#lanterns analysis

[dim-paper-lanterns]

on annabeth and rachel in pjo

maybe it's the aromantic in me, but I never realized that annabeth's and rachel's whole feud was over percy. to me, I always figured it was centered around annabeth's own isolation away from the mortal world.

ok, here me out. i always read annabeth's and rachel's relationship as annabeth's jealousy not over percy, but rather her demigod world. i mean, she was practically born knowing of the gods, and even if she didn't, we know that from a very young age (earlier than 7), she was introduced to the worst aspects of it. (I don't remember if she knew that athena was her mother pre-camp, but it doesn't really matter) so here you have this child, and she's scared and angry and no one in the mortal world believes her when she talks about spiders and dreams. its not hard to imagine that she would form some sort of bitterness towards the mortal world, especially since she left it (became a year-round camper w no contact w the mortal/outside world) at a very young and impressionable age.

"My dad’s resented me from the day I was born, Percy. He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work."

and then she meets luke and thalia. for the first time in her life, she's respected, and protected and loved. and they believe her, about everything. they are older than her but they take her seriously and they promise her family. they left their mortal 'families' as well, they know exactly the terrors she has been facing. they are the exact kind of different she is, the same kind her father sighs at and her step-mother scoffs at. so now we have annabeth, and she is young and impressionable and the line between the demigod world and the mortal world has become firmly drawn.

camp half blood comes like a savior land. safety, respect, understanding, friendship. thalia's gone, annabeth becomes a year-rounder, she is surrounded by magic and powers and monsters. but this is her world, this is her camp, this is her domain. she tries, she really does try to reconnect with her mortal family by it doesn't work out and she is sent right back to camp. that's fine, all she needs is camp. she's going to make something of herself, she's going to become counselor, she's going to win every capture-the-flag, she's going to be chiron's best student, she's going to get a quest. she is going to be great.

“I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn’t want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn’t even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood.”

annabeth is 12 and full of fragile pride. percy enters camp and annabeth gets a friend, a chance and a crush all in one. everything is working out, but tensions are rising between the gods and tensions are rising in camp- its fine. annabeth is going to be great.

things are not going great. luke has betrayed them, has betrayed her. she seems to be in constant danger, by monsters and gods alike- even her summers are now filled with dangerous quests and battles. they go through the sea of monsters, they bear the titans curse. clarisse has her battle will, percy has his sea powers, grover has his saytr magic. drew has charmspeak, beckendorf has a dragon, nico is the son of the death god. thalia is back with her storm powers, lee has his magic, katie has hers, and annabeth is a strategist. but it's fine. she is not going to feel inferior, or weak, or lesser than. this has been her world since birth, this belongs to her. she doesn't need any mortal in it. not her father, not her step-mother, not her step-brothers, not her school 'friends'.

and then rachel arrives. she's pretty, she's sharp, she's funny. she's quick on her feet and she can see through the mist.

she is mortal.

and she keeps reappearing. she becomes friends with percy, which, hello? that's annabeth's partner. she goes with them into the labyrinth, annabeth's quest. she is a mortal.

this is what i made out of annabeth's feud with rachel. it wasn't jealously over a boy, it was because this mortal could come into annabeth's world, and take over everything annabeth has ever known. she cut herself off from the mortal world when she was 7, and here comes this mortal girl constantly tagging along with them, messing up her plans, taking over her missions.

annabeth is prideful. she is proud of her life, of everything she has created, free of mortals.

kronos's army arrives in new york. annabeth's friends are either dead, on luke's side, or fighting a losing battle protecting camp. they go on more and more missions, the gods aren't being helpful. its a hit or miss on if the new demigods can even make it past thalia's tree due to all the new monsters attacking them- annabeth buries children.

and throughout all of this, percy is off with some mortal?

the battle of manhattan arrives and call annabeth selfish or apathetic, but she revels in it. all of her efforts, her skill and strategy and struggle has been made worth it. she leads her campers into battle with victory in her eyes.

and then the mortal comes crashing out of the sky in a helicopter.

annabeth saves her, of course. but now she's got a mortal involved in what is quickly turning out to be a bloodbath, and rachel is talking on about paintings while annabeth's siblings die outside. its easy to hate her when she is constantly in annabeth's way.

LOL ANYWAYS

all this to say was that i misread annabeth's whole grudge against rachel so badly whoops. love her though

[dim-paper-lanterns]

The thing is that everyone knew Luke. Any new camper who came passed through the Hermes cabin at one point -which was written to be the most worn down and crowded of all the cabins- met Luke. He was their friend. He was kind and responsible and he was the oldest any demigod has ever managed to become. At the start of tlt he’s 19 and you can tell how much the camp admires him.

The fact that there was demigods who joined Luke’s side only adds to this, children who believed in Luke’s mission more than they believed in gods. (Idk if I’m misremembering) but in tbotl, when Percy and beckendorf crashes the Andromeda and Percy runs into enemy demigods, his narrative was something like ‘I’m not going to kill them bc theyre demigods and bc they used to be campers’. If this is true, it implies that there are demigods who would willingly side with the monsters that they’ve grown up being warned about, as long as it meant they could follow Luke.

A big part of Percy and annabeth’s disconnect is Percy not understanding how annabeth can still believe there is goodness in Luke. But like the camp, Luke castellan was a constant in her life, whereas for Percy, he knew the man for like, 3 days before he was sent on his first quest.

And maybe Luke reciprocated, maybe Luke really did care for the kids under his protection. His last words are (and I’m paraphrasing here) “-Ethan, all the other unclaimed-” luke knows these children. He can do what their own parents can’t. I’ve seen people assume that luke recruited other demigods, seeing them as nothing more that extra swords and canon fodder, but I really don’t think that’s true. He knows their pains, he gives them a direct solution to bite back.

Anyways lol what do I know 🤷‍♀️

“why don’t they ever suspect Luke why don’t they realize it’s Luke why are they so quick to suspect Clarisse and not a Hermes kid”

guys, Luke is the perfect child. Thats the whole point! He gave his offerings he said his prayers he went on his quest he proved his loyalty to Chiron, to the gods, to his dad. And he did it all with a smile. They have no reason to suspect luke! Luke is the best of them!

Ares could’ve come to that meeting waving a big sign that said “LUKES THE LIGHTNING THIEF” and they still wouldn’t have believed him.

Because they also don’t want it to be Luke.

They love Luke. Luke takes care of them Luke protects them Luke is everything they want in an older brother. It doesn’t matter how blaringly obvious the writers get about who the real thief is. They will ignore every sign, every red flag, every warning, until Percy is dying of poison deep in the forest and Luke is gone.

