#the whole lore on this seems muddied

[mrslittletall]

So, apparently in FF14, even if your character started with A Realm Reborn and never played through Legacy, they are STILL the Legacy character?! That doesn't work with my backstory for my WoL at all, so I am simply going to ignore that. The original WoL sadly didn't make it. They got lost in time. Only their spirit managed to travel through time.

[thecoolerliauditore]

I need your thoughts on Martyn.

Jesus Christ in heaven where to start.

I was planning to write massive essay posts about each of the winners sooner or later, I guess Martyn can skip the queue. As a treat.

BAD traffic series martyn analysis post don't read. LONG POST

note: rules I'm operating by are to keep the analysis primarily traffic-based (although this one's kind of an exception because. mr watcher lore) and I'm not rewatching entire POVs so stuff might be wrong so on so forth

Why is he... Like that?

So before I even start talking about 3L I feel the need to address Martyn's background first because, not unlike alot of the other members of the cast, Martyn's previously established relationships from series like Evo have a significant impact on how he behaves.

This is kind of difficult for me to talk about because it breaks my "no material outside of the traffic series" rule for these essays specifically, but I think it's honestly just more fun incorporating Martyn's off-series lore drops and such into his character instead of leaving them out.

So here's the basis I work from -- Martyn is the most unreliable narrator in a full cast of them. His lore is his character's version of events, not an unbiased retelling.

Whether the Watchers exist and whether they're the same entities present in Evo doesn't matter all that much, since all we know is that they are very real to Martyn, at least. Taking the lore as Martyn's POV also helps iron out some of the more awkward creases it creates when viewing the series as a whole (e.g. Grian's involvement with the Watchers surely means he would reference them himself, yet he doesn't) and lays the groundwork for some really interesting things about Martyn himself when you try to put the dots together on how he arrived at these conclusions. I'll be referencing these as they come up chronologically.

So, without over complicating things, here are the rules I'm playing by when it comes to pre-3L Martyn:

Evo did really happen with the same people, however the exact details are muddy.

Martyn knew Jimmy prior to the games and the two already had some sort of personal connection going in.

We're not trusting a word out of his mouth. Especially if he says them on stream. But we are going to acknowledge what those words are.

With those parameters set, let's move on:

Third Life, and the guy who gets a little too into it

Like Grian, Martyn immediately acclimates to the game's survival-based mechanics. Martyn spends a good chunk of the first session of 3L seemingly aimless, but he makes observations and choices throughout that show he has survival at the back of his mind (e.g. him quickly establishing an alliance with Grian and Bigb while sneakily putting them in his debt through the diamonds he finds early -- even if this doesn't end up paying off to anything).

Unlike Grian however, Martyn less desperately clings onto a need for an edge to survive and seems almost comfortable in playing the game. A running theme for him throughout all the seasons will be that he seems to feel most comfortable when he has some amount of unspoken power over others, whether that be something as silly as testing the waters with his creeper soundboard or later when he starts playing 4D chess with himself in regard to his loyalties.

"Power" might be not exactly the right word for what Martyn yearns for, but it's the best word I can find to really describe it. He's always the one with a card up his sleeve or a plan B or, arguably most importantly, the one with control over the situation and responsibility over his own and others' wellbeing.

In my mind, at least, I think it might be a consequence of Martyn actually being quite sensitive in terms of relationships and having this very deep-seeded need to protect his loved ones from harm but lacking the emotional intelligence necessary to allow himself to be vulnerable about those feelings and communicate properly. So instead he finds some way to protect himself emotionally (usually overdramatic and makes him way worse) and treats everyone including himself with a level of un-seriousness that alleviates the tension for him.

If I were to dig deeper into this specific point I must say Martyn seems to have chosen to perform a very specific breed of masculinity, with his constant agonizing need to protect and lead while not having to confront his own perceived weaknesses, and alot of his insecurities and frustrations come from being denied that husband-y role to play.

His interactions with Jimmy early on in 3L portray this side of him quite plainly. After seeing Scott hit him around at Renchanting, Martyn gets Jimmy alone and asks him if he's okay but after Jimmy dodges the question, Martyn quickly becomes frustrated and starts acting very overdramatic (e.g. threatening to cut Jimmy off, "I can't look at you", so on) even as Jimmy keeps insisting they keep talking.

In my humble opinion, it's clear to me from how he speaks to Jimmy in this scene and further on, and from his referencing of their Evo relationship, that this is these two's established dynamic - the way Martyn dramatizes everything feels almost as if he were making a joke of it, teasing Jimmy, almost akin to how an older sibling or very old friend would act. It's possible that Martyn didn't expect Jimmy to take any of his threats seriously (although he definitely was laying on the pressure to try and get him to agree in the moment) and that's why he's so taken aback when Jimmy does act almost afraid of him from this point forward.

Not once does Martyn ever verbalize his own feelings regarding the matter. He never says that he's scared or worried for Jimmy, or even makes any sort of subjective judgment on Scott's character for hitting Jimmy in the first place. He makes it all about Jimmy, never communicating *why* he is doing what he's doing which ends up giving off the impression he thinks he knows what's best for him, which of course never communicates to Jimmy that Martyn cares for or loves him and ends up pushing him away as a result.

Speaking of Scott, despite Martyn clearly not approving of the way he treats Jimmy (judging from the aforementioned conversation and his later lore streams where he essentially calls Scott and Jimmy's marriage a sham), he does not ever act antagonistically towards Scott. Which I think is indicative of another key trait of Martyn's - an almost uncanny ability to push aside his own feelings at least momentarily for the sake of the game.

Martyn does not speak badly to or about Scott. He even explores the nether with him very early on and the two literally joke about trapping the Flower Valley and killing Jimmy together.

I think there's an understanding and perhaps a level of respect, on Martyn's end, towards Scott. One of the first observations he makes about Scott's base, after all, is its defensive location and Scott, like Martyn, values his own competency and likes to pretend he's more emotionally unattached to his partner than he really is (the parallels between Martyn/Ren and Scott/Jimmy are even somewhat lampshaded by Martyn himself when he refers to them as "my red" (Ren) and "your red" (Jimmy) later).

It seems that Martyn doesn't dislike anything innate to Scott's nature, and even has love for his manipulative traits. If it were anyone other than Jimmy Scott was hitting, I'd argue, Martyn wouldn't have raised a fuss about it. Not to mention, there's also a sense of "keeping your enemies closer" when it comes to these two, as both seem acutely aware the other is useful on their side and a threat anywhere else.

I'd argue despite the fact he's able to push his dislike towards Scott aside, he definitely still feels spiteful towards him, as he ends up hunting him down pretty mercilessly come the end of the series (after Jimmy dies too - so perhaps there was also a level there of feeling the need to put up with Scott beforehand as he was Jimmy's only ally, but now that Jimmy's gone there isn't any need to be friendly with Scott anymore.)

Now onto the heavy-hitter Martyn 3L relationship - his dynamic with Ren.

I'll be honest I think most treebark shippers have summed up their relationship way better than I could. You could probably go into the tag and see thirty eight analysis posts more indepth and accurate than mine. However I will say that one thing I see rarely mentioned is this very obviously being Martyn's first time meeting Ren (I'm talking about characters here but here is your acknowledgement this is definitely a result of this literally being the case for the CCs).

He's not used to Ren's mannerisms -- during their first meeting, Ren says his usual "ex-squeeze me" (instead of "excuse me") and Martyn responds "no thankyou, I'm married". Not to get too into it as this is The Martyn Post but Ren's POV would imply the same since he sees Martyn's name in chat and he immediately starts theorizing about what kind of player he is.

I think Ren essentially being a stranger to Martyn at the start of the series makes it easier for him to act manipulatively and keep him at arm's length, as well as be in denial about the whole emotional attachment thing. For so much of their alliance during 3L Martyn is acting, performing to match Ren's vibes, except he's not.

^this quote and the concept of freudian slips informs like 88% of my worldview, if anyone's wondering why I'm. like that.

"The Hand" is very much not how Martyn naturally acts or behaves, down to the change in speaking patterns. It's a persona that I think both Ren and Martyn never take too seriously or mistake for Martyn's authentic self, but it's also something Martyn uses to express his innermost feelings he disallows himself from usually. Yes it's all silly even in-universe but I think there's something special about how he constantly expresses his devotion as The Hand, even if he's doing it with a layer of irony. Plus, I think it says something that, jumping later in the timeline, his flashbacks in LimLife are much more true to the character of The Hand than Martyn himself.

This section is already long enough but I do have to mention Bigb, Grian and Scar or I'll explode.

Earlier on, I touched on Martyn giving Grian and Bigb diamond swords early and it being an attempt to leverage an alliance between them. This I admit might be a slight reach however the reason I say that is Martyn continues to pursue Bigb and Grian as allies throughout the season.

