#but the character she becomes after the tragedy is. A Character.

[bride-of-shadows-if]

[It begins with your end.]

The prologue of Bride of Shadows is a ten-minute read that paints a grim picture. You have no body and no clear memories of who you are or how you came to be drifting in a void. The only thing you have to latch onto is the voice of a mysterious deity.

The goddess holds up a thread with several knots, slowly untangling them. With each knot that's undone, memories cascade into your mind. Passage by passage, you piece together the tragedy that was your life. Half-human, half-creature of the night, you were abandoned on the steps of a temple shortly after your birth, your body burnt and deformed from exposure to the light.

From there, you begin to shape your unique backstory as you recall growing up in the temple, becoming a priestess, and venturing to the arctic continent of Nazralt to proselytize to indifferent outlanders. Did you spend your youth obsessing over scripture, or secretly poring over scandalous tomes? Do you truly believe in your religion, or did you take your vows because you were too afraid to be in control of your fate? Have you ever been tempted by impure urges?

As you work your way through the prologue, your profile takes shape, crafting the base stats and personality with which you'll begin your epic romance. Maybe the most tempting route will be the bookish romantic who is quick to fall head over heels for the beguiling rogue, Serax. But it's also quite fun to be the prudish zealot who's always ready to lecture the darkly handsome Valdricht on the nature of his many sins.

But all of that comes later. As the story of your first life comes to a brutal and untimely close, the goddess offers you a choice:

Eternal oblivion, or rebirth.

She'll return your soul to the mortal realm. Your body will be healed, not just from the ravages of your death. You'll be made whole and beautiful, and you'll be granted immortality. All she asks for in exchange is that you serve her for one winter. Do as she says until spring and her gifts are yours to keep. Resist her will and your life will be forfeit.

It doesn't sound like much of a choice. But then, you're not accustomed to being in control of your own life.

Upon accepting her offer, you'll choose your name and your character portrait. As your soul rises to return to the mortal realm, the hammer drops. You're given your first orders. They begin cryptically, and then become dreadfully precise.

"When you wake, you must stay where you are until you are found. The ones who find you will want to be rid of you. Do not allow them to cast you aside. Find a way to make yourself indispensable to them. Make them value and cherish you. Or, if that proves too difficult a task, open your legs and be an eager bedmate. However you accomplish it, by winter's end you are to lay with one of them and conceive a child."

It's a surreal command. You've only ever interacted with men from behind the mesh wall of your veil. Why would a goddess want you to defile yourself, and what are her intentions for your child?

As your shock ebbs, you'll resolve yourself to carrying out the task. You've been ordered to do something that goes against your nature, but at least it should be easy enough. After all, you are pretty now. That's all it really takes to seduce a man, isn't it?

Next week, I'll be posting illustrated character sheets of our enigmatic male leads, along with some story snippets so you can get a feel for their personalities and my writing style. The demo version of Bride of Shadows will be out on January 10th. A playthrough of the demo will be around the length of a novella, give or take depending which choices you make. You can also replay it, make different choices, and then watch in awe as the story is actually different and not just the same passages repeated over again, making you wonder why there even was a choice if it didn't matter at all? Is it obvious that I've been burned by interactive romances? Anyway, the demo is just the beginning. I write like I got my keyboard at crossroad bargain. We're going on a journey.

-Mortish

[novelconcepts]

It’s always so funny to me when someone can’t tell the difference between an actor who’s over the top and an actor who is doing an intentionally over the top performance. The former can be super aggravating, I get it—but the latter can be so goddamn effective. Especially when you know the actor already, know they’re fully capable of giving normal human facial expressions and chill line deliveries. And they’re out here doing The Absolute Most all of a sudden? It’s for a reason, dude. It’s almost always for a reason. And once you can see past the camp on the surface, it’s so much fun digging in to what emotions the character is actually hiding.

[adarkrainbow]

There's also the elephant in the room. Class mobility was NOT a subject you could treat randomly back in 17th century France.

In almost all of the salonnières stories, poor girls do not become princesses - nobility and princesses become princesses and queens. This comes to quite funny twists and turns when d'Aulnoy adapts stories where the traditional heroines are poor girls - resulting in tales where you have princesses, queens and kings that fell on such hard times they literaly now live in little huts at the back-end of the woods. This seems just comical to us now, how instead of going with a poor woodcutter's daughter d'Aulnoy went through the trouble to explain she was a princess all along... But it was actually REQUIRED at the time.

People underestimate how ridig and strong the social hierarchy was back then. The 17th century was notably the rise of the bourgeoisie, and it was a SCANDAL. There's a reason why bourgeois back then were treated as the laughingstock of everybody or as vile and pitiful characters to only be despised (at least fiction-wise). The rule that nobility only mingles with nobility, that royals stay with royals, that titles like dukes or count could only be inherited by those WORTHY of it was one of the defining rules of French society. Louis XIV had introduced a HUGE reform in the French nobility by valorizing, alongside the "nobility of the sword" (the old aristocracy of knights) the "nobility of the robe", aka new nobility earning their titles and wealth due to being part of governemental administration. This was a very divise decision that was quite criticized, and for quite a long time the "real" nobles (of the sword) considered those "of the robe" to not be "actual" nobles.

