#lore analysis definitely

[gummypaint]

[blueskittlesart]

*sigh* thoughts on Nintendo's botw/totk timeline shenanigans and tomfoolery?

tbh. my maybe-unpopular opinion is that the timeline is only important when a game's place on the timeline seriously informs the way their narrative progresses. the problem is that before botw we almost NEVER got games where it didn't matter. it matters for skyward sword because it's the beginning, and it matters for tp/ww/alttp (and their respective sequels) because the choices the hero of time makes explicitly inform the narrative of those games in one way or another. it matters which timeline we're in for those games because these cycles we're seeing are close enough to oot's cycle that they're still feeling the effects of his choices. botw, however, takes place at minimum 10 thousand years after oot, so its place on the timeline actually functionally means nothing. botw is completely divorced from the hero of time & his story, so what he does is a nonissue in the context of botw link and zelda's story. thus, which timeline botw happens in is a nonissue. honestly I kind of liked the idea that it happened in all of them. i think there's a cool idea of inevitability that can be played with there. but the point is that the timeline exists to enhance and fill in the lore of games that need it, and botw/totk don't really need it because the devs finally realized they could make a game without the hero of time in it.

[yupuffin]

"I'm Not Him:" On Vidyadhara High Elders and Identical Twins

The question of whether Dan Heng and Dan Feng should be regarded as the same individual has been repeated ad nauseam, and, as is customary in fandom, the answer will change depend on who you ask -- that is, on one's interpretation of the text.

Personally, my experiences being raised as an identical twin strongly influence my reading of Dan Heng's character, specifically regarding his relationship to Dan Feng; I've observed numerous similarities between the treatment of this relationship and in societal norms and expectations I faced growing up as a twin.

Twins -- especially identical twins -- are often stereotyped as "copies" of one another, or even as two incomplete halves of a whole; any difference between them is considered an anomaly at best and a personal failing at worst. So well-established are these stereotypes that their enforcement disregards and undermines each twin's identity as a separate individual.

Moreover, the relationship between twins is decided by birthright rather than the individual's volition. Despite ongoing efforts to elevate the importance of chosen relationships relative to those decided by inheritance, society at large still tends to emphasize the latter. This can become problematic when the nature of a relationship takes precedence over how healthy or desirable it is for the involved individuals -- as is often the case with the "mirror image" twin stereotype.

Much like my attitude towards societal standards regarding twins, Dan Heng expresses great disdain towards the nature of his relationship with Dan Feng; the connection is assigned to him for reasons beyond his control, and he therefore resents it. Furthermore, in connection with this resentment, Dan Heng demonstrates deep and long-lasting internal struggles with his personal identity.

Therefore, I believe that a reading of the text that establishes Dan Heng and Dan Feng as two closely related, but completely separate, individuals is the least reductive to Dan Heng's character, and grants him the most sympathy and agency, legitimizing his persistent claim that, of Dan Feng, "I'm not him."

The Twin Experience

As an identical twin raised in a relatively close-minded environment, my upbringing closely aligned with societal standards regarding twin relationships.

When it comes to societal norms, twins are presumed identical effectively by definition, with any factors distinguishing a twin from their sibling considered exceptional. However, this presumption is incredibly damaging to the formation of a twin's personal identity. In reality, twins are indeed two separate individuals, much like any other two people, who are related to each other by no choice of their own; the "mirror image" stereotype applies solely by coincidence of them being born at the same time. Therefore, the expectation that a twin consistently match their sibling is really quite arbitrary and contrived. This expectation assigns artificial value to a twin's ability and/or willingness to conform to their sibling's actions and mannerisms. Subsequently, enforcement of the "mirror image" stereotype directly leads to struggles with self-esteem, self-identification, and self-awareness, as a twin internalizes the expectation that they must always match their sibling.

Growing up, I was rarely, if ever, given the opportunity to make my own choices -- solely by virtue of being a twin. I attended all of the same classes and extracurricular activities as my twin, ate all of the same things, was made to wear the same clothing, was given the same toys and gifts, and was expected to follow the same rules and do the same things at the same time -- regardless of my preferences (which, incidentally, I hardly even learned to recognize, just due to them never even being considered). If my twin earned an achievement or won an award in a contest, I was expected to win an equivalent award, and not doing so was treated as a personal failure, and would result in persistent questioning about why I hadn't met this expectation, as if I had done so deliberately -- which I only found out, much later in life, was completely arbitrary.

My parents' justification was that conforming to these expectations simply made raising me "easier." Society at large reflected this idea, too -- almost without exception. Indeed, humans favor efficiency; the phenomenon of "desire paths" is reliable evidence for this concept. The "mirror image" stereotype provides preconceived notions by which to judge twins, saving people the mental effort of regarding each twin as a separate person. Paradoxically, twins as a phenomenon are a rare enough statistic that the contrived identity of "twin" is, conversely, considered an exceptional and definitive identity -- as proven by my classmates almost invariably not bothering to learn my name, instead simply calling me "Twin." After all, it was a singular enough descriptor that it was equally as effective as my own name at distinguishing me as an individual -- from others' perspectives, anyway.

As an adolescent, I often wished I'd been born an only child so that I didn't have to face these expectations, and, as an adult -- once I'd gone off to college, miraculously (considering the circumstances), separate from my twin -- I seriously considered lying to people, telling them that I was an only child, to avoid these expectations.

Furthermore, being raised not to question authority compounded my struggles discovering my own identity and recognizing my own wants and needs; I didn't even realize that the freedom to make my own choices was something I was missing. People treated me based on assumptions and stereotypes because it was "easier" for them; this ultimately made my life proportionally more difficult than it would have been otherwise. It wasn't until well into my adulthood that I recognized how severely it damaged my self-esteem to internalize the expectation that I always match my twin, and thereby began the arduous task of unlearning this expectation.

Dan Heng as Dan Feng's "Mirror Image"

Dan Heng's experience as Dan Feng's reincarnation demonstrates substantial parallels to my experience growing up as a twin under the "mirror image" stereotype. In the Ichor of Two Dragons animated short, Dan Feng's specter even addresses Dan Heng as his "mirror image."

Much like a twin's relationship to their sibling, Dan Heng is born (or hatched, rather) as Dan Feng's reincarnation by coincidence rather than by his own personal choice. And, as a twin internalizes the expectation to match their sibling, the expectation that Dan Heng is identical to Dan Feng crucially shapes his identity.

On the Xianzhou Luofu, the High Elder reincarnation process bears great cultural significance. Dan Heng, while on the Luofu, thereby shoulders the default assumption that he mirror his predecessor, Dan Feng -- who was, incidentally, highly controversial as a political leader, giving these assumptions even deeper and more incriminating ramifications. The singularity of Dan Heng's identity as Dan Feng's reincarnation bears striking resemblance to the singularity of being a twin.

The combined cultural significance of these two factors -- Dan Feng as an individual, and hatching rebirth as a process -- provides Xianzhou Luofu residents with an exceptional, yet reductive, set of assumptions with which to regard Dan Heng. In the primary storyline, Dan Feng's exile carries over to Dan Heng's lifetime, severely hindering his ability to travel freely on the Luofu alongside his crewmates despite having personally committed no crimes, or even so much as set foot on the ship since the end of his imprisonment. Even after this exile is lifted, in the Wardance arc, Luofu officials consistently refer to Dan Heng not by name, or even by his role as a representative of the Astral Express -- which is arguably the most relevant, given the nature of Jing Yuan's invitation -- but as "the Imbibitor Lunae's reincarnation." These tendencies reflect the contrived expectation that Dan Heng's relationship to Dan Feng take precedence over any other aspect of his identity -- much like a twin's resemblance to their sibling.

As a Nameless...

Contrary to societal expectations, resemblance or bloodline do not make twins the same individual, and the same applies to Dan Heng and Dan Feng.

