#guess who did the capstone quest

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

wayward (grand)daughter: side story

He felt as if he’d taken a fall down the Fourm steps.  All of them.  With a gleaner’s backpack.  With a groan, Fourchenault opened his eyes, hissing slightly as the light hit his pupils.  He shut them for several moments, working on getting his bearings.  The last thing he remembered was...

Nerva.  Or the monster that had once been Nerva, the Tower of Babil--

Lady Fortemps, watch out!

Riven was a sky-blue blur, darting and dancing around the battlefield as fast as she could while Nero attacked at the fiend with his hammer.  But it was no good, Nerva was fixated on Riven and it was taking everything he had to keep the shields he cast on her strong, if they broke she was dead--

Fourchenault’s eyes flew open as memories of the previous day’s events all registered at once.  However instead of the light meeting his gaze, there was someone else. 

“Are you awake?”

Mathye Bishop.  The hyur was looming over his bedside, hands on his hips and...looking the none worse for wear after yesterday’s battles.

“Oh good, his lordship finally deigns to finally fucking grace us with his presence on the waking plane.”  

“I...what?”  Fourchenault got out.

“You passed out.  In the snow.  Face first.  I drew the short straw on keeping your pointy-eared arse alive.  You’re welcome, by the way.”  Mathye added, almost as an afterthought.  Irritation spiked in the elezen-and before he could stop himself, his tongue was moving.

“If I die, I will make sure my children ensure that you know no peace for the rest of your days!”  He snapped.  To his surprise, Mathye barked with laughter, a smile spreading across his face.

“I’d be expecting them to do that!”  He said.  “Now that we have the formalities out of the way-how are you feeling?  Like you probably went several rounds in the bloodsands.”

“An apt description.”  Fourchenault muttered.  Experimentally, he tried moving-legs, arms, gods, even his fingers ached.  He considered himself to be in fairly good shape and was proud that he’d been able to keep up in battle, but clearly the state of his muscles was proclaiming otherwise.

“I healed the worst of the damage.  Overextended your aether, cracked ribs, your right ankle was broken, and you had a nice little concussion.  You’ve just got bruising now--which means you’re going to feel like overall warmed-over shite for a good couple of days.  Heavy hand on the painkillers or booze, whichever one’s your fancy.”  Mathye’s hands flew out as Fourchanualt slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed.

“Easy.”

“The other city-state leaders?  Lady Fortemps?”

“Various injuries but nothing too severe.  As for Riven...”  Mathye trailed off, his head turning.  “Ah, I think she’s waking up, she’s on the other side.  I’ll check on her, you stay here.” 

“Where in the bloody hell can I even go?”  Fourchenault muttered-but it was to the healer’s back.  A quick scan of his body revealed a host of bruises in various shades of dark blue and purple, and his aetherical resources--while replenished, it hurt to draw upon them.  Still muscle aches were better than the alternative.  With a wince, Fourchenault glanced at the curtain that hung alongside his bed...and then could only blink at the string of blistering Limsan profanity that erupted from behind it. 

Oh good gods...  It sounded like Riven was awake, and...not pleased.  Grimacing, Fourchenault slowly made his way out of the bed--oh for the love of Thaliak he was moving like an old man--and towards the very edge of the curtain.  Mathye was snarling right back at his patient, and as the elezen rounded the corner, he spotted Riven sitting up in her own bed--

********

The sound of a man’s angry voice met Fourchenault’s ears as he entered the infirmary.  An emergency session of the Forum was being called regarding the recent events that had happened with the peace envoys sent to Garlemald.  One of the diplomats had been Roderick DeGlass...and as Fourchenault got a clear view, the hyuran man’s voice was filled with rage--

********

But he wasn’t in Sharlayan, this was Garlemald, and it wasn’t Roderick he was hearing or seeing--

For several moments Fourchanault could only stand there, overwhelmed by the sudden feeling of deja-vu.  His presence must have registered, for Riven and Mathye stopped swearing at each other.

“Master Leveilleur?”  With a start, Fourchenault forced himself back to reality.  Riven was staring at him.

“Is everything alright?”

“I...yes.  I-I’m sorry.  For a moment there you reminded me of someone I knew.”  Twelve, it had to be his current situation that had made him think of DeGlass’s son.  Fourchenault glanced at Riven again, but the moment had passed.

“Ahem.  I do feel I should ask...could you two at least compose yourselves with some decorum?”

[alicelufenia]

A few haphazard post-MSQ thoughts for Dawntrail

okay first of all fuck Zoraal Ja loved your trial

Dawntrail in general makes me want to go back and actually finish FFIX, and part of that is also to actually find out more about Kuja's deal. I was in vc with my static over DT ending and my co-tank pointed out Zoraal Ja's whole arc is a dead wringer for Kuja. Which makes sense based on the wiki summary I found. I just also dreaded the possibility of people comparing him more to Zenos, which thankfully, I haven't actually seen much of. But then I'm not on Twitter, and only just started exploring the tags, so maybe that take is out there. Sorry but as a dedicated Zenos Fucker I still don't see it XD not every violent man with daddy issues is a Zenos.

