#but because it was Pearl and Scott left at the end Scott killed himself

[sentienceisoverrated]

Kinda crazy how if anyone else had won double life everyone would be drawing 6 stain-glass portraits instead of 5

[ohnonotthehorrors]

Can I... talk about the theory that winners help craft the next game?

Because, and I really can not say this enough, it puts So Much into perspective.

Everything starts out Normal. Three lives, simple, cut and dry, there hasn't been a winner yet. No one to help craft the game. (And there's something to be said about how simple it really was. Not even a real expectation of the world becoming pvp or combative. No idea of the war to come)

Then Grian wins. The green killer, the man who vowed his first life to the one whose life he took. The next game the boogie man is born. A mechanic that allows and, in fact, demands, a green kill. People can trade lives back and forth, currency and debt wrapped up in one. (can we still be friends? Said the red partner. A life time later and reds are hostile, alone. Maybe it's an answer: No. Not anymore)

Scott wins this time. He refuses to play the game. He will not kill his team, he will love and he will do so fiercely and with all of himself. The next game people are attached through to their very souls. Every bit of damage to one soul is done to its twin. There is no boogeyman. (There is no way for a widow to be left without their love)

Pearl wins and she wins a blood bath. Spent the game draped in red, only wolves for company. Sitting in her tower, shivering in ice, maybe she wanted it to end. To see where it would. Limited life rewards you for killing, limited life has a clock tick tick ticking down, you always no how long you have. A curse yes, but a blessing too.

Now It's Martyn's turn.

And what a turn it is.

Keep your secrets, says the disloyal man, keep them well. Everything hurts, everything Matters, says the man fracturing with every loss. (What if we could love each other without hurting? Says The Hand, who never wanted to be coated in blood)

More importantly, Martyn has always seen the watchers below the surface. Now, they're right here in front of him. Something that could almost... be rebelled against, no? Something that someone else could finally point to and say: hey, hey isn't that familiar?

[str1wberry7thyme]

Martyn saying that the watchers hate love the most out of all emotions with zero pauses on this mornings lore stream is driving me crazy because it’s explains. Everything.

The way they made sure Grian was still miserable even after winning third life because they wouldn’t let him enjoy a win with his partner that he spent the whole season intrinsically attached to. How silly was he to forget, he still needed to kill Scar.

Scott ending last life with nothing but bad blood between his two closest allies that continued on across multiple seasons, and still hasn’t truly been fully resolved in wild life either.

Pearl winning Double life, the season about soulmates and what should be filled with love, completely by herself. And in the end when she realises she doesn’t truly hate or want revenge against Scott, only wanting him to understand her like he used to, it was too late. The watchers were never going to allow two winners. They wanted soulmates to rip each other apart in the end, almost like they wanted to make a point that you are better off alone in their world this way.

Martyn used his alliances to his advantage and immediately betrayed his mean gill that he did care for in his own way because he knew that’s what it took to win these games. Exactly how the watchers wanted.

Scar was so confused, so shocked when he realised the man without any friends had been “rewarded” for it in the end by being crowned the winner. But that’s not what he wanted for himself, he wanted to be nothing but a good person but every task he was given forced him into antagonising others and made sure there was no love left for him in the end. He can’t believe how this is possible.

..But then comes Joel and his stupid car. Joel and Gem and their stupid family. Joel and his stupid decision to hold his anger and forgive others instead. Joel and his stupid win that had even the ghosts of the dead full of joy for him. Joel and his stupid victory that actually felt like a victory for the first time in the series. Joel and the way he stupidly killed what was basically a walking symbol of the watchers with a laugh. I wouldn’t be surprised if the watchers hate to see him coming.

[crystaljellie]

Scott and Pearl analysis moment

Because I’m sick and tired of people mischaracterising C!Scott he is not evil!! Pearl does not hate him!! She’s bitter sure but she doesn’t hate him.

Starting with them in last life Pearl and Scott always sticking by each other always being there for each other, I’ve seen so many “Scott was using Pearl” because he wanted a life from her. Like he’s trying to live?? It’s different from Grian stealing a life from Scar and then tormenting him and giving him nothing in return. Scott does his absolute best to protect Pearl protect their house and spend time with her.

He’s a good friend. And he’s absolutely heartbroken when she dies, because Scott knew she was going to but he didn’t want her to go before him. And he definitely keeps his cool because Scott isn’t the kind of guy to go if the rail easily, the way you can tell Scott is angry is by how reckless or determined he gets. In third life he’s distraught by Jimmy’s death and then rushes in and dies quickly because he doesn’t want to be alone. And in last life he kills Ren because he killed Pearl. He’s doing it to avenge her.

He’s glad when he wins but he’s not upset when he dies either. He’s annoyed that he didn’t get to choose his own death but. He celebrates winning because he doesn’t have to lose anybody else.

And so jump to double life and all of a sudden the person he loves so much and has gone out of his way to protect doesn’t even take the time to go looking for him, so you can see why he’s upset. And it’s the biggest miscommunication moment ever because Pearl is expecting to go back and have Scott waiting with open arms for her, and she can’t explain to him and doesn’t understand what she did wrong, which tbh is nothing but that doesn’t make the way Scott feels invalid either.

And then it kind of all goes to shit, Scott’s more snappy and on edge this season because he won the last one and ya know winners trauma. And he honestly doesn’t want to win again so when Cleo suggests tormenting Pearl (I think that’s how it happens I don’t remember it might have been scar with the snow buckets first) he’s all for it!! Because he’s hurting!!

And pearl on the other hand is left alone and has no idea what to do with herself, because sure she can handle being alone but she can’t handle being alone like this, where’s she’s forced into isolation, she’s going crazy because she feels like everyone she loves has left her, she’s mad at Scott and she’s more mad at Cleo because she feels like Cleo has stolen him from her. And so she lashes out because it’s all she knows how to do here, and in a death game what’s a better form of communication than violence?

But she doesn’t want Scott to die not because she wants to live but because she still cares even if she doesn’t want to care. She wants Scott to hurt because she’s hurting, but like Scott in last life she can’t bare to see him die before her.

She’s winning this to prove herself to be someone who doesn’t need Scott. But she still cares so much and she hates it, that’s why she spends the first couple sessions trying to win him back.

And Scott is with Cleo but he feels alone too, because Cleo’s relationship with Martyn isn’t as strained as his is with Pearl. And he knows it’s his fault, he does. That’s why he starts trying to sabotage other relationships, so he doesn’t have to feel as bad.

That’s why he’s careful to stay alive, so he can make it up to Pearl in some way.

