#kind of an analysis

[obsessionatthemoment]

One of the great things about Stranger Things is the writers found the perfect balance between plot and character. Sure, some characters are occasionally neglected, but that isn't because the focus on the plot is too strong, it's because the cast of characters is too large, and they keep introducing more (which is frustrating at times). Anyway, my point of this is when people say "Will isn't plot significant." Or "there won't be time for Byler in season 5." I get so frustrated, because: first of all, Will's character is the catalyst for so many things happening in the show happening, and I would argue him and El are the MOST plot significant characters. And second of all, character relationships are part of the plot, and part of a character's arc. They had time to have Lumax break up, and then strengthen their relationship in season 4. They had time for Jopper to finally get together. They had time to build tension between Mike and El. All of that was happening simultaneously with the plot, and was, in fact, relevant to the plot. There is time for Byler, and Byler is happening, whether you like it or not. Will is an important character. I am sick of people's poorly thought out excuses when they don't like a character or a ship.

[aivic-bleps]

Teruko was always meant to be the one to kill Fukuchi

Now I’m probably not the only one to theorise this, but I’m using this as an excuse to ramble about Teruko. Not sure what this is, but it’s probably not coherent enough to be called an analysis.

First of all, I know many people have already theorised that Fukuchi had asked Teruko to kill him if Fukuchi couldn’t. Immediately after she stabbed him, he apologised to her. Because there was ever an ‘if’. Fukuchi knew that Fukuzawa “I would wish for the strength to protect those closest to me” Yukichi would never be able to do it.

And Teruko might not have realised that until she saw Fukuzawa fail to kill him.

And hence:

“You’re a coward!”

You’re a coward for letting me think that there was even a slight chance i wouldn’t be the one to kill you. You’re a coward for pushing this responsibility onto me. You’re a coward for not having the guts to tell me that I was always part of the plan. You’re a coward for making me clean up after your messy gay divorce.

And maybe even partly directed at Fukuzawa: You’re a coward for not killing him yourself.

Fukuchi knew that Fukuzawa wouldn’t do it. But he also knew Teruko would.

She understood that if they didn’t see the plan through, every person Fukuchi sacrificed, and every irredeemable action he took to make himself the villain, would have been for nothing. While not to the same extremity as Fukuchi, she’s certainly far closer to Fukuchi’s wavelength of “for the greater good” than Fukuzawa is. We know she’s capable of killing and torturing people. As a Hunting Dogs, she’s willing to sacrifice her body — and perhaps also her feelings:

“This isn’t fair! You knew how I felt!”

It isn’t fair that I have to choose between my feelings and world fucking peace. It isn’t fair that i have to shove my feelings aside to become a placeholder for someone who couldn’t fulfil their own role in the plan.

The plan hinged on Fukuzawa killing the ‘big bad terrorist’ and assuming control of One Order. Teruko had to step in and do what he couldn’t, then shove the sword into his hands.

“You killed him. That’s your line.”

Is it better or worse that she couldn’t even take responsibility for his death? Did she resent Fukuchi for the things he did and the people he hurt? Did Fukuchi think that would make her more wiling to kill him?

“I would sacrifice no more than 500 lives. …Is that a bad deal?”

By only revealing the truth to her last minute, she had no choice but to help see the plan through. But had he told her from the beginning, before all the damage was already done, would she still have worked with him?

Personally, I don’t think so.

I’ve seen quite a few theories that speculate Teruko to also have had involvement in the Great War, which would make her potentially quite sympathetic to Fukuchi’s cause. But she’s been shown to have very strong sense of justice, and refused to hurt civilians, even ones that were literally attacking her.

Global terrorism? Framing an innocent detective agency? Hurting her own teammates? I don’t think she would be willing to go so far just to place the entire fate of humanity into the hands of Fukuzawa, someone she barely knows. She does not have the same faith in Fukuzawa that Fukuchi does.

Fukuchi perhaps came to the same conclusion. Therefore, while he had always intended for Teruko to be the one to kill him, he would only tell her after it was too late for her to oppose him.

