#everlasting flame

[espritradieux]

I'm gonna play chapter 25 again

[prosegalaxy]

In the realm of Eterni, where time bends like a gentle breeze, two souls collide, bound by fate's whimsy. She, a maiden from yesterday's embrace, he, a warrior from tomorrow's might. Together they dance through past, present, and future, weaving their love into the tapestry of time. Their passion, an everlasting flame, a testament to love's enduring power. For in Eterni, all that is lost can be found again, and true love always finds its way.

[brainrotisseriechicken]

drew this as an excuse to draw fire (also i hate drawing ozs hair . fuckass haircut)

[catfindr]

[69turboshalava69]

I did Final lesson vs Everlasting flames comparison bc I'm obsessed and also i couldn't find any posts like this (which is probably tumblrs fault so if something like that already exists sorry)

[bluedrawsalot]

“She was reborn in the fire. She was smiling in the fire.”

a Himeko piece from over two months ago.

bonus:

[hoyotunes]

Moon Halo from Moon Halo Chalili, TetraCalyx, Hanser, Zoe, Gon, HOYO-MiX

[eri-pl]

Silm reread 7: the Darkening of Valinor

So Melkor loses his shapeshifting "soon after" he runs away from Valinor (hiding from Tulkas and Orome), but when exactly? I suppose when he empowered Ungoliant. Because later he doesn't disembody or go in spirit form again.

Yes, he takes his big bad form to talk with her— and so he stays. Forever, says the book.

Ungoliant is afraid of Aman and of the Valar. :D

Melkor promises her a lot, with no intent to keep it. I feel like this may have something to do with him being so much nerfed after the situation, unable to take his power back from her (if it would be possible anyway) and almost eaten.

The Valar do like to take CoI-like forms and eat and drink (and celebrate in general I suppose). It is canon.

Feanáro is ordered to come to the party. Huh. why? who thought they had the authority to do it? the book doesn't say, so maybe it was Ingwë, this would make sense and I see why he would think it was a good idea.

Finwë is still upset, and as long as Fefe is banished, he does not want to meet his people. So again, Fingolfin doesn't feel very usurpy to me here.

…and despite being named "Wise", he overtalks Feanáro too. :( This time it doesn't result in Fefe getting upset, but in a badly worded promise.

Ungoliant eats the trees, gets so big and ugly that even Melkor is terrified of her.

Darkness mentioned again!!!

(googling the english text of this part)

The Light failed; but the Darkness that followed was more than loss of light. In that hour was made a Darkness that seemed not lack but a thing with being of its own: for it was indeed made by malice out of Light, and it had power to pierce the eye, and to enter heart and mind, and strangle the very will.

Oh. Darkness that is a thing. No, It *seems* to be a thing. (see: Theodicy and all that.)

I'll have to make a mass analysis of all the capital D Darknesses and how to connect them all (bind? no, we're not gonna do the bindy-bindy) to one concept. But I feel like they should be all facets of one thing concept.

Another thing (a thought for @dfwbwfbbwfbwf especially, I think): It's not "if". It's whenever their deeds started failing too much, Darkness fell upon them and entered heart and mind, and strangled the very will.

I don't think I'll subscribe to this HC, not fully, it makes things too easy, their hand was forced and I don't like their hand being forced.

But partially? This I will subscribe to. They did call upon something, something that seemed to be true, something that seemed to have the power to compel them. I think this reading is very close to Tolkien's intent, because it stinks of "this is how evil works".

Am I portraying Ungoliant as more evil than Melkor?

I think that at least in some aspect I am. Because she feels like something that is not entirely, well, that not entirely *is*. I don't know how to explain it better. And he was a Vala.

Can you stop being? Can you turn from a being to a non-being? I don't think so… I do not subscribe to the "Ungoliant was an uMaia" theory. I don't subscribe to any theory of "Ungoliant was [something that objectively exists]".

