#canto 8 predictions

[lu-is-not-ok]

How it feels to be T minus six months away from being thrown into The Chamber which is awfully Red.

Anyway, I'm going to take this opportunity to make some Canto 8 predictions before the Roadmap drops for fun.

Now, these are a mix of theories that have been brewing within me since the game's launch and some stuff that hit me extremely recently. I'm going to try to keep the most general/sane predictions at the front while the more specific/deranged takes are gonna stay at the bottom.

Enjoy.

(And just in case anyone is curious, yes, I will be making a Canto 8 bingo board after we're done with this Season's Intervallos.)

Canto 8 Name Predictions:

The Disillusioned / The Disenchanted (Reference to either Land of Illusion or the fairy Disenchantment from DOTRC)

The Indebted (Reference to the Debt of Tears from DOTRC)

The Cycle Continuing (Matching the Canto 7 format of misleading you into thinking it's a description of the plot when it's actually describing the Sinner as well - Sancho is trying to end the dream, she's the Dream Ending Sinner)

All The Other Predictions:

The lesson Hong Lu will have to learn is to stand up for himself against his Family.

As the Saplings of Light seem to be happening in reverse Ruina order, Hong Lu would end up being assigned Chesed. Thus far, every Sinner tied to a Sapling of Light had to learn the same lesson as the counterpart Sephirah - Heathcliff had to learn to move on from his past like Hokma, while Donqui had to learn to have hope in the future like Binah.

Chesed's arc revolved around him learning that he needs to stop lying to himself and others, and that simply following authority only contributes to perpetuating the harm they cause, so his resolution has him stand up to that authority and try to rebel. I expect Hong Lu to have to go through something similar in his Canto.

Hong Lu will Distort.

Did you really think I would forget that foreshadowing from all the way back in Hell's Chicken?

Hong Lu will be the key to the Immortality of the Mind his elders are seeking.

This would tie him directly to the theme of resurrection that him being the Jade implies, plus it would be a direct reason as to why his Family is actively looking for him - they need him for their own goals.

There will be at least One cannibal in the Jia Family.

No I am not letting go of that Canto 2 line about bitten off fingers.

The Land of Illusion will be revealed to be where one of (if not more) of the Rivers is.

DOTRC potrays the Land of Illusion as a place with notable supernatural Rivers + thematic cohesion between Land of Illusion and Hades as forms of "afterlife" (we already know one of the Rivers is named after a River of Hades).

Hong Lu will be revealed to be both Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, not in a "they merged the two characters into one for the sake of adaptation" way, but in a "this character is composed of two characters in-universe" way.

The framing and timing of the reveal of Hong Lu's name being Baoyu feels incredibly suspicious to me, to the point it actively makes me doubt that's all there is to his true identity. Plus there are multiple things about his E.G.O.s and certain writing choices that can't be explained with him Just being Baoyu.

[voidfragments]

i have a curse where i start playing a game and pick a favorite character and then it's like. 2 years before they're relevant and i have to live on scraps until then

[mento--mori]

this is my prediction for Canto 8

[art-is-kayos]

Canto 8 prediction

[melonisopod]

Predictions for Canto 8:

-Mili Song

-Hong Lu's "Pass On"

-Base EGO voiceline change

-White boy jumpscare (Demian after credits scene)

[necronatural]

Limbus Company theory

Okay, I have absolutely no idea if anyone's noted this yet. Did anyone pick up that the Sinners are held down by a Sin, represented in their EGO, and their Canto are about their struggles against another sin entirely. The branch creates a space for 'penance'. When Rodya entered the field of effect of the branch, Baba Yaga went crazy, freezing the entire mine. There's clearly some paralleling at work here.

So let's go through.

Gregor, Canto 1: Sloth V Gluttony (survival); note that this expedition failed, and we later explore Sloth with Yi Sang

Rodion, Canto 2: Pride V Gloom; note that Rodya refused to actualize

Sinclair, Canto 3: Gluttony (Greed) V Lust

Yi Sang, Canto 4: Sloth V Gluttony (greed); Dante's resonance begins

Ishmael, Canto 5: Gloom V Envy; Dante's resonance progresses

When we look at the dominant sins of the remainder...

Heathcliff, Canto 6: Envy...

Don Quixote, Canto 7: Lust…

Hong Lu, Canto 8: Gloom…

Ryoshu, Canto 9: Wrath…

Meursault, Canto 10: Pride…

Outis, Canto 11: Pride…

Faust, Canto 12: Pride…

Dante, Canto ?: ????

Sins not confronted yet: Sloth, Pride, Wrath

Sinner sins left to explore: Envy, Wrath, Lust (If we're talking strictly what progressed Dante's clock, Gluttony & Pride)

Assuming Dante's doomsday clock setting is moving in 5 minute intervals, Dante currently has 2 positions left on their clock; 5 minutes to midnight and midnight itself. It's made almost explicit that their resonance with sinners is the tool with which they resonate with the branches. By obtaining each sin, they're building to some sort of complete whole.

Predictions based on this theory; Pride being so back-heavy probably means we're going to scramble for branches with Hermann. It gives the impression that for whatever reason Pride is necessary, which is interesting.

My own theory: Rodya says she'll settle in the cold [Gloom] for a little longer, and Sonya says she doesn't have the mark. I'd say this might mean Rodya hasn't sufficiently resonated. Sonya may have tried to bait her in hopes of getting better results in this regard.

This may mean ...

The last few Cantos will be a losing streak (LOL)

Someone who hasn't cleansed themselves of their opposing sin/formed the mark of cain will get the branch; I'd imagine this person shares sins with Dante, Vergilius, or Charon, who I believe are probably Envy, Wrath, and Lust respectively (OOP @ WHO WE'RE MISSING ⬆️)

In that respect Vergilius V Sloth, Charon V Pride, Dante V Wrath. I even think the wrath Dante is opposed to could be Vergilius

Very notable there's only 3 sins missing; it could be possible we already have Dante's branch; they were very obviously part of the group of Cain Marked, and again, their clock started at 25-to-midnight and just kind of sat there for a little while. It's also possible it didn't move until Yi Sang because their sin was Gluttony (ambiguous manifestation)? If Hermann also represents Lust ..... Think about it

Rodya's refusal of the call of Cain might become plot-relevant, just as our failure to observe what happened to Gregor on the myth arc timeline of 3 years ago and relationship with the Big Bad makes it obvious he's going to be a core character in the future. We can tell based on those who have the mark of Cain that he just doesn't have the chops, so mayhaps their mutual exclusion will be a surprise tool that will help us later.

And of course, my theories for the sins that weigh down our remaining Sinners: Heathcliff V Sloth, Don Quixote V Wrath, and Ryoshu V Pride. I predict all the Prides share Rodya's opposing force, which is Gloom; we see this in the books these characters are based on, with Meursault's despair of being sentenced to death being overcome by his Pride, Outis putting herself through grueling trials for the sake of returning to her family, and Faust beginning with suicidal depression leading to her pride creating(summoning) Mephistopheles.

I think it would be pretty funny if Dante was Gretchen's evil baby. Or that Gretchen might have been their previous self, manipulated into giving birth to Dante (extremely vulnerable and exploitable state), which they will be disgusted by and put to death. How many representations of the Divine Feminine in classic literature can Dante represent any% speedrun

[player-1]

Apart from vibrating anxiously for the finale to Canto 7, I figured I could do a lightning round to all the new lore bits that were revealed so far. Of course there's a lot to take in, especially with a good bit of book comparisons too, so that's fun (not that I watched the musical yet, but go figure) :) (Obvious spoilers for Canto 7.1-7.2 and possible prediction for part 3)

-Surprised that no one mentioned that PCorp/District 24 is very likely to be the headquarters for the Dieci Association, especially with their archival department being the largest and most refined in the City so far. PCorp's Singularity isn't explicitly explained yet (for obvious City taboo reasons), but they can make a building material that can bend to insane degrees but never breaks (even with LaMancha Land literally appearing in one of the more populated residential districts and bending skyscrapers from the force, the only bodycount was from people wandering into the park to get turned into Bloodbags). And apparently in all the screw-ups the Sinners have been in, they're strong enough to fight a Urban Nightmare now (second strongest threat to Star of the City and the LoR fans cheering in the background for Vergil mentioning it outright).

