#just to have that torn away from him via manipulation

[every-sasuke-uchiha]

[edgy-ella]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice trailer thoughts

First of all, if you haven’t seen the trailer, here it is. Now here are some of my thoughts on it.

One thing that stuck out to me right away is that some of the cinematography and dialogue (“I am gonna make you so happy”) make it feel like Beetlejuice still thinks he and Lydia are married, or at the very least engaged. Right off the bat I think this is a very funny dynamic, especially since Lydia actually is married (with a daughter no less!), and what’s probably her husband (Justin Theroux) is here too. I can already see Beetlejuice trying to engage in some schmaltzy romcom dialogue with his “wife,” while Lydia sternly rebukes “you tried to kill my father then groomed and manipulated me into marrying you when I was 15.” Then Beetlejuice says something along the lines of “haha, you’re so funny babes!” or “Good times, good times!” Meanwhile he banishes Lydia’s actual husband to the timeout corner the second he tries to intervene. Beetlejuice just being so completely delusional about the whole thing is a great direction to take him in.

Related, but Beetlejuice overall seems to be framed more empathetically/less like the overt villain he was in the original movie. Both the cartoon and the musical to this to some degree, so I’m not surprised they’re doing it here too. Going with my above interpretation of his dynamic with Lydia, I think this is the best case scenario rather than just randomly flipping his character on its head. My guess is he’s somewhere on the sliding scale of anti-hero to villain protagonist

Beetlejuice is definitely still out to marry Lydia, since we see shots of a wedding cake and Lydia in her iconic red dress. Both of these shots are located in a chapel.

As I’m sure everyone’s pointed out by now, Monica Bellucci’s character Delores is missing a finger. This is relevant because, when Beetlejuice pulls out the wedding ring in the first movie, it’s still attached to a disembodied finger. A common fan theory that’s been floating around for years is that Beetlejuice died via suicide after his wife left him. On top of all that, I’m like 90% sure that Bellucci’s character was literally listed as “Beetlejuice’s wife” on IMDb at some point.

I think Lydia’s daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) is gonna die fairly early on in the movie. Her makeup in several shots is very corpselike. I have a feeling that this will be the premise of the movie: Lydia intentionally lets out Beetlejuice to ask for help pulling her daughter out of the Netherworld.

That scene with Lydia and Astrid running away from a sand worm makes me think that maybe Lydia will die too, but it will be less permanent. Maybe she gets a “green card” in her marriage to Beetlejuice, too.

I have no idea what the fuck willem dafoe is doing here tbh

I’m torn on the effects. I appreciate they’re going for a different look and emulating the feel of the original, but they just look so….fake. It’s all clearly CG rather than clever stop motion, puppets, and costuming. The plane in particular looks really bad.

0/10 no Alex Brightman cameo

[sakujomin]

Okay, going by gege's own rules of his universe and characters, the cleave shouldn't have even been able to happen. It isn't even reasoned away by his own universal laws, but by taking a basic physics class.

The main idea of Infinity is distance, not mainly/solely space. We know this because Gege stated Gojo's Infinity is Achilles and the Tortoise being brought into reality, on top of basically being able to divide by zero (bringing paradoxes into reality).

But besides that.

Infinity is not sentient, therefore it cannot decifer whether an attack happening within gojo's space is specifically targeted at him or not. It is indiscriminate. It triggers anytime anything steps within it's space/range.

We can see the range isn't just wrapped around Gojo's physical body, it occupies a bigger space outside of his body too. Otherwise the rocks would've injured Megumi.

Now, bypassing Gojo's Infinity via "Force Displacement" (targeting an area around him to have the "shockwave" of the main attack harm him) would work if Infinity wasn't indiscriminate. But it is. ❌

Cleave could also easily bypass Gojo if it had a teleporting like ability, but by previous canon examples, it's shown to be a projectile (if it wasn't, it wouldn't be hitting the environment around the people nor operate as a flying force. Mahoraga could see and deflect it on time too, which he wouldn't have been able to do if it wasn't a projectile and just spawned in his body). ❌

Infinity functions as an infinitely divisible distance, not as gravity or a barrier. It slows things, operating as the infinite numbers that prevent the object in range (1) from reaching Gojo (0). Gege states in between the two numbers is a gazillion imaginary numbers capable of dividing by zero and applying it to reality, re: an "Undefined Infinity series". This protection is not solely wrapped around Gojo's body, it occupies the space around him too, therefore attacking the space he's in with a projectile is just as futile.

On top of that, Cleave is shown to be wholly physical. It's CE properties are only based on downing the target based on their CE. That's it. Based off of it's canonical definition, it would be incapable of "tearing" space. Space isn't something that can just be "torn", in a conventional physical sense. It can bend and move but not tear. To be capable of "tearing" space, you'd have to have spatial manipulation as part of your main kit, which obviously isn't in Sukuna's. Additionally, he himself stated he couldn't change CE properties, which would be Cleave operating as a tangible, physical projectile.

TLDR: where are the fix-it fics + this all could've been avoided if it was revealed sukuna had one natural counter as part of his literal King of Curses kit but noooo + gege pls go retake your first physics class or stick to the rules you set for your own series pls

[lizalfosrise]

Honestly Ho’olheyak is just so funny and delightful to me, let’s review:

Event starts off with Ho’ol vs Mumu - “Hey Muelsyse why did you leak info again... Just because you’re a pretty Elf (yes we know you’re an Elf dear) doesn’t mean that your bloodline can keep you exempt from punishments so now I have been sent to eliminate you. Don’t try to resist because I can immediately shut you down.” Mumu tries to resist, is immediately shut down Yet Ho’ol disobeys her client in order to go ‘this Mumu is a useful tool that will help us later’; laments how people nowadays don’t seem to know about the Elves and What Happened To Them anymore.

Gets ordered to take down noted tougher-than-steel bone wyvern supertank Saria, whom Ho’olheyak seems to have quite a fascination with. Instead shows up to merely intimidate Saria’s informant buddy into using the suicide tooth implant he’d installed behind Ho’olheyak’s back, yet she still knew of. Downing his drink just to show she didn’t use poison. That guy doesn’t even get killed but it makes Saria go into reckless aggressive fighting mode where Ho’olheyak cannot beat her 1v1 (let alone the 2v1 with Mechanist in the mix), yet manages to keep up with her before deliberately not blocking Saria’s lethal blow towards her vitals. Only to use the localised atmospheric manipulation technique that shut Mumu down to shunt the entirety of Saria’s Punch Of Explodes You behind her as she dodges to whisper sweet nothings useful hints into Saria’s ears before leaving through the convenient escape hole that formed.

Because this was a setup to lure Saria to that disguised&paralysed Elf to test multiple things in a Fun Trial gauging the effectiveness of the power armour for Ferdinand (ostensibly), the newer variable of Rhodes Island, and Saria’s wit/resolve - if she’d be smart enough to realise what Ho’ol had meant before she killed an ally (and potentially how that might affect her suitability for the role of a champion in whatever unfolding prophecy Ho’olheyak seems to be aiming to guide & witness?). That done it’s time to go camp around Rhine HQ (Look Ferdinand I’m totally intending to stop her meeting Control, honest!)

Gets intercepted by Mechanist as she’s pacing about while going “Actually I want to talk with Saria some more!”. They get into a hilarious standoff going “Oh I know ALL about you too!” to each other, essentially like Ho’ol is pouting “You’re not Saria but she’s finally sorting out her breakup with Control and Rhine itself but you’re not Saria and I want to be talking with her!” whereas Mechanist went “Hm, you’re reaaaally not fighting? Okay, then share about the cool technology within your custom staff. I am something of an Engineer. Wherever cool technology is- yum yum- all is my workshop- yum yum-”

Absconds from Rhine HQ and Mechanist to enter Site 359 via the back entrance, presumably letting off some steam by destroying Ferdinand’s getaway car to regain her composure shortly before the “Oh, hello Ferdinand. Are you running away? So sorry but your car is already torn to shreds ufufu~” moment and that delightfully ironic speech as she sends him off to his fate - not killing him herself but going “get in the power armour. go out there pointing to the wasteland as you like to say, ‘reach prosperity with your own effort. not heading to another nomadic city but carving out your survival. good luck - Pioneer~’”

And then the epilogue cutscene where oh, the real winners were Kirsten (who is Totally Coping after Saria Divorced Her Round 2: Jerboa Boogaloo) and Ho’olheyak after all. She wasn’t particularly bluffing about that huh, Ho’olheyak has importance under several roles and affiliations actually. This funny snakebird is so Powerful and Knowledgeable that even Control of Rhine Lab is just another piece to be guided around. Observing with maximum smugness over “Do they know? The horrors? Will they manage to overcome what shall happen next? Ufufufu~” She somehow sets off the magic astrolabe Astesia has??? She is related to the Space Magic? The space and stars made of lies and deceit? This is another way that if like Kjera - the only other snake-bird we’ve met being an immortal called as goddess, Ho’olheyak turning out to be immortal would make her this sort of Nega-Kal’tsit given how Kal’tsit was the one apparently preventing people like Kirsten trying to investigate space.

In the city-state of morally-warped unethical scientists and researchers, it feels fitting that the flavour of messed-up evil historian we encountered so far appears to be less “I will be the God of this new era!” and more “How WILL they face this trial? I shall be the one to record it firsthand!”. The outcomes of choices in this event were presented as seemingly not mattering to her; she was more delighted at observing the responses, managing her expectations while Knowing. Fucking with people the way she was itself likely placed the players where they ought to be for the big reveal hopefully next installment of this storyline.

I absolutely need to bring her into Rhodes Island next time it will be incredibly fun actually she will fit right in, trust me.

[v3x4t1on]

chat is tuned. interested in your classpect of the revolutionary army characters if you wanna give it, or any other hot takes. I would've maybe put Nami as a light player but I love the classpects you gave and would want to read the explanation you mentioned for the straw hats too! overall great work big fan. it's rare to see a lense of homestuck meta applied to things currently and is very reminiscent of the 2010s homestuck boom and I'm here for it

im actually very happy someone cares because ive NEVER seen anyone else care as much about classpecting as much as i do. this blogs gonna me my excuse to be annoying as hell about it and get away with it

character classpects in a random order. also vague-ish spoilers up to egghead so be wary?

(note: i used text to speech so if my writing is scuffed thats my bad)

~

Nami: Rogue of Light/Life.

Rogue: Takes and redistributes their aspect or via their aspect

Thief: Takes their aspect or via their aspect

Light: Associated with wealth, fame, luck, knowledge

Life: Associated with positivity, luxury, rebellion, wealth, power

Breath: Associated with freedom, flexibility, and independence

i would’ve given Nami rogue of light, but then I thought about it a little bit because it’s like you think that she would be a light player because it has to do with fortune and money and shit and also knowledge as well as luck and money is very much her thing, and you could also argue that knowledge applies to her knowledge of the places that she goes to in order to make the world map since that’s her goal. but when you take life into consideration… life is related to not only a lack of restrictions, healing, positivity, etc. has to do with luxury and wealth and I think it would fit more. I just thought that since life had to do wealth and luxury so I said rogue of life.

originally i said thief of light; youd think that she would be a thief because you know she’s called the cat burglar (shes an actual thief, duh), but really, the difference between rogues and thieves is that thieves steal for their personal gain and rogues take things and redistribute them elsewhere. i looked at her role in arlong park, for example: she was stealing money from others in order to raise enough berry to buy the freedom of both her hometown and herself. that’s why i’m confident on rogue, but torn between light and life. i also considered rogue of breath because she tries buying freedom with her money (freedom is a breath thing). but when you consider everything, light or life definitely takes the cake. but i guess i’ll say light works just as well because you can also apply it to her applying the knowledge of mapmaking in order to create a world map.

~

Zoro: Prince of Doom.

Prince: Destroys their aspect or via their aspect

Doom: Associated with order, limitations, pessimism, death, rules, authority

Zoro is constantly training to improve himself. From a young age, he was painfully aware of how awful it is to have something in your life spiral out of your control. To put it simply, he doesn’t want another Kuina to happen again.

And so, he trains.

And trains.

