#but he doesn't know they're NPCs yet......

[chez-cinnamon]

Did Noah ever go through the terrible two's when he was a wee bugaboo?

Surprisingly no !! He was a very calm and giggly baby all round, but umm-

It seems to have taken a while into adulthood to actually come out fgcgcffhggjvg

[sunset-peril]

Social Relationships - Link Imperial Hyrule (HFS, TotK)

Key -

❤️ - Immediate Family 🩷 - Extended Family 🧡 - Friends 💛 - Working/Business 💙 - True Neutral 💚 - It's Awkward 🩶 - Dislike/Avoid 🖤 - Get out of my life by any means possible (may be willing to kill or severely harm)

Relationships -

Hometown

Check the Hateno Village Social Makeup for a Who's Who

Zelda (Esmerelda) Hyrule - ❤️ (wife, "queen" of pack)

Zelda Ivee Hyrule - ❤️ (daughter)

Reede Imperial - 🩷 (great-grand-nephew)

Clavia Imperial - 🩷 (great-grand-niece, by marriage)

Karin Imperial - 🩷 (great-great-grand-niece)

Sophie - 🧡

Cece - 🖤

Ivee (East Wind) - 💛

Pruce - 💛

Amira - 🩶

Tamana - 💙

Teebo - 💛 (mentee)

Medda - 🧡 (neighbor)

Aster - 🧡 (neighbor)

Dantz - 💛

Koyin - 🧡

Sayge - 💛

Senna - 💙 (nice lady but kind of scary-looking)

Sefaro - 🧡

Prima - 💙

Warten - 💙

Uma - 🧡

Traveling

Riju - 🧡

Buliara - 💛

Sidon - 🧡

Yona - 💛

Yunobo - 🧡

Teba - 🧡

Tulin - 🧡 (has a family-like relationship, but are not related)

Kass - 🩷 (great-grand-nephew)

Impa - 🧡

Purah - 🧡

Robbie - 🧡

Paya - 💚💛 (relationship was awkward for some time, then became a stable working relationship)

Hudson - 🧡

Rhondson - 💛

Kohga - 🖤

Memory

Rhoam - 🩷💚

Urbosa - 🩷🧡

Mipha - 🧡

Revali - 🧡💛 (Link's still not sure if they were friends or not)

Daruk - 🧡

Hyrule's Final Stand Masterlist

[vaguely-concerned]

My two cents on how much of Mind!Varric is Rook’s mind trying to fill the blank space and how much is Solas actively talking through a convenient blood magic paper doll of the mind: I think it's a mix of both, a truly collaborative psychosocial horrorshow if you would, but waaaay more towards the second. It feels too directed and tactical at times to be anything else. Rook's mind is willing to go along with the denial phase as far as it can fucking carry them to not have to face the grief and regret and does its part in papering over details that don’t make any sense, the way brains will strive to create coherent meaning even out of deeply confusing input, but to my understanding it's a collaborateur in how that plays out, not the instigator or control center. Solas is using it as a path to agency and to gather insight into Rook as a person unguarded as he can't count on in his own guise. (That stoic option that leads to him being like 'oh I see you're cautiously denying me access to your inner life. well. at least you still have Varric to talk to. y'know as an outlet :)'. You absolute BITCH Solas! That alone convinced me that he HAS to have an active hand in it on some level.)

My guess is that it takes considerable effort on Solas’ part to make Mind!Varric do anything more involved or complicated than seeming to sit up in bed and give casual commentary, and that’s why he keeps having eerie five minute shallow pep talks with you before he announces he conveniently needs a nap aaanyway good luck kid you got this haha. When he’s just spouting NPC lines from his bedrest, I’m ready to believe that could be Rook’s mind being allowed to improv lines for him more freely because it’s less about Solas trying to get something out of them or working an angle and more ‘Still here! Still totally alive and fine and the mentor figure you know and love and trust :) don’t even worry about it! Thankfully there is no war in Ba Sing Sei, as we all know’ upkeep work lol. Rook’s mind is allowed to set the tone of Varric, the outlines, but not always the content. 

AND, on a (beautifully fucked up) character psychology level, I feel like Solas is indulging in actually getting to be the good supportive mentor figure to Rook with one hand to assuage the guilt he feels about what he's done -- and what he's going to do -- to them with the other. Same internal logic as he uses in Trespasser about the Qun. ‘Almost everyone is going to die from the course of action I’m doggedly pursuing eventually. But at least I can make their last years happier and freer and kinder than they would have been otherwise. and that kind of makes up for it right. a little bit. doesn't it. doesn't that make it better at least. I need that to make it better)'. Did I really take your beloved mentor and friend from you if you don’t know yet that I did? Some philosophers would argue not really! So it’s probably almost ok actually. Isn’t it even a little noble that I’m taking all this grief and guilt on myself and shielding you for now. With undertones that I’m not sure he would realize himself (and might be mortified by if he did) that he is so incredibly lonely, and even a dishonest and indirect emotional connection is more than nothing when you’re that desperate. In this setup he gets idk. Both the control he craves so incredibly badly in relationships and over himself, and the scraps, the fading afterimages, of intimacy and warmth and companionship, even second hand. The one thing Solas and Rook agree on deep deep down is that they really wish Varric weren't gone. They're handshake memeing this in the saddest and most creepy way possible.

I think an important element too is that Solas needs Rook and their team to *succeed* —  up to a certain point. He needs someone to hold the two other elven mean girls off until he can get out of here. Ideally, in a perfect world, even do all the hard work of killing them so he can swoop in at the end and do his thing when both sides are exhausted and out of resources to stop him, and then Bob’s your uncle! Same logic as he was using with Corypheus, and after that worked out so well, too! King of choosing to never learn from a single solitary mistake he’s ever made even though i fully believe he could have the capacity to Fen’Harel <3 The underlying idea isn’t flawed, you see, it was just unforeseen circumstances getting in the way. This time for sure it’ll all work out the way I cleverly imagined it in my head beforehand. Cue By Talos this can’t be happening etc. in the form of a statue almost crushing him like a bug. 

So he's providing guidance and forging Rook into a leader from two angles: one Rook might not trust, and one they probably will. Shaping them into what he needs slowly and carefully. He’s helping you hone your team into their most effective state, as he might have done with his own agents back in the day, setting up his chess pieces even if he has to squint through two glimpsed realities to do it haha. Pincer maneuver of an insidious stealth mentor you never asked for. Also… at one point mind Varric gives you a whole little monologue about how Solas' problem is that he’s always seen his interpersonal connections as flaws and see where it’s landed him, all alone and the worst part? it hasn’t even worked. it’s all been for nothing he’s back where he began with nothing to show for it but his mistakes. Like...that has such strong 'uh okay happy to play your therapist from two rooms away here what the fuck kind of traumadump is this' energy to me, I’m not sure Rook like. Thinks that much about Solas as a private person. So much of Solas' self-loathing and futile insights into his own flaws seem to shine through in Mind!Varric's dialogue all the time — I just can't believe that there's no guiding hand behind it as it were. 

Most of all. I feel like people underestimate the degree to which Solas is incredibly funny. As in, he has a very consistent and recognizable sense of humour. It’s one of my very favourite things about him. We must remember — it is crucial that we always keep in mind — Orlesian accent and wig Solas from May The Dread Wolf Take You (my beloved, the explanation for why I love this dude even with the. All of the everything else. No one does it quite like him). He is not at all above doing things or adding little flourishes for his own obscure amusement, in fact that seems to me to be one of his most consistent traits. The Randy Dowager Quarterly comment Varric has? The ‘Maybe this is the Dread Wolf’s revenge. Forcing us to house sit for him’ thing? To Me this is 100% Solas amusing himself in his boring Fade jail surrounded by the screaming hellscape of all his regrets. Source: it came to me as divine revelation through pure vibes trust me bro 

If nothing else I find it much more narratively interesting personally if the connection between Rook and Solas really is that defenselessly intimate and entwined (and so unbalanced!), and the sense of violation and invasion and betrayal afterwards consequently all the more nauseatingly intense. Even if you kept him at arm’s length in the open, he’s been under your skin the whole time, looking around, gathering what he needs to destroy you, wearing the face of a friend. Regretfully, probably, but choosing to do it every step of the way anyway. (Sound familiar, Inquisitor? Solas doesn’t have that many tricks when you actually look at it, he keeps returning to old tried and true ones like a dog with a bone haha.) Maybe he even genuinely meant some of it as mercy, which only makes it so much worse. It makes his sin against his own core principles of autonomy and the freedom of all beings in mind, spirit and body so much more juicily grave if it’s something he pursues actively and consistently, rather than it half-falling into his lap as a happy accident mainly orchestrated by Rook’s own subconscious. Solas, too, is at his very lowest point, the closest to giving in and becoming his own antithesis fully that he’s ever been, and it makes the choice of whether you still reach out your hand to him one last time or not all the more impactful and difficult.

