#i feel like a consistent motif of drowning means something

[habeascorpseus]

dont mind me, just thinking about Chip's consistent motif of drowning and the fact hes the only one not protected by niklaus plot armor. haha super funny that chip met niklaus by accidentally managing to get into his realm after falling asleep and waking up drowning in the ocean. absolutely riveting that the cat-scratch induced nightmare that effected chip the most physically was one where he was pulled into the depths of the water by black tentacles and woke up coughing out saltwater. absolutely incredible that chip's final nightmare lead him to arlin who was at the bottom of the sea. how the monsters in his mind were corrupted black sludge that had painted itself in the visages of his friends and how the moment they crossed into the black sea that nightmare became reality. how he has the highest corruption level in the group currently because of an extra point i CANNOT pinpoint the source of and how his character attribute from the start has been the haunted one. how the black sea took from every person who survived and that perhaps something in chip has been gone from the very beginning. how episode 104 began with a song literally called At The Bottom, sung by chip saying that hes "searching for something i just cant find," "falling down in the hole, you know the trap is set, slowly losing control" "dont come looking for me when it's my turn- dont come looking for me at the bottom." thinks about chip getting dragged into the depths. thinks about how niklaus' only desire for chip was for him to not interfere in some way or another. thinks about a trap laid 10 years before that dragged his ship to the bottom of the sea. thinks about the map that only captain rose could read leading chip to the place that nearly destroyed the black rose pirates entirely. thinks about chip, the growing corruption within his body, and the depths. how all that hes been searching for is there at the bottom. how swimming only delays the inevitable, and then you sink. like. thats awesome. thats so cool. surely all of these things are unrelated

[oathofkaslana]

collei iceberg EXPLAINED???????

plants: "sprout of rebirth" indicative of her continuous growth and healing. seen in both the metaphors that always liken her to a plant, her dendro vision, her being the first sumeru character we ever meet, her birthday being in spring etc. also feeds into the symbolism that fire means for her.

water: imagery of collei drowning often used as a representation of collei having a panic attack or anxiety attack, water is associated with healing, water is a necessity for plants, collei gaining her vision in the rain.

fire: the archon residue is described as a being made of black/purple fire, amber (the most important person in her life) has a pyro vision and is constantly being described as someone warm, she was able to leave the fatui's base she was kept in because it burned down. fire is both a necessity for life (warmth, representative of the sun, forest fires bringing way for new sprouts) and a destructive force (i dont have to give examples for this do i). to collei, it's indicative of change.

sun: okay stay with me. plants need the sun to grow; amber is compared to being "as warm as the sun" in collei's character story; one of cyno's motifs is the eye of ra, which relates to the sun; in the sealing ritual he performs, collei stands in the center of a large sun symbol; the ritual was intentionally performed in the morning because it was when the archon residue was weakest; theres a hidden quest in collei's hut that involves bringing a plant of hers outside so it can get sunlight; the sun is an important symbol for life. the sun represents collei's "rebirth"

rebirth: oh rebirth metaphor the things you have done for me.. obviously sprout of rebirth; her alias in the genius invokation event being "revived serval"; cyno, the person who led the sealing ritual, being inspired by anubis, the guide of the dead; "cats have nine lives" idiom; ouroboros; the archon residue being from a dead archon; the box she was put in during the wt being shaped like a coffin; sumeru's continuous theme of rebirth (ex: nahida & rukkhadevata, dottore & his clones, scaramouche & wanderer, the aranaras, even the caribert archon quest). note that the connections back to sumeru are pivotal bc again, collei is the first sumeru character we meet.

mummy: relevant to the cyno thing but deserves its own bullet point. collei's wraps being undone after the ritual (her point of rebirth); anubis being an overseer of funerary rites including the mummification process; i have to emphasize again that anubis is the guide of the dead this is literally cyno leading collei out of death do you see i feel sick

cats and snake: collei was drawn as a cat in the wt, her constellation is a serval (a kind of cat), the doll she has to represent herself is a green cat. in contrast, the archon residue is represented by a snake. cats and snakes are natural enemies. see above w the "cats have nine lives" idiom and the ouroboros. also relevant to the ouroboros: the archon residue actively fed off of collei's negative thoughts and would thus feed it and her hatred. at the same time, it was often her only means of defense even thought she hated using it because it was something her abuser gave to her. the archon residue both protected her and harmed her.

green and purple: complementary colors; the colors of her hair and eyes, the color of cuilein-anbar and the archon residue; in video games, green is often representative of healing and purple is often representative of poison and harm, wt collei often being cast in purple shadows because of her white clothes vs in game collei who is drenched in green.

dolls and plays: cuilien-anbar being a doll representative of collei; collei having a baron bunny doll in her home; dolls being a childhood toy that lets kids play the roles of others and themselves; her fight with kaeya runs under this play metaphor (which sets them up as narrative parallels btw bc its also a consistent metaphor w kaeya); all of these components coming together when you remember in-game collei has been playing the role of amber and wt collei has been playing the role of the suspect/villain. DO YOU FUCKING SEE.

writing: also relevant to the latter but it puts collei outside of the story, giving her control over her own story rather than being a character in someone else's story. shown in her healing running alongside her learning how to write and her interest in light novels.

clothes/sewing: this one kills me again stay with me okok. when we first meet collei she doesnt even have a shirt. she only has pants, a cloak, a hat, and a bunch of bandages wrapped around her body. amber gives her a set of clothes to wear. when she tears these clothes, she makes an active effort to sew them up and repair them. her interest in sewing also leads to her making cuilien-anbar btw. if you even care.

medicine/healthcare: tighnari and dottore both being doctors of some sort, dendro being representative of healing, her being how we even learn about eleazar, the link between archon residue and health (extends in baizhu's story quest. yk. baizhu the fucking doctor)

[clay-cuttlefish]

Round 3 and FINALLY I'm onto Vic's solo. I've read all of these at least twice and have a lot of ground to cover, so this won't be as measured as they deserve, but hey maybe it'll be something.

The Question Vol. 1 (1987) #1

This is such a fantastic first issue, it gets me every time.

Tot's here! Myra's here! Shiva's here! Vic sucks!

First real appearance of the drowning motif, and it's a good one. The countdown til death is so good.

#2

Batman sucks at giving advice. I mean, I interpret this as a hallucination and the previous meeting as a real memory, but I'm still going to blame him.

Shiva is so fucking cool. There's a lot to criticize about how she's written but every time she shows up I get distracted by how cool she is.

The reinterpretation of the stock transformation sequence is SO good.

#3

Myra my beloved.

I love Tot's stupid project car. He's got his own interests, even if Vic isn't paying attention.

The lack of sound effects and minimal hit effects is a really cool look.

#4

Myra my BELOVED.

"better you than me" I am going to bite drywall. What is wrong with you.

#5

gender

Izzy's self-perception is a really succinct criticism of the police, and then it immediately shoots itself in the foot.

I like that Vic still says dumb one-liners. Bits of his old characterization show, even in his better moments.

The detours into other people's lives are a fascinating choice. They give the series a distinct mood, even if they aren't always well-executed.

#6

Vic and Tot referring to each other by full name is more natural here than in a lot of other books. It feels like a running bit between them.

Same with the exposition. Tot loves explaining.

This is one of the best transformation sequences. No dialogue, interesting texture, cool use of panels.

The art, inking and colouring on this whole series is fantastic. It isn't often pretty, but the texture and movement is consistently excellent.

#7

Vic and Myra's relationship is so. Augh.

This story sucks. I knew it was racist but it's worse than I remembered.

#8

I don't know how to feel about this issue. The core of it is interesting, but none of the actual pieces mesh quite right, and the Mikado theming is just bizarre.

I respect Tot's theatre kid past though.

#9

The lettering is odd in places. It's being affected by the hallucinations, I guess, but it's subtle enough on a couple pages that it's just strange.

The panelling is so good in this issue.

I love Tot and Vic's banter. Even if Vic's not a great friend, they're still clearly close.

[rochey1010]

PART 3:

Ok, so this is about Eliott and the link between S5 and S6. Like Eliott out of everyone was crafted in this season so damn well. And yeah his arc in S6 was plotted here but it's the whole character. And it goes back to his S3 debut. France has remained so damn consistent with this character. Nothing is forced or out of place. It's a natural flow to this point now, and probably what is to come.