Bigb is cut and dry enough, he ends up floating around the outside of Dogwarts as a not-quite-member after the siege in which pretty much half the sever were antagonized by Grian and Scar. I'm probably not the person to thoroughly dissect Martyn/Bigb but there's something interesting there about how alot of people tend to have this general fondness towards Bigb and Martyn is no exception.

As for Grian, Martyn acknowledges that Grian is responsible for the siege, possible moreso than Scar, but keeps questioning how "gone" he is, worded as if he believes Scar is manipulating him. I've seen people compare this to how he acts towards Jimmy and Scott which I can definitely see the throughline. However, I think while both are an example of Martyn's protector/saviour complex, they are innately different due to Martyn's relationships with both the perceived victim and captor in each case.

Despite Grian also being an ex-Evo member, Martyn does not act towards him with the same familiarity he does with Jimmy. He also brings up Grian's welfare with Bigb and not Grian himself, with Bigb being the other person involved in their earlier established sword alliance. To me, it feels as if Martyn is more testing the waters for if he can still get Grian on his side than out of any genuine concern for Grian, although it is possible he's projecting some of those leftover feelings regarding Jimmy's situations onto Grian and Scar.

The other reason is, I think, Martyn might genuinely be afraid of Scar himself and villainizing him as a result. Everytime Scar shows up in Martyn's POV he's paired with tense music and sporadic editing that makes him appear more unhinged. Martyn has also said on tumblr he found Scar intimidating at the time, which is of course a dubiously canon source but I find it applicable enough.

It makes sense, too. When you compare Martyn's treatment of Scar vs his treatment of Scott. These are both people he has recognized as real threats and he assumes both are manipulating their respective partners, but while he remains friendly (at least outwardly) towards Scott he's constantly wary of Scar, drawing weapons on him pretty much on sight even before the siege.

I think Martyn fears Scar because he doesn't understand Scar. Scott is someone like him who he knows the inner workings of, or at least that's what he believes, so while he doesn't care for him he doesn't feel a need to keep him away. Martyn always assumes a level of coordinated malice from Scar that is more than often either completely unfounded or a result of something originating from Grian (my favourite example of this is, right before the siege, Scar wanders over with his bee on a lead and Martyn starts yelling "he's got a bee! what does that mean?!" as if expecting the bee has some pvp reason behind it. when scar just wanted to have a bee).

That isn't to say that Scar isn't malicious - Martyn is right like 90% of the time that Scar's not-so-subtle friendly hellos have some sinister plan behind them, but he doesn't ever truly get that Scar isn't the evil mastermind he thinks he is.

I'd argue this fear is what also makes Martyn not pick up on the fact that Grian is the more manipulative one out of the two - something that even Scott seems aware of - because he never spends enough time with them on friendly terms to be aware of that dynamic.

Last Life AKA big brother syndrome in full blast

Okay that was a long ass section sorry lmao have to establish everything there. Everything from here on is gonna be a lot cleaner I swear.

The Southlanders could honestly have their own ultra-long post about how they're the perfect disaster team-up lord of the flies esque situation the series has to offer.

Impulse, Grian and Martyn are all similar in that they understand they have to play the game a certain way through keeping their loyalties dubious while Mumbo, as a newcomer, is extremely naive and goes along with whatever the more assertive members of the group say. And Jimmy is Jimmy.

Martyn takes on a leadership role within the group, being the one to constantly spearhead their humour and come up with new often disruptive plans (usually targetting Scott because he totally isn't spiteful still, albeit in a very playful way). After Joel traps their base with tnt minecarts, Martyn is the one to keep everyone else back and disarm them, a huge contrast to 3L's siege.

Their group embraces the rules of the game - if you turn red, as Grian does early on, you are kicked out from the group as a threat. There's this sinking feeling throughout all their spyglass shenanigans and life-trade trust exercises that this is still an alliance in a death game and if you prove yourself to be a detriment, you will be kicked out.

It's no wonder than why Jimmy, who gets his usual bottom of the barrel treatment, tries to run away with Martyn's life during one of their trust exercises. He's been shown at this point he can't fully trust the Southlanders to protect him forever -- how could he, when Martyn, again, never slips in any sign of affection between the teasing?

To Martyn, however, this is a betrayal of his trust. His plea to Jimmy to return sounds a lot like their conversation back in 3L on the snowy mountain regarding Jimmy and Scott, except this time Jimmy accepts Martyn's offer and Martyn tells him he was lying, calling him an idiot for believing him in the first place. This is probably the harshest Martyn acts towards Jimmy in the series, but it's worth mentioning that to Martyn the timeline of events goes he offers Jimmy his protection and alliance--> Jimmy refuses--> Jimmy dies (which Martyn probably sees at least partially due to said refusal) --> he gets Jimmy back and does everything in his power to keep him safe --> Jimmy does the equivalent of *killing him* and tries to get away with it.

Martyn still obviously cares about Jimmy despite being upset at him, as after his usual dramatics and declaring a trial for Jimmy in which each of the Southlanders vote on his fate, Martyn still votes to keep Jimmy in the group (again, something Jimmy is never made aware of).

Possibly partially because of the Jimmy incident and the overall dog-eat-dog culture of the Southlanders, Martyn does to them what he never managed with Dogwarts - betrayal. At least, on some level.

Ironically, it's Ren he betrays them for, forming the Shadow Alliance and even giving the life Jimmy had attempted to steal from him to Ren instead. My read of this has always been that it supported Martyn truly being happy enough for Jimmy or someone else to have his extra life, but Jimmy's act of betraying him itself being what hurt him.

I think now's a good time to start mentioning the Watcher Lore, as here is where it starts kicking into gear. Martyn's claims of emotional bonds not carrying over from previous seasons is not only a very natural progression from his emotional distancing in a coping mechanism sense, but also enables him to betray Ren too later on and not have to confront the guilt that comes with that when he tries to lead him into a tnt trap in the final 1v1v1v1. However, he still cheers for Ren as a ghost and even says that he would be happy to see Ren win, indicating he really does not hold any malice towards him.

I've seen people make jokes about the watcher lore being Martyn schizoposting and I'm sure I've made similar jokes in the past but. Speaking very genuinely here Martyn's questionable sanity is a big part of his character to me.

His Episode 8 of LL literally begins with him acting out the usual running joke of him stealing Mumbo's intro, except Mumbo and Jimmy are dead at this point and he is doing their voices and talking to himself. When the illusion is broken, he panics and the video immediately cuts to him running around obviously distressed with a disembodied voice demanding things from him.

I'm obviously not authorized to diagnose every single one of Martyn's many mental illnesses, but I think mentally breaking down in a timeloop death game is a fairly average thing to happen to someone, and Martyn might be especially susceptible due to his aforementioned need for power and responsibility in every relationship (i.e. I'd like to think he feels some helplessness/guilt over Jimmy and Mumbo's deaths, leading to this sequence).

Not to mention, someone who is emotionally vulnerable coming up with a nebulous Group of Evil People who are the source of all the bad things in a helpless situation of violence is. Something that happens historically quite alot. To try and find reason in the madness is just a human instinct, I think.

One thing I feel like I should mention is his "marriage" with Mumbo which. I honestly don't see as anything more than a gag. Not that Martyn isn't a massive hypocrite but "marrying" Mumbo would be very much contradict what he has to say about Scott/Jimmy's situation. I do think he cares for Mumbo and potentially Mumbo's naivete served as incentive for Martyn to put on the usual assertive/provider role but I don't think there's much more than that (no hate to the shippers, tho, if they knew eachother for like a week longer they would've kissed)

Double Life. Oh no

Double Life Martyn is one of my favourite POVs in the series because it is. Hilarious. Unfortunately.

To start off, he is one of the players who almost immediately accepts the soulbound system as romantic and his views on Cleo/Scott's relationship are heavily based on that (I love that one clip where he mocks them in front of Jimmy).

Him acting flabbergasted at Cleo rejecting him despite pretty much having no relationship with her prior to this season is a really funny contrast to Scott and Pearl, especially when he continues pursuing her like they're recently divorced and Cleo's just like. rolling her eyes. It's all very performative on Martyn's end and why I mentioned his sense of masculinity at the start, because in theme with DL being The Feminism Season TM this is when it comes full throttle in display with the way he treats Cleo.

Martyn keeps referring to himself as a "provider" and refers to Cleo's relationship with Scott as "childish" -- Martyn trying to win over Scott's partner to his side, assuming he knows best for the partner and calling their relationship a sham? Does any of this sound familiar?

Cleo is not like Jimmy, however, and is very clear to Martyn in terms of what she wants from him - which is an apology, no diamond swords or heart-shaped houses, but Martyn in all his emotional denseness can't understand this and keeps assuming there must be some hidden strings attached.

