#it's only a theory guys so don't go touting it as fact

[batsplat]

I’m gonna sound like a boomer but we’re never gonna get any rivalries on par with vale’s feuds or actually any pre late 2010s feuds anymore. and I think social media is definitely one of the major reasons why. now you have to watch what you say bc it’s gonna be immediately broadcasted and some your 253655665 followers or insta or twitter are gonna overreact and go hurl abuse in another guy’s comments. and this is so lame.

right there with you anon. I've been wondering about the 'why are athletes these days so boring' question for years (not in motogp specifically) and one theory I've seen touted is just the increased professionalisation of sports, how much more all-consuming it is from childhood onwards - essentially suggesting athletes today don't have the time to develop a personality or cook up feuds lol. and I think there's probably something to that theory - the current demands of professional sports are inevitably producing some singularly single-minded athletes, far more pr-friendly and moulded into being acceptable to the average consumer... but the other part of the equation just has to be the incredible levels of scrutiny they're subjected to. social media and the rabid fanbases it helps cultivate have to be a part of that

I'm always wary of speaking too definitively about the vibes of an era I wasn't around to experience - obviously controversies back then were also, in fact, controversial, sometimes athletes had to walk back their comments, fanbases certainly were rabid... but it's all a question of degree, isn't it - and how relentless the content consumption is, the ferocity of the news cycle, how inescapable everyone's opinions on everything end up being. if you look at the general tone of the alien era, I just don't think that kind of thing would be possible nowadays. it really wasn't just valentino either, and it's always worth remembering the context of the time in which valentino rose through the ranks. his first major feud, after all, was with a notoriously abrasive rider who was hardly beloved by his non-valentino opponents - and let's not forget how he was physically threatened by two riders after his very first grand prix (to be clear, I am not endorsing threatening seventeen year olds and think it's probably quite good they don't do that anymore). god, if casey said some of the stuff he used to come out with nowadays, and not just about valentino either... the discourse, it would be bad. the jorge/dani feud too would surely have reached cataclysmic levels of toxicity

and there's a lot of people who say, 'well, why don't you think competitors can just be respectful to each other, why can't athletes just be tough in competition and friendly outside of it, why do you need everyone to hate each other' - look, I think it's fun! sports is supposed to be about extreme emotions, heightened emotions about these artificial contests that feel larger than life. in one sense, it really isn't that serious, but on the other hand it obviously couldn't be more serious. more important than life or death, as the cliché goes, or that orwell 'war minus the shooting' quote mat oxley is ever so fond of - but that's only because we ascribe it meaning. which allows it to exist in this fun zone where we can live out these bizarrely dramatic stories that are high on emotional stakes, but for all intents and purposes are rather less high on material stakes (certainly for the fan). it's a release of a kind, sometimes an escape. now, personally, I enjoy my drama with a little bit of edge, of nastiness, which I understand is a personal preference but don't think (as is sometimes suggested) means I am any less invested in the sporting side of the equation. it is the substance of the sport that provides the scaffolding for the human interest stories it generates, but fundamentally nobody would give a shit about sports without the human interest element - and to me, a feud is simply an extension of that principle

another probably controversial critique of the 'why can't everyone like each other' stance is that I just fundamentally believe it to be dishonest. or, look, maybe there are some competitors out there who can feel nothing but warmth and love in their hearts for the opponent who has just beaten them - which is very lovely for them, they're clearly far better people than I am. but I don't buy everyone feels that way and I also don't buy this is something that has changed with a generation or two. obviously, the norms within any given sport end up shaping how the athlete approaches competition, what they believe is acceptable to say or do, or even to think or feel. the emotions might be visceral, they may even resemble hate, but the question is to what extent we allow them to be expressed. if these people don't like each other, if they think uncharitable thoughts towards each other, then, y'know, let them have at it as far as I'm concerned. respect is overrated. and even when it's not just earnestly felt emotions, even when they really are just playing games, attempting to fuck with their rivals... well, that's the other question, is it. is it acceptable to deliberately attempt use 'psychological' tactics, perhaps even intimidation, to win a contest or not? to me, the answer is 'obviously yes' and 'that's how sports works', but I accept not everyone agrees lol