In such a context, stories of a poor farmer's daughter or of a poor miller's daughter marrying a prince and becoming a princess... It would have been deemed shocking and indecent. Already the women authors of fairytales introduced various subversive elements, but they had to keep a low profile and not make stories TOO jarring or too shocking - royal censorship was still a thing back then. It was part of the same rule according to which tragedy could ONLY be about nobility and royalty - as tragedy, in theater, was deemed a "noble" and "high" genre. If you wanted to treat low folks, bourgeois or peasants, you HAD to go with a "low" undignified genre... like comedy.

Now the big objection one could have to literary fairytales of this era not encouraging the "social mobility" would be Perrault's fairytales... Cinderella and Puss in Boots and The Fairies (Diamonds and Toads). But here's the thing... A) Perrault was a famous man, a recognized scholar and intellectual, the public leader of the ground-breaking "Modern movement" and protected by members of the government. He could pull off such a move, whereas women of criminal past and sulfurous reputation like d'Aulnoy couldn't (and even women in general). B) People forget today that Perrault's fairytales were... subversive. Characters like the protagonists of Puss in Boots are basically amoral and are to be seen as anti-heroes rather than true heroes, because think about it from a 17th century perspective... Here's this poor person who tricks royalty into marrying their daughter, earns the title of prince, and this after usurping the wealth and lands of a lord they MURDERED. Cinderella's social mobility can pass off since she was still part of a "family of quality", but in the Fairies such an extravagant wedding as the one of a poor girl and a prince can only be justified by a fairy miracle... and the implied greed of the prince.

In fact Perrault, who was not of the high or old nobility, was quite sensible to the struggle of the bourgeoisies and the nobility of the robe, and his fairytales are kind-of encouraging and praising the rise of bourgeoisie against traditional aristocraty - most of his morals about social mobility either denouncing the hypocrisy of the "rigid" social structure (Cinderella's moral) or praising a form of meritocracy deemed amoral by 17th century standards (Puss in Boots)

@donttouchmyasymptote replied to your post

I also see that there's less class mobility in D'Aulnoy than other writers - could that come from a feeling of being trapped by her (albeit, noble) social position?

I'm glad that my response was of use! I'll answer you this in a separate post because I know myself and I can't promise this to fit in a reply lol

I think that it might have been a combination between the context of production of the stories and their aim with them, especially d'Aulnoy's, but most of the salonniers as well.

In terms of production, compilers like Basile, Straparola, Perrault the Grimms, Afanasyev, etc., even if with different intentions (which influenced the types and forms of stories they had in their publications), were adapting, writing or compiling stories that were inherently folkloric. There are many theories about the origin of stories (some even speak of a spiritual level of wisdom that's very interesting) but it's known that these authors, as the original post said, took them from working classes, "lower" classes.

They adapted them, like I said, to their ideologies or their audiences, but they came from an ancient place and were shared from person to person.

For example, there is said to have been thousands of versions of Cinderella (or what we'd categorize as Cinderella today) around the world, Ye Xian being the first one written and surviving that we know of. It's very likely that the idea of class mobility that many versions of Cinderella carried came from the poorer classes that transformed the story through the centuries. When it reached Perrault, for example, that wasn't something his audience (or himself) would approve of, so he made Cinderella the daughter of a nobleman who had fallen in misfortune after his death, rather than a poor class girl.

The salonniers weren't really adapting folk stories as much as they were using them (and other elements) as inspiration to create their own, which were most often wish-fulfillment stories. Class mobility wasn't a priority for them to depict because it wasn't their issue, but sexism was, so most of the stories had female protagonists who did quests, rescued princes, were cursed or broke curses. They were also flawed in the stories, made mistakes they had to pay for, so if there were any morals they were mostly from women to other women of the same class.

I think this is mostly why that is, the interest wasn't on the class aspect but on the gender aspect for her. She certainly did feel trapped by the way her gender was perceived in her class at her time, by the limitations they had to live with, many scholars discuss that as a key element to read stories by the salonniers.

This is why it's very interesting sometimes to compare versions of the same inspiration in different authors and see what they prioritized. For example, I think Green Serpent by d'Aulnoy, Beauty and the Beast by Villeneuve and later adapted by Beaumont, Blue Beard by Perrault and Hans my Hedgehog by the Grimms are all coming from the Cupid and Psyche myth, with more or less degrees of evidence. The stories are so differently developed and the point is placed in such different places that you'd think they were all coming from entirely different sources.

Also, it's very interesting what you're doing with d'Aulnoy stories! I hope this helps!

[silo1013]

salvaged from the office fire in 1998

[rubberduckyrye]

You guys ever think about the tragedy that is Junko Enoshima? That she wasn't a sadistic girl seeking out to hurt others for sadistic glee?

Because everything Junko did was her trying to emotionally abuse herself? That she wanting to feel something so badly that she hurt the people she loved most, and even brought about ruin to the world, simply to destroy herself with it?

[andromedasummer]

sudden flashbacks to childhood as i remember the first book series i ever loved, Roman Mysteries. which in retrospect. has a lot. a lot. a LOT of issues

[hecksupremechips]

Time for me to be completely changed as a person! *just watched falsettos*

[usagimen]

my roman empire is knowing that sayuri's obsession with strength is to assure those around her cannot suffer. that all the love she gives is unbashful, inherently selfless, with no restrictions && limitations. by extension, if you are loved by someone she cares for, she will now protect you with everything in her.