-Cesaros (head manager of the archival dept.) mentions that Limbus Company is considered a "medium-sized enterprise" from her research (maybe something close to a Association or a Office with members in the double-digits), but they are extremely tight-lipped on what their company even does or why they need the Golden Boughs in the first place...Which Dante gets 100% since he's already kept in the dark of the place he's working in.

-And speaking of LaMancha Land, anyone getting 8 o' Clock Circus vibes anyone? :) Also it's been around for 200 years so that was a good timeframe for how long they've been active before popping up in PCorp about 4-5 months ago. LaMancha did have a noble goal at first, letting Bloodfiends and humans create a symbiotic relationship with the vamps entertaining their guests (+ free therapy sessions) and the humans donating blood to satiate their hunger without going crazy. The Bloodfiends also get a supplement bar (hemobar/hemoglobin bar) on the down low, but both counterparts have very little blood and eventually drove the vamps mad from withdrawal.

+Book-wise, I actually like how the main Bloodfiend bunch fits their namesake with that wonderful PMoon twist; Bari/Knight of the White Moon being a mix between Sancho and/or Cardenio IMO, Sanson could fit the role of the fake magician Munaton/Friston/Friton who had the power to "take" rooms from a foundation and create illusions (obviously a lie to keep Don Quixote from freaking out about his book collection being destroyed and boarded up the room). -The Barber and Priest work a bit like side characters since their main jobs in the book was trick Don Quixote to coming back to his village and "cure" his delusions by disguising themselves as a damsel princess and a squire (the priest did want to do the princess role at first before letting the barber do it since it conflicted with his Christian morals (ie. he blanked on that fact multiple paragraphs ago before chickening out). So if you read that little bit in the book, then that's the reason why the Barber's a girl, so you're welcome! :) -Limbus Dulcinea also follows the role of "The Princess of the Parade" with Sancho as her Prince; then Sancho "abandoned" the park for some unknown reason (in her eyes) and the princely role was replaced by Cassetti...And then he ran away too with drastically disastrous results in the Warp Train side story. Book Dulcinea is described (by Don) as a fair maiden with pale gold hair and equally pale and fair skin, while the real Dulcinea (Aldonso Lorenzo) is a haughty and rude farm-women at the village who Don has only seen four times out of 12 years they have crossed paths; so having a interesting blend of both personality traits is a neat little easter egg if they can connect the two. +And last but not least, the main chivalric trio; Don Quixote/Alonso Quixano, Rocinante, and Sancho :D.

-While it is fair that Alonso isn't fully revealed until 7.3 (which I'm all for the real name drop for tall, blond and dumbass), Alonso is a Bloodfiend that's obsessed with certain hobbies to an extreme before dropping them completely in less than a week (like getting a bunch of expensive yarn for knitting until getting bored in three days). But he does follow his aspirations when he thinks there's a long-term reward for it; like being a Fixer to do good and spread his name and creating LaMancha Land for both human and Bloodfiends to work together in harmony (but not before forcing the vamps to believe that the only way to be happy is give happiness to others since he grew tired of living in comfort without any conflict or adversity...as if that isn't going to backfire one way or another :).

-And again, Rocinante wouldn't be fleshed out until 7.3, but we do know a good amount...They are either a horse, a pair of running shoes, or some poor schmuck that's forced to deal with a delusional vampire knight and their badass could-be-a-Color Fixer on their wild adventures. Like helping a village fight off a group of bandits with the few lines paraphrased from the book about facing any foe, no matter the size or strength, that had zero consequences whatsoever (*sweats nervously in Ch. 18*); then getting the helmet of the knight Mambrino from ch. 20-21 by...fighting a bear. The River of Oblivion is more of an Odyssey reference, but I think it could also connect to Don Quixote's "penance" in ch. 25-26 at a small oasis in the Sierra Morena; since the only time Don was able to speak the truth about Dulcinea is after dismounting Rocinante and removing his armor, stripping away everything that makes him a knight in appearance alone.

-And finally, with all the teasing in 7.1 to now (even the Yearning-Mircalla ego too), the biggest twist of the Canto is that our goofy vampire Limbus Don is actually Sancho, a "squire" playing the role of a valiant Fixer despite the odds of absolutely everything the City has to offer (and certainly against her will). From what little info we can get from her conversations with the real Don, she's pretty standoffish and crass to the one person that gave her a second chance in life besides dying alone and without a family, though she does like the Zwei Association from Bari’s stories despite claiming they’re boring and strange. And am I the only one who noticed so far that Don took inspiration from the Zwei for her armor and have Bari's hairstyle as a strong and confident Fixer? Other than that, there's still a lot of baggage she has to deal with now that Sancho's out of her endless dream and finally has her autonomy back for real this time. For better or worse, I'm all for Sancho being the new Sinner #3 so she can learn that the team is her new family that she can appreciate without sacrificing her own happiness.

Already crossing my fingers that they'll add another obscure reference from the book later on, but that's all on the 24th :)

[slothpower-central]

Here's my super early before everything Canto 8 bingo card

You all asked for it so I shall hand it over, keep in mind this is subject to change massively based on things like the intermissions, I want to be the first person to make a Bingo card for way in the future, call it a....long term investment Here is my super early Canto 8 Bingo card!!

Okay so I kinda wanna explain the board choices for funsies!

Hong Lu is a rock-.....obviously the big theory is on here!

Mothershu crumbs-So my friends and I refer to like character moments and hints as crumbs and mothershu is what we refer to as Ryoshu being a mother or like alluding to that(like with smth like Spider Bud)

Sinclair snaps-We get another moment similar to his shut the fuck up moment in Canto 7

Freak Lu- uhm this one is more of a silly one since with the number of times that man is tied up or smth and is chill with it (What do you mean it was a unique and fun experience?!?!) my friends and I think he's into it, so we included it for fun

No romance plotline-sigh. Wishful thinking on the part of a Hong Lu yume shipper(me) one of the original novels main plotlines is a whole romance love triangle thing goin on with Baoyu. My friend an I were going back and forth on if/how they could adapt that madness so to subvert expectations,we said no romance

We go to the Land of Illusion-Look if Baoyu goes there in the original, who's to say we won't go in Limbus

Outis Family crumbs- Outis saying anything about her family or home or Penelope or any of that

Uhm the Lin Daiyu space is self-explanatory aside from the descriptors, it's more in reference to my friend's bingo card she made for Canto 7, and it had "Dulcinea is a baddie" on there so I had to carry on the joke

That Grey Bastard appears-uhm.... that's in reference to Demian. My friend group is not a fan of him (I'm literally close friends with the real reincarnation of Emil Sinclair, of course we have conflicting feelings on Demian)

Levels copy the style of chapter names- So the names of levels last canto matched up with the way chapters in Don Quixote are titled and it was the same way in Canto 5 so Amia and I thought it might carry over to Canto 8 ^^

Heathcliff crumbs-We kinda threw his one in here but y'know more Heathcliff family moments or more Heathcath

Baoyu name reveal-Okay before you say, "But Sloth, they did reveal it to the sinners!" uhm no, look at who was in that convo. It was Wei, Xichun and Hong Lu, the other sinners do not know, or they just really decided to not comment on that

Chapter with the most npcs-This one is a prediction because guys. The original novel has like 400 characters in it.

Story Dungeon in Canto-So I always like to ask whether we'll get one since in Canto 6,we didn't get a dungeon,so we put it on there

Hong Lu is a "Charon situation"- I proposed some kind of crazy idea that Hong Lu was like overwriting Baoyu's personality/old self or smth and Amia responds with "Charon situation" since in Leviathan Lapis gets herself overwritten by one of her mirror worlds, that being Charon. So maybe something of a similar nature happened to Hong Lu (Yes this is different enough from rock theory to me)

Hong Lu doesn't distort- Ha you thought! Amia and I are like *convinced* the Hell's Chicken line is a red herring meant to throw us off. Like Quixote distortion was a big theory for a while and she didn't distort (Can bloodfiends distort? Idk) I know we're in the minority but like unless something changes my mind, I'm gonna keep being in the minority

[ancientcosmicsecrets]

Nagas, the mythical creatures

The Nagas

The Nagas, mythical creatures from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, are half-human and half-cobra beings that can be both a threat and a boon to humans. Their name means 'serpent' in Sanskrit, and they reside in Pata-loka or Naga-loka, an underground kingdom adorned with exquisite jewels and stunning palaces. According to legend, Brahma, their creator, sent them underground when they overpopulated the Earth. They only emerge to bite those who are genuinely evil or fated to die prematurely.