I have particularly little patience with this stance in motogp, I think, because the belief that 'riding in a manner that could physically hurt another human being' is an acceptable element of competition but 'not conforming to social niceties afterwards' is not feels viscerally absurd to me. now, the former just has to be countenanced to some degree or other as part of the moral calculus you are performing in even engaging with the sport, because fundamentally you cannot 'objectively' determine how much risk riders can acceptably put each other in before it crosses a moral line. as far as I'm concerned, then, you might as well have at least some patience for the latter too - we're already morally firmly in the grey here. and intimidation still happens, after all, mind games are still all the flavour... but there's this constant need for subtlety, to keep the nastier side of competing hush hush, that I find deeply tedious. sure, sometimes subtlety can be nice, but at this point it feels less like a personal preference and more an ironclad requirement. and this is the thing, right. sometimes, people are arseholes. professional athletes certainly are. sometimes, just like their fans, they feel violently extreme emotions. especially if they've just been competing. but of course, if every single controversy attracts such out-sized vitriol from fans, a moral referendum on everyone involved, a boiling pot of feverish partisanship... well, it's unsurprising if athletes try to steer clear from all that, isn't it

I also don't think we're going to get another feud that can get mentioned in the same breath as valentino's offerings any time soon, though perhaps next year we can have a good go at it. (ironically, of course, this is still an extension of one of his feuds - you have this built-in vitriol which I reckon at times allows it to worm its way past the filters all of these people have developed.) which, you know, I don't need them to artificially cook up feuds just for the sake of it. beyond broader trends between generations, obviously this is also a question of individual personalities and how they happen to interact with each other. if valentino's feuds are as good as it gets, I can live with that - I do still enjoy the sport plenty, am grateful to valentino for providing me so much good archival material to pour over and dissect, and don't want to ask for too much here. god knows, the current version of motogp is still highly dramatic by the standards of my main sport, and unfortunately I still watch that shit all the time. but it's still a bit of a shame that competitors don't seem to get a lot of choice in the matter these days. and it's a bit of a shame that fans seemingly prefer it this way, going by the vitriol they heap on athletes over any and every offence. it's also a bit of a shame that it feels like there's no real escaping the relentless partisanship of online fan spaces. personally I'm not all that into discoursing about whether things are 'good' or 'bad' and more into establishing whether something's 'interesting' and then thinking about it some more, which doesn't feel like much of an option if you for some reason ever get struck by the desire to interact with other fans online. but it is what it is, y'know. at least we'll always have that time valentino put a curse on a guy

[ratcandy]

why i think zote is a nosk and yes I'm (mostly) serious

and No, I'm not just going to gesture vaguely in the direction of CoGR. Like yes writing that accursed thing had IRREVERSIBLE effects on my brain, and it is 100% the reason I started thinking this way to begin with, BUT.

I think, to some extent. If pressed. I could argue a little. So what if you all entertained me for a minute. You all entertained me very readily when it came to bug sexyness. So what if you entertained me on this one. Take my hand. Follow me. This is self-indulgence at its finest.

and if I don't post it now I'm going to be editing it endlessly and forever.

This is a RIDICULOUSLY long post, and I get VERY derailed as it continues. It's also only like. Half serious. In that the first half is serious, but then I start losing my mind. If you're willing to entertain me and read all this, well. More power to you!

Okay, to start with, I'm gonna explain how this thought process even initially occurred to me (prior to the writing of CoGR). And it mostly has to do with the fact that Zote looks so much like a vessel, but certainly cannot be for various reasons (not void, mouth, wrong color... I could be here all day but I will not do that. Go eat this other post I made about it if u really want that argument).

It also never occurred to me that he'd be the same species as Elderbug, despite this clearly being a popular theory on here hdgkjSDG. (I could go on a whole separate argument about that, but to not make this post 1million extra words long, just know it boils down to Elderbug Has Too Many Legs and Honestly If You Remove the Mouth they've got Nothing Else Going For Them.)

But, really, what are we left with, then?

Sure, he could just be some other random bug. Maybe there are some bugs that just look like that - outside of the vessels - that we have not seen. But, since we are decidedly NOT shown any bugs that look like vessels but are not vessels OUTSIDE of Zote himself, it leaves me with question.

Why does this guy look so much like a vessel when he cannot be. I mean, yeah, in meta terms, he looks like that because he's Ghost's foil. He is MEANT to be a "worse" version of the player character. Off-color (termed "grey" but that man is PINK!!!!), asymmetrical, hunched over, and sucks ass at fighting.