Speaking of daddies, it's a genuine accomplishment for Dawntrail to bring us both the BEST and WORST dads in the game. Congrats Gaius your seat at the bottom has been taken, but Man did Zoraal have to earn it.

Just one little issue. WHO IS GULOOL JA'S MOM??

I cannot believe this wasn't even at least questioned at any point, they put more words towards reasoning how he must be Zoraal's kid cause of his coloring but didn't question who his mother could be? Especially with Sphene the LITERAL QUEEN right there looking AWKWARD AS HELL when he's brought up.

My guess is this will be explored in the patches, but good GOD you thought FFXIV was shitty with its female characters, Gulool's mom wasn't even a character! Legit negative for me and any further storyline is just going to make me question why it wasn't relevant earlier.

However to shift tracks to GOOD female characters, I freakin' love Wuk Lamat! I love her design her facial expressions her voice good god her VOICE, I love her goals and how she tries to relate to her enemies but will not hold back but also won't sacrifice others to get what she wants.

I know she's every shonen protagonist rolled into an orange tabby, and that's great! They didn't stumble once with her as far as I'm concerned.

I'm probably gonna have to devote a whole other post to thoughts about Sphene and the Twelfth(?) reflection's fate. I appreciate that the stakes have been simultaneously scaled back but also shifted, I guess sideways would be the best description?

I find it interesting that the main threat is very similar to in Endwalker-that of moving on from dead end ways of living. But while Endwalker was finding a reason to go on living, Dawntrail is about finding peace with death. Cause you need both to live a happy life, and to have a society that doesn't eat itself, or everything around it.

Also a quick comment on msq-appropriate jobs; obviously any job is great, but I feel really good about sticking with both Dark Knight and Viper throughout. Viper in particular, for having both its roots in the main setting, and its capstone ability Reawaken has you call upon the memories of your hunter forbears, a kind of healthier version of the regulators' soul consumption ability. And Dark Knight is just my WoL's canon job, but also her self-styled title comes from DRK's quest title The Boundless Dark. So I HAD to finish the expansion as The Boundless Queen standing against The Queen Eternal.

Unfortunately, the Neo-Ishgardian Top didn't get the texture upgrade, so it clashes a bit too much. I'm gonna have to work out a good glam, but am using the Fallen set plus pieces of the Neo Kingdom Fending set as I get them.

Viper on the other hand, is perfect as it is and I love it. I don't even have to finish the role quests except for completeness. Look at the worn folds in the leather!

Anyway those are my current thoughts, I've only since unlocked Expert roulette and will start the normal raids later tonight, and then level crafters this weekend. Time to do the mmo bit!

Edit: Also the raid series is gonna be perfect for Alice. "Time to honor the memory of your queen! With Bloodsport! Let's go Zenos!" *Shinryu minion squealing sounds*

[meatball-headache]

I got a feeling tomorrow's gonna be an exciting day. (98 MSQ)

So, the MSQ has given me all the left-side gear, and I did all the sidequests for right-side. I think I'm missing a couple pieces, though, but there's no more sidequests. There's definitely no more sidequests, because I got all four aethercurrents from them. What's weird is... every zone has two "chain" sidequests, and when you do them both there's a capstone at the end that ties them together. I remember Azim Steppe had Mausi in Sadu's camp, and the soup guy in Magnai's, and in the end they became friends or whatever. But every zone has done this since at least Stormblood. Except Heritage Found—imagine my surprise when I went to the last quest, I always save it for last, and it didn't have a banner on the accept window, and it didn't chain. And, what's extra weird, you don't go back to the original questgiver to explain "Yeah, everything's all set, pay me now." It's one of those " . . . but perhaps they'll talk to you, since you're a stranger . . . " ones. So the narrative is squarely in the realm of, you have to go report back to finish. But... nothing. And since I have all the aethercurrents, I'm not expecting any more sidequests—that would be additionally weird.

So, we're nearly done with Heritage Found. Up next is... a Trial? We're not gonna showdown with Zoraal Ja already, are we? Or... something else? There's been a lot of voice-acted cutscenes today, and a lot of mind-blowing revelations in the past... hour. There's a lot of options for who the trial could be. Or there's the possibility that I was bamboozled, or misunderstood, and it is the dungeon next, then a 99 trial, then the final 100 dungeon and trial after the last, mysteriousest zone.

I'm no closer to knowing what the final zone is. Now that we've been inside Everkeep, and it turns out that that's just... the container for Solution Nine, that's why the map says "To Everkeep." Through the portal into the lightning-void-world is the best guess... and there's room for the story to go "Okay, let's get to the source of the problem." But there's also room for them not to do that, the last zone is, I don't know, uploaded into Endless soulville as free-floating data, and then in 8.0 we give Lightning World the Norvrandt treatment.

Dawntrail has been consistently astonishing. At first we were slammed with gorgeous visuals and exciting characters, and once that story was resolved, everything went berserk instantly and we got thrown into a whirlwind adventure in a high-fantasy sci-fi mindfuck wonderland. I'm already bad at speculating. I can't even hope to guess what's going to happen next now.

