#mystery box game

[mirbisduschoen]

I know I'm late to the party, but RE: Village AU where

instead of Lord Donna of House Beneviento being the Lord with lots of experience in making children's puppets, it's Lord James of House Henson.

Yes, I do mean THAT Jim Henson.

Lord Henson's heart is in the right place, cadou be damned, and he's even got a hidden cave full of village children he saved from his new "siblings" and "mother", who he refers to as his "audience". Even when he's got an eldritch mushroom hivemind whispering things in his brain, he can't help but be at least a little wholesome.

Some of the things happening in that section of the game are the same, except for the fact that the newly Cadou-infected Lord Henson is somewhat less successful at being creepy than his canon counterpart. The elevator lights flicker creepily and come back on to reveal...Beaker with a marker halfway through writing "Welcome, Ethan". He turns around to see Ethan staring and "MEEP"s loudly before scampering off through a hidden door in the elevator.

On the other hand, entering the creepy area with the fog, trees, and hanging puppets made the the jumpscare by the Fire Gang from "Labyrinth" leaping out from among the trees way scarier than it should have been, but the menace had mostly gone when the hanging puppets started singing the chorus. (The Wild Gang did try to remove his limbs though, like in the movie, and Ethan was very surprised to find his head can come off without killing him, which led him to believe Mia wasn't telling the whole truth to him.)

Instead of Angie being the psycho doll, it's the (somewhat dilapidated) original Skeksi puppets from "The Dark Crystal". All ten of them, acting like children. (They are technically cousins to the Dimetrescu girls.)

Unlike canon, this section of the game DID have a deathtrap, but the deathtrap was Kermit doing his "Mystery Box" game with the caveat that failure to correctly guess the object would lead to a trapdoor in the floor opening onto...a dunk tank. Ethan stressed himself out about the game, thinking he'd die if he got it wrong, fucked up, and was very confused to be left soaking wet but completely OK.

Edit: The Skeksis aren't the ones you need to worry about. If you ever visit Lord Henson, Wilkins will offer you some godawful instant coffee while insisting it's the greatest thing on Earth. DO NOT show any signs of displeasure at being served instant bean water that's been sitting around collecting mildew and mold since the 50s.

[oriixxc]

you sure wanna interrupt devil’s poker night?

[sillybeanies]

[bloody-icecream]

Me in twenty days… if you even care 💔🥀🪦

[maspers]

Arcade Game Aficionados in the Wreck-It Ralph universe must see King Candy as some kind of bizarre urban legend. Imagine being a fan of, say, Street Fighter, and finding this one specific arcade cabinet where Ryu just... isn't part of the roster. Like, he's still on the box and everything, but when you open the game there's no reference to him anywhere. And instead, there's this suspiciously similar character named, idk, "Prince Streets" who fulfills a similar role in and has tons of voice lines both from himself and all the other characters. Like, what the heck? So naturally you look "Prince Streets" up, but there's nothing about him anywhere, so you record a video of the game featuring "Prince Streets" and see if anyone else knows what's up.

Naturally this baffles everyone, because everyone is like "clearly this must be a mod or something???" but if that were the case then where did all these voice lines come from??? Did they get impressionists to mimic the VAs? And why is Ryu removed from the roster, the game could have handled it just fine.

So then eventually some geek is like "hey I think I know that arcade in the video" and they go to check out the infamous "Prince Streets" Street Fighter cabinet, but then lo and behold he's not there anymore??? Ryu is back on the roster??? All the references to Prince Streets are gone? But nerds will be nerds so they decide to check the cabinet itself, but there's no evidence of any tampering whatsoever. So naturally they come back to you and your video, but you know it wasn't fake, your video isn't fake, and everyone else in town remembers how "Prince Streets" was part of the roster for some reason. And of course Capcom denies such a character ever existed, and there's no evidence of where the voice lines or character design came from. Was it an elaborate prank or hoax???

Obviously Wreck-It Ralph's worldbuilding is far from the best or even consistent, but like. Internet Mystery King Candy.

[instarsandcrimeah]

I love Sif's design-

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

SUMMARY: Drug addict Kait flees to a house in the woods to self-rehabilitate, where her sister Olivia joins to document the process, but the house's layout begins to change, trapping them inside an inescapable puzzle box of a house.