But. We are not talking meta. We are talking story. We are talking World.

Could he still be a child of the Pale King/White Lady? Maybe. But I really, really do not think so. I also touch on this in my "why I don't think this loser is a vessel" post that I linked earlier, so I won't go too crazy here, but. I mean. Two pale beings made a pink baby? With a mouth that neither of them have? And mans inherited None of that godliness (that we can see)?

I jus don't see it.

So. Again. WHAT are we left with??

He looks a LOT like a vessel. Enough that a lot of people THINK he is at first. But he cannot be a vessel. He is also not likely a child of PK/WL (entertain me, entertain me). And he does not resemble any other bug we've seen in Hallownest.

So, I mean. Imagine, if you will, something that can mimic appearances, right. AND not only that. But something that has definitely seen vessels before and would know how to mimic one.

(I'm just saying, that's quite a lot of em strung up in the den here).

And imagine he sucks. Really, really bad. So of COURSE he would make an imperfect disguise, right?

Okay. That's the BASIS of my theory. Now you're gonna have to bear with me. I'm going to start ...Analyzing. If you could call it that. And arguing. Very heavily.

Zote as a Nosk: Why He Do That?

This section of my ramble is going to mostly be speculation, or explanations for parts of this theory that I could potentially be questioned on. For instance:

Why would a nosk want to disguise itself as a vessel?

In my own personal theory, Zote wanted to blend in with society and tout himself as a brave, unbeatable knight of great renown! Such titles are not often given to beastly creatures such as Nosks. So, he fled his ghastly, dark home, put his past behind him, and took on a new name. After all, names have power, don't they?

As for why a vessel specifically... The vessels are (supposed to be) stolid, emotionless beings that do not think or feel fear, and have no method of crying out in suffering. Sure, a Nosk would have no way of knowing that whole mantra, but if they'd faced multiple of these enemies, staring down blank stares that don't portray whatever horror they feel in their circumstance...

They'd have no reason to believe vessels are typically brave, fearless creatures.

Especially since our vessel, Ghost, is often referred as "The Knight." It tells us that vessels (or at the very least, Ghost) are knightly-sorts in some capacity. Which would make sense, given their purpose.

And, of course, if stories of the Hollow Knight made it down to Deepnest, and if THK being a vessel was wider known (which I doubt, but still), then that'd obviously be the perfect disguise to fit a knightly part.

Even more so that Nosk has clearly seen a bunch of these things, even if they're rarely spotted elsewhere outside of the Abyss.

Would a nosk even think to do this at all?

I mean, we've little reason to believe Nosks were not intelligent creatures prior to infection. They're smart enough to use the appearances of other bugs to lure them deeper into its den.

And more than mimicking the bug itself, the thoughts of Nosk's prior victims definitely suggest it would mimic loved ones of its prey. Or someone that prey would WANT to see. That at least implies some amount of intelligence, unless it's straight-up mind reading.

But again, even if it doesn't, Nosk just acts like an infected creature in-game. So we don't know what they could've been like prior to Orange Fanta.

What makes you think Nosks were a species? Couldn't there just have been one of them?

Sure, there could've just been the one. But I think that's boring. Nothing in particular really points me toward them being a species. For all I know, Nosk is just some weird, solitary cryptid. But that's not fun. So I'm just ignoring it.

How else is this dude getting around, if not somehow at least a LITTLE stronger than he seems on the surface?

Right? I mean, yes, there are two instances where Zote gets stuck, one of which he can die in. But outside of those two, he takes a WEIRD path throughout Hallownest, and after that single Vengefly King encounter...

Well, he's totally fine. He can't die again. Dude is resilient, somehow.

But with what we've seen of Zote (a nail that does no damage, extremely clumsy movement, Being Small and Bite-Sized), there is no possible way he should have survived down there. Hallownest is damn brutal. And I don't think infected creatures would pity Zote and choose to spare him.

The only think he does have going for him is tankyness, since he can take a lot of hits and be relatively fine. But even then, if something were to start attacking him, little idiot certainly wouldn't run away if he thought it could kill him. He's stupid. He wants to prove himself. In the Coliseum, he doesn't even hesitate to throw himself at Ghost.

So how in the world did he survive down there if he WASN'T somehow secretly something else?

Hey, speaking of that clumsyness...