"Mirror image" stereotypes of twins tempted me to purport myself as an only child, so that others would have ample opportunity to recognize my individuality, rather than disregard it in favor of superficial assumptions. Dan Heng, likewise, resents his connection to Dan Feng, and keeps it secret for as long as he possibly can. While this seems due in no small part to Dan Feng's history as a convicted criminal, he appears begrudging of his connection to Dan Feng regardless, insisting that he has "no interest in commenting on the deeds and sins of Imbibitor Lunae," and would sever the relationship were he given the opportunity.

Indeed, the Xianzhou Luofu arc, and Dan Heng's role as Dan Feng's reincarnation, are certainly crucial to Dan Heng's character, but those alone do not encompass his entire character. As a member of the Astral Express crew, in the absence of Dan Feng's influence, Dan Heng experiences his own life and establishes his identity as an individual, rather than as a "copy" of someone else.

Granted, he initially struggles with this endeavor due to his low self-esteem and difficulty with self-identification. On top of his reluctance to acknowledge his personal history, he tends to diminish, or even disregard, his well-being and personal preferences. He regularly insists that his crewmates not pay too much mind to his safety or comfort, or not prioritize his opinions too far over their own; when asked for his input regarding what should be served for dinner on the Express, he gives the passive response "anything is fine." His diffidence is incongruous with his impressive combat prowess and his eagerness to support and protect his crewmates.

While I couldn't readily find canon evidence indicating causality between Dan Heng's lack of confidence and his relationship to Dan Feng, these two factors existing in tandem do closely mirror my own experience as a twin, in which I am certain they are directly connected.

Similar, but Separate

"Mirror image" stereotypes are based in twins often sharing many superficial similarities. However, the stereotype is reductive in that it erases twins' individuality in favor of simplifying their identities; in order to glean a complete and accurate understanding of each twin as a person, one must observe and contemplate beyond the stereotype. Such introspection is customary when regarding any other person, but on a societal level, when it comes to twins, this is often considered expending additional effort. And, of course, twins have no say in their inheritance nor in pervasive societal norms regarding their treatment.

Similarly, societal norms among the Vidyadhara are based in observable trends; the High Elder reincarnation process is distinct from typical hatching rebirth in that the descendant maintains certain similarities to their predecessor, purportedly including their appearance and personality, and is taught expected to fulfill the same political role. In the mission "The Dragon Returns Home," discussion of Dan Feng selecting Bailu as his successor, as well as Bailu's reluctance to fulfill the role, indicate that this decision is made entirely by the existing High Elder, with no consideration for the successor's individual volition. (Incidentally, Bailu, like Dan Heng, also suffers from a lack of confidence in her own abilities, questioning whether she's truly worthy of inheriting the title of High Elder.)

In both cases, reducing the individual in question to their relationship to another limits, or entirely eliminates, their opportunities to establish their own individual identities, with measurable consequence to their self-esteem and and self-identification.

Conversely, as an adult, I notice marked improvements in my self-esteem and sense of identity the more deliberately I separate myself from the twin and the expectation that we always match.

Dan Heng's role as a Nameless not only distinguishes and separates him from Dan Feng, but also demonstrates how freedom from the "mirror image" stereotype allows him to forge his own identity and bolster his self-confidence. In addition to all of his experiences trailblazing alongside his crewmates, this is most readily demonstrated in the iconic scene following the incident in the Shackling Prison: when confronting Taoran, Dan Heng asserts that, as a Nameless who leads a life distinct from that of Dan Feng, he has severed his connection to the Xianzhou Alliance, and is therefore exempt from the decree against harming other Vidyadhara on sacred ground. (And then, to prove his point, proceeds to impale Taoran on his spear.)

Considering all of the above evidence, I personally believe that calling Dan Heng and Dan Feng "one and the same" as individuals is both reductive and inaccurate. Granted, some of the exact circumstances surrounding Dan Feng's hatching rebirth remain up for debate, and he and Dan Heng do share a number of striking similarities, as is typical with the High Elder's hatching rebirth. However, careful consideration of Dan Heng's character demonstrates that, as a member of the Astral Express crew, he leads a life separate and distinct from that of Dan Feng. Indeed, Dan Heng argues as such by his own assertion; to assign him deeper connection to Dan Feng beyond his superficial "mirror image" runs counter to some of his core traits and values as a character -- much in the same way that regarding twins solely by stereotypes and societal norms of their siblinghood robs them of their individuality and complexity. As someone whose self-esteem and self-identity were severely adversely impacted by perpetuation of these stereotypes, and is only just beginning to overcome these obstacles as an adult, I hope that momentarily disregarding Dan Heng's connection to Dan Feng and allowing him to exist as a separate individual will afford a more complete and sympathetic reading of his character within the narrative of Honkai: Star Rail.

[brackenferns]

idk if holly has ever addressed the folk's origins but i have spent an unnecessary amount of time thinking about it and have decided they're immigrants

[daystud]

Wendy in GGZ was a girl raised as a labrat to become a Herrscher and destroy humanity. However she is still a very playful person who does anything by her will and capricious urges, and even though she never truly realizes her hatred for humans was indoctrinated, her only moments of freedom and discovery by little things with Totori (the most important person to her who really cared about her wellbeing) are the most precious until her very last moments. Wendy has a tragic ending because she was so close to being redeemed multiple times and yet she went away back to zero. but at least she died in Totori's arms and confessed her last words to her.

Wendy is also a victim of unlucky circumstances and not being loved enough to be saved in HI3rd. She really thought she could trust Bronya to give her life so they could be together, and Bronya would have wanted it too, but Wendy's writing reduced her as a plot device.

In ver 1.8 a set of stigmata based on the Seven Deadly Sins went unrealeased, and Wendy was featured. And guess which sin they chose her out of all?

Envy.

They knew what they were doing. Wendy will forever curse everyone including the ones she loved because she was betrayed without knowing and will never be able to live a normal life. She's forever an experiment.

Her JP seiyuu in HI3rd is also the same voice of Collei, another victim of who saw her only as a tool to inflict of whatever they wanted for their own ends. At least Collei has a long, consistent, finished arc from the webtoon to Sumeru and the last events featuring her. (that one with Sucrose was so gooooood) It's so satisfiying seeing her grow as a better person despite she also did terrible mistakes. I'm definitely not crying internally cause Wendy never got that treatment while still being fascinated by characters who get done dirty by the metanarrative.

Should I also mention I fear for Venti the worst for its implications of being both as a standalone character and as Genshin's Wendy, with all his connections to his people, Istaroth, Celestia and the Tsaritsa? When will HoYo free him from the basement???? He's being hinting anything since the fucking betas!!!!!

[thebaldursmouthgazette]

That post isn’t even touching on andraste lyrium ghost/whatever the oracle is

like. Is valta dead? And what does it even mean for someone reconnected to isatunoll to die? Like what happens when one part of a hive mind dies? The blight is a twisted isatunoll, and the archdemons just pass along between blighted individuals unless a grey warden destroys the soul, is isatunoll similar? Why did dying in a cavern full of lyrium allow Leliana (who many people believe also connected with a titan) to be resurrected as an individual nearly indistinguishable from her living self? If titan and lyrium shenanigans can bring back someone’s consciousness after death, then does that explain the visions people had of andraste after her death?

“Whatsoever passes through the fire

Is not lost, but made eternal”

Is made eternal

Is eternal

[icewindandboringhorror]

I'm so heavily anti-advertising that all pitches sound goofy silly to me/I can never take them seriously, so I have no idea how I'll manage to to advertise my game even if I do finally finish it soon-ish lol...

[loregoddess]

some rambling thoughts about Unicorn Overlord and the angels and how they're written under the cut (lots of endgame spoilers), because I haven't been able to stop thinking about some things since finishing the game

So, I've been watching some of the other maiden rite dialogue and endings for UO, and some of them are insane. Like. Alain can marry Dinah--their paired ending says she becomes the new queen, so he definitely marries her, and presents to all of Cornia he beautiful wife, who is also Literally A Fox.