[attractthecrows]

i think the main thing that bothers me about fanon families (because i am a picky pedant) is that for the most part, they ignore things like how said families would impact the characters and overall story. like it's one thing to add siblings and other random relations just for flavor, I can't judge there, I do it myself... but you gotta keep in mind how they slot in. who are these people related to? how are they similar? what are the common learned behaviors of the family - because they're there even if said character makes a purposeful break from said family - and how do they manifest? why and where is this person even involved in the story?

like don't get me wrong, this sort of playing around is a lot of fun. but it's fun (to me anyways) because people are so complex and there's so many facets to them, so there's all sorts of ways for their bonds with others to interact and add flavor to the plot.

[bibluebutterfly]

I think the beautiful thing about the Broppy relationship is how they impact one another.

Branch’s impact on Poppy is the most obvious in the movies because he’s the one who teaches her to calm down and listen.

But what I think people overlook is the fact that despite her flaws, Poppy never gave up on Branch. Because as cute as they are now, there was a time when Branch was actually pretty cruel to her (ie. Putting her down, smashing her custom made invitations for him in front of her face, mocking her ideals, etc) and probably had been treating her like that for years before movie #1.

Everyone else had given up on him, basically deeming him as a lost cause, but Poppy never stopped trying. Yes Branch got on her nerves and hurt her feelings, and as far as she knew he would just throw her invitations away afterwards. Yet despite that she still put in the effort to make him custom invitations and genuinely want him to be there.

And even though he never dared express it, those efforts meant something to him.

Like we love Branch, but I don’t think we give Poppy enough credit for her role in Branch’s life. He was unkind (to put it lightly) to her for years, but despite that she never held any resentment towards him and still felt that he deserved to be happy. And by that incredible persistence, she worked her way into his heart.

See, Branch is a character who is completely used to tragedy and people he loves leaving in his life. So that’s partially why he pushed Poppy away and treated her so poorly. But despite that, Poppy was always THERE. She was with him when literally nobody else was. She was naive, optimistic and annoying, but she was there. Always putting the effort to be his friend, and the only one who had any sort of faith in him. He may have been isolated, but because of Poppy he was never truly alone. And even if it irked him, he still appreciated that.

And when somebody sticks with you literally no matter what, it’s not surprising that he fell more than a little bit in love.

As for Poppy, she’s slowly becoming aware that she can be a bit much sometimes. She always wants the best for her people but she doesn’t always know how to do that. Branch, even if originally rude about it, has always been able to give it to her straight. And even if he pretended not to care, he still had her back when it mattered the most. And after number one, it looks like he has her back more than ever while still being able to be the voice of reason. Which yes, Poppy definitely needs.

(Gah I wish I could put more pictures to elaborate my point but y’all get it.)

Anyway. They’re not perfect characters, but they are perfect for each other. Branch supports Poppy but gives it to her flat out. Meanwhile Poppy too supports Branch and is stubborn enough to stick by him, even when he’ll intentionally and/or unintentionally push her away. And that’s just gorgeous.

[deathbxnny]

Helloo!! Arcane is ending soon, so I was wondering if I could request the Arcane cast reacting to a reader who suspiciously seems to know everything that’s gonna happen in the plot? They always appear where the action is, and they warn about dangers before they happen, trying to ”subtly” change the outcomes of horrible events. Tragedies are a core element of the story, so I feel that the narrative would create another disaster if one event got prevented, but the thought of these characters being safe and happy after all they’ve been through would be so healing :3 It’s up to you which way you want to take it 🐁💖 I’m fine with both platonic and romantic, but I’d love to see Vi, Jinx and Caitlyn if that’s ok :)

I love love love your writing, reading your HC’s before bed has become an important part of my day and it’s always a joy to see your work pop up in the tags <3 Thank you for letting us read your creations 💖 I can’t wait to read the second part of your Caitlyn fic!!

The Timekeeper. | Vi, Caitlyn, Jinx x Gn!Reader

I absolutely LOVE this idea, Anon, and I appreciate your request so much!! Also, thank you for your kind words. It really means the world to me reading something so sweet!<33

Content: Angst, can be read as either platonic or romantic tbh, time traveling, fluff, bitter sweet, cursing, spoilers for season 2?, sfw

Reader has no set pronouns.

((Not proofread))

You were always a mysterious figure to them. One that appeared at the right time in the right place whenever they needed you the most.

You never revealed a thing about yourself. You never even told them your name. But one thing they did know was that you had always looked out for them, like a guardian angel in a way.

And on one fateful day, after another evaded tragedy, they finally caught up to you just before you could leave again.

》VI

"Who the hell are you?" She asked completely out of breath after having practically chased you down through the dense crowd of the undercity. She had seen you so many times before. So, so many times. And every time she did, you were somehow able to save her from certain death by subtly showing her the right way to survive.

It took her a while to piece together that you must've known the outcome of every situation she had ever been in beforehand. That was the only logical answer to the many questions around your existence she could come up with, but it wasn't enough to satiate her desperate curiosity. There were times she had chosen against your signs, and the consequences ended up being almost grave. So whoever you were, you must've had otherworldly knowledge about everything and everyone.

Because whilst she didn't know a thing about you, you certainly knew everything about her.

Raising your hooded head, you idly played with the pocket watch in your hand, piercing eyes meeting her own. "Does that matter?" You ask, and truthfully, it shouldn't. Who cared about your identity when she knew she could trust you? But that wasn't enough. "Yeah, it does to me. Now tell me who you are already. I... I've been seeing you everywhere for years now. You have always been there and I..." She trailed off, suddenly losing her confidence.

