you an excuse to ogle your husband in detail. Even before you were married, he’d tried to wave you off when you’d dab at the blood encrusted cuts and then flush when after taking care of the ones on his arms, much less when he stretched and took off his shirt for you to do the ones on his chest too. Thankfully he didn’t notice your brain shorting as you forgot how to breathe when you saw how heavily muscled and tattooed he was, culminating in an audible gasp as your eyes took in his happy trail and Adonis belt. 

“You ok?”

“Y-yeah just banged my foot on the tub.”

He’d later recount this to Soap who nearly banged his head on the wall at how dense Ghost was being

“An’ you wen’ home after that!”

“Yes Johnny, I had PT the next morning and had to ship out that night.”

He let out a string of curses, “The lass likes you and probably was hoping you’d stay the night wi’ her!”

“MacTavish,” Simon warned.

“She let you take off your clothes in her bathroom and then cleaned you up! Lasses don’t do that for cheeky cunts they don’ like!”

You miss him when he’s on missions of course, but it’s easier once you have Riley and then the baby. It’s like you have piece’s of him with you

Si is a beige mom but instead of beige it’s gray. You try and explain the importance of the bright colors in developing the baby’s eyesight but Si just mutters something about no baby of his is going to look like a muppet

Riley used to sleep at the foot of your bed but now he sleeps by the crib. You don’t know when he learned how to work door knobs but it happened somewhere between the third trimester and birth. Now you have to coax him into your room if you miss Si and want to cuddle Riley

You’ve given up on trying to keep Riley out of the nursery and instead just tut when you find dog hairs on the baby. 

Riley is the ever-patient soldier with the baby, letting her pull on his tail and ears, tugging on (and sometimes removing) his fur, all while happily wagging his tail at being used as a jungle gym

When the baby starts toddling and skins her knees, Si can’t help but scoop her up before the first tear leaves her eye “Si you’re spoiling her!” “She hurt herself, I can’ just let her cry” “She hadn't even cried yet!” “She was abou’ to”

Simon is an over attentive dad because he doesn’t want his baby to suffer the same way he did 

Si rolls his eyes whenever you  tell him not to throw the baby in the air because he’ll drop her but he knows his reflexes are superhuman and he’d catch her

SI doesn’t baby talk and will discuss the finer parts of gun mechanics and maintenance with your infant as she gums on a teether.

When she’s older, Si buys her a pellet gun for Christmas and hides it from you until unwrapped on Christmas morning

By the time it’s in her hands you know you’ve lost

He ignores your dirty glance that says “We’ll talk about this later”

As she grows up she starts talking about joining the SAS like her daddy and you’re filled with fear while Si encourages it. Starts taking her training with him much to your horror, first on short jogs around the neighborhood, then to the gym proper to teach her how to throw a punch. She quickly becomes the star of the base, with all the men calling her “Recruit”

“Nothing dangerous yet Si I mean it!”

“She asks for it!”

“She is a child and you are her father! You’re supposed to be the voice of reason!”

“The voice of reason says she might as well be trained right if she wants it!”

a/n: likes/reblogs/comments appreciated please talk to me about dad!ghost i cant contain myself

[sysboxes]

Hi, I saw you make a userbox on C-DID and I wanted to ask if you maybe have a good resource or something that explains what it is? cause I have DID but ive never heard it with the C attached... no worries if not. thank you!!

C-DID stands for Complex DID. Complex DID and Polyfragmented DID are the same thing, though some people may say that there are some differences.

(I’ll just refer to it as polyfrag for the rest of this for simplicity)

Polyfragmented DID is considered a more “complex” version of DID. The complexity comes from:

splitting patterns ~ splitting several alters/fragments at once, splitting a lot over a short period of time, and/or splitting more frequently or easily

fragments ~ not all DID systems have fragments whereas polyfrag DID systems typically have at least some, if not a lot. Often times polyfrag can have subsystems made up of fragments or they’ll have at least one group of alters who are fragments holding similar trauma or the same traumatic experience split up between fragments (example: one fragment holds the emotions or the fear, one holds the sensations, one holds the memories, etc. or they each hold bits of memory. Or whatever else, it varies)

System Structure ~ briefly mentioned above, but with polyfrag it’s primarily about the way the system is structured or the way the system functions. Meaning polyfrag have subsystems (an alter has their own system OR there is a group of alters who exist together or function as one collective), a system or group of alters separated from the “main” group of alters, etc

The person typically starts being traumatized and forced to dissociate in infancy or sometimes as a toddler (whereas with DID, you can start developing DID later on). Though this is not a requirement and not always the case.

With polyfrag DID, they’re usually forced to dissociate throughout childhood, sometimes even throughout being a teen and sometimes during adulthood or at least early adulthood

polyfrag systems can have high alter count, but this is not a requirement. And it’s typically that they have lots of fragments, not fully-formed/fleshed out alters. 

polyfrag systems do not have to switch frequently, though some do switch frequently or have a larger group of alters who help take care of daily things

Because Complex DID and Polyfrag DID are not actually medical terms, it’s hard to find reliable information on them. They are more just community terms for people to describe their unique experiences. Basically it’s a way to differentiate themselves from typical DID systems and a way to describe their more complex structure. Some therapists or medical professionals may describe someone’s DID as being complex or polyfragmented, but again, it’s not actually a medical term it’s more just a descriptor.

Every system is going to be different. Everyone uses these terms to mean something a little different. But the stuff I listed is generally what people use it to mean. 

Here’s some links below (again, these aren’t medical terms so there aren’t really medical papers or anything on it and it’s mostly just people in the community describing their experiences or what they consider polyfragmentation)

Someone on tumblr listing what a polyfrag system usually means

Someone on tumblr describing difference between DID and C-DID

Someone on tumblr explaining what fragments are

Someone on tumblr explaining what polyfrag is and quoting research

Someone on tumblr listing what C-DID could entail

A PDF of a medical paper on complex MPD (this paper is from the 1980s I think, when DID was still called MPD)

A polyfrag DID systems vent on Reddit about what being polyfrag is for them (I wasn’t really sure about whether to include this or not bc it is a vent but it’s also a good explaination of what polyfrag DID actually is versus what people portray it as on social media..)

(if any of this is wrong plz let me know we’re not perfect lol and I didn’t read through all of these links)

[sysmedsaresexist]

hey fellas it's me again

systemscringe is using this horrible essay (https://text.is/pluralkit-) to say that systems shouldn't use pk (and by extension simply plural) even though it's blatantly wrong, promotes the "evil alter" stereotype at the end, and DOESN'T EVEN HAVE AN AUTHOR

this stupid essay made me think that sp wasnt something i should use (and sure, its not good for SOME people, but it can be helpful, and it is for me). now that i am using it ive been able to learn more about my system and fronting triggers and i really dont want any other systems to go through what i did.

i would debunk it myself but i feel like yall have more reach than i do, and i also know youre more researched than me and would be able to do a better job.

if u could help that'd be great :)

Sigh. Systemscringe back at it again, making things more difficult for literally everyone. First things first:

Pluralkit, Simplyplural, and anything similar are NOT inherently harmful to people who dissociate.

They’re also not inherently helpful, either.

To say they are always harmful will confuse people on how to recognize the signs of increased dissociation. That makes it harder for people who are actually harmed by using these things to get help. It also invalidates people who are genuinely helped by these tools. These tools do not inherently prevent integration. For some people, tools like these can help them recognize and work with their systems, which is necessary for reducing dissociation.

"To be an integrated human, as Dan Siegel (2010) insists, requires 'differentiation—with linkage,' that is, it necessitates the ability to make distinctions between different parts of the self, to name them as parts, but also to link them to other parts and to the whole of which they are a part." - Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, by Janina Fisher, Page 21

To say that Real Dissociative(tm) people don’t use these tools is utterly false, a bad excuse to fakeclaim people, and they know it; these tools are popular as hell in the online community, and many people, even people who eventually found them harmful, have used them. Can we please put this “faker” shit to rest so that actual productive conversations can be had?

Personally, I think that there's a lot of things to critique about both pluralkit and simplyplural (hereafter just called pk/sp). They're not perfect -- nothing is! I'd love to have a nuanced discussion about how they can be helpful and harmful to different people and why, but often it feels like I can't have discussions like that. Not when just using pk/sp gets entire subreddits calling you a faker, not when systems who simply dislike pk/sp get called "sysmeds," not when we approach these things as either Always Good or Always Bad.

In reality, how helpful or harmful pk/sp can be is an entirely subjective matter. It's a personal issue to your system and your system alone. I know systems who find pk/sp to be very helpful and I also know systems who find them to be unhelpful, even harmful. In my own experience, I've found that pk/sp made my symptoms worse. So, I just don't use them. It's literally that simple.

Notice how the essay makes such broad sweeping statements about pk. They don't say that it can increase dissociation between alters, they say that it will. They don't say that it can lead to delusions, they say that it will. How about instead of jumping to conclusions, we actually ask the community what their experiences are? I’ll get us started:

I also notice that the essay states that the functions of pk go against treatment recommendations, but I don’t know a single clinician who is using pluralkit to treat their patients. AFAIK, they’re correct that it’s not really an accessibility tool, but it’s also not a therapeutic tool either? So, I don’t understand why they’re judging it like it is one? It’s just a discord bot, dude. It’s not that deep.

I don’t want to glance over the harm they’re talking about, though. Stuff like pk/sp can reinforce dissociation. You can have an unhealthy relationship with them. That’s not specific to pk/sp, though, it can be like this with anything seemingly innocuous. I know some people who self-harm by reading fanfiction…doesn’t mean that everyone who reads fanfiction is self-harming, or that fanfiction is universally harmful. That's why, instead of telling people pk/sp are Bad and Always Harmful, we need to spread awareness so that people actually know how to recognize actual harm and take care of themselves. That’s why I’ll leave this post off with a list of some red flags. Anyone is free to add on, but remember that these are potential signs of harm. If you think your use of pk/sp is harmful or unhealthy, please investigate that with a professional or close loved one!

Some red flags that pk/sp may not be helping you:

Episodes of dissociation, switching, and/or memory loss became more frequent or severe after you started using them

They make it harder for your system to cooperate; you all feel less connected than before

There’s more conflict within the system than before

You feel pressured to say who is fronting or when a switch happened, even if you don't actually know

You feel pressured to create a profile for system members that you don't know a lot about or are unsure if even exist or ones that specifically don’t want a profile

You sometimes wish you had more system members so that you could have more proxies or profiles

You or system members feel like you aren’t allowed to have your privacy or anonymity

You feel like you can't talk in discord servers that don't have pk

Using them makes your system members feel less real / less connected as a system

Using them is the only thing that makes your system members feel real / more connected as a system

You don’t really want to use pk/sp but you feel like you’re a faker or doing something wrong if you don’t use them

[visualtaehyun]

Names, particles, aliens and ghosts, oh my!

Disclaimer: not a native Thai speaker, still learning 🙏

Ongsa & Alpha

Last week's episode started with the trio talking about the sisters' names:

Nunnapat Ampornsopon /Nan-na-phat Am-phaawn-soh-phohn/ Matthayom 4, class 6 (=10th grade) English

While we see this, Tin tells us Alpha's name too:

Napatsanun Ampornsopon นภัสนันท์ อัมพรโสภณ /Na-phat-sa-nan Am-phaawn-soh-phohn/

Her and Ongsa's first names have the exact same two words in them, just switcheroo'd:

นันท์ /nan/ = joy, happiness;

นภัส /na phat/ = sky, heaven

-> Quick pronunciation lesson: The final consonant in นภัส /na phat/ is called ส เสือ /saw seuua/ (= lit. S like the word for tiger) but in final position it's pronounced as a /t/. In Alpha's name, that same letter gets reduplicated to better link นภัส /na phat/ and นันท์ /nan/ so we get Napat-sa-nun!