[puppydolled]

it isn't allowed to talk about this on twitter or else people try to kill it but it hates what happened to signalis, commodified until it means literally nothing and everyone Has to create more fan Content so they can continue to consume it without respite

[gamereign]

idk what happened between dsod and ygo gx that inspired yuugi to start lifting like this but i think about it often

[reestallized]

Sketchbook dump be upon ye

[its-a-me-mango]

If I were to make a Smg4 Stardew Valley au, can I make Mango Dr Harvey?

AHADGDGDHHDHDHDD HOLY SHIT YESSSSS YES YES YES PLEASE DO!!!! I NEED THIS NOW

I have never played Stardew Valley nor do I know a lot about it, but I know that if I did play it, you could bet your ass I'd be trying to get my freak on with Harvey okay I'm so easy, I see a doctor and it's Joever for meeee

[maddymoreau]

My Thoughts on Poppy Playtime Chapter 3

Ollie is ADORABLE!!!! "No ouchies or lost body parts?" HE'S A BABY I NEED TO PROTECT!!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!! (¬‿¬) I have ZERO evidence for this but my theory is he’s The Prototype.

I’m REALLY happy to see the phone Ollie calls the player on is identical to the one in Project: Playtime! It’s nice seeing stuff introduced in Project: Playtime finally appear in the main series.

( ⚆_⚆ ) ESPECIALLY DR. HARLEY SAWYER!!!! WOW THE TAPE FEATURING HIM TALKING TO THE PROTOTYPE WAS DARK!!!! I knew a man like Dr. Sawyer would be a sick and twisted individual since he created the Bigger Bodies Initiative.

Despite that I was NOT prepared to hear the joy in his voice to experiment on children. It was revolting.

This exchange:

Prototype: "You stick us. Beat us. Tear at flesh. Do you feel it?"

Dr. Sawyer: "There is a secret inside you, 1006. Valuable beyond all measure. I cut and prod and burn at it, and I get closer with each session . . . So speak, or don't. Fight, or give in. Regardless, I learn something new about you every day . . . (Laughs) It excites me!"

Prototype: "Thank you."

Dr. Sawyer: "You . . . thank me?"

Prototype: "Absolutely. I learn something new about you every day."

THAT FINAL LINE WHEN THE PROTOTYPE IS MIMICKING DR. SAWYER'S VOICE AHHHHHH!!!!

＿|￣|○ I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO DR. SAWYER SO BADDDDD!!!!!! He wasn’t around for The Hour of Joy but I hope he suffered.

Leith Pierre: "Normally I'd have Dr. Sawyer do this but he's uhhh . . . out, let's say. So you got me until they find his replacement."

(o ´ _ ` )o The contrast between how Dr. Sawyer speaks to the experiments VS Leith Pierre the Head of Innovation at Playtime Co.

Both dehumanize the experiments in different ways.

Leith Pierre can’t even bother remembering Catnap's real name. He puts on this fake friendly facade. Referring to Catnap as his Pal and Buddy. It's so disingenuous.

Especially when he asks, "Heya Theo! How ya doin' bud?" Pierre could care less about how Catnap feels. It's only when Catnap responds, "The Prototype will save us." That gets Pierre to finally drops the corporate spiel. Admitting to what this place is. Catnap’s prison.

No wonder Catnap worshipped The Prototype after being save when this is what he’s told about his horrific situation.

Leith Pierre: "THIS is your life now. Get used to it."

I absolutely LOVED all the new features for the Grab Pack. The air jet looked SO FUN!!!! Watching people desperately shoot the flare gun against smiling critters in a cramped space WAS SO INTENSE!!! The smiling critter's small growls and whimpers made me sad.

(ʃƪ 〃’▽’〃)♡ The horror in this chapter was INCREDIBLE!!!! While I had fun playing Chapter 2 I remember feeling disappointed by the scares.

CHAPTER THREE HAD ME HORRIFIED!!!! EVERY JUMP SCARE HAD ME FLYING OUT MY CHAIR, THE ATMOSPHERE WAS AMAZING AND AHHHHH THE HOME ORPHANAGE SECTION!!!!!

It reminded me of PT ∑(; °_°) Especially with the radio informing us that in Elliot Ludwig's house it was discovered he HAD THE BODY OF A CHILD IN A DUFFLE BAG!!?!?!?!?!?!

ALSO THAT ONE RADIO'S REVERSE MESSAGE!!!