So just before i jump into S5. What do we know of the Eliott character? So we meet him in S3 and he's beautiful, like out of someones league beautiful. And he's mysterious, and has a loner vibe but from the trailer looks troubled. The trailer shows so much that will crop up again throughout the show in regards to Eliott. He enters the school with a prison atmosphere (just left one or is about to enter one). He quickly walks through, hurried, not wanting to make an imprint, hiding in his environment with the 'catch me if you can' vulnerable hoodie up style. Everyone notices him but he notices no one. He just wants to get this over with (same cycle different environment). The people either know him (Imane) are attracted to him (Alexia) or intrigued by the new guy (Emma). So he walks down the corridor and bumps into a very important person. That is Lucas and it's the first inkling from Eliott that something has penetrated his bleak dark world. The first hint of the light/dark motifs that S3 would be centered around. Before we know it's even a concept POLARIS is everywhere.

Eliott does something that i love. He stops, but doesn't turn around just yet, Maxence plays it like he's taking something in and waking up. And then he turns and looks, and we get everything in that look to Lucas. You feel his intrigue, attraction, fixation, awe of this unknown guy. That this guy has shook his world. And then he does something else i love. This tiny wry smile appears for like a milisecond, and then he looks him up and down signalling to the audience that we're in for a hell of a ride, and that Eliott is showing some playfullness towards Lucas. The hint that he's gonna pursue him. Then crucially he walks down the corridor to Colouring - In motion (range remix) awesome and reflective lyrics. Into the black, back into the dark he goes. And this is a direct contrast to Eliott and his world. Sees nobody but Lucas and is turned towards him looking, and then there's Lucas turned towards Eliott but oblivious and not looking.

So as the season goes on we see that he is all those things but so much more. He has a romantic, goofy, sweet and tender side, he's very vulnerable and fragile but he also has a darkness and it comes out as fear, anger, jealousy etc. He's the Even that we see snap at times e.g. class outburst, Chloe, Lucille.

And another thing is that he's the Even that gets developed off screen with the brilliant utilisation of his insta for mental/emotional state. It fits Eliott with the mystery, puzzles, metaphors and plot foreshadowing that takes us through the season. It's Eliott's journal and we're the therapists in a session with him. Each time he posts isn't fickle. Everything has meaning, everything connects and it's linked up so well onscreen. So we see Eliott onscreen but we see into Eliott offscreen. And that mental illness insight has continued and remains true to not only real life but who Eliott is.

We find out that he has so much fear. That it makes him hide in relationships and quite literally hide in the dark. That he created his magnum opus POLARIS that is all about fear and running from true connection. That has so much bipolar symbolism in it and that has Eliott settling in this dark world of MI. Because as any one who can identify with Eliott, sometimes there is a morbid comfort in staying stagnant and not reaching for something because deep down the light and happiness is something you don't deserve. It's horrible negative feelings of shame, embarassment, and self loathing that permeates. Anyone that struggles with their mental health will attest to this.

So he, facing this fear reaches for Lucas, and they fall in love. Eliott is chasing the light in Lucas that has made him want to enjoy life again. Then something horrible happens, Eliott is confronted with all his worst fears of himself being reinforced by the one he loves the most. Eliott being a crazy person that Lucas doesn't have time for. He's literally slapped in the face with his SKAM. And he's the Even that literally bleeds out right there on the screen. There's no mask which racoon Eliott is adept with it. He took it off and it shows how deep he was in with Lucas as he can't even pretend anymore. In that moment he is truly exposed and to this day it's heartbreaking to watch. He also does something that no other Even did either. He begins to ghost Lucas in this scene with the hair ruffle and that truly disappointed look when he's backing away. It's almost like a self resignation in himself like "well i was right, the light is not my world, and i shouldn't have been stupid enough to think this would have gone any other way" and he's truly disappointed and so damn heartbroken.

So he goes back to the ex thinking it's a clean break. But he realises he can't stop what he feels for lucas. So he pines on his insta, trying to reach out and trying to be honest but comes to the conclusion the only way to have lucas is to hide his darkness (bipolar). So they reconcile and are happy, and then it goes to absolute shit. He has a manic episode and the truth comes out. Eliott runs again back to the dark. Back to the comfort of his world. Doesn't expect anything, doesn't reach out because he has no hope that he can be loved with this defect, and just cries. 😭 in total despair. It's that level of self loathing that keeps cropping up rooted in his MI.

Lucas proves him wrong and saves him (this is crucial for Eliott's S6 arc) and he accepts him but now we see that Eliott still doesn't accept himself (S5, S6) minute par minute is a very important scene that is being revisited in S6 and will be crucial for Elu. Eliott wants to end the relationship, he sees no way it can work, and Lucas fights and gives him a perspective to hold onto.

Sorry i got into a S3 character study there. But i felt it was the only way to show how Eliott as a character has been built through the show and layered with so much depth but so much darkness. He's actually not only one of the darkest Even's but one of the darkest SKAM characters. And the reason i feel that, is because of the contradiction of the character. That he has such a postive sunshine aura and will smile at anyone and instantly bring a warmth. But yet has this deep well of struggle and pain that you can feel is there underneath that "I'm the happiest person in the world" energy. And you have to ask yourself how much of that is Eliott projecting to keep the demons at bay? As someone who can relate to MI. There is a level of exhaustion where you feel like you pep talk yourself on an almost daily basis. Quite literally you fake it untill you make it. And i just feel that Eliott is such a walking dichotomy between 2 extremes. That he perfectly represents the bipolarity of this character.

But rambling aside, so that's the Eliott we know and in S5 we kick off his arc with an insta post. He posts his new job 'new job, new school, same boyfriend' caption with a pic of the video club. Lucas follows it up with 'and soon, new appartment'. This tells us Eliott has not only started working but he's in Uni now and about to move in with Lucas. The video club is also dropping the hint that Eliott has found his new vocation within art. And that is movies. Now, what we know of Eliott is that he dabbled. He had many artsy interests. And we saw his love for not only movies (POLARIS) but he enjoyed literature (Virginia Woolf) and painting (Jackson Pollock) and he liked greek prose (Apollo and Hyacinth, Pygmalion). He had an affinity for artists who suffered with mental illness (pollock and Woolf both bipolar) and a true identity fixation with Woolf (mentally ill, bisexual and drowned through suicide) now that takes on a much more serious meaning with what Eliott revealed about suicide in S6. So he was an artsy hipster and he added graffiti and urbex too. A very talented and creative guy is our Eliott.

But considering POLARIS was how we were introduced to Eliott and that art side. We had to have known that his chosen field would have been movies, as it is now confirmed with his job, his uni project and his insta this season focusing on movies. How they add to the plot and how he's using them as inspiration for his project.

So it's setting him up to make a movie and to bring back something from his past that failed for him, and could have led to a spiral as we don't know how long after that all the Idriss stuff went down. All we know is that Idriss was there with him in the video interviewing him as he explained POLARIS. So the fallout must have been very soon after. And the failure of the movie on top of that must have been horrible for Eliott.

Lucas posts instas of him basically of him supporting eliott with this job and visiting him etc. So we see Eliott loves his job. And S6 shows us this more in depth.

The next we see of Eliott is a nightclub scene of new years and just basically the gang and elu happy, having fun and in love. It's just showing you for Eliott that he's come so far. Obviously we know what happens with Arthur so i won't get into that. Then there's the house warming and this is a crucial scene because Eliott has to explain something, and the audience is learning something. That this is the 2nd house warming and the 1st had to be cancelled. Eliott starts to explain himself and it's same feelings in regards to the mental illness again. Maxence plays it like Eliott is so fragile, that he's vulnerable and embarassed, and it oozes out of him. That Eliott finds it hard to go to that place where he has to talk about his mental illness. We see Eliott struggle to get the words out, look over towards Lucas, Lucas quietly reassures him and then steps in when he senses that it's too much. We see Eliott curl into Lucas in gratitude and like a child who needs comfort. And again it tells you that Eliott is very affected by his bipolar. That it's a huge effort for him to confront it and even talk about it. And now you see how it's such a focus in regards to power and agency over himself, the fear of not having it, how he can help others and how he frames it in his love with Lucas.

"And i have Lucas...i can't lose this"

That this is the crux of everything. That all the fears, insecurities, feelings are rooted in his SKAM. And we further see this explored as we begin to see the domestic scenes between Elu. How Eliott doesn't seem to be around the chaotic boygroup like the fanbase thought he would. And that's an issue because we have to admit to ourselves that we built Eliott up in a certain way, and we expected him to integrate with the gang, but the show naturally evolved Eliott the way the character is at his core. And that is why his spirit animal is a raccoon (curious, intelligent, friendly, mischievious, nocturnal, wild at heart, will lash out if threatened or cornered, wears a mask said to protect against night glare) basically Eliott is at heart a wild creature, that he goes off at night exploring, that he's chaotic in nature and a lone wolf. That he gravitates towards situations and behaviours that reflect his inner nature. That is who Eliott is.