[shaylogic]

Let's all go feral over light symbolism! <3

I noticed that in the Case of the Creeping Forest, we have Crystal & Charles with their own lantern in the forest.

Edwin and Monty with their own lantern.

Neither of those lanterns is the same as the one that Edwin gave to Charles when they met.

The Cat King extinguishes Monty's flame just before lighting his own Chandelier and outing Monty to Edwin, hoping it will garner favor for himself in Edwin's eyes.

When Charles descends into Hell, he doesn't have the lantern in hand yet. He pulls it out of his Bag-of-Tricks in the darkness of the Doll House.

As the fandom has already pointed out, the lantern that Edwin gave Charles when he was dying is the same lantern Charles brings into Hell to save Edwin.

Anyway, hope y'all were having a good day. Let's share all our theories with the class <3

[snikt111]

hi hi hi hi I found out about Hal Jordan TODAY and am going so autistic over him it’s insane can you please give me a rundown on what his deal is I think you’re the Tumblr Green Lantern guy

omg hi, insane compliment btw, tysm! i'm glad to give you a rundown!! also definitely check out @katmaatui for more hal info, red is SUPER knowledgable abt him. @rillette, @catboyollie, @halcarols, @starsapphire and @yellowcorps (along with so many others that i cant think to tag off the top of my head) have some great hal takes too! (edited the post just to tag more ppl)

apologies if this is a bit rushed/messy, i'm doing this while i smelt stone in minecraft LMAO

that being said... i think this will be a long one, so more below the cut :3

(cw for light mentions of pedophilia, abuse, canon typical violence)

okay, so hal jordan is the first human green lantern of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. it's important to note that there was technically a human green lantern before him (alan scott, originally from earth two/the justice society, but integrated into main DC canon after crisis), but his power comes from a different source- which is a whole different ballpark that would take ages to explain, lol, so i'll move on from that.

hal was originally introduced in a showcase issue in 1959, but ended up getting a solo run in the mid 60s because of his showcase issues doing well. he's been a test pilot, middle brother, compassionate, rule follower (although being surprisingly liberal for the time) with an interesting relationship with star sapphire carol ferris since those first appearances. for the first 20 odd years of his appearances we had no information on his parents, but we got a lot from other family members, such as uncle titus, cousin hal jr (aka airwave), younger brother jim jordan and older brother jack jordan. through the 60s and 70s those members of his family were developed along with him; with the audience learning that jim's wife sue thought jim was green lantern, rather than hal, and hal himself training his cousin, hal jr.

the most known version of how hal got the ring in the first place is probably based off of geoff john's rewrite in the mid 00s, reiterating the original story of abin sur crashing onto earth and dying, leaving hal with his ring to be trained by sinestro and the rest of the glc, while also changing miniscule details that had been developed in emerald dawn 1 & 2 (which was released in the 90s, more on that later). the main premise of abin sur's crash has stayed the same, but the story around hal's current life, job, family and stability keep changing. for instance, the original comic with abin sur in showcase only showed hal getting the ring, the guardians choosing him. the first rewrite i can think of was emerald dawn volume 1, published in 1989 and continued in emerald dawn v2 (1991). here we get the classic hal watches his father die in a plane crash with carol ferris beside him as a pre adolescent, and some of the biggest implications of the mistreatment from his father. we also get introduced to hal, despite his stick to the rules, straight edge attitude, making some serious mistakes and putting people in danger and even death- with the implication of alcohol abuse. the audience HAS known hal used to be in the air force since sometime in the late 60s or early 70s (sorry, i don't remember the exact issue!), but emerald dawn shows us that hal's moved on from the air force and into test piloting, and that his mother keeps having to bail him out for making mistakes. emerald dawn vol 1 shows the abin sur moment, followed by fights that cost hal's friends life, and is followed up by sinestro training hal in emerald dawn vol 2, where we get to see the iconic scenes of hal finding out about sinestro and his... dictatorship.

along with that; how the guardians and rings are treated and hal and the glc's perception of them is vastly changed over time. in the early days of gl in the 60s, the guardians were really never to be seen. hal was repeatedly summoned to them and then had his memory almost fully wiped- only leaving a vague notion of his orders. the guardian's called hal to them at seemingly the worst times, ending up with him almost getting injured, getting in trouble at work, and even ending up jobless and homeless. the chaos of being a green lantern has been around the WHOLE time, but originally, the green lanterns didnt really... fight it. the guardian's were their masters (and even father figures, to hal) and not to be questioned. the rings in the 60s were also much more powerful, despite the yellow weakness (the yellow weakness is the notion that from about the 60s to the mid 90s the green lantern rings were completely unable to be used against anything yellow). time travel, phasing, teleporting, etc were all very viable and common things- as well as forceful shapeshifting, invisibility, mind control, mind reading, etc etc. these days, writers have dampened these powers down to mostly shooting light and constructs.

okay, it's parallax time. the emerald twilight arc from the mid 90s wasn't an arc that was as thoroughly planned out over a long period of time as it probably should have been. a lot of fans at the time (and even now) hated what happened there, and claimed it ruined hal's character entirely. i can understand why! but, at it's core, the parallax arc is a story about a broken man pushed to the limit, fully grieving his home and family (originally, he lost his brother jim in the destruction of coast city, along with a lot of other family members) and being goddamn fed up with how his "masters" treated him and the rest of the corps. the so called "perfect lantern" (no, he wasn't that much of a rebel, despite what johns wants you to think) snapped and essentially tried to gain as much power as he could to bring back coast city. when the guardians stripped him of his powers so he couldn't, hal became enraged and took down every lantern in his path, just to get to the guardians and that power. long story short, he kills the guardians and absorbs all the energy from the central power battery on oa, becoming parallax- essentially a god. this marks the start of zero hour, an event made by dc to restructure and reset; giving the comics a new generation of heroes. hal destroys the world and remakes it, but is ultimately taken down by kyle rayner, the new green lantern, with the help of the jla, jsa and associates. there are a few more run ins with parallax after this, before kyle convinces parallax/hal that he can make up for all of this by reigniting the sun after it went out- aka killing himself. hal does it, is stuck in limbo for awhile and then becomes the spectre to continue to make up for the horrible things he did as parallax. the spectre is the spirit of god's wrath and vengeance, a weapon used to drag sinners to their very own, self made hells, and scare the shit out of people. the spectre, from it's very first appearance, is a ghost like spirit that takes on a host, and is primarily described using christian terms and is used in a very... christian ideology. HOWEVER, the spectre 2001 confirms that hal is jewish (jewish mom, catholic dad) and that belief system, plus his personality as a whole, literally makes him change the spirit of vengeance into the spirit of redemption, for at least as long as they are bonded. the whole parallax to spectre arc is about grief, pain, cycles of abuse and terror, redemption and guilt. it is NOT about a fear bug that possess hal. (im so serious though, the spectre 2001 is one of the best comics ive ever read. amazing. changed my world view) but... geoff johns changed all of it, decanonized the spectre, and ruined the legacy of parallax and hal's growth as a person by releasing green lantern: rebirth in 2004/2005. this retcons hal's breakdown and journey through grief into him BEING POSSESSED BY AN ENTITY CONTROLLED BY SINESTRO THAT FULLY CHANGES PREVIOUS GREEN LANTERN CANON AND IMPLICATIONS. also, fucks up the importance of kyle becoming ion, but whatever. geoff johns writes hal (and even more so, carol) so very wrong, and change their stories so vastly in ways that go against the stories very meanings.