Constantly pushing his limits. Destroying them, even.

And sometimes, it can become borderline self destructive - no, it is destructive. In Thriller Bark, he sacrificed himself just so he could protect Luffy and the rest of his crew. He is so incredibly selfless it pisses Sanji the fuck off. (Who’s winning the sacrifice off, Sanji or Zoro?)

Protecting. That’s his job. His obligation. That’s how it seems to him, at least. I bet he’s terrified of failing to protect someone, just like how he couldn’t protect Kuina all those years ago.

In conclusion, I consider him more of a prince of doom than a knight of doom because of his constant attempts to destroy doom - whether its his own limitations or simply protecting others - to the point where he may destroy himself in the process.

~

Luffy: Lord/Heir of Breath.

Heir: Manipulate their aspect or via their aspect, but for the benefit of others. Tend to embody their aspect.

Lord: Controls their aspect or via their aspect

Breath: I already defined it pay attention

Look, I know. Not everyone likes the lord/muse titles because the concept of “master classes” is kinda lame. BUT HEAR ME OUT. I think Luffy is a perfect example of a lord. Especially after Gear 5 came out.

Luffy is a person that always gets his way; which sounds like a toxic trait when you put it that way. But the thing is… what he wants is so incredibly selfless. Throughout the series, he is ALWAYS fighting for freedom for others; and he gets it. He’s freed Nami’s home village, Alabasta, Wano, literally every single fucking arc he is spreading freedom SOMEWHERE. And no matter who stands in his way, they can’t stop him. Whatever he wants, he gets. And we’re all lucky as hell all Luffy wants is food and for his friends to be happy and free.

If you don’t like master classes, then he’s Egbert. Heir of Breath can apply; he inherits the will of D (and also Shanks’ hat), he inherits the powers of fucking Joyboy, the EMBODIMENT of freedom, and he definitely embodies freedom himself. So heir and lord work!

~

Sanji: Knight of Heart.

Knight: I actually have no idea. I’ve tried defining it before, but it never feels right?

…Apparently they “exploit their aspect or exploit via their aspect,” whatever the hell that means. I just think of them as protectors or people that put on a front to hide something.

Heart: Associated w/ emotions, subjectivity, inequality, identity, empathy, etc.

I’m not gonna lie to you, knights confuse the hell out of me. I’ve heard countless explanations on them and I’m still unsure on a clear solid definition. All I know for sure is that Sanji’s a heart player, 100% This is obvious. He’s a very emotional person, has very concerning issues regarding his identity (Whole Cake Island when I catch you). We don’t talk about the Vinsmokes.

There’s also his chivalry and tendency to sacrifice himself. I also considered calling him a prince of heart just because of how self destructive he is. If Thriller Bark and Whole Cake Island aren’t proof enough, I don’t know what to tell you; this man would kill himself for the sake of someone else in a heartbeat. He is ILL.

I could ramble about this man for hours but I’m simplifying this for everyone else’s sake. Don’t fuck with a man with autism and a dream.

~

Sabo: Witch of Doom. (Hey, that’s my classpect!)

Witch: Manipulate with or via their aspect. Tend to rebel against or via their aspect. Or maybe a better word is “reject”?

Doom: See the Zoro section

How the hell this man is alive is beyond me. My boy evaded death multiple times. Presumed dead TWICE and he’s still standing. Not only has he rebelled against doom via evading death itself, he’s the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army; yk, the guys that are rebelling against the marines, the celestial dragons? Rebelling against authority is in his nature, and he’s been doing this all his life, starting with his own family. This gets him in trouble multiple times, yet he SOMEHOW bounces back EVERY TIME. HOW DOES HE DO THIS???

Maybe I’m just biased because I’m a Sabo kin. I saw someone else call him a witch though, so… sue me?

edit: in hindsight i think witch of life fits better… rebelling against his wealthy origins and all that… idk

~

There will be a part 2. I’m not done just yet.

I might change my mind on my classpecting as well because it’s late as hell and I’m not entirely thinking this through

-sr

[akamintyt]

Did more work on Clockwork City

Idea came to mind and I just went "I have to draw it" and then I spent like 2 days on this lol

Those of you who have been watching my page should know about Psytalium [ "Psy" - Jackal ] and Needle [ Raccoon ] by now, considering they are 2/7 of the main protagonists for this planned project.

However, Eternity, the dragon in this, is head of the City Council. Someone that Mecha knows, just not on a personal level. The main antagonist.

---

Details I think are cool:

1.) Psy is not wearing his hat. This would suggest he either had it removed by another, or that he knew he would be coming before a member of the City Council

2.) Eternity's wine is the same colour as the blood on needle's side and mouth. This would suggest that perhaps she literally feeds on the blood of her enemies, considering she is one of the Council members who are actively targeting any lower-class folk they deem smart enough to become a threat.

3.) Eternity's expression remains mostly calm throughout this, showing her trying to be manipulative.

4.) Psy doesn't seem too harsh until she refers to Needle as "street trash." This visibly pisses him off, which shows that he actually thinks fondly of Needle.

5.) Eternity's tail is used more as a way to direct his attention towards her, in order to aid in her attempted manipulation.

6.) Any time Eternity is close to Psy, he is actively looking at her as if keeping his guard up, while also facing away from her with most of his body, showing that he knows she's a threat.

7.) Eternity refers to Psy more formally [ "Psytalium" ] despite the fact that most refer to him by the shortened version of his name even after just meeting him, which is an attempt to trick him into believing she views him as an equal.

8.) Eternity refers to Needle via insults or pronouns, but never by name.

9.) Needle's shirt is literally torn as a result of the apparent claw marks on his side, yet his jacket is perfectly in-tact. This shows that he put the jacket on after having been injured.

10.) Needle also does not have his gloves on.

[mage-of-black-robes]

Verses

V; Main - Takes place on Krynn throughout the course of the musical, when Raistlin is working toward his goal of overthrowing Takhisis, but before he time travels back to Istar.

V; Lord of Nothing - Takes place after the musical, when Raistlin is getting used to the measure of godhood he has attained. He is tortured by visions of Takhisis mocking him, and by the void that the Abyss has become as a result of her death, but desperate to make something new of it and himself. Eventually, he becomes a guide for the ambitious and vengeful, as well as the Mad King of Darkness, drawing demons and chromatic dragons alike into his thrall via a series of trials where he proves his might. He seeks not to conquer the world of Krynn, as he has already attained the throne he so craved, but to manipulate and punish the wicked in equal measure. He has come to a sort of understanding with Paladine and the other gods: as long as they and their followers keep out of his realm, he will refrain from waging war.

V; Change of Heart - Upon realizing that he’s fallen in love with Crysania, Raistlin finally begins having some second thoughts about his plans. Takhisis possesses her as normal, but instead of strengthening his resolve, it forces him to face the fact that he’s throwing away his life along with the lives of countless others, and that combined with the fact that he’s coping with his first real love sends him into an existential crisis. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Takhisis begins torturing him with visions of his past and possible future, from memories of being relentlessly bullied as a child to nightmares of being trapped in the Abyss forever as her servant. He’s tearfully reliving his murder of the illusory Caramon at the end of his Test of High Sorcery when Crysania finally breaks free of her possession and intervenes, with the real Caramon showing up just in time to help her drive Takhisis away. Raistlin is left unconscious and exhausted, but when he awakens, he tells the pair that they need to seal the portal as thoroughly as possible, and that he never should have tried to open it. He and Crysania work together rather excellently to do so. A lengthy confession and apology from Raistlin follows, and after a lecture from Caramon about all the damage caused by the wizard’s machinations, the trio vow to do what they can to provide relief to the war torn lands of Krynn, with Caramon splitting off from Raistlin and Crysania because he needs time away from his brother. Eventually, after years of working with him, Crysania forgives Raistlin enough to confess that she has fallen in love with him, too, and the two get married!

V; isekai - an AU in which Main Verse!Raistlin gets yeeted into any other setting (modern, BG3, Curse of Strahd, DC, Marvel, etc.) via portal shenanigans, a magical mishap of some kind, or a rogue Nautiloid snatching him and a few others up as it bamfs in and out of Krynn. DM me for details if you want a thread like this! I love it a lot, and am happy to talk it out.

Modern Verses

Background - Raistlin and Caramon Majere were born in Detroit, Michigan to a Russian immigrant mother and factory worker. Caramon came out first, and was born healthy and strong, but Raistlin’s birth was far more difficult, resulting in a number of health problems. The doctors gave him a few days. His mother, however, was equally stubborn as she was nurturing, and with her care, he beat the odds. He was a sickly child, and very much an introvert despite his natural charm. Caramon was always the more outgoing of the two, playing with the neighborhood kids and defending his brother from bullies. When they were around five or six, Raistlin began to show both signs of a genius level intellect and interest in his mother’s occult studies. His father wasn’t enthusiastic about it, so she taught the boy spells when he wasn’t home. A few months later, Raistlin’s and Caramon’s father was killed in a work place accident caused by the foreman’s negligence, but their nosy widow neighbor declared that Raistlin was a wicked child, and that it was his fault. Furious and heartbroken, their mother packed up everything, sold the house, and moved them out of Detroit following the funeral. They settled down in a small town in Connecticut. It was an adjustment, for sure, but the family was able to start over again. Eventually, their mother remarried, and they wound up with a cool lawyer for a stepdad. Caramon started playing football in middle school, and Raistlin finally found his voice when he joined the choir, as well as a love for the stage. When they entered high school, he immediately got involved with the theater department, auditioning for the annual musical and getting the lead. Caramon saw how much fun his brother was having, and decided to follow suit in their sophomore year. They became nearly inseparable after that, filming various skits and duets to put on their YouTube channel. It didn’t stop Raistlin from surging ahead in terms of academics, though, and he wound up graduating a year early. He was accepted into multiple universities at seventeen, but ultimately decided on Harvard.

V; Modern 1 - Raistlin is a university student, majoring in Performing Arts and minoring in Occult Studies. He’s well on his way to a Master’s Degree, but is aiming for a Doctorate. He also has a love of Dungeons & Dragons and other improv heavy tabletop games.

V; Modern 2 - With a shrewd strategy, relentless ambition, and cunning mind, Dr. Raistlin Majere has made waves in the spiritual side of the academic world. His numerous essays and journals detailing definitive proof of demons, devils, and ghosts have rocketed him to stardom as one of the world’s foremost occultists, and he now enjoys a tenured position as a professor at Harvard University, teaching Demonology and Occult Studies. Rumors swirl about him practicing black magic, but when his students ask, he always deflects, and time seems to fly by. The few who have dared to meet his gaze directly after such conversations swear that his pupils have an hourglass design, but it’s gone when they look again. He doesn’t hide the fact that he’s a Satanist; that’s something his mother taught him, and he will always be proud of it. He does, however, make a huge effort to debunk a lot of the gruesome myths surrounding Satanism.

AUs/Wishlist

Pokémon - Raistlin is an occultist first and a trainer second, running ghost/dragon/dark type team.

Gilmore Girls - same as the modern verse, but the twins grew up in Stars Hollow. Raistlin, Caramon, and Rory were thick as thieves throughout their childhood, with the boys being the closest things she had to brothers. They taught her a decent bit of Russian, and often dragged her and Lane into their skits and other theatrical shenanigans. Rory joined Caramon in defending Raistlin from bullies, making Lorelei incredibly proud, and this trend continued when they went to Chilton together; in return, Raistlin did the same for her, privately hexing any entitled brat who tried to get under her skin, and publicly embarrassing them with his razor sharp wit. The two stayed close throughout high school, but grew apart after Rory chose to go to Yale instead of Harvard.

V; Regency - compliant with Bridgerton, but not strictly tied to it. Essentially, Raistlin’s mother remarried into a noble family when he and Caramon were both little, after their father died. Adjusting to life in the ton has been difficult, but they’ve managed, and at 25, Raistlin has finally been pushed and prodded enough to find a suitable spouse. He’s not fond of the marriage mart. At all. For many reasons! But his good looks and bookish nature have made him quite the desirable bachelor. Caramon, who’s already been married for five years, assures him that he will find the right person in time, but Raistlin would much rather be holed up in his study, poring over ancient tomes and solving the mysteries of the occult.