The Nagas were a group of people living during the period of the Mahabharata, an epic from India, and were spread across the country. They had a fierce rivalry with the demigod tribes known as Suparnas. The Naga clans in Kerala and Kashmir were believed to be the original and indigenous abode of all Nagas, and cities like Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and Anantnag in Kashmir stand as testaments to this. In Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, Nagas can take any shape, but they mostly appear as human beings. They are demigods associated with water and treasure. Lord Shiva, the most powerful god in the Hindu pantheon, wears a garland, anklets, and armlets made of snakes.

Snakes also serve to decorate and protect the gods Bhairav and Mahakala. Ananta, the thousand-headed Naga, protects Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. In Hindu myths, Nagas defend the gods and even serve as their resting place. Nagas also safeguard doors, windows, and temple walls, making their carvings and sculptures a common sight in Hindu temples. Female Nagas, referred to as Nagis or Naginis, belong to serpent royalty and are renowned for their breathtaking beauty. They hail from dynasties, including Manipur in northeastern India, Pallavas in southern India, and Indochina's ancient ruling Funan family. The Hindu canon contains several references to beings from other planets.

For example, the Bhagavata Purana, one of the 18 significant Puranas from a Vaishnava perspective, mentions other beings. The creation of the universe is described in detail in Canto 3, the universe in Canto 5, and battles between demigods and demons on other planets are detailed in Canto 8. The Mahabharata also extensively mentions beings on different planets. The Panchang, an ancient Indian calendar, has evolved in Indian astronomy over the past 5000 years. It predicts the exact time of lunar and solar eclipses and the dates and times of all our festivals from time immemorial. It continues to be widely followed in India. The star positions for all significant events in the Mahabharata and Ramayana, two major Indian epics, are also given.

Modern astronomers have dated these positions and found them to be internally consistent. Surprisingly, our ancient story of Dasavatharam, which mentions the ten avatars of Vishnu, also describes the evolution of life from fish to amphibians, animals, half-animal/half-human creatures, short, intelligent humanoids, forest-dwelling axe-men, ideal homo sapiens, wise politicians, and finally, Buddha. Darwin's theory mirrors this up until the homosapien. The tenth avatar, Kalki, is believed to be the technically adept human of tomorrow. Finally, a 16th-century hymn called the Hanuman Chalisa describes the distance to the Sun. It states that one yuga, an epoch, equals 4.32 million years. The Hanuman Chalisa claims that the Sun is at a distance of 100 crore yojanas from the Earth, with one yojana equating to about eight miles, which translates to 800 million miles.

Ancient references mention that the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun and that the size of our solar system is close to the same as it is now. Various texts also discuss the nature of time, reality, and consciousness. Modern science is validating these ideas one by one.

[ajentmm]

July '23 Refine Review

Alrighty then. We got some stuff. My predictions are here.

L!Chrom:

+ I called him copying B!Chrom's ability to increase his stats with every [Bonus] and [Penalty] he has. If he has [Bonus Doubler] or any other [Bonus], he gets the guaranteed follow up. - I didn't call that it would be Atk/Spd/Def/Res+2, instead of Atk/Def-2, and that he would get DR

Bramimond:

+I called him getting DR. - I didn't call everything else. He really when with "Oh, you have good stats and AS, how predictable," and then grants himself all the benefits to match his foe

Sp!Idunn:

+ I called her getting DR from Enemy Phase Standard condition. - I didn't call everything else. She debuff the foe's Atk by 10 and Spd/Def/Res by 8. She got a flat 5 DR on first hit, 7 HP healing post combat, and Dragon Wall. I forgot that armor units are first and for most tanks, so giving her Dragon's Wrath wasn't going to work. I am happy with this refine.

Kempf:

+ I called + 8 to all stats. - I didn't call him getting DR instead of just foe can't counterattack inflicted at the start of turn. And I didn't expect [Discord] to show up again so soon.

Gerik

+ I called him getting stats while within a 3 tile radius of an ally :) - I didn't call everything else. He now has Infantry Pluse in his weapon but it doesn't just do infantry and he gets it himself. He gets himself and allies Atk/Spd+6, "Null Penalties", and "Null Panic" And he borrows the Atk/Spd bonus from allies, RD, and Null Guard. Holy Molly Guacamole-y.

Perceval

+ What did I even give him? Half of NFU. - What was this complicated stuff involving him being the first combatant in player phase, what was I thinking? He didn't get Canto or SpC+1. He got full NFU, Null Guard, and True DMG based on 15% of unit's Spd. It's better than Arcane Luin at least.

Ross

+ I got dual phase Brave weapon. - I didn't get the -5 Spd, instead of +4 Spd -5 Def/Res. He also gets Atk/Def -5 on foe, True DMG based on 15% of his HP at the start of combat and 7 HP healing post combat. Well, that works.

Be for I go, let's talk the newest powercreep. These two are from my Offensive tier 4 skill theorycraft.

I called Brash Assault 4 coming, and having DR effect getting converted into extra follow-up damage. The condition for triggering is great.

Spurn 4 has just as much Damage reduction and Spd checking as Repeal 4 and Close Call 4. Instead of giving +10 when special triggers, it's still +5, but now your next attack get +5 if a shielding special is triggered. Summer Fjorm, who has this skill, also comes with Atk/Spd Finish 4 and Time Pulse 4. God Swords, eat your heart out.

And finally . . . Fireflood Boost 3! I was theorycrafting this skill and this just blows it out of the water. It grants HP+5, just in there. It grants Atk/Res+7 by being above 50%, no need to check your foe's HP. it grants Guard, when unit is near an ally who also has above 50% HP. What!? So not only do you not need to invest in HP. This skill invests for you, and grants even more benefits. This skill powercreeped not only Fire Boost, but Atk/Res Push 4 and Mirror Stance 3 as well. I was expecting this skill to grant further boost based on how over invested in HP your unit was, like Atk/Res+1 for every 5 HP the unit has over 40. just as a way that gen 1 higher than necessary HP units can compete with gen 7 Atk/Spd min maxed units, but this just let anyone with over 40 HP get benefits.

[sacred-stanning]

Chapter 8 Part 5: Cheesing a GBA FE Boss

The right group has two lance guys to deal with, and then the mage and archer to the left, though they can also be dealt with by the left group once they finish breaking down the wall.

The archer attacks Seth with a longbow from 3 range, which is the only reason the archer lives to see another turn.

The mage went right since Seth was out of range for him.

I finish of the archer with Ephraim.

I think Lute must have attacked the armor? She got a level up out of it. More magic! (And more res.)

Since Ephraim took out the archer, Vanessa can safely move in to attack the mage. She'll probably get attacked by the soldier, but she'll be fine since there's no way in a million years he could double her.

Welp, she missed a hit.

So Ross moves in to finish the job.

As predicted, the soldier goes for Vanessa, not Ross.

So then Ross finishes off the soldier and gets this bizarre level up.

We finish up knocking down the wall and everyone pours through. Colm heads in the opposite direction and goes left towards the treasure room.

I remembered there being a dark mage in the treasure room, but I don't see one now, so maybe that's only in hard mode?

Here's the boss, Tirado. He hits pretty hard with the silver lance. But since he has the 1 range silver lance equipped now, that means we can attack for free from 2 range...

Also note how much lower his res is than his def...

It's LUTING TIME!!!

It's also time to do some really silly boss cheese.

While Lute can attack for free now, if she stays in that square 2 tiles away from the boss, then the boss will switch to his javelin in enemy phase in order to attack her.

However, this is GBA Fire Emblem, so the boss won't move, and we have access to rescuing, passing, and dropping!

Step 1: Franz rescues (picks up) Lute. He can do this because his aid stat is more than her con stat. If you remember, skinny-nerd Lute's con stat is only 3 (as much as 1 and 1/2 Sommies), so it's pretty easy to rescue her in general.

