#ds2 event

[go-go-devil]

So I gave Greirat Loretta's bone and obviously he was upset but seemed to take the news well enough, but then I came back later and I found him fucking CRYING over her death oh my soul please don't do this to me the game's only just begun I can't afford to keep getting so emotionally attached to these doomed people T_T

[vyragosa]

fragile is so crazy because she was really defending higgs from the get-go and constantly talking about him and wanted to make sam promise he would spare him even just little after they met

then sam hits bullseye because he is sam. because he cannot stand more lies than he was fed, therefore has to know her truth beforehand, her umbrella vibrates with anger for a split moment, knowing that back then this "higgs" wanted "to save the world from the bottom of his heart" just as much,

"what's your angle?"

"let's board this ship."

round and round, it goes, round and round

[likopinina]

names of gaming events are like: Gamescom. Game Awards. Summer Game Fest. Tokyo Game Show.

meanwhile mountain biking events:

Gravel, Grit'n'Grind

VOLCANIC EPIC

MOUNTAIN OF HELL

Red Bull Rampage

all of the above are very accurate but i feel like there are some missed opportunities in the video game area

[katyspersonal]

Okay I just wanted to post before I forgot because I WILL forget, but there is something else interesting about Ornstein's story!

So basically, Heide was most likely the place where Lloyd, Gwynevere, her husband Flann and probably some other Old Gods left to! Lloyd's Tailsman and Divine Blessing are found in this place, it features statues that throw back to Egyptian God of Sun, Ra, that stands in Gwyn's pose and holds Gwyn's sword (very blatant throwback to their roots), the whole blue orb invasions stuff was something Gwyndolin governed and the royal family clearly needed a "system" like this with or without him, literal landmark Tower of Flame....

And, there is ALSO bootleg Ornstein:

thanks Kat very cool screenshot gfhgjg He is not named, which is thematically appropriate to the whole 'so much time passed that names got blurred, forgotten or replaced here', he has silver armor, he does godawful job as "dragonslayer" because there is literally a dragon outside AND he drops a ring that is supposed to be unique item - Ornstein's ring given to him and worn with time:

But the problem is, in Dark Souls 3, we do find Ornstein's actual ring, not worn down with time, and his armor, that is still golden! AND events of Dark Souls 3 happen after Dark Souls 2, of course.

I feel like the exact same suit of armor but silver and the exact replica of a ring is all a bit TOO much for just some guy that was inspired by Ornstein 😕 But what is also very interesting about Old Dragonslayer is that he uses darkness!Basically? I wonder whether this is a pointer towards this boss being both Ornstein and not! Like... he is literally like a "shadow" version of Ornstein, right? Same appearance, same ring, same tactics, but dark both visually and literally.

We know that powerful beings can fragment their Souls and they might even become something else! Manus is the most plain example, there is also Soul of Cinder that includes fragments of Gwyn and others, also all important Lords in DS2 linger on in spirit. It makes sense as Soul is "the source of life", so it's fragments can come to life too! So, what if at some point Ornstein got corrupted by Dark too, but instead of waiting to meet the same fate as Artorias, he separated the part of his being that got damaged and discarded it? Maybe even because of what happened to Artorias he figured it was safer than to wrestle with the Dark? And yet, it became its own being, albeit incomplete because it is just a piece of soul, amputated to not let the Dark go further. Maybe Ornstein didn't even know it would happen?

As for why it is here, in Heide, I suppose it isn't likely that Ornstein lived with others here! Especially with the implication that Ornstein stayed back in Anor Londo for hell of a lot of time even after all Gods but Gwyndolin left. I think Old Dragonslayer settled in Heide after it was ruined and abandoned. Either, Ornstein has been looking for where did old royal family go to and legends brought him here but here he discarded that piece of Soul... or the "shadow" itself ended up finding this place. Maybe on pure instinct, not knowing or remembering why, but desperately looking for something or someone familiar.

Makes me kind of feel bad for the guy, to think of it.. He didn't ask to exist. I wonder what would've happened if it met the "remaining" Ornstein, who probably doesn't even feel like he had lost that much

[fukanouna]

Close your eyes (it's okay now)

Summary: Wanda finds herself alone in the afterlife. Then she reunites with a familiar redhead.

Set after the events of DS2: MoM.

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Natasha Romanoff

Word Count: 934

A/N: Hello :)

---

Wanda felt like she was floating.

She didn't know where she was and could not open her eyes. Everything felt so heavy, yet somehow, she felt so free. The malevolent whispers of the Darkhold were gone from her mind. Wanda wasn't sure when was the last time she was able to think with such a level of clarity.

Then, Wanda felt her feet land on something kind of solid. She sank into the ground slightly and heard the gentle sound of ocean waves crashing. Her eyes snapped open, and she found herself on some kind of beach. A seemingly endless forest stood behind her, while a setting sun that peaked above the horizon was in front of her, painting the skies a fiery red and orange. For some reason, Wanda found herself in a sleeveless cotton white dress and bare feet lightly buried under the sand. The look didn't suit her.

Not after what she's done.

Wanda strolled along the shore, taking in the warm breeze and the salty scent of the ocean. She walked for what felt like hours, yet she never grew tired. No matter how far she walked, there was no sign of any life. Birds, fish, crustaceans, people - there was nothing. Just Wanda, the land, the sea, and the sky.

Then she came across a large log on the sand facing the ocean.

But what caught her attention was not the log itself, but who was sitting on it.

Natasha turned her head and smiled.

"Hey, Wanda."

Wanda almost started crying.

"Natasha?" She was wearing a black tactical suit that wasn't familiar to Wanda, and her hair woven in a side braid.

Natasha patted the space next to her. "Come sit with me." When Wanda stayed frozen in place, she tilted her head to one side. "What's wrong?"

"The last thing I remember was telling Strange I was destroying every copy of the Darkhold and bringing down the castle atop of Mount Wundagore," Wanda said quietly, looking far off across the ocean, before settling her gaze back on the other woman. "I'm dead."

Natasha's gaze softened. "You are."

"Does that mean you aren't real?"

"I'm not part of your imagination, if that's what you're asking," the Widow chuckled. "I just suddenly found myself here, waiting. Somehow, I just knew it was you I was waiting for. Maybe it's because now I also have ties to an Infinity Stone."