Their last name Ampornsopon contains:

อัมพร /am phaawn/ = sky;

โสภณ /soh phohn/ = beautiful

Aylin

Her club application form was only shown in a Next Break preview last week, not the actual scene, but I wanted to take a look at it anyway:

Application to join the Astronomy Club Name: Aylin Kueaahree Grade: Matthayom 4, class 1 (=10th grade) Hobbies: Communicating with aliens Goal in joining the club: Searching for a friend/friends

Aylin is her first name, her last name is เกื้ออารีย์ /geuua aa ree/:

เกื้อ /geuua/ = to aid, do a favor, assist, lend a hand;

อารีย์ /ah ree/ = kind, generous

We saw her name properly this week, too, in the document she hilariously designed, wrote up, and filled out by hand:

Permit for spending the night at S-TAR school Subject: Asking for permission to stay the night at school for the duration of 1 night To: Counselling homeroom teacher I, (young Mr./young Miss/Mr./Miss) Aylin Keuaahree, ID number 406123, student of Matthayom 4/1, need to stay over at school ... on the date of the 24th of the month of August in the year of 2566 (2023) from 20.00 o'clock until 06.00 o'clock. Please kindly take it into consideration. Respectfully yours Aylin Keuaahree (Miss Aylin Keuaahree) Student

I've mentioned before that the subs are a bit too generous and don't quite show how much Aylin limits her speech to the minimum she needs to get her point across. One thing that consistently gets subbed is how she differentiates between aliens and humans. But not every instance of human is the same. She does seem to differentiate between general observations about human behavior and specific humans she talks to, now even addressing them appropriately (albeit with the 'human' descriptor).

1) มนุษย์ครูใจร้าย /ma noot khruu jai raai/ = [You] are mean, teacher human. 2) มันเป็นหนทางที่เอเลี่ยนจะได้เจอเพื่อนนะ /man bpen hon thaang thee alien ja dai juuhr pheuuan na/

มนุษย์ชอบถามแปลก ๆ /ma noot chaawp thaam bplaaek bplaaek/ = Humans like to ask weird questions.

1) มนุษย์พี่เคยบอกเอง ว่าเรื่องที่เชื่อไม่ใช่เรื่องที่ไร้สาระ /ma noot phi koei baawk ehng - waa reuuang thee cheuua mai chai reuuang thee rai saa ra/ = [You] said so [your]self, senior human - that what [I] believe in isn't nonsense. 2) ทำไมมนุษย์ชอบกลับคำพูด /tham mai ma noot chaawp glap kham phuut/ = Why do humans like to go back on their word?

Luna, Mawin, and Ton

Thanks again, Tin, for helpfully giving us all the names lol:

Luna Lalita Chanthaboriboon ลูน่า ลลิตา จันทบริบูรณ์ /Luu-naa La-lee-dtaa Jan-tha-baw-ree-buun/

Luna is her nickname, her first name Lalita ลลิตา means pretty, charming, lovely, and her last name จันทบริบูรณ์ contains:

จันท /jan tha/ from จันทร์ /jan/ = moon;

บริบูรณ์ /baw ree buun/ = complete, full, perfect, abundant

พี่เป็นดวงจันทร์ต่างหาก /phi bpen duuang jan dtaang haak/

Moving on to the boys-

Mawin Kow(a)charoen มาวิน โค้วเจริญ /Maa-win Khoh(-wa)-ja-reern/ -> the added 'wa' would be for the same ease-of-pronunciation reason I explained earlier with Alpha's name

Mawin isn't a Thai name but his last name โค้วเจริญ consists of:

โค้ว* likely from หมูโค้ว /moo khoh/? = a pork belly dish

เจริญ /ja reern/ = the same as Charoen's name, meaning to pray/chant, to prosper, to thrive

Edit, addition by @recentadultburnout:

Based on the usual pattern, the *โค้ว in the surname โค้วเจริญ is likely a Chinese surname that got incorporated into a Thai one. โค้ว is one of the top ten most used ones among Chinese surnames in Thailand. As for [his first name] มาวิน, while it was indeed not originally Thai, it did have a meaning—a borrowed word plus slang of sorts. A winner or to win.

Ton Thanakorn Khajornyoo ต้น ธนกร ขจรอยู่ /Dtohn Tha-na-gaawn Kha-jaawn-yuu/

His first name ธนกร /tha na gaawn/ = to create assets/capital; rich, wealthy

His nickname Ton ต้น might stem haha from the plant (ต้น)ขจร /(dtohn) kha jaawn/, a type of vine. ต้น /dtohn/ is a prefix used for plants but it can also mean leader, chief, leading, beginning, etc.

His last name ขจรอยู่ /kha jawn yuu/ = is spread/spreading, emanating, diffusing

An addendum about Ton

Last week, I wondered if maybe Ton was a closeted gay guy because of a handful of instances where AJ's delivery of the typically-female polite ending particles ค่ะ/คะ /kha/ sounded pretty sassy (and because he's Ongsa's ex aka the biggest lesbian under the sun lol). After episode three, I'm pretty sure he's just a huge flirt with everyone regardless of gender, he just adjusts his particle use (and also his height!) accordingly to sweet-talk them all:

1) ว่าไงครับสุดหล่อ /waa ngai khrap soot laaw/ -> ครับ /khrap/ = typically-male polite ending particle 2) แต่คุณแอลคะ /dtaae khun Al kha/ -> คะ /kha/ = typically-female polite ending particle

And since he finger-guns his way into the student council room, I think we all know now that he's bi

"Filth-eating spirit"

ใครจะไปล่าแสงกระสือกับพี่ต้นบ้างครับ /khrai ja bpai laa saaeng gra seuu gap phi Ton baang khrap/

If that sounds familiar to you, you either know your Thai ghosts or you've seen this or other movies like it:

Inhuman Kiss or แสงกระสือ /saaeng gra seuu/, starring Minnie Phantira, Oab Oabnithi and Great Sapol

A Krasue is a type of evil spirit that possesses women and, when going out to hunt, leaves the body behind to be a floating head with internal organs still attached. It's translated as 'filth-eating' because a Krasue is cursed to feed on blood, organs, carrion etc. Ton calls the mysterious green light แสงกระสือ /saaeng gra seuu/ (=light of a Krasue) because sightings of a Krasue usually report them looking like a floating red or green orb. In that regard, they're comparable to will-o'-the-wisps!

[elementroar]

A.B.A is an experimental clone of the real Dr. Paracelsus (fan-theory)

(I made the distinction in the title but to be clear - I mean Paracelsus her creator, not Paracelsus we all know and love but the one A.B.A renamed him after. To differentiate, I'm referring to them as Dr. Paracelsus)

So, this might not be common knowledge watching Guilty Gear from the outside, but there's actually two Asukas currently 'active' in STRIVE - the original Asuka R. Kreutz and his clone Asuka R♯. In fact, it's the clone that's the main playable character, and the arcade mode is from the clone's perspective as he is his own character separate from the real Asuka.

Asuka R# was created based on Asuka admiring the construction of the Valentine sisters, and the "Frasco specimen" and creating his own clone based on that research. The 'Frasco specimen' is currently assumed to be referring to A.B.A (and was potentially a teaser for A.B.A's eventual inclusion into the game at that point in time).

Asuka (R#): No? Well, I beg to differ. Otherwise… I might never learn why you created me. Asuka: …Um, well… About that. The Valentine sisters, formed by the Universal Will, were perfect beings. I hadn’t seen such immaculate synthetic life since the Frasco specimen. Asuka (R#): So you wanted to try it for yourself. At least you're honest... if ethically bankrupt. Asuka: Let me guess... Do you resent me? Asuka (R#): No need to worry about that. Unless you resent yourself. Now, why don’t we kill a little more time?

What if I tell you there aren't just multiple examples of artificial lifeforms like A.B.A that are all clones of someone, but even in the current official Guilty Gear World entry for 'Homunculus', it's explicitly mentioned there are multiple homunculi in the world and that A.B.A could have 'siblings'?

All the Valentine sisters are clones of the original Aria Hale. So everyone here is technically, on some level, genetically the same person:

And R# is also a near identical clone of Asuka, down to possessing the same memories and experiences but programmed by Asuka to be more socially active than he really is, and also to lack a moral compass (which doesn't seem like a good idea but ok).

So if A.B.A is a similar experiment to the two examples we know, then it follows she is likely an experiment into synthetic clones as well.

And then there's the official entry under "Homunculus" in the offiical Guilty Gear World database (link goes to the online wiki copy of the entry).

That's right, there's confirmation there's multiple homunculi out there, with it explicitly hinted that A.B.A is simply the only one to appear in the games "so far". And either they are going to be unique homunculi, or possibly 'clones' of/like A.B.A that vary like the Valentine sisters do.

And this may be a superficial design coincidence, but original Asuka's eyes are golden while his clone R#'s eyes are green, and quite a similar if not the exact same shade as A.B.A's

But note that the original Aria's eye color was green, and her four clones all have very different eye colors (Elphelt's seems close but hers is actually light blue). It prolly does mean that even when making a near-identical clone like Asuka did with R#, the clone's eye color being different is one of the main differences that appear.

And this leads back to my previous theory that Dr. Paracelsus could be revealed to actually be a woman, and that A.B.A is her genetic clone. As the name 'Paracelsus' is actually a made-up name that's a portmanteau of the words 'para' (meaning 'beyond') and the name 'Celsus' and just meant 'beyond Celsus' and was the historical alchemist's way of dissing another alchemist called Celsus. So there's no inherent gender related to the name 'Paracelsus', and can be a nickname for a woman alchemist/scientist.

This would also help explain all the perfectly sized shorts that A.B.A found around Frasco in the first place to wear. They could belong to her 'mother' who would be exactly the same size as her.

I'm rooting for a future introduction of an older woman scientist that gets to be revealed as A.B.A's creator, because I think the visual would be so cool. Cos her 'mother' would be her but aged normally. And can you imagine if Dr. Paracelsus treats Paracelsus as her son-in-law!?

[circeyoru]

This isn't necesarely a request, but I just feel the need to say this: I lietarly LOVE your work! Overlord Colector being one of my new absolut favorites! But I swear, everythig you write, I just eat up😭

U defenetly deserve all the praise and love! The way you dance with words just fascinates me so much!!! HDUDJJDHDJ, I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO PUT IT IN WORDS PROPALY SO IMMA JUST JDHDISHKDHDKDVDJWGKDHDJDHDHHDZKBWUDGZHEGXHGS

Just quick question tough. It may be the fact that maybe I didn't pay atention, but in Overlord Colector, what are the Cages? Are they literal bird cages or what? You mentioned they had tallons with angelic steal and all that, so can you give us a better description (and by us I mean me, cuz I'm dumb, aparently)

I hope you have an AMAZEING day/night and I'm sorry if I misspelled words😭💗

Spoilers to those that didn't read this series yet, so I suggest you go to my MASTERLIST to read {Collection of Overlords} first. Or not, your reading experience, not mine

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!! Thank you for your words!!! (my poor heart can't take these compliments) And you read my other works too!! People keep eating up my work like snacks... Hmm....

