#its all just so deeply tragic

[thatone-highlighter]

Streatney+, you agree

I agree so so so so so much

[pizzazzgf]

the idea of rio and agatha having a messy, early on breakup that doesn’t have to do with later actual tragic events appeals so much to me. like the idea of agatha knowing that rio is a cosmic, powerful, terrifying entity and still stomping on her heart on purpose. and it just makes rio more attracted to her because she has never had something slip away from her grasp before

[blipblepbloop]

the way im seeing so much hate for agatha all along's finale like....you guys just didn't get it like i did omg. i have a couple things i wouldve done differently (i really expected agatha to be dead dead at the end and get to go see nicky, but upon actually thinking about it i like this better because her story most definitely isn't finished yet and i don't think it was ever supposed to be within this show (plus we're not burying our gays!!! yay!!)) but overall i liked it. i also feel like apparently i was the only one who never thought we would get a happy agatha and rio ending? it always felt like their story was leaning more towards them having to learn to let go of each other. idk i just don't think it was bad enough to warrant the amount of hate im seeing

[noctlas332]

day three,,,, i would have had liked to work a bit more on this but alas, that did not happen,,

[saxonilla]

slight spoiler for sans route in @ut-acttoflirt

*you probably have you’re reasoning to what you do.

[skitskatdacat63]

catie hello :))) roman empire seb nando au?? saw the sketch you made during suzuka & would love to hear your thoughts!! <3

Aaaah Claire hello!!!! I think you're talking about this one, right?

I joked in the tags "Hadrian and Antonius who?????"so I guess that would be the basis??? Seb is a favorite lover of Fernando's and when he dies, Fernando deifies him 😥

This Seb is obv from a different au, but this would be how I'd vizualize them:

[bardengarde]

Nooooo Bard, don't develop an attachment to Mike Farrells one-off Bonanza character and try to go on a deep dive into his military service to figure out what the hell happened to him to try that caused him to be the way he was in the one (1) episode he was in, ur so sexy aha

[little-candy-store-of-horrors]

if you have time/inclination can you draw juana i please its necessary for my health. and her shitty husband too if you're feeling it

"jUanA pLEaSe" pHiLiP PLeASe shut the hell up

bonus:

[swingstep]

Please drop mrd theatre au lore????

OH HOO BOY so. genuinely did not remember i never explained that au huh ksjdngd its been a hot minute since ive messed with that one, but lets see what i can dig up for it. as a disclaimer, its kind of an... abstract au, very rough around the edges as well. dont expect it to be anything too concrete WAHAHA

anyhow. tldr:   the mrd theatre au is exactly what it sounds like: the plot of the game described entirely through the lens of a theater production! alternately referred to as the dance au, because... its a musical! major events are described through dance, each piece pushing the story forward with the power of music and expression. literally-- the story won’t move on without it. starring mad rat as the lead role, rat god as the director, and heart as... That One Guy, Sure!

    the abstraction kicks in in its presentation though-- it's told through the framing of a stage-- however, the story itself is Real to the characters. their world is real, and as characters, they see it as such. to everyone else, it's exactly as its namesake: a play. the term "actor" and "character" go hand in hand, practically synonyms. actors are the characters. the narrative is their world. all in all: the theatre au is an inspection of the meaning of Reality and Perception, the meaning of what it is to be a Character or a Person, and a play on Stories and Roles. more under the cut.

---------------

  As it does in canon, the narrative starts with Mad Rat waking up, and Rat God telling him his situation. Y'know, he died, she's giving him a second chance, etc etc. However, she Specifically tells him that he is, in fact, a character in a play and, as someone outside of the narrative, she knows what to do and what paths to follow. As long as he followed her, he'd be able to make it to the end of his story a-ok, and finally get the ending he deserved!

  In the beginning, Rat God starts out with a whole musical number as she narrates the scene (to both the audience and Mad Rat) to catch him up to speed on where he is, who she is, and why he died. As she finishes, hands off the (metaphorical) mic to Mad Rat to get a word in for his debut scene. Unfortunately, Mad Rat, having just recovered from a terminal case of Being Dead, Does Not In Fact Have The Nicest Voice. Seeing this, Rat God quickly interrupts and redirects to another option: Dance. Which is where a major quirk comes in: every character has a specialized dance style!

