#lots of theories and questions going into vol 2

[knightpetrichor]

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 114.5 AHEAD

akutagawa and atsushi are going to be the ones that kill fyodor/the tripolar singularity.

long yap session ahead because Apparently writing theory posts is something i do now

so! tripolar singularities are a thing now. (which, What the Fuck, Asagiri). there are two ways that singularities can form in bsd: 1, when two abilities cancel each other out, and 2, when an ability user uses their ability on themself, multiplying the ability until it forms a singularity.¹ im assuming that the tripolar singularity functions similarly to the latter, like Verlaine and Chuuya, who are both man-made singularities. that would make it extremely powerful™️. in Stormbringer, Verlaine was only defeated because Chuuya used Arahabaki. so we’re able to assume that defeating a tripolar singularity would be even more dangerous. but why would Atsushi and Akutagawa be the ones to defeat it? and how? (<- rhetorical question) well!! glad you asked. they would become a singularity :D

in this essay i will---

The End of BSD Season 5

(^ sorry for quality, just took these off of pinterest)

now we know that the floating fukuchi is the tripolar singularity. (at least that explains the three circles on his mask). and we know that atsushi and akutagawa are going to be fighting him. it wouldn't make sense to animate this scene if it wasn't important in some way. (also, sidenote, but i love how akutagawa is able to use his ability without dazai's coat. he's finally growing outside of dazai's influence 🥲). Yes, this doesn't really prove a lot. but atsushi and akutagawa are like glowing and flying which. im pretty sure they havent done before. so there could be something there? also, "just the two of us?" "do we need anything else?" 😭 AND parallels to the earlier sskk vs fukuchi fight, maybe :D

which, mentioning parallels....

Stormbringer: SKK vs Guivre and its Possible Parallels to SSKK vs the Tripolar Singularity/Fyodor

Disclaimer, i havent read stormbringer in a while so if theres any mistakes in my recollection... sorry.

In Stormbringer, if i remember correctly, Chuuya activates Corruption for the first time to take down Guivre, Verlaine's Singularity, and Dazai nullified the corruption afterward. In Stormbringer, Dazai and Chuuya were still in the earlier stages of their partnership, but Chuuya still trusted Dazai to nullify corruption.

Eventually, the trust between them grew and they became known as Soukoku, or Double Black. Dazai fosters the partnership between Atsushi and Akutagawa in an attempt to turn them into Shin Soukoku, the second Double Black. Because of this, there are many parallels between skk and sskk. Both start off disliking each other, but grow over the course of many fights as partners. Soukoku's fight against Verlaine was a turning point in their relationship that allowed that trust to grow, and trust in each other was necessary to defeat the singularity.

Atsushi and Akutagawa are still in the beginning stages of their partnership with each other, but we can see how their relationship evolves throughout BSD. battling the tripolar singularity together by becoming a singularity themselves, learning to understand and trust one another, would be a large milestone in their relationship as Shin Soukoku.

Dazai's comment in BSD Beast

yet another disclaimer because i am Broke™️ and do not have enough money for these light novels: i have only read up to BSD beast vol. 3, and have not read the light novel yet. i found this quote online. i apologize if i end up misinterpreting it. but this quote definitely implies that Atsushi and Akutagawa forming a singularity is possible. and in order to do that, they have to understand each other.

"...I needed to have you fight. I needed you two to face death to get you to understand each other."

Atsushi and Akutagawa have fought with each other, against each other, many times throughout BSD. Against each other, against Fitzgerald, in the Rats of the House of the Dead base, against that mf from 55 minutes, against fukuchi... and these fights have helped them understand each other, making them work better together. i saw a post a while ago about how skk is a relationship founded on trust but lack of understanding, fyolai is based on understanding but lack of trust, and sskk is becoming a relationship with both full trust and understanding and like. yeah!! they are learning to trust each other and understand each other!! akutagawa and atsushi are both privy to information about the other that even their respective sides don't know, atsushi's hallucinations and akutagawa's lung illness being the two largest ones.

If understanding is the basis of what allows two people to form a singularity, Atsushi and Akutagawa are almost there. It makes sense for their character development and development as a duo to progress there.

anyways !! this was pretty much just me yapping, idk how to write these theory posts or whatever, or if any of this makes sense (i rlly need to reread some of these light novels). but yeah. sskk vs fukuchi final fight ‼️

¹https://bungostraydogs.fandom.com/wiki/Ability#Singularity

[chzdavmpr]

Delicious in Dungeon Reading Diary Vol 4

Spoilers below

First thing I notice about this volume is that the red dragon is very central on the front and back cover, and the table on contents has 6 chapters of red dragon.

Also while I'm talking about the volume cover I gotra say I love the art on these things

Like they look like they make food/wash dishes WHILE fighting the monsters, and Senshi is just doing a little mario hop with his fried rice. And all of the other covers have been similarly pleasant. Plus I love how the red boarder helps add both visual cohesion between volumes as well a nice bit of flair that helps it stand out amongst other manga.

That's how they teleported out of the dungeon? I was expecting the flash of light thing Falin did. Could it be that their gear wouldn't come with them? I don't think so if they kept their stuff on them. Must just be different methods.

Also this might be more evidence for my "living paintings are time portals" theory. Not quite sure yet.

It's very smart to go over the rules of death and resurrection in more detail now, considering what the whole point of this mission is. It both keeps stakes alive and adds tension to if Falin can even be revived.

Go off, King.

I've seen this panel before, I did NOT expect it to be in such tense context.

And the dragon is down! I gotta say that was some excellent action, all the tactics were creative, both made sense for the characters to use, as well as made sense why they failed. Plus it was just really cool, the ending bit with Laios getting his leg bit especially.

Quite morbid how Laios is basically just doing a fun jigsaw puzzle with his own sister's bones.

DON'T SHOW THE NUTRITIONAL INFO!!!

Wait are they seriously not gonna tell Falin about how she was a skeleton for like a month? Like when someone asks "did I died" I feel one of the worst things you can say is "don't worry about it." Maybe it's just a translation thing idk.

Falin no longer having brockitis* anymore is significant. It will be very relevant. I feel it in my bones.

*brockitis: a term used by the anime community to describe a character with perpetually closed eyes, named after Brock from Pokemon

I'm sorry, you have NO follow up questions? Cause I sure have a few; what resident, this place is abandoned? Or that's one of the fake doors so how was there someone there? Or were they a ghost? Laios is not beating the himbo allegations.

YOU!

Honestly it's good news to see this guy. Partially cause it's a cool new plothook, but more importantly some of my living painting questions might be answered!

I just think the mermaid is drawn real cute here.

Laios had a whole 2-second crisis over being a fake dragon fan.

Closing thoughts for the volume: the best so far. 10/10. Not only does it finish off the overarching plot so far with a really cool action scene, but sets up a lot of questions to get answered later. Plus the tension is really well done, pretty much from the point in the first chapter where they explain there are limits to resurrection to the point where Falin speaks a complete sentence there was that gripping sense of both danger and uncertainty, it makes it gripping enough to where I decently easily finished this volume in 1 sitting. While I think the coming volume or 2 will have to some work to get me invested in the next adventure I am more then confident that it can be done.

[yazzydream]

Gonna be here for a while so, right off the bat for any Jujutsu Kaisen viewers:

I tag #jjk spoilers for the sake of anime-onlys. That tag refers to content that could spoil things that have only happened in the manga so far.

I tag #jjk season 2 for official stuff related to season 2 of the anime.

I also tag #jjk manga for just general jjk manga edits, manga caps, etc. Lots of overlap with #jjk spoilers, obviously, but not only.

That's the important stuff for now. Will update if I think of anything else.

Oh right, there's the general #my jjk for anything about jjk I post about, including thoughts, gifs, caps, news, whatever.

I also try to tag ships in general. That goes for all my fandom reblogs/stuff so people can avoid them. Though, I don't always remember, feel free to dm me if you want me to tag something.

JJK Meta/rambling thoughts/theories

Gojo is a pretty boy, and I'm ok with that

Summarizing Domains

The Six Eyes (I have a better understanding of JJK now, so forgive any inaccuracies from baby Yazzy. 🐣)

Questions I'd like answered in JJK

Season 2 Episode Predictions

JJK Character Popularity Polls (thoughts)

Yuji as a protagonist

Women in JJK (I go off a little in the tags)

Prison Realm thoughts

How JJK will end *SPOILERS FOR ALL*

Character playlists

Mamaguro was a Zen'in

Jujutsu Kaisen Timeline (thoughts)

Three Great Families sigals/mon

Tankobon vol. 24-26 | 27 | 28-29

Speculating What the 16-Registered Special Grade Curses Are

Gojo's Past arc I'm excited to seeing animated

Shibuya Incident arc I'm excited to seeing animated: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Popularity of the Culling Game arc characters

Toji Fushiguro is the key to saving the human race

Phantom Parade extra lore + trivia | Nanami

Snow camellias on the cover of vol. 26

Season 3 adaptation guess

Culling Game arc I'm excited to see animated

JJK Translations

2021 Valentine's Results Announcement

Yuichi Nakamura (Satoru Gojo) interview

Aya Endo (Shoko Ieiri) interview

My students are watching

Geto's Massacre Incident Report

LINE stickers (manga ver.)

