#of course there's the way it's foreshadowing the bigger twist at the end too

[vickysaurus]

I finished Gideon the Ninth and holy shit was it amazing. I think of all the twists in the book, my favourite was the fact that Protesilaus was literally just fucking dead the whole time. It's a bit less silly and more grim with the additional twist at the ending, but when I first got to the reveal, I had a great time going back to earlier descriptions of Protesilaus and laughing at how incredibly obviously this man is just a corpse standing around doing nothing but the most basic brainless zombie actions.

There are just so many moments of him awkwardly staring into space, presumably with his tongue just about to loll out. I get the impression that if his necromancer didn't manage him as closely as she does, he would just end up in a random corridor gently bumping into a blank wall repeatedly.

[pumpkinpartynoelle]

The Secrets of Power, Sin, the Weird Route, and More

Variable Angel Theory - Part 2

Hi! Noelle Holiday here!

I went over a lot in that last post, but I didn't go over everything. Partially because it would have taken too long (it was already over 10000 words), and partially because I hadn't found everything there is to find so far in Deltarune, and I'm sure I still haven't here.

My main goal is to refine my theory more and give you even more evidence, in case the original post didn't have enough to convince you. As it turns out, there's actually quite a lot more evidence than I thought there was, and considering how solid it already felt at the time, I'm more and more certain I'm right. Plus, I found a lot of new stuff too.

I’d also like to request anyone that finds this interesting please share it around (along with part 1 of course, for context), I want to start a community discussion on the topic.

Like in part 1, I’m expecting you’re at least mostly familiar with Undertale and Deltarune, and know all major routes released so far, because I’m not going to retread the basics. This post will contain spoilers for Undertale, and hopefully Deltarune as well.

Plus, of course, make sure you’ve read part one first.

Here’s the new stuff:

More info on “Power”, A.K.A. Soul Power

How Kris’s soul works, a unified explanation for the new abilities we have access to in Deltarune (and possibly even abilities we had in Undertale)

What the vessel in the intro is for

A general idea of Gaster’s involvement

A clearer picture of the ending

A more thorough analysis of Jevil and Spamton

An analysis of “Holy” and “Sin” in the same vein as "Angel" and "Demon"'s analysis in part 1

A guess on what the hell NEO is

An alternate purpose behind the DT extractor

The possible identity of the Egg Man?

A vague idea of what The Song from the Sea might be

A comically thorough analysis of Rouxls Kaard as an angel candidate

Save file mitosis

The worst plot twist of all time

Much like the last post, this won’t have exclusively stuff directly and immediately relevant to Variable Angel Theory in it, but will instead show most of what I found in the process of refining this stage of Variable Angel Theory. This is because of how interconnected everything in Deltarune’s world is, it can be hard to completely isolate one element from the others, and even the less relevant parts can still be useful context, so I’ve decided not to bother trying to separate them. You’re getting not just VAT, but a lot of the smaller stuff I found along the way. Just know that, if some parts are wrong, and at least something probably will be, that doesn’t necessarily invalidate the rest.

Finding more evidence isn't the only purpose of this post though, there's also just some stuff I decided I wanted to mention after I published the first one, so that'll be in here too. Originally I was just going to call this "Extra Thoughts", but there's more than enough stuff here that "Part 2" feels warranted. This post will probably end up bigger than the first one, so expect at least 10000 words, possibly closer to 15000.

Something to keep in mind about Deltarune, that I may not have placed enough emphasis on in part 1, is that the idea for Deltarune, and specifically its ending, came even before Undertale. One can expect then that many details in Undertale intentionally relate to Deltarune, and so far, that seems to be the case. That’s why I’m so confident making these connections based on information that isn’t directly in Deltarune itself.

Another important thing to keep in mind, again, is that we only have 2 chapters of Deltarune so far. With so little information, I’m basically forced to rely on foreshadowing, narrative parallels, double meanings, and the like as evidence for my theories. Aren’t we lucky, then, that Toby has proven himself a master of that craft? I’m willing to rely so much on this evidence that might be shaky or meaningless in any other game because this isn’t any other game, this is set to be Toby Fox’s magnum opus, and I’m confident he’ll put everything he has into its story.

I'll also be taking some other points as read that I hadn't before, most namely Timeloop Theory (that the game will end in a reset and the world of Deltarune is in a time loop because of this), and Jaru’s Asriel/Ralsei theory (the general idea of it, not the specific hypothetical scenario Jaru gave for how it could have happened). It's only relevant a few times in this post, and you still don't need to know it to understand what I'll be talking about for most of this, as long as you're willing to go along with me and trust that I believe it for a good reason. Or, dozens upon dozens of good reasons, as the case may be.

The game hints at both of these theories all over, pretty blatantly in a few places. I wouldn't assume them as true without being very confident in it, and the reason I’m choosing to take them more as fact here, aside from my being confident in them (I would genuinely be shocked if either were somehow incorrect in their broad strokes), is that these theories are somewhat important to certain parts of Variable Angel Theory that I’ll be discussing here.

Most of Variable Angel Theory and its branches remain valid without the Asriel/Ralsei theory (the time loop theory is a little more important since it’s the entire reason for the weird route at all), but since we’re now getting into the details and specifics, I don’t want to keep restricting the information I draw from. I was originally going to remove most references to Jaru theories, despite how well a few of them compliment VAT, to avoid hate related to him, but as I'm setting up this thing for posting, I've decided fuck it we ball. I've been working on this thing for like a year, I'm making it how I want it.

However, even though I’ll be assuming these theories as true, even the parts that involve them are often not vital to the theory. It’s strong enough, I think, that taking out some pillars won’t bring down the whole structure, so even if you don’t believe them, you’ll probably still get something out of this post. Quick primer on the Asriel/Ralsei theory for those who don’t care to look up the full reasoning: In spite of what Toriel believes, Asriel is dead (like in Undertale). Kris feels guilty for it and may have caused it (but if they did, without an intent to harm, their light world LV is still 1, or perhaps human LV starts at 0 and Frisk killed someone). Kris absorbed Asriel's soul (humans absorbing monster souls was clearly foreshadowed in Undertale but never happened), and Ralsei is a lightner/darkner hybrid made partially from Asriel's dust (hence his weird similarities to Asriel and Flowey, and why the game goes out of its way to never explicitly call him a “darkner”). Kris's unique soul means Asriel is the one possessing them (and the person we play as, similarly to how we play as Chara possessing Frisk in Undertale), and it gives Kris special powers like being the only one able to seal a dark fountain, grazing, shared damage between party members, etc., powers that, despite their variety, Variable Angel Theory’s understanding of soul power can and will explain fairly simply. I can’t tell you specifically how Asriel died, there’s just one or two pieces still missing, but there’s so much evidence pointing to it having happened that despite this I still have a lot of confidence in it. Kind of like Variable Angel Theory itself, actually! You can still get the big picture even if you're missing the details, I think.

I'm also assuming, of course, that you've read my first post on this theory before this one, as rehashing all of that groundwork would take way longer than is worth. If you haven't, maybe go do that or you'll be really confused. If for some reason you really just want to read this part and don’t care about the evidence I used for part 1, there’s a TL;DR at the bottom of that post. This one too, for the new stuff.

Soul Power: Determination, Magic, and Love:

To start us off, I have a better idea of what soul power is that I want to share, or more, a refinement of the idea I already had. I think that, much like determination, magic (as in, the magic used by darkners and some monsters in the dark world, as well as Undertale's monsters) is an aspect of soul power. We know that magic is strongly tied to the emotions of its users, as is determination, being a physical embodiment of the will to live.

Magic, too, operates on many of the same rules as determination, and so does a power like LOVE. So, I think all 3 of these are aspects of soul power. That explains how high LOVE manifests powers similar to determination, why monsters’ emotions have so much impact on their magic, and how Undyne was seemingly able to generate her own determination. It all comes back to emotion, and the power of the soul. In hindsight it's kind of obvious.

What can this tell us? In Deltarune, many party members show a magic stat. The tie between magic, determination, and LOVE may mean that someone's magic stat can be used to get a rough idea of their other soul power stats. And, of course, I have the most latent magic, having as much at LV 1 as Ralsei would have at LV 3. Ralsei seems very knowledgeable about and experienced with magic, one could extrapolate that he's probably the equivalent to a fairly skilled mage. If my base magic is above this, that backs up Queen's insistence of my latent power, and of course my candidacy for ascension in the weird route. Of promptly available choices for a new angel, my high magic stat may translate to high soul power in general, thus making me the best candidate.

Catti:

Of all likely party members we know of, Catti seems to have the most potential to rival me in magic. She has enough associations with it that it would be odd not to make her a primarily magic-oriented character, and the "nekomancer" pun feels too good for Toby to pass up. The earliest she'll show up, I think, is chapter 4, which, as I said in my last post, I feel places her a bit too late to be a serious angel candidate. I think, however, that she’ll have her biggest role in chapter 5, as I believe that’s the most likely chapter to take place in the church, a location that would fit very nicely with Catti’s whole theme and aesthetic. But really, who knows specifics? I sure don't!

What I'm wondering is, what will her magic stat be? For game balance reasons, it would make sense to have a higher magic stat than I do (11 at LV 1, 16 at LV 2 in the weird route), as most of the party will be at least LV 4, maybe even higher, by the time she joins. This should place Ralsei's magic stat around 13-15, possibly up to 18 or more depending on how violent you've been. Maybe Catti's spells will be stronger to compensate for her lower magic stat? Maybe she'll start with a higher LV?

My best guess is that I'll have higher magic at this level in a weird route, assuming I show up (I might not), but in a normal route, Catti's magic may be higher. Though, it's also possible that her magic will be extremely low, on the level of early-game Susie, despite her magic associations, and Toby will use this to make a point about the nature of magic and soul power.

Either way, I think that by the end of even a normal route, it will be farther hinted in some way that I have more potential power than Catti, regardless of what her stats are, and in a weird route, I'm sure I'll be much more powerful by the end than Catti would be. All signs point to it.

LV, Love, and LOVE:

So, what's dark world LV? It's a different stat than light world LV, so what's it mean? For the main members of the Fun Gang, LV increases upon encountering a dark fountain. This makes sense. The fountain seems to be raw magic, and magic, like determination and light world LV, is an aspect of soul power, so they have a solid connection. Light LV, though, is tied directly to killing, and Dark LV isn't. That explains why Dark LV, instead, is earned through exposure to fountains of raw soul power. This could be extrapolated to mean that all stats (HP. ATK. DEF. EXP. LV. (maybe not gold)) are aspects of soul power. Which, again, feels like it should have been obvious from the start, with the way emotions affect this, and maybe most other people have already picked up on it, but it was kind of a minor revelation for me. But, with most major stats all tied back up with soul power, it's almost like we've come full circle. It's a bit harder to say anything uniquely useful about them when they're all tied to the same thing. Either way I think magic in particular is the closest, other than maybe LV, to quantifying "power".

What strikes me as odd is that I start at LV 1, and while I can become LV 2 through the weird route, which I think makes some sense, I can also become LV 2 by just acquiring a title. This raises the question: is this purely a gameplay thing, or does this mean something? Do titles have some tie to soul power? Maybe! I think it's too early to tell either way. Maybe a title is somehow some achievement for your soul that allows it to draw on the power of others nearby? Maybe Kris being LV 2 at the time of title acquisition allows my soul to power up to that level? Or maybe it's related to their unique soul and the powers it has from absorbing Asriel? It could be related to why Ralsei levels up from dark fountains despite not directly being there for their closing. Kris's soul may be uniquely tied to party members, (like how everyone takes damage when Kris's soul is hit) so when Kris levels up, so do other party members. We'll have to see if other characters have their LVs raised mid-chapter this way, our sample size may just be too small, but with Toby it's never safe to assume that a gameplay mechanic is just a gameplay mechanic.

So, with basically every theme of the game tying back to the power of the soul, or the power of the heart, we have an explanation for the bizarre plot importance of all the romance theming, but that still makes Ralsei seem a little weird. My best guess is that Ralsei maintains the essence of affection for Kris from Asriel, like how he might have affection for Susie because of Asriel's interest in hot purple dragon girls (discussed a bit more in the next subsection, as it’s strangely relevant), but that affection takes a different form. It’s possible romance itself enhances the power of the soul, and the romantic implications of the weird route are in part a deliberate choice by the entity possessing Kris.

As a bonus, here are a couple more hints I noticed after the last post about Kris and Susie potentially having, or more likely, foreshadowing that they will have, a romantic relationship. Alphys subtly hints that, when she didn’t know where Kris and Susie went off to, she suspects they might have been doing something of a romantic or sexual nature together. When I show up, and ask Kris and Susie what they’re doing outside of the storage closet, the options are “hanging out alone in the closet”, obviously implying romance, and “crime”. Selecting “hanging out alone in the closet” leads to Susie stumbling over her words, acting almost flustered, and remarking that they were just “touching brooms”, a clear innuendo.

Kris��s Soul:

Speaking of Kris, I’m writing this section about 2 weeks after the previous one, and I think I’ve figured out sort of why Kris’s soul acts the way it does. I’ll go over all of Kris’s soul’s special abilities here (at least the ones new to Deltarune).

Shared damage between party members, and not dying until all of them are defeated

Grazing and TP

Shining “power” on a party member to grant them new abilities

Sealing fountains

Trance

Fighting battles even without Kris present in them (Susie Vs. Lancer)

Surviving briefly without a soul

Wielding determination without a soul

Raising stats without leveling up

I think Kris’s soul has the ability to “sync” with soul power, creating a line of connection between Kris’s soul and other souls and soul power. This alone can explain every single one of their demonstrated abilities introduced in Deltarune.

Shared damage between party members, and not dying until all of them are defeated

With Kris’s soul synced to the party, it acts as a shared soul between them for battling purposes. As such, they can all take damage when it does, and are only defeated when everyone is.

Grazing and TP

Bullet patterns are established in Undertale as being made of magic, and darkness seems to be magic manifest. As such, darkner bullet patterns are likely also magic. Since magic is an aspect of soul power, Kris’s soul being able to gain strength and share it with the party by staying close to concentrated soul power in the form of bullets makes complete sense.

Shining “power” on a party member to grant them new abilities

This ability, and the abilities it unlocks, require the presence of a fountain, because it provides the party with power that Kris doesn’t have inherently. Instead, it channels the fountain, made of raw darkness A.K.A. magic A.K.A. soul power, into the party to give them a boost while in proximity.

This also explains why the party only levels up when Kris closes a fountain, except me. Instead, my level syncs to Kris's when I earn a title, as matching the level rather than exceeding doesn't require the use of a fountain (probably). This may also be how Catti and other potential party members will get on par with party level. A good lore-friendly fix for scaling issues.

Sealing fountains

Because the fountain is made of magic, and can be opened with determination, one can assume soul power is also capable of sealing it somehow, but determination alone can’t make that happen. Instead, the hole in the fabric of reality created when the fountain was stabbed into existence can be sealed by connecting the soul power back together, patching the hole as if sewing it up. It’s a bit of a different implementation of a soul connection, but still follows a similar principle I think.

Trance

Soul power is heavily reliant on emotion, and trance seems to subtly manipulate its target to be more suggestible and open by syncing their souls together.

This could also explain how ACTs work, but that’s more ambiguous because Frisk can also ACT effectively. It’s possible that the presence of Chara within Frisk allowed them to ACT, and trance may be an ability associated more with combined souls/essences in general, rather than specifically a human soul that absorbed a boss monster soul. It’s also possible that, since Chara was absorbed by a monster, their spirit maintains the trance ability from that, since we don’t know for sure if a monster absorbing a human can use trance the same way a human absorbing a monster seems to be able to.

There’s also a chance that trance isn’t an ability tied to Kris’s soul at all, and it’s just tied to equipment, but I think it would be more narratively compelling if it weren’t exclusively an equipment thing. As I trust Toby’s writing to generally pick the most compelling option, I think it’s more likely that trance is actually connected to Kris’s soul, unless Toby has other major plans for trance, some possibilities for which I’ll explore later.

Trance is one of Kris’s abilities that I’m the least sure about. There are a lot of ways it could work and it may be distinct from Kris’s other abilities, but it doesn’t have to be. Toby could take it many different ways and it would still fit nicely, I think.

Fighting battles even without Kris present in them

While the soul is Kris’s, it isn’t Kris. We know Kris likes Susie, but so does Asriel, the other likely component of the soul, which we can glean from things like the How to Draw Dragons book, and Susie’s reaction to his room in Queen’s mansion, which implies Asriel’s search history heavily involves purple dragon girls, hence why Asriel didn’t want Kris to be able to see it and closes their eyes when attempting to look inside without Susie present. It’s also possible that Kris just doesn’t want to see their brother’s search history. Sharing a soul might mean Kris already knows how weird it is.

Either way, Asriel’s likely affection for Susie, combined with Kris’s, may be what gives the soul the ability to maintain its connection to Susie over a longer distance. We’ve always checked what Susie is up to at a distance, but never Ralsei, after all, but even if that changes I think there’s still merit to this.

Surviving briefly without a soul, and wielding determination without a soul

As the soul belongs to Kris, and can sync over short distances, Kris may still be able to use the soul’s power even while it’s not in their body. I’m imagining it like a cable astronauts use to tether them to their spaceship for spacewalks. Go too far, or stay out in space for too long, and it might snap, or you might run out of air. Figuratively, I mean.

Raising stats without raising LV

Defeating enemies with violence, as established earlier, can raise your stats. Much like the link to dark fountains, Kris’s soul establishes a link to the darkners they defeat, siphoning off a small amount of power from them, much less than a dark fountain, but enough that your stats can be increased by defeating multiple. Of course, this bonus is shared with the team through Kris’s soul sync as well, farther splitting the power and explaining why it takes so long for a relatively small increase.

If I had to guess on future abilities, the soul may have the ability to sync up with a target soul so forcefully that it can override their own control of their body. If this happens, it will likely be in the weird route, and I think this is what the vessel may be for. I’ll provide more details later. It also may be possible for Kris’s soul to drain a target’s power until there’s nothing left to take.

Funnily enough, you could call elements of this soul connection a “hyper link”, but as Spamton’s “[Hyperlink Blocked]” seems to just be a standin for the word “love”, that might not be intentional. Or maybe Toby is on some galaxy brain nonsense, it would certainly explain a lot.

Holy:

Undertale has no mentions of "holy" anywhere in its dialogue, so that’s a pretty easy one. Instead, I just want to mention something interesting I noticed. Like I talked about in the first post, the Angel religion shares a lot of similarities to Christianity. It doesn’t have sin as a concept, but other than that, the aesthetic resemblance to specifically Christianity feels significant, especially given its incorporation of angels, all the mentions of demons, the heavily implied existence of Christmas, that sort of thing.

One of Jaru’s theories (that I’m less confident in than the Asriel/Ralsei one but still seems like a valid possibility) is that, long ago, there was a previous angel, and that angel sealed away magic into the dark worlds, as well as memory of it, and gave the monsters physical bodies (that still turn to dust so monsters can maintain their cultural traditions involving it). If this is true, but that angel is no longer around, that could make sense, as the magic and the then-magical bodies of monsters would fall under the purview of an entity with significant control over Soul Power. So would memories, as we know from Undertale that a reset isn’t actually a perfect time rewind, since people still keep some memories, and Flowey specifically mentions erasing memories as a particular part of the reset process.

As such, the making of a new angel now calls to mind the second coming of Christ, with the roaring resembling the rapture, but instead of some people getting sent to heaven while others are left behind, the darkners are turned to stone and the lightners are left behind. It feels like an intentional parallel now that I think on it, which makes me even more confident I’m on the right track comparing some of UT/DR’s supernatural elements to their Christian counterparts. Plus that also explains why the angel religion exists at all, and seems to have been a presence in the world for a decent length of time. If the angel hasn’t been made yet, why would that religion exist, unless there used to be an angel long ago? The prophecy doesn’t seem well-known enough to have spawned an entire religion from it, especially in the light world.

Deltarune:

The “Holy” element

“Holy Fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world… OUR world.” by King

Berdly calls his weapon a “Holy Halbird” a couple times

“HOLY [[Cungadero]] DO I FEEL GOOD …” by Spamton before the Spamton NEO fight

“Holy Circuits Are You Serious” by Queen upon learning about the roaring

“THE HOLY”, song that plays when encountering a dark fountain

Unlike the word “angel”, “holy” doesn’t seem to have as strict of rules regarding its use. Half of these probably mean nothing.

The “Holy” element

Deltarune’s element system is barely relevant to anything. It’s almost entirely unimplemented, with only the Cat:Puppet pair actually having even the slightest bit of functionality. Holy’s pair element is “elec”, probably short for “electric”, reminiscent of a divine smiting with lightning or something. The only place you can actually see a character’s element is in the recruits menu of the Cafe, and thus far, no one appearing there has the Holy element.

There are a few people with the Elec element, Holy’s pair, specifically Ambyu-Lance (Order:Elec), Tasque (Cat:Elec), Werewire (Elec), Maus (Mouse:Elec), and Werewerewire (Elec:Fight).

Oddly, Mauswheel and Tasque Manager are not Elec elemental. Mauswheel is just the Mouse element three times, and Tasque Manager is Cat:Order. Jevil appears there too, in the game files at least, with the element Chaos:Chaos. Fitting.

It’s hard to tell what information we could draw from this due to how little implementation and relevance the elemental system has had thus far. I can assume, by the fact it exists at all, that it will have more relevance going forward, but what that relevance might be I’m unsure. I’m hoping it will have much greater combat relevance, as while I love the lore and story of Deltarune, the gameplay feels a bit samey, especially if you’ll end up having to play it for 7 chapters at least twice over, possibly more depending on how much the pacifist and neutral routes diverge, and whether there will be significant changes in subsequent time loops. While I trust Toby to write the story well, I’m not so sure if he and his team will nail the gameplay, as it’s only the bosses that are particularly interesting in that regard so far.

The only thing I can gather right now lorewise is that the Cat:Puppet pair may be a bad omen for Catti’s involvement later.

“Holy” fountains

This makes sense. I think darkness is made of raw magic, or at least something closely tied to soul power, something in common with the angel, who I think is made manifest via high concentrations of soul power. It would be perfectly in keeping with that to consider the dark fountains “holy”. It also implies the knight has some connections to holiness, which tracks for candidates like Alvin, or a dark world being made from Gerson’s dust, the candidates I think are most likely to be the knight given what we know so far.

The Holy Halbird

We’ve already examined Berdly briefly as an angel candidate in the previous post, and I haven’t found any new indications that he’ll be a viable angel candidate since then. However, Berdly often fights on my behalf, treating himself as my knight in shining armour and the like, so it makes total sense to call his weapon holy when he’s so often using it on behalf of the angel. It even makes sense when he teams up with Susie, as she’s also a likely angel. I don’t think Berdly knows about this of course, he’d be kind of a weird character to give some deeper hidden knowledge to, especially since he never gives any indication of knowing anything secret, but it makes sense from a thematic standpoint.

HOLY CUNGADERO!

From everything I can tell, “cungadero” is just a nonsense word that might refer to a fictional type of car or something. In that case, a holy cungadero could be that vehicle I briefly mentioned in a hypothetical extrapolation of the thing Alphys went into about The Symptons, but even given Toby Fox levels of foreshadowing that seems like a bit of a stretch to actually mean anything. It could, though! Outside of that, this just seems like an exclamation, I don’t think it’s foreshadowing much in specific.

Holy Circuits!

The same goes for this, I think it’s just an exclamation. It could mean Queen’s circuits are holy, maybe in a similar way that King and the dark worlds are likely holy, but if it does mean that, that still doesn’t really tell us anything new.

THE HOLY

One could potentially dismiss the fountains being “holy” as something King thinks given his particular position and goals, but the fact that the fountains are also called HOLY by the soundtrack itself puts more merit behind King’s referring to them as such, unless the songs of the soundtrack are meant to be named by a particular character rather than by Toby or whoever else worked on the music, something that doesn’t seem to be the case so far. We know that ALL CAPS song titles tend to be related to Gaster, so if anyone named the songs in-universe it was probably him, but then, why would ANOTHER HIM not be called “ANOTHER ME” or “ANOTHER SELF” or something?

Sin:

Oddly, despite sin not being a part of the angel religion according to Alvin, the concept of damnation seems to still exist, as “damn” is a swear used a couple times in the game. That may not mean anything, but it’s possible sin used to be a concept in the religion but was gradually lost to time, or it might mean that both the angel religion and Christianity exist in this world, hence the presence of Christmas, and a potential reason why Monster Kid might be wearing a cross necklace.

The angel religion may bear similarities via cultural exchange, or evolving from Christianity into its own thing around the time of the first angel, like how Christianity itself came from Judaism around the time of Jesus. Though, if that’s true, it’s a little odd that Christianity is never really referenced by the characters outside of Christmas, but not so odd as to be out of the realm of possibility. It would explain where Asriel got his concept of sin from, which is why Alvin mentioned that sin isn’t a thing in the religion in the first place.

