#aphmau glenda

[shadowknightapologist]

miscellaneous shadow knight headcanons because i love love love them and one day i will have a proper post dedicated to them.

WARNINGS FOR: cannibalism, murder, minced meat mention?, angst.

in a sick, sad way, shad sees most of the shadow knights as his children.

shadow knights don't necessarily have to kill someone for immortality, but they do have to consume the flesh of someone living.

it doesn't ACTUALLY matter who they target; shad (and gene) just frame it as having to kill your lord or an individual you hold in high regards because 1) getting rid of lords helps in the long run, and 2) shadow knights with attachments to anything other than shad are harder to control. so convincing baby knights to get rid of those obstacles early on saves shad a lot of trouble.

as for how our shadow knight cast handled the munchies...

gene ate his lord as well as the upper-ranks sent with him (which is part of why he ranked up so quickly).

zenix ate his lord in the midst of the fire staged to kill him and his family.

vincent ate his lord/brother but he's still in denial over it (he acknowledges that he's immortal and that this immortality comes from his brother, but in his head, his brother was sick and begging for mercy; in reality, vincent flew into rage after finding out how far his brother had fallen and brutally murdered him).

amethyst attacked her father. he survived and amethyst experienced her first false death; this sparks an influx of rumors and stories about shadow knights (previously, shadow knights were extremely low-key, and only existed as folktales).

vylad attacked zianna. she survived.

sasha attacked castor's brother; castor managed to scare her off, but his brother passed away from the injuries. this is what leads to castor going "mad" and essentially being outcasted :( he was grieving and in denial and couldn't bear to tell laurance, who was grieving both sasha and joh at the time.

glenda was NOT immortal, she was planning to sacrifice cadenza + eat from her while she was still alive but aphmau kicked her ass and then laurance killed her.

and laurance, of course, hasn't attacked anyone, but he does struggle with severe intrusive thoughts and it is very, VERY hard for him not to bite while in his knight form.

shadow knight armor is attached to the skin like a shell. yes, they get parasites. yes, it hurts to have it removed or tugged on the wrong way. yes, it grows out of their skin and yes, that also hurts (only for the baby knights tho).

baby knights (and sometimes even immortal shadow knights) are known known to curl up into the fetal position and shift into their shadow knight form when they're scared. it's a defense tactic that protects their heart, especially since shadow knight armor is so hot/sharp (even to other knights). people unofficially refer to this as "armadillo-ing".

SHADOW KNIGHTS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO LAVA. that shit WILL disintegrate them. HOWEVER, since shadow knights getting perma-deathed by lava in the nether would be really bad design, this just rebirths the knight. the only exception to this is sasha and potentially one other character. some knights have come to see it as a religious thing, like a baptism.

shadow knight hair often turns into flames when they're upset, and if they're really angry, their entire body gets lit. very destructive.

shadow knights can be temporarily paralyzed by brain trauma (usually stabbing something through their head; they'll be mobile again once the object is removed or the injury closes up) and weakened by being doused in water or left in the cold.

baby knights can be killed via holy magic, decapitation, mincing the body, water, the cold, or old age (they actually age much faster in the overworld, but slower in the nether). they can go months without food, water, or sleep before it starts to take a toll on them.

immortal shadow knights cannot truly be killed unless their heart is devoured (more on this on the next point). mostly, their bodies are permanently destroyed and they become a shadow soul. immortal shadow knights do not need food, water, or sleep but will sometimes indulge if they're feeling... nostalgic. or particularly empty.

shadow knights can only absorb power from each other by eating the heart. this is 1) difficult because you have to LITERALLY tear the shadow knight apart to get to their heart, and 2) terrifying even to shadow knights. it's called "the final death". this is why zenix becomes so infamous.