But! despite having very romantic rites with say, Raenys or Umerus, he does not marry them in his paired ending (they both return to Albion and just. Live their lives. no marriage implied, like, Alain's got more romantic "but not married" endings with some of the male characters than he does any of the angels).

Fascinating implications honestly. I had suspected that the bestrals were willing to live in family units with humans (as implied by Ramona, Morard, and Yunifi being a family unit, batshit backstories aside; and also the entire orphanage side quest). Like sure, there aren't any like, half-bestral half-human offspring in the game unlike the confirmed "half-elves exist, and a lot of humans are hot for elves", but the bestrals are shown to live in family units with human members. And while no one (aside? from? Alain? sir?) is hot for the bestrals (at least I didn't find any NPCs who were like, "hot damn" about the bestrals), we also don't see any human characters fawning over the angels (whatever Sharon and Ochlys have aside, I'll get to them in a sec).

And like, in-game the angels (technically "the winged", I know angel is a specific term but bear with me here) are all religiously and culturally treated as like, literal divine messengers of the heavens. But we also learn from the sage in Albion that they aren't divine in any way, they're literally just humans with wings, the result of an ancient magical lab experiment that apparently went wrong.

So it's like? The idea that they're divine messengers was definitely made-up, probably by the first pontifex, to give the winged a place to exist safely in society, but! But also this ends up getting warped in the most fascinating ways bc it leads to the "present day" culture(s) in the game, where other races are jealous of the angels but generally get along with them, but also, most importantly, view them as divine. Even though there are like, winged children and families, and they're clearly just people with wings, no one treats them that way, and while this leads to some of the angels being really arrogant (Ochlys's parents thinking humans are lesser beings), it also puts all the angels in a really weird spot.

Like, Ochlys loves Sharon bc Sharon treats her like a person, and doesn't revere her with reverence to the point of isolation (which seems to be how most humans treat angels), and so we get the idea that generally, a lot of angels are isolated from all the other races because they are viewed as divine. And this also places some absolutely insane expectations on the angels themselves, like, if they're divine messengers of the heavens, then they're supposed to be perfect, they're supposed to embody and represent everything that is the heavenly divine, they're not allowed to be people.

But the thing is, Baltro knows damned well (as do all the ancient Zenoiran souls) that the angels aren't divine anything, they're a failed magical experiment that got propped up on an isolated pedestal, who've have been acting the part of divine messengers bc that's what's expected of them, that's all they've ever know, it's so ingrained in the culture after 800 years that no one even questions it. But the angels are people with flaws and emotions that can be manipulated, and that is exactly what Baltro and the other Zenoiran forces do. Baltro doesn't even need the mind-control magic, because the way the culture of Fevrith treats the angels makes them extremely easy to manipulate by toying with their emotions and how they view themselves and how humans view them.

Take Umerus for example. Umerus throws aside all her values in a desperate attempt to save her brother's life, because she loves him, he's the last family she has left, and she'd even turn her blade on her oldest friend and anyone else if it meant a chance at saving him. And when Alain and Scarlett are able to save her brother for her and free her from Zenoiran influence, she ends up so guilt-ridden over her actions because she went against everything that her culture and everyone in the world has told her she is--divine and perfect and holy--because she's failed at being "an angel", so she's wracked with immense guilt that she can't escape.

Had any other character (human, elf, or bestral) been in Umerus's position, their actions wouldn't have been questioned, others would have been like "well, of course you'd act that way in that situation, that makes sense" and all would be forgiven, and while Alain and Scarlett are able to forgive Umerus (bc they treat and see her as a person), Umerus can't forgive herself, because she doesn't seem to see herself as a person, only as an angel who failed at being an angel.

And like, it's like this for almost all the angels in the Albion section. Fodoquia is ready to die fighting Zenoira right up till his own people make a sacrifice of his son, and then Zenoira uses his grief and rage to control him until Alain shows up (Fodoquia's admittedly faster to forgive himself, but he never truly bent to Zenoira's will and it seems he felt justified in a lot of his resentment towards the people who killed his son, even if he also feels guilt in his lost faith in them).

Sanatio is presented with a dead pontifex and the promise that all of Albion and the theocracy that upholds it will fall into utter chaos if he ever lets people know that the pontifex is dead. Baltro uses Sanatio's faith like puppet strings to make Sanatio mislead all of the orthodoxy, and Sanatio hates himself for it afterwards because he's not only an angel, but one of the highest ranking angels in the orthodoxy, he's supposed to be divine, to be above being manipulated and toyed with, and he failed that. And all the reasons why he failed are totally understandable and would have been forgiven so quickly had he been literally anything except an angel (and again, Alain and Scarlett don't hold any of Baltro's manipulation against Sanatio), but Sanatio can't forgive himself, he can't see his actions as anything outside of horrific and sinful bc that's all the culture around the angels has taught him.

And on the flipside we get Raenys, who is so devoted to trying to be the paragon of an angel, to protect others and uphold what is right, that her actions are nearly self-destructive, because she would die rather than fail.

Ochlys is the only angel in the entire game who seems even remotely well-adjusted, and that seems to be because she cut ties with her parents and their ideals, and also decided she was going to do whatever she pleased in her job rather than listen to her boss. And she met and spent an immense amount of time with Sharon, who treated her like a person from the start and gave Ochlys a chance to see herself as a person, rather than just as a divine angel.

And yet! Alain can't marry any of them. He can marry elves and bestrals, and of course other humans, but not the angels. The culture around the angels is such that even though his rite dialogue with Raenys ends with them kissing, he can't marry her, bc she is an angel, she is the divine, and I honestly don't know if a marriage between an angel and someone of literally any other race would be allowed, because it'd probably be viewed as sacrilege of some sort, because people aren't supposed to fall in love with something divine, they're supposed to revere it, but never bring it down to their level, because the angels--to what seems to be the cultural norms of all Fevrith--aren't people in their own right.

And I dunno, I got off topic, I was just gonna make a joke post about the fact that Alain could take a fox-woman as his queen, but not a human woman with some wings. But the fact is I've had a lot of thoughts about Albion and the angels, and how subtly the writing shows the culture around them, and like. It's so interesting, but also tragic, and hrm, the writing in the game, man. The writing gets me.

[leave-a-whisper]

Listening to the Entire Sleep Token Discography Before Even in Arcadia Drops

These are my thoughts and feelings throughout this journey as a Sleep Token fan since early 2022.

---

One EP

This is definitely my favorite of the two EPs. I love the progression of each song and it's an incredible listening experience overall. My favorite song off of this is probably Thread The Needle.

Two EP

While One is my favorite EP overall, Two has my favorite song off of both EPs, which is Nazareth. A theme you'll see from me throughout these ramblings is that I'm a sucker for a damn good drop! I also really enjoy Calcutta.

Jaws, Hey Ya, The Way That You Were

Jaws is a fucking incredible song! It gets stuck in my head fairly often. I love how dark Hey Ya is compared to the original, and The Way That You Were is a solid song too.

Sundowning

This album has definitely been underappreciated by me in the past despite it having bangers like The Offering, Higher, and Gods, and having the emotional kick in the ass that Blood Sport is, which is one of my favorite songs by them...but there's really not a single bad song here. It has everything you could possibly want from the genre blending powerhouses that Sleep Token are, and their ability to make a metalhead like me enjoy a song like Dark Signs as much as I do is unmatched!

Bonus Note: The "from the room below" version of Blood Sport makes me cry every time. It's so fucking good and it really showcases Vessel's vocal abilities. This is definitely a song that was meant to be enjoyed like this. The other FTRB songs are amazing too. All I can say is that Vessel is a musical genius, and a fucking powerhouse of a vocalist.