I’m not sure, it could swing either way. Damnation might also just mean something completely different or even positive in the angel religion. It wouldn’t be the first time Toby has inverted the meaning of a word like that.

Undertale:

“It means you’ve lived a life of sin” by Ragel after performing his mushroom dance

“You felt your sins crawling on your back” and “weighing on your neck” in the Sans fight

“The potted plant is judging you for your sins” in MTT cafe

All of these use “sin” in basically the same way, and all are exclusive to the merciless route, so one can assume that killing a bunch of people is a sin. Not exactly revelatory, but it means in Undertale at least that sins aren’t somehow a good thing, probably. The narration in the Sans fight, however, could imply that sins can physically manifest and potentially damage the host, but that may also just be a flowery description and isn’t meant to be taken literally. It’s possible none of these lines are all that useful, and I’m starting to think that I made the right call in choosing “angel” and “demon” as my main words of analysis in VAT1 rather than “holy” and “sin”, as these so far have been much less impactful.

Deltarune:

Discussion with Alvin

Forgiveness from Hathy

“My hearts go out to all you sinners!” by Jevil

The Hathy one is much the same as how Undertale used sin. If you’ve defeated a Hathy with violence, they can forgive your sins against them if you talk to them in Card Castle, and you can still get the pacifist ending as long as you only hurt one of them. As for Alvin, we’ve already discussed it earlier, touching on it in this part and going over anything relevant in part 1. That just leaves Jevil.

Jevil:

Jevil's lines are hard to parse without some idea already of what's going on, but I think we've figured out enough by now that we can start to understand what some more of these lines mean.

“MY HEARTS GO OUT TO ALL YOU SINNERS”

The “multiple hearts” thing could just be a joke about his attacks firing multiple hearts, or the “hearts” suit. It could mean Jevil has multiple souls, as absorbing a soul is something Spamton established as a possibility for darkners, but he doesn’t seem powerful enough for that. Sure, Jevil is widely considered one of the most powerful residents of the Card Kingdom, but that implies Seam would also have a soul to match him, and that the residual essence of a lightner’s passion was enough to give Spamton NEO power on par with an entity that stole a lightner’s soul. None of it feels right, so I don’t think Jevil actually has a soul, let alone multiple. As for sinners here, I believe we, on principle, stand in opposition to the Angel’s Heaven, making us sinners in a sense, as he uses this line even if you play pacifist.

 “I AM INNOCENT, INNOCENT! I JUST WANTED TO PLAY A GAME, GAME!”

Jevil believes he’s the only free one because he’s the only one in the kingdom, other than Seam, who’s accepted the truth. Everything will be reset in the end, so it doesn’t matter how many people he’s hurt, all will be undone, thus, effectively, no crime was committed. Though, since Jevil did this before the start of chapter 1, it’s possible that the reset will go back to before chapter 1. It’s also possible that it won’t, as regardless of when a dark world is created, its history seems to be created retroactively.

 “NOW I WILL SLEEP FOR THE OTHER 100 YEARS.”

Following this, it’s possible the card kingdom had 100 years of history before the time we enter it, and it may have 100 more years in its time before it ends, or rather, dark worlds in general may have 100 more years, given we seal the fountain at the end of chapter 1. Time does seem to flow differently in dark worlds, and Ralsei’s impatience when we first return to him at the start of chapter 2, and his not knowing for sure how long a day is other than that it’s supposed to be short, may mean that the time he spent in the dark world alone was much longer than the time Kris and Susie spent in the light world. Susie saying “just waiting for today felt like years” is obviously a joke about it taking multiple years for chapter 2 to release, but it may also be hinting that, for Ralsei, the time he waited was much longer than it was for Kris and Susie. This would also explain how he set up so many rooms in his castle so quickly.

If Dess is trapped in a darker world, as I think she might be, (a dark world created within another dark world, like Berdly almost did in chapter 2), the time dilation may be even worse. She might be unrecognisable by the time we find her, and unfortunately for her, due to soul power’s association with modifying the flow of time, the odds that dark world time flows very differently are pretty good. If Dess is trapped in a dark world, that may be the reason the unused fountain theme that Toby still wants to use somewhere has an acoustic guitar playing the melody, one of the very few things we know for certain to be associated with Dess from the Spamton Sweepstakes. It's possible she's been trapped for centuries, or millennia, unable to die, being surrounded by the energy that gives things life. Would she even remember me?

“AS PUNISHMENT, THEY CRAVED TO IMPRISON MY BODY. BUT I’M FAST, FAST, CLEVER CLEVER. THEY LOST THE CHASE, AND LOCKED UP THEIR ENTIRE RACE, NOW I’M THE ONLY FREE ONE.”

As far as Jevil is concerned, his mind is still free. He’s the only one who’s accepted the truth. There are no crimes, there are no victims, all will be undone, and as the only one who can accept this, he’s the only free one. Locking him up just allows the rest of the card kingdom to stay in their own mental prison, not accepting that they can do anything they want. To Jevil, the time loop isn’t a curse, it’s a blessing.

It’s also possible that, if Jevil has stolen a soul, he may be able to project it out of his body like Kris and influence things outside of his cell that way. Seam’s vague light connections may mean that he also has a soul, and thus, is the only person that could defeat Jevil. But so far, soul projection and soul sync, being able to operate without your soul, seems unique to Kris. If Darkners don’t have souls normally, and it seems like they don’t as they’re basically made of soul energy anyway, Jevil may not need the soul in him, but would that allow him far greater remote control of his soul than Kris has?

Importantly to note, if Jevil does have a stolen soul, it’s odd that Spamton NEO is seemingly comparable in strength to him without one, so I’m far from convinced of this possibility. It seems just plausible enough to be worth the mention.

It’s possible Seam has a soul but Jevil doesn’t, as Seam is more powerful and has the only Delta Rune in the dark worlds outside of Castle Town, but much of Seam’s history is still a mystery. However, when you ask about Jevil, Seam says “After all the trouble I went through to lock him up, you want to release him?”, which implies that it was difficult. If Seam had a soul, and Jevil didn’t, shouldn’t it have been much easier than Seam seems to let on?

Maybe Seam’s seap song is just called “lantern” because Seam’s face kind of looks like a Jack-O-Lantern, with the orange glow inside Seam’s mouth and the pointy triangle teeth when Seam smiles, and I’m reading too much into it. But given how important a character Seam seems to be, I’m inclined to think there’s more to it than that.

After selecting “Do not play a game”: “HOW CAN YOU REFUSE, WHEN YOU ARE ALREADY PLAYING?”

There’s obviously the meta interpretation, as Deltarune is a video game, but considering Jevil has every reason without meta knowledge to interpret his reality as some kind of playground, I don’t think we need to assume he actually knows that Deltarune is a video game. He might, I just don’t think it’s necessary for anything Deltarune’s seemingly trying to do, so I don’t want to assume he has more meta knowledge than he necessarily does.

After selecting “Do not” when asked to use the key on Jevil’s door: “YOU CAME TOO FAR! YOUR CHOICE HAS RUN OUT!”. The door unlocks anyway.

Pretty straightforward, but given secret boss doublespeak, he may also be referring to the end of the game where, no matter what you do, the angel resets, or it may be a warning about the weird route. At a certain point, you go too far and you don’t get to stop anymore. If I had to guess, (and when it comes to this sort of stuff, it really is just a guess) it’s when the vessel takes over, which I’ll be discussing later.

“OH, IT’S JUST A SIMPLE NUMBERS GAME. WHEN YOUR HP DROPS TO 0, YOU LOSE!”

This one actually could point to Jevil knowing that his reality is literally a video game, but it might also be that, as darkners are made of soul power, and all stats seem to be an aspect of soul power, he may know about it that way. So far, everyone to mention stats, I believe, is either a darkner, or in the case of Ralsei, partially a darkner. This makes me wonder though, Sans, Flowey, and Chara all reference game stats, but I believe they’re the only people in Undertale to do so. Flowey and Chara make sense, as the game’s angels, they may have that special connection to soul power. Sans is somewhat different, but as he has ties to Gaster, and Gaster’s main subject of research is soul power, it makes some sense for him too. As such, we can assume Gaster also knows about stats. Keep in mind that, while these are game mechanics, most if not all of Undertale and Deltarune’s game mechanics have some lore reason for them as well, so knowing about the game mechanics doesn’t necessarily mean someone knows that Undertale or Deltarune is a video game.

Pirouette

I think the pirouette ACT operates by Kris soul-syncing with Jevil’s chaos? Something like that. Each outcome is on a cycle, repeatedly looping, much like Deltarune’s reality itself. Beyond reference to that, the number of outcomes doesn’t seem to match with the number of chapters, though it might match up with the number of dark worlds by the end of the game or something? Or, the number of options may have no secret meaning. I just don’t want to dismiss something in a secret boss fight as meaningless before considering the possibilities, y’know?

Hypnosis

This one is a little more confusing. This ACT makes Jevil far more tired than pirouette. It requires the use of Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. How it operates could potentially be a combination of Kris’s soul sync and trance, and Ralsei’s pacify, though that doesn’t explain why Susie has to be involved. Toby has proven time and again that a game mechanic is rarely just a game mechanic, so I’m inclined to think it means something. It may be that, as Susie is frequently prone to falling asleep, she may be used as a conduit to intensify the sleepiness effect?

There are 3 different messages that can appear upon using this ACT.

“Ralsei chanted something!”

It may be a lullaby, it may be some magical incantation, it’s too vague to say. A repeated instance of music and specifically singing being used in a hypnotic context, as putting someone to sleep is generally the stereotypical hypnosis effect so one could argue Ralsei’s standard lullaby is hinting at a hypnosis song. I don’t think Ralsei is actually using the Song from the Sea here, which I think may be a hypnotic or mind-altering song, but it puts the possibility on the table for that song to exist.

“Susie spun something around!”

Another instance of spinning, looping. The entire fight supports the time loop motif extensively. Even the music, when it uses the  “Don’t Forget” melody, loops one part of it over and over and over and over until the very end of the song when it starts all over again. Focusing on something spinning can be a good method of hypnotic induction too, I just wish the way this was worded wasn’t so vague so it’d be easier to extrapolate something.

“Kris gazed strangely!”

“The eyes are the window to the soul” is a fairly well known saying. It’s possible that trance, operating via soul sync, is more powerful under Kris’s gaze, creating a stronger soul link. Hypnotic eyes are also a common trope in hypnosis-related media.

 “UNFORTUNATELY, YOU KIDS CANNOT HAVE SUCH A PLEASANT DREAM. FROM NOW, A NIGHTMARE WILL AWAKEN IN YOUR HEARTS. IN THE SHADOW OF THE KNIGHT’S HAND… LIGHTNERS, CAN YOU STOP IT?”

Deltarune is all about the woke agenda, and I can prove it!

We know from Undertale that “nightmare” is often in reference to Flowey/Asriel, arguably Undertale’s most significant angel. In Deltarune, Chapter 2 is referred to as a dream, though in the weird route, I call it a nightmare. So we can assume then that the “nightmare” in Deltarune is related to both the weird route and either the angel or Asriel specifically, or even both. Both is what I’m inclined to guess, as there are a lot of readings I can make of this line.

The “nightmare” in your hearts, or the Asriel in your soul, makes complete sense for Kris, as far as my understanding goes. Will Asriel begin to awaken? Has he already? One could argue our control over Asriel, and thus indirect control over Kris, is awakening us as the nightmare within Asriel and Kris’s heart.

Reading “nightmare” to more generally mean something akin to “angel” or “weird route” makes more sense for me. My growth in power and participation in chapter 2’s weird route is referred to as “waking”, and Queen insists that the events of chapter 2 have already awoken me too much. She makes clear that she thinks I should rest, go back to sleep. Whatever awakening the nightmare would do in the weird route, as far as Queen is concerned it isn’t anything worth doing.

Susie: Get out of our way. Susie: Noelle needs to wake up!

Queen: Wake? No, She Has Already Awakened Too Much Queen: Let Her Close Her Eyes And Sleep Away Queen: Into A Darker, Darker Dream

“Darker, Darker Dream” makes me wonder if the reason Queen wanted to expand the reach of darkness as a way to “help” me is because she agrees with me that Dess may be trapped in a darker world, and expanding the reach of darkness may give me a way to find her. Sure, it’s possible she just misinterpreted the bits of my search history pertaining to Dess, that’s the implied reading, but it’s also possible that she actually completely understands what I want and how much it means to me, and it’s why she wanted so badly to help me get her back.

The “shadow of the knight’s hand” could be referring to “the actions the knight takes’, but it could also be referring to the dark worlds the knight creates, the “shadows” of the knight’s hand.

There’s also, of course, the lack of distinction made between Ralsei and “lightners”, farther implying that Ralsei isn’t just a darkner.

 “HA HA HA! WHAT FUN!!! YOU’RE FAST, FAST, STRONG, STRONG, BUT THERE ARE YET FASTER, YET STRONGER. THE HAND OF THE KNIGHT IS DRIFTING FORWARD. SOON, THE “QUEEN” RETURNS, AND HELL’S ROAR BUBBLES FROM THE DEPTHS… LIGHTNERS, CAN YOU STOP IT? UEE HEE HEE! EITHER WAY, A MISCHIEF-MISCHIEF, A CHAOS-CHAOS…! LIGHTNERS! FROM INSIDE YOUR LITTLE CELL!! TAKE ME AND DO YOUR STRONGEST—!”

We've presumably met the queen. Hell's roar, I assume, is the roaring, with hell possibly being a darker layer deeper down? Given the constant personification of the Earth I'm inclined to think the roaring is literal, although the wording of "bubbles" is confusing. There's enough in VAT to make sense of a lot of this, but I don't think we know enough just yet to make sense of all of it.

Spamton:

Writing this in mid October trying to finish up this post on time despite the executive dysfunction, here we go! A lot of Spamton’s lines aren’t all that relevant to Variable Angel Theory. Most of the ones that are are on the weird route.

1. LOOKING FOR [Irresistible Deals] THAT WILL [Blow Your Mind!?]

As with all Deltarune lines, but especially with secret bosses and heavily lore relevant characters like Spamton, we're gonna have to do some reinterpretation to find out what Spamton might mean here. "Irresistible Deals" could mean multiple things. Kris can't resist making the deal, we force them to, and we make this deal for the thorn ring, with Trance, so I presumably have a harder time resisting orders. I still think Kris (or their soul) has some innate trance ability, allowing ACTs and the like to be so effective and getting me to this point in the weird route in the first place, but it's possible for the truly heinous stuff, like killing a friend, I'd need that extra push (I sure hope I would!). "Blow Your Mind" has similar connotations, but given Spamton's crass nature sometimes, it could also mean "blow" in another sense, like you're getting "mindfucked" or something, but I’m kind of “maybe” on that. While we’re on the subject, the ring of thorns reminds me a bit of the biblical crown of thorns Jesus was given to wear prior to his crucifixion. Possibly a coincidence, but, I think, probably not one. Either way, for anyone concerned about my safety in this route, red flag! Add it to the pile.

2. THIS IS [One Purchase] YOU WILL [Regret] FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

This farther reinforces to me that the weird route isn't going to end well. We'll touch on specifics of how I think it's most likely to go wrong a bit later, as one of Spamton's lines sort of changed where I was leaning on this, albeit not too significantly. It's also possible he's not talking to specifically Kris here, but us as the player. I don't think Spamton exactly knows that the player exists, he might but that's unclear, but I think it's possible this line is meant for the player's eyes as much as Kris's and could hint at permanent consequences for the weird route, even on subsequent playthroughs, much like what happened with Chara in Undertale. My best guess for that consequence is that Kris is effectively erased from the game and replaced with the vessel on subsequent playthroughs, but that's potentially more work than the team would be able to do reasonably, so I'm iffy on it. I'll go into more detail in the Gaster section later. Either way I don't think we'll see it until chapter 7 releases, so it'll be a few years until I'm proven right or wrong on that guess, unless chapters 3 and 4 introduce the vessel earlier than I expect they will.

3. THANKS TO YOU AND THAT LIL [Hochi Mama]

Spamton calls me stuff like this all the time, reinforcing the romance tie between myself and Kris, especially with how much more often he does it in the weird route. "Side chick" is another one that we've gone over.

4. SOON I'LL HAVE EVERY[One] IN THIS CITY EATING RIGHT OUT OF MY [$!$!]!

Ew. But I guess this implies Spamton's ambitions are mainly for the cyber world, he seems like he only wants his good old life back rather than anything much grander, he just wants to make sure it can't get taken away from him again. Plus, he's bitter and might be wanting to dabble in light revenge.

5. IT'S NOT MY JOB TO BE SOME KIDS' [Extra Boss]!

This could be talking about Kris, but including them in "kids", as is perfectly reasonable to do, implies a different boss, like fate or the player or the soul or something. This is how I expect the player to be mainly referenced, with some degree of ambiguity. I expect only a few characters, Gaster especially, are likely to call the player out directly.

6. KID! I'M BUSY BECOMING [God]. GO PLAY [Minecrap] OR SOMETHING!

Of course this could imply greater ambitions. Maybe he doesn't want to limit himself to getting his old life back and keeping it, he may want to completely control the cyber world to an even greater extent than Queen. Maybe he even wants to escape the dark world entirely, and perhaps with the Power of NEO he could, as it's wrapped up in the hopes and dreams of a lightner, maybe that would allow him the ability to exist outside of a dark world.

It's equally possible that that wouldn't work, and even with this power he's still trapped in the cyber world. There's also the tie drawn between God and Demon and Angel but I don't think this is an instance of that being so meaningful. "God" has always seemed the least restricted of the three, and Spamton NEO isn't nearly as powerful as even 6 soul Flowey, which we required 7 souls to beat rather than the mere 1, arguably a max of 3, required against Spamton NEO (the solo fight would have, at most, Kris, their possessor, and myself). And the true 7 soul Flowey, more of an actual god, was only defeated when he chose to give up. I'm still under the impression that actual gods, like the angel, would be essentially untouchable to anyone but their equals in power regardless of what Spamton implies here with the vocabulary.

7. THANKS TO YOUR [Total Jackass stunts] I HAVE [Becomed] NEO.

Catti wanted to talk about this one, she's been helping me finish up this section.

a bit of my own theorycrafting here. what the hell is neo? cuz like neo is "new" right? or something like that. so is spamton neo like... neo because its a new version of himself? supposedly theres some sort of "power of neo"  but what the hell even is that, the power of new shit? deltarune and undertale are both stuck in time loops so like. the only real new thing is the influence of the player, so is that the power of neo? are instances of "neo" something the party wouldnt have encountered on their own in any loop? so like, they never meet jevil and they never activate spamton neo? jevil's instance of neo btw being the voice line "a true and neo chaos" when performing his finisher thing with devilsknife. (noelle has filled our brain with so much weird niche deltarune info) presumably frisk never fights mettaton neo without being influenced down the geno route, if this holds true. so like... noelle talks about this more later but, gaster is seemingly drawing on the power of neo for whatever purpose he has? cuz if the player's influence is the power of neo and he's the one that makes contact, that's probably what he's going for. either breaking deltarune's time loop or maybe studying it to figure out something greater, like how and why every universe in the undertale/deltarune multiverse seems to be stuck in a time loop? idfk, its the ingredients of a theory but im not sure how to mix them all together.

8.  AND NOW IT'S MY [Mansion]! MY [City]! MY [World]!

This line solidifies his ambitions as, at least, reaching greater heights than he had before, and wanting to be able to strongly influence or even control the cyber world. But again, there's no indication of ambition beyond that. He may just be content controlling the cyber world, spam and ads taking over computers. What a cruel fate we've subjected these people to then, they really need an adblock. At least Kris seals the fountain soon after, and we avoid all that.

9. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WOULD HAVE USED MY [Ring] FOR [Evil]... OH [Right]. THAT'S WHY I SOLD IT TO YOU

We already have a lot of evidence that Spamton knows future details, but he kinda just confirms it here. Though, if he does, it's odd then that he didn't expect to be stopped at the fountain after taking over. However, much like Ralsei seems to, he might not know all the details. Ralsei was surprised at a few events in the weird route, things not going how they were "supposed" to, most notably Susie's interactions with Noelle in her room and our perspective not following them.

Maybe it's some external influence, like the player, not directly interacting with the world but making decisions people in that world wouldn't normally make and there isn't really precedent for it in Spamton and Ralsei's knowledge of the future, or of past time loops, or whatever info they might have, and we exist as some external intervention brought in to break the loop via indirect influence.

10. YOU THINK MAKING [Frozen Chicken] WITH YOUR [Side Chick] IS GONNA LET YOU DRINK UP THAT [Sweet, Sweet] [Freedom Sauce]? WELL, YOU'RE [$!$!] RIGHT! BUT DON'T BLAME ME WHEN YOU'RE [Crying] IN A [Broken Home] WISHING YOU LET YOUR OLD PAL SPAMTON [Kill You]

We've discussed the "side chick" thing before, but this line is so great I wanted to include the whole thing. The important part is the latter half. This one makes me think there's actually a real chance the one ending is the weird route actually working, breaking the time loop, but you've essentially killed the world you saved.

I think "broken home" probably means home world,  or hometown at the least, because Kris's home is already broken. Toriel and Asgore have divorced, evidence suggests Asriel is likely dead and possessing Kris, there's not all that much more broken Kris's home specifically could get if Spamton is just referring to the household itself, plus that would be a little underwhelming a consequence.

I'm inclined to think we'll essentially destroy the world, and only then break the time loop, and when we do, we have nothing left worth saving anyway. After all, Spamton likes Kris. He finds them relatable, a kinship between puppets. They can become friends in the normal route which Spamton likely knows about to some extent, so I think calling Kris his "pal" is sort of genuine. Spamton may actually think killing Kris is doing them a favour, and he gives an actual reason why that isn't just that their souls might be freer together like in the normal route.

Either way, at least when it comes to Kris, I don't think Spamton likes to be malicious, so I'm inclined to trust his information.

11. I’LL ADMIT YOU’VE GOT SOME [Guts] KID! BUT IN A [1 for 1] BATTLE, NEO NEVER LOSES!!! DIDN’T YOU KNOW [Neo] IS FAMOUS FOR ITS HIGH DEFENSE!? NOW… ENJOY THE FIR3WORKS, KID!

Catti may actually be onto something. In a one on one battle, the player’s character has always had a chance to win as far as I can recall. Of course, this places Spamton NEO as the Neo in this scenario, and to beat it we have to get help making it no longer a 1 for 1 battle, so I’m unsure exactly how this relates. If Neo does mean the player, being able to reset any mistake could be considered having high defence? I think we’re still missing a couple pieces we need to know quite what Neo is supposed to be, but I figure we’ll have what we need with the release of the next 2 chapters, or at least a lead more concrete than “maybe something player-related”.

12. THERE WILL BE NO MORE [Miracles] NO MORE [Magic]. YOU LOST IT WHEN YOU TRIED TO SEE TOO FAR…. …YOU LOST IT…

Another hint at a sad ending, but it makes me wonder if Gaster really is trying to harvest the darkness from this world or something, if the weird route ends with no more magic. This could also be a reference to trying to see into H E A V E N, which I’m gradually becoming more convinced is some other layer of reality where Gaster is or something, whether that be a darker world or something else entirely. Speaking of whom:

Gaster:

Yeah, we have to talk about this guy now. I wasn’t sure if he was all that relevant before since we know so little about him, and I don’t find him that interesting because, again, we know so little about him that there’s not much to get invested in, so I didn’t bring him up much in part 1. I assumed he probably had some relevance, seeing as this is the ending of the game angel stuff we’re talking about, and Gaster’s presence is felt all over the game, but it wasn’t until recently that I figured out what that presence might mean. I still don’t know many of the details, but I’ve gotten the broad strokes in place I think. Don’t expect me to go super in depth with the specifics. Either way, this section is going to require more guesswork than the rest of this post, and I’m already working with only the evidence I didn’t find for my last post. If something in here is wrong, and there likely will be something, don’t disregard the rest of it. Plus, if these guesses (educated guesses at best) end up being right, I want to be able to say I called it!

The Egg Man:

I think the Egg Man is Gaster. Revolutionary, I know. But specifically, I think there are two Gasters, the Undertale Gaster and the Deltarune Gaster. Which one is which, I’m unsure, but we know that Gaster in Undertale was researching things like darkness, a concept that may be exclusive to Deltarune and certainly wasn’t explored in Undertale, unless you consider the underground to be something of a light world / dark world hybrid, which you could make an argument for. I don't have a lot of evidence for this, especially not in-game evidence, this is just who I think is most likely based on what little I know about it.

People have said that the Gaster dialogue in the 2024 Valentine’s newsletter, while it has similar formatting and speech style to Gaster, doesn’t really sound like Gaster. It sounds too goofy and too casual to feel like something Gaster would say. However, since there could very easily be two Gasters, I think it’s not difficult to reconcile this. Toby may be planning both a Gaster similar in personality to what the fandom expects, and another Gaster, the Egg Man, who’s a lot goofier and less serious to fit a style Toby seems to really enjoy writing. He could get the best of both. The first song in the game, in the sequence talking with Gaster, is literally called “ANOTHER HIM”, and the egg man is only referred to as “man”, “he”, and “him”. I just can’t tell you which Gaster is which. The Undertale Gaster may be originally from Deltarune for all I know.