He avoids everything he can that might make him face that guilt. But he’s hurt and is stuck with all the blame placed on him. Everyone KNOWS it’s Scott’s fault Pearl is the way she is. But no one but Cleo acknowledges this which makes Scott more bitter, and honestly he’s a little bit scared of Pearl not that he’ll admit that to anyone ever.

But him feeling this guilt is why he kills himself at the end that and because he’s scared of winning again. But he knows he doesn’t deserve getting to where he’s gotten to, and with his self sacrificial nature he’s trying to make it up to her. If she watches him hurt and hurt and die, maybe she’ll feel better.

AND SHE DOES FORGIVE HIM!!! NOT BECAUSE SHE LIKES SEEING HIM HURT!! SHE HATES THAT PART!! SHE FORGIVES HIM BECAUSE SHE CAN SEE HOW MUCH HE CARES! And obviously she’s still a little bit bitter because like who wouldn’t be. But she forgives him and she can see he’s trying that he feels awful about it, so awful that actually kills himself.

And you can see how double life effects both of them moving forward, mainly Scott, he’s scared of hurting anyone the way he hurt pearl, so he goes out of his way to let his friend and allies kill him over and over so he can be of use to them, because he’s realised that his life, lives can be used as currency as friendship as a way to get people not to hate him. He’s putting himself on sale.

He does it in secret life too giving up his lives his hearts his safety, just to be of use. He can’t even bring himself to really care when people betray him, because hey he betrayed Pearl worse right?

Pearl is so much more unhinged after double life too so much more reckless. Because why try and stay hinged when you’re going to loose everything anyways?

And coincidentally all of pearls allies start dying before her, and Everytime it happens she’s just reminded of double life, of that tower, of everything bad that ever happened. And because of that she can’t bring herself to forgive Scott yet. Because she doesn’t feel loved yet.

And then wild life comes, and they team together again, and yes it starts with some bickering and fighting but they needed to get that out they needed to bring it up so they can let it go.

Pearl has her own issues with Gem that season sure, but she gets something close to closure with Scott. Not proper closure, because they’re in a death game, they don’t have enough time they never will. But she gets a real end, and gets a chance at a real friendship with Scott again. She even gives him her hoodie when he turns red. They stick together they’re friends again.

Pearl doesn’t hate him!! He doesn’t belittle her!! I keep seeing “oh Scott didn’t trust Pearl oh he’s treating her badly because he’s keeping her on a leash and not enabling her chaos!!” HES WORRIED ABOUT HER??? HE WANTS HER TO BE SAFE AND KEEP THE TEAM SAFE AND THE ONLY WAY IN SCOTTS BRAIN IS TO CONTROL??? HE DOESNT NOT BELIEVE SHE CAN DO IT HES JUST WORRIED FOR HER FUCK OFF MAN

Anyways, and then Scott dies before Pearl and she doesn’t have the time for a reaction.

It’s not over for them, it’s not close to being over, but it’s getting better. And they’re BOTH getting a chance to heal, not just Pearl, because Pearl wasn’t the only fucking person that got hurt.

Sometimes I wonder if people watch the series with their eyes closed and volume off because how could you ever believe that Pearl truly hates Scott?

[blueishspace]

Scott says Pearl's memory is selective so I rewatched her DL pov.

And he's kinda right? But also is doing much of the same thing.

Part 1/3

Episode 1 p.1 Communication and Strategy.

Let's start from the basic thing everyone even non fans with friends that are into the series know. Scott abandoning Pearl.

...

Which is something he doesn't do, not really at least, that would imply that they were allied in some way and he left. He might be her soulmate but that does not mean he has to team with her. By all counts It's simply a game mechanic and nothing more, she isn't entitled to an alliance with him. Sure there's an expectation for it to happen but it is not a rule, you can't abandon something you never had.

What about Last Life? It doesn't matter, not when it comes to Pearl, alliances almost never stick trough different seasons. It matters to Cleo and Scott: One of the reasons Scott and Cleo teamed up was because in Last Life they didn't have the chance to be in the alliance for as much as they wanted since Cleo had died and gone to red and then Scott went to red soon after Cleo went back to yellow. It was an alliance decided and agreed upon based on the fact they both felt robbed by the previous season. But the same doesn't apply to Pearl, it could have had she met them and talked to them about it but she didn't and so they likely interpreted it as her not caring about it.

Pearl interprets it as abandonment because ahe came in late, she doesn't understand the way the life series works yet. She expected the alliance and friendship to last from the previous season, it is not her fault either. It is entitlement born not out of selfishness but by a lack of communication.

Pearl THINKS Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss has value because she sees Scott and Cleo together but she lacks the context for that and ends up using it as a reason fro Scott to not reject her, at the same time Scott feels that Pearl doesn't care and is expecting his loyalty because of a game mechanic neither has control over and even worse, at least by his standards, an old alliance. He has a very weird definition of what loyalty is but it's something he cares about strongly and it something vital to his character.

And Scott is definitely is hurt by Pearl's actions and It's really really obvious: Scott is a man of logic, he is rational, he sees he only has a life left and decides not to do a boogie kill because he might just die and go to red anyway, he sacrifices himself again and again to give his teammates better chances, ge does not care... But there he does something strategically stupid, not teaming with the person who's health he shares. He is emotionally hurt by what he percieves to be Pearl's lack of care, this is the first time since third life he acts out of emotion over logic. From Cleo's pov we see how much he panic when he realizes he's bonded to Pearl and that she is in the nether.

And even when Scott comes back to say something extra he doesn't target Pearl, he uses the horn to annoy Martyn. From his pov it is Pearl that betrayed him but he decides to be mean to Martyn instead of her. I think this says a lot more then words van about how he viewed this thing.

Episode 1 p.2 Cleo and Martyn are assholes.

Oh boy, those two on the other hand made everything much worse for Pearl.

Martyn ACTUALLY betrayed and abandoned Pearl, unlike Scott he wa working together with her. She had reason to expect him to stick with her especially after they were both refused by their soulmate partners. But he doesn't, despite everything, despite knowing she didn't take Scott's rejection well he still leaves her alone. Pearl does not actually begin to spiral when Cleo and Scott choose eachother over their soulmates, she begins to spiral only once Martyn decides that's it better to leave, when he decides being alone is better then being with her.

And Cleo... she eggs them both Scott and Pearl on so much. Like at least Scott tries to be civil and explain himself at the start but Cleo... well she is ruder during the entire conversation.