Wanda felt the incoming tears in the back of her throat. There was so much kindness in the way Natasha looked at her, the way she spoke to her with such gentleness, it was too much when Wanda didn't deserve any of that. She felt the Chaos Magic flowing through every fiber of her being, and in one large motion of her arms, the pure cotton dress was consumed by blood red energy streams and revealed her as the Scarlet Witch. She thought Natasha would recoil from her new form, but the other woman remained expressionless.

"After what I've done, after killing and hurting so many innocent people, I don't deserve your kindness," Wanda said with strained voice. She started down at her blackened fingertips that were still tainted from the Darkhold. "I don't deserve to see you," she added more quietly. "I'm no longer the Wanda you knew."

Several seconds passed before Natasha stood up and placed herself right in front of Wanda. The smile returned to the Widow's face as she took Wanda's hands into her own. "You'll always be my Wanda."

Tears poured from Wanda's eyes. "You don't understand—"

"I do understand," Natasha interrupted her. "You saw my memories. What I used to do, what I used to be. Yet that never stopped you from wanting us to grow closer." Her thumbs slowly swiped over and over across the back of Wanda's hands in a comforting manner. "I don't know what you did and I don't need to know. Because none of that matters anymore. In the end, you tried to make amends. To no longer let the hurt control you and do good again. That's why I know you're still my Wanda."

Wanda closed her eyes and sobbed hard as Natasha spoke to her and made no effort in resisting when she felt Natasha's arms wrapped around her. She couldn't remember the last time someone held her like this and forgot what it was like to be loved. Not wanting to separate, she reciprocated the embrace and held Natasha as tightly as she physically could.

"You did well, Wanda. You can rest now," Natasha whispered softly into her ear.

It took awhile before Wanda calmed down and finally joined Natasha on the log, shoulder to shoulder.

"What now?" Wanda asked.

Natasha shrugged. "Whatever you want. We have all the time in the universe. What's the first thing you want to do?"

Wanda hummed thoughtfully. Her eyes stared at the warm ball of light that stood across the ocean from them. "Watch the sunset with you," she answered with a smile.

"How romantic of you," Natasha remarked with a slight smirk. "Trying to make me swoon, Maximoff?"

"Perhaps," the witch smirked back. "Is it working?"

"Actually, yes."

Wanda and Natasha laughed together.

While the sun slowly dipped below the horizon to reveal the stars in the sky, the two of them sat in silence as the ocean breeze blew past them. There wasn't much time left until Wanda had to decide what to do next in the afterlife, but as she glanced over at Natasha, she was immediately comforted knowing she wasn't alone.

And that was more than enough.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading :)

[thewisecheerio]

Dark Souls 2 is peak humor, and I'm convinced the devs just wanted to troll the player as hard as possible for as long as possible in much crummier and therefore more hilarious ways than any other Soulsborne title.

And then there are some cool design choices, too. My personal favorite is that you spend the entire game trying to figure out why the previous king is not on the throne. And in doing so, you learn that he largely set up most of the events of the story. So you spend the entire game thematically following in his footsteps.

Then when you meet that actual king still actually somewhere in the world, the only way to defeat him is... ...you guessed it... ...to LITERALLY follow in his footsteps. He can easily 1HKO most players, so staying behind him and moving when his feet move is the only surefire way to beat him. The devs really asked if you were paying attention to their extended metaphor.

There's a trend on twitter exposing some of DS2's hilarious quirks. Here are some favorites:

[inkyquince]

anyway, Miguel O Hara

content warning. spoiiiiliessssss, stalker and creep miguel o hara, extremely dubious at all times, invasion of the grandes tetas, strong scent kink, rough handling, nsfw but not written sex because its 1am and im sleepy and october is showing me ds2 sims 2 gameplay and i feel myself going insane. oh yeah, and, big ole size kink.

spoilers for the movie under the cut, but yknow its horny

So, canon Miguel sees another version of himself get fucking shot, right? Immediately slips through to prevent a canon event with his daughter, right? Takes over the old Miguel's life. Born to be a single mother, forced to beef with a teenager right?

Well, what if he saw something else in his other life?

He's broken and he's lonely here, but... He has a kid... And he has a partner. And it's someone he knows. Married to a distant friend in this life, but you're his in another one. The one where he's happy, with his kid.

It's hard, tearing his eyes away from what should be. What he should have, carrying his baby in one arm and the other around your waist. His other self looks so happy, so content, so fucking free. Unlike him in his entirety, where he's alone, against the world.

Not only does he become obsessed with this alternative world, he gets stranger and stranger around you. He knows in another life, you lead him into happiness, into being a father. Miguel is usually quiet and stoic, but his presence starts being almost oppressive around you. He seems to stare all the time, his broad, lithe fingers tapping along his muscular arm. Intense and quiet, with something brewing in his deep, dark eyes. He tries to talk more to you, even try to see you away from your spouse, but you never start to look at him like you do in the other dimension. Warm and soft and longing. It starts to irk him, something growing in his stomach. You're fucking his, in another life, yeah, but you're his. But he can't do anything. You're not his. So it builds in his gut.

There's some part of him that believes he can still get this happiness in this world. He can still be who he was meant to be. Miguel spends some evenings climbing the walls to look into your apartment windows, to catch you showering or changing. He doesn't even need to break the window to slip in, the second you leave through the door. A pair of your underwear in his hand, maybe a venture into the bathroom to sniff at your shower wash. Pick up your toothbrush, just to rest it on his tongue. He sits on your side of the bed and rests his broad hand on your pillow, skimming over it, as it to help him imagine stroking your hair as you awaken in the morning.

This isn't what a hero does. He knows that. He knows that Spiderman doesn't enjoy towering over you when the group hangs out, drinking in the size difference. Loves the little expression you look up at him with, like a doe in the headlights. He catches himself dragging a tongue over his canine was he passed behind you, ducking down just enough to catch the scent from your neck.

A hero doesn't follow you when you go out at night. Watches you from outside your window. Doesn't think about how it would be okay if your spouse bled out in the streets one night, and he'd be by your side in minutes.

Each time it all feels too much, he checks over with his other self. Laughing with his daughter jumping into his arms. His other self's hand on your knee as you sit next to him on the couch with a yawn. The way it slowly traces over your thigh as he lean over to give him a kiss.

The feeling builds even more.

Then, the day happens. He watches himself get shot, and he leaves his other life behind. Steps through and becomes someone new.

That night, your husband comes home. Miguel seems to walk straight past you to go to your daughter's room. You were surprised, but gave it no thought as you continued to make him some empanadas, rain lashing against the window.