[sapphosclown]

In 1x06, when Cynthia runs off while getting ready, Lydia finds her. Not many words are exchanged. But the words we heard from their exercises have a far different meaning this time. When Lydia states your hair is brown, it’s just a fact until Cynthia gives in. Once she does, she says again her hair is brown and that’s when it becomes something else. Cynthia’s guard is down. Lydia knows what Cynthia knows, and she’s scared. She finally admits she’s scared and they both know it’s not about the play. But then, Cynthia realizes she’s not alone. Lydia says nothing but Cynthia just looks at her and recognizes, “you’re scared.” She hadn’t been sure if “rehearsing” had been to Lydia what it had been to her until now, now she knows it did. They get closer, just repeating “i’m scared/you’re scared” until Lydia looks at Cynthia, “Your hair is brown” and this final call and response is not a merely a statement and fact, it’s a confession. An acknowledgment of three truths; Cynthia’s hair is brown, they are both scared, and this is real. Cynthia repeats it back, whispers like a secret that Lydia is the only one allowed to know.

And then they kiss. Their first kiss. A real kiss that can’t be hidden behind characters or script. And for one second after, they can be happy. They giggle and cherish each others space, and then it hits.

That was real.

Cynthia can’t lie to herself anymore, she’s exposed. She knows the truth, and worse, so does Lydia. And as they both know, Cynthia is scared. So she runs.

[sockthecoolcat]

DRDT playlist prediction(?)

I'm not sure what to call this, since i'm not really analyzing the songs, but me and @runetallem tried matching songs to characters in the playlist that came out a few days ago. This is what we ended up with:

Xander - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable (track 1)

Teruko - Sing Along (track 2)

Hu Jing - RUNAWAY (track 3)

Rose - cartoons (track 4)

Min - asymptotic (track 5)

David - アイアルの勘違い (A Mistaken Belief of Love) (track 6)

Nico - 春嵐 / 初音ミク (spring storm) (track 7)

Levi - Yesman (track 8)

Eden - アンデッドエネミー (undead enemy) (track 9)

Arturo - drawing pins (track 10)

Arei - 【稀雨×ふぁるすてぃ】ハイファイ進化論【2'nd Original】(track 11)

Charles - tip toes (track 12)

Veronika - ポリゴナル (polygonal) (track 13)

Ace - Spitfire (track 14)

J Rosales - desk rotation (track 15)

Whit - good grief (track 16)

That's all of them, the non-english and non-vocal songs were the most difficult for us (for obvious reasons), but we tried our best. (I'm still devastated that Charles isn't asymptotic, but oh well)

[purpleeggyboi]

Holy shit is that the underverse guy

Okay okay, but personally, I have a really hard time getting a proper grasp on Cross' character? I know he can be extremely goofy from snippets we've seen from his past, but the majority of the time, we've seen him dealing with some pretty heavy shit and not taking it well. I try to give him some impulsive and whimsical moments when I write him, but he usually comes out pretty serious anyway. There's just not that much canon stuff to go on when it comes to his more chill side.

On the contrary, I think I have a pretty good grasp on his character, at least as good of one as I can get with what I have.

Cross is impulsive as hell. Consistently, he makes decisions based on how he feels in the moment and never thinks anything he does through beforehand. (Examples: Attacking people who get in his way or whom he thinks is bad news. Trying to steal Overwrite without understanding how it works. Suddenly trusting Chara. Deciding that he’s better suited to look like a bad guy and adopting the title of X-Event. Basically throwing temper tantrums on a regular basis. Turning his back on Ink just because he found out that Ink can’t help him with his universe.)

He assumes that he understands more than he does. Kind of tying in with his impulsiveness, Cross constantly makes decisions based on his own assumptions rather than actual fact. And he assumes that those theories of his are truth until someone tells him otherwise–after which he tends to freak out and start the hating the person who told him otherwise.

Sometimes he just does things out of spite. He didn’t even think Frisk’s plan to overthrow XGaster was bad, but he likes screwing over people he doesn’t like. Sure, Frisk was fricked up too, but points towards how immature Cross is.

Yes, he’s immature, and has a very childish attitude in general. This isn’t just because of the shitposts and interactions with Epic–no, this is actually part of his personality. He regularly acts like a little kid. Doing things out of spite. Throwing temper tantrums. Trying to be all evil but just making a fool of himself in the process. Holding grudges for no reason. Clinging to things rather than just letting them go. Assuming he knows everything. Hating to lose or be wrong. He’s just… kind of a self-absorbed dick.

Cross is the very definition of an adult who never stopped being a teenager. Except he’s violent and has no one to stop him from making stupid decisions, which he makes a lot of because he doesn’t understand how to function as a mature person, especially because he wasn’t raised properly and wasn’t taught these things, but that’s another story.

Plus, it’s really obvious that he has anxiety, and it’s easy to see why. He’s got a lot of pressure on him all the time. But that’s not the reason for his flaws–he’s always had them regardless. Even with his whole “I was never trained to be lazy” line, it means that he was taught to always be on guard all the time. That’s definitely a source of ingrained stress and anxiety on its own; that and a domineering ‘father’.