Even worse, most of the escalation is done by Cleo and Martyn getting louder at eachother and drowning out Scott's and Pearl's arguments. If the previous part was about how Scott's and Pearl's situation happened because of miscommunication then this is to say that it happened because Cleo and Martyn made it virtually impossible for communication to actually happen.

Episode 2 p.1: Snow and Scar(s)

I think everyone knows how it wasn't Pearl that came up with the powdered snow bit, it was started by Scar as a way to mess with Grian...

And not only that. Everyone usually thinks about the homewreckers during Double Life but Scar during the season does a lot of things towards making other soulmates pair distrust eachother, he's the one that makes the chicken games and I think he knows full well what he's doing. He knows what happened to Pearl and gives her a way to make it worse knowing that she is going to use it. And she does.

It does take a bit for Scott to notice, after at first he assumes she's just walking into powdered snow by accident... it takes a bit for him to suspect but what sticks with is so much she damages him. Also Scar actively searches for him to give him the snow too which makes things way worse.

And she does a lot of damage. First 4 hearts, then another 6 hearts. She does not eat to spite Scott but this only justifies him in his mind. She justifies herself saying that he has been taking damage so It's fair. Yet when she takes a bunch of damage getting goat horns and he steps in powdered snow using THE SAME EXACT LOGIC as her she takes it personally... And that It's because It's not actually logic, It's both them justifying their actions to themselves over admitting their mistakes and doing so in the same way...

Episode 2 p.2 How it could have been resolved and yet wasn't.

Still when Scott approaches Pearl soon after he's...civil. They aren't mean to eachother, sure Pearl says she's broken hearted but she's the only one that is antagonistic about it Scott actually feels bad about Tilly dying and he tries to explain himself and tries to make small talk... And he manages it, they talk and both of them still think they are in the right but things are fixable at this point in time. Scott explains the damage he's taken and while Pearl doesn't fully believe him It's a start.

And especially Scott says that he and Cleo had bonded the last session and when Pearl says that he can bond more he says that's It's going to take time. This means Pearl still wants a chance to be on a team with Scott and Scott still doesn't hate such an idea. They are still stuck blinded in their own head but in another timeline they are on a team already from the next session.

Except Scott accidentally says "Mine and Pearl's" instead of "Mine and Cleo's" when talking about his base. And Pearl starts manically claiming their base as her own... And CLEO is the one to first say that she's insane. (Cleo: I think she's lost it. Scott: I don't think she ever had it.) And this insane thing is going to stick with Pearl for the rest of the series.

Cleo is a big part because of how she deals with both Scott's and Pearl. She is probably the person Scott trusts the most other then himself and she completely supports him, she completely agrees with him on everything he says. Scott is functionally in an echo chamber in this season. A very sassy one considering their personalities.

Cleo also worsens Pearl this session...surprisingly while trying to help. She genuinely seems to be trying, she's careful and deliberate, subtly implies she should less alone and then states that just because they aren't on the same team doesn't mean Pearl can't be with someone else. She lacks the sarcasm that's usually in her voice and she seems to be genuinely trying to get Pearl to find allies for herself and not be alone...Since her and Scott chose eachother outside the bonds she too could choose to be with who she wanted. But Pearl doesn't listen and all she gets from it is convincing herself to be even more isolated.

The last nail in the coffin has to be Ren and BigB though, they die and immediately accuse her of being a villain a demoness and sorrounded by misfortune. Scott was defensive and Martyn was evasive and Cleo was sarcastic and Scar was manipulative but out of my entire rewatch of Pearl's pov this far it was the worst moment from Pearl's perspective. The most damage done to Pearl in Double Life was given by Ren.

Episode 3 Why is it Scar again, doesn't he have better things to do?

So we have found that Pearl's spiral was started by Martyn and worsened by Scar and then cleo and then Ren and bow It's Scar's turn again. Because session 2 ends with Pearl saying she was just wanting to help and session 3 starts with Scar convincing her to be actively a threat. He manipulated her into ruining the relationship with Scott once and now he's making her become what Ren said she was. So he can sell her stuff.

Now she meets again with Cleo and Scott and well... Nothing of particular importance happens in this one. Except one thing that Scott's says. (Scott's very infamous line "It's hard but once you widdle him down to nothing it works" about Jimmy is given It's actual context and it seems to not refer to Jimmy's self esteem at all so I don't know where that came from. ) Which gives Pearl the idea to annoy Scott even more.

Also important thing that happens soon is Scott saying sorry to Pearl without any sarcasm for taking damage as an olive branch and then suddenly shutting up as he processes that Pearl just created a dirt hut on his bridge. Even he doesn't tell her to take it down but suggests talking to Cleo about it since they build it. Pearl then suggests killing Cleo and even then Scott tries to calm her down by saying she can't because she is green. Pearl actually in canon comments that Scott is really nice to her and then Ren and Martyn fake burning down her base to get her attention.

[ceratedfish24]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this but i just realized something with the whole "scott and joel having beef almost every life series":

Whenever joel pursued scott, it always ended with him losing his last life

This time, scott was focused on taking down joel (prob because he was the last yellow but ehh), which ended with scott having his final death

Just saying, it's real coincidental that when one chases the other, they end up eliminated before the other dies by other means

You're so right! I love Scott with my whole heart, but seeing Joel overcome Scott (Even if it was with Etho’s accidental help) was such a perfect touch to Joel’s arc throughout the entirety of the Life Series. That’s the wonderful paradox of the Life Series. The people who do exactly what they don���t expect to keep them alive for long are the ones who tend to succeed the most. Scar was alone and kept emphasizing the fact that he had no friends. Pearl was alone, disconnected from her soulmate, the person who was meant to be her built-in teammate. Scott went red from the Boogeyman Curse instead of trying to cure himself. Grian made so many enemies during 3rd Life, and yet he came out on top. Martyn and Cleo are exceptions.

The truth is, the fewer people you kill in the Life Series, the better you’re doing, Grian got quite a few kills, as did Martyn, which makes sense with how kills were directly related to time in Limited Life, but most of the winners were more focused on preservation than offense. Aggression is caused by desperation. Trying to earn back lives often means that you’re struggling to hold onto them. I saw a lot of people thinking that Jimmy was going to win this season, because he was getting a lot of kills. Don’t get me wrong! Jimmy has improved greatly, and I’m super proud of him! However, those kills weren’t for fun. They were because he needed them. By the time Joel was allowed to kill, there was no one left to get lives from. That’s what a victor to be tends to look like. Rarely does vitality look like starvation.