[pretend-i-don-t-exist]

hm more heavenly demon!sy thoughts,,, i am invested

the system had an error bc sj's body and soul are still very much together bc he hasn't even experienced a single qi deviation yet, so it tries to find a good substitute to throw sy's soul in

when it can't find any, it decides to make a body that sy is most familiar with (it should be a human, but the system was impressed by sy's very passionate rants about lbh's heavenly demon abilities) so boom. heavenly demon sy

he wakes up in the endless abyss. the system has to hibernate bc the body has taken too much of its power so: here is sy, with an almost invincible body, alone in the endless abyss. oh, and he doesn't know about his heritage. all he knows is that he's in the abyss of pidw

ofc sy immediately geeks out over the demonic beasts and all the plants!!! look he could never visualize what a wyrm-mule looks like or how a porcupine-quail could possibly work, and now he gets to see them! irl!!

well not irl exactly, but if this isn't a very weird dream and he's really transmigrated into some background npc, then it's all well and good. his knowledge of the endless abyss should be enough to keep him safe

he does get very weird urges tho like wdym he's suddenly not squeamish with blood?? why is tearing off his arm now a good strategy to get out of the jaw of a black moon python rhinoceros??? sure his body weirdly could regenerate (tested and proven when he keeps tripping over roots that just keep popping up in his way somehow) but he should be a bit more against that, right?

he also gets the urge to bare his teeth when aggressive beasts crowd around him. his teeth are suspiciously pointy when he feels them, and somehow, the beasts are... intimidated? just like that? when he snarls at them. things also bend to his will for some reason? he was irritated with a swamp (he does not want to wade through that), and then the next time he looks back at it, it's gone???

the demons he came across are very polite, too. completely unlike his expectations. sy thinks he's lucky to meet civilized demons with human-like mannerisms, and does not notice that they're batshit terrified of this one heavenly demon conspiciously leaking out so much demonic qi that it's a miracle he hasn't passed out (which is even more scary bc that is a heck ton of qi)

then because sy is sy, he wifebeams the terrified demons. he talks so animatedly with them, asking questions about their customs without judgment! his smile is so pretty and charming! even in his dirty clothing and unkempt hair, he still looks like a beauty!

then sy takes a bath when he arrives at the demons' village and takes offer to wash up, notices his reflection, and promptly freaks out

is he tlj??? no, tlj does not look like this in pidw's official art, but demons can shapeshift, right? has he messed up the plot??? what date is it even?? is lbh even born yet?? is he lbh's grandfather?????

the demons are rightfully frightened but also worried when sy accidentally destroys a wall of the bath in his haste to get out and get some answers. luckily, this is the demon realm, or his tendency to wear only inner robes will be heavily scrutinized!

sy then plans to get into the human realm (he knows of a few ways) to change the plot! he can't possibly leave lbh to suffer like in pidw if he has the ability to change it...

except lbh is not even born yet.

he does meet tlj, and woooo the demon is so chill and has an entire library full of the worst novels sy has ever read in his entire life (still better than pidw). tlj seems like a sweetheart, how could he possibly wage a war against the human realm that led to his imprisonment? smth is fishy here!

(behind him, tlj kills an entire horde of demons for daring to plan to capture sy. sy is now his little brother. sy does not have the choice of refusing)

and so they travel to the human realm together. tlj immediately fucks off to the nearest bookstore, and sy would have loved to follow him except he has Seen the Plot. then he's suddenly trying to pass off as a wandering cultivator that forgot most of the human customs (very suspicious) bc he's spent most of the time researching plants and animals (ok, his infodumps make that believable) in front of cang qiong cultivators

and then cang qiong offers him to become a teacher in the beast taming peak bc why not (they heard of rumors of a kind wandering cultivator with incredibly accurate portrayals and info about demonic beasts, and also sy is acting Very Sus so they kinda want to keep an eye on him)

(tlj is laughing at him so hard he dislocates a shoulder)

look i just want sy to have the time of his life exploring the endless abyss without the system or the plot breathing down his neck and then i want to throw him into the most stressful situations of his life (coexisting with the disciple versions of the peak lords, and also not getting himself killed for being a heavenly demon, and also tlj's steadily increasing panic on how to court a cold human cultivator who could bodyslam him and throw him over her shoulder and walk off to the sunset)

[ordinaryschmuck]

With Gooseworx all but confirming that the Jax being an AI thing is bullshit, I personally want to talk about an interesting part about Jax that a lot of theorists used as "evidence" that validates the theory:

Jax's fourth wall breaks are a common topic brought up amongst the "Jax is an NPC" theory. After all, Caine broke the fourth wall in the pilot, knowing full well that the world of The Amazing Digital Circus isn't real and is talking to some unseen viewer as he introduces the Circus Crew.

There's also this bit of official art surrounding Jax's pin:

Where everyone else is inside their room, Jax is outside as pieces of the circus fall apart around him and all of reality to crash. Certainly lends itself to this idea that Jax knows he's not a real person and that his presence could cause great disruption to this world. And he doesn't care because none of it is real. Might as well have fun and cause chaos in a world that doesn't exist.

And I'll admit, all of this seems like valid claims for how the theory could be true. I saw it all and thought that it surely COULD be possible...but there are some things that stop me from being convinced.

Firstly, Caine breaking the fourth wall in the pilot doesn't really seem like an AI talking to the audience. It looks more like an AI programmed to talk to a player as a game boots up. What we saw in the opening could be more like a morning routine that he has to do at least once a day. Plus, we've yet to see any other NPC talk to the audience like Jax has. He explicitly called out the viewers in episode three, knowing full well he's being watched by SOMEONE. Or, at the very least, acting like he is. What do I mean by that? Well, to explain, I'd like to use one of my favorite fourth wall breakers as an example:

Deadpool, in most adaptations, knows fully well that he's a fictional character. He'll talk to the readers/viewers, move the camera around, and constantly talk shit to the writers/studio for occasionally screwing him over. It's all in good (Sometimes bloody) fun...but there's a canonical reason for this. It's not like She-Hulk where the fourth wall breaks are a way to tell HER stories HER way. You see, Deadpool...is just fucking insane.

No, really, that's the reason. Due to the trauma of gaining his powers, Deadpool's mind breaks and he's led to believe that he MUST be a fictional character. In comics, he actually gets voices in his head that makes him think he must be some comic book superhero, and the movies implied that something similar happened given how he never broke the fourth wall ONCE before getting his powers. This means him breaking the fourth wall could be seen as a coping mechanism. After all, it's better to believe you're a fictional character designed to entertain some invisible audience than believe that all of the shitty things that happened to you and people close to you is just a cruel joke from the universe.

Sound familiar?

Going back to the pilot, remember how Pomni's first instinct was to say that the Circus was all just a dream? To her, it's better to live in a lie that everything around her isn't real than to accept the reality that she's stuck in digital purgatory. Jax very well could be going through something similar, but unlike Pomni who seemed to just accept her reality, Jax never did. The trauma of being stuck in the Circus had led to his mind breaking just like Pomni's, Kinger's, and anyone else's. It's just that, for him, he thinks he's coping with it better because he discovered the secret that no one else did: None of this is real.

They're not actually people trapped in some hellscape while an AI unintentionally tortures them. They're all just fictional characters whose tragedies and silly antics are used to entertain viewers. I mean, it's either that or they're real people forever trapped in the circus with the closest thing to death being a full, psychotic break as they give up their sanity because they no longer want to exist in this hell anymore...But that possibly can't be true. Because if that IS true, then Jax has to face that he's a real person stuck in a real, awful situation that he can't joke his way out of. So, it's best to think nothing is real and nothing they do matter. So, might as well have fun with it.

Going back to the pin...

I don't think this is damning evidence about Jax being an NPC. Actually, it perfectly captures who he is as a character. He knows the circus isn't real. He even thinks HE isn't real. So instead of grappling with that, Jax lets himself believe that if nothing is real than nothing he does matters. He can break things, ruin lives, and assist in torturing the others in the circus. It's what he thinks will make the show more entertaining, even though all he's really entertaining is himself so his mind doesn't break more than it does.

Now, could the same apply if he's an NPC? Well...maybe. Gumigoo definitely proves how far someone could fall when they're told their world is fake. He was about ready to give up on life because he didn't think he had one. If Jax was an NPC, I could see him having a similar break, but going in the far opposite direction where, instead of giving up on life, he chooses to live the way HE wants it. Instead of being some one-off NPC for a lame adventure, he could go off on adventures of his own and ruin the lives of others now that his is thoroughly ruined.

However, Gooseworx makes a good point: "...a lot of people come up with theories based on how unexpected they'd be, and not because they make sense or align with the show's themes."

If Jax is an NPC, it would harm the overall message of the show. That there's meaning to be found in a stagnant life, and you find that meaning with people close to you who make that life worth living. Jax represents a sort of foil to that idea, with his way of coping with the madness being pure chaos and breaking others. It's his coping mechanism, and it works because it shows how human Jax really is. They're ALL human and they have human desires and wants, with the Circus pretty much stripping that away and leaving them...as they are now. They're emotionally broken, their sanity is decreasing, and some of them are losing all sense of self. By making Jax an NPC, it would definitely be surprising, but it would take away from that idea. It no longer makes him a human facing his own tragedy but instead an AI that's just as broken as Gummigoo. More than that, it gives the others an easy out. All the crew has to do is tell Caine that Jax is an NPC and POOF! No more annoyance. So making him someone who HAS to stay with the others and they're forever forced to deal with him also adds more to THEIR tragedy and torture.

Jax being an NPC is an interesting theory, but I don't think it's one that SHOULD be true. To me, it's more fascinating watching Jax treat the world around him as meaningless knowing he's a human instead of a rogue NPC breaking everything. And Gooseworx made it clear how they feel about it. Now, could it potentially be a mislead to get fans off the trail? Genuinely...I don't think so. That sounded very "I don't like this idea so it's not gonna happen" type of response. Still, we won't know until the show wraps up. Anything can happen, but don't get your hopes up if a character who does bad things to people that don't deserve it is more human than you think.

[burr-ell]

re: bh never having faced consequences, what are some moments/things they've done you think there should've been consequences for? i'm asking because i've realized these past couple episodes that i also fear they won't face any consequences for this, but i haven't been able to pinpoint why i feel that way yet

I don't think the answer is that they've done things that demand consequences so much as it is that a lot of elements of this campaign just don't coalesce or feel like they matter. Things feel important and relevant and cool in the moment and then don't get any kind of followup, nor do they have a meaningful impact on the characters. So much of this story falls to the wayside with no followup, if it doesn't have the wind taken out of it altogether.

A lot of plot points wind up mattering more to the fandom than they do to the characters—even good arcs, like the events of the party split arc, don't seem to have left much of an impact. There are fans who still bring up Hearthdell as a point against the gods or Vasselheim, but Bell's Hells have barely mentioned it if at all since episode 65. Laudna derides it as a "pissant town" with "pissant squabbles" and is far less interested in the village and its people than she is in her own trauma and feelings about the Titans. Ashton only brings up what happened there because they're still sore about being judged by an angel. There's still a chance that they call out Vasselheim's leadership for the whole mess, but at no point during Ashton's rant to the Exandrian Accord did they ever reference the blatant encroachment and attempt at a land grab. Molaesmyr fares little better; Chetney is the only character who ever brings it up, and when he does it's in the context of rattling Ludinus personally—a point that only he ever presses, even though Imogen and Fearne were also there. The fandom has been debating off and on about how much the nature of Predathos itself can be linked to Molaesmyr's destruction, but nothing has canonically explained it one way or the other, in part because the rest of the Hells just aren't interested.