"8-8-1995 I find your presence intrusive. After all this time you return. You come in here and yet you kill and murder. You pilate and destroy. Your presence was demanded 10 years ago and yet you didn't show up . . . 8-8-1995 You were supposed to be here. Why weren't you here? You missed the event. You missed the meeting. You missed the party. You have no right to be here . . ."

AHHHHHH MOBGAMES KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING WITH THE LIGHTING IN THIS SCENE!!!!!

I thought I was going to see MY BOY 😭💔!!!!!!

Huggy Wuggy is completely fine.

Kissy Missy was so sad and adorable in this chapter. Seeing her stare at the picture and hug herself BROKE MY HEART ( o̴̶̷᷄ _ o̴̶̷̥᷅ )!!! She deserves the world.

Catnap acting like a child and avoiding school 😭💔

Miss Delight was a minor spoiler I knew about since people used her face in their thumbnail. However I was NOT prepared for her to act like a Coil-Head!!!!

Theodore being described as antisocial and having a peculiar relationship with an imaginary friend _(:ì」∠)_.

That “imaginary” friend being The Prototype. Who guided Theodore to help them both escape. Only for Theodore to get electrocuted since he was just a child who didn't know how to safely use a Grabpack.

The Prototype throwing away their chance to escape to save Theodore by bringing him to the staff. Showing The Prototype does care in some way.

Only for Theodore to be later turned Catnap.

THEN the player electrocutes Catnap the SAME way Theodore originally received his injuries. The Prototype comes to “save” Theodore once again but this time by making Catnap a part of him AND CATNAP ACCEPTS SO WILLINGLY (˃ ⌑ ˂ഃ )!!!!

It felt like I was watching a religious experience.

I love Poppy Playtime but I do think they show too much in their trailers. Dog day is a great example but even then his scene was *chef kiss*

All the smiling critters crawling inside Dogday as he desperately screamed in agony and for us to run away left me speechless.

I liked the detail of Dogday calling us angel. I'm excited to see all the AUs people create where we save him.

ALSO THE HOUR OF JOY WAS A BLAST TO WATCH!!!!!

I know Poppy is right that it was just senseless slaughter. How all that death didn't fix or help anyone. Especially when it didn't matter if those killed were innocent or not.

However imagining these characters being painfully experimented on and stripped of their autonomy. Going though years of hell and finally reaching their breaking point. It's hard to not feel good for them getting to release that anger. Even if I know it's wrong.

ALSO I GOT TO SEE MY SECOND FAVORITE CHARACTER BOXY BOO YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!

THERE WAS SOOOOO MUCH HUGGY WUGGY IMAGERY IN THIS CHAPTER AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I'M GOING TO OVER THINK IT!!!!!! I HAVE NO THEORIES I’M JUST POINTING DETAILS OUT!!!!!!

When hallucinating Huggy Wuggy's face is on the employee training video:

“Join the Innovationists, where the bounds of science are continuously pushed. Or join the Counselors of Playcare, whose diligence and care for our children will help shape a brighter future, just you see.”

“Now every one of you has your part in that future, so should you come back tomorrow feeling unhappy for where you are, or what you’ve done . . . worry not, for your supervisor is here and happy to listen! And . . . should you come back . . . years later . . . your conscience finally getting the better of you. May you descend into the dark and the dust, finding all that awaits you are incomprehensible horrors . . . each hungry for your return, each eager that they might find you. Perhaps they’d smile at you from a shadow, their smiling mouths full of teeth and meat and plastic, watching and waiting patiently for their turn at a warm welcome. Or perhaps they won’t allow you such a time to figure your place in the world you’d left. A world that’s theirs now. Welcome home.”

The video transforms into a manifestation of the player's guilt. Not only for their involvement for whatever they did while working at Playtime Co. but for being gone and returning after ten years.

This is also paired with the player's possible guilt for killing Huggy Wuggy and their fear of him.

The hallucination version being a more exaggerated version of the Chapter 1 Huggy Wuggy vent chase.

When Catnap causes the player to later hallucinate:

Poppy: “Do you even know what’s real?”

Poppy: “No you don’t.”

THEN AT THE END OF THE HALLUCINATION IT SHOWS US THE DAY OF JOY!!!! Which is very odd when you consider two things. We've been told multiple times we weren’t there and during this scene we didn't know what the Hour of Joy was.

So the player hallucinating being in front of Huggy Wuggy’s podium during The Hour of Joy with a large Prototype hand reaching for us IS ODD!!!

