#lost ark thaemine

[lilisette]

more thaemine stuff because i am down bad for a.... man?? that barely appears in the game

this is a thaemine x summoner mc fic idea that i will get to writing one day (hopefully)

inspired by hiroeb/gogopierogi's post on thaemine :) thank you for feeding my thaemine brainrot

so some basic info first:

no one knows his exact origins, aside from him appearing out of nowhere in petrania and proceeds to conquer half of it

no one knows his purpose for doing so either, why he fights and why he even agrees to be a legion commander when kazeros offers him a position

a predominant theory kr players have about thaemine is that he is zosma's, the god of chaos and ruler of petrania before kazeros came along, chaos shard, a part of his soul

with that out of the way.. heres the thaemine x summoner mc au

summoners can summon pets, elementals, and even ancient spirits (eg jahia, ligheas) to help them

so what if thaemine, a part of zosma's soul, is an ancient spirit? (that would also mean kadan is also one but we are not about to go into that)

being a soul fragment, that would mean that half of himself is missing because he is incomplete

a void of emptiness gnawing at him from the inside ever since he came into existence and he hates it, like hes missing something but he doesnt know what it is

its why hes been fighting for so long, to fill in that void of darkness and maybe find something or someone that could patch the void

accepts kazeros' offer because he thought maybe itll fix whatever is missing in him, but nope, doesnt work

this goes on until feiton, where he meets mc the first time

feels a weird pull to them, an affinity of some sorts and for the first time in centuries he feels that void of darkness within him ebbing away and hes curious

learns that mc is a summoner, who has ancient spirits, beings similar to him, by their side and he wonders. would being their summon fill that void?

but he doesnt act immediately, rather, he watches them closely to see if theyre worth his time and power

this goes on for a while, and the more time passes, the more intriguied he is by them

mc's summons warn mc of thaemine's interest because they are similar (ancient spirits) and can somewhat tell whenever a spirit is interested in courting a summoner to be theirs

mc being hyper aware now because of it, being on guard if some unfamiliar creature appears close by because thats how spirits observe their intended, to see if they are worthy before approaching

in hindsight mc shouldve told azena about this, but doesnt because they dont want to worry the sidereals in case its nothing altogether

everything comes to a head during thaemine's raid, at the very end

thaemine thinking mc is the perfect choice after observing them for a while, a strong summoner who isnt fearful of him, who could hold on their own against him

mc having a lapse in attention and gets separated from the sidereals, gets chain bound and the two finally talk

thaemine offering mc his aid against kazeros, to not go against them and not harm anyone they see dear if they accept him as a summon

with a catch of course.

mc is used to this because summons usually would ask for something in return if they are to be their summon, like mana, food, offerings, depends on the summon

so when thaemine asks for part of their soul... well that comes as a shock.

there are many cautionary tales told to summoners, to never give up your soul, not even a sliver of it because that means the summon owns you now, changing the power dynamic from balanced to the summon owning the summoner

and having your soul owned by one of the most powerful beings in existence is never a good thing.

but what choice does mc have? thaemine has a point; kazeros is infinitely more powerful than they are, than the god who thaemine was part of milennia ago and there is no guarantee that they will find the lost ark to counter kazeros in time

and thus mc accepts his aid, selling their soul to what many call the devil

instead of all the horrible things the tales warned them of, like telling them to do things theyd never do, to harm people or their other summons, thaemine kneels in front of them and leaves his mark on them by grabbing their hand and caressing it, a tattoo then forming on the back of their hand

he sets mc free, puts them back where the sidereals are and leaves, and now mc has to deal with the aftermath of being thaemine's summoner, of all things

there might be plotholes because im still fleshing this idea out and yeah im ngl this is just one giant excuse for me to write thaemine smut (cough mana sharing ala fate stay night for example cough)

edit: more ideas related to this au in the reblogs :)

[alecshar]

Kadan and Thaemine under the Baratron (also the goof version, Katdan and Thaemine under the Baratron)

[noonday-leaf]

lost ark

[gogopierogi]

The official Korean Lost Ark Youtube channel dropped this year's April Fools joke.

It's a fake trailer for a version of the gamer where you play as the Legion Commanders. Gotta kill those pesky adventurers before they beat you up and take your loot.

