#hence her murals

[missus-paint]

Something Familiar

[dmclemblems]

A couple things confuse me about the "Edelgard was never the Flame Emperor in Hopes so that's why people are acting differently with her" thing people try to say to explain GW and SB.

1) 3H almost never makes it a narrative focus that Edelgard was the Flame Emperor, just that the Flame Emperor as a separate entity was bad. Barring Dimitri, barely anyone says "hey wow, Edelgard sure is a giant fucking asshole since we know she's the Flame Emperor" - they're more like "wow, can't believe she smeckledorfed us like that, not based and kinda cringe." So many people go "I don't wanna fight her tho, I regret having to fight her :/" as though the fact that she clearly never gave a shit about any of them, proven by her lying about being the Flame Emperor for damn near a year, doesn't mean anything to them. She's still their beloved classmate, no matter what she does to a lot of them, so I don't see why it's only now that they'd suddenly give THIS much of a shit about something they never put focus on before. And to the extent that they'd 180 on their characters just to be chill with her.

2) What actual, substantial difference is there between "I am willing to torture my citizens by turning them into Demonic Beasts," and "I will torture my citizens by slowly starving them through my war that is draining away the country's food supplies"? She is still needlessly and cruelly making her people go through suffering, just because it isn't as loud as Aegir mindlessly pillaging shit doesn't mean she isn't still responsible for mass suffering and death of her own citizens. And this isn't even getting into the rest of Fodlan either, who she is similarly ruining/ending the lives of in similarly cruel, torturous ways. But it's not specifically Demonic Beasts or specifically with TWS, so suddenly she's fine? It's morally acceptable for certain characters to join her for no reason other than her (lying) words? Hell, being a pragmatic, amoral asshole for a second - at least a weapon's being made with the Demonic Beasts method of slow and cruel death, the starving citizens do no good for anyone!

I dunno, just seems like a pretty thin straw to reach for to explain why certain characters (WINK WINK) act so wildly OOC :/

Preface after writing: I'm sorry, this is stupid long and two months late. I hope it being stupid long makes up for the wait. :D... :'D...

Yeah, the Flame Emperor portion of her character has nothing to do with Hopes. Between both games, Dimitri treats her completely differently because she didn't do the same things and he has a very direct attachment to her and TWS both, but other characters don't just like her more because she wasn't the Flame Emperor.

For example, Dimitri never spirals into the mess he became in Houses because Edelgard never hid her identity, and the Flame Emperor was very openly allied with TWS. Edelgard in Hopes broke off her ties with them as soon as the game really begins, i.e. post the prologue (in all routes, but you only see it actually be discussed in her route).

I do agree it's a flaw in the writing that they kind of switch on the whole "the Flame Emperor is a bad person" to deciding they don't agree with that anymore once they know who it is. What she did doesn't change just because she was "someone else" at the time, the same way Dimitri's actions don't change just because he was "someone else" for those five years. Difference being, there are actually allied characters who hold Dimitri accountable for it, and Dimitri holds himself accountable too. Just another instance of the writing making women wound like saints because they gotta sell their merch. I'm saying that as a woman, mind you, and it's frutsrating that gender dictactes how a story gets written. Gender also doesn't define someone's personality and who they are, so it shouldn't make a story geared around uwu waifu not bad, we don't wanna fight her.

The thing is, this is one of the problems people have with the narrative of Houses is not committing. It's true that Edelgard didn't care about a lot of people because she explicitly didn't let herself care, because she went into the year fully expecting and being aware of her inevitable "betrayal" (which I quote because she didn't really intend to be friends with them to begin with, so in her view it's probably not really a betrayal. It would be to them, but not so much to her).

It's also true that she decides to "care" about people who side with her simply for siding with her. Unfortunately the writing can't commit to kepeing her consistent as a character because they don't want her to be the villain because it's harder to market villains. That is, in part, why TWS exists, because they're meant to be the 'true villains".

Basically, TWS exists to make Edelgard look better as a person. Since they made her look pretty and cute, they didn't want to commit to making her a more villainous person, despite openly saying in an interview that they made her the villain. If she were a man, they would have made her more of a villain.

Regarding Houses and her evils:

The characters are sad about classmates being their enemies, but they set aside all the bad things as soon as they know the ringleader is a woman. Remember how they all considered her a horrible villain who had to be taken down when they knew her as the Flame Emperor? They thought the Flame Emperor was a man. As soon as it turns out that, that very same person was a woman they uwu went to school with, they don't think he's such a horrible villain who needs to be taken down anymore.

The point of the first half of Houses is that you're involved in all these happy academy days (as far as their relationships go, less so about the missions and stuff). They all trust each other and see each other as people they will one day have to work alongside. Suddenly they find out a pair among the students were plotting against them and weren't really ever on their side. The people they met in school were, in some ways, "fake". They weren't their true selves because they were in enemy territory the whole time (even if they were safe there, but in their minds these were enemies).

Like, personally, would I feel bad when I found out these people were lying to me the whole time and planned to kill me one day if I didn't agree with them? lol no. The characters went from thinking her actions were horrific to "well let's hear her out because she's actually our friend, even though for being our 'friend' we actually know nothing about her and our 'friend' lied to us the whole time".

Regarding Hopes and her supposed lack of evils:

In Hopes, even though none of that is there, it's still true she lied to them and was their enemy. It's still true she started a war and did all the same things from there, and in fact, some of it she actually had to do herself because she broke off with TWS. This includes trying to invade the Kingdom, which Cornelia was the one to do and succeed in doing in Houses. However, Edelgard herself, and the might of the Empire, is canonically not enough to subdue the Kingdom in Hopes. This does mean, however, that she had to do the deeds herself and cou;pdn't hide behind anyone else.

Breaking it down for why she seems less evil in Hopes though, we have SB. Technically both the Empire and Alliance took on the Kingdom, meaning that the Empire alone couldn't handle it. Reminder that, Dimitri, Dedue and Felix all survive SB, so the Empire can't take down three of the strongest fighters in the Kingdom (so less people die, because in SB she's not allied with TWS and does nothave the strength given to her by them, such as the beasts). Ingrid went out specifically to die because she planned to fight as long as possible so Dimitri could get away, meaning she never intended to survive that battle. Sylvain went out in a fit of rage seeking revenge for Ingrid, so his head wasn't on straight and he wasn't fighting with his brain, but his emotions.

Could they have taken these people down otherwise? Sylvain, no. He's too smart. If he wasn't so angry he would have backed off as soon as he realized he was overmatched in that battle. He wouldn't have died there because Dimitri wasn't there to die for, and neither was Felix. Also, he's not nearly as suicidal in this game. If he wasn't seeking revenge, he wouldn't have died, plain and simple. Could they have beaten Ingrid normally? No, because similarly, she would've retreated if she didn't go into the battle planning to fight until she died. She would've left to continue protecting her friends, home and king.

What this means is that she looks less bad because less people died, meaning her war killed less named and beloved characters. The difference though is that it doesn't make her less evil - it just means that alone, her might isn't capable of taking these people down. She needs to be allied with another army to win her war, which is why she took with TWS in the first place in Houses. Since they wanted her to look better in Hopes, she ditched them... but that means she still needs allies for her war. She knows she can't take down the Kingdom alone and they're allied with the Church, and she knows she can't take down Rhea because Rhea is a dragon.

Then there's GW, which just makes Edelgard look FUNNY. It's Claude who has to invade the Kingdom, because she can't break through the west front. Even after Claude fights in Fhirdiad, she still can't take down the west front. This means that, not only did the Empire have people do their bidding for what they weren't strong enough to do, but they had to take any other matters into their own hands for what TWS wouldn't help with in this story. It means Edelgard had to dirty her hands because they weren't there to do it, and she just wasn't strong enough to win her own war.

Remember, in SB, she doesn't win her own war. Her enemies kill each other, and the Kingdom is weakened because she allied with another army to fight them because she doesn't have the strength to do it herself. She looks less evil in Hopes because, being totally frank and not even saying this out of a hatred for her, she's weak. She's too weak to actually win and conquer, and she looks worse if she wins and takes control of all the lands she stomped on to win. When she loses, she looks better because she's not the tyrannical leader of all of Fodlan. In Hopes, no matter what route you're on, Edelgard does not win the war and does not achieve anything with her own army's strength. In CF, she does win because her allies are TWS for the entire game and they're only defeated post game because the game's duration is her war, which she needed them for the entirety of to actually win.