But it's late, and I'm tired.

[semi-imaginary-place]

more job quests

paladin: mylia got friendzoned and solkwyvewrbjn didn't shwo hsi face. a good day. wow they totally pretended the paladin quests just didn't exist (tbf they were bad)

warrior: did we ditch curious gorge who going to be stuck on a ship to the far east for who knows how long. is it me or have the warrior quests gotten progressively more goofy like the maurader ones were pretty serious.

dark knight: esteem totally wrote that letter. are we going to end up in whitebrim? was gundobald one of the one's to witness one of the pc's very public mental breakdowns? *slaps roof of wol* this bad boy can hold so many personalities. fray/esteem, myste, ardbert, the reaper demon, im forgetting someone

monk: oh yeah wasn't widergelt revealed to be a secret prince or something. "please wait for me half way on the other side of the continent" huh weren't they going back to ala ganna anyways. hi lyse. i thought we were setting up a provisional government. how's that going. YES YES YES I am so happy about this, was a little disappointed this didn't happen in sb but i guess it's the structure of the quest system. these are made to be done after 5.0 those were meant to be flexible enough to be done during 4.0. rhalgr's reach is THE temple of the fist of rhalgr and the Resistance is there and I wanted widergelt to go there so badly.

dragoon: baby orn kai

ninja: there's no way this works. karasu better not fake his death a 3rd time. or well tht could be pretty funny actually. spiderman meme. uhh i choose underpants boy. eyyy got that one right i wasn't sure. and the adventures continue. nin is different in that way in the others so way have been about wrapping up loose ends or more like an encore.

samurai: i forgot this storyline.

white mage: a alaqua the worst job questline in the game. what do you mean she wasn't able to take down a treant wasn't the whole thing about how powerful a mage she was. also e sumi still sus af for letting sylphie roam around and take charge of the gatty situation. sooo we're not gonna talk about her dead family at all?

scholar of all jobs is the only one to have combat. i forgot about setoto and h=may have gotten her confused with surito carito

astrologian: so between 3.x and 5.x is less than a year. i'd say this is a deviation from all the politics of 30-50-60 but this did all start with janne's crush on her dad. my aro queen. wish this had more to do with sharlayan as that shows up in 6.0 but well she did fake her death. hope grandpa is ok.

machinist: hilda! I wanted to her to show up in a mch quest. oh hey i have to kill something again remember the bad ol' days where ever job quest was to go kill something

black mage: i feel like the game usually forgets dewlala exists

did the writers forget that cocobuki is like half yayake's age. i don't exactly remember but buki's like 27 and yayake's in her 40s. because buki was never this rude.

summoner once again continues to be the most msq relavent job despite never being featured in the trailers. smh and with the ascian saga ended with ew the devs lost their chance for a summoner meteor. that is the question someone is born (or made in foldora's case also offies zenos also has that implanted echo) to do something well, should they do what they're good at or not?

red mage: still think arya should have minmaxed into thaumaturge/black mage. wow how come its all the magic jobs that get combat. what's to stop other tomb robbers?

wow we really did tell the whole realm that there's multiple worlds and we went to one.

did you know that if you rotate your character near a wall at just the right angle you can see that they are empty inside except for the floating insides of their mouth?

role quest capstone

doing the job capstone. see this is a weird take because up until this point we are led to believe that it was the decimation of the First's native dark aether that unbalanced the shard to light. but here the shadowkeeper is revealed to be from another world (the 13th?). yeh 13th, wasn't that like thousands of years ago tho, well source time who knows about 13th time but that doesn't explain how she's still alive. ah she's echo'd too and friends with unukalhai wonder how he's doing..

these 2 statements seem to contradict each other. is Cyella talking about a symbolic radiance because she was trying to lose. instead of Cylva's death the Flood was triggered by by ardbert killling mitron and longhrif. im assuming cylva was the bait so that the ascians could better control the flood and bring the shard "to the brink" instead of over it as she puts it. ardbert and co then killed themselves and jumped shards. ascians got vauthy to transform the party's corpses into cardinal virtues. time continues to be a mystery. why is she alive. huh her goal was to kill them... uggg i nned to think this over

hmm but the lightwardens didn't have that thrall effect. but then again everyone who came close died. cant tell if sin eater conversion is related or not. oh his dialogue predicts going to the first. should have talked to him earlier woops

[vermanaward]

anyway since it’s tuesday ew salt day i guess one thing that stuck out when i did teg’s msq run was

just how much ew is literally shb at home

like i get it. shb was very well recieved. but so many of the same plot devices and beats are repeated. vanaspati is holminster but everything is on fire. there’s even a turned npc who we met and became involuntarily acquainted with during the obligatory ‘pick one of these two locations to do prequests in’ arc. (btw amaurot > vanaspati, no i will not elaborate. yet.)  the ragnarok is the giant talos at home, complete with everyone in the known world pitching in.

and i’ve already complained about how the role quest capstone is amaurot at home.