I couldn't find the original meme I had in mind but these are within the same genre. The one I remember had captioned something like "dads don't say "i love you" but they will buy ten boxes worth of the fruit they overheard you say you liked once", which pretty much sums up Martyn's emotional intelligence to me. He would much rather give you way too much of something he thinks you need (e.g. with Jimmy the playful teasing, with Cleo the acts of service) than just say "I love you".

Cleo's blunt honesty serves as a stark contrast to Jimmy and brings something out of Martyn that we rarely ever see -- a genuine, vulnerable interaction in which he has to admit he's hurt. Cleo immediately denies him the role of rescuer he wants to play by telling him directly that she, not Scott, was the one who came up with the idea of teaming up and even gets Martyn to verbalize he's hurt by their actions and cares for her.

Once that illusion is shattered for Martyn and Cleo even admits she's acting manipulatively towards Scott, Martyn realises he and Cleo are more alike than he initially assumed and that he doesn't need to take care of her like he always tries to with his relationships. Ironically, the one relationship he has that is born almost entirely out of government mandated performative romance, is the one that gets him to examine how he views people especially his romantic interests the most.

This is, of course, all said with the fact that following this very heartfelt moment, the next time he speaks to Cleo he pushes her off a fucking cliff and kills her in mind. And the fact that he was very much beating the shit out of her and even called their relationship "toxic" himself early on in the season.

It's kind of hard to gauge Cleo and Martyn's relationship from this point forward but Martyn definitely chills on the namecalling and cooperates with Scott and Cleo for the main part going forward.

I think it's also worth mentioning that, despite Scott once again being the object of his spite, Martyn is once again friendly with Scott all season. When he catches Cleo and Scott mid-axe crit, it's Cleo he starts hitting and not Scott, despite them both being responsible. Behind his back, Martyn will claim Scott is "ruining" Cleo but to his face Martyn is always respectful. He actually even calls Scott "pretty"/"hot" in the last episode, which has some implications I'll talk about more in the Limlife section.

Martyn, like everyone else, is weird about Pearl. Uniquely in his case, Pearl isn't a witch nor demoness, but rather a non-factor he seems to have had written off and her triumph in the end comes as a shock to his system.

He dismisses her concerns over and over in the first episode as they are exploring together and, instead of seeing her as a natural source of allyship, doesn't value her enough to keep her around as an alliance even after Scott and Cleo dump them. In his heart to heart with Cleo, he even very randomly speaks badly of her, although he immediately seems to feel a bit of guilt over it.

He never seems to view Pearl through a sympathetic lens despite the two being in the same circumstance and, again in the same conversation with Cleo, they both agree that she could act as essentially a pawn (an "extra healthbar") for them like Cleo uses Scott.

I feel the need to clarify that while, yes I do believe Martyn is Weird About Women, I also do think he's honestly above average and sees them more as people than some other men in the series (note: my standards are not very high)

He sees most people as nothings that can be manipulated or competition that also can be manipulated, it just so happens that all the women in the series so far land squarely in the former and it took Cleo saying to his face "I'm taking advantage of Scott" for him to realise she wasn't a victim. However, even afterwards, he never treats her with the same competitiveness he has for people like Scott and Scar (albeit it makes enough sense in this season since she's attached to his healthbar, but this remains the same for future seasons). And as a reminder, he holds respect for those he deems as threats, which might have something to do with why he feels comfortable hitting Cleo but not Scott.

As for Ren and the Broken Hearts Club, they didn't get a lot of time together this season since both were preoccupied with their own soulmate dramas and being awful to Pearl but what we do see of them ranges from heartwarmingly nostalgic to a little bit hollow. Martyn saying to Pearl that they're the same at this point doesn't really read to me as him being truly sympathetic since this is post the "you should go use pearl as your second hp bar" conversation and Ren is way too busy to deal with the emotional turmoil of what's going on between himself and Bigb to really pay attention to Martyn.

Ren is still very kind to Martyn, especially considering the last time he saw him in LL Martyn was trying to kill him, but there's an emotional gap between the two that's very noticeable at least to me when compared to 3L and LL.

I think Martyn, at this point, convinced of his own "emotional bonds don't carry over seasons" logic, might be a bit too comfortable on relying on Ren. In both DL and LL he runs to Ren when his current alliance gets shaky and Ren is a source of definite comfort for him (as he said so himself on stream). Ren, as a source of comfort, is not a threat to Martyn aka not someone he needs to keep tabs so when said source of comfort falls through the gaps, you get:

Limited Life. The one where he compares himself to Joffrey from GOT

I don't think I have much to say about LimLife Martyn that hasn't already been said.

I will say I don't necessarily think Majorwood is purely his rebound relationship from Ren, the Mean Gills forming is very much not OOC for either Scott or Martyn (this is pretty much how they acted with eachother at the start of 3L) and their resulting give and take coworker-esque dynamic is a very natural place for them to end up from their previous interactions. Scott, like Martyn, tries to shed his emotional attachments with each new season so they are, in a very literal sense, making eachother worse by reinforcing that habit by normalizing it to eachother.

However, the parallels to their respective 3L partnerships I can't blame people for pointing out, right down to Martyn killing both Ren and Scott in the seaons he was teamed with them and the latter being happy about it.

I think it's time to say what I've been implying with Scott and Martyn throughout this whole thing and that is that they are eachother's ideal ally. They are both aware of the game, play the game, emotionally distant, manipulative and make themselves suffer more for that mindset. I don't think there was ever a moment in their allyship where either assumed the other wasn't going to stab them in the back later, despite the mutual respect they have being very real.

Martyn spends a lot of time this season just wandering around talking to various people, alot like how he acted in 3L before he and Ren became an official thing. It's almost as if, without Ren there, he loses his default go-to guy and is once again sizing up the competition around him.

The one exception I would say would be his interactions with Cleo, who he seems genuinely friendly with, even offering himself up as a "godfather" for the Clockers before the whole server became some form of extended family. You'd think this alliance would also have some basis in the ever present Scott/Cleo alliance but Scott's constant sacrifices for the Clockers are never discussed between him and Martyn, in fact the two of them rarely talk about anything ever past base-building and dolphin-wrangling, and the Clockers seem to treat them as two seperate entities rather than an alliance (e.g. Bdubs seems almost entitled to Scott's life after a certain point, but none of them ever even consider asking Martyn for time).

That, and of course the fact that Martyn kills Scott very unsympathetically towards the end, really point me in the "Martyn is still spiteful towards Scott" direction -- after all, alliance or no alliance, I don't think Martyn would want to be in the conversation with Scott where he tells him about his "love you back" exchange with Jimmy. Martyn certainly respects Scott, loves Scott I'd even say, but I don't know if he actually likes Scott.

I think it's also interesting that it's this season where Martyn's Watcher Lore interludes make a return, just in time for his source of comfort (Ren) to be missing.

Re: the watcher lore the comment Martyn makes about swapping out souls of players who are too "damaged" is very in line with his DL seeing women (and "weaker" men like Jimmy, Mumbo and, of course, Ren) as default victims as, knowingly or not, he implies through this that all the women in the series have souls too weak to withstand the horrors. This also in turn implies that he himself is not broken, which I think he'd like to believe.

Secret Life. It's happy again :D oh wait no

Secret Life starts with Martyn kissing Jimmy. I feel like we moved on from this way too fast in general I mean on the cheek or not he did kiss him he did literally kiss him.

I'll be honest I think the Big Dogs POV is the one I'm least familiar with out of all of these but from what I do remember it's very nice to see Martyn and Jimmy settling back into what seems like their Evo dynamic or even their pre-horrors LL dynamic.

Unfortunately Jimmy is not Cleo and thus cannot get Martyn to be the slightest bit vulnerable, so their dynamic remains stagnant and neither acknowledge the awkwardness that still resides between them.

Jimmy is at least very clearly holding onto some discomforts, judging by his behaviour late in the series when he acts aggressively towards Pearl and celebrates Lizzie dying. He even chases Scott down with a sword on horseback earlier on and, very early in one of Pearl's episodes, he quickly switches between sounding sad and angry.

It's clear to me at least SL Jimmy has reached some sort of breaking point, and this never gets acknowledged by Martyn (I like to think he just lacks the EQ to deal with it). This all cascades into Jimmy attempting to kill Martyn and running away before dying.

SL Martyn feels almost like, to me, the 3L Martyn who successfully convinced Jimmy to team with him and the disaster that comes with that. Martyn certainly has continued to be his survivalist self, not trusting outsiders to the point where when the Wither/Warden combo is unleashed, he immediately assumes they're picking off reds and goes to hide.

Weirdly enough, his protective tendencies towards Jimmy are pretty much gone. It's almost as if when he doesn't see an active threat (e.g. Scott) he assumes things must be good enough and leaves it at that, which also implies he can't comprehend that He might be detrimental to Jimmy himself.