She had thought of this moment for years now, imagined exactly what she would say to you. And yet, ultimately, she found herself speechless in your presence that seemed to drown out everyone else around you two. "I see... but my apologies, we were not supposed to meet yet." You said calmly, seemingly undisturbed by her appearance. "Time and fate... they both are so tightly intertwined and yet also so far apart from each other... how odd that the timeline changed so suddenly again, no?" Your words made zero sense in her mind, but that just added to your mystery.

"What-" "-Are you happy with the way your life is going?" You ask, and that made the woman pause in thought. The answer was positive, of course, but only because you had a strong hand in it once she accepted your help. She thought of Powder back home, who was probably happily tinkering away with the young girl Isha they recently took in, and that made her finally nod. "Yes. All thanks to you." "Not at all. It was you who chose your fate. I only showed you the alternative paths."

You two stood there in silence for a moment before she shoved her hands into her pockets and looked over to a nearby bar she liked to frequent in-between missions. "Let's go grab a drink and talk. It's on me." Deciding to accept this new path the timelines had given you, you accept her invitation with a smile.

》JINX

"You're terrible at your job." "Am I? I like to pride myself in my good work ethic, actually." Jinx was idly swinging her gun back and forth on her index finger whilst she rested up in the ceiling above you, clearly having followed you around secretly. But she knew that you already knew that from the start.

Scoffing at your words, she jumped down and landed in front of your indifferent figure as she pointed the gun right at you. "Pah! You're a funny one... so what are you? A time traveler?" "Ah, I like the title Timekeeper more." You were aggravating but at the same time a familiar face she had grown to appreciate deeply. You were the reason she was doing well in life now, even if she ignored you for a very, very long time. She thought she knew better despite all the odds pointing against her, especially you. Ultimately, she learned her lesson when she finally just listened to you.

"Ugh... whatever. Can't ya at least tell me your name?" "No." "Man, you're such a pain in the butt!" "Likewise." Rolling her eyes, she lowered her gun and lazily leaned against a wall, arms crossed tightly as she observed the crowds passing by from outside the abandoned building you were in. An admittedly comfortable silence fell between you two, one that relaxed her shoulders and made her sigh in defeat after a while. Your presence was always so comforting.

"So, you let me catch up to you this time. Finally tired of the cat and mouse game we've been playing?" You lowered your head at her question, a sly smile on your face that made her narrow her eyes in interest. "Perhaps. Or maybe I just wanted to ask you how you're doing?" What an odd question, considering the context of your meet-up. And yet, it was somehow fitting coming from you specifically. Wasn't your whole mysterious mission revolving around her well-being anyway?

"Shouldn't you know the answer to that, oh so esteemed 'Timekeeper'?" You found no offense in the mockery of your title. Just pure amusement. "I'm afraid that mind reading was not in the initial job listing." Jinx took a moment to think about your question carefully then, deciding to indulge you despite her better judgment. Things were good now, after all. She, Isha, and Vi were together again as a family, including Vander, even if they had yet to find a way to turn him back properly. But everything was happy otherwise... because you made sure that the end to her story wouldn't be a painfully tragic one.

"... I'm fine. Everything's fine." She muttered, and your smile widened at that answer. "So... I'm not terrible at my job, after all?" Pressing a playful hand to her chin, Jinx acted as though she was in deep thought. "Hmmm... I guess I'll need more convincing than all of this to decide." "Of course... then how about we start with running away before the Enforcers show up to raid this place in approximately... 2 minutes?"

Jinx rolled her eyes again with a grin but agreed to follow you, very much glad to have learned her lesson at your side throughout the years.

》CAITLYN

She was ignorant towards your judgment from the start, especially as she was able to analyze very quickly that you weren't all you claimed you were. You were too smart, too fast, too aware of everything. It was clear that you already knew how her life story especially would come to an end. But that didn't mean that she'd always listen to you.

Caitlyn believed to know better, even going as far as to protest against your word, which she had learned to be fate itself. And sometimes she'd nearly get away with her life, and on others, you'd be the one to show up just in time to save her. It was embarrassing and at times even near humiliating, but you never judged her, just silently left every time she attempted to confront you.

And this time she had finally succeeded.

Now dressed in a formal uniform, she watched your still form stare out of a window in her estate, as though you weren't practically trespassing. But Caitlyn was used to that. "It's going to rain soon. I wonder if the construction workers will get done with the restoration on time today before the first drops fall." The navy haired woman came to stand next to you, ears finely tuned to your calming voice she had heard in her dreams and mind for so many years. It felt surreal to stand next to you at last.

"You already know the answer... but I think Mother will send out guards soon to retrieve them." Her mother, who had only narrowly escaped her death, if it wasn't for you. She had only gotten a little injured from falling debris, but that was all that happened. All of the councilors and people in the building had survived the Jinx attack. No grave injuries. All because you prevented it by throwing Jinx slightly off balance enough to make her shot not as precise.

"... Thank you." "For what?" The right answer would be absolutely everything, but she refrained, noting that you didn't seem keen on praise. You saw it as your job. As your duty to her for a reason unknown. "For saving my mother." That should do.

You nodded at her words in acknowledgment as your eyes spied Ambessa retreating with her troops in defeat. They were practicing chased away by the council since their help was unwelcome. Served them right for meddling with the business of other nations. You had exposed their ulterior motives in secret, and that's all it took for the tide to turn against them. "Just my duty." "I knew you'd say that... but I want to reward you for all you've done. If it wasn't for you... then I... I don't want to know what I would have become."

