#goddess etro

[ethernalium]

Goddess Etro by Yoshitaka Amano

[andywinter16]

Terror. Madness. Grief. It flashed all through Regis head when they got safely back to Insomnia. Poor Noctis cried the whole time for Luna. Luna and Ravus, he left them in their enemies hands. He sweard to Sylva, that he will get them back. Niflheim would pay for their crimes ! After leaving exhausted Noctis in hands of his caretakers, Regis went alone to the Crystal chamber. To have a word with his ancestors who silently observed their lifes. 

--

Regis ordered everyone to leave. No one understand why, yet who they were to questioned the king´s decision. After that the chamber became cold, it felt even hostile to be alone there with Crystal. Regis  without any pretensions summoned the power of the ring after more than eight years since he lost her, love of his life. He yearned for his Queen so much, for her soothing touch, her breathtaking smile and a raucous laugh. Those joyful memories still hurted when he though about her. You left us too soon, my love. 

--

The kings and queens of Yore showed themselves before the current king. The time itself froze in the moment. A powerful magic was unleashed and Crystal reacted. 

“ Why did you called upon us, child?” said the Founder king strictly on his massive throne. Regis felt so insignificant in their presence. 

Drained Regis spoke to him as politely as he could. “"I wish to speak to my dear wife. She should be here among you as rightful ruler of Insomnia.” He stood there in anticipation, but no one showed up. The kings and queens were silent, until the Rogue queen took pity on him and said. “Young king, her soul is not here among us.”  Regis was shocked. “ Then where is soul of my beloved?”

“ What an insolence, to think a mere mortal could be in our ranks.” the Warrior king said offended, many of the attendees agreeing with him.

Regis narrowed his eyes at the old king. “ Let me remind you o mighty king, that you all were once mortals like myself. And you especifically should know, what it is to lose your loved one.”  One by one Regis looked around and exclaimed coldly. “ I ask you once again rulers of Yore, where is my wife?”  Yet again no answer was given to Regis.

“Perhaps, I can give you the answer, your highness.” a woman emerged out of nowhere before Regis. He fastly drew his sword in defense. The woman came closer unarmed, as Regis noticed. She looked very young perhaps in her early twenties. “ You can´t expect answer from those who Bahamut chained to do his biding, my lord.”The woman looked at him with regret.” A cursed line of Lucis Caelum, to never know rest. You were ripped from my lady´s hands, when she wanted to bestow blessing upon your bloodline, your highness.”  Regis was wary of her, yet something in him told him to listen to this child. “ If only I was stronger, then I could ripped Bahamut apart for his treachery.” the woman clenched her hand into a fist,” Your highness, you want answers that I can give you, my only condition is that you listen to what I have to say.”  Regis briefly thought about it, he didn´t see  harm in it.

“Let´s say young one, that I would accept this proposal. But first tell me, who are you and about what lady you spoke of to?”  curiosite got better of him.

The woman bowed deeply. “ Hope your highness will pardon my rudeness. I am here on behalf my lady, Etro. And as for me, I am her humble servant Andrea, but perhaps  you will be more familiar with a name  Leo.”  mischievous smile played on her full lips. Regis froze in place upon hearing that name. He remembered the ancient books, in his youth, that told about that name: Leo the beast of Etro´s gate and guardian of dead.

[taylorswiftstyle]

The Eras Tour | evermore Section

Etro custom Christian Louboutin custom

It's of zero surprise to me that this ruffled, tie-front dress that Taylor wears for the evermore section on tour is by Etro. You'll recall me specifically name checking them as a point of reference for the designs of her folkmore sections as part of my TSS Predictions post. The Grammy performance really was a key jumping off point to nailing the bohemian goddess cottagecore look worthy of these albums visuals.

Get the look: Free People, $128.00

[nirgilis]

SRNHNR Extra 1 - Unseen Realm and Night Final World

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Extra 2

"When the twilight of the gods at last descends upon this world, what emerges from the unseeable expanse beyond that Door will be but music, and that devoid of words: the lamentations of the Goddess Etro, as She sobs Her song of grief."

"Somnus" - Etro's song about sleeping Bhunivelze might be the "lamentations" described in FF13's Analect.

On FF15's main screen plays instrumental version of "Somnus," which is "devoid of words," as violin replaces the voice from version with lyrics.