Anyways~ So, lore on Cages is basically this ask's topic. Gotcha. I've been wanting to expand on this, but didn't cause I wanted to do the whole meeting scene with the Overlords first.

First appearance of the Cages concept is in Part 2, at the beginning.

[Whispers of souls from the bodies of your provided winged creatures known as Cages flew around you.]

At first, Cages weren't a thing or that they weren't even in my mind, but it just popped up while I was writing. It's the idea of souls being around The Collector (Silver)/Reader/you that was the point, then I didn't like that they were just orbs of light. Too simple.

Then it's the idea. Something to hold the soul. What's associated with death and misery? Crows and ravens. What got me is that ravens are also linked with hunger, that's what the souls are on about, they hunger for freedom and their captor's favour to be set free (in some way). Yet they turned mindless over time.

That's a bit of thinking while I wrote this creature.

Now, Cages are named as such because they are actual cages to the soul within it. The voice behind the chantings: (below are just some examples taken from the story)

[“Sinners have been brazen.”] [“Very bold. They have stolen your land.”] [“Disrespectful. Undeserving.”] [“Lazy Overlords!”]

Their appearance is a mixture between a raven and a crow, never just one to differentiate them from the other Hell creatures. It's a uniqueness for them, and depending on the soul it houses, the appearance will take more raven or crow-like outlook.

Some permanent features of the Cages are their blood-red eyes, metal-bladed wings, metal beak and claws or talons, and black feathers. The metal parts are all angelic steel that's painted as a more natural colour to disguise it from those that would hunt it down or treat it like some Hell creatures.

These Cages are your last and successful prison for the many souls you have, I mean, Collector right? The souls you have at your disposal is not just the Overlords', that's why you call them Elites.

The idea of the Cages was to act as your eyes and ears around all of Hell. Remember the life-sized wooden figures and hollow knight armours you have? (also back in part 2) Yeah, those were your other experimented forms of prison. While both were good and acted like an unbeatable army you command, that wasn't your purpose. Especially so when you started collecting the souls of Overlords into your collection.

You took the idea from humans that were still alive and experimented with putting souls into the wooden figures first, then into armours to make them more intimidating. Finally, it was the bodies of ravens or crows.

Cages doesn't have unique abilities of their own since their purpose was to house souls you have collected and have them do your bidding. You can summon them at will, with or without notice or an outward command. Like in Part 5 where they just appeared. They are in tune to act according to your will and emotions. The words they speak is a bit of an echo to what you're conveying.

As for the possibility of someone owning those souls or your Cages? Impossible, anyone who tries to touch or capture them with said intention will have their soul forfeited to you. (like the ones in the floor in Part 2)

I think this answers what Cages are. Right?

[darklinaforever]

https://www.tumblr.com/aryas-faces/759627378192465920/the-house-of-the-dragon-writers-are-so-jealous-of?source=share

Lol just lol

Wow. Reading so much crap at once should be banned.

The delusion that Aegon II took the throne for his family is reported by Eustace, a maester pro-greens and anti-Blacks / Rhaenyra, who spends his time whitewashing them as much as possible. What he says about the Greens is still highly questionable. Especially since this bullshit of only wanting to protect one's family as a motivation to take the throne can quickly be challenged when we see how different Aegon II seems to be with the crown on his head, ready to do anything to keep it for himself and absolutely not mischievous. Firing Otto and refusing the peace agreement proposed by RhaeRhaenyra which would precisely save his family, except his grandfather who... well that's good because he doesn't care! Not to mention calling Rhaenyra a whore as easily as he breathes when apparently before taking the throne he actually respected Rhaenyra saying what kind of brother would steal what belongs to his older sister ? A little common sense. Eustace's comments about the Greens / Aegon II taking the throne are not at all consistent with Aegon II's behavior after that.

Then, the same, the so-called great exceptional link between Syrax and Aegon II is propaganda bullshit. Did Sunfyre love Aegon II? Yes. Is the opposite true ? No. He saw it as a kind of replaceable accessory. As proof, when he loses Sunfyre, he says that he wants a new dragon which will be an even more efficient Sunfyre. That doesn't sound like someone who cares about their dragon. Unlike Rhaenyra who just says that her team just needs dragons otherwise they are lost to the war. At no time does she look for a better, more efficient Syrax. Also, if we really have to decide who seems to have a better connection with her dragon in a deep way, it is undeniably Rhaenyra with Sunfyre. I remind you that Sunfyre was hatched for Rhaenyra and that she rode him from the age of 7, making her the youngest dragonrider. Syrax also formed a mated paur with Caraxes, Rhaenyra's husband's dragon. But apparently, it is Aegon II who has an exceptional bond with his dragon ? My eye. Once again, we must differentiate between the words of propaganda and the facts in the book. Also, gold and yellow are almost the same color. When you put official images of Syrax and Sunfyre side by side validated by GRRM sorry but... Well Syrax is also golden from what we see. Honestly, who tells you that the maesters didn't just try to tone down the color of Rhaenyra's dragon to highlight Sunfyre and Aegon II ? See here for more development on the color of Syrax :

If the writers wanted to make Rhaenyra want to participate in the battles in HOTD, it's simply because they didn't know what else to do with the character and give her a false badass look. Not to show off her doing to Aegon II or make her as brave and selfless as him. This literally has nothing to do with your dear Aegon II here. It's just that the writers have no imagination. Then, sorry to shatter your dreams, but there's nothing brave about Aegon II going into battle. It's unconscious. A monarch generally does not go to the battlefield. Because life is precious because... well it's the fucking monarch ?! Sending him to death's door is stupid and counterproductive. Also, people seem to forget that Rhaenyra couldn't even fly a dragon in Fire and Blood when the war started, because she had just had a complicated stillbirth with Visenya. But obviously, no one is going to take all that into account. Let's forget the historical context and Rhaenyra's physical state to treat Fire and Blood's version as cowardly and selfish for not going onto the battlefield when there's no the fucking point here. All this to try to make Aegon II appear brave and selfless ?! Aegon II ?! He is neither of those two fucking words.

I remind you once again that no, the idea that Aegon II was forced to take the crown is bullshit, completely invented by Maester Eustace.

And no, Rhaenyra doesn't take the crown to protect her family in HOTD. She doesn't even have children when she accepts to be heir in 1x01. Rhaenys' words in 1x10 are just a classic fucking warning. Rhaenyra was already planning to be queen before this because she saw it as her duty and did not expect to be usurped the way the Greens went about it. So what are that person talking about ?! Rhaenyra even considers giving up her crown and her youngest boys (Aegon III and Viserys II) to the Greens to ensure the peace of the kingdom. So once again, what are you talking about ?! Rhaenyra didn't accept the crown at all to protect her family in this whole situation. Also, when you are designated heir, you accept and you keep quiet, that's all. Do you think 7 / 8 year old Rhaenyra was an aide to the throne or something ? Reading this kind of bullshit you might think that's what is being insinuated. To say that the Rhaenyra of the show is forced to have the crown is essentially saying that the 7 / 8 year old Rhaenyra who was named heir was completely on board and wanted it, when we're talking about a child who probably only accepted what was his duty in the first place, to then grow up always having this perspective in mind and having been educated for it, and then obviously considering the crown as rightfully his. Because it is. Quite simply. But apparently, with Green stans it's horrible... On the other hand, an impersonation if you have a dick is okay for them.

I also remember that in Fire and Blood, when Aegon II was crowned, the population demanded Rhaenyra...

On the other hand, I don't know in what universe this person lives to believe that Aegon II is the favorite of those who watch the show ? All the polls that are done on the internet simply prove the opposite. Yes, we all recognize the actor's performance on Team Blacks side, but he is certainly not one of our favorites and even less the favorite. Even some of the Greens Stans hate him... And yes, a large part of the Greens stans love an Aegon II that they fantasized in their heads, but they are not at all representative of the majority of the fandom. Again Aegon II is not a fan favorite in general in HOTD. This place is rather held by Daemon or then (to my great despair) Aemond (ironically because he is precisely a poor version of Daemon).

[khaire-traveler]

Hey! I’ve been following for a while and I have a small question. I’m worried that I’m headblind/can’t feel or hear deities at all. When I work with reading flames or spinning coins, something feels off or wrong. And I’m too scared to use a pendulum because a friend of mine had a trickster on them last year. Is this something that I can fix or I have to work around? Do you have any tips to work past this or any communication methods? Thx for reading!

Hey, Nonny! Apologies for the late answer; I've been crazy busy lately.

So, I have a few things I can recommend as well as some things I hope you find reassuring.

Firstly, I'd like to say that I don't believe in trickster spirits - at least, not in the way that has been popularized. Are there spirits out there who are maybe not so good to be around? Yes, absolutely. But if you're reaching out to a specific deity, is someone else entirely going to answer? In my opinion, no. When you specifically call on a deity, I personally believe that only that deity is going to answer. If you're nervous about who will be on the other end of your prayer, I suggest using a broad epithet of the deity to get their attention. I have a pretty detailed post on my views that I'll link here and save you my long ass thought process. In general, though, deities are the protection from evil, not the cause of it, and that holds true when it comes to supposed trickster spirits.

Secondly, I do believe that deity communication is a skill that can be practiced and learned, but sometimes it's much more difficult for some than others. For some people, they struggle to do it at all, and that's not a bad thing. I feel there is a misconception going around that in order to have an actual relationship with your deities, you need to be able to communicate through divination or have to sense their presence. However, this is untrue. You can still have strong deity relationships through prayer and other simple means of communication. Deities will still listen to you, and you'll often find that they'll still answer, even if it's not in ways that are often discussed online. Deities communicate through a variety of means - dreams, physical signs and omens, divination, even encounters with strangers - and to enforce a limited view on their communication abilities is something I'm strongly against, yet it is often the only thing that's popularized. Online, you often hear stories of people speaking directly to deities and being able to physically see them. You even hear stories of perfect and flawless communication through divination. The things is, we often don't see the rigorous practice and build up that it took for someone to get there. In my experience, even just by speaking to other practitioners, these communication skills seldom come naturally.

Thirdly, I do have sources that you can look into that explore different methods of deity communication as well honing your ability to use those methods. This post discusses how to differentiate between your inner voice and that of a deity. This post talks about identifying signs from deities. There are other ways to identify signs not mentioned in this post, but this is a great place to start. This post mentions some ways deities can try to contact you, just in general. This post is about narrowing down which deities are trying to contact you. While not directly related to your situation, it could still be helpful. This post is specifically geared towards to the headblind. It gives some great tips on figuring out what deities are trying to communicate. I highly suggest you take a look at my Deities & Entities section in my pinned post for more. Finally, here is a masterpost I made of various divination methods - all great ways to communicate with deities.