In GW, she doesn't win the war. She doesn't defeat Rhea, instead leaving that to Claude, who had Shez in his army (and was probably the only one with the actual power to rival Rhea's, for obvious reasons).

This also is why the kingdom survives and is never taken over. In Houses, it was never Edelgard's strength that conquered it. However, it does mean every single thing that happened in the war was on her head, because there was no TWS to take the fall for her the bad things that happened.

How it looks on her character:

So, looking at it from both ways, to sum it up... why are they so upset that they have to fight their classmate, who lied to them and was faking around them? Why are they upset about fighting her when she's been doing all this stuff in the war by her own desires and orders? There's no getting mad at TWS for what she does.

The Empire when pitted against the Kingdom can't win without allies, and Edelgard presumbly knew that in Houses and had allies - TWS. In Hopes, she gets Claude on her side because she can't do, well, jack shit to the Kingdom without him. Without something unexpected in the mix (the Alliance in Hopes, TWS in Houses), the Kingdom's strength is enough to defend.

Since TWS are her enemies in this story, she never actually wins. She doesn't lose, but she doesn't win. The only reason she doesn't lose is because she allied with another army (who she was canonically losing to in both routes anyway).

So basically, how do the writers make up for Edelgard not teaming up with TWS here? They have her use the Alliance instead, making her look better for not siding with TWS. To make her look even better, they have TWS do horrific things as a third party to it all, independently fucking around and making Edelgard have to go stop them. It makes TWS look like the worst of all scum, and it props up the "less evil" villains.

In GW, Claude does shady shit because ??? and that also makes Edelgard look better because she's very up front and doesn't do tactics the way he does. She's very forthright and if she didn't want to ally with the Alliance, she would have said as much and not have teamed up with them to stab them in the back later. Instead, that's given to Claude because, well, let's face it, it makes him look worse than her. She also gets no flak for killing Rhea in this game because she can't, because she doesn't have the power TWS gave her. She fights Rhea, certainly, even with Shez's power... but it's not enough. Rhea survives everything you do and only dies against Thales.

So basically, Edelgard is just weak and incapable of winning in this game, and it makes her look better and nicer, since she doesn't have the ability to use Demonic Beasts. The characters feel like upset because she did "less evil" things and killed fewer people (again, because she's not capable of doing so).

And again, I'm not even saying that out of hate. Edelgard admits they needed TWS in CF if they were going to win the war. Consequently, she doesn't win the war in any route in Hopes because she splits off from them in all routes.

No, it doesn't make her a better person or more worthy of people's pity, but they used Claude as a means of having someone else do worse things than her to make the characters doubt Claude while believing wholly in Edelgard for being so forthright. Since TWS is worse than Claude, it makes a tier of "bad", and she's at the very bottom of it. Thus, the characters see her in a better light and don't want to kill her.

Other stuff:

In AG it's actually kinda interesting, because even though the Empire has fallen because of Thales, literally nobody pities Edelgard for the situation she ended up in. Nobody feels bad about it and nobody thinks man, we should save Edelgard, she isn't the one who made the Empire fall into ruin like this. They still understand she's the one who started this war and enabled enough of a situation for TWS to take advantage of it. She gave them the opening instead of fighting them in the first place.

Even if you went along with her strategy of siding with the Church to take out TWS, but then she betrays the Church and starts her war against them because she also sees them as her enemy, that would have been the most reasonable strategy. Side with the Church, take out the strongest enemy first so they can't run around wreaking havoc while you ignore them to fight your war, then deal with the Church after when they won't have distractions and a potential other enemy creeping up on them.

Point being, it was stupid to start a war against the Church after simply driving out Thales from the capital. She should've waited to start the war until they'd taken out TWS completely. Why didn't they do this? Because they needed TWS in the story to make her look like a better person. Removing them too soon would mean she can't go back and stop their destruction. She can't seem like the better person because there's nobody worse than her. By making her strategy, well, let's face it, incredibly stupid to the point even Hubert told her outright not to do it/that he didn't agree with it, it made her look, well, honestly, dumb... but a better person in the long run.

Like I said, in AG it's done in a more interesting way because her situation doesn't get pitied by anyone. The people loyal to her are still loyal to her, but that's about it. None of her enemies feel sorry for her. None of them see that her war brought about something bad on her (i.e. being controlled by Thales) and went awww poor thing. She reaps what she sows and faces the consequeces of both starting a war and not being smart about it (i.e. dealing with TWS altogether at the start or remaining allied with them until the war was over like in CF). The characters in AG see it for it was, and Edelgard had to have known that there would be potential consequences of doing what she did.

Even at the very end, Dimitri doesn't pity her when she her mentality reverts to a child's. He doesn't feel it necessary to stain his hands with her blood at that point because the war is over. If she was still a threat they would defeat her but she wasn't, and she also didn't have any memory of starting the war, so killing her would be for nothing but personal gain, which at that point Dimitri didn't have. If anything, it might have staved off even more more because the emperor would be returned home safely, and possibly even by Dimitri (because I can't imagine the Church would do it after she declared explicitly on them, and I doubt Claude would even care to do it because he has no history with her like Dimitri does) or someone he trusts.

The Empire would need to focus on dealing with what happened to her, and they wouldn't be in a position to keep fighting or even need to since the person who wanted the war doesn't even have the memories leading up to why the war was started. All they could really do at that point was take care of her and decide what to do about leadership (and in this moment, we're going to prefend Ferdinand wasn't killed offscreen. They didn't say he was, so he wasn't! Got it? Yeah? Great!).

This last part doesn't really have much to do with your ask, but I wanted to add it in as a contrast to the way SB/GW were written and how they did make her seem like a better person than Claude. They made it seem like she was less bad for doing whats he did with her own hands this time because there was no TWS to do it for her. AG flips that on its head and says no, we don't care that she ended up in a bad situation because she brought it on herself. They said no, we're not going to pity her just because someone worse than her came along because she still did what she did.

Imo AG was just a much more refreshing and realistic take. They didn't look at her and see uwu classmate. They looked at her and saw the woman who started a war and knew what she was doing. Just because she lost in her own war and just because someone got the jump on her didn't make her worth pitying.

Instead, we get a wholly satisfying conclusion to the Duscur story, whcih was completely dropped in AM and probably because they ran out of chapters. We can bring a literal army of victims from that tragedy with us and have them be able to face the person who caused all of it. Since Duscur was also allied with Faerghus for a long while at this point, it wraps up that storyline in a nice, neat bow. The only thing left is to assume that things with Duscur went well and that Claude determined starting a new war over the Church just wasn't worth it.

Claude post AG (in contrast to him in the other routes):

Yes, I think Claude considered taking advantage of an existing war to fight the Church and might have done so in Hopes if Edelgard wasn't out of commission, because if she wasn't the war would continue. However, the war was over right then and there and more fighting on his part would just be a really stupid move that would turn everyone around him against him.

The war ended, the person who started it lost, and the third party was defeated. People would not want to fight another war just because Claude doesn't understand Fodlan at all in this game. Quite ironic that Edeglgard's rhetoric to him in VW about not knowing enough about Fodlan to lead it was completely true in this game... or maybe they did that on purpose to make her look better! Again! :D :'D

So yeah, Claude didn't start another war after AG ended. I say that, of course, assuming AG Claude has a brain and knows how to use it. Also, I don't think he would want to make enemies of the Kingdom at that point. If his goal remained to bring people together, he had already succeeded in getting every territory on the same page by allying with the sides opposing Edelgard in the first place.

The only people left are the Empire's people, who weren't in a position to fight and would probably just agree to an allying sort of truce so that all of Fodlan was on the same page. Even without Hubert or Ferdinand, they have Waldemar, and he's smart enough imo to make the right moves there. Claude has no reason to start a new war/renew an existing war that just ended when now that there's no war to just jump into to use as an excuse for something, he can just use words and his presumably route working brain to figure out how to work with the Church. Like, you know, he does in VW.