  Rat gods style is tap/swing, which is what the intro scene Truly is! It's Rat God introducing Mad Rat to the concept of The Show in a duet swing performance. Specifically, in this performance, Rat God takes the lead role in this one for several reasons: 1) She's Extra and Likes Showmanship. 2) She's ensuring Mad Rat goes in the direction he's supposed to-- making sure he's following along. And 3) She's effectively re-teaching Mad Rat how to move after. Y'know. Being Dead. Swing is a heavily motion-focused and improvisational dance: Mad Rat Does Not Know How To Dance. However, Rat God is good enough at it that she can take the lead and turn his stumbles and missteps into motion and flair. It's essentially the tutorial stage!

  The narrative is pretty much the same through the first third of the game, more or less. Mad Rat meets Heart, who doesn't really Dance but rather just cheers him on, and they begin "travelling" together, with periodical "intermissions" where Rat God, off to the side of the stage presents recaps, narration, and questions-- but it's never clear if it's to the audience or Mad Rat. Maybe both. What's really important is the Framing, though. Mad Rat (kind of) acknowledges he is just a Character, but doesn't really Understand it. 

  Despite the knowledge, he still functions through the frame of a Character. He perceives the stage as The World Around Him rather than A Stage, while Rat God is the opposite. This leads to Mad Rat essentially just Following Her Lead. Which ends up just seeming... brazenly reckless and incredibly dangerous-- because Mad Rat doesn't think it will lead to anything. Obviously he's the main character, so he's probably going to just... get to his goal and whatever happens happens, right? Rat God said which way the story goes so... whatever, right?

  Which all culminates at Heart's intervention: Heart notices all of this and gets worried. Whatever this Mess about "shows" and "story" and "directors" is, Mad Rat is still being really really flippant about how many Near Death Experiences he's had (not to mention the whole "Seeing Things That Heart Doesn't" thing.) So he decides to step in.

  This is the first time we ever see Heart dance! He'd always insisted on being moral support/backup for Mad Rat, not really stepping in in any major way. Turns out, he's really good at a lot of dance styles. It's the first time we have a music genre outside of showtunes and the adjacent. It's heart basically trying to tell him that, whatever bullshit about "Narratives" he's following, Mad Rat is still Here. He's still a contributor to the world around him-- he can affect It, and it can affect him. It doesn't matter what he knows about Whatever This Is because it all wont matter if he gets himself into Real Trouble. Which is a convenient segue to the next arc-- they go off-script.

  The following arcs are pretty much just those two figuring out what to do and where they’re going. Mad Rat, up to this point, was just (kind of badly) trying to imitate the swing style from the beginning, but slowly starts figuring out his own specialty on his own. Mad Rat kind of dabbles through a lot, but is Particularly good at breakdance/krump. It’s a bit of a slow process, but he slowly forges his own place in a world he technically does not belong in. 

  All the while, Rat God is suspiciously quiet. They weren’t supposed to go that way, or do any of that, But she could improvise. She passively tried to mess with them from offstage-- changing the background scenery, tossing obstacles after them-- but they just. Kept going. Mad Rat even began Understanding the nature of The Stage and learning how to use that to his advantage, predicting the way things would move or shift, and using that knowledge to move even faster. It was only after Mimolette’s scene (which was Not supposed to be this early in the script, to Rat God’s chagrin,) that she Really started to get particularly miffed. They’d completely gone off-script, avoided Everything she sent after them-- but there was still an ending that needed to be told, and she was going to tell it no matter how messy it was to get there. Which leads to an intervention of her own.

  As the director, she had direct control over a lot of things-- but she herself could never interact with the Narrative. She had no real Hold, as it were. She was barely a concept to the characters in the narrative-- they could not really perceive her. So, she decided to break that rule-- and interact with them directly. Rat God’s scene is incredibly similar to that in canon: Incredibly Chaotic and Hard To Track. She mostly keeps to swing, as that’s her specialty, but regularly switches it up to try and throw Mad Rat off. But things are different than their first dance.

  Mad Rat has a grasp on himself and his goals. Rat God’s plan is already off its rhythm-- it was clear from the start that this was a last-ditch effort on her part to kill him. Despite her still trying to take control, Mad Rat was nothing if not stubborn. He was just as good at deflecting and navigating the scene as she was. But it’s hard to truly get rid of something like Rat God. She isn’t done until the Story was done. There was still a story to be told, so here she stayed. She could keep going as long as he could, and longer. So knowing what he did now, and understanding the circumstance, he did the only think of. The two had, to some extent, switched places: Rat God taking the stance of a Character/Participant in the scene, and Mad Rat seeing the full scope of The Stage and how it worked. The show was still going, so all he had to do was end it. 

