#funnily enough this quest got me into hsr analysis

[pearsandrust]

i know we're long past penacony but i'll never be over how aventurine's story uses the rule of three. it's a common theme in art, i know, but we see it everywhere with him: three slots in a slot machine, three dice in his trailer, three screens behind his boss battle. but it's not just his character -- it's his entire life. three cornerstones for penacony; the three eyes of gaiathra triclops; a life in three parts (a child, a slave, and a stoneheart). the further you look into his lore, the more you notice it. everything comes in threes. except for one thing.

Mama only left us with two pieces of jewelry: A necklace and a lucky charm. There won't ever be a third piece.

and it's the one thing he values most in the world. more than wealth or luck or life, even. aventurine would trade the universe for his family. and yet, even though everything else about him works in threes, he only has two pieces of his mother's jewelry -- only two pieces by which to remember the only people that have ever really loved him. it symbolizes how his family's absence is a gaping wound in his life, one that he can never fill no matter how much wealth he accumulates. it means that his life will always feel broken and incomplete and wrong, and he knows this. he's aware of the irony of it all, because he points out that there won't ever be a third piece. he realizes what he lacks, what he can never get back, what he'll continue to miss for the rest of his life.

what must it be like to know you'll never feel whole again ...?