#orpheusfumi

[oseaflower]

Specter Module - Dim Candlelight

So my dear friend @orpheusfumi and I were discussing Specter's module story, and I thought it might be good to collate our thoughts and interpretations. Neither of us are meta/analysis writers and I would say these are personal impressions more than anything, so if others have additional/differing opinions do feel free to share :)

We'll start off with the module text and what it says quite plainly, how we interpreted that, possible symbolism and alternate interpretations, in that order. Screenshots are courtesy of the akgcc story reader. If the image descriptions or images themselves are hard to read, please make use of the link. The rest is under the cut. It is quite long.

The Module (Basics)

Right away, we can glean that the candle holder is metaphorical. The Medical Department operators did not give it to Specter, and though it is a "vile gift" that "should not be here," she clutches it tight nonetheless. We'll return to the candle holder at the end, because it can be taken in different ways.

The Rhodes Medical Department operators are the ones attempting to heal her ego, which would directly relate to bringing Laurentina back from within Specter. As they are healers attempting to help, they would not be the ones to bring this "vile gift." Interestingly, in the JP ver it isn't called vile but in bad taste (悪趣味なプレゼント

Another possible interpretation with the EN usage of 'vile' is that Specter's train of thought is interrupted, and the last 'they' refers to the Church of the Deep cultists; while things given by Rhodes are by default taken to be 'vile' in a way. Aligned with the Church, she would not consider any of their gifts to be bad; and with the effect this candle holder has on her later in the module, it can be likened to the anti-psychosis medicine or whatever other treatment that Rhodes is helping with, and vile by association with them.

Interestingly, in the JP ver it isn't called vile but in bad taste (悪趣味なプレゼント), which reads much differently than 'vile' imo, and also clarifies that she didn't think anyone from Rhodes brought her the candle holder.

Again, a candlelight that one can touch and feel no warmth from is likely either a hallucination or signals that something is very wrong with one's senses (with Specter's profile information, this may also hold true, but within battle). In this case, as no battle is taking place, we can assume that it is a hallucination of sorts, a metaphor for something deeper and related to Specter's psyche: touching it beckons a "momentary lucidity and tranquility." Her throat, too, is not cut open where she is physically (likely in her own bed at the treatment ward) but we can assume that she feels a pain akin to that of her throat being cut open, or memories of the same surface. The candlelight can be seen to have had an immense effect on Specter to make her experience - or indeed relive, through memories - things on this scale. "Zealotry" likely relates to the Church of the Deep, in the darkness, which stops screaming to her in this moment when her nun's habit is set alight.

This part can be interpreted a couple of different ways, but let's return to it in a bit.

Through the candlelight, which has been established to be something that Specter saw as vile but important (from the way she clutches it), and has an incredible amount of effect on her, Specter "looks within." She sees Laurentina. This can be taken as a change of perspective as well, with Laurentina winning over Specter and experiencing her own memories, but the important takeaway is that Specter is present as the one looking through the candlelight, and still the one who 'sees.'

The description 'Stygian' has been used in a couple of places (if I remember correctly, very briefly in Phantom's vignette in Rewinding Breeze and Whisperain's promotion 1 dialogue), and straightforwardly relates to the Iberian sea. This can be taken two ways - one of Laurentina sculpting, and the other is her fighting the seaborn the same way she makes her art. We are inclined to believe it is the former, because the "figure freed from raw stone" part directly could relate to Laurentina having carved out a figure out of stone, which is the statue she stands before. The use of "chisels," an act involved while sculpting from stone, invokes the same act of sculpting. In the "alcove," the place where the shadow of the statue falls, is Laurentina's workplace.

This shadow is likely not a literal shadow, since Specter the Unchained's archive 3 and her oprec talk of a "snow-white sculpture," an "eternal giant," that made her realise what true art and beauty was, and the statue found a home in her heart (enough to be a 'shadow'), inspiring her to become a sculptor. So it isn't something Laurentina herself made at all (she was only ever an apprentice, and in the oprec talks about how hard it would be to make a large sculpture in Aegir).