SIGH.

now... time to get started on some rougher stuff. hal jordan misconceptions. i'm saving that arc for last.

- hal jordan wasn't much of a rule breaker or rebel until the 70s/80s, where he BEGAN (very slowly, mind you) to be radicalized by oliver queen during denny o'neil's green lantern/green arrow. hal was painted as more of a conservative during this period (which, admittedly, kind of goes against previous canon... he's always been relatively central to liberal, not to any extremes like ollie though, lol) but gets more and more understanding of how power structures work and how lower classes are mistreated during this time- which ends up opening his eyes a bit to how shitty the guardians are. (this is helped by the guardians literally just. leaving. the green lanterns and kind of disbanding them so they can go fuck the zamarons, lmao). geoff johns tried to change this narrative into making hal a very... maverick-from-top-gun type of character, who punched his way out of the military (when, in reality, the original story during emerald knights in the late 90s was that hal had been framed for stealing a jet and was dishonorably discharged, which he took the punishment for because he knew someone had to) and hits on women constantly and gets ladies and allat (which, funnily enough hal was awful at getting carol to like him for a long time, since carol fell for green lantern rather than hal. not to mention the awkwardness of carol's proposals or hal's many, many failed relationships). hal has always been insecure and lowkey boyfailure, he is NOT a top gun maverick tom cruise sorta guy! fuck you jeremy adams!

- hes not that much of an idiot asshole. hal can be a real dick, he's had that going for him since the beginning, but he isn't what you read in batfam fics. he's not stupid and shouldn't be the laughingstock of the justice league. i assume this idea started from the obsession with batfam and the fact that the jla has quite the history of ignoring hal and his issues (as well as. all of their issues. theyre not so great at work life balance), but it's gone too far. hal isn't making fun of the robins and pissing bruce off bc of that. hal isnt fooling around on the job 24/7 (he takes being a gl and pilot VERY seriously, although he does enjoy some danger and high stakes) or slacking off to get girls. again. not top gun maverick.

- hal has not been a creep since the beginnings. hal was not weird with carol in the 60s. things were weird between them, yeah, but that's based off circumstance and the craziness of star sapphire and green lantern. he was NOT being horribly sleazy! i hate that i even need to say this, but i see this take too much not to

- going off of what was said above, lets discuss the arisia arc. if you want to be a real hal fan, this is unfortunately something you need to know about. in action comics, after crisis and the guardians left to go fuck the zamarons, most of the green lanterns fell apart and seperated. a small group went to earth- led by hal and consisting of hal, john stewart, katma tui, kilowog, salaakk, ch'p and arisia rrab. (also sometimes guy gardner, but that's complicated) previously to this arc, hal treated 14 year old arisia like a beloved little sister, welcoming her and leading her into the corps just like everyone else. things started to change once the timeline gets closer and closer to crisis, where arisia starts showing that she has a crush on hal (who is roughly 30s at this point). any advances made by arisia are shut down by hal at the beginning, because she's a child. now, it's unfortunately a common thing to just call hal a "pedophile" because of what happens in this arc- but it really isn't that simple. still weird and icky, but definitely not to the degree of which some fans like to act like it is- esp to attack hal fans for, which is... an odd choice regarding how many fucked up things every character (esp male characters) did back in the day. arisia ends up using her power ring to artifically age herself up, making her body AND MIND into that of a young adult (the comic makes this very clear). once this happens... hal stops rejecting her. they get together, they kiss. the only person in the group of green latnerns who actually has an issue with it is john (salaakk is meh about it, but he just doesn't like human-esque romance no matter what), and katma even directly encourages their relationship. kilowog ends up crushing on arisia as well, and guy gardner hits on her repeatedly throughout the whole period. eventually, hal and arisia break up, but this legacy (thank so much englehart, for wrtiting this. /sarc) is a big controversy among the comics crowd. "is hal jordan a predator?" personally, and i know a lot of friends/mutuals/other gl fans choose to erase the arisia arc entirely (versus how canon ended up retconning it to be 14 earth years is equal to that of an adult and she didn't really get super ages up, or whatever) and go with the familial relationship between hal and her. that's my preferred version! i know red (@katmaatui) has explored that version as well as an alternate version where the arisia arc did happen, and how it affects arisia in particular, which is really depressing but super interesting. anyway, it's complicated and weird and nuanced, but that whole occurence doesn't mean hal's a bad character or person (cause yk. retcons) and it's certainly not bad to like his character. (definitely ignore any guy gardner fans who try to bitch about this arc. cough cough. guy was ALSO into her and hit on her repeatedly. smfh) most people who bring this up to demonize fans didn't even read the arc, and don't know the nuance or the other weird shit that happens in it. (hal is not a horse, sigh)

OVERALL NOTES!

hal jordan is a super complicated character with an extensive history spanning from the 60s to his worse written appearances in modern age. it's okay to like any version of the character, but it is important to note the changes that have been made, the storylines butchered and lost, and more. he has quite the legacy, and he's particularly interesting as from a moral standpoint. hal's a real sweetie though, when it gets down to it! he's neurodivergent coded (imo at least.. his dad very much gets onto him for being disrtracted, hes kinda shit at social interaction (and then amazing at it the other half of the time) etc etc. "spacecase") and his dad is an abusive asshole, who he desperately doesnt want to be like but thinks he NEEDS to be like!