I will say that it takes a lot of practice, especially if you're coming from a place where you've never felt or experienced anything relating to deities, but in my opinion, it's not impossible most of the time. Even if you ARE fully head blind, that's not a bad thing. Like I said earlier, it doesn't prevent you from having meaningful relationships with deities. The best thing you can do for yourself is to stop comparing yourself to other worshippers and their experiences. At the end of the day, everyone's practice will differ vastly from each other, and even when you have things in common, you will still find that you do some things way differently from the other practitioner. Even the way that deities present themselves to people varies. For example, I often see Apollon as having long, wavy hair that's golden blond. However, I've met another person who sees him as having shoulder length hair that's more of a strawberry blond. I even know someone who only sees the gods in the forms of animals, viewing Apollon as a swan, crow, or crane. Deity experiences are almost never exactly the same. How you do things will always differ, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with the way you practice, and you're not doing anything wrong by struggling to communicate. It's ok, and you are perfectly fine the way you are. 🫂

I hope you found my answer helpful. I know it was pretty wordy, but I hope you don't mind that too much. I wish you the best on your journey, Nonny, and I truly hope you can feel secure and happy in your practice. I believe in you, and I'm proud of you for the progress you've already made. Take care. 🧡

[sleepanonymous]

Heya! I just got into Sleep Token and I'm enamored! Do you know of any links to posts or anything that talk about the characters and their personalities onstage? I'm having trouble differentiating between III and IV (I know II is the drummer) and I want to learn more about them!

Also, is it pronounced Two, Three, and Four, or Second, Third, and Fourth?

Hi and welcome! 😊 Glad to see a new fan of the band. For the sake of clarity, I'll answer your second question first. The Sleep Token lore technically dubs them all Vessel 1, Vessel 2, etc. so it's my understanding that fans started calling the other band members Two, Three, and Four, and used Roman numerals for their monikers.

TLDR: This Weblink has almost all of Sleep Token's lore, and This Video also has almost all of Sleep Token's lore. The easiest way to tell III and IV apart from each other is by their instruments and height. III plays bass and is taller than the rest of the band. IV plays guitar and is shorter than the rest of the band (except for II, he is the shortest of the four).

I'll be honest, I also had trouble differentiating between III and IV when I first got into the band. Up until very recently, they wore similar outfits, too, which made pictures difficult to tell them apart. You can always tell via the instrument they're holding (if it's visible). III is the bassist and IV is the guitarist. Another way to tell depends on which side of the stage they are standing on. 85% of the time III is stage right, in front of the choir (Vesselettes) and IV is stage left, in front of II's drum set. My favorite way to tell them apart (before it just became secondhand nature to know which was which) was if the musician had a bun under his mask or not. IV's hair is relatively concealed beneath his mask, but III has longer hair and puts it up into a bun to keep it all in place under his mask during rituals.

The neck of III's bass is kind of in the way of the back of IV's head in the second photo, but here are two examples of the bun shape that III has. This is also a good way to tell them apart if they're standing next to each other, or, in this case, kissing. III is extremely tall and will always be taller than any other band member unless he's crouching or leaning over. If the two aren't standing near each other, you can always use Vessel as a measuring stick.

The photo on the left probably isn't the best reference, but trust me, III is about 5 centimeters taller than Vessel, he's just leaning back. The photo on the right also probably isn't the best since Vessel and IV are both just dark shapes lol, but at least it's obvious that Vessel is taller than IV.

The band as a whole is anonymous so you might not find much in the way of personalities, even of their stage personas. If you're willing to read up on the Sleep lore itself, you can do that here (this is a link to boolintunes.com). Or, if you'd prefer to watch a friendly, lecture-style video, there is this one here on YouTube. Persona-wise the most concise I can give you is this:

Vessel is very emotional. That is evident by the lyrics he writes, but doubly so when he is in front of an audience. He will cry, he will laugh, he will do silly dances, and he will hype up his bandmates. It's evident that he loves what he does, but he is also extremely humble about it. All of the love his fans give him he makes sure to give back 110% (the fact that he manages to do it without speaking is impressive in itself).

II is a beast, like no joke. This man has got to have started playing drums before he could walk, I swear. He, like Vessel, obviously loves what he does, has a blast, and also gives zero fucks while doing it. He will sit at his drum set and kick out beats while drinking Red Bull and Diet Coke through his mask 🤣🤣 During moments in songs where there is little to no percussion he'll often stand up and react to the lyrics Vessel sings. He also comes to the front of the stage at the very end of rituals to hype up the crowd and hand out his used drumsticks and sometimes even a drum head.

III is the most animated of the guys. I will often refer to him as the "main character" of Sleep Token because he is always front and center. This has also earned him the fandom nickname of Bassy Boi. I've seen him do everything from windmill headbang, to run in place, to high kick, to jumping up and down for 30+ seconds straight. He also has a knack for yelling at fans. There is a compilation video on YouTube here for reference. Also! Something I forgot to mention earlier in telling III and IV apart: III almost always has on his iconic checkered socks in the most recent shows.

IV (at least the current IV) is probably the most reserved and collected on stage (fun fact, there were two other IVs in Sleep Token before our current IV, I wrote about that here), In earlier shows he played with the band, around 2021/2022, he used to be fairly shy. Sometimes IV would stand off to the very side of the stage and let Vessel and III have all the attention. Luckily he's seemed to get past his shyness and has become much more of a crowd pleaser. He'll often do things like serenade the crowd (a bit like II does, only a lot closer since there's no drum set in the way), get roped into Vessel's or III's chaotic stage antics, or, you know, tease pulling his mask off in front of an entire music festival crowd.

[the-magiarcheologist]

Magical Theory: Categories of spells

Look, for all of his qualities, Prof. Fig did not teach us much about Magical Theory. So I guess I’ll just make my own lessons! Interested students, come in, come in! You can make some room on this desk over there! Yes, put all those books on the ground, it’s alright. Sit down and let’s discuss! (And I hope you have some time to spare because this will be long!)

Lesson 1: Categories of spells

There has already been a lot of discussions within the fandom about the basics of what Magic is, especially about how it requires intent and/or emotions in addition to an incantation and wand movement to work. I myself have already participated in this discussion (although my point of view on this has evolved a little bit since then) and I can direct you to many other sources on the question (yes, each of these words is a different link you can go look up for further reading!). So I won’t be talking about this today and instead we will focus on the different type of spells that exist and see if we can neatly group them into different categories. In other words, let's see if we can define a taxonomy for spells.

So let’s start at the beginning by defining what a spell is. The Harry Potter Wiki, citing as source the game ��Wonderbook, book of spells», tells me that a spell is:

"a controlled manifestation of magic that affected the world in a supernatural fashion."

And further:

"Generally cast by a witch or a wizard, spells were often produced with certain wand movements and a verbal incantation, or for more experienced witches and wizards, silently and wandlessly."

So I would say that a spell is any magic cast from a wand with a particular intention and a specific intended effect.

Within the HP books we hear of different kinds of spells: Charms, Hexes, Jinxes and Curses. So what differentiates them? JKR herself admits that the boundaries are flexible and that every wizard or witch classifies different spells differently.

For some insight on how JKR decided to name the different types of spells within the books, here is what she says:

Spell: The generic term for a piece of magic. Charm: Does not fundamentally alter the properties of the subject of the spell, but adds, or changes, properties. Turning a teacup into a rat would be a spell, whereas making a teacup dance would be a charm. The grey area comes with things like 'Stunning Spells', which on balance I think are Charms, but which I call spells for alliterative effect. Hexes: Has a connotation of dark magic, as do jinxes, but of a minor sort. I see 'hex' as slightly worse. I usually use 'jinx' for spells whose effects are irritating but amusing. Curses: Reserved for the worst kinds of dark magic.

The lack of consistency in naming different kinds of spells throughout the books is frustrating for those of us trying to make sense of it and figure out how magic works, but we have to admit that this type of vague and variable naming is actually very realistic. Throughout the books, we never meet any wizard scientist or wizard philosopher (apart form Dumbledore I suppose) that talks about Magic in a scientific/philosophical way, with strict definitions. What we encounter is wizarding vernacular language which tends to be inaccurate.

In fact, we muggles are equally as inaccurate when naming things. Take for example what we call ‘vegetables’. Vegetables, scientifically speaking, don’t exist. There is no category of things, biologically, that are vegetables. What we call vegetables are actually an ensemble of fruits, roots, stems and leaves from different plants. There is no reason why we should name an apple a fruit and an eggplant a vegetable, when they are, in fact, both fruits. What we do call fruits tend to actually be fruits, so there is that. But then there is the whole mess of berries! A strawberry isn’t actually a berry (and it might not even be a fruit!) although an eggplant is. All that to say, if aliens landed on earth and tried to establish a taxonomy of edible plant parts based on our vernacular language, they would probably be confused as hell and might even exclaim: «This makes no sense! There is no structure! No rules! Horrible world-building!» when, in fact, there is a structure and biologists know this structure (more or less) it’s just that the average person does not care about this structure and categorises things by different standards such as how they are used (vegetables are usually cooked and eaten in savoury meals while fruits are eaten raw for dessert).

Anyway, the lesson we should take from that is that, when trying to understand and classify different types of magic, we should not rely overmuch on the names given to such magic by characters from the books. This also goes for what is called Dark Magic (as opposed to all other types of magic). Again, there might be an actual scientific or philosophical definition of Dark Magic but I don’t think the average wizard cares about that. I think that, in the Wizaring World (as in our muggle world), societal/political views dictate what is considered Dark Magic more so than an actual definition with clear rules and criteria. Any magic deemed unacceptable socially is called Dark Magic. It could explain why the Imperius Curse is called Dark Magic, since it has been outlawed so is clearly not socially acceptable, while the Memory Charm (Obliviate) is never called Dark Magic (even though it is equally as invasive and harmful to the person it is cast on) since memory modification is legal and is frequently used by wizards to protect themselves against muggles by upholding the Statute of Secrecy.

And, by the way, we can notice that this arbitrary societal classification into Dark/Not Dark Magic also affects the naming of the different types of spells since the Imperius spell is called a curse (bad connotation, considered the most harmful) and memory modification is called a Charm (good connotation, the most harmless of all the spell types, is considered to not fundamentally alter the properties of the subject it is cast on) even though the Memory Spell more fundamentally alters the mental properties of the subject it is cast on (the memory is erased pretty much permanently, or at least it is very difficult to retrieve it) than the Imperius Spell which is only temporary, with no fundamental change done to the subject of the spell who returns to normal as soon as the spell ends. So, by all means, according to the general definitions given, it should be called the Imperius Charm and the Memory Curse!

So if we cannot trust the vernacular classification into different types of spells as encountered in the books, maybe we can identify other common characteristics or dimensions of spells to distinguish different types of magic.

My personal working theory is that the duration of a spell’s effect is a major dimension to consider to distinguish different types of magic (and might even be used to distinguish Dark from Non-Dark Magic, but that’s a topic for another lesson). The ‘duration’ of the spell is basically: how long does a spell continue to have an effect after the caster has stopped focusing on it. Thus, the ‘duration’ property also interacts with a property of spells being self-sustaining or not. This might become clearer as I explain.

We have several examples of spells of very short duration, which I will call perfectly ephemeral spells, i.e. spells that stop having an effect as soon as the spell is done being cast. It’s many of the basic spells that we know: Accio, Wingardium Leviosa, Aguamenti, Incendio or others. As soon as the caster stops concentrating and exerting their will, an object hit with Accio or Wingardium Leviosa will drop to the ground. Same with Incendio or Aguamenti, as soon as the caster stops willing fire/water from erupting from their wands, it stops.

When casting perfectly ephemeral spells, the caster is perfectly in control, there is no chance of the spell escaping out of their control (unless it’s cast improperly) because as soon as they stop feeding their intention and will into the spell, it stops. For this reason, we can also call these spells non self-sustaining. They cannot operate without a wizard’s active will and intent.