You glanced at her with an unreadable look in your eye, and that reconfirmed her suspicions regarding how deep she would have fallen otherwise. It's best not to think of it.

Humming to yourself in thought, you gave her a small smile. "Very well, if you insist... you can treat me to some fine tea and cookies." Caitlyn weakly mirrored your grin, relief filling her senses at you accepting her offer. She was worried you wouldn't. "Of course. Follow me." Linking your arms together carefully, you made your way through the dim halls.

A chuckle left your lips when it indeed began to rain.

[ookaookaooka]

I’m hardly the first person to compare them but Terry Pratchett and J K Rowling really are polar opposites in terms of the way their writing treats weird characters. In Rowling’s writing, any weirdness is there to be laughed at (for example: Professor Trelawney, the fake seer who doesn’t know she’s an actual seer). In Pratchett’s writing, though, the characters’ weirdness is taken 100% seriously and the humor arises organically from the situation itself and is never at the characters’ expense (for example: in Making Money, the man who was born a clown and was never told so until he was 13 years old). In Rowling’s writing, the main characters poke constant fun at Professor Trelawney, making joke predictions and fudging homework and talking about how divination isn’t a legitimate field of study. Even after she gets fired and more or less drops the act, the joke changes to “look at this sad drunk lady” and the main characters express little sympathy. The narrative is saying she’s there to make one real prediction and otherwise she’s only there for comic relief. This sort of thing happens over and over in Rowling’s writing, where any quirkiness is there to be laughed at and the misfortunes of characters we’re not supposed to like are supposed to be funny, and it sends a message of conformity under threat of ridicule. In Pratchett’s writing, the clown man’s story is treated as a great tragedy: imagine growing up not knowing why you are the way you are, and then finding out the truth as a teenager! And knowing that your own mother kept the truth from you! This man was so deeply traumatized by this he denied himself any humor or fun for decades, and when he has a crisis and runs off to become a clown again, he is given support and medical treatment and is welcomed back to his job at the bank and accepted for who he is. The fact that this whole situation is hilarious is secondary. And again, this sort of thing happens over and over again in Pratchett’s writing, where characters’ quirkiness is embraced and often seen as irreplaceable by the end of the book, and it sends a message that our quirks are valuable and weirdness should be acceptable. It just strikes me as a much… kinder approach to people, you know?

[rafeskai]

Life as We Know It — Rafe Cameron

Prologue

Two opposites must navigate love, loss, and unexpected parenthood to discover the meaning of family.

Summary: When tragedy strikes, two very different individuals find their lives unexpectedly intertwined as they become the guardians of an orphaned child. As they navigate the challenges of co-parenting, balancing careers, and confronting their pasts, they discover that family can form in the most surprising ways. Through heartfelt moments and unexpected humor, they explore what it means to build a life together—one step at a time.

Pairings: Rafe Cameron x Reader

Warnings: Character deaths & angst.

Author's Notes: Inspired by the movie "Life as We Know It"!

Masterlist: Here

There were few constants in your life: the salty tang of the Outer Banks air, the sound of waves crashing against the shore, and the endless drama of the Cameron family. You grew up here, just like them, but while they lived in a sprawling estate atop Figure Eight, you came from the modest side of the island.

You had known Sarah Cameron for as long as you could remember. She was the kind of girl who could charm anyone with a smile, the girl everyone wanted to be friends with. But unlike most, you didn’t want her for her name or her wealth. You liked Sarah for her heart. She didn’t care about the boundaries between Pogues and Kooks; she made everyone feel like they belonged.

By the time you hit high school, Sarah was your best friend, and you were practically inseparable. She introduced you to John B. during your junior year. He was scrappy and full of life, and you quickly fell into a comfortable friendship with the two of them.

Rafe Cameron, however, was a different story.

Rafe always lurked on the periphery of your life, like a storm cloud threatening a clear sky. He wasn’t like Sarah. Where she was warm and easygoing, Rafe was sharp edges and unpredictable tempers. You’d crossed paths countless times, but they were rarely pleasant encounters.

You remembered the first time you met him clearly. It was Sarah’s 16th birthday party, a massive affair with twinkling lights strung across the Cameron backyard. You were lingering by the dessert table when Rafe swaggered up, red Solo cup in hand and a cocky smirk plastered on his face.

“You must be Sarah's best friend,” he said, sizing you up in a way that made your skin crawl.

“Yeah. And you’re Rafe,” you replied curtly, wishing Sarah would swoop in to rescue you.

“Sarah’s little charity project,” he said with a laugh, taking a sip of his drink.

You clenched your jaw, refusing to rise to his bait. “And you’re the reason half the town avoids this place like the plague.”

To your surprise, he laughed again, this time louder. “You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”

It was the start of an unspoken rivalry, one that lasted for years. Where Sarah tried to bring people together, Rafe pushed them apart. His antics grew wilder with time: parties that spiraled out of control, brushes with the law, and rumors of worse. You avoided him as much as possible, which wasn’t easy when Sarah was your best friend.

After high school, you moved into your own place on the south side of the island, taking a job at a local café while figuring out what you wanted to do with your life. Sarah and John B. were building their lives together, too, settling into a cozy house not far from the beach. And then there was Willa.

Willa was their miracle. Born a month premature, she was tiny but fierce from the start. You adored her, becoming the self-proclaimed honorary aunt who babysat whenever Sarah and John B. needed a break.