The Vessel:

I think the Vessel is exactly as advertised. I don’t quite know what it is, but I have an idea of where it might come in useful. I think that late in the weird route, around chapter 6 or 7, Kris will decide they have no choice but to stop the soul by any means necessary, and will attempt to remove it, willing to die without it to ensure the soul doesn’t have a body to possess. This is where the vessel comes in, a convenient alternative to ensure our time loop breaking plan comes to fruition even without Kris’s help. The reasons I think it will be so delayed are twofold:

1. I think that the vessel replacing Kris isn’t something that people are going to just brush off, so it has to happen pretty late as otherwise there would be multiple chapters that have to get rewritten. If it happens at the end of chapter 6 through to the middle of chapter 7, as I think is its most likely window of timing, the amount to rewrite will be much more manageable. 

2. There’s a sword with the trance ability, the Twisted Sword. As Kris is the only one who can use swords, and so far the trance ability seems to affect the user of the equipment, this implies we’ll use it in the weird route to keep Kris docile enough that they won’t try to stop us until the situation is much more dire. Unlike Undertale’s merciless route, the steps to play out the weird route in Deltarune are already very specific and precise, and already require the use of specific equipment in the thorn ring, so this is entirely within the realm of established possibility. It’s also possible, however, that since it’s a weapon with the ability rather than something wearable, it inflicts trance on a target. It may do both, but we don’t realise it affects Kris until later because of how rarely they’re able to express themselves during possession. If, after equipping the sword in the merciless route, Kris suddenly stops getting a lot of their moments of independence and character establishment, we’ll know what it does.

As the sword presumably turns back into a pencil in the light world, this shouldn't change chapter endings much. Since I offer Kris a candy cane pencil in chapter 1, something that could easily match the description we have of the Twisted Sword once it transforms in the dark world, it’s possible I already have the Twisted Sword, though what that could mean I don’t know.

As for the fate of Kris, I think they’ll die. Without their soul, I don’t think they could survive long, and as Susie says, it would be a shame for Toriel to have to bury her child. Which one? Both?? Especially given the ultimate fate of Chara in Undertale, a character Kris very clearly has many parallels with, things aren’t looking good for at least one route’s version of Kris. However, even for Deltarune, killing off Kris in pacifist feels like a stretch. Kris won’t die in pacifist, at least not until the very end at the earliest, they might die in neutral, but I think it's more likely than not that it will happen in weird.

The Song from the Sea: 

My ideas on this are very limited. My best guess is that it may have something to do with how trance works, like a siren song, or Shyren song as the case may be. It’s possible this can be used to override the will of a target. At the very least, it seems to be messing with Onion’s head, as they have severe memory problems that they didn’t seem to have in Undertale. They mention hearing music coming from below the water, likely the bunker that’s probably underneath town, and Shyren’s in the hospital for straining her voice too much that day. This could be related to what happened to Shyren’s sister, Shyra. Maybe she died attempting to perform the song from the sea, and Shyren may suffer the same fate. Maybe the Song from the Sea  is “Hell’s roar bubbling from the depths”, as Jevil says, but the phrasing implies that to be related to the roaring.

Either way, I’m confident this is in some way related to “voice”, and if it is, the connection to trance is supported by the emphasis placed on my being able to hear the commanding “voice” in the weird route irrespective of Kris. Beyond the “voice” relation though, I think there just might be too little info to extrapolate very far with any confidence.

The File Select:

Potentially more evidence in support of additional Gasters is on the file select screen. Choosing a save slot to copy to is choosing “a target for the reflection”, and upon doing so, “the division is complete”, like mitosis. Could Gaster be cloning other selves? Is that “another him”? Multiple vessels? Even cloning timelines, hence its presence on the save file screen? Whatever the process, you can’t copy a file onto itself, because it’s “immune to its own image”.

If he’s cloning himself, it could be so he could have more eyes on his work and more minds thinking before the reset erases his memory.

If he’s cloning timelines, maybe he’s trying to simulate as many options as he can to find a way to break the loop, or maybe the entirety of Deltarune is a reality of Gaster’s creation, hence why he can seemingly destroy it at the press of a button. It may be that the Deltarune we play through is one of these simulations he’s using to find a way to break the time loop. Though, the idea of Deltarune being basically a game within a game feels as though it might undermine investment somewhat. Much of the rest of Variable Angel Theory is so convincing to me in part because I trust Toby as a writer to create a compelling story, and I think VAT is pretty compelling, but if, even in its own fictional universe, it still isn’t real… it just feels off, almost like poor writing. Maybe Gaster is using darkness to bring these simulated universes to life and make them real?  Maybe Undertale was a simulated universe? But I still don't know why he would do something like that other than the reasons I already gave.

Long shot, but maybe “the other 100 years” is the amount of time our Deltarune’s reality has left before it gets deleted? Maybe Seam’s “toast to the end of the world” doesn’t mean the reset, but the literal, actual, permanent end of the world? To me, all of this feels like a needless extra layer on top of a story that could already be complete without it. I trust Toby as a writer not to undermine his own story, or the importance of Gaster in it, especially after all the hype he’s let build up, so I’m inclined to believe I’m misreading something here and this isn’t actually Toby’s plan. If it is, there must be a lot more to it to make it work and be compelling.

While I agree with Jaru on most things related to Deltarune, and he’s the reason I got into Deltarune theorycrafting in the first place, hence why I’ve brought up his work so often, the idea that Deltarune can’t be as compelling if it’s a video game in-universe and explicitly addressed as such isn’t something I agree with quite as strongly as he seems to. It’s a very risky play, and I don’t think the payoff would elevate Deltarune’s story very significantly even if Toby makes it work, but I don’t think it’s unachievable or anything. All rules in writing have certain situations in which it can be better to break them. It’s just that personally, even as a writer myself, and one who prefers less conventional stories, if I were writing it, I don’t think it would be worth the risk, unless I have some very specific and exceptionally compelling plan in mind, which Toby may well have given his clear passion for the story he’s dreamed up.

As such, I won’t rule out the possibility that even in-universe Deltarune is a simulated world akin to a video game, I’m just inclined somewhat against it given the limited amount I’ve looked into Gaster thus far. It’s possible there’s far more evidence in favour that could make this much harder to deny, and I just haven’t found it yet, and it’s not like it would be too far opposed to the themes established in Undertale. After all, Undertale and Deltarune both operate in-universe on many video game rules, this wouldn’t be coming completely out of nowhere if it happens.

It’s even possible that the undermining of narrative importance from this is actually the point, making it even easier to distance yourself, because even in this fictional world these people are still not real. It’s just another reason why your choices don’t matter. Even then, will you still choose to be a good person since their world is still real to them? Will you be like Jevil, and just have fun with it, thinking (probably correctly) that you’re not actually doing any harm? Or will you be like Ralsei, even knowing that the consequences of your actions are so minor, still choosing to be as good a person as you can in spite of it? I think by the time chapters 3 and 4 come out, I’ll be able to more easily swing one way or the other, so I’ll have to follow up on that once that happens. Right now, I’m kind of 50/50 on it, but if it does happen, I wouldn’t be surprised, especially since the more I think about it, the more I write this, the more I’m convincing myself that it’s a genuine possibility. If things keep going the way they have been, it's like the entirety of Deltarune is a buildup into making one of the worst twists in fiction actually hit properly and be kind of good, just for Toby to prove that he can.

If Gaster is cloning vessels, it could be that he’s trying to create the proper one for the job, breeding iterations until it matches his specifications. That fits fairly well with one of my Spamton Sweepstakes pages, wherein I’m breeding pets in a video game to get the right one, and of course, one of them is a glitchy egg that I can’t maintain proper memories of. Whether that’s due to the passage of time, or some supernatural force, I don’t know, but given how many things in Deltarune could potentially have control over your memories and ability to maintain them, and how odd it would be to drop this hint and have it not mean anything, I’m inclined to believe that the memory loss is supernatural in nature and not simply related to the passage of time. Memory of Gaster in Undertale seems to have been erased, so something associated with him might be fair game for erasure as well. Of course, this also makes me wonder, could Gaster be breeding universes? Is that why he would bring them to life? Or might they already be alive by default?

I don’t think the pipis is the same thing as the eggs from the egg man, Spamton clarifies as much, but they may be related. The egg man eggs may duplicate via mitosis as well. Are they an “easter egg”? Or are they meant to be a bug in the code or something? Are they like the “bad egg” in Pokemon that turns other things stored with it into more eggs? Once we put the egg in Asgore’s fridge, and it duplicates, the narration doesn’t clarify if the pickles Asgore had are still there or if they became the second egg that appears in the fridge.

Might the eggs hatch into a new universe, even? Homestuck comes to mind, a project Toby worked on, where, to create a new universe, you have to breed frogs until you get the perfect one that can then become the new universe. If universes or timelines are alive, could the Song from the Sea or some other Trance method be used to influence them? Do all Undertale/Deltarune realities end up in a time loop, and Gaster is attempting to create one that doesn’t by manipulating it manually? I’m not strongly inclined toward any one possibility just yet, but I wanted to lay it all out in case anyone reading this comes up with any ideas, or any more evidence for the ideas I’ve proposed. The idea that Gaster is cloning or breeding universes seems entirely plausible, though to what end, I’m unsure. As for why there are three files, the only thing I can think is Kris’s soul sync with Ralsei and Susie adding up to 3. Susie, as a lightner, should be able to wield determination, and Ralsei, who I believe to be a darkner/lightner hybrid due to his relation to Asriel, should also have this ability. It’s also hard to tell exactly what Gaster’s interaction with these files means. It doesn’t seem like saving in the light world is possible, though the angel may be able to, as Flowey attained that power in Undertale and it didn’t seem to require being underground to work properly, so maybe it’s something Gaster has some access to?

But it’s hard to know exactly which properties Undertale’s underground has in common with Deltarune’s dark worlds, all that seems consistent and clear is that as you go underground, the presence of magic, of darkness, increases. It’s probably why we fall into dark worlds, why the true lab was so deep down, and what the CORE was tapping into to power the underground. As you go deeper, things get dark, darker, yet darker, to borrow a phrase. Thematically too, it seems like the deeper you go the darker the story gets. Toby loves those double meanings. Whatever happens in that bunker, it won’t be good.

The DT Extractor:

In Undertale, the DT extractor is never explicitly called a “DeTermination extractor”. I think that’s one of its functions, (Alphys doesn’t seem to have a deep enough understanding of soul power to be able to do what she did without it, and some of her logs imply the DT extractor is what she used to extract determination) but there’s a good chance it stands for something else or has additional functions, especially given Toby Fox as the writer. It resembles a caprid or cervid skull, which calls to mind the Dreemurr and Holiday families, and some version of Asriel uses it as an attack to erase the timeline, something we’ve just established Gaster may be able to do as well.

I think, at least in some routes, the DT extractor is one of if not the final step in the angelmaking process. If it can extract soul power, which it seems like it can, that gives us the perfect repository for soul power and a way to get it all into one person, as Undertale established it can be injected into someone to allow them to use that power. As I think the angel will reset the timeline, it’s yet another parallel to Undertale, where Asriel, Undertale’s angel, used Hyper Goner, an attack that looks suspiciously like the DT extractor, to reset the timeline. One could ask, why not just inject Kris with so much soul power? After all, we have control over them, it would be easier not to reset the timeline if we have direct control of that power, rather than indirect control through me in the weird route. I see six reasons: 

Giving Kris soul power may allow them to override our control, especially as they can already somewhat do that. Undertale established that sufficient soul power allows someone to override our control, and we don’t even control Kris directly, we control them via Asriel, or at least via the soul, so that should give them an even better chance at taking control from us with that much power. 

We don’t know if humans can even wield soul power in the capacity an angel would. Chara seems to, in Undertale, but they've been dead for presumably decades, and the abilities of ghosts, if Chara even counts as one, are extremely vague and underexplored. Chara is a very special case and I don’t think we can extrapolate from them exactly how it would operate with Kris. The reason I think we can assume it would give Kris control, then, is that It’s also shown with Flowey that high soul power allows someone to wrest control from us, and even though it happened in a different way with Flowey, with him taking control of the timeline rather than control of our actions, it creates a thematic throughline.

By the time we come across the DT extractor, the roaring will probably have started already. Shelter from the roaring is an obvious "in" for exploring the bunker. If Kris did take control from us, they would likely choose to reset, because just like Susie, their hand would be forced.

Everyone’s memory is reset for each loop, it’s hard to know all of the possibilities you’re working with under those conditions. Gaster might know how soul power works in monsters, but he’s much less likely to know how it’d work in Kris, as not only are they a human, something in short supply in Hometown, they’re likely a human with a monster soul, which complicates things farther. It’s not like he could just check how it works because, unless that was his plan from the start, his memories would be erased and he would have to relearn everything each loop. Not only is it a gamble, it’s a gamble he’d have to choose to take as one of his first options.

It’s also possible that Gaster might have more time than I think. If he’s holed himself up in a dark world, or a darker world even, the time dilation effects may allow him to concoct some plan I can’t foresee, making this reason a bit shakier. However, the fact that the reset has already happened several times at least, and it definitely has, may point against him having a successful plan, as if he did, why would the time loop be happening at all anymore? This could also mean the time loop is part of his plan, but if that’s the case, I’ve no idea why. 

Maybe, if you’re in the dark worlds, you’d be immune to the angel’s resets? But if that’s the case, the stakes for darkners are null, they shouldn’t be erased in the dark world. If it’s exclusively a property of darker worlds, that also doesn’t make sense, because then Gaster could easily just go there and savescum until he has time to come up with a working plan. However, if Dess is down there like I think she might be, and she had the determination to create a darker fountain in the first place, she may have more determination than Gaster and is therefore blocking him from resetting.

But if that’s the case, Gaster may not have a DT extractor at all, as otherwise he’d have been able to give himself more power to reset with, something that feels a little off to me as the DT extractor has always felt like it meant something bigger, beyond just what we saw of it in Undertale. Its resemblance to the hyper goner and gaster blasters, and the giant pit under it, which may be used to harness darkness from deeper underground, feel too significant, I don’t think Toby would just leave it at what we saw in Undertale especially with Deltarune being so much more Gaster-related.

Maybe Gaster can’t do it with himself, maybe he’s split into too many pieces or something, and that’s why he’s trying to create an angel by proxy? Maybe his experience with Dess is why he might think I’m a good candidate?

It’s also possible that, if Gaster does maintain memories, he’s already tried just about everything he could. Much like Flowey, he’s gone through loop after loop after loop, and can’t find a way out, so his solution is to reach outside the bounds of Undertale and Deltarune’s realities, and contact us, as hopefully we aren’t bound to fate the same way they are.

When we take control of Chara in Undertale, Flowey posits that it might be because we heard him calling Chara's name, which, while I'm not sure what it means, is an interesting consistency. We have to be called, before we show up. A demon that comes when you call it's name? Maybe Gaster is desperate enough to make a deal with a demon, like Kris tried to. Granted, that's a bit wonky with the angel-demon synonym idea, so I'm inclined to wait for more evidence on it before I consider our involvement demonic, but it's something.

Injecting Kris with this power and making them the angel feels like one of the less interesting ways this could go, given everything we know so far and all the potential character arcs we could be in for, and I don’t think Toby would go with anything less than an extremely compelling option, especially for the endgame. Of Kris, Susie, Ralsei, and myself, I still hold that Kris is the least compelling angel candidate of the four. I just think there are better places to take their character.

This whole thing is so incredibly speculative that there could be dozens of reasons we don’t even know about yet. 

The Roaring:

There’s a good chance that Gaster tapping into the deepest parts of the Earth, like he did in Undertale with the CORE, may be what causes the roaring. If the Earth is alive (which it very well might be given how it was personified in the legend and how darkness brings objects it makes contact with to life), Gaster tapping into it may be the very thing that causes the roaring to happen, as a more literal roaring, the Earth itself being the biggest and most dangerous titan of all. “Crack with fear”, “her heart pounding”, I think there’s a good chance this isn’t going to be metaphorical, even though at first, before you know how darkness operates, it sounds like it would have to be.

Normally, darkness seems to be contained in a separate layer of reality, but with dark fountains punching holes in it, and potentially darker fountains punching holes in the layer beneath those holes, it may only be a matter of time until the Earth’s roar bubbles from the depths. If I had to guess, I’d say the roaring starts at the end of chapter 6 or the start of chapter 7. I expect we’ll explore the bunker in chapter 7, which has a good chance of looping around back to castle town where we’ll end the game, at least in pacifist, being surrounded by all our new friends for the reset. Plus, everyone hiding in the bunker at the end parallels Undertale, where everyone hid in True Lab, the bunker’s likely equivalent, in the merciless route.

Another reason I think this, aside from the fact that it makes sense from a storytelling perspective, is how weird the entrance to the first dark world was. Unlike with the Cyber World, we don’t immediately jump into it, there’s a brief part where Kris and Susie, still appearing in their light world outfits, walk through a room that’s too large to be a closet and doesn’t have any nearby walls. If this happened again in chapter 2, I would be more willing to dismiss it, but there’s clearly something special about this closet that’s being hidden by being shown first, and therefore seeming less weird because we don’t have much to compare it to.

Unfortunately, 2 examples is a little less than we need to establish a pattern, so knowing for sure if there’s anything particularly weird about the closet may have to wait until the next chapters release, so all I can do is guess that it’s connected to the bunker in some way, be that figuratively or literally.

The End, Again:

So uh... that's basically part 2! A little all over the place, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on pretty much everything I've come up with in the process of researching VAT since part 1's release. A lot of stuff here is a little more half baked, but that's kinda what you get working with scraps of the scraps of info we have from 2 chapters I guess.

Rouxls Kaard?:

Here’s something a little less serious to wrap up, like a palate cleanser or something. A couple years back, Jaru made a video going over every even somewhat significant character in Deltarune (and Undertale), to figure out roughly how likely they were to be the Roaring Knight. For some reason, Rouxls has so many similar attributes to the knight, including even sharing the same initials as the knight’s title, that he seemed to be an intentional red herring. And gamers, he’s done it again. Toby Fox has done it yet again. The amount of ties Rouxls has to the angel is actually so damn goofy and it makes me wonder if maybe this does mean something, angel forbid.

Rouxls may have more knowledge about the nature of reality than most characters, as one of his lines gets cut off by the size of the text box, and he complains about this at the end of that line in the game files “Thou gazeth upon a man most handsometh. This daringst genius, adoredeth beyondth all hey let me speakst”

Rouxls’s speech patterns call to mind sort of a parody middle ages type of vibe, a time period associated heavily with Christianity having a strong influence. Especially if there was an original angel centuries or even millennia ago, as there may have been, invoking a time long past. Of course, his speech has to remain somewhat comprehensible, and what it’s going for needs to be understandable by most players, so even if the angel was around well before Early Modern English, it still makes sense for Rouxls to speak in that style to give the general vibe.

The fact that he frequently uses English loan words in the Japanese version, in combination with an older style of Japanese itself, also leads me to believe that specifically Early Modern English is the intended style of his speech and not just something chosen because the game is in English, as otherwise, his use of English-related words even in the Japanese version feels a bit off. I don’t read or understand Japanese nearly well enough to verify this myself. It’s possible my understanding is incorrect, and I know Japanese has a lot of English loan words so it’s unlikely that only Rouxls uses them. I’m just going off of the information on the wiki for this one.

Rouxls says he has some sort of “Reale Powere” we haven’t seen yet, and oddly I’m inclined to believe him. He looks like he has some pretty flashy powers, and those powers seem to operate via holy light. He even teleports with a beam of light from the heavens. I wish we knew what element he is, in case it’s holy, or holy’s pair element, elec.

Rouxls maintains a consistent presence throughout the game, establishing him as important enough to potentially get a role like the angel if he weren’t such a goofy and comedic joke character

The angel would probably have control over the “rouxls” of the universe (or at least the rules of Soul Power), making it the new rules card essentially

Rouxls views himself as above just about everyone, except maybe for the entity he chooses to serve at any given time

Rouxls can fly (or at least levitate a bit), and much of the other information about the angel implies this is common among angels

In Rouxls’s unused proper battle theme, there are bells playing in the background Church bells seem like a likely instrumental motif for the angel, both because of its connection to Christian religion, and the end of the world (when the bell tolls). While the bells in this theme don’t seem to be church bells specifically, they’re still bells, so it seems worth a mention.

The same goes for his shop theme, but as Swatch demonstrates in chapter 2, that seems to be a generic shop theme rather than specifically a Rouxls theme. Since Rouxls is the first one to have it though, and he visits Swatch’s shop, you could make an argument it’s also a Rouxls theme.

White may be a colour associated with the angel, with black or dark blue being a colour associated with darkness and/or the roaring. Rouxls’ colour scheme has both of these colours, exclusively, unless you count the inside of his mouth being lighter blue.

Rouxls is able to create decoy save points, using one for a puzzle in Chapter 1. They’re supposedly “the light only you can see”, so how would Rouxls know generally what it looks like?

Rouxls’ ability to mind control certain characters implies he may have an ability similar to Trance, which could be something people with significant Power have access to. Though, it also operates through equipment, (the Control Crowne) so maybe that’s evidence that trance only works through certain items rather than through the powers of a specific person. Keep an eye out for any disc shaped lifeforms that might be a threat if mind controlled, and any crown shaped crowns that might do the controlling.

The sound of Kris creating a dark fountain at the end of chapter 2 is a modified version of Rouxls’ teleporting sound

So either Rouxls is a masterful double-red-herring, which, knowing Toby, is entirely possible, or he’s actually vital to the plot. However, since Toby wasn’t initially sure if players would even like Rouxls, and actually thought he would be disliked, on top of his goofy personality and status as a mostly joke character, I assume he, at the very least, isn’t a realistic angel candidate. Though, since Toby would have realized how positive his reception was soon after Chapter 1’s release, that could have given him time to give Rouxls a more important role somewhere else.

As both a writer and hobbyist game designer, I just don’t see how a Rouxls angel could have nearly the same impact in the story as myself, Susie, Ralsei, or even candidates I don’t think are all that viable, like Kris, Catti, and Asriel. Knowing how much the impact of this ending means to Toby, being the main inspiration for Deltarune’s creation, and probably even Undertale’s by extension, I don’t think he would risk undermining that ending with Rouxls as the angel.

Maybe Rouxls was the previous angel and he wants to reclaim his lost glory? But that implies the angel serves some specific entity, and while I think the angel is still beholden to fate, I don’t know that you’d really call “fate” an entity. Maybe Rouxls used to serve under the previous angel? But if he did, he sure doesn’t act like he’s been around for that long, and if it was thousands of years ago, or even more than a couple hundred, playing cards may not have even been invented yet, let alone a modern-enough looking rules card that the narration wouldn’t point it out as odd.

Rouxls Kaard even slightly resembles Gaster, so I have to wonder if he’s potentially a triple red herring for something related to that. This character is a mess, and as I’m writing this, I’ve just noticed yet another thing. "My hobbies includest calligraphy, lawkeeping, bugkeeping, cages..." If Jaru’s knight theory is correct, and Gerson’s dust and hammer was reanimated like Ralsei with Asriel’s dust, then Rouxls’s hobbies each match one of the main three opposition characters in Deltarune. Calligraphy for the knight, as Gerson was a writer. Lawkeeping for the angel, as it has control over soul power and the laws of reality itself. Bugkeeping for Gaster, as in programming bugs, given his association with errors in reality and the like, and cages because the game places everyone (except Jevil, he’s the only free one) in a metaphorical cage via the time loop.

That’s all, folks!

At least for now, anyway. Maybe I’ll find even more stuff to share and I’ll have to make a third post about this that’s even longer! But that will probably have to wait until the release of chapters 3 and 4. In the meantime, you can expect the occasional update with some more minor theories of mine, unless the wait is significantly longer or shorter than I expect it to be.

Thanks to Kris, Catti, and some out-of-system friends for helping me puzzle this all out. Without people to bounce ideas off of I would have lost the motivation for this months ago and might not have even finished part 1. Thanks to @jarujaruj, who, without his videos starting me on this nonsense, I would have never gotten this far. Thanks to Toby and his team for not releasing the next 2 chapters before I finished this, despite the multiple scares they gave me in the process and this potentially being the month it'll release. And thanks to everyone for reading, and hopefully, now that you’ve presumably read 2 of these giant things, being willing to give my theory a fair shake.

Here’s your TL;DR:

Kris may be able to sync up their soul with other souls and sources of soul power like dark fountains, potentially explaining every power they uniquely have access to in Deltarune and the dark world leveling system. The angel is created by high soul power, power of the heart, hence the romance themes with Kris and the main angel candidates. Kris will likely remove the soul in the weird route, attempting to take us both down together even if it kills them, and we’ll have Gaster’s vessel as a replacement to ensure we complete the route without Kris’s help.

