#some theories might be crazy

[strawberrybyers]

no fr what is the symbolism of felines in stranger things because this can’t just be a random coincidence?? also the new pic of the duffer brother: that cat plushie!! a cat plushie is featured behind mike in one of the photos and that’s a screenshot from a season 1 episode 👀

[g1ngerbeer]

what kind of sauce are they putting in the link click audio drama. HELLO? THE LITERAL LAST SCENE OF THE LAST EPISODE?

程小时: 说起来，我们第一次见面，也是在篮球场吧。 陆光: 是啊。 程小时: 你我本无缘，全靠一颗球。 陆光: 我就不该答应你比那场。

cheng xiaoshi: speaking of which, the first time we met was also on a basketball court, wasn't it? lu guang: it was. cheng xiaoshi: (half-jokingly) you and i weren't meant to be [lit. "originally have no fate"?]. this is all because of one basketball. lu guang: i really shouldn't have agreed to play that match.

(the important bits are from google translate because i am bad at mandarin. also i did transcribe this off just the audio + i don't have access to captions or know where to find official transcripts. so i hope i got this right 🙏)

[ch1zzie]

Forgot to post this here butttt

Working on a welcome home animation and mighttttt take me a while

[kenjakunas]

sukuna design is from tojishole on twt and kenny design is heavy heavy inspo from purgatorism on twt i think i changed like max three things. also i think it keniaku on here ????? Dont quote me tho sobs

[i-want-a-slurpee]

Is that Aziraphale and Crowley foreshadowing in the upper right corner in the theatre box or am I being silly?

Like ???

[willbyersabyss]

some people in this fandom are so pretentious and rude

[peppermintack]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

[wundrousarts]

I was going to save this until I reread Hollowpox, but that last ask reminded me that I should share this here, so I present:

Musings on Maud: Why is she considered so powerful, how does this affect her dynamic with Squall, and why is he so scared of her?

(Bonus: How can I connect it to Silverborn?)

Two disclaimers: I haven't reread Hollowpox in ages, so if there's anything that could prove or disprove stuff in this post, send it my way. Honestly send any discussion my way. I love discussing theories. Second, this was originally a reply to a Reddit comment on a post, to which you can find here. The comment discussed Maud being a signatory for a Squall safeguard, so since this comment is copied verbatim, it references that.

---

If it’s not outright stated, it’s at least heavily implied that Squall helped create/build up the Republic. It’s only existed for about 90 years, and Squall has been exiled for about 100. He mentions in Hollowpox how he knows that Maud’s plan is to take over Nevermoor/The Free State, because the Republic took over the other states in the realm and he “helped them do it.” However, unless Maud is immortal and also 100 years old, she is not the one who started the Republic from the side of the Republic. Also, no clue how long it’s been around, but Squall Industries has likely been around for awhile as well (this is how he gets his connections and power in the Republic), with Squall just constantly grandfathering himself in with the vampire trick or something.

Interestingly, Squall says two things in this scene (Chapter 34 of Hollowpox) that stick out to me:

“I made the so-called Hollowpox,” he raised his voice above hers, “because I was asked to. Because I was compensated handsomely for it. And because when the most powerful person in the realm asks for a favour, even I don’t refuse.

And

“But you’re a Wundersmith.” Morrigan was utterly baffled. “Why can’t you just stop them if they’re such a problem? I don’t understand!” “Do you THINK I HAVEN’T—“ Squall shouted, then cut himself off abruptly.

He also mentions how the Hollowpox was initially meant for the Republic, but Maud snuck in an infected otter across the border into Nevermoor— “That was never part of our deal.”

There’s definitely a business relationship between the two of them of likely consistent deals, one favor for another, quid pro quo. However, we also see that Squall can’t really go against her, something he seems to have tried before. Two chapters before this scene (Chapter 32), has this moment:

“Yes, shush. Maud said the Wintersea Party might help if there was a squid crow po.” “Quid pro quo?” “Right, one of those. She said they won’t do something for nothing, but if we could convince Prime Minister Steed to meet with her, just to have a conversation, then she would try to convince her party to share their cure.”

While it could be easily explained as part of her job, Maud seems to get most of her power and do things by extracting deals from other people. Maybe she’s knackless, or maybe she has some sort of connection to Puppeteering or a knack related to that. Not Mesmerism, but something that allows her to be persuasive, manipulative, convince people of things, and get them to do what she wants. A sort of parallel or companion to Squall’s connection with Puppeteering that we see in Wundersmith.

It’s interesting that when we first meet Maud, there is this exchange directly after she tells Mog that the Wintersea Republic would only agree to help the Free State if there was some sort of deal:

“But they’re your party,” Morrigan pointed out. “Aren’t you the one with the power? Maud stiffened slightly and cast her a wary, calculating look.