LINE stickers Demaecan collab

LINE stickers [animated] Irasutoya collab

"SPECIALZ" OP4 lyrics translation

See #my translations to see all my translations, including the dialogue I've gif-ed.

Extra information/lists

Season 1 References

All the times characters in JJK have lost a hand or arm

Identifying everything on the "SPECIALZ" album cover

Similar names

Characters with siblings

Identifying the Higher-ups

Gege's style of casually dropping terms, phrases, info that becomes important/prominent later: A small collection

JJK comic extras not reprinted in tankobon

Gojo movie 0, season 1, season 2 character designs

"more than words" ED4 real-life Shibuya locations

Gojo appearances post-sealing

Phantom Parade extra trivia

[black-klok-youth-pastor]

Charles and MMA Theory

Okay, I came up with this theory a while ago (and has been sitting in my drafts collecting dust for months until this point) but haven’t really shared it in that many places. Bare in mind this is also a sort of weird fan theory of a fan theory, that being the popular Dadlacia theory (the one where Salacia is Charles’s biological father in case you don’t know) so feel free to take this with a massive grain of salt, as we gather around the Pepe Silvia board to ask this one question that just clicked one day. That being:

What if Charles Offdensen and the Metal Masked Assassin were half brothers?

Now admittedly both characters are wrapped in mystery, so of course there’s gonna be a lot of fan speculation on both of them, albeit the main smoking gun is that we at least learn MMA’s backstory in Doomstar Requiem (in song form):

“Born and left alone Never knew his mother Who was killed during birth but left him a brother”

This verse seems to suggest that MMA and 216’s father wasn’t in the picture, either by neglect or being absent altogether, essentially leaving 216 to raise MMA by himself (which is particularly messed up since they seem to be a bit close in age). Sure in complete fairness in a sung-through musical like this we don’t have time for every single detail, but the specific word choice intrigues me.

And if you know the basic Dadlacia theory y’know where I’m going with this, mainly the infamous scene in the cold open of Fatherklok where Charles is suspiciously wistful about how it feels to lose the strength of a father’s touch and that his father had strong hands. Now am I saying all fatherless characters in the series are Salacia’s children? Not really. Like for example, I’m kind of skeptical of the fan theory that Salacia is Skwisgaar’s father, if not the real dad of everyone in Dethklok. The Skwisgaar one I can kind of buy even if I have some theories that I think are better but the latter I’m not as fond of since it kind of ruins the point of the found family aspect (honestly the only variant of this theory I can see is the ones involving Salacia only being their father in a past life, like the sort of Kronos figure in the pantheon but we’d be here all day if we dwelled into that).

What I’m getting at is that part of it kind of goes into the “but why?” aspect since by all accounts. After all, Salacia is immortal as far as we can tell so on paper he wouldn’t exactly feel the need to sire children. Short version as I go to my now outdated headcanons post, my sort of theory to that is that he has a plan not unlike Ego from Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 that involves fathering as many children as possible that through trial and error would grant him offspring powerful enough to serve his machinations. Human beings to him are pawns after all, why would his own offspring be different?

Although I freely admit a good chunk of my theorizing has been on the thematic level. The lore of Metalocalypse has taken a lot of influence from various mythology and religions, and what better way to tie into the themes of brotherhood throughout the series than good old sibling rivalry which can be found everywhere from Set and Osiris to Kalervo and Untamo to (of course) Cain and Abel, particularly how one brother more or less (except not really) kills the other.

Although funnily enough, Charles is simultaneously Abel and Seth in this metaphor considering how they didn't even meet each other until after 216's death.

[youkaigakkou-tl]

The Kyoto Arc Analysis Post (Part 2)

(Had to split this into multiple posts because image limit. This whole thing is meant to be read as one continuous thing)

This part covers the chapters in Arashiyama, and the scene where Seimei talks to Haruaki

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

Shatter

We get told that the soul pieces “flew in 5 directions, like a pentagram” but it’s not like a pentagram at all I mean look at this.

The Arashiyama location is fairly easy to pinpoint, even though it’s a mountain, since the bamboo grove is a very specific part of it and is a famous tourist attraction. Not gonna find where exactly in the bamboo grove this happens tho lmao

Speaking of Arashiyama, there’s a lot of updated pages in the volume release, so here’s some comparisons. Look at my meow meow!! Kitty!!!!

This is the heart sutra, a buddhist sutra originally in sanskrit. I was slightly considering transcribing the sanskrit here, but then I realised that was harder than just using the english translation.

Sensei is a genius for giving characters recognizable hands and fully utilizing it. I love how you can see Haruaki’s hand with the bracelet and instantly know it's him. I love how you can see this ring and instantly know “omg wifeguy”. (punches walls)

Also look at this updated page!! My favorite furries!! Also little soul-aki on Tamao’s shoulder!!

Can I just say. Sensei is INSANE and a GENIUS for this, to pose this question to the three who have an entire spinoff dedicated to them and their best friends. This is so evil. Diabolical. I love it.

Look at this updated panel. Rintarou and Haruaki are as important to him as his wife and kids. I’m going insane. (crying sobbing punching walls etc)

This is another one of those scenes that would have killed me if I didn’t phrase it just as well as the original. Good on Hatanaka-sensei for solving a trolley problem like it’s the easiest thing in the world. I think I would have chosen to kill the stranger to save my loved one. But also I don’t have loved ones who I would do that for so maybe I’ll just choose to kill the stranger for fun. Starting to realise I have the moral compass of Takahashi.

Also, the word for “thorn”, and sometimes also “rose”, is “ibara”.

Most Sane Yohaji Enjoyer

(We are now entering nonsense zone. Don't believe anything I say here.)

In case you didn't know/forgot, there seems to be some plot stuff going on with Hatanaka in the spinoff, and I have a crack theory that at some point in the future of the main story he's going to end up back in time to when Yamazaki and Takahashi were in school.

And you see. In the panel that Yamazaki brings this up. Hatanaka's arms are bandaged up.

And guess what happens in chapter 86. His arms are injured and he's hauled off to the hospital. Boom theory proven boom I'm a genius. (jk)

(Also want to show this sane comment on chapter 93: "What if Seimei is actually present day Haruaki who went back in time with all his knowledge now"

Can you Imagine. Insane idea, I want someone to write this fanfic.)

What the hell is up with this imagery

Anyway. Back to chapter 87. And also the inner color page for vol 13 since this seems to be the same place.

Easiest question: What are the pinwheels?

While pinwheels are associated with childhood in general, in Japan, they’re also associated with death, which is why you may see pinwheels on graves, especially children’s graves. This isn’t relevant really other than the death part.

The more interesting association is that in Buddhism, pinwheels also symbolise the cycle of reincarnation. (Notice how pinwheels kinda resemble the manji symbol) (Actually, maybe this is why pinwheels are associated with death in the first place? Nothing online points this out specifically but it seems like an obvious conclusion)

Also note the pinwheels on this vol 13 cover draft. (God I love this cover so much I love the final one too but oughhhh)

The hard question: Where is this?? The moon???

First thing I thought when I saw that scene and the color page was the moon, and also Tsukuyomi (god of the moon) -> Yomi -> ???

Also some stories say Tsukuyomi also rules over Yomi so -> ??? idk what the conclusion here is. word association

Saturn is also a multi layered word-association-pun-thing. The planets from Mercury to Saturn (excluding Earth) are named after the Gogyo (five elements) in Chinese and Japanese, Saturn specifically is named after “earth” (as in like dirt and ground not the planet we’re on).

The kanji for Yomi, 黄泉, is a loanword from the Chinese name for the underworld, and literally translates to “yellow springs”. However, elements in the Gogyo and their representative colors are often used interchangeably, so in this case “yellow” means “earth” since Yomi is thought to be underground.

So of all things, for Saturn to be on that color page makes a lot of sense. Of course, the simple answer is probably that Saturn looks cool as hell.

“Earth” is also the only element not represented in the four gods, since it’s thought to be central, and typically symbolises the emperor. But also, in this context, it being paired with Seimei… yeah this makes sense.

The hardest question: Why the big dipper?

There’s a number of obvious simple answers that jumps to mind: it’s easily recognizable, looks cool, it has spiritual importance in Taoism and by extension Onmyoudou, but I can’t figure out the specific association with Abe no Seimei, let alone why specifically it on this page.