Miguel hadn't wanted to look at you, not yet. Needed to look at his daughter, needed to take a moment. He kneeled down, by her tiny bed, stroking slowly against her hair as she breathed softly. She slept like there was no pain in the world, no loss... And thanks to him, she wouldn't wake up to her father being dead. Gone. Unable to tuck her into bed anymore. So he just tugged the blanket up to her chin and stood slowly. Leaving the room, he paused in the doorframe, giving his daughter a soft look before glancing towards the kitchen again. Not yet. Not just yet. He needs to make sure.

Turning on his heel, Miguel headed deeper into the flat, looking around until he found the master bedroom. Spick and span, but homey. Unlike his old bedroom. Pictures on the walls. Things on both bedside tables. A blanket laid over the duvet. His dark eyes turned towards the closet, and slowly opened the door, exhaling softly. Your clothes. Next to his clothes. His fingers dragged along the fabric, rubbing it between his forefinger and thumb.

A shaky sigh left Miguel's lips as he gripped the garment tightly, almost ripping it. Shoving the item close to his face, he inhaled deeply, almost tasting your scent on his tongue. It's you. It's no one else. It's you and in this world, you're with him. No one else.

Miguel's clawed hands moved on their own accord as they yanked open the drawers below the hanging clothes, finding socks, bras and... Underwear. Few pairs of his, few pairs of yours. Snatching yours up, he crushed them against his face again, inhaling with his lips parted. He got a dizzying head rush. His eyes snagged on the laundry basket, exhaling loud and slow as he smelled the scent of you and detergent from your clean underwear.

He'll get a proper taste of you if he rooted around in there instead-

"Miguel!" He froze up and immediately stuffed your underwear into his pocket, as if he was a thief instead of your husband, and very entitled them. "Food!"

He dragged his tongue over his lips and stalked from the bedroom.

Miguel was acting strange when he got back from checking on your daughter, his darkened eyes drinking you in as you served up his plate first.

"Hungry?" You gave him a soft smile. "She ate earlier at her friend's house, don't worry."

He wasn't worried. He should be. It's one of those things he'll learn to do, as a new father. But for now, he just walks closer, dragging his broad palm over the counter. His fingers twitch as the distance between you two become smaller and smaller. Soon enough, he's at your back, with his hands twitching before settling on your hips. You hummed as he drew you closer to his towering body, lolling your head back to rest against his shoulder (against, not on his shoulder, Miguel was too tall for that).

Your lips were right there. Perfect and soft and unbitten.

He should change that.

Miguel slowly lowered his head to brush his lips against yours, slowly exhaling as he did so. You gave a similiar sigh and leaned into the kiss, which remained sweet and soft, until you teasingly gave his bottom lip a nip.

The feeling in his gut burst.

He ripped his lips away, just to grip your hips tighter and spin you around. You blinked up at him, surprised by the sudden movement, but couldn't say anything before his tongue was snaking back inside of your mouth, licking at your teeth before forcibly pressing down on your tongue. You could feel his hard cock through his trousers, digging into your stomach as he manhandled you.

"Mig-" You pulled away to breath but he quickly covered your lips with his again, desperation rolling off of him.

"Solo callate." He hissed against your mouth, sharp canines digging into your bottom lip. "Por favor, déjame tenerte primero. Si me amas, déjame usarte."

You couldn't even reply when he shoved you down on the kitchen counter, sending the plates crashing down to the floor. It was like you were immobalised, stunned. Miguel was never rough with you, not really. He was always too aware of how big he was compared to you. But all that seemed to have been tossed out the window.

Your husband roughly yanked your legs apart, breathing low and heavy. Lowering one of his hands slowly, he gave your crotch a squeeze, as his cock began to tent the front of his trousers.

"Quieres que te toque aquí? Te gusta?" Miguel whispered, pressing his forehead against yours, slowly squeezing your crotch, his sharp teeth coming in as you struggled not to moan at his ministrations.

He was scaring you enough for you to try and pull away, but he was too fucking big. He encompassed you. Totally and wholly. Miguel's eyes were two obsidian stones, pupils blown wide and staring down at you with an endless hunger that wasn't there before. He leaned down again and you just pressed your face to the side, avoiding his lips connecting with yours, instead pressing against your cheek.

With a low, almost animalistic snarl, his fingers dug into your jaw and wrenched your head back to stare into your eyes.

"You will let me have you. You cannot take this from me. Not now." You struggled to comprehend what he meant, but he took your silence in stride and pressed his tongue back into your mouth with a low groan.

You cannot stop this, Miguel thought, everything becoming hazy as he felt desire roll over him.You can't make him stop. Not when he finally has you.

rough translations (remember, im using my high school level knowledge, so the grammar is fuck):

"Solo callate. Por favor, déjame tenerte primero. Si me amas, déjame usarte." - "Just shut up. Please let me have you first. If you love me, let me use you."

"Quieres que te toque aquí? Te gusta?"- "Do you want me to touch you here? Do you like it?"

[gjorg-of-drangleic]

Dark Souls lore is like being given 100 pieces to complete a 500-piece puzzle with no guarantee that they even belong to the same puzzle in the first place. I say this lovingly – it's an essential part of what makes this series so compelling to me.

On a loosely related note, Creighton the Wanderer being Schrödinger's Serial Killer is so fucking funny to me and I need to share my thoughts.

For those who don't know who I'm talking about, Creighton is an NPC you first meet in a location named Huntsman's Copse, in DS2. He's locked up in a cell and somewhat pissed off about it. When you free him to initiate his questline, he says:

"[...] I am Creighton, of Mirrah. I travel from land to land to hone my blade. [...] I joined forces with a man on the way, but he was no more than a back-stabbing knave. He took the first chance he had to try and off me. I decided to set a trap for him here, but then I got trapped myself. I can't believe that I was so dense. Thank the stars that you came along. You be careful of him. Pate, I think he said. [...] I've seen his type before. He kills entirely for the pleasure of it. I'm sure I won't be his last victim. The man's better off dead, I tell you. He's a slick talker, so don't let him fool you. [...] Watch out for the slimy rat. And don't you believe a word he says. I'll find the common footpad, and put an end to his roguery. Heh heh."

