#light and dark over time

[skrunglesage]

as a known timeline heretic, i have to announce that in my heart of hearts the ancient hero is the first male gerudo born after ganondorf

[borgialucrezia]

"Grief? Then why do you force this false joy upon us? We are dancing on your brother's grave."

[t-5secondsart]

now that the "what sage would the lu boys be" polls are over, i thought it would be fun to draw the chain as the ancient sages from totk!

[speakofshinee]

240712 NeverNever Fanmeeting - Taemin Guilty ♥︎

[mollysunder]

I see Arcane's marketing is thrusting a lot of blue on Jinx's persona, which is fine, but also a misdirection! I argue that the use of blue on Jinx represents THE IDEA that others have of Jinx rather than representing who Jinx really is. Jinx's true color, the one she paints over those closest to her, the one that represents her is PINK. Jinx is pink!

When we see Jinx in pieces either in or out of show where blue is the predominant color in the palette it's signaling to us the audience that this the Jinx that is perceived by the world around her, which includes Piltover AND Zaun. In this essay I will---

[wildstar25]

"Say, have I ever told you both just how much I love you?" "I seem to recall you mentioning it once or twice."

[opheliadae]

since it’s snowing again I might as well drink cinnamon coffee

[mantisgodsdomain]

"Hornet is Void" theory, not in any sort of intentional, engineering-your-other-babies or whatever way, but in a "PK had awful policy with Void cross-contamination and it meant that Hornet came out with a handful of VERY conspicuously void-y characteristics that everyone tries to ignore because no one actually knows for sure where they came from and acknowledging them in any formal way could lead t a political shitshow" way.

[numbuh424]

Light's wardrobe in the 1st half of the jdrama (ep 1 - 5) vs his wardrobe in the 2nd half (ep 6 - 11).

[splootdoolies]

pspspspsps hello kanamafu nation

[peppermint-moss]

'title page' assignment for my graphic novel illustration class! At this point in the semester I was itching for some text and panels haha so I incorporated the title into the last panel C:

feat. my beloved Candle Light and her mother Hazel! and Sergeant Green. Zahrati means 'my flower' in arabic; or at least that's my intention anyway, google gave me some conflicting answers (so if anyone knows arabic and wants to confirm or deny I'd appreciate the knowledge! Hazel speaks egyptian arabic specifically, if that's important info)

also I tried lettering this in affinity designer (equivalent to adobe illustrator) as I heard that was a typical professional comic process; I'm glad I tried it but in another assignment I did the lettering right in clip studio paint and that went much easier and felt I had more control over the speech bubble shapes... But augh i just wish CSP would come out with a spell check feature!!! I like typing the text right into the program orz

commission info || ko-fi (tip jar)

[zhuoyichenpretty]

mortifying to be perceived in this way but here have some fic

[daemon-is-perfectly-unhinged]

so i made a pinterest board

@syndrossi i was going to send this to you as an ask but it won't let me.

anyway, i created this lil board bc why not. have fun, and if anyone wants to send me pins on the app to add to the board, please do so.

[starlightwayfinder]

It’s already been suggested by others that what was lost was Master Ava, and what was found was the Black Box. Revisiting some of the cutscenes that relate to the Box, Maleficent implies that it doesn’t even exist until this moment at the crossroads. This left me wondering what triggered it to reappear, considering that Xigbar sent Luxord to look for it before the war took place.

This other scene seems to imply that, in spite of Luxord’s assumption, Xigbar was probably also the one who sent Maleficent and Pete looking for it too:

It’s worth noting that Maleficent and Pete are under the impression that the box contains the Book of Prophecies. Potentially a manipulation by Xigbar to incentivize them, but I do think there’s a connection between it all.

Maleficent draws a connection between the data world of Khux, and the datascape of Recoded—both contain the data for all the worlds, albeit at different points in time. I don’t necessarily think the Box contains a physical copy of the book, but rather: as Jiminy’s journal is to the re:coded datascape, the Book of Prophecies is to the Box. The Book is the hard copy, the Box contains the data version.

This matches up with the irl meanings for a Black Box too:

The input being the book, the output being the data. The inside is a mystery. It’s a system that serves as a backup… probably in the case of the worlds being purged? If that’s the case, the Keyblade War (or more specifically, the summoning of KH) being what triggered the Box’s reappearance does make sense, because the world was almost purged. It was probably sent to Quadratum / outside the realm of existence to survive the purge, hence why it “did not exist”. Maybe it would then be returned after the war, in case it was needed to rebuild the world. This doesn’t really explain why Xigbar had apparently lost track of it though, or why he thought it was still in the Realm of Light.

(There are also four Darknesses trapped within the Khux data world, which means they likely would have survived any sort of universal reset… )

Assuming I’m right, I wonder what could’ve happened so that the Box ended up in Unreality? Is that also why the Heartless/darkness are present in Quadratum in kh4? It’s probably a question for Missing-Link to answer, as well as why the Lost Masters might have been there too:

Lastly, jumping back to analyzing the epilogue, No Name is also found in this scene, and we see it fall into the ground (just like what happened for the fallen Keyblade wielders in KHUX—which is what formed the crossroads to begin with.) There isn’t as much to say here, but I will at least argue that Xehanort’s death is also a ‘loss’ that resulted in something being gained.