This Place Will Become Your Tomb

I cannot talk about this album without mentioning Atlantic, which is not only the first song that introduced me to Sleep Token, but it's also my favorite song by them to this day! It really hits you in so many ways. It has beautiful lyricism, emotional moments that I relate to more than I care to admit, an amazing drop (you see the theme with me now) gorgeous piano, incredible vocals, and a drum section that fucking blew me away the first time I heard it. This was the song that made me fall in love with this band, and with II's drumming in particular. I'm currently learning to play this song on the piano, and then hopefully on the drums as well. That is how much I love it.

Now, onto the rest of the album. As a drummer myself, I highly appreciate songs like Hypnosis and Alkaline. II is so good at knowing exactly what a song needs and how to make every song unique and interesting. His style is unlike what I would typically see in most rock and metal bands, and I love that! I also really enjoy songs such as Mine, Like That, The Love You Want, Descending and Missing Limbs. the Drumeo video with II made me appreciate so many things about his drumming so much more than I already did, and in particular, the drumming in Like That.

Overall, this is probably the album I go back to the least, but by no means does that mean I don't enjoy it! I do have to be in more of a specific mood for it, but it's a beautiful album and it really just goes to show how god tier ST's entire discography is!

Is It Really You?

This song man...this is one of the songs that put Sleep Token on my radar. I was already a big fan of Loathe, and this song happens to be one of my most streamed songs to this day. I love the original because of how dreamlike it is, and honestly the whole album is like that and I highly recommend giving it a listen! Even though I still prefer the original, Sleep Token's rendition is fucking beautiful and I love having a softer version of the song when I'm in the mood for that.

Take Me Back To Eden

Hello beautiful! I don't think I coukd ever say enough about how much I adore this album! I think this is where ST finally nailed down a sound the really works for them, that still has all of the things I love from previous albums while also taking it all to a whole other level and absolutely blowing me away with what they are truly capable of. This was my album of the year in 2023, and it's becoming one of my favorite albums of all time. Because if this, I am going to do a track by track breakdown.

Starting off with Chokehold, this song is such a good way to kick off the album! The beginning is so dark and mysterious, and the chorus just fucking hits you. I love how there's no vocals the first time around, so that way the end is even more impactful.

I love how the second song is The Summoning, which gives you EVERYTHING and somehow makes it all work cohesively. I also distinctly remember how stunned I was when we got Chokehold and The Summoning back to back.

Leading into Granite, which is a great song made even better by way it ends on such a heavy note.

Then we have Aqua Regia, which is beautiful and jazzy and it has some of my favorite vocals from Vessel on this album.

Vore is incredible. I absolutely love the drums in this one, and I can't help but go crazy on my steerling wheel when I blast this one in the car.

Now, we have Ascensionism, which is my second favorite ST song after Atlantic. It has two drops which y'all know I love. The first one made me fall in love, and the second one made me ascend, for lack of a better word. This song is a JOURNEY and I love every single second of it.

I love how following such an intense song we have Are You Really Okay? which is a perfect combination of beautiful guitar and heartbreaking lyrics.

The apparition is so vibey, but it did have to grow on me a little. After many listens I absolutely love this song!

I also have to admit that DYWTYLM is probably one of my least favorite ST songs, but I still never skip it when I listen to this album. That just goes to show much amazing this album is.

Rain is a song that makes me want to go to a ST show and never leave. To me, the end is what really makes it so good.

The title track takes all of the elements I loved from Ascensionism and juat elevates them. I love how the chorus is so sonically different every single time, and that it has callbacks to Chokehold.

Finally, we have Euclid, which is just a fucking beautiful song. This one also makes me want to go to a show, and I don't know if I can describe it any better than simply saying it just sounds like the perfect album closer. I also love the full circle moment with the callback to The Night Does Not Belong To God.

My favorite songs are Chokehold, Aqua Regia, Vore, Ascensionism, Are You Really Okay?, Rain, Take Me Back To Eden, and Euclid. However, there's not a single bad song on this album and it is best enjoyed as the earth shattering journey that it is meant to be.

New Singles & My Hopes For Even In Arcadia

Emergence is absolutely my favorite of the three! The verses are just so fun and catchy, and I love how it starts soft and beautiful, and then makes you wait for those drums to kick in. The song slowly builds and has so many surprises that make you enjoy it even more with each one. ST continue to make stunning songs that include multiple genres, prog elements, and longer runtimes that give them the ability to take you on a journey. Caramel is another example of juat how good they are at genre blending. Who would have thought that it would escalate to such a heavy metal section with blast beats and screams from where it started? Ultimately it works, and it's beautiful! I love Damocles too. It wasn't as surprising as the other two, but I think a song like this will work well on the album. It really sounds a lot like Euclid, and I adore that song.

After listening to the singles, I have high hopes that this album is going to blow me away! I'm not expecting it to be better than TMBTE, but I definitely think ST has the ability to make something just as incredible, and I believe that this album is going to make me feel just as many emotions as the last one. I did take a peak at the track lengths, and my proggy heart was very happy to see that there is only one song under 4 minutes! They're really at their best sonically when they have more space to build up to these epic monents, and I'm so happy they're continuing to give us long tracks!

My Final Notes

There are so many reasons to love this band. My background as a drummer and as a lifelong rock fan and metalhead certainly has something to do with it, but one thing I've never been is an elitist despite my preference. The way this band blends genres so seamlessly is such a huge part of why I love them, because I also grew up listening to a lot of prog and I really appreciate what they're doing with their music.

Their music has also impacted me personally in so many ways. They have so many songs that are so special compared to all of the other hundreds of bands and thousands of songs that I enjoy on a regular basis. Every time I put them on I want to close my eyes and daydream or jump headfirst into a moshpit...sometimes both at once! They inspire me to create, and recently I have been seriously considering getting back into songwriting which is something I gave up many years ago.

Finally, I just wanted to extend my love and appreciation to newer fans/non-metalhead fans. Like I said, I'm not an elitist nor a gatekeeper. Y'all's love for this music genuinely makes me so happy and hopeful for the future of the genre, as well as for music in general. I am not bitter about the growth of one of the best bands out there right now, even if I missed out on my chance to see them in a small venue since they didn't come to Florida until after they blew up. I do wish I could have experienced that, but ultimately, the more people who get to enjoy this otherworldly music, the better!

I am so glad you're all here. Never stop loving the music you want to love!

Happy Even in Arcadia Eve everyone! I hope you all have an amazing time listening to the album, and I will be here at midnight my time (EST) to go insane with you all.

[valeriefauxnom]

More Dragalia Minor Details!

This time, quotes edition!

I think it's interesting how Leonidas and Phares both have a sort of speech pattern in their unit quote spread as well as their general dialogue. Leonidas is the simpler one to explain, so I'll start with him. He utilizes a lot of 'Perhaps' in his quotes.

Ex, among his Gala and Summer alts, he says:

Perhaps I ought to make arrangements for the decisive battle that awaits. My brother has acquired many useful pawns. His good-naturedness perhaps has merit. Perhaps I'll go surfing. Perhaps curry for supper? Perhaps I will stop in at the cafe.

If I read into it, I might say it is a reflection on his focus on the future. Leonidas is always looking for paths to make his ideals reality, and how he acts in the present is all in fulfillment of his aims. As such, evaluating each action under how it might help said goals might be more on his mind (even when it comes to things like leisure, 'would my goals be hindered if I do so/could I accomplish something to further my aims if I did?'), leading to the overuse of perhaps.

In a broader sense, Leonidas tends to flip-flop verbally between simple, short sentences, rarely busting out the flowing complicated ones one might expect as the standard 'royal' speech patterns. Sometimes he compromises between the two worlds and throws complicated words into short sentences to get his mood across succinctly.

Here's what I mean.

Phares, meanwhile, has his own fixation on a word. Several, in fact. The biggest are 'must' and 'will', but in general sentiment, he has another tendency. It's a bit hard to describe, but while he is future-focused like Leonidas, he expresses it more in concrete terms of what to do, with no true 'deliberation' found in Leonidas' 'perhaps'.