To complicate things a little bit, within the category of perfectly ephemeral spells, we can add some spells that are short-lasting because their intended effect itself is short-lasting or transient. Expelliarmus, for example, seems to be a one and done thing: the wand is knocked out of your opponents hands and that’s it, the spell is done. You cannot keep the spell going, even if you wanted to, because you cannot keep knocking a wand out of someone’s hand, once it’s out of the hand it’s not possible to knock it out anymore. (Of course, you could have a spell that permanently repels the wand of your opponent from their hand, so that each time they reached for it, it would be knocked back again, but I think that would be a different spell.) Alohomora would also be a spell that has to be transient and short-lasting. Because of this particular property of the spells’ effect, it’s impossible to call such spells self-sustaining or not, since there is nothing to possibly sustain. The intended effect cannot continue to be applied.

On the opposite side of the duration spectrum, we can consider perfectly permanent spells. I suppose it’s actually impossible to say for certain what spells are perfectly permanent because it would require observing them over an infinite amount of time to be able to say with certainty that they never stop or weaken. So, one degree removed from perfectly permanent spells, we can consider very long-lasting spells, spells that have endured for several centuries without getting weaker. Those would include all the Hogwarts wards and protection spells and other enchantments like the ever changing floor plan. Those have endured for over a millennium and still remain very strong. We should note though that it is possible that those spells did weaken over time, we just don’t know since nobody was there in the 10th century when they were cast to know exactly how powerful they were then. Even if they have weakened over time, the fact that they are still powerful spells such a long time after they were cast still qualifies them as ‘very long-lasting spells’ in my opinion, and we can indeed make the approximation that they are permanent.

If we venture a bit beyond the category of ‘spells’ to consider magical objects (likely affected by a spell that gives them magical properties) we have the Deathly Hallows which continue to be powerful magical objects with the same intended effect centuries after their creation. We can add the Relic of the Dead that Sebastian finds in the Feldcroft catacombs that still works after centuries of sitting there unused.

Such very long-lasting spells seem to be self-sustaining because the spells’ effects continues to work long after the original caster stopped focusing on casting the spell (feeding it their intention), and even long after the original caster’s death.

Working back down the ‘spell duration’ spectrum from permanent to ephemeral spells, this is actually an interesting distinction we can make: spells that continue to work after the caster’s death versus those that don’t.

We know that some otherwise long-lasting spells are abruptly stopped when the caster dies. One example is Dumbledore wordlessly casting an immobilisation charm on Harry just before he gets disarmed by Malfoy (and then, Spoiler Alert!, killed by Snape) up on the Astronomy tower at the end of book 6. Since the spell was cast without incantation, we don’t know exactly what spell it was. It looks like it was Petrificus Totalus since Harry suddenly feels himself becoming rigid and immobile and he falls backwards against the wall. This looks very similar to the effects of the Petrificus Totalus curse cast by Hermione on Neville in the first year. We know Petrificus Totalus is one of the long-lasting spells that seem to sustain themselves even after the caster has stopped focusing on it. We have several examples of people staying petrified even after the caster leaves the room to do something else. I suppose a gifted wizard would be able to sustain the spell ‘distantly’ even while doing other things but, most of the time, we see Petrificus Totalus cast by young students (including first year Hermione) and I don’t think students have the mental capacities to distantly sustain a spell like that. So we can assume that the spell is long-lasting because it sustains itself somehow. Anyway, back to Dumbledore! He casts this spell on Harry and the spell continues to work up until Dumbledore dies and Harry is suddenly ‘unpetrified’.

This instance of a spell being terminated by the caster’s death might be why many seem convinced that any curse will stop with the death of it’s caster. But, in reality, we also have many more examples of spells or curses that endure after the original caster dies. In the last book, Crabbe casts the Fiendfyre spell and is killed by said spell, yet the flames continue even after his death. I’ve already mentioned several powerful magical artefacts whose magical effects endure long after whoever created them died. We also have examples of curses placed by old Egyptian wizards on their tombs that are still active centuries later (mentioned by Ron in Prizoner of Azkaban) and, in HL, the curse placed by Marmaduke Dale on the Dale family crest at the end of the 14th century that still affected Samantha’s brother 500 years later.

Of course, it is not always so easy to distinguish was is truly long-lasting or simply a transient effect which introduces long-lasting change. Two interesting examples to mention here are Avada Kedavra and Blood maledictions. Are these spells long-lasting or not? They certainly seem to be long-lasting! Regarding Avada Kedavra: once you’re dead, you stay dead forever, nothing can lift the spell; and regarding Blood maledictions: they endure after the original caster is dead and continue to have effects over several generations.

But, regarding Avada Kedavra, anyone would understand that the spell itself is not actually long-lasting, one can take a life in an instant and that momentary effect remains permanent because that is just how Death works. You don’t forever continue to kill someone, you do it once and they stay dead.

Blood maledictions is a more murky case. It could go either way. You could have a spell that continues to have an effect on someone and their descendants forever. But, on the Harry Potter wiki, it says that this curse actually produces a genetic defect that is then passed down to the descendants, hence why the curse endures. Then, the spell does not need to have a continuous or long-lasting effect. A moment is all it takes to create the genetic mutation and then the magic is done but the change made is permanent and has consequences over several generations. (As an aside: they cite The Cursed Child as a source for blood maledictions being genetic mutations. I have gone through the mentioned scene in the The Cursed Child and nothing about genetics is mentioned so I don’t really know where they get this from but whether blood maledictions in canon are genetic defects or not does not matter, we can still use this as an example to illustrate how this curse would be classified if it was a genetic mutation)

Going back to our ability to distinguish truly long-lasting spells from ephemeral spells with long-lasting change, in the case of Avada Kedavra and Blood maledictions we can say these spells are not actually long-lasting (their effects don’t continue in time) but have brief effects that produce long-lasting change because we know how these spells work. However, for spells with unknown mechanisms of action it is possible one would confuse truly long-lasting continuous effect with a singular, instantaneous effect leading to a permanent change.

To explain more clearly what I am talking about, think about the spell Alohomora. I think everyone would agree it is momentary: it unlocks the lock and then the spell is done. The spell does not continue to unlock the door, once unlocked, the door stays unlocked. This is what I mean by ‘brief effect leading to a permanent change’, the ‘permanent change’ is the fact that once unlocked, the door stays unlocked. (If we want to get into the physics of it all, and if I’m able to remember my physics and chemistry classes from long ago, I think it has to do with thermodynamics, energy transfer and entropy. But I will let more intelligent people get into that if they want and instead rely on everyone’s intuitive understanding of how the physical world works!).

Soooo… we have now deviated a little bit from our original point so let’s do a mid-lesson recap: we are interested in differentiating spells by their duration. We have established that we have ephemeral spells with very short-lasting effects (which may or may not produce long-lasting changes in the objects they are cast on). These spells are not self-sustaining. As soon as the caster stops intentionally casting them, their effect stops. Then, we have permanent (or, at the very least, very long-lasting) spells. Their effects endure for centuries or more, even after the original caster’s death. And in between these two extremes we have a whole range of more or less long-lasting spells, some of which are stopped by the caster’s death, some of which wear off on their own after some time. The more long-lasting spells can be said to be self-sustaining, because something must allow the spell to continue to work even after the caster stops exerting their will to make the spell work. I have not yet offered examples of such ‘middle of the spectrum’ spells but, by now, an attentive pupil should be able to produce examples of their own ;)

Let’s see… we have Levioso and Arresto Momentum that last a short time after the caster stops focusing on them (hence why we can immobilise enemies in battle using these spells, the enemies stay immobilised for a short time while we start casting other spells). Immobilisation spells are actually a good example of a range of spells that have similar effects but vary in their duration. We have already talked about Arresto Momentum, in the books there is also Impedimenta that lasts about a minute but, on the other hand, Petrificus Totalus lasts much longer. I’m not even sure if Petrificus Totalus wears off on it’s own after a while or if it needs a counter-curse to be lifted.

And speaking of counter-curses! Let’s now get into another dimension of spells: whether they can be counter-acted or not. This part of the lesson is heavily inspired by the writings of White Hound on her website. She has done some wonderful and extremely well-researched analyses on the HP books and I encourage anyone to go look it up if interested! Most illustrative examples I will use are also from her.

I’m very sorry for everyone who loves poor Anne Sallow and wants to see her cured but I’m afraid that, within the wizarding world, there are actually a lot of incurable conditions! A few examples include:

Mad-Eye Moody’s body parts that were amputated and could never be grown back. Similarly, George Weasley’s ear that got cut off with the Sectumsempra spell and could not be grown back either.

The curse that Dumbledore got from the Gaunt family ring. He could slow it’s spread but not stop it entirely and he could not cure it.

Ominis Gaunt’s blindness

Blood maledictions

The Longbottoms permanently loosing their minds as a result of the Cruciatus Curse

Gilderoy Lockhart having permanent amnesia as a result of a backfired Memory Charm

…and I’m sure we could find many more.

On the other hand, we also of course have examples of spells who can be counteracted. Some longer-acting and self-sustaining spells can be stopped by the caster or another wizard casting a counter-spell (often called counter-curse or counter-jinx). For instance, in year four, Hermione casts a Jelly-Leg jinx on Harry. The Jelly-leg jinx is clearly one of the self-sustaining spells because Harry is said to continue to wobble on his legs for ten minutes while Hermione looks up the counter-jinx to stop it. Once cast, the spell is acting outside of Hermione’s will and intent because she clearly wants to stop the spell but can’t, she has to find and cast the counter-jinx. Petrificus Totalus works similarly because it appears permanent when left alone but can be stopped with a counter-curse.

Most serious and harmful spells called Curse (and usually associated with Dark Magic) are implied to be irreversible and incurable. For instance, both Remus Lupin and Molly Weasley, in response to George’s ear being cut off by the Sectumsempra curse, say, respectively:

"I can’t make it grow back, not when it’s been removed by Dark Magic."

"there’s no chance of replacing his ear, not when it’s been cursed off -"

However we do have examples of spells clearly called ‘curse’ that can be cured. Indeed, the same Sectumsempra Curse that permanently amputated George’s ear was used by Harry to cut Malefoy’s face and chest in book 6 but, in that instance, Snape was able to heal Malefoy’s wounds. (Although it is worth mentioning that the wounds were not easy to heal, Snape had to recite long incantations three times before they closed and, even then, Malefoy had to be taken straight to the hospital wing.) Another example is the character of Eloise Midgen in Book 4 that tried to curse her pimples off. It’s implied that she botched the spell and cut her nose entirely off but Madam Pomfrey was able to heal her. (Albeit, again, with difficulty.)

There are other examples of seriously harmful spells which, on the contrary, are counteracted quite easily. I’m thinking of the spell cast by Gilderoy Lockhart that removed all of Harry’s bones in his harm. A very harmful spell indeed! But Madam Pomfrey was able to re-grow Harry’s bones (thus undoing the initial spell) quite easily with a single potion. (Although the process was long –a whole night– and painful for Harry).

So what’s the difference, then? How come it’s impossible to undo the effects of some spells, while others can be undone with great difficulty and other can be undone quite easily? I think this actually brings us back to our classification for short-lasting/non self-sustaining and longer-lasting/self-sustaining spells. I propose the hypothesis that the spells that cannot be reversed or counter-acted are of the long-lasting, self-sustaining kind. This spell that just cut off your ear? It continues to permanently cut off you ear so you cannot grow it back. Anything that starts to grow back will be cut off again by virtue of the spell that is still active. Whereas spells that can be reversed or fixed or counter-acted easily are short-lasting, their effect has worn off and you can now use a new spell that has a new effect that reverses what the previous spell did (such a re-growing Harry’s bones after Lockhart’s spell was done).