V; Fairytale/Fantasy - Once a noble hero, the great wizard Raistlin Majere fell to the temptation of dark magic, though he claimed he only wished to use it for good. After a spell went horribly awry, drastically altering his appearance and degrading his health, he was revealed, put on trial, and sentenced to exile in the Marwood for treason and witchcraft. Bitter and vengeful, Raistlin retaliated by putting a curse on the king and his family. Every heir to that throne would be compelled to try and find him upon their coronation, only to be doomed to wander the Marwood until they met a gruesome end. The curse would only be lifted if one managed to find him and bring him back to the palace. He then disappeared in a puff of smoke, and hasn’t been seen since, though his twin brother, Caramon, has organized many a search party.

V; DC - Raistlin Majere is an occultist living in Gotham. Has the potential to become a villain or antihero, but doesn’t yet have the motivation. He mainly focuses on his studies.

V; Marvel - During the battle of New York, Dr. Majere was giving a guest lecture on demonology at a local university when chaos erupted. The lecture hall was destroyed by Chitauri, and many students were injured or killed. Raistlin tried to save as many as he could, demonstrating his arcane prowess, but it cost him dearly. Only by making a deal with a demon as he lay dying in the wreckage did he manage to make it out alive. Hair bleached white, eyes turned a sickly yellow, and skin rendered golden, he was forever changed, and swore vengeance upon every cretinous wretch that dared to invade his world. He keeps himself hidden away, now, but when a threat arises, the Black Mage always shows up to hex a bitch into next week!

V; Yu-Gi-Oh! - As an occultist, Raistlin has quite a fascination with the spiritual aspect of Duel Monsters, though he’s more of an expert on European demonology and black magic than on Ancient Egypt. He became a duelist at a young age, and upon discovering that he could see and communicate with duel spirits, bonded with a powerful spellcaster known as Chaos Sorcerer. As devoted as he is to his studies, he still makes time to duel in tournaments on occasion, as he finds it entertaining to trounce others with his Spellcaster/Fiend deck, and he has aspirations of defeating all the major duelists in the world (Kaiba, Pegasus, Yugi, etc.) at least once. Just for fun. And perhaps to boost his ego. His twin brother is also a formidable duelist, though Caramon is a professional and takes the tournament circuit far more seriously…when he’s not out drinking his friends and rivals under the table. The two have even competed in tag-team tournaments before.

V; Rockstar - Modern AU in which Raistlin ends up becoming the lead singer of a gothic glam rock band named Lord of Nothing. The group prospers mostly on talent and iconic appearance alone (a mix of goth/punk black leather and dark fantasy, with Raistlin appearing as a silver-haired mage), though a bit of black magic has gone a long way. He just hopes it won’t come back to bite him later. The rest of the band has no idea that he’s been conducting dark rituals here and there to boost their popularity.

V; Wizarding World - Raistlin and Caramon are the orphaned twin heirs of the pureblood Majere family. After their parents were murdered by Death Eaters, the two moved from Russia to Scotland to live with their mother’s sister. They got their Hogwarts letters a couple of years later, and attended in the same year as the Golden Trio. Despite having vowed to protect each other no matter what, Caramon was sorted into Gryffindor, while Raistlin was sorted into Slytherin, and thus marked the beginning of their slow drifting apart. Raistlin excelled in Transfiguration and Defense Against The Dark Arts, but quickly became thirsty for knowledge of the Dark Arts themselves, eager to find a way to avenge his parents and become more powerful than the wizards who’d killed them.

[sidsinning]

This is not going to be an extremely thorough essay about why my opinions of mlb are completely right from every angle you could ever think of its 10 am and I'm running on 0 hrs

This is just what I've been thinking about the show

I feel like every time the show defies a gender stereotype it doubles down on like 5 more at the same time

VERY unpopular opinion: sometimes the stalker trope can be funny but I feel like the creators don't do it well which is why everyone shits on Mari for it so hard + they overdo it

I really don't think Mari's shtick is actually making kids think diving into trashcans to spy on your crush is ok to do- everything she does is cringe on purpose so I don't see kids aspiring to be like her in this way

Felix's intricate arc felt so abruptly cut after he became Kagami's boyfriend; I feel like it's a shame Feligami were so rushed bc a slow development of their relationship could've strengthened his character arc even further. I feel like it merced both their characters by having it be so quickly put together. Bc why is Kagami saying she loves him enough to defy her mom already and why are they making out all the time. Like I didn't need that personally

Lots of missed opportunities in general regarding Felix

Kagami telling Felix Marinette is Ladybug after 1 ep he got with her like what the hell kind of insane betrayal??? They try to brush off???? Hello????

The way she found out was so stupid too

Man I will miss the -will they, won't they- Ladynoir; I feel like they were the most entertaining and well developed pair in terms of the LS, with the most addicting dynamic

I'm pretty sure most of us were drawn in by "cute flirty cat boy simping for our badass heroine who playfully rebuffs his advances" in the first place

Season 5 was batshit and filled with plotholes like holy

Idek what to think about Chloe now it's messy

The most corrupt adults getting abrupt redemption arcs (principal, mayor Andre, arguably Gabe)

Sabrina just decided to. Turn. Morality somehow appeared when the plot needed it to. Soccer

"I need to break up with Luka bc I am LB"

Tikki and Plagg: "Adrienette can't be together bc of the burden of LB and CN"

Then they get together just fine after becoming superheroes again where nothing about the stress of the job changed, so I guess Tikki and Plagg took away their miraculous for nothing

Luka in the guardian fit 💀

Idk man Kagami's resurfacing feelings for Adrien made me sigh ngl like did I really need this filling up screentime

Kagami being easily manipulated by Lila for plot bc their friendship was built off screen after their terrible interaction in Oni-chan

Lila in general

AI Adrigami taking over Paris' mind via fake AI video kidnapping on glorified apple watch starting the big finale 🧎‍♂️ like what even is this

Adrien being literally asleep for the finale- I get the message. Adrien shouldn't have to fight his dad. Adrien fighting his dad wouldn't be a moment of triumph for Adrien, only sadness. Adrien is a victim of abuse who wants to be rescued and that is ok. Mari rescuing him from his prison is beautiful.

But idk. Maybe have him help in a significant way before he gets neutralized for the whole finale besides providing Maribug with his ring? Idk I love love love Mari getting the spotlight in her show but. Hm. Cutting him off so clean like that is a lil weird considering how important he is, and how Ladynoir's relationship is so essential to the show? I'm still kinda torn on this

Bug Noir slayed at least

Other shit but yeah I'm just rambling

holding back on the surge of ml criticism my brain just produced

[kai-keda]

what is the Malice canon divergent timeline?

“Memories of Malice” was originally the name for a specific animatic project (that is still in the works) of a specific scene I have for this canon divergent timeline but I’ve decided recently to use it as the umbrella term for the entire thing

“Memories of Malice” is a - primarily spicynoodles focused - timeline that diverges from canon by having different lore of the Samadhi Fire in the series.

In this timeline, ‘Red Boy’ had recently returned home from being a disciple of Guan Yin when he was challenged by the Lady Bone Demon. LBD had known that the Samadhi Fire Red Boy created was the one thing strong enough to stop her and so she used her abilities to manipulate the memories of the world to attempt to not only kill Red Boy, but erase any trace of him from history.

Red Boy was just a tad too powerful for that, though, especially thanks to his recent time spent with Guan Yin. So the process was not completed. However, the world’s memory of him was still SEVERELY torn apart and that included ripping any trace of the Samadhi Fire away from him.

History was altered.

There were no records of Red Boy existing anymore and anytime it seemed as though someone may remember, the detail of who he was was lost and treated as unimportant. (Think: Tang couldn’t remember who Wukong got Guan Yin’s help and vase to defeat in Dumpling Destruction)

His parents had a vague understanding and feeling that he was their son, so they had accepted as much, but the nature of the magic LBD used meant they never thought too hard about the lack of memories. And a lack of memories means any type of bonding over the years was missing for them. Which is why DBK and PIF are so cold to him.

Red Boy is immune to this amnesia, but he found out real quick that there was no point in fighting it. What LBD had done was done and he was not in a position to fix it. (This timeline also explains how he knows how to travel to the Celestial Realm while claiming to have never been there before)

There’s a moment where Red Boy accepts what happened to him and changes his name to Red Son as some symbolic move. And this is also why he is loud and dramatic and refers to himself with his full name from time to time.

He’s terrified of it being forgotten, of LBD’s magic coming back and finishing what she started. So he yells out “I, RED SON” as a sort of preemptive answer to that problem.

MK’s history is also altered in this timeline. Here he is a trans male who has not felt a need to physically transition. He ran away from his biological family and was latter adopted by Tang and Pigsy as a young teenager. He was born a human and was gifted all these demon powers and attributes by Monkey King. (My fic “Somewhere Only We Know” goes a bit more into exploring the insanity of the changes MK went through with becoming a Celestial Monkey via Monkey King giving him his power and “Obligation”/“Sorry For Not Being Enough” both reference MK’s shitty home life)

“Memories of Malice” is the timeline that leads to Peter and Xiaobo (the hybrid twins who are enigma’s because of MK’s complicated situation of being born a human but no longer being one) and later Randall Barrilleaux (my Cajun OC that I made on a wild whim to be tongue-in-cheek and shipped him with Peter because I miss Vine and now I’m obsessed and he’s a serious part of the timeline now) and there’s a lot with them involved as well as a lot of specific things that happened that have to do with how spicynoodles got together and original ideas for world-building demon culture and other scattered things.

But there’s no need to stuff every single significant scene and world building info dump into one singular post lol

Hopefully that answers the question ^^

[javatello]

Since people wanted it, here are my copy and pasted notes

- Like I’d love if there was some tension between Tawnypelt and Feathertail, that they have to work out via trust (like with Leopard does in ASIR). Like Tawnypelt, daughter of Tigerstar, stood by as she was sentenced to death and watched her cousin die for her.

- Squirrelcrow because i love them. Theyre so brain itch it makes so much sense to me they grow to love each other on the journey going from enemies to frenemies to friends to friends with crush to lovey dovey to OH SHIT IM PREGNANT OH GOD THE POWER OF THREE. Basically everything that happens with Leafcrow happens with Squilf instead lolz.

- Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight have more of a brother sister relationship or at least a close friendship bc Brambleclaw thinks of Firestar as a father. And he’d be overjoyed to meet his beloved mentors new kits. And he can prevent them from living in the world he had to.

- Tawnypelt is also close friends with Squilf and Feathertail and Crowf are js really good friends. Feathertail acts more like the big sister Crowpaw never had. Crowpaw goes to her with his insecurities that were probably instilled in him with Mudclaw being his mentor. Tawnypelt loving Squilf not as a sister but more like a wine aunt. Like she and Squirrelpaw go hunting together and she lets her get away with dangerous things, but Squilf gets hurt and suddenly its mother hen mode. And she sees it as making up for what her father did to ThunderClan in a small way, helping the clans in the future and taking care of Firestars daughter.

- Stormfur is an enigma but I’d think he’d be close with Brambleclaw, theyre just guys being dudes. I also like the idea of him and Crowfeather being friends. I’d think his calming yet stern energy reminds Crowfeather of Tallstar, and thus he gravitates to him.

- Stormfur also has some weird feelings about Tawnypelt but he’s more forgiving than Feathertail, because he understand that she was just a kit in a scary environment.

- Hawkfrost and Mothwing would also play a bigger part in the arc. I have a lot of thoughts on Hawkfrost. He lost his brother and his brothers death has scarred him, and he meets Brambleclaw and he’s like “Oh my god, I have a *family.*”

-He’s totally obsessed with the idea of finally having a family again, to the point where he’d do anything to achieve the perfect bond between him and his siblings. When his father, Tigerstar, sees this and thus sees a way to manipulate his son, he feels torn between making his father proud and keeping a positive bond with his siblings.

- He manipulated Mothwing not out of cruelness but because he thought it was the best thing for her, but with his fathers corruption he gets it in his head that Mothwing *owes* it to him, and that all the suffering will be worth it when he and his siblings can all be happy and in control.