In addition, mounted units also get a huge boost to aid. It's like +25 for men and +20 for women, so in general it's really easy for mounted units to rescue, and they get to canto afterwards too.

Step 2: Vanessa takes Lute from Franz. I do this because when a unit rescues someone, they can't drop them that same turn since the rescue used up their turn. And when a unit gets dropped, they are grey like they've already moved, so if I wait until next turn to drop Lute, she won't be able to do anything until 2 turns from now.

Step 3: For some reason, even though units can't drop after rescuing, they can immediately drop after taking, so Vanessa immediately drops Lute to her right. Since Lute is not actively being carried now, she will be able to act and attack again next turn.

Step 4: Since they are next to each other, Lute and Vanessa chit chat and become better friends! :) <3

And since no one is within 2 range of the boss, he's going to keep his silver lance equipped, which means we can keep getting in risk-free attacks from 2 range, turn after turn.

I'm pretty sure 99% of anyone who is going to read this blog already knows how rescuing works, but just in case you didn't, now you do.

We end turn, and next turn, Colm opens one of the chests and gets a silver sword!

Lute gets another free shot at Tirado.

Now I check out some other characters' odds against the boss.

MATH!! ISN'T THIS EXCITING!?!?!?!

Seth will kill the boss in all likelihood, though he could miss. But even then, he's tough enough that he could just stay there and get attacked on enemy phase, in which case his odds of killing the boss are even better, assuming he hit at least once during player phase.

Eirika better just back off. She does decent damage, but she has a 64% chance to get one shot, which would end the map right there.

Ephraim has 2 69% chances to hit the boss, which is hilarious x2. If he misses both hits and gets hit in return, we would need to rescue him out of there though since he could die if he got hit again on enemy phase.

Ross does some pretty pathetic damage, but he can take one hit in return, so he can either dodge right now, or we rescue him out if he does get hit.

I decide that I'm not done cheesing the boss for experience, so I go with Ross. He dodges the counter attack, so I just leave him there.

Ross gets hit during enemy phase, and misses his own attack, so the boss is back up to 14 HP.

And Colm continues to grab everything that isn't nailed down.

This time we get a Heaven's Whip (Elysian Whip in the English version), which is much less kinky than it sounds.

I chose to translate the Japanese as "Heaven's Whip" because I feel like the word used is a kind of fancy word for "sky", but you could also translate it as "Sky Whip".

It's a promotion item for fliers, so maybe Vanessa will get it? We do have some other un-promoted fliers who will show up later though.

I'm perfectly happy continuing to cheese this boss, so I repeat the Lute routine.

And Ross runs down to get healed.

Hey, you know what, let's really run this into the ground and not even finish with the boss in this post.

Next time: More of the same!

[red-applesith]

You're very dismissive of reyloismine. They had so many things right last time, you can't deny it.

Look, as I said I had no idea who that person was before the last anon. I’m all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, and since you’re all so insisting that this person is legit I went to sleuth into their archive to make up my own mind. If you’ve been following me for a while you know I do not take anyone’s word at face value, especially when it comes to leaks and stuff like that.

I’m putting my observations under ‘read more’ and I don’t tag that post because I’m not interested in calling out anyone but my conclusion is that person read the Visual Dictionary one way or another right before it was leaked, because the only detail they had right and no one had predicted was the green milk and that info appeared on Reddit on Dec. 7 via the VD. That’s also the detail they chose to “prove their legitimacy” when objectively there could have been so many more interesting details pertaining to Reylo. Like if they had said “Kylo Ren slides in the corridors like a 4-year-old or “they hold hands” I would believe they were legit. 

Otherwise, from their blog, I have 0 evidence that between Dec. 5th and Dec. 14th they shared information that no one had been able to deduce from watching the trailers, reading the interviews or the leaks on Reddit (aka Shirtless Kylo for instance), especially because they talked like your typical psychic i.e.”Oh yeah, I said that but I didn't’ give details of where and when and I won’t.” or “I’m talking openly about seeing the movie and sharing my old speculation thread where I was about 15% correct pretending I was so right but I won’t say more because I don’ want to spoil the movie for people.” Even saying that there are “good and bad Reylo scenes” means jackshit.

So anyway, Nonnie, you do you but I don’t have to place my trust in someone who couldn’t provide real details and quotes before the movie came out.

Also now I’m annoyed at myself because I wasted the whole morning on that. 

On November 1st that person posted their timeline speculation that goes like that (Bolded Italic their words - my comments underneath. Pictures are theirs)

Episode 8 starts, where the last movie ends: Rey and Luke literal cliffhanger.

Everybody believed that would be the case because one of the first detail that came out from interviews is that there wouldn’t be any time jump, which is why the crew was back filming in Ireland.

However, turns out that the movie starts on D’Qar when they evacuate the base so the prediction for the movie itself isn’t 100% correct.

Luke bewildered, takes the lightsaber that once belonged to his father from a stranger. He asked who is she and how she found him. Rey tells him Leia sent her and that he is needed.

That was an easy one. We* pretty much all had deduced from the way Luke look at Rey at the end of TFA. 

(*collective reylo) 

Luke returns the lightsaber, does not want to be involved, and starts to retreats to his cave when Rey takes off her vest, and showing him that she is force sensitive.

The idea of Luke not wanting anything to do with Rey is there, but the hut/cave scenes and training scenes are all mixed up. There again, that wasn’t groundbreaking speculation since a lot of reylo fanfics started with the premise that Luke doesn’t want to train Rey.

The next day, Luke finds Rey still waiting for him. She was meditating, and he tries to guide her. With his help, her power grew, cracking the floor beneath them.

Continuation of the reluctant master theory, mitigated by the fact we had images of Rey cracking the rock beneath her but Rey wasn’t meditating before he found her. That’s all mixed up.

“I’ve seen this raw strength once before. It didn’t scare me then, it does now“ says Luke and dismisses her once again.

That was in the trailer and it made sense that it was that scene.

Kylo Ren wakes up and finds himself alive on the Supremacy. He does not remember how he got there. The last thing he remember is the scavenger defeating him on Starkiller base. His wounds have been treated, but the scars will remain. A daily reminder of his defeat.

That’s the start of about every fanfics. We knew that Hux had retrieved Kylo and we knew he had the scar from the promo pictures but it didn’t happen like that + turns out Kylo doesn’t even mention the scar at all.

He is escorted to Snoke, who belittles him for being defeated by a girl. He demands from Kylo to prove himself once again. Dismissing killing his father as any form of achievement. Then he is presented with his mask and lightsaber, salvaged from Starkiller base. Snoke orders him to wear it to hide the disgraceful scar.

Same, most fanfics had that kind of element. Snoke being an abuser it was evident he would belittle Kylo and call him on his failure. But the sentiment regarding the scar and the mask was completely wrong.

Once Kylo Ren is back to his chambers, he could not control his rage and destroys his mask.

That came directly from the trailer but it wasn’t in his chambers.

Kylo Ren acts fast and tracks the Resistance fleet, desperately wanting to prove his loyalty. To his surpise, he senses his mother being onboard, and Leia talks to her son. Asking him to come home.

They deduced that almost right from the trailers, apart from the fact that Leia doesn’t say anything at all.

It caught him off guard. He hesitates firing at her ship, then tells his mother to run away and buys her some time before he fires eventually to cover his tracks.

Same. The not firing comes from the trailer but Kylo’s supposed intention to buy some time for Leia to run away was really incorrect.

The Resistance fights back, Leia escapes unharmed and Rose helps an unconcious Finn escape as well.

100% incorrect. 

Back to Ach-to, Rey experiences a force vision, showing the events of the Jedi Massacre, her jumping into the ocean, fending off a sea creature, then fights Luke. I also believe, she sees Kylo Ren too.

It did not happen like that at all, and we all know the sea creature turned out to be the Thala Siren.

Rey decided to go back to the Resistance base the next day. In the meantime, she set a campfire near the Millennium Falcon and are cooking dinner with Chewbacca and R2D2. Luke visits them to say goodbye and gives her some advice.

100% incorrect

Time passes and Rey senses a new presence on the island. She runs towards Luke’s home, only to find the Knights of Ren.

100% incorrect. Also, the scene with Rey running towards the village was deleted in the final montage.