  Tricking her into a monologue, he truly exits the frame of the narrative for the first time, grabbing one of the curtain ropes and letting it free, closing the curtains on the stage-- with Rat God behind them. And... silence. In the end, it was just the closed curtains, the audience, and Mad Rat and Heart in front of them. They saw the audience, truly, for the first time-- that larger force constantly watching over him from beyond his view, pushing the show forward not of their own actions, but of their presence alone. This is who it was all for. And seeing this, Mad Rat makes the decision... to ignore them. 

  They weren’t important anymore. The show was over-- the audience had no more use here. No more power here. They meant nothing to him. Nothing to them. He has one last talk with Heart-- they knew they weren’t alone, not truly-- but all that mattered right then was just the two of them. What they’d seen, what they’d been through-- it all had to come to an end eventually. But not by the hand of someone who had no stake in their story-- in their lives. Mad Rat gets to make his own choice about his future: And with no story left to tell... he gets up, and walks off the stage. 

   The Story Is Over.

[gmos]

dont worry about me this always happens when i get medicated i become able to feel emotions all the way again and realize the extent of my isolation and how deep my desire to make friends runs

[entering--hyperspace]

Thinking about how Leo has like literally all his life had to play the cards he was dealt. He only starts rising through the ranks due to a chance encounter with Rytlock who saw something interesting enough in him to take notice and start favoring him directly. He only joins the pact because Bangar placed him there for the ulterior motive of having a Tribune who wasn't a loose canon in a growing order, receiving their intel whole keeping an eye on them. He is Chosen by Aurene to be her champion, he is given a more prominent position as a reliable person because the commander faked her death and they looked to him to fill in the void even if he didn't want to, he was the obvious second choice. When I start thinking about how quieter moments It becomes more obvious why hes so uncertain, hesitant, or defensive about things in regards to stuff like raising Aurene, being in a relationship, or otherwise existing outside of the context he was put in. Sieran's death fucked him up severely Because he was given/made the choice to join the priory, he took that path all on his own and it ended with someone so new to life and the world dying.

He's such a cog in the war machine that can't stop turning and doesn't know how to do anything but turn but daydreams about a fantasy where he has a normal life and hopes desperately if he tries hard enough and if he plays these cards well enough he can force the wheel to turn the way he wants it to. It's quite literally the only option that exists in his mind, but it also kinda explains why he clings so hard for his love of necromancy and spirit communication because those are the other smaller parts of his life he chose for himself and actively does for the enjoyment of it.

[thebleedingeffect]

i support rewriting hyrule warriors a whole lot!! cia's main goal being for a man makes me upset tbh. she couldve been unhinged and liked link on the side!!! not it being her entire personality!!!! agh!!!!

This ask was like a code that activated the sleeper agent in my brain and now I need to pause absolutely everything and talk about Cia because I fucking adore her so damn much. I 100% agree btw that liking link shouldn't have been her entire personality BUT I do think that her infatuation with link could've illuminated more deeper, darker parts of her born from abandonment, desperation, and pure, unfiltered anger towards the fates and goddesses. In my mind, I've always believed that so much of Cia's pain, resentment, and destructive nature was actually born from intense isolation, abandonment, and pure loneliness. Cia was the guardian of time and overseer of the triforce, and personally, I like to believe that she was the one watching over the triforce inbetween incarnations.

But here's the thing, she was always completely alone in this monumental task that was hers and hers alone to bare. There was no one for her to talk to, to share this burden with, or even simply breathe the same air as her. She was completely and utterly alone. Not only that, but she was robbed of any sort of autonomy and life that she might've had in this fate that was destined for her to endure for all time. Personally, I really like to imagine that Hylia was the one who chose her for this role, which is a whole other layer of pain that makes Cia's character all the more raw. I also really like to think that once, perhaps Cia DID have that loyalty and adoration for all of the goddesses, but it was the loss of that love that made her hatred so vicious.

My idea of Cia is one who was abandoned by the golden goddesses from the beginning and only ever had Hylia by her side, at least at the beginning. Cia is ruled by her need for companionship, for someone to care, protect, and make her a priority, her rightful anger at the world for being abandoned with so much responsibility, and want for something more. Consider the fact that Hylia had chosen her, only to abandon her and rip out a part of herself to wander the world that she could never touch. Imagine how Cia would feel if she could do nothing but watch as a mere shadow of Hylia, the goddess that promised her she's stay, walked the earth and was loved. Loved by her people, her kingdom, the land itself- her knight.