- When Brambleclaw betrays him and doesn’t wanna kill Firestar, Hawkfrost lashes out in anger and heartbreak because how could he not see all the *work* he’s put into this. But eventually when he dies and OOTS rolls around, he gets redeemed slowly over the series (I have more thoughts abt PO3 but that will be at a later date).

- Mothwing and Tawnypelt also exist and they actually acknowledge each other. Tawnypelt and Mothwing are obvs on weird ground with each other but with Tawnypelt saving the clans and Mothwing growing closer with her during the great move, in which the truth comes out that they had another brother. Tawnypelt admits that he and Brambleclaw also had another brother, Swiftpaw; who died because of Tigerstar. When Mothwing questions why Tawny would join her father, Tawny tells her about the isolation and hatred she felt in ThunderClan. Mothwing can only relate all too well :(

- Leafpool doesn’t have a forbidden romance in my version of events. To me shes aroace coz i don’t really ship her with anyone. But she’s still really good friends with Mothwing and Sorreltail obvs, but Squilf and her don’t have that psychic connection bc i dont like that its considered a power thats js forgotten about within like three books.

Theres also some ideas i have with Leaf and Cinder being close as in my headcanons she baby sat the sisters when they were kits (in my personal canon Cinder and Fire are like siblings coz Yellowfang is their adopted mom).

This is just some rambles so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Just wrote a fucking novel on how i would rewrite the characters in the second arc of warrior cats

[mybg3notebook]

Does Gale love Mystra?

So far in EA, we have been shown that this is complicated to answer: human love is complex as well as the delirious lore of Forgotten Realms. 

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536 (Early access). As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in June 2021.

The number between brackets [] represents the topic-block related to (this post), which gathers as much evidence as I could get.

The narrative is clear until the party scene which, as I stated many times across these posts, it's a scene that feels a bit inconsistent for me (reasonable since it's EA). But if we follow what the game explicitly shows us, we know that if we send Gale to sleep at the beginning of the Weave scene in which he is watching the incantation with the shape of Mystra, he will say: 

Gale: Long days, yes. And long, lonesome nights.

If Tav knows that the incantation on his palm is Mystra, Gale will explain:

Tav: [insight] You don't have that look on your face when you're looking at “no one” / There's more to it than that. The figure I saw: she means something to you. Gale: [...] I can’t quite describe it, the need I sometimes feel to see her – to draw the filaments of fantasy into existence. [...]

Dev's notes: Passionate. [...] He was recalling Mystra as a lover, but doesn’t say that out loud. [...] Narrator: The Weave evaporates, and as it does so, you realise the night feels suddenly cold and lonesome.

This allows us to infer that, at this moment, Gale is feeling alone and probably very anxious with the oppressing feeling of the "orb" in his chest. The tadpole only increased the number of problems he has, so he resorts to seeing Mystra melancholically. We notice later in the Weave Scene that not having Mystra around increases this feeling of loneliness. The whole scene seems to give us the idea that he still loves her. There is yearning and loneliness in his current situation.

After a moment of passionate description of magic, Gale invites Tav to experience the Weave. The Weave has a particular effect on Gale: "The moment feels intimate. You realise the Weave is making you one." Considering how Gale was feeling while conjuring the incantation, this moment touched him deeply (the narrator implies that this feeling is mutual).

If Tav expresses their romantic interests, Gale will be surprised:

Gale: I.. I didn’t think.. Narrator: You perceive quick-fire gusts of embarrassment, trepidation, and finally.. elation Gale: Sorry, I wasn’t expecting… But it is a pleasant image to be sure! Most pleasant, in fact. Most welcome. Dev's notes: Warm, with real affection.

The narrator is giving us meta-knowledge, we can trust in what she says, and we can see that the situation was truly shocking for Gale. These emotional stages described here made me suspect that Gale is a character who has focused for too long on healing his condition, ignoring any chance for romance. His surprise here may confirm that, in my opinion. He feels embarrassment, a feeling that one can interpret as a sign of the surprise of being thrown into a situation he had not seen beforehand (the death protocol and Gale’s conversations show us that he is a character that thinks ahead). It follows trepidation: fear or anxiety about something that he is going to do or experience. Gale is scared of the possibility. Maybe because he is thinking in the danger he is, maybe because he was already burnt by Mystra's attention and having someone else's attention now makes him feel a bit anxious. And then, the final resolution of the process: elation, which is a feeling of great happiness and excitement about something that has happened. Gale is suddenly excited by the possibility. Something he will be thinking about, many times, for the rest of the EA. 

Tav: So what did you think about what I pictured when we were connected by the Weave? Gale: Oh, I was surprised. But pleasantly so, just like I said. Amid the madness that has befallen us, it seems almost out of place to think of a kiss/ of a romantic walk. And yet... now more than ever, it's important to recall what makes us human. [if Tav is not human] Well- you know what I mean. A stolen glance- that sudden heartbeat... Sometimes the little things are worth more than kingdoms. They promise things to come.

So romance was not something he had even considered until the opportunity arose (this is why he won't pursue a Tav who didn't show romantic interest towards him). I think that, since he is a character always living on the edge of death, he will take this opportunity to feel “human again”: after all, he follows the concept of "living life to the fullest".

During the Loss (see the post of the "Loss Scene"), we know that losing Mystra was a big blow for him. He regrets his decisions of the past in this scene, and it reinforced the idea that he is the only one to blame for Mystra's loss. There is a yearning for the lost Chosen powers, but Gale's context in the majority of his scenes seem to reinforce the idea that he sought power not as a means, but as a goal itself to be closer to Mystra and Magic. Since we are talking about a wizard, his passion lies in magic itself, in being one with the Weave/Magic/Mystra. A Chosen of Mystra is so entangled with the Weave and magic that when they die, they are part of the Weave itself. This is the level of passion that Gale has for Magic, and since Magic can only be performed by most mortals via Weave, and the Weave is Mystra, the whole three concepts are, in fact, one; and it makes it very difficult from a lore point of view to separate them. 

Tav: There's something I don't understand. If Mystra abandoned you, how can you still cast magic? Gale: The Weave is still here, all around us – inside of us too. As long as the goddess lives, magic is a tangible thing for those who know how to touch. I've studied magic for many years, and in as many ways I am still a more than capable wizard. It's just that I'm no longer able to perform those feats even arch wizards would marvel at. To have one hand on the pulse of divinity. You have to remember that the Weave is a living thing, both the embodiment and the extension of Mystra herself.She can give and she can take away. I'm afraid I'm still very much on her naughty list. Consider yourself lucky you're not. 

I personally think Gale will never stop being devoted to Mystra (and won't stop loving her in many ways), because his passion for magic and knowledge is his own life, and Mystra IS those things. He loves magic for the sake of it. So losing this unique contact with magic itself that only Chosen of Mystra have was a terrible punishment for him. His abandonment issues are not just the result of a “guy being left by a girl”. They have an extra complexity because of the nature of Magic in this world and how its deity behaves with her chosen. Gale was not only abandoned by Mystra, but was also removed of a good amount of his capacity to perform magic. If magic “is his life”, the abandonment removed a part of his life away. I think some people miss this point, because, once more, it's related to Forgotten Realm lore and not Dragon Age. Many of these people keep constantly comparing this situation with Dragon Age, which has nothing to do with it. Dragon Age has no wizards, their relationship with Magic is natural, it’s sorcerer-like if we want to compare it, and the relationship with their deities (mostly absent, silent ones) are nothing alike the ones in Forgotten Realm. The context is key, as I repeated several times in these posts and in the one about "Context, persuasion, and manipulation". 

Tav: I don't know what to make of what you've told me, but I sympathise. Gale: Thank you. [no romantic weave] I want you to know that you’re a good friend. [romantic weave] I often think of that moment we shared together – one under the Weave. I hope you think about it too. /I'm glad to know you think about it too.

Narrator: You sense a moment of unspoken affection. You want to know where it may lead. Gale: I consider myself very lucky to have found you Tav: I think perhaps we could be more than friends Gale: Perhaps. 

Tav: You said you think about the moment we shared under the weave. Do you think about it often? Gale: Do you? 1-2-Tav: Yes / From time to time. Gale: So do I. 3- Tav: Not really. Gale: And yet you ask. I do, as a matter of fact.

Gale: You see. I'm not a big believer in fate, but I do believe in serendipity. Life is a tempest of events that sometimes we brace against and sometimes embrace. You're one such event that one day soon perhaps I'd like to embrace.

So after sharing this regret during the Loss scene, Gale will show affection if Tav remains friendly during the Weave (but Gale will never directly engage it, he is waiting for Tav to give the first step; understandable if we consider he also has a dangerous bomb in his chest, so he may be torn between wanting to, but knowing he should not to). If there is no interest in pursuing romance, he will show a gesture of gratitude for being a good friend during that night of regrets. 

If pursuing the romance, we can interpret that Gale, at this point, even though he is still struggling with all the emotions that Mystra inspires, wants to experience something more “human”, a romance with a mortal. We know for sure that Gale is getting interested, slowly, while thinking about it, since in each of the following scenes he will ask (or Tav will ask) about that “moment in the Weave”. He has been thinking about it for many nights, and he is “embracing” the idea. 

If Gale is treated with judgement (despite not knowing his whole story) or allowing him to keep the secret of what or who he lost, we will obtain lines likes:

Gale: Good. Goodnight. And thank you for your patient understanding. // And try not to think too poorly of me. A cat can look at a king. A wizard can look at a goddess.

Tav: Another fool pays for his arrogance. A tale as old as time. Gale: Arrogance? Ambition, rather. And ambition is a fine thing – until suddenly it no longer is. Then again, if that is how you judge me, there’s little I can do to change your mind. But know that I have this ambition still. First to save myself, and after that, the licence to dream. (Gale Disapproval)

We could interpret these lines as the only ones so far that may suggest that Gale is still wanting something from the goddess. We know due to the tadpole dreams that Gale’s desire is Mystra. On the comments of the second tadpole dream we know more details about his major desire: it is not just Mystra, but her forgiveness.

Tav: Gale, who is the apparition in your dreams? Gale: She's... It doesn't matter. I just know her to be unreal. Tav: What's impossible about what you're been shown? Gale: Forgiveness Tav: Gale, who is the apparition in your dreams? Gale: It's indeed Mystra I see. And yet it cannot be her. There was a time when I would have believed - but no longer. I told you that I lost her. Lost her favour and lost so many of the powers I took for granted. What magic I can still weave is met only with undercurrents of disappointing silence. Mystra has not changed her mind about me. That's how I know our dreams are delusions.

I think this scene shows the difference between a standard desire for power as a means, and power for the sake of power itself (since this power allows Gale to be one with the Weave). The scene is ambiguous enough to see it as Gale wanting to return to Mystra’s side as well as remaining as an ardent devotee of her (because she is magic herself). I keep repeating that these scenes show that Gale’s most important thing in his life is Magic, which is Mystra: the extension and the embodiment of magic. So his desire for her seems impossible to be extinguished completely. In previous scenes we saw that he certainly had thought through the idea of loving her more like a devotee than a lover, but certainly the weight of being his first love will remain, especially since she is deeply related to magic itself.

During the Party Scene we find some information about his feelings for Mystra. 

I personally ponder the book of Amn’s description as very important because, from a narrative point of view, it's a lot of lines/content that, if they were not important, tend to be removed from the script. If they are there, they are meant to be interpreted. For this reason those lines mean to me that Gale has finally embraced the idea of having something important with a mortal. In my post of the "Party Scene" I go into details, but here I will stick to the interpretation related to Mystra: all what Gale numerates in that book are things that he could not access to with a Goddess. Curiously, part of those descriptions are things that make humans human, so I personally think it reinforces Gale's intention in heading into this romance with the eagerness of finding some shelter (never forget the “orb” has a constant oppressing effect in him, increasing his anxiety and fears) and to experience (maybe for the first time) the love of a mortal.