Rey and Kylo Ren duel, while Luke fights the remainder.

Never happened. But a lot of people believed the KoR would make an appearance on Ahch-To.

Rey learns that Kylo was able to trace her due to the force vision she experienced earlier. Somehow he was able to defeat her and takes her to Snoke.

100% incorrect. 

Snoke reveals his intentions with Rey. He wants to train her as his new apprentice. Discarding the old for the new.

100% incorrect

Kylo Ren goes on the offensive, and stops Snoke torturing Rey.

That was correct, but definitely not for the reasons implied above.

Finn learns about Rey’s abduction, infiltrates the First Order fleet with Rose and DJ’s help. DJ has a different agenda, and bombs the place.

100% incorrect apart from the fact that Rose, Finn and DJ are on the Supremacy, wearing FO uniforms

This puts the First Order on alert, resulting in Phasma and Finn facing off.

It didn’t happen like that either. But sure, the Supremacy is in flame and we saw Finn fighting Phasma.

Rey escapes and Kylo intercepts her, pointing his lightsaber at her. Not knowing whether she is consumed by darkness or still the same person. Kylo Ren turns off the lightsaber, not wanting to fight her.

Nope.

Kylo sill say a line similar to  “come with me and together we can rule the galaxy”

That was pretty obvious that it was going to happen, unless you believed Hux was holding his hand out to Rey lmao

She doesn’t and joins Finn and Rose, who board the Millennium Falcon piloted by Poe and Chewbacca.

Nope.

Poe takes the team onboard one of the resistance ships. Only for it to get attacked. The resistance retreat by using escape pods and head to the nearest hideout on Crait for cover. There, the team meet Leia and Luke.Luke returned to the base with Chewbacca and decided to join the battle.

I see where they came from when you look at the pictures, but the details are all off, especially Luke returning to Resistance with Chewbacca.

The First Order have tracked them down. This was it. The final battle.

A battle on Crait to finish the movie, wow who would have seen that coming?

Then on December 5, supposedly after they watch the movie they posted that

I got so many things right and wrong!

Personally, I see way more wrong than right. There’s 0 mention that Rey and Kylo have a Force Bond, there’s 0 mentions of Finn and Rose’s journey on Canto Bight, There’s 0 mention of Holdo or any other character that plays an important role in the story, there’s 0 mention that Kylo actually kills Snoke and becomes Supreme leader.

Still on dec. 5 someone calls them out and they mention the milk scene.

Then on the 7th the Visual Dictionary is leaked and that’s where people start believing they’re really legit. To me that just means they saw the VD. Afterward, why not share something that wasn’t in the VD and wasn’t in any trailer and being all cryptic? Something that wouldn’t have spoiled the movie and Reylo.

[weekinethereum]

January 11, 2018

News and Links

Constantinople is coming. [Also, this is the January 11, 2019 issue but I can't fix the title without breaking links]

Upgrade your clients ASAP! EF FAQ and blog post. From MyCrypto, what users need to know about the Constantinople fork

Layer 1

[eth1] Rinkeby testnet forked successfully. Update your clients ASAP!

[eth2] What’s New in Eth2

[eth2] Latest Eth2 implementer call notes

[eth2] Validator economics of Eth2. Also a thorough Eth staking ROI spreadsheet model

[eth2] Discussion about storage rent “eviction archive” nodes and incentives

web3foundation, Status and Validity Labs update and call for participants on private, decentralized messaging, a la Whisper

Layer 2

Live on Rinkeby testnet: Plasma Ignis - often called “roll up” - 500 transactions per second using SNARKs for compression (not privacy), no delay to exit, less liveness requirements, multi-operator. Check out the live demo.

Georgios Konstantopoulos: A Deep Dive on RSA Accumulators

Canto: proposed new subprotocol to allow sidechain-like subnets

Fae: a subnet by putting Fae’s binary transactions in the data field

A RaidenNetwork deep dive explainer

Can watchtowers and monitoring services scale?

Counterfactual dev update: full end to end implementation of Counterfactual with demos and dev environment will be live on Ropsten in next 2 weeks

Stuff for developers

Embark v4.0.0-beta.0

Ganache v2.0.0-beta.2

ZeppelinOS v2.1

Updated EthereumJS readthedocs

Solidity CTF: mirror madness from authio

Solstice: 15 analyzer Solidity security tool

EVM code fuzzing using input prediction

Compound’s self-liquidation bug

Gas Stations Network, an incentivized meta transaction relay network, live on Ropsten

Understanding Rust lifetimes

How to quickly deploy to Görli cross-client testnet

Maker CDP leverager in one call

Codefund2.0 - sustainability for open source project advertising without 3rd party trackers

RSA accumulator in Vyper

Analyzing 1.2m mainnet contracts in 20 seconds using Eveem and BigQuery

0x Market Maker program. 15k to run a market making bot on a 0x relayer

POANet: Honey Badger BFT and Threshold Cryptography

Ecosystem

Afri’s Eth node configuration modes cheat sheet. A great accompaniment to Afri’s did Ethereum reach 1 tb yet?  The answer is obviously no, state plus chaindata is about 150 GB.

MyEtherWallet v5 is in beta and MEWConnect on Android

Ethereum Foundation major grant to Parity: $5m for ewasm, light wallet, and Eth2

Enterprise

What enterprises need to know about AWS’s Blockchain as a Service

2019 is the year of enterprise tokens?

Governance and Standards

Notes from latest core devs call, includes ProgPoW section. On that topic, IfDefElse put out a ProgPoW FAQ including responses from AMD and Nvidia. Also check understanding ProgPoW from a few months ago

Martin Köppelmann on the governance protocol of DXdao

Pando Network: DAOs and the future of content

EIP1682: storage rent

EIP1681: temporal replay protection

ERC1683: URLs with asset and onboarding functionality

ERC1690: Mortability standard

ERC820 Pseudo-introspection Registry Contract is final

ERC1155 multi-token standard to last call

Application layer

Demo testing on Kovan testnet of the Digix governance platform

Brave at 5.5m MAUs, up 5x in 2018. It also got much more stable over the year, and being able to use a private tab with TOR on desktop makes it a must (mobile has been a must for a long time). Here’s my referral code if you haven’t switched yet.

I saw some warnings about tokenized US equity DX.exchange that was in the last newsletter. I have no idea if they are legit or if the warnings are in bad faith but the reason that Szabo’s “trusted third parties are security holes” gets repeated frequently is because it is true. If you choose any cryptoasset that depends on custody of a third party, caveat emptor.

Origin now has editable listings and multiple item support

Nevada counties are storing birth and marriage certificates on Ethereum

Scout unveils its customizable token/protocol explorers for apps, live on Aragon and Livepeer

Veil prediction markets platform built on 0x and Augur launches Jan 15 on mainnet. Fantastic to see the app layer stack coming together. Not open to the USA because…federal government.

Gnosis on the problem of front running in dexes

Status releases desktop alpha, v0.9

Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks

Joseph Lubin on Epicenter. Some good early Eth history here.

Curation Markets community call

Ryan Sean Adams on the case for Ether as money on POV Crypto

Nice Decrypt Media profile of Lane Rettig

Q&A with Mariano Conti, head of Maker Oracles

Andrew Keys on the American Banker podcast

Austin Griffith 2018 lessons learned talk at Ethereum Boulder

Starkware’s Eli Ben-Sasson and Alessandro Chiesa on Zero Knowledge

Nick Johnson talks ENS and ProgPoW on Into the Ether

Tokens / Business / Regulation

Paul Kohlhaas: bonding curve design parameters

Ryan Zurrer: Network keepers, v2

Zastrin to sell a tradeable NFT as a license to use its blockchain dev courses.

Sharespost says it did its first compliant security token trade of BCAP (Blockchain Capital). Link opens PDF

Actus Financial Protocol announces standard for tokenizing all financial instruments.

Missing DeFi piece: longer-term interest generating assets

Gemini’s rules for the revolution on working with regulators.