But, you, attentive reader, have surely identified a glaring gap in my theory: I said the Petrificus Totalus curse was long-lasting and self-sustaining but it can be counteracted very easily! My answer to this is that not all long-lasting spells are created equal. Again, we are operating along a continuum here, it’s not black and white and we have already made a distinction between self-sustaining spells that stop with the caster’s death and those that don’t. We know Petrificus Totalus stops if it’s caster dies, however it seems that the effects of the Sectumsempra spell continue even after the caster’s death since George’s ear was still amputated (it never grew back) even after Snape died. This difference between the two spells could explain why one can be counteracted easily while the other can’t.

But, that still does not explain everything. What about the self-sustaining Sectumsempra spell that sometimes has permanent consequences (amputation of George’s ear) and sometimes not (Malefoy’s cut that could be healed)? Well, it seems that the length of exposure to the spell before attempts to counteract it are made are key in this case! I bring forth two new examples: the cursed necklace that Katie Bell touched in book 6 and Neville’s parents that lost their mind as a result of the Cruciatus Curse.

Let’s start with Katie Bell: she touched an opal necklace that bore a deadly curse that had already claimed the lives of 19 muggles. But Katie did not die. According to Dumbledore, Katie survived because she had very minimal physical contact with the necklace (touched it through a tine hole in her gloves) and then was carried quickly to the hospital wing where Snape was able to "prevent a rapid spread of the curse" (still according to Dumbledore’s words). She was then sent to St Mungo’s where she spent many months recovering. So it seems, based on what Dumbledore says, that self-sustaining curses (such as the one on the necklace that had already been cursed for many generations) do take some time to take hold onto a new subject and, presumably, before the curse has fully taken hold, it is possible to counteract it.

I hypothesise that this is also what made it possible for Snape to cure Malefoy’s wounds from the Sectumsempra curse since he arrived on the scene shortly after Harry cast the spell, presumably before the curse had fully taken hold. George was not so fortunate since he was cursed in the middle of an aerial chase scene and could not be seen to straight away.

In the case of Neville’s parents that got hit with a Cruciatus curse, we see what happens with a spell with otherwise no long-term consequences when you are subjected to it for a very long time. After a very long period of exposure, the curse ended up permanently damaging their minds.

And, in Hogwarts Legacy, I personally think that there is indeed no cure for Anne’s curse. Most likely, she got hit by a Dark Magic curse, the self-sustaining kind that endures long after Rookwood was done casting it and long after Rookwood’s death, and whoever found her in that fire was not quick enough to get her to a healer. By that time, the curse had taken hold and it cannot be counteracted anymore.

But there is yet another aspect of some spells left to discuss: spells that cannot be blocked. Some say all Unforgivable spells cannot be blocked (and, correct me if I’m wrong, I think that’s the case in HL where all three Unforgivables break through any shields). I’ve gone back to the scene where Moody explains the curses in Goblet of Fire and, in that scene, he says that only the Killing Curse cannot be blocked (except by physical objects in the spell’s path). Whatever the case, nothing we have discussed so far (a spell being self-sustaining and the length of exposure) can explain instances of ‘un-blockable’ spells. In fact, we have established that the Killing curse is short-lasting and therefore not self-sustaining and the length of exposure is irrelevant when talking about blocking the spell. So there must be something else specific to some spells that make them impossible to block. It could be that these spells are particularly powerful and not just in a way that is proportional to the power of the caster themselves and the force of their concentration and intention, but with an added power inherent to the spell itself. This would make them similar in a way to the self-sustaining spells. The self-sustaining spells depend on a mysterious force to make them endure beyond the caster’s focused intent and Unforgivable Curses (or just the Killing Curse) would depend on a mysterious force to make them more powerful than ‘normal’ spells, beyond the power given to the spell by the force of the caster’s concentration and intention. That’s just a random hypothesis I’m trowing out there. I would need to think about that more. (Also note that the Imperius Curse can be countered since it can be resisted mentally, even of it cannot be blocked by usual protection spells.)

OK, I think we’ve done it! I think we’ve arrived at the end of this long analysis and discussion! Some take-home messages:

I propose a classification of spells according to the duration of their effects: short-lasting spells (e.g., Accio, Wingardium Leviosa, Incendio, Aguamenti) whose effects stop as soon as the caster stops actively casting the spell and long-lasting spells that endure long after the caster has stopped focusing on casting the spell (e.g. Levioso, Arresto Momentum, Petrificus Totalus) and sometimes long after the caster is dead (e.g. Rookwood’s curse, Hogwarts Protection spells).

I further hypothesise that long-lasting spells must be self-sustaining, meaning they draw onto something (we don’t know what yet) that allows the spell to continue working even after the caster stops feeding their will and intention to it

Self-sustaining spells tend to be difficult to counteract and in fact can become impossible to counteract if the object has been exposed to the self-sustaining spell for too long. Although we note some exceptions of self-sustaining spells that can be easily counteracted (e.g. Petrificus Totalus).

I would like to close this lesson with some last considerations: you may have noticed that Dark Magic and Ancient Magic seem to lie at the ‘self-sustaining’ extreme of the continuum. These two classes of Magic seem to produce magical effects that do not fade away but instead endure after being cast, even without the input or participation of the original caster. This is what we will discuss next! So come back next week for the next lesson where we will get into self-sustaining spells and possibly a definition for Dark Magic!

Now, does anyone have any questions? 👩‍🏫

(And in case it isn't clear: I'm just having fun by pretending this is a lesson that I am teaching :) I don't pretend to be an authority on this subject, this is just my personal theory that is not any more valid than the headcanon of any other fan. Everyone is welcome to disagree with me, I'm just being facetious!)

[incorrect-jojolands-quotes]

unexpected theory that i stumbled upon

I am in a JOJOLands discord server and a member of the server had this theory that I think should be shared. They plan on posting the full scope of it on Reddit (so I'll add the link to it here when it gets posted). In the meantime, I'm gonna summarize what I've found based on their discussions so far and add my own theories to it.

(This will be a long one :P)

The theory in particular involves the star emblem Jodio poses in that has numbers at each arrow.

On one hand, those numbers could simply be counting each point or is in reference to how there has been 9 parts for JoJo so far. But... what if the numbers are in refrence to this instead:

This is the Enneagram of Personality, a personality assessment that consists of nine personality traits. It's a system that focuses on a person's emotions regarding motivations and fears. Each of the nine personality types is defined by a particular core belief about how the individual thinks the world works. It's believed no one really changes from their numbers but one can relate to more than one number and each number has levels ranging from "healthy" to "unhealthy" that a person can resonate with over time. What's interesting is that the Ennegram is made to resemble a star, with the number 3, 6, and 9 working as a triad that symbolizes wholeness.

There are other details regarding the arrows such as sub-types, wings, and arrows, but we're going to focus more on the surface stuff in this post (the Reddit post can dive deeper). But, how does this relate to The JOJOLands?

Well, what if you place the numbers with the arrows? Not just literally but let's also have it match more with the Ennegram as well. Let's also try to put the numbers aligned in two different ways (images created by the person on the server).

With the numbers aligned vs with the empty arrow pointing upwards:

We can call the first one the original placement and the second one the "inverted" placement to differentiate the two.

But, there's more. Do you remember what the cover art for "Chapter 8: Let's Look at Luxury Watches" is? Remember how it shows the same emblem but with the 5 known characters at the moment?

It looks like each character is associated with a particular point of that emblem. Let's put the Ennegram numbers on them and see what they look like with the original placement and the "inverted" placement. The original OP also made these images.

Original Numbers vs Inverted Numbers:

Why does this all matter?

It obviously looks like the characters aren't just decorated around the star emblem but each one is associated with a number on the Ennegram. With the inverted, it also appears as if most of them change numbers.

Now, if you look at the numbers they're associated with in the "before" photo, you realize their personalities align with the numbers in the Ennegram.

Jodio has the ambitious goal of becoming obscenely rich. He prides himself for being reliable, getting the job done with no questions asked and mentioned how being this way gained him praise and money among other things. His recent diagnosis makes him speculate he could be a psychopath. 3s are are goal-oriented, viewing success as being praised for their achievements, and they act with efficiency. Their ambition can cause them to be relentless, even psychopathic.

Rohan is looked up to by Jodio among others and is considered a creative, inspiring individual due to his success as a mangaka and the perfection he strives to have in his works. Despite his actions towards the team, he continously warned them of danger during their interaction and even advises Jodio before they part ways. 1s are known to be perfectionists due to their creativity and their self-awareness, which inspires many. This belief makes them think they're different from others, which can translate to being critical of others and an air of self-righteousness due to their moral compass believing they are better than others.

Usagi is considered an oddball since the beginning yet proves his potential with how intelligent and inqusitive he is. Even if it got the team out of trouble in some cases, his approach is unconventional and he is still considered a troubled individual to his peers, even rejected from further connections. 5s are known to be inquisitive and would spend hours observing and experimenting every detail and concept to gain more knowledge if given the opportunity. However, going too far with their discoveries makes them very eccentric and their desire to seek knowledge can eventually drive them to insanity.

Paco is a kleptomaniac addicted to stealing due to the rush it gives him and, despite being academically weak, is a very capable fighter and planner of the group. He's rather rash with his decisions but can take control of any situation, especially in a fight. 7s are known for being quick on their feet, able to plan and act on instincts when the situation calls for it, and make up their lack of studiousness with their street smarts. But, this impulsiveness and desire to act on energy means their addictions can lead to self-destruction much faster due to how much energy they go through and they could be associated with BPD.

Dragona goes out of the way to avoid further fallout or conflict deemed unnecessary or cause further trouble. They engage in peaceful things like yoga and is the voice of calmness and trust that contrast Jodio's more violent nature. 9s are known as peacemakers, valuing harmony and simplicity above all, which makes others trust them due to how stable they seem. This stubborness to keep peace can put them in a state of disorientation and reclusiveness that can manifest into multiple personalities.

While some believe Ennegram numbers don't change over time, seeing the inverted numvers show different numbers seem to indicate that the characters we see will evolve into their new numbers as the story progresses. This may foreshadow what will happen to each character or what they will become in the end.

2s are known to be empathetic, putting others first as givers, and desire to be loved above everything, yet it can be seen as manipulative and lead to self-victimization.

4s are known to be authentic, finding creativity and deep connections with others, but can fall into despair when dreams and hope are lost.

See 5, 7, and 9 above.

Jodio as a 2 means he could become more loving to others and take on the typical Joestar personality of pursuing justice and determination due to empathy. It doesn't necessarily mean he's "cured" of his inability to feel guilt or have no affection to others beyond his family, but it may indicate him learning to find connections and going on some sort of self-discovery as a result. At the same time, the happiness he desired could be interpeted as love he yearns to feel for, and he could be changing his purpose of pursuing riches to fit more of a 2.

Rohan as a 4 is harder to speculate what will become of him besides a possible return. We know little of Rohan's full personality in The JOJOLands but we know Rohan as an arrogant, discourteous perfectionist from previous iterations. This does seem to imply Rohan will be a more present mentor who embraces more of his imperfections and increasing an appreciation towards those around him. He's sort of started doing that already with Jodio at the end of chapter 5.