[danothan]

Just reading some comics and saw a panel I thought you might like. :)

ah fuck, characters reminiscing always get to me ;__;

but i will never ever get over that fond way these two talk to and abt each other. especially when they’re poking fun, you can just hear the love in their voice it’s SICK.

the halbarry love language is annoying each other, but even more than that, it’s being each other’s exceptions

[dim-paper-lanterns]

WAIT I REMEMBERED WRONG IT GETS WORSE

Johnny actually says "you know, you look an awful lot like Sodapop, the way you've got your hair and everything. I mean, except your eyes are green”, and THEN pony goes “they’re grey whatever whatever-

But this means that pony only shares the same eye color with Darry, not w soda. It’s not even that pony doesn’t like green eyes, he dislikes them to the point of hating them on himself, only for us to find out it’s his only physical connection w Darry. He knows that they are both green eyed but specifically states how Darry’s are blue-green while his are grey-green, pushing for a difference between them. he’s proud of the features he shares w soda (his hair) but ashamed of the features he shares w Darry :(

For me one of the most continually painful parts of pony and darry's relationship at the start of the book is Pony dropping "I hate most guys with green eyes" and then making sure you know darry's eyes are green

[shinpikurage]

Warning: Genshin Leak

Lanya (also known as Madame Ping and Streetward Rambler) will be released as a playable character in version 5.4. She is a 5* Polearm Girl.

5.4 will be the Lantern Rite patch and will also see the release of a new 4* Catalyst Girl.

Okay, I have many complaints about this but let's go slow

First of all! Why is her name Lanya? Her human name is already (something) PING, why not keep it? Why not go to something similar?

Second, why her? We KNOW they are going to transform her into a young girl, and I think that takes away from her character. Madame Ping whole identity is being an old lady that guides young girls. She has taken YaoYao, Yanfei and Xiangli under her wing, they call her grandma! Wouldn't ot be weird to just make her a young woman now? One that looks around their age? And yeah, maybe they will keep the way she speaks, but isn't that too similar to Faruzan and Chasca? They are also elders that look way too young

Third, she's and old woman and lives with this body because of GRIEF, her life tells a beautiful story about love and how losing someone can take a toll on you. She loved Guizhong so much that upon her death, she took a form of an elderly woman. And wasn't that a great metaphor about grief, how much it affects you and your body, and how it can make you feel like time is slower without them?

Fourth, WHY PING? It's the year of the snake, then why oh why, focus on Ping? And not Baizhu, Changsheng, Chenyu Vale or the goddess of dreams?

I don't understand why they keep doing this, it took them years to release Baizhu, when they do, they make him connected to Chenyu Vale and the chasm, and then they just.. don't use him? Not even when Chenyu Vale, his HOME, where his drip marketing focus on, released. He hasn't been in a single event, and when we finally reach the year of the snake, they focus on Ping, a character that no one asked for to be playable (unless she was old)

This feels like a disservice to fans, to the characters and to their own game. There's is a lot to unravel about Baizhu, he has connections to a lot of things, a lot of people, he's very mysterious, and tricky. We haven't seen him or Changsheng in Chenyu Vale or talking to the adeptus there, we haven't seen him talking to ANYONE beside Qiqi and the traveler (and I guess Yelan that one time?), he hasn't visited any nation, didn't make appearances in events after becoming playable, there are parts of his story that just feel empty or untold, and he's a great character! Her legitimately a great person, a good person, plus Changsheng is super funny, he has devoted followers, especially in Asia, so why not let him have the spotlight for a few seconds? Why ignore him that much?

Honestly, my only hope rn is that he will appear alongside Pantalone

[iremiari]

something something.... in a similar vein of thought as to how crystal's mind eyes are supposed to represent her "being watched" (it was stated in an interview somewhere), what would the baby doll demon spider represent for edwin?

it took me a good while to figure out but i think it's Societal Pressure and Bullying. which is A Lot Lamer than it sounds but also,, think about it!! (a bit of a long read)

it makes laughing noises. Specifically children's laughter. It is made up of MULTIPLE doll heads and hands. It's like if an angry mob of children was a spider. And let's not forget about its nature -- If Edwin makes the slightest noise or the slightest utterance or makes a move, it chases him. It chases him relentlessly and is always there to eat him alive.

obviously the spider is terrifying in ways that also don't relate to bullying, but still kind of relate to the society around edwin. one of them being that it's made of dolls. they're fake. they're plastic. they're superficial. people tend to be so superficial to keep up appearances and ostracize anyone that doesn't.

it's also a spider. a doll spider. in a dollhouse. edwin is trapped in its web (the dollhouse). but also, he would be trapped in society's social obstacles and mazes for him if he were alive simply because he is Different from them. his true self is not one that society welcomes, accepts, nor tolerates. and they would hunt them down and hurt him any chance they get.

this also makes for some really poetic metaphors about him and his interactions in hell

i think one that's really sweet is when edwin says "I can't escape it... I can't." and charles replies "Yeah well, I'm here now." LIKE OH MY GODDDDDDD LIKE!! like think abt it. think of the implications and how it relates to the metaphor.

charles is there to FREE him from being quiet. he is free to run and to scream and to escape the web that he's in. that's so. they're everything to me.

as for simon,, i cant really say what it WOULD mean like metaphorically... except for the part where simon asks "Do you think it has to be torture? Being the way we are?" and edwin's like "No. It does not. I'm going to get out of here, you should come with me." like edwin KNOWS its not a sin and he's trying to escape the society that rejects them

other than that though, i cant really think what that interaction would mean...

maybe im just wrong about the metaphor, maybe it's Not societal pressure. maybe it's not anything at all! maybe the curtains were just blue, and a giant spider made of doll heads is just a giant spider made of doll heads. who knows?

either way it is 1am where i am right now so if anyone sees this post and has any ideas, feel free to rb/comment, id love to see your take :D

(though: in a similar vein,,, charles died due to hypothermia and internal bleeding. hypothermia or the cold is usually associated with loneliness in most fiction - the way warmth is associated with company - and internal bleeding represents,.. well you can probably guess. leads you to wonder the kind of life charles lived.)

[hongluboobs]

hey don, nice void dream ego gift you got there

update!! she has fragment of the universe’s too! (little hearts next to the meat lantern lure on her chest)

i also found out the new outis id has bloodbath’s ego gift which is. concerning for several reasons

[lu-is-not-ok]

Have You noticed that Gregors E.G.O.s (With possible exceptions of AEDD) are more his semi-sentient arms E.G.O.s. They all either require sloth, or are sloth EGO, representing him letting the arm do whatever it wants. It also ties in with how both Lantern and Legerdemain corrosions are arm overtaking the body. And here we also have exception of AEDD which doesnt involve sloth, and in which corrosion its clearly gregor who's in control while corroded instead of his arm.