Ungoliant as Melkor's (self-inflicted but still real) trauma given a illusion of form by his power? Mmm. I like this one. I don't think it will be popular, but I do like it. (Or: his hatered, his jealousy, something like that, if you prefer. I don't think those are far apart from one another in this case.)

(Why is it easier to me when something evil-evil is not really real? Is it philosophy or my personality issues? Good question. I think there is some philosophy there too.)

Tulkas gets paralyzed by the spider-induced Darkness and Orome gets a "silence" spell on him. So, not only Melkor is defeated by a spider, he's just the most defeated.

[evenings-at-the-seaofquanta]

Having a moment rn

Also on a more general note:

[watcher-of-light-n-darkness]

the ‘power of friendship’ trope will never get old because there’s just something about seeing any beloved character get pushed to their limits and then The Friend(s) arriving in the nick of time to save them.

At that point, I am shouting and screaming.

Alternatively, characters getting a deus ex machina power up at their ‘last’ moments. (when done right, I will also be shouting and screaming)

(this is also a shoutout to cliches when done right.)

(creators first hook you in with very lovable characters so you are much more compelled to cheer for them in a pinch)

[celesticnova]

Reblog to get as many answers as possible! Also, sorry for combining Cyberangel and Seele. Only 10 options are allowed unfortunately.

[tea-cat-arts]

For today’s “I can’t sleep so I’m gonna rant about fiction”

So basically, here’s why I think that is:

Up until HoD, every Herrscher had been a previously human character we either knew directly from the main story or a character that is attached to someone who is a part of the main story. This created a sort of push and pull where the world was being affected on one front, but our mcs were being affected on entirely other one. Sure, Anna was destroying a city, but that matters a whole lot less than the parallel between the Anna/Crow romance and Kiamei and wondering if our girls are doomed in the same way. Honkai’s strongest writing has always been in its character dramas and relationships, so I think this format worked perfectly.

HoD departed from this by having no personal attachment to our main girls. It honestly seemed more like a vessel to repeat the plot points and themes of the story up until that point back to the audience. It didn’t even know how to hurt the gals personally, each attempt at throwing them into despair was met with a quick “no, you’re wrong. Stfu.” HoC is really more of a plot device than anything. It does what it needs to in order to make the plot happen, but that’s about it. None of the flame chasers seem to have much emotional investment in who the Herrscher is, just in stoping the damage it’s doing.

Anyways, here’s my “off the top of my head, written in two minutes” pitches for how I would’ve handled these Herrscher:

I basically would’ve combined Everlasting Flames with Thus Spoke Apocalypse. I think it would’ve been interesting of HoD was a direct product of Otto’s experiments and was using one of the soulium bodies as the base host. It’s rather outdated reads on the girls could be a reflection of his lack of understanding of them and how they’ve grown. I think this would also create a more gradual transition between the arcs. Have HoD come from the beginnings of Otto reaching/communicating with the Honkai gods. The experiment goes out of control and Otto is actually forced to reach out to his enemies to solve the problem. As he works with them, he sees how they’ve grown and determines they’re ready for the next stage of his plan. Otto being the cause of the major problem could also be his public reasoning for retiring. Side note, but in this version of events, I’d have Kiana only partially become HoF and not have her gain full control of the form until fighting Otto.

I think my pitch for HoC involves less canon changing? Anyways, I’d have HoC be the direct product of Mei’s desperation. I’d introduce the core back when she joined World Serpent by having Kevin directly give it to her and have Mei use it to take back the HoT gem from Kiana. I think this would also put Mei in a greater debt to WS since I’m this scenario, they actually did give her the tools she needed instead of just showing her how to get the tools herself. I’d have the core lay dormant for a couple chapters, slowly gaining more and more power as Mei confronts more Herrschers and gets more desperate. I’d still have it awaken at the same time as it did in canon, but this time, it’s personality would be a corruption of Mei’s ideals that came as a side affect of being with WS. HoC puts the flame chasers into their ideal lives without their consent as a more extremely version of what Mei did to Kiana by deciding what’s best for them even as they scream “I don’t want this.” An added bonus of this would be that by defeating the Herrscher, Elysia would be visually defeating that part of Mei. I think it could be a nice visual representation of how Elysia calmed Mei down and helped get rid of her impatience and desperation.