[thegeorgiatennantblog]

[nightmare-foundation]

Yknow, I feel like part of the reason why people don't understand Ozpin as well as they probably could is because they... don't understand how the merge works. Let me explain.

The fandom has this expectation that Ozpin will take over Oscar when the merge is finished, and that Oscar will just disappear. Honestly, I think this is an extremely inaccurate reading of the merge based in bias and listening to unreliable narrators.

"But Oscar says he's afraid of disappearing, and expects it to happen. Isn't this reliable?" <- good question. No, I don't believe it's all that reliable. Oscar is experiencing the merge for the first time, and has no clue how it'll end; because of this, and his personal fears, he draws conclusions, and that conclusion is "I'm going to disappear into the collective of lives that is Ozpin." I also don't believe that this specific sentiment has been said by Oscar since v6, but it's been a while, so I can't remember.

Meanwhile, though, Ozpin himself never said that he was going to take over Oscar and that Oscar would disappear. When it comes to talking about the merge, Ozpin always frames it as Oscar gaining, rather than losing to him. Oscar will inherit my memories and muscle memory, you're recollecting my longest held memories and gaining control over my remaining magic, etc. It's almost framed as if OSCAR is taking from Ozpin, rather than the other way around.

"But Oscar has been changing throughout the volumes, if Oz isn't taking over, why is he changing?" <- another point. Oscar IS changing, but it's more superficially. His vocabulary is widening ("plummeting immediately" for example), his mannerisms have changed a little but mostly in the confidence department, and his voice has lowered, plus the inherited magic and memories. But his actual personality and deepest parts of his identity hasn't changed; he's still wise in his own way, notably different from Ozpin; he's optimistic but still realistic, for one, and he's very contemplative, and expresses importance in the individuals, vs the many as Ozpin does. He also still has his own unique brand of sass, his unique strategies and planning (how he handled the situation in Monstra), etc. He still identifies as Oscar, and the biggest change is definitely the gained confidence.

But, harder to notice, especially if you're not insanely obsessed with them like me, Oz has also changed, arguably more than Oscar. At this point, his entire voice has changed; the cadence of his voice, the timbre, his vocabulary and how he words things, etc. If you compare Ozpins current voice and Oscars, both Aaron Dismukes version and Shannon Mccormicks, they sound nearly the exact same. There's VERY little difference- at times, Oscar seems a little more formal than Ozpin! Oz's mannerisms and facial expressions have changed a lot as well, adopting more of Oscars (wider eyes, softer looks, lots of movement with his hands without their cane, honestly likely more that's escaping me rn). He also talks to the other characters as peers now, though it's hard to tell if that's from the merge or character development. I'd also mention how Ozpins worldview has drastically changed, but that's from character development and canonically, Oscar inspired him, but basically he's completely picked up Oscars views and beliefs (even if he's a little hesitant at times, he still trusts Oscar).

But basically... they've both changed, arguably Oz more than Oscar, both from the merge and character development. And it seems to me that it's more likely that Oscar won't disappear? Especially when you consider Ozpin saying "I understand. I went through the same panic and confusion you are." <- this is talking about the merge in v4, when Ozpin just appeared in Oscars head. Obviously, he'd have to be referring to being an ordinary person (likely a teenager) suddenly having a voice show up in your head. Ozpin identifies AS Ozpin- not as any previous incarnation (though he identifies with the memories too), so I doubt he identifies as Ozma. Thus, this implies that they change.

Also, soul in rwby IS identity. Aura is your soul but tangible. Thus, if two different souls merge- that inherently implies a change of identity. The souls change, thus the identity changes. Plus, Ozpin literally says IN v5 that "I am the combination of countless men, living, dying, and reincarnating, and i am changed- but my memories stay with me." It seems that the only constants are their memories, magic, and immortality. Everything else changes- "I am changed."

So I definitely don't think that Ozpin just takes over and absorbs his hosts. Everyone who thinks that's how it works in-universe are unreliable narrators; Ironwood, Leo, Qrow, Salem, even Oscar himself (though atp I think he might have an idea that he won't disappear, but he still doesn't want to change, which is reasonable). Oz's inner circle members wouldn't know in-depth how the merge works, bc a) Oz tended to lie to them and b) i doubt that's something he wants to discuss anyways. Salem wouldn't know because when Ozma told her, he'd only reincarnated once, and he only had the God of Lights really vague, cryptic words to go off of, and Salem herself has likely only been informed by people who wouldn't know how the merge works anyways (Leo). And i already explained why Oscar is also an unreliable narrator about it too.

Light and Jinn are also hints as to how it works too; they imply the hosts don't disappear by saying "Until then, you will reincarnate, but in a manner that ensures you are never alone." And "As the centuries passed, he learned to live with the people in which he had been paired." So naturally, the hosts don't disappear, and everything else says that Oz changes.

Another, smaller note, but you can tell with the other Oz's seen in The Lost Fable that they all act differently. It's more obvious with Ozma and Ozma 2.0, but you can tell with the rest of them (and even the hermit in the story of the seasons), since they all have different mannerisms and, for those who speak, they kinda speak differently as well. They're also vastly different from how Ozpin acts, both from the beginning of rwby to now, and they act differently from Oscar.

TL;DR: the merge isn't a takeover on Oz's part; they both change and, at the end, identify with whoever the host is (hence the name change).