Cia is made up of so many intricacies' and fear and desperation- but more than anything, I truly do think her obsession with the heroes spirit exposes a far deeper, even human part of her. Now, I do not think Cia was immediately all over any of the link's at the beginning, instead, I think Cia saw a shadow of herself in the heroes spirit and that was the first thing that drew her to them. To Cia, all of the heroes share the same infallible certainty of doomed fate as her and for that? She felt a kinship with them before obsession even dawned over her. All of their hardships was expected to be suffered silently, without question, and without the slightest whisper of complaint. She saw how utterly alone they were in their travels. She saw how alone she was in her fate. Before her is a twisted mirror, a mirror where she sees nothing but her own trapped, suffering reflection, a reflection that she so wishes to free.

As I said earlier, Cia is made up of contradictions and assumptions built in her mind from decades upon decades of isolation and desperation. What lengths of companionship, of understanding, of a kind hand... when you've been alone for so long? At first, I think Cia is more depressed than anything, at least until she starts to realize just how unfair- how cruel- her fate is. How dare Hylia make such a promise to her, only to leave her behind? How dare the world demand so much of her and not even give her the slightest glance or acknowledgement? How dare the world demand her everlasting forgiveness and gaze when it cannot even afford to gift her a kind hand? It's from this that Cia's anger is born and that if the world will not give her what she so desperately wants, she'll simply take it for herself.

What if she had a body for herself. What if the land underneath her feet was hers. What if she was no longer a quiet, powerless thing. What if... she could find someone who understood her. What if she was able to find someone who could share her pain. What if she could have everything she ever wanted and more. Maybe if she did that, it would heal those countless years of loneliness.

And going back to the heroes spirit for a moment- or the links- I think the reason her whole obsession with link starts is because he loves and protects so fiercely. They're dedicated enough to fight back against the darkness of the cycle each and every time and emerge victorious. The hero is the one who sacrifices everything, who bleeds, who fights. The hero is ruled by duty, love, and loyalty. In a way, link represents everything that she ever wanted and wanted to be, and it's once her depression, fury, and the want for more start to merge- that's when her obsession starts to manifest.

I truly do agree btw that Cia SHOULD'VE been more than just her obsession for link!! She has so much damn potential and I think that her thing for link should've been just one of many threads holding her fucked up mentality together! She had the potential to be such a tragic, fucked up villain of the fucking AGES !!!! I wish she got so much worse and dragged the world down into fucking ashes before the goddesses. I wish she was nasty towards zelda and had a whole thing with her because she couldn't look at her and not see the goddess who abandoned her for infinity. I wish she looked upon hyrule and saw a land not even worthy to exist, and if it had to? Then it had to be hers. I wish she truly dragged link through the coals. I wish we had a Cia who wanted the world to suffer because she had intertwined herself with her own pain and need for vengeance that it there was no turning back for her. I wish we saw more of the kind of Cia who was willing to do anything to win.

Can you tell that I love her. Cause I love her a lot.

[wherethegravelsthin]

I’ve been seeing at least a handful of my mutuals reblogging stuff from the latest hunger games property and reblogging old gif sets from when the first movie had come out and like, after going back and trying to watch the first movie after rereading the trilogy last year, I HAD to turn it off somewhere around the train-ride-to-the-Capitol scene bc between the careless, sloppy camera work and the refusal to shell out the budget for two younger actors and actresses to play our main characters as being eleven years old when they’re already being played by the comically adult looking Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutchinson like, in any scene at the reaping just looking at the disparity between the actual children they’ve cast to be extras and then there’s Jlaw standing around looking like she’s in her mid twenties…

Basically I saw the first hunger games movie as a blatant cash grab, a sloppily made blatant cash grab at that, the shitty camera work drives the “let’s cash in on this new hot property” message home clear enough. And we all know how completely and utterly the media frenzy around the franchise amplified all the worst most non important bits (think of all the Capitol Couture nail polish & beauty lines and the focus on the love triangle), like I know they got rid of shaky cam in the sequels but I haven’t bothered to rewatch them because, like, if I had to turn off the first movie bc it was Making Me Cringe Dutch, I am not feeling like, overwhelmingly enthusiastic about checking out to see if the other films are just as bad (as I remember them being cough).