[sigma315]

gaddam Master of Darkness with bakeries and cherries I see you t-t

[hardcoregamer]

Amazon Talks Echidna Prep, Thaemine Changes, Exclusive Cosmetics in Lost Ark

It has been a few months since we last talked with Amazon to talk about Lost Ark's future, but with the publisher pushing content faster and faster, we just had to get insight on what's to come. We sat down with Roxanne Sabo, Community Lead at Amazon Game Studios, to talk about last month's Thaemine raid release, along with the second content roadmap, which included the surprising addition of the fast-tracked Echidna raid.

Check it out!

[materialki77-blog]

One of the things I really like about the questline of Lost Ark, is where some of the Arks are hidden. They’re in the continents that you wouldn’t expect, places where even the people who live there are like “there’s no way an Ark could be here”. Arthetine, a “cold land of cold machines”, has an Ark. Shushire, the frozen country terrorized by Vrad and where people are barely scraping by. Feiton, where the earth itself is tainted by Thaemine’s darkness and Delains live because other places won’t accept them. Even Tortoyk, home to the tiniest of creatures, was trusted by Nineveh to hide an Ark. 

Idk I just really like the idea that, everybody is a part of the affairs of their world even if they don’t know it, or even if others tell them they’re not worthy (looking at you, Sacria). That no place has truly been abandoned, and has a light worth protecting. Everyone matters. It’s a really nice sentiment. 

[ramtracking]

Thaemine The First is a special race to clear the original— and hardest— difficulty of the Thaemine Legion Raid. [ Lost Ark ]

Thaemine The First is a special race to clear the original— and hardest— difficulty of the Thaemine Legion Raid. [Highlights] Clear the first—and hardest—difficulty of the Thaemine Legion Raid. The top 10 teams earn a spot on the leaderboard and a suite of in-game… Lost Ark’s next update, “Darkness Unleashed” is bringing Thaemine into Arkesia in full force tomorrow, with the new Legion…

[hypnostallev]

Kharmine smile is best smile. And demonic lords and ladies are also cool.

[lilisette]

joining the thaemine brainrot train, have some thaemine headcanons and a hades and persephone au

and since this au draws inspo from the hades and persephone myth, there will be dubcon and kidnapping so beware, also suggestive themes but nothing explicit

thaemine in general never shows interest in things; ans the only time he feels truly alive is in the midst of battle, the urge to best his opponent and conquer them surging through his veins

its why he agreed to be kazeros' legion commander in the first place, to fight, to chase that high

honestly he would fight kazeros if given the chance, just to see what the archdemon is made of

but hes not stupid so he just lets it be. for now.

being the strongest out of all commanders can be a boring thing, no one dares oppose him, no one dares lay a hand on him, and being tasked to find the arks of all things, its safe to say hes bored

nothing held in interest and there was nothing to do, so when he meets mc the first time in feiton and actually feels something other than boredom, hes instantly intrigued

perhaps it was the way mc looked at him; instead of fear or contempt, mc was curious, eyeing him up and down before entering a battle stance

the encounter has left him wanting; wanting to understand what on arkesia was he feeling and why

said want quickly turned into a need, then into an obsession, and being obsessed over by a legion commander was never, ever a good thing

he watched mc from afar via his proxy, watches them fight his minions in the countless chaos gates that opened

something about the way mc moved ignited a fire in him, to conquer

not in the way he used to conquer his opponents no, but something else and he doesnt know what exactly and its driving him insane

until he sees mc get cut by his minion's sword, tearing up and wincing as they healed their wound, then he realizes that oh. oh.

he wants to see them in pain, crying, to push their limits and see how far he could go until mc looks at him in fear, wants to break their determination and make them submit to him

this obsession was kept secret and no one knows that hes following mc's move closely

kharmine and brelshaza may have an inkling of it since theyre observant but dont mention anything

actually if kharmine knew he would deliberately offer to kidnap mc for him as part of his schemes but we are not here to talk about that now

anyway. south vern.

by then brelshaza and kharmine wouldve noticed his interest, brel would watch mc closer to see whats so interesting about this ark inheritor while kharmine would warn mc about thaemine before letting them proceed

while the sidereals and everyone else was distracted by the opening of countless of chaos gates, thaemine disappeared suddenly

only to appear near mc and chaining everyone within range of him down

“you.” he would say, towering over mc and watching them struggle against the binds

mc still isnt afraid even when he drags a pointed finger down their cheek, tilting their face up towards him, if anything they are curious as to what would happen next and that drives him mad

with one smooth motion, he lifts mc and slings them over his shoulder, ignoring the shock gasps and cries to put them down

kidnapping mc to his realm and keeping them there to see how far he could go with mc

a hades and persephone au basically but lost ark and uh. yeah. they fuck a lot but thats for another post 🤣

[gogopierogi]

The Thaemine raid after story was released on the Korean servers on 10/25. I'm not going to summarize the entire story, but below is a translation of the story cutscenes.