Obligatory. Yes he still misses Ren. Him literally basing his alliance concept off of dogs is. hilarious. I'm so sorry babygirl.

Real Life is, again, non-canon to me but turns up the "dad who buys you 45 mandarins" energy to 11 with him being Ren and Skizz's pseudo-dad. I love Ren having a crisis about his own RP btw it's the funniest thing and he does it like. Everytime.

Uh yeah I hope that's long enough

[arowyn-m]

Jayce/Viktor/Hexcore situation in S2

Okay I've seen a lot of S2 theories circulating so I just wanted to get my two cents out there before we get any new information beyond the most recent teaser!

Lots of this is speculation loosely based on lore and possible foreshadowing. I'm not 100% convinced any of this is going to happen, but I do think some parts of it are more likely than not. Here's the gist of what I think will happen over the course of the 3 acts. (Buckle up because this is a long post)

ACT I:

Act I opens with the council attack. Everyone is dead except for Jayce, Mel, Viktor and maybe one other lucky but irrelevant councilor (probably Shoola if Mel’s armor protection has this radius)

Shoola is the closest councilor on Mel’s right.

In the German version of the trailer, Ambessa says “Half of your council is dead.” There are 7 councilors. At least 3 would have to survive for the council to be considered “half” annihilated. Although it could be a statement Ambessa’s trying to make, implying that just Jayce and Mel make up at least half of the council’s power. Either way—Jayce, Mel and Viktor survive, if barely.

Jayce makes it out with largely superficial injuries. Though they make it out alive, Mel and Viktor are badly injured in the explosion. Mel is expected to recover, but Viktor is not. Both are in a coma or at least bedridden at the beginning of the season. Despite the good news for her daughter, Ambessa is furious about her daughter’s injuries.

Jayce somehow finds out about the extent of Viktor’s Hexcore experimentation, either by finding his research notes or by seeing his modifications and putting two and two together.

Jayce uses the Hexcore to save his friend. Viktor wakes up not relieved or grateful like Jayce expects, but outraged.

Viktor sees Jayce’s decision as a blatant betrayal of his promise to destroy the Hexcore, and so decides the device would be better off in his care than in the clutches of someone he now sees as faithless. He returns to the Undercity, presumably for good.

Jayce stays topside and begins building Hextech weapons (like Caitlyn’s acceleration gate rifle we saw in the teaser) in earnest.

I’ve seen some speculation that this hooded figure is Jinx, but I really can’t see her skulking around the Undercity in a cloak. We know we get Jinx in a hood at some point in the series (due to reports from the Annecy event) but this cloak in particular doesn’t seem her style—and we see Viktor in a similar-looking cloak later in the teaser. This, paired with the convincing theories that Viktor and Jinx will at very least interact in S2 leads me to think that this is just Viktor standing in the aftermath of some Jinx shenanigans.

Later in the act is when we get hooded Viktor. He uses the Hexcore to heal some of the addicts living near the fissures, unintentionally rallying them to his cause. I think Huck is the person Viktor is healing or changing here ->

The character on the bottom middle seems to have a similar build. This may lead to Huck being the cult leader for the Gloriously Evolved.

I think it’s likely that this ^ shot is from the same scene where Viktor’s using magic in the sump. The primary lighting is a different color, but the Hexcore has given off both purple and blue light before. Heimer also looks like he’s in a dark environment where he wants to be hidden, so it wouldn’t make sense for this to take place in Piltover or in Ekko’s oasis. He’s somewhere in Zaun.

We see some foreshadowing to the Hexcore corrupting Viktor. Heimerdinger expresses worry about the whole thing and once again proposes the Hexcore be destroyed. This time, Viktor outright refuses.

ACT II:

Here’s where things get a little muddy and speculative. Arcane is obsessed with parallels, so it’s likely that the writers are going to try to replicate the same structure S1 had. Here we’ll have another timeskip mirroring the one in S1–about 6-10 years in duration. This would but Jaycr and Viktor into their late 30s/early 40s (closer to their in-game ages)

Both characters will have realized a design closely resembling their in-game counterparts. Viktor and Jayce are now full-on enemies, but how they got to that point will only be told through subtextual clues and maybe a flashback.

Either during this Act or within the timejump preceding, Viktor builds Blitzcrank.

I looked at Blitz’s wiki to find out why exactly Viktor built them, and it turns out they were built not as a weapon or shield, but as a means of disposing of hazardous waste. I wonder if one of Viktor’s main motivations in S2 will be making Zaun more habitable as well as healing its citizens.

Despite Viktor’s good intentions, the Hexcore will have corrupted/connected itself to him to some extent. Whether for good or ill (probably ill), it’ll become apparent that Viktor and the Hexcore are irreparably connected.

ACT III:

This is where the theory gets controversial. I’ve seen a lot of people predicting that Riot won’t choose to kill any champion characters in Arcane because it puts an end to their lore and makes them unmarketable. I wholeheartedly disagree, and here’s why: Arcane and subsequent stories based on League are going to be primarily about the champions. There are more than 140 champs in LoL. If Riot plans to make shows or movies about even half of these champions, the plot armor for each will become increasingly obvious. I don’t think Riot is going to shy away from killing champions, especially not when they’ve made it clear they don’t have a problem with showing drastic time jumps. Immense amounts of lore can happen (and have happened) within timeskips, especially ones that are 6+ years long.

Knowing that Arcane ends with season 2, it’s likely that all the main characters’ arcs will be wrapped up by the end of the season. Christian Linke mentioned that Riot and Fortiche have plans for other League-related projects, but I don’t see the characters of Arcane becoming involved enough in another show to complete a personal arc or resolve a major plot point from THIS show. The most I can see is cameos, honestly. I hope I’m wrong because I love these characters…but yeah.

So with those points in mind…I think Viktor dies at the very end of this season. Viktor has always been on a path of carrying out experiments farther than he should and creating things much too strong or volatile for him to handle safely. Jinx is on a similar trajectory, but she at least has some form of self-preservation, which is something Viktor has grown to lack. At some point, his luck will run out and his technology will be the end of him.

Towards the end of the series, Jayce and Viktor will have their final showdown, and Jayce will destroy the Hexcore. Because Viktor and the device are so interconnected to one another, destroying the Hexcore will kill him. Viktor dies to a fault in his technology, and Jayce keeps his promise in the end.

[thefinnishcap]

I love how much from what we’ve seen, echoes of wisdom feels like it’s going back to the era of game boy Zelda. I don’t really know how to explain it. There’s a certain… mischievousness that the game boy games have, and this one has it too.

It also reminds me of them because there’s this laissez faire attitude that the game boy games had when it came to the direction of the series, they didn’t give a flying fuck about continuity, or the lore (cause it didn’t really exist at the time, and still doesn’t imo). Echoes feels like it’s really returning to that attitude towards the lore. totk and botw also did, much to the chagrin of Zelda “theorists”.

Echoes seems to yet again be muddying the water on what the triforce is and how it functions. The triforce’s specific function and how it works has literally never been as consistent as people like to pretend it is. But this game seems to be doing something pretty drastic with it. Now there’s a fairy? Are they like an avatar of the triforce, maybe the triforce itself? And the rod that they give Zelda, creates duplicates of things? I mean, technically the triforce could be used to duplicate something (in some games), but that just seems like a very out of “character” thing for it to do. I also think that tears of the kingdom heavily fucked with the way the triforce works despite many people believing it’s not in the game (I believe it is, it’s just different), but that is a whole other thing.

While I’ve been a bit disappointed with some of the decisions when it comes to game design in recent entries. I really love the energy Nintendo has had towards the timeline lately. They tried to make an official timeline and confine themselves to it because fans wouldn’t stop whining about wanting one, and then they realized they hated the way it restricted them. So they released botw as a huge middle finger to the timeline, and totk as an even fucking bigger one. Zelda has always been and will always be a series about mythology. Just like with any real world mythology, there should never be an “official”timeline, you can’t make a clear timeline out of a bunch of disparate stories that have been passed down for generations by word of mouth. I love hypothesizing about a possible order for the games, I think that’s fun, but that’s all it should ever be. Timeline discussion was a lot more fun when people were open to other possibilities for the order.

Wow that sure was a tangent that I’ve went on, thanks for listening to this idiot who’s very autistic about Zelda ramble for a bit.