So that brings us to the prequel I haven’t read and the prequel movie I haven’t seen. I hope I’m not sounding like a snob when I say this, but surely the idea of an author returning to a franchise they’ve made a fortune off of to create some ~hidden backstory~ that makes the events of the original trilogy just ~soooo much deeper you guise~ is… yknow… backfill to a foregone conclusion. Right? Idk lol

[plaguedocboi]

We all love the beach, right? I sure do. Where the sea meets the land is a magical place. It is the overlap of two very different worlds; our sunny, sandy, beautiful home and the alien waves that beckon you into the inhospitable wilderness of the ocean. When crossing that foam-fringed boundary, one must remember that you are no longer in your world. You are entering the sea, and the sea is vast and dark and dangerous. It is more untamed than the wildest jungle and full of creatures that can kill you in a hundred different gruesome ways. Every wave whispers to you that you do not belong here, you may only visit for a brief time if you want to leave with your life. Hold tight to the warm sunlit sand that fringes the barrier of this place, or you may never see it again. Welcome to the beach. Enter at your own risk.

1. Tamarama beach, Australia

This is know as both the smallest and the most dangerous beach in NSW. There is a permanent rip current that runs along the rocky northern shore, but at any given time there could be more hidden in the surf. Large waves break just a little ways offshore, posing a hazard to swimmers but an attraction for surfers. Although there are rarely deaths here, lifeguards have to rescue multiple people a day. Interestingly, this beach is only around sometimes! Occasionally all the sand will wash away and all that’s left is a rocky outcrop. There’s no way to be certain when the beach will come back or how big it will be or what it might look like. I guess it never gets boring to visit.

2. Isle of Ré, France

This island is not the only place you can go to see square waves, but it is one of the places most famous for this strange phenomenon. This is called a cross sea, and occurs when two opposing wave patterns intersect. Although this is certainly a tourist attraction, it is best to observe from a distance, as cross seas can be very dangerous to both ships and swimmers. Cross seas can cause powerful rip currents and walls of water up to 10 feet high, rolling ships and dragging people underwater. (As a side note, my mother thought I had made up cross seas as a freaky supernatural event in my book. Unfortunately, I did not.)

3. Dumas Beach, India

This is supposedly one of the most haunted places in India. Although this beach is full of tourists during the daytime, no one remains after dark, for fear that they will become the next ghost to wander the sand. Apparently, this beach was once used as a burial ground, and said to be black due to the human ashes mixed in. At night, people report hearing voices and seeing apparitions, and even dogs behave strangely once the sun goes down. There have also been multiple unexplained disappearances and at least one recorded death. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there definitely seems to be something eerie happening on this beach.

4. Morecambe Bay, UK

This is an interesting one, as it’s not technically the water that’s dangerous. The ground is. This estuary features extreme tides, with the water level dropping and rising up to 32 feet twice a day. This exposes an expanse of mud flats and channels which are composed of loose, wet material that can absolutely suck you in and trap you. If this happens when the tide is coming in, it can quickly turn deadly. This has happened many times going back through history, including one incident in 2004 where 23 people died. Yes, all at the same time. No, I don’t want to delve into that incident too deeply in this list as it’s extremely horrifying and tragic. Feel free to research it yourself.

5. Monastery Beach, Oregon

This has earned its nickname “mortuary beach” by being extremely dangerous. Over 30 people have died here, including people who weren’t even in the water. In 2015, a woman walking along the beach was dragged in by a wave and drowned. The beach has multiple factors that make it so deadly, including a steep drop off, unpredictable waves, and strong undertows. This beach isn’t even safe to walk on. I um. Don’t like that.

6. Hanakapiai Beach, Hawaii

Despite its beauty, this Hawaiian beach is not recommended for swimming except for expert surfers. During the summer, this beach is a popular place for hiking, sunbathing and sightseeing, but during the winter the sand is washed away and the waves crash against the cliffs directly. Even in the relatively safe summer months, this beach has no barrier reef to break up the strong waves and powerful currents, which leads to a dangerous situation where swimmers can quickly be swept out into the open ocean and drown. At least 30 people have died here, and 15 of the bodies have never been recovered.

7. Lake Michigan. Just, all of it.

Despite all the Great Lakes being somewhat terrifying, Michigan takes the title of the most dangerous lake in the country. Yearly, Lake Michigan has more drownings than all four other Great Lakes combined. The reason that Michigan is especially hazardous is that, well, it’s kind of weirdly shaped. Thanks to its 300+ miles of uninterrupted parallel shorelines running north-south, it forms huge waves and strong riptides and long shore currents. It is also a question of numbers; Lake Michigan has more public beaches and large population centers than the other Great Lakes. All in all, a recipe for disaster.