If you've played DS1 before, this might sound familiar to you. Indeed, you may think of Pate as DS2's stand-in for Patches. By this point in the game, there's a good chance you've encountered him already, and while you haven't been pushed down any cliff this time, you did end up locked up and surrounded by hostile hollows. I'd argue that this being the likeliest order of events is the game priming you to feel sympathetic towards Creighton once you reach him, as by then, the both of you would have been tricked by the same man. You might even feel so sympathetic as to overlook how immediately eager to kill Pate he is. And, if we're going down that route, metacontextually, you might have thrown Patches off that cliff as retribution yourself back in DS1.

You then find yourself speaking with Pate and Creighton back-and-forth at different locations, with Pate indirectly putting you in additional danger, and Creighton sounding more and more eager to kill the guy. The questline ends when you reach the Brightstone Cove of Tseldora, where you find them both fighting, and are given the opportunity to intervene to save either one by killing the other.

Now if this was all the questline was, there wouldn't be much to it, would there? Creighton is a bit bloodthirsty but, you could reasonably argue that his motivations are understandable. Why ever side with Pate in this? He almost got you killed twice! The man's clearly dangerous! Well, you see – after you're done helping either one, they both gift you a key leading to a trapped chest which explodes when you open it! That's right, even Creighton. "Ooh, that'll leave a nasty scar!" he says, if you survive the explosion. Now why would Creighton who remained friendly throughout end up doing this to us? Another DS2 character, Cale the Cartographer may be the key to understanding his motivations. Here's what he says.

"Ah yes, there is something I wanted to tell you. I was born in the land of Mirrah. Mirrah is also the home of an infamous killer, a 'knight' in name alone. He was locked in the dungeon for multiple murders. But shortly before his execution, he managed to escape. And the other day… I saw a fellow with a striking likeness! And then! And then… Wait… Well… I think he looked rather similar… N-no, it's true! I saw just such a man, I swear! I believe his name was…Cr…Cr…err Cray-something… I believe… They shared…some resemblance, I… I think…"

Cale tells you this back in Majula – the Firelink Shrine of DS2 – after you meet Creighton at least once. Our wandering friend has been a serial killer this entire time it would seem. DS3 would also agree with this statement. He is featured there as an NPC invader who attacks both the Ashen one and Sirris of the Sunless Realms. Here is what his armor set and weapon descriptions from DS3 tell us.

Creighton's Steel Mask: Attire of Creighton the Wanderer, a notorious deserter who fled an order of Mirrah Knights. Despite the mask's being a symbol of a criminal sentenced to death, Creighton never removed it.

Mirrah Chain Mail: Formal attire of the honorable knights of Mirrah, featuring their heraldry, a stag set against a blue field. Oddly, it was a dishonorable deserter who wore this attire most religiously.

Dragonslayer Axe: Axe favored by Creighton the Wanderer, infamous deserter of the Knights of Mirrah. Called Dragonslayer's Axe for the lightning that pulsates within its blade, but Creighton used it to slay men.

This all seems pretty damning. Helping Creighton in Tseldora means helping a serial killer. Pate may have tried to kill us before but, it's not like we were ever actually in any danger. What's a couple of hollows to a big strong undead like us, right? Helping Pate it is then? Killing them both? Walking past them and leaving them to it? At any rate, not helping Creighton! There. Problem solved.

You fool. You think we’re done? We haven't even started. I present to you his DS2 armor set descriptions.

Creighton’s Steel Mask: Atypical steel mask. Belonged to Creighton the Wanderer. Its design resembles that of the knight order of the eastern land of Mirrah, but with some odd differences that catch the eye. Perhaps it is a finely-crafted imitation.

Mirrah Chain Mail: Belonged to Creighton the Wanderer. Its design resembles that of the knight order of the eastern land of Mirrah, but with some odd differences that catch the eye. Perhaps it is a finely-crafted imitation.

Now, reading this, you might point out that this seemingly contradicts part of Cale’s statement as well as the DS3 item descriptions. I wouldn’t say so out of hand. One could reasonably argue that Creighton could very well have infiltrated the Knights of Mirrah by wearing a replica, thus in a manner of speaking, indeed belonging to that Order, or at the very least, being perceived as such by the wider public. Though I will admit that wearing a replica of a mask marking oneself for the death penalty, even in a different land, is rather shortsighted. Anyways, what of his axe, which I have conveniently omitted here? Well, I did so for a reason. We stumble across DS2’s Dragonslayer Axe nowhere near Creighton unlike in DS3 where we would obtain it after defeating him. In fact, until DS3, the Dragonslayer Axe being Creighton’s was unconfirmed. Besides… Have a look at the item description for yourself.

Dragonslayer’s Crescent Axe: The beloved black axe of the gallant Shieldless Lothian, formerly of Forossa. No warrior matched the ferocity of unbeatable Lothian, but he abruptly retired from the battlefield and was never heard from again. Some say that he grew tired of the frailty of human foes, and set off to slay the legendary dragon.

“Who in Gwyn’s name is Shieldless Lothian?” I hear you ask. No worries, I got you covered.

Ring of Giants: [...] Lothian was born a peasant, and died a general. His determination and diligence were unmatched, especially on the battlefield, where he earned his name by choosing to fight without a shield.

Annnnd, that’s it. That’s pretty much all we know. Let’s unpack all of this, shall we?

The Dragonslayer’s Crescent Axe belonged to a certain Shieldless Lothian of Forossa, a man who abandoned the battlefield to go chase after dragons, but also somehow still died a general. And this axe is seemingly now in the hands of Creighton of Mirrah, serial killer. Are we to understand that Creighton is actually a man named Lothian? That he faked his death? Or that he killed Lothian and took his weapon for himself? Or that he merely wields a replica of Lothian’s axe? Yea. Remember what I said about the puzzle pieces and all that? 

I’d like to briefly move the focus back around to our cartographer friend. I may have omitted to tell you earlier that, prior to speaking to you in Majula, Cale was actually located in a location called the Forest of Fallen Giants, which Creighton never sets foot in during the events of DS2. However, it does happen to be the location you first meet Pate in. Speaking of Pate, here is what his spear description has to say.

Pate’s Spear: A long spear wielded by Pate. This appears to be a very ordinary spear, but seems to have accumulated power over the course of countless battles. It is not always advisable to stand out. Especially if you have something to hide.