[yolowritter]

A Perspective on Miquella the Kind

"Miquella the Kind...is a monster." Those are some of the first words uttered by Sir Ansbach once the Empyrean's Great Rune is shattered, and the charm placed upon his followers in the Lands of Shadow is lifted. But...are they actually true? With all the new information we have about Miquella in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, it's worth to re-examine all we know about his character. Naturally, a huge part of the community is budy combing every nook and cranny for more lore on this Demigod. And...others are displeased with the new information given, or more specifically, what Miquella's plan is revealed to be at the DLC's end. So today, I want to take a closer look at Miquella as a character, his followers, and of course, the overarching plot which the Tarnished becomes involved in after slaying Radahn and Mohg. As an aside, we really owe the Lord of Blood an apology as a community. Nevermind the murders and cult sacrifices, Mohg managed to beat the allegations! Anyway, I do intend to also give my own interpretation in regards to the more...questionable things in the new Lore, so let's get right to it!

Firstly, it's worth establishing a baseline for who Miquella is as a person. As we all know, he is the son of Queen Marika and King Consort Radagon, as well as brother to Malenia. As a side note, the whole "Miquella divested himself of Saint Trina" situation most likely explains how this family dynamic would be possible, but that's another post altogether. Marika's...questionable marriage choices aside, Miquella has always been described as a kind, gentle soul. In some ways, his narrative place in Shadow of the Erdtree serves as a foil to Marika herself. Where his mother schemes and conceals the truth, Miquella is extremely upfront about his goals. Make the world a kinder, gentler place. And honestly? I believe him. I fully believe that Miquella, having grown up next to his cursed sister and seeing the Golden Order unable to do anything for Malenia, wished for nothing more but to better the world. And after realizing the Order wasn't working, I've no doubt he went on to discover the many, many attrocities committed against those of the Crucible, like the Misbegotten for example. However...this is where things get a little muddy, in terms of morality that is.

Remember that Miquella is basically a God. He is one of the few who can succeed Marika in a new Age. But...he doesn't seem like a fighter to me. He isn't one, which is where Radahn comes in. Now, forgive the aside, but we need to have a chat about what exactly "Consort" means as a word. Yes, it's typically used in the context of marriage, but from the original Latin meaning (I'm no expert here, feel free to correct me), a consort is someone with whom an individual shares a destiny. Miquella himself talks a little about this, both in the fight against Promised Consort Radahn, and if the Tarnished is charmed by his Circlet. Yes, that's the thing he uses to hypnotize people, it's in the item description. We understand the concept of a consort as the more modern interprepation of a romantic partner, a spouse of some kind. However, Elden Ring doesn't work by the same rules. Yes, it can mean spouse, given that Ranni welcomes the Tarnished as one and grants the Dark Moon Greatsword as a wedding gift, but it doesn't have to.

Unfortunately, I think the community is falling into the same pitfall we did with Mohg's wording of his own desires to become Miquella's consort. Unlike Ranni, neither situation here necessitates romantic feelings, and frankly I don't believe they exist here. Miquella was fascinated by Radahn's strength and kindness, and believed his brother would be an excellent person to share the remainder of his plans for a New Age with. And Radahn was, objectively speaking. He's hailed as a hero from everyone who knows him, even Ansbach treats him with great respect should you summon him for the final battle. I think the Vow made between Radahn and Miquella happened before the Shattering, and was something along the lines of Radahn helping Miquella make the world a better, kinder place. It's something the Red Lion would absolutely want, since despite his element being war, we get many accounts of him being an honorable, good man. It would make sense why Radahn at first agreed with Miquella, so let's see why Malenia even needed to go and do what she did in the first place. Why did Radahn not hold up his end of the deal?

To put it blunty, it's because he's a Golden Order fanboy. I'm still not entirely sure how Messmer ties into this from a timeline perspective, but Radahn grew up with his older half-brother (presumably before the Holy War against the Hornsent), his father Radagon, and Lord Godfrey as his primary male role models. Even if Godfrey had been exiled by that point, the evidence of his crusades was memorialized in song for Radahn to be inspired by. Of course he believed the Golden Order to be righteous and good, and wanted to uphold the honorable values he was raised on. Considering his own character, I'm quite confident in speculating that Radahn saw the Order's faults, and probably agreed with Miquella that there was a distance between the stories he grew up on and reality. So naturally, upon seeing his younger half-sibling try to fix things, Radahn quite possibly supported the idea.

Where I think the divide happened...was Miquella's method of problem-solving. As I said before, I've no doubt that he is as Kind as they say; it's just that Miquella envisioned a world without violence and had the power of make it so. His broken Great Rune holds the power to resist charms, so it's pretty reasonable to assume that the whole thing once held the power to perhaps inflict them. Miquella later replaced it with the Circlet he now wears, but still. He was strong enough to evoke a cult following from most of those who laid eyes on either of his forms. Again, I firmly believe he was doing good here, as both himself and as Saint Trina. From Miquella's point of view, he is helping. He grants the restless a peaceful sleep, he gives a home to the outcasts, he protects the Albinaurics, etc. That's why so many people wanted to follow him. What interests me is that Miquella seems to be a classic case of the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

He undoubtebly, truly wants to make a kind and gentle world, but has little qualms about forcing people to stop fighting. As Leda tells the Tarnished when asked about Hornsent, she explicitly states that without Miquella's charm, he would be attacking her and the others right now. Yes, it is arguably better for people to not fight to the death, but Miquella enforces this "good" thing in the wrong ways. Everywhere in the Lands of Shadow, we can see something similar. Sir Ansbach for example explains that Mohg himself got charmed, and that upon trying to rescue his Lord, Miquella brainwashed him as well. And he only sounds upset about it after the charm is broken. This gives us a very interesting character, since Miquella is technically correct in what he states. Should his Age of Compassion come to pass, there won't be any more War, or violence, or destructive conflict. However, taking away people's free will is arguably worse. So, what happened? Why does there seem to be a difference between the morally grey (but with good deeds to his name) Miquella, and the more extremist version we battle in Enir-Ilim?

Well...I think Miquella's Crosses hold the answer. At every site, he "divests himself" of something. It's clearly stated that he had doubts, he second-guessed if this was the right thing to do. He had moral qualms, but forced himself to leave them all behind. And there is one more thing he abandoned. Saint Trina. I believe this is why he seems so jarringly different to what we know about him. Because Saint Trina is his love and compassion. Every genuine feeling that Miquella held was left behind to make space for the more nebulous "Greater Good" of his new age...and evidently, very little that made Miquella himself even exists anymore. Despite the radiant light at the Gate of Divinity, his demeanor seems cold and calculated, much more akin to how I and many others might characterize Queen Marika. In attempting to ascend to Godhood, Miquella ironically became what he sought to destroy.

That's why there's such a difference between the Miquella we hear about in the main game, who does seem to be using his powers yes, but for a good cause...and the DLC version of Miquella, who is abusing his charms. Ever since entering the Lands of Shadow after he cocooned himself, Miquella has slowly divested himself of everything except the greater goal. Godhood is all that's left of him by the time we arrive at Enir-Ilim, which is why Saint Trina begs us to kill him. Miquella has already killed himself in a way, and all that's left is a brilliant yet hollow shell. The genuine warmth and compassion he once held for the Lands Between and their people are void, leaving behind only the unfeeling rays of pure gold, much like the ever-present Erdtree. He seeks to supplant Marika's Age...and then install himself as a God, just like his mother. I'm sure that he did have genuine kindness in his heart, but now...there isn't any left within him. That's why he's enforcing his will upon Moore, Ansbach, Freya, Thiollier and Hornsent. Because he's become just like Marika.

It's unfortunate, and a brilliant tale a self destruction that if correctly decoded shows how masterful Fromsoft is at this kind of storytelling. Now, I'm not claiming to be completely correct in this interpretation, since this is just my personal viewpoint of how and why things played out this way in the DLC. Feel free to drop your thoughts below, I'm more than happy to open up a disccussion about Miquella! Anyway, if you'll all excuse me, I need to go replay Shadow of the Erdtree. I'll see you all soon, but until then, Stay Tarnished everyone!

[bleue-flora]

It's very interesting... how despite efforts to remain an objective overseer of the whole story, it seems the point of view of the streamer always seems to taint the facts. It's like the foundational lore streams are muddied in the innate bias of the streamer's character and no matter how much comparison to the wider picture or other characters, their perception still colors the truth.

For example, why is it that we believe Dream in the second to last finale stream? We know he's a liar. We know the things he's lied about and why. We know he put's on a show before, specifically for Tommy and Tubbo. And yet, we believe him? We believe them. They reveal that the disc finale was all staged, in a sinisterly over the top room. And we believe every word they say. They make fun of clingy duo like a couple of movie bad guys, malicious cackle and all. And yet, still we believe them. In the very next stream, we see Dream's motivation change, like we knew it would, and yet we still believe what they said before, even when we now know part of it wasn't real. That's not to say everything they say is a lie, we know for sure some of it is true. Still, every convincing lie is born of some form of truth and we know Dream uses this method of lying. We have every reason to doubt anything they say to anyone but eachother because we know they play their parts just like their enemies designate them. And yet, we still believe them. Why?