[umbralwaves]

I definitely embarrassed my "benignly" misogynistic manager with how I prefer to defend myself over having my POC husband do it. His white wife must be reeling.

[slowlyoats]

The Lost Boys: What they like in other people

Marko

- creativity

- Absolutely HATES the idea of blending in

- Hence why his jacket is so different from his brother’s jackets

- He’s drawn to creative people who outwardly express their creativity with their appearance

- This is why he loves the board walk!! There are TONS of people who dress originally and In an unapologetic way

- I think one of his biggest struggles with being a vampire is that he can’t be outside during the day, and it’s not because he misses the sun or the warmth, it’s because thats the time of day people are usually outside creating wall murals, doing chalk art, painting landscapes.

- He misses interacting with those artists

- So, if he is at the board walk and just so happens to see someone set up with an easel, painting the lights of carnival rides, you BET that boy is going to introduce himself

- And find out everything there is to know about you

- And try to convince you to stay in Santa Carla forever with him

Paul

- Music taste

- Paul is a music snob

- He will totally judge a person based off the music they listen to, and will, on many occasions, choose his victims based off their poor music taste

- His favorite place on the Boardwalk is the record store

- It’s run by this older lady who shares Paul’s love for music

- He goes in at least once a week to say hi, and discuss music with her

- I feel like her name is Gretchen, but Paul insists on calling her Gretch

- He usually sits behind the cash register and talks to her in between customers

- And if it’s one of those nights where Paul can’t sit still, Gretchen makes him unload boxes in the back room and set up any new displays

- She LOVES to play matchmaker with Paul

- Because she is the only record store around, she knows the music taste of most people who live in Santa Carla

- So she try’s to find Paul a date, by matching up his music taste with a regular’s

- This usually doesn’t work out, but she LOVES to try

- *whispers* “look at her Paul! Isn’t she lovely?? And she listens to Motley Crüe!”

- He went on one date that Gretchen set him up on, and it didn’t end too well….so he swore he would never do it again.

- Let’s just say that the girl smelled a little TOO good and he couldn’t stop himself from having a taste

- He cares too much about Gretchen’s companionship to ruin it with him loosing control and eating all her customers

Dwayne

- kindness

- The boys don’t get shown a lot of kindness because…you know…they kill people and stuff

- But that doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings!!

- Dwayne might be the silent, stern type, BUT if anyone shows him the tiniest bit of kindness this man will become your devoted follower

- He may be a vampire, but he remembers what it was like to be human, and how easy it is to be selfish and just plain mean

- He also remembers that kindness is a choice

- And the kindest people tend to be the strongest

- Being kind to him is one thing, he might keep an eye out for you on the boardwalk in case you find yourself in trouble, or change your tire if you get a flat.

- But

- If your kind to Laddie?

- Maybe he got lost and you helped him find his way back to the boys? Or bought him a ice cream? Or maybe even helped him reach an arcade game he so desperately wanted to play?

- Oh boy.

- You just found your self a guardian watch dog angel. Trust me when I saw NO ONE will lay a hand on you or look at you the wrong way EVER and live to tell the tale

- And if you just so happen to be his type?

- Well, I hope you like Santa Carla because you won’t be leaving

David

- courage

- He admires someone who can stand there ground

- Who can get in the face of a surfer nazi and tell them where they can stick it

- Who won’t put up with Paul and Marko teasing them, and will dish it right back to them!

- Who won’t be intimidated and has no problem telling him and the boys “no” with a smile on their face

- Someone who doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about what anyone has to say to them about hanging around him and his boys

- Their confident in their decisions, even the bad ones

- When offered a drink from that sparkly bottle they give him a wink, and take a huge swig!

- And PROMPTLY spit it out all over their prized poster, because like HELL will you be tricked into doing anything you don’t want to do

[dhampling]

little love girl!dadstarion, <1k

He doesn’t consider himself a clingy parent.  He just endeavours to spend every waking moment he can with her. - dadstarion watches dhampling sleep for a lil bit and has some thoughts about life. floof. wc: 724

Astarion watches her as he sits, legs tucked up under him; with a chalice on the endstool to his side. 

Despite his current book being one he’s looked forward to indulging for a while, he can’t lose himself in the pages quite yet. His eyes skim and reskim now familiar paragraphs while flitting to the small child asleep on the lounger. 

The room is full of impossibly green tangling plants, and glows shades of orange in the late candlelight; incense blooming from the clay holder on the sill. A small trinket dish full of corvid gatherings. The boarded shutters, the curtains parted at either side; the painted mural in place of the window. Lanterns of coloured glass spilling forest greens and oranges soft.

Elven-pointed ears twitching, the occasional small shuffle. Each and every sleepy inhale and exhale from her tiny little body feels like a victory.

He doesn’t consider himself a clingy parent. 

He just endeavours to spend every waking moment he can with her, hence her resting here now; in the den room, instead of her own well-loved bedroom. A wayward spider on the ceiling had turned into an evening of storytelling - a journal filled with tales of Grizzle the Arachnid in her spiky young hand. 

She’s swaddled in a big patchwork throw he’d made early into his freedom following the fall of the Absolute, just as the idea of tailoring had come to mind. The stitching is a little skewed in places but the untrained eye would glide right over it, he’s sure.

He could carry her up the iron wrought spiral staircase and tuck her in - and likely will soon - but being able to sit and just observe feels like an indulgence. A rare treat. 

A small part of him - he would never admit - was hopeful before her birth that she’d be his little nightling, although any lingering wants were blinded by unbridled joy at her ability to bask in the sun. He’d never expected the gaping hole in his undead heart at being unable to pick her up from a day of schooling, though. 

He trances through it every time, or he fears he’d disintegrate trying it on big occasions. Her first day, missed. Many more to come. 

He frowns. 

He does stay awake to do her hair each morning before she heads off, though. Before she’d even reached her first birthday he’d sequestered away a book on Faerûnian Braids from the Night Market; her ringlets barely presenting then now flourishing atop her dozy head.

You. She looks like you.

Astarion’s heart pangs. 

He misses you terribly. Dramatically. Wants to creep up the stairs in the style of Nosferatu and bite you in your sleep, fondly; doze the night away with his incisors reverently just beside your neck. His paramour. His well-bitten darling. 

Sometimes, he reads the gaudy vampiric fiction novels slighted from the market and hidden away in one of the rafters when clients leave the shop earlier than expected. He thinks one day he’ll play into the notion - the skulker, the grand gestures, the one who stole his heart - then realises his life is wholly a mirror of the pages.

Gah. He’s a cliche. A horrid cliche. He shakes his head yet can’t find it within him to do anything but smile.

Nothing about this feels horrid. 

It feels normal. Real. Home is home and it is the safest place in the world.

The dhampling stirs, stretching among the throw and rolling her tiny wrists. A small yawn tumbles from little lips.

“Darling?’

Astarion shuffles his leg from under him and turns his book, resting it on the lounger. Moves to kneel beside her.

‘Sweet thing. Come along, now.”

Her eyes open slowly. She looks at him with reverence. Her father. The balm of rest settles as a haze in this cosy room and nothing has ever felt so good.

Father. Him. Awful, nasty, terrible him. She could’ve been one of them, roaming the underdark in eternal childhood in another lifetime. He decides he won’t allow the thought to pass.

“Can you carry me?” She whispers, lifting her arms above her head.

“If I don’t; I fear we’ll be traipsing those stairs all evening, little love.” He speaks softly and gently lifts her sleepy self onto his hip.

She doesn’t understand his quips yet. She will, one day.