Now, this is so vague it could mean anything. But if one were to decide for whatever reason to have the most charitable read on Creighton’s character, they could conceivably argue that Creighton is an – albeit strangely revengeful – innocent man who was framed by Pate, who is the true serial killer of Mirrah. We know that Pate and Creighton have traveled together a while. We know that Pate is a dangerous manipulator who seemingly has a pattern of purposefully leading people to their death. Creighton meanwhile only shows resentment towards Pate, who supposedly almost killed him. He is also consistently friendly to us, up until the last moment, with the chest, though who knows if that was intentional? Maybe Pate is the one who boobytrapped it! Speaking of Pate, he’s the one to be present in the Forest of Fallen Giants, while Creighton isn’t. Pate might well have met Cale there who’d have recognized him, and in turn, he’d have introduced himself as Creighton to protect his own identity, with the lie still not cleared out by the time of DS3. One might also point out that Creighton has a distinctly Cockney accent which isn’t shared by other Mirrah characters like Lucatiel or Cale, which could hypothetically make sense should one accept the idea that Lothian and Creighton are the same person. Whilst speaking to us about Pate, Creighton says “[...] For the good of the world, and for my own honour. I won't let that bastard live another day.” One may wonder what good a serial killer would have to present himself as honorable and selfless, all the while not bothering to tone down his bloodlust at all when speaking to us. It’s stupid, in a weird authentic sort of way.

Do I believe this theory? Not really, no. I don’t think Dark Souls has the kind of character-driven narrative that thinks so deeply about its characters beyond how they best serve the overarching themes of the story, how they best contribute to building that specific “Dark Souls” atmosphere that makes those games so special. Ultimately, we have no evidence of Cale and Pate actually interacting with one another. Cale calls Creighton a killer, and it’s later on confirmed by his DS3’s weapon description. I can’t think of any reason why the game would lie to us over what is ultimately a very minor character, even within DS2. The slight discrepancies between DS2 and 3 can be explained away by time, or just, different people having worked on the games. I’m just a bit too pragmatic to believe that there would have been such a convoluted process involved for building up this non-character into a complex double fake-out innocent man. I think both Creighton and Pate were intended to be awful in DS2, probably as a way to hammer home that the world is broken, and good people, like your friends in Majula, are a rarity to be cherished. Still, I appreciate that the series allows for the above kind of badshit thinking to emerge to be honest. It’s fun! Trying to rebuild the puzzle with much of it missing is fun! People coming to different conclusions is fun!

Anyways, we all know Creighton was hired by Licia to kill Pate as part of an intense multidimensional war between the Covenant of Clerics and Patches.

[girlballs]

what are your thoughts on ds3? i havent played it yet and all that i know is that it pretends ds2 never happened lore wise, or something along those lines. is that correct?

DS3 actually does something worse than pretending DS2 didn't happen: the Literal Core Conflict of DS3 that it goes over in the intro & that informs the events of the whole main game is orchestrated by a prominent character from DS2, and you are told about this important link between the games via a single sentence in a hidden sorcery's description

[maranigai]

Oh no she's drawing comics with her dark souls ocs again!

Soon after the events of ds2, the undead who could become a true monarch lives in the ruins of Aldia's keep, searching for the way to redeem the cardinal sin of an ancient god.

[kunosoura]

Why didn’t anyone in the base Elden Ring game have any comments about the events of the DLC. Nothing from Malenia about you killing her twin? No dialogue from Sir Gideon about having found Miquella’s soul and the remainder of his great rune? Melina’s got no comments as you retread her mother’s steps back to the place she was born? Come on. DS2 locked an entire ending behind DLC completion, DS3 had Yuria commenting on your encounter with Friede, DS1 vastly expanded a character for the DLC and gave you a small scene with Sif if you finished the DLC and rescued her.. Bloodborne hinged its entire secret twist on Doll dialogue that you don’t get until after you’ve basically beaten the DLC!!

[imadhatt3r]

Soul, body and what remains- A DS2 theory

I've decided to write down my theory about what I believe might happen in DS2. Tumblr seems like the best website for it, given that I can write everything in one easy to read post and it has a high likelihood of reaching people who are also insane about this game

TLDR: After the events of DS1, Amelie has given her soul to Lou, which is why Higgs is after her- he wants to rid the world of any traces of Amelie left so that he could "ascend" and take her place. Amelie's body became the Chrystalis (Elle Fanning), who fell into the Seam and was "spat out" into the world of the living through the tar. The octopus we see at the end of trailer 1 is what remained of Amelie on her Beach, which transformed into a creature that is better suited for such environment.

Okay, let's begin:

SOUL

So we all remember the last scene of DS1: Sam decides to free Lou out of her pod and tries to revive her when she seems unresponsive; We can see what looks like her spirit leaving her body. Sam holds her close and then Lou wakes up, holding Amelie's quipu in her hands. Five baby BTs look on during the whole scene.

I believe that Amelie has somehow attached her soul to Lou's or just straight up gave her her own- maybe "aged down" in some way, without her memories and experiences, not just straight up her soul as it was, I feel like that wouldn't fit with Kojima's "tone" of writing. The five baby BTs are the five previous extinction entities looking on at what Amelie's doing- we know that they can change shape, since they are humanoids on the Beach, despite not being ones in life.

As for Amelie's motivation, well, I believe that she wanted to live the life of a normal human girl. She makes it very clear that she is permanent and unchanging, stuck in time, while people around her like Sam get to grow old and age. If you've read the books, you'd know that Amelie/Bridget started to have her DOOMs dreams as a little girl, which means that her childhood was taken away from her very fast. And she loved humanity, so much that she wanted to mercy-kill it, which, in the way she sees the world, was an act of kindness. When she saw that Lou was on the brink of dying, she saw an opening- she gave her soul to save Lou. It creates an ethical dillema; Was Amelie selfless in what she did? She wanted to save Lou and give something to Sam, who she loved and wanted to be happy. On the other hand, she did it for her own benefit, in a way, to live out her fantasy and dream of being a human and getting to grow up among other humans. She has also altered Lou's very being without anyone's knowledge or consent, and without Sam knowing. She also knew that Sam was a kind, caring and loving guy, so her "child-self" will grow up being well taken care of.

This is why Higgs' "cult" is after Lou, but seemingly not after Sam and Fragile (if that scene is real, but let's assume that it is)- Lou holds Amelie's soul, so getting rid of her is a priority, while Sam and Fragile are there for the "boss" to take care of to reenact his desires of revenge.

But Lou's spirit, thanks to Amelie's being "entangled" with it, remains, seemingly bound to her BB pod. When Higgs takes off Lou's pod from Sam and he seemingly senses some kind of "life" in it, he seems suprised and almost impressed, like he was outsmarted.