While in FF15 main screen symbolises night to which Noctis has to bring dawn, in VS13 a similar main screen might've meant entering Unseen Realm.

In a way in KH "Somnus" appears 2 times:

KH3 secret ending which has its first accords.

Track which plays when Sora wakes up in Night Final World has "singing," or humming to be presize.

If the author isn't mistaken, track from Night Final World is one of a very few soundtracks from KH, which have any sort of voice in them.

That doesn't include Utada Hikaru's OPs and EDs, Disney and TWEWY's featured songs.

Few others namely being track from Verum Rex commercial, Mising Link's version of "Dearly Beloved" and possibly KH3 Data Fight arragement of YMX's theme.

[ertrunkenerwassergeist]

Can you tell us about flow laying? Like what are some of the cards used and what do they mean, how it's decided there should do one and who should be invited to it?

Do I have more info about flow laying? Oh boy, do I have more info about flow laying. (I have hand drawn charts!)

(This will be all over the place and very long, but please, bear with me.)

First off, the name. Why is it called flow laying? Well, because the cards literally read the flow of power travelling through the world. That way they can give information about the past and present, while they can only make guesses about the future. (Though most of the time they're very good guesses.)

Each card represents a person, a being, a concept, or a seat of power. Like the Black Ships represent the concept of unsuspecting danger drawing closer.

To your last question: In the case of The Games We Play, Rhea - as the owner of the cards - made the decision to lay them. (The reason was the too long and too cold winter) There's a preliminary reading upon which Rhea decides which people need to be present. It's an art form to read the cards and interpret who represents who and who to invite.

There are three big categories the cards fall into:

Active cards, sleeping cards and dead cards.

Active cards are depicting those beings/people/concepts which are actively part of what you want to know. Sleeping cards depict those who don't/can't actively play a part, but are still a factor to be considered. And dead cards are remnants that are still important, but are quite literally dead.

The next biggest categories are the domains in which the cards take their places. There are two of them. The Greater Domains and the Lesser Domains. Which Domain (group of cards) falls into which is dependent on infulence and power, so there's a certain amount of fluidity. Though it is considered a Big Deal when a Domain changes place.

Under the Greater Domains fall The Hunt, The Astrals, The Night, The Day and The Wilds. The Lesser Domains contain The Fire, The Black and the Royal Domain. There's also a group of neutral cards that don't owe their allegiance to one Domain or another, so they make a group of their own.

How many cards there are exactly constantly changes and depends on what the person/people laying the cards want to know. (The Greater Domain of The Astrals is the most stable at 30 cards. The six Astrals and the 24 messengers.)

The Domains of The Hunt and The Wilds represent those belonging to the Wooden Throne, which represents Galahd. The card Wooden Throne itself is considered neutral, since it doesn't belong to one Domain or another.

The Astrals are pretty self explanatory, I think.

The Night and The Day represent the Sister Goddesses and their servants. (Etro, for example, it the Queen of The Night. She is a sleeping card, because she cannot actively intervene in anything going on. Eos is the Queen of The Day. She is a dead card for obvious reasons.)

The Black is the starscourge with Ardyn as the Herold. He switches from a sleeping card to an active one, and it makes people in the kow very nervous.

The Royal Domain represents the roayal houses of Lucis and Tenebrae. The King is the king of Lucis, the Queen the queen of Tenebrae. There's also cards called the Shield (Amicitia), and the General (currently Cor).

The Fire is an interesting one because no one is quite sure what that one is about. It slowly cropped up over the span of decades and is mostly made up of sleeping cards with the odd active one.

Neutral cards other than the Black Ships and the Wooden Throne would be the Gates (Death) and the Chained Heart (the Crystal/Light/healing).

[talysalankil]

Fabula Nova Crystallis: The Mythology

I was trying to dig this video up to show a friend and it occurred to me that holy shit, it's become almost impossible to find this video that Square Enix only showed once at a conference in January 2011, and we're lacking in a proper English translation for it.

So I'm going to put it here for archival purposes and hope tumblr doesn't take it down, along with a translated transcript. I'll be working off Lissar's and FFWorld's translations of the video, using the canon names for the various entities (yes I know "soul" is technically a mistranslation of 心 heart but it is the canon one so hush).

Since I had extra time on my hands, I also put it up on Vimeo with subtitles on. I can provide the srt file (the syncing isn't super tight but since there's a lot of blank space around each line I decided to leave each subtitle for longer than necessary), if anyone's willing to work on translations, you can DM me.