Alright, so, I'm going to take this opportunity to ramble about Gregor's bug arm in general. Not just how it related to his E.G.Os, but also in his other Identities and the main plot as well.

Strap in, cause this is likely going to be a more of a ramble than a proper guided analysis. Though, I will try to split these into sections somewhat.

Gregor's arm in the main story

Let's start by exploring what we know about Gregor's arm from the main story content. I'll be mostly focusing on Canto I, since that's where we get most of our info about Gregor, but I'll also dip into other Cantos and base Gregor ID's voicelines as I see fit.

So, Canto I. The Outcast. We learn a lot about Gregor's past here, about his trauma from the war, the way he and the other soldiers were treated after the war ended, and the way other veterans see him as a deserter and traitor due to him (arguably) being able to reintegrate into society better than the other soldiers.

We also learn where exactly his arm came from - a procedure performed on all G Corp employees and soldiers, some of which were actual children at the time. From the flashback we see of Gregor after the procedure, we see that he let himself cut the apple on the day of his fifteenth birthday, meaning he had the procedure when he was fourteen. A procedure that his mother performed on him, no less.

The Canto 1 dungeon itself takes on a rather interesting form. The first few encounters directly tie back to Gregor's past, with him being faced with other veterans who recognise him, and a Head Manager that Gregor himself recognises.

A Head Manager who is still stuck in that military mindset, still believing he's in the middle of a war because he's still struggling to survive just as much as he did during it. It's only when Gregor reveals that he was struggling just as much when he tried to become part of society does the Head Manager realize that Gregor wasn't the utter traitor he thought he was.

Things get interesting when we go further into Floor 2 of the Dungeon, where instead of a direct callback to Gregor's past, we get to learn about Yuri's story, having it directly parallel Gregor, as the two are both people who had to run and abandon their peers to survive a horrible event. It's an experience Gregor greatly sympathizes with, and I believe is one of the reasons why Yuri's death hits him as hard as it does.

However, the part I really want to focus on is the final floor of the Dungeon, the fathoms of Gregor's ego. We see one scene play out over and over again, each time details becoming skewed and more exagerrated. The aging bomb changes from aiming for a soldier's outpost to aiming for a Nest, going from only targetting the enemy to also hitting innocent civilians. Tomah goes from acting professional if a little energetic, to outright manic and obsessive over Gregor's status as G Corp's hero.

This, I believe, is extremely important to Gregor's character. The whole bottom floor of his dungeon is a symbolic representation of his PTSD. How he's constantly reliving his trauma over and over again, with his memories of the actual events being unreliable and more so driven by his recollection of how he felt during them, rather than objectively remembering what happened.

And this is where I go back to his arm, as I believe it too is a representation of Gregor's PTSD. The way Gregor describes his arm as a seperate entity, as something that acts on its own without his control or input, reminds me of how some people describe their experience with PTSD and trauma as the feeling of always being afraid of a monster that could creep up on you at any moment.

We see that Gregor is somewhat capable of hiding his arm, as shown in the flashback CG of him on the subway, where he hides that arm under a sleeve and behind his back. Most of the time, he can hide his trauma and live as normal of a life as he can, joking about the propaganda posters his face is still on.

But all it takes is one small thing. One small trigger. And just like that trauma comes crashing back to him, his arm goes out of control, attacking whatever or whoever triggered it as if it were still on a battlefield, fighting for Gregor's life. Just like Dante's words throw Gregor into a traumatic flashback, the seemingly kind act of a stranger at the wrong time threw his arm into a frenzy.

An important part of that is revealed in a Canto II cutscene, where Gregor admits he doesn't know what exactly could trigger his arm to "rage out of control", as he puts it. For all he knows, the stimulation caused by dancing could be enough to do it. It also might not. The fact that something as seemingly innocent and neutral as dancing could be a trigger, and the fact that Gregor himself doesn't know all of his triggers, both further point to this metaphor being intentional.

Plus, there is the motif of Gregor's arm regrowing no matter how many times it's cut off. Just like one can't just get rid of one's trauma and PTSD, Gregor can't get rid of his arm. It's something he has to learn to live with. Like he says in one of his Chatter lines, he had to accept he's stuck with it, like it or hate it.

Gregor's arm in other Identities

So... an interesting thing happens to Gregor's bug arm in his alternate Identities. Other than G Corp Gregor, who'd still have gone through the procedure as he did in the main world, all other Gregors all lack that arm, having a prosthetic in its place. And likewise, the arm means something different to each different Gregor.

We already discussed how LCB Gregor's arm is a metaphor for his PTSD, a symbolic, physical manifestation of his trauma.

G Corp Gregor's arm is actually quite interesting in this regard. It comes from the same source as LCB Gregor's, and has a similar role of serving as a physical reminder of sorts, but it's the details of what it reminds Gregor of that is different here. For G Corp Gregor, his arm is a reminder of why he's fighting in the war in the first place - because he didn't want to helplessly watch from afar. While he's aware it and the other side-effects of the augmentation won't let him return to civilian life, he claims he doesn't regret it.

It's a twist that makes sense considering his situation. Whereas LCB Gregor is a Gregor who left the war with the arm being a grim reminder of what he had to do during it, G Corp Gregor is a Gregor still in the middle of it who uses his arm as a way to remind himself why he's in this situation in the first place.

Now, we got to our first prosthetic arm Gregor - Liu Gregor. Here, Gregor has an almost utilitarian view of his arm, seeing it as a source of fire for his cigarettes and as something that helps him in combat. He specifically points out how his prosthetic arm can't feel pain, calling it outright invincible because of that fact.

It's a fascinating subversion to how LCB Gregor and even G Corp Gregor view their arms. Whereas for them their bug arms have an almost sentimental value in a way, being reminders of their trauma and the reason they're fighting respectively, Liu Gregor's prosthetic arm is almost like an afterthought to him. Just something to light a fire and fight with.

Though, I do think the way Liu Gregor seems to focus on the fact his prosthetic arm feels no pain specifically is important. Considering his Core Sin of Sloth and how much Liu Gregor seems to try to shirk his work, claiming that straining himself is a good enough excuse for a whole week of rest... There's something to it, I think, though I can't quite put my finger on it just now.