except here’s the kicker. mt gulg has annoying slog leading up to it but is a fucking amazing dungeon not least because of its use of torn from the heavens as its 1/2 boss themes - and that recycled lion from amdapor, linking the climax of shb all the way to arr. and the way that vauthry is built up to be a Final Boss. even though we know, we know, he’s not, he can’t be, and the rug is pulled from under us and we always saw it coming but the sky is falling burning full of Light because of us

(and that’s another point ew recycles. except shb lets you ruminate on the fact that the sky is broken. it has impact, because the story is allowed to breathe, while still acknowledging that shit’s fucked instead of making us babysit rabbits for several levels. and all of norvrandt is affected - if you go travelling, the night sky is gone again, and people’s hopes have been dashed all over. in ew, there is none of that)

like yeah. shb was always going to be hard to follow up. but giving us the exact same plot but with a minor boss retconned into being vaguely important in place of zodiark’s right hand man, architect of the garlean empire, the root and cause of more pain and suffering and death than there are words to convey it. also there’s twitter i guess.

[analytic-chaoticism]

Who’s Going To Die In The Homestuck Epilogue Tomorrow?

Homestuck is finally ending for real now so, obviously, somebody is staring down the barrel of Hussie’s final Chekhov’s gun, except also for real now. After 10 years, the shed wall has more bullet holes than wood knots and the proverbial horse stands dutifully awaiting the next shot in a series of hundreds, but it might actually get put out of its misery forever this time, with John and Vriska - in my mind - the most obvious candidates for permadeath. I’ll briefly discuss the (de)merits of both outcomes - and how both could (maybe, hopefully, please?) be averted - under the cut.

For context, I’m assuming that John will meet Terezi and Vriska at the Green Sun/Black Hole before he goes gallivanting with them through time and space. 

We’ve known John Egbert for 10 years and for all the characters and perspective switching we’ve done since 4/13/2009, he is our protagonist. Homestuck is a story about breaking free from fated suffering - the will of Lord English - and becoming an independent agent, so it should only make sense that the main character is an embodiment of that freedom: the Heir of Breath.  

It’s for this reason that John dying forever at the end of it all - having survived the death of his dad, an omnicidal dog god, the reset of reality, misadventure in the bubbles, a solo retcon journey through Paradox Space, a fight with Caliborn and another on the horizon, killing the Condesce, and making it to Earth C - would be really bad narratively and philosophically! There are no merits! Let’s go over why it Just Won’t Happen. 

1. As the quintessential bildungsroman character (a story requiring the survival of its protagonist to gain experience of the world, find their place in it, and mature with hope for the future) and audience surrogate, killing him in the final act would just be bad writing. It goes against the story’s holistic narrative and philosophical arc and totally undermines Act 7 thematically. 

2. In a story about overcoming fated suffering, the depressed character with the most repressed trauma - who represents freedom and is working to help everyone escape that suffering - dying without coming to terms with sadness and reconciling with his friends and purpose to find happniness? It’s even worse writing. The only possible merit to his death is having to directly confront that trauma in a super sadstuck way; what stakes will it take for him to overcome his disaffected ennui, right? But killing him is a real shitty way of dealing with those problems. Dying with regret is just... super lame. It could be said many characters die with possible regret in HS but if a character doesn’t at some point get revived in one way or another and their death served a purpose, then, on word of God, they just weren’t that important. 

3. It defies the narrative of fantastical escapism. At one of its many cores, Homestuck is a story about kids playing a crazy game about wish fulfillment: bringing the dead back to life, meeting their friends, having an adventure, and becoming super heroes. As the Heir of Breath, especially with the retcon powers, John is ALL ABOUT fantastical escapism. John dying for suffering, subverting escapism, is 100% counterintuitive thematically. Super unsatisfying conclusion to his arc. 

4. People cite this scene with Scratch as evidence that John is going to have a permanent heroic death one day, but I would argue that the metaphysical way in which John would permanently be tying himself to the narrative to ‘maintain canonicity’ (whatever the FUCK that entails) would be a little bit more than a Just or Heroic thing. For me, this was more about Scratch acknowledging John as - though not infallible personally - a totally good guy. And note that reference to Vriska and her ‘Justness’ at the end there: 

Instead, I imagine the whole situation, despite the seeming distinction between Meat and Candy, COULD go something a little more like this - 

A story that is just meat - dense with exposition, action, violence, and tension (plotcentric) - is bad, and a story that is just candy - light with fluff, fanservice, frivolity, and comfort (charactercentric) - is bad. In isolation neither is of consequence to the reader, and reader investment is what this whole epilogue and the quest to avoid ‘dissipation’ is about. You need both to develop the other in a healthy and satisfying way, ultimately producing a well-developed set of characters. Homestuck is the best story of all time and it’s been meat and candy all the way, I don’t foresee that changing. For me, the ‘dual epilogue’ is a 1+1=3 situation. Typheus’ choice for John here was a practice for a metacosmic-scale third option regarding the meat/candy ‘binary’ he’s faced with now.  