"false deaths" are only experienced by baby knights. baby knights don't ACTUALLY die to most mortal deaths, but because they're not immortal, their body still thinks it needs to take care of itself like usual and tricks the brain into thinking they're dying when they're not (it's similar if they're stabbed or something; the body goes "YOU ARE BLEEDING OUT" and assumes the result is death). when this happens, they go dormant from anywhere between a few minutes to a few days. when they wake, they'll be perfectly fine. no scars, no nothing.

inspired by @/chvsire and some other users i can't find (thanks tumblr)—shadow knights occasionally have traits resembling real-world predators or nether mobs. whether this has a rank/role purpose or just happens, i've not decided lmao.

shadow knights may also be based off biomes. bc pretty.

some ideas for predators that i have are: bird of prey (shad), feline (gene), dog or wasp (laurance), shark or alligator (zenix), snake (sasha)... and then i got nothing LMAO.

immortal shadow knights don't really... reincarnate? they have to be magically assisted in order to cross over the purgatory, where their memories will be locked away and they'll be sent to live again. it's kinda like what death does for sam winchester in supernatural—if they were to push too hard, the memories and power would be fully accessible. this is different for other souls, who face judgement and then are either permitted or forbidden from reincarnating. if they ARE reincarnated, their memories are completely removed. or something. i'll figure it out.

om i think that's gonna be it for now :3

[noble-guards]

Mcd Minor Character Tournament R.2

[xerith-42]

Glenda

Remember Glenda? No you don't, only I do because The Tragedy of Cadenza Zvahl haunts me in my every waking moment.

Here's an entire essay about a character who shows up in a grand total of... I think 5 episodes? And yet she has one of the greatest and most forgotten impacts on the narrative.

For those of you who need a quick refresher, Glenda is Hayden's head guard in Meteli, first introduced in episode 26 of the first season, along with all the other Meteli characters. She's initially shown as a pretty strict, no nonsense guard. But in episode 27 we get to see her open up. At the time Cadenza is missing, and Glenda expresses great worry for her safety and says the following line

(sorry for how dark this is I took the screenie on my phone at like midnight)

So uhm. That's a bit of a big deal right off the bat, right? Cadenza is an orphan. Just before this Hayden speaks about how he found Cadenza picking flowers next to a burning village, about how she lost everyone and he took her in. And while Hayden acted as her father, Glenda acted as her mother. Cadenza had a mother.

This is where things get a bit... Mirky. I think a lot of us forget this, but Cadenza and Laurance being siblings isn't something that's revealed until [checks my notes] Episode 54. Which might not seem like a big deal, but Laurance has multiple conversations between episodes 26-40 (he dies in ep 40) about Cadenza, about growing up in Meteli, conversations where he could have said something, anything to indicate that Cadenza is his sister. But he doesn't.

He doesn't refer to Hayden as "our dad", he never refers to Glenda as Mom (which I'll get into later), he doesn't even say the phrase "Cadenza is like a sister to me" until AFTER they've both undergone their transformations. Me personally if I was the head guard of the swamp village, my sister goes missing, and my dad and her not boyfriend start fighting about it, and then some random woman shows up to help, I'd mention to the woman that this missing girl is my sister and this is a family affair. But Laurance... Doesn't.

This makes me think that them being siblings is an idea that came to the writers at some point after Laurance was introduced, but before he came back from the Nether. But this idea was either never incorporated, or they decided to put off incorporating it until after Laurance made his redesigned return.

Who knows. All I know is that Laurance and Cadenza were not intended to be siblings at first, and later retconned into that. And that's fine! They're not related, they're both adopted orphans, it's totally fine to make this retroactive change. But this change is important to remember regarding Glenda.

Yeah that's still who this post is about but there's so little to say that I padded it out with my whole tangent about the Zvahl family retcon. Anyways, Glenda, like everyone in Cadenza's family, is incredibly protective of her daughter, and clearly worried for her safety. This worry doesn't extend to... Doing anything, but that's because Aphmau had to show up and main character her way through things.

But it does lead to criticizing Aphmau when she seemingly fails as a main character. Aphmau does know where Cadenza is and knows that she's safe, but she lies to Hayden and Kenmur about it so they don't hurt Castor, and Glenda is PISSED. Not only because Aphmau promised she'd find Cadenza and failed, but she took one of their swords the last time she was in Meteli too! The disrespect of this woman! And she's the Lord of Phoenix Drop?! How low has this world gotten...?

Anyways the next time we see Glenda she's debating if she'll sign her life away. Now... I could go on about The Oath for... [glances at Oathbreakers word count] a while. But I'll try to keep it brief and focused on Glenda, who it actually has the most direct impact on. In episode 42 Garroth makes all the guards signing an oath swearing that they will take their own lives before they become a Shadow Knight and kill their lord, or to prevent themselves from doing so as a result of Shadow influences.