Chef Gregor is an interesting Identity when talking about Gregor's arm, because it has the least importance out of all the Gregor IDs. All we learn about Chef Gregor's arm is that his mechanical one can get sore (implying it's of high-enough quality to feel pain, interesting when you contrast it with Liu Gregor's prosthetic), and that his old arm is implied to have ended up as an ingredient (though how much of that is the truth and how much is Gregor fucking around with Dante is unclear).

If Liu Gregor's arm is an afterthought in his eyes, then Chef Gregor's arm is a joke to him. There's a level of casualness and levity to the way Chef Gregor talks about his arm, to the point it just feels like just another ordinary part of his life... as ordinary of a life as being a cannibal chef can be.

Honestly, it's kind of refreshing to see his arm be treated as just another part of him and nothing more than that. As much as I love digging into every single dialogue line and design choice for deeper meaning (and I appreciate just how much this kind of reading is facilitated by the way Limbus Company is written), sometimes a prosthetic arm is just a prosthetic arm, no strings attached, and I think that's great.

Rosespanner Gregor is up next, and here we get to see another interesting take on Gregor's arm. For this Gregor, his prosthetic arm is actually of his own creation. His invention, his to-be workshop product, a machine he created to facilitate his dream of leaving Rosespanner and starting his own workshop.

It's probably the most unique interpretation of his arm that we see thus far. It's not a reminder of the past like it is for LCB and G corp Gregor, and it's not just part of his everyday life like Liu and Chef Gregor. No, for Rosespanner Gregor his arm is an accomplishment, a path towards a more successful life. I don't know about you, but I personally find that very interesting.

Finally, we got the most recent Gregor - Zwei Gregor. Similarly to Liu Gregor, Zwei Gregor sees his arm as an asset, a trump card he hides under a glove to reveal when his client is in danger. In fact, his prosthetic arm is shown to be strong enough to not only wield a zweihander without the help of his other hand, but also to stop a strike that could have bisected a person.

Zwei Gregor never actually talks about his prosthetic arm directly, only alluding to it due to him hiding it as a sort of surprise tool that will help him later. However, I believe it does show that this Gregor views his arm in a purely utilitarian manner, similarly to Liu Gregor. An interesting connection, and I suppose it fits with them both being Association members.

Gregor's arm in E.G.Os

That's right, we're finally talking about the thing the ask was Actually about. I'm so good at answering questions in a clear and concise manner. /s

Starting off with Suddenly, One Day, something about it immediately caught my eye. For all the other base E.G.Os, the striped "prisoner" garb is worn by the Sinner in question (Faust included, while she doesn't wear it in the illustration, she does have it on in the attack animation), however in Gregor's case, the striped cloth is wrapped exclusively around his arm.

Notably, it doesn't look like it's some actual piece of clothing that Gregor could have worn but just didn't, no those are actual wrappings specifically for the arm. It's a fascinating visual when you think about Gregor's arm as a representation of his trauma and PTSD. It's not the Gregor everyone sees that's a prisoner, it's not the person he acts as while living in a society, it's his traumatized self he keeps hidden that's the actual prisoner to the trauma he's endured.

As for the Library floor symbols on those wrappings... Yeah, I have no clue. The only connection I can make is that Gregor is Jewish and the symbols also represent the different Sephirot from the Tree of Life, so it could be a reference to that.

The attack itself involves the arm bursting out of the prisoner wrappings and attacking against Gregor's will. While this could represent how his arm can go into a frenzy out of Gregor's control, there's another interesting interpretation I just thought of.

Each finger of Gregor's frenzied arm in this E.G.O takes on a different form. I don't know what the common theory is on those, but I believe these are meant to represent the factions that Gregor fought on the side of during the war. The bug-like finger represents the old G Corp, and the smoking red finger could represent the old L Corp, the source of the smoke during the Smoke War. In Outis's Uptie story we're told E Corp and F Corp also fought on that side of the war and could potentially be represented by two of the fingers, but since we don't know how canon that is to the main world, I'm not going to try and guess which of the fingers represent them.

With all that said, I believe in this way Suddenly, One Day's arm could also represent the war itself, specifically the side of it Gregor has found himself on, how he was effectively made the leader figure of that side against his will, and how despite being the face of the war he himself never had any real control over how it went.

...Okay that was a lot, I'm going to hopefully speed through the other E.G.Os because I'm not gonna fully analyze those (and I already analyzed AEDD anyway), so.

Legerdemain has Gregor's arm take on the form of an apple on a stem, the roots of which are spreading all over Gregor. Gregor seems to have some control over his arm here, but he does seem to somewhat struggle with it, having to hold onto it with his other arm and hesitating before attacking.

Like you mentioned in the ask, the corrosion here involves the branches (and now also maggots) completely taking over Gregor, with the maggots within the apple being the ones controlling his actions here.

I think Gregor's arm here is interesting to interpret, as it seems to generally represent himself, or rather how he's viewed by others. During his Awakening, it's shown as a golden apple, representing the golden poster boy that Gregor was seen as during the war. However, in the corrosion it becomes rotten and overtaken with maggots, showing that despite his seeming priviledge and higher status he was seen as just as much of a rotten pest as the rest of the soldiers.

Next up, Lantern. Here, Gregor's arm takes on the form of a branch and a fairy, the only visible part of the Abnormality Faelantern. In the Corrosion, Gregor becomes overtaken by the plant, specifically becoming caught by the underground portion of it, the true core of Faelantern that uses the branch and fairy as a lure.

In this case, I believe Gregor's arm is meant to represent the propaganda he was involved in creating. The "tales" his fairy is reading are the tales of old G Corp's victories and the honorable soldiers fighting in the war, trying to bring more people willing to fight on old G Corp's side. However, his Corrosion shows that he was just as caught up by the source of that branch as anyone else captivated by the propaganda, he was suffering during the war just as much as everyone else.

Now, onto AEDD. I already made an analysis on that E.G.O right here, but to summarize: AEDD represents the abuse Gregor went through at the hands of Hermann, and it shows him acting out because of that abuse in a way that mimics her, with him fully putting himself in her role when he Corrodes.

In this way, I think Gregor's arm while using AEDD represents something similar to the one in Legerdemain - it represents Gregor himself, though in this case it represents how Hermann sees him.

Just like you also pointed out, Gregor is fully in control if his arm in this E.G.O, and yet it's the one E.G.O where his arm is most clearly a seperate entity - taking on the form of a full shock centipede. I think to understand exactly what it means, one should interpret that arm centipede as Gregor, while the Gregor using AEDD should be interpreted as a representation of Hermann.