8. Playa Zipolite, Mexico

This is also called the “beach of the dead”, so it’s inclusion on this list seems pretty self-explanatory. These waters have strong undercurrents that rotate in a circular pattern, either pushing you into shore or pulling you out to sea. There is a pervasive rumor that 50 people drown at this beach a year, although this is… somewhat exaggerated. In fact, very few people drown at this beach these days, as it has actually gotten less dangerous over the years. There used to be a steep drop-off that would catch people by surprise, but due to several severe storms in the early 2000s, the beach has eroded back and now gently slopes down instead. Although very few people die at this beach nowadays, multiple rescues are performed every day due to the dangerous currents.

9. Cyclops, Australia

This is a particular type of wave that forms off the coast of Esperance, Australia, as the sea floor rapidly goes from deep, open water to a very very shallow reef. It is… unsettling. The longer I look at it, the weirder it gets. It’s like an ai generated image. I couldn’t even pick one picture of it so I made you a collage.

It is considered one of the most dangerous surf spots in the world, and can only be accessed by boat. To quote pacific surf dot com, “the reason the wave is dangerous is because it does not act like any other wave in the world. It engulfs itself due to the massive change in the ocean floor when the wave rolls up.”

10. Nazare, Portugal

This area of Portugal is home to some of the biggest waves in the world. Just offshore is an underwater canyon, plunging down to 16,000 ft deep. This allows large, fast deep-water waves to move into shore unimpeded, and when they hit the shallows close to shore all the water gets suddenly pushed up, resulting in waves up to 80 ft tall. I think the picture speaks for itself in this case. Probably best to not get in the water if you see that shit.

That was fun, wasn’t it? Before I go, let me end this on a different note than the rest of my lists; some actual advice for if you should you ever decide to visit these beaches (or any beach, really). Rip currents are incredibly strong (believe me, I know) but very narrow currents that run perpendicular to shore. To get out of a rip current, swim parallel to shore. Trying to fight the current will just tire you out and eventually leave you exhausted and way the fuck out in the ocean, which is typically when you die. Swimming parallel to shore will get you out of the current, and once you’re free you can swim back in at your leisure. And, just in general, never fight the sea. The sea will win.

[floorpancakes]

it was a cruel twist of fate that everything i actually wanted and all my personal growth flashed before my eyes as soon as i ended up in the biggest mental and physical crisis of my life that has slowly eaten away at my will to live and aged me like crazy but at least it gives me (this is a metaphor and not literal***) watanuki kinnie points

[broiamjustalilguy]

TLDR: Gortash should have had an optional redemption route exclusive to a Durge run

i've only seen a few people talk about it, and it really is extremely sad to me that Gortash has no redemption path. he really is the bad ending version of all the other characters' cycle-of-abuse backstories. SO many bg3 characters can be saved from that, and a huge point of the game is how you can be more than what your abusers tried to make you be, and that doesn't happen for Gortash. no matter what decisions you make he has a bad ending, suffering eternally at the hand of his own god.

it's just so odd to me the way that was handled: ESPECIALLY in a durge run. i understand being unable to redeem him in a normal Tav route; he doesn't know you, why would you be able to give the help and support he needs. but in a Durge run, you two were clearly *so close* to the extent that when you arrive, he shows genuine joy at your arrival, calls you his "nearest and dearest" and has MANY other lines showing that he deeply trusted and respected you pre memory-loss.

they also give you as the player proof that durge felt *the same way* about him with things like the prayer of forgiveness letter they wrote about him: "Forgive me Father, for i can't help but admire the Chosen of your sworn foe..."

Gortash meant so much to durge that they were genuinely having a religious crisis over caring about someone and something that wasn't their Holy Father and his plan for you to kill everyone and end the world.

he cared about Durge when they were fully under their Father's control. he cared about Durge when they come back as an amnesiac. he keeps caring, even if you choose to reject your Father. he tells you you'll never be a servant, that he views you as his sole equal, that now that you have returned to him he wishes you two to rule together as one. and if you reject him or side with him, his fate is the same, and you barely acknowledge when he dies. it just seems so counter to the rest of the game and its messages. i know a lot of content was cut and changed in act 3 and that a lot of people, myself included, felt like the end of the game fell flat compared to the earlier parts, and Gortash's utilization is one of the biggest examples of that.

(sorry this is a bit of a mess lol i have strong feelings about this and his story is such a tragic waste)