#curran is so hella importabt to the dynamic too

[zeravmeta]

hey since this is my blog and i can do whatever i want im gonna lose my absolute shit at the parralels between Akasha and Heinwald because hoLy BALLS these two

The main thing between the two of them stems not from their interest in knowledge but from their responsibility with it. Akasha from her adventurer story was revealed to originally be this push-over scholar who believed that all the indignities she was made to suffer would ultimately never matter because she was "nothing" and she would eventually reach her own truth. However she's showing this in an illusion to Heinwald, who after seeing her sacrifice/combine herself to the entity within the grimoire (very likely the TRUE Hastur or even the Ancient-One thats referenced multiple times based off the Stirring Shadows event) to truly become Akasha or "Void", immediately questions the truth of the illusion to which Akasha herself says it may or may not be true but the reality is that she doesn't remember how or why she became this way. Akasha also apparently can apply a universal concept of permanence through time to make either past or future events exist in the present which is why the friendship gang know her even though they've technically never met until the "future" and how she can communicate to her younger self and inspire her to actually be selfish for once. This permanence through time was only circumvented by Heinwald, Lathna, and curiously Curran as well.

Heinwald, after learning about all this just laughs at how much of a hypocrite she is and that he would have much preferred to meet her original self who actually wanted to learn because of her natural curiosity rather than amass information aimlessly, which may seem hypocritical from him but a very clear distinction between Heinwald and Akasha here is that Akasha doesnt care about the consequences of her actions anymore while Heinwald cares too much.

Heinwald in his adventurer stories reveals he's massively empathetic of people and that he feels personally responsible for any suffering caused by his investigations and sleuthing habits because it ultimately got his family killed. He goes so far as to call Euden a greater genius than him solely because Euden helps him realize that he shouldn't be responsible for every single problem ever since that's Eudens mission to build a greater kingdom. Heinwald criticizes Akasha because he doesn't seek truth for the truths sake, but he does so to help people. Akasha on the other hand lost any and all empathy for the people around her because she finally believed she found purpose and didn't have to restrain her emotions anymore. Her family was abusive and negligent, her professor was stealing her research and she was hated by jealous scholars for her work, but she was able to keep it all in because she still had an escape in her studies. However when that was taken she decided to fully give herself up to the entity and merge with them (its implied by the dialogue here that Akasha may have thought she would die in this ritual), abandoning everyone and wanting to unleash the Ancient-One for no reason other than that she has freedom to do something for once so she wants to see what happens.

Based on the ending of the Stirring Shadows event, it's revealed that Akashas goal wasn't actually to use Lathna as the key and herself as the gate (which is implied to be ANOTHER attempted suicide since Akasha decribed that she would literally be wrenched open and summon the Ancient-One out of herself) but rather set the pieces in place for Heinwald to awaken his own connection to the abyss, which at the very end Heinwald pulls a reverse uno on her and says he was already awakened and that Lathna was just another necessary piece for whatever her eventual plot is. She planned to fail her ritual by setting Heinwald and Curran up to find her mid-ritual so as to ensure that Lathna awakens.

Overall these two are such opposite characters yet in Akashas final story she understands she's twisted and CHALLENGES Heinwald to see which one between the two of them would be saved, if Heinwald would accept what he is and drown in the Ancient-Ones all knowing or if Akasha would come to terms with what she is and build genuine bonds with others HEINWALD WAS TEMPTED BY HER BECAUSE HES STILL VERY NATURALLY CURIOUS BUT AT THE SAME TIME THE ONLY INSTANCE OF A VULNERABLE AKASHA WAS WHEN SHE WAS SHARING HER STORY OF BEING ALONE WITH HIM THESE TWO ARE SO SIMILAR THE ONLY REASON AKASHA TURNED WAS BECAUSE SHE DIDNT HAVE A CURRAN OF HER OWN HEINWALD WAS PRETTY MUCH NEGLECTED BY EVERYONE AND HE ENDED UP GETTING HIS OWN FAMILY KILLED YET EVEN IF HE WOULD BE BRANDED A HERETIC HE DIDNT CARE BUT CURRAN ACCEPTED HIM AS HE IS HE UNDERSTANDS HEINWALD BETTER THAN HIMSELF AND FOR SOMEONE TRAPPED IN HIS OWN MORAL QUANDRIES ITS CURRANS SIMPLE LOGIC AND ACCEPTANCE OF HIS MANNERISMS THAT CEMENTS HIM AS HEINWALDS FRIEND AND WITH THAT SAME TYPE OF ACCEPTANCE AKASHA COULD ALSO FIND GENUINE COMPANIONS IN THE TWO OF THEN AND IM LIVING FOR THIS ROAD TO EL DORADO TRIO DYNAMIC