[zeddylux]

I genuinely had the best idea for a rewrite for some of Act 2. So say miss Vi in a drunken stupor (with real fucking symptoms thank you) stumbles into a certain brothel (we all know the one) and meets a certain girl. Could be an OC could be a self-insert either way but they start to become close. Vi come back after every fight, every night if she can manage and the girl eventually stops charging her. Which Vi starts feeling super guilty about (cue the self hatred) and starts fighting even harder so she can make sure to pay the girl (hence why she starts getting max beefcake). But the girl starts coming around her place (the place we saw in the trailer with her bed without a blankie) so she doesn't have to feel guilty. But there a general lack of communication. The girl idolizes Jinx and how she ignited the revolution and has blue streaks in her hair (one of Jinxs fans) but despises the Zaun enforcer that led Caitlyn down into the undercity. (I think this would still work because Vi had her mask on for alot of Act 1 where people might recognize her and her hair is dyed black now). Vi can't bring herself to tell the girl the truth so she keeps pretending she's also a fan of Jinx and not telling the girl everything. She can't lose anyone again she can't. (Perhaps insert a scene where the girl is admiring the mural of Jinx and Vi starts crying). Vi still has her gauntlets though and the girl eventually starts putting two and two together. She's a sex worker she's trained to pay attention. Especially when some enforcers and Caitlyn (desperate to find Jinx) raid the brothel possibly looking for Vi also to bring in for questioning. Jinx can still reunite with Vi and Isha can still have her relationship with her (I liked it think it's fine) but she doesn't die. Fuck that. Anyway Jinx needs Vi to help her with something (not sure what yet) and so the two work together but it's VERY hostile. The two keep trading insults and the girl is confused. She gets angry at Vi (how could you talk that way to her she SAVED US). Meanwhile Jinx is still intent on hurting her sister and spills the beans. Tells the girl everything. The girl breaks down and cries and says she can't even look at Vi anymore. Jinx leaves with a satisified look on her face while Isha gives her a disapproving look.

[sage-nebula]

In season 1, Powder/Jinx was viewed by most as a screw-up, and a monster.

In season 2, Jinx will be viewed by most as a monster, and a revolutionary symbol.

In neither season did the majority opinion see her as a person. Those who did care about her as a person — Vander, Vi, Ekko (though he tried hard not to in arcs 2 & 3), and Silco, in that order — were heavily outnumbered by those who only saw her as the consequences of her actions, and not the eccentric, brilliant, but heavily traumatized and mentally ill girl she actually was.

There are some people who are angry that she is being seen as a revolutionary or peaceful symbol in Zaun. "It should be Vi!" they say. "How could they do this to Ekko?!" But here is what those people are missing:

Symbols are not people. They are iconography. A symbol can last long, long after its origin has died. Hence why doves are symbols; they can die fast, but their paintings last forever. This means that it does not matter at all to Zaun what happens to Jinx, in any way, once she is their symbol; even if she dies, that just makes her a martyr. Even better if it's an enforcer that kills her. (I could see Sevika arranging that.)

Jinx is just as alone now as she ever was. Symbols need to stay pure. Meaning that Jinx's off-color jokes and wild actions will need to be short leashed or she could risk losing that status. Even IF she feels this gives her community, she'll lose that real fast.

This is not the face of a girl who feels she is among friends:

And that is simply because she isn't. They don't know her. They don't need to know her. They need her to do her part (be the face on the murals, the martyr when we need it) and that's it. Jinx's action of blowing up the council was loved. But Jinx herself? No.

This is not an enviable position and it isn't going to benefit her, at least not in terms of her mental wellbeing. Jinx needs real unconditional love and support—what she got from Silco in his final moments, not the empty veneration of the masses who view her as an icon rather than a human being.

[maxsimagination]

𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗜𝗜 - 𝗺.𝗹𝗲𝗼𝗻

summary: yn has just moved to barcelona, and picked up an admirer while she’s there.

• part 1 • part 2

-> i apologise if any of the translations are wrong

𖦹 masterlist

𝗜𝗧 𝗛𝗔𝗗 𝗕𝗘𝗘𝗡 𝗔 week of training, a week of getting to know mapi. we had exchanged numbers after she'd offered to take me out and show me the highlights of barcelona. we had decided on today, hence why i was up at 6 in the morning.

i didn't know where we were planning on going, mapi said she wanted to surprise me. my phone pings with a text from her saying she was out the front. i grabbed my things and headed down, excited for what she had planned.

"hola, i hope your excited." i was grinning when i hopped into her car. "of course i'm excited, the mapi leon is taking me to see barcelona." she laughed at my humour and we drove out of my street to where ever mapi had planned. barcelona was a beautiful city, the sun was rising and the colours were thrown through the sky like a painting.

even though i didn't know where we were going, my head was still out of the window most of the time, enjoying the beauty of barcelona. it took just under an hour but mapi had driven us into the heart of barcelona, to the arco de triunfo. i was in awe, i had never seen anything like it.

i took a couple of pictures of it, before mapi took one of me with it, then i asked someone walking past if they could take one of me and mapi. i thanked them when they had and mapi tugged my hand back to walk to the car and show me to our next place.

we had drove past castell dels tres dragons, and i managed to get a picture of it, then mapi pulled up to museo picasso. it was a beautiful art gallery, over 4,000 pieces were on display.

we walked through the building, admiring the artwork, although i was pretty sure that mapi's eyes were on me the whole time. after that we went to three other locations; mural del beso, muralla romana and el cap de barcelona. finally, to end our day out we stopped off at a sushi place.

"this is amazing, thank you so much mapi." i thanked the woman profusely, she had shown me the most amazing places, my camera roll was full. "no problem, yn." we sat together eating our sushi, when i had a thought. "is your real name mapi? or is it a nickname?"

i knew her as mapi, but i swear ingrid had told me her full name before. "my full name is maria pilar león cebrián." she had a shy look on her face and i smiled gently at her admission. "that's a beautiful name." we spent the last bit of our time speaking together before we had to drive back home. another hour later we arrived at my apartment and i had to get out.

"thankyou again for today. i really enjoyed it." i pushed my luck a bit and leant forward to press a kiss to her cheek before hopping out of the car. i looked back to see mapi, stunned in the drivers seat and blushing. "adiós, yn." (bye, yn.)

——

it was training day today. i groaned when that thought came to mind, i wanted it to be yesterday so i could see all of the landmarks mapi showed me again. ingrid was picking me up again this morning so i waited for her 'i'm here' text before i grabbed my stuff and went outside. when i got into the car she immediately asked about yesterday.

"how was it?" "it was incredible. she showed me the most amazing places and took me for sushi at the end." i rambled on about how much i enjoyed the day with mapi. ingrid was smiling while listening to me go on about it. "you really like mapi, don't you?" she asked with a knowing tone.

i had to pause for a second to let it register. all my feelings ran through my mind as i took my time. "i think, yea, i do." clearly ingrid wasn't expecting that answer from me as she whipped back to me. "wait really?" "yea." a growing smile turned into a giant grin on ingrid as she drove. "oh my god, you have to tell her! she definitely has a thing for you."

"she does not! she was probably just being nice yesterday." i knew i was kidding myself, i had pecked her on the cheek yesterday and she was blushing. if she was just being nice she wouldn't react like that. but my humility stood in the way of that thought.

we finally got to camp nou and both walked in together. everyone was in the cafeteria so we went to join them. mapi, aitana, patri, alexia and marta were all at a table together. ingrid beat me to the seats and chose to sit next to alexia, which left me to sit with mapi. i knew she did that on purpose.

we all started talking and continued for a bit before i got hungry and went to get some food. i was gone for about ten minutes, there was a line, and unbeknownst to me ingrid had started talking with mapi.

when i came back, they didn't realise i could hear them and i caught the last bit of the conversation. "... me gusta mucho yn." (i really like yn.) i stopped where i was, not wanting to interrupt what she was saying. but ingrid spotted me and beckoned me over, which caught mapi off guard and she stopped talking.

i walked back over and sat down next to mapi, trying my hardest not to act awkward. i think ingrid knew that i had heard and could understand what mapi had said and she nodded at me, trying to get me to talk to her. i have in and told myself 'fuck it, why not'.

i leant towards mapi and whispered in her ear, "a mí también me gustas mucho maría." i could see her tense up when i said that, she didn't know that i knew spanish fluently. "¿de veras?" (really?) she questioned me. "sí." (yes.) i nodded. she grinned at my confirmation and grabbed my hand to lead me away from the table and out to the hall.

"you're telling me that you knew spainish this whole time?" i laughed.

"yes, it was ingrid's idea."

mapi just laughed at that.

"of course it was. well in that case, ¿quieres ser mi novia?" (will you be my girlfriend?)

i grinned at her.

"absolutamente, maría." (absolutely, maría.)

[bellaaldamas]

"Trolls just wanna have fun", episode #109392893489. And somehow they always want to have fun on YouTube.