It's also that lack of interest that leads to major NPC villains that are almost completely irrelevant to the story. It does not ultimately matter that one of Ludinus's generals is Otohan Thull or that the Malleus Key was defended by Ozo Cruth. The audience doesn't really know who they are, and they don't know because the party had no reason to care and didn't try to get one. Matt has indicated that there's a story to Otohan that will likely be revealed in a campaign wrap-up, and the same is probably true for Ozo, but in the actual story, all they are to the audience is a couple of overtuned stat blocks with swords, and the characters they killed might as well have been gutted by a pit fiend for all it mattered. About the only death that has any narrative resonance is FCG's, and it feels less like they sacrificed themself to kill Otohan and more like the story had to lose an interesting and engaging character to get rid of Otohan.

Even returning antagonists don't escape; both Ludinus Da'leth and Delilah Briarwood, important villains from their original campaigns, have been done a great deal of disservice in this one. Ludinus peaked in episode 51; his gambit with Vax and Keyleth was great, but the longer he got to keep monologuing, in a campaign already full of talking in circles about the same issue, the more insufferable he became. Even his death, karmic as it was, is cheapened by the almost-immediate implication that he's got a way to come back, which might make sense mechanically but is utterly exhausting narratively. Delilah, on the other hand, could have been replaced by an original character and nothing of value would have been lost; there's potential in an undead warlock whose patron is their own murderer, but any of the emotional juice of that story is outweighed both by how tiresome the pacing is and how overreliant it is on maudlin imagery and nostalgia for the original Briarwood arc. We don't learn about why Delilah is here or what her specific goals are until episode 77, 40 episodes after the party confronted her directly and gave her an opportunity to explain herself that she did not take. The corruption arc, again, had potential, but fizzled out as soon as a level 20 wizard dropped the soul anchor solution into their laps, with little actual impact on Laudna herself.

The actual player characters have, for the most part, barely substantively changed. Chetney has solved the mechanical problem of not being able to control his werewolf transformations and he does push big red buttons when no one else will, but he isn't really moving anywhere as a character. Laudna continues to do everything in her power to bounce back to the old kooky fun-scary bit from episode 1 every time anything interesting happens to her. FCG did actually have a great arc with an incredibly heartfelt and moving conclusion, but is no longer a meaningful part of the narrative and the party's grief over their death was not given the space to breathe that it warranted. Fearne has matured a bit over the course of the campaign but is still largely just as aimless and go-with-the-flow as she was in the beginning. Imogen, at the very least, started to take something close to an actual stance on the gods and what to do about Predathos, but every time she has to make a choice, she continues to ask someone else what she should do and then hem and haw when she's told it's her decision. Orym has finally let himself lean on someone else, but has otherwise remained static. Ashton had a very promising arc after failing to absorb the shard, but has since regressed into doing the exact thing they called themself out for doing: looking for someone to blame and wanting to feel like they were robbed. Moments like Shardgate and Swordgate, which in any other campaign would have been major watersheds, have become functionally irrelevant for all the impact they've had on the actual characters.

The elephant in the room here, of course, is Imogen and Laudna's relationship, which has been a millstone around the campaign's neck from the beginning. Shippers have accused critics of being motivated by bigotry, but the arguments deconstructing it are ultimately rooted in this very same issue: nothing that happens to them truly seems to matter. This is intertwined with the issues with Delilah, because every time Imogen and Laudna actually run into any sort of conflict or difficulty, it has something to do with that plot thread: Delilah broke the gnarlrock; Delilah was reawakened when Laudna killed Bor'dor and Laudna was extremely upset and traumatized about it; and Delilah was the one Laudna was listening to when she tried to steal and absorb Otohan's sword. All of those conflicts fizzled out as soon as the immediate surface issue was resolved: Imogen dropped the gnarlrock issue entirely; Imogen kissed Laudna and insisted that she couldn't be a bad person for killing Bor'dor, and Laudna completely dropped the subject; and Imogen, as soon as Delilah was sealed in the soul anchor, immediately took Laudna back after less than a day of mild distance and they went off to have makeup sex. It feels less like their love is so strong it can overcome any conflict and more like they retreat to the same way their relationship was before as soon as they possibly can. Even starting a romance doesn't seem to materially change anything.

There's no interest in unpacking anything that could cause a problem, either. Laudna canonically has no issue with Imogen floating the idea of siding with the Vanguard, even though it was a Vanguard general who killed Laudna in the street to get to Imogen; in fact, she refuses to take a hard stance for or against Imogen joining Predathos because she doesn't want to "hold Imogen back from her destiny". Prior to Laudna attempting to take the sword, Imogen told her explicitly "if you need [Delilah], then that's my answer"—and then instead of addressing that, Imogen blames herself for Laudna giving into Delilah by wondering if she should have given into her own toxic influence so at least Laudna wouldn't be alone. At no point have they ever had a difficult conversation about any of their underlying issues, like the actual material harm Laudna has done to herself or others or the fact that both Imogen and Laudna have repeatedly tossed aside their actual needs in favor of maintaining their status quo of unending support and presence in each other's lives. They both just attribute responsibility to someone or something else and continue to swear that they'll always be there for one another—just like every other conversation they've ever had. There's no challenge and no movement, not from them or from anyone else; nothing has ever upset the idea that this story could be anything less than idyllic, no matter the increasing evidence to the contrary.

A common refrain for a very long time, and perhaps one still around in some circles, was a desire for Character A and Character B to "finally talk", and not without reason. In previous campaigns, A and B probably would have talked. This, however, is a campaign centering on profoundly incurious characters with a narrative that is disinterested in those characters becoming genuinely invested in its setting or each other beyond a bare surface level. Of course they won't face any consequences for releasing Predathos when they didn't need to, nor will they face consequences for not communicating their incredibly risky and contentious plan ahead of time. Why would they? It won't matter. Nothing in this story matters, and that's the entire problem.

[sunny-boooo]

Little analysis but this episode, in my eyes, was about learning about letting yourself be loved. Pomni starts the epsiode by complaing about the "bonding activity" she was having with everyone, being dragged to a adventure right after.

A lot happens, and then she's stuck with the guy everyone calls 'crazy' and can't keep a normal conversation, so she doesn't listen to him much, she thinks he won't be much help and tries escaping all by herself, that of course, backfires and now they're in hell.

She has another crisis, but then she finally stops to listen, she lets Kinger speak and his words leave a mark on her, because he isn't crazy, on the contrary, he's trying not to go crazy by clinging onto happy memories, as unconventional as they are. He cares about her and offers a friendly hand, she's nervous, but takes it anyway, because she's accepting help, she's trusting on someone besides herself, not a NPC, but someone human.

And of course, she finishes by thanking Ragatha for always being kind to her, because Kinger is right, you never know when they'll go crazy, so better enjoy every moment. She isn't quite there yet, but she's getting closer to open up to these people, letting them love her and allowing herself to befriend them, even if their time together is short, it's still precious and she shouldn't lose it.

Sorry for the big rant I like this cartoon so much, as usual, have a pic of Pomni smiling.

[tethys-the-aquatic-sea-godness]

Sarevok's image in Baldur's Gate and how he uses it

Among the numerous misrepresentations of Sarevok's character in BG3, is how he came into power. Of course, properly showing that would also show that the new villain's great master plan is just a rip-off of his, but let's ignore that. Obviously, Sarevok's stunt in Baldur's Gate becomes infamous, and he, rightfully, doesn't have a good rep in the city. That being said, it wasn't always the case, yet all you'll see in BG 3 is a brutish villain that only knows violence and 'mURdEr'. Yes, spelled like that, yes.

More rambling under the cut.

The thing was that, prior to Charname exposing his plan, Sarevok had become truly popular in Baldur's Gate. Let's remember the set-up back then. The Iron Throne is a shady mercantile organisation from Sembia. A new western division is trying to take root in the Sword Coast, led by Rieltar Anchev.

Their plan goes as follow: they aim to create a misinformation campaign to blame the Zhentarim for all the troubles in the region. They worsen tensions between the governments of Baldur's Gate and Amn. With iron being the most important resource in a war, the Baldurian government has to go to them in order to get any. The Iron Throne has disrupted all the iron trade through the region using the Blacktalon mercenaries and the Chill. The only known iron mine in the region is at Nashkel, and the Iron Throne has effectively crippled it. They have their own mine operating in Cloakwood. When the Baldurian government comes to them for iron, they will be able to make exorbitant trading demands, and thus become the preeminent trading power in this region.

(Yes, this is copy-pasted from the dialogue you can get from the charmed Iron Throne leaders, what can I say, it's a good recap)

So, that's Rieltar's plan to settle the Iron Throne in the region, a plan Sarevok will hijack in several ways. He intends to kill Rieltar and the other two leaders, and while the Iron Throne didn't intend to actually start a war, only increase tensions, Sarevok thinks that a massacre on a godlike scale can ascend him to godhood. That plan of Sarevok also requires him being named Grand Duke, and thus becoming sole leader of Baldur's Gate once he's eliminated the others (yes, the more you know, the more it sounds like someone in BG3's act 3 copy-pasted this plan for his own takeover, hush). This part of his plan required Sarevok to build a positive public image in Baldur's Gate, so the nobles would want him to be grand duke (despite being a newcomer from a Sembian trade group). That wasn't an easy task. The Iron Throne has a bad reputation even before Rieltar's iron plot. It's a known fact they're more a criminal organization than a trading organisation, so people are less likely to deal with them, unless, as Rieltar's planned, they don't have a choice anymore. However, Sarevok doesn't wait for his father's plan to be completed before he starts building relations with the ruling class of the city.

When you first get to Baldur's Gate, various npc inform you of the, mostly, positive image Sarevok has built for himself. That's something even Gorion's ward points out in their own journal entries.

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1: "Nobleman: Those Iron Throne fellows are quite the secretive bunch. Sarevok, the foster son of their leader, is quite the charmer, though."

2: "Journal entry by Charname: Sarevok, son of one of the Iron Throne's leaders, has become increasingly popular in Baldur's Gate."

3: "Noblewoman: From what I've heard, the new man with the Iron Throne, Sarevok, is an unmarried man. I plan to change that."

Love the last one.

So, Sarevok is very popular in the city, even though there are some who disagree, they're not the majority. Most people who aren't as fond of Sarevok are among the commoners, and I would argue that's because they weren't the target audience of his PR campaign. Sarevok needs the nobles' vote to be Grand Duke, so they are the ones he wants on his side. The popular vote is only a bonus.

It's also important to notice he's improving his popularity, not the popularity of the Iron Throne.

He still has popularity among the lower class, and that only increases when you near the game's end.