So we see a lot of chaos and loudness in the boygroup centered in Elu's appartment in early S5. Lucas joins in and they scream over social media, and they literally hangout there all the time. After the party they stay the whole weekend, and Lucas does eventually say guys c'mon not tonight it's date night with Eliott. But you're shown basically that they do it alot. And probably more hangouts happened off screen. Crucially you're shown Eliott is not there joining in on the chaos. And in S5 the boygang were dialed up in energy and i don't think that's a coincidence at all. They were so much that even i felt over stimulated. Now like i said i do think this is important for Eliott and important to his arc. He told Lola that he needed something for himself in the urbex and that he needs to be by himself and breathe. I can attest that people who suffer from mental illness need to get the fuck away sometimes. That the mind becomes chaos and over stimulated and you need to recharge your batteries in a safe space. I believe, and i think S6 is showing this, that this is what happened with Eliott. That it was too much, and in his own love nest, so he left Lucas to do what he wanted with his beloved friends, never kicked up a fuss and just went and did his own thing e.g. urbex and otteli. That he found peace in this natural art environment channeling his raccoon and made it a safe space. And that now Lucas is shown hanging out a lot with the boygang and Eliott is otteli the extreme urbexer. I also believe that this may come up between them as part of minute par minute. That they may be letting things slide on both sides for fear of upsetting the other. In S6 Lucas was hanging out with the boygang sans Eliott and Eliott was alone and able to go help Lola at a crucial moment. Lucas is out of the loop as he was away and that caused conflict between Elu the next morning. I think all of this will finally come to a head in the following weeks.

At one point under all the fanbase jokes and memes about Eliott and Lucas being adoptive parents to these idiots. It start's getting serious, because we find out Eliott has been going through a depressive spell. And while all this shit was happening too. That he was probably going through one as far back as the house warming, and put a brave face on. That him waking up at 3pm was part of it or even a hint to Otteli urbexing. But they show you that the boys wake him up. That he's not part of the meeting but joins later.

And then another scene that sets up Otteli the raccoon urbexer. He brings the gang to an abandoned building. This is the confirmation of what the fanbase always suspected about Eliott. That he has an urban exploration hobby. With La Petite Ceinture it was debated that Eliott liked to explore the Parisian underbelly in S3 but it wasn't expanded on. Now we see it. And Eliott brings sprays and they graffiti and have fun. This sets up so many things e.g. urbex, otteli tag, street art and the expression of art as a seasonal theme focussed on Eliott. This clip is about Arthur but now looking back it's actually Eliott. It sets up his hobby, how he helps people using art, how specifically he expresses himself through art, his secret identity, and his passion for urbex. All in this little clip. To add he's already tagged the building, probably when he found it. He uploads graffiti insta art that day of him in practice. Once again it's positive art and it's a beautiful flower. And in S6 we see all this. Eliott as an artist is a direct contrast to Lola and when Lola expresses herself through art it reflects through damage and breakage, ugly and negative depressing photography. I believe this is a theme and we see it with Lola and Eliott. Eliott will use his art to help her and seeing how he expresses love and connection through art e.g. polaris, love mural, friendship mural, possible art we have yet to see. Lola will change her view of not only the world but of how she expresses herself artistically. I do believe that is a theme of S6.

Then Eliott goes away for a few weeks. Lucas is asked about him and he lets the audience know that Eliott is struggling with his mental illness and lucas can do nothing but love him and wait. The week after Eliott posts on insta a cuddle selfie with the caption 'spring of the senses' and a hedgehog emoji. This tells us that Eliott is out of his depressive spell, that he's grateful for Lucas and considers it a rebirth. Again we see that Eliott's MI is ongoing and doesn't just get fixed in this relationship. We see Lucas's maturity with Eliott's illness but we also see hints that this mental illness is a weight on the relationship. That Eliott has sorta hinged the love on his mental health. That there's a theme in S6 right now of Eliott trying to lead Lola out of the darkness that he once found himself in. That Eliott himself was led out of the darkness by Lucas but there are now issues of agency and capability. That he fixates on this sorta 'saviour complex' maybe, and it'll be something very important for his rock bottom moment. Maybe Eliott must face and save himself this time to bring his arc full circle.

There are little hints which i don't think are accidental for Elu in S5. One of them is Lucas being late to the laser tag. Now i must stress Lucas is never late. That's Eliott's department, and the fanbase picked up on it. And i think it was to hint at Elu issues. Also when Lucas has his outburst at Arthur on Valentines, and Arthur rips into him. If you look at Lucas you see that he goes to say something, like he's trying to explain something but stops and doesn't continue. And the way Axel plays it is like Lucas looks stressed and strained. Again i don't think that's an accident at all. There's issues at home clearly.

Then Eliott shows up for the holiday. And he rents and drives the van for the gang. We see Elu domestic and in love, and again a pattern, as once again in S6 they'll fight but make up being all cuddly again. We see it when Eliott posts a love declaration to Lucas 2 days after their big Idriss fight in S4, we see it in S6 when they fight and then post a couples selfie later on. And it's probably hinted at here. They fought in the background at some point and are now super in love. So the show is depicting that they'll argue and still love each other. But it's also depicting issues being pushed to the side so they can be in love again (love bubble).

Ok, so Eliott is super happy and bouncy sunshine just loving life and Lucas. At one point he falls in love with a bunny he names Fifi. Now we see this is a habit as he also fell in love with a chocolate labrador and tried to steal him in the past. So Eliott just responds to vulnerability with affection and adoption e.g. lab, fifi, taking lola under his wing. For all his demons we see Eliott has a lot to offer the world. He's just well meaning and cares. Lucas gives into his pleading which is cute and then Fifi is killed and Eliott is heartbroken. So we see he gets attached to things and he puts a lot into that attachment. And when it backfires it hurts. Now i don't know if this is true but someone from that group chat leaked that Eliott was supposed to have an episode but it was cut. If true it again highlights how stressors can make Eliott spiral and he may spiral again (S6) but again i don't know if that S5 spiral is true, so i'm not gonna go further into that.

So then there's the cheating conversation and Eliott gives his view and then answers Bas's question. He's aware of what he did to Lucille. He says he's not proud of it but he emphasises Lucas's importance to him. He does it again in S6 and he's hinged his mental health on it which is crucial. Again it's just Eliott being Eliott. A hipster view of humanity, and not really judging anybody in particular. Just a general statement of the human condition. I just feel it's Eliott wanting to see the better in everything and not label anyone specifically.

You do see though that oblivious nature to Eliott's perspective. Like he says this around Lucas who has huge abandonment issues. Now i must stress it's not Eliott's fault because Lucas shows with Arthur later on that he hasn't confided these fears in Eliott. So Eliott is kind of blind here. Like he's playing with Lucas's hair. He's not even talking about their relationship. So i feel bad for the attacks that happened on Eliott. But it sets up how Eliott being friends with Lola is going to lead to miscommunication and mistrust. And it's setting up when Lucas comes clean to Eliott about his fears how puzzled Eliott's going to be, how on another page Eliott is. And it's setting up Eliott finally declaring to Lucas himself how much he means to him.

Then as Lucas is talking to Arthur about Eliott, Eliott bursts in early in the morning super sunshine giving zero fucks cuddling and kissing Lucas. And it shows that divide right in front of Arthur. How Lucas is like all worried and stressed over Eliott straying and then a second later he's all loved up and happy and just pushes that shit to one side. Like Lucas literally turns it off and on in this scene. And Eliott has no idea his boyfriend feels like this. This is the definition of the love bubble. And look at how well Lucas's hides this. That scene shows it all. It also sets up Eliott having a friend in a girl (Lucas and pansexuality) and Lucas fearing that Eliott will find something better and leave Lucas, it sets up the movie spoiler and how Lucas will take it, and it sets up the abandonment issues coming to the forefront in S6. It sets up them both understanding just how much they've been afraid to share and it sets up them trying to keep the relationship in the honeymoon mode. They're basically afraid to be real.