This part is more clearly about Laurentina as an abyssal hunter, and the hunters battling their seaborn enemies. With the mention of singing, we can assume it's likely the fateful battle against Ishar'mla...

...and after, Laurentina getting captured and experimented upon by the Church cultists. The statue weeping behind the candle holder, a candle holder which is likely not real, can be interpreted as relating to Laurentina's mental state and Specter visualising it.

Specter slicing apart Laurentina refers to the birth of Specter's persona, her ego that rends Laurentina apart in a way different to the physical slicing and mending. Laurentina's love for art, her sense of self, gets discarded (shown by the weeping statue), and "the seeds of dry land take root within her body" (originium), so she becomes infected. This is important as this is something that Specter, a personality that protects Laurentina's mind, cannot protect their body against. All she can really do is pray, and in this there is some common ground, with Laurentina's memory of the statue that inspired her to sculpt likened to "prayer" and "hope" in her oprec, and Specter's own actual prayers understood by none.

Specter prays as she appears to 'recall' this, because it may come with the realisation that the Church of the Deep used Specter to completely replace Laurentina, Specter's 'zealotry' (becoming a nun) replacing everything that Laurentina was.

And finally, the candleholder is struck down, melting into the lights of the corridor. We are back in the physical space of the treatment ward. Orpheusfumi said this part is likely when Gladiia came into her room, possibly at the start of Under Tides, and took 'Specter' away, allowing Specter to dream peacefully.

Interpretations

Now, returning to the second image.

"A momentary lucidity and tranquility race ashore like foam. The edges of the waves[...]"

In Specter the Unchained's profile archive 1 and first oprec respectively, we learn how the tides of her hometown helped her gain her memories back, and that being close enough to the sea to hear and smell it keeps her stable. The "edges of the waves" in this module, then, likely relate to the reawakening of Laurentina that accompanies and is expressed by the water racing ashore; the edges are the fluid boundary between Laurentina and Specter. The more the waves encroach on the land, the stronger Laurentina's presence seems to get. The sea also extinguishes the zealotry instilled in the nun Specter by the Church of the Deep. The sea and waves in the module, then, can be interpreted as Laurentina's consciousness. At the end of the module, "a familiar scent," likely refers to the smell of the sea brought in by Gladiia. Specter's nun habit is set alight as Laurentina stirs to consciousness, but Specter is not yet gone, because she looks within at her memories through the candlelight.

The candle flame is a medium, a sort of in-between for Specter to look at Laurentina, her other half. When Laurentina's memories are explored it is not yet that Laurentina surfaced immediately (there is likely no binary switch between one or the other), it is that Specter is looking within at Laurentina, at her memories, as Laurentina regains them in the process of waking up. One needs to remember oneself before one awakens. Like the ebb and flow of the tides, Laurentina and Specter's conscious pushes and pulls, and the candlelight is the space in between, where Laurentina's memories can be seen by Specter. It is a sort of 'conversation,' without many words, where they seem to reach a sort of understanding.

The module, overall, is quite clearly about them becoming one, but this is just one of the ways you can see the process of acceptance of the self. Orpheusfumi said it could be the moment referenced in their skin description:

"When both are aware of their dual nature, Laurentina possesses a soul most complete, like unto the twin moons."

Hereafter we get into different interpretational territory, regarding the symbolism of the candles and the candleholder.

Perhaps the candles here are Laurentina's mind and soul. Specter clutching the candleholder tight may refer to how she was born to protect Laurentina (the candles). Who 'has' the candle holder and who 'is' the candle changes in the module, and the candle holder appearing when it isn't supposed to is a sort of indication that Specter does not understand why Laurentina is awakening when she isn't supposed to. Typical depictions of candle holders often have three candles, and at the end of the module Specter refers to herself the 'fourth flame' burning atop the candle holder. If we go by the three candles theory, Specter is an anomaly - id, ego, superego and Specter. Or perhaps Laurentina's mind, soul, body, and Specter's mind. They share the other two.