The whole story, John - though he represents freedom - has never made his own choice besides in this moment. He’s gone on quests for prophets, just like he’s doing now, and done whatever people told him or expected him to do. Becoming a free agent is the capstone of his character arc and what better way to realize that than assuming control of the narrative and Doing Whatever You Want For Real - the Ultimate Riddle (as many people theorize) which I imagine we’ll see more of soon being ‘do as you will.’ 

But let’s imagine that John does become in every way a martyr for the narrative itself in a Christ-like sacrifice befitting of the Easter Sunday I will probably be reading this upd8 on. How could he get out of it because, trust me, John Is Not Dying Forever:

Transcendence. We’ve descended and ascended, so what comes next?

Juju nonsense. The house or something else, who knows?

Denizen nonsense. I’ll get into this in a second.

A second John takes his place and we get ours back. ‘2 endings,’ right?

The Ultimate Self is gearing up to be important. It’s Jesus 101 people. 

So I’m expecting Abraxas, Jake and possibly Karkat’s denizen, to make a significant appearance in the epilogue. The epilogue itself, as the rest of the story, is geared up (with it’s black and white symbolism) to basically revolve around the cherubs which I fully expect to get more lore on. As @revolutionaryduelist details in this video, Abraxas is “technically at the center of Paradox Space, as a deity that represents both everything in the multiverse that exists ever both physically and conceptually,and the very process which leads to the creation of those things.” Abraxas is, as the true god in enlightenment, the opposite of Yaldabaoth, the false god in ignorance: more relevant, truthful, and essential as a deity - representing the 3 pillars of canon. Yaldabaoth was Caliborn’s denizen, giving him the clock and juju he required to assume ultimate power in the first place. It makes sense that Abraxas would have a hand in his undoing. Abraxas also shares a connection with the cherubs physically and metaphorically, and considering the importance of the cherubs, I think it’s safe to assume this similarity will become relevant. In this way, Abraxas could Just Get Up To Some Nonsense to save John (who is related to Typheus, a potentially Christ-like figure within the denizen genealogy as John is to the story). Resurrection of Christ anybody? Our snakey parent who art above Paradox Space? As somebody connected to magic, it also makes sense that Abraxas could pull off the miracle of the century if needs be.

All in all, John’s not dying. So what about... 

Vriska?

Vriska dying forever is almost ALL merits. This is NOT because I hate Vriska: she is one of the best characters ever written, has never done anything wrong, if she dies I will weep, and I NEED Vrisrezi to become Earth C endgame, but I can’t deny the narrative quality of a potential sacrifice. 

Vriska has never had direct karmic comeuppance for anything she’s done besides Make Her Pay and getting killed by Terezi: all other forms of punishment for her actions were either problems with self-hatred or people she cares about suffering - there’s been little direct consequential action taken against her. Even when She’s 8ack with a second chance she gets to dominate and bully others and still be the leader. And look at what she did to Tavros. That was just mean (but will hopefully be relevant in the epilogue because I love GCATavros oops). Her character is also marred in the emulation of Mindfang, and being an inauthentic individual is a Great Crime in Paradox Space which you could say she has been punished for but we can always squeeze a few more drops out of the cloth. Key to understanding Vriska is knowing that she has little ill will. She said herself, she wants to be a hero. That’s why she’s obsessed with becoming the Most Important Person. She wants to save everyone. It just so happens this conflicts with her selfishness (coming in parts from Spidermom, Mindfang, and her caste) which sweeps people up as collateral damage. The important thing is that she feels really guilty about losing control to her ego/persona and hurting people. 

And she turns to John for absolution. For freedom from her circumstance and misery. 

EB: i guess i had no idea how different we really were.

EB: what i am hearing is seriously scaring the shit out of me!

AG: Yeah, I know. I wish we didn't have to 8e so different. I'm just trying to 8e honest with you, 8ecause like I said, I have nowhere else to go.

John is ignorant of her culture and her behaviour at large, and his kind, innocent disposition makes him the perfect person to tell her that she hasn’t done anything wrong, or - at least - can become a better person. That’s why his opinion matters so much to her when nobody else’s does. 

And even knowing that she’s not a flawless person, she still doesn’t think that she deserved to die. She has never been truly absolved of her guilt, and turning to a stranger - and an alien, whom you manipulate even though NOT doing that is the WHOLE point - to do that for her is cheating in the same way Tricksterism was for the alpha kids. 

That said, John does present a genuine avenue of character development and emotional vulnerability for the girl who would become (Vriska). (Vriska) became her own person free of Mindfang’s shadow, having overcome the trauma of her past and the need to be ‘the best,’ which is as close to well-adjusted as we could hope for Vriska to be. But this character arc - a form of redemption itself - ends with the death of (Vriska) with GO!Terezi as Paradox Space collapses around them in the most emotional and romantic moment in storytelling history. John’s effects have yet to take hold on post-retcon Vriska as they did on pre-retcon Vriska starting from the above interaction forward, as Vriska is still a 8ig 8itch. John has come to recognize this, and I’m sure it will come up at some point, perhaps inspiring some kind of change in our anti-heroine. 