Last we see of Eliott he is back in that building and partying and vibing being Eliott. He then paints another mural. This time it's a friendship mural. And cements Eliott's art being used as a theme for the season e.g. S3 love, S5 friendship, S6 connection (upcoming theory). He is used to wrap up Arthur's themes and motifs in his season (Arthur fixated on space and the cosmos and using his insta to reflect the vacumn and loneliness of being HOH) now Arthur is among this huge cosmos grounded through the connection of friendship. It sets up the completion of the gang being at the forefront of the show, it shows the importance of them in each others lives. But crucially it shows Eliott seperated from that. So it is here where we see that Eliott doesn't include himself in the mural. This is Eliott establishing himself as a lone wolf on the periphery of connection. That he also has a perspective because he's on the periphery of the group, which serves him in S6 and connects him to the story. That he's not insulated, so can navigate the bigger picture. Can see what the group can't. It also sets up no matter how deep the demons run in Eliott he can still see love, positivity and connection in the world. That he gives back through his art. So the friendship mural was a gift to the gang and because he loves Lucas and knows the place the gang have in Lucas's life. And he has never interferred in that, or felt threatened. We see how Lucas looks at him and the gratitute and love coming from him.

Then Lucas posts an insta of him and Eliott in front of the mural holding hands. We see that Lucas has brought Eliott into the mural to say you're important to me too. But we see that he's there through Lucas and not because he belongs there. We see that Eliott doesn't feel a place in this group. That he'll be at the big events but other than that Eliott may be yet to find his place, or it could just simply be that Eliott forms small connections and not big ones. And now in S6 with his friendship with Lola and what he said in the church about not being comfortable around people? I took that to mean large groups and i took it to mean Eliott expressing himself with his MI and largely being an introverted person, as introverted people can be drained by their environment.

Finally i just wanted to address what Maxence said in the recent interview about. "He's lonely" first of all i was sad because i feel deeply for Eliott, but i'm also trying to work out what this means. Does he mean Eliott's lonely right now, or always has been? Is it to do with Lucas spending a lot of time away from him and it's caused him to try to find a distraction of his own? Is it to do with his introverted nature? Is it to do with him wanting someone to understand him? Is this his arc, to accept that's it's ok to be alone and not feel shamed, or is it simply his mental illness making him feel out of step with everyone? I haven't worked it out yet as you can see all the questions. But i may do a seperate post on this at some point. But i do believe right now it adds to the S6 themes of insulation v isolation.

My final post will be about Eliott and Lola's friendship. Thanks for reading. 💜

[mobydickmusical]

Every book chapter a song is named after: Loomings (Ch 1)

Since most of the (most recent) tracklist is named after chapters of the book, I’m going to attempt to work through the whole of the show this way, talking a bit about my thoughts on each chapter’s translation into a song. Based on the tracklist chronology rather than the book chronology. Skipping the songs we’ve already heard, for obvious reasons.

Also fairly obvious, but even though I’m using the chapters to imagine the songs, I naturally can’t be sure how closely they’ll follow the text of that specific chapter (see, The Pacific, which actually follows completely different chapters). 

TW for brief mention of suicidal ideation 

Loomings is very different from Extracts, in that I can pretty easily envision it fitting into a show of Dave’s, and imagine what it might be like as a song.

This chapter is our first direct introduction to what to expect from the body of this book, and it has four-ish main sections: 

1. Ishmael introduces himself as the narrator recounting this story, and explains his general path in it (going to sea because it’s what he does when he’s exceedingly depressed) 

2. He dwells on mankind’s inevitable attraction to water, and that this is due to how it represents the unknowable to us 

3. He details his reasoning for why he always goes to sea as a simple sailor, as opposed to a passenger or a crew member of higher rank

4. He describes his “choice” to go on a whaling voyage in particular as actually designated by fate. He does, however, then explain his personal attraction to going on the voyage, that could make it appear like free will to him. 

So, there is a lot being set up in this chapter. I can very much feel this becoming my main issue to accept (i.e. get my head out of my ass) with reconciling the adaptation with the book overall - there is so Much in Moby Dick and there is only so Much you can fit into a musical. Even a 4+ hour one. But yeah, that’s seen on a smaller scale with Loomings, in how it sets up a lot of background information about Ishmael and how he thinks, as well as starting some thought process about a number of important themes for the book (fate vs free will, capitalist and power dynamics, the limits of mankind’s knowledge… all that important shit). Where the song draws its focus from will just depend on what Dave chooses to emphasise the most. 

I'll go through the chapter, and mention where I connected things to either comments Dave's already made about the musical, or to his writing in general.

Coming into reading Moby Dick because I knew Dave was writing his musical, and reading the opening paragraph of Loomings where Ishmael introduces himself by launching headfirst into the details his depression, I naturally went straight to “so this is an introductory solo for a character played by Dave”. It’s not only something that leapt out at me straight off the bat, but one of the more ludicrously famous sections of Moby Dick, so I have to imagine it’s likely to make an appearance. 

The further thing I wanted to point out while I’m on this section, is that despite how famous this little piece of Moby Dick which clearly describes Ishmael’s depression and suicidal ideation is, the majority of Moby Dick adaptions have little to no other reference to his depression. Or they just have none at all if they’re really eschewing the narration. I’m not saying that it’s a deal-breaker for an adaption or anything of that kind, but mental illness definitely has a presence and impact in Moby Dick (I’ll just, leave it at that for now) that doesn’t especially get a lot of attention. On the other hand, it’s something that I, personally, will notice and think about. Anyone who’s familiar with Dave, however, knows that his shows almost consistently revolve around mentally ill characters (and what’s probably the most famous solo he’s written is about depression/suicidal ideation), and portray them in ways mentally ill fans relate to and appreciate. If an adaptor was to make a specific effort to earnestly portray Ishmael’s depression, and how that relates to his role in this story, it’d be Dave. (I could potentially even argue that The Pacific and Cetology already suggest ways in which he’s doing this but. Mm.)

But, anyway. I said Loomings is a good fit for that song that can be found in almost any Dave Malloy musical, where everything is just starting out, and someone (who is often played by Dave) sits down to pour out all their frantic thoughts and unstable feelings and draw you into their story - so, how I imagine the song is strongly based off the pre-existing examples of that type of song. Namely, I drift to Pierre and The Astronomer. 

Both songs have aspects I like for an imaginary Loomings. They’re both ruminative, emotive introductions to a character and their brain’s inner workings. They’re both at least somewhat depressed and ranty. I like Pierre for its emotional tumult, its inquisitiveness and desire for something more, its explicit descriptions of the effects of his depression on his behaviour, its moment of curiosity about mankind, and its drama. I feel like Pierre barging his way into his introductory solo, the first time we ever hear him sing about himself, with “It’s dawned to me suddenly, and for no obvious reason, that I can’t go on living as I am...” is not worlds away from how Ishmael can come across. I also like how it’s piano-driven (because I unimaginatively imagine Ishmael as a pianist in the show), unlike The Astronomer, but on the other hand, I prefer the less dense instrumentation of The Astronomer (maybe not quite that sparse though. Intermediate). I also like The Astronomer for its slow-paced style ranting, its dreaminess, its dwelling on Big Ideas, and the way it is more an explanation of who this character is through exploring his beliefs. Which is relevant as Loomings goes on. 

Both songs, particularly Pierre, channel more anger and resignation than is really relevant to Loomings, however. A part of this is that they’re both dwelling inside the emotions of an unhappy/unsatisfying present, describing that to us as who they are, now. Ishmael is outside of his present self because he’s a narrator. Throughout Loomings he is... recounting his past, but also describing the future of and influences on his past self, moreso than his past self’s present or who he was at that particular time. And, from that more distant position, opening these influences up to us, and the rest of the world. Uh. How relevant or sensible this is to point out I don’t know, but it seems like a very different emotional experience to convey. 

The second section of Loomings, where Ishmael discusses water, moves the furthest from talking directly about himself and his story, I suppose, but is a big bit of theme/motif/setting foundation, and is also just very beautiful writing. I love it a lot, and I’d love to hear some of it put to music... A few little quotes from it because I like them:

What do you see?—Posted like silent sentinels all around the town, stand thousands upon thousands of mortal men fixed in ocean reveries.

///

They come from lanes and alleys, streets and avenues,—north, east, south, and west. Yet here they all unite. Tell me, does the magnetic virtue of the needles of the compasses of all those ships attract them thither?

///

There is magic in it. Let the most absent-minded of men be plunged in his deepest reveries—stand that man on his legs, set his feet a-going, and he will infallibly lead you to water

///

Yes, as every one knows, meditation and water are wedded for ever.

///

But though the picture lies thus tranced, and though this pine-tree shakes down its sighs like leaves upon this shepherd's head, yet all were vain, unless the shepherd's eye were fixed upon the magic stream before him.

I also like the abundance of rhetorical questions in this section, and how that invites the reader in as if you were in a conversation. Those could fit well into a theatre song, where you have Ishmael sort asking himself, sort of asking the audience (also a bit Pierre, tbh). This, combined with how much switching up of sentence length there is in this section, give it this lovely gentle-paced, meandering, breathing rhythm that makes me think of it being sung. There’s probably a better, more technical way of describing that, but I don’t know that smartness, so essentially - I can almost hear it simply because of the way it’s already written. 