Dragona as a 5 means they may start becoming less avoidant and more assertive and proactive in taking control of the situation. I speculate they have some sort of block that discourages them from doing this currently, maybe due to lack of confidence or having a not-so strong Stand compared to Jodio or Paco. Or, maybe being in Jodio's shadow has made them comfortable with doing minimal work. Regardless, they are finally able to show themselves as their own Joestar and fighter in their own right. As a possible 5, this also means Dragona may discover something ground-breaking and it could lead to some major sacrifice; possibly, Dragona's life may end as a result.

Paco remains a 7, which I find interesting but understandable if there needs to be a balance between characters that dramatically change and characters that remain constant; Paco in this case is the latter. Still, Paco could become either a better or a worser version of a 7 to show how much he's changed as the plot continues. I could be possible that Paco becomes more valued for his quick mind despite his lack of intelligence or his addiction to stealing and being impuslive causes issues with the team and ultimately his downfall instead.

Usagi becoming a 9 points two scenarios. On one hand, his transformation points him to be an ultimate traitor. Maybe the reactions to his eccentricities results in him feeling like he needs to hide more of himself and pushes him to villainy because of rejection. On the other hand, Usagi may come to realize he doesn't need to be complex and go beyond to try making friends, so he starts feeling more at ease. Either way, it seems like Usagi still has a wall of sorts hiding who he really is and becoming a 9 might reveal it soon.

We don't know too much about Knife Guy so far, but I'm guessing he's either going to be a 7 like Paco or a 2 who eventually becomes a 3. In the case of the latter, it could be due to Knife Guy pursuing the gang out of orders and following them to gain validation while lacking his own agency. Becoming a 3, especially under Paco's mentorship, may lead him to think about his own goals and ambitions instead of aiding the goals and ambitions of others.

The Enneagram also explains how the Stands work too. The Reddit post can go more into how these personalities relate to not just the characters but their Stand abilities and what the Stands might evolve into.

With that out of the way, I now want to talk about my two cents: the main villain.

What number would the main villain be? After all, there are 9 numbers total and only 5 (6 including Knife guy as I'm writing this) characters identified.

If we look at the chart and the inverted chart, there are only two numbers that remain untouched: 6 and 8. Coincidentally, they are the "inverses" of each other.

Between the 2 numbers, the main villain most likely will start as a 6 before turning into an 8. If you look at the Ennegram, the most obvious triad shown is the 369. I mentioned earlier how these three numbers hold significance in the Ennegram.

If Jodio and Dragona already took the positions of 3 and 9 respectively and no other character is a 6 so far, the main villain would most likely be the one to hold the 6 position. As a 6, this also implies they start out very close to Dragona and Jodio prior to becoming the main villain going against them. In terms of how close, a mutual friend or a relative is most likely since the two Joestars are siblings and the closest to each other in their gang. The main villain can also be someone completely unrelated but due to their role in society they are a major, unknown influence in Jodio and Dragona's life. Regardless, whoever it is will still fit being a 6 who becomes an 8.

If we look at the 6 and 8 traits on the Ennegram, something interesting comes up:

6s are seen as reliable. They are dedicated and ride-or-die with what they believe in, find security in having these loyalties. However, they can be driven to hysteria and dependency on what they believe in, being in deep denial when the beliefs starts failing, and then being lost when it crosses a point of no return.

8s are seen as assertive. They are the epitome of the ideal hero, confident in what they do and they end up becoming the voice to those who are saved or supported by them. Their actions, if left unchecked, can be seen as delusional and domineering, and some 8s are known to have ASPD and be sociopaths.

It seems like the main villain starts off as someone very loyal to some sort of system they support and are a part of. Something then happens (such as corruption, betrayal, and/or realization) changes them from a 6 into an 8. As an 8, they start doing things as a means of addressing the issue they found with this system that caused their change. They could be trying to save, improve, reform, or destroy it, and their actions cause more harm than good despite believing they are doing otherwise. Whatever the case, it clashes with what Jodio wants and thus making them a main antagonist preventing Jodio from his goals and harming his loved ones in the process.

What is the system, then? We don't exactly know but we have some possibilities.

The system could be something tangible and visible. The American legal system could be an example; we end up with a main villain who is a police officer, judge, lawyer, or social worker. Another example is American capitalism; someone as low as a migrant worker or as high as a CEO could become a main villain. Both could be individuals who feel mistreated by the system or has an epiphany on how to optimize it and both ways lead to them wanting to heavily alter said system at the cost of many lives.

Alternatievly, the system could be a more philosophical and invisible. A great example of this is the mechanisms. We end up with a main villain who either failed to achieve their goals because of it or succeeded yet remained unsatisfied. We can even have someone who started out with a similar life and goals as Jodio. In that case, the main villain could be some sort of warning of what would have happened to Jodio if he didn't change his ways.

In both cases, the main villain becomes someone who is a "hero" or "a voice to the people" because their change leads them to find followers that feel like they are being heard as a result of the main villain taking action for it. There are many careers that can allow someone to become such a voice, such as cult or religious leaders, social media influencers, celebrities, politicians, and more. Especially with how social media has made parasocial relationships prevalent, this could bring a new concept of betrayal that is seen today; think of modern influencer stardom or Asian idol culture. Similar to how DIO would have loyal minions sent to deter and defeat the gang in part 3, the followers of the main villain may become minor villains trying to stop the gang in part 9.

It seems to make sense that a villain would be an 8 because the last three villains we had could be described as 8s. Pucci wanted everyone to understand their destined fate, Funny Valentine wanted America to be a great nation, and Tooru wanted to change society for the sake of Rock Humans. All three were people of influence like mentioned above relative to where they worked (GDSP's Chaplain, president of the United States, Head Doctor of T.G. University Hospital respectively) and all 3 thought they were doing something good for a group of people. So, I speculate the main villain is in a similar boat and his attempts of doing something good may end up clashing Jodio's plans.

Something you might notice is that all the numbers have an associated personalty or mental disorder/symptom associated with them. This happens if the individual falls into the "unhealthy" levels of the number they are associated with. Note: they don't mean you will end up with such symptoms but rather they can explain why you have developed them. Most of the things listed repeat itself in some way and are rather generic (acts of self-destruction, having some sort of dependency or addiction, and becoming reclusive) but there are some that have specific diagnosis like BPD and multiple personalities listed.

What's interesting is ASPD and sociopathy is associated with the 8 personality. As someone who was diagnosed with ASPD by his school psychotherapist, you would think Jodio should have been an 8 for this reason and maybe start out as an 8 before becoming a 6. Instead, he starts as a 3, which does mention psychopathy, but that's about it, and he's expected to become a 2. Could this hint that Jodio's diagnosis is wrong (since the test itself is sketchy and diagnosing somone with that tends to be difficult to quantify in practice)? Or, is this going to end up being a battle between two individuals with ASPD and this could be some weird story about nature vs nurture (Jodio as nature and the main villain as nurture)?

I do wonder what this would all mean for Jodio and the rest of his gang. Even though Rohan mentions someone from the 3 of the gang members being potential traitors, the main villain is set up to be the ultimate betrayer of sorts. This is especially because of the potential that the main villain is very close to Jodio and Dragona, and it makes me speculate the main villain being someone like their estranged father, Meryl Mei, or maybe even Barbara Ann. When someone once mentioned the possibility of Josuke/Gappy becoming a villain, this theory puts him on the table too.

What do you guys think?

[justyourtypicaltuesday]

Can Roman Mythology give us insight into who Orange is?

(Note: To minimize confusion, I will be differentiating between historical/mythological figures and their Sanders Sides counterparts by coloring each mention of a Side in their respective color.)

Ever since the fact that three (or four, depending on definition) of the known Sides have names rooted in Roman mythology was brought to my attention, I've been meaning to do my research and explore how this could hint at the next plot point- and given my recent fascination with WTIT, I thought giving my thoughts on Orange theories couldn't hurt.

If you didn't already know, Virgil is named after the famous Roman poet because Joan and Thomas wanted his name to fit with Roman, like Logan and Patton's go together as Logos and Pathos. In addition to this, Remus was named after the Roman myth of Romulus and Remus, in which two princes disagreed on how to found Rome and Romulus had Remus killed. And most intriguing of all, Janus is named after the Roman god of doors, duality, beginnings, transitions and famously has two heads (which the half-human, half-snake face is reminiscent of).

While this is all very intriguing, I started doing research into these Roman myths to explore possibilities for Orange's character. So, I started by looking at other Roman deities closely related to Janus, and two names came up repeatedly, Juno and Diana. Juno is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Hera, and Diana the same for Artemis. Juno and Janus in particular have a strong relationship, often working together to bring in a new month with a new moon. The epithet Juno Covella- to "oversee, help and protect the moon during difficult labors," and that during these rituals Juno "had the function of aiding and strengthening the moon / when her force was supposed to be at its lowest." Additionally, in Virgil's "The Aeneid"; the protagonist Aeneas has to flee Rome because of a storm Juno created. He's led to Carthage, which is historically Rome's sworn enemy, but he starts to grow an attachment to the people there. While the rest of the story (which I've spared for the sake of brevity) may be a concerning parallel to Virgil's character development, the main character having to flee his home for its rival is a dead ringer for his story, and in this comparison, Rome would be the Others. If Rome was home of the Others, Juno would be one of them, and therefore could realistically be a contender for Orange.

Depending on the source, Janus and Diana (sometimes called Jana) are a pair of deities, or Janus is the son of Trivia, an epithet of Diana. Either way, the two are closely linked. Given Diana's equivalent to Artemis, she is associated with hunting and the wild. However, something particularly interesting about Diana is she is sometimes referred to as a "triple goddess" - referring to three aspects of herself. Diana the Huntress, Diana the Moon, and Diana of the Underworld. Virgil often would call Diana by the name Trivia in his works- referring to three-way crossroads. In legends associated with Diana, she is shown to have the power to assign and rearrange authority, and is heavily associated with a woody grove named Lake Nemi. She was even sometimes worshipped as "Diana of the Wood". Given the WTIT endcard completely centred around a tree, this makes for an interesting observation...

And if you think I'm reading too much into things here, maybe you're right. But during this research, I found that Virgil is an anglicization of what was most likely originally Vergilius or Virgilius. This being Virgil's original name would fit with the naming convention of Janus and Remus, and there's evidence Virgil was mocked for his name sounding like virgin. Sound familiar?

"Shouldn't it be something like Virgin?"

I'm not saying that my theories are flawless, or even likely. In fact, Thomas has no obligation to continue the theme of Roman mythology in characterizing the Sides. But given the current pattern, I wanted to take a stab at what a possible Orange inspired by Roman myth could be. And here's my answer:

- Name beginning with C or D to continue the trend of naming each side with a unique letter.

- A "last resort" - a push of energy to get through a difficult, desperate situation.

- A metaphorical hunter, a "tamer of the wild". A calculated aim and precise with delicately honed skill.

- Assigns authority and place. Possibly responsible for assigning the Duke and the Prince, and who is regarded as a Light or Dark Side.

- A guide through difficult crossroads and a bringer of well-meaning change, often in partnership with Janus.

- Symbols of the moon, lakes, trees, and the underworld.

Take what I've said with a pinch of salt, as this is mostly the result of a few Google searches and internet rabbit holes late at night. I am not a historian and I'll never claim to be one, but it doesn't mean I can't have some fun and learn something in the process.