Blockchain Association proposes the Hinman Standard for cryptoassets

Blockchains LLC releases its 300 page Blockchain Through a Legal Lens

China released restrictive blockchain rules including censorship and KYC

Why Ether is Valuable

General

ETC got 51% attacked. Coinbase was first to announce it, though it appears the target was the gate.io exchange. Amusingly, the price hardly suffered. The amazing thing is that a widely known and relatively easily exploited attack vector like this didn’t happen during bull market when this attack could have been an order of magnitude more profitable.

Michael del Castillo tracks the supply chain of an entire dinner using blockchain products like Viant

Julien Thevenard argues Ethereum is on par or safer than Bitcoin in terms of proof of work.

Coindesk video interview of the creator of HODL. He isn’t at all convinced by Bitcoin’s new “store of value” meme. Very entertaining use of 8 minutes.

That very odd Bitcoin nonce pattern. Phil Daian says it is caused by AntMiners

Researchers brute force attack private keys of poorly implemented ECDSA nonce generation.

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new in bold):

Jan 14 - Mobi Grand Challenge hackathon ends

Jan 10-Feb7 - 0x and Coinlist virtual hackathon

Jan ~16 - Constantinople hard fork at block 7080000

Jan 24 - List of things for Aragon vote, including on funding original AragonOne team

Jan 25 - Graph Day (San Francisco)

Jan 29-30 - AraCon (Berlin)

Jan 31 - GörliCon (Berlin)

Feb 7-8 - Melonport’s M1 conf (Zug)

Feb 15-17 - ETHDenver hackathon (ETHGlobal)

Mar 4 - Ethereum Magicians (Paris)

Mar 5-7 - EthCC (Paris)

Mar 8-10 - ETHParis (ETHGlobal)

Mar 27 - Infura end of legacy key support (Jan 23 begins Project ID prioritization)

April 8-14 - Edcon hackathon and conference (Sydney)

Apr 19-21 - ETHCapetown (ETHGlobal)

May 10-11 - Ethereal (NYC)

If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys

This newsletter is made possible by ConsenSys.

I own Week In Ethereum. Editorial control has always been 100% me.

If you're unhappy with editorial decisions or anything that I have written in this issue, feel free to tweet at me.

Housekeeping

Archive on the web if you’re linking to it: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/181942366088/january-11-2018

Cent link for the night view: https://beta.cent.co/+81o82u

https link: Substack

Follow me on Twitter, because most of what is linked gets tweeted first: @evan_van_ness

If you’re wondering “why didn’t my post make it into Week in Ethereum?”

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[the-binary-of-hope]

Star Wars Episode IX predictions

•The episode will be named “THE NEW ORDER”.

•Opens with Leia’s Funeral.

•Lando will be in attendance.

•Poe is the Leader of the Resistance.

•Rey is pregnant with Kylo’s baby after the force bond. A child of the Light and Dark.

•Rey feels Kylo’s presence at Leia’s Funeral.

•Maz tells Rey about how she found Luke’s Sabre.

•Finn and Rose find DJ at the Funeral. DJ apologises for betraying them.

•Kylo is coronated as Supreme Leader and given Snokes Ring.

•Lando contacts his old war buddy, Shriv to help make a connection with mercenaries.

•Luke’s ghost appears to Kylo.

•Finn and Rose liberate the slave children at Canto Bight.

•Poe,Finn and Chewy met up with Lando & Resistance sympathisers who have found a warehouse of abandoned separatist droids.

•Rey collects the force tree from Poe’s home on Yavin 4.

•EU characters like Thrawn make an appearance on Kylo’s war council.

•Phasma is still alive and working with Hux to overthrow Kylo.

•Rey returns to Ach-to to plant the force tree in the ashes of the old one.

•Kylo is betrayed by Hux.

•Rey encounters the ghosts of Luke, Yoda, Obi Wan and Qui gon.

•Rey fix’s the broken sabre, creating a duel bladed staff.

•Kylo frees himself from his prison and escapes to Vader’s Castle

•Poe finds out about the First Order betraying Kylo and will use him to bait the First Order to Mustafar.

•Finn breaks up with Rose and admits he loves Poe.

•Kylo meets with the Knights of Ren at the Castle and make contact with Vader’s ghost.

•Rey and the Resistance arrive at Mustafar to make a deal with Kylo.

•Rey is ambushed by the Knights of Ren but they are called of by Kylo.

•Kylo agrees with her terms on the condition he can unlock her true potential.

•The resistance prepare to battle the First Order with the droid army.

•Maz tells Lando and Finn that they are father and son.

•Lando gives Finn his signature pistol.

•Rey learns about the Dark-side with Ben and his Knights.

•Lando forgives Kylo for killing Han, Chewy is less receptive but Maz convinces him.

•Something calls Rey and Ben down to the catacombs, with the help of Snoke’s Ring.

•The First Order attacks the Castle. Hux’s ship keeps a bombardment.

•Rey and Kylo find out that the presence is Snoke, otherwise known as Plageuis, who has been behind all the wars throughout history to help increase his own power.

•Snoke confesses that Kylo was the one who killed Rey’s parents after he ordered Ren to kill all the force sensitives, hoping to make the force his and his alone.

•Kylo admits that he did but couldn’t kill Rey, real name Mara, and left her on Jakku.

•Rey lashes out at Kylo in anger, using the Darkside to get the upper hand.

•Finn once again fights Phasma, this time pushing her into Lava.

•Lando and Chewy sacrifices themselves to destroy Hux’s Star-destroyer, flying the Falcon into its engine. Lando’s last words are to Finn who tells him to confess his love to Poe.

• Hux’s ship crashes to the group, spreading ash across the Battlefront.

•Rey destroys Kylo’s sabre and comes close to killing him. She comes to her senses and they team up to fight Snoke (Snoke is in possession of the Dark Sabre).

• Knights of Ren are killed by Snoke.

•R2-D2 gives Luke’s master sabre to Kylo to combat Snoke. Kylo refers to himself as Ben Solo.

•Snoke/Plageuis’ body wounded but uses the force to take control of Kylo’s body.

•Finn admits to Poe that he loves him.

•Ben breaks Snoke’s control and helps Rey plunge the legacy sabre through his own chest.

•Snoke’s astral form escapes Ben but is destroyed by both the force ghosts of the light and the dark.

•Poe saves the cowardly Hux who dangles off a cliff after being left to die by Thrawn.

•The fighting stops and the battlefield falls silent.

•Ben looks up to Rey and says “Thank You”, dying in her arms.

•5 years later and Rey is on Ach-to with her new Jedi Academy, now known as “The Whills”.

•BB-8, R2D2, C3-PO, Finn, Poe, Rose, Rey, her son and her students (Canto Bight Children included) stand over the cliffs looking into the horizon.

•They are joined by the spirit of Ben who places his hands on Rey and his sons shoulders.

•Force ghosts of Anakin, Padme, Leia, Luke, Han, Lando, Chewy, Obi Wan, Yoda and Qui gon slowly appear as the camera zooms out.

•End Credits Roll.

[perrykathy]

:: Tudo sobre futebol

O resultado do jogo entre palmeiras e santos - Santos 0 x 0 Palmeiras - Campeonato Brasileiro Feminino rodada 8 - Tempo Real - Globo Esporte

Torneio Internacional O resultado do jogo entre palmeiras e santos S. Euro U21 Qual. Euro U19 Qual. Euro Feminino Qual. UEFA Qual. Euro Fem.

U19 Qual. U17 Torneio Desenv. O jovem centroavante santista bateu rasteiro no canto direito para vencer Weverton e empatar a partida novamente. Aos 32 da segunda etapa, doo a estrela de Abel Ferreira. Lucas Esteves, que tinha acabado de entrar, recebeu cruzamento de Viña e aproveitou a liberdade dada por Felipe Jonatan para empurrar para o gol vazio e definir o placar: 3 a 2. O Peixe de Marcelo Fernandes se postou para atacar o Palmeiras e conseguiu criar jogadas.

Clássico da Saudade

O Santos, tentando aproveitar os contra-ataques, criou a melhor chance após Marinho avançar em velocidade, mas finalizar para fora.

Luiz Adriano cobrou satnos no canto direito e colocou o Palmeiras na frente: 1 a 0. Em algumas das chances, Patrick de Paula mandou a bola na trave em cobrança de falta, e Willian cabeceou de peixinho para fora. Santos game prediction. Even though SofaScore doesn't offer direct o resultado do jogo entre palmeiras e santos, d provides the best odds and shows you which sites offer live o resultado do jogo entre palmeiras e santos. Leonardo chega batendo.

