#sote hope

[thecrusadercomrade]

Salt of the Earth Chapter 13: The Fun Part

Summary: Now that they have a rabbit, it's time for a quick course on skinning and butchering. And maybe there'll be time for a fun story or two along the way.

Read on AO3!

Read from the beginning!

[about92bleachedrainbows]

Shadow of the Erdtree oodlies

[sweetmapple]

@alberichfanpage mentioned that Freyja talks about Jerren but even if we had the option to ask Ansbach about Varre, I’d imagine we’d get something like this

[silverformymonsters]

MESSMER + 🔥

[alina-is-hollowing]

this got ship of theseus'd so badly but idc this is how i feel on sote lorewise

note: its not like im disregarding the lore fromsoft put in completely. the story is still amazing and I recognize and understand the direction they want the characters to go down. It's just that I can't help but hold onto a scenario where all this didn't happened and they got to live as normally and happily as possible like pre-shattering ya know

[visciozx]

Messmer x You (Sketches.)

One particular sketch is a ship art, but pretend its you if you dont like it lol

[drenched-in-sunlight]

(spoilers about DLC final boss)

i don't have enough energy to make a detailed case on this but

has any of Miquella's defenders found out about the proof in the base game that indicates Radahn was leading him on yet...

we found this at the Haligtree.

we know Radahn looks up to Godfrey and Radagon a lot and want to be like them, it makes sense he’d jump at a chance to be a Lord for a New God. i think he’s not above leading on a young Miquella instead of putting an end to a childish crush, even went so far as establishing a vow with him. But Radahn got cold feet later when Miquella was hell bent on going through with it as adult (stuck in a child body or not) & now he had to pay for his ambition.

i think that’s why they emphasize that Miquella made that wish in his youth. A traumatized & insecure child, losing faith in his parents’ Order & having to look his sister withered away, i think he would be very impressionable, especially around someone that strategically showcase his strength and honour like Radahn.

I think all this could have been avoided if Radahn, as the older brother, had just been firm & told him no.

[jugemusequencer]

in light of recent events

[shadowthehedgehog]

i know theres a lot of debate of whether messmer loved or hated marika and marika either loved or hated messmer and unfortunately im a neutral ass bitch and i think its both. I like to think that messmer truly loved marika and was devoted to her but grew so resentful and bitter over being left in the shadow realm but he cant help but still love and devote himself to her because. well thats his mom. and in turn marika loved messmer. thats her first born and he committed all those atrocities in her name and she loves him for it but theres no longer a place for him in her rule. power makes people cruel.

[epicfroggz]

While i agree with you that it's very likely the abyssal serpent isn't an outer god and more of an eldrich parasite, you don't see other outer gods being obsessed with consuming and destroying the demigods they cursed. Most of them feel they're just forces of nature like the rot & the frenzied flame etc.. while the Abyssal serpent show some "wickedbess" and hatred towards Messmer it will do anything to destroy him .so you think that they're similar to Radagon/Marika? I think the white blind serpent is messmer while the red one he summoned which has red eyes and multiple eyes on its body is the serpent of the abyss, so they're kinda still different entities? While i think the abyssal serpent being Messmer is confusing but i appreciate your analysis, because it's far more interesting than the serpent being a new outer god.

Hi, thanks for the ask! I will attempt to clear it up!

I do not believe the Abyssal Serpent is attempting to consume or destroy Messmer, at least not intentionally. As is the theme of the DLC, perspective must be considered—the serpent is malevolent, but to who?

(long post under cut!)

The Abyssal Serpent is not stated to be harming Messmer, as far as I can tell. The only potential harm it could be doing is eating away at his kindling, but it is his flame that is the curse: “Messmer despised his own fire. Time and time again he hoped to rid himself of it, but ever did it burn” (Messmer’s Orb). So, it can be said the serpent is eating at the kindling instinctually and/or in an attempt to help snuff it out. Messmer explicitly has tried to get rid of his flame, but has not tried to get rid of the serpent—instead, he accepts it:

“The winged snakes were Messmer's constant companions. They were there when the base serpent was sealed away behind his eye. They were there through his eternity of suffering. They will accompany him yet, in his hideous new form born when he destroyed the grace granted by his mother. They have accepted his fate as much as he.” (Messmer’s Helm)

We’ll get back to the winged serpents in a moment, but note the timeline here: it first states the base serpent was sealed, THEN Messmer went through an eternity of suffering, THEN he removed the seal and was reborn anew. It might be hideous, but it’s his, not something his mother or anyone else has done to him. Thus, the serpent’s malevolence must have been directed at outside forces. Marika does not often directly interfere with something or someone unless it could bring personal harm to her or the Erdtree—such as when she personally slew the Fell God. Yet, she plucked out her own son’s eye and put in place the seal to contain the Abyssal Serpent, despite the consequences this may have for Messmer. The serpent was that much of a threat to her, hence why I believe it is the “traitor to the Erdtree” that was foretold. It was not even the flame part that concerned her, but the serpent’s great powers of Shadow, like I explained in the last posts.