The full transcript is under the cut:

Fabula Nova Crystallis, the new tale of the crystal

Once upon a time, the god Bhunivelze ruled the world. Bhunivelze defeated his mother, the goddess Mwynn, and took control of the world for himself. Mwynn disappeared into the unseen realm.

Bhunivelze was troubled: the world he now ruled over was destined to die. He believed this was a curse laid on the world by his mother Mwynn. He knew he had to destroy her to lift the curse. To do this, he set out to search for the door to the unseen realm where his mother waited. Using his will alone, he created the first fal’Cie.

First, he created the fal’Cie Pulse. The Focus he gave him was to clear out the world, and search for the door to Mwynn.

Next, he created the fal’Cie Etro. But it was a mistake. Unknowingly, he created her exactly in the image of Mwynn. Bhunivelze feared her, and gave Etro no power of her own.

Instead, he created the fal’Cie Lindzei. The Focus he gave him was to protect Bhunivelze from all who might seek to destroy him. Bhunivelze gave Lindzei one special duty. To wake him once the time came. Then he turned to crystal, and fell into an endless sleep.

Pulse wished to expand the world, so he created many fal’Cie and l’Cie.

Lindzei wished to protect the world, so he created many fal’Cie and l’Cie.

But Etro was powerless, and could make nothing of her own. Lonely, she thought of her mother, who she so resembled. Etro tore her own body apart, letting her blood flow to the earth, and disappeared from the visible world. From that blood, torn from her body, sprang humankind. Creatures that were born only to die.

The destruction of the visible world was no curse, only fate. The world was divided into two halves, the visible and the invisible. If the balance between these two were destroyed, the world itself would be destroyed.

The goddess Mwynn could do nothing to stop this fate. She was being swallowed into the chaos of the unseen realm. Just before her last moment, Etro came to her side. Mwynn told Etro that she must protect the balance of the world, before slipping into the chaos forever. But Etro was ignorant of the meaning behind Mwynn’s words.

Etro was lonely, but she felt affection for those humans who live only to die. As they died, she smiled, and gave them chaos. The chaos Etro gave them, the humans named “souls”. Their hearts would become their power, but the humans did not yet know this.

Soon, they called Pulse the all powerful ruler. Lindzei they named their protector, and Etro they named their goddess of death. The humans lived on the world, hold chaos inside their hearts. Because they held chaos so close, the world once again was in balance.

And Bhunivelze still sleeps in crystal stasis. Until the end of days, awaiting the right time.

[catyo90]

Why I still recommend Final Fantasy 13

As we all know FF13 was the black sheep of the Final Fantasy games. It had a different fighting system and was strangely more linear than its previously better-known games. However, this was more of the gamer's issue as when FFX and FFX-2 came out a lot of people said there were too many missable items and didn't like having to search everywhere for items or hidden scenes.

Years later Square Enix responded made FF13, and what were the gamer's responses. "We don't like it"

Now with FF games like 15 and 16 which are open-world people praise both for their own styles and stories. I'll be honest 15 was okay, the fact though that DLC kept coming out for the game and the story was lacking a bit for some of the characters, made me kinda miss the simpler ones. Now as for 16, I have not played it yet but I will differ from those who have that opinion.

As for FF14 which is an mmo its far different from the others but you get the opportunity to play with friends and actually go at your own pace.

But with all the games that have come out of the Final Fantasy franchise, I can say that everyone in the FF13 trilogy I remember and they have good characters. which I wanna talk a little bit about. (FYI this is where the spoilers now will appear. you've been warned. Also Very long Post just fyi)

Let's start off with of course the Queen

Lightning aka Claire Farron. A Cocoon soldier who stays distant and strong for her sister after losing their parents, after years of becoming strong to protect her only family. She faces losing her sister Serah to become an eternal crystal or the insidious cieth. After everything she faces, they save Cocoon. She only had a moment with everyone and realized that she and Serah could have a chance at actual peace. She gets taken away from the dream to save a goddess and forced into the duty of a protector. And even after that, she stays strong, guiding Serah along the way to help her fight Caius even though everyone thinks she is dead.

But then Etro dies and she fails in her mission, overtaken with grief by not only the goddess dying and failing...her sister. The only person in her life that kept her from losing all of her hope. Dies. Everything she did in the first game...gone. And then after sleeping for 500 years she's given the chance by God to save Serah and the World. A sort of redemption if you think about it.