[sysboxes]

It's possible for alters to have their own mental health!!! Alters can have personality disorders that other alters don't have, I think what you're talking about is autism, ADHD and other disorders similar! (As those affect the brain and therefore affect the whole system, but personality disorders are a different sort of thing, so one alter can have a PD and the others might not!) We can provide links if you'd like ^^ /nm /info

Hey there Anon! Thank you for the offer. We also received the following anon from (probably) another user, which I'd like to address here as well:

Alters can have personality disorders: (link) “✘ MYTH: ALTERS CAN’T HAVE THEIR OWN MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES IF THE MAIN SURVIVOR DOESN’T HAVE THEM. They actually can, and many do. It’s extremely common for individual alters to battle depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar, eating disorders, self harm, etc., while other members of the system experience no such thing. Some extremely differentiated systems may even need that system member to come forward and take medications that the rest of the system does not need and will not get. ..and their brain’s neurology responds accordingly. But, make no mistake, most expressions of mental illness amongst alters are incredibly real and valid and should be treated as such.” (cut up a little, the source is above, we're pretty sure the source is reliable, it seems so. We've also had other systems say this too, and to us that's how it works, as only one of us as far as we know are affected by NPD)

Firstly, I feel the paragraph that was cut out of the Beauty After Bruises section is very important for further context and explanation. It's quoted here below:

One note about some disorders, however. Non-verbal, poor eye contact, savant-like, or sensory-processing-disorder alters can be extremely common traits in DID systems. However, it’s important not to just jump to calling these parts “autistic” if the system as a whole is not autistic. It’s possible for alters to behave in ways that mimic their understanding of SYMPTOMS in other disorders they know about, while not actually possessing the neurology for them. This is a complicated subject we could try to elaborate more on at some point, but it’s just an encouragement to pause and not automatically label some parts as having certain conditions just because they show a few traits of them. It can cause a great deal of conflation and misrepresentation of those illnesses. It may also be purely based on discriminatory or uneducated stereotypes of those conditions that were adopted into a young child’s mind. So, it’s just helpful to check for that possibility first!

As Beauty After Bruises is saying here, neurology takes a place in this discussion. It seems as if this resource is mostly stating that alters can all struggle with mental illness, and can appear to struggle singularly with those illnesses symptoms -- in which case, the "This alter is a symptom holder" is exactly the language we feel comfortable with. Until we are able to research more, we're wary about spreading potential misinformation about how brains work.

As mods, we absolutely want to do our best to avoid spreading misinformation. From our understandings, NPD and similar personality disorders are caused by a structural shift in the brain -- something physical and concrete. Here's some of our resources we found on NPD.

Source 1: “They analyzed a total of 34 test subjects, of which 17 suffered from a narcissistic personality disorder… Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, the scientists measured the thickness of the patients' cerebral cortex… The findings revealed that those subjects suffering from narcissistic personality disorder exhibited structural abnormalities in precisely that region of the brain, which is involved in the processing and generation of compassion.”

Source 2: “The decreased brain white matter microstructures among three clusters were found in the association, projection/thalamic and connection pathways of white matter in young adult males with NPD. The abnormal white matter brain regions may be one of the neuropathological basis of the pathogenesis of young males with NPD, and it may be related to white matter development in early adulthood."

Based on these sources, the moderators are most comfortable using the language of alters being symptom holders. Both sources indicate that NPD affects the structural nature of the brain, which would impact all of the members of the system. However, like Beauty After Bruises was suggesting, that doesn't mean that various alters don't reflect those symptoms in different ways. It's absolutely possible for alters to struggle more or less with disorders, or even seemingly not at all.

I hope this clarifies our perspectives. Thank you!

[sophieinwonderland]

H-hey,,, i-i'm on anon because this is very e-embarassing to ask for... b-but i found this v-very long post basically fakeclaiming a lot of systems online and claiming that being plural is a trend. T-they also said that pluralkit is anti-recovery and a bunch of other stuff. I-i feel destroyed inside and I know i should not care about haters that much, b-but i was wondering if you can respond to the post in some way, by debunking it i-or maybe just saying that it is not valid. I-i understand if you cannot do this and i wouldn't be mad at you, i just thought that i might try. /gen

This is the post: https://www.tumblr.com/nbhdsc4ss/742946435586277376/im-tired-of-this-boom-of-plural-trend?source=share

Yikes! That's such a terrible post!

Alright, let's go over this.

First, just another reminder that if 1.5% of people have DID as is estimated, over a hundred-million people in the world should have the disorder.

Just on this alone, I find fad claims to be nonsense. We aren't actually seeing anywhere near the numbers of people with DID online who should have it. And that's without touching other forms of multiplicity.

This is an incredibly unhealthy outlook.

A system shares their life. The life doesn't belong to any single headmate. Hosts can change over time. And many systems don't really have a true "core." The very concept of the core is largely outdated.

What?

I think this post is killing my neurons! I can feel my brain cells dying as we speak! 🙄

Anyway, just in case anyone was worried this might be true. It's not. I don't know what they're talking about. There's nothing about switching killing neurons anywhere.

As far as I can tell, any association with cerebral palsy is also made up.

Honestly, I could spend eons unpacking the misinformation in this paragraph alone.

I made this blog back in 2021.

The Plural Association was founded in 2020.

"Endogenic system" was coined in 2014.

The Natural Multiples movement dates back to the 90s.

And "system" has been in the vocabular of all these groups since even the beginning.

And while it's not quite a medical term, it does at least originate in medical contexts. The only difference is that the plural community uses it as an identity label for plurals while most academic sources refer to a personality system as something everyone has, with the personality system of multiples being composed of dissociated parts. (Sometimes called "subsystems" in DID literature to denote alters being personality systems within personality systems.)

Words make communication easier.

Calling a headmate an "introject" is easier that referring to them as a headmate based on a source.

Also, blurring and blending generally mean that multiple headmates are, well, blending together. It's hard to know who is fronting because there are multiple headmates who feel like they're mixing, and it makes it confusing.

But another reason for not knowing who is fronting could be a sort of autopilot like in DPDR. Differentiating between these experiences is useful.

Wait... Affection between alters is anti-recovery?

You know, this really puts the earlier lines about non-host alters stealing the life of the host into perspective.

Not only does this draw a picture of an adversarial relationship between alters, but they're treating that adversarial relationship as being good for recovering, and feeling affection for them as a bad thing.

This is possibly the most harmful take I've ever seen.

As for the rest of it, subsystems (as we use the term) are just headmates more closely linked. I've never heard anyone phrase it as an alter having DID. But I guess I can see the parallel. And again, splits and switches don't damage braincells. Having a bigger system isn't going to make the "days of the body count down."

Wait... weren't you just claiming switching literally kills neurons? I mean, I agree that alters can't permanently die (under normal circumstances) but this feels kinda contradictory.

As for having different disorders, this depends a lot on the disorder. By and large, I believe any condition that can be psychogenic can be experienced by some alters and not others.

But what conditions could be psychogenic would probably surprise you. Look at the woman who had some blind alters and some sighted alters.

Polyfragmented systems were traditionally systems with upwards of 100 alters. (And "highly complex" isn't a medical term.)

And again, splitting and switching doesn't kill neurons. Having a bunch of alters isn't going to kill you! Nor will it allow your rights to be stripped and get you forcefully institutionalized against your will so you can be studied like a lab rat!

Why would you just assume the doctors are misdiagnosing you though?

I mean, typically, DID is incorrectly diagnosed as other disorders far more often than you have people be incorrectly diagnosed with DID.

Again, there's this disturbing emphasis on the alters existing for the host and being bad for wanting things of their own, which bring back to mind their assertion that affection between alters is anti-recovery.

And I just... feel really bad for the other alters in this system. This is just so... sad...

If they're not real kids, then what's wrong with them being on the internet?

I mean, yeah, all alters need pronouns. If any identify as a different gender, it's important to have pronouns for them so you know what to refer to them by. Why is this controversial? 🤷‍♀️

And what does the part about alters becoming useless mean?

Talk therapy isn't magic. Yes, it can help to speak to a professional, but I don't understand the view that it's impossible to fuse without seeing a therapist.

Oh, and the line about how "knowing things about another alter is impossible" is nonsense too. Most DID systems don't have total amnesia all the time every time they switch. And many who do experience amnesia can still communicate. They can learn about their alters by asking. And even ones who don't communicate internally can learn to communicate through notes and text!

...

Yeah... this post is just... so... so... SO bad. In every way! Just mountains upon mountains of harmful takes and misinformation!

[kyzveryown]

OBSERVATIONS: KH MISSING LINK BETA #III

I’ve returned with another Observations for the third Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link closed beta. Like the second closed beta, there wasn’t much in terms of story which is to be expected. Below is a list of notes, thoughts, and observations I wrote down as I was watching the story cutscenes.

[Note: For context, I’m differentiating the versions of Scala ad Caelum from KHML and KH3/DR from the other. So, "α-Scala" refers to the KHML version, "β-Scala" refers to the KH3/DR version. Lastly, I call Brain "Blaine". It's just a preference.]

— It seems like the Founders (presumably) were able to track the temporal paths (the paths in which they're traveling through time) of the Union Leaders after they departed from the Ark before Daybreak's collapse. A "connection point" was mentioned so based on that, there can be two possibilities to explain what might've happened; the Ark's pods had a set destination and were supposed to arrive at the same point but didn't due to some unforeseen circumstance. Or the Ark's pods each had separate destinations and the Founders weren't expecting their temporal paths to be that spread out (basically, they were expecting them all to arrive roughly around the same time but not decades apart). This could mean that each pod traveled through time at different speeds. That would explain why they all arrived at different points in time. However, given what we know about the mental and physical effects of time travel via the pods, I'd say it's the first possibility. — Blaine and the Player seemingly arrived in α-Scala at the same time? The Founders (presumably) were anticipating Blaine's arrival, but not the Player's. So, that makes the Player an anomaly which is suspicious considering when, where, and how they initially died. How did their soul/heart even get back? — I wonder what the black feather represents. Maybe there's a secret society in α-Scala that worships and/or follows the path of darkness. It'd be interesting if that ends up being true. — I remember someone over on Twitter saying the Organization XIII-esque twins standing on the rooftop reminded them Kadaj and Loz from FFVII: Advent Children and now I can't unsee it. — The twins are tracking the Player (and possibly Remus) for some reason. I wonder why? Also, that short scene with them on the rooftop reminds me of KHIV reveal trailer. It mirrors the part where you see the Master (presumably) and the other hooded figure watching Sora fight the Kaiju Darkside. Of course, there's the possibility that neither of the black coats are The Master. Could be someone else entirely. — Nept definitely knows more than he's letting on. It seems like he has the power to either alter or erase memories and based on that one specific shot, that power may have something to do with his eye(s). This is a huge reach but maybe he has a Gazing eye? It wouldn’t be all that surprising if someone other than The Master had one. The Gazing eye could be something like a gift or a curse bestowed upon someone from a higher power (*cough FFXIII). It’d be interesting if that’s the case. — Looks like my "astral plane could be a chaotic realm" claim isn't too far off. I'll reserve my thoughts on that and wait for more information. If that turns out to even be somewhat true, then I’m going to have A LOT to talk about. Trust me, I am itching to write about that, but I’ll be patient.

And that covers all of my thoughts for now. Still patiently waiting for the game to release (again, whenever that’ll be).