This, I think, makes the AEDD arm make a lot more sense. The reason why the arm appears to be a fully seperate entity, yet is completely under Gregor's control? Because it represents how Hermann had full control over Gregor, seeing him as another bug in her army of pests, yet special enough to dedicate more of her attention to.

Perhaps that's why the AEDD Corrosion involves both of Gregor's arms turning into centipedes, with one of them glowing with electricity. Hermann's bug soldiers are her weapons, her arms in the war, but Gregor is a special one. A pest that got to glow a little bit brighter than the rest.

To summarize...

Man, Gregor's arm tells us a lot about his character and themes, huh? From being a symbolic physical manifestation of trauma, to a reflection of how other people view him, to just being your everyday prosthetic arm. And I think it's Really Fucking Cool, so I hope you all do too.

[analligatorr]

opinion on the porcelain Graves skin???? I don’t hate it but I’m mad it’ll take another year or more until we get another one and porcelain is such a boring theme. Stick him in an interesting skin line for once riot.

Sincerely? I tried to like this skin, I really tried, but.. :/

Well, on twitter I compared Porcelain Graves with the WR exclusive skin Dragon Lantern Graves (not the special edition) I'll transcribe it here.

Let's start with splasharts. Wild Rift's Splash arts are generally criticized, many times I don't agree, some of them are of even higher quality than those of League, which is the case of Dragon Lantern Graves. Even though it's not Graves' best splash, or the best skinline splash, it's pretty and pleasant, my only criticism is that it's a little too static, there's not much movement

the Graves porcelain splash has some problems, at first glance it is.. pretty, but whenever you look at it, there seems to be something wrong, it really is a strange splash, and it's not the fault of the artist who made it.

Porcelain Graves Splash Concepts by Santiago Parra

in the end, they(riot) decided to increase the proportions and add a lot of texture, to achieve this result, so... yeah, it's not the best splash. but it's pretty

Dragon Lantern: 1

Porcelain: 0

About the VFX, let's be honest, they tend to do something very mediocre with Graves when it comes to visual effects, apart from his legendary skin (which it would be stupid of them to do something too simple) Graves' recent epic skins haven't received as much love.

Even though the Dragon Lantern skin has basically the same sounds as the base skin (i guess) the quality of the VFX is absurdly good (better than his legendary if you allow me to say). The Porcelain one.. is... mediocre.. ofc they couldn't put something cool like Lux and Lissandra's skins, right?

I can't post more than one video in a post, so here are the links so you can see the difference between the VFX of Dragon Lantern Graves and Porcelain Graves.

Dragon Lantern: 2

Porcelain: 0

Ok, let's get to the part that irritated me the most. The narrative..

Yes, we agree that Graves is not a big "important" character in Runeterra, he is not there to be a protagonist. That doesn't mean he can't cause real chaos, and set Bilgewater on fire just in an attempt to get revenge on his current partner. Why did I bring this up? because it is absurd to portray Graves as a pathetic and irrelevant character.

With that in mind, read Porcelain Graves' bio:

Not long after gunpowder was invented, the Zodiac searched for a new protector of the Dragon Relic. Though ancient and wise, the gods struggled to find someone worthy, so they settled for Malcolm Graves. Eventually his expertise in firepower was pointed in the right direction (away from all the breakable vases)

It's ridiculous, don't you think?

They are so fond of abusing the fact that Graves is, in some ways, a comic relief, that they make him the real joke, to the exclusion of everything else about him, and making him "unworthy". It's like they're saying "ugh, should this guy really be here? Who called him?". Whoever wrote the narrative of porcelain skinline seems to hate him, for real..

Now let's go to Dragon Lantern Graves' bio:

Graves, a free-spirited mercenary from a foreign land, can hardly wait to join in the fun at the gala. For this burly maverick, harmless ol' lanterns are no more than impractical ornaments—he much prefers filling up massive dragonflame cannons and setting the night sky ablaze with 'em booming explosions and dazzling lights!

1000% better, right? It's almost a delight. It's fun, brings out a little of who he is, and doesn't degrade his image :D

Dragon Lantern: 3

Porcelain: 0

AND WE HAVE A WINNER

[dim-paper-lanterns]

been thinking about anya's character design. how she wears a turtleneck under her uniform, how it keeps her warm and protected, how it shields her neck when that's whats viewed as to be 'marked', how its skintight, idk. how her entire design has her covered, even from her hair and bangs to her hooded eyes, idk idk idk. she was a character designed to be shielded, and then she wasn't.

[lore-of-the-silvereyes-rwby]

Lantern Corps for Ruby Characters

I’ve had this idea for a while and since RWBY is doing plenty of cross over material with DC as of late so I figured it was about time to do something like this and discuss the possible lantern corps that I think would best suit the characters of RWBY 

For those who may or may not know Lantern Corps are organizations that have rings that give their wearers superpowers and they are powered by different emotions and in order to wield one of these rings you have to have a strong connection to the emotion that wears it

And these Lantern Corps are; 

The Red Lanterns of Rage

The Orange Lantern of Avarice

The Sinestro Corps of Fear

The Green Lanterns of Willpower

The Blue Lanterns of Hope

The Indigo Tribe of Compassion

The Star Sapphires of Love

As well as the; 

Black Lantern Corps of Death and the White Lantern Corps of Life

As well as the newest corps being; 

The Ultraviolet Corps

Note; it is unclear what exact emotion powers this corps other than it is negative in origin and as such many people believe it to be Shame

With that established I will be doing 4 characters at a time starting with Team RWBY

[neuro-nest]

Alfred would be a great Blue Lantern.

Sure, he became a Green Lantern pretty recently in DC Vs Vampires, which is still great for our boy Alfred, but the sheer potential he has a Blue Lantern is something I really hope will get explored (unless it has, in which case, please point me to it) one day.

The ability to care and strength of this man would make him a prime candidate to be Earth's Blue Lantern. Alfred's been there for Bruce since day one, raising him as a semi-functional human being while still guiding Bruce to become the very thing Bruce wants to be, an avenger of his parents and a protector of anybody who may find themselves in another situation.

He's stayed by Bruce's side through everything, from his 'birth' as Batman to back-breaking injuries, acting as the glue and heart of the Wayne family.

I know people don't like the Batman Who Laughs (and I do agree that the concept of Batman Who Laughs could have been handed way better than that), but for the most part I like what little we know of his Alfred.