Thank you for the ask!!🩵🩵

[cherrifire]

Fragment headcanons <3

For those who don't know, these are fragments:

Art credit: me ;)

They are caused by Watchers eating up a player's negative emotions and visualize as these cracks in the body.

Note: I'm going to slap all Double Life fragments onto the heart. It just makes sense. So this headcanon list will be for 3rd/Last/Limited unless there is a special difference (Grian + Pearl + Jimmy + Ren). Just so I don't have to write over the heart several times.

Grian

The only fragment he has stretches across the back of his hands from where he had to beat Scar to death in 3rd Life.

He keeps the Watchers off him for the rest of the series by bringing a silly and goofy vibe to the games though. They hate him so bad so they haven't given him any more fragments. They would rather just ignore him.

Scott

3rd Life fragment wraps around his head like a flower crown.

Last Life fragment hits him in the shoulder then another on the bottom of his foot, spreading inside his body like lightning. (Think Aang's scar from Avatar the Last Airbender)

Limited Life fragment on the left side of his back, giving him a fragment on both sides of his heart. This is due to how hard his heart would have been pounding every time he was hunted for sport.

Pearl

Last Life, Pearl is granted 6 lives and has a habit of using/giving those lives to help Scott, her closest ally. The fragment is small and over the heart.

Pearl's experience in Double Life with heartbreak was so intense, and since she already had a fragment over the heart, her fragment for that season ended up huge. The cracks over her heart are wide and bright. But the Watchers loved her so much they sent her back in even though she wasn't ready. Meaning she held onto her emotions for Tilly and had to be swapped out with Lizzie for an episode.

Limited Life fragment is placed between her eyes and above on her forehead. Like a third eye for being a nosey neighbour and watching.

Martyn (We actually get to see his fragments at the end of Lim Life.)

3rd Life fragment spreads down the cheek like tears for when he cried losing Ren.

Last Life, on the back. The backstabber was backstabbed. He was completely willing to betray Grian in order to get himself, Mumbo, Jimmy, and Impulse somewhere nicer. Somewhere safer. The end. Only for the Watchers to reveal that was never the case.

Limited Life, over the hand his weapon was held in in which he had to kill Scott twice with.

Jimmy

All of Jimmy's fragments spread across his back like canary wings.

Scar

3rd Life, spreads across his chest from where that first creeper blew him up. The first death. Seems rather fitting for the guy who can't keep his shirt on.

Last Life, through his mouth, built from all the lies he spoke.

Limited Life, matching placements with the Clockers on the right forearm like a family tattoo.

Joel

3rd Life, a few small cracks spread around like dog bites.

Last Life, one of the biggest fragments and spread through his entire body. For every kill he got, he got a matching crack as if he was the one who died. His insanity means he has axe, sword, arrow, explosion, and fall damage cracks because with each kill he got worse.

Limited Life, kind of hidden based on just how many cracks Joel has, but starts above his chest and out through the bottom of his foot. Another lightning scar.

Etho

3rd Life, cracks spread from his finger tips up from digging his hands in the dirt to plant dark oak saplings.

Last Life is hard to place a fragment. Because I know he would get one for never giving Bdubs one of his lives but I don't know where that would place on the body. Back of the head for not thinking? Over the heart for the ache of regret? I'm not sure.

Matching fragment with the Clockers but it's on the wrong arm (left).

Bdubs

Bdubs is similar to Grian to me in a case where he brings a very goofy mood to the series. So I want to say he doesn't have a fragment for 3rd Life. Like, he betrays Impulse with 0 remorse.

Last Life, on the back where Grian shot him. That was the moment he realized Etho didn't love him as much as he thought. Shot for doing what he asked and never receiving another life. Etho's name on the tip of his tongue as he dies alone.

Limited Life, Clocker fragment, right forearm.

BigB

3rd Life, similar to Etho, I'm not sure where to place this one. But I think BigB would have a fragment for loneliness. BigB spends a lot of time that season on his own. And it's not like other seasons with lonely characters. Last Life Joel + Scar, Double Life Pearl, etc etc, they all still sort of had someone. Like Joel and Scar still technically had each other + Pearl technically had Scott, Martyn, and Cleo. BigB is mostly just doing his own thing for a good portion of 3rd Life and doesn't join a team till late season.

Last Life, matching stab fragment with Cleo because his betrayal on her hurt just as badly for him.

Limited Life, matching third eye fragment with Pearl for being a nosey neighbour.

Impulse

It's so easy to betray this guy. Both 3rd and Limited Life fragments are on his back from being backstabbed by both Bdub and Martyn. Though, the one left by Bdubs in 3rd life is more prominent and fractured.

Impulse doesn't get a fragment for Last Life. He didn't do much this season and thankfully was able to avoid any huge heartbreak.

Skizz

I think... despite not being in Double Life, Skizz has a huge fragment over the heart. It's not massive like Pearl's despite all 3 fragments being there simply because Skizz is filled with so much love. Love for his teammates and love for even his enemies.

3rd Life, he dies for his nation. Rushing in because he's tired of his friend being pushed around. (I will also never be over how Skizz RAN to Dogwarts when he heard Martyn beheaded Ren. He thought Martyn had betrayed Ren and was ready to CATCH HANDS despite only being in golden armour.)

Last Life, even when team BEST kicks him out, he's sure to stop in the middle of his threats to tell Tango that he's on Skizz's good side. And even though he's mad at his team, when he dies, his ghost watches over them anyway. Being the only one to hear Bdub's final words.

Limited Life we of course got the affirmation station. And when his time was up, he let Etho kill him so his whole team could stay in the game just a little longer even if Skizz could have kept trying for another 20 minutes. He loves so much it kills him almost every time.

Tango

Fragment hidden in his hair for his rage (hot-headed).

For the most part, Tango goes under the radar for the Watcher. His deaths are anticlimactic and there's never enough drama for him. They only pay attention to him when he's angry and this neglect means he holds onto grudges and hosts a furious rage for most people who have hurt him the most. Bdubs constantly being the one to take his lives in Last Life and inflicting the first rage. Martyn just never being a positive presence for Tango's POV meaning he doesn't trust him one bit. Like. Tango is Martyn's most frequent victim with 4 kills.

Cleo

Another case where I'm unsure where to put it. I think Cleo would have a fragment from the stress she had to endure from stealing and hiding Pizza.

Last Life, Cleo gets a stag fragment on her back for being backstabbed by BigB. The thing that makes this fracture special is how it doesn't stay the same. The Watchers forgot to remove part of her negative feelings towards BigB after this betrayal. As the series goes on, this fragment gets bigger and bigger since Cleo never forgives BigB for this betrayal.

