#penumbra theories

[ernmark]

Juno Steel and the Case Closed (part 1) reaction

It's been a while since I've done one of these, hasn't it?

But it's the last episode, and I wanted to be here for the end. So if you'd like, some thoughts and theories under the cut:

It was a solid choice to have Nureyev go-- to make this final story about Juno and his world and his life, rather than specifically about their relationship. But also, the choices made around Nureyev's leaving-- holy shit.

Because here's a man who's spent the last twenty years entirely defined by his relationship with one man, and now he's cut loose and of course he's flailing to re-establish himself in a different orbit. And you can hear it in his voice, where it rises into something halfway to panic (amazing job, Noah Simes), and you can feel exactly how horribly wrong it's going to go if he goes down that road. And then there's Juno, who's healthy enough to be the voice of reason, even when it hurts him? Who makes it clear he's willing to wait until Nureyev is ready for him? Oh my god, that's perfection. (And Nureyev going maybe back to Brahma-- my little fanfic writer heart did a leap there). Nureyev may very well be back next episode (I suspect he will, if only for the final moments), but I really like this as an ending of their arc-- not the neatly laced up riding off into the sunset together, but looking forward to that sunset and being actually ready for it when it comes. It makes my heart feel so good.

--

And from that happy moment, to have Juno go back to Hyperion, to his office, and immediately start slipping back into his worst self? Oh, that's too real-- in a way that I am very happy with. Because he isn't 'fixed'. Juno 'born-a-sad-baby' Steel won't ever be 'fixed', not by romance or a vacation or a wonderful new family dropping him reminders of how much they love him. What's wrong with him isn't something that can be fixed-- but this time around it's different. This time around, when he yells at Rita she stands up to him (with a small, tremulous voice, because goddamn standing up to people you love is terrifying). I am so proud of her for that, and of him for backing off. It takes a palpable effort for him to rein himself in, but he's making that effort-- and he knows how, in a way that I don't think he did in those early seasons. It's a choice he's making, over and over again, just like it's a choice he makes to keep replaying Jet's wisdom instead of drowning his misery in tequila.

(Another kudos there: that Juno's problem isn't addiction, not the same way it is for Jet-- alcohol isn't a problem for him when things are going well, but it's easier to retreat into a bottle than to deal with his feelings. It's a distinction you don't see very often. Honestly, the way this show has dealt with addiction has been really refreshing to see.)

I've said from the beginning that one of the things that really drew me to this show was how it handles Juno's depression-- as a genuine mental illness that's an inherent part of him. And it's enheartening to see him struggle with it, but now be able to reach out for the tools and the support he needs. And that support doesn't have to be Jet literally talking him away from the bottle, or Rita or Nureyev petting him and making him feel better. He can reach for the pieces of them that they leave behind. And he can wish the Ruby 7 a good journey home, and send Nureyev to find himself, not without pain and grief, but without completely losing himself to it.

That kind of story gives me so much more hope than any kind of 'happily ever after' ever could.

--

And then the designated mystery, which has me so freakin' excited:

Nightmare.

She is the culmination of so many plot threads that I've been picking up on for so long and I'd completely forgotten about, and I am so freaking excited to see it.

I was in such a rough place emotionally when we last visited the most obvious of those threads, I genuinely don't remember if I posted meta about it or not, but it definitely struck some bells:

When Juno rescued Rita from Dark Matters, the safehouse she was in was described as being full of items that were clearly meant for a child. At the same time, Sasha was having Rita destroy all evidence of her own life so thoroughly that not even Rita herself would be able to find traces afterward.

It seemed most obvious to me that she was hiding a child (one that, I didn't realize until Juno remarked on Nightmare's area code, could have been hidden in the suddenly repopulated New Town without anybody asking inconvenient questions about who she was or where she came from). Also her taking care of a child would explain her ever-escalating reactionary tendencies-- she certainly wouldn't be the first parent who descended into authoritarianism in a misguided attempt to protect someone.

So some theories about who and what Nightmare is:

Alessandra's daughter is the most obvious, of course. (I still hold onto that theory that Sasha was either the Worst Client that Juno told Alessandra Strong about, or else that Sasha was the cheating spouse in that story.)

Nightmare could be Annie Wire's daughter-- assuming that Annie survived the factory, grew up, had a child of her own, and then died for real this time, leaving her grieving sister to raise her niece.

Nightmare could be Annie Wire herself-- dead, kept in stasis, revived by Dark Matters technology, and then whisked away to the safe house.

Nightmare could be a clone of Sasha and/or Annie. Honestly, not digging this theory, but I might as well throw it out there.