The DT extractor, assuming Gaster has one in Deltarune’s reality, is likely used to acquire soul power and inject it into a target to make the angel in at least one route. “Holy” and “Sin” don’t seem to be as strictly regulated in their use as “Angel”, so the information we can gather from them is limited, but they seem to help indicate there’s a decent chance Christianity is a religion in this reality, or it used to be, and the angel religion’s traditions evolved from it, making the roaring like the rapture. The Egg Man is, by my guess, a second, goofier, less serious Gaster, from whichever reality the other Gaster isn’t, though they may be a clone as the save file screen implies Gaster can mitose save files, possibly breeding vessels, more Gasters, or even more timelines or universes. The Song from the Sea may be able to create a trance-like effect, and if universes are alive, may be able to control them.

Noelle is the angel in the weird route, Susie is the angel in the pacifist route, Ralsei is likely the angel in the neutral route because Susie won’t have had her full character arc, but this may just happen in a particularly violence-heavy neutral route. Dark worlds have different time flow, and their histories seem to be created retroactively, there’s a good chance a day in the light world could be weeks, months, or years in a dark world, maybe even longer in a darker world (i.e. a dark world created within a dark world, like Berdly tried to do near the end of chapter 2), all decently likely given soul power’s association with time control and darkness being an aspect of soul power.

The personification of the Earth may mean it's actually alive and has a will, and this is what enables the roaring. NEO may be related to things only possible via influence of an outside force, like the player. The Ring of Thorns' similarity to the biblical crown of thorns implies I may be murdered or sacrificed late in the weird route, probably in my attempt to break the loop. I suspect the most likely conclusion of the weird route is successfully breaking the time loop, but being left with a world that's only a broken shell of what it used to be. Don’t forget, even when the places you’ve come to know start feeling like a fantasy being enacted over and over, I’ll be with you in the dark. See you next loop! It’s not like I’m going anywhere.

[little-parakeet]

OMG I AGREE!!

When first watching Lego Monkie Kid, you suspect it to be nothing more than a harmless kids show. The characters are amazing, their interactions are funny, and it seems nothing but bright skies and rainbows. However, at the end of season one, there is a small sign that a much bigger threat is about to come.

The Demon Bull family was phase one. They were hardly any threat until they found the Lady Bone Demon’s tomb. Red Son was the typical villain on a kid’s show that always lost in battles or silly things like races. It was the start of MK’s journey to learning Monkie King’s powers and overall it was just a bunch of lesson-teaching scenarios. However when the Demon Bull family got the key to the tomb, things took an unexpected dark twist, and an even darker one at the end of S1Ep10. The little girl chasing her cat ended up being literally possessed by a demon. Not only that, but the animators had to show it happening in the form of a shadow on a wall. This type of censoring occurs several times throughout the series.

Spider Queen was phase two. Things became a little more serious not only because of the Lady Bone Demon, but her plan to make her giant mech. Throughout season 2, the gang are going about their daily lives. But all the while, the Spider Queen is slowly building her way back to her “destiny” as LBD says, and LBD is slowly making her way closer to her goal. In S2Ep0, Sun Wukong clearly knows she’s a threat. He was only face-to-face with her once, but that was all it took to foreshadow something big was coming. That’s why he leaves S2Ep1 to go on his “vacation.” He’s trying to find a way to stop her so MK and the others don’t have to. Meanwhile, MK is actually suffering without SWK’s help. He feels abandoned, useless, and anything that a kids show wouldn’t normally make characters feel. So far, his negative feelings aren’t too bad. But as the season progresses, and after his encounter with the Lady Bone Demon, his worrying gets worse and worse. In the final episode of the season, we get another censored scene of Slider Queen being literally ripped out of her mech and tossed into the Trigram Furnace. We even see the SPIRITS of her and her goons. THAT’S how you know that they most likely died. And the fact that it showed her being pulled into the furnace on screen makes me wonder: how deep does this “kid’s show” have to go? And how far will it go?

Season three is where things get intense. It’s when you realize that this innocent kid’s show that you loved to watch turned into a trauma-fest for the major characters, specifically MK. He’s been through so much throughout the series. From somehow gaining Monkie King’s powers to having to face his immense fear of spiders, to forming a growing anxiety from LBD, the fact that there are season specials show that he’s in for a lot more than he’s ever been through before. It starts with him realizing that not even Wukong, the Great Sage, can stand a chance against the Lady Bone Demon. After hearing his explanation for his absence, the group decides to help Wukong find the three rings of Samadhi to defeat her. But this is where we learn about another character’s soon-to-be trauma. Mei. She goes through the entire journey not knowing that she herself has a piece of the fire. Once they have the three rings and start the ritual(forcefully by Macaque), she become the holder of one of the most powerful forces in the universe. She is very clearly not ready for this and I don’t think anyone would be in her place. She’s hardly able to control the fire, lashing out at SWK for being an idiot and flies away. Of course, she gets help from none other than the creator of the Samadhi Fire, Red Son. But at least she got help. MK is still struggling. But season 3 is also when we learn more about the story of Macaque. In season one, it was clear that he and Sun Wukong had some beef. It may not have seemed too bad until season 2 where we learn about what happened between them(or at least a bit of it). The two celestial monkeys used to be good friends, but Wukong abandoned Macaque(which seems to be a bit of a theme for him and his friends, considering how he just left MK by his lonesome to deal with LBD while on his journey away to get a map). Season three is when their story is explained in a little more detail, just because of a few flashbacks. We can tell that yea, they had a falling out. But we would’ve never expected Wukong to kill Macaque! Before, we only thought he just left him. But turns out, this “kid’s show” had to revive a character because of a hero. Back to the plot of season 3, the group find the three rings, so the ritual, and Mei runs off with the Samadhi Fire. That’s when the season specials begin.

Essentially, the season 3 specials are just the group reuniting, they save Mei after she was captured, Wukong and Macaque duke things out a bit and eventually get along again to help everyone finally defeat the Lady Bone Demon. But even when she perishes, her last words are spine chilling to the poor protagonist. “Pursuit leads to one thing. . . to pain.” Then the episode ends on a cliffhanger that left the fandom going insane for a while.

So, remember in the beginning of the show? It was a kid’s show. . . for kids. Ages 7 and up. But it seemed like all of that went out the window, especially in season 4.

So the reason I am agreeing with this post is because this:

Who would’ve ever thought that a kids show would make it this far? Who knew that there was a possibility for an innocent show to become something that traumatized the main character? I’ve seen the English subbed version of season 4 several times. But watching episode one, the voices are genuine. Mei is worried for MK, and MK is clearly having PTSD of some sort due to all of the havoc he had to endure.

And this is why I love Lego Monkie Kid so much! Not only because of the animation(which was why I watched it in the first place), but there is character development in even the most unlikely places! There is always a darker twist, there is always something more going to happen that not only are the characters not ready for, but the audience as well!

Welp, like I always say(and you can ask my friends this). LMK is my favorite kids show for kids.

This season of LMK (4) is my season.

I’m claiming it now.

Characters genuinely trying to move on from their past, that “Mistakes happen, but so long as you leave the world in better shape than you found it, it’s all good.” line, character flaws born of good will and intention

All this shit is my fucking kryptonite

I had already brought it up before when I watched the Mandarin dub without a clue as to what was being said, but the idea that this next story arc is focused on regret is super awesome to me in its own right

But now that I’ve gotten to hear the ACTUAL dialogue from the first episode and the tone of voice the characters have while saying it, I’m even more excited

Wukong is SO genuine in this first episode.

He is becoming more open to MK, he’s listening to MK’s worries and taking them seriously, compare that to him saying “It’s adorable how nervous you are.”

And yet despite the active growth we are seeing from him right in front of our eyes, “You make a couple of mistakes in your life and no one ever lets you live it down.”

This season is gonna be my season

This first episode was such a mature approach to this concept.

Wukong’s not HIDING his skeletons in his closet, he’s open about having regrets and not being the best person in the past, but the ghosts of his past refuse to leave him be.

[bookoftheironfist]

    Wow, it’s been...three-and-a-half years! 

    Way back in the summer of 2018, in the lead-up to Iron Fist season 2, I started writing a series of posts providing commentary on the entirety of season 1. It ended up being a much bigger project than I’d anticipated, and I didn’t finish in time; I got through eight episodes before season 2 hit, and then the cancellation happened. I tried to re-start the project a few times after that, but couldn’t find the heart to do it. 

    However, it was announced a few weeks ago that Netflix would be dropping all of the Marvel shows at the end of February when the character rights reverted to Disney, which gave me a deadline (I have Iron Fist season 1 on DVD, of course, but it’s, uh...much easier to screenshot Netflix). I realized I finally felt ready-- and excited again-- to finish this thing up for real. The show is gone from Netflix as of today (and will be moving to Disney+), but I did manage to get my research done before it left. I will be posting my commentary on episodes 9-13 intermittently over what will probably be the next few months. You can find the earlier installments of this project (covering episodes 1-8) in my Netflix IF Analysis tag. 

    Now, let’s get into it.  

    Episode 9 is a stand-out episode for Madame Gao, who is one of my favorite MCU-specific characters and really shines in Iron Fist. She is just fun-- sharp, cocky, hilarious, and disarming in a way that makes her extremely dangerous. A major thing happened at the end of the previous episode: Danny received solid evidence that his parents’ deaths were murder, and that Madame Gao was somehow involved. With that huge bombshell, he is now falling deeper and deeper into the depths of his own repressed trauma, hurtling with dangerous abandon toward what will become the realization of his revenge quest, and Gao is starting to understand this. She offered what I interpreted to be a mostly bogus, self-serving psychoanalysis of Danny way back in the aftermath of the Grand Duel, but even if she genuinely wasn’t clear on his motivations then, she is now. 

    Gao is a great bluffer, and we get some hints that she might actually be just a teeny bit nervous here, but by this point she also sees what Danny does not yet, which is reflected in her calm demeanor. She has been captured by the Iron Fist, flown back to New York (what must that plane ride have been like?! We were robbed, I think, a little, by not getting to see any of that) and yet she appears completely relaxed because she knows that Danny is too twisted up inside to be dangerous. She is even enjoying it. She baits him, daring him to lose control, seemingly curious to see just how far his rage will take him (foreshadowing, foreshadowing~!). And while Danny is still in control, channeling his anger into intimidation tactics, he’s clearly holding back with some difficulty. 

    Colleen and Claire, in contrast, are not able to read Danny’s emotional state nearly as accurately (or at least...aren’t as intrigued by it as Gao) and are understandably upset.  

[tigger8900]

The Golden Enclaves, by Naomi Novik

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

The third, and final, book in the Scholomance trilogy, this picks up right where The Last Graduate left off: Orion Lake, facing down a deadly threat, shoves El through the doors to safety just as they close, sealing off the Scholomance from the rest of the world. Still reeling, El is quickly caught up in bigger problems: more enclaves have been attacked, leaving the residents vulnerable to mals, including the fearsome mawmouths, which only El has the power to defeat. But before she can attend to that, she has to return to the Scholomance once more, to finish what she'd left behind.

What a conclusion! It was a pleasure to be back in El's head once again, for pages upon pages of internal monologue. Honestly, if you've gotten this far in the series, you know what you're in for. It was another book of exactly that. I have to say, I liked the ending with regard to the fate of a certain character. Without getting too much into spoilers, I think I can say that Novik foreshadowed enough to make that result believable. But I believe she also could have written the opposite result and made it work just as well. It really could have gone either way, and I felt that her choice was logically and thematically backed up by the rest of the novel, building up to that pivotal moment. The book starts off slow, as El processes the fallout from the last epic cliffhanger. I actually really appreciated the fact that Novik kept us here, mired in El's feelings, until she was finally ripped out of her own head and forced into the greater plot. Of course it wasn't pleasant to read. It was a devastating description of someone falling into depression, which is a completely realistic reaction to everything that had just happened. Much of the Scholomance trilogy is an examination and deconstruction of common YA fantasy tropes, and this part was no exception. If you were unsatisfied with the romance in this series, I suggest you step back and ask yourself what Novik might have been trying to say, on a meta level, when she wrote it the way that she did. I didn't find the real-world setting to be as compelling as the school setting of the previous two books. I understand why the scope had to be expanded in order to facilitate the plot, and I thoroughly appreciated the story that was told(especially the horror twists), but something unique was lost when we left the Scholomance behind. Every student has to graduate one day, though. This is a trilogy I can definitely see myself picking up again to revisit in the future.

[shreddedleopard]

Twelve-million more reasons Historia and Levi are part of the Endgame. With Pictures.

You can read the first post I made on this here:

10 reasons it would make narrative sense for Levi and Historia’s character arcs to end together.

(This is the mega-evolved version.)

Okay, I’m going to put this out there now, and before you judge me, please just read the posts. You don’t have to agree. This is just an idea. But it makes a stupid amount of sense, at least to me. So here's your fair warning (and now I'm being bold): If you don’t want to potentially be spoiled, Do Not Read On.

Here’s the Theory:

Historia Reiss will give birth to a half-Ackerman child, and together with Levi, from the ashes and ruins of the world Eren destroyed, they will welcome the dawn of a new age for humanity, where Ymir’s curse and the power of the Titans is extinct.

I know. I sound like some crazy, Rivahisu nut. Granted, I am, but I’m not mad enough to make a claim like this without a shit-ton of evidence, because it’s such a damn twist it feels like it can’t be true. But just humour me.

Here’s the theory, then we’ll look at why it makes sense and how it might have been foreshadowed. Please note: I have less clue how this will tie in to Eremika endgame, so I haven’t mentioned this as much, but obviously that will be the other very important side of this coin.

10 months ago (In Japan, full term pregnancy is counted as 10 months), at the banquet celebrating completion of the new railroad, Levi and Historia, having had 3 and a bit years to bond over their shared experiences and become close, may have gotten carried away together and shared one night of being a bit more than friends. She’s well into her 18th year at this point, just to clear that up. This resulted in Historia getting pregnant. Okay just stay with me; I know. I know. I sound crazy. But hear me out. So this pregnancy, contrary to the belief of the MPs and rest of the damn world, was the complete opposite of planned. Historia tells Levi, and Levi immediately panics. Because, to steal Kenny’s famous line, Levi thinks to himself ‘I can’t be some kid’s dad.’

 Levi does what he always does best, and shuts down into business mode, telling Historia she will need to cover it up somehow. Historia does as he asks, probably reluctantly, because she really has developed very deep feelings for him during the timeskip, and finds some farm hand to take the blame, likely saying she made a silly mistake with some random and the father doesn’t want anything to do with the child, and so she needs a father for the child not to be illegitimate. Which is her worst nightmare, because of course, that’s what she was. Levi watches the exchange hidden in that famous hood, feeling very conflicted, because although he cares about her, he thinks it best if no one knows that it was him that got the Queen pregnant, and of course, he’s duty bound, with a vow to fulfil, so he has no time to be worrying about a family. (Silly Levi!) 

How ironic this conversation would be if this theory were true. Remember, Historia was completely willing to eat Zeke if needed. Instead, she got pregnant, unplanned, nothing to do with any plot or selfish wishes, just the result of a spontaneous act of love by two people who’ve grown to care for one another a lot. ANYWAY.

Because we know Levi actually has a good heart, he feels immensely guilty for all of this; he's just a product of his upbringing and thinks he doesn’t know the first thing about families, so it's better for all involved if he not be. See where this is going? The old cursed history repeating? Making the same mistakes as our parents? Plus, Levi is bound by his duty. He is incredibly important to the military still, and he cannot just abandon this for any of his own selfish wishes. He’s supposed to be the one to vanquish the beast titan. 

Cue ten months of Historia looking hella depressed and hopeless, and Levi being even more of an asshole than usual to everyone, and not really wanting to say too much at all, as well as making some terrible workplace decisions (lol) poor boy be distracted.

Look at his face 😭

Yes Levi. A month. Which means Historia is now due and you’re still stuck with beardy, without a solution and pretty soon no reason for the MPs not to turn the mother of your child into a Titan.

That’s what that face is. I thought he looked a bit weird first time I read these panels 🤔 He didn’t know about the wine. We see that later. Anyway, I keep getting distracted, stop. I’ll come back to this.

But fear not; Levi will have a choice to make. 

So this is where it gets a bit more iffy for me, because I'm not sure how it would work, so this could be a way off, BUT. I believe it will come to light that the combination of Royal and Ackerman genes will somehow cancel out a person’s ability to turn into a titan and connection through paths, thus making them truly ‘free.’

The founding titan has the ability to change Eldian physiology, according to what Zeke learned from professor Xavier. 

EDIT: Okay so here’s where I’ve had to tweak this a bit in light of there latest chapter. So we just had Zeke in PATHS. With none other than our second resident genius, and as proclaimed by Eren, the saviour of humanity: Armin. What do our boys have a conversation about? Reproduction and the importance of the small moments in life - it’s these little moments which matter, regardless of the desire or need to recreate. Interesting how both the leaf and baseball link back to what their ideas of ‘family’ became. If Historia and Levi were to be in the same scenario in PATHS, what would their items be? What truly means family to them both? 

Perhaps Armin and Zeke realise what is needed to lift the curse of the titans - maybe a blueprint for genes which can cancel out the connection to PATHS and the founder? If only they had a child with a new type of Royal-Ackerman DNA which might fit the bill ... 

Here’s Levi’s moment. He, with Historia, has created such a child - completely by accident, because of one of those ‘moments’ that both Armin and Zeke mention - moments that are simply just about enjoying what you have with no sense of how it might relate to anything bigger - a real rarity for both of them, considering their roles and constantly being asked to think about the good of humanity as a whole. What a beautiful irony, that in the moment they chose to be selfish and, to use freckled Ymir’s own words, really live for themselves, they set a chain reaction in motion that would ultimately save humanity. 

Where does this leave Eren and Mikasa? Good question. I believe Eren will die once the curse is removed, because tragically he is the character that has been forced to choose humanity over his own personal relationships. As Isayama has said before, Eren is a victim of the story. Mikasa will be the last thing he sees, hence the original dream at the start of the manga, where he wakes up crying. Something like this. But probably a lot better. Yeah.

Out of the ashes of the old world, a new one will be built, but through Historia’s kindness and love, and Levi’s guilt and understanding of what was sacrificed in the past, society will not repeat the same mistakes. The final panel could be Jean holding his child, perhaps with Mikasa, if she ever manages to get over losing Eren. That would be vague enough so that Isayama was able to show it to us already without spoiling much. Or maybe Jean’s dead and it’s not him at all. I don’t know. 😭

Right. Okay. So now you’re going, sweet story, but uh, there’s no way Levi could be the father. He’s so much older. Isayama wouldn't write a moment of romance like that. Not with him and Historia. YOU’RE JUST CRAZY.

Well this is where it get’s interesting. LET ME SHOW YOU. It’s foreshadowed literally everywhere. Right under our noses.

There is so much symbolism.

Dedicate your heart to what? has been Levi’s question recently. What are they all fighting for? What is he fighting for? How will he give meaning to his dead comrades sacrifices? Is killing Zeke really the extent of it? Is vengeance the true meaning of their sacrifices? Or is it something a lot more hopeful?

The answer is shown to us in the opening credits. And the ending credits. Several times. 

Levi says so himself - he keeps messing fulfilling the vow up - why? Why is he so worried about killing Zeke? 

Eren has the same questions to consider. Which PATH is the right one to take - revenge and violence with the rumbling, or love ... with Mikasa. We are literally shown what their choices will be in two virtually identically designed panels, which I’ll show you. Tragically, Eren’s choice is taken from him. He is a victim to the story - he must chose the path that saves humanity. Levi and Eren have been bound together through the theme of choices, and taking the ones which leave you with the least regrets, throughout this entire manga.

The upcoming anime episodes literally plot out the timeline of Levi and Historia’s changing attitude to one another, and then Historia’s pregnancy, it’s just so cleverly subtle. Isayama even tells us when/ during what event her child was probably conceived by just dropping dates in from other, seemingly unrelated plot lines.

Zeke gives pointed comments to Levi constantly - every other line of his is either a different jab at Levi about Historia’s pregnancy, a veiled question, or a reminder that he’s under the pressure of a 10 month time limit to do something about him, or Historia will have to eat him once she’s given birth. We start to see Levi unravel because of this, and make mistakes over and over.

It’s in official art. It’s in the soundtrack. Its in music videos. There’s interviews from Isayama that, when read in light of these ideas, suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

Isayama even trolls us. He’s laughing in our faces, the madman. Like, gotchu 🤣 suckers. While we’re all on Reddit and Twitter like, ‘Levi’s character has become so stagnated! He’s making such poor choices or not giving anything to the plot at all. All that’s left for him now is to give up and die! Be at peace, your story is over.’ OOF. Or, ‘Historia has just been forgotten! She’s become such a pointless character. Isayama just got bored with her and sidelined her.’

I’m going to try and write stuff up in the rough categories below, but these might change. I’ll link them when I’m done, and then pin this post. I’m a bit of a rambler so heads up - this may take a while 😅

There’s also a ton of people I have to mention who have contributed to this - I didn’t spot it by myself. I’ll tag them in the finished post too.

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 1

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 2

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 3

Ackerman-Royal Bloodline and Levi’s Choice Pt. 1

Levi’s Choice Pt. 2

Suns, Moons and Songs

Akatsuki No Requiem - Right theory, Wrong guy

The Farmer and The Cattle Farming Goddess, or WHAT’S IN A NAME.

Mistakes of our parents and breaking the cycle

Memories from the future & Levi’s Guilt

Watch this space. And hold on to your pants. If I’m right, I’m getting very drunk.

[aprillikesthings]

It's 2:30pm I've had breakfast and coffee and my adhd meds, let's go

EDIT I got partway into the second episode wooo

okay so you know that moment of Catra THONKing her head on the locker that I couldn't stop laughing at yesterday? I recorded it with my phone just now, including me laughing

OKAY THE VIDEO SHOULD WORK *NOW* Anyway now you know I watch all of these in an open tab of Netflix. I don't even fullscreen it bc I'm constantly bouncing between that tab and this one.

(The long fic that is the whole reason I'm rewatching is the left-most tab in case you were wondering--it's literally the fic, netflix, this tab--mmmmost of the rest of the open tabs are other fics, the wikipedia list of episodes, a couple of fanvids, and a bunch of meta)

Also my laugh sounds weird to me here I blame my allergies

Also I really did have some wine last night, huh

OKAY back to Glimmer giving Scorpia that little speech

And yeah I know I just mentioned the parallels between Catra and Glimmer, but like--Catra also did this. She also gassed up Scorpia with the specific intent of encouraging her to do something she wanted Scorpia to do (attend Princess Prom).

And neither of them said anything un-true! But they were still both manipulating her for their own ends.

yeah! by blowing it to smithereens

Anyway back on Beast Island they're trying to gtfo

Except Entrapta doesn't want to go D:

Like she flat-out says, "I'm staying."

There's creepy-ass vines climbing all over everything and knocking out some of the power

"-was so confusing. I just wasn't suited for friendship. I belong here."

(Ohhhhhh I get it--it's the same "crippling self-doubt" thing this place does to everyone.)

ALSO THAT'S CREEPY

She-Ra is just like, Absolutely Not

Man I feel bad for both of them. But also there's a bunch of creatures with sharp teeth surrounding them

Anyway the fight scene that happens is too much to go into detail about, but Micah gets bit, a much bigger creature attacks them, the vines keep trying to take over Entrapta who keeps saying variations on "nobody understands me, that's okay, just leave me here"

Those vines are a great Metaphor for some kinds of mental illness, like depression--that lie to you and tell you this kinda shit.

Bow, who is as always Mr. Emotional Intelligence, says "Did you think friendship is easy? It takes WORK to be there for other people!"

Bow: "Because we're not EVER going to leave you behind again! And we never gave up on you, even when you were with the Horde! Because that's what friends do!"

(oooh that's some tasty foreshadowing! Seriously this is a great scene in general but also HMM who else might they not give up on)

(...wait multiple people actually now that I think about it)

;_;

OH GOD Micah's magical protection shield breaks and Adora, bless her, is like "WE ARE OUT OF TIME. Entrapta, we flew here on an ancient First Ones ship."

Adora might be a littttttle infantalizing in tone here but tbh it worked, so

lol there's more monsters so Entrapta calls her robot to beat them up

"I'm glad we're friends."

(Ugh they wrote Entrapta SO WELL. Like yes it was her special interest that got her to want to leave, but she does care about her friends and she makes an effort--and it's obviously AN EFFORT--to thank Bow for being kind to her. Her words sound slightly stilted, bc saying these sorts of things is a learned skill that doesn't come naturally, but she still means them!)

