#just thinking. it always stuck out to me but i do prefer endgame mortal emm//rich

[emmliches]

my canon end for emm//rich is mortality.

i do wish the game would've explore the choices more and the possible downsides to lichdom because, as it stands, they don't present any negatives.

1) though they touch upon this if you choose lichdom, they should've presented this issue beforehand: outliving you. worse: outliving everyone. emm//rich clearly has a deep capacity to love and to care. has he considered an eternity of losing everyone? will he force himself to never get close again in order to avoid mourning? 2) self-identity. you gain immorality, but you lose your body and your face. will you still see yourself as "you"? 3) will he still retain his humanity a hundred years down the line? two hundred? a thousand? how do you hold on to that humanity when you yourself gave it away, are largely secluded from the human population, and possibly bar yourself from further human relationships?

i dislike how the game presents it as "you can't have lichdom by reviving man//fred, because it implies you won't be able to handle the loss of others", and while that does make sense, it falls apart because choosing lichdom means being afraid of his own mortality. is being afraid of others dying unacceptable, but being afraid of dying yourself, and running away, okay?

i'm of the opinion that foregoing lichdom is a sign of growth for emm//rich. he never loses his fear, but he's grown enough to live with it, and choosing lichdom to me feels too easy in that you're encouraging him to run away. choosing lichdom can be interesting in that he obtained what he thought he always wanted only to learn that it isn't what he wants, especially when he sees everyone else aging or dying around him, but i like to think of that more as speculation and an interesting think piece than my canon ending.