And of course, Cross does have some nerdiness in there somewhere, so then comes in the whimsy and the funny stuff. He’s melodramatic and just seems like the type to make a lot of noise and to make sure everyone knows how he feels at all times, so he’s kind of a drama king. But he’s also the type to just be an asshole for no reason.

Basically what I’m trying to say is that, interpret details as you will, but he is far from a calm person. XD

[heytherecentaurs]

Brennan’s talked before about how as a poor young adult he lived in New York and struggled with food security. He tells a story of going to frozen yogurt places for free samples and a cheap dumpling spot because it was a lot of food.

His opinions on food and his described behaviours around food make a lot of sense in that context. He may be successful now and can be assured he can eat again when he’s hungry, but it appears he has legitimate trauma around his experiences with poverty because what he’s humorously describing is a trauma response. His mind hasn’t gotten rid of the anxiety of “I’m eating now so I better make it count because I don’t know when I will again.”

Because he’s a comedian he manages to frame it as a joke, but there’s certainly an underlying sadness. It also informs Evan Kelmp’s characterization. Capitalism is the root issue here and poverty is state-sanctioned economic abuse.

Anyway, I hope he’s doing well and taking care of himself.

[mayasaura]

I was thinking about how we don't actually know how Pyrrha died. Just that by her own telling, she "was killed," and that she was the first cavalier to die outside Cristabel and Alfred's suicide pact.

Before Nona came out, I suspected Gideon the First must have killed her, probably with her consent. That seems unlikely to me now, with everything we've learned about them in Nona.

Also before Nona came out, I came to the conclusion that the lyctors demanded John kill Alecto following a "great attack" on Canaan House and the revelation of what a Resurrection Beast is. Based on Mercymorn's assumption that Alecto was a freak who would attack her on sight, I also highly suspected that Alecto either participated in or perpetrated the attack on Canaan House, thus proving herself beyond a shadow of a doubt to be untamed and dangerous in a way that not even John could talk his way out of.

I just recently noticed a detail in Nona the Ninth that might slot all this together like puzzle pieces:

Pyrrha has seen something very like Nona's tantrums before, and that memory scares her. Enough that she avoids even thinking about it.

I think Alecto may have killed Pyrrha.

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i have suddenly become obsessed with a theme that HoO established but never proceeded to extrapolate on, which is:

You are Percy Jackson, and you have been swapped with a boy who was allegedly everyone's favorite person, but they have decided to replace him with you. They just met you. You stand next to his best friend and the people he's known his entire life. In his home. In his cloak. In his place. They stopped looking for him.

You are Jason Grace, and you have just found out you have a long lost sister who completely replaced you in her life with this girl you just met. Your lives and personalities are mirrors. She is you, living the life you were robbed of.

You are Annabeth Chase, and you have just become starkly aware that you have been inhabiting the void left behind by your best friend's long lost brother. You and Luke were just replacements for him. Now you have to look him in the eyes when he has nothing and know you took that life from him.

You are Piper McLean, and you have just found out your relationship is fake and built entirely on the memories of Annabeth Chase. You have been given a boyfriend when hers has been taken away. You have no idea how much of it is real or not but regardless you feel like if your relationship isn't exactly in their image that you have failed.

You are Leo Valdez, and you have just learned that you are the echo of your great-grandfather. You are not your own person. You just exist to be a mirror of him. A doppelganger. An actor and stunt double facing all the danger he never had to but wearing his face. To be there for his best friend decades later simply because he couldn't. You are playing a role. A seventh wheel and a pawn for a goddess who carefully sculpted your entire life for her own purposes.

You are Hazel Levesque, and the only reason you are alive is because your brother couldn't save your his sister. You are a consolation prize. An apology. Your existence here is misplaced in every way but you inhabit it anyways.

You are Frank Zhang, and you are a shapeshifter. Inhabiting your own body feels strange and clumsy when you could be literally anything at any time. You are anything and everything and live your life with the simple certainty of knowing exactly how you will die.

[bungobble-my-balls]

OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.

I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.

At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.

He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)

Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.

In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.

I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

It's actually funny, in a meta way, how people are salty about Miquella being a villain. Because, like, that's how it is in-game too.

The people of the Lands Between wanted Miquella to be the solution to their problems. To be the promised savior. The God who would get it all right and do what Marika tried to do and failed so resoundingly, bring an age of infinite prosperity.

