#the lighthouse leapers

[lattewithatwistoflemon]

Edwin definitely feels more like the main character than Charles does to me, and this is because it feels more like we’re seeing things from Edwin’s perspective. A good example of this is the lighthouse episode. We know from his expressions and his aloofness that something has been on Charles’s mind since the Devlin house, but we don’t know exactly what. He won’t open up about it. Bottles it all in. This isn’t like a manga, where we get internal thoughts in word bubbles as the thoughts are happening. We don’t know what he’s thinking until he talks to Edwin in episode 5, and even then, I get a suspicion that there’s more than what he said. I feel like I don’t 100% know Charles’s mind. Edwin, on the other hand, wears his heart on his sleeve. I can read him like a book. Back to the lighthouse episode, there’s a scene… I think it’s right after Crystal hears her mom’s voice and nearly falls off the lighthouse. Charles is talking to Crystal about this, about her wanting to see her parents. Edwin wasn’t even a part of the conversation, I think. All of a sudden, as the screen is focused on Charles while he talks, the audio gets fuzzy. I think the camera might slowly zoom in a bit. We get something like in those teen romance movies where the girl walks up to the main boy’s cafeteria table and the boy imagines her hair blowing in the breeze in slow motion (if someone knows what movie I’m thinking of, please let me know, because I can’t remember). Charles turns and tries talking to Edwin, and it takes Edwin a second to break out of his romantic trance. And I think it was shortly before this that Niko had given Edwin the sea glass and asked him about if he wants to kiss someone. So not only do we know exactly where Edwin’s mind is and that he’s clearly thinking about love, but we also see things from his eyes.

[goodgrammaritan]

The music box for the sea monster playing spooky "Wellerman" on Dead Boy Detectives

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

the lesson you get from the flashbacks of edwin and charles' deaths is that hate crimes are real and the suffering they cause had been getting overlooked for over a century.

that there's still people dying like that somewhere, and there's people, young people, that are going to die believing that they didn't matter.

[shaylogic]

Okay, so we know that Charles' polo goes red>burgundy>black and back by the end of the season.

Because there's so much going on, I always missed the exact transitions. This time I specifically tracked them down. (Apologies if this has already been done.)

Charles shirt is bright red through the majority of the Devlin House, even in Hope's Diary scene, when he opens up to Crystal.

Even when he first swings at Mr. Devlin and gets knocked back, his shirt is red.

The very subtle shift to burgundy is after he disappears and first reappears in the loop.

It remains burgundy throughout the entire lighthouse leapers episode and beginning of the two dead dragons.

I finally realized the very last moment we see of Charles in the burgundy is with Crystal. She tells him after the confusing makeout night, "But I think we should be friends," and kind-hearted Charles, of course, respects that and puts on a friendly smile.

It's difficult to see in the next scene with him because of his jacket, the angle he sits at on the ladder, and the lighting, but it's immediately after that when we first see him in the black polo.

My brother in death, you are NOT doing well.

here's another song from Jayden Revri's official Charles playlist, that I think is about this conflict with Crystal:

His shirt is still black during the "I don't wanna be a bad guy" scene.

After Edwin's affirmation of Charles' inherent goodness, it is directly after this scene that the shirt goes back to burgundy!!!

He's still wearing the burgundy during the confession:

BUT IT GOES BACK TO BRIGHT RED LITERALLY RIGHT AFTER EDWIN'S CONFESSION AND THEY ESCAPE HELL TOGETHER!

Yo I equally love Cryland and Payneland but the show canonly said "Crystal hit him in the loneliness and Edwin hit him in the loved"

[suzyblue0292]

“I’ve had enough of secrets about that wanker.”

“I can’t stop whatever it is that’s going on with you.”

As much fun as it is to joke about Charles being jealous of the Cat King, looking these lines from “Case of the Lighthouse Leapers,” I think it runs much deeper than that. For the first time in their friendship Edwin is keeping secrets. And not just any secret- secrets about things that are bothering him. He is refusing to let Charles protect him, to let Charles set his world to rights. And that ability, to make others - but especially Edwin - happy is what keeps Charles on an even keel. It’s part of how he knows he’s a good guy. Edwin being off center and refusing to let Charles right him puts Charles off center.

[fan-a-tink]

everylineofDBD on twitter getting to this scene was always going to wreck me emotionally, but this time round my heart broke all over again over Edwin's reaction to Charles' breakdown. There's so much love and concern in his eyes, and confusion and hurt because he's never seen Charles like this before.

not to mention the actual tears in his eyes in these two shots

Charles, it's going to be ok

I kind of feel like Edwin needs to hear those words just as much as Charles in this moment.

[alltimefail]

I love his face actually, if you even care. Pookie to the highest degree. Season 2 now @netflix @warnerbrostv

[beetlebug---1]

Promptober day 12: eight ball 🎱

[ticktockheartstop]

I’ve never seen anyone say Edwin wouldn’t go to hell for Charles, but I think that The Case of the Lighthouse Leapers proves that he would.