ALSO THE TAPE IT SHOWS THAT’S WHERE HUGGY WUGGY WAS DURING THE HOUR OF JOY!!!!!!!

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!?!?!?!

This is just speculation but perhaps the player's memories aren't as trustworthy as we think. After all we still aren't even sure who even sent us the letter or tape in Chapter 1.

"EVERYONE THINKS THE STAFF DISSAPEARED 10 YEARS AGO WE'RE STILL HERE FIND THE FLOWER"

It’s important to point out the characters from Chapter 2 made ZERO appearance during these hallucinations. Mommy Long Legs, PJ Pug-a-Pillar, Bunzo Bunny and the Wack-a-Wuggy.

Is the Huggy Wuggy imagery used because he’s who we encounter at the start of the game?

OR SOMETHING MORE AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

[sdv-love]

Would really suck if a mystery box with 5 mega bombs landed on someone.

[miirshroom]

Enya Geil and Finger Reader Enia - Unpacking a deep cut influence on Elden Ring

There is a character from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure named "Enya Geil" or "Enya the Hag", who shares both naming phonetics and some design similarities with Finger Reader Enia of Elden Ring.

In a separate post I went over the Elden Ring tarot timeline in depth. In another post I cautiously floated the idea that maybe certain parts of Elden Ring are taking inspiration from the song titles and lyrics of at least one rock band (and I have data collection on several others in progress). In yet another I noted that the Egyptian god "Ra" seems to have a lot of significance for multiple characters.

Basically, what I want to explore is that Elden Ring's Finger Reader Enia is well positioned to demonstrate a likely inspiration for all of those elements in FromSoft's own 30-year body of work: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Background Info from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a manga series started on January 1, 1987, and still ongoing with Part 9 as of late 2024. It is considered one of the most successful manga series, and its most popular era was Part 3: Stardust Crusaders (1989-1992), which introduced the concept of "Stands". Stands are entities psychically generated by their user and in this debut arc tended to be named after one of two concepts: Tarot and Egyptian Gods. On the other hand, the users of the stands would be named after musical artists, which was a trend started in Part 1 and Part 2 ("Vanilla Ice", "Oingo" and "Boingo", "Nena", "Enya", etc). In future parts the tarot and Egyptian themes would be dropped and instead basically all Stands would be musical references that put JJBA as a series into copyright/localization hell ("Foo Fighters", "Metallica", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Achtung Baby", etc).

Enya Geil in JJBA is an old hag with the Stand "Justice" as named after the 11th tarot. She is an antagonist subordinate to vampire DIO (whose stand is 21st tarot "The World"), and had a son named J. Geil - a serial rapist and murderer whose stand was "The Hanged Man". Enya was also responsible for creating new Stand users with the use of 5 golden arrows that were uncovered by archaeologists in Egypt and had been forged from a meteorite that carried a virus that gives people supernatural abilities.

The first power of Enya's Stand is puppetry - it is a mist that can take control of people by entering their bodies through open wounds. For this reason, Enya's weapon was a pair of scissors which she would use to create wounds ("the formless mother craves wounds"). The second power of the stand is illusions, both for illusory people and places. With these two powers combined, the Stand is capable of manipulating vast hoards of undead through piercing holes in the bones of skeletons and manipulating them as if they were alive while also projecting incredibly realistic (but warped) features of human beings.

The puppetry angle is one of the specific pointers to the Enia of Elden Ring. She communes with the Two Fingers - envoys of the Greater Will who direct ("puppet") the actions of the Golden Order faithful. The Elden Beast is one example of this theme that even the gods of the Lands Between are the puppets of something greater - its nervous system is made of amber starlight such as was brewed in the potion that Seluvis attempted to give to Ranni. Something to point out now is that Elden Ring's Enia does not need to secretly have the same personality and background as Enya Geil of JJBA - no more than either of them are the same person as the real life Irish folk singer Eithne "Enya" Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin. As far as the Lands Between is concerned these are timeline clues more than characterization clues. It's a different story with Enia's counterpart in the Shadowlands.

Also, an important to note here is that I did not personally identify the connection between "Enia" and "Enya" of JJBA. JoJoWiki has a list of identified references in other media:

References were also noticed in Dark Souls, including another involving Enya:

Enia's position on the Timeline

Enia is styled similar to the Twin Maiden Husks, telegraphing that she also is an ancient mummified creature. Judging by her grandmotherly voice and that all other finger readers are called "crones" it would follow that Enia is also a kind of crone. When I put together the musical timeline of the Round Table Hold previously I had not acknowledged that there may be additional significance to the doorway to the Two Fingers chamber being in between Sagittarius and Capricorn.