It is also worth noting that while the candle holder is struck down at the end, the flames do not go anywhere - contrarily, they become the lights of the corridor. This can be interpreted as the flames that are Laurentina, once restricted to the candles of the candleholder which hardly ever appears (much like Laurentina's mind herself, usually not there at all) now shine bright throughout the space Specter can perceive, and Specter is now on the candleholder. The flame (Laurentina) becomes, wakes up, no longer needs the 'protection' of the candleholder. Thus, when Specter was looking within, through the candlelight, she was finding Laurentina, her memories, inside herself and the body they share. As Laurentina wakes up after so long, she recalls her memories, and Specter views them with her. If you view them as a system, then whoever can view the candles can be said to be fronting, and whoever is one of the flames is not.

The titular dim candlelight is then the previous dimness of Laurentina's ego, which is now lighting up everything.

...Alternatively.

The candle holder could be related to faith. Not exactly the faith that was 'given' to Specter by the Church of the Deep, but the faith and hope that allowed her to survive, her own understanding of faith. It could be similar to how people light up candles during prayer at Church (another friend was reminded of the Paschal candle - where the light of the candle is life, dispelling darkness which is death). This can also be why it is called a "vile gift" (or in bad taste, because it reminds her of her time in the church).

Specter "clutches the candle holder tight" towards the start of the module, holding onto the faith within herself because it had let her survive thus far, and it forms the foundation of her willpower. In the module we see her interpreting it and molding it to accommodate Laurentina first and foremost. Specter's faith is an abstract concept that calms her down and gives her strength in the present (the repeated mention of her praying in this module); it is what lets her hold onto the self and protect Laurentina. At the same time, the origin of this faith - the Church of the Deep - was what split them in the first place. I think the "liturgical meanings discerned by none" part can (aside from the fact that it might just be there's no one from the Church of the Deep in immediate vicinity) allude to the fact that her prayers here in this module are not the Church's prayers; they're her own and thus cannot be understood by another: her form of faith is her own. Specter's trust 2 line, shows that she has her own view of understanding the Church's teachings as well, and can be interpreted as her cutting the seaborn is what she thinks gives them salvation, and this logic is how she retains part of Laurentina's identity as an abyssal hunter opposing the seaborn.

Then, the mention of zealotry could be taken as the hold the church's belief had on her, and "scorched sun-dry in darkness" could refer to how this very faith, the candlelight, was what scorched her. The candlelight was so strong it overwhelmed and scorched the person that was (Specter replacing Laurentina). And now that Specter faces this faith again, looks within, she comes to terms with how it came about, and makes this faith her own through confronting it. Introspection that makes one reevaluate their faith, if you will.

This zealotry is snuffed out when the waves (Laurentina) wash over her. The flame burns away her nuns habit, as her faith is not tied to the church but to Laurentina. Laurentina's memories while she wakes up, which Specter looks at through the candlelight which is as her own faith (emotions? will?) that leads her to protect Laurentina. Through these memories, Specter remembers the origin of the faith that she made her own and how it was used to hurt ("slice apart") Laurentina in the first place, and prays.

At the very end, this time when she looks within, Laurentina is awake, and looking 'within' is actually looking outside through Laurentina's eyes at the treatment ward. Looking 'within' for specter is simply looking at her faith, at Laurentina.

This is just an alternative interpretation which is probably not too strong unless you subscribe to the idea that "Specter is devoted to Laurentina in a manner that can be parallel to a nun to her faith." And similarly, orpheusfumi and I agree that Laurentina is also devoted to Specter the way an artist is to her art, and wants to understand her in the same way. Their love for each other can be likened to devotion, but in different forms, because they are different people.

[oltammefru]

The contrast between what Theresa does to the Doctor (a final act of mercy, a chance to be reborn anew, to someone who very reasonably arguably doesn't deserve it) and what Theresa does to Amiya (condemning her to a fate worse than death, out of a hope and deep deep desperation that maybe just maybe she can be the one to do what she couldn't) deeply deeply insane. She dispenses out forgiveness and damnation with the same hand.

It's made even more insane by the way she goes around doing it, damnation via bequeathing a gift upon Amiya, vs. salvation by utterly destroying the Doctor's identity, unwinding it thread by thread.