Maybe because clingy duo does.

And because they believe it's fact, it becomes fact to the viewer.

Not to say it isn't, or that there isn't truth in it, or that anyone is wrong for taking what they said and making assumptions, or that their assumptions are wrong... But I had someone tell me recently about how some of the Enderboo community dismissed the brainwash comment as a lie because it didn't align with Ranboo lore and ever since then, I realized you know it would be reasonable to say they lied, which begs the question, what else did they lie or exaggerate or give partial truth about?...

[arcadia-of-pluto]

{I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS HELP + a sneak peek of my rafayel one-shot at the end}

Hey guys! Another random update, but not really a story update or anything. (Also sorry if I'm tagging my shit wrong, I'm still v new to posting on here—)

So I've come up with another banger idea for 'Twist of Fate' and I'm so upset that I can't even talk about it because it gives heavy spoilers for the whole story itself. But I swear it's a good idea. Since LADS isn't close to being completed, I've made so many embellishments to the story itself.

I guess it won't be a spoiler to say Astra plays a major part. I mean, he is a god after all. He's not prevalent in any other myths besides Zayne's but, again, he's a god. I think he'd be in every single timeline. Especially if he's known as a god on Philos and worshipped there. There's two other characters who play a big role, but you'd never be able to guess who! It just makes me so excited to finally get to that point in my writing that I almost want to rush to it– but I know I can't for the integrity of the story.

Just know that some of the things I write aren't actually in the games themselves; Like Lily and Violet actually having names, Sylus having specifically named flowers in the vase at his home, and other stuff like that. Because that kind of stuff will be happening more in the future and I'd hate for people to get confused and mistake it for actually being in the game itself.

To say something without it being a spoiler, there's some twists and turns coming up but also– how do you guys feel about the name Alexzanderus? It has no meaning, I just want to use it but I'm not sure if it works? It has a meaning within it, if you look in-between the lines, but I'm worried the name is kind of muddy and ugly. It seems pretty enough to me and it seems like it would be an old name. But I'd love to know if you could guess my meaning behind the name! It's got my own lore implications wrapped up in it.

And also, how do you guys feel about making your own religion—

By that I mean, gods and goddesses. I mean we already have Astra, who I'm saying is the god of destiny and divinity (destiny and fate ofc since Zayne was his foreseer). What's one or two more going to hurt, am I right? But yeah, isn't it sort of weird that Astra isn't specifically said to be the god of anything? I tried looking it up and found nothing so I just made up my own idea for it.

I also can't wait to post chapters fifteen and sixteen because that's when the real fun starts happening (not smutty fun but–). I really hope I'm not hyping this up so much only for yall to hate it

'Twist of Fate' aside, I guess I could also post a sneak peak of my Rafayel tropes one-shot!

"Ludus Love", excerpt

Word count; 275

Your life was always monotonous and unchangeable. You stayed in the same neatly decorated and ornate room; a room that felt more like a prison rather than your own personal hide-away from the world. Your only forms of solace being an elderly clergy member named Josephine, and the books you would get your maids and knights to procure for you. 

You were a princess, but only by name. You did not get the royal treatment, fancy dresses and extravagant balls. Instead, your purpose was to act as the pure and kind princess of the Philos empire, the one with a heart of gold…and that damn heart of yours was the only reason you were in this mess in the first place. 

You were originally an orphan. You had no memory of having parents, you had to have them at some point in your life. Your earliest memory was of you waking up on a blistering hot day in the shade of an alleyway. Clasped between your tiny little hands was a black Calla lily. As you grew older, you'd learn that this specific lily meant rebirth and the beginning of a transformative journey– but, on the same day you woke up, people dressed in purple and black came up to you to offer you a deal. Allow yourself to be adopted by the royal family, act as the princess of Philos, and you'll be able to live a comfortable life. Though, they didn't tell you what exactly they needed you for until much later. 

Your heart.

No, they didn't want to cut it out of you. Its power could only work with a vessel, after all.

Also I'm trying so hard to work this ^ in with my Rafayel one-shot 😭 I think I can manage it, but it's so hard to come up with a reason to hate Rafayel or fight with him. Besides maybe not understanding his joking and sarcastic nature, and getting pissed off at him; when in reality, he's just joking around and doesn't mean any of it.

[callmegaith]

Oh... I saw a post on Reddit about some fans feeling like Rusty Lake is losing its plot with the last few games and it hurt to read cuz it made me realize... Yeah... Kinda. At first I thought "I just didn't care much about the last 2 games cuz they're about the Vanderbooms who I don't really give much of a crap about." But resurrecting characters like Albert out of nowhere and shit is like... Ugh. We didn't need him to come back his story ended fine in Roots. There are other characters who deserved more lore exploration. I'm biased clearly but literally been waiting so long for Mr. rabbit lore that sometimes feels is never gonna come and I'll forever be wondering why he did what he did. How he got there. And what happened to him or where he is now. And the whole two rabbits mystery yada yada yada. Literally one of the most mysterious characters. Seemed to have a plan and his own story happening in the background of Hotel and Birthday..... And then he's just never brought up again except in Dale's memories.

I miss the story being revolved around Dale and his journey to the lake... He's been stuck in that fucking elevator for ages now and I want the story to progress past that. I know they probably are trying to tie loose ends before they progress to that point but sometimes in efforts to do that, they're just muddying an already complicated plot more than it should be.

Like brotha I went on hiatus from the games for a couple of years and came back AND HES STILL IN THE FUCKING ELEVATOR AND LIKE 3 OTHER GAMES CAME OUT AT THAT TIME. The white door was pretty cool I liked the focus on Bob who had little lore before

The past within tho it has a cool concept is when things just started falling apart

I'm stuck hyperfixating on the games up to paradox cuz thats the golden age for the games for me. Everything after Paradox was just... Meh

People might disagree and that's fine. But something is starting to feel different and wrong about the games and I hope I HOPE the next game puts things back on track.

[felikatze]

yall know i take heroes for a grain of salt unless it suits my agenda,,, but man brave robin's forging bonds is all over the place

namely in how the whole grima thing is handled

it swings HEAVILY in favor of the "grima is possessing robin" angle yet it ALSO ties grima's awakening explicitly to robin's emotions, which, why would that matter if he's possessed?

the phrase "blood of the fell dragon" comes up a lot. also iirc first time a grima calls robin a vessel? grima sure doesn't in awakening itself (fp notwithstanding), and also only female grima does it??? either by intent or happenstance it seems that f grima is gunning for the possession angle where as m grima is more on the emotions angle

like there's dissonance going on about the plain text of the conversation ("grima will take control of robin") and the themes of the conversation ("this can be averted if robin maintains hope, and even the grimas could become robin again if they find it")

ok let me just. compile.

obligatory disclaimer: i am in HUGE favor of the reincarnation angle and vocal disliker of the vessel angle but only my fellow grima stans know that and i cant expect everyone to have in depth knowledge of my grima takes. i am gonna Try to be a lil objective here

tldr intsys needs to stop being apolitical and just PICK A SIDE within the grima trenches already. add to this the timeline confusion of depths of despair, yeah, Grima in heroes is very muddy.

ok so i took a whole BUNCH of screenshots and they're all in german because (points at map of where i live) but that tends to follow english closely. expect minor translation differences ofc

C Support

This one is pretty plain in just the grimas waltzing up to robin going "hey grima is gonna possess you one day lmao. get scared"

Choice quotes from this one:

1. Robin: W-who are you? No, oh no... Could you be what becomes of me under the fell dragon's influence?

2. F Grima: Know your place, mortal. You are nothing more than Grima's vessel.

Yah. I can argue abt the validity of heroes lore all I like but within the convo itself this is just plain text.

B Support

So this is where the first doubts creep in. F Grima continues her spiel about Robin saying that "Grima's blood flows in those veins without a doubt." I wont reiterate every single time someone does this bcuz Image Limit, but it is primarily F Grima and Brave Robin.

1. M Grima: The knowledge of what you really are will haunt you forever.

2. F Grima: That is all we had to say to you. Take our words to heart... other Robin.

Here we get into my preferred angle. Not only is M Grima saying that being Grima is Robin's true nature, but F Grima directly acknowledges that she and M Grima are both also Robin, which is an odd choice if it's just Grima possessing Robin speaking. Cuz then the person speaking would not, in fact, be Robin.

Then, when the two Grimas are alone and giggling at their rehearsed performance, F Grima says this:

1. F Grima: Maybe the created discomfort will be enough to awaken the Fell Dragon.

2. F Grima: Maybe soon, monstrous flowers of ruin will bloom from the sown doubt.

So this is getting into the logistics of how Grima will awaken (inevitably, of course /s). In Awakening itself, a read of Robin as the vessel would have you believe only the rite at the Dragon's Table is necessary to do so. Here, however, F Grima says it's Robin's despair that will cause Grima's return, which she has already sown the seeds for.