Looking at it now, I suspect that this is intended to be the timeline marker for the earliest concept of the Two Fingers. Based on the calibration offered in Armored Core V (in 2012, the year of "The Hanged Man" tarot...), Armored Core (1997) is associated with the zodiac Capricorn.

Like clockwork the general plotline and theming of every following Armored Core entry syncs up with zodiac sequentially, so 1997 is generally what I identify as being the start of the Capricorn zone. Now I would guess that Shadow Tower represents the decision to commit to a zodiac theme in upcoming years as well as sundering of the timeline into two tracks. On the first track there is Armored Core being associated with the "Sun" Tarot after counting backwards from "The Fool" in 2000. On the second tarot track there is "Shadow Tower" (1998) representing "The Tower" tarot.

So that could be what the "Two Fingers" conceptually represent at their most basic layer before being piled with other symbolism. They began as the interweaving of the Armored Core series as the mainline (i.e. "the sun") with all other games being associated with the shadow, which may be characterized as two tarot tracks.

But still, the connection between Enya and Enia is not complete, as the "Justice" tarot is not immediately apparent in these early years. Counting backwards on the Shadow Fate line lands it too early in 1993. I think that there are two keys here: 1) retroactive continuity, and 2) the creation of a third tarot track as prompted by a specific circumstance.

All this time we're talking and sharing our rational view A billion other voices are spreading other news All this time we're living and trying to understand Why a billion other choices are making their demands Talk of a peaceable kingdom Talk of a time without fear The ones we wish would listen Never going to hear Justice against the Hanged Man Knight of Wands against the hour Swords against the kingdom Time against the Tower All this time we're shuffling and laying out all our cards While a billion other dealers are slipping past our guards All this time we're hoping and praying we all might learn While a billion other teachers are teaching them how to burn - from "Peaceable Kingdom" from Vapor Trails (2002) by Rush

The lyrics to the above song were written as a direct response to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11/2001. Meaning that "The Tower" in the lyrics refers to a very real event. Look into music and movies/tv of that era and numerous artists made art responding to that event. Another notable one that I've stumbled across is progressive rock band Dream Theatre, who had the misfortune of releasing an album on September 11, 2001 showing the NYC skyline on fire (which was swiftly retracted and replaced) and later created the song "Sacrificed Sons" on the 2005 album "Octavarium" in response to the event.

So by the power of retroactive continuity and introduction of the three fingers it is possible to count backwards from "The Tower" in 2001 and arrive at "Justice" in 1996. The twist to this is that it isn't actually Enia who has the greatest narrative similarity to Enya the Hag. It's a third character who exists in the Shadow of the Shadow: Hornsent Grandam.

Hornsent Grandam as the Shadow of Finger Reader Enia

For a brief period of time upon the Shadow of the Erdtree release, the "Hornsent" Grandam was called "Empyrean" Grandam. Empyreans each have their own two fingers that give them instructions. Enia has a pair of Two Fingers giving her instructions. In the Jungian sense, the Shadow is the part of the psyche where undesired qualities are suppressed - like a dark doppelganger. So while Finger Reader Enia's resemblance to a JJBA character is superficial at best, Hornsent Grandam is what results from making a much deeper reference that manages to fly under the radar simply by avoiding any word association with her name.

Hornsent Grandam brings in a few elements that are similar to JJBA's Enya. Hornsent Grandam is more belligerent than Enia, and her face is flanked by two braids that echo the design of Enya the Hag who has two pigtails, she calls herself "this old hag" and she speaks of singing which goes all the way back to the singer Enya. She presides over the puppet show of the Dancing Lion and has a son who she is supportive of, which both have parallels in the JJBA Enya. Hornsent Grandam's son is either deceased (if it is implied that the "Watchful Spirit" is her son, as she hands that over in the same conversation), or is literally the Hornsent who is one of Miquella's followers (as he is actually summonable to the Messmer fight). She wishes vengeance against Messmer who has betrayed her, similar to how JJBA Enya was betrayed by DIO who implanted a flesh bud in her brain that activated when she was captured and it erupted from her face and eyeballs in wormlike strings (chapter link here). The flesh bud thing is one of DIO's vampire abilities, and Messmer "The Impaler" has that vampire allusion to him. Compare this to the wormy looking horns protruding from the eyes and forehead area of Hornsent Grandam.