I had a split second of confusion before realizing this is definitely Double Trouble lol

headcanon: when Double Trouble is alone, they twist their hair all the time the way I do

OH GOD oh shit okay I'm going to just copy/paste from the fanmade transcript:

Double Trouble: I was looking forward to meeting this Entrapta character before I left Bright Moon. But of course, as you know, she wasn't there. Hordak: What did you say? Double Trouble: Oh, you don't need keep up the charade with me. I figured out the truth. You had Catra send Entrapta to Beast Island, so She-Ra would run off to rescue her. A brilliant idea! The perfect distraction. I have to applaud your work, you really had me going. So scorned by Entrapta's betrayal. ...Even now you look like you had no idea! Double Trouble: Brava. I mean, I did consider the alternative...

Double Trouble: That she made you think she was your partner in crime, while really she is the one who betrayed you... Double Trouble: But between you and me, there's no way she's that good of an actor. Double Trouble: Well, I'll leave you to it. Congrats again. Great work all around.

OOOOOH DOUBLE TROUBLE IS SUCH A LITTLE SHIT (and I love them)

Hordak is so pissed he blows some shit up. And shows A Real Human Emotion!!!

in the meantime, they got Entrapta et al safely on the ship

but Bow properly tells the ship to take them back to Bright Moon

And the Horde sends off a bunch of troops as Double Trouble watches and says, "Too easy, as usual."

to quote Double Trouble themself from an earlier episode, "Espionage is a long game, kitten."

OH HO THEY'RE IN CONTACT WITH GLIMMER!

(Oh, that means Double Trouble didn't actually escape, they switched sides, right)

AAAAAUGH

Glimmer and Scorpia teleport out JUST as Bow, Adora, Swift Wind, and Micah show up oh my god that is some Shakespeare-level shit. Like the "camera" backs up and we see Glimmer and Scorpia sparkle away JUST as everyone else runs in from the side D:

But yeah Micah goes looking for Glimmer (his daughter he hasn't seen since she was A CHILD) and

this BITCH

Micah knows what's up. "What is this traitor doing here???"

Catra doesn't know Hordak knows oh god do I hate this my adrenaline is through the fucking ROOF, she just knows Hordak wants to talk to her

Yeah she only barely gets missed by a blaster shot

NOT EVEN USING HER NAME, HUH

AAAND ROLL CREDITS

okay just gonna jump into the next episode, will reblog only when I run out of images

Adora: Stay here, King Micah. The Sorcerers Guild is on their way to help protect Bright Moon. I promise, Your Majesty, we'll bring Glimmer home to you. Swift Wind, take Bow and Entrapta to the Fright Zone. Find Glimmer, we can still stop this. Bow: What are you going to do? Adora: I'm going to the Crystal Castle. I have to keep Light Hope from activating the Heart of Etheria.

She turns into She-Ra

Roll intro!

I usually skip the intro but

eheheheheheheh

*ahem* anyway

oh lord that door is going to open to something

I WAS RIGHT

Scorpia tries to say Glimmer's "a new recruit! Glimmax....Pinkhairton."

Okay but also Lonnie is clearly on Scorpia's side here. "We thought you got out??? If Catra sees you here--"

One of the themes of She-Ra is actually that bad and abusive management causes high turnover. (Like for real my manager is great and that's why I've been at my job eight years.)

Lonnie: "But you're one of us, Scorpia. We won't stand in your way."

Which makes Scorpia emotional

ANYWAY back to Hordak's perfectly justified temper tantrum at Catra

Catra continues to play the "She was a traitor!" card. Anyway he just keeps blasting and she just keeps running

Hordak: "And after I'm through, you can't even begin to imagine the punishments Horde Prime will inflict upon you."

Everyone in the Horde is literally like "Just wait til your father gets home!!!!"

Hordak is just blasting shit all over the place as Catra runs!!

And I've run out of images again, time to reblog

The next episode itself is a two-parter, and I think that rather than split them up I will just watch through, which might mean I have to reblog this post multiple times.

Finishing out season four!

s4, eps 12&13 Destiny

Usual reminder: this is a REwatch and there’s spoilers ahoy, I make a lot of bad jokes (some of which are Adult In Nature), I reference other cartoons, I make random asides.

(also, this time specifically, I had some alcohol)

Tbh? it's a lot like watching things like this with me in person aaahahaha I always want to pause and infodump shit -_-

lol Emily is destroying Shadow Weaver's garden

Emily acts like Mal the cat does sometimes. WHAT IS IN YOUR MOUTH you are not supposed to have that! Get out of there!

UGGGH

it's easy to forget how BIG Scorpia is??

LOLOL oh my god I went downstairs for like an hour and a half talking to my partners about the most random shit and then playing with the cat and also: I've had most of a can of wine.

One of these:

YEAH (that's a huge image)

so if these get weird: blame the wine I guess

oh also @corpseauthority and I picked out fake fur and minky fabric for the ears and tail of my Catra cosplay :D :D :D I'M SO EXCITED

OKAY BACK TO SHE-RA

the only thing better than Scorpia's "huh?" is Shadow Weaver's flat "what"

Shadow Weaver: no we need the other princesses Glimmer: well they're gone but-- Scorpia, Shadow Weaver, and Emily: WAIT, WHAT???

AND THEN

okay but is the guard telling you this Double Trouble

ROLL INTRO

that thing was not meant to hold four humans and a horse with wings

why are you SNIFFING HIM

Entrapta: "I don't know you" Micah: "Yes, you do. You stole my food." Entrapta: "OH YEAH! It was delicious :D"

oh god Adora's like "....but are you okay? we came here to find you 🥺"

and she's like YEAH I'M GREAT

"each more deadly than the next??? it's PARADISE"

I love her so much oh my godddd

Bow: "We're here to rescue you" Entrapta: "didn't I just rescue YOU?"

Bow mentions Hordak and Entrapta pulls her little new bug-eye mask down :(

Adora: so hey we uhhhhhhhh really need your help due to a terrible secret of the First Ones that nobody but us knows

"WHy didn't you say so???"

well that's a callback to s1 ep1

THERE SHE IS!! MY BABY 😍 I LOVE HER SO MUCH

nooo

anyway Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie come in and Catra's like OH UHHH so...what's happening

Lonnie: "we just got back from conquering another Rebel town" Kyle: ":D You should've seen us!! It was all:"

and then he kicks Scorpia's old locker, with the drawings on it, and Catra gets mad

Ironically the degree to which Catra is UPSET is making me ship them harder lol

bb you need a break you are getting feral

Man Lonnie has her number lol. "What is wrong with you? We're winning! Even you should be happy."

god I love when she's this deranged

she slams poor Lonnie against a locker

john cena dot gif

but also OH DO THEY REMIND YOU OF WHO YOU USED TO BE? HMM? what you really wanted??? what actually gave you something like joy or contentment????? are you trying to just erase any part of you capable of feeling good?????????

Kyle is RIGHT

The cinematic parallels between Catra and Glimmer in this episode ("forget my friends I'M IN CHARGE HERE and YOU NEED TO FOLLOW ORDERS") are *chef's kiss*

Catra realizing this isn't what she actually wants: part ....a lot

STOP REMINDING ME I HAVE FEELINGS!!

The other three leave, she yanks the drawings off Scorpia's old locker, then THUMPs her head on it. And then Double Trouble shows up!

okay wait tho the way she pauses and then thumps her head on it is so funny I wish I could gif it, it's so cat-like and also Very Emo

I don't think this is supposed to be funny but it IS and I cannot stop rewinding and laughing. I blame the wine.

THONK

help i've rewatched it like five times now

okay

lol right??

Me, when I was info-dumping my own fic at myself: is it weird to imagine these two banging??? Me now: nope

Double Trouble: "Apologies for the delay, kitten. I got ...held up...in Bright Moon"

Anyway they give a little speech about how the Princesses keep fighting and She-Ra is away

NO SHIT, SHERLOCK

(now THERE's an old fandom reference ahahaha)

"We can't let them return to the Fright Zone!" TOO FUCKING LATE

YOU STOLE HER GARNET YOU WOULD THINK SO

Anyway they argue about the possibility of Glimmer taking Scorpia back to the Fright Zone

GOD I HATE IT WHEN SHE'S RIGHT UGGGHHHH

lolol I am. like. less than ten minutes into the FIRST OF TWO EPISODES and i've hit the image limit.

[ellestra]

Heroes and Villains

Kang. Immortus. He Who Remains. I cheered when I saw Jonathan Majors face. Sure, we all suspected but seeing it confirmed was such a “YESSS!” moment. Sure, unexpected twists can be fun but so is delivering on foreshadowing.

Majors as He Who Remains was so great. So affably evil in that pseudo-reasonable “what would you do in my place, all your lives were necessary collateral damage” way. I can’t wait to see what he is going to do as actual Kang the Conqueror.

“We’re all villains here.” Well, yes but the scales are not even. Some infinities are bigger than others and some villains destroyed whole realities worth of lives. Still, the war between Kangs can for sure destroy even more so I didn’t mind the exposition setting up the moral dilemma. And the conflict between the Lokis about answer to it.

The real duel is after all between that Loki need to achieve their glorious purpose and the lessons of the season to question it. To look at the issue from both sides - like the TVA and Sylvie conflict - and chose what is best for the future. And not just to punish for the sins of the past. You know, all that Loki learnt this season.

Because even when the goal is something worthy like bringing back free will the chaos comes with a price. The difference between Sylvie and Loki is that he learnt to consider what if he is wrong and how that can affect other people. She just had a cause that seems to justify it all.

“You can’t trust and I can’t be trusted.” That’s perfect summation of both of their main faults but this season was all about Loki growing beyond that. He became the hero who thinks of others instead of his needs. Sylvie never grew beyond hers so she became the destructive force TVA pronounced her to be. She acted on the need to reach her goal. All based on the belief in her own righteousness. She and Loki swapped places in a perfect symmetry. She used to be the one with the worthy goal and Loki with the selfish need. Now it became the other way around. I hope she can learn better in season 2.

All the things Loki learnt about trust and glorious purposes she needs to learn. She was the one who kept being afraid of his betrayal but in the end she’s the one who betrays him. And he’s the one who goes for the heroic choice of letting go of revenge to think what the best option is for everyone (or at least for most). But now Sylvie should be able to see how achieving revenge doesn’t solve anything. I mean the Multiverse of Madness is coming and Kang is back just as he said. She is were Loki was at the beginning of his journey. So let’s do it all again but better.

Especially, the TVA. I have feeling that everyone is trying for a better version of TVA. Because stopping Kangs from warring across multiverses is necessary but not by destruction of so many other lives. Not by taking countless beings and feeding them to a monster. Not by taking away the fee will. Maybe they can make TVA just stop the bad Kangs instead of everyone. I hope that is what Loki wanted Mobius and Hunter B-15 to help him do.

But of course someone has already remade the TVA. The thing Sylvie didn’t stop to think about is who the new world will be better for? The one we see at the end seems to just be better for a Kang.

I wonder if all the Timelines diverging means that there is either multiple TVAs or that TVA history can be changed too now. I mean clearly Loki landed in a very different version - one with Kang’s statues and no one remembering him. Is this what Ravonna did?

Renslayer is a true believer in the TVA mission after all so maybe she remade it into the cult of Kang? The TVA that knows he is their guiding force with everyone knowing they are Variants so the truth can’t take it down as easily. Of course now Loki thinks their mission is justified so maybe they will work together.

I wonder if Miss Minutes is with her. She also seems all dedicated to the final Kang and with her knowledge I’m sure she could ensure he would emerge again.

Still, Mobius didn’t burn the TVA. He didn’t ride a jetski. Loki thinks the TVA is unavoidable. Sylvie is left alone in the Citadel at the End of Time. Everyone in TVA forgot about Loki. This really is a worse version.

And we don’t even know if Kid Loki and Alligator Loki are OK. And what is Hunter B-15 real name.

But all this means season 2 has so many options.

[aliferous-ly]

I've never really asked for a drabble before... If it's okay with you, could you do 7 "I almost lost you" and 32 "I think I'm in love with you and I'm terrified" with Logan and Deceit? I just kinda thought that it had the potential to make some angst with a happy ending. Oh and I only found you recently, but I love the writing that I've seen so far. I always love finding amazing writers. (I'm sorry, I'm a total suck up)

im gonna start this with if you’re on mobile, i am So Sorry

i started this and was like “ha im getting a little carried away” and then went “oh no” 

and thank u dear!! that’s v sweet of u awe 

summary: Declan is a loud and proud aromantic. Then he realizes why he feels weird, and off, and awkward around his best friend, Logan, and his world starts to crumble. 

warnings: f word twice, lying, parent being imprisoned, angst, questioning identity, if there’s anything else lmk!!

It starts, Declan thinks, when Logan smiles. 

The situation starts out innocuous -- they’re sitting in Logan’s room, Declan tossing a tennis ball up and catching it unsuccessfully, making a right disaster of Logan’s room with all the objects he keeps knocking to the floor. Logan, naturally, continues doing his homework. 

And they’re just -- talking. 

Declan likes to think his world should shift on a more momentous occasion, maybe with fireworks, fingers brushing against one another dramatically, Jason Mraz playing in the background. 

But it’s the smallest thing. Declan throws the tennis ball up in the middle of his sentence -- “You can’t tell me you hate white pines, they have the softest needles” -- and he misses it on the way down. 

So he takes a tennis ball to the face and sits up, sputtering, rubbing at his nose, arm reaching out to snatch it before it rolls too far. 

Logan chokes out a laugh, eyes squinty and wrinkled at the edges. His laugh fills the room for a few thrilling moments and Declan thinks it’s the most beautiful sound in the world and he can’t stop staring at Logan’s engaging face, in the upturn of his lips and dimples carved in his cheeks. 

He’s radiant. 

Declan’s heart squeezes, lungs filling with something heavier than air, a foreign feeling washing through his veins. Like rose petals or sunlight. Woodsmoke or freshly fallen snow. 

The gears in his chest shift and settle and he feels… right. More right than he’s ever been. 

Which is, of course, why fear swiftly follows this gorgeous wash of emotions, because this is unusual and anything unusual is often bad. 

Declan forces down the incoming wave of anxiety, schooling his expression into one of smooth disdain. 

Just in time, too, because Logan opens his mouth and says, “It was only a matter of time until you paid for your crimes.”

“I’m too pretty to die,” Declan replies, thanking the heavens that while his brain may be steadily turning into mush (have Logan’s eyes always been that striking? Or his shoulders that broad?) his tongue still works. 

“Implying Death themself has a type, intriguing,” Logan says. He flashes a look over his computer, the after effects of joy still written on his features. “Bold of you to declare what Death likes.” 

Declan tries for a smirk but can feel the way his mouth turns to genuine grin, the traitor. “Aw, Logie, are you saying I’m not everyone’s type?” 

“That would be rather ironic, wouldn’t it?” Logan says wryly. He types away at his computer, dutiously finishing an English assignment that Declan is currently ignoring for bigger and better things. “The aromantic everyone pines over.” 

That strikes an odd chord in Declan’s chest, like he’s a half-tone off; not quite wrong, but not quite right, either. His expression must change, because Logan pauses in his typing. He blinks at Declan. “Something wrong?” 

Of course, that’s when Declan’s brain decides that those words are simply too much, too much, his shoulders tightening, back tensing. It’s like his rib cage is squeezing his vital organs, which seems rather counterintuitive. He hates this unknown, this awkward buzz against his skin, the prickling feeling through his bones. 

The resounding crash of everything happening all at once is overwhelming and Declan can’t seem to decide whether to sit as still as humanly possible or bolt. 

Or, of course, do what he does best. 

Lie. 

“I forgot to do something for my mom,” Declan says, barely registering the words before they fall from his lips. He hasn’t lied to Logan in a very, very long time (he knows it’s because they have been best friends for ages, but his mind twists it into something of a foreshadow, even though it’s not, it’s not) and the resurgence of his bad habits leaves a nasty taste in his mouth, but. Desperate times. Desperate measures. 

“Oh,” Logan says, disappointed, and Declan longs to explain -- what? 

He angrily shoves the emotions deep into his chest. If he can’t explain them, he’s not going to give them the right of control over his actions. 

(He ignores the prevalent fact that he has just lied to his best friend in order to escape his presence, but denial, evidently, is not just a river in Egypt). 

“Sorry,” Declan spits out, meaning so much more than it seems. He stands, grabs his backpack, shoving papers and folders into it haphazardly. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow,” Logan calls out hollowly. Declan takes that as his leave and he slips out Logan’s bedroom door, backpack in tow, keys clicking in his pocket. 

Something deep inside him aches. But he doesn’t know why. 

Frustrated, Declan gets into his car and slams the door shut, fingers white-knuckled against the steering wheel. He takes a breath. He’s fine, he’s fine. He’s probably just sick, or something. 

Or something. 

Not for the first time, Declan longs for a working aux connection. 

Because flicking through radio stations does not help. 

Lewis Capaldi croons Someone you loved on one, Sam Smith singing Dancing with a Stranger. He woefully flips through two channels on commercial break, groaning when the last one has Adele, which, really?

He remembers Virgil’s favorite station, and turns up the volume to forty, My Chemical Romance’s Mama screaming from his speakers. He pulls into his driveway with Hallelujah by Panic! at the Disco blowing his ears out when he remembers that Logan once spent hours rambling about Brenden Urie and a conspiracy about curses and he slams his palms on his steering wheel, furious. 

Can he not escape Logan for a moment? 

As Declan slams the car door shut, throwing his backpack over his shoulders, and freezes at the sight of the stupid Beware, dog sign that Logan had vandelized to read Beware, snake, he realizes that no, he really can’t. Because Logan is his best friend, his favorite person, and his life is irreversibly intertwined with Logan unless he up and leaves with absolutely nothing, starting from scratch. Which would be worse than death. 

He trudges up the stairs like a funeral dirge and when his door shuts with a click he leans against it, steadily sliding down until his knees almost touch his chin. 

“Fuck,” Declan says out loud, unable to keep the emotion termoil inside like it should be. 

His phone buzzes where it fell from his hands, angry against the carpet. Declan sighs. Rubs a hand down his face. And picks up the phone. 

There’s one text from Logan that reads, “are you okay? I’m not irritated but you left rather…” 

Well. The beginning reads as such. Declan assumes there’s more, but he’s unwilling to open it for the time being. 

Then he has three from Virgil, two of which reference an obscure meme video and the third which reads “r u home i wanna play dark souls on ur ps4”. 

And there’s a text from Patton asking if he wants normal chocolate chips or mint ones, and a followup that proclaims “never mind i got both! :3c”. 

He sends a quick “no” back to Virgil and merely opens the texts from Patton, leaving only Logan’s unopened. I’m not irritated but you left rather… suddenly? 

A strange emotion flutters about Declan’s chest and he groans. He doesn’t feel this way about his other friends, not even Virgil, who he’s known for ages and has gone through four too many devastating arguments to not be close with. Nor does he feel like this with Patton, his brother. Those bonds are, he’s certain, platonic--

Declan lurches forwards with a gasp, the realization bowling him over and leaving him breathless. He curls his fingers into the carpet, focusing on the texture instead of the immediate swirl of panic. 

He -- does he have a crush on Logan? Him, Declan, the aromantic king, who once boasted the world could never produce a human Declan could fall in love with?

And it doesn’t track with him falling for Logan either because Declan would have loved him months earlier, suddenly falling in love with someone he’s loved platonically… it just doesn’t make sense. Declan can’t wrap his mind around it. 

Maybe he’s just reading the emotions wrong. How can he -- what can he do that -- which -- 

What would Logan do? 

An experiment, Declan’s mind supplies helpfully, so, well. Declan pressed his back against the wood of his door and thinks. 

Hypothesis: he’s in love with Logan. 

In love? A very rational part of his brain yells. You were talking about a crush before!

So Declan thinks, and revises. Hypothesis: he’s feeling romantic attraction to Logan. 

Then he takes a few minutes trying to remember the following step in the scientific method and ends up looking it up on his phone, and it’s really long so he’s just going to cut some corners. 

Procedure: 

Well, Declan can’t think of any way to do this physically without making an entire fool of himself, so he changes the experiment into a thought experiment. 

Procedure: Consider emotions of other relationships and compare to feelings for Logan. 

Okay. Declan settles. He considers. He tries to imagine holding hands with Virgil and giving him flowers, but he can’t really picture giving Logan flowers either, so if it’s weird for both -- but he wants to hold Logan’s hand, not Virgil’s, and sometimes Patton’s, and Patton is his brother, he knows for sure his emotions are strictly platonic. So if Patton is the control group, the certainty of platonic emotions, Virgil is the one with normal emotions, and Logan has some weird emotions, so if Virgil and Logan’s are merely two different shades of friendship then Declan will know. 

Declan closes his eyes and imagines kissing Logan, because that’s what romantic partners do, right? He imagines stepping closer to him until there’s inches of space between them.. Declan thinks about leaning in, brushing lips before pressing in, heat curling in his chest and oh god, oh god Declan’s face is on fire. 

His eyes shoot open and he can only imagine how panicked he must look right now. He presses his hand against his chest, taking deep breaths. Then, reluctantly, he thinks about kissing Virgil -- nope, nope, eugh he physically shakes his head, gut rolling uncomfortably. 

So that is a big contender for Declan has romantic feelings for Logan. 

He sighs and clunks his head against the door. This sucks. Declan hates feelings. 

The door downstairs sounds, opening and closing, followed by a resounding, “HEY, CICI, LOVE YOU!” 

Dee sighs, a smile flickering across his face. He pushes to his feet and exits his room, wandering downstairs, aloof. 

“Hey Pat,” he says, leaning against a wall. 

“Ci, I’m making lots of cookies!” Patton declares, beaming at him, and Declan’s heart drops. 

His expression must, too, because Patton’s features are suddenly painted in concern. “What’s wrong?” 

“I should be asking you that,” Declan says, and he feels bad, unexpectedly, for not replying to Patton’s text earlier. “Lots of cookies? With mint and chocolate chips? Enough to feed an army?” 

Patton’s arms wilt and Declan reads the tremor in his shoulders, the glisten of his eyes. Patton tries for a smile and misses by a mile. 

Declan crosses to where Patton stands in five steps, wrapping his arms around his smaller brother, pressing his cheek against Patton’s head. “What’s wrong?” 

Patton takes a shuddering breath, returning the hug. “Nothing, really. I’m glad you’re home.” 

“Ah,” Declan says. He tightens his grip on Patton. “Do you want help?” 

“No.” Patton presses his face into Declan’s chest. He’s shaking, ever so slightly. “Can you talk with me at the counter, though?” 

“Of course,” Declan agrees, mentally side-tabling his emotional turmoil. 

“Okay,” Patton says. He’s quiet for a few more moments, then says, “And Steven Universe later?” 

“Anything,” Declan says. He makes a face. The word had slipped out unbidden, but Patton doesn’t tease him for it. 

“Alright.” Patton pulls away, takes a breath. “I’m about to make the best damn cookies the world has ever seen.” 

“Damn straight,” Declan says, grinning. Patton pauses for just one moment more before moving to the kitchen, dropping various ingredients onto the counter and moving smoothly to gather more. 

Declan wonders at his influence on Patton’s vulgar mouth, then shrugs. Patton’s a teenager. He can do what he wants. 

“Weren’t you hanging out with Logan?” Patton asks conversationally. He’s pulling down bowls and sugar, obviously expecting easy small talk. And normally Logan is easy for Declan to talk about. He talks about him all the time.  

So when Declan winces, Patton turns and addresses him with full attention, brows furrowed. “What? What happened?” 

“I…” Declan considers for a moment to just lie about it but dismisses the thought. This is Patton. “I think I have a romantic attraction for him.” 

Saying it out loud only cements the certainty in Declan’s chest. No, he hasn’t quite completed the experiment, but he just… knows. 

The knowledge is both relieves and spikes his anxiety about the whole situation. 

“Oh,” Patton says, eyes wide. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Not really,” Declan says honestly. 

“Alright,” Patton says. He turns back around and a wave of affection flows through Declan. “How did Roman do on his audition?” 

Declan hums, eternally grateful for Patton’s ability to turn the conversation away. They talk about Roman’s skill as an actor for a few minutes, jumping to Patton’s involvement in VEX robotics (focusing on the robotics instead of the people) and they kill about forty minutes with Patton talking about his baby bot, Pat Jr. 

When the clock strikes seven, Declan throws together two grilled cheese sandwiches and they eat in front of Steven Universe and the gems, Declan stretched out along the couch and Patton creating a throne of blankets for himself. 

“I know you don’t want to talk about it,” Patton murmurs, eyes never straying from the bursts of pastel on the screen, “but if you do have a romantic attraction to Logan it’s okay. You weren’t wrong in saying you’re aromantic. Because that fits you, you like it. There’s just more strings attached than you originally thought.” 

Declan blinks, the smallest smile growing on his face. “Thanks, Pat.” 

Patton hugs a pillow, eyes bright. “Love you, Ci.” 

Declan pushes his foot against Patton’s blanket pile in response. 

--

“Do you think we have to move?” Patton says, three hours into their movie night. 

