#jc-martin-og

[captainmera]

Hey Mera, I hope you are doing fine. I'd just like to start by thanking you for being such a passionate and inspiring person. As someone who is going through a very complicated stage of his life and coping with the stresses of university, for years I've had the dream of becoming a writer and artist who can share his stories with the rest of the world, but constantly struggling with the desire to give up. However, it is thanks to people like you that I can find the strength to keep going and have faith that it is a dream it can be achieved. I am truly grateful to have come across your work and person. Your art, your writing, and fanart overall are a source of huge inspiration to many of us who sometimes feel helpless, and we look forward to supporting you in whatever you want to share with the world. I hope this message finds you well and that the future will be kind to you 😊

People really underestimate how much courage it takes to actually persevere through your self-doubt, anxiety, hopelessness, life stressors and circumstances.. All that jazz, just to tell a story! But it's NOT just a story. it's YOUR voice. Your DREAM. That's why it's so important you don't give up on it!

Whatever you're going through, don't let the weight of it all make you think you aren't doing good enough to "do it".

You don't have to get somewhere fast to achieve it. You're not in a hurry anywhere.

Write your stories. Draw your art. Dreams doesn't have an expiration date. And they're supposed to ignite you, not suffocate you. Let it take the time it needs.

I know that's frustrating. But good things grow from not rushing. You trip less, too! If you walk at your own pace.

Hang in there. In due time, it will all make sense. It will all come together. Just don't give up. Have courage. And most of all, have fun with it. As best as you can.

You know, I didn't think I was good enough. That maybe I'd just embarrass myself, or something. I thought I had to be ahead of myself before I could begin - that there was this secret knowledge/skill I needed to unlock before I could share it with anyone, before I could "do it". I thought I had to be better all the time. But none of that was real. Turns out all I had to do, this whole time, is have fun with it! Be cringe, be corny. I can use the tropes I like, archetypes I like, make errors and the world doesn't end - I can do what I want!

Who cares? Actually, some do. But now I can laugh at them. They don't know what I know - the secret!

You can let your dream free you and give you the courage to have fun doing what you enjoy.

Have courage, skullboy! And don't give up. Your stories, your art, they're important!

And, I hope, you will sit there with your coffee writing and drawing - and feel it in your heart of hearts, that finally, you are "doing it".

And thank you, too. :)

[henrysglock]

but then, if Henry isn't vecna, then when does the switch happen to Edward ?? And whose time are we in, Edward or Henry?? Or are they both parallel to each other, intersecting cause of him?? Or are there 2 vecnas, one being Richard Brenner and the other Edward creel?? What if Edward creel is Richard Brenner ?? Why are there so many variations of the upside down?? Cause the tunnels were different from the og will going missing ud, which were both different from s4 ud?? what if there are 3 variations instead?? Is each variation related to the ud??

Therein lies the question, huh. Where the hell is Henry?

I can say pretty concretely that we've been swapping between viewing Henry and Edward during NINA. I'd bet that at least the plinko scene and the chess scene are Henry scenes, but that's as far as I've gotten at this point so do with it what you will. The timelines seem to run in parallel, but personally I think certain events were crossover/contact points of some kind (i.e. 1959, 1979, 1983, etc). NINA is especially fucky because we never see that part of the lab outside of NINA, so we can't exactly say what, when, or where it is. We can't even say without a doubt that it physically exists, especially given how oddly time and space move in NINA. The whole thing is extremely bizarre and difficult to track (Trust me. It's a mindfuck).

I'd give an estimation of 75% certainty that the massacre sequence is entirely Edward based on handedness. I can say for sure that one of them became Vecna and another became the Mindflayer. We can track one particular Scorched Edward to the Mindflayer shaping event, so that one is definitely responsible for ST2 and ST3. Vecward is ST4 at least. ST1 remains a weird outlier that I'm not certain on yet.

As for Brenner...god, it's hard to say. Based on the Vecna transformation from 4.07, where he looks just like Brenner, and the "it wasn't supposed to end like this" line...I'd say there's a chance that he's Richard, Vecna, and the Mindflayer. I'm staring at Nick 8flix saying that Brenner was "part demogorgon" and wondering what, exactly, he meant by that...And if he was right about that, then he may very well have been right about Will recognizing Brenner in the desert. The whole thing is super messy and I'm not able to give too much concrete evidence about it.

However. If I was to speculate...

Jumpsuit JC is our main Vecna. JD is the Mindflayer guy.

JA and JE are still unaccounted for.

JA is the gauntest Henward (compared here to JC), which has me staring at the weird thickness swap for Vecna's face.

It also has me staring at the difference in Vecna's speech pacing/syllable emphasis/use of contractions/etc.

i.e. "Max" vs "Maxine", which never swap within a continuous sequence:

If Max and Maxine are going to swap, they're always split up by cuts to other storylines. This is true in both 4.09 and 4.04.

JE doesn't show up again after that one weird mirror shot, so I have no idea what happened to him in the end. Where did you go, JE??

He doesn't show up anywhere else in the rest of the massacre sequence, which means he was stuck in there to deliver a specific clue. They wouldn't put a whole new jumpsuit in for one singular sequence unless it was meant to convey something.

Something about this one has me chewing cement. Because Martin is Martin, Owens calls him by name multiple times. He has a specific hair part, which is not the Season 1 hair part:

But the Season 1 left side part does show up here...

the beginning of which happens drectly after Vecna kills Patrick. It's a direct cut from Vecna's face to this scene, which is a direct parallel to this:

It's really fucking suspicious.

Season 1 Brenner/ST4's Season 1 Brenner lookalike is often posed incredibly similarly to Vecward, regardless of his jumpsuit pattern:

Massacre-Henward in general is styled very similarly to Season 1 Brenner, particularly JA, JC, and JE (NOT JD/Mindflayer Henward):

Which we can confirm as intentional via this BTS pic:

Also, JE specifically has direct parallels to Martin Brenner in the sole sequence that jumpsuit exists in:

So, if I had to guess, and this is purely based on paralleling, styling, and gut feelings: JE may be our Richard Brenner, JA might be our gaunt Vecna (Max Vecna or Maxine Vecna, I'm not sure which goes with which yet).

Imho, it seems like the ST1-ST3 UD changes are based on whether or not there's a mental component, but I can't say anything for certain yet.. I have a full analysis of the UD coming, though. That's what my insanity web is lmao.

As for which timeline we're in right now...fuck if I know. It really is hard to say atm. So. Sorry, nonnie, but I just don't know 😭💔