And it does have a specific association to Abe no Seimei, it’s in the stepping stones leading up to the well in the Seimei shrine, and is sometimes featured in the center of his pentagram.

Perhaps this is just one of those things that “it’s just like that, stop asking questions”. Perhaps there’s a simple, straightforward answer in some corner of the internet that I haven’t found yet. You reading this! I implore you! Figure this out! As with all the other stuff I can’t figure out! I’ve given you all the pieces!

Just maybe, death of the author, I get to takeaway anything I want from this panel. The big dipper points to Polaris, and at the end of this scene Seimei points Haruaki to Sano. (????)

Actually, now that I look at it closely, maybe this is the little dipper??? Assuming it’s not a mistake, the handle is bent the wrong way! Then it’s the little dipper! That’s even more nothing! The little dipper isn’t even mentioned in japanese mythos! I need to stop thinking about this I’m going insane.

Anyway. Next page we get to see the name of this bridge. Only “modori-bashi” is written here, but this refers to the Ichijo Modoribashi bridge in Kyoto, first built in the Heian era and has a variety of stories associated with it, as well as specific stories pertaining to Abe no Seimei. The physical bridge itself has been rebuilt in the modern age and is just down the road from the Seimei shrine, but a miniature replica has been built in the shrine itself using the original materials.

“Modoribashi” means “return bridge”, and was used in funeral processions, and has come to be associated with a variety of meanings of “return”, including “return from the afterlife”.

What’s up with this guy’s soul?

First of all, a translation note.

In the raws, Seimei doesn’t say specifically “your” soul here, since japanese can work without possessive nouns, but there wasn’t a good way to phrase that in english without sounding weird.

With that out of the way, what is up with his soul????

Recap for the last time we saw his soul in Miki arc:

It was inanimate until a while after Mikimom ate it, at which point it was Seimei. Same with the flashback when Haruaki was a kid. At no point did the soul actually act like Haruaki. If Seimei could just do that why didn’t he do it from the start? idk

(real reason: it’s so we get to see Haruaki’s hot lifeless body. This is something I realised chatting w my friend: the way to get Haruaki to look hot is to get rid of his soul, get rid of everything that makes him Haruaki (fucked up thing to say lmao). Like, look at Ame and Seimei, they’re hot all the time)

But in this arc, all the split pieces are Haruaki, and at no point does Seimei take over his soul or anything like in Miki arc.

(Obviously this makes sense narratively, the point of this arc is that Haruaki is a different person from Seimei, especially after Byakko constantly calling it “Seimei’s soul”, but also what’s the practical reason?)

And now, the big question: How is Seimei in Yomi?

Every other time we’ve seen him makes sense (relatively):

Haruaki’s dream at the start of ch47, or maybe Seimei’s memories?

Manifesting from his/Haruaki’s soul in Miki arc

This scene in ch 82, while similar to the ch87 situation, this is actually a scene from the past so this gets a pass from me.

ch 88 to 90: Byakko’s recreation of the past. This makes sense, but it’s also weird in other ways, like how Seimei is able to see chibi soul-Haruaki. Remember, this isn’t even the actual Seimei, it’s Byakko recreating it. Unless this is what actually happened (Seimei turning to look at Haruaki)???? In which case he was able to see the future where Byakko is recreating the situation he was living through at that moment (????) This guy scares me

If you haven’t caught on to why the ch87 situation is weird to me, it’s because every other time we see him has been a memory or a manifestation of his soul, and this is neither.

For him to be in Yomi, his soul would have to be there or something like that, but clearly his soul is with Haruaki and is currently in pieces around Kyoto. So just what is this Seimei?

I have no doubts that this is Seimei, and that this isn’t Haruaki’s hallucination, for the sole fact that Seimei talks like he has agency to go wherever he wants. Funny enough, I think this is the most genuine we’ve seen him.

Just what is it that makes a person? Haruaki has Seimei’s soul, but is a different person. Obviously, because they’ve had different experiences in life, live in different time periods, etc. But even then, what is it? Is there something more intangible, more inscrutable than a soul?

And does this have to do also, with the idea proposed in the Haruaki student arc, that the true nature of a person isn’t so easily changed? What constitutes a soul?

Maybe one day I’ll have the answer.

The Principal

I’ve already picked apart this next scene in this ask, although that was written before ch93 dropped, I think it holds up pretty well. Take a second and read that if you want 👍

Hit the image limit again, so this continues in part 3.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

[chirpsythismorning]

What makes you think the evidence for Henry being El's father are misdirects? There's a decent amount of evidence for it and so wouldn't that be a waste of time? If it's not the direction the show is going?

At this time, I think a lot of the evidence does come off as mis-directs, because most if it's fairly easy to pick up on, with a great deal of casual fans being able to notice the obvious parallels between Star Wars and Luke/Darth Vader with El/Henry.

I shit you not, literally just a few hours ago on Reddit someone posted this theory as one of their top ones for ST5, among Will dying, and Mike and El getting married in a time jump...

Basically, this theory comes up a lot in very basic GA spaces, bc it's an easy guess and this was especially the case right after s4 dropped.

I also think them going about it this way was sort of necessary, because more than anything they don't want fans to figure out who her real father is.

And how they do that, is by directing attention elsewhere.

The point of a misdirect is to trick your audience into thinking the answer is as simple as its being presented as, leading fans to hypothesize the most obvious deduction at any given moment. But what you end up really getting, is a dead end.

They're making choices intentionally as misdirects, knowing exactly how fans will react and what they'll assume, and then use that to their advantage to follow through. Maybe it's to buy time, maybe it's to distract fans from stronger more subtle evidence to the truth elsewhere, or maybe the moment itself is telling us the truth subtly, but because we're so distracted with the obvious, we're missing it.

Exhibit A:

One of the more popular theories floating around between Vol. 1 and 2 for ST4 was the theory that Eddie was a lab kid. And it's because we got this dialogue about how Chrissy apparently didn't recognize him now in HS compared to middle school, because he had his head shaved and didn't have his tattoos yet.

Predictably, when fans heard the words hair was buzzed and tattoo in the same sentence being brought up in relation to Eddie's past, they started to question if it was possible Eddie could be one of the kids that was in the rainbow room during the massacre back in 79'.

This is a successful example of a misdirect, because as we all know, that didn't happen...

And so, what was the point of this line of dialogue then?

I think this fits more in the category of not only being a misdirect, but also that it has double meaning hiding within it.

I mean, look at the word Eddie uses to start off that line of dialogue...

Different?

We already know that this word is associated with Will and El (and Henry).

Think of the way they played with In the Closet (At Rink O Mania), by having Mike exhibit closeted behavior, followed by El in the employee closet. They were giving a score with a title that applied to both of these moments and both of these characters. And they basically did the same thing with Being Different.

While it is Will's song and it's about his feelings, he is using El's name and not only that, but the scene directly after transitions beautifully through the light and takes us to the aftermath of the lab massacre. They literally cap off two El scenes on each side of the van scene... We get an El scene with her gaining her powers again, then we get the Will van scene, then we get a scene of El remembering the events of the lab.

My point is, that word different being put there on its own is already suspect. It just is. I feel like it's not too hard to admit that the word different is related to Will at the very least, and you don't have to think that has anything to do with Hawkins Lab implications if you don't want to bc we were given the impression it had to do with his queerness already (why the word's also been associated with Henry).

But where it gets complicated is that we know the word also applies to El. She also used the word different to describe herself and it was being applied to her having powers.

And then you add the buzzcut/tattoo blast from the past reference, and it's sort of starts to click why they did this.

Everyone was focused on the Eddie aspect to it, claiming he could possibly be 002, only for it to not lead to anything and drop off entirely post s4.

And what we have left, is yet another potential twelvegate/willel twin proof that gets added to the pile of evidence that flies under the audiences radar.

When it comes to the Henry being El's father thing, I think that it applies in a similar way, in that by making these big moments between them thematically parallel an iconic father/child duo, like the most historically iconic, fans pick up on it and the idea enters their mind and it sort of distracts them. And even if they end up not believing it, they leave the situation sort of satisfied enough to drop it.

This is what tends to happen on Reddit with active fans over there. While they might have humored the Henry/El family evidence initially, they've stopped and resorted to dropping the arc of El's father being revealed entirely. It's weird bc a lot of them insist that it's already been dealt with on the show, when it hasn't? In literal canon, there is no actual conversations about who El's real father could be.

And I think that's just another example of a misdirect doing exactly what it's intended to do. It gets you to consider something that is almost too obvious to ignore. And then either you subscribe to it confidently, or then you drop it, only to drop it all.