Snow falls kinda under the same category but from a small different point of view. Snow was deeply in love with Serah and in the first game was trying to save her and Cocoon as well. Even though Etro caused Lightning to disappear he still tries to hold the fort and he got to have his peace with her afterward. But sadly he only gets to have that life for a year before FF13-2 starts, the love of his life goes on a mission he cant join. All the while he does his damn hardest to help Fnag and Vanille's pillar holding up Cocoon. And in doing so, willingly takes on the I'cie curse even after getting his brand removed in the first game. Once again everything in the first game almost not worth it (This is a reoccuring theme.), if not for Serah coming back. But then she dies and he can't fix, and he couldn't be there for her. His promise to be her hero is shattered. For 500 years he cares for the people and everyday misses Serah, blaming himself everyday for what happened and not keeping her safe. HE is basically the prime example of a suffering hero.

Hope is kinda the odd one out, he is only a child, in the wrong place wrong time situation with his mother and him being brought into the Bodium purge. He loses his mother and goes on a verge to get revenge on Snow who he held responsible. But in a short amount of time when he stays with Lightning he learns from her that his innocent world is over, he is a fugitive, a I'cie and alone. But after she tells him about her past and facing the worst that life can offer, you grow from it. He even goes from taking up the rear to guarding her in the front, his fear fades throughout the entire game and he learns to grow up to be a fine young man in FF13-2. He even makes a new world for humanity in case Cocoon were to fall. He was their Hope, their hope for a world rid of monsters.

But in LR, we see that he has disappeared possibly having been kidnapped, remolded / torture back into young hope and made to spy on Lightning to fulfill her Savior duties. And can't speak his true thoughts, he is a fake. Even Lightning realizes though that the next world needs him, he even sees his parents who were long since dead he realizes that he gets the chance to have a proper life, Hope is the Symbol for all to have Hope and to Believe.

Sazh suffers from the possibility of outliving his son. He is a widow and the only family left for him is his son who is quite young, and unfortunately at a young age his son is branded by the I'cie. Dajh basically only has a short time to be a child, until he either turns to crystal or a monster. Sazh loses him after being taken and fights to save him, but all the while he slowly loses his faith. He lost his wife and now his son, every moment he questions what they are doing. Only the prospect of saving Dajh keeps him going as well as his Chocobo chick. After saving Dajh though they get to live a normal life until the end of FF-13-2

For almost 500 years Dajh is in a coma like state and Sazh once again loses his faith thinking the only way Dajh can be saved is by doing it himself. When Lightning comes around though and helps reawaken Dajh, well so does Sazh. He regains his faith and even comes to the final moment of the game with everyone ready to welcome the new world with his son. He's the family man, kinda similar to Barret from FF7. But he is also the representation of a man going down the harder path to help those he loves.

Fang and Vanille fall under the same issue, Born to Gran Pulse and lived and had to sleep in immortal crystal to awake and find their home in ruins. The life they lived all gone and the only thing left of who they were is each other. Fang even takes on the torture to awaken Ragnarök. Doomed to bring about the end of Cocoon. But then their fate is changed and they were able to save instead of destroy.

In FF13-2 they are able to help Serah in her mission but they knew what she might have to face and with LR, they were torn about by both a sense of duty and a want to protect the other. Lightning finds out that they each wanted to help the other, however Vanille want for redemption at the cost of her own life to save the lost dead souls, thats what splits Fang away because she refuses to lose Vanille.

They can represent both family and lovers. One will not go on without the other, no matter what.

And now for the princess, (not literally) but still i love Serah. Anyhow, Serah is the embodiment of Love, Faith and Hope. She goes through everything, turned into an enemy of Cocoon, turned into crystal, given the gift and/or curse of Etro, lost her fiancé to time travel for a bit, dies, has her soul taken out of Lightning where she was safe and then used as a bargaining chip by God to make Lightning keep to her role. But through everything, she still believed her sister and fiancé would save her, that she would be able to live her own life and teach children.

This girl fought and stepped up to every challenge but unlike lightning she shows her emotions, all the pain of failure and loss is understanding and that makes her into a connection for the player.

Okay so for times sake Im putting these three in one group since their stories are enveloped all together.