Now, I swear with a hand on my heart that I've abandoned any and all attempts at reasoning with them and it's the first time in my very extensive troll fighting career (which I've long retired from) that I ever decided to publish a comment on YouTube that wasn't about gushing over an adorable video of one of my numerous telenovela OTPs.

However, seeing this troll fest in the comment section for a short video of Angrboda vs Thrud's reaction to Atreus's wolf transformation made me realize - or rather remember - that trolls don't intend on citing facts, quotes or employing logic. They're goal isn't to appeal to the general consumers who buy the games (read: those who pay and who therefore matter to developers) or even to each other. Their goal is to throw out their purposefully twisted nonsense into the void for random by passers online to see. Because that's the only type of influence they can have and they know it.

Therefore my troll slaying armor had to be dusted off, if only for today.

Transcript of my comment (because I went back and edited it a little):

The contrast between Angrboda and Thrud's reactions is rather telling and is as well written as everything else in the game. Angrboda already saw Atreus/Loki's transformation (after he witnessed the mural), at it's most formidable for her, when he barked at and nearly ate her alive. But she was able to comfort him and get him to turn back into human form through gentle touch and soothing encouraging voice alone (she was the only one who could teach him to control this power of his without using violence which even Kratos had to resort to). Here Angrboda directly prompts him to take a hold of his power and remain in charge of it which Atreus easily does thanks to her support. Afterwards Angrboda immediately gives him words of approval and admiration.

On the other hand, there's Thrud who always kept showing off her own physical strength to him (and doubting or blaming him every step of the way, like in the situation with Garm) yet somehow always needed Atreus to help her out or solve her problems (be it helping her with the "almost budging" door or working out her mommy and daddy issues which was absolutely not Atreus's place to do, giving he is only 15 himself; another contrast with Angrboda whom he could act his age around). Here Thrud doesn't help Atreus control his ability but just passively accepts the benefits of it because she enjoys seeing a stronger and more useful fighting partner. Hence her reaction. From the narrative standpoint even those details perfectly explain why Angrboda is Atreus/Loki's romantic interest as opposed to Thrud.

[totkdaily]

Day 85: Attack on Gerudo Town

The attack on Gerudo Town begins. 

It's hard to keep an eye on all the gates at once, and the sand makes it hard to move quickly.

I focus on taking out the hives first - and then we mop up the remaining gibdo. Gerudo Town is safe again, for now. 

Debriefing afterwards, Riju noticed that the gibdo hives became sand when they were destroyed. She wonders if the gibdo and the sand are more connected than we thought. It's a shame she and Zelda haven't had cause to spend much time together - it's exactly the kind of observation the Princess would love. 

Now that the threat is passed, we can discuss Riju's summons. She wants to show me something down in the shelter. 

Past the rolling door below is the vibrant Gerudo community I remember. I'm glad it's surviving this much, at least. 

A young girl, Delia, immediately runs up to me - and we're told off by Lorn. She's too young to talk to Voe. Lorn does not want me here - too bad. 

I find Cara, the accessory designer. I remember the shop owner she mentions - apparently she went out for supplies and hasn't come back yet. The desert must be littered with lost people. We need to sort that sand shroud. Cara says she went to the Toruma Dunes - where there are Molduga. Great. 

Beside a strangely familiar orb, I meet Rotana, a scholar. She's working on deciphering stelae, writings on stone pillars. This one says: 

“The seven heroines who protect the Gerudo. Their secret will be expressed on six stelae.”

On the other stela she has, it says: 

“The seven heroines who protect the Gerudo. And eighth channels and guides the powers of these seven.”

Rotana says the heroines are so ancient nothing is known about them - not even if they should be worshiped as a collective or as individuals. Apparently there may even have only been one at all - or conversely, eight! Hence the eighth heroine statue in the Highlands, I suppose. 

She wants to find the other four stelae and make her name in archeology. She thinks they'll be underground. I shall look out. 

I find Riju looking at a mural surrounded by water.

“Standing back-to-back with the throne, witness red pillars across a vast sea. Unite the pillars in light to reveal the lightning stone and open the way. You who can hear my voice, come to me. I await you.”

Incredible. Words directly from the sage, preserved here. 

It sounds like I should start at the throne. But I want to explore this shelter first. 

I find one of Rotana's stelae behind some crumbling rock.

She translates it as:

“The seven heroines protect the Gerudo with the powers of heart, skill, fortitude, wisdom, flight, mobility, and compassion.”

There's a Hylian here, Jules. She warns me not to misbehave - there's already a man in jail. I miss the inconspicuousness of my Gerudo clothes…

There's a kid called Aaqlet - that's the name the guy in jail said as I went by. Poor guy, he probably just came to check on his kid. And her mum isn't here either, she's working at the secret clothes shop. Aaqlet has a map, which I should follow at some point. 

The spa and the wine bar have moved down here, so at least people are still managing to do business. 

I cross the main hall again to explore the other side - and fall down a hole! The short drop ends with a splash. There's a message in a bottle.

“It's you! At long last! You, the voe reading this letter, are the voe I was fated to meet! And I am the vai you were destined for! You must hurry and rescue me! I am locked away from the outside world! Do not worry though! I will send all of my love to you until you come and find me. Stay safe and know that we will meet soon. It is our destiny, after all! -Calyban”

Oh dear. I should just put this back in the water. But where does this tunnel go, anyway? 

A bunch of places: a house in Gerudo Town, a circular path that needed blasting open, and finally a korok panel. I ascend through the tunnel and head back to the shelter. 

I find Calyban by the large hole in the shelter floor, but she wants to be left alone. Fair enough.

Another kid, Kalani, also hides her face when I approach. I leave her be and stop at the goddess statue. 

In exchange for the four Sage's Wills I've found, I grant Tulin a stronger attack. I also get three heart containers, to hopefully make it harder to blow myself up. 

I stop in at a classroom, and find myself in use as a teaching aid. Nali is too shy to look at me - but I do have that Sheikah mask… it's not enough for her. I don't actually think I have any full-face masks - I'll have to come back. 

Past where the sand seals are hanging out, I find a room that's almost a miniature of the valley of the seven heroines.

I wonder… I've seen a  few small orbs around. This would seem to be the place for them. I wonder what happens if I find them all.

I find a buried and broken stela, and manage to blow away the sand and put it back together again.

Beyond, a much larger tunnel. The valley of silent statues. 

It's already been a long day - in fact, it's nearly over. But I want to know what's down here… 

I find Nellie, who's been exploring down here a little. She doesn't seem to think much of it though - she's heading back to the canteen. 

Let's find out for myself…

[evaarade]

New Mandalorians ARE the Canon Version of the True Mandalorians

Ok so, a long time coming but here's the gist:

I truly think that the New mandalorians are, to canon, what the True Mandalorians are to fanon.

Yes fanon, not Legends Canon because they aren't as good as people make them out to be in, you guess it, fanon.

Let's get on with it.

To start, let's established what I mean with Fanon True Mandalorians and Canon New Mandalorians.

New Mandalorians are show to:

Want to move on from their Imperialistic History

Not erasing any history (see: murals in the city) nor the language (see: the mando'a all over the city, in the Academy and Satine openly speaking it) nor even their warrior traditions (see: kids still knowing how to fight)

Seem to be the majority of the population, composed by a big mile by Non-Warrior AKA the majority of the population even before the civil war.

Are hated by the Death Watch

Are the middle ground

Want and Do focus on the non-warrior traditions and elite (after centuries of it being the focus on their sector), but not to the extreme of banning all warriors (see: The Mandalorian guard, the Protectors - who are lead by Fenn Rau) instead possibly asking the Warriors who Refused to back down to not start shit in return of having the least damaged planet/moon aka Concordia

Are trying to make Mandalore and it's people Better

Those outside of the Royal Guard and the police don't seem to wear armour, though those seem to not be the bounty hunting version of it and those who Don't wear it certainly seem to use clothes with the beskar heart - the Kar'ta Beskar - in them

Follow a more progressive type of government - out from the Warrior's Elite control and more into the non-warrior population (aka the majority of the population)

Don't seem to have problems calling non-warriors Mandalorians as long as they meet a certain criteria

The Fanon True Mandalorians, meanwhile (from what I could gather from fanfictions):

Warrior Focused but out of necessity because of the Civil War, but don't seem to want to focus All on the warriors

Are Hated by the Death Watch

Are the middle ground

Care about their culture

Don't seem interested in going imperialists

Are trying to make Mandalore and it's people Better

Wear Armour even outside of battle

Don't seem to be the majority of the population - fanon varies between them being a minority or being a big part of the population (or at least, the minority with the support of non-warriors)

Follow a more traditional Mandalorian Government

Don't seem to have problems calling non-warriors Mandalorians as long as they meet a certain criteria

From these, we can that they ARE similar, and if we go further into semi-canon (which is iffy but we are handling fanon while talking about canon, so I will allow it) we do know that the New Mandalorians and True Mandalorians were at least relatively neutral towards each other, imagine if the True Mandalorians were their fanon self? They would get along way better!