(The whole sealing ordeal has an air of “I’m doing this for your own good” which I’m certain Messmer wholeheartedly believed. Being called an accursed traitor your whole life just for existing must’ve sucked so, yeah, seal away. I’ll go blind for you, Mother; I’ll take the blame for you, Mother; I’ll do anything you ask of me, Mother—and yet, she still didn’t trust him enough to not remove it one day, and left him abandoned in the Land of Shadow. If she had just loved him as he was instead…)

On the subject of the winged serpents—I believe you are confusing them a bit there. The winged serpents are a separate entity from Messmer and the Abyssal Serpent. Messmer himself is a black serpent with red eyes all over its body, while the winged serpents are red with green eyes; Messmer is blind, the winged serpents are not. The winged serpents only appear white in phase 2 because they are shedding, though under the shed texture you can see they are still red.

They are called “wise friends” and “constant companions”, lending to the winged serpents being separate entities from Messmer, and this can also be seen in their design. They don’t grow out of him in a seamless or natural way, instead seeming as though they’re impaled through him, and Messmer and the Abyssal Serpent do not share design traits with the winged serpents like they share traits with each other. The winged serpents are the natural wardens of the Abyssal Serpent, stated to “keep the base serpent at bay and hold its power in check” (Winged Serpent Helm). This says to me they have been performing this task since before the seal, otherwise there would be no need for them. Consider also that for all its malevolence, the Abyssal Serpent did not cause any catastrophes in particular, else we would have heard about it. It was only prophesied to. Between the winged serpents and Messmer’s own compassionate self, the serpent’s lust for destruction was not acted upon (or was channeled to fulfill his mother’s wishes instead). If I may indulge Freud for a moment, Messmer was balanced—the Abyssal Serpent was the instinctual id, the winged serpents the logical superego, and Messmer the mediating ego between them. Something about the winged serpents being specifically “wise” makes me think of that, like they are Messmer’s personal advisors. His equals, and revered as the symbol of his army.

I say all this in efforts to explain that Messmer was whole, and will be whole again. That his serpentine nature was despised was a matter of public opinion, of what was writ in the Golden Order, of what he asked everyone to do—“Direct thy maledictions, thine ire, and thy grief towards me alone” (Messmer’s Set). The serpent within may be a scary and lightless and hideous monster, but he accepts that. He is what he is. When he removes the seal, the only thing that changes is that he has disappointed his mother; he is still just as lucid as he was before. He is still Messmer.

“Embrace thine oblivion, as shall I.”

- Froggo

P.S. I may have downplayed in this post how the Abyssal Serpent is inherently destructive and painful to Messmer, and like, brooding a hundred snakes inside him (more on that later), but what I’m getting at is that this is a natural thing he was born with, while the seal was an unnatural thing that was done to him. The serpent is a disorder that does not wholly define him but is still a part of him, while the seal was an improper cure that only repressed his self. Marika often hides away that which she does not want to deal with—out of sight, out of mind, as they say…

[thecrusadercomrade]

Salt of the Earth Chapter 12: Rabbit Season

Summary: The next morning, David and Grace set out, not only to find some fresh food for breakfast, but for a few important lessons as well.

Read on AO3!

Read from the beginning!

[miquellah]

while cutting shanehaight’s questline is probably understandable (going out to slaughter the poor sewer omens a little too ghoulish), i do think it’s a shame for other reasons. first off ofc it actually gives much more context to the margit/morgott thing, which is actually kind of vague in base game alone if you aren’t really digging in. second of all, i think an extra emphasis to the shitty nobles of leyndell wouldve been pretty ideal; the blame of things is usually placed on the demigods or The Order itself purely as a concept, but the regular human nobles were actually pretty important in upholding such corruption. there were far more pieces than just demigods and their soldiers

kenneth is there, yeah, and you can glean a bit from him. but dude turns out to be pretty alright after his personal growth, for the most part, and ideally someone Complete shit like shanehaight would’ve been great

[sweetmapple]

Another step by step process cause it’s so fun

[silverformymonsters]

BELURAT TOWER SETTLEMENT

[t5ngerine]

st. trina redraw!!

[amimizz]

"it's not a phase, guren... it's who i am."

got my drawing tablet fixed just in time for emo yuu weekend!!! :D such a pity i cant participate on twitter but its okay

idk if im gonna do the other prompts tho... but emo yuu weekend is such a nice idea!!!