When Sam asks "Was it you that killed Lou?" Higgs says "You still don't know, do you?", like Higgs thinks that Sam is deluding himself. Sam and Higgs are characters who probably know Amelie and what she's capable of the most of the entire cast, only Higgs is fully aware of how decieving and conniving she can be, while Sam seems to not be fully open about it to himself. Higgs knows that Amelie's soul is in Lou, while Sam might realize it deep in his mind, but doesn't want to admit to it to himself.

When Higgs says that "All that pain (Sam) nurses will only going to get worse" when Sam learns the truth about Lou, he means that he will find out that Amelie has lied to him again, she changed who Lou is and he's been raising essentially a different person for some time.

I can see Sam going through an arc of not knowing how he feels about Lou, maybe even feeling some resentment towards her through Amelie, but he'll ultimately accept Lou for who she is- I feel like Sam would never reject Lou, no matter what. I can see him going through a character arc similar to Harry Mason from Silent Hill (which would maybe be a roundabout Silent Hills reference?).

Both Amelie and Lou are also symbolised by angel imagery or themes- Higgs calls Amelie "a sweet little angel on death" in DS1, and Lou has been consistently potrayed with angel wings in DS2 trailers. Amelie is the red angel of death, while Lou is the blue-ish angel of protection, proving that they are related characters, but are, in a way, mirrored.

2. BODY

Elle Fanning's character, who I will call Chrystalis, is Amelie's body that fell into the Seam and was "spat out" by the tar into the world of the living.

We see Chrystalis in a well, chrystalis. A chrystalis is specifically a cocoon used by developing moths and butterflies. As we know, caterpillars are known to liquify in their cocoon in order to go through a transformation; I think that Amelie's body (or a part of it) was encased in a cocoon and liquified- in order to develop into something different. She looks different than Amelie because some "genes" got reshuffled in the process, or the tar wasn't able to recreate Amelie perfectly from a single body part.

The Chrystalis doesn't know who she is because she doesn't have a soul, which is within Lou.

We also see her body being pulled up on that one shot with the table because the EEs want to pull her up where she belongs- since they are the only established characters that we see "in the sky" or "up". They can sense that the Chrystalis is Amelie, but they can't sense that she is just a "piece" of her, and not a complete EE.

I don't have that much to say (yet) about the Chrystalis, since we don't have much info on her.

3. WHAT REMAINS

Okay, so we've got the soul and the body- what else is there?

Do you remember the octopus arms inside the BB pod at the end of trailer 1?

Well, it's also Amelie. In a way.

The octopus/tentacles represent what remained of Amelie after giving away her soul and tossing away her body. The octopus is something like her EE essence, her primal force made real. She dwells in the Seam now, adapted to the conditions of a being who has no need of venturing onto land again.

It's hard to say how much the octopus remembers or knows about who it was; I can see it attacking the Magellan a'la kraken, not realizing that it's Sam and two pieces of her in there, but I can also see it retaining some of Amelie's memories and feelings.

As for other proof, I don't have much- both Amelie and the octopus are associated with red.

An octopus is also the the logo of the Magellan, and as we know, their goal is spreading the chiral network onto another continent- octopuses have been used in propaganda to symbolize far-reaching power, which I think might relate to BRIDGES' desire to get more people onto the network. The chiral network was also Amelie's dream, so the fact that it's spreading further on might relate to her new octopus form.

I think that the myth of Akkorokamui from the Ainu (an ethnic group indigenous to Japan) mythology is worth mentioning: According to one version (quoting wikipedia) Akkorokamui was once a gigantic spider named Yaushikep who lived in the mountains nearby a village named Rebunge. One day, Yaushikep descended down to Rebunge and caused havoc. Fearing for their lives, the villagers prayed to the gods to save them. Their prayers were answered by the sea god Repun Kamuy, who pulled Yaushikep into Uchiura Bay. It is said that Yaushikep turned into a giant octopus who took over the bay as its god and since then, he has been known by the villagers as At-kor-kamuy or Akkorokamui.

BRIDGES in the first game is represented by spiders and spiderwebs. DS pulls from many different mythologies of course, so an inclusion of an Ainu myth wouldn't suprise me. Perhaps it might parellel how Amelie saw how much pain she and her organisation caused, so she chose to give her soul to Lou and leave her body behind to transform into an octopus that now rules over the Seam and can't hurt anyone anymore, since the Seam only has its own native wildlife in there, no humans.

CONCLUSION

I know that this theory is a lot, but I really think that at least some pieces of it might make it into the game. I have no doubts that Amelie is still heavily involved in some way, even if she isn't "alive", so to speak. Kojima does love a good story of "larger than life figure dies and now we have to struggle with the fallout".

I think that Higgs might ultimately want to find a way to put Lou's soul, Chrystalis' body and the octopus together to "revive" Amelie and cause the final extinction- we see by his attire that he clearly wants to immitate Amelie, so him wanting to finally kill her to get his revenge and take over in her steed seems plausible. Higgs was also stuck on the Beach back then, so he might've witnessed Amelie giving her soul to Lou and hatching his plan then. It's kinda funny, really- he tries so hard to be Amelie, while the three parts of her have no idea who they are.

A lot of people seem to think that DS2 will be a sort of deconstruction of DS1 like MGS2 was to MGS, and yeah, I can see that.

A big theme of MGS2, one of a few, was identity, especially one that we construct for ourselves. DS2 seems to hint towards it too- Fragile being "Fragile in name only", which can mean a few things, BRIDGES establishing DRAWBRIDGE to continue the spread of the chiral network, Higgs cosplaying Amelie, Sam having to take on his identity as a porter once more etc. All of the new characters seem to deliberately not have names revealed, letting the players theorize about them and sort of give them the identity they want them to have.

I think that this theory continues this theme- Sam will learn to love Lou no matter who she is, Chrystalis will develop her own personality on her own terms and figure out who she is and wants to be, while the octopus will either remember who she was or live in blissful ignorance as a giant octopus.

The game's subtitle, "on the beach", seems to be hinting towards Amelie's involvment too- after all, she dwells on the Beach now, and said to Sam that this is where she will be waiting for him this time too. This subtitle will likely have multiple meanings once the game comes out, but I can only connect it with Amelie as of now.

"Should we have connected?" once again, will have multiple meanings once the game comes out, but I can see it relating to Sam's and Amelie's connection- if not for that, she wouldn't give her soul to Lou to "be" with Sam, not threatning Lou's life because of it, and probably avoiding whatever calamity is about to happen in the DS2's story.