Nightmare could herself be a Radical, not unlike the Ruby 7, who's taken on Sasha's appearance and stayed that way ever since (after all, Sasha would have been at just about the right age when she was recruited by Dark Matters)

From a narrative standpoint, I'm most fond of the idea of Nightmare either being Annie or Annie's daughter, personally. Because that's literally the second mystery we were given, and it was pointedly never solved. As much as I like the idea that some mysteries just aren't and you have to make peace with that, I'm a big fan of long games like this, and of tugging on threads from the beginning of a story when you're wrapping up the end. That's especially true for Sasha's arc closing here, back in Hyperion City. Sasha's voice was one of the very first that we heard in this series, and Sasha's trajectory has always been a funhouse mirror version of Juno's. She's always been an integral part of his story. It seems fitting that her story gets wrapped up alongside his.

[pen-and-umbra]

So far, Episode 2 has been quite intriguing. The following is a stream of consciousness with some preliminary theories.

The wisp-things are extremely suspicious. At first glance, they appear to be linked to Masamune the Swordsmith (who kind of resembles a wraith or another type of undead?), but in fact they are Jenova-coded, with those distinctive purple/magenta hue visuals. 

Consequently, Sephiroth's "dream" sequence seems to be induced, similar to Angeal's. The telling purple/magenta vignette around the edges implies Jenova's influence.

Then there's Alissa, who resembles Lucrecia and makes the strangely accurate assumption that she reminds Sephiroth of his mother.

So, what do we have so far? We have an anomalous, off-limits zone that the locals avoid. No one knows how the village was destroyed. We have a legendary swordsmith, whose life-force (?) appears to be maintained by unknown means. We got some classic Jenova effects, purple visuals, and possibly induced lucid dreams or hallucinations. And we have a mysterious carnage survivor who resembles Sephiroth's mother.

My supposition is that there's a remnant of Jenova residing in Igara Forbidden Zone. I previously explored some unusual possibilities derived from the Temple of Ancients narration in FFVIIRebirth, where the Cetra mentioned their celestial adversary's "scattered malignancy". [Link] Unless the message is to be interpreted as prophetic, referencing ShinRA age experiments, it implies that Jenova's biologics were already “scattered” during Cetra's time.

What if the Igara Forbidden Zone ended up sitting atop a sealed deposit of Jenova's biological matter from the Cetran War?

The ground is depicted as having cracks, with some kind of purple substance visible beneath. Furthermore, Angeal observes that the soil is as fine as ash but glitters — and remarkably fresh Jenova's blood or goo has been shown to glitter in the ShinRA headquarters.

So perhaps at some point in time, the residents discover the sealed organic traces. Someone like a swordsmith would be closely dealing with matters of mining ore, so there's a chance of mining taking place in the vicinity. The mining process may have unearthed biological remains that had been buried for eons. Alternatively, there could have been ancient Cetran ruins nearby—perhaps an entombment site—that were intended to seal off alien matter. The opening sequence does feature what appears to be an abandoned Petra-inspired temple carved into the rock.

Although it has strong Wutaian ornamental motifs, it could be a repurposed Cetran site, so the idea stands. 

Masamune's lifespan, if he is a living being, appears to be much longer than that of a normal human, or so his speech about finding a wielder for his masterwork implies. Lucrecia's situation immediately comes to mind, as the compilation states that Jenova cells prevent her from dying, thereby extending her life. While this is an unlikely scenario, Masamune appears to be bound and unable to rest until his sword is passed on.

In this case, it is almost implied that the sword possesses its own power. Could this be a cursed masterpiece? Could Jenova's remnant essence from the ancient war have been mixed in during Masamune's forging process? After all, during the battle, the swordsmith does display those Jenova-esque visual effects.

Another peculiar and somewhat ominous link between Jenova and Sephiroth's weapon can be seen in his dream/hallucination sequence. Jenova-Lucrecia gives Sephiroth a "charm" to wrap around his sword, promising to "always be with him".

Granted, it could be a manifestation of his deepest desires (such as wanting to eat pumpkin soup again), but the purplish Jenova-esque vignette at the edges of his vision lends the scene a sinister feel. What if her power is actually imbued in the weapon Sephiroth carries? In that way, her shadow is always present beside him. 

The act of wielding Masamune is presented as some type of a tipping point in the opening sequence as well. During the intro Alissa mentions that she feels like the world will change once Sephiroth takes up the sword. The notion is further implicitly corroborated by Bachman, who stated the "course of history was altered forever".