Spoilers below the cut!

The first cutscenes opens with a demonic clown music box spinning and playing a tune atop a cliff overlooking the armies of mortals and demons amassing in Boreas Domain.  Kharmine saunters up to it. 

Kharmine: It’s a sad sight, isn’t it? A being without self, wandering without an identity. 

The clown dolls responds.

Clown Doll: You speak of others. 

Kharmine: It’s different for me. I at least have a very good idea of who I am. 

The clown doll stops turning and an enraged Kakul-Saydon emerges. 

Saydon: A half-hearted, powerless subject, blah, blah, blah…shut up!

Kharmine: You’re the one ranting and raving without knowing the subject, aren’t you, Kakul-Saydon? No…you’re a traitor who will remain in the shadows until the end. 

Saydon: Traitor?! 

Kakul-Saydon goes nuts and proceeds to spin around before attacking Kharmine. 

Saydon: You think I let you live? Huh? Huh? You’re just a shell. A shell that means nothing! A shell that doesn’t exist! Shell! Place! Energy!

Kharmine: A shell…

Kakul-Saydon backs off and lets Kharmine speak. 

 Kharmine: In the beginning, everything was chaos. All of it was mine. If it weren’t for Regulus's hypocrisy... Maybe Antares was right. 

Saydon: Yours? Yours? No, no, no. It was mine! Just wait and see, if my plan goes my way…!

Kharmine: Hasn’t your grand plan already gone awry once? 

Saydon: Cheeky…!

Saydon stomps towards Kharmine, apparently about to attack again, when Kakul speaks up. 

Kakul: It’s not time yet. 

Kharmine: You even know how to assess the situation…the power of time is amazing. If he even remembers me it’s going to be bad. 

Saydon: In any case, it won’t work out the way Regulus wants. 

Kharmine: The witch’s prophecy is out of our hands, Lauriel’s twisted fate is out of our hands, and there will be a great war, as great as the first one we fought…just watch. 

The cutscene ends with Kharmine and Kakul-Saydon watching the demons and morals fight as darkness starts to rain from the sky. 

The second cutscene takes place on Petrania, in the same canyon where Thaemine entered Kazeros’s service so many years ago. Brelshaza approaches Kazaros, who appears as a cloud of darkness. 

Brelshaza: The Red Moon Ritual was completed by Baratron and the dimensions have begun to wrap. Chaos and order, light and darkness, once parallel…a single world, a path that never began…it is being realized at your will, Lord Kazeros. 

Kazeros: Thaemine…long ago, I gave him the power of darkness when all he had left was his instincts. It was an unparalleled blessing, but also a curse of lasting oblivion. 

Brelshaza: Since his defeat by Kazeros, he has been in a dream that will never be broken. All that remains to him now is  instinct. He will never know what he must seek. 

Kazeros: The dimensional rift will finally allow my soul to enter Arkasia. 

Brelshaza: Kazeros, then…

Kazeros: No more prophecies. 

Brelshaza removes her horn crown and discards it on the ground. 

Brelshaza: The prophecy is complete…I will prepare for the end of days, Kazeros.

The final cutscene features Thaemine shortly after we last saw him, having broken free of his paralysis. He’s not happy. He swings around his sword, destroying rock formations. His breathing becomes labored, he clutches his head, and for a moment he goes completely still as his blue light fades. Suddenly dark energy erupts from him.

Thaemine: Kharmine.

He then walks off to parts unknown.

Here's a video of the entire story and the accompanying cutscenes:

[gogopierogi]

Thaemine Raid Final Cutscene

The Thaemine Legion Raid was finally cleared. A video of the ending cutscene is below the cut.

Unfortunately we don't get a full shot of Thaemine's face like I was hoping for. Fans have pieced to together composites from pieces of face we've seen, like this one put together by Twitter user hch990414:

Some fans (including myself) wondered if Kadan and Thaemine looked alike because of the popular fan theory about them being Zosma's chaos shards, but that's not the case. There's similarities, yeah, but Thaemine looks somewhat older and his overall facial structurer is clearly different.