Thank you all for reading!

[lucatielenjoyer]

uh oh, more insane theories from the local Lucatiel Simp

Y'all know the drill by now.

So relating to my last post, the second theory I have concerning the Darklurker is that it is the last fragment of Manus' being, similar to the queens within the game.

First, an explanation of the queens within ds2 in case you're one of those poor fucks who follows me but doesn't play ds2:

Within Dark Souls, one of the most important entities lorewise is Manus, the Father of the Abyss. His soul, contrary to those of the other Lords, was dark, borne from the shadows that linger on the edge of a fire's light (in my opinion. He did possess the Dark Soul, but it's not really specified what made it different, apart from its name and apparent power).

However, Manus wasn't manus when he found it. He was the Furtive Pygmy, and actually split the Dark Soul into fragments prior to his first death, which led to the creation of humankind.

Later on, people from Oolacile, a land of Golden Sorcery that (ironically) manipulated light, dug his corpse up and at the behest of the Darkstalker Kaathe (one of the Abyssal serpents who manipulate the world from shadow) performed terrible and cruel experiments upon it.

These experiments, coupled with the theft of the Pygmy's amulet, drove its lingering soul mad, causing the birth of Manus and the complete devastation of Oolacile, and the creation of the place that would become known as the Abyss.

The main character of Dark Souls 1, the Chosen Undead, eventually destroys Manus, and that's the end. Or so we thought.

As it turns out, parts of manus persisted within the Abyss, emerging thousands of years later as four (or five, if you think Mytha is one) women, each borne from one of his Negative emotions. Alsanna from his Fears, Elana from his Wrath, Nashandra from his Want, and while Nadalia isn't specified, a lot of people think she is his Loneliness.

Now, something you may have noticed is that none of these are particularly good things, which makes sense. The birth of Manus was not a happy event, and I think that most goodness was driven from his Soul upon his birth.

Most.

My main theory for the Darklurker (took long enough, eh?) is that it is the virtues of Manus. Those better aspects of him that were nearly lost during the transformation into the progenitor of the boundless dark within men. The Darklurker's lack of a voice at all, its ability to wield magic, and its pseudo-angelic appearance reminds me of a fallen angel, which is notably different from the appearance of the Abyssal Daughters. They, for the most part, resemble darker beings such as Demons, Grim Reapers, or horribly twisted human forms. The otherwordly appearance of the Darklurker makes me feel like its nature is much less grounded, and more abstract. Hence, the virtues of Manus.

anyway sorry for the rambling, I just realized i have a semi-captive audience. Love y'all moots.

[sanctaignorantia]

My theory about Fragile taking care of Lou.

I keep comparing Fragile's situation to Cliff's because I think it's an obvious thing to do and it's Kojima's intention, but I can't tell if he's being obvious here or if he's set up the whole situation so that we think it's going to be so obvious… anyway, I've only just met him [with Death Stranding] so I don't know how his mind works when it comes to announcing a game sequel.

But let's start… that whole Fragile sequence with Lou can't be the "beginning of the game". Firstly, because in the second trailer she shows no trace of remorse, sadness or grief in the way she talks to Sam. So I think that the Fragile in trailer 2 may well be the Fragile at the beginning of the game, but that whole scene of her with Lou in trailer 1 is not.

That sequence in trailer 1 is simply "save Lou" in a place where probably only Fragile will have access and come with me, because if Kojima is crazy I'm worse.

Let's pretend that we've found "some truth" about Lou, after all she communicates through her pod, but Lou is somewhere that only Fragile has access to due to her DOOMs level that gives the ability to teleport. Or we could say that some event similar to Cliff's supercell will take place, but that only Fragile will have access or Fragile will volunteer to go. So technically it will be the "minigame with Fragile" in the same way as with Sam in DS1.

While we play with Sam to "defeat" Cliff in that event, we have Cliff on the other side looking for his BB. So here with Fragile it's no different, it's us now who want our BB back, and as with Cliff, we'll have someone to cause us trouble and that trouble is Lou's death every time we try to save her in this "dimension".

So I imagine it would be a game mode where the objective would be: "protect Lou", "escape with Lou", "prevent such a thing from killing Lou", but we will always lose…

Sam: Something he said. "You don't know a goddamn thing about Lou." Fragile: Alright, Sam. Let's see what we can find on Lou.

Higgs: If you want answers, you're gonna have to find 'em yourself. But... the ones you do find-- well that pain you nurse... will only get worse. Sam the man... in the dark. About everything.

And then something else comes to mind. Sam was absorbed by the supercell and was fighting his own father who was trying to get his son back, which was us. So the whole situation was set up to make us believe that Cliff was the bad guy, when in fact it wasn't quite like that. The truth that is revealed to us at the end is painful and shocking, so I think the truth that will be revealed at the end about Lou will carry the same impact, Higgs talks about it in the second trailer obviously.

So I don't think it's for nothing that the first trailer is set up with Higgs singing the same song that Cliff sang, and with Fragile having the same reaction that Cliff had, I think it makes a lot more sense to me now in a way of saying "look what's happening here is the same thing that happened to Cliff, give me my BB back!".

Now there's something else that's always made me wonder, and I have no idea if Kojima has ever commented on it or what. It's about the astronaut keychain and the doubt as to if Lou's pod is the same pod that Sam wore as a baby.

(I think there's something in the game about this keyring, but I can't remember, I think it was Igor's brother who gave it to him as a present, something like that? I don't remember.)

But it doesn't stop there, because after we meet Cliff for the last time and he gives us his army chain, it ends up in the pod too, and we know how powerful a connection object is in the game.

And well… I don't remember seeing any astronauts or army chains in the first DS2 trailer, it just focuses on dream filters, something to do with Amelie and nothing about Cliff.

And in the second trailer, when the pod appears, it doesn't have a keyring either… so I could say that it's just a joke by Kojima or if it could be something real (but I confess that realizing that Sam hasn't kept anything of Cliff's is a bit painful).

So that's it for now, it's Friday and then I can relax my mind, be crazy and theorize...

[katyspersonal]

Gotta point this out for certain though, SOTE is definitely not the first time Fromsoft was creating the story with the direction of "well we thought it was the final draft, but we then decided to continue it which resulted in a retcon that makes it awkward"! Dark Souls 3 IS this thing too!