Day by day, I grow more convinced that barely anything is what it seems on this show. All of the signs that Kali was potentially a pawn in this whole unraveling of events? The fact that we've got BTS of Henry at the Nina location? The fact that we have Henry saying stuff to El in the lab about how Papa lies, followed by shots of Brenner watching these tapes back, with the implication that he's the one choosing what they show her. He literally goes to a room full of tapes and picks them personally, and is feeding a narrative to El that is based on what he apparently wants her to take from it.

It's all very odd.

I don't think how they framed Brenner's arrival and behavior in general during the massacre makes a lot of sense either? Those scenes come off as a mess of shifted probabilities or timelines/loops more to me than one concrete event. After all, it was shown to us so many different ways, even with different coloring at times. Like... it's odd.

I will say that the time implications really make it hard for me to feel 100% confident about anything that we've been presented. So we can only go so far I guess. Same with Will's powers theory. We're all fairly certain it's happening, as there is plenty to hint at it, but that doesn't mean we know how exactly they're going to do it. And so it's fun to speculate and go as far we can I guess.

I am looking forward to The First Shadow play! I think that whenever information about that is revealed, considering it's canon it will inevitably be available to us in some shape/form in the future, I'll probably have a better grasp on where my thoughts are in regards to the whole dad revelation, whether it's Henry, Hopper, or otherwise.

For now I'm humoring about a solid 100-200 theories at once bc many do have a lot of interesting ideas linked to them. But I don't feel confident about more than like a few, with byler being the highest, followed by birthdaygate, twelvegate and then joyce + hopper = willel twins gate or whatever. And then the rest of the theories out there sort of fit somewhere within a spectrum of me considering things based on evidence more than anything else.

I'm honestly just excited to see which theories end up being right in s5. Because there are so many out there that somebody has gotta be close. Whether it's little arcs we have in store or big ones, I look forward to being shocked by the theories that ended up predicting closest to canon.

[kudosmyhero]

Transformers (vol. 1) #1: The Transformers

Read Date: November 28, 2022 Cover Date: September 1984 ● Writer: Bill Mantlo ◦ Ralph Macchio ● Penciler: Frank Springer ● Inker: Kim DeMulder ● Colorist: Nelson Yomtov ● Letterers: Michael Higgins ◦ Rick Parker ● Editor: Bob Budiansky ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● "naturally occurring gears and levers" - I remember that phrase being used during a theological debate on evolution vs. intelligent design in the IDW series ● damn, the war is so strong that it knocked Cybertron out of its orbit??? that's… impressive. And terrifying. ● doesn't look like the comic is going to get into what it means to be knocked off orbit--i.e., drastic weather changes, no regular light source, catastrophic temperature drops… just to name a few. Surely even sentient machines would be affected? ● so that's how they crossed paths with Earth… ● whew, info-dumpy roll call ● um, I wouldn't question Megatron's logic if I were you… squints …oh, that's Starscream. Never mind. ● info-dumpy roll call #2… commence! ● heheh, I love the Autobots' theory of what a drive-in is for ● it's been a long time since I've seen Transformers with humans nearby for scale ● aww, poor Bumblebee!

Good first issue! A little clunky in how it handled introductions--ok, a lot clunky in how it handled introductions--but it got across the information that it needed to get across. Overall, very enjoyable first issue!

👏👏👏👏

Synopsis: The planet Cybertron, home of sentient robots known as the Transformers, has been at war for millions of years, putting the peace faring Autobots at war against the evil war hungry Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron. The devastation wrought by the war would send planet Cybertron out of it's orbit spinning throughout the cosmos on an indirect course, and into the path of an asteroid belt that threatens to destroy their home world unless something is done. Autobot commander Optimus Prime is selected by the Autobot elders to lead a team to destroy the meteors before it's too late.

Optimus Prime selects a crew that consists of the following Autobots: Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Brawn, Huffer, Gears, Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Wheeljack, Mirage, and Hound to journey out in their ship, the Ark, to destroy the meteors. Learning of this, Megatron gathers a team of his own Decepticon warriors to attack and destroy the Autobots. With him, he takes Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, Rumble, Frenzy and Ravage to attack.

With the battle leaning toward Decepticon victory Optimus Prime, forseeing this possibility sets the Ark on a suicidal collision course with the nearest planet, which happens to be Earth. They crash into an active volcano, destroying them all. Some four billion years later at the site of the crash at what is now called Mount St. Hillary in Oregon the Ark's computers spring to life sending out a probe to scan what it thinks are the planet's sentient machinery. The ships repair systems repair all the Transformers aboard indiscriminately, repairing the Decepticons first and giving them the ability to transform into Earth machines. They manage to escape before the newly revived Autobots can stop them.

Scanning their computers to learn about the world they have crashed on, Optimus Prime decides to that the best course of action is to send out some Autobots to do reconnaissance before they do whatever needs to be done to protect this world from the Decepticons they unwittingly unleashed on this world.

Elsewhere in the state of Oregon, Buster Witwicky, the son of mechanic Sparkplug Witwicky arrives home late from school and gets in trouble with his father who is frustrated with his son for not having an interest in mechanics like he does. With the days work in his garage just about done he allows his son Buster to take the family car out to take his friend "O" and his girlfriend Jessie out to the theater.

Meanwhile, the Autobots Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Brawn, Prowl, and Hound are on the road getting a lay of the land in their area. They happen upon a drive-in movie theater and thinking that the cars parked there are sentient beings find it odd that they are focused on a large screen. On their journey, they are spied on by Laserbeak who reports back to Megatron. The Decepticon leader decides to send a Decepticon attack force to ambush the revived Autobots.

The Autobots arrive at the theater, and Bumblebee in an attempt to "greet" an Earth car bumps into it. This car happens to be the one that Buster and his friends are in. Buster gets out of the car to yell at the person who bumped him and is shocked to find that there is no driver inside the car. Suddenly, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp attack the theater prompting the Autobots to transform into robot mode and fight back.

As the humans flee the drive in, the Autobots fight back sending the Decepticons in retreat, but not before one of their blasts can strike Bumblebee. The other Autobots realizing that the sentient life forms on this planet are organic, not mechanical transform into vehicle mode and make their escape before the Decepticons can counter attack. In the chaos, Buster notices that Bumblebee is leaking a fluid that is not oil and decides to take the car back to his garage in an attempt to repair it. He is surprised to find that there is no ignition on the car and is even more surprised when it starts up on its own.

Working hard in a futile effort to try and fix the car, the racket that Buster makes wakes up his father. Sparkplug is delighted to see his son trying to fix up a car on his own, not trying to listen to Buster's explanation about it. However Sparkplug is shocked when Buster tells him that the car is alive, and it weakly asks them for their help.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Transformers_Vol_1_1)

Fan Art: Autobots by yo-3

Accompanying Podcasts: ● Transformers Chronicles - episode 01

● Transformers University - episode 06

[blood-orange-juice]

The problem is, this still doesn't explain anything. None of the questions we currently have even resemble a Nibelung reference.

Those that are relevant:

I wonder if someone *stole* an invention from Rhinedottir and used it in a wrong way. Maybe she isn't the only one to blame for the fall of Khaenri'ah.

Were Alberichs safekeepers of the cursed treasure or were they using it for their own gain? Caribert's quest implies the latter, Clothar being the Abyss Order founder (and Jakob says they are no different from the archons in their goals). It's such a specific surname to use, I refuse to think it's random.

The dragon's treasure the boy found is Nibelung's treasure. The forbidden knowledge (that was obvious but nice to see that it's the same thing the dragons acquired).

Everything else:

Why does Kaeya need an eyepatch? Maybe he sees things that shouldn't be seen? (or maybe it's a reference to the Khaenria'hn half-mask worn by others and nothing more)

The original Ajax seems to be post-Enkanomiyan. It had to be already fallen for him to find a dead king. A Cataclysm hero maybe (or, as Cricket says, this all might be a mishmash of different stories with a kid's name slapped on it). That would explain baby Ajax's father being so invested in the story. For Snezhnayans everything from that time still seems to hold a lot of significance.

(all other theories why he's so invested are too insane to develop them now)

Who the hell was the wise priest. Skirk/follower of the same tradition? Skirk is the whale-god's priest, I'm calling it. Kokomi with her whale video fits right in.

Who the hell was the king. "Was bright as day" is a dead giveaway that was Enkanomiya but it never had a proper king. So who the hell was that dude? Also Foul Legacy is called "armor of the demon king" in CN so I assume it's *that* king?