Life was steady, even happy, despite its imperfections. You had your routine, your little found family with Sarah, John B., and Willa. Rafe was a distant memory most of the time, someone you only saw at obligatory gatherings where you both pretended the other didn’t exist.

So when the call came, ripping Sarah and John B. away in an instant, the grief was like a black hole, pulling everything you knew into its crushing void.

And then came the twist you hadn’t seen coming.

© 2024 rafeskai | All rights reserved. This fanfiction is a work of fiction inspired by characters from Outer Banks, and no part of it may be reproduced or distributed without permission.

[l4mplight]

Miquella and Trina; A Tragedy

Hey Tumblr. I have a lot of thoughts about Shadow of the Erdtree, and these ones... let's just say I don't think they'd do well on Reddit. It's not often that I feel particularly impacted by a particular fictional character. Usually I connect more with narrative arcs and themes, which is why I think I'm so drawn to the ephemeral, vibes based storytelling of Fromsoft's games. Playing through SOTE, though, I found Miquella (and St Trina) to be extremely emotionally compelling and relatable, and I wasn't sure exactly why. I think I've put my finger on it now though. First of all, know that I am writing from the perspective that Miquella is a sympathetic character. I know that it's not uncommon to read him as a manipulative Machiavellian villain, but I think that's both a misreading of the text as well as just plain boring. Like, he's not a Griffith clone you guys, give From some credit. Anyway, here we go.

"You have no understanding. Of Miquella the Kind. Of St. Trina's Love.

Content Warning: I'll be discussing themes of depression, and the implication of suicidal ideation.

So, a classic Fromsoftware theme is despair, and the ways we cope with a world full of it. It shows up twice in Shadow of the Erdtree; with Midra and the Frenzied Flame, where despair leads to a selfish nihilism that asks us to burn everything down, and with Thiollier and St Trina, who offer sleep as a comfort to the weary. Running a small errand for Thiollier has him say the following.

"If you find yourself… weary of the weight of this life, then just give me the word. Sleep is a balm, and eternal sleep… is an elixir."

Drinking the elixir he offers will, of course, result in an instant death. This is our first encounter with the idea of "Eternal Sleep," a more potent form of the sleep status effect that only appears here in the Shadowlands, after St Trina has been abandoned. The Velvet Sword of St. Trina tells us as much: "Silver sword of St. Trina, now stained the color of velvet. Inflicts eternal sleep. When St. Trina was abandoned, the faint, light-purple mists coalesced into an intoxicating deep-purple cloud." In order to ascend to godhood, Miquella abandons first his physical body, and then the more abstract aspects of himself. As we begin to descend down the fissure where we'll find Trina, a cross marks the spot as the place where Miquella abandoned his love. This connects Trina, "the discarded half" as Thiollier puts it, with Miquella's love. Leda confirms this in her own dialogue:

"St. Trina's love for Kind Miquella is boundless. She is, after all, his other half. Or perhaps her feelings go beyond even that. Even if she was left behind, I doubt her heart would waver."

Keep that in mind, it'll be relevant later.

Near the cross, a spirit offers up some of the most heartbreaking dialogue I've come across so far. The spirit gives us a bigger picture of Miquella's goals:

"Kindly Miquella... I see you've thrown away... something you should not have. Under any circumstances. How will you salvation offer... to those who cannot be saved? When you could not even save your other self?"

I teared up at this. The emotional impacted was aided by the fact that I ran into the spirit right after telling Moore to put his past behind him, leading him to rededicate himself to Miquella. He says:

"Hm. Maybe that’s Kindly Miquella’s love. Love for all the unloved. Love, to banish the pain."

Note here that Moore suggest Miquella's love will "banish the pain." This is also essentially what Trina's sleep does. It's a comfort to those in need. Anyway, between these two instances, we end up with a pretty good picture of the sort of god Miquella wants to become. He was already sympathetic to the outcasts of The Lands Between in the basegame, where he built Elphael and the Haligtree as a haven for those rejected by the Golden Order, such as the Albinaurics and Misbegotten we find there. In the Shadowlands, he has gone a step further. Hornsent tells us that he has committed himself, in essence, to righting Marika's wrongs.

"Miquella has said as much himself – he wishes now to throw it all away. He says the act – though undoubtedly painful – will sear clean the Erdtree’s wanton sin. The truth of his claim can be found at each cross. 'Tis evidence enough to earn my belief."

Of all of Marika's children, Miquella is the only one to see the serious flaws in her empire. Ymir points this out to us as well.

"No matter our efforts, if the roots are rotten, then we have little recourse. Ever-Young Miquella saw things for what they were. He knew his bloodline was tainted, his roots mired in madness. A tragedy if there ever was one. That he would feel compelled to renounce everything when the blame lay squarely with the mother."

My thinking here is aligned with Mother Ymir. You really have to feel for Miquella; he has essentially taken on, alone, the responsibility of making up for centuries of Golden Order imperialism. That's a massive burden to bear, especially for Miquella, cursed with eternal childhood.

(It's easy to miss, but Miquella actually ages up significantly when we see him in god-form. Until he steps back through the Divine Gate, he would have looked and sounded like he does in the introductory art and in ending memory scene. Compare those with how he appears in the boss fight, and it's clear godhood at least helped him reach puberty lol) So we've established that Miquella is the child of Imperial Rome on Steroids, is cursed with eternal childhood, and is an empathetic prodigy with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Surely his mental state is perfectly healthy, right? Right??