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4: "Commoner: I think it's about time we took the fight to them [Amn], and Sarevok is the man to lead us."

5: "Commoner: I don't know what them nobles see in that Sarevok fella, but he's something darker, that's for certain."

6: "Commoner: That Sarevok is going to make everything all right again."

7: "Nobleman: An election of sorts has been called because we cannot be without a full governement in these dangerous times. I hear Sarevok is a frontrunner in this matter."

8: "Noblewoman: Entar Silvershield's death was a tragic blow, but with Sarevok stepping in I feel a true sense of hope."

9: "Journal entry by Charname: With the murder of Grand Duke Entar Silvershield, Sarevok is poised to gain control. The people love him."

10: "Noblewoman: Such people would not dare to show their faces in Baldur's Gate, not now that Sarevok and Angelo Dosan control the Flaming Fist. Order will be enforced, more so once Sarevok is appointed as a Grand Duke. I shall have little to fear of the streets once that comes to pass."

11: "Journal entry by Charname: The nobility is especially approving of Sarevok and Angelo Dosan being in control of the Flaming Fist."

12: "Nobleman: He's [Sarevok] making a lot of friends, and I bet he will be nominated to replace poor entar as Grand Duke."

13: "Noblewomen: It is a good time to be of the nobility. Sarevok has ensured us all that order will be restored in this region, whatever the cost."

14: "Journal entry by Charname: The nobility are especially welcoming of Sarevok and his hard stance against Amn."

15: "Nobleman: Sarevok seems like a man who gets things done."

16: "Sir Lothtyran: Personally, I think he'll [Sarevok] do wonderfully."

17: "Brennan Risling: That's why we need Sarevok as Grand Duke, for he'd take the resources from the Iron Throne and' assist us."

18: "Journal entry by Charname: It is good to know that not everyone in this city has fallen in love with the hardliner Sarevok."

Sarevok doesn't have everyone's approval, but he has more than enough to take over the city. Obviously, the mood changes once his plot to drag both governments into war is revealed.

But you know what? Even then, he still has some popularity.

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19: "Commoner: He was such a handsome one, such a shame he had ta go and do that."

random commoner woman: if evil, why hot?

In conclusion: Sarevok almost took over Baldur's Gate and the whole Sword Coast with covert force and was almost lawfully elected Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate thanks to the popularity he cultivated within the city. That was possible thanks to two things. One, it's safe to say that Sarevok can be charismatic and charming when he wishes to be, even though, according to Diarmid, another one of the mercenaries working for him, "[...] subtlety is something that doesn't quite comes naturally to him. He doesn't have the patience for it, though his mind is amazingly tactical".

In his BG2 banter, you also learn he's not overly fond of being around people. That means this entire schmooze fest he did to boost his popularity took serious effort on his part, and it paid off. It was a trial of patience for a man who isn't known to be patient, or at least, not patient for niceties. He can prove very patient for the sake of a plan. We're talking about a character who has had to wait years before he got the opportunity to take revenge on his father for his mother's murder, and a way to get away with it. Sarevok may not enjoy being patient, but is definitely familiar with the practice.

The second reason is that, well, he's hot. I'm not the one saying it, the women (and men, you know there had to be men too) thirsting over him are saying it. They're bound to be disappointed, because while he's not married, he's definitely not single. Anyway, being hot, not something to underestimate. He gets pretty privilege.

To be a bit more serious, while impatient, Sarevok is described as having an "amazingly tactical" mind. This is something you clearly see in his takeover of Rieltar's plan, and manipulation of public opinion. Yes, Sarevok's plan involves various murders, but it's a tool, not an end in itself. He's even careful to have specific murders look like 'robbery gone wrong' or 'mysterious disease strikes'. He has assassins do the killing for him so he can't be directly linked to it. Sarevok is a strategist, whose plans involve a lot more than just 'killing'.

It is a part of his characterization BG 3 abysmally fails to show.

[vixensdungeon]

I've always wanted to create a dnd campaign that involved court intrigue, where the players could try to play different sides against each other, but I don't have a good idea of how to do it, and any time I've asked for advice all I received was "your players are going to wreck everything don't even try lol." Do you have any advice on how to run a game like that?

Some of my compatriots here would jump on you and tell you to play a different game, but not me. No, since you said you wanted to involve court intrigue, I think Auntie Viv might have some wisdom for you.

Before I dive into the subject of courtly intrigues, different factions that players can play against each other have a natural habitat in D&D: the dungeon! If your underworld includes several groups of monsters, there can be all sorts of political interplay between them.

But let's say you want to spice up your game with some proper court intrigue. I say spice up, because if you want that to be the focus of your game, you really might want to look into other games that will support what you want to do better. But I certainly think such activities have a place in D&D, the game about gaining temporal power. If you're starting at level 1 or thereabouts, the characters probably won't be powerplayers yet. They'll more likely be pawns, or merely get glimpses of the true machinations of the Great Games of the Lords. But that doesn't mean you can't involve them. Have NPCs in the starting town be part of factions, either openly or secretly, and make interacting with them have consequences in the Great Games.

Then as the party levels up, make sure they gain not only in personal power, but also in political power. Give ways for players to integrate their characters into your world. Not knowing the particulars of what you have in mind, I can only give general advice, but think of at least one way each class can invest in the setting. Rogues may join or found guilds, fighters can be given forts to command, clerics can be given positions in the local temple, and so on and so forth. This will gradually involve them in the Great Games, and if you've made them care about things beyond their character sheets, you'll have ways to curb their worst excesses. If they threaten the king, the king can do way worse than deal damage to them: he can mess up their holdings.

As for the intrigues themselves, map out your factions and their goals. You should have some idea of what the various sides will do over time without player interference, and don't be afraid to roll with the punches when the party inevitably swerves things off the road. So if the king's trusted vizier, Baron Doomshadow, is funding bandits to disrupt trade along the King's Road, you might have a timeline of how the bandit activity ramps up. But if the players get involved in solving the bandit problem, have some contingencies for Baron Doomshadow to respond with.

Most importantly, integrate intrigues into the main activity that D&D supports: adventuring. Because at the end of the day, that's what the characters will excel at most no matter how they're built.

And don't be afraid to check out some game that's actually built for intrigues anyway, because it might have some neat tips and tricks you can use.

I hope any of that helped!

[voluntarysubmission]

I was playing KCD1, and had just reported in to Lord Radzig after talking to Ginger, and then left towards Uzhitz for the next phase.

In the forest, I was ambushed by some bandits, who I was struggling with pretty badly... until it turned out Radzig was also travelling on that road to Merhojed, and he just rolls up on his horse, pulls out a sword, and saved my life.

It's so cool that NPCs don't just despawn and get moved once they're out of the range load distance, but the game continues to simulate what they're doing. Or maybe he was within range the whole time, but it was so cool to have Radzig randomly save my life, with battle cries and everything.

Henry doesn't know it yet, but thanks Dad!

[nabi-unveiled]

Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 2)

Other Reacts: Ep 1

When we left off Myung-ha was on a mission to make Yeowoon happy (and himself) in this alternate reality. The catch - he's got 300 days or bad bad stuff happens. I haven't really had any new epiphanies or insights at this point so I'm just going to jump right into episode 2.

(Note: I am filtering tags related to this show and these characters as I knew it'd start popping up more once I posted about it.)

We start off with a dripping faucet and a sighing Yeowoon. I get it. The boy has been through a lot in the past couple of days, and it looks like there was more in the past (like the bullying) that we aren't fully aware of at this point.

Myung-ha's sudden presence in his life has to be confusing. I do love that Myung-ha is using outdated emoticons. That's a nice dose of realism in an alternate reality. Different generations often use different emoticons and slang. I'm often the translator between my husband and our kids in that regard. Yeowoon is giving a small smile though so he must find it amusing.

We didn't continue with our episodes being named for emotions. So I'm going to go with the titles having something to do with the quests. The mission in episode 1 was to make Yeowoon happy ("Happiness") so maybe the mission in this episode will be to become friends. I do wonder if the mission will be to befriend Yeowoon or actually to make friends with some of our other NPCs. I feel like the latter could be useful. But I may just be biased because I want more of my adorkable cutie.

Our affection level is still at -7 the following morning and apparently Yeowoon lives in the rooftop apartment. So we will probably have more rooftop scenes. I typically enjoy them, but the jumping potential in episode 1 has me a little leery of it at the moment.

I love that we have translation notes! It's not something I see nearly as much now as when I first started watching dramas

Myung-ha was grinning over grandma, but then got an abrupt reminder. 299 days...or death.

That's my question Myung-ha. There are so many possibilities of what that penalty could actually mean. I have my preferred theories, but it's really pretty open at this point.

The fact that Myung-ha interpreted it as going back to the real world tells you just how negatively he views his "real" life. He doesn't want to go back. But crap. That was my preferred theory. If they're stating it outright like this, then it's not right. So Yeowoon's death then? That was my back-up. Delaying the jump. In some ways that feels like a more natural consequence since the mission is to make Yeowoon happy.

I figure he's asking these questions to determine how to make Yeowoon happy, but it makes me love him a little that this is the route he's taking for information. I disagree with many, many things the elders in my community believe and promote, but I do love hearing their stories. And those stories get lost if they're not told.

Lol. He's like war? Nope. I'm out.

Myung-ha, I need you save my cutie. Apparently he has no friends and talks about himself as "someone like me". 🥺

Thank you for speaking facts and telling him to stop talking nonsense. Other people may not see your worth, but it's important to be your own biggest fan. That's hard in high school though. It's hard at any age. This line made me love Myung-ha even more than his interactions with Yeowoon so far. This move wasn't just about the mission. He's befriending Kyung-hoon and offering to defend him just because he feels he should and he wants to do so.

I do find it interesting that he has these kinds of beliefs and yet seems to dislike his real life so much. It makes one wonder what all has went on in his real life.

Lol. Myung-ha bolted when he got the Love Zone warning.

Yeowoon has Myung-ha's number though. Both literally and figuratively. He knows that he's being avoided. I do love a smart man. I'm reminded again just how direct he is with Myung-ha. It's refreshing.

Myung-ha says he wasn't avoiding Yeowoon.

I already said it. Yeowoon is smart. You're not avoiding me? Fine. Let's eat lunch together. He asks for a treat from the snack store.