Also wait, from vol.2 of Before Sun and Moon:

"The Parable of the Tree" The king's gardener and the tree spirit of the royal garden were in love. But the king wished to repair the beams of his pavilion, and so needed to cut down the tree with the most spiritual energy within it. The king was the incarnation of the Primordial One, and the gardener could not defy the sovereign of sovereigns, and so he could only bring his plea to the king's priest, who was the incarnation of Tokoyo Ookami. The priest had pity on the gardener and said to him: "Go, and cut the branches of the spirit-tree down." The gardener did so, and afterward did as the king ordered, cutting the spirit-tree itself down. Then the priest said: "Plant the spirit-tree's branches in the ground." But the gardener said: "A spirit-tree shall take five hundred years to grow." The priest said: "Your one thought shall echo through eternity." And so the gardener planted the branches in his back yard. In an instant, the slim branches grow into a new tree, and the new tree spirit was a continuation of the past one. For it is the God of Moments who is able to take "seeds" from this "moment" into the past and the future.

*ahem* sacred sakura *ahem*

I don't get this story at all and also that king sounds like a jerk and also... the incarnation of Phanes? the incarnation of Istaroth (Tokoyo Ookami)? hello?

(this would also imply that Skirk is the incarnation/priest of Istaroth. I don't like it)

I'm also curious about the gold that can cure sick friends. There's definitely a parallel with Jakob's story. Art of Khemia/creation magic, I assume?

Ok. Can we talk about The Ballad of the Fjords again. This is all extremely obvious but I'm starting to see the value of writing down obvious things.

I've been thinking about Kaeya's surname pretty much since his release. Because, you know, Alberich. The svartálfar king who safekeeps Nibelung's treasure in Nibelungenlied ("The Song of Nibelungs", 13th century poem. do you see the parallel with "The Ballad of the Fjords"?). And now three years later we have things to tie it back to.

The Things:

The dragon Nibelung who acquired the forbidden knowledge from outside this world and led the other ancient dragons into war against The Heavenly Principles (according to Nahida's second quest).

Nibelung refers to all kinds of creatures in Norse and Old German stories, sometimes it's a dragon, somethimes it's a group of svartálfar (dwarves/elves/fae, for simplicity).

Rhinedottir the alchemist, the creator of our beloved horrors. Theorised to be the one who discovered/created something that led to Khaenri'ahs downfall.

She's a reference to Rhinemaidens invented by Wagner, spirits of watery depth and keepers of magical gold. If you were looking for Enkanomiya/primordial sea/whale connections, here's another one.

Also in Wagner's operas Alberich is the main antagonist of the Rings of Nibelung cycle (one of the few characters that stay alive too!), the one who steals the gold from the Rhinemaidens (renouncing love in exchange for power) and the one whos actions lead to the death of gods and the desctruction of Valhalla.

(something something arrogation of mankind obligatory mention)

And now we have The Ballad of the Fjords BP spear and its description:

If this is not a Nibelung mythos reference I don't know what this is.

[chzdavmpr]

Goodnight Punpun Reading Diary Volume 2

Content Warning: I try to avoid going in detail about the more explicit parts of this story, but this does book gets real explicit for a while, so I'll still warn here that this post will discuss a plot point about abuse and sexualization of a minor. Also if you plan on reading this book yourself PLEASE LOOK UP THE TRIGGER WARNINGS FIRST CAUSE THAT'S JUST THE ONE I CAN'T AVOID TALKING ABOUT

Theory: perhaps "God" represents a part of Punpun's inner thoughts. (Note: I tend to be pretty bad at picking up on themes and symbolism in a story before finishing it, so for some of you that statement is probably pretty obvious.)

There's 2 of him now???

With the wager Punpun and Yaguchi set up it's very much them ignoring Aiko being her own person, but for different reasons. For Punpun he's in his incel arc but for Yaguchi it very much he more has his own issues in how he sees himself that he needs to overcome before he's ready for any relationship.

In volume 1 I thought Punpun's uncle was a chill dude, but he not only has a pretty cynical outlook at life, but he thinks his own sister should die just for having armpit hair, but gets off to a vhs labeled "high school hotties" and now I think I hate him. [Note from after finishing the volume: it get's worse. Now I 100% hate him]

Ok so either we are getting guy-with-afro lore that he works the this karaoke bar, or he's just a gag character that the author puts everywhere for no reason

Uh oh. UH OH. I see where this flashback is going STOP USING THE SAME WORDS YOU USED FOR THE POTTERY TO DESCRIBE THE 16 YEAR OLD!

As of the end of "part 3" I am very uncomfy. And that's probably the point, it forces the reader to be like "that's fucked up" and then look back at that whole date scene that was played mostly wholesome and say "this whole situation is fucked up" (which they probably should have already but the legacy of Scott Pilgrim has taught that you can never be too obvious with this stuff).

They have a lot of zoom ins on Yuichi's eyes in the scene where he brings- what's her name again (checks list of important characters at beginning of part 4) oh shit her name hasn't even been said. That makes this even worse then I thought.

Back to the point though, the scene in Yuichi's apartment has a lot of zoom ins on his eyes being drawn in a more human and realistic manner. I think this is to remove that "goofiness that undercut the darkness" I talked about for Vol 1. If this scene played out and was constantly showing Yuichi as a little bird in a crude artstyle it would make it easier to look past the monstrous behaviour of him by writing him off as "silly." But I feel the author really wants you to stew in the uncomfortability of this so that you really grasp that Yuichi is a bad guy.

Since Yuichi is the one telling this story, I wonder if he's lying about any details, in particular I wonder if he did actually go all the way with the 16 year old. I hope I'm wrong, but there is a chane.

WHY THE HELL IS THE CAFE GIRL STILL INTERESTED IN HIM? Honestly that makes me highly suspicious of her, cause I don't buy "love at first sight" for an appropriate motive to still be interested in a guy significantly older then you, who you've gone on ONE date with, who just told THAT story. Honestly I hope that there's more to her motive cause if not I will be honestly disappointed in that character writing.

Wait the guy who attempted to murder the mom and then set himself on fire isn't either dead or in prison? He's just fine?

The appearance of another "God" who is a different face raises a lot of questions and I don't think I have enough info to piece together an answer rn.

It's definitely healthier then being dead, but this relationship with Yuichi and cafe-girl doesn't seem healthy at all.

"God" opened his eyes. I wonder what that could mean.

So it looks like there will be a 2-year timeskip at the end of each book. Assuming Punpun was like 8 in Vol 1 he'll be like 20 in the last. Interesting.

Closing thought on the volume: This is honestly more what I expected going into Volume 1. I would no longer call this a "dark comedy." We are in full on dark drama now, just with some goofy elements.

Looking back at my notes I had a whole lot more to say about Yuichi's story then I did Punpun's, and I'm trying to think about why that is. Cause Punpun's story is one which I feel I probably should have more to say about but most of the time I'm just kinda along for the ride and don't end up having much to write notes about. The only thing I can think of that I probably could comment on is how Yaguchi is like the only morally good character (except maybe cafe-girl) in this whole volume.

I think part of this is that Punpun himself isn't really the strongest character to me. I know about him, how he feels, what he wants, but him rarely talking and has almost non-existent body language so his scenes flow weird. He can't really bounce off the other characters. I hope that by the end of this story I have less of an issue with this.

While reading this volume I also, as an exercise to get better at media literacy, tried to ask "what is Goodnight Punpun about?" What is the main thing this story is trying to tell? My conclusion so far is that I have no idea. My best guess is it has something to do with how being surrounded by negative influence can make someone worse. Which I guess isn't the worst first attempt at figuring out the theme. But with later reading diaries we'll check back in with this theme and see if it holds up.

Also I realized I only used 1 image for this, and it was for basically a background detail. I should be more liberal with them next time.

[brookieeboo]

my stranger things 4 volume 2 theories (?) that no one asked for -

• enzo dies to get murray, hopper, and joyce out. murray might die too? (i don’t want him to but anything can happen). the scene in the trailer w hopper being attacked by a demo dog he’s looking sideways and i think he might be witnessing enzo’s death

• out of the teenage group i think eddie is the most likely to die which breaks my heart, but idk what it is i just have a lil feeling. i’m worried for steve tho. i think nancy makes it out based on some of the trailer footage and i think robin saying “i don’t think it’ll work out for us this time” is misleading but idk man

• will has GOT to be connected to eleven & the upside down somehow. how does he know about vecna when he’s talking to mike???? that’s the part i’m super interested in. so many questions about will’s part in this. why was he targeted in the first place? how did he survive in the upside down so long? why the visions? i think he has something to do. powers maybe? unlikely but could be possible.