And then lastly, to tie the Hornsent Grandam back to the dawn of history there is the scorpion stew connection. Scorpions are found in Belurat and they are found in Rauh.

Armored Core: Project Phantasma is a prequel as verified by the story taking place in the year ED 0156, which is two years before the timeframe of Armored Core (1997) in ED 0158. Three context clues place it as zodiac Scorpio:

1) As previously noted, the Armored Core zodiac starts on Capricorn. Two years before = two signs before = Scorpio.

2) The enemy type with a body plan of a Scorpion (it shoots projectile attacks from its tail)

3) German hard rock band, "the Scorpions" released album "Taken by Force" on December 4, 1977, which was the same calendar day as the release of Armored Core: Project Phantasma (December 4, 1997). Something particularly attractive about this album release date is that the number "4" or "shi" in Japanese has associations with death, and so does the cover of the album. Of the Scorpions 18 other albums, there are 3 others that match dates with various FromSoftware games (which is a story for another day).

For 8 years before King's Field, FromSoftware was a company developing business productivity tools for PC. As the Scorpions are eaten, that 8 years of expertise was cannibalized and redirected into forging a new identity as a videogame developer. I think that's more or less what Rauh represents - an era of relative benign, peaceful and productive existence before being stepping into the drama that is the videogame development cycle. In the Japanese phonetics for "Rauh" it is spelled "Raufu", which is a Swahili word borrowed from the Arabic "Rauf". It means "gentle" or "kind".

Conclusion

"Mine eyes are oft apt to glaze over — the years are toking their toll, 'tis plain to see. Even telling dream from reality…is a task increasingly beyond me…" - Final dialogue of Hornsent Grandam

One of the main themes of the DLC is that dreams are taking over reality. In a meta sense this is exactly what is experienced when playing the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC - previous knowledge is being overwritten by the new information revealed in the DLC. This is deceptive, as the reality inside the mindscape of the cocoon is a heavily doctored version of the reality of the Lands Between. It's biased towards pessimistic and paranoia-tinged/emotion-driven interpretations.

In a way, it is demonstrating trope overdose. Characters in the story are reduced to mythological references like Freyja and Ymir, or to manga references like Enia's surface comparison to JJBA's Enya. Comparisons were made between Miquella and Griffith based on not much more than the aesthetic of a fair haired effeminate male character with a hint of sinister manipulation and association with an eclipse - the DLC complied by presenting a version of Miquella that is suddenly Griffith levels of megalomania with none of the on-screen character development. An observation that I have seen made about the Frenzy Flame and the Three Fingers is that they remove the ability to see differences. Forming a theory that a certain character was inspired by another character based on superficial similarity cannot be the end of interpretation - characters need to be evaluated on their own unique psychology as developed in their own context.

The trouble with relying too heavily on references to previous literary canon is that all of the missteps of previous generations are implied to be inherited as well. It is in fact not a societal good to be propagating the tropes that women in positions of power and men who don't meet restrictive standards of masculinity are untrustworthy. A trope so deeply ingrained that someone like Ranni gets accused of being sinister and manipulative despite being one of the most blunt, forthcoming, and rational characters in the game.

Telling the difference between what is true and not true is complicated by the Lands Between being itself a fictional universe. And yet, this is also a phenomena seen in the real world, where fictional media - from movies to comics to books to music - reinforces cultural stereotypes and misinformation that people propagate uncritically. Even historical fiction elevates individuals to the positions of "hero" and "villain" as a flattening of real-life people which has the effect of creating the false impression that society is built on the efforts of magically successful individuals. Rather than the reality where improvements to quality of life are a collective effort and require both constant maintenance and a working understanding of all of the interconnected processes that allow our current civilization to function.

Regardless, the only viable answer in both the Lands Between and in real life for the question of how to sort fact and fiction is to make a personal effort to understand the rules of the universe. In the real world, this would be gaining knowledge of physics, plant biology, ecosystems, how various types of complex objects are manufactured from base elemental components, etc. In the Lands Between, this is through gaining knowledge of all of the above in addition to the magic systems and narrative rules that underlie characters' perceptions of their own history: tarot/alchemy, astrology, chakras, music and poetry, pseudo-archaeology, mythology, etc.