Speaking of Alissa, according to FFVII Rebirth, Jenova can "peer into one's soul" and transform into those they hate, fear, or love. With this in mind, Alissa's resemblance to Lucrecia is extremely suspicious and raises numerous questions. Is she real, or a hallucination? It's telling that her face isn't revealed until the party comes into contact with suspicious purple wisps (which allegedly manifest as Masamune battle).

For all we know, if Jenova’s presence is there — if her power is unchained and lingers — then Alissa's might look completely different for Angeal, as her appearance is being specifically tailored to the beholder. It's also worth noting that the opening sequence features frequent flashes of Alissa surrounded by purple wisps and glitching.

To continue this line of thought, is it really coincidental that Bachman is carrying a camera, a device that captures unbiased visuals? Is it really an accident that Bachman is later portrayed as a mumbling, disorganized mess, despite the fact that he ostensibly never participated in the SOLDIER program? It's almost as if someone didn't want him to reveal his findings.

Written by @pen-and-umbra

[alexandenigtscreations]

Kinda spoilers for the last Juno episode but am in the process of coloring

It's a WIP! I'm not dead!

[bamfwizard]

me: damn kinda bored rn

the deepest trenches of my hyperfixated neurons: WHAT IF THE RUBY 7 IS JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THE MARTIAN ARTIFACTS THAT NUREYEV STOLE IN S1

me:

[quitealotofsodapop]

Updating Masterlist of "The Monkey King and the Infant" au posts;

Official Fanfic (ao3): "The Monkey King and the Infant"

Outline/Concepts:

"#The Monkey King and the Infant" Au Tag Original Post (may be outdated) Spotify Playlist (may contain spoilers for story) + with a general outlin of pre and current story events Details: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 Assorted answered details

Shadowpeach being parents/mortal:

●"#shadowpeach being parents" - for all posts shadowpeach being parents. ●"#freenoodles being parents" - whether by themselves or co-parenting with shadowpeach. ●"#spicynoodles being parents" - ideas for future spicynoodles family stuff. ●"#sandy being the best uncle" - Sandy is just the Best Uncle. ●"#shadowpeach parental debuff" - posts relating to or explaining why these two are stuck on earth. ↳A (hopefully) clear outline of how the "Soul Energy Transfer" works. + Mortal Debuff ●"#dad bod sun wukong" + "#mom bod macaque" - posts about these two and their mortal bodies. Includes unrelated fanart I adore. ●"#pregnancy tw" - for all things preggers related cus I know some people ain't about that. ↳"childbirth tw" tag - you know why. Why Xiaotian? Macaque is the LMK world's version of Nicole Waterson + Fanart! "Qi Sun Wukong/Qi Wu" & "Qi Liu'er Mihou/Qi Mihou" + Now with Fanart! MORE FANART!!! Mortality/Aging Crisis + Now with really sweet edits that made me cry

Other Characters:

"#lmk character ideas" - more so for characters from chinese mythos/Journey to the West that have yet to appear in LMK. ●"#lmk bai he" - my version of Bai He/The Lady Bone Demon's Host ●"#lmk liu chenxiang" - for my version of Sun Wukong's student from The Lotus Lantern fairytale. ●"#lmk eclipse twins" - tag for Rumble & Savage, Macaque's little shadowclones in the au. ●"#lmk yuebei xing" & "#lmk lunar nodelets" tags - for my version of Yuebei Xing, and Jidu & Luohou from the non-canonical 1580-1590s "Journey the South" book. ●"#lmk sun luzhen" & "#sun luzhen" - for my versions of Sun Luzhen, Wukong's mini-me/biggest fan from the 17th century book "Later Journey to the West". ●"#lmk the four stalwarts" - for my version of the Monkey King's closest compatriots; Ma, Ba, Beng, and Liu. ●"#lmk guanyin" - for my version of Guanyin. ●"#lmk xiwangmu" - for my version of The Queen Mother of the West/Xiwangmu. ●"#lmk fan children" + "jttw inspo fan children" - for fan children of different pairings Princess Jade Face aka Auntie Jade Star Lord of Fire of the South aka SWK's Lawyer Spindrax aka the team's mean biker Mozhi the Ink Demon Babs and Gibs: The Other Celestial Primates

Events in Au/Story (may be unorganised):

●"#lmk tmkati au story events" - tag for straight forward story events in the au. Some older posts may be outdated. How does MK happen? (a little outdated but has the basic details) McCaque :3 aka "Why nobody tell me that food is amazing now!?" "A Hero is Born" changes, "A Hero is Born" changes Part 2 + Now with fanart!! What happens when you possess someone with a living debuff Diyu had two free babies The Wedding + the Proposal + Wedding Vows Azure Lion is trying to do the math here?