A Green-Lantern!Alfred likely could have put down the Batman Who Laughs. In many of his origins, Alfred was a British special forces veteran before he became a butler to the Waynes, so his mental fortitude would likely be next to none out of all of the Bat-Family's non-vigilante allies, such as Dr Lesley and Commissioner Gordon.

But Batman Who Laugh's Alfred, despite almost succeeding... lost when he was convinced, and therefore must have had hope, that Bruce was still there under the insanity.

Alfred is a stalwart companion to the Bat-Family, a grandfather-like figure to many of the vigilantes. He runs command from the Bat-Cave, patches everyone up, gives advice, companionship and resolves arguments.

From being willing to shoot intruders in the Batcave (because he, unlike his master, 'doesn't prescribe to such niceties') to dreaming about shooting the Joker if the madman ever succeeds in hurting his family, Alfred is a man of will and hope. By acknowledging his concerns and inspiring him to take on the mantle in a different light, Alfred convinced Dick to become Batman during the Battle For The Cowl. He played to Dick's background and strengths as a circus performer and convinced him to see the role as just that, a role.

And in City of Bane, when Thomas Wayne and Bane have control over Gotham and are able to keep the Bat-Family out, by holding Alfred hostage with his life at stake, the still-captive Alfred sends a signal saying that he's escaped, giving (admittedly false) hope to the family and tricking them into returning. Though it results in his death at the hands of Bane, Alfred changed the game by taking himself out of it, allowing for the Bat-Family's fight against Thomas Wayne and Bane to continue.

And so we come to the end.

Alfred, for all his own willpower, is capable of inspiring great hope within others. To Bruce, to Dick, to Damian, and to the rest of the family. He hopes every night that when they go out to fight someone like the Joker that they'll come back safe, and if they don't... well, he has enough willpower to get the job done himself.

Plus, Alfred would just get along great with Saint Walker. Sage like, caring and subtly snarky (and Saint Walker is subtly snarky under that otherwise passive demeanour, just look at the way he interacts with Razer). They'd drink tea and meditate and diss discuss their adopted sons, Bruce and Razer.

[mintjeru]

endless suffering

open for better quality | no reposts

[scrion7]

lantern rite - ventao overanalysis

Okay, as a VenTao shipper, I was expecting a simple introduction where the two got introduced because of Zhongli and then the plot would move on.

What we got instead was Hu Tao and Venti having fucking secondary and tertiary conversations in the subtle words between words of what are on the surface flirty compliments (and yeah, those are really cute too) but are actually them planning and enacting a 3 point dunk on everyone's favorite ASMR voice WHILE ALSO sussing each other out.

It's probably not even that deep, but by god I am a mole with a jackhammer and I am going to dig.

The first conversation they have is seemingly just flirting on main, with a side of Venti dunking on Zhongli by saying Hu Tao is the greatest authority here (with Rex Fucking Lapis, Xiao the Yaksha and the Traveler in the room). If there's something other than that here, it's something lost in translation, so I'll take Venti calling Hu Tao a beautiful bouquet of flowers and the source of all life on earth at face value.

The second conversation they have, on the other hand, is not as benign. Hu Tao starts off by saying this:

The use of "unsatisfactory" is the tell here. Only Venti can decide what "unsatisfactory" is, and Hu Tao wants him to let her know if that happens.

What Hu Tao is actually saying is that if you want to, at any time, dunk on Zhongli, I'll dunk on him too with the power of being his boss. They're both poets, they know subtext. This is AFTER Venti's first roast, where he demonstrated that yes, he is aware Zhongli is the supposedly deceased Geo Archon, and that isn't going to stop him from dunking on him. You know how Venti responds?

There are so many fucking layers to this. The obvious first layer is just what it looks like: a straight up compliment. The second layer, which is still obvious thanks to the side eye and the sarcastic tone of 'impressive,' is a dunk on Zhongli. The third and fourth layer are a bit of a stretch but I am ready to do some fucking yoga.

Saying she's savvy, directly after her previous comment? That is an acknowledgement that he heard what Hu Tao didn't say - aka, if Venti wants to dunk on Zhongli, Hu Tao will back him up.

Saying she's reliable implies that Venti trusts Hu Tao to dunk on Zhongli where it hurts.

And then he fucking dunks on Zhongli by calling him an impressive consultant with a sarcastic tone and obvious side eye.

This? This is not a compliment. I mean, yeah, it is, and at face value is also cute, but that's not why I love it. What Hu Tao actually means is that Venti's too nice for giving her the opportunity to dunk on her employee.

And then she fucking does it, somehow with MORE LAYERS than Venti.

That right there? Face value, its a compliment, but we all know it's her insulting Zhongli's ability to stay incognito.

It's ALSO her acknowledging that, yes, she is aware Zhongli is, in fact Rex Lapis. Venti already implied he knows, so she decided to let Venti know that she knows, as well as saying that she knows that Venti knows he's Rex Lapis.

But the last layer is where I really started to dig. Don't see it yet? It took me a while too.

"From the sophisticated way he speaks, it's hard not to suspect that he could very well be an adeptus in disguise! Hehe."

Now, a simple question. When Hu Tao says "he," who is she talking about?

Obviously Zhongli right? But, considering that Hu Tao and Venti have spent this entire conversation hiding conversations within conversations, Venti clearly also has a sophisticated way of using words. If you substitute 'he' with Venti...

"From the sophisticated way VENTI speaks, it's hard not to suspect that VENTI could very well be an adeptus in disguise! Hehe."

This? This is an accusation. Hu Tao thinks Venti is not human. Hu Tao thinks Venti is sus.

You know what she does next?

She goes to Xiao, someone who actually knows Venti's true identity, and asks if he thinks it's possible that her accusation is true. Of course, Xiao doesn't know subtlety if it kicked him in the face, but still.

[Edit: After seeing the additional character interactions outside of the epilogue, I can almost certainly confirm that Hu Tao knows that Venti is the Anemo Archon.

Hu Tao: With that extraordinary demeanor and literary talent, he's definitely not just any bard. If he's someone that could hold his ground in a conversation with the consultant, he needs to at least be as talented as me!

(also she absolutely just implied she regularly holds her ground against Rex Lapis)]

Anyway, TL:DR, VenTao spent their second onscreen interaction by simultaneously flirting with each other, dunking on Zhongli, and somehow also fit in Hu Tao accusing Venti of being the anemo archon in TEN SENTENCES.

Their relationship is an onion of layers and it's everything I could have hoped for and more.

Oh and apparently I'm a fake VenTao shipper because Venti and Hu Tao have matching flowers in their hats and I never noticed.