When Charles is totally breaking down, having just relived his worst traumas and watching his friends be scared of him, and feeling like he’s just like his dad because he beat up the Night Nurse, Edwin is the one who comes to comfort him. Edwin who has trouble navigating emotions and social situations. Edwin who has been trying the whole episode to be kind and understanding to Charles.

So yeah, it may not have been literal hell, but when Charles was in his own personal hell, it was Edwin who stepped up and helped him break out. It was Edwin who stepped up and said, “You know you can talk to me about anything.” And I think that’s really important.

[jinx-the-jester]

TAKE MY TEARS AND THAT'S NOT NEARLY ALL ...

charles rowland but he's at the point no point lighthouse and he's modeled after the fallen angel ... enjoy!!

[ brightness up for best experience

+ made on procreate ]

[pippin-katz]

they can never convince me you did anything wrong on that cliff.

i actually have very extensive essay in the works about this so 👀 update: here's the essay

[cull3nblaze]

I have been collecting these beautiful pieces of sea glass.

Each color has a different association.

Red. For you. For courage.

Edwin & Niko - Dead Boy Detectives - The Case of the Lighthouse Leapers (1x04)

[marril96]

Dead Boy Detectives 1.04 | The Case of the Lighthouse Leapers

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

A detail I love about Episode 4, is the symbol that appears in the music ball Charles finds and the meaning it has when it comes to his own story.

The relief in the ball, is a lyre, Orpheus' symbol. It was the musical instrument that he received as a gift from the god Apollo, who was considered his father in some versions of the original myth.

Note: In The Sandman Universe, Morpheus and the Muse Calliope are Orpheus' parents.

CHARLES: I found one of those at a maritime museum once. The Case of the Drowned Diver, wasn't it, Edwin? Superstitious sailors would use them to calm the seas.

Orpheus was well known as a talented musician; his music could intrigue people's minds with supernatural ideas and had the power to broaden their thinking to new and unusual theories.

When he joined the expedition of the Argonauts, he saved them from the Sirens' music by playing his own, more powerful and beautiful melodies. Later, it was also his music that allowed Jason to accomplish the purpose of his journey.

It makes sense that sailors used his symbol on an object designed to calm the seas and guarantee their safety while navigating.

When it comes to Charles, in particular, the way he ends up using the music ball (in the absence of a more technical name for that object) is both literal and metaphorical.

On one hand, he uses the music ball to put Angie, a sea monster, to sleep, thereby solving the case of The Lighthouse Leapers. On the other hand, he uses the instrument to save Edwin and himself from The Night Nurse—not just by literally pushing her into Angie's mouth with the ball in her hands, but by causing her to meet Kashina. This meeting prompts her to remember Kashi's words later, when Charles tried to save Edwin from returning to hell by pointing out it was a mistake, and again when he asked her to open a portal to hell so he could bring Edwin back.

In Orpheus' story, when Eurydice died from a snakebite, he charmed the ferryman Charon and Cerberus, the guardians of the River Styx, by playing the lyre and singing. By doing so, he also softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, which gave him the chance to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.

It's curious that the lyre symbolizes the power of persuasion for Orpheus, as this is a quality in which Charles takes great pride (he is indeed very convincing). Still, I hope that's where the coincidences end.

That's all for now. To everyone who knows about Orpheus' myth and the different versions of his story, I apologize for not quoting specific authors here.

[shaylogic]

the more i learn about Hell in this universe, and specifically Edwin's Hell, the sadder this makes me

cuz like… this isn't quite how it works, is it?

an A+ on your Detective Report Card won't save you

But in the Sandman Universe, what you did in life actually doesn't matter. It's what you BELIEVE ABOUT YOURSELF that creates your own Hell!!!

[suzyblue0292]

In the episode of The Lighthouse Leapers I don’t think the others experience a passage of time while Charles relives his worst memories. And I don’t mean that she freezes time - I mean he relives them in the time it takes him to fall.

So what the others see is the Night Nurse make a vague threat and click her fingers, Charles falls but is back on his feet almost before anyone can move. He’s already livid, then the Night Nurse turns to Edwin, “now it’s your turn what kind of pain would you like to relive?”

Charles understands the threat. The others don’t- if they even have time to process it before he cuts loose. First telling her off as he winds up the lullaby device, the smacking her across the face with it.

After he hits her with it the camera cuts directly to Edwin, Edwin who stood stoic through the Delvin murders has reeled back in shock. Not fear of Charles but shock because he has never seen him act like this. As Charles beats the Night Nurse Edwin pursues them gasping Charles name.

I truly think when Edwin says, “that was extreme.”

He is first, referring not so much to the feeding the Night Nurse to Angie as the repeatedly bashing across the face; second, speaking from not having an understanding of what Charles just went through; and finally, being concerned for Charles because he has never seen him act so violently without apparent justification.