Final warning, this is where things get quite sad. Here is where I will try to tie Miquella's arc together with Thiollier and St Trina, and the comforting oblivion and relief from despair that sleep represents for them.

As we search for St Trina, we descend down into the Stone Coffin Fissure. This is a place of death, with massive coffins built into the fissure walls, and Gravebirds, Bloodfiends and Putrescent enemies everywhere. St Trina is found at the deepest possible pit of this fissure, in a swamp of putrescence that has since blossomed into a garden of deep velvet lilies because of her influence. Trina offers us nectar of "eternal sleep," as Thiollier did previously, and as established then, "eternal sleep" is essentially nothing more than a peaceful death. Trina seems to fit in quite well in this place of ancient dead things, with some of the ancient remains even being compelled to fight for her in exchange for eternal rest, becoming the Putrescent Knight.

(Side note for levity because we're about to get sad again; I love this guy. It's a knight made out of the skeleton of a horse, riding on that same horse's decaying flesh goop body. Like, ugh. Beautiful. Plus, it may even have taken that shape because of Trina sharing Miquella's memories of Radahn, who was never far from his horse Leonard...)

We meet St Trina in her garden, and when we imbibe her nectar, we eventually begin to hear her voice in our death-dreams. She seems to pity him. Mourn for him, almost.

"Make Miquella stop... Don't turn the poor thing into a god..."

Trina appears to be in a bad state after her fall. She can only manage to get a few words across to us at once. Just as Leda predicted, her heart hasn't wavered. She is only concerned with Miquella's well-being.

"Godhood would be Miquella's prison. A caged divinity... is beyond saving."

Trina's most pressing concern is that godhood will be a prison for Miquella. Now, this could in theory be because gods are subject to manipulation from the Fingers and the Greater Will or a similar reason, but given that she calls him a "poor thing," I think there is likely a more emotional reason behind Trina's plea. I think that Trina is speaking as the embodiment of Miquella's love, but especially his ability to love and care for himself...

"You must kill Miquella... Grant him forgiveness."

...and she asks us to kill him.

In excising Trina from his being, I think Miquella also expelled the part of himself that was able to recognize how miserable divinity would be for him, and how miserable he was. The part of him that was tired of carrying the responsibilities that his compassion demanded of him. The part of him that was exhausted, despairing and desperate from having failed to cure Malenia, failed to save Godwyn, failed to perfect the Haligtree. St Trina is the part of Miquella that wanted to be stopped, to rest, to sleep, to die. In abandoning her as he does, Miquella is essentially repressing those thoughts and feelings, replacing them with more "selfless" ones; self-sacrifice, suffering on behalf of others, his martyrdom and apotheosis. I don't want to forget about "grant him forgiveness" either. She might mean forgiveness for failing to become a god, for not being good enough to succeed Marika and right her wrings. Maybe forgiveness for failing Malenia and Godwyn, or for leaving the Haligtree behind. Maybe even for abandoning her. But on the road to godhood, Miquella can't afford to indulge in this sort of self-pity. A child craves forgiveness and approval, a god must cast these things out.

"I'm feeling rather lost. Haunted by memories. Of St. Trina. Her visage. Her scent. The lure of velvety sleep. Would Kindly Miquella chasten me? For falling for St. Trina, while knowing that she was the discarded half? The problem is… I simply cannot help it. I would sacrifice everything, just to gaze upon her, one last time."

I want to mention Thiollier one more time here too. His primary visual motif is the long white braids that he wears on his clothes, reminiscent of Miquella and Trina's own signature braids (remember, she looked like an older feminine Miquella before her fall and injury). Thiollier is obsessed with Trina, pursuing her to hear her voice and fade into the comfort of her velvet sleep, though this doesn't kill him like it does us. I don't think Thiollier is connected to Miquella in any textual way, but I think he does serve as a reflection of the sorts of thoughts Miquella may have been surpressing. The self-pity, the need for approval and love, the feelings of weakness and uselessness. These are the things that lead Thiollier to pursue endless slumber.

Thiollier doesn't give in to that despair, however. Though he initially takes St. Trina's words... poorly, he eventually realizes what must be done, and dedicates himself to his new purpose: carrying out her final wish.

"I am here to serve St. Trina evermore. I am deeply sorry. For doubting you. I am here only to grant St. Trina's singular wish. I will stop Miquella the kind. He will never become a god."

This post is already quite long, but I also want to mention the obvious gender stuff going on here. There are a number of moments that make it seem as though St. Trina might actually be more than just "half" of Miquella. Firstly, as she is shown falling in the story trailer, Leda is describing how Miquella abandoned his fate, as if Trina had a vital role to play in Miquella's future. It also seems as though Trina isn't cursed in the same way that Miquella is; her voice and size indicate that she is at least more substantial than his "infant form," and she is depicted in "adult form, somewhat unnervingly" on the Torch of St. Trina. Furthermore, her "adult form" has a third eye in the middle of her forehead. The third eye is a symbol of enlightenment in both Hinduism and Buddhism; it seems that Trina has achieved some level of wholeness in this depiction. Meanwhile, when Miquella achieves godhood, his eyes remain permanently shut. He also appears to have only one physical arm. He holds Radahn with two incorporeal arms while casting with his real right arm, but his left arm appears to fade away to nothing before the elbow, as if unfinished. Miquella's blindness and asymmetry here, I think, reflect how unbalanced and incomplete his divinity is without Trina.