But that's not the point of this post, the point is to show how the New Mandalorians are the Canon Version of the True Mandalorians with a few tweaks - which I do think I already proved from the points alone.

Out of the 10 points I spoke about, 6 they immediately agree on (even if on the last points they need to have a conversation on what their mutual criteria would be), with the first and seventh point being an half point since they are in a civil war and seem to be part of warrior clans, and we were not shown any of the warrior clans in the New Mandalorians outside of Satine, a Pacifist that leads by example (hence not using her armour, especially because she might have trauma related to it), Korkie, a child that may very well not see the point to when everyone doesn't wear it + there is peace (maybe he only used it from traditional celebrations), and Almec, who doesn't wear the armour until there's a civil war again.

Either way, summed up it's 6 points out of 10 that they agree on, more than half.

The New Mandalorians could simply be the True Mandalorians but evolved post war, or, as I suggested in the start of the post, they ARE the Canon Version of the True Mandalorians.

Simply because they weren't wearing armour at all times or fighting or part of the War, people threw them under the bus as 'genocidal colonizers' (even though nothing in canon suggests otherwise, if anything it suggests the opposite).

Personal Thoughts: The Canon New Mandalorians and the Fanon True Mandalorians are a LOT more alike than people think and it's sad that all they can seem to write is 'New Mandalorians Bad, True Mandalorians the BEST EVER'.

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #7

"A Dinosaur in Dimmadelphia" - Full moon in the title card!

Hazel's parents are really engaged in having fun. I'm a little curious as to where this is going, since if we follow the OG lore, Hazel should lose Cosmo and Wanda once she's no longer miserable. I'm curious if they're going to push that direction or retire that bit of lore.

Also, C and W kind of snuck in under the radar and are retired otherwise, so Jorgen probably won't ride them as hard as he used to.

SLKDJF- It's a WHAT?

Obtuse Rubber Goose - 2001 B.C.

Of course she's more into the rocks.

/sweats at the billboard for Atlantis Condos even though it's painted in a mural. Cosmo... (Also I love the dinos by the water coolers in that image).

Man, this is a playground for both Cosmo AND Wanda's destructive histories!

I have feelings about the Fairlysaurus. I question nothing.

They're so cute.

The unfortunate thing about this show is that Whisper can tell me some scientists believe dinosaurs wore top hats and had electricity and unfortunately that's 100% possible in this world.

I like how Hazel's creature-hunting dad listens to Whispers Fred's podcast. That's gonna go well.

I like how Cosmo and Wanda can understand dinosaurs. She would be the type to understand them and wipe them out of existence anyway.

Confirmed 10k-year vacation through time!!

Hazel wishing "I wish people weren't afraid of dinosaurs" after bringing one to the future is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. Welp, that solves that.

sldkfj, Wanda proudly talking about the comet that wipes out dinosaur life as if she didn't personally launch that comet.

"If I can't send [the dinosaur] home, I'll do the next best thing: Get him a job!" - I changed my mind, that's even funnier. Hazel, why?

I love the background hills:

I like the implication that people are totally ready to accept the dinosaur as an actor because they're no longer afraid of him, so he can stroll in and not only are they unafraid, they also don't question it. Yeah, that sounds about right.

This vibe is very funny since Timmy usually tried keeping his wishes under wraps. Hazel's just been changing her surroundings and people play along.

I like that Whispers Fred and the museum guy had a bet about dinosaurs having electricity and the museum guy just sighs and pays it. Yeah, okay.

... Do I know that screaming man? Why does he sound familiar? Is he from "T.U.F.F. Puppy?" I know him... Is it Meerkat, my beloved?

-> I looked it up and Meerkat's VA is Daran Norris (Cosmo's VA). So... Yes, it was probably him using a Meerkat-adjacent voice, SKLSDJF.

Mystery mayor...

Is that #1 Dad in the crowd? Where is your baby?

SKLDFJS we're keeping the dinosaur. Okay.

"Fearless" time! - This title card has SPOT-ON Cosmo and Wanda in their old designs. Nice!

Did Hazel share a room with her brother, hence the bunk bed?

I like how Hazel's wardrobe is filled with identical outfits just like Timmy's closet used to be.

I like how the movies are also in 2D animation style.

Dev loves staring at Hazel and judging her in the background, doesn't he?

The kid on the voting poster reminds me of Imaginary Gary.

Note to self, include a trigger warning for this episode if I recommend it to anyone who doesn't like horror. It's no "Dark Harvest" or what-not, but they do a good job of making it creepy to kids, but... whoa.

I like the idea of Jasmine's fears coming to life as separate people outside her body, which is different than when Timmy wished he was fearless and became numb.

Hazel wishing for a Hazel stand-in to hold her place in class was smart. She and Chloe would be friends.

sldkjf, bug spray with the cockroach from "Wanda's Day Off" on it.

The plot about Jasmine having to be the one to face her fears is clever. Also, Hazel implied she has to avoid revealing magic, so it looks like she did get the basic rules explained (and they're still in play in this spin-off).

Wait, why is the girl who was reading "Shakespeare for Mimes" afraid of clowns?

I'm glad the crowns make metallic sounds when they fall since they're magnetic in the OG series.

OH SNAP- Hazel getting called out for "trying to make this friendship into what she had with her brother." That's rough, kid. Forcing Hazel to face her fears is a clever way to introduce her insecurities to the audience. I like it.

The list of champions on the school's wall goes up as far as 2019, and we can't be THAT far in the future since there aren't others.

I did worry where this plot was going, so I'm glad Hazel opted not to watch scary movies and instead pick something her friend wanted to do too :)

[rey-0f-sunshine]

!!SPOILERS FOR IN YOUR EYES FROM JD25!!

so, now that we don't have a story, I guess In Your Eyes will hold me over because despite it being a prequel map, I have more questions than answers

first off, I am a bit worried about how Cygnus having manipulated Leda into becoming evil will impact her eventual defeat- it just kind of feels nasty to say that Leda can be redeemed after all she's done, even if she was manipulated. there are ways this can be executed well, but I'm worried she'll be a "redeemable villain" which rubs me the wrong way about her character, especially since she knows she's not a good person

anyways onto the fun stuff:

-this first thing is on the same level as Treasure and Never Be Like You where there is a HUGE implication of a double meaning in the lyrics, I only caught it after 3 times and oh my god it's incredible: In Your Eyes is a song about cheating, which I initially took at face value, but once we get to the point where Cygnus has this whole mural of Night Swan in the background, it changes a bit. that mural?? Leda sure as hell ain't looking at it (but Cygnus sure as hell is)- and the lyrics at that point in the song are literally "I always look the other way, I'm blind, I'm blind" SHE'S LITERALLY BLIND TO HIS MANIPULATION SHE IS ACTUALLY LOOKING THE OTHER WAY WHAT THAT'S GENIUS

-so is Jack from Earth or??? like why was the Traveler looking at Earth anyways? he already knows Leda wants to stay (also- side tangent, what if the Traveler was looking for Leda and then found Si'ha Nova instead of him always having been looking for Si'ha??)