And while everyone else at the guard meeting is largely down with this, Glenda isn't. She's hesitant. Unsure. We don't get an explanation as to why in the episode, at least not the true one. But there are two things we can get from her. One, her eye color has changed. Which Aphmau doesn't notice at all or even comment on.

Two, she jumps immediately to leaving Hayden's guard, but stops herself because Cadenza is missing. And that's all that she says on it. Because after that, Glenda quits her job. She abandons the guard and we don't even hear about that happening until EPISODE 86. WE GO A FULL 44 EPISODES WITHOUT HER HAVING ANY RELEVANCE TO THE PLOT OR MENTION BY ANY CHARACTERS WHO KNEW HER LIKE I DUNNO

HER DAUGHTER???

And when she comes back in episode 86 we get the big reveal that Glenda was actually a Shadow Knight! And she framed Castor for murder all so she could draw Cadenza out, get her alone, kidnap her, and then sacrifice her to open a Nether portal and presumably return home.

There's a lot of questions this whole series of events raises, but not a single one of them are answered. I'm not even being hyperbolic, once Cadenza wakes up she is (understandably) more focused on the fact that her dad is alive and getting him back to safety. But she doesn't say anything about Glenda, doesn't give any sign of grieving or insight on the matter to Aphmau, she doesn't seem to care because her dad is safe.

The only details we're given are from Laurance, but these also raise questions. He says that Glenda must have become a Shadow Knight "at some point", and quit Hayden's guard because she planned to kill him to gain immortality. But... If that was the case, why fake his death? Why not have him actually be fully murdered with all the other evidence still stacked against Castor? Why not kill him, get immortality, and then kidnap your daughter and try to sacrifice her. Is it because she still cares about Hayden? Is it because she doesn't want to hurt Cadenza? She's about to kill her so I doubt it's that.

So much just doesn't add up with Glenda, so much that I have a never ending series of questions. When did she become a Shadow Knight? Was it in the Nether when they left Sasha behind? Was it before that? Did she go on that mission to save Hayden as a Shadow Knight and somehow not blow her cover? Or was it after that, in the brief window of time between Sasha coming back and Cadenza going missing, that she somehow ended up dead, in the Nether, and then back in the over world without raising an eyebrow? Or was she a Shadow Knight the whole time? Did Cadenza spend her entire childhood being raised by one?? Will I ever get answers as to any details regarding Cadenza's childhood outside of Laurance?! (The answer to that one is no)

But then one question made me really stop and think. One that matters more than any questions if lore, or continuity, or a series of events to follow.

Did the writers remember that they made Glenda Cadenza's mom?

And let's be clear, it's not like, a sin if they forgot. I'm a writer and I forget my own plotlines all the time. I go back through my drafts and other chapters all the time to make sure I'm maintaining at least some semblance of continuity, and I know that in a world as big and full of characters as this one, some details are going to get left behind or forgotten.

But it is mad disappointing because if the writers did remember that Glenda was a maternal figure to Cadenza, then they would also then realize that every member of her family has been either killed by shadow knights, nearly killed by shadow knights, or become shadow knights. Every. Single. One.

If Glenda was able to properly be Cadenza's mother there's a wellspring of character work to go down. It's never directly stated where Cadenza learned to sew from, so what if she learned it from her mother? One of her greatest forms of self expression is seemingly forever tainted with the presence of the monster who took the place of the mother who taught her everything she knows.

And how does Laurance feel about all this? He never refers to Glenda as a mother, even after he starts tossing around the Dad word around Hayden. It gives a sign that maybe Glenda didn't have an interest in raising Laurance, perhaps that while Hayden and Joh may have had some kind of co-parenting or gay marriage set up, Glenda was exclusively focused on being the mother of Cadenza. Or maybe she tried but Laurance pushed her away and she never tried hard enough. Maybe Laurance rejects the idea that he can have a mother. A father can be replaced, but a mother? Nobody can replace the woman who nearly gave her life just to bring him into this world. No one.

As it is in canon, Glenda is a footnote in Cadenza's tragedy. Just another shadow creature that tried to hurt Cadenza, without a proper recognition of just how significant her betrayal is. If Glenda's status as Cadenza's Mother was used to its fullest effect, we could have a family tragedy to surpass the Ro'Meave's, one where a single girl can be at the center of so much shadow and still barely manage to be a beacon of light in the darkness, even if her own family tries to kill her.