And then soon later she says this:

“Even if I could persuade my party to do the right thing – and I’m not saying I won’t try – there’s no guarantee Steed and his government would come to the table.”

The whole exchange seems very manipulative, like, “oh, I’d LOVE to talk and get this figured out, but I can’t…” There’s a big focus on conversation. Maud is wary when Mog mentions power— she thinks she means a magical power, something secret that gives her an advantage, when really she just means politically— so I wonder if she was worried for a moment that Mog realized she had some sort of coercive power.

I wonder what exactly her power is that makes Squall so scared of her, and why it possibly makes it so that he can’t fight make and overthrow her. Aside from their business relationship, which allows Squall access to Wunder and being a Wundersmith, there’s this other layer as well.

As for safeguard: I don’t know if Maud would be a signatory for a Squall safeguard, as that seems to just be for Wunsoc students, but I think that whatever their deal is and whatever her power is allows her to keep him in check. Jess said that we will learn more about safeguards in Silverborn, and I think it would be interesting if Mog learns more about them from Squall instead of Jupiter— and maybe it does end up being similar to whatever he has going on with Maud, who knows! I don’t really have any safeguard theories myself, but I will keep an eye out for what you add to your comment.

A Silverborn “silver” side note: A “silver tongue” means that someone is persuasive when they speak….. perhaps this idea, theme, power, etc. will be expanded upon in the future 🤔

[sexually-confused-goblin]

My first thought after seeing the new season six trailer: oh no, now Rayla's trauma is manifesting as corrupted Runaan!

Quickly followed by: Wait, the only other time I can remember seeing glowing red eyes like that in the show or graphic novels was when Kim'dael was on screen...

[rotisseries]

it's a little funny when some of you say you're gonna leave the fandom if it takes too long to get new content because you can't just keep talking about the same thing forever, and I'm not judging, I don't completely blame you, my fixation on byler is burning out and I'll probably be lost to you all forever once I have the new zelda game in my hands, but it DOES make me wonder what you guys plan on doing when season 5 is over

[daily-linkclick]

Regarding your tags about the overseas trip... Maybe Qiao Ling's father has landlord money and offered to pay for Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi's trip abroad... but it got added onto the debt they needed to pay later?? Just throwing out theories at this point

yeah most likely! the thing that bothers me most is how lu guang got that same good grace when he never grew up alongside qiao ling - which makes me believe he had his own money until after college. unless qiao ling's father was insanely kind, i just find it hard to believe that he'd pay for more than one kid when he's already paying for two

[loregoddess]

well, despite the wiki's utter lack of useful info, my love of wildly underdeveloped dead moms with little to no info won out, and I now have an updated design for Ikona

for whatever it's worth, I spent several hours comparing key facial features of the Hoshido siblings and Sumeragi to try and reverse-design what Ikona might have looked like, and came up with the shittiest Punnett squares to figure out eye/hair color (eye/hair color aren't Mendelian traits, Punnett squares for calculating eye/hair color are actually BS). I don't...actually think Kozaki spent the time to try and draw familial similarities, not the way Nuri does at least, but damn if I didn't try to find similarities/differences to work out my design for Ikona

[snek-disappearedagain]

Twst book 7 theories try not to be sad, morbid, or so mind boggling I can never see the game thr same LEVEL IMPOSSIBLE

Spoilers in the tags for like all the chapters including 7 kinda but also not really??

[aemiron-main]

fun fact: my biological father believes that covid isn’t a virus but is, in fact, caused by snake venom being in peoples’ tap water.

[thecoolerliauditore]

i can sense my art evolution phase coming like a cat sensing an oncoming earthquake. happening again 👍

[jlf23tumble]

Ok Jen dying to know why you think Harry brought out that bat signal ring some last year. I think some say during the month of sept it was replacing the bird ring which was being repaired but it does seem like a statement to wear it for My Policeman premiere at TIFF (with the Oscar Wilde reference outfit). Lotta focus on the hands that day for those seated interviews holding mics. Just a *wink wink* to the fandom? I’m sure all his jewelry has some assigned value/meaning in his mind but they are prob different from what we assume, at least in part. But he knows the relationship we connect that ring to I’m sure, no?

Nah, one of my rancidly unpopular onions is that these two aren't signaling to their fans, especially now (in fact, they probably low-key actively resent a significant chunk of their respective fanbases), so I don't think it was a wink, wink. If anything, they seem to signal to each other, doing that monitoring monkeying writ large. What it all meansTM, I have no idea, but yeah, I'm with you! I think there ARE meanings to certain pieces, and we'll never know the particulars (though I do love to speculate)