They are the last humans of a future timeline where the events of ff13 did not go well, Noel is basically the last human that ever existed and under Caius teaching and wing both of them protect Yeul who is a priestess of Etro forced to live again and again only to die after seeing the last of her visions into the future. Caius who knows some of the past Yeuls loved him, the last one loves Noel and he tries everything to save her. So whats his plan. Oh yeah, kill the goddess Etro to stop all natural death and the visions. Hence stopping Yeul from dying.

Noel guided by Lightning has to aid Serah to stop Caius and save the Future. After everything though, he fails by killing Caius not realizing that with his death he actually killed Etro (long story) watches Yeul die and Serah die. and after all of that is forced to watch the world and timeline for 500 years fall and crumble into a shell of the former grandeur that it was.

Yeul after dying, helps Lighting but in her now spirit like self she reveals a terrible truth that while Caius is alive no good will come. But while the Yeul we know wants Caius dead. (along with hundreds of other past selves.) Some of them also want Caius to live causing him to never truly die. To quote Caius "Even if one Yeul desires my salvation, another demands my rebirth."

Yeul is the symbol of mourning and regret but also wisdom in knowing that not all things will be bad, and that good things do eventually happen.

Caius is the symbol of inability to accept what happens and the cruelty of death. His immortality while at first would seem like a gift is a curse, he watching all those he love die and when the chance to die comes, it fails. He is stuck in an infinite life that is now out of his control.

Noel is the symbol of failure but also standing back up taking the next steps forward. After everything, with just the promise of seeing the person he loves again, even if only one more time. Gives him the strength to move on.

-

So if any of you can identify with even one of these characters I highly recommend you play the game. Trust me, me writing all of this down doesn't do the games justice. Its a lovely styled game that after some time you will get used to and its really not that hard of gameplay, watch a few videos and you will get the hang of it.

So anyways im not sure if i convinced any of you but enjoy your days and i send you off with a smiling lighting because its so rare and you all deserve one.

[ofspark]

𝒋𝒂𝒄𝒌'𝒔 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒏.

@celestrahl asked: "tell me how it got this way." from noel!

𝑪𝑶𝑼𝑳𝑫 𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 in her bones when his words brought her pause? Was it silent enough that the turmoil laden sinew may yet creak aloud && give away her guilt? This mantle she upholds as champion is one of choice. An atonement; the willingness to become an eternal epitaph for the weight of all that has transpired. For there is truth in a mercy by the hand of a goddess. She should not breathe, should not be given the grace to walk within this stone edifice---her existence should be comprised of crystal. But by Etro's hand, she is all that stands between a slumbering goddess && a being that has since spiraled into his own darkness. "Sacrifice.. and the repercussions that come with it." More a musing, more a thought than statement; the breath she takes in is shallow midst the furrow of her brow. One that sees her gaze cast over the curvature of pauldron, a glance to an endless sea beyond still sands. Careful footfalls carry her nearest ledge && resplendent blues take to the sight of coming tide. A glance to her company ensues && it is devoid of malice. She is neither aggravated nor cross. This responsibility she upholds is one that has since melded itself into the fabrication of her existence. A dedication held taut to the soul to safeguard against the what ifs. Steel in her voice, pride in her shoulders. "We've all got our parts to play. It's a race against oblivion." Oblivion. She can still hear the callous voice that uttered his intentions as their blades crossed. The bellow of steel that clashed---it still rings in her ears.

[astralucis]

so apologies in advance if this makes no sense. i can't form sentences for the life of me tonight. i've been thinking a lot about the imagery of the night sky radiating light due to their union with the moon and the stars and how that imagery ties noct, luna, and the hexatheon together. the union of king, oracle, and gods cast light within the darkness and bring the morning dawn

more under the cut because this got longer than i originally intended!