It makes a lot of sense that a guy who's used to being much taller, with far spindlier legs, would have a hard time adjusting to a smaller stature, right? He's gotta figure out a whole new sense of balance. And I doubt a nosk is meant to stay in disguise that long, anyway.

-

The Two Entire Pieces of Evidence In-Game That Could Denounce This Theory:

Two pieces of dialogue from Zote himself could totally explode this into millions of pieces and have you all laugh very meanly at me for being so adamant about something that is very obviously not at all substantiated by canon. But hey. Hey. Before you start pointing and jeering. Listen to me.

Dialogue One:

"I came to this kingdom to fulfill a promise..." (Technically he says this twice at different times, one being spoken and one being thought, but I'm counting it as One for our purposes)

People love to point at this dialogue and tell me this means Zote couldn't have possibly originated from Hallownest because it says he CAME here. Specifically.

Ok 1: Saying he came here to fulfill a promise does not mean he could not have been from here. Perhaps he IS from here, took off, and came back. Sure, he doesn't expressly say "i came BACK to this kingdom" but STILL. Possibility is not eliminated.

and 2: I'm... I mean... listen. This guy is not too great at being truthful. He could easily just be running on a fake story about his life to cover up what he he Actually is. 'Cause, I mean... If he's already hypothetically disguising himself, Why then would he tell the truth about where he came from.

And please, making up a grand story about how he came from some distant land beyond the wastes, where he had to struggle through the horrors of the powerful winds and dastardly beasts, sounds Very in-character.

(And honestly, tangent: Do we think he would survive the wastes? I mean, yes, granted, he survives a lot in the game. But he can easily be killed by the Vengefly King if you just leave him there. And surely there are worst creatures in the Wastes. On top of that, Ghost can't even walk into the wastes without being blasted back by wind. Do we think Zote could get out there? The guy who gets hit by a nail and goes flying across the colosseum? And On Top of THAT, if we choose to believe the Pale King, which I do not but yknow Still, bugs supposedly lose their sapience while outside of his/a kingdom. If that's true, then... erm?)

Sure, he could totally be a totally irrelevant bug from a totally separate irrelevant kingdom in the middle of nowhere. But to look so much like a vessel... that'd just be coincidence then? That's not NEARLY as fun. And I LIKE fun. So THERE.

Dialogue Two:

(thought while in Deepnest) "So, the kingdom was hiding this dark nest full of deadly predators. Well, now the deadliest predator of all is here... ...Zote the Mighty!"

Ok, so, yeah. That one is pretty damning. That pretty obviously suggests he's never been there before, which wouldn't make a lot of sense given he's a nosk. Unless there are nosks in other kingdoms, I guess, but. Refer to the tangent I just made hSDKGJH.

And really. I'll be honest. I only have one potential argument for this, and it's bullshitty. But it's bullshitty enough that I still allow myself to have my fun thoughts.

So. You see. Zote likes to say things. If you haven't noticed. Making himself out to be a big strong valiant knight is his whole shtick. That is what this man is. And saying stuff that is blatantly untrue to make himself seem Cooler is kinda what he's all about. So... and bear with me, yes, I know how flimsy this sounds.

This could be him mentally rehearsing what he WOULD say. In the circumstance where he was very epically relaying this story to someone else.

and. AND. Of course. Since he's disguised. He obviously wouldn't give away that he's FROM here. That would be silly. That ruins the whole point of the disguise. Might as well just be a nosk wandering around then.

So, clearly, obviously, evidently, this thought process reflects what he WOULD say to someone who does not know he's a nosk, and who he does not want to know he's a nosk. While he's stoically regaling the tale of his adventures in the Horrible Death Pit that is Deepnest.

Yknow. Just thinking ahead for how he could make this situation sound as brave and epic as possible. WITHOUT mentioning his connections to this place. Because, I mean, really... Why would he want to attach himself, a courageous, heroic knight, to a dark pit full of deadly beasts?

He is no Beast. He is a Knight. Etc.

...yeah, I know, not my best or most sound argument in the world. But I'm having fun. If everything has already fallen apart for you because of this one (1) dialogue, that is so valid. Go live ur life.

I'm gonna keep going though.

-

Things That Make Me Point at the Screen and Go "AHA! SEE! I'M SO RIGHT!"

Number ONE:

Hey. Remember when you saw Nosk's mask on the floor up there in that screenshot? So, if you didn't know this, after you defeat Nosk, it drops its mask on the floor. And you can smack it around as much as you like. Pretty fun, right?