Anyways, this has been my TED talk. It’s 5am, goodnight/good morning

[blazingblorbos]

   Honkai Impact 3rd is a love letter of a game

  In its creation, and throughout its conception, the story that it sought to tell is one filled, so completely, with the concept of love and thanks.

  It's a medium of appreciation. The story thanks everyone and everything that it comes into contact with.  Its creators, developers, player-base, and characters.

   I think the story is perfect, not necessarily because it's masterfully well-written, or because it's groundbreaking in its approach, but because it served its purpose so well.  The pride and joy of Honkai as a game, is the way its community feels so united in its experience with the story.

   Every time I think about it, I feel like I just know that these developers care so much about their game. About their characters, their story, and the world they've created. And they never fail to try and let the playerbase know this.

   Recently - especially - they've dedicated the last couple shorts to the collective community. Uniting us in their message "Fight for all that's beautiful in the world"; and their sincere dream: "May all the beauty be blessed"

It's been through its ups and downs, but personally I think that only contributes to its sincerity. I've seen and heard so many beautiful stories about the way this game has helped others. How other players feel so deeply connected to it, because something about it - the narrative, the characters, the music, etc - just resonated within them. And it really is the case for the majority of us.

I haven't had experiences with any other piece of media that loves its community so much.... Whose community seems so deeply connected, related, and intertwined through their shared - HIGHLY EMOTIONAL - experience with the game.

   And I feel so at home here, despite not really directly interacting with others. 'Cause I'll browse posts made by other people- other players, about how excited they are for the next version, or how scared they are to watch the new short.  How loudly they sobbed over the lyrics of the latest song, how much they've saved for that one character...

      This game, this story, has left such an impact on us all. It's the reason we're still here,  it's the reason we stayed. Some people quit after the first hour of playing, and it's understandable because the beginning of the game is far from amazing.   But not us. We kept going - for one reason or another - and eventually settled in and stayed for so many more reasons.

And now that Part 1 is over, Graduation Trip managed to tie together everything about this ~7 year old journey into one tender 7 minute piece of masterful emotional expression.

 It's a little hard to say goodbye, but it doesn't hurt anymore.  I cried because I'm happy, and I'll look back at the story that once was with fondness.

   It is the culmination of everything we've been through - all of us.  From creators to veterans to new players. They're thankful for all of it, and this short is the epitome of their gratitude. It's their love letter to the story we all made.

   It's a love letter to her.  To her who inspired them, and inspired us.  A love letter to us. To us who inspired her and them.  The devs created this story. The story reached us, affected us, and as a result we - the playerbase, who game developers naturally depend on - managed to affect the story in return.

Thank you

[phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing]

Not sure why you're so hostile about it? I didn't say that I think the characters are poorly written, I said that nothing they have released has gotten me to care about them enough to read their story. I'm sure that I could like these characters, if there was more than a quick gay dance to get me into them.

Sorry, I’m not annoyed at you in particular I’m just tired of hearing people say they don’t like part 2. Heck I don’t even know who you are :V

The quick gay dance is literally the prologue of the part 2 story, it happens before you even meet most of the characters, it’s more of a teaser than anything. Hi3 has had a lot of climactic cinematics but those were always shallow snippets of the climax of the story with extra cool visuals? Hell the Elysian Realm characters never had that until the end of their arc despite their popularity.

Playing the story gets me into the story idk what to tell you

[fukiana]

trailblazer speedrunning in the first arc what took kiana several years............

[e17omm]

Does anyone else dislike that the new stage-based chapters are "2 acts + cg" and not "3 acts with cg at the end"?

Im splitting up ch35's 2 acts into three pieces, because like in Kolosten, having the cg happen a week after I fought the boss just doesnt feel right.

Imagine if Kiana vs Senti had a 1 week break between the fight and Shattered Samsara.