Limited Life, Clocker fragment, right forearm. Additionally, part of her Last Life fragment settles down thanks to her short swap with Gem.

Ren

A crack around the neck, fracturing from the back where Martyn beheaded him. Similar to Scar's explosion fragment being important because he's the first death of the series, I think this fragment is also significant since it's the first PvP kill. The first weapon drawn.

Like Skizz, Ren is also a lover. Filled with love, loyalty, and dedication to the people he cares about. His heart fracture spreads across his heart for the same reasons. He would lay his life on the line for his allies. And I think BigB leaving him for Grian broke him so much inside he couldn't return to Limited Life.

Lizzie

She wasn't built for this series. Wasn't built to be killed in cold blood by her soulmate Joel and his red life insanities. But she was healthy enough to be brought because just a little to stand in for Pearl.

Mumbo

He also wasn't built for this series. They snapped him in half bro. Being killed by Grian was too much.

If you disagree with anything or have any of your own ideas please let me know in the comments/tags <3

[ponderingsoflife]

Some say, there is a world where there can be two victors.

After killing Bdubs, Grian and Scar return to the desert to rebuild their home. When it’s all said and done they raid the stores of Dogwarts and feast on the meat and wine stores before collapsing into their beds happy and warm with plans to look for a wandering trader the next day to look for another llama for Scar. After all, the world border has dissipated and they have a whole world to explore together (but they’ll always return to the desert at the end of the day).

When Pearl dies Scott can’t bring himself to fight on. They were supposed to win together, and as much as he still wants to win, he refuses to win with Ren or Martyn by his side. The duo kill him while he’s down and the king and his hand finally have their day. Almost everything is burnt down but now that the world border is gone that doesn’t matter. They’ll find a snowy forest and never return, after all, they have an enchanting business that needs rebuilding.

Scott runs away from Pearl because he’s so scared he’ll hurt her in an accident, or worse, get her killed again. When they are the last two left the long journey of healing begins. They can handle being soulbounds, it won’t be romantic but they don’t need it to be. They can just be two little guys who share a house with eighteen different dogs.

Impulse finds himself face to face with two previous winners and despite the rules they’ve set in place, he knows he’s going to lose when the timer ticks down. When the fighting starts though, Martyn and Scott fling themselves off the cliff and into the water below, slowly drowning together. Impulse may have won, but at what cost? He’s alone.

Pearl promised Gem they would win together as soon as they hunted down Scar. So when Pearl falls off an obvious cliff Gem is baffled. Did she do that on purpose? Not wanting to win again? Did she not want to win with Gem? She can’t even begin to wrap her head around it. Luckily Scar is still there with her. They don’t know anything about one another but they’re stuck there together so they might as well start learning about each other.

Scott wanted to win again with Cleo, he really did, but just before the winners could be confirmed he was killed by a zombie, leaving Cleo alone. This was an event, so Cleo isn’t worried about being alone forever like Impulse, but when the next season rolls around they can’t help but look at Scott as if he’s fragile, scared to risk losing him again.

By some twist of fate Joel sees Grian about to blow up the bunker, and he stops him. Jimmy dies to his own hubris later on but Lizzy is still alive. When she kills Tango the game is practically over (though they still make a show of killing the previous victors), and the two can live together finally. In a world of no wars, no fighting, no supernaturals interfering with their day to day life (well aside from the occasional ghost, but Jimmy and Gem are nice to have around from time to time). Maybe they’ll find a nice mesa by the ocean and settle down there.

[z0mbiew00d]

Life Series Scott is fiercely loyal.

In Third Life, he devotes himself to Jimmy and stays by his side no matter what, even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with his actions (him burning the red banner, etc.)

He makes an alliance with Scar and Grian, and refuses to break it to team up with Cleo even though he loves and trusts her as much if not more than them. However he refuses to hurt Cleo and is loyal to her as well.

He dies stranded and alone anyway.

In Last Life he teams up with Pearl, and immediately is devoted to her. They’re best friends through and through and do everything to keep each other alive. Cleo comes to him asking for shelter and an alliance after she is betrayed, and Scott welcomes her into his home immediately. She dies and becomes red life though before the alliance can be properly sorted, but while she’s a red life Scott doesn’t fear her and still trusts her not to harm him (whereas Pearl runs in fear the moment she spots her, not trusting her despite their previously arranged alliance.)

Cleo joins back in their group once she goes back up to yellow and the three are fiercely loyal to each other until the very end. While fighting Ren he shouts the words “you killed Pearl.” Despite the fact she’s gone and dead, he’s still fighting *for her.*

He wins that season, all he has left of his alliance is Binky but other than that he’s lost his allies and his friends, and he’s alone.

Then comes Double Life, the one season where you’re given a no-choice ally to be loyal to until the end, and Scott understandably is excited and wants to find his soulmate. But they don’t come looking for him. He finds Cleo, and they team up as they search for their soulmates. At the end of the session they meet up with their soulmates, and it’s none other than Pearl, and Martyn.

Pearl who he’d been allied with last season, who he fought to his last breath to avenge. And Martyn, who’d had a hand in his death in the first season.

But Pearl wasn’t loyal, she didn’t come looking for him like he did for his soulmate. So he teams up with Cleo, and is loyal to her and her alone for the entire season. Sure he’s friendly with Martyn and Pearl towards the end, though less so Pearl, but not the unwavering loyalty he has to Cleo.

When it’s just the four of them left, Martyn turns on Pearl and Scott but Scott runs off instead of fighting, because hurting Martyn would mean hurting Cleo and he’s too loyal to do that.

Then Pearl takes out Cleo and Martyn, and what does Scott do? He takes himself out to give his teammate the win, because that’s what he does.

Next we have Limited Life, and it takes Scott a little bit to find a permanent ally but then he teams up with Martyn. Martyn who tríes to kill him in the first episode, Martyn who betrayed him at the end of the last season, Martyn who was part of the final four in Last Life, Martyn who was there as he died in Third Life, letting Ren kill him.

But Scott welcomes him back in the second episode, trusts him completely. All while Martyn is planning to betray him. He lets Martyn have his time on his green life, letting him kill him so the time stays between their pair.

All through Limited Life also, Cleo and Scott are on good terms and are allies.

Martyn betrays him at the end, and Scott is simply happy that his Mean Gill won. The person who he was devoted to and trusted betrayed him and killed him, but he’s happy for him.

And last but not least, we have Secret Life. This time he’s not teamed with any of the Divorce Quartet, he’s made his team with Gem and Impulse, two people he’d never previously allied with. And yet once again he trusts them completely.