i honestly might use this symbolism as a way to start deviating from canon because i've got some ideas, such as:

noctis as the night sky, the backdrop in which the darkness permeates due to the actions of his ancestors. as the king of light, he seeks to atone for the sins of his ancestors, the origin of the starscourge / darkness, and destroys the darkness that exists around and within -- at the cost of his own life

luna as the moon, lifted up by the night sky and joined by the stars as she casts a glow upon the land to all who seek to travel within the dark, a voice of both man and gods, and looked to for hope among the people ( and her importance as the main source of light in the world. we support women in this house )

the hexatheon / astrals as the stars, the heavenly bodies that lend their aid and light the world with the help of the moon and night sky. some are static, others travel before they fade into obscurity, but all lend their power and voice to the sky and moon to light the world once more

even if it's not directly connected, there's some other fun concepts to explore along side it like the idea of light being connected to death. there's a quote from one of the original ff versus xiii trailers that i really fuck with: "the goddess etro will open the door to welcome the souls of the dead… when that happens, a bright light will shine down through the sky to the land of the dead. few people have seen that light. those who see it are bestowed power from the land of the dead"

but all in all, it'd be such a fun motif / image to play around with. especially because i can use it as a foundation to raise luna's importance and presence in ffxv's story. and she sure as fuck deserves to have a role akin to other ff ladies, like yuna and rinoa

[zorkaya-moved]

I see Elysia as the Aeon of Origin similar to how Etro acts in the FFXIII trilogy: a goddess who bleeds for the worlds, for the lives. As Elysia has been written out as Jesus in HI3 and her having a thorn crown bestowed upon her? Oh, yeah, Aeon of Origin bleeds for the lives of others but she cannot reach out to them, not in her present state.

She is the Mother, The Daughter and the Holy spirit in this case. But she cannot reach out to the lives herself - alone - not anymore, because she sacrificed her physical presence to break the worlds free of the predetermined fate that Aponia could see, granting the repeated history a chance to change and for people to choose for themselves, to fight for what they believe in.

I say that it's the same with the galaxy, Aeon of Origin's ascending affected the whole Imaginary Tree. It branched out histories, worlds, timelines, and more, which made Terminus see countless endings because there were now countless beginnings created. Thus, there was no fully predetermined path and there were CHOICES to reach certain paths/endings.

As an Aeon of Origin, Elysia as of the moment is weaker because she lost connection to many of the worlds by bringing Zarina as her Emanator from Earth. Right now, she (Aeon of Origin) needs the Apostles of Origin to reconnect her to lives, to dreams, to those who wish to fight against despair and who wish to do everything they can to ensure the salvation of their world/home/themselves. However, Elysia didn't have the capability to do it on her own without her own Emanator and she couldn't find anyone who would be able to fit that role until Zarina's reconnection with her through the Elysian Realm's core. Thanks to that, Aeon of Origin now had her own Emanator that could move the reconnection to the worlds, especially with the 'reincarnation/return of Akivili' (or the Astral Express).

And as the Emenator of Origin, Zarina possesses the blessing of Origin which protects her and she also meets with the most important people within the worlds to plant the seeds of Origin. It is the reason for her acting 'behind Astral Express' back' while approaching the figures of importance and granting them knowledge of the Origin's design/wish. Cue her meeting with Bronya, with General Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan, and later on with Sunday on Penacony.

Intelligentsia Guild is fully aware of the Origin but only that it represents 'Life' and that it cannot be reached by anyone aside from its Apostles. How many Apostles there are, how many followers of Origin there are, and more questions remain unknown. The problem with the path of Origin is that it remains largely untouched and unknown, because every person may be connected to Origin in some way or another. Origin represents life and the beginning, the wish to protect what is important and the desire to fight for what is beautiful in this world. Certain 'geniuses' even thought that Aeon of Beauty and Aeon of Origin were the same people, but the Knights of Beauty will deny that claim as will many others.

Many Aeons are charmed by the Aeon of Origin and certain Aeons show protectiveness over her, which is attributed to her natural charisma and her being the daughter of the Imaginary Tree altogether. Only those who oppose life and desire for the full destruction of worlds as a whole do not like her and wish for her demise. The opposing side believes that to truly destroy everything, they must reach the Origin and kill her to stop the cycle of beginnings and ends. And to reach Origin, they must force her out of her domain to protect the last haven of life she wishes to nurture as the Origin.

The Path of Origin - for many - is considered a myth, a story to tell others about how life connects all living beings and how life loves all who fight for what is beautiful in this world. However, many followers of the Origin exist across the worlds without believing in the Aeon herself. As long as they wish to fight, to protect, and to love? They are already beloved by the Aeon of Origin. The selfless, all-loving Aeon.

[andywinter16]

I loved Etro since Final Fantasy 13! I just needed Etro in FFXV but sadly there was only a painting of her. ( Beautiful one at that)

[summoneryuna]

Knight of Etro and Songstress are now available in my shop!