-did Night Swan and Cygnus cause Eternyx to become the Danceverse that was so heavily associated with Dark Flow? I NEED to know what the whole deal with Cygnus' mural is because if Eternyx wasn't always lowkey emo that would be crazy

-also, I have a feeling I know why Cygnus went after Leda specifically (is this going to inevitably draw back to a Mihaly parallel? now that I think about it, yes, yes it will): when Leda shows up in Eternyx, her glove is glowing like how it did in Murder on the Dancefloor- I have a feeling that everyone was so impressed with her because she pulled up out of nowhere with incredibly powerful Flow, hence the glove glowing, and so Cygnus found out and decided she was the perfect candidate because she happened to be so powerful and skilled out of nowhere; all he needed was a powerful enough candidate to help him execute his plans, and Leda, being new wouldn't have any idea of his plans, her immense potential meant she was perfect for his vision (again, it makes me think of Night Swan seeing Mihaly's potential but this ain't about them)

-brother why was the Traveler lowkey so dramatic at the beginning like look what you've done now Jack is spinning too 💀 (except this means that Jack wasn't waving, he was trying to figure out the cool ass spin move his maybe-dad just did)

-and i still am so curious about the fact that this takes place where Lose Yourself was supposed to- what was that place used for then?? how did it change once Night Swan took over??

MORE QUESTIONS!!:

-why did Leda go to Eternyx in the first place??

-so are Jack and Wander related or not?? (please it's so unclear)

-WHAT IS CYGNUS' MOTIVATION HELLO??? and also why was he acting so like "oh no my lover she's gone i need to see her again!!" in Beggin'?? YOU MANIPULATED HER TO BE THIS WAY WHAT (I have so many thoughts that I can't fit into a post)

I'm sure there's more to talk about but this is already a lot, so I'll stop here

There will probably be a video about this map eventually though

[extravagantwolf]

A snow-covered grief. Story beneath the cut. TW for animal death, grief, and murder.

The soft exhale creates a puff of white. It fades gently into the white abyss as if it never was there to begin with. Closing her eyes does not part the image of white from her eyes. A lingering constant, ebbing at her, and refusing to leave even when her voice cracks to plead, “Please go.”

So many cats seem to come and go, flickering in and out brutally and cruelly. No matter how many times she screams, begs, or yowls, there’s never a budge in the sky nor a miracle. Her worn and callused paws can only carry her across barren ground, picking up burrs as walks, to the graves she built to take their place.

Crude is the only word she can think of whenever her eyes lay on the snow-covered mound of rocks with the roots of a mangy tree sprawling across its surface. A family grave should be more dignified, but she found herself wallowing in despair. The only sign that this can be considered a “proper” grave is the broken pillar sitting in front of it. Each day, she tells herself to wake up with conviction. Pride, maybe, too. It’s all she can do for them now.

Belief is not something she can give anymore. Uttering prayers never helped ease the agony of loss. Perhaps they are frolicking in the sky above and watching her with their myriad of emotions. It isn’t that she hopes they aren’t in a beautiful world of full bellies and warm pelts. She wants to believe death is as wondrous as the nursery tales told; where stars fleck their pelts and they are honored warriors serving the Moon.

“But why? Why let everything be taken from us?” she asks, to which she receives no answer. She never expects one. StarClan does not follow her pawsteps, and she has come to accept such realities. Aspenstar often rambled that her warrior name was a gift from the stars. Hence why suddenly she took an interest in her doings. When the mural of the left behind was discovered, it only furthered Aspenstar’s silly rhetoric.

Another breath touches the frigid air and becomes another lost sight. Sitting down, her paws whine about the sting of the cold. How ironic it complains when they can’t anymore. Her head tilts to the side, lingering on another grave made only a year ago on a starless night. But tonight, the stars gleam and watch the living from their haven. If she could ask them to come down and answer one thing, it would be a simple question on the surface.

“Did I do enough?” she murmurs as she outstretches a paw and brushes away the snow from where a nameplate should sit. Every time she attempts, she throws it off of the cliff and storms back to camp. No cat asks her what happened now. They all know of her self-made graveyard below. Some attempt to comfort her, but it feels hollow. She knows – well, for most cats here – they do mean what they say. Yet the ostracizing will always linger.

Perhaps that is why she got along with Chikoritabreak. Cats often whispered about his past too, and they were not secretive about their distaste. Jokes about kittypets, twolegs, and all that comes with them was nothing but normalcy too. Even though he was Aspenstar’s apprentice, that did not silence the meowing. Specklefire, while careful, still spread such rhetoric on occasion. She thinks she did too unknowingly. Those words were bred into her.

It’s far too easy to turn someone into an outcast. Easier yet is when no cat realizes they are. Now… It’s too late to ask any cat about the whys. Bleakchest might be shunned, but she cannot bring herself to turn her back to her. Revenge wasn’t the answer, she knows that, but what if she was there that night? What if she was staring down Chikoritabreak, her dear friend, and heard him confess to the crime of killing Specklefire? To the crime of killing…

“Stars, I wonder if you enjoy my misery,” she bitterly chuckles. Her shoulders crash in, leaving her head to fall and linger on the pathetic and wilted plant trying to grow. Doesn’t it know that few ground-dwelling plants can survive on cold and wretched nights? Is it a fool too? “You want something you can’t have, you miserable thing.”

Unsheathing her claws, her paw wraps around the pitiful sprout. It would be so easy to pluck it from the ground and toss the weed away. Whisk its legacy into nothing more than a forgotten memory. Yet her heart knows better, and it sheathes her claws for her. “You’ll be forgotten if I keep waiting and dawdling and failing and…” The rambling trails away as her eyes steady onto the brilliant moon hanging above. White clouds her vision, but even then she can see Silverpelt gleams brilliantly without cease.

No cat can lose their way whenever Silverpelt stands above them, or so Specklefire said. Perhaps a few nights of work will forge passion. Seoli said not to stay up too late, to get some sleep for once in her life, but apparently she’ll be able to sleep endlessly when death comes for her. For now, if only to appease her heart, she’ll ponder a mural again. Think from the angles of these cats only she knew and saw. Imagine a beauty that can carry their legacy far into the future.

“And maybe…” She chuckles with a lop-sided smile. “Maybe it’ll be something so wonderful you’ll descend from the stars.”

[lizzy019]

Okay so if you're not interested in my GoBB theories, you can keep scrolling 🤭

OKAY SO I downloaded all the Garten of Banban games on my younger brother's PC (he doesn't know 0.0) and I've been noticing a lot of things.

In Chapter 1, there is this thing called "the crash", which happened on "Bring A Friend" Day. All the kids that are in the kindergarten are able to bring a sibling, friend, family member, whoever. All of this excess weight on the first floor caused Jumbo Josh to become overwhelmed, hence breaking the first floor.

This brings me to my first theory. If Bring A Friend Day wasn't that packed because there are very few kids in this kindergarten program, how could the floor have crashed?

Second theory, Jumbo Josh is giant, yes. But he doesn't seem to be able to be heavy enough to break any other floors below. So, I believe that maybe the first floor is overworked and old, but since the company is so in debt, they didn't have enough money to pay for repairs and ended up losing their top floor.

In Chapter 1, it is also made clear that Banban is actually Doctor Uthman Adam from his passport and ticket he used to travel from Montreal to wherever the company is located in Madrid, Spain. Here is the proof:

Now, in Chapter 2, we meet Zolphius and a lot of the main characters. We first interact with Nabnab and Banban, and there is a note that repeats "The spider is real."

This is written by a scared coworker who has witnessed Nabnab, and they seem to fear him greatly. (In all honesty, I would too lol)

But, I don't think Nabnab actually has any bad intentions. As it says on his mural art, "It's okay to have no friends and be miserable like me!", Nabnab seems to genuinely strive for friendship, but no one wants to be his friend because he's "scary".

This causes Nabnab to become hostile and aggressive towards everyone except for his friends, but even then sometimes he doesn't trust them. I think that's why he attacks us overhead when we're running away during the chase scene.

Then Banban comes along, he hits us behind the head and puts us in "surgery". But during said surgery, it only appears that in the room, we lay on a carpet and givanium is on the ground. I believe this was Banban's attempt to harm us, only to fail and flee.

The Captain Fiddles Floor is filled with only copies of Captain Fiddles, seven small ones and one giant one. Now, these creatures are described as "passive and docile" until the crash from Chapter 1 startled them into aggression.

That is where this note stems from:

So clearly these creatures are sensitive to frightening situations and react on instinct to protect themselves.