When Scott’s tired of being a green life with only one heart, he goes to Martyn. The man he teamed with last season, the man who betrayed him two seasons in a row, and gives himself up to him.

Gem gets the boogeyman curse and warns Scott to stay away, and Scott does as he’s told. When she dies and becomes red, he trusts her not to hurt him. But she does. And after that session, he STILL trusts her. Also during the boogeyman curse apocalypse, he hides Cleo with him up at his, Impulses and Gems base, still loyal to her all the way from the first season.

He gives up his yellow life to her, so she gets the hearts (alongside Impulse). While on red life Gem & The Scott’s and The Mounders team up, finally putting Scott and Pearl on the same team again. But it doesn’t last, his team and Pearls team are the last two standing, and neither of them want to hurt the other but it must be done.

“Do it cowards” comes through the chat, from none other than Cleo. And do it the two teams do, with Joel doing the first hit the two teams are broken apart. Scott is still loyal to Gem and The Scott’s, and still loyal to Cleo.

He gives his life to Gem in an attempt to get her to win, giving her those extra hearts, only for her to be taken out by Scar and Pearl.

No matter what, Scott is fiercely loyal to those he allies with, but also his past allies. Cleo, Martyn, Pearl, even Jimmy (though I didn’t mention him much in this post, I have a whole other ramble post I wanna make about him and Scott at some point). He keeps them in his heart, and is loyal to them until his demise.

[emerald-cobracat]

Has anyone considered how none of the winners in the life series actually get to survive past the games.

Grian killed himself immediately after killing Scar. Scott is killed by a command after winning. Pearl dies at most a second after Scott kills himself. Martin is the only one who survives after winning and even he runs out of time.

The games aren’t meant to be survived, even the winners fall victim to the death that plagues the server.

None of the victors go against this. Except Scott and Martin.

Scott is killed almost immediately afterwords. He’s killed by Grian (I think). Grian is a watcher. Wether he left or betrayed them doesn’t matter. He still has the power and knows the power of the watchers. He knew that Scott wouldn’t die after his victory. He knew Scott would move forward and try to save them.

The watchers don’t like Scott.

This would cause them to hate him. To despise him. To make is so that the games would never be kind to him again. But then Grian kills Scott. He uses the power he once abandoned to save Scott from the watchers wrath.

So maybe the watchers don’t like Scott but they approve of him. He got one of their own to use his power again. They would favor him but they’d let him be. It’s why Scott and Pearl survived as long as they did even if they didn’t team up. The watchers left them alone because Scott was part of the pair. In limited life Scott was doing the best he could and very little went wrong for him. He managed a crazy bucket clutch with the entire server trying to kill him. The only thing that went wrong is him being boogeyman first and even then it just meant he had more time.

It’s also why Scott couldn’t win double life. That would get rid of any good will the watchers have for him.

The watchers want Grian back in their ranks. And so far Scott is the only one that got Grian to use his power.

However Martin doesn’t play the game as he’s supposed to. He betrays everyone and in the end doesn’t play fair. He wins but in the cruelest and most desperate way he could.

Martin also dares to live after he’s won. He dares to not abide by the rules and die. Yes he does die eventually but he had an hour left on his timer. An hour, no winner has lasted that long. What if Martin is doing so badly right now because in that hour he did something. He challenged the watchers or maybe used that time to find something on the server in an attempt to free himself and his friends.

What if he did something so that the watchers couldn’t kill him. They’d have to wait until his time ran out.

They’d hate that.

It could explain why he’s doing so badly now too. Yes Martin might share the canary curse because of him attacking Jimmy but what if it’s more than that. What if the watchers are getting directly involved with everyone because of Martin. What if Martin found something in that hour in limited life? What if he’s so close yet so far to ending the games?

The watchers would hate that. They’d try to stop him.

And what better way then to further control everyone then by putting them against each other with a secret.

I also like the idea that Scott is using his good will with the watchers to learn more about them and try to stop them. During limited life the watchers began to notice so Martin who may or may not have known what’s happening gets involved.

[cattimeswithjellie]

I do like the fact that in a session where there were three permadeaths, they were all so very different.

There was the useless, senseless accident that was Jimmy's death. Jimmy's death was unique because it was both preordained and fiercely denied. After three series with Jimmy the first permadeath, it's almost a game in itself to make it not happen again. People were willing to die to keep Jimmy from going out first. Bdubs, who was barely Jimmy's ally, literally begged Jimmy to kill him when Jimmy's timer ran into the single minutes. Scott jumped off a bridge to give Jimmy just a bit more time to live. Grian and Joel were on deck, ready to spoonfeed more life into Jimmy with their own deaths if they needed to, just to keep that canary chirping a little longer. But none of it mattered in the end, because Jimmy's foot slipped in a moment of excitement and he was too startled to pearl or bucket clutch or do anything to save himself. Gone in an instant for no reason and no chance to say goodbye.

There was Joel's death, a helpless, hopeless race against time and an implacable enemy. Joel made some serious tactical mistakes in his final episode. His gleeful killing alienated him from his allies, antagonizing the Clockers by killing Cleo, annoying the Nosy Neighbors by killing BigB. He griefed Scott's base with TNT twice, once tactically and once just because he wanted to blow stuff up. By the time he was down to the wire, there were lots of people who wanted him dead and barely anybody who wanted him alive. Even Grian, his Day One ally, eventually realized that trying to keep Joel alive was a losing proposition when Scott and Scar and Martyn and Cleo could siphon away Joel's time much faster than Grian could ever donate it. But even knowing that it was hopeless, even knowing that a _best case scenario_ would barely carry him into the next session, Joel fought desperately til his last second ticked away.

And then there was Skizz's death, premeditated and proud, carried out at the hands of a friend. Skizz had been dying from the very first day of the server. His Session One was absolutely atrocious, losing four hours right off the bat to back-to-back Bogey kills. No matter how well he played after that, no matter how many kills he got or plans he came up with, Skizz was never seriously in contention to win the game. And he knew that. He came up with alternate win conditions for himself. He set a goal to affirm every person on the server and he did. He set a goal to make the team he led a force to be reckoned with, and he did. And most importantly, he set a goal that somebody from TIES make it to the end of the game. By Session Seven, it was clear that Skizz wasn't going to be around to bring that goal to fruition himself. Time was not on his side, and his skill was just not there. Skizz is a clever redstoner and a good entertainer, but he's no PVPer and his bow skills are mediocre. Every time he tried to get a kill, he wound up losing more time. So when it came down to the wire, he didn't beg for his life or fight for more time, despite knowing his friends would give it to him. He called his team together and he gave them his new strategy. Someone from TIES needed to make it to the end, and it couldn't be him. But they could take his resources and his time forward with them, so long as he gave them up willingly. By sacrificing himself for his team, Skizz lost his last 20 minutes of life, but he put his team one step closer to that final goal.