But, no, it doesn't work like that. Gods can't solve their problems. The Gods want their own ends and then convince people that what they want is what's best for them. The fans are the same as the poor bastards in the Haligtree, waiting for their savior, only for it to turn out he's just another spoiled kid.

It's brilliant, from a writing perspective. They kept Miquella vague, letting the Soulsborne fandom do what it always does, theorize, investigate, and build up ideas. We built up an image of Miquella as a savior, a hero, one of the only truly heroic characters to understand and get it right.

But in the end, Miquella fooled us as well as he fooled his own people.

[calmlb]

It’s been clear that the Tanizakis aren’t siblings from the very beginning

here’s some evidence now that it’s been confirmed canon…

everyone who’s read irl Tanizaki’s book knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

BUT just because the Tanizakis aren’t siblings doesn’t mean you can’t feel uncomfortable about them. if you feel uncomfortable, GOOD. that’s exactly what they want

the Tanizakis, Mori— they all use these disturbing ruses to disarm or distract people in order to protect themselves, or to accomplish their goals. this is a writing device that asagiri commonly employs as a way to parallel the irl literature (it’s actually ingenious)

there are 4 main indicators that have always made it clear to me that Junichiro & Naomi are not siblings:

1. most obviously— their character designs. Harukawa is extremely intentional with character designs, & she very intentionally made Naomi & Junichiro look nothing alike

their eye shapes are purposely different

their color palettes are contrasting

even their differing styles of clothing have meaning

this was all done so that the audience could PLAINLY see that they’re not related— so that WE know that they’re lying when they say they ARE related

2. how the people around them respond to their act.

the general reaction is “don’t question it”— which is exactly what they want. “be distracted by how uncomfortable you feel so that you look away from what we’re hiding” (this is likely a protective measure)

3. most importantly, this is meant to parallel irl Tanizaki’s book “Naomi,” where the main character Joji picks up Naomi to raise her into his ideal woman, but since she's so young (& a minor) they call each other cousins (Joji makes no sexual advances on young Naomi btw)

however, his plan backfires because when Naomi gets older & they get married, she flips the script on him & manipulates HIM so that he's under her thumb (which is why bsd Tanizaki is at a domineering Naomi's mercy). Joji let her have her way because of his masochistic tendencies

4. lastly is the emphasis that Asagiri and the Tanizakis themselves put on calling each other siblings.

over & over, it’s “my brother this” & “my sister that”

like they’re desperately trying to convince us that it’s true (“don’t let your lying eyes deceive you”)

here are just a few of many examples from the light novels…

again, if you’ve read “Naomi” you knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

just like if you’ve read irl Mori’s works, it’s clear that bsd Mori isn’t a pedophile

just like if you’ve read No Longer Human you know that Dazai’s an unreliable narrator. he makes you think he’s a bad person bc he believes he’s a bad person, but those around him see him differently (btw this doesn’t mean he’s never done anything “bad,” though bsd isn’t about morality— but that’s another discussion)

anyway, i’m so excited for the Tanizakis backstory to be revealed so that we can better understand why they use this defense!!

also let this be a reminder to READ THE LITERATURE if you’re able to!! even reading synopses & analyses of the coordinating books makes bsd make much more sense 🥹

reminder that this how you’re supposed to react while reading bsd:

also, if you’re interested in a post explaining how Mori isn’t a pedo, i wrote this analysis on twt. OR you can read this document that one of my moots sent me (remember: analyzing a character does NOT mean you condone any actions they may or may not commit!)

[grandwitchbird]

Dragon Age has been doing a really clever thing with its protagonists and the heroic power fantasy that only fully comes together when you look at the series as a whole, so let’s do another ramble. Under a cut to save your dash.

Origins is a traditional RPG power fantasy. It likes to tell you that it’s not by gesturing at Loghain and alluding to unreliable narratives, but what it shows is the power fantasy. No matter what your warden does, they’re the hero. Are you a casual genocide enthusiast? No problem you can still ride off into the sunset looking for a cure. Also hey you have a critical weakness/flaw (the calling) that kind of dooms you or gives you cause to vaguely ride of into the sunset. Very heroic indeed. There’s a layer of textual interest added by the presence of unreliable narratives, but ultimately it’s the hero’s choices that shape and determine the world and story, right down to very gamified relationships. The origins system itself, the fact that your warden could have been anyone, is the actual textual proof that this isn’t all that’s going on. It just only really gets paid off by later games, and that’s pretty important given where this franchise ended up.