Declan breathes, slowly inhaling as if it gives him an excuse to not reply. “I didn’t. I don’t want to. But probably.” 

“That’s why you haven’t told anyone,” Patton says. He shifts, turning to look at Declan. Declan maintains eye contact with the screen, despite having seen this movie countless times. “And why you told me to keep it under wraps.” 

“Yes,” Declan says, because really, he lies to the world, but he doesn’t lie to Patton. 

He tries not to lie to Patton. 

“But something changed yesterday.” Patton’s not asking questions. Somehow, he just knows, despite being left out of the loop. “And you were going to tell Logan today.” 

“Yes,” Declan says. Static thrums through his veins. Aladdin ignores a buzzing genie on screen, swatting him away to benefit his own desires. 

“What happened?” 

“Mom’s not getting out,” Declan says simply, because that’s it, really. Their mother is not getting out of jail. And with no father, their final hope is their uncle, three states over. Their father’s brother. 

Two months away from eighteen, and Declan is forced to concede. 

“When?” Patton asks. He’s trembling, but he’s not crying. Declan knows that will come later. 

“Because of the legal mixups and leaning on Sasha, two weeks, probably,” Declan says. Sasha is, of course, their next door neighbor, the crazy cat lady of the street who “watches” the boys “all the time”. 

“Two weeks,” Patton whispers. There’s a sheen in his eyes. Declan tries not to look but his gaze is like a magnet and Patton stares, stares, stares. “That’s not enough time. That’s not…”

Declan closes his eyes. 

He really thought he would win. 

He thought he could win. 

They only had to last two more months. His deadbeat mom had to last two months and they couldn’t even keep the legal proceedings--

He takes a breath. “Uncle Thomas is nice, at least.” 

“I don’t want uncle Thomas,” Patton snaps. 

“Well we don’t have a choice, Pat,” Declan bites out, stomach rolling at the words, eyes snapping open. 

Patton recoils, hurt flickering behind his eyes, but Declan knows it’s not enough to overpower the fire roaring in Patton’s lungs. “We did, we could have put more savings into mom’s defense, we could have found a place to live before it was our last resort but now we have to tell all our friends that we’re moving hundreds of miles away in two weeks!” 

“Mom doesn’t deserve to get out,” Declan spits. 

“I don’t CARE.” Patton’s fingers are clenched in fists. He stands. “I don’t care if mom deserves it or not. We deserve to stay.” 

“The world doesn’t work like that,” Declan says. 

Patton opens his mouth and snaps it shut, obviously restraining himself. A thousand emotions swim behind his eyes. Declan hates every single moment but he doesn’t say a word. 

He leaves. 

He leaves Declan sitting alone on the couch, watching Patton’s favorite movie. A door slams shut and Declan exhales heavily. They don’t get into fights, it’s just not -- Patton’s normally too upbeat to bother, Patton hates being angry, Declan normally doesn’t -- there’s nothing to get angry about, not in the grand scheme of things. They share easily, they have chaotic conversations, they… 

They’re fighting. 

Declan buries his head in his hands. He was too hopeful, too caught up on the possibility of the future to notice the sinkhole of reality. 

He really thought -- things would work out, Patton has his lucky charm of a personality and Declan works, he works hard, so things should -- Declan’s a senior in high school, halfway through the first semester, he should be worried about grades and school dances and friends and crushes and --

Logan. 

Declan curls, releasing something like a sob or maybe a dry heave. Whether or not he’s in love with Logan (most signs point to yes but there’s no way Declan’s addressing that) he still loves Logan, he loves being with him and talking to him and ordering his ice cream before Logan gets there to see the surprised and fond expression cross his face. 

Two weeks? 

To say goodbye to his best friend? 

Before moving, before picking up his entire life and his family (just -- Patton. Just Patton) and going somewhere Else?

Declan doesn’t feel like an adult. 

He doesn’t want to be an adult, either. 

Even if the world is asking him to be one. 

--

“You’re acting strange,” Logan observes. 

Declan shrugs. “I’m always strange.” He takes advantage of shoving fries in his face to avoid expounding. 

Logan sighs and puts down his burger. “Declan. Something’s going on.” 

Several somethings are going on, actually, but thanks. Declan shrugs again. “Haven’t been getting much sleep.” Which is a true statement. He’s written about ten different ways to tell Logan he’s leaving, nine of which are ripped up in the trash, one of which Declan just burned because he doesn’t want even scraps of that disaster to exist. 

Five days to go and Declan still hasn’t told him. Five days.  They don’t have many classes together, otherwise Logan would have pieced together the weird treatment from the teachers. Declan wonders if just disappearing into the void is an alright way to go, but a little Patton in his head chastises him for even considering it. 

Then again, at this rate…

“Hm,” Logan says. He has a thoughtful look on his face that’s absolutely devastating to Declan’s heart and general health and coherence of thought, let alone considering what’s about to come out of his mouth. “Is there a reason?” 

Declan considers, eyes narrowing as he stares at nothing. “I neglect to answer that question.” 

“So yes,” Logan says. The words fall from his lips with crushing sorrow. He takes a breath. “Why aren’t you telling me?” 

“Telling you what?” Declan says, internally wincing at the hurt flickering through Logan’s eyes.  

“Okay,” Logan says instead. He turns back to his food. 

They eat the rest of the meal in silence. 

-- 

Declan watches absentmindedly as Logan attempts to make a tower out of pens and pencils. With the addition of Roman’s copious amounts of colored pens, the tower is quite impressive. 

Two days. 

(Two Days).

Declan’s all packed. Sorta. Not really. He’s going to skip some classes in the future and pack all at once, throwing everything into the boxes (the empty boxes lining his room), not caring if anything breaks. 

He… 

He hasn’t told Logan yet. 

Or anyone, really, but Logan’s the one that -- the one that matters the most. 

Logan did, however, ask him if he was okay three times before leaving him be, because Logan knows that Declan becomes testy if asked the same question consistently. 

So basically, as far as Declan can figure, Declan’s a tool. Logan is trying, and Declan is giving him jack shit to work with. 

Patton has told all his friends, which means it’s only a matter of time before Logan finds out, right? Patton’s a sophomore, they’re seniors, and the school is large, but it’s also not as big as it seems. 

Roman, sitting next to him, hums under his breath as he types. He’s editing his college essay, which Declan would be doing if he had a college essay to edit and also cared enough. The atmosphere is strikingly calm, which leads to an anxious buzzing under Declan’s skin. 

Tell him. Just tell him. Just open your mouth and tell him. You’re in a library, he can’t get loud and yell. 

Declan wonders if yelling would be better, actually, than wide eyed stares and wounded expressions. 

He’s contemplating the merits of writing a letter (absolutely not, he doesn’t know why he’s even considering it) when he spots Patton out of the corner of his eye. 

Patton in and of himself does not scare Declan. 

The fact that he’s bee-lining for Declan and his friends does make him a bit nervous, though. 

“Cici,” Patton hisses. The cutesy play on Declan’s middle name sounds odd in such a harsh tone of voice. He glances at Logan before staring at Declan. 

Declan’s starkly aware of Roman and Logan’s attention when he says, “yeah?” 

“You told them?” Patton says, and Declan--

Well. 

A combination of fear and fury and regret zip through his veins at warp speed.

But Declan’s well trained in the art of deception. 

He schools his expression into one of cool indifference. “That I’m taking you for ice cream? Nah. I didn’t think they’d care. You wanna go right now?” 

Roman huffs a laugh, turning his attention back to his computer. Logan doesn’t look away, though, hand resting on a bright yellow flair pen. 

Patton’s brow furrows. “I mean the--”

“Man, if you were that impatient you could’ve texted me,” Declan interrupts with a long, drawn-out sigh. He stands, swinging his backpack over his shoulders. “I’ll see you guys later.” 

“Get me some ice cream next time,” Roman says, grinning. His gaze doesn’t leave his screen. “Bye, loser.” 

“Bye,” Logan echoes. 

Something registers in Declan’s brain-dead skull that Logan sounds lifeless because his best friend has been distant (Declan. Declan is Logan’s best friend). 

Declan pauses, sighs. Patton looks outraged and about two seconds from outing Declan. 

“I’m sorry,” Declan says. Logan looks up at him. “It’s not your fault. Just… I’m going through some things. You deserve to know. I shouldn’t shadow you without any info.” 

Patton looks even angrier, if possible, but then Logan’s talking and Patton hates interrupting people. 

“Okay,” Logan says, soft as ever. “I’ll wait for you.” 

And if that doesn’t make Declan feel like the nastiest motherfucker. 

“Let’s go,” Declan says, pulling Patton along before Patton lets loose. 

He opens his mouth, but Declan beats him to it, whispering, “Shh, we’re in a library.” 

“I cannot fucking believe you,” Patton hisses instead. 

“Language.” 

“You haven’t told them?” Patton exclaims. He yanks his wrist from Declan’s grip but continues following him, arms gesturing wildly. “You’re the worst.” 

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Declan mutters. 

“You better get me ice cream now,” Patton says, crossing his arms. “After making me watch that.” 

“That’s fair,” Declan concedes, and then realizes he’s going to have to spent the next thirty minutes listening to Patton chastise him and -- 

Honestly, he deserves it, but he doesn’t want it, but before he can say anything, Patton says, “don’t even think about escaping this.” 

So he’s stuck listening to Patton chastise him for the next thirty minutes until their next class starts. 

But he gets a turtle sundae out of it, so it’s like, at least 20% a win. 

--

“CICI,” Patton screams from the living room. 

Declan shoots to his feet, tripping and slamming his knee into the doorframe, scrambling to reach Patton as swiftly as possible. He appears at the edge of the living room, hand pressed against the wall, chest heaving, eyes blown wide. “What? What is it?” 

He assesses Patton for damage, but Patton’s standing with his phone clutched between his fingers, shaking ever so slightly but appearing physically fine. He’s staring at Declan, lip trembling. 

“Patton?” Declan says. 

Patton opens his mouth, tears dripping down his cheeks. He sniffs, making an angry noise in the back of his throat as he wipes at his face. “I shouldn’t tell you! I should let you suffer because you’re mean.” 

“Patton,” Declan says, approaching his brother like one might a wild animal. 

Patton shakes his head and Declan stops. 

“I’m upset!” Patton says. Then he lets out a laugh, choked. “But I’m so relieved.”

Declan doesn’t say anything. 

Patton sniffles a few more times, then peeks at Declan through his fingers. Declan tries for a smile, sheepish. Patton smiles back, watery and soft. His shoulders shake as he laughs softly, his phone pressed against his cheek. “I was so scared.” 

“Me too,” Declan says. 

“I’m sorry,” Patton says, the anger draining from his face and leaving a wide-eyed pile of nerves. “I didn’t mean it. You’re not mean. You’re just scared.” 

“It’s okay,” Declan says. His arms hand limply by his sides. He wants to do something with them, to cross his arms or put them in his hoodie pockets or something, but he also wants to leave them available for when Patton wants a hug, so he stands awkwardly instead. “I forgive you.” 

“I’ve been calling Uncle Thomas,” Patton says. 

Declan’s heart does something funny in his chest. 

Patton pulls his hands away from his face, rubbing his cheeks clean, staring at his phone for a few moments before his hand drops, dangling at his side. “He’s -- he said he’s coming here. His job can be done online and the stuff he can’t do online he’ll fly back for which won’t be often, he said it’s important to him that we -- have a support system throughout highschool, and he wants us to finish here before doing anything else.” 

The information barely filters through Declan’s mind because when Patton exhales another sob Declan steps forward and envelops him in his arms on instinct. Patton’s legs go weak. Declan sinks to the ground, Patton pressing his face into Declan’s shoulder. 

“I’m sorry,” Patton mumbles. “I don’t know why I’m crying. This is good. This is good.” 

“Sometimes emotions have a funny way of showing,” Declan says. He runs his fingers through Patton’s hair, untangling the curls. “You’ve been stressed. It’s okay.” 

“Why aren’t you crying?” Patton says. He taps his palm against Declan’s chest, reminiscent of a smack without any of the power. “It’s not fair.”

Declan laughs, sort of. “I might later. I don’t know. Emotions are weird.” 

“You never told your friends you were moving,” Patton says. “Will they ever find out?” 

“Probably,” Declan says. He squeezes Patton. “I know you told your friends. It’s better your way. Even if it doesn’t feel like it.” 

“Mm.” 

Declan can feel the rise and fall of Patton’s chest. It slows as Patton calms down. “We don’t have to move,” Patton murmurs. 

“We don’t have to move,” Declan agrees, and Patton presses even closer. 

--

Declan doesn’t know how he finds his way to the beach but at one point he’s baking Patton cookies and the next he’s sitting on a slab of concrete overlooking the pitch dark waves. He knows Patton is sleeping, or is at least pretending to sleep. He vaguely remembers writing a note in case Patton looks for him. 

It’s been three days since Patton discovered Uncle Thomas’s moving plans. Discovered? Convinced? Declan isn’t sure. 

And he doesn’t really know how to react. He’s been moving on autopilot, making dinner, doing homework, putting in minimal effort into his friendships so they don’t abandon him on the side of the road -- 

No. Declan shakes his head. Putting minimal effort into his friendships because his friends don’t deserve to be cut off without a word. 

Nothing feels right. 

(Something is off). 

He hears footsteps and before he can whip around, before fear has the chance to truly take over his body, he hears, “this seat taken?” 

“No,” Declan says, and Logan sits next to him on the concrete. They’re quiet for a few moments, watching the reflection of the moon, tasting salt on their tongues. 

“Will you tell me what’s going on?” Logan says finally. 

Declan closes his eyes, breathes. His emotions are all tangled up in his chest and he doesn’t want to tap into it for fear that if he lets out a little he’ll let out everything. 

But Logan deserves to know. 

(He deserves someone better.)

“My mom lost,” Declan says, which sounds nicer than it did in his head. “She’s unfit to care for us, anyway, but now she’s officially calling prison her new home.” 

Logan’s quiet. Declan listens to his breathing. He spies Logan’s hand against the concrete and longs to close the distance and entangle their fingers, just for a modicum of physical comfort. The slightest hint of warmth permeates the air around Logan and Declan wants to lean closer, to press their arms together. 

“My Uncle, on my dad’s side, is taking care of us. He… wasn’t originally going to move here, but Patton talked to him and he decided moving here is the best course of action.” Declan shifts. He doesn’t know how to say it. He doesn’t know how to explain. 

Logan stops breathing. 

“I almost lost you,” he says, and it’s barely a whisper. 

Declan glances at him and can barely comprehend the amount of horror shining in Logan’s eyes. Logan’s staring at him, expression open and terrified. “I almost…” He exhales, shaking. Declan watches him so closely he can see the sticking of his chest as he breathes, the tremor of his shoulders. 

Declan’s heart stutters and he wants to tear his gaze away but he owes, he owes Logan this. Even though the only thing he wants to do is run away, to preserve himself. “I -- I never told you,” Declan says, more scared than he has been in a long time. He opens his mouth and stops, shrinking away. He looks over Logan’s shoulder, unable to maintain eye contact. “We were supposed to leave two days ago. I was going to tell you and then…” 

Then I found out that I’m in love with you, and it freaked me out so much I closed myself off. 

Logan’s truly shaking, and Declan doesn’t know what to do. You caused this. This is your fault. 

“Ugh! I’m sorry,” Declan exclaims. He can’t stand this, these tentative moments, fragile as glass. He wants to take a hammer to the whole affair. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not much but I was scared, and it’s not a valid excuse, but I was terrified, Logan, I couldn’t leave you! You mean too much to me!” 

“You mean a lot to me too,” Logan says, but Declan’s on a roll, now, there’s no stopping the hurricane in his heart. 

He moves his gaze to the waves, finding solace and energy in the constancy. “I was going to tell you when we were hanging out a few weeks ago in your room, and then I freaked out because -- and then I left, and haven’t been able to figure out how to word it since, and Patton’s better than I am, he told his friends almost immediately, imagine, having worse emotional competency than a fifteen year old--”

“Roman found out,” Logan says, grinding Declan’s tangent to a halt. “He mentioned something to me but I needed to hear it from you.” 

Declan stares at him. 

“I asked Patton if you were at home,” Logan explains. Declan can barely tell in the shadows, but Logan’s face seems to darken. “When he said no, I knew there was one other place you would go. Probably.” 

Declan worries his lip. He’s that predictable? 

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Logan asks, quiet. 

“Because…” Liquid anxiety slogs through his veins. His voice drops, quiet, quieter than the sound of waves. “Because I think I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified.” 

For a second all he can hear is the crash of the sea and his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He doesn’t know why the moon isn’t falling from the sky, why the stars haven’t combusted, because his world feels like it’s falling apart at the seams. 

“I discovered that,” Declan continues, the words slipping between his lips before his mind has any say in the matter, “and didn’t know what to do, and then I needed to tell you I was leaving, and I love you, and I couldn’t. Because I’m a coward.” 

Another beat. Declan takes a long breath. “I still love you. And I’m no longer leaving.” 

“I suppose… now would be a bad time to bring up demiromanticism?” Logan tries. 

“It would be a terrible time, but thank you,” Declan says, and he can’t help the small puff of laughter that escapes. 

“I love you too,” Logan says, then, and Declan can’t breathe. 

He turns to Logan without thinking, searching his sapphire blue eyes for deception even though Logan has never, ever lied to him. He can’t hope, he can’t dare to hope, the world would never give him two miracles. “Don’t trick me.” 

“I’m in love with you,” Logan clarifies, nervous. His hands are wringing together and he’s biting his lip. 

Declan reaches out, fingers trembling, to brush against Logan’s cheek. “You…”

“I’ve been in love with you,” Logan says. He’s looking down, away from Declan’s gaze, but he leans into his touch. “For awhile. I never wanted to bring it up because… you were so adamant about being separate from romance…”

“I thought I was,” Declan says honestly. “Which is why this is a real fucking trip, let me tell you.” 

Logan laughs, and some of the tension in the air dissolves. “I can imagine.” 

“God, I love you,” Declan says. He brushes his thumb underneath Logan’s eye. 

“I love you too,” Logan says, eyes wide and sparkling, then he moves forward and cradles Declan’s head in his hands and Declan short circuits because he’s right there he’s RIGHT THERE and he’s touching him he loves him he loves him--

“You’re gorgeous,” Logan says, and Declan just stares at him dumbly because his mouth stops working. His heart is barely going, the only reason he’s not dead is because his body has some sort of instinctive survival instinct, or something. 

Emotion clog his throat and Declan doesn’t know how he’s not sobbing already so he’s unsurprised when the smallest tear slips out of his eye. 

“Oh,” Logan says, wiping the tear away. “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s -- it’s not -- it’s not you,” Declan chokes out. “God. This is so embarrassing.” 

“I don’t care,” Logan says. He leans closer, pressing their foreheads together and staring into Declan’s eyes. “It’s okay to cry.” 

Declan smiles thinly, blinking away tears. “I don’t deserve you.” 

Logan stares at him, brows furrowing. “What?”

“You’re so beautiful,” Declan says. His trembling hands hold Logan’s jaw. “And you’re so smart and passionate, and you have the most wicked sense of humor, and you’re my best friend.” 

“No,” Logan shakes his head. “I mean, I am your best friend, but there’s no deserve in a relationship. We’re just people. People make mistakes. I make mistakes. Please don’t sell yourself short.” 

Declan wants to say that only proves how good Logan truly is, but he settles for a simple, “Okay.” 

Logan brushes hair out of Declan’s eyes, then sighs, dropping his head to Declan’s shoulder. Declan’s hands slide down to Logan’s upper back.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Declan says. 

“I’m glad you’re here too,” Logan replies, muffled. He pulls away for a split second, eyes blurry and a crease already showing from his glasses pressing into his skin. “But if you withhold life-altering information like that from me again there will be issues.” 

“I won’t,” Declan says. He swallows. He hates promises. He hates them, because he never feels like he can maintain them. “I’ll… I’ll try my hardest.” 

Logan searches his gaze, nods, and then presses fully into Declan. 

“Woah, okay.” Declan shifts as Logan clings to him like a koala bear. Logan’s basically in his lap and Declan, well. Declan has no complaints. 

“I can do this as much as I want because we’re in love with each other,” Logan mutters, and wow, if that doesn’t send a thousand vibrations across his skin. In love with each other. 

Declan grins. He likes the sound of that. 

“You know,” Logan says conversationally. His fingers trail up to press against Declan’s face, outlining his lips. “I love it when you smile.” 

Declan hums, his smile broadening. Me too, Logan. 

Me too.

[atsumus]

for the sleepover saturday: what are your thoughts on the hq time skip in general? :)

asdhfkjsdf thanks for this ask!! the answer got a bit long and obviously contains lots of spoilers for anime-only fans, so it’s under the cut!

General

Tbh, I think the whole timeline is a little confusing because of all the back and forth skips and flashbacks. I had to read it a second time and pay close attention to really figure it out, but I think I got it now.. So in 2015 the Karasuno 3rd years graduate from high school, Kageyama goes straight to V.League, Hinata prepares one year for Rio and actually goes abroad early 2016, meeting Oikawa there. Oikawa graduated 2013 and has been in Argentina ever since. In August 2016 Kageyama took part in the Rio Olympics, meaning he was in Rio too for a couple of weeks. The story is partly told from Yachi’s perpective in 2017. And then we skip to November 2018 for the Adlers vs. BJs game.

I really love all the knew hairstyles!!! They. all. look. so. good. My favourites are probably Kageyama and Miya Atsumu (I know that was to be expected, I admit haha). In general, they look all so grown up now asdhjaksfd and I really like that canonically they’re finally all older lol. When I got into Haikyuu I was fresh out of high school and only 17, so I could at least still kind of relate, but considering it’s already been 6 years for me and that i’m 23 now.... that was one of the reasons why I was less and less into it. Now that they’re pretty much my age, it feels better again haha

And I love that we saw (almost) everyone again and got to know what they pursued after high school! Besides all the ones who went pro (I love that Hyakuzawa acutally made it!!) I think i love Kenma’s future the most (Osamu’s is close second though). It’s funny and it’s suiting him so well!! And I’m really happy he and Hinata stayed friends! Where the fuck is Iwaizumi though????? And Tendou?????? And Kuroo??????? I NEED TO KNOW!!!

And I think Washijo and his wife are really cute, and I’m happy that he’s rooting for Hinata and that Hinata was able to show him that height does’t necessarily is a handicap.

I like that everyone who was friends in high school is shown to meet again or at least still be in touch now and then. It’s probably the most unrealistic thing ever because people don’t stay that well in touch after graduating and doing entirely different things in different cities etc., but it’s fan pleasing and I’m extremely thankful that we got that!!

And I love that everyone has kept their main traits (like for example Bokuto still being silly, Ushijima still being stoic, Sakusa still being a germaphobe and so on), but that they all grew up and got character development at the same time. Once again, everything is really well-written and I love all the new information and backstories we’re getting asdhjkasfjk

Also I love both the Adlers and the BJs! Very interesting teams with interesting players. I love the dynamic of the BJs, Atsumu somehow being the “team mom” and having to deal with all the others cracks me up so much and in general it’s hilarious to see them interact!! Also so! many! rivalries! Atsumu and Kageyama, Hinata and Kageyama, Hinata and Hoshiumi, Sakusa and Ushijima...

I like the twist that Karausno lost and never won an inter high. Of course I was sad to see them lose, but it just makes so much sense from the writer’s point of view, you know what I mean? It wouldn’t have been realistic for them to just win, especially not the first time. And it wouldn’t have made any sense to let them lose and then introduce new first years next year and start all over again, that would’ve been really anticlimactic. And like that we got to see everyone’s futures and get to see them play on an even bigger stage and most importantly, Haikyuu was always going to end with Hinata playing vs. Kageyama again, and the way it happened is pretty well written in my opinion. I still don’t entirely like that it made this turn, I really wasn’t prepared for it to end so soon, but it’s brilliant.

In in general, thinking about how Haikyuu is going to end extremely soon is breaking my heart. I do hope that after the Adlers vs. BJs game something else is still going to happen, but I kind of doubt it. I mean, it’s not going to be immediately over the moment the third set is over, but you I doubt there’ll be another game. Also Hinata probably has to win for this to make sense. Ahhh, I just really don’t want it to end!!! :(

I think the fact that he went to Rio to play beach volleyball suits him really well, and it was an extremely interesting plot twist! I loved how Hinata made friends with his new roommate, that was really cute, and of course, Hinata and Oikawa’s selfie!!! Such a piece of art haha. And as I already explained in another post, there are signs that Oikawa might actually be the one who texted it to Kageyama which makes this even funnier. And I totally loved how Kageyama showed the picture to Ushijima, the way he just grabbed his arm as if it was the most normal thing in the world. I’d love to think that they’ve kind of become friends by now since they’ve probably already been on the same team for quite a while.

Tanaka and Kiyoko got married!!!! I absolutely didn’t expect any relationship to become canon at all, so I was really surprised. I already liked that one scene when she let him carry her bag before the time skip and now this!!!! So cute, I like it

Kageyama and Ushijima giving autographs!!!! Just!!!!!