There's probably only one session left, which means it's going to be choked with permadeaths that don't get focused or remarked on very much. Each one will be different though, each one will have its own flavor. In a series like Limited Life, the end is never in question, but the ending is unique to each player.

[tubbytarchia]

The parallels between Joel and pearl are actually like really interesting sometimes. Like to see how similar but different the two of them are can be really fun to look through. It’s also fun to see how much they can be opposites, like, take dl!pearl and 3l!joel for example. Joel ended up mostly alone because he tried playing on both sides of the field, which didn’t do him much good. He had been mostly lonely throughout the series with some tenuous alliances, but he ended up dying alone surrounded by dogs anyway. In double life, pearl’s loneliness wasn’t a choice that she made. She had been abandoned in the first episode for running off with a person that wasn’t her soulmate, and that person had also left her out of spite. She also was mostly alone and seen as “crazy” for most pf the series, too having a lot of tenuous alliances that in the end didn’t do her much good at all. Also love how they both had pet dogs they were horrible attached to and dealt very differently with their deaths. Can you tell I love lone wolf parallels

Lone wolf parallels so true.... Joel and Pearl make me feel so ill man. And they fit so neatly together in the Mounders, which makes almost too much sense. I'll leave my Mounder talk for another anon though but even moreso than the lone wolf thing, I think Pearl and Joel serve as interesting parallels because of the others' views on them

Pearl regarded as crazy in DL, Joel regarded as rabid for pretty much every season... Pearl was doing so well in SL, but then she's teamed up again with Scott and Cleo in WL who treat her like a ticking time bomb, constantly referring back to Double Life as if she's an untameable animal needing to be contained, undoing whatever progress she made in SL. They perpetuate the sentiment of her being pathetic and she feels powerless upon all her failures to achieve any of her goals and prove herself, basically giving up in the end (the way she became deflated after Gem's death and knowingly refused to eat, eventually dying)

Joel is regarded as a menace by default, though of his own doing, and not a particularly feared one. Often thought to be more crazy than intimidating or strong, thus regarded with less competence than he would like. It's not like he aims to make himself look insane, when he gives off that impression, it's generally because of distress which I think he's more susceptible to than most others. He gets flustered easily when taunted or when he fails at something, especially an attack. Sorry for the dog analogy (hey, close enough to wolf, right) but he feels like a dog raised to be one of those illegal pit fighting dogs, and he keeps it up to make himself strong and feared in order to get by in this environment. In the end he has occasional bouts of success but most often doesn't do that well. The image constructed of him is less than ideal, and the main contributor to that image aside from him is Scott, who Joel has a hard time landing successful attacks on, who mocks him, who kills him repeatedly, who isn't intimidated by him one way or another as he paints the image of a rabid dog to everyone else. And the one time Joel does so well he wins is the time he makes a conscious effort to tame himself (and he absolutely deserves a win but even just from a character standpoint, it feels hollow in a poetic way because of this)

Two wolves seen as rabid and often incompetent, but where one could take some (although not total) control, finally yielding positive results if even bittersweet ones at best, the other is forced back into their ostracized self, but where there was once fear of someone gone mad, there's pity and mockery now

[taxi-boi]

limited life is about caring and indifference okay listen to me its about what matters to you if anything does

skizz, both at the begining and even post his 3 deaths, that he should be kind to people because they only have so much time. that you should make sure what little time you have matters

scott killed someone. who happened to be skizz. as soon as he could. before people could start caring. before things started to matter

they rerolled boogie *because* it happened so fast. because there was no suspense. it didnt matter.

bdubs killed skizz as soon as he got boogieman. because he figured, hes already down, just a little more wont hurt. but also because to bdubs, skizz doesnt matter. hes not on his team. why should he care.

martin, in the same exact situation with all the same reasons. does not. hes apathetic to the opinions of the others or the risk it would be, but choses not to because hes sympathetic to skizz's plight.

he kills bigb later. not out of malice but out of necessity. it didnt matter who he just had to and bigb agreed and forgave him

martyn is also very indifferent in regards to alliances. this is the first season without rendog, who he allied with in one way or another every season before. now he doesnt even have that, and despite agreeing to an alliance with with scott (atleast thats how scott interpreted it). martyn still considers himself on his own. even saying as much to bigb and pearl.

joel is very indifferent to others. killing other peoples cows just to do it. wanting to get boogieman for the fun of it. digging straight down even after hearing lava and after jimmy died to it first (he could have just built back up. but he stuck with jimmy even in death)

so is jimmy but a bit to the left. hes egging him on the whole way through but he still cares. he'll hit his old soulmate but will apologize while he runs off

tango didnt care about the appology, still vowing to get back at them alongside etho

etho is indifferent to the other TIES. disconnected. more attached to grian and bdubs. both of whom are either directly hated by the ties like in bdubs case. or grian, member of the bad guys along said enemy of the ties joel and jimmy. (though etho also shows an amount of allegiance to ties, attempting to steal cows from bdubs for ties while hes distracted, though being scared off by cleo before he could)

grian asks why anyone would bother burning down the mansion, after all it was about to be reset anyway.

that is exactly why cleo burnt it down. knowing that by next session it wouldnt matter.

death happens so often this season because they can afford to die. they have time early on.

they can be cruel to each other because they've been through 3 seasons of this already. they know how this goes. and more than ever they know that its going to end. that no matter what they do, there is nothing that they can do

at the end of the day nothing you do will matter. unless you make it matter yourself. do you bother?

[siriannatan]

Felt a need to ramble so here we go.

In the last two Life seasons, Scott could have won. Easily. He had hours over Impulse and Martyn. He could have killed Pearl, dogs or no dogs. We all know that.

But he chose to instead let others win.

He blew himself up and gave Pearl the win. The 'betrayal at the start of the season gave them less connection than other duos. Others (save fro Martyn and Cleo) would have a big dramatic end.

Scott chose how to end himself and was fully at peace with his decision. He chose his end and if we go with the whole Watchers narrative - really threw a wrench in their plans.

And going with that narrative we can say that that early bogeyman was Watchers punishing him for taking their fun. But he foiled them again with a fast, no-nonsense and complications. Simple and easy to forgive pure utility kill.