Sacrificing herself for canonicity - maintaining all relevance EVER in a mostly selfless but still kind of selfish act that represents a major step in a redemption she would never get to complete but may not fully deserve besides - is the perfect end for her personally and thematically. Vriska saving John would be wild after their entire relationship including but not limited to the pivotal moments of their ghosts meeting and him saving her life so she could once again experience relevance in the first place; she’d basically be repaying him: something she has never done willingly for totally selfless reasons in good faith and karma before. Wouldn’t that be the most bittersweet character growth to end on? John would FINALLY be a mechanism for her absolution. It was cheating when John didn’t know her. Now it’s been earned after their relationship has evolved so thoroughly and John sees her for what she is, presumably removing his ability to absolve her from the equation entirely. What a 180 that would be. Her arc would technically be incomplete as a character who never fully matured, but what a beautiful step in that journey to end on. It would also be a form of direct recompense to John, having manipulated him in the past as Scratch alluded to! The (Just) master becomes the (Heroic) student! What a great fuck you to Scratch that would be after he ruined her life and fucked up her personality (so would her surviving to become a better person outside of Scratch’s narrative but we’ll get into that). 

Vriska has been primed to destroy the Green Sun for a loooooooong time. 

Within the scope of the story before we were introduced to serious meta like ‘dissipation,’ destroying the Green Sun would have been the most significant thing a person could ever do. But there’s a reality beyond Paradox Space and a wider ‘canon’ that needs to be maintained both within and outside of the Green Sun’s influence. Vriska never truly got to cash in on the Green Sun imagery. What if she got a second chance to do so?

Assume in some way that the most significant object within Paradox Space and its resulting black hole eating all of reality - which, as Terezi showed us in the Credits (making it still canon) has something strange at its centre - plays a role in maintaining canonicity. I know, a bit of a gimme, right? Presumably,we’re going to explore the confrontation with Lord English as part of the ‘unloading’ of the house juju. If the mechanism for canonicity lies in all this green mess, we’re killing 2 birds with 1 stone! Her relationship with John serves its original purpose in a newly genuine context and the green sun foreshadowing would finally amount to something. 

I think Vriska would be almost perfectly content to die like this. It fulfils her philosophy and places her in canonical lore as the most significant, undeniable hero. As Hussie discusses in the Viz book 4 author notes, one of the dynamics Homestuck revolves around is Vriska inserting herself into everything and the Scourge Sisters’ karmic cycle that arises from that, so wiping it all clean would be a fitting end. 

That said, I don’t want Vriska to die forever, because I love her with all my heart and I would never want to do that to Terezi, and Earth C would be way more fun if Vriska got to fully develop as a character with friends outside of canonical restraints/pressures. Let her enjoy candy after a life of meat! (Vriska) got to enjoy candy with Meenah and Terezi after she gave up on meat. Vriska has never had true candy comparatively. All of her relationships and romantic leads have had undertones of contention and manipulation that it would be fantastic to be free of in a new world where she can leave the burdens of ‘importance’ behind. This happening, I feel, is one of (if not the best ways) Hussie can further the commentary on candy being just as important as meat: making someone who has prioritized meat her whole life happy with candy once she learns to let it into her life. Meat is NOT the only important thing, Vriska. 

How could she escape dying forever if she wanted to sacrifice herself to save John from doing the same? Sounds pretty final. I can’t imagine the ultimate self is in her near future, she doesn’t have retcon powers, and unless she pulls a juju out of her ass (maybe auryn somehow???) then the only mechanism I can see working is denizen nonsense. Beyond this, we know Terezi would not be content to let Vriska be dead forever. I was thinking maybe, on Earth C once the dust has settled and canon is Gucci, the kids could use their god tier powers to recreate Vriska (Terezi/Dirk for memory and self, life from Jane, a body from Roxy/Jake/Jade etc.) but that might be a long shot. Who knows. But also resurrecting Vriska as a free person in a free world would be... really Cool. Like, wow... what a scene. Ultimately, I think both potentialities would be pretty rad and would make me weep like a baby. I’m open to anything here. 

In the end, we’ll see what happens tomorrow! I started Homestuck when I was 12 and its influence on me for the last 6 years as both a person and a creative is incomprehensible. I cannot imagine who I would be without it, and I don’t want to. Making analysis/theory posts and getting involved with community discussion has been one of the best things ever and I’m glad I could squeeze this one in before the end of everything. I’ll have plenty more to write about Homestuck and Hiveswap in the future, but it’s crazy to think this is the end of theorizing for Homestuck proper. Homestuck as a property has plenty more to give and I’ll be here with ideas for all of it :)

Thanks for reading!