So not only is Yeowoon living in the small rooftop apartment. He can't afford the school's meal plan. Which sucks. But it also makes me remember how he still gave money to Myung-ha yesterday and paid for his bus fare. I'm really hoping Myung-ha found some money in this alternate world. It looks like our boy Yeowoon needs support.

Myung-ha getting run over by the horde as he went to the snack store was funny. I guess he found his money, but I'm also amused that he bought pizza bread. That's also the type of bread discussed in the last episode of Let Free the Curse. I swear I see so many things that remind me of that show now. And just like when they discussed it in that show, I'm jealous. That sounds so much better than the beef jerky I had for supper.

Roughly "Why would you risk your life?" "I'm just trying to feed you well." "Why?" "Because I like it." Yeah...that's not going to cause any misunderstandings. There's an air of sadness to Yeowoon that seems to do with something more than his grandma passing.

Myung-ha asks Yeowoon why he dislikes him. I feel like a broken record, but they are so direct with each other.

🤣 Ok Yeowoon - so you are one of THOSE people. You know what. I get it. It takes me a really long time to warm up to people in real life. In general, I just don't trust people. I hope for the best. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I assume people do things with good intentions and mean well with their asinine comments. But actually trust them? Nope. There are very few people that I'm comfortable enough around to relax fully.

I'm not sure whether that trait will make Myung-ha's mission harder or easier. Because he's already been creeping up the affection scale. Once that door is open and you start to let someone in, it's hard to shut it. Yeowoon is already leaving the door cracked which is a positive. However, it makes me nervous too. It means Yeowoon is going to be very easy to hurt if he feels his trust has been betrayed. I'm figuring that's going to happen at some point.

We could start a whole collection at this point of things Myung-ha says that are going to be taken the wrong way even though he's being completely sincere and direct.

Oof. This feels very true to what we know of his character so far. Especially now that the one person he relied on is gone. It also tells us something about his past. He's been hurt in the past. I'm not sure why, but the bully from ep 1 is coming to my mind. I'm wondering if they used to be friends and he betrayed Yeowoon. It's very likely that I'm just building a fanfic-style head canon in my mind though.

This line could also be foreshadowing. I figure Myung-ha's reliability will help the affection score go up initially. But will it come to pass that he doesn't see Myung-ha as reliable? Or rather will Myung-ha have to do things in pursuit of the quests/missions that cause him to actually be unreliable. I need to keep moving. I'm developing a lot of hypotheses without solid evidence at this point.

"Isn't that totally me?" I love Myung-ha's little grin here. It seems so different than what we saw of him in the bar scene. I still feel like this is foreshadowing that he's going to be unreliable at some point.

Myung-ha states he is Yeowoon's fan again. Yeowoon does not seem to like that answer. That's definitely an interaction I could make a list of - people who do not like someone stating they are their "fan" when they want a different style of relationship. And Myung-ha comes out with another romance line that is not meant to be a romance line. I'm just rolling my eyes at this point. I don't think I could say such things without cringing.

Aww. The cringe is working though. His affection level is up to -5. But a debuff is now in play. A falling leaf? That seems mild. There has to be more to it than that. My brain is quickly flipping through possibilities, but I'm not landing on anything that feels right. Maybe it's mild because the levels are not very negative. That doesn't feel right though. Because why is a falling leaf an issue really? Moving on.

All I do know is that the longer I think about it, the more annoyed the gamer in me is that the debuff impacts Yeowoon. In a game, the debuff should impact the player (unless it's a whole group debuff). So Myung-ha should be the one impacted by the debuff. He should be the one experiencing the negative consequences.

Regardless, I'm not liking that the purple aura is now around Myung-ha's arm. That feels like absorption of negative energy which could mean all kinds of bad things. However, it says nullification so I'll go with that mechanic for now. In games, nullification magic has a cost. Sometimes it's a material cost. Sometime it's energy. There are always limits. So what are the rules in this game? It remains to be seen.

Cutie is calling. But this seems like bad news. We cut to a scene where a "fight" is going to occur. Someone asks if Myung-ha messed with the bully.

Ah, this must be our mystery top dog. Anyone want to lay bets that we break our word earlier about fighting kids? And will this type of interaction make Myung-ha seem more or less reliable in Yeowoon's eyes?

Ok. I know we're early in this show, but I can see why Myung-ha was on so many people's lists in the tag game. He really does have a delightful energy. Our top dog says that the bully is his brother, and Myung-ha says "love knows no bounds". LMAO. This feels like full-on shade of the step-brother trope.

Ah. This isn't top dog. Top dog must be the one whose pink-clad feet was shown. I'm kinda glad. This dude seems lame. It makes me nervous that we're up on the roof and fighting though. Why are the rooftops making me so nervous in this show??? I might need to ponder what in the set-up is causing me to have that gut reaction. It's probably something in the camera work.

It does seem like Myung-ha does have fighting skills. So that must have been true in real life too. The music is hilarious to me. Very old movie duel. And Myung-ha hits. Called that one. The hits are mild though. You can see that he's largely controlling himself. Enough to defuse, not enough to cause real harm.

🤣 I already said that fighting on the roof was foreboding. However, I definitely didn't expect this type of kdrama twirling save. Way to melt my anxiety down to nothing in the funniest way possible. I like that they didn't prolong the save. The comedic timing is better this way. I'm hoping Myung-ha just drops him now though.

Aww. No such luck.

It's top dog's turn to play. I do love that he's wearing pink shoes. It's a bold choice in this scenario. He threatens Myung-ha and apparently has "crazy eyes" while calling him "bro". I'm not really caring.

I'm more concerned by why our resident cutie, Kyunghoon, seems distressed. There's more to this than being taken hostage. There's something personal going on. But we aren't going to advance any further for now. Teacher has interrupted.

I'm torn between being proud of Yeowoon for calling the teacher and being distressed that he was dumb enough to stand beside the rooftop exit door so everyone knew it was him. Except we already know he's not dumb. This is purposeful and a public act of solidarity with Myung-ha. I just don't know why he's making this choice.

There are rumors about him being a loyal friend? Interesting. Who was the friend? That's another hint that something has happened in Yeowoon's past. Shouldn't Myung-ha already know about whatever event is in the past? Or was the cause of the rumors not part of the book? Is the game an unfaithful adaptation perhaps? 🤔 I'm probably overthinking this 😅. Either way, this action shows that Yeowoon has already made a choice about Myung-ha. He cares.

And now my favorite NPC is giving us all of the necessary backstory for Sangwon. He gets to bend the rules, because his mom is a bigshot at a sports brand. He's famous for fighting too. Although it seems odd that two "famous" fighters at the same school wouldn't have run into each other previously. I mean - I guess it's possible? My high school had over 2100 students and included a really wide geographic area. I didn't know everyone. But I didn't think schools were generally that big in S. Korea.

Myung-ha calls Sangwon a thug. But cutie disagrees. I recognize Sangwon from the intro. Is this thug going to join our gaming party? Snap judgment is getting me here. I'm neutral about thug as a person, but I feel like they're setting this up as a side couple. I just want to yell "No!!! Cutie you deserve better!". But it's not like I really know the dude yet. I guess I'll give our "bro" a break for now.

It's intriguing that "bro" goes to Yeowoon for information about Myung-ha. It hadn't seemed like he had known Yeowoon either. He recognized his nametag not him.

Sangwon asks Yeowoon why Myung-ha is hanging out with him. I'm trying to figure out why Sangwon is curious. Is this idol worship of some kind? Admiration for an older fighter? Is that why he keeps calling him "hyung"? Hmm. Things to think about.

Yeowoon is not direct with Sangwon in the same way he is with Myung-ha. His walls are up. He's not giving information for free. The flashbacks do remind us that Myung-ha called himself a fan, and that Yeowoon does not like that. It feels like Yeowoon is already falling for our boy Myung-ha. Boy? Man? He's 30, but he's 19? Ahhh. Not important. Time jinks are in play.

I can't imagine walking with someone like this. Note, I don't see it as romantic or saved for romance. I'm just not a touchy person. The thought of someone's arm slung around me like that causes me no small amount of anxiety. Anyways, it's nice to see that their friendship is off to a great start. My lovely NPC is already predicting some of Myung-ha's thoughts and knows he wants to watch the runners.

We've zoomed in on the blocks. I'm just not sure why. Is it the shoes? Or does he have issues coming off of the blocks that slows his run times? Or is this foreboding a future injury coming off of the blocks? This shot feels important. It's out of line with the other camerawork so far.

Apparently, it was the shoes. We already knew Yeowoon had financial issues. But this right here makes me see red. 😡 Any coach worth his salt should be helping him out and getting him better shoes if that's the problem instead of berating him. I know that's cultural bias on my part though.

Side note - I really like Yeowoon's running outfit. I'd take a screenshot...but I'm only halfway through. I doubt I have many screenshots left. Yikes. Better choose sparingly.

Oooh. A side quest. Although this really feels like a subquest within the main quest. Not important. It does appear that the "Friends" in the title was about the quest. Except now I'm thinking that it has more to do with getting Yeowoon some friends.

The fact that the answer is in Myung-ha's handwriting is REALLY interesting. He's writing the book in a way. He's determining what's important. Senior had asked him how he would've written it. And we all know that this is really about BOTH Yeowoon and Myung-ha. It's his quest to become happy too. He just doesn't know it. Wait...did I mistake senior's intentions? DOES he care about Myung-ha and sent him on this quest for happiness? 🤔 I don't know. I still don't like his vibes.

I love that there are hints. The gaming aspect really is well integrated into the show. LOL. EVERYONE is at -20 or lower. That really does mean that Myung-ha was pretty high. Bully is at -60!

😿😿😿 My giddy mood over bully being at -60 has very quickly dissipated. Our boy Yeowoon hates himself. This means our potential jump wasn't just over grief, feeling trapped in circumstances, etc. Does it have something to do with the rumors? Idk. I do know - Myung-ha's task just became Herculean.

Myung-ha is dragging Yeowoon to dinner with Kyung-hoon. Yeowoon is being grumpy about it. I want to laugh, and the video game music is probably supposed to lighten my mood. But I'm still stuck on that -100.

WAIT!! The -100 is in red. Myung-ha's numbers are in white. Is THAT why the debuffs are happening to Yeowoon instead of Myung-ha?!?! Hmm. I don't know that it makes sense on second thought. Bully should be getting debuffs in that case too, and I'm not sure why Myung-ha's presence would trigger it. 🤔UNLESS we're only seeing the debuffs that occur when Myung-ha is around and they are actually happening at other times too. At times when Myung-ha isn't there to nullify the debuff. And ok...I'm now scaring myself and spiraling. I need to rein myself back in before I go 100 mph into conspiracy theories based on nothing but video game mechanics 😅.