So, for some assumptions made in the post of the "Party Scene", we suspect that Gale needs to share a night to feel confident enough to speak the details of his “orb” condition. Since he wants this relationship to be strong (after all, he implied commitment during the description of the book) he speaks about the true origin of the “orb” immediately after that night, starting with Mystra (which is, after all, the true origin of his folly). Depending on the version that Tav picks, we have extra information provided by Gale about his emotions for the Goddess:

Tav: What did Mystra’s attention feel like? Gale: Love. Perhaps it was not quite love, but you see, the wizard was but a very young man. It was most certainly love to him. [...] One day all too soon, the whispers stopped. The goddess spurned the mortal. [...] and the wizard was left behind heartbroken. Tav: I hate to say it, but he really could have seen this coming Gale: He was blinded by love. Good stories are rife with lovers’ follies after all.

[Short Version] Gale: Before long Mystra tired of me. What was I after all but a mortal plaything in sacred hands? You have to realise I was heartbroken. I was a young man, she was my first love. I thought it would last forever. I vowed to win her back.

[after explaining the mistake of the “orb”] Gale: It is this folly that led Mystra to abandon me completely. I can only hope you won’t abandon me as well. After all we’ve been through.. After the night we spent together. Surely we can brave even this side by side

Gale is giving a very detailed context about his love for Mystra: she was his first love, and the first love tends to have a special weight in a person's life and their memories. That doesn't mean the person has become unable to build more relationships for the rest of their life. If we add the fact that he was very young when all this happened (more details in the Post "Gale Hypotheses- Part 1") we find him under two effects: the impression of the first love and the naivety of the youth. Both elements made him believe it was a love that was going to last forever. With a Goddess, no less.

Besides, Gale expresses this, highlighting his naivety and foolishness: he is aware of how silly he was back then, and how impossible it could be for a mortal to keep the love of a goddess. He is a pragmatic and realistic character, after all. He recognizes in the end that he was just a mortal plaything for her. 

I think these pieces of information give us a very clear context of his emotional state: he is still nostalgic for Mystra because of all the reasons I enumerated above; she is also more than just a woman, she is Magic itself. But he is aware that those emotions were the consequence of a very naïve and young self that has awakened by the burden of his own mistakes. There is also a reinforcement of “forever”, which recalls the concept of commitment that Gale pursues so much in his romance: he is not there just for the sex “intimacy”, he is there for serious commitment, maybe because he doesn't want to experience another abandonment. After all, we are talking about a character with a profile that shows abandonment issues (see the post of "Gale Hypotheses- Part 1", section: "Abandonment Issues")

[If rejected] Tav: No. This is too large a betrayal. GALE: I see. I am sorry. I am sorry that it had to come to this. All that’s left to say is farewell. Dev’s notes: hurt but understanding Gale: Farewell. (Leaves) Dev’s notes: A slight hesitation, hurt but understanding. He makes a polite little bow, then we see him walk away.

[If accepted] Gale: I don’t know what I did to deserve the magic that you do. 

Despite being terribly cheesy, this last line shows that Gale was more than convinced that Tav would abandon him because he doesn’t deserve Tav. This is why he doesn't put up much fight if Tav chooses to tell him to leave. He will try to make Tav listen to his story, and once it's done, the verdict will fall and he will accept it. He learnt his lesson with Mystra. This line also shows how everything important around Gale is or has to be worded with magic, even a silly metaphor like this is related with the word “magic”: Tav's acceptance is like magic. For him, as important and good as magic itself.

As if that were not enough, after the scene there is a comment in which Gale will reinforce his gratitude for Tav's acceptance:

Tav: If you ever feel the netherese magic overtaking you, what will you do? Gale: If it should ever come to that... if I ever know I am no longer able to stop it... I will do anything I can to ensure no one but me pays for my mistakes. I will find the remotest place on the surface of Faerûn, or perhaps far below in the depths of the Underdark. I will await that death alone. [*] I promise I will not betray your trust... You kept me by your side despite the menace that I am. If worst comes to worst, I will be gone long before the curtain falls.  [*] If romanced, Gale will say here "I cherish you."

Which makes me suspect that Gale can disappear at any moment (in full game) if for some game mechanics we are unable to get magical artefacts but the deal with Raphael did not happen (if that’s even possible). But that's just me speculating. Nothing in EA seems to suggest this. What i's clear is that acceptance—that strong concept in the book he put so much emphasis on—is really important to him, so he shows gratitude for that: he promises to protect Tav (and many innocents) from his own mistake. He also says pretty soon an equivalent of “I love you”, in a more formal/meaningful way: “to cherish” is not just to love, but to care/protect as well. 

Finally, in case someone lost those hints, or maybe as a consequence of this unpolished scene, we have a direct question with a direct answer:

Tav: Gale, are you still in love with Mystra? Gale: I’ll be honest with you; I don’t know. She is my muse still, the embodiment of magic, but the embodiment of love? Only if we ever meet again will I know

Gale simply says what we have been inferring so far with all the previous information: Gale reinforces the idea that he will remain as a strong, loving devotee of Mystra, because she is magic. I personally don't even consider it possible to remove that love from him. He may not be a cleric, but he loves his deity as one. But he also learnt his lesson that loving gods has its own dire consequences for mortals. He is very aware of it during the discussion about Karsus:

Tav: Nothing good ever comes from mortals wanting to be gods. 

Gale: Loving them has its side effects as well. Now, so many centuries later, I tried to follow in the footsteps of Karsus, not to destroy Mystra, but to prove my love for her. It tried to control only a fraction of the magic that was unleashed that fateful day. I merely sought to return one tiny diamond to an imperfect crown. Gale's Folly one might call it. History. Repetition. It's the way things go.

Once more, there is no scene where Gale doesn't reinforce that what he did was a mistake, a foolish action, a Folly. 

Finally, if talking about a previous lover immediately after awakening with a new one was of poor taste, Gale acknowledges this, giving an honest apology:

Gale: Before we go on though, do first let me apologise. To share such a night with you only to tell you of a previous lover the next morning... It wasn't the most gentleman-like behaviour. But I had to finally tell you. Silence would have been far worse behaviour still. Nevertheless, I am sorry.

He accepts any rude response or lash-out from Tav without approval penalties. This is an interesting meta-knowledge that speaks about owning up to his mistakes. Unlike the Loss scene, where rude responses made Gale disapprove because Tav was judging him without knowing the whole story [16], in this scene he doesn’t. Now Tav has the whole picture, and he accepts whatever reaction Tav shows. Of course he will approve a forgiving Tav, since Gale is a character very related to forgiveness [12, 12b].

Conclusion: 

So, answering the question that gives title to this section: yes. In my opinion, Gale loves Mystra. But it’s not a white-and-black love; it has the complexity of human love mixed with this crazy lore of deities in Forgotten Realms. I believe Mystra will always be part of Gale's life, because the Weave and magic are his life, and she is both. He will always love her as a devotee, even though he now understands the mistakes of his young self and seems more aware of how naive he was when he was a “very young man”. The comments on the second tadpole dreams explicitly show that what Gale wants the most is Mystra’s forgiveness, but at the same time, he knows that he does not deserve it. And this raw realistic view of himself is what makes him understand that those dreams are illusions. During the party scene he is uncertain about his emotions, but still he emphasises that there is a big chance for him to not see Mystra as the embodiment of love any more but reinforces that she will always be the embodiment of magic to him (a very important concept in his character design). 

Whether Gale is romanced or not, I don't see a difference in the information he shares on this matter in EA.

This post was written in June 2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index

[4e7her]

oc introduction - obey me:

(there's images of him at the bottom - one from this picrew, the other from me)

-

kousei - entity of fear - he / him

at least a few centuries old, kousei generally thought that he had seen everything. apparently, though, there was an entire devildom and no one told him - you would have thought that at least one of his followers would've known about it, but he supposes that's what he gets for relying on humans.

kousei is 6'3" (191cm) with a muscular build. he has medium grey hair with black tips, and incredibly light golden eyes. his left eye is half a dark amber that seems to move everytime you look away. he has pointed ears and many piercings - a staple that you'll never see him without is a upside down cross hanging from his left ear.

his style is best described as angelic. he prefers to wear all-white whenever he can, and being draped in jewelry is just the cherry on top. koushi is usually the picture of luxury, with cropped or sheer tops and expensive fabrics. when you see him, it's very easy to understand why he has such a cult following.

he has tattoos on his torso and back, both intricate and well-designed. in the middle of his chest is a spider surrounded by eyes, just above a spine-like design that does well to frame his v-line. on his back is a huge piece reminiscent of wings and bones, taking up the entirety of his mid to low back, with flares on his shoulder blades for the wings.

kousei's abilities are all based around fear and the mind, though he's proud to say that his talent for manipulation was learned. he has no need for actual food as he feeds on fear, meaning that he skipped over tastebuds a bit when studying how to create his human form - solomon's food is a delicacy to him, for some idea of how they turned out. he's able to manipulate both the void known as his body and the minds of others, meaning that he can take any shape he'd like, though he finds it rather disconcerting and hates changing forms.

he makes it look like he vaporizes others when he draws them into his own mindscape to be torn apart, though he could tear them apart on the mortal realm if he so wished. he does this whenever he uses his abilities - making them and himself look angelic to disguise his rather demonic nature. this also goes for how kousei acts.

he finds out about the devildom via the signup that rad puts out in the human world, just like anyone else would, and takes it as a sign that he's allowed despite the distinction that they were looking for humans. unfortunately for him, they are able to tell he's inhuman, but they allow him in anyways as he explains his human upbringing and his lack of knowledge of the devildom.

kousei's love interests are: the brothers, diavolo, solomon, and simeon.

-

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

sam winchester’s deaths, ranked

8. killed (and then resurrected) by billie in 12.09 in order to escape... an underground prison...? i don’t know.

anyway, this is ranked last because it’s neither emotional nor funny and season 12 is a black hole 

7. struck by lightning in 4.08. fairly inconsequential as it’s reversed a few minutes later and it didn’t really strike me (hah) that he’d actually died there until several years later, but his smoking boots were very funny

6. oooh now we’re getting to the good stuff. he was stabbed to death by anna in 5.13 when he time-travelled to meet his young parents. there are so many gems from that episode, from his awestruck expression when he sees mary and how it makes her uncomfortable (mary the myth, one that he’s never been able to see himself a part of all his life, unlike his father and brother), to sam and dean’s quiet and pragmatic appraisal of the prospect of never being born at all, to one of the many, many times the show has sam sit down and forgive his father. but man. when anna drives that stake into his chest with all her strength, and he falls to the ground, choking and gurgling on his blood, not breaking eye contact with dean till his very last breath? wah re wah!

5. dying of old age one last time (we hope) at the end of 15.20. against all fucking odds, crafting a life and family for himself after having navigated a mountain of grief and a lifetime of conditioning, he gets to pass away in peace, of old age, holding his son’s hand. the only reason this isn’t ranked higher is because of sam’s hideous wallpaper choices.

4. walt and roy fucking eliminating him via shotgun blast to the chest in 5.16. what i love most about it is the suddenness: sam sitting on his bed, hands up, barely allowed to say a word in his defence before he’s full of buckshot. he’s dead before his head hits the pillow. short, shocking and so goddamn brutal.

 3. jumping into the cage to spend an eternity trapped with the devil in order to save the world in 5.22.

one of the greatest tragedies of supernatural is how the sheer magnitude of this sacrifice gets lost as the series wears on and lucifer is often reduced to a petulant teen. this was it. there was no hope of coming back; only endless suffering to look forward to. this sacrifice changed everything.

on the other hand i’m glad the show undermined this as it went on, especially now that we know how sam’s story definitively ends. this sacrifice was rooted in the need to atone, to embrace that there is something rotten and wrong inside of him and for him to do good despite that. what a load of nonsense. also, looking back, the way dean and especially bobby just sort of... accept that it’s ok for sam to do this? that little speech about sam “having a lot of good in him too” like that’s something remarkable and unexpected? fuck you.

ahem. anyway, it was beautiful and very jesus-imagery-y, so number 3 it is.