World Details/Non-Story Specific:

●"#lmk backstory hcs" - for backstory headcanons not particular to any aus. ●"#lmk character hcs" - character headcanons not particular to aus but may intersect. ●"#jttw inspo character ideas" - for ideas for Jttw characters who don't appear in certain other Jttw-inspired media (ex; a version of Six Eared Macaque in Smash Legends to contrast their Wukong). ●"#jttw inspo ocs" - for new characters made for my Jttw-inspired media ideas. Ie; Xiaoshi for my Netflix Monkey King idea, or the Fruit Babies in my Reborn idea. ●"#lmk gender hcs" - includes personal hcs. ●"#lmk theories" + "#jttw theories"- for theories. ●"#monkey facts" - monkey facts :)

Other Aus/Theories:

●"#Celestial NATO" - goofy idea where the LMK cast interact with other pantheon gods. ● "#wukongverse" - crossover ideas between different JttW inspired characters. ↳Different verses SWK and LEM Nicknames ↳Different verses SWK/LEM ship names/tags +Look at this amazing Smash Legends! Six Earred Macaque art ●"#born grown stone monkeys" - based on the idea that Sun Wukong and Macaque were both born "fully formed" as adults, but were mentally still kids pre-Journey. ●"#Reincarnated!lbd au" - a collection of mini-aus where after her defeat, the Lady Bone Demon's soul split off to reincarnate immediately. In the main version it splits four ways into different fan children (including a version of Yuebei Xing). ●"#lmk penumbra au" - Before Macaque got canonically ded'd, he left behind a pair of shadow clones to "watch the fort" at FFM. Wukong can't bring himself to destroy them, and donates his life energy/dao to the shadows to keep them around. The shadows decide to transform into Rumble & Savage after a few centuries of this, and now Wukong is a proud dad/mom to a pair of chirpy Macaque-looking babies. Macaque is confused when he gets back. ●"#stone egg talk" - ideas about Stone Monkeys being able to reproduce asexually under desperate means through a form of very-risky Parthenogenesis that creates a slow-cooking Stone Egg in their body. Sun Luzhen is created this way in some aus + in the main TMKATI au. ● ↳"#century stone egg au" aka "#SWK is MK's stone egg dad theory au" - exactly what it says on the tin. SWK inducing the process out of loneliness/desire to be a parent = MK's egg. The modern gang hangs out on the island with him once he gets unburied. Has vibes of a flipped TMKATI au. ●↳"#jttw stone egged au" - Turns out being trapped under Five Point Mountain is the perfect trigger conditions for SWK's body to create a Stone Egg. He spends the Journey pregnant and very pissed off. ●+↳"#slow boiled stone egg au" - an Au of an Au. In which Wukong's stone egg-pregnancy during the Journey is extended by many years from him deciding to isolate himself after the Samadhi Fire incident + the death of Macaque. By the time of the canon LMK series, SWK has been pregnant for many, many years, and still is. MK is very confused and horrified. ●+↳"#soft boiled stone egg au" - Au of Slow Boiled in which Yuebei XIng is born during the events of the Samadhi Fire Ritual. Wukong retreats from the public eye after the Journey to settle down and raise his daughter. Yuebei has spent most of her life recieving treatments and learning on Guanyin's island, and at the time of LMK has finally hit her rebelious teen phase. ●++↳"#marbled stone egg au" - au of an au of an au; Slow Boiled but Wukong keeps MK when he gets dumped on him. Gets a bunch of friends within the Noodle Gang early.

Memes & Misc Addons:

●"#memes" - main memes tag. ●Love Dodecahedron Chart (spoilers) ●POV: You just said you were hungry within 10 miles of Pigsy ●Nezha: Ultimate Babysitter

Be sure to send in asks about any details that may be unclear, I've only just gotten back into fic-writing, and it's my first time dedicating some blog time to one.

Update: May create a new pinned post for a general overview of my blog, rather than solely LMK works.

[lilycat23]

Deltarune, Undertale and Penumbra Fantasm

Penumbra fantasm is an unreleased track that Toby fox worked on for homestuck. Motifs from it were used in other homestuck tracks like 'Doctor' and "Patient"

The original track by Toby is mostly inaccessible but there are multiple restorations of it uploaded to SoundCloud and youtube here is an example of one of these restorations.

A recording of the original MIDI file (AwakeningCrap2.mid) by Toby fox has been posted here

Toby fox did a livestream of the song in 2012. A recording of that is below

But what does this have to do with Deltarune?

Well A motif from this song has already been used in "THE HOLY" in Deltarune

It has also fairly recently been isolated in the background of 'Hopes and dreams' in undertale and seems to be in 'another medium' too.