[men4ce-red]

i saw only a few draws of yanya but i want to know more about him :

kicks the door in WELL my friend ur in LUCK bc i have a LOT of shit abt yanya to talk abt

let’s kick it off with his backstory SHALL WE

so ! yanyas a lil kitsune boi raised in a little village in the outskirts of karnosea on famia, we dont have a name for it yet its not important w/e ANYWAY

he was BORN in a bigger town in central karnosea which i also dont have a name for but its also not important, what IS important is that he was a happy lil gremlin for most of his little babby years until he hit about elementary school where all the other kids’ parents started teaching them to be racist towards orcs and kitsunes and lizardfolk n shit! so they started being little shits towards him. which made him not like being in fox shape around them anymore. or in general.

so when his mums, shiranuit, a kitsune barbarian, and resnerina, a half-orc witch, were like “fuck that shit,” they moved away to that much smaller settlement, made up almost Entirely of rarer races like catfolk and wyvaran, and also orcs and ogres and stuff yea

and things were p alright! yanyas mums love him Very Much ok i love them and i love him and they all love each other. shiranuit works as a weaponsmith, and resnerina works as a luthier. so when u mashed their work together, u got yanya, a skald, or Basically a rage bard, who makes all his weapons and instruments, bc he makes his weapons into instruments, and vice versa.

his first weapon in game was a heavy mace that doubled as a guitar! it was crafted from metal ofc but its body was in the shape of a cow skull bc that shit’s metal. on one side was the guitar all strung up, and on the other he’d flip it around and it’s just Covered in spikes for him to beat the shit out of whatever 8)c

he uses his music to express himself. even with cure and mending magic, destroying things and lashing out and being aggressive all the time doesn’t make him feel good, so he’ll usually just turn to screaming out some sick tunes instead. his music’s very important to him.

moving back to early life however! he moved on through school pretty easy. i mean. not Entirely too easily bc the boy’s dumb as a brick so w/e he just. he didnt flunk out at the very least ok Cs get degrees anyway

and when he was abt.. 16, 17, he met ash!  his first..and Only girly friend who’s also a kitsune, and a gunslinger! between the two of them, she’s kind of.. the ‘brains’ but. even then she’s not like, super smart. it’s just.. not hard to be smarter than yanya w/ that sweet 7 WIS and 10 INT score lmfao. she’s plenty clever tho!

around this time yanya and ash didn’t go to school, they travelled around their local part of karnosea causing a little trouble here and there bc well. they’re of chaotic alignment. however! chaotic good alignment, so they really only gave hell to..racists 8) .. bc fuck em

the thing is though, while yanya had two mums that loved him a lot, ash didn’t. she had one mum that sucked a bunch and constantly berated her, and yanya knew, it was partially why they spent so much time just carting around wildly, having fun, bc yanya knew she deserved better!

as a side note, karnosea is neighboring artorias, which is the Big Capital of famia, where Queen Azaroa has opened a bard college! probably the best and most chattered abt all over the world tbh. you can bet yanya’s heard of it by now, being as musically inclined as he is, and has always sort of dreamed of going there.. but shit, he and his fam ain’t making that kind of money, lmfao

but! it just so happens, as rumors say, there’s a new scholarship surfacing, offered specifically to members of more. rare races, such as kitsunes! yanya can’t lie about his interest being piqued..

but the thing was, from 16 going on 18, he was sort of perfectly happy and content just travelling around like a rascal with ash, because they were best friends!! and having fun!! and without yanya, he thought ash would be all alone with her fuckin mean ass mum!! he didn’t want that, and also that bard college is probably overrated anyway, whatever..

ash’s mum isn’t having any of it, wtf ash is happy??  

the second ash and yanya get back home from whatever little bout of travel they were on, ash’s mum goes on a tirade at ash about how she’s dragging yanya down and holding him back, how she’s not good enough for him, etc.. so ash panics, because she knows he isn’t going to leave her unless she makes him never wanna see her again.

so! that same day, ash tells yanya about. how she’s been cheating on him the whole time. laughs in his face. tells him he should’ve expected it, kitsunes are known for being tricksters, liars after all!

he’s heartbroken.. so he leaves for artorias in a shocked daze probably not a full 12 hr later 

and he gets accepted to the college!

ofc being kinda poor and rough around the edges, it’s not without it’s fair share of. snooty ass rich kids being assholes, which is whatever. turns out tho, some of those rich kids are from karnosea! so because yanyas as subtle as an airhorn, rumors about him not being human spread. guess who gets to deal with racist school peers all over again! yaaaay

it’s not totally bleak, though. at college yanya met jonavahn, neyla, pazzoch, and a bunch of the other rare-race scholarship kids and they all form their own little nestled group of friends :’>

soo because yanya’s fuckin shit at like, learning, he like, does kind of piss poor in all the actual study-centric classes lmfao. but! he’s fantastic at the physical side of things–he excels with playing instruments and melee fighting, because it’s less read-a-book-and-study and more muscle memory and physical training and practice, ofc. he just barely graduated bc getting half amazing grades and half shitty grades only balances out to so much, but dAMMIT HE DID IT

so when he graduates, he goes back home for a little bit. im sure while he was at college, he managed to visit his mums back at karnosea for a little bit on breaks, but. just the idea of going back to karnosea, just knowing that. it’s where ash was. it made it a lot harder in practice than it was in theory for him lmfao.

but being back home, getting to see him mums again! it makes him really happy! because his mums love him a lot !!! and love and support him a shit ton!! they’re so proud! look at their son that graduated from the artorian queen’s bard college! holy shit!!