Take these lines from his unit (emphasis mine as I try to illustrate):

My next experiment will be... I must procure a book. I must make record of this. I swear to find a treatment for wyrmscale so the tragedy of our royal family is never repeated. How many times have I envied Valyx's stoutness? I shall have to ask him for some training. I should have died, but was kept alive. My task now is to show the meaning of that to the world. I shall support you. I will not let you die here! I will investigate truth, and contribute to the people until the life granted to me is ended.

Hopefully this helps give an idea of what I mean. There's no real deliberation about his next action; he has already decided, and is dead-set on doing so unless and until it kills him. It's an interesting departure from Leonidas, since Leonidas himself is rather blunt and similarly dead-set at times but still hedges a lot more than Phares.

As for his general speaking style, Phares, whether using short or long sentences, more frames things in a bit of an atypical way than necessarily using complex words all the time. Like, instead of, 'no need to be formal / no need for formalities' he instead will say, 'there is no need for formalities among we fellows of science'. Don't get me wrong, he uses more complex/rarer words often, but they're not an absolute prerequisite to the atypical wording, if you get my drift.

Examples:

(Instead of 'it's okay' or other typical variations)

(Instead of 'don't worry')

To explain these tendencies, I'd simply line it up with his many brushes with death in the recent past. By the end of Phares' adventurer story, he's almost died an additional 2-3 times, and that's not counting his previous issues with wyrmscale and the Progenitor. He knows just how tenuous life is, and yet wishes to do so much in the future to capitalize on the many near-saves he's had. To him, he likely no longer has the luxury of indecision at all: what he wants (to live, to protect his family, the world, to learn more), he will manifest it through determination alone.

Heck, even his adventurer story ends on this, highlighting the 'will' tendency:

So yeah, when I noticed these two had a particular flair to their style of speech, I figured I'd write it down! Maybe I'll find something more for some of the other family members, but these two were the most glaring with the repetition.

[ikkaku-of-heart]

Ghostlight's Worth & Impact

I think one of Tomasu's biggest flaws (and perhaps a trait Ikkaku herself shares) is that he underestimates his own worth. He's a man who expects to be forgotten and will downplay his relationships and the impact he's made on the world and people he's met. He's a self-deprecating man content to be an observer, forgetting that he wasn't just some spectator during the Golden Age of Piracy.

The Ghostlight isn't just some obscure story that people will forget. He's a legend that is merely whispered of. The Fishmen and Merfolk he freed and relocated to the Calm Belt will always remember him. The Celestial Dragons both curse him and whisper his moniker in fear. Whitebeard considered him a true friend and frequently entrusted him to smuggle his share of treasure to Sphinx, so the Whitebeard Pirates will always hold respect and affection for him. Roger considered him a friend, too, despite Tomasu's protests, always inviting him to party when they crossed paths. He made an impact on Shanks and Buggy, too, with both remembering him with both admiration and fear. Kaido still remembers the hangovers he got from his moonshine. The likes of Sengoku, Tsuru, and Garp still question whether his death was real or faked. And the creatures of darkness, cryptids, and servants of the Old Ones still tremble at his name, because they know he isn't dead.

Tomasu expects to be forgotten, but his impact made that impossible. Yet because he believed he had little value and would be forgotten, he underestimated the world he had sent Ikkaku into. She has no idea what potential allies or enemies she has. She's both in more danger and more protected than he could imagine because he can't imagine his old friends and foes carrying over their loyalties and grudges to her. He underestimates the impact his name has when she utters it. Because he assumes that everyone thinks he's dead and gone, and those who know he lives don't care.

This flaw has definitely gotten Ikkaku into trouble, and saved her, more times than either of them would expect.

[incensuous]

Omg

I just find out that the twin in dragalia lost and the twin in genshin is not the same🤣🤣😂😅😅😂😅

I always thought they are the same characters

HAHAHA you know what, that's a totally fair mistake to make.

blonde, twin main characters in an online game who's only goal is to find the other long lost twin? i sadly didnt get to play dragalia lost and then i heard the servers went down which is sad. and also that the ending wasnt terribly satisfying.

i anticipate genshin will be around for AT LEAST 5-10 more years (hopefully the servers will be up for longer!) and i pray that the ending will be satisfying even though i know aelumi won't be canon--they're canon in my heart.

honestly with how there's references to the volsung opera/myth, which strongly hints to me there will be references to sigmund and sieglinde and their swords... it all just feels like strong implications of aelumi being hinted at. to the point where even lumine's japanese VA watched the animated MV for the two of them and had to ask "are they really siblings?" (implying how romantic the MV was)

[lconoclasts]

Can't add the exact timestamp (it's at the end) but they just??? Jump off screen???? Do they not die???

My general consensus with this fight is that it's just extra content and... in-between canonicity. They don't show up in the credits (in a scene) regardless if you kill them or not, and the pupils are alive(?) or possibly some other ones are alive as they could just look similar/be reused sprites

long speculation under the cut

Fitzroy is lore for sure which contradicts some of the implications about trancending that we get but like. Royal is kind of a dumbass AND is being told all of this from mother/one concern. There's multiple implications of the "ancestors" (both isi and Him followers) coming from somewhere else/resetting the planet and leaving instructions/tech for their respective people to use. Fitzroy seems to fit in the between stage before the concern has studied the tech, but AFTER the Ancestors arrived/reset the planet. In The Tower and the Bastion there are images of famous earth landmarks (taj mahal, new York, pyramids I think) implying that some sort of Earth was destroyed/minerals drained (more connections to the themes about environmentalism) and that humanity was "reset". RIGHT BUT CANONICITY. Fitzroy is more lore... If u want him to be. The true past of humanity is still foggy ESPECIALLY with conflicting views from Him followers and the Isi. The concern claims to have longer records of history, and has aforementioned images, but they shape it to their beliefs and leave out certain parts intentionally as well as only educate people deemed more faithful (concern staff) and censor/mysticize parts for the common folk and ESPECIALLY city one residents. Cough cough 'merica haha but not really I doubt he was thinking about Americans specifically. This is more likely a commentary on religion specifically they larger ones and how they shape societies views and history! (Remember when we used B.C?) I'm not going to say this is an effective commentary or a scathing remark on Christianity (I believe that Christianity is used as a reference as it's the poster child to westerners for what "religion" is. He probably intended for this to be about religion as a whole but like. Come on. It's definitely Christianity with a few changes to make it a "generic religion" especially with the focus on punishment and ascension to a "good place". They also use sin/sinners a few times but that may be for familiarity especially since he had a whole npc for explaining terminology) that aside. Canonicity. Again. The history behind the Starworm followers vs the Isi is intentionally left a mystery! Fitzroy and Leticia are real as fuck (if u think they're canon) and provide some ideas for what actually happened in history but who knows! I should get back to my conversation I got distracted haha.

[wildwinterlunas]

Kiriko would meet Cassidy and Pharah, find out they're siblings, and wonder how the fuck Pharah turned out the way she did

[mrchoppedslefthand]

[SPOILERS] Homicipher Is Actually Romantic, Convince Me Otherwise [Analysis/Opinion] [SFW]

Word count: 3,332

Edit: 11/7/2024

[Feel free to skip to the last objective "Individual route discussion + what made it romantic" if you want to get straight to the point]

Homicipher is truthfully a romantic (or platonic) game. It is a game that has to be looked at from a different perspective when it comes to love/romance. A game where you have to take in consideration of the characters and the nature of their 'other world'. Today's post will discuss into what I believe made Homicipher an oddly, but romantic game, despite its shortcoming and abrupt ends.

⚠️[MAJOR LORE/CHARACTER ROUTE SPOILERS] ⚠️

Discussion Objectives:

Definition of Love & how it plays into Homicipher

The nature of the 'other world' and ghosts

Individual route discussion + what made it romantic (thoughts)

What Is Love & How Does It Play Into Homicipher?