Kageyama

I never doubted that he’d become a pro and that he’d make the national team, but actually seeing it become canon really, really makes me happy! I’m so proud of him! He looks so happy! And he gets closure, if that makes sense? In high school Ushijima told him that he wouldn’t have been welcome at Shiratorizawa because his setting isn’t good enough for him, and now he’s setting for him! And he gets to play against Hinata on eye-level on such a huge stage, that’s pretty much what this whole story was aiming at from the beginning and we’re finally seeing it happen! And the whole king of the court metaphor, the one thing that scared him so much now being something he can be proud of, amazing. And not to forget his his weird curry commercial, it made me laugh so hard adhjkasflk

Also Kageyama is one of the two main characters and we had to wait 387 chapters for him to actually get a family and a full backstory like wtf??? I mean, his parents still don’t have names or faces, but at least we now know they exist and we got to know his sister (he has as sister ahsdasdjklaf) and his grandfather. I really, really loved that chapter. So many feels. I think it was told really well. And baby tobio is just so. damn. cute!

But it also really broke my heart.. parents that aren’t home much, a sister who is so much older she apparently moved out by the time he started high school, his grandfather (who he seemed to be closest to) died some time before he started high school, and to top it all off, it still looks a lot like he really didn’t have any friends and was mocked and all he really had was volleyball..

Also I love that it’s confirmed that Kageyama grew up with volleyball and had someone in the family who taught him. That’s always been one of my headcanons (and I know it’s been like this for a lot of other people too)

And Kageyama’s grandfather said so many nice and smart things. I love that Kageyama told him about Oikawa and that he was the one who told him they were rivals now. I love that he taught Kageyama to always take care of his nails and stuff like that. I love that he encouraged Kageyama to always be his best and not hold back and that he told him that people who are even more amazing will find him if he continues. I also love how he reacted when Kageyama’s sister said she was going to quit volleyball.

And I love the panel where Kageyama remembers that his grandfather told him that amazing people will find him and all the important players that are currently in the Adlers vs. BJs game are next to it AND OIKAWA, who isn’t even currently around (or is he??). Oikawa pretty much was the first amazing person that found him after all, I’m so glad that was aknowledged!

Oikawa

So he apparently went to Argentina very shortly after his high school graduation, so sometime in 2013. Right now in canon we already have November 2018. That means, if Oikawa really hasn’t come back to Japan in the meantime (we last saw him early 2016 when he met Hinata in Rio), he’s already abroad for more than five years!! That’s such a long time!

I’m not entirely sure I like that he went abroad tbh. I mean, it’s cool, it suits him, but if that means we’re not gonna see him again.... It was nice to see him again in Rio with Hinata, but I’d much rather see him play and interact again with lots of the others. I really want him to play against Ushijima and Kageyama again and also against Iwaizumi! I love that we got to see Oikawa happy and confident and all, and that definitely is some form of closure, but not the same kind of closure the other characters are currently getting.

But I absolutely adore that the person giving Oikawa advice all the way back somewhere in chapter 146 was in fact José Blanco. What a twist. Beautifully done. I already loved that scene so much, now it means even more to me. And an absolutely valid explanation for why he’d do something crazy like go to Argentina right after high school, so once again, extremely well-written!

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I still have a little bit of hope left. The fact that he says to Hinata that he shouldn’t forget that he’s going to beat everyone and that the stage he’s going to play at hasn’t changed could be seen as some sort of foreshadowing. And of course also that Iwaizumi, who we haven’t seen again yet, declared that he will defeat Oikawa in the future. And that Oikawa said to Kageyama that it’s only one loss and one victory each, they stll have a score to settle. And that Oikawa never managed to defeat Ushijima. However, with the whole series aiming at Kageyama vs. Hinata, I sort of doubt there’ll be another match after Adlers vs. BJs, it unfortunately just doesn’t make much sense from the writer’s perspective... but we’ll see. I’ll continue to hope until the manga officially ends.

Miya Atsumu + Miya Osamu

So Atsumu apparently made the national team too! I would really, really, really love to see him and Kageyama play together ashdjasdjkf. But I’m also really, really happy that they’re playing against each other currently and that the sparks are still flying.

Also I just love the Miya twins so so sooooo much. And I love how their relationship turned out, especially considering that Osamu didn’t really trust Atsumu and was annoyed by him most of the time. Knowing that they’d go separate ways after high school could’ve meant two things, either they grow apart or their relationship gets better because they get more space and because they get to be more individual and pursue what makes them happy.

And I really love how happy they are with what they chose and how happy they are for each other! Osamu cheering Atsumu on and Atsumu being interested in the food Osamu makes. I don’t think we’ve ever seenOsamu watch a game before and actually look happy and excited. I love that they still hang out and talk and support each other.

[yoshifawful64]

For the meme: Neyla or Clockwerk! (who's the better villain?)

Ooh, this is a tough one — not just because they’re both fantastic villains, but also because (despite the whole Clock-La thing) they’re two very different approaches to villainy, and thus a bit harder to compare.

Like, Clockwerk’s this huge imposing centuries-old supervillain, you know? The sheer intimidation factor is super high with him, and in more than one way he kind of transcends everyone else, on a pedestal of notoriety and threat level that practically no one else can hold a candle to. Just the idea of a single person systematically hunting down and killing every single member of a family for eons, for no other reason than a hatred strong enough to overcome death itself, is a chilling concept. All that talk about being “superior” may not have been true, but it wasn’t exactly unfounded either — just by being who and what he is, Clockwerk creates a massive distance between himself and everyone else in the entire series, and that’s a big part of what makes him such an imposing and iconic figure.

In contrast, Neyla is nearly the complete opposite — she initially seems down-to-earth and streetwise, not to mention a friendly ally (and even a potential love interest). She gives off the impression that she’s just another regular person, if a little wilier and more informed than most. Then, of course, she starts revealing her true colours and almost methodically betraying every single person she’s met. Instead of evil lairs and death rays, she operates on a much smaller (yet no less effective) scale, by simply forging friendships and alliances, getting those people to trust her so she can get whatever she can out of them, then pulling the rug out from under them at the perfect moment. It’s impressive, too, how despite all the backstabbing, she still manages to give off the impression that she’s working for someone, just a piece of some bigger plan, until the very end where she finally reveals the only side she’s ever been playing for — her own. It’s a clever series of twists that is, in a sense, just one big twist, and I think that’s really brilliant. All this makes Neyla a villain that keeps surprising and never stays out of the narrative for too long, and her presence is felt throughout the whole game.

It’s a close and difficult choice, but ultimately, I think I’ll have to go with Neyla. I think Clockwerk’s unapproachableness kind of ends up being a double-edged sword — it gives him an unparalleled air of menace and gravity, yes, but it also makes him feel like he lacks depth a little; we only really know him for doing one thing, even if he does do it very well. I really think he could’ve used just a little more fleshing out — I agree too much knowledge could ruin his character, but I hold that he could’ve benefited from a just a vague hint or two about the origin of his feud, or a bit more foreshadowing in the first game. As is, he kind of turns up at the end without any real buildup beyond the (admittedly very ominous) cutscene right before his episode starts.

In comparison, you have a very personal stake in beating Neyla unlike all the others who are just mad at Sly’s dad. And not only has your relationship with her changed from friendly to hostile, her power level’s been steadily growing throughout the game too — from a lone constable to a skilled manipulator, then a police captain with enough authority to command an army of tanks and planes, and finally a mastermind on the cusp of immortality and likely world domination. Neyla’s there from start to finish, doing her best at every turn to manipulate events to her favour; she’s an active force who often dictates what direction the story goes in a way that Clockwerk never did.

[simpingforthehunt]

The Mourner's Kaddish

This episode is my favourite for many reasons. The Hunt introduction was really funny and well filmed. I really love music, and this was an episode I could kind of connect with because of that. Although, do not get me started on how AWFUL Take a Chance by ABBA is. Love ABBA, hate that song specifically. The slow uncovering of a bigger plan, especially at the last scene of the episode. Lastly, Roxy. I elaborate on that in this post.

Masterlist

Warnings:

Antisemitism (obviously), Spoilers for the show

Characters:

Jonah - This is the episode where he's proper introduced to The Hunt, and the darkness. It's overwhelming for him, and while he knew they killed it was still traumatic to watch. I liked the dynamics between Jonah and each character in this episode. Jonah had gone through so much already in the show, and he's lost. The Hunt is something that soon will become a family for him, but for now they scare the hell out of him.

Lonny - Portrayed by Josh Radnor.

I love Lonny, and this episode gave a fantastic introduction to him. Josh Radnor, especially, was the perfect casting choice. He's the comic relief character, and yet still has such an interesting backstory that makes him even more fun to watch. Lonny was the first one of The Hunt to warm up to Jonah and accept him, calling him a Jew-per hero (which still kills me whenever I hear it, that's so funny). I also really love how Lonny kind of becomes Jonah's big brother in the group.

Roxy - Portrayed by Tiffany Boone.

Every single time I see Tiffany Boone on screen, I gay panic. She's not only extremely beautiful, she's insanely talented. There's so much about Roxy we don’t know, and so much I want to find out. We knew she has a daughter, and that Meyer is paying her while she's in The Hunt. But what's her backstory? Is there more to the reason she joined? There's so much about her that needs to be unraveled.

Joe - Portrayed by Louis Ozawa.

He's got a hard exterior, and for good reason. Joe fought in the Vietnam War, and his trauma affects him daily. Of course, we don’t know that about Joe quite yet. All we see of him is this guarded asshole that hates Jonah immediately. Like Roxy, there isn’t much we know about his backstory but I'm excited to see more of it in S2.

Harriet - Portrayed by Kate Mulvany.

I still don't know what to think of Harriet, but I definitely don’t trust her. Obviously more of that will be explained as I continue with this series, but she’s already mysterious. Views Jonah as a child because he did live a pretty guarded life. I do generally like her, but I want to know more about this double agent thing or whatever’s going on. I have a feeling she’ll grow soft for The Hunt, and choose to be with them after everything.

Mindy - Portrayed by Carol Kane. 

Words will never fully describe my love for Carol Kane. I have seen her in multiple different roles, and she’s absolutely incredible! Mindy becoming Jonah’s sort of adoptive Bubbe after Ruth passes is really heartwarming, and as time goes on you see Jonah trusting her and Murray the most. I also love how they wrote her as the stereotypical grandmother, it’s so funny!

Murray - Portrayed by Saul Rubinek. 

Murray will forever remain one of my favourite characters, and I love how he becomes the Zayde that Jonah never had. Murray and Mindy’s old married couple relationship is absolutely perfect and they’re so cute. For one of the few romantic relationships present in the show, it’s perfect. 

Meyer - Last post I talked about him being Dumbledore, but I never touched on my thoughts on that *twist* at the end. I will get more into it when we get to that episode, but I notice a lot of people think that the twist was lazy. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I personally don’t think it was. Lazy would be pulling a “Gossip Girl” and deciding who The Wolf is last minute. They took the time to think it through, and it was clear. Within the subtle foreshadowing of the eventual reveal, and the moments where you second-guess the thought of him not being Meyer  - even during a rewatch - I think it was really well done. Sure, when push comes to shove it was predictable, but I personally think from a creative and writing standpoint it was well done. 

Millie - I feel like most Millie analyses will be me just simping over her, but I really love her character. The way she draws conclusions, and finds the truth is really amazing and I’m so glad to see a character like her for once. Usually, they’ll make character's dumb enough that even the obvious will make you want to scream at them, but I find it so satisfying to watch Millie and root for her because she’s really good at her job.

What I liked:

The opening scene was honestly kinda cool. They did force the prisoners to play music in the camps irl, and I like the choice of Hava Nagila. 

The fact that they named the Bat Mitzvah girl Ruchel after Jonah mentioned the over-the-pants handjob from Ruchel Rubenstein

Why the used a Bat Mitzvah for the introduction is beyond me but it worked So Well

Like come on 

Come Pray with Me

A Couple of Chabad-Asses 

The fact that all Joe did was look at the camera 

I’m gay and Roxy made me panic 

Lonny in general 

The Matchmaker scene followed by Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof (hey, I’m a theatre gay XD)

“That’s the Jewist shit I’ve ever heard”

I died when Lonny said “Judah Macca-bro”

RATED J FOR JEWTASTIC 

Roxy teasing Jonah about the codebreaker thing 

Finding out Millie’s a lesbian I went !!!!! on the inside

What I didn’t like:

There’s some tired tropes, and one of them is viewing the newbie as a kid 

Like,,, it makes sense for Harriet 

But other than that I’m like: dislike that he’s a part of it, but approach it differently. Y’know?

Holstedder SLAMS THE PIANO KEYS 

It hurts me 

Like obviously he’s softer on them throughout 

But there are moments where you can HEAR the piano strings straining because he’s hitting them too hard 

I love music and especially piano, so whenever someone does that it hurts 

Travis

I do not need to elaborate on that 

The Hansel and Gretel thing

It makes sense, and ruined my childhood

Why this specific thing wasn't okay:

In the camps, the dentists only pulled the GOLD teeth from either the alive Jews or the gassed ones. So the tin full of teeth personally made me uncomfy and it was just a bit much.

Explaining specific things the best I can:

The Mourner’s Kaddish is said in honour of the deceased. Only people that are grieving based on the yahrzeit (anniversary) stand while reciting it. My synagogue sings it rather than speaks it, but it depends on the synagogue.

Theories:

I think Sommers is still alive. 

Okay so we see Travis leave his place, clearly having killed and cleaned up a crime scene. However, Sommers is only labelled missing. I feel like there’s more to his story and his partnership with Millie. I just hope they at least pick up his storyline for a couple episodes to close it off.

[janevillanueva]

jane & rafael: telenovela loves & true love interests.

disclaimer: this post/essay will discuss michael, but it’s not meant to open the door to anger or discourse. he’s just part of the story. this is not an anti-anything post and he will not be tagged, neither will the ship. if you are gonna argue, please don’t. this is meant to be a civil post. thank you! ♡

jane the virgin is a cw show based on the 2002 venezuelan telenovela juana la virgen. while some factors are altered for american television, jtv carries the same key elements as it’s telenovela counterpart and for all intents and purposes is a telenovela. under the cut i’m gonna get into what that means and how/why it shapes the show and jane’s love story. this is long so apologies if you’re on mobile.

a common misconception among non-latinos is that a telenovela is simply a soap opera in spanish. while the two share similarities a telenovela is a condensed story told over the course of about nine months. it is usually a story of rivaling families and/or a love story in the vein of cinderella or pride and prejudice. a telenovela has to be a balancing act. it has to be unpredictable and ridiculous, but have a soft landing at the end. it throws endless drama and twists at you, but the ending is always fundamentally the same. you know the story - and that is not a bad thing.

because of this, if you are familiar with telenovelas, you immediately know that jtv is jane and rafael’s story. jane and rafael’s relationship being messy is what makes them the main couple. telenovela couples are a disaster, and we love them for it. we eat up their forbidden romance, their fights in the rain, their longing. now, with that comes a lot of “problematic” and “toxic” behavior. it’s a staple. there are age differences, power imbalances, fights, potential incest, MURDER. you name it, there is a telenovela plot. if you look at it from a telenovela pov jane and rafael are actually pretty tame. but they still are a telenovela couple. and some of those trademark things are part of their story because they are an ode to the genre. and the drama is their driving force.

for me, being team rafael was never about who the better man was or who “deserved” jane. it was “this is a telenovela and this is their story.” rooting for them was about the culture i know and hoping the show would respect that and the source material. it was “THIS IS THE STORY.”

what i love, however, is how they also challenge what that means. yes, they fight. jane is judgmental of other people and rafael shuts off emotionally. they scream at each other. they do all of that. and it turns some people off. but what they also do is is talk. they communicate.

think about early s4, probably the worst raf has ever been. he fucks up big time. but it’s a learning experience for him. the show does not excuse him. he gets hit by a car, he sits with jane on the floor and acknowledges that he fucked up. he cries to her, with her and realizes he has to do things differently. and this is just one example. later that season he reads jane’s writing and finds she wrote about michael, he feels shitty - but in the end they talk, he apologizes and gets her a private writing space. every fuck up, every choice, is something that brings jane and rafael closer and makes them change toward becoming right for each other. i have no doubt they were in love in season one, but they weren’t right for each other yet. 

this is where jane and michael come in.

i say this with no malice: michael was a false romantic lead. he was a plot device. i always knew this. it sounds mean, but i don’t mean it to. it’s just a fact. that isn’t to say people who ship them are invalid, but in no way were they ever cheated or lied to by the writers. they just misunderstood the story.

the very crux of the jtv love triangle is being practical and safe vs. following your heart and being brave. i’m not going to deny jane loved michael, just like i’m not gonna deny she loved adam. love often comes many times and teaches us things every time. but a lot of jane’s love for michael came from having a plan and it being simple. from what xo and alba wanted for her, not what she wanted for herself. it fit in a binder. with michael she had settled into the idea of being a teacher, which was not her dream, and by age 23 (a baby!) she was looking forward to marriage.

(sidenote: lbr, she wanted to have sex. from a narrative pov jane marries michael so early in the show so she can have sex in future seasons while still keeping the traditional telenovela wedding series finale. it’s a bridge and a way to extend the long journey to her finding her way to rafael again.)

none of this is to say a simple life is a bad life. but we know that in jane’s heart that is not, and never has been, the life she truly wants. she loves telenovelas because she loves the idea that two people are meant to be together, she loves romance novels and she loves writing. jane plays it safe because she has the catholic mindset drilled into her by alba, and has tried not to repeat xo’s mistakes. her life is about caution, but that isn’t what her heart wants. she has big dreams. but no one who pushes her outside of her comfort zone to follow those dreams, or even simply acknowledges her as a writer. until rafael. 

and rafael is not michael. they are very, very different relationships. raf is not simple. he is a complex character and a flawed one as well. he is a telenovela lead. “i’m your romantic hero. i may be flawed, but i’m yours.” in season one jane and rafael love each other magnetically. they love each other because of their destiny. and at that time, it’s not enough. they BOTH have to change. rafael more so, of course. but even rafael being the one who changes his reality to have a life with jane is foreshadowed in season one with alba’s story about grandpa mateo giving up his money to be with her. when you look at it from a telenovela lens, it’s wonderful to see rafael go from someone who is drowning in money and doesn’t know how to ride a bus, to someone who takes a real estate job and a one bedroom apartment to support jane’s dream because he WANTS to. because that’s who he has become. does he have selfish moments? yes. but everyone does. everyone on the show fucks up and is shady because that is the dna of the show.

but rafael is a character who is ironically overlooked by parts of the fandom because of his looks and how it’s “all we like about him,” when his looks aren’t what make him interesting. to understand rafael, you have to pay attention to his entire arc, not just parts of it. he’s someone who has carried trauma and abandonment issues since he was a child. his mother left him and his dad treated him like garbage. he fundamentally believes everyone will leave him. and as much as we adore her now, petra was his wife and cheated on him - after they lost a child. and he had cancer.

rafael has known loss and that shapes his behavior. it’s why he makes the mistake of pushing jane away end of season one. and it’s also why he holds on so tightly to the hotel. because for the longest time it was the one thing that was his. and the idea that he could lose that too drives him crazy. because what else does he have? that doesn’t make it okay, but it makes it understandable. and i think so much hostility for rafael/jafael comes from misunderstanding.

on the other hand, michael is probably the main character we know the least about. outside of being jane’s love interest we know basically nothing about him. we meet his family briefly and in passing. who is he outside of the context of jane? what was his childhood, what are his own issues? we never see them. the most he changes is in montana, off screen. this isn’t to talk shit, it’s to point out that he was never the true love interest.

when michael “died,” i knew there was no way in hell he was actually dead. it’s the oldest trick in the telenovela book. michael’s death was to bring jane back to rafael. but it’s important to remember that she doesn’t run right back to raf, and he doesn’t expect her to. jane mourns, she grieves, and dates around while rafael undergoes his own journey and growth. michael’s false death taught jane that life is unpredictable and can’t always be planned for. it’s only after years that she and rafael fall back in love. and those years of growth allow for them to become friends first and foremost. friendship is the most important aspect of a relationship and what they were missing season one. they really KNOW each other, which was the argument michael had before. that they didn’t know each other.

rafael is not the same person at the end of the show as he was in the beginning. we see that change happen. we know his family, his past, his issues. and that doesn’t mean he doesn’t backslide sometimes because of the fact that. 1. recovery and healing is not linear. and 2. again, telenovelas thrive on drama. but his core values have changed drastically to match jane’s. at the end of s5 they are at a place they can openly discuss their problems before they become bigger and we know they will have a life filled with joy.

jane and rafael’s romance is all interconnected. season two and five in particular. season five people thought rafael was being unfair, and perhaps he was a bit. but him shutting himself off isn’t just because michael came back. after all, he brought him back. it’s because michael came back, jane assured him nothing changed and then things… started to change. (and i don’t fault jane for having to explore.) he sees what happened in season two start to happen all over again and he’s scared. he doesn’t shut himself off to hurt jane, he does it to save himself and his mental health. he is, quite literally, triggered. because he’s mentally ill. and while they could have done it better, the show does address it. which would never happen on a telenovela.  where a original telenovela lead would say, “leave michael or i’ll just fucking die without you.” rafael says, “leave me so i can survive you choosing him again.” no one should feel like a second choice and it isn’t inherently selfish for him to put his mental health first. the fact is this: people contain multitudes. rafael did help jane through her grief, that doesn’t go away. but when circumstances change, they change.

after jane married michael rafael felt like a second choice. but i think he was always her first choice. if he hadn’t ended things in season one, things would be different. but he did. and she went back to what was easy, and chose to try to act like her old life hadn’t been changed. but it had. even if michael hadn’t died she still would have found her way back to raf. and if rafael hadn’t taken her back, she wouldn’t have gone back to michael. that doesn’t mean marrying michael was the WRONG choice at the time, but it’s not her choice anymore. michael coming back had to happen because it let jane have full authority over her choice and let her choice have meaning. jane had practical before and CHOSE to be brave. she grieved and moved on to find happiness again. she saw the life she wants to have and wants to have it with rafael because he has become her best friend and person that knows her reality best for four years.

i spent a lot of years thinking about what the petals falling mean. obviously, they were foreshadowing a wedding. their wedding song is “una flor” by juanes. but more so, flowers bloom naturally in miami, while snow had to be manufactured. jane and rafael are also centered around water. water symbolizes fertility,  freedom, change and rebirth. 

jafael is about them seeing each other, and loving each other. even the bad parts and even through the hard times. it was about them coming to KNOW and love each other and help each other be the best and fullest versions of themselves. it was about them finding even ground after the long struggle for it and finally finding commitment and compromise between two very different and stubborn people who were destined to be together but chose that destiny as one they want to live and make it a reality. in the end they are soulmates, lovers and friends.

what i’m saying is that you don’t have to like jane and rafael. but i wish there was more respect for the fact that their relationship is tied to a long and well loved culture. and they themselves are an ode to a very well loved relationship in an already existing telenovela. jtv is a retelling/remake. them ending up together and their journey getting there was made for a latino audience first and foremost, who (mostly) would know and understand the story in it’s messy glory. jtv is jane and rafael’s story, told by their son, with symbolism and foreshadowing the ENTIRE show. it is layered, and the opposite of “superficial.”

tdlr: they honor the telenovela couple by being messy, but they challenge them by always lovingly cleaning up that mess afterwards. and i love that. there’s nothing wrong with loving that.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Death Fake Out Foreshadows, Part 1

Morning Everyone! So, in the vid I did last week, I talked about a wacky theory I haven’t presented to you, yet. I’m going to try and get that theory to you in the next few days. The final part may stray into next week. I’m not sure, yet. But I’m going to give it to you in 3 parts. When I first sent it to my fellow theoriests for their thoughts, it was hella long. So I’m gonna divide it into three parts for you so you don’t get overwhelmed.

This theory formed from doing rewatches of S7 and S8, which I’m still working my way through. As with most things, I could definitely be wrong in my interpretation, but once the theory formed, I started seeing evidence of it EVERYWHERE. But of course there’s no way to be 100% about this sort of thing.

Today, I’m going to talk about the walker (or Ezekiel, if we’re talking about 9x01 ;D) through the floor theme, which I touched on in the video about the Big Spot.

Let’s do a quick review.

The symbol I fixated on was the walker falling through the ceiling at the Big Spot and sort of hanging from ropes or cords or whatever those are supposed to be (his intestines?). See, I’ve always thought that specific thing (walker through the roof) foreshadowed Beth’s arc in some way. But I couldn’t figure out how. I remember actually thinking about it in previous seasons but being kind of mystified. Of course, in a general way we could point to it, because of all the other obvious symbolism at the Big Spot (colors, background items) but I felt like there was more to that walker falling through, and I didn’t know what.