A bola explode na trave de Weverton. Até o momento, o Peixe finalizou 14 vezes, contra 5 do Palmeiras. Leonardo recebe passe em profundidade, avança e bate de bico para o gol. Impedimento marcado. Aos 7 minutos, Recurso. Wesley puxa a camisa de K. Ângelo fica com a sobra após a batida de escanteio.

Ele chuta e a bola desvia e vai para fora. Novo escanteio para o Santos. Ângelo ajeita para Pirani, que chega batendo e manda por cima. XV de Piracicaba Paulista vs. Ponte Preta. Ponte Preta Guarani vs. Portuguesa Portuguesa vs.

AEA vs.

[talkingstarwars]

Last Jedi positives and negatives, plus predictions for Episode IX!

Alright, enough time has passed and I think it’s okay for me to finally give my spoiler thoughts on The Last Jedi and predictions for the future (plus I haven’t had time to write something here specifically until now!)

Right out of the gate: I like The Last Jedi. I think I like it as much as The Force Awakens, but I like each film for very different reasons. TLJ took way more chances and was much more subversive than TFA, which I greatly appreciated. However, there are so many problems that I have with this movie. I know that sounds really negative, but here me out! I love Star Wars, but I also love movies. Upon first viewing I watched The Last Jedi as a Star Wars fan, and the second time I looked at it with a more critical eye.

Let’s get the problems I had with the movie out of the way first.

1) I hated everything that had to do with Canto Bight. Like, legitimately hated. It dragged upon the pacing and every time they cut back to it, I found myself checking my watch and hoping they’d go back to something more interesting. I thought its “message�� was too on-the-nose and delivered poorly. It felt so prequelish and cartoony to me that I rolled my eyes more than once. I like Finn. I kinda like Rose. They were not serviced properly at all. Finn was one of my favorite characters and I felt like he was reduced to an ultimately meaningless side quest. Honestly, I look forward to fast forwarding through all the Canto Bight sequences once I get my hands on the Blu-Ray. And before you tell me the deeper meaning of the sequence, listen: I got it. I got everything that they were trying to say, but the execution didn’t work for me. It was too long, too. 45 minutes on that dumb planet felt like 90. Also, some of the effects look a little wonky, especially when Finn and Rose were riding those horse things through the city streets.

2) Leia’s Superman moment. It really pains me to say this because I miss Carrie Fisher with my whole heart and she gave a hell of a performance in this movie. But it was just to weird for me, seeing her fly through the stars like that using the Force. I’m glad that she used the Force but jeez, it was strange and took me out of the moment.

3) Snoke’s death. Alright, so this is a tough one. I love, love, love the manner in which Snoke died (more on that later), but I can’t help but worry about what this really means. The Force Awakens told the audience which questions to ask and what questions were important; one of those being “who is Snoke?” He was set up as this Big Bad™️ and was killed by almost nothing. Look, I know this whole movie’s deal was “subverting expectations” and being “unexpected”, but this is a mistake that the prequels had. Killing off your villains too early doesn’t give your main character a good motivation to keep fighting. Think about it: if Darth Maul hadn’t died and was the ancillary villain throughout the prequels, there would have been more emotional weight in Obi Wan’s journey (don’t @ me with that “but Maul was in the Clone Wars TV show!” Let’s keep the talk to movies, but I do love TCW a lot.) I think Snoke needed to be a driving force for Kylo Ren in his struggle with both the Dark and Light Sides. Clearly I don’t know what is going to happen in Episode IX, it could be the greatest story ever for all we know, but for now I thought the character of Snoke was, quite frankly, wasted. I felt no impact when he died, other than the impact that came with the rest of the scene. I wish we had known more about him, that’s all! One line of dialogue about who Snoke was or “he’s like, super crazy powerful with the Force because of X, Y, and Z.” I needed more from Snoke to feel any weight/impact when he was killed. What had already been presented to me about Snoke (which wasn’t a lot, I think we can all agree) was not enough for me. Maybe we’ll learn more about him in a book or a comic or in Episode IX.

4) Right, so where the hell were the Knights of Ren? Again, something that was presented as important to the audience in The Force Awakens and was not elaborated on. I think this- coupled with my previous ramblings on Snoke, the revelations about Rey’s parents, and some other story beats- show that there is a lack of a complete vision with this story. I appreciate the fact that Lucasfilm is letting storytellers tell their stories, and have creative freedom over projects (for the saga films, not the stand alones apparently). That being said, it didn’t feel like JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson collaborated and compromised as much as they should have. Look at Marvel; each story can stand alone but there is clearly an overarching story. I understand that this is “Rey’s journey”, but it would be nice if there was a supervisor (à la Kevin Feige) overseeing this saga. Yes, I understand that many feel as if the Marvel films are formulaic, but one must see that they’re still letting filmmakers tell their stories (see Thor: Ragnarok. That was 100% a Taika Watiti film.) It felt like there was a large disconnect between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. If the Marvel analogy didn’t satisfy you, let’s look at the original Star Wars trilogy. George Lucas did not direct all of those movies. He did not write all of them. But he was the head of story development, and they all felt connected and like there was one overarching narrative. These are just my opinions, mind you! For me, I wish that there was more connective tissue between 7 and 8 and that certain story threads weren’t dropped/disregarded.

5) This is a slippery slope, and not completely a negative, but sometimes...sometimes Rose didn’t work for me. Overall, I thought she was a good addition to the saga and Kelly Marie Tran is a DELIGHT, but her line delivery was a little rough and her one-sided affection for Finn fell completely flat. This was a super minor issue! Don’t hate me, please. If you loved everything about Rose, awesome! This movie is yours to enjoy and pick apart, and you should never change your opinions based on those of others. Live your life.

6) Ah, Luke Skywalker. One thing: I don’t believe for a second, based solely off of what we know about Luke’s character, that he’d ever consider killing his nephew. Just hear me out, please, I know this is a iffy subject for most fans. Specifically, I don’t think Luke would have ever turned on that damn lightsaber, even for a moment. I know we’ve seen Luke straight up MURDER fools (see Jabba’s sail barge) and we’ve seen him tempted by the Dark Side (see when he was tempted to kill the Emperor or when he was tempted to kill Darth Vader.) Almost killing Vader and thinking about murdering Ben Solo are completely different. Vader had actually done all those horrible things; Luke only saw a glimpse into the future of Ben Solo. One of Yoda’s chief lessons to Luke was that the future is always in motion. Luke would have had hope, he wouldn’t have thought (even for a second!) that killing the son of his sister and best friend would be a good idea. Luke would have spoken to him, Luke would have tried to make amends. Vader, Ben Solo, the Emperor, those drunk idiots on Jabba’s barge; all different scenarios. All in all, I didn’t agree with this decision with Luke’s character. Oh well, it’s not my choice, it’s not my story, as much as I would like it to be. I’m a Star Wars fan, and I love these characters so so much. Still, it’s okay to formulate opinions about things you care about.

7) I could live without DJ. Honestly I thought they wasted Benicio Del Toro’s talents. I think he was much more suited for either a Resistance official or Knight of Ren, not some stuttering Lando Calrissian antithesis. I get the lesson he taught to Finn about arms dealing, but his character got on my nerves. Maybe it was just intensified by my dislike for Canto Bight.

8) The plot device of “the characters didn’t communicate” is cheap. I am, of course, referring to Holdo not informing Poe about what she was up to. Was Poe a lower ranking official? Yes. Still, Holdo must’ve known that he was still one of Leia’s most valuable soldiers. She could have told him something! This could have avoided Canto Bight and cut down on the film’s long run time. This would have given a stronger relationship between Holdo and Poe, further showing how he will be trusted with the future of the Resistance.

Here’s a quick run-down of other things I had a problem with:

Hux was even more of a cartoon character, and it was annoying

The fact that Rose stopped Finn from sacrificing himself! It could've been a really powerful moment but she came in with an out-of-left-field message that doesn't mean anything because they had no chemistry! (And I'm not referring to the purposeful awkwardness; this is just them together in general.)