In fact, causing Robin to doubt himself to sooner awaken Grima is explicitly what the two Grimas approached him for. This is their goal! But why would that even be necessary if all that was needed was for Validar to brainwash Robin and drag them to the Table? No despair needed! Robin's emotional state is irrelevant in that scenario.

You can argue of course that emotional weakness would make it easier for Grima to take control of Robin,,, but that never comes up. It's always Robin loses hope = Grima awakens.

A Support

Here, Brave Robin mentions being of Grima's blood a whopping three times in a row before Chrom can cut in. The Grimas words weigh on his mind and he's looking for reassurance from his boyfriend.

Brave Robin: The blood of the Fell Dragon could awaken within me one day... Doesn't that scare you?

Chrom's response here is notable. (Images cut for the damn 10 image limit on mobile)

Chrom: The day could come, where I, too, fall prey to my own despair. But even then I'm sure that I wouldn't stray from the right path with you by my side.

Again, Grima is not framed as a possessive force, but as Robin's own despair and hopelessness. Chrom would have no ground to compare the two if the former was the case. How would you even compare your own depression with your friend being taken over by a hostile spirit?

This is the dissonance I was talking about.

S Support

Robin, emboldened by Chrom's support, confronts the two Grimas.

F Grima: As long as you live, the Fell Dragon can take possession of you at any moment.

Robin says he has the blood of the demon dragon with the weird as hell "those veins" line. Who says that??? Did yall forget possessive pronouns exist. Just say "my veins" dear boy

anyway.

Robin: It's true that the blood of the Fell Dragon runs through these veins. But that circumstance only calls for more discipline on my part.

Robin: The knowledge of my nature only makes me more determined to never betray my allies' trust.

Here we have both in the same speech! Here, whether he succumbs to Grima is entirely put on Robin and Robin's determination. As well, he says that it's "his nature." Like yeah, this could mean "his nature as Grima's vessel", but that would be a weird use of the word nature (in the meaning of personality and disposition).

Like, again, the focus is on Grima as a result of Robin's emotional state. The two are directly tied and correlating.

To end of, shrortly beforr the Grimas leave, Robin says to them

"Maybe you can escape the Fell Dragon's fangs and walk your own path one day."

Like yeah the literal meaning is again "maybe the robins can be saved from grima" but it can also be taken in a metaphorical sense of "maybe the robins can free themselves from the role of grima."

i'm just generally befuddled. i do like the thematic thread of "robin will never become grima if he keeps hope." but the possession stuff is so entirely literal. but then why - god i already said this.

Grima loving hours incoming! Feel free to skip i just love them.

The one upside for this, for my terminal Grima brainrot - Grima's motivations in this are so tasty to chew on. I mentioned before, the Grimas approach Robin with the intent of making him despair in the face of his inevitable destiny. But Robin doesn't, refutes them - he says that if he changed, so could they.

This is fascinating, cuz I think brave Robin terrifies them for this exact reason. He's just oblivious, he's the one who'll change, just see - yet he doesn't. He is the living proof destiny can change. Here we see again, Grima as hopelessness. They need destiny to be inevitable. Because then it's not a choice to be hopeless anymore. Things couldn't have gone better. What if Robin's bonds weren't meaningless trifles, though? It's a challenge to everything the Grimas had to accept.

But look around. This is Askr. People meet other versions of themselves by the dozen - with different fates and circumstances.

Grimas' reason to speak to Robin really just seems scared of change. The final take away from the S support for Robin is that maybe they can change too, after all. Grima is terrified of change! Of hope! Of becoming Robin again! Because then what was it all for? Why did they have to suffer so much? Isn't it unfair? Isn't the thought that you could've gotten luckier unbearable? Grima is my sopping wet meow meow, if you couldn't tell.

Grima fan hours over, back to complaining.

another layer of confusion for the setting of this is is... when is this robin from, exactly?

so brave robin is said to be the tactician of the "newly crowned" exalt, matching legendary chrom's time period. This gives us precisely two options, each with their own issues:

This Robin is from the two year timeskip after chapter 12, where Chrom assumes the throne after Emmeryn's death.

This Robin is from a post canon ending wherein Chrom becomes exalt for realsies (likely only viable for a Chrom ending).

The issue with the first one is: Robin wouldn't know that he's fellblood at this point? He starts suspecting it in chapter 13, obviously because the grimleal hierophant has his exact name and face, as well as Validar's attempt at telepathy. He'd have to be from after the timeskip if that is the case.

Of course, he could be hearing this for the first time from the Grimas. In that case, his reaction is extraordinarily mild. And his first words to them are "Could you be what becomes of me under the fell dragon's influence?" If he's hearing this for the first time, what a wild conclusion that is to make. Again, he'd have no clue he's fellblood, that this is even a scenario that could happen at all.

The issue with the second option is that Robin... would have nothing to be afraid of? He would have already confronted the self that became Grima and defeated it. At which point this whole forging bonds becomes an entirely redundant character arc that really would just be inferior to the equivalent moment in Awakening itself. Robin cites himself as proof that the Grimas could change, indicating a post-canon mindset, but then, why do their words initially get to him so much?

I don't think he'd just be second act Robin either - Chrom would've already been Exalt for two years at that point, which makes the "newly-crowned" comment odd.

All around I'm.. mildy disappointed with this one. As stated just now, it's a redundant arc that doesn't show us anything new about Robin.

Looking at Soren's - that one really took advantage of the Heroes setting to display Soren's growth as a character. The interactions between him and Ranulf were great and funny, and the way he opens up to his younger self shows that Ike's kindness affected him.

Corrin also got great moments with Gullveig. It was amazing to see a post-revelations Corrin who succeeded in ending a war through communication, and how she carries it forward into solving conflicts now, no matter how dire, by extending compassion to the summoned Gullveig. I haven't finished her own storyline yet, but I already liked seeing her interact with Azura and Lilith.

By comparison, this is a scenario that literally already happens in the game itself. It elaborates more on Grima as a metaphor for hopelessness, yet muddles the logistics of it by not committing to either option to what Grima is in relation to Robin.

All around. Love Brave Robin! Great outfit! He's very cute! Another win for gay marriage! His forging bonds? Mehhhh.

Despite the ongoing discussion of "What timeline even IS this??", at least Depths of Despair gave us something new in a bad timeline chrobin dynamic. this is heroes goddammit. get crazy with it.

i would literally kill for robin-idunn interaction you would not believe. could you imagine brave robin and spring idunn interacting,,,, i am crying just thinking about it.

FEH has done a great deal to really uplift Grima as a character and add more depth to what the game gave us, both in backstory crumbs and the motivation department, so seeing them fumble the bag here is just disappointing. Can they get their own lore together already?

[royrockstone]

treat it as a prompt to spread your food motifs thoughts, would love to hear some (especially after finale)

ty for askinggg <333

4x10, as told through food:

Caribbean Air Clear was a big win for caroline ed truthers. caroline’s food stuff has always been a stand-in for her failure to parent— she is either resentful of having to, or unable to, nourish them; she gives food in paltry amounts because that’s how she parcels out affection. and the kids find what she does give them inedible. at the Peter Munion Pitch Dinner, she announces that the portions are going to be small, and the only thing that looks like palatable food in her kitchen (the cheese) is reserved for peter— a person she actually chose to put in her life and seems to be happy with.

in contrast to logan, who tested and punished them around food, i read caroline’s inability to nourish them as more unintentional— she just can’t do it because she feels so much bitterness about her family. i also think there’s gender stuff in there— she's not Womanly bc she can’t cook (or, more likely, have someone else cook) properly, she’s like if the wire mother didn’t even give milk. in some ways, she’s sort of girlish rather than womanly (expressing in chiantishire that she wants to like have fun and drink and fuck and gossip rather than settle into being an older woman who’s best days are behind her. and she gets along best with her girliest kid, roman.) it always makes me feel crazyinsane that the one moment In The Light that roman seems to have gotten is laughing with logan about caroline’s inability to feed them (“three muddy trout for six and fill up on mustard”) those kids had no chance to be fed emotionally or physically lol </3 

meal fit for a king! lets talk about it. it is, first of all and foremost, sweet! it’s a time when food is being used playfully and you’re expected to eat rather than expected to abstain. but theres also such a dark side to it imo, as with all affection for the roys. 1. shiv spits in the blender (in a mirror of when she spit in kens notebook in s3) which is meant to be at least a little bit degrading 2. the whole point is kind of degrading (the name sounds like something logan would do — see boar on the floor, dinner for winners and mole in the hole from the script books) make kendall eat something disgusting, not as a test per se, but as a way of humbling him just a little. food is still lowkey a weapon even when it’s sweet and silly. (also theres some kendall jesus motif— roman crowns him but in a way that’s mocking etc) 3. it’s sweet specifically because the foods are a) unwanted— the roy kids have been starved, of affection and literally of food, and they’re making something genuinely nice with scraps and b) not luxurious— it’s not ortolan or kendalls endive salad, it’s bread ends and cocoa powder. 