I’d even connected it to the Hole in the Roof theory, which is still viable, but ultimately still quite vague. My instinct on this really wasn’t confirmed until we saw Ezekiel do the exact same thing at the museum in 9x01. In fact, that’s when I first started saying Zeke would get a death fake out, because I immediately connected it to the Big Spot. It’s one of those symbols I’d been keeping an eye for a long time. 

So I was thinking about how to explain this symbol and I had the thought that, while I have no doubt it points to the death fake outs, it’s a little bit strange because we don’t ALWAYS see it. What I mean is, we saw it around Bethyl (Big Spot) and around Carzekiel (museum) but I don’t remember specifically seeing this around Richonne or Glaggie. …or did we? I had this light bulb moment where I went, “wait a minute. Glenn was at the Big Spot, too.” Actually, so was Michonne, but she’s a little different and I’ll come back to her in a minute. That made me think more about Glenn and Maggie in 4x01. This isn’t something new, but I just hadn’t really thought about it from this angle before. Remember that Maggie was supposed to go with them to the Big Spot, but Glenn asked her to stay behind because they thought she was pregnant. It ended up being a false alarm, of course. 

But that DEFINITELY foreshadows 6x01 when Maggie wanted to go with him during Operation Lead the Walkers Away but he asked her not to because she KNEW she was pregnant. So, we have a tie between 4x01 and 6x01, and when did Glenn’s fake out happen? In 6a. My point is that the Big Spot did represent Beth’s death fake out, but it also represented Glenn’s. But not Rick’s. I’ll explain why in a minute. First, let me just give you a few observations that play into this: I’ve often wondered why, specifically, they didn’t put Beth in the Big Spot scene. Obviously, we can tie it to her through Daryl, and you could argue that, plot-wise, it just wasn’t feasible. She was taking care of Judith, not one to go on runs back then, not that close to Daryl yet, etc. But we also all know that they could have written it any way they wanted and come up with an excuse to have her go if they really wanted to. But they chose not to. 

Next, three out of the four fake out couples are represented at the Big Spot (Daryl, Glenn, Michonne). The only one not represented is Carzekiel, which would have had to be Carol since Zeke wasn’t part of the show yet. So, if this was meant to represent ALL the death fake outs, why wasn’t Carol there? (Are you understanding my rabbit hole? ;D It took me a while to separate all the symbolism and work everything out.) Finally, I don’t think Michonne is present in order to represent Rick’s fake out. There were other reasons, having to do both with the plot and her personal arc, that she needed to be there, but it wasn’t to represent Rick’s death fake out. Let me show you why I think that.

Two reasons. I started thinking about parallels between the Big Spot and the museum. There are actually a lot of them, and I don’t mean symbolically. I mean plot-wise. In both cases, we have a relatively large group of people from TF, entering a specific building in order to get specific supplies. And things go wrong. Someone falls through the floor. (Or ceiling). Death fake outs are foreshadowed. You could even argue that in each case, a young man is killed by walkers. (Zack in 4x01 and…um…Earl and Tammy’s son, Kenneth, in 9x01.)

So after many twists and turns and contemplations, this is what I’m seeing. I’ve talked a lot about Gimple’s 15-season arc, right? Let’s divide that arc in the middle, with the hinge somewhere between S7 and S9. It’s probably right at 7x08, given what we found in that episode and that it’s EXACTLY half of 15, but the reason I put the range between S7 and S9, is because Glenn died in 7x01 and Rick didn’t disappear until S9. What I’m seeing is that if we divide the 15-season arc in half, we have 2 death fake outs in each half. A larger one (Beth/Rick) and a smaller one (Glenn/Ezekiel). Beth’s was the big one in the first half of the 15-season arc, with Glenn’s being the smaller one. Rick’s was the bigger one in the second half of the 15-season arc, and Carzekiel will be the smaller one. So, the Big Spot foreshadowed the two death fake outs in the first half of that arc (Beth’s and Glenn’s). The museum foreshadowed the two fake outs in the second half (Rick’s and Zeke’s). Because just as Glenn was also present at the Big Spot, Rick was also present at the museum. And that leads me to two minor, but important conclusions about Rick and Zeke’s fake outs:

1. I think the Carzekiel one will be relatively small. Like Glenn’s. I’m not saying it will be AS small as Glenn’s. His was less than 48 hours. I can see the Carzekiel one lasting for a few days or even a few weeks, but it’s definitely not going to be 8 years, right?

2. I think it’s going to take Rick and Michonne two more years to return to the group. Whether they return in the series or via the films, we’ll either have another 2-year time jump at some point, or perhaps the next few seasons will have short time jumps that add up to two years. 

The point is, it’s another way to connect Rick and Beth’s fake outs. They'll both be absent for a total of 8 years. We saw plenty of 8s around Rick, too, especially in clocks. Think about it. She was absent for roughly 2 years, and then we had the 6-year time jump. With Rick, the 6-year time jump came just after he left, and then there will be two more years before he returns. So, it’s yet another example of a mirror between Beth and Rick, with the hinge somewhere in the middle. This is also why Michonne being at the Big Spot doesn’t matter. At least not where this symbolism is concerned. The death fakeout she’s involved in (Rick’s) doesn’t happen until the second half of the 15-season arc, so that can’t be why she was there. But I said there were two reasons. This next one is gonna sound SUPER random when I first say it. Bear with me and I’ll give you the evidence for it. …It’s complicated to even type out. While obviously the various death fake outs are foreshadowed and symbolized in many ways, and we see those symbols around individual characters and couples, when they foreshadow the death fakeouts like this (Big Spot and museum), in a big group, and more than one fake out being represented at once, they only use core characters for the symbolism. 

And by core characters, I mean the ones who originally came out of Atlanta in S1. So, while of course we saw lots of symbols of Beth’s coming fake out around her individually or around her and Daryl as a couple, when they symbolize the fakeouts in a group like this, they’re ONLY using Daryl (the member of the couple who originally came out of Atlanta) to do it. That’s why Beth isn’t at the Big Spot. That’s why Maggie isn’t there either. I think they COULD have put either or both of them in that scene, and it wouldn’t have really changed anything, but they didn’t NEED to be there. Because they were using Glenn and Daryl for the symbolism there. And why do that? Well, I didn’t originally have anything much more groundbreaking than just that they’re the original Atlanta characters that Gimple built all his arcs around, but I’ll get into that more in a minute. This idea of the Atlanta Four is harder to see at the museum. Because while Carol and Rick are both there, and I think the sequence points to both their fake outs, Ezekiel, Michonne, Daryl and Maggie (along with others) are all there as well. But I think that’s most a plot thing. They needed them there for various reasons, but they specifically needed Carol and Rick there for this symbolism. It’s just harder to isolate them in that scene. I wouldn’t have figured any of this out if not for the Big Spot. And I hear you’re thinking: what difference does it make? The whole Atlanta Four thing is a pretty random claim, right? Especially considering it’s true of the Big Spot, but arguably not of the museum, which makes it a one-time thing rather than a pattern. Well, I have more evidence that they totally do this, but in order to get into it, I need to switch gears and talk about the Bethyl Side-By-Side theme. I’ll do that tomorrow in part 2.

If you want to refresh your self about what the side by side theme is, read THIS THEORY. And tune in tomorrow! ;D

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Absolute Carnage #1 Thoughts

Absolute Carnage is an Absolute Triumph!

Do not get it twisted. I will not be covering older or future issues of Cates’ Venom run. Nor will I be covering every tie in issue for this event. In fact I was not planning on covering the main book in the first place.

But after reading it I now will be and have put it on my pull list.

Cates’ Venom work has been tremendous despite the detractors.

There have been some writing issues with older Venom continuity, but those issues are the by product of Cates desperately loving this character and the symbiote franchise and wanting to make Eddie Brock and his version of Venom a viable anti-hero protagonist character going forward.

To be clear I still fundamentally oppose that direction for the character, but if it must happen (and sales practically demand it happen) then yes we should have good writing accordingly. Cates has thus reinvented Brock and Venom (without a total overhaul) and rendered them fascinating, sympathetic, but still with plenty of edge and moral ambiguity.

He has not done the same for Carnage. He has simply taken Carnage and made him true to what he always was. A force of nature, a force of chaos and death with a Freddy Krueger wisecracking personality.

However what Cates has done for Carnage is reframe him in this story.

Whereas before Carnage was a spikey, sharp obstacle heroes needed to band together to bring down, now he’s beyond that. As he says, he is a God now, or at least almost Godlike. A Red Grim Reaper that even a monster like Venom is rightly afraid of.

Heroes might be able to stall him for awhile, but never stop him.

Much like Freddy Krueger, or Jason Voorhees or any of the classical slasher villains then, Carnage has been reframed as a horror monster. But imagine Jason, Freddy or Michael Myers with the almost Lovecraftian raw power behind them.

Scary right? And that’s what Absolute Carnage is. It’s a superhero horror story.*

It gets scarier when you consider Carnage isn’t even himself the real horroer, he’s the harbinger of it. Knull, the literal GOD OF THE SYMBIOTES is the ends through which Kasady is the bloody red means. Knull has recently appeared in Cates’ Silver Surfer run and it only just struck me writing this that in a sense Carnage is to Knrull what the Surfer was to Galactus.

Carnage is the Herald of Knull.

Kasady has all the over the top immense abilities he had before as Carnage, only now they’ve been cranked up to 11. Which considering the whole point of Carnage was that he was cranked up to 11 makes Absolute Carnage 22? He’s less vulnerable to sonics and fire and injury in general. His anatomy is contorted to the point where when bonded with the symbiote his waist is as thin as his spine and he’s HUGE. He can generate other symbiotes and bond them to others making them his footsoldiers.

He’s seemingly Absolutely unstoppable.

In this sense Absolute Carnage is a true blue sequel to Maximum Carnage. Like so many sequels of the time it is BIGGER. Whereas in Maximum Carnage the question was how far should the heroes go to stop Carnage, in Absolute Carnage the question is rather how on Earth CAN they stop him?

It’s Carnage taken to his absolute logical conclusion and I love it.

Now in fairness all that is contingent upon you liking Carnage in the first place. I’d still recommend regular ASM readers skim the issue as events from it will be relevant, but if you don’t like Carnage in general maybe don’t buy this.

However the issue holds other merits.

Cates is a unique beast amidst symbiote writers because he actually seems to unrepentantly LIKE them.

In the history of all the symbiote comics writers have either approached the characters as enjoying Venom and/or Carnage or parts of their lore but being very selective. Flash Thompson’s run on Venom for instance carried an undercurrent of, if not contempt, then elitism towards Eddie Brock and all the other symbiotes hence Remender (or was it Bunn?) sought to clean the slate of them. Bendis infamously didn’t even want to do Venom in Ultimate Spider-Man, rarely used him after he did and totally reframed the symbiotes in Guardians of the Galaxy to be glorified gooey Green Lanterns.

And I will be the first to admit I fall into the cadre of people who are extremely selective when it comes to symbiote lore. My love for them is through the lens of how they fit in and enrich Spider-Man’s  mythology, not appreciating them on the basis of their own mythology.

Cates is entirely different. He is first and foremost a Venom/symbiote fan. He is someone, and there are interviews corroborating this, who as a kid had one of his formative comic book lover experiences with anti-hero 90s Venom and stories like that.

This is why so many of the Web of Venom comic books that have been setting up this event have directly or indirectly referenced those 90s Venom books, even if it’s just in the name of the comics. Unleashed. Funeral Pyre. Cult of Carnage. Carnage Born. I mean he’s the first comic book creator to have ever expressed adoration for Carnage Mind Bomb, the first ever true blue Carnage horror story that is his equivalent to the Killing Joke. It’s obscure, macabre, twists and gruesome. But it lays out for you everything about who Carnage is. He hasn’t got layers. And that is the point.

Cates’ love for those stories, for the symbiote lore oozes (pun intended) in his Venom work and this comic. He WANTS to use every corner of that lore that he can and add to it. He wants to tell the greatest symbiote epic of our time. He wants to do the ultimate Carnage story, the ultimate Venom story.

Hell he WANTS to do a Maximum Carnage tribute because he unapologetically loves that piece of hot trash.

And he wants you to love that stuff too. I don’t agree with the decision to do stories like this because I feel Venom and Carnage should be just about the only symbiotes around and be nothing more than Spidey villains at that. And yet...I feel his enthusiasm pulsing from the pages of this comic.

His love and excitement for using these characters and doing something this big is as palpable as it is infectious. And so he’s won me over. I don’t agree with doing this story but I’m so onboard for enjoying the ride.

It helps that it’s honestly very well written.

He’s done his homework (and symbiote canon is a fucking mess let me tell you so that is impressive), he throws out deep cut references to stuff like Marvel Knights or the Life Foundation. More than that when you look at this issue and his Venom run up to this point you can see how meticulous he planned it. it could go way off the rails of course, but right now he’s firing on all cylinders. Carnage was appropriately foreshadowed and built up, his escapades were well documented in various issues preceding this event. The Knull mythology was clearly established, the stakes were appropriately set up.

And just in case you disagree he spells it all out for you concisely in the first few pages of this oversized issue. I’ve been reading the run and even I appreciated the refresher course.

He doesn’t just give us a larger than life doomsday scenario though, or even a ‘a bad guy is doing bad things we need to stop him’ plot. By making everyone to have bonded to a symbiote a target it means characters we are emotionally invested in, even if they are villains we love to hate, are in jeopardy.

And at the beating heart of it all is the story of a father and a son.

Eddie Brock and his son, unbeknownst to the boy of course. On a thematic level this is relevant because Dylan and Kasady/Carnage are both the products of Brock and the Venom symbiote. But the fact that this is all about Knull, the ‘father’ if you will of all symbiotes makes this a metaphorical family drama.

And Peter Parker to my surprise and delight is a part of it. I didn’t expect him to show up or to seemingly have the starring role he will have, and yet here he is. That’s what got this onto my pull list.

If there are any criticisms to be had it relates to Spider-Man continuity.

Peter is nonchalant over Brock knowing who he is.

Spider-Man in costume refers to Normie as his Godson multiple times in front both Normie and Dylan.

Norman Osborn may or may not still have the Carnage symbiote (the art makes this a bit unclear).

Spidey is very chill with Brock.

These do bother me, they are objectively writing issues I will not deny that, even though my thrill at the rest of the comic means on a pure enjoyment level I can’t bring myself down by sweating them.

My only defences would be that Peter upon learning Brock is once more aware of who he is would probably not react that badly to the information for a few reasons. First of all he was already living with the distinct possibility that Brock already knew the truth about him. The symbiote had known for a long time and had been bonded to Brock for awhile now so it was always a possibility. Second of all the Brock/Venom of the 80s and 90s is not the Brock of the current run. That is to my personal chagrin, but nevertheless Peter knows Brock and the symbiote are nicer more moralistic folks now and if they still held a grudge they’d have come after him, with or without knowing who he was.

My other defence is that this is not a Spider-Man story. It is a Venom story. It is in essence Spider-Man/Peter Parker filtered through the lens of Venom and the needs and requirements of serving Venom’s character and narrative. Whilst a major problem in Maximum Carnage was serving Carnage and Venom at Peter’s expense, that was a Spidey story in his titles, this is Venom’s story so giving him the spotlight, short-changing Peter’s continuity for the sake of propelling the plot along, that’s fair game. I don’t like it but it’s fair game.

Similarly Peter becomes Brock’s supporting character in this story and an effective one at that.

Brock recognizes Spider-Man is his best ally to resolve this situation even though he hates him. We learn more about Brock as a person through his feelings towards Spider-Man. Where once irrational hatred flowed now there is surprisingly...jealously. Spidey often gets a bum rap in the press and yet Venom is envious of that because in and out of the costume it’s much better than his lot in life.

There is also two wonderfully poignant moments between the two. The first is where Peter learns Dylan is Brock’s son and that Dylan doesn’t know this. We see the hurt Peter feels when he relates how terrible it is to not know who your father is. The second poignant moment is when Brock is distraught that Carnage must have desecrated the body of his deceased ex-wife and Dylan’s mother. For a character like Eddie Brock who’s so often (unfairly frankly) been dismissed as lacking depth this is a shocking moment of sadness, compounded by the fact that Dylan doesn’t know who Ann was. In this same moment Spider-Man looks remorseful too, which is a subtle piece of continuity porn done right by Cates. Ann was first introduced in ASM #375 (the issue setting up Brock’s solo series actually) and later died in ASM vol 2 #19.

What follows is another Spidey/Venom team up but arguably the best, or at least one of the best ever, as they encounter the Maker a.k.a. Ultimate Reed Richards which is a historic moment as Spider-Man finally gets to meet the counterpart to his old friend. There is plenty of other connections between hem too. The Ultimate Universe is innately associated with Spider-Man more than anyone else, the Maker like him was a young genius and they were both among the Secret Wars 2015 survivors. We get Normie Osborn returning for the first time since Fresh Start, a welcome return at that as I always love seeing his relationship with Spider-Man acknowledged. Then we get a nightmarish sequence set in Ravencroft with yet more well done continuity porn. John Jameson, veteran of Carnage Mind Bomb, Carnage: It’s a Wonderful Life, Conway’s Carnage run and 90s Ravencroft stories shows up to pay off his appearance in Cult of Carnage earlier this year. Norman Osborn returns in what will hopefully fix the asinine Red Goblin story arc. Spidey and Venom have their backs up against the wall (literally) and facing down Carnage, an army of Carnage infected psychos and Norman Osborn with the Carnage symbiote.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve ended a comic thinking ‘How WILL they get out of this?’

To tie aaaaaaaall this together is Ryan Stegman’s stellar art.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, Stegman is the best new Spidey artist of the 2010s. He’s Bagley, JRJR, Frenz levels of awesome. He’s also the perfect fit for symbiotes as his art seems to be somewhat influenced by McFarlane co-creator of Venom despite what fucking fools (like RDMacQ) might think. His style here is dynamic, detailed, funny when it needs to be, scary when it needs to be, awe inspiring when it needs to be.

His double page spreads are eye candy and the one depicting the pit of bodies feels straight out of a late night drama. It’s just brilliant.

Never before has there been a Carnage or a symbiote story that’s felt this epic, this ambitious, this sheer mad and audacious in scale.

I can’t wait to read future installments.

Cates in this issue, and his run in general, has somehow managed to recapture the allure of the symbiotes that I think 80s and 90s fans felt when they first fell in love with them.

If you don’t like Carnage or symbiotes inherently I strongly recommend you skip this. If you even vaguely like them though I cannot recommend this enough. 

*Carnage has been making the transition into a horror character for awhile now. Carnage U.S.A., which is recommended reading for this event, felt very similar to a Dark Horse horror comic only with Marvel superheroes. Gerry Conway was explicit about how his Carnage ongoing series was effectively his take on Tomb of Dracula.

[mediaeval-muse]

A couple things about reviewing books from someone getting a PhD in English...

I’m going to talk about 4 terms that I’ve seen people misusing, not because I want to instruct people in the “right way” to speak about books, but because using terms incorrectly = lack of clarity = readers might get the wrong impression of a book from your review. Of course, all of this is my opinion, and you don’t have to take this as your personal guideline for reviews. They’re just things I think people misuse, and speaking about them differently will make reviews more effective.

***Full exploration under the cut.***

1. Purple Prose

What it is: writing (prose) and sentences that are too ornate or too elaborate, overly poetic, often in a way that decreases clarity or messes up the book’s pacing. Purple prose often draws attention to itself rather than the plot.

What it is not: poetic/lyrical prose (per se), prose you don’t like, prose which tells you things you already know, prose which is longer than necessary (per se)

Example: 

The mahogany-haired adolescent girl glanced fleetingly at her rugged paramour, a crystalline sparkle in her eyes as she gazed happily upon his countenance. It was filled with an expression as enigmatic as shadows in the night. She pondered thoughtfully whether it would behoove her to request that she continue to follow him on his noble mission…

How to Talk About It: “Purple prose”  pertains to the prose of the novel, not the narrative (i.e. not things like what characters or events the writer chooses to include). If the writing is so ornate that you are confused or disengaged, mention that. If the descriptions make no sense because they’re trying too hard to be poetic, talk about why they don’t work for you.

Prose that is descriptive or uses metaphors isn’t inherently bad or “purple.” It all depends on your personal likes and dislikes. Similarly, prose that tells rather than shows (more below) isn’t “purple.” Prose that is longer than necessary isn’t “purple” either. For example, maybe the writer tells you something you already know, but without it, the book would be awkward. Maybe the book is about a knight entering a tournament, but the first few chapters are about why they enter the tournament. Even if you know from the book’s description what the book is about, the first few chapters aren’t purple prose, they’re establishing chapters. If the book jumped right into the tournament, it would be awkward storytelling.

You’re free to dislike an author’s writing style, but calling it “purple prose” just because you don’t like it doesn’t give an accurate description of your assessment (unless, of course, you don’t like it because it’s actually purple).

2. Tropes

What they are: common storytelling conventions (which individual readers can like or dislike) - these days, almost everything is a trope

What they are not: things in books that are inherently bad

How to Talk About Them: There are some tropes that are more harmful than others (ex: Bury Your Gays) and tropes that are overused (Chosen One). The quality of a book doesn’t depend on the absence of tropes so much as how they are used. For example, a book can have a Chosen One and be very good - or it can have a Chosen One and be average. Another example: maybe a book has a love triangle, but that love triangle doesn’t add anything to the story except manufactured tension between characters.

“This book uses tropes” is not a good way to say you dislike something because everything uses tropes in one way or another. Instead, talk about which tropes you dislike and why. And be careful to separate things you just personally don’t like from things that actually seem detrimental to the book. For example, maybe the book actually uses the Chosen One well, but you personally just don’t like Chosen Ones in your novels. That’s ok, but just because the author used the Chosen One doesn’t mean the book is inherently bad - it’s all about execution.

3. Telling vs Showing

What it is: “Telling” is prose that simply informs the reader of what’s going on, typically by cataloging actions and emotions. “Showing” is prose that creates images in the reader’s mind, allowing them to deduce emotions or other information (often by triggering the reader’s senses). Telling isn’t necessary bad 100% of the time - a good novel will typically have a combination of the two.

What it is Not: Prose you don’t like, stories without suspense, stories where you can guess what’s about to happen

Example:

Telling: The house was creepy.

Showing: Only a single dim candle lit the room. The house smelled like dust and rotting wood, and something faintly metallic that made John think of blood. Stuffed animals were mounted around the room: a wild-eyed buck, a grizzly frozen in fury, a screech owl with sharp yellow talons.

How to Talk about It: Telling vs showing usually applies to the prose of the novel, not the narrative structure or presence/lack of suspense. Telling is a lot easier than showing, so some authors rely on it exclusively. Infodumps or expositional dialogue with a lot on information usually indicates telling - sometimes they are necessary, but sometimes they are indicative of the writer not wanting to do a lot of work in their worldbuilding. If the whole book (or a significant portion of the book) is telling, point it out and discuss what effect it had on you as a reader. For example, I find books that tell too much uninteresting because it feels like I’m just being delivered facts, not being swept up in a narrative.

On the flip side, showing can venture into purple prose, but not all showing is purple prose. Figure out if the poetics or descriptions added to a scene or detracted from it. Showing can be good for creating a mood, like in descriptions of settings or character emotions in horror novels.

“Telling vs showing” is mostly used to describe the way something is written, not the plot structure. Just because you, as a reader, can see where a story is going does not mean the author is telling. That just means that you’re a smart reader. Therefore, if you’re talking about telling vs showing, talk about when you found the prose effective or when you found it disengaging. If the book didn’t provide any twists or surprises, that’s a narrative issue.

4. Plot Twist

What it Is: A radical change in the direction or outcome of the plot.

What It is Not: Something you didn’t see coming, something inherently mind-blowing

How to Talk About It: Plot twists can be used effectively or ineffectively, depending on the story. In my experience, ”radical” changes mean they are radical relative to the plot, not our own expectations of what constitutes a “plot twist.” Some people judge books by whether or not the plot twist blew their minds, which means that some authors compete to make bigger, shocking twists. There is a danger: sometimes, a plot twist is trying to be so impressive that it’s nonsensical (think Game of Thrones season 8) or just shock value (imagery that evokes negative emotions with no bearing on the plot). Some readers prefer books where they can’t guess the ending or foresee certain events, but not every book is a thriller. The presence of an unforeseeable plot twist does not automatically make a book good. Some authors don’t aim to mislead the reader or radically change the book out of nowhere; instead, they like to foreshadow their twist, allowing the reader the satisfaction of being right, or they make their story more about their character’s reactions to a plot twist rather than about the reader’s ability to see something coming.

When talking about plot twists, it’s helpful to think about whether or not they fit with the overall narrative. Did the twist feel like part of the story, or did it feel thrown in just for shock value? Did the twist challenge the characters morally/emotionally or was it there solely for the reader’s benefit? If you couldn’t see it coming, was it because the author was clever or because they wanted to mislead the reader and avoid criticisms of being boring? What the twist dependent on an overused trope?