2. 13.21. fucking 13.21 man. it isn’t so much the death but the resurrection that’s so devastating: getting your throat torn out by vampires has nothing on discovering that it was lucifer that resurrected you and the shame of owing your life to your abuser and having him use you to manipulate the people you love--

the rage and fear on sam’s face as soon as he discovers this, the way it’s dredged up from the very core of his being--

i have never moved on emotionally from this moment and every time i think about it i’m half convinced that s14 and s15 is an elaborate mirage because i can’t think of a way spn could plausibly move on from this moment and tell the story that it wants to tell

1. sam’s very first death all the way back in 2.21.

not only was it unexpected and utterly devastating, but the way it was played: sam hobbling away from the ghost town as one of the last surviving azazel’s children, seeing dean, smiling in relief, both of them calling out to each other--just before jake stabs him straight through the spine, sam falling to his knees and dean managing to catch him just before he falls on his face. the way he wobbles bonelessly in dean’s hold even while dean is mumbling his own reassurances, brushing sam’s hair, holding his face in his hands. the way sam can’t focus on anything, his eyes flitting from side to side like he’s already just... not there in his body anymore before closing for good. the moment dean realises that sam’s gone, his sharp “SAM!” before he buries his face in his brother’s hair and rocks him back and forth....

exquisite. spn could and never would top that scene.

[mariyekos]

First off I LOVE this fic! For all I go on about other dragoons and gaining draconic traits (cough cough Estinien), somehow the idea of that happening to Kain never came to me. The way this change intersects with his existing anxieties about his sense of self works beautifully. At first I read it as Kain having a new fear of touch, maybe out of a fear that he'd been corrupted and didn't want to "taint" the others. Then it built and built and the reveal of the real (or major) reason came and it was jaw-dropping. I hadn't considered it! Somehow I've never considered it! But now that I've seen it I'm in love.

I'm putting the rest under a cut, because I got to rambling and it's long! Part of it is a direct response to this fic, part is some thoughts about other fic ideas, and part is the answer to the eye color question.

Second, the line "Turns out Baigan had changed quite a bit" made an invisible exclamation point go off over my head. The fic begins with the line about Kain behaving differently, and when you combine the two lines with Kain's self-doubt, it is a wonderful formula for a fear that maybe he's been replaced too. That would be a different fic, but I can see some great pieces form (which are half me writing ideas, half me starting to get into fic format, idk I just wrote a lot)-

Baigan was originally a man that was transformed into a monster, but the 'King' was replaced with a monster able to imitate his form that seemed just a little off even before his mask was torn away. The people around them might've noticed their oddities, but none truly questioned their identities until it was time to unveil themselves for a grand attack.

Kain has already had his mind twisted. Golbez- Zemus really- made Kain into his pawn. Take the line from your fic here- "Kain had either dismissed these, or, when lucid but still under control, been forced to forget." This means his memories can be, and have been, manipulated. Even without that line, we know Kain has done things he believes he would otherwise not do.

Kain's friends have noticed something is different about him. They don't trust him as they did before, even if they insist they do, and he has felt the tension that exists between them. They might not have said it outright, but he knows they can tell something is wrong. He feels something is wrong.

If Zemus (via Golbez and pawns or no) had both the power to twist existing beings into the forms of others, and the ability to manipulate memories, what's to say Kain is not an 'other' being molded in both memory and form to believe he's Kain? What if Kain's a fake? What if the reason his friends notice something is different is not because he's Kain who has been changed, but because he is someone else who's been changed to believe he's Kain? What if the reason he feels something is wrong is because with Zemus gone, his true memories and true form are trying to break free?

(And as a bonus: If he is not the real Kain...what happened to the real Kain? Should he tell Cecil and co. of his revelation? Will it upset them? Would they be relieved to learn the wretched thing that betrayed them was an imposter, and that the real Kain- whatever happened to him- had never turned on them at all? Better to have lost a loyal friend than to be left with a fake they could never trust again?

(Bonus part two: but what if he is the real Kain? What if these thoughts are his anxiety running wild? Will his friends think him insane? Will it ruin the fragile trust they've formed from the fragments his betrayal left in its wake? Did Zemus sow these seeds within him, as a last way of punishing one who tried to hard to free himself from Zemus' grasp? Or is this his own broken psyche trying to rationalize what he's been through?)

Returning to the context of this fic, if Kain is a fake, maybe that's why the scales are sprouting. Maybe that's why he's changing. He's not changing into something new; maybe he's changing back. Maybe Zemus formed a dragoon from a dragon. Baigan and the fake King were formed from monsters and returned to monsters. 'Kain' would have to return to being a monster too.

...but again, if it's all in his head, if Kain is Kain and always has been, it doesn't change the fact that he is changing into something else. He has been permanently marred by his possession. Never again will he be the man he once was. Never again will he be able to look in the mirror and say he is the same man. Because he is not. Not mentally, not physically. And while he hopes that mayhap one day he'll be able to reclaim his image, for now, the thought only sickens him.

I like the bit about Kain's hair being his 'one remaining vanity.' I've always loved how he has long hair. The 3D remakes gave us crazy long hair Kain and his ending scene highlights it well too, so I enjoy when people read into it being important to him. Sometimes I say characters have long hair because they don't really care about it and go 'sure I'll leave it like this, better than getting a haircut/I kind of like it long but don't really care that much,' but with Kain I really do like to think he specifically likes it long. There's also some art of helmetless Kain from the DS artbook that makes his hair seem sort of done up to me? Even though it's messy? Enough that I feel like there's some intentional styling there. Maybe it's the way his hair sits at his neck that makes me think of either a braid or a hairtie made of his own twisted hair.

That brings me to the question you asked in the replies about Kain's eye color.

Historically I've gone between blue and purple. I tend to think of them as some light color in between that looks different depending on what he's wearing.

But the helmetless/hair down art I posted above has stuck with me for YEARS and makes me think of them as gold. It's more of a headcanon thing than something I think is canon. Still- I feel like I wrote them as gold in some old fics I've never published. I'm sure it's been years since I wrote them and I don't know where they even are anymore, so I can't find them to say for certain. His DS remake opening model has the "eyes" over his actual eyes as gold too (though the ones on the dragon part of the helmet are light blue, which fits with later depictions of his eye color, and Cecil's "eyes" in his armor are gold too when his eyes are most decidedly not). So the imagery here is gold eyes once again.

But gold is just me having fun. I don't think that's what the creators intended. It's just something that comes to mind (although I favor it when it comes to him using Jumps and so on, since I like HCs about magic lighting up people's eyes).

As for the CANONICAL color? Like the color I think the creators actually intended? Definitely not gold. As I mentioned above, I'd say it's definitely either blue or purple. There is some art that has it as brown/black (his SD art), but I think they just went for dark eyes and didn't mean for it to accurately reflect his eye color.

Now the purple eye thing comes from his TAY/3D model (above). That is 100% purple. But it could be purple here because they wanted to contrast the blue of his outfit. In his IOS/2D Holy Dragoon sprite, the color seems more blue, but that could be because they wanted to limit the number of colors on the pixel art.

Dissidia, however, ALSO makes me go for the "straddles the line between purple and blue" eye color. From afar, I would call these both blue. But when I zoom in (and don't confine myself to real human eye colors), I'd call them purple.

If I was assigning it a more specific color, I'd call the Dissidia color periwinkle.

...

So now that I've actually looked into this more...

tl;dr, I think Kain's eyes are purple. I think they are meant to be either blue or pueple, leaning toward purple. Some of the sprites have them as blue, but everything TAY 3D and beyond seems to have them as some sort of shade of purple! It's really just a question of whether they're a deep purple (TAY 3D), a light purple (Opera Omnia to Dissidia Inside Color), or a grey-purple (bottom two Dissidia in the image below).

Not the highest quality graphic because I started it with the TAY (Wii) sprite which is TINY so I just quickly added in the tiny rest, but I think it gets the point across!

(quick edit: his SNES sprite has his eyes as red but I have never thought of him as having red eyes. I think that's just sprite limitations. yes he has purple in his sprite so maybe they could've used that, but I feel like they went with the red for higher contrast with his skin, since the brown/orange of his skin and the purple of his sleeve thing kind of blend into each other when they're small. I blew his sprite up to see it better, but I think that improves the contrast beyond what you'd notice when you're actually playing and he's tiny).

(Source for the sprite graphic directly above)

Anyway with all that said... 1) thank you for the great fic, and 2) thanks for asking about his eye color, it was fun solidifying what color I think they actually are. I'm sure I could neaten this up a bit, but my laptop is about to die so I'll leave it here for now.

"Look Me In The Eyes" , FFIV, ~1600 words. Why is Kain an even bigger weirdo after the Giant of Babil? General admission, e for everybody, but mild cw: transformation and body horror.

Kain knew he behaved differently after the Giant of Babil.

This was not unexpected, although how he changed surely confused them. Many things, like flinching when offered a hand, were understandable. But now he never took his armor off in front of others, not even his helm. Before, it had been on him near-constant anyway - the armor's boots and gloves were critical for absorbing impact. It took a few days for them to notice he bathed and changed privately, no small feat in close quarters, and moments before sleep. He even wore a low-fitting cap and gloves in his bedroll, no matter how warm. Just as often he slept in his armor.

As they hurtled towards the Red Moon in the mechanical whale, they told him it was conjured up from beneath the Mysidian bay. Now that he was free, perhaps, of Golbez - no, Zemus - Kain could tell them of Golbez's odd fits and starts that had increased whenever discussing Cecil, even before Zot. Kain had either dismissed these, or, when lucid but still under control, been forced to forget. This being all the useful information Kain had for Cecil, Kain retreated from the conversations.

He heard them talking about him, of course. They would either trust him, or must needs be ready to kill him, so what was one more oddity. Kain sat and thought about what had happened to him during his brief second time with Golbez.

"I had but slackened your friend's leash, waiting for the proper moment to pull it taught."

He could do this. He would have to do this. He was now one of the strongest people on Earth - the Blue Planet, as these Lunarians called it. And Zemus had done this to him, and to a ten-year-old child that became Golbez. He couldn't stand aside. He had spoken truly when he said his mind was his own again.

There were complications. Had he revealed anything, when they met Lugae? He didn't think so. His revulsion for the mad doctor was for cowardice, at first, until they had stumbled upon the . . . the remainders of Edge's parents. He had forgotten something, something important about the holiness he once felt in the frame of a healthy human body. Of the long, waking dream that kept him just a bit asleep in Golb- Zemus's thrall, the eyes of the King and Queen of Eblan had almost shocked him out of it.

Almost.

And now before thinking he had told Edge to kill him if he betrayed them, and so it was not only Kain's own cowardice that kept him from revealing the full extent of his betrayal. Compassion had returned to Kain's heart and head, and ruined him. He did not want Cecil or Rosa to have to kill him, and now he added Edge to that list. What would Kain's eyes look like, if he had to beg for death?

His mind was his own again.

Golbez loomed over him. "I have no others. No one is here but you, Kain. You returned to me. I would reward such loyalty. No matter what failures from before. I . . . I failed you too, did I not? What have I . . ."

Golbez shook his head and his drifting attention snapped back to Kain.

"Did I not promise you power, even that to rival the dragon-knights of old? And I have one scale of the shadow dragon. My oldest friend. Now I have no others. No one but you . . . "

Before they plunged into the lunar subterrane, Kain's focus drifted towards the eastern lunar horizon. He could not say why. "What is in that direction?" he asked.

Among all the lunar marvels was something that had astonished even this intrepid group. They talked over each other.

"I still don't believe it-"

"We turned a corner and he was just, there, Kain, it was amazing-

"Oh buddy, you have got to go see this after we're done here-" Edge said, and Rydia smashed her hands across his face to keep him from ruining the explanation of something important to her. Edge licked her hand. Rydia ignored him. They had settled along the way into annoying each other like siblings.

"Bahamut," she said. "Bahamut lives in the Cave of the Father, over there. I'll take you after-"

"No! No," said Kain, his vehemence surprising even him. He had only ever spoken softly to Rydia.

The four turned to him, Rydia shocked and a bit hurt, Edge at once suspicious, Cecil and Rosa confused.