• also what is eight’s deal. did she escape the lab before we see eleven’s memories?? i hope we get to see her again. how did eleven run into her in chicago? why wasn’t she in any of the memories? my memory is v shaky on s2 to be fair so i might not be remembering something. as far as we know they are the only two still around from the lab. eight might have something to do??? like help eleven out? idk man

• i don’t think they defeat vecna at the end of the season. i think it’ll continue into next season, and then the rest of it will be dealing w trying to completely get rid of the upside down??? if vecna does die at the end of this season what’s the play for next season? they bring in ANOTHER new monster and expect them to defeat it within the season? i should rewatch at least the end of s3 but did the mind flayer actually die??? that would be the only thing i could see coming back next season if dustin is right about the mind flayer being the overall big bad.

anyways this post is based on nothing but my personal vibes.

[mlchaelwheeler]

Why Will Byers is the answer to everything (and the key to vol. 2)

After making a post yesterday about why I think Vecna was the one stalking Will in 1x01, I was reading into some other posts about why this is relevant now, given what we know from S4V1, and how that could affect how S4V2 goes down. I'm going to be exploring the possibility of Will having powers, mirroring Henry Creel (Vecna), and having been watched by Vecna since he was taken in 1x01. This is probably going to get pretty long, so buckle up brochachos!

So, I already explained this in my post yesterday, but I'll reiterate it here for those who didn't see it. When Will leaves Mike's house after the campaign where the demogorgan gets him, the garage lights flicker. It's important to note here that only the garage lights (and the light on Will's bike) flicker, not the rest of the house. While there was a power outage that same night (when El opened the gate, making contact with the demogorgan), Mike's house is on the opposite side of town and wouldn't be affected by the blackout (pointed out by @willel).

Now, on his way home, Will runs into a shadowy figure on the road--I believe this is in fact the demogorgan. You can hear it growl (a sound unique to it that Vecna doesn't display) and it is within the demogorgan's hunting ground, as it would've just escaped from the lab and into the woods. Seconds earlier, you can see Will bike past the HNL fence. However, this begs the question of why the lights were flickering at Mike's house? In stranger things, flickering lights are associated with supernatural creatures or psychic powers. No one was using powers at Mike's house, so it must've been a supernatural presence, not the demogorgan bc it would've just escaped from the lab, which points toward it being Vecna.

Before we get into why Vecna would be stalking Will in the first place, let's quick go over more evidence of why it was Vecna, in case anyone is still doubting my theory. Once Will gets home, he immediately calls for his family, but once he realizes he's home alone, he immediately calls 911, only to hear something growling back at him. As far as I know, demogorgans are only foot soldiers for the upside down and don't possess any sort of powers. Now, I know that in the show characters claim that the demogorgans are capable of opening gates, like the one in the tree Nancy enters. However, I'd like to think that it's actually Vecna who's opening these gates, making it easier for the upside down to infiltrate the normal dimension. If demogorgans can open gates, why did it have to wait for El to open the gate in 1983? And why wouldn't the demogorgan in Russia have escaped by now? But I digress.

When else do we see phones or radios being messed with in relation to the upside down? Think back to the multiple times El has used radio static to find people in the void. Radio static has been associated with psychic powers. We know Vecna has very strong powers, but the demogorgan does not. It would make sense that Vecna was the one messing with Will's phone here. It's also brought up a lot that Will's front door is unlocked and opened using telekinesis. Besides this scene, there's been no indication the demogorgan has powers--but Vecna does! Hence, it was almost certainly Vecna who was stalking (and kidnapped) Will.

So why does Vecna want Will specifically in the first place? Based on what we know from st4v1, Vecna had an unhappy childhood, killed his family, was taken by Brenner, then tested until he was given Soteria to weaken his powers so he could be easily controlled. He spends years in the lab as Peter, biding his time to get back at Brenner. However, he seems to take a liking to El, and before he tries killing her, he attempts to convince her to join him. She says no and banishes him to the red void--his mindscape?

Now why did Vecna wait 7 years before he started killing people again? It's likely that being banished to his mindscape drained him, forcing him to bide his time until he could regain enough strength to get back to the normal world. It's likely that he either needs to absorb enough energy (from people's fear right before he kills them, a parallel to Pennywise from IT) or absorb someone's powers to escape the mindscape.

Since he was banished in 1979, Vecna has most likely been on the lookout for someone with powers (not El, because last time went so poorly, and not Kali because she's "out of range") to target, in an attempt to get his full powers back. So when he senses Will, Vecna goes out himself to snatch him, bringing a demogorgan for backup. Once he catches Will in the shed, the light becomes blinding before suddenly going back to normal, with Will gone. If that has been the demogorgan, Will most likely would've immediately been eaten. However, @willel pointed out that the light in the shed lights up similarly to how the flashlights stay blindingly bright in the Creel house. This points to it being Vecna.

It's also interesting to note that the upside down is stuck on time at November 6, 1983, the night Will went missing. Who do we know of that has time manipulation powers? Vecna. I think that the first time Vecna majorly used his powers (since being banished to the mindscape) caused time to freeze. It's really the only explanation I can think of as to why this occurred. The night Will disappeared was obviously the start of all this, and it seems to be leading back to Vecna.

Furthermore, Will is able to escape his capture and hides in Castle Byers for nearly a week. The whole time, he's singing "Should I Stay Or Should I Go," which is brought up multiple times throughout S1. There's even a flashback to show how meaningful the song is to Will. Mike mentions that Will is "always singing that weird song he loves," and when El finds Will in the void, he's humming his song. Who do we know that's deterred by favorite music and happy memories? Oh right, that's Vecna.

During his time in the upside down, Will is resourceful! He uses lights multiple times to talk to Joyce, like "one blink for yes," the alphabet wall, and the circle of lamps in his bedroom. Now, I know that S4V1 expanded on this lore and showed how to communicate with lights from the upside down, but this actually just raises more questions for me. How likely really is it that Will was able to reach the christmas lights? The alphabet wall wouldn't have even been there if the upside down was frozen the night he went missing. Also, there's no way he would've been able to turn on those lamps in the circle so quickly.

This points back to Will having powers. He seems to be more resourceful when in the upside down than other characters, and is the only one to have survived more than a few hours alone. Even when he's eventually caught, why isn't he immediately killed like the other victims? Instead, he's brought to the library and a vine begins to suck the life force out of him. Why? We've seen that vines feed Vecna's powers, and likely recharge him. Is it that much of a stretch to say that Vecna was using the vine in Will to transfer powers, making Vecna stronger? The mindflayer does a similar thing in S3 with El, as biting her absorbs her powers, rendering her powerless.

Once Will is saved, he attempts to readjust to normal life, but is unable to stop seeing the upside down. His friends say he has "true sight," but what if that's not the case? Vecna could be giving him visions, attempting to weaken his resolve so he can be targeted again. In S2, we even see Will with his eyes closed multiple times, looking like how the tranced people did in S4V1.

Perhaps what Vecna really wants is a vessel in the real world? Even Jason said that the devil needs a vessel, so this could be foreshadowing to Vecna wanting to weaken Will enough to possess him fully. We saw kind of what that would be like in S2 with the mindflayer, but Will was still strong enough to fight back.

However, now, Vecna has been biding his time, waiting for Will to be as weak as possible. He's been alienated at every turn: ignored by his friends all summer, perpetually connected to an evil dimension, abused at home and at school, and now, his whole family and best friend (crush) forgot his birthday. Will is at his most vulnerable right now, so I believe the minute he arrives to Hawkins, Vecna will be taking full advantage of this.

Will is the perfect vessel for Vecna. Through flashbacks, they've been shown to parallel each other: called "sensitive" by their mothers, enjoy drawing as an escape, made to feel different from the rest of the world, and even dress the same. Both feel like they don't belong, and since El didn't work out, Vecna wants Will.

If you made it to the end, congrats, that was long. Hopefully it kind of made sense! This is where I think S4V2 could be heading, and Will is my favorite, so obviously I want him to have a bigger role moving forward lol

[ectonurites]

Even though this was replaced by a Stephen King book in the actual episode... This issue being what he was reading to her is fascinating to me. Not really for the story but rather for where the story falls in DC's continuity & history.

The baseline obvious reason this issue was chosen is just 'Max likes Wonder Woman (established in s3) and this was the Wonder Woman-focused comic issue that was released in March 1986' so like, simple enough.

BUT as one may notice from the citation I provided under the above page—this is from an issue #1, rather than the ongoing monthly Wonder Woman comic (like the one Max had in s3). The Legend of Wonder Woman Vol. 1 is a miniseries that ran from March-June '86 (if you look it up online some sites may say May-August '86 but those are the cover dates not publishing dates, these get mixed up by a lot of people) after the monthly Wonder Woman book had been cancelled, to sort of 'fill in the gap' before the title would be relaunched with a new #1 later at the end of the year (for the now very famous George Pérez run).

Now why was a book like Wonder Woman getting relaunched? In part because of sales absolutely, but another major factor was the continuity change due to Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Crisis on Infinite Earths was DC's big 1985 event which featured various earths in the DC multiverse being destroyed by this being called the Anti-Monitor who ruled over a dark alternate world called the 'Anti-Matter Universe' which, well, I've mentioned a visual parallel with Stranger Things relating to that before.