Still, there seems to be some kind of connection between Kadan and Thaemine, though. I've seen speculation that Thaemine and Kadan are brothers, or son/father, or that Thaemine is Antares, the disgraced creator god of the Hal race and fire. But, idk, all these theories ring false to me. I also don't put much stock in the theory about them being shards of Zosma (I personally suspect Kharmine is one of Zosma's shards), though I lend that theory more weight than Thaemine being Kadan's dad or something. Maybe I'll try writing more of thoughts about all this in another post.

Anyway, the most interesting part of these cutscenes is Kharmine's unexpected appearance. Here's a (very) rough translation of his dialogue:

Kharmine: "You look troubled. To push Carmen to this level, I have no choice but to admit it. But now it's time to return to Arkasia. This is not a good place to discuss the end."

Kharmine looks at Kadan.

"I'm sure you haven't forgotten Kurzan, have you, Kadan? Now, hurry up. Because Kamen is waking up."

After everyone else leaves, Kharmine stays to address Thaemine.

"Dark…Bharatron. How pathetic. Barathron is beyond the abyss, a place where greater ideas rule. It won't be long, Thaemine. So I hope it happens quickly. The real you that I have wandered around so often."

Bharatron/Barathron is the giant eyeball fortress thing Thaemine summonded and where the raid takes place. Kharmine's line about about "the real you" to Thaemine is also interesting. Thaemine's true nature is still a mystery, and it seems Kharmine might have clue.

[gogopierogi]

Thaemine Legion Raid Trailer

The Thaemine Legion Raid will be released September 13 on the Korean servers. Today Smilegate dropped a special cinematic trailer, along with a regular teaser trailer and a livestream discussing the raid requirements, mechanics, a roadmap, etc. Personally, I found the cinematic trailer the most interesting because of the few revealed lore bits and our first peak of what's under that helmet

Trailer and discussion below the cut.

The trailer opens with what appears to be the moment Thaemine became a Legion Commander. We see Brelshaza (who, interestingly enough, doesn't have her horns) besides a dark mass that I'm assuming is Kazaros judging by the way she bows to it. She speaks to Thaemine (don't ask me what she said; it's not in Korean) and sends a bolt of darkness towards him. He accepts this power and his dark form is covered in armor.

So we cut to the present day. Thirain and his armies are fighting the demon hordes. Thaemine shows up and wrecks their shit. Kadan appears in the nick of time to save Thirain's ass. Thaemine and Kaden duke it out, and during the fight Kadan breaks off a piece of Thaemine's helmet.

It appears the self-proclaimed "Master of Darkness" might be another pale, silver haired pretty boy.

Hopefully we'll learn more about his origins and lore during the raids. It'll also be interesting to see if he'll play a larger role in the story going forward. Given all the mystery and build-up surrounding Thaemine and his power, I doubt this Raid will be the end of him.

[lilisette]

"Please..."

She was under Vykas' influence, that much he knew. And while her safety came first, there's this voice in the back of his mind, reminding him of how much he wants her as well, how he wishes this was real as he freed her from Vykas' clutches.

'Focus.' He reminds himself, pushing her behind him, his sword at the ready. ' There's no time for distractions now.'

-

finally done with the aurelian or that paladin i post WAY too much about smut fic 😭 now i can do other things like write thaemine

[sigma315]

dont you love a Monday morning at work with a head full of Lost Ark HCs ?

remember Thaemine card ingame? he has long hair. wonder what happened to his hair lmfao

now he looks like this

although Thaemine with his long hair resembles Zaika at first, it again, hints the connection between Thaemine and Kadan (remember the theory that they are the same person, both fragments flying out of Zosma when he was attacked by Kazeros? Thaemine is the dark and Kadan is the light, together they are the embodiment of chaos itself?) omgosh Kadan's twin uwu? imagine Thaemine might have a human-like form (something like Sauron's fair form) and o shit Kadan but demon born? am so dead gahaha. Kadan is already grumpy and emo as hecc, how bad would it be for Thaemine lol. sad Thaemine lost his long hair t-t kinda like it better.

another thing is his *veins*, shining blue led light. absolutely love it. so intimidating when he glows up (imagine he brightens up even more when his mood goes high, be it either enraged or excited lmao). these veins though, shining on and under his armor, go all the way to his lower back (have you seen his back cuz nice view), got me a bit flustered, how come this man can be so armored yet feel bare at the same time its just confusing, in a good way.

@ 5:27 oooh Master of Darkness, I see you.

[sigma315]

I will not explain myself 🤣