[fyresaber]

snow’s sexiest quality is being the pillory for everyone’s grief, from lightning to hope to the people to psicom to NORA to noel to yusnaan; to even serah when she wonders why she let him leave her and be the hero on his own. all while he's never held anything against anyone once; not against lightning for fighting him and not against noel for serah’s death. submission, relinquishment, self-harm, and defeat.

and guess who pulls him out of it each and every time? serah is his goddess but lightning is his earth, just as light is serah’s goddess and snow her earth. god these three... serah is their north star, and without each other they had no footing in this world, unmoored throwing themselves to the whims and wills of chaos, flogging themselves in the middle of the street; suicide at the base of etro’s thone and in the dungeon of his palace.

[taylorswiftstyle]

The Eras Tour | folklore Section

Alberta Ferretti custom

In my predictions post, I had noted that I wouldn't be surprised if we got beautiful goddess references to cottagecore in the vein of her 2021 Etro Grammys moment.

This mauve-toned, chiffon gown mixes bohemian elements thanks to its ruffles and flutter sleeves and lace with very subtle stage-worthy embellishments. Well done.

Get the look: Free People, $118.00

[nirgilis]

SRNHNR 1 - Yozora and Noctis

Part 2 | Part 3 | Extra 1 | Extra 2

This post was sponsored by this track:

Nachtflügel helped to trace some Yozora's elements back to Noctis, despite racking the author's brains first by Batman's Nightwing.

These are theories based on unreleased stuff or similar elements from not that distant from each other games, so they might be overthoughted.

Nachtflügel is number 137 on KH3 OST tracklist, "13" and "7," aka Nomura's favorite numbers.

1) Night-part of "Nightwing" is already pretty understandable with the whole Noctis-night-theme, but together with wings it might be leading to Lucis' feature which for FF15 on different levels was either completely cut off or heavily toned doned.

With FF15's theme of Noctis becoming the King of Light it probably didn't suit anymore for his country to be even more connected to death then it was, so the scull on Lucis' emblem for almost all imaginery had to go and only eight-pointed star in circle remained.

Since countries in VS13/FF15 world tend to depict some deities/summons on their emblems, like Leviathan probably would've been and still kinda is the one for Accordo, the summon on Lucis' emblem might've supposed to be Diabolos.

In one of VS13 trailers it was said, that Lucis' crystal was the last remaining one and Solheim, Accordo and Tenebrae already lost theirs. That makes 4 crystal, which can be Wind/Fire/Water/Earth, the most common combination.

FF Type-0 in the way it was released also has 4 countries with 4 crystals, but at some point in development there was considered an idea about making 5th nation with Void crystal. It's possible that VS13 also might've had Void crystal, which would've been Lucis' one.

Diabolos might be a match for Lucis' Void crystal bc:

His skills are Void/Gravity-based. Diabolos from FF0. Lucis' powers of warping and "flying swords" of all magic are most close to be void/gravity-based.

His skills are still technically present in FF15, but in the form of Ring of Lucii. Alterna Spell.

Diabolos drains HP of enemies and throws gravity-spheres at them. Yozora likes to drain (steal) HP, other things and using Gravity-spheres very much.

These attacks with trapping/magneting enemies into spheres and then deconstructing them into data-cubes look like some sort of high-tech Diabolos.

Not even talking about Yozora making a dome with sphere, that temporarily changes gravity on the field.

Yozora's attacks and sphere he summons both remind red moon from Episode Duscae demo.

Since Diabolos is practically a humanoid bat with a tail, it's doubful that it's a coincidence that Komory Bats also have gravity-magic and drain-attack.

2.1) In VS13 trailer where Stella and Noctis talk about the Light they can see after near-death experience, Noctis might be trying to dodge questions and avoid talking about himself not to let Stella know some information he might be knowing or/and to make her reconsider her curiosity in their world's mysteries.

In Fabula Nova Crystalis Etro was tasked by Mwynn to keep the balance of Chaos between real world and unseen realm. Etro initially didn't understand what Mwynn meant, but when she started giving Chaos to humans, which became their hearts, the cycle and balance of Chaos between real world and unseen realm established.

In FF13 when Yeul was returned to life by Etro, she received Eyes of Etro, which allowed her to see the future. Noctis and Stella obtaining Eyes of Etro, in VS13 in this case Eyes that can see the light of expiring souls, throught near-death experience is close to how Yeul received them.