The conclusion of this section is where Ishmael draws together his claim that the reason we all find water so magnetic is because to us it represents the things that’re unfathomable and unreachable in life:

Why upon your first voyage as a passenger, did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land? Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother of Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting, mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.

It’d definitely be a way to get us onboard this ship, swept up in this journey, while we’re inside a theatre: “Come along with me, into this huge, intrinsic thing, come, and try to obsessively chase down whatever inscrutable thing is still maddening you in the craziness of the world today!” Mmm. 

A little thing I find interesting, however, is how this little piece, and how it’d be presented in the context of the show, relates to some pre-existing lyrics from Cetology: “And the ocean is too deep for me to fathom/ And life is just to big for me to bear/ But who am I to compare my despair to the shaking of the sea?” These lyrics have no root in the chapter Cetology itself, and I can only assume they’re actually rooted in this section here. The weirdness of that is how Ishmael makes the comparison he lays out in Loomings, but then immediately questions his right to make it. He paints his own personal experiences as insignificant in the scheme of it all, even if he does harbour those feelings about the ocean which are due to feelings about the unknown. Which is intriguing and opens up a lot of shit. There’s a lot going on in Cetology which can explain why he says that in the context of That Song, but it makes me wonder if this claim will appear in Loomings and then reappear later with the catch on the end, or if it’s sole appearance is in Cetology. It shall be seen. And I’ll probably discuss those Cetology lyrics more when I’ve... actually heard Loomings! Or, oh, you know, the full show for legit context. 

The next thing Ishmael does in this chapter is discuss why he makes the choice to go as just a "simple sailor" every time he goes to sea, in doing so telling us a bit more about himself and his opinions. I won’t expand on these hugely, but I do think it’s a fair enough point to say that Ishmael makes statements in this section which could act as starting points for themes that Dave has specified he’s discussing through this show - namely capitalism, democracy and race/systems of power, in this situation. 

One of Ishmael’s reasons is money. He doesn’t have the money to pay to go to sea as a passenger, he needs/wants to be paid for it as a sailor. The actual pay for which, by the way, is really, really not that much considering how dangerous a job he’s signing on for. But we have to survive somehow, we suppose...? And, his opinion on the money-making in general?

The urbane activity with which a man receives money is really marvellous, considering that we so earnestly believe money to be the root of all earthly ills, and that on no account can a monied man enter heaven. 

Another of his reasons is that he prefers not to go to sea in any higher rank because he doesn’t care for the honour attached to these positions, and doesn’t want the level of responsibility involved. He goes on to explain that while it can be unpleasant to be ordered around by one’s superiors, he accepts it, and there’s no sense in striving for superiority when he is in essence no lesser than them, since, he states, everyone is inevitably under the command of someone else. 

With very intentionally provocative wording in the context of a book published in America in 1851.

Do you think the archangel Gabriel thinks anything the less of me, because I promptly and respectfully obey that old hunks in that particular instance? Who ain't a slave? Tell me that. 

He finally says that it’s the ordinary sailors rather than their superiors who get the first, freshest breath of that revitalising ocean air. He then leans deeper into the thought: 

He thinks he breathes it first; but not so. In much the same way do the commonalty lead their leaders in many other things, at the same time that the leaders little suspect it.

Having laid out his justification for this choice, Ishmael moves onto why a whaling voyage specifically. He essentially accounts it to the mysteries of fate - though his desire to experience new, remote things could trick him into exaggerating the role of his free will. 

There’s a part towards the end of the chapter that I specifically wanted to point out, where Ishmael actually uses a piece of theatre as a metaphor for his voyage. It’s not as famous/iconic as some other parts from this chapter but it’s very entertaining in the context of an actual musical, and I’d love if it were referenced:

“And, doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this:

"Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the United States "Whaling Voyage by one Ishmael

"BLOODY BATTLE IN AFFGHANISTAN." Though I cannot tell why it was exactly that those stage managers, the Fates, put me down for this shabby part of a whaling voyage, when others were set down for magnificent parts in high tragedies, and short and easy parts in genteel comedies, and jolly parts in farces—though I cannot tell why this was exactly; yet, now that I recall all the circumstances, I think I can see a little into the springs and motives which being cunningly presented to me under various disguises, induced me to set about performing the part I did, besides cajoling me into the delusion that it was a choice resulting from my own unbiased freewill and discriminating judgement.”

This little piece fits well with the metatheatricality Dave has said he’s interested in exploring in the show. In terms of this concept, he’s mentioned both Ishmael vs Meville antics, but also broadening the idea of character vs writer with the added layer of him as the composer playing Ishmael. This quote specifically refers to theatre, and referencing one’s own role in a performance, which obviously becomes increasingly funny when you’re a narrator in and composer of a musical based on the book. Pondering over your “shabby part”, and why it was given to you, while you’re existing in theatre you composed yourself… strikes me as in line with Dave’s humour. In the song Cetology, Ishmael already actually laments that “this could be an amazing song...”, in doing so pretty heavily suggesting that he’s self-aware of being in a musical he wrote. So I don’t think Dave using this quote for metatheatre’s sake would be that surprising. 

I also like this quote because of the quite bizarre, almost eerie throwaway piece of modern foretelling we’re given in the layout of performances in the “bill”. It’s interesting enough for a modern adaption to point out as it is, but especially since Dave is highlighting connections between the book and modern America, it feels like something he might reference. 

[sangfearmoved]

What are some of your best muse songs for Soda?

good question!!

i mean, i can make just about any song fit soda, intended meaning or not, given that she can be a super broad character. soda’s general playlist has 140+ songs on it, and i haven’t added any in months despite finding probably upwards of 30 that i could’ve. if i want stuff for writing, i go on a genre basis instead, like uhhh despite having a playlist for soda and navarre i listen to a lot of noir for their threads, since it doesn’t have a consistent mood yet!

that being said, the songs that i’ve deemed best fit soda’s character go on her “Anth3ms” playlist. (i havent found a better name yet don’t judge me.) even so, there’s a lot of songs that didn’t make it cus they didn’t fit the tone — so, here are some of those!

gloria talks a lot to soda’s obsession with romance and fame, plus since it’s circa 80′s it’s kind of a reference to her fascination with history. viva la gloria (little girl) is good for s1 soda and continues the theme of glory, plus it appeals to her aesthetic (“run away from the river to the street”).

both dog days are over (s1) and ship to wreck (s2) are spectacular, tho the latter’s mostly bc i find the first verse hilarious (“dredging up great white sharks, swimming in the bed / and here comes a killer whale to sing me to sleep”). i’ve also been highkey looking for an excuse to use girl with one eye bc… listen

three bc… i mean the title but also bc it’s so bittersweet and is a great ending song, tying that need for recognition in with her self-hate and allowing her to move past both. hero for her bitterness towards the media and its selfishness. words fail for her sorrow and denial; this is the song i associate w her reveal that she’s Agent 3.

both organs and crystals nail everything tbh — the imagery and symbolism in each work wonders for conveying her regret and her freedom respectively. in partic i like crystals bc it fits the game proper’s motifs: “cover your crystal eyes / and feel the tones that tremble down your spine / cover your crystal eyes / and let your colours bleed and blend with mine”

let the rain bc of the verse “who now shouts at the top of her voice / let me go, let me out; this is not my choice / and i always felt it before / that the world was filled with much more / than the drowning soul i’ve learned to be”

i could probs list half of marina and the diamonds’ discography but the unreleased scab and plaster is a song for her and her dad that explains a lot; i also love savages to bits

cops and robbers is just…….clenches fist it refers to how there’s no consequences for her actions and treats it as a game, so partic for s1: “blame simon, ‘cause he said / you’ve got two lives down, and one life left / blame simon, because he said / you could think better with a hole in your head” (the song also reminds me a bit of Pe.rsona 5 tho i don’t know anything abt it WHOOPS)

live by the ocean, mouth of the river, and critical mistakes all carry the same throughline of imagery and speak to her regret as well.

i THINK that’s all i wanna mention rn ……… gsdfughjnrf there’s a lot, but. for as much as music is lacking from soda’s in-universe motifs, i don’t ignore it! i think i’m gonna use music as a sort of positive arc for soda — so as she mellows out, i’ll bring up music more often ic. it conveys a lot that i just can’t thru writing, which is something i sorely miss.

thank u for the question !!! i just took it as songs i associate w her so hope i answered it right hdfughrjdfd

[nemossubmarine]

DA RP Write-up #13.1

Our crew is back again with a vengeance. I’m running this campaign, though for the middle part I’ll be handing the reigns over for Boshara’s player in an experimental move called “I want to play as Cahair more”. :D But yes, it is time for that Avvar campaign I’ve been planning on since last December. I feel very prepared which is a new and exciting feeling. Let’s see how our heroes fared in the Southern Wildlands. First they gotta get there though, and that was like half of the session, so let’s start with that.