In the aftermath of COIE, the remaining non-destroyed earths were merged together into one New Earth, which became DC's main continuity from 1986-2011 (there were more reality/continuity altering shenanigans along the way, but still).

However, the transition into the new continuity wasn't super clean cut, and books like this Wonder Woman miniseries got published. In theory this book was supposed to be a sort of send off for the previous main continuity versions of the character... but that's the thing—versions. Plural. The Golden Age Earth-2 Wonder Woman and the Silver Age Earth-1 Wonder Woman are two pretty different characters who have different histories and stories, so which one is actually the star of this miniseries?

Well.

"So the answer to the question "Which Wonder Woman is this?" is that it's Wonder Woman, and that's as far as we're going to pin it down. If any longtime WONDER WOMAN readers out there want to figure out which parts of the story relate to which pieces of continuity and what Earth they "came from," we'd like to see the results. But please don't say we goofed—since we did it all on purpose." (from the 'Wonder Words' column in the back of The Legend of Wonder Woman Vol. 1 #1)

Their approach was to basically say 'fuck it' and embrace the conflicting nature of a shifting continuity. THAT is what fascinates me, here.

For a show like Stranger Things which has absolutely had some time & timeline fuckery (even without getting into the more elaborate theories I know people have, just stuff that is discussed in dialogue or shown on screen brings up time and timelines) as well as obviously at minimum one alternate dimension/universe with the Upside Down... I think it's a fascinating choice that they initially planned to highlight a comic issue that is tied to/features purposeful contradiction within those themes.

Anyways, the real reason I wrote all this out is because when reading the script I saw 'Wonder Woman' and my brain went brrr

AGHGHGH LUCAS WAS ORIGINALLY SUPPOSED TO BE READING MAX A WONDER WOMAN COMIC... I FEEL ROBBED

[strawberrybyers]

feel like we should focus on what they’re saying here: will’s journey is going to continue. they’re going to give answers as to why the upside down is stuck on the day will disappeared in season 5 and that it is a KEY PLOT POINT. so basically what i gathered from this is will byers main character arc coming in regards to his connection to the upside down and his love for mike.

they don’t want to leave any loose ends. they want all the characters to feel complete. they acknowledge the characters have been changing and who have we said has changed a lot since s1 and 2? michael wheeler. we also do not understand why he has changed, but with the duffers saying they want the arcs for everyone to feel complete that means we’re going to get an answer as to why he’s been acting the way he has. they also say “who’s going to end up with who” ok and let’s see which relationships are being questioned right now especially after volume 2: mike and el (people are seeing mike’s confession was off and that their relationship is falling apart), we have the nancy/jonathan/ steve love triangle, and we know will is in love with mike and that mike has been acting a certain way towards him that hasn’t been explained and they don’t want to leave any relationships ambiguous. they want an ending. anyways we’re getting answers in s5 and the duffers also said s5 is part 2 to s4 so maybe our theories for vol 2 were actually for s5? all i know is will byers is going back to being the main character and my hope for byler has gone up.

[mayahawkeswife]

u should rant a little abt the 'will has powers thing' bc im a little confused LMAO

of course i will :)) anything to info dump lmao

okay so this might be a lot but- stay with me here please— (and ofc ask questions or add on to anything 😭😭)

one of the main things pointing to will having powers is basically a lot of the shit that he did in season one, more specifically how he was able to do it.

some things he was able to do includes: controlling individual lights, speaking to joyce through the phone + walls (?? ig idk how else to word it), appear in joyce’s dreams/a sort of apparition of him appears (this one is def more theoretical, i’ll get to it in a minute), and the reason why he was even taken in the first place (or at least my theory as to why).

first off: while, yes, in season 4 vol. 1 when the teens are stuck in the upside down, they found a way to talk to people in the (for better lack of words) right side up through the lights, it doesn’t completely translate to what will had done so previously. as we know, the upside down is stuck on the day that will went missing, so everything is how it was on that day in the upside down (except well— more decayed and covered in vibes but- whatever yk). so, this would mean no alphabet wall. there would be no way for will to know that was there. and let’s say that will managed to figure out what his mom was trying to do somehow, the christmas lights were never turned on in the first place. the majority of them were never turned on. in vol. 1 we see how the lights need to be turned on and source in the right place in order to communicate through them. this… doesn’t really make sense in terms of will talking to joyce through the lights. there was also this post i made that touched on the scene with the lights in wills room flashing in a circle that directly parallels the scene in s4.

another thing with the communication between worlds that doesn’t add up comparing the teens to will in s1 is how joyce was able to actually hear will. somehow he had called her, and joyce was able to hear him breathing through the phone until (supposedly) the demagorgan came and.. something happened to will. (i’m not sure if i’m just not remembering correctly or if it was never clarified what happened then, so.. yeah). anyways, the teens were not able to vocally speak to the kids in the right side up, and seemed to not be able to use any electronic things while in the upside down.

something else i find interesting and hope is touched on in vol. 2 is joyce literally ripping the wall down and seeing will in the upside down (before he ran away and she broke the wall down with an axe). like— how the fuck? was will making a gate somehow? or was it the demogorgan?? either way, it wouldn’t make sense (unless… a certain boy had certain abilities 🤔). adding on, there is a scene where will seems to appear in joyce’s dream/vision, before it’s shown to actually be johnathan. this is just a small detail, but it sort of reminds me of whenever people are able to see el when she’s in the black room/using her powers. so… hm…

finally, there’s the biggest question about will: why was he taken in the first place?

there is a big theory going around (that i believe in) that it was vecna, rather than the demogorgan, that took will back in season 1. this could explain why he wasn’t killed right away like barb, and why he was targeted even though he wasn’t bleeding. the figure also stalked him down, all the way from the wheeler’s house to his shed. that’s not normal behavior for a demogorgan.

so… why did he target will? of course my theory is: will has powers. but rather than be made to be born with powers, like el and the others, he was born like henry creel.

there are many parallels between henry and will. they’ve both been described as being “sensitive kids,” they both have an interest in drawing, they both don’t fit in the ‘societal norm,’ etc etc. we don’t know how henry (aka 001) has his powers, but i theorize that he was somehow born with them. and however he was somehow born with them is the same way will ‘acquired his.’

a foreshadowing of this lowkey comes from season 1 when dustin is talking about how el has powers.

“So, do you think Eleven was born with her powers like the X-Men or do you think she acquired them, like Green Lantern?”

now, eleven was technically born with powers, but they were ‘acquired’ by experiments trying to replicate henry’s, not naturally born.

so, why did vecna take will? it could be something similar to him trying to make eleven join him (before she.. yk.. sent him to the upside down). or it could be something else entirely. but i do believe it does have something to do with will having powers (and also his trauma and personality could play a factor into it too).

so.. yeah, that’s why i’m a will byers has powers truther. again, most of this is theoretical, so probs take everything (especially stuff towards the end) with a grain of salt. hopefully we get answers during s4 vol.2!!! i dont know which interview this was said, but there has been talk that why will was taken first being address in vol.2 so fingers crossed iggg 🤞🤞🤞

[elizabeth-mitchells]

“it’s easy to confuse feelings for something they aren’t, especially when eye-contact is involved” for ronance??

may i offer one last ronance story before vol. 2 drops? see you guys tomorrow after robin and nancy kiss xx

It’s easy to confuse feelings for something they aren’t, especially when eye-contact is involved. At least, that’s what Robin had been telling herself since she became friends with Nancy Wheeler. Robin had tried to explain away Nancy’s penchant for intense eye contact in many different ways. The most reasonable one being that Nancy seemed to be headstrong, confident, fearless, and a very talented journalist. She probably looked everyone in the eyes as if she were trying to solve a puzzle, Robin wasn’t all that special, she thought. She thought maybe that was usual behavior when doing a platonic friend’s makeup, or she just wanted to see which clothes would match Robin’s eyes from a purely technical standpoint. Perhaps she thought the rest of Robin’s face so unpleasant she could only tolerate her eyes, or maybe unbeknownst to Robin she had some uncommon thing going on in her eyes and Nancy was looking for the courage to tell her. Either way, it was a lot, and every time it happened, Robin could feel her heart skip a beat, beat a thousand miles an hour, and stop beating at all, all at the same time.

Eventually, one day, Robin’s mouth finally got ahead of her brain enough to blurt out the words, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” Nancy wondered with a small frown of concentration. Still not breaking the wonderfully suffocating eye contact, if Robin might add.