Anyways, back to the tteokbokki. Myung-ha strong arms the two others into eating and insists Yeowoon likes tteokbokki (even though he says he doesn't). A debuff has been cast.

Kyung-hoon and Yeowoon are awkward with each other. Myung-ha tells them "this isn't a blind date". I really do appreciate his sass. I love tteokbokki. This is the second time this episode that I'm jealous over the food.

But NO! The purple aura is poisoning the tteokbokki. How rude! Don't mess with food like that. Shared meals are IMPORTANT.

Well, I guess we can bond over bad food too. No nullification notice this time.

Myung-ha gives Yeowoon milk and asks him if he's dead/come back to life. Yeowoon tells him to watch his words. I'm with Yeowoon here.

Yeowoon says he's going to quit running. Myung-ha asks him if he's ever been happy running. Yeowoon says yes. But Myung-ha says Yeowoon is lying. Is this why Yeowoon doesn't like it when Myung-ha says he's a fan? Because he doesn't actually like running?

Cutie's home, but the pictures of the kids in martial arts uniforms has me curious. I guess it's the sister.

Aw sad. Yeowoon has to keep running, because it's the way he gets to stay in high school and go to college. Eesh. Society sucks. Myung-ha tells him when he reaches the point he wants to quit and even forsake his scholarship to let him know. He'll help.

It's actually really important that Myung-ha states this directly. When I was regularly working with teenagers, it's one of the strategies we taught them. To go ahead and identify who their people were. When they lost hope or wanted to give up on everything, who were they going to reach out to about it? It sounds odd, but it's something you need to know before reaching your breaking point. When you're at breaking point, it's hard to think. OK. Getting off my soapbox now. Suicide prevention is just a really big and personal deal to me.

Affection level is 0. Guess we'll get to test my random (and likely incorrect) theory about the debuffs being related to Yeowoon's level rather than Myung-ha's soon enough.

Myung-ha overestimated how much money he had back in the day. I'm sure it felt like a lot as a teenager. I do really appreciate how the show is balancing the more intense moments with these comedic beats. And the actor playing Myung-ha is doing a great job of transitioning between the two tones.

Kyung-hoon is wealthy. He offers to help Myung-ha. Myung-ha refuses money, but he agrees to a part time job.

I love it that our cutie is still acting like the informational NPC. Presenting options and letting Myung-ha chooses between them. They aren't directly framing it as gaming behavior, but the elements are still there if you know them.

Sangwon has busted into the house. Kyung-hoon's sister seems like a delight. Read the sarcasm there. If we're relying on my snap judgments, I already dislike her. But then she got riled up on her brother's behalf when she thought Myung-ha was bullying him...so she'll probably grow on me.

I'm actually liking Sangwon's energy here, and his interaction with the sister. Fine, I guess you can get with cutie. I'm still getting the "hero worship" vibes when he's interacting with Myung-ha.

Yeowoon calls, and Myung-ha rushes out.

Oh wait...is he actually INTERESTED in Myung-ha? Him getting tiffed about being ignored definitely isn't hero worship. It's a different type of worship. Yeah, I had missed that cue.

The gaming interface has designated Sangwon as a potential friend. I wonder what his affection level would be.

Yeowoon has collapsed on the floor. The conspiracy theorist in me says that a debuff has been cast, and Myung-ha wasn't around to nullify it. I'm fully in a clown car at this point that the debuffs are related to Yeowoon's levels and not Myung-ha's. It makes the gamer in me happy as the debuffs are impacting the relevant player, and that puts Myung-ha in the "magic" role with healing abilities. Which...he is both magical and playing support to Yeowoon at this point. This clown car theory is probably complete bs, but it's fun to think about.

THE DOCTOR SAID IT'S MALNUTRITION. Have I said how much society sucks? This is really emphasizing again that it was a big deal for Yeowoon to help pay for the ice cream and bus fare. The boy doesn't even have money for food. Let me also say - malnutrition is a legitimate reason to have subpar athletic performance. I'm getting angry at coach again. People may disagree, but adults in those types of roles have a duty to care for their kids.

This is a BIG problem. It's may be the first time I'm glad that Myung-ha is actually 30, because he'll have more experience to figure out how to handle this type of issue. Actually, I better not think about him as 30 when Yeowoon is a sophomore in high school. That way lies a lot of ick and insanity. This is why alternate realities and time jumps can be so tricky. He's 19. With a preloaded database that gives him more insight, but he's 19. Got it brain? Good.

Myung-ha asks Yeowoon to stay with him. Yeowoon is wondering if this is pity. Myung-ha asks if he needs a reason to care. He starts to get emotional, but then stops himself to regroup. I'm not sure if I can express how much I loved that part of the discussion. Because that's what happens naturally. Emotions start to get the better of you.

Myung-ha says it's just something that happens. He says people sometimes care "unconditionally". All I know is that this has got to be an emotional roller coaster for Yeowoon who just wants someone to rely on but who doesn't trust that he actually CAN rely on anyone.

AHHHH. There's ICE CREAM again! Food symbolism is in the house!! But I'm out of screenshots. Dang. It's okay. I'll delete an earlier one.

Myung-ha asks if he wants to go for ice cream. Yeowoon asks why he likes ice cream so much. Myung-ha returns with this line that not's meant to be a line but could be perceived as a line. That said, considering that Yeowoon hates himself, it's absolutely necessary that Myung-ha keeps stating that he LIKES Yeowoon. It's going to cause cognitive dissonance for Yeowoon, but the boy needs that dissonance to face himself and hopefully heal.

Sangwon is waiting on the rooftop. I doubt Yeowoon is going to like that. It's HIS personal space. The framing and music here cue that this is actually a love triangle of some kind. I'll just be over here hoping that Sangwon gets a clue pretty quickly.

That said, I actually think that Kyunghoon may be the only one of our current trio of friends with any romantic feelings at this point. I'm predicting he has feelings for Sangwon. Myung-ha/Yeowoon may be intrigued. They care about each other. But we're not deep diving straight into a romantic relationship which...I appreciate. That feels natural. Both Myung-ha and Yeowoon have a lot of stuff to unpack and process.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It looks like we'll be officially adding a fourth member to our gaming party soon. I just want Sangwon to bring more of the energy he had with the sister and less of whatever this energy is on the rooftop. Let the countdown to consequences continue.

[danieyells]

If you could, could you post Alan’s lines? I like him but he’s so stone cold at low affinity it’s hard to sus out his personality

SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG ANON AND @otomelover23 so many things got in the way. . .mostly myself lol. . . .

Honestly that stone coldness is a big part of his personality. He's not great at expressing himself and he's very to the point. But as his affinity goes up, he's more. . .concerned for you. And he wants you around more, trusting himself to have you around more.

I posted all of them again this time! A lot of his have similar energy because of his stiffness, so I feel like being able to see them all helps to idk see the gradual change i think.

Hello: (the first time the game is opened after that character is set as home screen NPC. Only happens once per day, unless the character is switched out and back.)

"Get your things. We're going."

You've Got Mail: (whenever there's something in the inbox, usually Arena rewards)

"Some letters here for you."

Default: (requires no affinity, has no time constraints)

"...What do you want?"

"Don't get involved with me."

"I'm going out. You guys get back to work."

"Get back. It's dangerous."

"Slack off once, and you'll find out how hard it is to get back in the game."

Affinity 1: (between 5am and 11am)

"Oh, you're awake."

Affinity 2: (between 11am and 4pm)

"I don't eat in the cafeteria. Portions aren't big enough. That's the only reason."

don't feel awkward in there or like people find you too intimidating to be near or anything? aren't worried about seeing Dante? if you say so.

Affinity 3: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"My wallet? Yeah, it's pretty beat up. Can't bring myself to chuck it though. Got some good memories with it."

reminds me of my brother, who kept our dad's old wallet. It's basically in tatters, held together by rubber bands, but sometimes what you have is what you have. . . .

Affinity 4: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I'm going to the Pit. You should go back to your house, {PC}."

he doesn't want you to see him punch a man into oblivion.

Affinity 5: (between 8pm and 5am)

"That sounds like a bike engine, but it's not one I know. ...Be right back."

INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT INTRUDER ALERT much like Tohma he's probably pretty security conscious. Maybe he's more security conscious because Tohma isn't around. Or maybe he's not used to how Bonnie sounds yet.

Affinity 6: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"Was that class really revision...? I didn't think I missed that many..."

my boy is not book smart, he is fist smart and maybe street smart. please study with him. he needs flash cards. pretty sure the only reason he's passed any grade is because he goes on plenty of missions.

Affinity 7: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Lunch? Huh. I forgot to eat. Guess I'll just grill some meat and have it with rice and miso soup. That's my go-to."

y'know what i'm glad someone here eats proper meals. even if you forget at least you're eating eventually!!!

Affinity 8: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"One of the Vagastrom guys asked me to add him on WickChat... Do you know how to do that?"

Affinity 9: (between 8pm and 5am)

"I don't want to get anyone mixed up in my life."

He looks sad when he says this. . .he's really worried about how being close to him will affect others huh.

Affinity 10: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Better sleep. Got an early day tomorrow."

Affinity 11: (between 5am and 11am)

"497... 498... 499... 500... Phew..."

don't mind pc they're just gonna watch you do 500 sit-ups/push-ups/pull-ups/whatever. . .no no they don't mind the sweat at all please continue--

Affinity 12: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Bandana seems to disappear right around this time every day lately... What's he doing?"

Pretty sure Sho would be busy with the food truck around thhis time of day. . .does Alan not know Sho runs a business lmao. . .I mean I guess Alan doesn't go into the more populous parts of Darkwick much.

Affinity 13: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"The first-years've each got their own strengths. Both can do stuff I can't."

Affinity 14: (between 5am and 11am)

"Bandana's got potential. He's quick, and he's strong. Rest comes down to motivation."

I think Sho's motivated, just motivated to do his own thing. Although I'm sure he'll develop more interest in the world and actions of the Institute and anomalies eventually. . .maybe. Or maybe Hyde's interest will keep him away lol.