Love has many layers of definition and associations. Maybe, that is why some may deem Homicipher to be "unromantic" and some disagree on that thought. It also varies based on the type of content/exposure you had consume in the category of love [whether romantic or platonic]. Socially, from a common standpoint, love is a strong attachment or affection for someone. Often from a social standpoint associated with dates, affection, and intimacy. However, love is always changing, since it is a social script on what its suppose to be, and changes as society progresses. Some notions stay the same but some begin to change (just like how language and certain concepts begin to change in the other world, a different society from our own). For the sake of a "true" definition of love. I will be using the definition offered by the Oxford Language Dictionary. So, what is love?

Love as a noun is...

"An intense feeling of deep affection"

"A great interest and pleasure in something"

"A person or thing that one loves"

Love as a verb is...

"Feel deep affection for (someone)"

"Like or enjoy very much"

Not long after its release there had been a fair number of comments/reviews criticizing Homicipher for its lack of romance. This claim is NOT entirely wrong. From the expectations of a "normal" Otome/dating sim it doesn't necessarily meet the requirements because of its lack of intimacy, affection and interest from a HUMAN/SOCIETAL perspective. We must remember that romance/love does not necessarily equate to kissing, hand holding, and intimacy especially considering that these are the HUMAN (societal) views on what romance/love is. A concept that had become lost in the 'other world'. So how can we call Homicipher romantic if we have to cross out the influence of our society? The answer is that we can't fully avoid it, HOWEVER, we must be open to a different perspective of what 'their' version of love is (platonic love/or romantic). No matter how lacking, dense, twisted and grotesque the moments we have spent with these ghosts are. In some shape and form it CAN equate itself to love (platonic/ or romantic). I think a lot of people forget that time itself can be equate to some complicated level of love. The fact you spend time with someone, and it develops to something further for worse or better, something that even love may not be able to name, is what this game demonstrates.

Homicipher has a consistent theme, the loss of truth, the acceptance of ignorance and the concept of eternity. Which shockingly is where the romance comes from. When we allow ourselves to rot in that world. When we ignore the exit and choose to stay, is where the romance comes through. Love is complicated. What can I say?

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

The Nature of the 'Other World' & Ghosts

Alot of the ghosts we encounter can be friendly, but also just as deadly. We hear it from almost all of the casts warning or discussing about how dangerous a lot of the ghosts (including themselves) roam in this world, and in different endings, succumb to this danger ourselves. The longer we stay in this world, we soon start to become no different. As we, a human, begin to slowly transform into a different entity. We begin to react more violently (though it can be argued that since our MC is a serial killer, she might have just been violent and cruel in general). When angered, or things start not to go her way, she gets filled with bloodlust and takes it out on who she's with. Killing is a common thing to do in this world, especially when experiencing anger, sadness and even boredom. The concept of death is a little complicated as they can easily regenerate themselves back to "life". As the game progresses, we learn that some of these ghosts cannot grasp certain concepts (such as love), remember their own name and self, and don't have exact words (sometimes none) for items.

When sometimes even confessing that you like some of the ghosts they question you, and state that they cannot understand you or that feeling (platonic/ or romantic). We are in a setting that is beyond the mortal realm, there aren't any exactly "ideal" dates in a place different from the moral realm... so you're going to be stuck in a scary place, having a scary "date".

However just because they cannot understand the concept of love, doesn't meant that they can't feel it. It is something that the body may still feel, and the mind not being able to put an identity to that feeling or even situation, since meanings and concepts get lost within this realm. The fact that we are allowed to spend an eternity in this realm, with our handsome casts of ghosts. Is oddly and sadly romantic. For Mr. Crawling it is his devotion and loyalty to you, it is how he worries and cares for you, it is his affection and attempts to soothe you. For Mr. Silvair it is his care for you (as research of course lol), your usefulness (which is why he is attracted to you), but even then, one of his endings he keeps you as a head, when you had become useless to him. For Mr. Gap he finds you intriguing, he wants to play and follow you around, always asking for parts of you with consent, loves to brag about himself to you. For Mr. Chopped it is his want to rely on you, to feel safe with you, to protect him, to spend time with him. For Mr. Hood it his willingness to help you for an eternity, to roam with you forever, keeping you away from danger. For Mr. Machete it is the fact you both spend an eternity searching for a home together, to suffer boredom together, to suffer within each other's presence. For Mr. Scarletella it is his obsession for you and his willingness to spend an eternity with you.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Individual Routes + What Made Them Romantic

[Not in any particular order]

Mr. Crawling

If I had to rank who had the most "romantic" route overall, it would be Mr. Crawling. With the definition usage of love from the Oxford dictionary, verb and noun he checks all the list. Not only that, but we spend time with him the most out of all the other casts. He was the very first ghost we meet (briefly in the beginning) and got stuck with. We are like a baby bird imprinting on him because we saw him first and spent time with him the most, so of course we might feel the most attached to him compared to the others. As the game progresses Mr. Crawling doesn't fail to let us know that he cares for us and our safety warning us of the dangers that come and explaining how to navigate our way around danger. He expresses his worries when we disappeared. He seems to have some concept of love (platonic/ or romantic) as he admittedly tells us that he likes us and ask us if we like him. He expresses how he wants to follow and protect us. He also has so many cute scenes! Scenes where he pats our head, scenes where we lay together, chat a lot together. He is devoted and loyal to us, never harming us even once.

We even get a scene where he gets jealous when we called Mr. Chopped cute with the cat headband! So, he also makes an attempt to be cute too! We are always together with him, and that makes us BOTH happy. Although we don't have our traditional romantic dates like shopping, movie night. We get a bed scene and get to take him back home with us.

There are many types of romance. Platonic and romantic. You the reader/player is allowed to view it however you want. The game does not punish you for the lack of interactions with the casts. You just end up missing out on certain scenes/moments with them is all. However, for the sake of this post I will be making attempts to talk about the romantic aspect (but platonic romance can also be put into place).

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Mr. Silvair

lt's apparent that Mr. Silvair keeps us as research material and confines us in his lair. He is interested in our body, and also interested in returning our mind/intellect back to its original state. It is this interest in us that makes him "love" us. Does confinement and research count as love? Well...maybe not in terms of human definition but in the Mr. Silvair way, it's the closest thing you can get to romantic (or platonic). Afterall, the concept of love has become lost in this world.

I believe he still has some attachment to us, because in the ending A Head's Life, he still keeps you as a companion along with Mr. Chopped. He claims that you are no longer useful/capable but that it is okay, as long as danger is no longer here. When you choose to ask him why he did what he did and ask if he likes you, he tells you it was for research and that love is something he cannot understand. He also doesn't understand why you get so angry when he helped you return your intellect back. He still though has some sort of concept of empathy, because in his route when you choose to kill him and hide yourself away. He comes follow you and expresses that he's sorry and tells you a little about himself. He allows you free will, at this point, allowing you to leave him or stay with him.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Mr. Gap

Mr. Gap always wants a piece of us, literally. Why does he? Because it's just for fun. The most interaction we get with him is through the multiple crevices within this world and the short route he gets in chapter 4. He takes but sometimes may give. However, he doesn't fail to be thoughtful. It's hilarious how in chapter 4 when he offers us a crowbar in exchange for your heart, you can just smack him for it with no consequences. He also likes to brag about himself to you which honestly is a little cute. With his ending Return, we only have him left in the 'other world'. Our comfort lies with him, although he may be a little annoying, he is the only one we have left. We maybe have become a little codependent on him, but maybe he likes that?

God his annoyed/disgusted face is so hilarious, do it again Mr. Gap! He seems to stick around with us mainly just for funsies and being nosy, and honestly, he is so real for that. But it seems he likes to stay around with us at least. In the return end he is with us, and continues to stay lurking, perhaps watching over us until he is needed. Quite handy am I right? Haha.