Kain stammered. "I don't - I don't want to go is all. I apologize for raising my voice." Edge scowled. He needed to give more explanation. "I . . . I don't want to face him," Kain said. "I can't."

They winced and after a moment, even Edge nodded in sympathy.

In the furious, terrible days that followed, his comrades thought perhaps Kain had horrible scarring, from punishment for betraying Zemus. Or perhaps an aversion to touch because that was how Golbez ensared him to begin with. He was lucky Rosa could heal him still, and heal him through armor.

Kain was thankful no one pried. Not even Edge. He showed it as best he could. Sometimes he whispered or croaked and it was not because of awkward contrition. Would his voice leave him, too?

Rydia a few times frowned at him, not with what would be judicious suspicion but with plain curiosity. She was the shortest, and at times could see under more of Kain's helmet than he was comfortable.

They won against Zeromus.

Kain felt less jubilant than just relieved and tired. His friends and his world were safe. Now his personal battle would begin.

Baigan passed Kain in the hallway of Baron. The dragoon noticed the smirk and thought, with good humor that surprised him, that at least Baigan had not changed. Then Baigan's arm brushed Kain and Kain shivered before he even knew to think something was wrong.

Turns out Baigan had changed quite a bit. His smirk grew. "Lord Golbez is sure to reward those truly loyal," he said.

His mind was his own again. His mind.

Golbez asked Fusoya, "Might you permit me to accompany you?" and Kain, pitiful creature that he was, panicked for a moment that Golbez had forgotten him. Forgotten to help him if he could. Or perhaps hated him, for taking the last piece of Golbez's one true companion, the dragon that stayed beside him without mind control.

But then Golbez said, "I cannot return. Not after all I've done," and he looked at the five Earthlings. His gaze hesitated on Kain for a moment, so quick no one noticed. In Kain's thoughts, in the hole at the back of his mind, he felt an awareness of Golbez, hesitating to contact him like this at all. This time though it was as . . . equals in contrition.

He gave the bizarre feeling of agreement in keeping their privacy, wordless, more like a curtain falling, which was why he was touching Kain's thoughts at all. A gift from sinner to sinner, a chance to sort out thoughts alone without revealing how far they had fallen by asking for help out loud.

And Kain had the sudden knowledge Golbez could do nothing to help him.

He had expected this. It was not as disappointing as it might have been. Kain's attention snapped back in time to help convince Cecil he should say goodbye to Golbez.

Very little important to Kain happened while they returned and celebrated. He stayed alone until he escaped from the love and concern of his friends and a thankful world. He climbed Mount Ordeals and looked out over a sacred, isolated cliff, and took off his helmet.

His hair, his one remaining vanity, was still long and blond and - human. It felt good in the wind. So too did the sensitive nubs of bone and frill, growing from the crown of his brow. He had started worrying he would need to file them down. Scales grew along his forehead and were soon to reach to his eyes, crawl down his nose, and bloom where all could see.

Their victory couldn't have come any later. He almost hadn't made it.

Sometimes his eyes hurt, and felt strange focusing, and he knew they had turned to slit pupils. He had not brought a mirror. Were they still his natural color?

Perhaps because he kept his mind, and somebody answered his prayers, the lower half of his face remained unchanged the longest and his outline human. Perhaps it was somebody on this very mountain - it was holy to Bahamut and others long before KluYa's spirit rested here. But under the armor there were no parts of him without . . . spottings of scales. Ridges and spines growing. Aching bones of limb anatomy preparing soon to stretch or shrink into digitigrade. He wondered if he would start walking on his toes.

His tailbone and shoulders hurt.

Golbez had kept his promise about power to rival the dragon-knights of old.

Yet dragons were not evil, not like the monsters that moved among animals and that others had been turned into. If the pain in his shoulder blades was an indication, he was not becoming the literal shadow dragon. It had no wings. And Baigan had been able to change form at will.

His mind was his own again, and after everything, Kain still had hope.

On the day of the wedding he spoke into the wind, wondering if it mattered. "Cecil . . . Rosa . . . I have no right to bear witness to your joy. Not like this.

"I will temper myself here, on Mount Ordeals. And then, when I've become an even finer dragoon than my father- perhaps then I can return. Until that day comes, I can but wish you well."

[jwillowwolf]

Okay, so I have a Theory for what will happen in the Finale, but it comes with a very long rant about my reasoning for said theory, so I’ll put it under the cut. Basically, I just got excited and wanted to talk with someone about what I think will happen and have turned to the internet to share my thoughts. Warning for spoilers from Working Through Intrusive Thoughts bellow.

Before I can get to what I think will happen, I need to explain the context of my thinking. Currently, we have Logan feeling ignored, Roman feeling lost, Virgil feeling defensive, Patton feeling confused, Remus just being his dramatic gremlin self, and Janus is in his element.

Logan himself said to Remus “It’s not every day Thomas... is interested in... carrying out this sort of thing.” Showing that today was important to Logan and spoiled by 1) Remus’s interfering, and 2) Thomas going out with Nico. Not to mention he lost his cool for a second and now we’ve got Orange to look out for.

Now, there are two possible theories I know of on this scene. 1) Logan is the Orange-side, which seems to be the most popular opinion. 2) the Orange-side, similarly to Janus, can possess other sides. Personally, I think that Logan being the Orange-side is most plausible.

We have seen Logan almost lose his temper before when he threw a piece of paper at Roman in ‘Learning New Things About Ourselves’. He seems shaken by that, almost scared of what he did. Or maybe of what could have happened. He looked even more shaken in ‘Working Through Intrusive Thoughts’ when we got a glimpse of orange in his eyes. He knows there is a dangerous side to him, an emotional state of anger and frustration that he’s been doing his best to keep under control.

How much longer will he be able to control it though?

Next, we have Roman still feeling kind of upset towards Patton, if his stiff reaction to him speaking in the end card is anything to go by. I describe him as feeling lost because in a way he’s lost his moral compass. After what happened in ‘Putting Others First’, I think he distrusts Patton and considering he has in a way followed morality’s lead through all of this, he’s now struggling through questions of what he decides for himself is wrong and right. And he needs to get this right because he’s meant to be the hero, the good creativity. Or that’s what he’s believed all this time.

He’s been conditioned to see things in black and white. To him, there’s meant to be a clear distinction between a hero and a villain, which means if he does something that is not considered good then he’s bad. You can see how that mindset affects him firstly in ‘Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts’ “It’s a little like looking into a funhouse mirror, but instead of a giant head, or like, long legs and a tiny torse, …it shows you… everything you don’t wanna be” and then at the end of ‘Putting Others First’ “He’s (Janus) asking us to go back on things we’ve known for years! rights and wrongs, should’s and shouldn’t’s!”

The world is not black and white like Roman was taught, so now he’s lost himself in trying to understand the many different shades of grey around him.

Continuing down the angst road, we have Virgil’s uncharacteristic behaviour towards Patton. Yes, we have seen him act this way before, but ever since the ‘Accepting Anxiety’ arc he’s acted differently. More like his true self with the knowledge that he’s safe and among friends, like Logan said in Fitting In he’s part of the group. So, what changed?

Logically he would act out this way as a part of his fight or flight response, or more specifically he’s fighting against what scares him. He acts this way towards Janus and Remus (although it’s harder with Remus since he’s Remus) he gets defensive, cold, and downright mean because he’s trying to protect himself. My point? Something about Patton is scaring Virgil.

If we look at the relationship between them before Virgil’s behaviour, then we have what happened in ‘Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts'. Virgil was at a terrible point of stress over Remus showing up, mainly because Patton was stressed at Remus showing up. Pat’s knee jerk reaction to Remus and what he contributes sends Virgil into a panic because, in a sense, they’re connected as Thomas’s emotions. This may seem odd but stick with me here.

Fear and stress are the two things that drive Virgil. In ‘Why do we Get Out of Bed in the Morning’, he mentions that Thomas feeling stressed over deadlines and projects causes him to “work overtime”. As for fear, that’s clear enough in ‘Moving On’ parts 1 and 2, with his reaction to Patton’s Room. The strong influence of emotions in Patton’s room may have heightened his function because emotion is a core part of who he is. In fact, in ‘Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts’, Logan asks Virgil how Thomas is feeling. This means that he is just as connected to Thomas’s emotional state as Patton.

There isn’t a clear indicator of what happened between ‘Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts’ and ‘Are There Healthy Distractions’ to prompt Virgil’s behaviour towards Patton. Or is there? Let’s look at what exactly he says to Patton:

First from ‘Are There Healthy Distractions’: “How can Thomas Feel B-A-D with his inner D-A-D?” “I can think of a few ways.” This is the first time Virgil lashes out at Patton, and it’s obvious through the whole episode that he’s stressed out.

He actively wants to address the problem throughout the episode and is in a lot of emotional turmoil since the others seem to be ignoring it while he just can’t. Seriously, the pain piles upon him till the point he and Thomas fall into an anxiety attack.

So why does he antagonise Patton here? Because Patton is the one ignoring the problem. Patton is the one most actively ignoring what happened and Virgil is feeling hurt by that. Sure, Logan is distracted, but Logan understands that there are healthy distractions and can stay concentrated on the movie, causing him to not notice Virgil’s dilemma until later. And Roman is still following Patton’s lead here. When he took a jab at Virgil at the beginning and Patton said, “that’s not nice Roman.” He instantly panicked and scrambled to amend himself.

After ‘Are There Healthy Distractions’, we don’t see Patton and Virgil interact again until the end card of Working Through Intrusive Thoughts. “Oh, thank goodness, you’re giving him permission.” “Well, y-yeah. Of course I would.” Virgil bringing up Patton giving Thomas permission seems out of context, and yet it’s perfectly in line with the ending of ‘Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts’ where Patton said “I can’t control every little thing that pops into your head. This may be unnecessary, but, … It’s okay if you sometimes think some… Icky thoughts, Thomas. You have my… permission”

This begs the question though, why is that the line that stuck with Virgil? Because Virgil doesn’t want to be manipulated anymore.

If we look at his relationship with Janus for a moment, then anyone from a mile away can see the two have some sort of history. Something that goes beyond even Virgil’s past as one of the others. The relationship that they used to have. It’s been established that Remus used to unsettle Virgil, so I doubt they spent too much time together, but Janus? That’s a very different story.

Janus is deceit, lies, and denial so he may have hidden Virgil from Thomas. He may have lied to Virgil about his function to keep him under control. It was the best way he knew to hide Virgil from Thomas. But in the end, Virgil came to the realisation that Janus was a lair and hence they must have had a terrible fallout.

This began his arc as the ‘antagonist’ in Thomas’s life. He no longer allowed Janus to control him and faced the light sides on his own. He fought to have his voice heard along with the rest. Now he’s scared of losing the freedom he fought for via Patton taking control.

He’s been down the road before where he was taken advantage of, and he doesn’t want to fall for that again. Never again.

Oof, okay, now we come to Patton himself. He seems fine from the outside, but we all know that he has a habit of keeping his negative emotions on the down-low. He doesn’t exactly know what he’s done. That doesn’t excuse it, but it does put his behaviour into context.

In ‘Dealing with Intrusive Thoughts’ he realises how his reaction to things has influence Thomas’s wellbeing. In ‘Are There Healthy Distractions’ He’s trying to stay committed to Thomas's decision and not influence changing his mind towards facing the problem. Then in ‘Putting Others First’, we see how absolutely distressed he’s feeling because the influence he has over Thomas could be used for bad and hurt Thomas.

In a nutshell, he doesn’t want to become the bad guy, but he doesn’t know how to correct his behaviour. In ‘Putting Others First’ he even asks Janus “What can we do”. It shows that he knows he’s doing something wrong and wants to do the right thing, but everything he’s ever known has been torn apart and now he’s just left confused.

He doesn’t know what to do anymore.

Remus is just doing what he normally does. He’s functioning just fine and honestly, there isn’t anything much to unpack about his behaviour. He’s being himself. Although perhaps there’s something, or someone, behind what he’s doing.