But my other theory is, why the hell are there guns in a kindergarten? Like, I know it's a whole facility and there may be the occasional whoopsie, but full on weapons and cannons? 0.0

Banbaleena also has this weird voiceline.

"No! Not again! I actually tried to be a good teacher this time!"

So, this is what it makes me think of. You know that one teacher that you absolutely hate(d) that just makes you rethink everything? Yeah, I think Banbaleena was that kind of teacher.

She's adamant, she's false happy, she's strict, she's overly dramatic. She's that one teacher than NO ONE likes, and that's why she uses inanimate objects as students because one, she lost all her actual students, and two, her actual students just didn't like her 0.0

Next, Chapter 3.

Okay, so this is when we first interact with Stinger Flynn and Nabnaleena. Now, while this chapter doesn't have very many secrets to look over, there still is the white room with hidden keycards.

The white room, in Stinger Flynn's "meditating room", has some interesting things.

In this room, there is a wall art of Chamataki and Tamataki with a whiteboard showing a rainbow DNA image with the words "Case 22, Genome Cloy".

Now, there is a paper that describes the genome cloy, and I'll summarize it here.

A genome cloy is where too many genome donors are given to one specimen, and the body of said specimen will go into a pure state of haze and berserk behaviour due to all the genetic diversity and mutation. During this, it is unsafe to hold one of these specimens in a kindergarten.

Now, this actually gives us a lot of useful information. It serves as why Chamataki and Tamataki in a certain tape shows them trying to tear themselves apart, simply because they are two different minds, two different animals reacting differently to this genome cloy.

Now, we have to talk about Stinger Flynn here.

So, already this stupid jellyfish is my favourite character. His smarts, his wit, his personality, his characteristics, everything.

But, he always seems to blame US for everything going wrong.

Sir, we didn't cause your first floor to crash- we didn't infuse you with givanium and tell you to kys-

Now, there are a LOT of images showing kids with Stinger Flynn, and it makes sense. Here are what most of them are:

Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Now, this kid often talks to their mother about these things, and due to the kid looking androgynous, they will be represented as "he" (just because, no I'm not being sexist). In the game, I actually think we play as the mother.

But, in Chapter 4, he also seems to blame us for his lack of strength when it was so clearly Sheriff Toadster?

Now, there's also a major secret in this chapter.

There is a hidden room in the Ventilation Sector. You have to go through Banban and Mr. Kabob Man's chase scene, finish the cutscene where Nabnab and Banban fight, and click Mr. Kabob Man's speaker for his iconic "Open Sesame!" for your secret keycard.

Now, this opens a room with some useless information, but it gives us some insight.

This is a room with a picture of Syringeon and some whiteboards with his information on it. But sadly, no paper was there to show anything else. It simply showed percentages of his survival rate during different situations.

But there are some tapes that show Toadster and Bittergiggle being forced to bow down to Bouncelia, and I presume this is when they first got together and truly followed the rules to avoid harm by the doctors studying them.

Now, there's also a few notes that show other doctors communicating with each other through those notes on the ground, and most of them seem old. So clearly their big plan was already put into action and was created.

A lot of people think Kittysaurus is a minor character, serving as only a boss to annoy the player. But, they actually some good background information that helps support character development.

It is known that Kittysaurus and Bittergiggle are very close friends because the giant feline appreciates Jester's jokes. In a sense, Kittysaurus was all Bittergiggle had to feel normal and accepted. So that's why you always see them together.

The fight in Chapter 4, the reunion in Chapter 6, they're very close friends and it serves as someone Bittergiggle is close to and cares about.

Now, Chapter 6 and 7 aren't very lore-packed like the other games. There are a few notes here and there, but none of them are important. Though, Chapter 7 offers some really good information in the beginning when Syringeon is talking to us.

He has a whiteboard showing all the characters that are alive, which include: Jumbo Josh, Sheriff Toadster, Zolphius, Syringeon, and a few others with question marks on their pictures to show that he's unsure if they're alive or not.

Back to the previous chapters, Chapter 2 holds a very specific point that I need to discuss.

When you get to the room where you meet Banban on the comms, you have to do a puzzle to get the keycard to enter the maintenance room.

However, there is a list of employee names on the wall, and the one with the gold star is named Weverly. Weverly is actually Ms. Mason. However, we don't know much about Ms. Mason except for the fact that she teaches the kindergarteners.

So, I believe the names on this list are also employees who work at the company who have either been killed or turned into givanium mutants.

Now, givanium is a major part of Garten of Banban. There are many notes that state how it works, why, what it does, etc etc. But there is one note in particular that really gets me nervous, and it's this one:

This is about the closet we'll get to a disloyal and worried coworker who genuinely believes what they're doing is wrong, and further proves that this company is getting more inhumane with their work.

Anyways, I love this game I'm sorry I had to ramble.

And this is the end of my theories :) Thanks for reading lol if you've made it this far, have some Banban

(Images not mine)

[realcatalina]

My thoughts on this painting

I found it on twitter account called Tudor Extra, and they say it has been recently discovered by Dr Emma Cahill Marrón(on twitter as EmmaLCahill) in London.(link is at end of post)

Honestly in closeup it looks in really poor state.

On left are obviously Henry's parents and correctly identified so.

But i am not so sure about rest of figures being correctly identified. Or rather I am sure they aren't!

Yes, the figures lined in red are Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.

But the orange I lined in orange is supposed to be Margaret Tudor. Henry VIII's sister. Fashion-wise it's possible.

Catherine's gable hood has both veils down, frontlets up. So at earliest it could be somewhere in 2nd half of 1510s, at latest late 1520s. The lack of ends of paste would point to c.1520(however if this was a copy...painters tend to not include them, or not give them justice...) So I am not 100% trusting it.

Margaret left England in 1517(read up on her life, if you want to know more), so in theory she could have been included here. But why is she by Catherine's side? Or rather behind that. Odd isn't it?

Such possition would much better fit Mary I. The sizes can be deceiving here...because in reality Catherine is supposed to be way smaller than Henry...

Hence this figure doesn't necessarily have to be a child(Mary I), but could be. And Mary was wearing same cap in Vyne chapel(where is commonly mistaken for her mother.)

(If there was Margaret, why wouldn't there also be Mary Rose? (Henry's other sister). ...Wouldn't that be even more odd than his daughter being included.)

But...I am really buffled by two figures entirely on right side.

Allegedly on left is Eleanor of Austria and on right her husband Manuel I of Portugal, whom she married in 1518:

...Nobody thinks it weird? ...Just me?

Well, in my opinion. They are misidentified. Both of them.

The man wears order of golden fleece-but that wasn't limited to just Habsburgs, plenty of foreign royalty were honourary members. Including Manuel of Portugal and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

One would be normally considering if the entire portrait is not done to commemorate Charles V visit to England...with figure beside him being widowed Germaine of Foix(who was there!).

But why would Henry's parents be included in such portrait?...Makes no sense!

Unless...we're looking at dynastic portrait!!!

...Where Henry's parents are on left, Henry, Catherine and their daughter Mary in middle, and Catherine's parents on right!

This could certainly be Ferdinand:

Ferdinand died in 1516, but Henry's parents were long dead too...

But...what about the woman? You cannot tell firmly the shape of gown and jewelry(mind could easily play tricks upon you.)

But why would Isabella wear french hood?

...And i considered that perhaps somebody confused portrait of Germaine of Foix or even real Eleanor and Joanna(netherlandish type of frenhc hood) with Isabella...

But then I noticed shape within the french hood's veil...

And it looks suspiciously like cofia de tranzado... the cap and 'braid', just where they are supposed to be.The headwear is overpainted!

Hence it could be based upon some portrait of Queen Isabella!

Unfortunately this is just card/print from Ancaster Collection, Grimstorpe castle labelled slightly wrong as family of Henry VII(instead of Henry VIII):

I hope we can all agree. It deserves way more love and attention.

This might be the first Tudor dynastic portrait!

Equivalent of Whitehall Mural or The family portrait from 1542/3.

...And if there is black and white card of it...is it drawing, engraving, printm or photograph? ...It could be out there...

PS: In it...Elizabeth of York is taller than Henry VII. Not that I'd trust the proportions entirely...but it'd be funny if true.