Futhermore,

Deltarune fans including me think it may show up more in Deltarune and some think it may even be in an important boss battle or have something to do with gaster

Now just because toby has used this once in Deltarune doesn't mean it'll show up again? What makes people think it will show up again or have greater significance?

Well Years ago before Undertale and Deltarune came out in 2011, Toby was asked on social media about penumbra phantasm to which he replied "AT SHADOWS EDGE SHATTER THE TWILIGHT REVERIE" That certainly sounds like it has to do with dark worlds and we know that Toby had ideas in mind about deltarune before he made Undertale at least regarding deltarune ending which he says came to him in a dream.

W D Gaster who's fingerprints all over Deltarune is known for speaking in all caps much like the penumbra phantasm quote and thought to have (in universe/fiction) made the tweets on Toby's account shortly before chapter 1 was released.

Plus Toby fox's first ever tweet was "The edge of the shadow, where reality and dreams meet." Which not only is similar to the "twilight reverie" quote but sounds like it alludes to dark worlds even more with them being compared to dreams many times in game.

Both of these social media posts by Toby were made in 2011! The same year that Toby had the fever dream which inspired him to make Deltarune, giving us even more evidence that this track was written with Deltarune in mind.

Credit to eldomtom2 for the above image they posted on reddit

Here is one of many great fan remixes of penumbra phantasm making it into a Deltarune style track. (This is by Chris Roomba)

Credit to Chris roomba on his YouTube channel Stars in_sight for both information and inspiration for making this post

[asexualsoup]

Plain text:

Me: Can you IMAGINE how hard it must have been for Nureyev to hold his scheme together after Grandpa [Rao] BROUGHT HIM THOSE ORCHIDS AAAHHHHHH

@adriennezzz : Like whyyyyyyyy 😭

adriennezzz: Like I thought Nureyev asked for the orchids but NOPE

Me: NOPE

Me: He must have been shooketh

adriennezzz: Fold it away fold it away fold it away fold it away

[thebisexualteen]

I hate the f-king color theory while drawing Milky Way

Anyways

We got Penumbra, Solstice, Milky Way and Researcher

Digital art is pain cause I drew all of this with my finger

@insanelyadd @milothegoat2 @bluebird-in-a-cagedrawing @owhouselover

[venomgaia]

do you ever set up your workspace and become some sort of brady bunch-adjacent hell

[bogos-bint3d]

Oh, Toby, what do these mean................

[one-joe-spoopy]

I have listened to the new episode, and I will say just this: WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK

[pen-and-umbra]

Another possible link between Masamune and Jenova that occurred to me upon further brainstorming.

In ancient times, before the discovery of smelting, people forged weapons and tools from **meteoric iron**. Interestingly, there is a phenomenon known as telluric iron, derived from the Latin word for earth, "tellus," as seen in terms like "Telluric Fury" or "Telluric Scriptures."

According to the lore of the Ancients, Jenova, the Calamity from the Skies, landed on the Planet with a **meteor** impact. What if a meteor shard containing residual alien organics had fallen into the hands of the proto-Wutaians or Masamune the swordsmith? This piece could have broken off upon entering the atmosphere, landing near Wutai. Alternatively, as the Children of Men warred with the Cetra, it may have been a trophy taken from the Northern Crater or stolen from the Cetra in ancient times.

Could the sword itself contain a fragment of the meteor or meteoric iron that amplifies the effects of Jenova's DNA on the host? This would give additional meaning to the cryptic and ominous comment made by "Alissa Goldie," that the world would change as soon as Sephiroth takes the sword in his hands. She then gives a rather unsettling, knowing smirk after Angeal questions her supposed hunch.

[fwirygrunge]

Hello hi!!

My name is Ghisi, I’m a Brazilian (starter) artist who’s a fan of villainous. I want to show my art and theories here! Please follow me on my other accounts:

TikTok: @fwirygrunge

Insta: @fwirygrunge

We are going to have also things about my oc of villainous, Rebecca.

This accounts theme is going to be an 80s arcade vibe. >:)))

Bye, and stay safe!

[professionaljester]

anyways i’m gonna be insane about frictional and penumbra for a little bit

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

people in 2016 absolutely would have known what you were talking about if you mentioned penumbra phantasm though. i get your point but penumbra phantasm is way older than undertale and wasn’t particularly obscure.

[one-joe-spoopy]

Not to be a crazy theorizer but I think that Lydia Hoffman might be in pt2 bc her voice is credited at the end of the transcript also the poster reminds me of the one for bird's eye view also I might be slightly out of my mind right now