It’s no secret that Janus is the brains of the two (although Remus can create some magnificent Rube Goldberg machines) and could be the mastermind behind this scheme. Since he was introduced, we knew Janus hid behind lies and worked with complex plans to fulfil his goals. The ending of ‘Putting Others First’ shows that he has a part of himself that is only looking out for others but that doesn’t change the fact he’s planning something.

His words at the end of ‘Working Through Intrusive Thoughts’ “Yes, everything is just… fine.” He knows something is not fine. He may even be behind instigating the entire thing.

This time though, perhaps his scheme is meant for good. He can see how the sides are very different from each other. Their working together as the light sides is incredibly unstable. Thomas's mental wellbeing is practically hanging from a thread.

How do we solve this problem? Expose it. So far, Janus's meddling has been to push things into the light. to get Thomas to face all aspects of himself and better understand the complexities of the world.

The truth needs to come out before things can get better.

And all of that brings me finally to the main point of my rant. My personal theory about what will happen with the finale.

Patton and Roman/Virgil currently have an unresolved conflict. That’s what will start the episode. Patton is trying to fix things with Roman and/or Virgil. Logan will try to be the mediator for the situation, and no one seems to be listening to him.

Then Janus shows up and is now on Patton’s side. This is making things worse because well Roman and Virgil still don’t like Janus at all. Perhaps Virgil will even snap and give more context into what happened between him and Janus, comparing Janus and Patton now that Pat seems to be betraying them. Remus even shows up and adds his own comments to further unsettle everyone. The fight is going to get bigger until finally, Logan snaps.

Orange-Logan is now part of the mix, and he is angry. Nothing is holding him back anymore so now everyone is going to have to focus on him. They will listen to him now, which is good, but because anger has taken over, Logan isn’t the same. He’s not able to reason with his own emotions and act as the voice of reason. Everything is coming down!

So now the fighting has gotten even worse, even louder, everyone is stressed and hurt and shouting and then Virgil says “stop”. He doesn’t shout it, he just speaks in a normal calm tone, although his voice is echoing a bit. Everyone does stop mainly out of confusion at his sudden hushed tone, then they see what is happening to Thomas. All their arguing has caused him to spiral into a panic.

Virgil calms Thomas down from his panic, and then Logan from his anger. It’s good for Logan to stand up for himself to be listened to, but anger will get them nowhere. He even apologises for not listening to Logan before things got this bad.

Logan calms down and apologises for his behaviour then calmly calls out the others on their own actions. With a calmer atmosphere, everyone can see a bit more clearly where they were in the wrong and apologise to one another. They talk things out, come to an understanding and resolve their feelings.

Anyway, if you made it to the end of this, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this theory and any theories you have regarding the finale. Thank you for reading and I hope that you have a wonderful day.

[dahniwitchoflight]

KH: The Foreteller’s Animal Masks

This is half fun facts / half theory but basically it’s a list of which Sins/Foretellers are associated with which animals AND where the inspirations for the animal associations came from, since there’s actually a few different sources!

The first would be the Ancrene Wisse, which was a sort of field guidebook for Anchoresses (Female Abbesses/Monks/Nuns basically) containing rules of conduct and behavior 

https://www.hermitary.com/articles/ancrene.html

This goes into many things that honestly have cool thematic ties with symbolism for stuff in Kingdom Hearts, which I could honestly make a whole post in it’s own for tbh, but for here were focusing on one passage:

“The wilderness is the solitary life of the anchoress's dwelling, for just as in the wilderness there are all the wild beasts, and they will not endure men coming near but flee when they hear them, so should anchorites, above all other women, be wild in this way, and then they will be desirable, above other women, to Our Lord. 

In this wilderness are many evil beasts: the lion of pride, the snake of poisonous envy, the unicorn of anger, the bear of dead sloth, the fox of covetousness, the sow of gluttony, the scorpion with the tail of stinging lechery, that is, lust.”

So, we start out with a nice base for some of the Sin/Foretellers:

Ira - Wrath - Unicorn - Unicornis

Avaritia - Greed - Fox - Vulpes

Acedia - Sloth - Bear - Ursus

Invidia - Envy - Snake - Anguis

but then wait, here Gula/Gluttony is a Sow, a Pig, but in KH it’s a Leopard

As well as recently in KH, they’ve made it clear that Luxu/Luxuria is a Goat, not a Scorpion (As cool as a Scorpion would have been for Luxu’s emblem, but a bit too on the nose I suppose haha)

Well, interestingly enough, did you know that back when the 7 deadly sins was actually more like the 8 Evil Things once? And that they were also grouped into a Trio of their own? 

(Despair as Tristitia being the 8th one, because it’s essentially the sin of falling to sorrow/sadness or giving up, of blinding yourself to other’s troubles and causing sorrow in return or being too sorrowful to act, later it was folded into Sloth as a lack of diligence) 

But the 3 Major sin groupings was essentially the three Reasons that people would sin the deadly sins

Incontinence: Doing wrong because they couldn't help it. Or sinning from a lack of moderation or self-control.

Violence: Doing wrong because of anger, revenge or retaliation. Or sinning from by trying to force your will externally

Fraud/Corruption: Doing wrong on purpose in order to hurt other's. Or sinning from betrayal, lies and manipulation. 

These three things form a sort of Unholy Trinity in opposition with the Divine trinity of Father-Son-Holy Spirit

And, very famously, Dante’s Inferno links these three groupings to three creatures from a famous bible verse describing the destruction of humanity via it's own nature:

Jeremiah 5:6 - “Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, and a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities, every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.”

A Lion, A Leopard and A Wolf.

Now based on Dante’s actual writing which grouping with which animal and which sins is often debated, but usually it’s roughly as follows:

Leopard of Incontinence: Gluttony, Greed, Luxuria (from Immoderation, Extravagance, Wastefulness)

Lion of Violence: Wrath, Pride (from Murder, Suicide, Squandering, Blasphemy)

Wolf of Fraud/Corruption: Envy, Sloth, Sorrow/Despair (Tristitia) (from Corruption, Thievery, Falsifier, Betrayal) (yeah... old timey people did indeed view what was essentially depression as a “willful” sin aka something people did on purpose to hurt themselves, like they drown in their sorrows willingly because of a refusal to heal themselves or as a willing corruption of their soul, nowadays if it existed would definitely be thought of a Leopard sin I’d think)

So here it’s very easy to see where Leopardos and Gula get tied together, because in KH the sin of Gluttony is lifted above the other’s in the group, which makes sense because being gluttonous for money is greed, being gluttonous for luxuries was Luxuria (or sex for lust)

And here also, the Sin of Pride/Superbia is again associated with the Lion as it is in the Ancrene Wisse (though it’s also associated with Wrath strongly as well, so no wonder MoM chose Ira to be the next leader after he was gone)

So in all likelihood, this means that the symbol of the Master of Masters is most likely a Lion of Pride, Superbia (and if he had his own union, it might be something like Leo or Panthera) 

But honestly the biggest thing that definitely makes MoM the Lion of Pride is the passage in the Ancrene Wisse that elaborates upon the Lion of Pride, describing it as having “many cubs”:

“But the author continues the animal analogies, enumerating a classification of the sins. "The lion of pride has very many cubs," he states, and enumerates them: vainglory, indignation, hypocrisy, presumption, disobedience, loquacity, blasphemy, impatience, contumacy, contention, "airs and graces." “

Reminds me of both MoM’s many apprentices or Master Xehanort’s collection in the organization

Though the REAL reason is also because did you know when KH was still being thought of and designed, Nomura actually wanted to make Sora a Half-Lion Chainsaw Wielder and we all know Sora is secretly the MoM right lol

But anyway, that explains Gula being a Leopard

So then where did all this talk of Luxu being a Goat come from?

Well one reason could be that later on as the deadly sins got solidified as just the seven of them, and as their meanings changed from umbrella terms to more specific sins, their animal interpretations also started to differ:

Avarice/Greed = Toad/Frog 

Invidia/Envy = Snake

Ira/Wrath = Lion

Acedia/Sloth = Snail

Gula/Gluttony = Pig

Luxuria/Lust = Goat

Superbia/Pride = Peacock

Also Ira with a Lion mask would be cool but can you imagine a Snail Aced or a Froggy Ava? lol

But it IS Cool to think that these “Modernized” animals could then become the emblems of the Union Leaders that inherited Ava’s legacy, since they are the newer versions of those Unions, obviously there’s no one to Inherit MoM’s legacy

But you could easily think of Ventus as the “Traitor” aka the scapeGoated 6th for the new group, leaving Frogs, Snakes, Lions, Snails and Pigs for the other five 

(I wonder who I’d put with who... Ephemer, Skuld, Lauriam, Strelitzia and Brain... the only sin associated with Death would be Wrath (As Suicide) and the “Ira” position appears to be the one who inherits the leader, and it’s theorized Strelitzia was the circled name supposed to get the Book of Prophecies

So Strelitzia = Lion/Wrath

Ephemer and Ava always seemed to be the closest and he was the one who seemed to inherit her Legacy the most so he can get Frogs/Greed

Brain is similar to Gula in how they calmly investigate issues and try to uncover the truth and got extra information than the others, so Pigs/Gluttony for him

Lauriam was the poster boy for temptation into darkness, which is what Darkness was intended when his sister Strelitzia was killed, for him to be the first to fall to rage and grief, nice Aced parallel as the one everyone suspected of falling to darkness first so he gets Snails/Sloth, fitting for the flower elemental lol

and that leave Skuld and Invi which also makes sense as the parallel for the person who tries to intervene in conflicts and mediate for the group, so Skuld gets Snake/Envy

Neat!

But anyway back to Luxu, I think Luxu is represented by the Goat not just because of the above modern listings, but also because of the special place of evil that Christian religions tend to place on Goat itself

If the Lamb is the most common symbol of Jesus Christ, the Goat has always been a symbol of the Evil of Lucifer. Sheep and Goats, despite being so similar, have always been seen as this symbolic duo. Sheep and Lambs being submissive, complacent, docile, while Goats are crazy, willful, destructive and etc likely because since they are so close in nature, they are basically seen as the Good and Evil version of the same animal, a Goat is essentially a heretical false Lamb

They are very commonly associated with the Devil/Lucifer himself and goats have always gotten the short end of stick, all the way back to the old tradition of using goats as well, scape-goats literally. The practice of singling out a particular creature or person and placing all the sin and blame onto it, and then driving it away

Luxu is singled out from the group, likely given the role of “Traitor” amongst the six of them and then is forced into essentially exile to the future by MoM where he can do nothing but watch and wait, never able to interfere or meddle with anything

And this reasoning of the Goat fits Luxu above all others.

So there we have it, finally at the end:

Ira/Wrath - Unicorn/Unicornis

Avaritia/Greed - Fox/Vulpes

Acedia/Sloth - Bear/Ursus

Invidia/Envy - Snake/Anguis

Gula/Gluttony - Leopard/Leopardus

and if Luxu and MoM had union names, (which seem to be just be taken from the genus of the animal directly) they’d likely be:

Luxuria/Lust - Goat/Caprini

Superbia/Pride - Lion/Panthera

But I think the Most Interesting Thing to glean from all of this, is going back to the 3 Groupings for the 8 evil things, can you imagine if KH ever decides to give MoM a little backstory, and a figure based on the Wolf of Fraud/Corruption, emblem of Despair came into the picture somewhere?

Something that might look a little like this?

Hey that’s interesting, isn’t this the special secret boss Dark Hide from Aqua’s Fragmentary Passage? Y’know, that journey all about Aqua falling into the pits of Despair where she then ends up fighting The First Real Pureblood Heartless she ever faces in the Realm of Darkness? Something that Aqua felt was Willfully and Intentionally Stalking her through the depths, instead of mindlessly attacking her?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQGONhqs0mU

Isn’t that interesting how all of things, they give this boss the opportunity for the player to see through it’s eyes, something very unique, and how it initially appears as a formless Darkness

And isn’t Darkness itself, given a will and a personality, now a figure in KHUX Dark Road, that has specific ties to the MoM, as Luxu describes as being a fellow student and/or old friend of MoM?

Could the Will of Despair manifested from darkness come to be a secret 8th apprentice of MoM?

Who knows, but it’s interesting how that symbolism lines up isn’t it?