And then, when everyone expected he and Martyn would have a big dramatic end of two allies being left at the end. He tried to make it a game and involved Impulse.

But why propose that game?

Because he knew how much time he had over Impulse and Martyn. There was no way either of them could kill him without him giving them that kill and neither of those two would just take it.

He knew one of them would take that easy win from breaking the rules. And he once again - going with the narrative - took Watchers fun away from them.

This man is insane and I love it. He made the audience the circus.

And I'm tempted to watch all the previous seasons just for his insanity.

[blueishspace]

Double Life if everyone only had two lives*.

(*two lives instead of one because when I tried with the soulbound everyone died too early for anything interesting to happen)

Tango still dies in the cave, he and Jimmy are at one life almost immediately... Ranchers still happen making Flower Ranchers complete. (Reference to my version of Last Life)

Etho and Joel also die soon to the enderman, they are also left with one life.

Scott is a strategist first, abandoning Pearl is strategically viable with three lives but with only two It's a bigger risk, a risk he doesn't take... He lets Pearl base with him and Cleo.

Cleo is much more likely to put her own enjoying her time over strategy so she stills ditches Martyn at first... Martyn considers Pearl going with Cleo and Scott to be a betrayal.

Ren and BigB are still visited by Pearl...though the situation is different they still likely die because of the enderman and still kick out Pearl for bringing death to them.

Martyn still maths wrong and pushes Cleo to her death, Cleo being Pearls teammate in this timeline makes the wedge between Pearl and Martyn deeper.

BigB still jumps in front of a creeper causing him and Ren to be the first and second players to be out of the game permanently.

Etho and Joel truly believed they wouldn't die during the fishing rod accident so they still go trough it in this timeline and still die. They are out of the game, Joel is third out while Etho is fourth out.

Etho and Joel are out and never kill Pearl for stealing their stuff, she keeps her two lifes.

Impulse is still mobbed by mobs and dies bringing himself and Bdubs to one life left.

Tango still releases a Warden, because of course he does... Pearl is much less happy about it in this timeline.

Now everyone but 4 has one life left and this where things get interesting, Grian and Scar in this timeline are both much less threatening with Scar having been out first in Third Life and Grian in Last Life... On the other hand Scott and Pearl are both winners in this timeline so they become the main target instead meaning Scar and Grian never get stuck in a tower with the ranchers meaning the ranchers don't die yet... Also Grian and Scar never have to sneak around underground meaning Scar doesn't fall into the sea of zombies so they also don't die yet.

Moreover Scott and Pearl are likely better at evading the others which added to Joel and Etho not being in the game means they probably manage to survive the session too.

Ren and BigB are dead meaning they can't kill Bdubs and Impulse, they stay at one life.

Jimmy still gets killed by the enderman, the ranchers are out of the game. Jimmy is the fifth player out and Tango is the sixth.

Etho and Joel aren't there to put the tnt trap that in our Double Life Scar died to...so Scar and Grian avoid yet another death.

Etho and Joel are also not there to kill Scott so Scott and Pearl also avoid another death.

Scar still kills Martyn and Cleo in the deep dark putting them out of the game seventh and eighth

Grian still dies to the warden, putting Scar and himself to their last lives.

At the end 3 soulbound couples remain: Bdubs and Impulse, Grian and Scar and Pearl and Scott.

Bdubs and Impulse are kilked first becoming the ninth and tenth players to loose their last lives.

Scott and Pearl are both winners who have showed little to no interest in winning again, so here when they both have already won in the end they let Scar and Grian be the finalists.

In the end only Scar and Grian remain, no secret soulmates, no betrayals in the last stretch... despite wether Scar trows the fight or not Grian is more likely to come out on top.

The Sun is crowned the winner of Double Life.

(Third Life)

(Last Life.)

(Limited Life)

[nerdyenby]

Me making literally any two characters foils:

So Scott and Scar in secret life express love in opposite ways. All three of Scott’s lives were given willingly, the man lives and breathes sacrifice. He wants to see those he cares about succeed more than he cares about his own chances. He runs to Martyn, to Gem, and tells them to kill him. Scott has made it far enough too many times to have any illusion about how these games end. When he dies, he wants it to be not a tragedy but an act of love. His game has to end somehow, and it might as well be at the hands of his allies, giving them a parting gift to increase their odds however he can. Scar, on the other hand, hadn’t won before. While Scott often has the most dedicated and steadfast alliances in these games, Scar tends to end up alone. Scar, who is clumsy and is actively unbothered by jabs at his apparent incompetence, was never expected to make it this far. No one thought Scar would win, least of all himself. Being so consistently underrated with his skills often going unnoticed, he’s as surprised as anyone by him making it as far as he did. Still, it is largely because of his reputation as accident prone that Scar refuses charity. Pearl offers her life on a platter to him several times, but he adamantly refuses every time. Out of character, Scar tells her that he doesn’t want to win that much, not like that. If he’s going to win, it’s going to be by his own merit. Besides that, he won’t accept sacrifice on account of respect. He says to Pearl over and over again that she gets this far because she’s good at what she does, that she should be proud of that. Pearl deserves better than a lackluster sacrifice to someone who was barely even an ally earlier that same episode. She deserves to take it as far as she can, Scar refuses to get in the way of that, not unless he has to. When it comes down to the two of them, he was more than willing to fight as long as she fought back. Scar wasn’t going to tolerate Pearl sacrificing herself, out of both pride and admiration. But what if there was another factor as well? After all, Scar’s been on the other side of sacrifices before. The first winner of the series achieved as much largely due to Scar’s willingness to offer himself up. Scar had urged Grian to kill him as soon as they were both on red, but — just like Scar four seasons later — Grian refused. Instead of doing what Scar said and killing him then and there, the pair headed back home. They said their goodbyes, and leveled the playing field as much as possible. Regardless, Scar knew who had to win. Scar has always been a better fighter than anyone has given him credit for, if he had any desire to be the one left standing, he would have put up more of a fight. Instead, he took his time and pulled his punches while Grian mercilessly wailed on him. Grian wouldn’t accept a direct sacrifice, just like Scar refused with Pearl, but that doesn’t mean neither Scar nor Pearl had any plans of making it out alive. Looking back at Third Life, it’s hard to say if Scar regrets how he handled the final duel, if he wishes it had happened differently, but we know his and Grian’s relationship was never the same. Grian distanced himself from Scar, they always gravitated towards one another but Grian kept pulling away. Scar may not regret the way Third Life ended but Grian does, and Grian’s regret haunts Scar too.