#astopho

[versegm]

Yoooo gimmee that director's commentary for the final chapter of Renault of the Styx, I need the deets of the emotional gut punch that made me cry

THAT'S ACTUALLY ONE OF THE FIRST CHAPTERS I WROTE FOR RENAULT OF THE STYX (which is why it's suddenly in second person, I just didn't bother harmonizing with the rest of the story)

the deets are below the cut for the people who care about spoilers

ANYWAYS i always knew I wanted to end that story with Astolpho's death, it seemed fitting. I actually toyed with a couple other ideas first (one of the idea I had was to have Astolpho recount their death to Renault, but with a few inconsistencies here and there that renault would point out, until it would be revealed that Ereshkigal actually came to warn Astolpho that they would die that day, and Astolpho's retelling was odd because they were purposely omitting Ereshkigal's existence from their story.)

Astolpho losing their sight as they die is actually based on the original Song of Roland, one of the knights in that story (I think that was Olivier?) actually does go blind mid battle from getting his head bashed in. (This is mostly relevant in the og story because that causes him to attack Roland as he can no longer recognize him.)

Similarly, Astolpho describing the sound of wings is based/inspired/a reference to the og Song of Roland, where at the end of the battle angels come down to get the souls of the twelve paladins of Charlemagne. I think originally I was going to make a comparison with angels too, but I ended up going with crows instead. It felt like it made more sense for Astolpho to mistake the sound of wings for birds rather than angels.

Okay here is the bit that would interest you I think. I have no idea if that came across properly, but I've been trying to convey that Astolpho is someone who loves a lot of people, yes, but neither expects nor believes they're loved back. It's not really visible through Irkalla's Ascent because it's partly from Astolpho's pov, who doesn't really care, but I've been trying to highlight it through Renault. It's when Astolpho says they're aware that they're unwelcome in court, it's when Astolpho mentions that Ogier confessed his guilt to them despite not liking them, it's when Astolpho casually drop that they're aware that for others they're insane and therefore not worth listening to. My point is that when Astopho states what a lonely way to go, I really want you people to understand that Astolpho is not surprised by this development. Astolpho, for all they love and care, has always expected to die alone.

But they didn't. Someone went out of her way to be by their side, to hold their hand, all the way until their last breath.

This is why Astolpho is so thankful. This is what Astolpho broke out of Heavens for. Because, just like Astolpho was the one person to offer Ereshkigal friendship, Ereshkigal was the one person to actually come back to Astolpho, to stay by their side for no other reason than to help them. Ereshkigal is the one person to ever show Astolpho they were loved back, and this is why they decided to travel for as long as it would take so she would never be lonely ever again.

Anyways. [will smith pose] They.