yanya realizes sometimes that he takes his mums for granted.. they’ve always been there to makes him feel like everything’s ok. and they do a damn good job of it! 

 a fun fact! lershe, my old incompetence quest 1 character, is a half-orc monk–by the end of iq1, he became a lycanthrope (this was in dnd 3.5, so monks could still get infected by lycanthropy), and also a lvl 30 minor deity lmfao

lershe was separated from his dad, who was raising him on his own, at a v young age. at the end of iq1, lershe sought him out, found him again, and found out that he’d started a new family with a new wife! and tbh lershe met his mum in iq1 he could not be happier for his dad lmfao. but they have a daughter! so lershe has a little half-sister! and that little half-sister is resnerina!

because lycanthropes and kitsunes share a sort of similar ability in changing shape ya kno yeah, when yanya was a little kid, lershe was still “alive” as a mortal half-orc (lershe put off accepting that he was an immortal deity for a long time) and. was a big inspiration for yanya, naturally. these kids and people were giving him shit for being able to change shape into something that resembled an animal, but his uncle lershe can do it to, and HE’S a god!! so whatever!!

anyway so iq2 started off by all the characters running into each other in a little town in karnosea and some shit abt a cave off the outskirts of town getting ransacked by mercenaries or smth, idr

a little before then our DM said txeru and yanya were going to enter town together, and aria and karrina were going to enter town together, and we could come up w/ whatever reason why they’d end up together so txeru and yanya met first actually, just outside on town in a little tavern where they. probably got into a little scuffle just bc bar fights are fun. who cares. its fine. 

its ironic bc right now, in game, txeru and yanya are fucking pissed at each other! and its great. the drama is clearing my skin. my crops are prospering. 

basically txeru is a kasatha, an alien race not native to famia, and he’s come to famia trying to hide from two .. sort of alien police that’re after him for all the petty crimes he’s done. thing is, these two Very Specific alien cops are after him because. he kinda. was romantically involved with Both of them, one being his partner in crime and the other being of kasathan royalty–when he was backed into a corner and about to get caught he kind of ditched his partner and left the noble out high and dry so they’re both PISSED at him

they recently made their way to famia and found txeru, and after we TURNED TAIL AND RAN THE FUCK OFF from them, txeru explained his story

having his heart fucking shattered by ash, yanya kinda wasn’t super happy to find out txeru was a heart-shattering asshole himself! 

so he DECKED HIM IN THE FACE and hadn’t spoken a kind word to him in like, a week

NOW they’re talking, it’s just. every word they say to each other is some variant of “fuck you” and atm we’re waiting for a boiling point to hit to see if they’ll kiss and make up or if they’re just gonna have to hate each other! 8) im so excited

meanwhile this entire time, we’re level 10 right now. so half way to the capstone level 20. 

yanya still hasn’t formally revealed that he’s a kitsune to anyone in the group. but! as i said. the boy’s subtle as a brick thrown through a window. he’s slipped up enough times in his human disguise for just about everyone in the party to catch just a little something being off about him, but since most of the party is from artorias, away from the rarer races of karnosea, not everyone knows what a kitsune is

BUT we HAVE met a kitsune in game! madame fouxy (blame my dm for that name), but even then she only shifted from an actual fox shape to anthro fox shape, not to human shape. so they’re still unaware that kitsunes can even do that atm, meaning yanya’s ruse is hanging on by a thread lmfao

he’d just come out and say it bc he’s well aware everyone’s probably seen through him by now, but. it’s suppose to be a secret. knowing that everyone knows doesn’t make him wanna tell it, it makes him wanna convince everyone they’re wrong, even though they’re right, and he doesn’t like lying ,and if everyone’s already figured it out already, then he’s not doing a good job at keeping his own damn secrets, which freaks him out, and… etc

yanya’s favorite colors are red and blue, his favorite food is smoked rabbit, he’s 6′2″ flat on his heels in human shape, but he’s wearing stilettos bc he’s use to toe walking in fox-shape, which usually puts him up to about 6′4″, 6′5″..

he’s got a shit ton of muscle, and he eats a lot to keep up his energy! so he has his fair share of fat w a soft belly. he weighs probably anywhere from 250-300 bc im not good w weights lmfao

he has a total of.. 14 piercings, four on each ear, one on each eyebrow, two on his lips, one on his nose, and one on his tongue, almost all of which he got at the bard college lmfaoo

atm at level 10, he has 5 tails! only one spell-like ability from them, however, which is disguise self. 

he knows how to sew!

he has a fear of mirrors and heights.

it’s less a ‘fear’ and more. he doesn’t like looking at himself in the mirror, practically can’t stand it when he’s in human shape. seeing his human face all he can think is “liar, liar, liar” because that’s not his ‘real’ face. seeing his fox face he’s only reminded how much fewer people would rather see him this way. if he has to, he’ll much prefer looking at his fox face, however.

AND I THINK..THAT MAY JUST COVER IT..if it’s not everything it’s Pretty close, and if i come up w anything new ur probably gonna see me draw it at some point LMFAO