Before even that, gotta note that I asked previous GM and Cahair got some new tattoos. Very small, since there wasn’t much time, but tattoos none-the-less. He now has some new ones on the back of his neck.

Character goal “Cover this boy from head to toe with tattoos” is on the go.

Shortly after leaving Tevinter, Randy takes our crew to the captain’s cabin to discuss the next move. He, as we know, needs to return to Orzammar and he had promised to take our heroes with him next time.

But before he can just waltz back in, he needs to find out more about the fertility rune his dad was making, mainly how he can make more of them.

That means, we got to visit some Avvars.

Cahair is immediately onboard, since he has Avvar friends in the south, so finding them won’t be a problem.

Humbert and Boshara especially are a bit miffed by this detour, but since it seems to be the only way, we all agree to this plan.

A further motivator is the fact that our ship is running out of lyrium. All the damage the ship took in Tevinter made us lose a good chunk of our stocks, and it doesn’t look like it’ll last very long.

There’s only two people who absolutely need the lyrium; Humbert, being a templar and Konstantine, bc he would like to stay awake.

Elspet would need it for healing too, if there are accidents.

Severe rationing is issued and enforced by Kanuuna. Things still look pretty dire by the time our heroes get to Ferelden.

It will take us about 3 months to get there, which means 3 months worth of ship-upkeep, namely food and crew’s pay. Let’s make some money, shall we?

Our heroes first stop at Rivain.

Humbert gets some passengers on board.

They are a family looking for adventure, so our crew does their best to entertain.

Randy does some intel gathering on what would sell well in Antiva, and because of that information Elspet finds her new calling in perfume-making.

Alf and Boshara... contribute. Namely they pretend to be beggars.

Next up it’s Antiva.

Our heroes buy some wine from there to get to sell in Ferelden.

Alf goes and gets a letter from Arkaitz, which delights him to no end. He also goes and sells the perfume to our friend Berengrad the banker, who pays for them handsomely.

Konstantine takes Humbert back to Varjokaupunki to try to get some lyrium. 

They find out that something is going on with the Orzammar’s carta, as the lyrium shipments have stopped. Due to that lyrium prices are at all time highs.

They get few bottles anyway.

Boshara... contributes. She tries her hand at pretend-fortune-teller, gets in trouble and spends an evening in jail.

We have decided to try to make jewelry out of the gem stones we got from Berengrad as part of Alf’s inheritance.

Cahair designs them, finding a new hidden talent for jewelry design. He mostly draws inspiration from elven motifs.

Randy makes them. Elspet helps, since Randy has been a weapon smith before, not a jeweler.

The first two fail out of the bunch, but there’s some genuinely fantastic ones out there. Most notably Randy sets the storm opal we got into a white gold fitting. That will bring us big money if we manage to find a good enough buyer for it.

Then final stop is Kirkwall.

Alf finds out more about the Orzammar’s carta’s situation. They haven’t been heard about in a while, and people don’t know what’s up. There’s some lyrium, but even this close it isn’t getting much cheaper, and our heroes really don’t have the funds.

Humbert finds new passengers and gets into a street fight for four gold. ...Worth it?

He also tries to get in contact with some of the templars, but Kirkwall’s templar-commander is rather strict, so there’s no luck.

Randy goes to meet our old friend Riki and uses her contacts to sell some of the jewelry he made.

Elspet goes to visit an old friend, the elf from the market stalls. She agrees to part with some of her herbs, if Elspet makes a perfume for her, which she does.

Boshara gets herself some magical armor, being the first one in our group to do so.

Our heroes hop off near West Hill. Kanuuna will be in charge of the ship and Jelaina will be in charge of money gathering, while our heroes are gone. Lumme has been proven responsible enough, and is given charge of the mages, seeing that due to the lyrium situation Konstantine is barely awake more than few hours/day.

Out of the crew Pitkä-Breck and Merle will be coming with us to Orzammar.

It has been a while since our heroes (aside from Elspet and Cahair) visited Ferelden. There has been some changes. Namely Arl Howe has quietly resigned and moved his family to Free Marches, probably because of the information our heroes uncovered about his nasty human-trafficking businesses. His son, Nathaniel, has apparently been given to the templars.

At West Hill our heroes do some personal shopping: tent, bedrolls, walking shoes.

Humbert and Cahair get into a fight bc Humbert calls Avvars barbarians, and neither of them have the patience. It ends with Humbert going to be a crank outside.

Since he’s missing out on the shopping, Cahair buys him the shoes and makes Boshara deliver them to Humbert.

Humbert is so very happy at Boshara about the gift, that she doesn’t tell him they’re from Cahair.

Our heroes rent a cart, put Barbamama, the bronto, in front of it and leave towards Redcliffe.

Cahair tells a bit more about Avvar-customs to our heroes, namely that they use patronymics/matronymics. Inspired by this, everyone tries to see what theirs would be. Alf Sensen brings everyone a lot of delight.

The talk turns to Boshara’s mother. Namely Humbert wants to know how much she knows of her and if they had any contact.

Boshara admits that she knows very little. She learned a lot more from realizing that Cahair’s dad was her mom’s brother, than from the Chantry folk.

Oh yeah, Cahair and Boshara are cousins. Now everyone knows.

Cahair says that maybe they should visit their parents’ clan one day to find out more. Boshara isn’t sure whether they’d like her there, her being a half-elf. Cahair says it depends a lot on the circumstances.

This brings us to wonder whether Boshara’s dad was another mage or a templar, and the power imbalances in templar-mage relationships.

Humbert gets really flustered by this, and the conversation shuts down quickly afterwards.

Our heroes leave Barbamama, Merle and Pitkä-Breck to Redcliffe and head out to the wildlands by foot.

They travel for several days before Cahair announced that they’re getting close. Soon they spot an Avvar hunting group in the distance.

Cahair goes to talk to them, and brings back one, Dara Tyrdirsen, the thane’s (who’s Cahair’s personal friend) son.

Boshara is immediately enamored by his tallness and muscles.

The conversation goes south immediately since Randy introduces himself first. Dara starts acting much more stiffly then, saying that his mother would no doubt want to talk to them.

So off towards the Steppenwolf Hold we head.

Cahair asks what Randy’s dad did, bc clearly it was something wrong, and Randy says he doesn’t know.

Boshara picks some flowers to give to Dara later. Elspet tries to help but she’s too medically oriented to pick pretty plants instead of useful plants

We reach the Steppenwolf Hold and are guided to one room, where Thane Tyrdir Allasdotten meets visitors.

Soon she arrives, a tall red-headed woman, followed by a wolf.

She stops to hug Cahair, while the wolf is very curious about Randy and Aarli Hauveli.

Tyrdir asks of Randy’s intentions and his father’s fate. Randy admits readily he has no idea what his father exactly did, just that he made some fertility runes with the Avvar’s help.

Tyrdir tells that Mandulfr has stolen a god, namely Rilla of the Fireside, the goddess of fertility.

She says that there’s a witness to this in her hold and goes to get him, so they can hear the whole story.

The man Tyrdir brings back is a tranquil mage by the name of Kaino. He is from Kinloch Hold, and Boshara knows him well. Randy also remembers him. He recounts the tale of Mandulfr’s antics.

The group that went to Rilla’s cave, consisted of five people: Mandulfr; Runa, who was playing Mandulfr’s wife; her brother Ivar; an Avvar-guide by the name of Asta and Kaino.

Asta brought them near Rilla’s cave and told they should get some offerings, so Mandulfr ordered her to get them. She brought some nugs, but Mandulfr didn’t think it was good enough, so she went out and got a boar.

They entered the cave and the first room was a lake, which they had to cross by certain stepping stones.

Asta helped Runa and Kaino over, and while she was doing so, Mandulfr stabbed Ivar and pushed him into the lake.

Upon hearing that Ivar had accidentally dropped into the lake, Asta jumped after him and almost drowned, had it not been for Mandulfr.

They didn’t tell Runa about Ivar’s death, saying he decided to stay behind.

The next room was the offering room. Mandulfr ordered Kaino, who couldn’t see in the dark, of course, to stay at the room’s entrance while the others went to give the gifts.