The fact that Poe said “big ass door”

Final Finn/Phasma confrontation, mostly because Phasma was still grossly underdeveloped and showing part of her face did very little to humanize her.

Luke throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder like the legacy of his father and his past meant nothing! I understand that Luke wanted to be left alone, but even he still had a heart. He should've taken it and grumpily walked away instead of throwing the damn thing so nonchalantly.

GEEZ, DID YOU ACTUALLY LIKE ANYTHING FROM THIS FILM?! Yes, yes, I like so much about this film! Let me explain all my positives!

1) That Luke and Yoda scene put the biggest smile on my face. That was bonafide Empire Strikes Back puppet Yoda! I love the message Yoda gave to Luke, I love how he bopped his former trainee on the head with his walking stick, and I loved how they burned the Force tree. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite Star Wars scenes of all time, I think. It felt so organic and genuine, and I loved every minute of it. That was the kind of moment and dialogue that makes me love Star Wars!

2) I loved that Rian Johnson TOOK CHANCES. He managed to keep my guessing through the movie and presented us with situations that expanded the Star Wars story. One of my biggest complaints with The Force Awakens (which is shared with many) was that it felt so familiar. I appreciate the Rian Johnson made this film his own. And yes, I liked the Force-projection that Luke did at the end (aka Force doppelgänger or whatever.) I lost it when Luke brushed his shoulder in his confrontation with Ben Solo. Gold. Pure gold.

3) The Rey/Kylo Ren team up fight is a top-five Star Wars moment for me. What a battle. Especially in a filmmaking perspective; the fight choreography was exquisite and the wide shots of them back-to-back taking on the Praetorian guards looked SO GOOD. Also, I was tricked into think that this was Ben’s turn to the light side, and was promptly misdirected. Nice job, Rian; you got me. What an emotional, rage-fueled battle. It shows us the obvious compatibility of the two, their interconnectedness, and the sad truth of their separation. You cannot have light without darkness. Somehow, in some way, those two- they complete each other.

4) Porgs. I am pro-porg. Porgs are friends, not food. Thank god they did not go the way of the Gungan.

5) We got a force-bond, people. Not gonna lie, this might be one of my largest positives with the film because it was one of my predictions that came true... Anyways, I loved every interaction of Rey and Kylo Ren. Even the shirtless scene, which was obviously just to show the audience that Rey could see him- it was only for this, nothing more, clearly. Still, these two are the heart of our story; our Skywalker and our Scavenger. The light and the dark. Yin and yang. Peanut butter and jelly. The dynamic duo, if you will.

6) There were some damn good space battles. This includes: the opening bombing run, Kylo Ren almost blowing up the Resistance bridge, the outmatched Resistance fleet trying to flee to Crait, Holdo sacrificing herself for the Resistance. I like my space battles. (Although, to be fair, the bombs “dropping” in space bothered me a bit. Oh well, screw physics.)

7) Amilyn Holdo is a good character. This is because I am bringing outside knowledge about her with me when I view this film, which makes her death more impactful. I do think it’s unfair to the audience at large when people say “if you only read the book this moment in the movie would be better.” I think that’s a little annoying; you shouldn’t have to read a book/comic to understand a character. The film should give them their due. Was Holdo, in terms of the film, a little underdeveloped? Yes. That doesn’t take away from the impact of her sacrifice and devotion to the cause.

8) There were a lot of good lessons in this film, including, but not limited to:

Failure is the greatest teacher

You can come from nothing and still be something

Your worth does not lie in your past

Forge your own destiny

Don’t drink green milk from strange aliens

9) This movie made me excited for Rian Johnson’s trilogy and Episode IX. It was, like I said, effective in expanding lore and making the universe feel bigger! I mean, it’s also not like Lucasfilm doesn’t already own my soul. I will see everything they put out.

10) I liked the circumstances surrounding the reveal of Rey’s true lineage. Would I have liked her to be a descendant of Obi Wan Kenobi? Of course. Would the story be elevated by the parallel of a Skywalker training a Kenobi vs a Kenobi training a Skywalker? Possibly. Was I a tad bit disappointed when Rey actually turned out to be a nobody. Yes, and I won’t deny that, but the more I dwell on it the more I like the decision. I read some article that summed it all up perfectly: not only was that the hardest thing for Rey to hear at the moment, it was the hardest thing for the audience to hear as well. Considering the circumstances, this was a critical point in the bonding of Rey and Ben. It also further develops the theme that you can come from anywhere and still be a hero (just look at Broom Kid at the end.) I also think this moment revealed the dangers of speculation; we, as dedicated Star Wars fans, sometimes need to take a step back and realize that this story is not in our hands. I know a lot of the disappointment that stemmed from this movie came from the fact that people’s theories were not made a reality. This is not healthy film going! I am a victim to it. Still, all that being said, The Force Awakens and JJ Abrams pretty much told us to speculate about where Rey came from; she was important, her lineage was important. How could her strength with the Force be explained otherwise? Well, Rian Johnson took over and he gave us the answer; just not the one we were expecting.

11) Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were so good in this movie. I miss Carrie so so much, and Mark brought such a good energy to the film as a beaten down, tired Luke Skywalker. Their “reunion” made me smile so much. Love you, Carrie.

12) Kylo Ren is a complex, compelling, and damaged character portrayed impeccably by Adam Driver. Every time Kylo Ren came on screen we pulled back a layer of his psyche and got to understand why he is the way that he is. I soaked up every minute of his screen time. If you still think he’s a whiny kid not worthy to be amongst the likes of Vader, the Emperor, and Maul as a great Star Wars villain, I respect your opinion but I'd have to politely disagree. Driver, once again, gives a great performance.

Alright, so I'm just going to spare you from reading anymore and do a quick list of the rest of the things I liked:

battle of Crait

Resistance ship going through Snoke’s ship at lightspeed

Chewie cooking a porg

Luke and R2 in the Falcon

Kylo Ren force-slamming Hux against a wall

Hux getting force-choked by Snoke

Hux getting taunted by Poe

Poe Dameron, in general

Billie Lourd as Connix

Droids!

References to other movies (palapatine reference specifically)!

Everything about the Luke/Kylo fight: the brushing of the shoulder, the fake-out, the dialogue, everything

Luke ended where he began: with twin suns. Beautiful imagery.

And much more!

So, thanks TLJ for making the last month or so of my life consumed by Star Wars debate (which, if I'm being honest, isn't new.) I had a ton of fun at the movies, and now we throw ourselves right back into speculation time! So, here are my predictions for Star Wars Episode IX: Legacy of the Force (lol just a filler title don't have a hot scoop here):

Ghost Luke will guide Rey. Other ghost appearances to be aware of are: Yoda, Obi Wan, and Anakin Skywalker (who will appear as a man/machine hybrid and talk to Kylo Ren, not Rey.)

Kylo Ren will be redeemed.

Rey will start a new order of Jedi

Poe will take over the Resistance

Rose will become a pilot

The Knights of Ren will come out to play, one might be planning to betray Kylo, which might help him be pushed towards the Light Side

Ben Solo will die, but die a redeemed man, probably whilst trying to protect Rey

Chewie will die.

Leia’s funeral will be at the start of the movie, I will be crying my eyes out.

The Resistance will emerge victorious, but it won't be a...happy victory, per se.

We’ll learn more about Snoke

Rey will eventually build her own saberstaff using the crystal of Anakin’s saber

Resolution on Rey’s force vision from TFA

Rey will use the Dark Side but not give in to full temptation

The minds of Rey and Ben will be linked once more. Probably if Rey ha to track Ben down, she’ll open her mind to him or something like that

Lando Calrissian will come back

We will visit at least one planet from the Original Trilogy, because this is JJ Abrams were talking about and he doesn't want a lot of change. I think it’ll probably be Endor because that's where Luke cremated Vader, and I’d imagine that's a very important place for Kylo Ren

Is that too much to pack into one film? Absolutely! Did I already warn about the dangers of over speculation? Hell yeah, but like I do all the time I'm going to ignore my own advice! Speculation is all a part of the fun.

So, I hope you enjoyed The Last Jedi. And if you didn't like it, cool. I hope we can all just get along. Still, I’d be happy to duke it out. Meet me on Crait, where salt is more plentiful than it is in the voices of legions of angry fans.