He is depicted as quite the gentleman, but also just as fun and teasing. There are times where he does help you with no charge, such as barging into his hole (the face he makes in that scene is hilarious). Again, when presented with beating him for your crowbar, he gets a little upset but, honestly still helps you out. He probably thinks violence is funny which is why he constantly still teases you by asking to take away your body parts. It's just too fun!

Someone had brought up to my attention that Mr.Gap tends to ask for parts that can be easy to part with as we progress. Asking for our feet, legs, and fingers instead, when he seems to still clearly prefer the heart over the other parts. He adjusts his request when he realizes we won’t give our heart.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Mr. Chopped

Mr. Chopped is just a head; how can he possibly be or have anything romantic? Well, not necessarily to the level of Mr. Crawling but, we get to have a few small moments with him and spend some time with him. Since he is just a head, he can't help but need to rely on others. Of course, he has to be selectively about it because falling in the wrong hands devastates him.

Mr. Chopped when he gets forced into playing with the deer child, he seems happy to see a familiar face and calls us out to help him. Our poor baby was in trouble!

His ending head hunt is tragically sad but also bittersweet. MC cares so much about Mr. Chopped that she spends an eternity as an entity searching for a lost head, searching for Mr. Chopped who she failed to rescue.

During his own special route Mr. Chopped does his best to help us, but there is only so much a head can do. To make up for his lack of body though, he seems to be more expressive with his mouth and emotions. We get to take him to get a haircut and wash his hair. This seems pretty date like to me. Although our time was abrupt and short with Mr. Chopped. It makes me happy that we get this small, cute scene with him, which makes him much more lovable.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Mr. Hood

Mr. Hood protects you from harm, and also heeds your commands. He also carries you around. He means no harm and is there to guide. He cares for your safety and seems to dislike anything dangerous or threatening towards him and others that he protects.

At the end of his route, he states how often you get in danger and takes you with him, telling you that he must protect you since you asked him to (referring to an earlier scenario when you asked him to stay with you, when you reunited with Mr. Crawling and the others, but he leaves). So I would assume he would always be by your side now eternally staying together and protecting you from danger when needed. How cute! Some people are into that. But personally, for me Mr. Hood felt more like a father/brother to me. Maybe it was because he was always willing to guide us? But some people are into the brotherly/fatherly type of men, and hey I don't judge.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Mr. Machete

At first, I did not see the appeal to Mr. Machete, he seemed like a ghost that killed for boredom and most of the time we just followed him around aimlessly...WELL, after playing his route and letting it soak in my brain. That is entirely the whole point of his character. He is a ghost that had become bored because he had too much time on his hands and continues to search for his home. He is our tsundere dummy macho ghost, and honestly, I love that about him. He could've killed us again like how he tried earlier, but after that first attempt, he reluctantly allows us to follow him. It's funny how much he runs away if the odds are against him, and when he mocks us it's even more hilarious. Mr. Machete likes us if we are strong opponent for him, he even expresses that he thinks we are fun and likes us when we defeat Mr. Hugeface on our own.

Not going to lie, I fell for Mr. Machete right here. We were low on blood, and he just slices his hand, FEEDING us HIS BLOOD. Like OMG that was so hot, he opens our mouth forceful, and we drink his blood. He somewhat cares about us, to be doing all of that for us. After that we get a timed choice to stall or follow him. When you choose to stall he pauses with you and asks if you're okay and to catch up with him. For someone who had been reluctant and annoyed at us for following him, took a moment of his time to wait for you. He WANTED you to tag along with him. We then venture on with him aimlessly searching for his and our home. Torturing each other with our presences. But maybe, just maybe, they can slowly become that home together that they were searching for.

·:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:··:¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨:·

Mr. Scarletella

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. At first, he appears to be just any ghost that wants to attack us. It took me a while to warm up to him because of so little we knew about him. I thought he wanted to take our name for fun/or collection, but then it's revealed that he knows us. That he harbors some sort of love and obsession for us and believes that we love him because of all the blood and bodies we "offered" him. In a twisted way, this situation is a cute and romantic misunderstanding. Mr. Scarletella fell in love with us for providing him many blood and bodies. He wants us to spend an eternity with him. He WANTS to spend an eternity with us. He invites us to this other world because perhaps he wants us to become a ghostly being just like him, or maybe he wants to have easier access to us (since his myth that he only appears on rainy days) to meet us. Although we didn't get to have as many interactions with him, that is what makes this love toxic. It is a parasocial love, he fell in love with us from afar. When you piece everything together with your dictionary the words he proposes to you sound like wedding vows when you give your name to him. Which make it all so more lovely, even if he takes our soul away.

(My translation/interpretation of the scene, where he asks for your name)

Chapter 2, Scene 24

Scarletella: "You found your name...?"

Scarletella: "Teach me your name." (ARF ARF WRARF)

Scarletella: "I want you." (YES PLEASE)

Scarletella: "Will you give your name?" (OF COURSE)

Scarletella: "Your name?" (👁️👄👁️)

*You give him your name here*

Scarletella: "I have your name."

Scarletella: "I have obtained you." (YES YOU DID, COME TAKE ME)

Scarletella: "Let's leave together." (ARF ARF WRARFFFFFFFF)

Scarletella: "I love you"

Scarletella: "And you love me."

Scarletella: "You gave it to me...Thank you" (I'LL GIVE YOU IT ALL)

Scarletella: "Forever/eternally together..." (YES SIR)

Scarletella: "Together." (ARF ARF WRARRF ARFA)

He is quite the romancer hehe. It seems like Mr. Scarletella has some form of concept when it comes to love, which is to be together forever, even if you end up as a blood pool. Together is together.

I find it interesting how his two endings: Scarletella and Scarlet Rain parallels each other so well. In the Scarletella ending, we (mc unknowingly) give our consent to being together forever with Mr. Scarletella, but we are still alive. When MC wakes up, she sees a clear umbrella on the floor and picks it up. I believe that we have now embodied or spirited the umbrella, spending eternity with Mr. Scarletella. He owns us now.

However, in the Scarlet Rain end he becomes ours, the umbrella stays red, and we still, eternally are together forever.

[ihavea-natural-curiosity]

Viktors Disabilities, a Speculative Analysis

Ever since i first watched Arcane i have wanted to know (and i mean this in the nicest way possible,) what was wrong with Viktor. His disability was never explained beyond “he was born with a malformed leg”.

And so, i was left alone in the house with my thoughts today so i took it upon myself to figure it out, (and talk about his medical issues so i can ignore my own lmao) and i am releasing my thoughts upon yall!

(disclaimer: yes i am aware that this arcane is a fantasy world that is not our world and the disorders/illnesses and treatments will not be the same but the issues he has have to be based off of something (especially with how detailed this show is and how many references are made throughout.) this is not me trying to say that he definitively has any of these conditions, i’m just comparing them to conditions that exist today and suggesting what Viktors disabilities may have been based off of.)

(disclaimer pt 2.: i have not played League of Legends, i do not intend to play League of Legends, i have only watched Arcane and i am only talking about Arcane and Arcane lore and what i have been able to figure out from watching Arcane and spinning it around in my brain like it’s in a microwave.)

Now, i think i’ll just start from the beginning, and go in order of development.

1. Viktors Leg

According to the wiki (and about every other site that talks about Viktor) he is said to have been “born with a malformed leg”, and said pretty much nothing else. Now, when Viktor is an adult, his leg appears to be very not-malformed, so, let’s start at the flashback.

Now, even in the flashback Viktors leg looks normal. It’s pointing forward, and looks totally fine. But as the clip goes on, and he gets up and starts moving, the problem becomes apparent. Here’s a clip:

Yall have probably already noticed what i’m talking about with this clip, but i want to illustrate it more because the clip moves so fast:

As Vikto moves faster, his foot shifts inwards! It shifts inwards pretty severely (i mean, he full on trips on it), and the only time in this entire clip where it is doing so. And that is because the other times he is around someone else. I think he is purposefully pointing his foot forward and in turn walking on the wrong part of his foot (balance issues), and more than likely causing himself pain 1. to appear less ‘crippled’ and more “normal” to other people, and 2. because clearly, his foot is pointing inwards to a degree that is impairing his ability to walk.