Affinity 15: (between 5am and 11am)

"I'm heading out. Mission. Make sure you go to class. ...I'll let you know when I'm back."

alright mom i'll go to class gosh. does this feel like a headpat or forehead kiss line to anyone else? he just doesn't want you to worry about him. He knows he's doing something dangerous. But he promises he'll come home. He won't be reckless because you're waiting. Maybe I'm reading too much into it lol.

Affinity 16: (between 11am and 4pm)

"Where am I...? Guess I should tell them I'm gonna be late. WickChat was this picture, wasn't it...?"

poor boy is so lost lmao please help him get where he needs to go. . .how does this man go on hikes in the mountains and shit. . . .

Affinity 17: (between 10pm and midnight)

"You're still awake? Don't stay up too late."

Affinity 18: (between 8pm and 5am)

"Oh, didn't see you there. I'm heading out for a run, but... Could you wait here for me?"

He wants to spend time with you, so please be waiting when he comes back. . . .

Affinity 19: (between 10pm and midnight)

"I pat people on the head a lot? Didn't notice. I'm doing it again? ...Sorry."

IT'S HARD NOT TO WHEN PEOPLE ARE SO MUCH SHORTER THAN YOU also that wasn't a complaint please give them lots of pats :'3

Affinity 20: (between 5am and 11am)

"I'm taking some of the Vagastrom guys to the mountains today. ...You want to come too?"

CAMPING TRIP WITH DA BOIS!!!!!

Affinity 21: (between 11am and 4pm)

"This one's all fixed up. I'm gonna take a shower. Wait there."

there like in the shower or--(he uses そこ which refers to someplace near the listener, so he just means 'where you're sitting' but still.)

Affinity 22: (between 4pm and 8pm)

"{PC}. Got time after this? A friend of mine gave me some fresh boar meat."

He wants to cook for you! He cooks in a very wilderness style, but still! He wants to share his bounty! He's showing you he can be a good provider. No, he didn't hunt it himself but good community connections are also important!

Affinity 23: (between 8pm and 5am)

"You're you, not someone else. You're doing a good job. Hold your head high."

he doesn't want you to fall into a cycle of self-loathing or of trying to be anyone but yourself. Maybe what others do feels more impressive to you, but you aren't them and you can't compare yourself to them. Even if you're 'weak' in one way or another, you have your own worth in other ways. So be proud of yourself, instead of trying to get the pride of somebody else. I think he really cares about your mental wellbeing and he doesn't want you to lose yourself. Because he's lost himself--and he doesn't want that for you. Don't wallow in self-pity, don't agonize over the past. Be proud of how far you've come and walk your own path.

Affinity 24: (between 10pm and midnight)

"Can't sleep? ...I'll take you for a drive. Quick run should help you reset."

Imagine falling asleep in his car and he has to figure out. . .does he wake you up, does he carry you somewhere. . .he could bring you back to your place but he doesn't know how to get there so. . .you wake up in his room, in his bed. . .does he have the understanding that "you probably shouldn't sleep in the same bed as somebody without them okaying it first" and he sets up his tent and sleeps in it or uses his sleeping bag or sleeps somewhere else in the dorm or maybe in his car. . .frankly even if he doesn't he'd be afraid of hurting you in his sleep. There's no way he'd sleep in the same bed as you. Maybe lie awake in there with you or something. But he'd be too scared of what harm he could cause to fall asleep.

Affinity 25(max): (no time constraints)

"I'm lucky I've got you, {PC}. As long as you're with me, I feel like I won't lose sight of who I am."

HE SMILES WHEN HE SAYS THIS. 99% of his lines have his usual expression, but this one he really smiles and that's how you know how much he appreciates you. I feel like he kind of gave up on himself--he's a big, dangerous brute, he's not someone worth getting close to, it's dangerous to even want to. . .but you make him feel like maybe he has a chance again. You make him look in the mirror and see someone he hasn't seen in a long time, and he realizes that person is himself and he would have never seen the version of him who isn't dirtied with blood again without you.

Spring: (March-May) (between 5am and 11am)

"Don't get lax just 'cause it's warm out. Stay focused."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"... Good camping weather."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"Oh, it's you. Must've dozed off. Better get back to work."

BABY IF YOU NEED A NAP JUST TAKE A NAP. . . .

(between 8pm and 5am)

"The cherry blossom illuminations? ...That kind of thing's not for me."

Summer: (June-August) (between 5am and 11am)

"It's getting hot out. Make sure you stay hydrated."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"Looks like we've got another mission order. There's more anomalies out there in summer."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"The Pit's getting noisy. Those guys better not be pulling stupid shit again..."

LET LEO PLAY MUSIC IN THE PIT HE MISSES GOING TO THE CLUB.

(between 8pm and 5am)

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you again... I was just going for a jog. Didn't think you'd be round this corner."

Alan turning a corner and slamming straight into you and being shocked aw--

Autumn: (September-November) (between 5am and 11am)

"Good season for a workout. Want to join me?"

(between 11am and 4pm)

"...Maybe I'll go check out the fall leaves."

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"The days are getting shorter. You should get home before it gets dark."

(between 8pm and 5am)

"...Long nights make me think about stuff I'd rather forget."

he killed dante in the autumn or winter. noted.

Winter: (December-February) (between 5am and 11am)

"Cold out in the mornings lately. Guess I'll warm up with a coffee."

(between 11am and 4pm)

"The first-years ditched... What do they mean, "too cold"?"

(between 4pm and 8pm)

"As long as you got some muscle, you can handle the cold."

i handle the cold well because i'm fat, myself. my brother, who's plenty muscular, gets cold much easier than i do U:

(between 8pm and 5am)

"It's freezing... Guess I'll break out the kerosene heater. Gotta make sure you ventilate if you use it indoors, but it works real fast. Can't do without it in winter."

His birthday: (April 25th)

"Whose birthday? ...Mine? Oh... Forgot all about it. ...Thanks."

Your birthday:

"Today's your birthday, yeah? ... Get your stuff. I'll take you for a drive."

New Years: (January 1st)

"You helped us out a lot last year. Hope you'll stick around."

Valentine's Day: (February 14th)

"This chocolate's for me? Do everything proper, don't you? Thanks. I appreciate it."

HE SMILED AGAIN. I wonder if he's ever been given valentine's chocolate before. Even if he thinks it's just out of obligation, I think he must be really happy. . . .

White Day: (March 14th)

"White Day's when you repay people for what they got you on Valentine's Day, right? Sorry if these aren't your thing... Didn't really know what you like..."

. . .my first thought was that i read that sometimes lingerie is given as a white day return present. . .and i just imagined that Alan asked what he was supposed to do if he liked the person he got a valentine's day gift from on valentine's and Leo saw an opportunity for chaos and said to get them some sexy white underwear and Alan just. . .believed him. And it's a very embarrassing moment for everyone involved. pc absolutely wears them when alan asks them out for things tho. waiting for the day alan finds out they're wearing it.

April Fool's Day: (April 1st)

"I'm actually a dog. Woof. ...Sorry, that was a lie. Forget I said anything."

he's a little confused but he's got the spirit.

Halloween: (October 31st)

"Saw an anomaly I'd never seen before just now. Ran away when I tried to stop it. That's when I realized it was a human."

i would not be surprised if his upbringing was sheltered and he just did not know about halloween to begin with haha

Christmas: (December 25th)

"...You should spend Christmas with family."

Well everyone's stuck at Darkwick so that's not likely to happen. Also don't tell that to Sho. . .but we can be family now! And spend Christmas together!

Idle: (about 20 seconds without interacting with the game) (below 13 affinity)

"...You okay?"

(13 affinity and above)

"...You seem busy. Let me know if you need anything."

Absent: (logging in for the first time in 2 or more days?)

"...You came back. You look all right. We're gonna need you for the next mission."

SO YOU SEE HE'S A LOT KINDER AND SWEETER WHEN HIS AFFINITY GETS UP THERE. . .BUT HE'S STILL COLD. BECAUSE HE'S AFRAID. . .but you make him feel more comfortable. You help him feel less like a destructive monster and more like a person. Where he pushed you away before, he keeps you closer now. Still a little at arm's distance but much closer than before. I HOPE THIS HELPED YOU SEE MORE OF HIS PERSONALITY, ANON o/

[spotlightlowlife]

hella decent vs hella descent

The satan character is decent.

A judge and a reasonable one at that who it seems is well respected among his peers, all the sins but sadboy showed to his court, there was plenty of room to speak and this court session was abruptly held because of one little snitch (with a good case) so we get the impression that he is a stickler for rules and justice.

No idea how powerful he is but he showed us something that this series has been lacking which is a hierarchy. A stickler for the rules but clearly had some favouritism and affection for Stolas who sits high as royalty, was Stolas spared by satan or is there a known and accepted exception to the rules when it comes to royalty? That was left open.

Stolas's punishment, if it's committed to could actually something excellent for his characters growth, the opportunity to genuinely slum it and gain empathy and appreciation for what is a lifetime to the average person.

I like how the moment Stolas lost his position the general public would turn on him, again, finally establishing that these titles stand for something.

We're definitely not missing out on sadboy Lucifer over at the hangout hotel, he truly isn't needed.

Stella can love her daughter and loathe her husband who loathed her right back. No proof that's she's the incompetent parent. Nothing hard to understand here. The Octavia scene could have made Stella look more of a villain had this all been her plan but no, her brother pulls the strings.

Still, Stella remains interesting .

I appreciate that Mammon was tediously bored, unbothered and was looking forward to taking a break to eat, like many people forced to be at meetings, this further told us that these meetings are something that must be attended like it or not.

They really laid it on thick that nobody likes this guy and were so petty about it, reminding us that he's gross, fat, glutinous, stupid, unfocused, childlike and doesn't get that those who aren't snapping at him don't like him either.

Were we supposed to find a grownup playing with toys that ranged from fidgit to toddler an annoyance or amusing, since the whole direction of this character is that he's offputting and wrong in every way possible?

Mammon had no time for Stolas's song yet Stolas would approach him briefly and knock over his building blocks, is his lack of interest in 'emotional' song and dance another reason we should be disliking him, who didn't have a song to sing in his episode where he additionally broke the mould of 'no fun'?

Why does Bee have issue with him? Wasn't she a fun, dismissive and shallow, binge eating and drinking pushing party girl when we last saw her? Couldn't these two easily be close?

What exactly is ancient Ozzie's issue with ancient Mammon outside of the past 10 years with 30 something Fizz?