Well. If you let Zote die, in order to get the neglect achievement, you have to smack the mask he left behind. Because he ALSO drops his mask. Hey that's weird. The only two masks in game that you can freely smack around are Nosk's and Zote's.

Huh. Strange.

Number TWO:

Zote has a STUPID amount of health. Like, it's obnoxious how many hits this man takes. And not only that, he doesn't even DIE when you defeat him in the Coliseum, so he probably has even MORE health than that (ignoring the Eternal Ordeal for a second, since... I highly doubt that's meant to be canon LMAO). The listed health Zote has on the wiki (200) is nowhere near Nosk's amount of health (680), sure. But I'm assuming that health total is based on how many hits it takes to get him down in Coli (which I'm also assuming is the same amount of hits it takes to get him down in the Eternal Ordeal). In which, again, he does not die after that. He just gets stuck and cannot get back up.

But ALSO, that Nosk is infected, and we've been told infection gives strength - hence why the Traitor Lord is like that. So it's possible the nosk we fight in Deepnest just has a strength boost due to orange juice consumption.

...Or, Zote just sucks for a nosk. His stupid amount of health might actually be just really low for that species. For all we know.

Number THREE:

Speaking of the Coliseum, have you seen the JUMPS on this man?

Zote sure can Leap pretty far. He's clumsy as all hell, sure, but those jumps sure are something. Even in the GPZ version, he jumps all the way up off screen before crashing down. Which, yes, I know GPZ is not actually Zote, but this tells me Bretta is at least somewhat aware of Zote's jumping expertise enough to include it in her sexyman version of him.

Do you know who Else jumps all the way up off screen before crashing down? That's right baby. Nosk ...Ok first nosk does a little infection drop attack but HEY you know what I mean. Both Zote and Nosk got big jumps.

Number FOUR:

Precept Twenty-Six: 'Don't Trust Your Reflection'. When peering at certain shining surfaces, you may see a copy of your own face. The face will mimic your movements and seems similar to your own, but I don't think it can be trusted.

Ok that's the obvious precept. I don't think I need to explain why this one makes me go AHA!! SEE!! SEE! HE SAID THE THING!

So I'm going to move on to precepts that I can STRETCH to fit my AGENDA. This is where I start getting derailed and incomprehensible, as a warning.

Number FIVE:

Precept Six: 'Choose Your Own Fate'. Our elders teach that our fate is chosen for us before we are even born. I disagree.

Just like he CHOSE a NEW IDENTITY when he DISGUISED HIMSELF AS A VESSEL? HUH? HUH?

Precept Eighteen: 'Seek Truth in the Darkness'. This precept also explains itself.

So you're telling me the truth is in the darkness? The darkness? Dark like Deepnest? Like a place so dark you can't traverse it without a lantern? You're telling me the TRUTH is in THE DARKNESS? Why wouldn't you want to explain that further, nosky boy? Don't want to explain HOW the TRUTH is in the DARKNESS, HUH?

Precept Twenty-Eight: 'Don't Peer Into the Darkness'. If you peer into the darkness and can't see anything for too long, your mind will start to linger over old memories. Memories are to be avoided, as per Precept Four.

Oh now you DON'T want us to look in the darkness? Why? Huh? There's MEMORIES in that darkness? You've got MEMORIES in there? And the truth is in there too? And you DON'T want us to look at it? Is it because you're a NOSK

Precept Forty-Five: 'One Thing Is Not Another'. This one should be obvious, but I've had others try to argue that one thing, which is clearly what it is and not something else, is actually some other thing, which it isn't. Stay on your guard!

Oh yeah? Yeah? One thing is not another? And you've had to have this argument multiple times? Did you have to argue that YOU are not a NOSK, little man? Little man who isn't being totally Real with me. Little. BASTARD

Precept Fifty: 'Don't Linger on Mysteries'. Some things in this world appear to us as puzzles. Or enigmas. If the meaning behind something is not immediately evident though, don't waste any time thinking about it. Just move on.

YOU WON'T PULL THE WOOL OVER MY EYES, FUCKER!!!

Number SIX:

Hey. HEY. Why do we first meet Zote inside the kingdom (Greenpath) and then he immediately goes up to Dirtmouth before going back down? Why don't we just meet him in Dirtmouth like we do Tiso? Why does he go straight up to Dirtmouth after our first encounter with him, only to go back down again?