“Like… you know,” Robin stuttered and lost the battle against the tide of words coming out of her. “Like one of my eyes committed a gruesome crime against the other and you are questioning it in a dimly lit room with a gun on the table. Like I kidnapped my eyes from an A-list celebrity, I’m holding them hostages, and they’re holding up tiny signs that say ‘Help me’. Like my entire face is a horrifying apocalyptic wasteland and my eyes were the last two wildflowers left on this godforsaken planet and you made it your life mission to keep them alive at all costs. Like… holy shit!”

“What?” Nancy mumbled, automatically, without the slightest idea what conclusion Robin might have reached. Usually, they were great at keeping up with each other, but this time Nancy couldn’t help but linger somewhere a few steps behind, still processing the hostage situation theory.

“You like me back,” Robin said with a breathless tone, terrified of being wrong, but somehow having no doubt in her mind about it, finally.

“Wait. Does that mean you like me?” Nancy replied, somehow managing to start to smile while her eyes still displayed confusion and the remnants of a frown.

“Does that mean it wasn’t obvious?!”

“No! I thought you were just a very good friend! Like maybe you treat all your friends like… you know,” Nancy shugged, “Like you would follow them to the ends of the Earth. Like they’re the most important person in the universe. Like you loved them in another life and you were always meant to find your way back to each other.”

Inevitably, by then both girls were furiously blushing, and also couldn’t hold back their smiles. “I am a very awesome friend,” Robin replied in a whisper, “but it’s always been different with you, Nance.”

Finally, the only thing left was to close the space between them and celebrate their groundbreaking discoveries with a kiss. A discovery that, perhaps, shouldn't have come as much as a shock to the girls that had spent the last couple of hours talking in hushed whispers, making promises and plans for the future, cuddling together under the covers in Nancy’s bed, doing everything about being in a relationship for weeks except calling it being a relationship. Well, there was a beginning for everything.

[labyrynth]

they may not specifically address this question, but i do have a few more quotes that discuss the ritual and some of wwx’s work

first: as far as we know, Mo Xuanyu had access to the ritual manuscript, not Nie Huaisang.

during the encounter in his secret vault, Jin Guangyao says this (emphasis mine)

…“when Xuanyu was still here at Golden Carp Tower, he saw one of the Yiling Patriarch's manuscripts. This manuscript was a dissertation on a particular black magic: Sacrifice.”

the narration follows

…The explanation made perfect sense in every way. After Mo Xuanyu was chased out of Golden Carp Tower, resentment grew in his heart. He recalled the black magic he had read about, and in his desire for vengeance, begged for a malicious ghost to descend upon him.

(7S Vol. 2, Ch 10: The Beguiling Boy; p347)

We know from Villainous Friends that Jin Guangyao was trying to track down and collect Wei Wuxian’s work as reference for Xue Yang

[Jin Guangyao] took something out of his sleeve and handed it to Xue Yang. "Maybe you need this?"

Xue Yang flipped through it. All of a sudden, he straightened up in his seat. "Wei Wuxian's manuscripts?"

"That's right," said Jin Guangyao.

Xue Yang lowered his head and looked through it with eyes shining. … "Are these really his handwritten manuscripts? The ones he wrote when he was nineteen?"

"Of course," said Jin Guangyao. "Everyone fought tooth and nail to get their hands on these. It took me quite a lot of effort to gather them all."

… After flipping through them, he remarked, “It's incomplete."

"Given the raging fire and intense battle at the Burial Mounds, you should count your lucky stars that I could even find these remnants. Use them wisely."

(7S Vol. 5, Extra: Villainous Friends; p272)

This passage also tells us that Wei Wuxian’s work is hard to come by, and and even more difficult to actually obtain. His work is in high demand.

I am, however, adding another tally on my “MXTX is bad at timelines” count, because wwx being nineteen would imply that ALL of the war AND a significant amount of time after the war spanned only two years, which is absurd.

Finally, we do have this section, where Paperman Wei happened to hide from Jin Guangyao in between the pages of his own manuscript:

Wei Wuxian examined it further and discerned a few bits and pieces between all the damaged and smeared spots: "...different from possession...", "..revenge...", "..forced contract..."

He could finally be certain. This book […] was one of his own manuscripts. An essay on the forbidden magic of possession. He'd scouted everywhere for sources and organized his findings into a dissertation, along with his own added extrapolations.

He had written plenty of these manuscripts back then, all penned on a whim and tossed aside just as easily, scattered all around the cave where he slept in the Yiling Burial Mounds. Some of these manuscripts had been destroyed in the fires during the siege, while others were treated like his sword had been-taken as spoils of victory and hidden away.

(7S Vol. 2, Ch 10: The Beguiling Boy; p266-267)

Wei Wuxian has no way of knowing what happened to his work, so we can thank the omnipotent(?) narrator for confirming: people kept Wei Wuxian’s manuscripts as prizes.

we know that Xue Yang’s interest in wwx’s work is academic (practical?), so it’s probably fair to assume that others may have had similar interest, and there may have been some buying/selling going on (maybe even creating/distributing copies!).

Jin Guangyao was able to obtain one of these manuscripts for Xue Yang, so it’s not a stretch to assume it wasn’t the only one.

as to the original question about where wwx found the ritual…

“He'd scouted everywhere for sources and organized his findings into a dissertation, along with his own added extrapolations.”

this is all we know.

I personally think that there was no functioning ritual—just stories and rumors—until wwx, in compiling his research and extrapolations, included his theories on what that ritual could hypothetically be, and he just happened to hit the nail on the head. it’s certainly not like anyone could test it.

i hope this helps to answer your inquiry, anon!

I have a MDZS question and consider you an expert on all things JGY (he did crimes, good for him) so I hope you have some insight into this: I read that NHS found the Sacrifice Ritual in JGY’s Closet of Wonders, but how did JGY get it? Was it in WWX’s Burial Mounds “library,” and if so do you know where WWX found it?

Thanks, I very much enjoy your content!

hey there anon, it's very kind of you to consider me an expert, but i really am not 😬 i've certainly read, reread, and re-reread both the EXR and 7seas translations of the empathy flashback sequence many, many, many times, in addition to the guanyin temple sequence, because those are the parts of the text where jgy's actions are most frequently criticized and taken out of context. for details like the ones you're asking after, i've got to revisit other parts of the book again because my memory is a tea sieve, and i'm also not immune to medium bleed (no one is). so please bear with me, and keep tabs on the notes of this post for any discussion that follows since my pals often chime in with details i've missed.

first point of contention tho: it is never confirmed how novel canon nhs comes by his knowledge/familiarity of the summoning ritual, though wwx does speculate extensively in the guanyin temple denouement that he hears about the ritual from mo xuanyu himself. i don't think he gets his hands on the ritual himself, and i don't think he has access to the jin sect treasure room either. from vol 5 of the 7seas translation:

So yet another person came to [Nie Huaisang's] mind. Mo Xuanyu, who had been banished from Golden Carp Tower.

In the past, Nie Huaisang might have chatted with Mo Xuanyu to glean information from him. From the mouth of the dejected Mo Xuanyu, Nie Huaisang had clearned that he'd read one of Jin Guangyao's fragmented manuscripts of forbidden magic, in which an ancient, evil ritual was recorded. He had then incited Mo Xuanyu to exact revenge for the humiliation he'd suffered at the hands of his own clan members--to use the forbidden art of the sacrificial ritual to seek retribution.

in vol 1 of the 7seas translation, this is what the text tells us about the sacrificial ritual mo xuanyu uses to summon wei wuxian:

The nature of this "sacrificial ritual" was a type of curse. The caster was to harm themselves with a weapon, making cuts on their body and using their own blood to draw the array and write the spells within. They would then sit in the center of the circle and give up their mortal body to evil spirits, using the annihilation of their soul as the price to summon a nefarious, malicious ghost. This was all done in order to request the fulfillment of a wish. Thus, it was the opposite of "possession."

While both were forbidden magics of ill repute, the difference was that the former was much less popular than the latter. After all, few wishes were so strongly desired as to make someone willingly sacrifice everything they had. This was why the technique had been nearly lost after centuries of disuse. The examples recorded in ancient books had only a handful of cases that were backed by reliable evidence, and every single one of them had been for revenge. Every malicious ghost summoned by the ritual had fulfilled the caster's wishes perfectly, in cruel and bloody ways.

i've been thumbing through the rest of the 7seas volumes as well as the EXR translation, but i don't think there's anything more concrete about where the ritual comes from. i think it is entirely possible that the jin sect found copies of something like this ritual in the burial mounds, sure, but i also wouldn't rule out a ritual like this being contained in the treasure room entirely independent of wwx. there's canon precedent for it; case in point, recall the collection of turmoil in the gusu lan's forbidden section of their library.

anyway that's what i've been able to find today, but i'll keep poking around in the books to see if i trip over a passage that neatly answers all of our questions lol.