I've just. I dunno I've been thinking about Glenda a lot recently

[teonys-jf]

have some laurence fun facts because his paragraph is intimidating...

when there’s a big event he likes to overdress, mostly with shiny jewelry and flowy fabrics. they liked walking around at night when the torches were still lit, or the sun was rising and the gold was struck just right in the dark to make it look like it was glowing

sometimes when visiting ungrth he would show off and the wyvern would comment on how nice they looked 

his nails grow fast, about a week from being short, but because of the wyvern binding they were also sharp. laurence keeps their nails short to try and look ‘normal’ but likes how sharp they can get, also you just look better when you’re part wyvern

because of the seaside trading he had heard a lot of sea shanties and got a fascination for the sea

whenever they would hear about a shadow knight that hasn’t had the yearning, as opposed to the calling, he would want to meet them since non-violent shadow knights can’t sense each other but can detect normal ones

their favorite sayings come from bright port and pikoro

when it comes to the towns river races he places second, but the ocean ones? landslide win! but the town focuses more on the river ones, so that sucks for them

he thinks of malachi and renee as their kids {will be explained/revealed later}

when aphmau was out on trips zoey would call garroth and laurence up to help take care of levin and malachi

when ungrth proposed binding he got excited, but it hurt even more when he passed on

laurence and cadenza had seen the way head guard glenda had been looking at hayden and knew their dad felt the same. they were married about 2 years after meeting, and when she told them her nickname, luna, they knew she would fit in with the family

in the annual swim competition, they were always somehow second to cadenza...

[slumpedbunni]

HAPPY MCD ANNIVERSARY!!!

6 years ago, a mcyt popped up onto my recommended on youtube.

i clicked a video, “New World | Minecraft Diaries [S1: Ep. 1] Roleplay Adventure!”

and from then on, my life changed. i know it sounds stupid, but minecraft diaries and aphmau in general changed me.

i know i yell at aphmau a lot, lest it be for plot holes, unexplored characters, awful character development, or even just taking out laurance, she was and always will be my favorite youtuber.

so in this moment, I just wanted to say, thank you so much Jess, for everything you made me into today.

it’s hard to believe it’s been six years since i first clicked on an aphmau video and i’m glad i never once abandoned it.

that story will forever be one of my favorites,

awful writing and all.

i love you, to every single character.

(i will name every character now so i can cry later)

Aaron Lycan

Abby the Golden Heart

Able

Alina

Alfredo

Alexis

Amethyst

Amber

Aphmau

Arei

Ariel

Arista

Asmund

Ava

Ayumu

Azura

Balder

Balto

Barret

Blaez

Blaze

Bigglesworth (Owly <3)

Bodolf

Boss (Theives guild)

Brenden

Brian

Cadenza

Calku

Capt. Dockram

Captain Isaac

Carla

Castor The Chicken Shaman

Celestia

Cloud

Cookie (R.I.P cookie </3)

Corey

Crumb

Cuddlezilla

Dale

Damian

Dante

Dell

Demon Warlock

Demytrix

Dmtri

Donna

Dr. Bees

Dr. Doctor

Eastern Wolf Tribe

Eirina

Elder Wolf

Elder Wyvern

Embrera

Emma

Emmalyn

Enki

Ethan

Esmund

Falter

Fenrir

Flipper (Albino dolphin from episode 2/3)

Gabriel

Gaia

Gale

Gali

Garroth

Garte

Gary (orange boob dude)

Gavin

Gene

Glenda

Helen

Hailey

Honf

Hyria

Inn Keep

Irene

Isabell

Issa

Ivan

Ivy

Jacob

James

Janus (The Scythe dude)

Jeforry

Jenna

Jibby

Jiggy (R.I.P)

Joh

John

Joyce

Kaguhf

Katelyn

Katherine

Kawaii-Chan

Kenmur

Kennet

Khira

Kiki

Kimi-Chan

Kiva

Kul’Zack

Kuka

Kyle

Laurance (<333)

Lello

Levin

Leona

Lilith

Lillian

Lily (Aaron’s dead wife, not Lillian)

Liochant

Lo

Logan

Lola

Lord Burt

Lord Hayden

Lord Janna

Lord Luke

Lord of Scaleswin

Lord Puu

Louvel

Lowell

Luca

Lucien

Lucinda

Luna (Celestia’s Mom)

Lunar

Lyra

Maccon

Malichi

Malik

Malus

Matilda

McCloud

Meowki

Meowki II

Meowki II

Merida (Saltiest bitch 2015-2016)

Memphia

Michi

Mikai

Mino

Mira

Mittens (Crazy Cat Lady’s Huge Cat)

MIghwnt Jr.