Turning to Nachtflügel again. It reminds Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." It can be a coincidence, but it might've landed too accurately in mythology context, since Valkyries guide souls of the dead to Valhalla, or they might be guiding only those who they deem worthy. And Sora at the end of KH3 is sort of dead.

In VS13 Lucis line might've not only worshiped goddess of death, but served as her grim reapers in some way. Since the biggest problem of FNC's world is the balance of Chaos between real world and unseen realm, which if broken will doom the world, Lucis line' task might be to help maintain that balance.

2.2) There's a similarity between Snow's words in opening cutscene of FF13-3 and Yozora's, with "save" being taken in ditto marks.

Snow indirectly asks Lightning to kill him, despite that's being the opposite of her task, to free shacked souls by solving their troubles, so they'll be ready to be reborn in the new world.

These scenes might have the same subject, but with opposite events taking place. Yozora might've been brought to be Sora's "examinator" in a way. To test him if he still has will and strength to continue walking the road he brought upon himsef.

3) Apart from possibilty of Yozora's heterochromia coming from his appearance being a mix of 2 people, it might also be what he originally was supposed to have in VS13, but with kinda an opposite meaning and nearly devoid of its pros it was given to Ravus for FF15.

Ravus' eye turned purple from Starscourge infection from magitek arm, which he was given after the gods burned his hand in punishment for him trying to wear Ring of Lucii. Starscourge might've given him some increase in physical strength, but it was also turning him into a daemon.

In FF15 Omen trailer visual of Noctis going haywire is somewhat similar to Sora's Anti and Rage forms.

Diabolos and Yozora's red gravity spheres also recemble red spheres Darkside and Sora in Rage form have.

If in Anti and Rage forms Sora is relying on darkness or his feelings of anger, then in VS13 it might've been Chaos.

From Yeul's words about Chaos in FF13, it can give a number of abilities:

"The power to see the future. The power to travel the timeline. The power to bend monsters to your will. The power to remember in your dreams, even when the timeline has changed. They are manifestations of hidden chaos, and in a chosen few, these powers are great indeed. Such are the blessings of the goddess."

Yozora has a strange mechanic where he summons Gigases to fight for him, but as far as VR's trailer went, they weren't playing on the same team. Gigas might be VR's equivalent of magitek, so it might fit the words "The power to bend monsters to your will."

[pockymun]

For the end of the year asks, how about 3, 4, 9 or 10, and 30!

fanfic end of the year asks | @groovytimetravelflower

favorite line/scene you wrote this year

I like all of the revisions I've made this year. They're better written than the older stuff. That alone makes them stick out.

My most favorite scene of the year is a mix of old and new. It's the final chapter of Etro's Blessing: Andromeda. It was one of the scenes I had planned at the very beginning of revisions, and I was so excited when I finally wrote them. Etro did more after the revisions. She was angrier and more dangerous. Sure, she still waited until the very last second to act, but it felt like she had more of an impact.

What I liked most was Etro swooping in to kill off a legion of clones. And then Andromeda threw a temper tantrum because it still wasn't good enough for her. I'm glad to have gone back and worked more on their relationship. Andromeda is more loyal and a little more religious this time around, even if she lies about it. When her goddess shows up, she had the nerve to ask for more bloodshed. Etro got really upset with that, and it haunts Andromeda for a long time. I just love what that will mean for them moving forward. I have so much planned that will make Andromeda very uncomfortable!

total number of words you wrote this year

I don't do a word count. I do have a page count for EBA. I don't have one yet for Heretical Oath because I still need to write the last chapter.

I added 25 pages to EBA. I have also written 6 pages for Harlow's backstory. I didn't keep track of any writing before the beginning of summer. So, all I can confirm so far is 31 pages. Single-spaced.

longest wip of the year/shortest wip of the year

This is another tough one, because of the revisions and whatnot. EBA and HO are very close in terms of page count. I think EBA will end up being the shortest, by a page.

Harlow's backstory could be considered the shortest wip, but that will be implemented into a larger story.

The longest before revisions will be The Paradox in the Prophecy. It took me 200 pages to realize I wasn't happy with it. Hoping I can cut that down when I get to it next year, but so far, revisions have made my fics even longer.

favorite fandom to read fic from this year

I think I only read fic for FFXV. That's all I can remember from this year.