Why does he already start in the kingdom and make his way out first. What's up with that.

Why doesn't Elderbug mention that he saw a guy pass him by to go down the well, likely before Ghost even showed up? With how Elderbug talks, it seems like no one has been through Dirtmouth in a LONG time. And if Zote got in through the well, he clearly didn't get very far if he only ended up in Greenpath. So he couldn't have been in there very long.

Surely Elderbug would've seen him walk by and go down... if Zote walked by him at all.

Elderbug will mention Literally Every Other Bug that comes through Dirtmouth EXCEPT for Zote. and tiso. but ignore Tiso, because we first meet Tiso before his descent into the kingdom. He talks about Cornifer and Iselda, he talks about Sly, he talks about Bretta, he talks about Jiji. If you banish the troupe, he talks about Nymm being around.

Why doesn't he mention Zote? what's different about that Zote guy. Did he never pass by Elderbug to go into the well at all? Was his first time in Dirtmouth the first time we saw him there? After he ascended out of the kingdom?

Sure, we meet Quirrel in the kingdom, too. And Hornet. But they never go back UP to Dirtmouth, and certainly don't do so after your first encounter with them.

Bretta and Sly are originally FROM Dirtmouth. And they don't go back down after you save them. So them coming back up after being infected makes perfect sense.

The only other exception is Cloth, if you manage to save her. But she only comes up after she's unable to complete her mission, and there's nothing left for her down there.

So why............................does Zote come out of the well first? Why is that the first thing we see him do after Greenpath?

Unless he's.... FROM down there. And he made his way... UP.

...before going right back down, because this town SUCKS and I want to battle in the coliseum. To fulfill the promise of glory to myself. Or whatever.

Number SEVEN:

Speaking of the town Sucking to him: "This dreary place... it reminds me of home. How ghastly..."

Dreary? GHASTLY? Like. LIKE DEEPN-----

Number EIGHT:

(said in Deepnest) "Hmm? Are you lost in these dark tunnels? I don't care. No, I won't lead you out. I know the way, due to my powerful memory, but I only travel alone. Begone."

Due to "powerful memory"? You've got powerful memory of these dark tunnels that, surely, you shouldn't be able to see shit in? Because, surely, you're not from here or anything, right?

Oh but that's WEIRD, right? Because after you get him out of that web, he DOES manage to escape Deepnest. Hmm. How WEIRD, right? For someone so very weak? For someone who CERTAINTLY shouldn't be able to see down there?

It's almost like he. DOES know these tunnels.......

-

OK, I'm done.

This is pretty much all I have for genuinely arguing for Zote being a nosk.

Is it not much? Yep. Not much at all. But more evidence than there is for him being a vessel, at any rate.

Is it also heavily due to my brain connecting dots that do not exist and seeming more and more insane as I go? Literally stretching at seams that aren't real as I go off into a rabbithole I dug with my own shovel? Yes.

But i'm. HAVING. FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok yes that's all. Go read the fanfiction I wrote about all this. I said my piece. goodby

[yujachachacha]

Glad you're feeling better! Though I have to say now I'm super nervous about Rikako. Is it something bad? or just sad?

Ahaha, this is what happens when I have a sudden meltdown over seiyuu feels…

To Anon #1: Thanks! About the Rikyako thing, I guess I kinda overreacted because it took me by surprise (though again, in hindsight I shouldn’t have been all that shocked). As to the nature of it…uh, both? Well, it’s bad to me because it’s something sad, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing itself.

To Anon #2: Hello there! You’re right, I was planning to mention it in a future post. Since your ask was worded so politely though, I’ll actually just go over this part of the video now! And holy crap, you’re like the second person or something who’s told me that about my posts. Thank you! I’ll keep trying my best. :’)

Context for those who missed my spaghetti last night - I was watching a video about Rikyako’s past in the entertainment industry that was kindly submitted to me by @rikakomod. The video was made by a Korean fan who wanted to inform others about how Rikyako debuted long before her role in “Love Live! Sunshine!!”. I then stumbled across a fact that led to me figuring out a possibly sad detail about Rikyako, and I promptly went “NOPE goodbye not gonna deal with these feels, why am I like this???”