While Runa was giving her gift, Mandulfr stabbed Asta and rolled her off the cliffside.

When Runa came back, he claimed Asta had gone ahead of them. Then he made her drink poisoned wine.

THE END.

Kaino tells that he doesn’t exactly remember what happened at the inner sanctum of Rilla’s cave, but that the Avvar were rather pissed off when they came back, and Mandulfr left Kaino behind, presumably as a distraction to help his own escape.

Tyrdir has a proposition to make. It’s clear (to her at least) that Randy, by the virtue of being the inheritor of his father, will have to atone for his deeds.

She asks that Randy takes a pilgrimage to Rilla’s cave and release Rilla from the rune she is trapped in.

After that he may ask her if she is willing to help with making more fertility runes.

As Tyrdir wishes Randy would do this pilgrimage of his own volition, because he respects Rilla and wants to wipe out his father’s crimes, and not because the Avvar want to, she offers Cahair as a guide and Kaino as a help for Rilla’s release.

Randy agrees to this, and everyone else says they’ll come along too.

Now our heroes have their mission all set out. But before they can leave, they’ll have an evening to get to know some Avvar-folk. We’ll see how that goes in the next exciting episode.

[kayostesting]

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"With every death comes honor. With honor, redemption." Voiced by: Paul Nakauchi (English), Dan Osorio (Latin American Spanish), Miguel Ángel Montero (European Spanish), Shuhei Sakaguchi (Japanese), Lionel Tua (French), Reginaldo Primo (Brazilian Portuguese), Lorenzo Scattorin (Italian), Bernd Vollbrecht (German), Hanshin (Korean), Kang Dian-Hong (Taiwanese Chinese), Liú Běichén (Mandarin Chinese), Krzysztof Cybiński (Polish), Ilya Isayev (Russian) The Shimada family was established centuries ago, a clan of assassins whose power grew over the years, enabling them to build a vast criminal empire that profited from lucrative trade in arms and illegal substances. As the eldest son of the family's head, Hanzo was bound by duty to succeed his father and rule the Shimada empire. From a young age, he was trained for that responsibility, displaying a natural aptitude for leadership and possessing an innate understanding of strategy and tactics. He also excelled in more practical areas: he was a prodigy in martial arts, swordplay, and bowmanship. Upon the death of his father, the clan elders instructed Hanzo to straighten out his wayward younger brother so that he, too, might help rule the Shimada empire. When his brother refused, Hanzo was forced to kill him. This act broke Hanzo's heart and drove him to reject his father's legacy, ultimately leading him to abandon the clan and all that he had worked so hard to attain. Now, Hanzo travels the world, perfecting his skills as a warrior, attempting to restore his honor and put the ghosts of his past to rest. Once a year, he snuck into his old home, which now sends assassins to kill him for his desertion. His goal was mostly to honor the spirit of his brother. Until one day, he was assaulted in the same place by a mysterious Cyber Ninja that lectured him about his actions, or rather, his inaction towards the changing world. The lecture turned into a fierce battle and, to Hanzo's shock, the ninja revealed himself as Genji, saved from death by Overwatch. Genji forgives him, but Hanzo becomes furious after realizing that Genji's survival rendered the Redemption Quest to honor him meaningless, and calls Genji foolish to still believe in childish ideals from fairy tales. Even so, Genji's words left him conflicted about the future and his feelings for his brother. Hanzo is a Defensive character who can sneak into an enemy's holdout and silently kill them before moving on to his next target. Eschewing the favored weapons of his time, his weapon is the Storm Bow, a mechanical bow that can fire all sorts of mechanical, or mundane, arrows at enemies. He has the ability to Wall Climb, which lets him climb up a vertical surface. His first ability is Sonic Arrow. Hanzo fires at arrow at the location that releases a pulse of sound, signaling to him whether or not nearby enemies are beyond the wall or nearby. His second ability, Scatter Arrow, fires an arrow that ricochets off walls and objects, enabling him to strike at angles and hit multiple targets. His ultimate, Dragonstrike, takes off the guise of stealth and summons a pair of Spirit Dragons that travel forward from his location, killing any enemies in its path. Animal Motifs: Besides the obvious dragon, Hanzo has several Legendary skins that give him a wolf-based look instead; he wears wolf pelts on his head and shoulders, and his ultimate ability replaces the Spirit Dragons with howling wolves. On a symbolic level, dragons in some Asian cultures represent prosperity, strength, and good fortune and are typically benevolent creatures, but because the dragon is the family icon of the Shimada clan's criminal empire, the Western depiction of dragons being creatures of evil applies as well. Wolves, on the other hand, represent freedom as well as family and community, but they also symbolize a lack of trust in others and/or yourself - despite having had broken away from his family after nearly killing Genji, Hanzo still feels a lingering sense of loyalty and duty, and much of his inner conflict stems from his choice of either following his clan's footsteps or forgive himself and pursue the heroic path like Genji did. The Atoner: He seeks to regain his honor for both killing his brother and for being a part of a criminal clan that would force him to do such a thing. Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He's quite cocky and contemptuous towards his enemies, and openly gloats about his skills in combat. Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: His outfit is based on feudal Japanese ninja clothing with modern touches such as futuristic boots and a waist pack. Doesn't stop it from looking awesome. Badass Beard: He has a small one along with a Badass Mustache. Badass Boast: Gives one to Genji in Dragons, mistaking him for an assassin: Hanzo: You are not the first assassin sent to kill me. And you will not be the last. Beard of Sorrow: The mustache and small beard he has now? He didn't start growing it until after he was forced to kill his younger brother Genji. Becoming the Costume: Hanzo's Okami and Lone Wolf skins change a large number of lines, replacing his dragon motif with a wolf one. For example, when launching his Sonic Arrow, instead of saying "Marked by the dragon," he'll say "The wolf marks its prey." His Ultimate line changes from "Let the dragon consume you!"/"Ryū ga waga teki o kurau!" to "The wolf hunts for his prey!"/"Ōkami yo, waga teki o kurae!" Additionally, the projectile itself becomes two wolves instead of dragons, changing the roar sound to howling, and if it gets any kills, Hanzo says "The wolf is sated" instead of "The dragon is sated." Berserk Button: Genji. As if being forced to kill him wasn't enough to leave Hanzo a remorseful wreck, he now finds out that his brother is alive and well and is willing to forgive him for an act that caused him to abandon his family and spend his entire life on an ultimately-pointless redemption quest for something he began to view as irredeemable. Mentioning Genji or bringing up the fact that the two are similar will result in Hanzo furiously and spitefully denying him. Bottomless Magazines: While played straight in the game itself, in the animated short "Dragons" he runs out of arrows during his fight with Genji and has to pick them up from where he fired them. Bring It: One of his taunts is a classic "Come and get me" gesture. Cain and Abel: After their father's death, tensions rose between him and his brother Genji until he was forced by the clan elders to kill him. Even after his brother shows up alive again, Hanzo has very conflicted feelings about him, despite Genji forgiving him. Genji: "It is not too late to change your course, brother." Hanzo: "You may call yourself my brother, but you are not the Genji I knew." Charged Attack: His Storm Bow is Hold-type; simply tapping the fire button fires a very weak arrow, but holding it down for full power allows it to One-Hit Kill non-tanks with a headshot. Dark is Not Evil: Despite wearing mostly black, having an evil looking scowl most of the time, and is not the White Sheep of his criminal empire family, he's far from evil himself; having performed a Heel–Face Turn after (almost) murdering Genji. Death Seeker: Implied: he tells Genji to kill him in Dragons and Genji replies that he will not grant him the death he wishes for. There's also his Halloween "R.I.P." victory pose, where unlike everybody else who is bursting from out of their graves, Hanzo seems perfectly content staying put.◊ Decomposite Character: He and his brother were originally one cyber ninja in concept. The character however was too unfocused in design due to being crammed with too many ninja weapons and gimmicks. Rather than scrap the idea though, the character was made into two brothers. Hanzo inherited the clothes, bow usage, and name the original character had. Defector from Decadence: He left his family and the criminal empire he could have ruled since it cost him his brother. Downplayed as a few of his quotes imply he regret having left the Yakuza lifestyle. Difficult but Awesome: He's rated 3 stars for a reason. He's difficult in that his arrows require draw time and are projectiles instead of hitscan-based which also avert No "Arc" in "Archery", meaning actually hitting a target requires consistent aim and prediction, not helped by the lack of a scope making it more difficult to aim precisely. His kit is entirely based around dealing burst damage and getting picks, and if he fails to do so, he might be considered The Millstone by his team. His Dragonstrike ultimate is also difficult to use effectively, as while it has huge damage and AoE, it's a Painfully Slow Projectile that can be easily avoided through experience, meaning you'll have to get crafty to use it properly. He's awesome in that his arrows' lack of a scope prevents him from suffering tunnel vision, he requires virtually no reloading, he has one of the only abilities in the game that can provide team-wide vision, and his potential mid-to-long-range damage output is absolutely absurd. A well-trained Hanzo can easily shut down enemy teams before they can touch the objective. Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In every interaction where Genji shows Hanzo sympathy or tries to give him a speech, Hanzo lashes out and insults Genji. Drowning My Sorrows: The Halloween update reveals his canteen is always full of sake. And it's one of the biggest canteens among the cast members who have them. Presumably it's to dull the constant guilt and regret he feels. Due to the Dead: It's revealed in "Dragons" that every year he returns to Hanamura, his former home, to pay tribute to his dead younger brother Genji. Until he learns Genji is not dead as previously thought. The Dutiful Son: While he has renounced his family ties after being forced to kill Genji, pre-match dialogue implies that he on some level regrets his decision and wants to make his family great again, yet it is implied that he has some clear standards on how to do it, such as when he turns down Widowmaker's offer to join Talon in exchange for his family's restoration. And part of the reason why Hanzo resents Genji is because of the latter's refusal to toe the line, resulting in their fated battle and causing everything to fall apart. And now that brother is revealed to be still alive, all of that grief and the journey to atone for his sins had been completely for nothing. Fingerless Gloves: Of a sort. He wears a special archery glove note on his right hand that covers everything except his ring finger and pinky. Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The dutiful, responsible older brother of the foolish, hedonistic Genji, back when both of them were living in Hanamura and their scuffle that led to Genji's cybernetic transformation didn't happen yet. Glass Cannon: Can deal high damage with his arrows and ultimate ability, however, he has mediocre health and no mobility-boosting abilities other than wall-climbing. Gameplay and Story Segregation: In-game, Hanzo can only shoot his arrows straight, even if they will eventually fall to gravity. In the Dragons animated short, his arrows can make a sideway arc, shoot to the side, and the arrow takes a turn to straight in front of Hanzo. Hazy Feel Turn: Hanzo did not leave the life of a criminal behind, seeing as he still carries out assassinations. He did, however, leave the Shimada clan behind, and, even if he express regret at doing it, refuses to associate with outright villainous groups like Talon. Heroic B.S.O.D.: Upon learning in the end of "Dragons" that Genji is still alive (albeit as a cyborg) and has forgiven him for nearly killing him on the orders of their clan elders, Hanzo's response is to continue burning incense as tribute to his brother like nothing happened as if he's in complete denial. It's suggested that his hostile banter with Genji during gameplay may have stemmed from this. Heroes Prefer Swords: Averted. He was trained in the use of one, but after he was forced to kill Genji, he swore never to pick up another blade, instead using a bow and arrow. Hitbox Dissonance: The Hero. Hanzo's arrow hitbox is roughly twice as wide as the actual character model, and just hitting in the upper portion of that giant hitbox counts as a headshot. I Did What I Had to Do: He considers his act of killing Genji as something he had to do in order to placate his clan's elders and restore order to his already broken family, but it's clear that he deeply regrets it. Important Haircut: He used to have much longer hair in his twenties, and in "Reflections" (which takes place after "Dragons") he sports an undercut. Improbable Aiming Skills: A good chunk of what he does with his arrows in "Dragons", most notably the part where he shoots an arrow which curves to hit and destroy a cellphone when a) he's grappling someone at the same time, b) the cellphone is moving and c) from where he shoots, Hanzo couldn't possibly see the point where his arrow lands. Improbable Use of a Weapon: He's shown to be quite versatile with his bow in "Dragons," using it as a melee weapon in several instances. In fact, in his fight against Genji, he actually finds more success this way than through firing arrows. Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons: His ultimate summons two Spirit Dragons that go through walls and kills everything in their path. Jerkass Façade: Usually his default persona is The Atoner. But, he's usually very nasty to Genji even after what he did, for ill-defined reasons. Mage Marksman: Uses Trick Arrows to fight, and then there's the whole "shooting out two spirit dragons" thing. Master Swordsman: Word of God says he's actually a master swordsman who's probably even better than his brother. However because of what happened with Genji, Hanzo put down the sword for good and picked up the bow instead. His old sword can still be found displayed in the Hanamura dojo with a chipped blade. Meaningful Name: His name alludes to Hattori Hanzo, one of the most famous Real Life samurai.* Mr. Fanservice: Half-shirtless, with a very extensive dragon tattoo. My God, What Have I Done?: Seemingly killing his brother Genji broke his heart and caused him to leave the clan to atone for what he had done. My Greatest Failure: The day he was forced to kill his little brother by his clan's elders was this for Hanzo. It's one of the main reasons he became The Atoner. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: When he (apparently) murdered his own brother to appease the clan elders and prevent the families dissolution, he instead accidentally turned Genji into the hero who would single-handedly dismantle the clan and leave it a pale husk of its former self. Ninja: Since the Shimada Clan was a family of ninjas before becoming Yakuza, Hanzo was trained as a ninja himself. Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: His Halloween skin basically makes him into a Zombie Ninja. No "Arc" in "Archery": Averted! Unlike every other primary weapon in the game other than Torbjörn's, all of Hanzo's arrows are affected by gravity, including those spawning from his Scatter Arrow. Judging how to aim at a distance based on this arc is one of the reasons aiming with him can be quite tough. Not So Different: From Genji, at least in the eyes of Zenyatta. Zenyatta: I sense within you the same rage that once consumed your brother. Hanzo: We are nothing alike! Not So Stoic: His in-game lines are pretty chill and monotonous, but mentioning his younger brother (as seen in the "Dragons" short) makes him rash and angry. Perpetual Frowner: With good reason, admittedly. Pinball Projectile: Scatter Arrow causes Hanzo's arrow to explode into several more upon hitting a surface, each of which retain a normal arrow's general damage. An easy strategy for taking out squishy targets is to aim one right at their feet, so multiple arrows explode from under them. Or just have some really, really lucky geometry working for you. Power Tattoo: In the animated short "Dragons", his dragon tattoo glows as he unleashes his Dragonstrike. In fact the spirit dragons seem to appear from the tattoo before being unleashed through the arrow he fires. Redemption Rejection: Self-invoked example. He simply won't forgive himself for what he did to Genji and refused to redeem himself with Overwatch even after Genji explicitly forgave him with a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech at the end of "Dragons". Sibling Rivalry: Despite wishing to atone for nearly killing Genji, Hanzo still prides himself on honor and looks down upon his brother for his hedonistic lifestyle even after he had become a cyborg and mellowed out. This conversation before a match begins says it all. Hanzo: You will never amount to anything! Genji: We shall see...brother. Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: To Genji in Dragons: Hanzo: Real life is not like the stories our father told us! You are a fool for believing it so! Summon Magic: He summons two giant spirit dragons to kill anything in their path. No explanation for this magic is offered, except that only a Shimada can control these dragons. Tattooed Crook: Has a dragon tattoo on his left arm and was formerly the heir of a powerful Yakuza clan. The Straight and Arrow Path: In a world with guns and rockets and robot suits and teleporters, Hanzo uses a humble bow. A technologically enhanced bow, but a bow nonetheless. Thicker Than Water: Hanzo is a firm believer of traditional family loyalty and that honor lies in family loyalty, which was why he's The Dutiful Son who didn't seem to mind much about how the criminal activities of the clan are not good deeds, they're still his family, and while he left the clan in shame, he still held some regrets that he somehow wanted to return to his family. This is also why he's rather cross at Genji for his actions to shut down the Shimada clan, he cannot see honor in betraying one's own family even if it was for the greater good or common morality. Trademark Favorite Food: Ramen, just like his brother. Thankfully for Hanzo, he's still able to enjoy it as he's still full human. Trick Arrow: His Scatter Shot explodes when it hits a wall, releasing ricocheting arrows that bounce off walls and hit foes. He also has Sonic Arrow, which alerts him to nearby enemies. Additionally, in Dragons his normal arrows are apparently electric and homing. Walking Shirtless Scene: He wears a kimono, but the left side is not on his body, showing off his left pec, left side of his torso, and an impressive arm-length dragon tattoo. Wall Crawl: Thanks to his Wall Climb ability. White Sheep: Became this to his clan after he defected out of guilt for killing his little brother on the clan elders' orders. Yakuza: Former heir to the Shimada Clan's criminal empire and still has the tattoo to prove it.