Now to me, (and i’m not a doctor so if any actual doctors want to call me on incorrect information please do so!) this looks like Femoral Anteversion, or a twisting of the femur that points the knees inward (it’s typically found in both legs but it can happen with just one)

Now this isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, ~10% of children are affected with Femoral Anteversion (or “pigeon toes”), and most of the time it resolves itself, unless it is super severe, at which point it requires surgery to fix it. Which, of course, Viktor did not have access to.

Now, his leg does appear to be normal as an adult, but the femoral anteversion thought is still plausible. There are 3 reasons i can think of for this one.

1. He got to Piltover and after a little bit Heimerdinger noticed how messed up his leg was and Viktor got the surgery to correct it as much as possible (it’s implied that Viktor was in Piltover for years, based on how he acts and the fact that he’s Heimerdingers assistant) (this thought doesn’t seem very plausible to me, i don’t remember seeing any surgery scars on his leg in the hexcore scene, but it is a possibility.)

2. He’s simply just still correcting his leg. The reason we wouldn’t see him mess up like we did in the flashback is that he’s about 24-25 in act one, and i’d say that 14-15 years is probably enough to get used to doing that sort of thing.

3. (Honestly this one seems to be the most plausible to me) His leg has (partially) corrected itself. Most children whose femoral anteversion fixed itself had normal gaits by age 8-10, but that’s an average age and those typically aren’t perfectly accurate to everyone (i have. very personal experience with that.) and it makes the most sense to me that his leg has mostly/partially corrected itself and he’s just also continuing to self-correct to avoid appearing any more disabled than he already does (he shows quite a bit of internalized ableism throughout the season, and his line about people not listening to him because he’s “just a poor cripple from the undercity” really drives it home for me, honestly.)

2. Viktors Deterioration

When we first truly see Viktor in act 1, he seems lively, and unless he’s actively walking, he’s not using his cane, not really (he hangs his cane on his arm to read a book with both hands (really great rep btw, we do in fact do that!), he leans it against a desk to pace in front of a chalkboard with Jayce, he puts it down somewhere to go help Jayce with the experiment, etc.).

I mean, look at his stance, he’s not really leaning on his cane for support, more likely he’s using it for balance, and as an assist to his bad leg, rather than an attempted replacement like we saw in the flashback.

But in act 2? Hoooo boy

Look at that, beyond just looking 10x sicker, look at his posture, his shoulders specifically. He is actively leaning on his crutch (because he needs a crutch now, the cane wasn’t enough), using it like a replacement. Now, over the course of the ~7 year time skip, Viktors condition has deteriorated enough that he 1. needs the braces 2. needs a crutch 3. can no longer even get up without his crutch, let alone take a single step!

i mean, even when he’s sitting down, he’s holding onto it, leaning on it. The way he uses his crutch, how skinny he’s gotten, how much more tired he seems, all of these things say some sort of newfound muscle weakness, but why?

And the braces. Let’s start with the leg brace, since it’s right there. How it’s built around the actual leg and knee looks a whole lot like a much cooler unloader knee brace, or a knee brace that redistributes weight away from the weakened knee. I have to wear one of those when my knee gets really bad in the winter, when it starts buckling randomly and just.. not working. Which makes sense for the muscle atrophy/weakness theory i have, because that leg was already weak to begin with, and his knee would have been all kinds of fucked up if he did spend basically his whole life misaligning it like i’m thinking he did. (and to support that theory even further, the way that the brace goes over his foot as well reminds me of the braces some children wear to attempt to correct their ‘pigeon toes’ (which have been proven not to work, btw)

Now, the back brace. I’m gonna be honest, this part took me the longest, it truly confused me.

When you look at it, it just looks like a thoracic back brace, with some extra support on the hips (once again, pointing to muscle weakness)

But the thing that really confused me?

The screws in his back.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out what procedure this was referencing (Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Fixation (i’m like really sure that the screws aren’t showing in the real life surgery but the fact that they are makes sense with Arcanes style)), and an even more embarrassing amount of time to realize that the golden screws in his brace weren’t connected to him. (i am. very tired.)

But essentially, a Percutaneous Pedicle Screw Fixation is a less invasive spinal fusion procedure. Now a spinal fusion can be done for many, many reasons, but only one really fit.

Support, because of muscle weakness.

Every single thing that got added on to Viktor could be explained by muscle weakness, but there’s never any explained reason why he was so weak all of a sudden. His terminal illness is cited as a reason but that didn’t really make sense to me, all of these procedures, all of these mobility aids made perfectly to his measurements would’ve had to have been caused by something with a much slower onset than the illness would have given him.

And after literal hours of scouring, i have a theory.

Post-Polio Syndrome.

The timeline makes sense, Viktor would have most likely gotten sick before the flashback, when he was a child (a lot of children who get Polio fight it off without even knowing they have it). Viktor is estimated to be about 32 in act 2, and the average time between the initial Polio infection and Post-Polio Syndrome onset is about 20-40 years (inconsistent numbers).

Now some of the symptoms we have no way of knowing if they affect Viktor or not, but the main ones that caught my eye were muscle atrophy, chronic fatigue, and, you guessed it, muscle weakness.

Given where Viktor lived as a child, and how heavily polluted it was (remember that Viktor was in the undercity over 10 years before we saw it in act 1 with Vi and Powders childhood), it’s not too far of a stretch to say that he could have contracted an illness very similar to Polio as a child, and only really be feeling the affects of it now.

3. The Illness

I have 2 main theories for Viktors illness, the first one seems to be the most popular among the fandom: Tuberculosis.

If you’re unaware, Tuberculosis (TB) is a sickness that mainly affects the lungs, with the main symptom being coughing up blood. Now this is a really good theory imo, it fits pretty well, with some of the other symptoms being muscle atrophy, fatigue, malaise (general feeling of discomfort/unease with no discernible reason), loss of appetite, and severe unintentional weight loss. all of this sounds like our guy, no?

TB can take weeks to be symptomatic, so we probably just caught Viktor at the worst time ever lol with this theory.

My other theory is actually one my friend suggested to me, and that theory is COPD.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive disease that is basically a terrible combination of chronic bronchitis and asthma that can be caused by exposure to pollution (Viktor grew up in the Undercity before Cassandra’s vent system, i mean the river he was playing on had an oil slick on it, i think it’s safe to say he was exposed to some pretty severe pollution as a child.)

This theory makes a lot of sense to me, because it’s said in the show that his illness was probably caused by the air where he grew up, which this would have been, while TB would not. (not 15-20 years later, at least) COPD, once it reaches stage 4 is very severe, any flare up of symptoms could be life threatening at that stage, and the symptoms? Fatigue, shortness of breath, coughing, weight loss, and less frequently, coughing blood.

Anyway, i guess that concludes my analysis/comparison? I’m gonna repeat that i’m not definitively saying that ‘he has this condition and this is why!’, i’m just analyzing and speculating on what different parts of his disability is based on in real life. So, let’s just all be nice, yeah? (also PLEASE feel free to use this as a reference point for modern aus and stuff!!)

i do genuinely think that Viktors disease progression and his deterioration is one of the best examples of chronic illness that i have seen in media, in my experience (both with my own issues and what i’ve seen in other people) and Viktor himself is one of the BEST representations of what it’s like to be young and disabled and the internalized ableism that comes with it (if anyone wants to hear about that i will happily yap your ear off about it!

Anyway, for real this time. Yap session over.

[edit: if you like this you should look in the reblogs there’s a couple of really good in-depth deep dives from others that build on this!!]