Back on track. The video goes over how Rikyako used to do modeling as a child, and was even in an idol group when she was in middle school. I already knew about that. What I didn’t know was that for a brief period in 2007, Rikyako and her mother performed as a comedic duo. Here’s a picture from the video, which appears to show a 14~15-year-old Rikyako with her mother(!!!):

As cute as this image this, that’s not why I freaked out.

It’s the name of their comedic act that held the surprise - a rather sad implication about Rikyako’s personal life. From what I deduced from that fact plus other details I knew about Rikyako, I would hazard to say that the above picture is the entire Aida household.

In other words: I suspect that Rikyako was raised by a single mother.

Explanation under the cut.

So in the video, the OP said that their act was called “모자가정” - which to my eyes, means “Hat Household”. Huh? What the heck kind of name is that?

Then I smacked my forehead and said, “Duh, I should be looking at what 모자 means in hanja (Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters), not Korean, since the OP must’ve translated it straight from Japanese.”

A bit of Googling led me to the conclusion that it stood for 母子, which means “mother-child”. I thought, “Oh okay, they’re a mother-and-daughter duo, so I guess that makes sense. ‘Mother-child household’ is kind of a weird name, but whatever worked for them.”

But then I got curious and decided to look up what the full unit name would be in Japanese. I ended up with 母子家庭 (boshi katei), plugged it into a Japanese dictionary, and came up with this:

…excuse me, what?!

Cue Yujacha going through the 5 Stages of Grief:

Denial: “Haha, I must have just translated this wrong…there’s no way that’s right…even though I’ve checked about three different sources…”

Anger: “Actually, why the heck would you name your comedy duo something like this?! It’s not funny! Being a single mom is not a joke!”

Bargaining: “Maybe it’s just them casually claiming that they’re the real breadwinners of the family? Though, Rikyako did also say in her KaneTomo interview that her mom got married at 19 and gave birth to Rikyako at 20. Oh, but she never said anything about not having a dad! …though she didn’t say anything about having a dad either. And being a young single mom is stressful, which would also explain those vicious fights Rikyako mentioned in the interview as well. Oh my god.”

Depression: “Just recently on UraRaji, Anchan was talking about how her dad was so proud of her that he bought her a new game console. And to think, Anchan was planning on quitting seiyuu work if she didn’t pass the LL audition. I wonder if Rikyako’s dad would’ve been proud of her too, after all those failed idol groups she went through…”

Acceptance: “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time people used tragedy for comedic purposes. Plus, everything I knew about Rikyako before this doesn’t seem to contradict this theory.“

I don’t have anything that explicitly confirms that Rikyako doesn’t have a father. But at the very least, the evidence does seem to indicate that she grew up in a single parent household.

I guess…it just made me feel for her. The entertainment industry is pretty rough in general, but Love Live has a particular knack for picking up cast members who’ve gone through a lot of hardship.

Kussun worked at a maid café. Suwawa, at one point, was a part-timer at a fast food restaurant.

Furirin debuted as a seiyuu in 2014, long before the Sunshine project was announced, but never found any work. Ainya also moved to Tokyo in 2014, and couldn’t find any major jobs for a year either.

Emitsun used to sit in a Starbucks and worry about not finding work as well.

King was able to advance from being an utaite (amateur singer on Niconico; the JP equivalent of YouTube singers) to a professional signed with Victor Entertainment - but her major single had poor sales and she never made it big.

And who could forget Pile? She’s a beautifully talented artist, but she failed to debut not just once, but twice. Without Maki, she would’ve given up her dream to be a singer. Now, instead of being stuck in a white-collar job, Pile has fans around the world who flock to her concerts.

Which leads us to Rikyako. If it’s true that she really did grow up without a dad, that could explain why she’s dabbled in acting, idol activities, and modeling since 2003. Perhaps Rikyako had to help out with bringing money into the household from a young age. Though, it couldn’t have been easy, as she went through multiple talent agencies before ending up at Ken Production.

That’s part of what makes me admire the Love Live seiyuu so much - despite their failures, they pushed on and eventually found something that brought so much joy to their lives, and to millions of fans as well. It’s all thanks to the hard work these girls put in that they’ve come this far and finally found success. But I do also think back to how the tagline for “Love Live! Sunshine!!” when it debuted was “Save us, Love Live!”. For people like Pile, Emitsun, Rikyako, and many, many, others, that’s exactly what this awe-inspiring franchise has done.