One more hint towards St Trina being a part of Miquella's future lies way back at the Haligtree. In Malenia's bossroom, just above where Miquella's cocoon was once embedded into the tree, the branches and roots appear to form a silhouette. This could be Miquella, Trina, or both, but I do see a certain resemblance to Trina's depiction on the torch in the way the "hair" covers the eyes. Given that Miquella's body appears to have grown a decent amount inside of the cocoon when we see in at Mohg's palace, it's possible that the cocoon situation was his original attempt to cure himself of his own curse, or perhaps become a part of the Haligtree itself. In the Shaman Village, Marika's home, there is a similar scene. A woman's body that resembles Marika seemingly mummified within the hollow of a tree. I honestly have no idea what to make of that just yet, but I thought it worth a mention.

So, with all that in mind, abandoning Trina seems to be even more significant. Not only has Miquella divested himself of his love and his fate, but maybe even his future, too. Being eternally nascent, he is always in a state of potential, after all. Am I suggesting that Miquella is a transfeminine character? That he was meant to grow up to become a goddess in the aspect of St. Trina, or maybe even more like Marika than he already is? Well, maybe. If you find it compelling, then absolutely. Fromsoftware's storytelling is always ambiguous, and is always design to leave us some room to read and interpret, to really play in the space we are given. Personally, I do find it compelling in a horribly tragic sort of way, fitting for the setting. It's also entirely possible that I have rather self-indulgently projected some of my own angst onto these character. I likely have, to be perfectly honest. It's rare that I really connect with a set of characters or a story like I have with this lot, and I hope that maybe some of you reading this will feel similarly. If you have read this far, thanks <3

[red-velvet-0w0]

life series curses

another thing I find so interesting about the life series is the idea that every character in the games are cursed in some way. I know there are the obvious ones, canary curse, black widow curse, etc, but I feel like the idea of the watchers locking them in the games with their own curses to be so interesting. It really adds to the feel that a) they are all extremely unique characters with their own things going on and b) they are all in their own way doomed by the narrative as I really like thinking about the fact that the life series is inherantly a tragedy.

as for what curses I think everybody has, the obvious/well known canonical ones are of course:

Jimmy - Canary curse: probably the most famous curse in the life series, Jimmy is cursed to always be the first to die

Grian - Black Widow curse: grian always ends up betraying his teamates or being the cause of their deaths (killed scar in TL, jimmy & mumbo in LL, Scar again in DL, Jimmy in LimL)

Mumbo - Miners curse: always is the next to die after the canary, within a minute of jimmys death.

Scott: Sacrifice Blessing - only one to not exactly be a curse, his teamates will always make it top 3 but he will sacrifice his lives to do so.

Skizzleman: Bad Angel - always tries to help his friends but has legendarily bad luck and loses a lot of lives

Tango: Ash Curse - will always die by himself in a pathetic and underwhelming way (I call it the ash curse because I like the idea of him not dying in a blaze of glory but instead burning out, leaving nothing but a small pile of ashes)

Joel: Insanity Curse/Red Fever - will always end the series by going insane and trying to kill everybody

And then there are the curses I dont think Ive heard many people talk about:

Scar: Villain curse - Scar is cursed to always become enemies with almost everybody, usualy being isolated in a small corner of the map by himself

Cleo: Retribution Curse - will be betrayed by a teamate leading to them swearing vengeance and lashing out in anger (BigB, Martyn)

Ren: Last Stand Curse - dies alone in his own home trying to defend it

Etho: Loyalty Curse - will make a teamate at the very begining and stick with them the whole way through, though in the end his loyalty to them will lead to his death

Martyn: Betrayal Curse - will always plan or attempt to kill his teamate

Bdubs: Wierdly enough also the Betrayal Curse. just the exact same curse Martyn has. I dont know what this means

BigB: Isolation Curse - will always end up living on his own or seperate from the rest of the server

Pearl: Duel Curse: always dies (or wins) in an orginazed duel or battle, usualy including or orginized by Scott

Gem: hasnt been in the series long enough to have a recognizable curse, though she does have the boogeyman curse from secret life.

Lizzie: Failed Avenger Curse: when turning red will try to take revenge on the people who she believed wronged her, but will fail misserably and die trying

[vieramars]

Every character in TMA is a tragedy in their own way but I think Gertrude's tragedy is often overlooked. She effectively spent her entire life stopping rituals. She never let anyone get close to her. I don't think she ever even trusted anyone. Every relationship she had was carefully monitored to make sure she didn't reveal too much to the wrong person, because in her position, any mistake could lead to a sudden, unpleasant death, or worse, the end of the world. And as she went on as the archivist, she watched so many of her assistants die that she seemed to be numb to it, though I don't think she truly was. When she had to sacrifice Michael, and then lost Sarah and had to kill Emma not long after, she never took another official assistant after that. She'd never admit it, but the effect that had on her seems pretty clear. The way she's described by the catalogue when Gerry dies, "there was almost sadness in her eyes," just speaks to me of someone so tired of losing people that the pain becomes distant. It has to, otherwise it all comes crashing in at once, every single loss compounding on all that came before it, and there's no time for grief when you're the archivist. And in the end she died alone, and as far as we're aware, no one cared until the mystery of her death became pertinent to stopping the next ritual. Her fate wasn't that different from Gerry or Michael: a dead voice left behind to guide the new archivist on his path.