Dark Souls 2 pushed very hard for the idea that Drangleic was build on the ruins of countless kingdoms that raised and fell for absurd amount of cycles on the earth where Lordran stood all this time ago! This is why there are so many weapons and sorceries owned by characters from Dark Souls 1 "whose names were long forgotten" and more importantly, this is why "Old Ones" are reincarnations of Gwyn, Nito, Witch of Izalith and Seath! Not the first reincarnations, mind you, as Vendrick also beat them up back in his time! Literally the "How many times do we have to teach you, old man" moment hdhygnm

But, Dark Souls 3 kinda retconned this into a situation where all these magics, objects and legends just mysteriously got washed into Drangleic through all these traveling people, and "names being forgotten" is just a severe case of long distance and lack of communication with their places of origin... all while Anor Londo and Lordran literally still exist this whole time and only very few people had enough braincells to just go there ghthfyh (Aldia to convince Lothric to not be a Melina, Bearer of the Curse for some reasons but they told the world about Lucatiel, Creighton moving in Irithyll and.... fuckin Gilligan to become father to Sulyvahn, it isn't even a joke..)

And it makes the Old Ones + Daughters of Dark really funny because it just makes the original Four Lords and Knuckles Seath still end up in the same place after having somehow traveling away from Lordran despite not being quite themselves anymore. It is like fate. They are always destined to meet again only to be beaten by some human. Red strings of HATE.

And yet, it isn't as if DS2 and DS3 are just two variants that are both sequels to DS1 and you just choose which variant you like more! Dark Souls 3 calls back to Dark Souls 2 too much, DS2 events happened and their aftermath is in DS3 plot. The thing is.. here, Dark Souls 3 existing after all this doesn't make the overall trilogy story bad, but it does make it awkward, and absurd in some places! How everyone "forgotten" people who literally lived overseas and are still remembered there. (And imagine how much more awkward it would be if they DID include Patches in DS2 like they planned to! xD Also more fuel for me to not consider Queen of Lothric to be Gwynevere as to not create a character who ran from her problems twice, from the same problem :p)

I guess my point here is like... Fromsoft just kind of does it, and they might do it again. Dark Souls 2 was developed with the idea in mind that it would be it, every character in it hammers it into your brain, but then Dark Souls 3 happened! And it good that it did, the whole game is a meta commentary on what happens when people don't let the story end! And Elden Ring, by Miyazaki's admission, was created with cropping a lot of lore, plotlines and some characters (like Messmer) from original vision as the game was already too massive... but then they decided to make DLC with those ideas anyways! That likewise created retcons of some ideas that had previously fell into their places very neatly and made stories of Miquella, Malenia, Radahn and Marika flow less conveniently, but! they!! didn't even know at the moment!!! that they'd get to make the DLC!!!

I think they always could just do it again; give their product everything just in case if it flops and sequel/DLC doesn't get made, so the standalone thing feels self-suffucient! Fromsoft just looks like they don't take calculated risks but always act through the prism of "assume it already didn't sell well", and never abandoned this philosophy even while making base Elden Ring! Despite how much their reputation was proceeding them by the time! And honestly, when I understand there is likely pattern, it is hard to be mad at their decisions or how awkward they make the story. Like, yeah, sometimes the "the product made as if it already fropped" and "the surprise sequel/DLC" bits are practically Frankensteined rather than blend harmonically, but that's their thing! It isn't a perfect philosophy of creating their stories, but it is individual, and no company or specific writer could ever be perfect. (I think to truly enjoy someone's unique approach is to accept the sharp, inconvenient bits too rather than trying to "fix" it into perfection, but that's just my perspective on creativity process)

[muses-inn]

The Markers

Since Markers are important in Dead Space and will get mentioned in Threads, here's a 'quick' explanation on what they are and what they do:

Initially, the Markers were believed to be a source of unlimited Energy. While in the midst of a Resource War, the U.S.S. Ishimura was ordered to recover the re-discovered Marker 3A on Aegis VII, which was once created at the end of the 23rd century by the Sovereign Colonies. What the crew on the Ishimura didn't know at that time is, it was placed there for experimentation purposes where it was abandoned following a Necromorph outbreak.

The first Marker, known as the "Black Marker," was found in the Chicxulub crater on Earth in 2214. Its discovery was hidden by the government of Earth at the time, the Sovereign Colonies, but was brought to public knowledge by one of the researchers, Michael Altman - an event that kickstarted the formation of the Church of Unitology. Decades later, at the end of the 23rd century, the Black Marker was used by the Sovereign Colonies to create Red Marker copies in a large-scale Marker replication program.

Unitologists believe the Black Marker was responsible for the development of human life, with Jacob Arthur Danik speculating that the Black Marker forced evolution on Earth to create an intelligent species capable of creating more Markers with the ultimate plan of initiating a Convergence Event; a theory that appears to be correct.

Markers emit signals that affect the minds of those nearby, inducing hallucinations, paranoia, and eventually, psychotic behavior. These effects lead to irrational, sometimes violent behavior. People exposed to Markers experience vivid hallucinations, seeing loved ones who have died or hearing voices, which lure them into becoming tools for the Marker's ultimate goal.

A central purpose of the Markers is to create Necromorphs – mutated, reanimated corpses driven to spread and assimilate more dead tissue. Through the Marker's influence, humans are manipulated into creating Necromorph outbreaks. This leads to an event known as "Convergence," a process where Necromorphs gather and fuse into a larger, collective organism, achieving the Marker's dark purpose to finally forming a Brethren Moon. Brethren Moons consume entire planets/stars and spread destruction across the Universe. Assimilation and consumption is all these transformed beings strive for.

Unitologists worship the Markers and believe that transforming into Necromorphs is entering a higher stage of evolution. They also believe that triggering the Convergence will ultimately bring salvation to humankind.

Isaac Clarke became a Marker Architect after Dead Space 1 and was indirectly responsible through his manic scribbled blueprints for the creation of the Site 12 Marker in Dead Space 2. Logs later found by Isaac revealed that, to select individuals hypothesized to have a higher intelligence or be more compatible, the Marker signal could manifest inside their minds as 'blueprints' for the construction of new Markers, turning them into vessels for the artifacts' propagation.

The thing about Red Markers is, they require the death of their makers and subsequent absorption of their bodies to complete a Convergence Event. Which is why Unitologists attempted to kill/sacrifice Isaac to trigger the event during DS2.

John Carver's brain was also imprinted by a Marker, but he's ultimately only subjected to hallucinations and violence, meant for him to lose his mind and become fodder to the Necromorphs in the 'higher scheme of things'.