—

Enter DA2. Hawke is a champion, not a hero. Hawke fights for those who can’t fight themselves. Hawke can’t save the world. They can’t even save their family or city. It’s a battle of attrition that sees them somehow worse off no matter what. The still-gamified but now more nuanced and challenging relationships become the focus because they’re really all Hawke has. Now the power fantasy is still lurking around the edges. It’s just challenged at every turn. You can free Kirkwall, but Anders is always going to blow up a church.

—

Which brings us to Inquisition. Somehow, you’re both as much of a nobody as Hawke and you’re responsible for more than the Warden. And it’s miserable. The power fantasy is constantly undermined. No matter who your inquisitor was, by the end of the game they’ve been completely subsumed by their role: turns out power has teeth.

In a move that delivers on the unreliable narrative throughline that Origins established and DA2 strengthened, the Inquisitor must play the hero and save the world. It doesn’t matter if your Inquisitor is a kind person doing their best or a racist power-hungry asshole, and that is now a systemic issue within the world itself. The erosion of your character’s personhood is explicit within the text as characters struggle to see you as more than your role and you’re asked to shape the faith of an entire world even if you don’t share that faith. The cost of this erosion is made incredibly literal with Ameridan’s story and then in Trespasser, where the anchor, both cause and symbol of the Inquisitor’s role and power, is killing them. Relationships become somewhat less gamified but more importantly, you’re given an explicit textual mirror in Solas. He’s there to reflect your behavior but also your loss of personhood to a role. It’s essential that he’s the one to save your life at the end of Trespasser. Even if you’ve never shown him a moment’s grace, here is your mirror to see you as a person one last time.

—

And then there’s Rook. Now we play a mirror to Solas, a character who has been the hero, Mythal’s champion, and a man subsumed by his role/s. He’s really the narrative gift that keeps giving.

We walk the dreadwolf’s path this time, and the dreadwolf is a classic tragic hero. He’s stuck in a story where he must save the world and where a critical flaw will always be his downfall. We’re Varric’s second who must step up to champion his cause after the events of the introduction. And we’re barely keeping ourselves together under the burden of leadership. And here is where Veilguard finally delivers everything this franchise ever promised. Because under all that we’re truly just some guy. Just like Solas is just a guy who got stuck in situations he never wanted. His response was to become the hero or play the villain (depending on the story) because that’s easier. But if Rook can truly choose the ‘hard truth’ that the world is never going to “stay fixed” (oh hi Inquisitor… and Hawke… and Warden) and that other people can have better ideas and make hard calls and their own choices? If we don’t have to ‘win’? Rook can reconcile the inevitable tragedies of this kind of story with their very human needs and escape the story altogether. The cost, of course, is the power fantasy.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Remember: The burning sensation is part of the process.

[rayroseu]

Some sad thing I realized today, but I read again that faes can always drain magic from nature, so they technically have endless supply of magical power, that's why Overblot Malleus is undefeatable right now.

But if this was the case for all powerful faes, why didn't Meleanor utilize that endless magic supply to strengthen herself during her overblot against Knight of Dawn?

It would've made sense and she would've become stronger instead of weaker as the battle goes on (in game, notice that her character never heals, unlike Overblot Malleus who heals 60k HP bcs he has endless magic supply so you can't exhaust him unlike Overblot Meleanor)

So, my theory is this, like Malleus, she overblotted in purpose, but she didn't extract her strength from nature because the environment around her, mainly Land of Briar, is extremely damaged already because of human excavations and using that nature for magical strength would hurt that land even further. (Bcs remember that bcs Malleus is also draining magic from nature, some of the habitat in Sage Island "are devoid of life" like how Ortho described even the fishes are asleep)(This might even be just bcs of Malleus' sleeping magic)

So even if she has access to it, she never used that power because she didn't want to harm her own land as well and just extracted magical strength out of her own magic even if that's going to hurt her in the long term (she can never heals because she couldn't exactly heal the magic she extracted much like how Lilia can never get back the magic he exhausted to hatching Malleus even if its theirs)😭✨

which really ties into my interpretation that her choosing to battle alone wasn't her overestimating herself but that it was her sacrifice 😭✨💔

[medusaesque]

Harrier Du Bois, a black dog

“How to Be a Dog” by Andrew Kane / Emily Wilson’s foreword to a translation of Homer’s Odyssey / art by @senkkei / "Dinosaurs" by Richard Siken / "The Angriest Dog in the World" by David Lynch / "Let Dead Dogs Lie" by Silas Denver Melvin / gif by @keyboard-worrier