Bee and Ozzie being attached at the hip and practically sharing lines is so tacky. They're reduced to cheering on Blitzø despite their few exchanges with him, exchanges which involved unresolved critique, these two are truly the worst, they got worst, Ozzie heckled Blitzø on before he got neutered, but after neutering he knows that Stolas had been lending out his grimore, Blitzø no longer has Stolas's book but now has Ozzie's crystal, so he's unser his jurisdiction now, a deal Stolas and Ozzie made behind Blitzø's back, how about talking about that? Bee on the other hand got neutered during her introduction, when she all of a sudden saw Blitzø as a huge problem that was ruining her party and killing a vibe though we saw no NPC walking out, now she's arguing that he's harmless? We don't get much of them but the brief moments we do get just dump on their credibility further but hey, what matters is they're both dating on Blitzø and co. level so they're 'nice guys'.

Two sides of the same coin is what they are. Though their opening lines were to cape for Blitzø things soon turned to Bee sex shaming Mammon, yes Queen Bee, the prince gluttony who sat cringing at Mammon's gluttonous display, makes the sex remark. I repeat, coin, two sides.

Really gives more credence to critism of fat phobia and acephobia (because asexual means nobody wants you, it's just another word for incel) that I've seen, there may be room to throw neuro divergence ignorance in there too.

[thewertsearch]

AG: This denizen does not look asleep to me. […] EB: he was wide awake when i found him. i practically crapped my pants!

When you think about it, why would he be asleep?

This Typheus has no reason to wait for John’s challenge, because he’s fully aware that this John will never challenge him. Therefore, he decided to skip the theatrics, and cut to the chase.

EB: what was your denizen like? AG: Her name was Cetus. AG: She was this awful sea monster. Her lair was deep underground amidst a 8unch of shipwrecks. She was quite vicious and territorial. I knew I had to kill her quickly to release the hoard, 8efore she had the chance to do anything tricky. […] EB: did she talk to you? AG: Oh, of course. She was 8a88ling in riddles through most of the fight. I wasn't paying much attention though. I mean, what creature DOESN'T speak in 8oring riddles in this game? EB: so, is that what you all did? EB: kill your denizens as fast as possible, without listening to them? AG: Yeah, pretty much. We were all pretty good players, remem8er? EB: yes, so i've heard.

Well, you were certainly good at the combat aspect of the game - so good, in fact, that you didn't need to engage with any of its other mechanics. The trolls, due to their upbringing, only saw Sgrub as something to defeat, and never took the time to listen to what it had to say.

Denizens are clearly incredible fonts of knowledge, as they're some of the only NPCs gifted with the knowledge of Paradox Space’s wider picture. For all we know, the Denizens could have been trying to warn the Alternians about Jack, or even threats as yet unseen.

Just how much did the trolls miss, by ignoring their counsel?

AG: Ok, I can't exactly speak for everyone. There was a lot going on, and I don't know how some people went a8out 8eating their denizens. AG: For instance, I'm not sure how our hero of 8reath did it. May8e the monster just released the hoard for him out of pity????????

Tavros didn't seem to have a particularly enlightened or nuanced view of Sburb’s mysteries, so I doubt he chatted much with his Denizen.

That said, I do see Vriska’s point. If we assume that all the trolls did defeat their Denizens – which is probably a requirement to beat the game – then how did Tavros pull it off? He’s not exactly a gifted fighter, and I highly doubt a Denizen qualifies as an ‘animal’ to control. I know Bec does, but I believe that's because he still has the mind of a dog. The Denizens are clearly sentient.

I guess there’s no reason all Denizen 'fights' need to be resolved through single combat. Perhaps Tavros completed his quest by playing a kickass game of Fiduspawn.

[taruth3mighty]

Player as a protagonist for a creature capture game is actually so fucking terrifying to think about. Like other protagonists in creature capture games, like Loomian Legacy and... Tales of Tanorio, don't really have anything that crazy going on with their protagonist. Unlike in Doodle World. Loomian Legacy Player! Which I'll call Lay. Lay is pretty basic, just generic protagonist, though technically they're a parallel version of the protagonist from Pokemon Brick Bronze. They're just your character interacting with these characters. Just an average kid that has to occasionally stop the bad guys from destroying the place. The strangest thing about them is that they have two parents. Next we have, Tales of Tanorio Player! Which I'll call Mochi. Mochi is clearly struggling with something after their father disappeared, and yet they want to help their mom with money. Even if they're struggling with things. Yet it's just protagonist with extra flavor. Nothing says that they're any different from us. ... Not Player. Ever since Icyridge, it's been made abundantly clear that us as in the ones playing the game and the character we play as, are not the same person. Like you're telling me that we're controlling this npc, and they are not aware of what the fuck we are or what's going on in their own body. The visceral idea of some otherworldly being that's inside your body and makes you do things even though you're not aware of it. Like you have no choice. And now it's revealed and confirmed that they can see through our eyes. Meaning that they saw everything with Riffraff in the Oasis meeting. Explaining why they know Riffraff doesn't go by Lucas Rimbaud anymore. They saw everything with Rosemary and Desmond. She was talking to them as she was talking with them. They saw everything with Joseph. Explaining why he talks to them about joining sides. They see things they weren't supposed to. And they aren't even fully aware of this power. They likely just think they're daydreaming or imagining things, yet it's real. Rosemary and Joseph don't just break the fourth wall. They directly address Player. And from an in universe stand point, that shit is terrifying. Like imagine people in your dreams suddenly start addressing the camera aka you.

[yaraneechan]

so. before and at the beginning of cleanup arc, we are introduced to how Ritsu is misunderstood by everyone around him and his inferiority complex. and it leads to his descent into a corruption arc. Let's unpack how it went down one part at a time: (1k words)

after Mezato's interview with Ritsu- which she asked for because she got interested in mob's powers after lol cult arc and his possible new cult popularity, Dimple- also interested in using Mob and is following Mob around post lol cult arc - tries to convince him to use his powers, including during his walk to school with Ritsu.

Ritsu-who can’t see Dimple yet- asks Mob why he doesn't use his powers. And Mob says that they're not special as they can't get him what he wants: muscles. he doesn't believe he can get that with powers. (it's technically possible and would be addressed later in the manga) Mob then reminds Ritsu of his good non psychic qualities, saying he envies him, and Ritsu gets upset about it.

Dimple and Ritsu are frustrated that Mob doesn't see his powers as special and wishes for muscles or being better at math, which both considers lesser skills.

When Tokagawa meets Ritsu outside of school, Ritsu was just walking ~aimlessly~. And he calls himself "a regular middle schooler" and "the utmost case of plain and simple". Tokagawa sees that as a disguise.

For Tokagawa, back when mob was still considering joining the telepathy club, he had also clocked Mob as aimless. He asks Mob "isn't there something else you want to do? whats your aim?" also What does he do in his spare time, what are his interests, hobbies, does he have friends?

is he gaining something or just being used? He'd be letting someone else's opinion push him, accepting being a ghost member.

(ignore the character in the panel where Tokagawa tells Mob not to be a people pleaser/ let himself get pushed around we'll unpack that in another post)

we learn of Mob's goal of asking out the girl he likes, who he remembers to be interested in fast running boys. Tokagawa was the one who lead Mob to recognize his goal of wanting to be popular (and specifically wanting Tsubomi to like him) and join the body improvement club. Finding himself a new passion and way to improve himself.

but the thing is for unlike mob, Ritsu has talents that Mob doesn't, talents that are more acknowledged and favoured by society. So what clicks for Tokagawa is that Ritsu is trying to be the mobest npc type. and that he's doing that specifically trying to be like his brother. so he tells him "don't imitate your brother."

first, pointing out the panel of Ritsu holding the awakening lab card is on the nose as he got it specifically because he was mistaken for Mob.

Anyways, Tokagawa here only partly understands Ritsu. Because yes, Ritsu is trying to be like his brother. But Tokagawa assumes it to be about how Mob is-well- a Mob character, someone who blends in the crowd and doesn't stand out. He is telling Ritsu to stop being like his brother not about wanting to be psychic (he doesn't know about that) but as in to stop acting like he isn't special, like he doesn't have talents of his own, when unlike Mob he has his smarts and physical abilities. The things that are more socially accepted as skills.

and that stuck a nerve with Ritsu. It bothers Ritsu so much that later, during a student council meeting when they're picking the face of the cleanup plan and Kamuro considers Ritsu before backing off/using reverse psychology and calling him modest. Ritsu takes it as a challenge and considers joining.

He takes initiative for the cleanup plan, and then the awakening lab, as he thinks 'I really want to change myself'.

His npc/background/"mob" character days are over, He is joining the narrative.

he joins the awaking lab hoping it'll help him get powers. and everyone there don't mind that he's struggling to use powers while he feels inferior for it.

then we get a scene of the Kageyama parents talking about Ritsu's achievements at dinner, while getting frustrated with Mob's powers and telling him to be more like Ritsu. and Mob joins in saying that yes, Ritsu is way smarter than him and doesn't do anything weird, and again, it stuck a nerve with Ritsu.

so now to the boiling point. Kamuro changed the cleanup plan. he changed into something that goes against Ritsu's morals, he calls it unethical. the plan goes against the image others have of them. he says it doesn't suit Kamuro who's striving to be an elite. and it struck a nerve with Kamuro.

he asks Ritsu, when everyone around them has a false image of them, then why shouldn't they rebel?

and it's all connected here. great summarizing page!

what Ritsu is frustrated with is how those around him don't see powers as special, that somehow wanting to have powers is viewed as being modest, blending in, being "Mob"-like, like a mob character, while having physical power and being smart are the celebrated skills.

Ritsu just finds powers so much cooler then physical power and he thinks he's inferior to his brother for not having them.

he wants to be like his brother in having powers, but unlike his brother in using them. freely. not hold himself back. not putting a distance between himself and others to protect them.

he wants to fight.

and to do that he''ll be mistaken as his brother, both as Kageyama Shigeo by the awakening lab/then claw and as white T poison by delinquents

and so, his corruption arc has been kickstarted. 🎉

was gonna stop here but felt its important to bring this up:

"Why such a long face? you trying to mimic Mob" and then asking Ritsu to help with an exorcism rubbing in his face that he doesn't have powers like his brother. Reigen. Reigen no! those are the things he's sensitive about!

(plus Ritsu's also mad at Reigen for using/exploiting Mob which Reigen is trying to lie about but that's beyond the scope of this post)