Molly

Mr. Sanders

Nekoette

Nicole

Nuntis

O’khasis Guard(s)

Old Fisherman (From Nahkra Village)

Oldam

Oliver

Paul

Penny

Phelan

Phoenix (R.I.P)

Puma (R.I.P)

Queen Ylva

Raven

Roco

Rose

Rollo

Roxy

Samos

Sasha

Shad

Sean Connery

Sota

Tahnavul

Tala

Tarnak

The Baker (From Neapolitan Village)

The Librarian (^)

The Blacksmith (^^)

Thomas

Thorgi (Best Dog 2015-2016)

Thorgina

Tifa

Todd

Trall

Travis

Ty

Ulger

Ulrich

Ungrth (WHEN I TELL YOU I CRIED SO HARD)

Urla (Crazy Cat Lady)

Xavier

Visher (RIP, first death of MCD)

Vince

Vincent

Vylad

Yancie

Yip

Yuffie

Zack (Cadenza’s Guard)

Zane

Zenix

Zianna

Zoey

[noble-guards]

Mcd Minor Character Tournament

[teonys-jf]

if youve assigned characters new names or have made some new charas, pls drop their names. with the new charas, pls tell what their roles are/who they are?

oh i’d love to!! this is perfect :)

i’ll put the aphmau’s up here ^v^

alice -- heart point, arica -- a royal tale, jackie -- mod mod, jack -- void paradox, jay -- mystreet, ava is staying ava lol

mcd

nicole von rosenburg -- neala ‘nicole’ rosetti

valkrum -- vernon

garroth ro’meave -- garroth ro’mae

zvahl -- zielinski

emma -- elele

mathilda -- matilda

menphia -- teine

lycan -- dunn

glenda/luna uses both names, luna is a nickname given to those she trusts {haydens personal guard, remember her? i do :) she got mad at jess for taking a sword lol}

róisín {kenmur’s parental figure, was the guard standing outside of their house in meteli}

bailey {zoey’s son with gabriel}

zianna maetson

megan rosetti {neala’s older sister, who if she had time, would find her sister much easier than the scaleswing guards. was supposed to marry garroth ro’mae, but he had passed away before that had happened}

ken the steel shield {kims older brother, works alongside her in the jury}

mys

xavier -- xander

hayden, kam, kari, karson flume {katelyn/kaycee’s siblings {there’s an ongoing joke about hayden’s name being kayden}}

ichi, ni, san, yo, go, roku, hachi, kyu, ju, ju-ichi, ju-ni {nana’s siblings}

su-ji and josu ashida {nana’s parents}

viola {human who plays the violin and drums, chill leader of violet menace {consists of sasha, viola, and benny}

benny {fel’ine who plays the piano and saxophone, because of an accident at the hairdressers they had one of her ears almost completely buzzed off. ben has welcomed this and has made it a thing for vm}

mmd

prince reese von toot-cinnamon III-- prince reece von-oot III

prince marsh von toot -- prince marshal von-toot II

queen candy -- queen pixy von-toot III

king kat von-toot V

prin coco von-toot I {oldest von-toot offspring}

princess anise von-toot I {second oldest von-toot offspring}

princess ruth von-toot II

prin ike von-toot IV

kenzie {polly’s second oldest sister}

zena

glory

judy

art

garroth -- garrett cha’le

travis -- trule

katelyn -- kassandra rosume

anna -- hanna frowne

jenny -- juniper scen

nana -- shichi kyo

gene -- grant alejandro

zane -- zachery cha’le

aaron -- aren fal’caw

sasha -- seni dow’pur

lucinda -- lucy dow’pur {took seni’s last name}

dottie -- danielle ‘danny’

ivy -- daisy vitae

amber -- jade

boss -- katherine

megan -- mattias rosetti

teony -- thea las’il

luka -- lenorre ‘leo’

cadenza -- cadance emmeson

laurence -- landon emmeson

diana -- dylan

cathy -- princess claire zensun

betty -- brianna ‘bri’

daniel -- jacob

rylan -- rylie

zuri {leo’s daughter, friends with cadence, likes to spend time with trule amongst mortals}