there was an interesting moment that mirrored my 4x08 food lore thoughts— ken offers roman rum punch when he’s still trying to woo his board vote against shiv, and roman ignores the punch, pours himself a shot, then grabs a beer. kendall is the one who locked him in a cage and made him eat cake, he’s the reason they had to eat roast chicken, roman experiences his brother as always trying to subordinate him by controlling what he consumes (which is obv a corollary to trying to control him in business.)

on the less thematic/more personally self-serving ed headcanon side of things, nothing has contradicted my hc that roman hasn’t eaten solid food since logan died. all he does is lick Peter’s Special Cheese, drink coffee (sleep deprivation won succession, actually), and drink alcohol. we see roman eat cake at connors rehearsal dinner, pre-logan death and during what he thought was a secure time in the sibling alliance, then never again. his habit of snacking on little bits of fruit and desserts has totally disappeared. tho it's not shown, i could see him eating the night of the election when he realized he won at something and was expecting to crush it at the funeral the next day. if hes becoming logan, hes allowed to eat. but the second he flames out at the funeral and realizes he is, in fact, still a dead man walking, he’d go back to not eating. trying to please the dad in his head, or to express his essential deadness/emptiness without his dad. 

ofc, we don't rlly see the other siblings eat, either (i have laser-focused Roman ED vision so something might have slipped past me. does shiv taste the breakfast tom brings her?) notably, no one ate at the Funeral Planning Committee breakfast, they don’t eat at the tailgate im p sure, i don’t think anyone touched the food at the Munion Pitch Dinner. (tbh concerned for shiv’s fetus re: having adequate calories.) i think part of it is grief and part of it is collective family Disorder and part of it is the good old competitive strong dog weak dog stuff.

i made a joke that roman is going to end up like caroline, but i kind of meant it? i can see him having no food in his house, cocktail in hand, snugly burying himself some place out of the way and fucking around with mild self-destruction for the rest of his life. (altho rather than a failhusband i think he’d try to replace logan yet again and end up with a partner who was pretty brutish or domineering) 

ty again!

[blazehedgehog]

As an outsider looking in, it seems to me that up to adventure 2 there was actually atleast a vague direction of the story and plot of Sonic, with the first one introducing the franchise, then sloy adding tails, then by third there is the whole mural that gets brought up in adventure with more echidna lore, ending with Sonic realising he was the ultimate lifeform and stopping and redeeming Eggmans bad past and with the working together maybe being an oportunity for Eggman to start reforming himself instead of trying to destroy the world again like his grandfather tried.

But after, all the game storys (or what I heard and saw in youtube clips) seem to just be one of things and gimmicks that just dont really stick, especially since Unleashed wich if I am correct just threw another world ending thing into the lore that came out of nowhere and was forgoten after only for the next games to do the same.

ldk maybe Im totally wrong, thats why Im asking a Sonic expert

From my perspective, there was no definitive "lore" in Sonic until Sonic 3. I'm sure Sonic 1 and 2 had ideas and a direction they were aiming for, a concept they were forming, but Sonic 3 established a lot of key ideas that reverberated for a long time: the existence of a master emerald, the purpose of the master emerald, and the keepers of the master emerald.

Sonic 1 was just, like, "Here's what we settled on for who Sonic is and some of the rules of his world." A first draft.

Sonic 2 says "Here's all the ideas we had in Sonic 1, but they're bigger, better, and more cohesive now."

Sonic 3 & Knuckles is when it starts to feel like A Story. The Japanese manual opens with Sonic recalling the legend of a lost civilization and their downfall. We start getting cutscenes that tie in to that intro. It references events (really, the only one) from the previous game.

Sonic Adventure doubles down on all of that. It is deeply entwined in its narrative. Over an hour of fully voiced cutscenes. Explores the dangling plot threads established by Sonic 3. References multiple past games.

Sonic Adventure 2 is a little more oblique and you have to read between the lines a lot more, but it still connects to Sonic Adventure and the overall lore that had been established in 1994.

From there, Sonic games started trying to move on, and things became a lot more disjointed. Heroes and Shadow tried to connect to Sonic Adventure 2, but those waters became muddied very quickly thanks to poor characterization and rushed storytelling. Sonic 06 wanted to balance being a soft reboot with picking up with the story of Shadow the Hedgehog.

And from Sonic Unleashed onwards, Sonic games basically became self-contained until basically Sonic Frontiers.

Though I'm sure some nitpicky pedant will tell me about how Sonic Forces and Sonic Generations were full of ton of references to this and that and whatever as if I don't already know that, completely not understanding the concept of summary and generalization.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Doctor Who: The Legend of Ruby Sunday (14x07)

This is an undeniably excellent season of this show, wow!

Cons:

So, the big thing is, I don't know who Sutekh is within the lore of this show. I went and did a google, and he's a figure who appeared in one episode and then a bunch of tie-in stuff. There was a lot about this "reveal" that was effective, and I'm not saying knowing the deep lore is a requirement to get the significance of the twist, but it's like... I don't know. Ideally, you spend all season with the mystery of this recurring woman, and you hear people talking about "The One Who Waits," and then the moment of truth hits and you go "oh shit! I can't believe it was [blank] the whole time!" Sutekh could have been "Bob the Scary Demon Man" and it would have made no difference to me or, I would wager, to the majority of the audience.

I also think I could have used a bit more buildup of "The One Who Waits" just as a concept. Could have used one or two additional drops of that phrase. There's something a little clunky about the reveal being a god of Death, because it's like... hmm. Isn't the saying "time waits for no man," like, Death is going to get you, you can't run from it? So the idea of a death god "waiting" and then deciding to "stop waiting" is a little off for me. My favorite depictions of Death in fiction are always Death as Inevitability. Not cruel, not actively violent, just... it's coming for us all. This dude by contrast seems to be more of a god of destruction, an active force that wants to kill the universe. I'm down for it, I'm just saying maybe the "waiting" aspect is a little muddy.

Also, the creepy old lady neighbor being some sort of messenger for the coming of Sutekh was cool, but I could have used another cut back to her just to make sure Grandma Sunday is okay, or to give us a tease of what might need to happen to keep her safe next episode? It felt weird to include that little sinister bit and then not really revisit it.

Pros:

I say all of that, and I mean it, but at the same time I was wicked impressed with this episode's ability to build and hold tension, to tie me into the emotional reality of the Doctor and Ruby and feel the pain and fear through their lens, even when I didn't get the larger reference from the show's lore. I think the real showcase of this episode, the scene I'm going to carry with me, is the scene in the time window. It's a long, long scene, and very slow, with a lot of the Doctor and Ruby just standing and watching, and not a lot happening. And yet somehow I was holding my breath, filled with the tension and the desperation of the moment, the whole way through. When the hooded figure, ostensibly Ruby's mother, turned and pointed, I honestly gasped. And when the UNIT member's voice started speaking, talking about being lost and being in hell... goosebumps.

I also want to say how good it was to see Kate, and Rose, and Mel, and just spend time with this oddball UNIT crew. There's this interesting sense whenever we're with Kate, like, "oh, everything's going to be okay now." And it's a fun reciprocity between viewer and characters, because you also get the sense that Kate feels that way about having the Doctor near. We can take comfort from UNIT, and UNIT takes comfort from the Doctor. I liked the little twelve-year-old genius boy and the other characters we got to spend some time with; there's this real sense of a lived reality going on when we're not here to observe it; they're on about their business all the time, keeping a lookout for inexplicable danger. That's also what makes it so sinister and thrilling when you realize the danger is right there in the room with them. The Doctor brought it with him, totally by accident, leaving his TARDIS behind to set off the trap.

There are two identity-based mysteries going on in this episode. One is Ruby's mother, and the other is Susan, the Doctor's granddaughter. Are we going to get to see a glimpse of Ruby's mum? Will the great mystery be unveiled? Is this woman actually the Doctor's relative? Are we going to see him face his past and reunite with her?

And the answer to both of these questions seems to be: nope! Not yet, anyway. Just you wait! There's a delicious frustration to this episode, where you think what we're building to might be the answer to what the heck is happening with Ruby, but it's not. There's a connection there, but it still feels elusive, the real truths just out of our reach. I believe that Ruby is not returning as a companion for another season, so ostensibly whatever answers we're going to get about her, we'll get next week? I hope she gets the answers and the peace she's looking for. I still want to know what creepy old-lady-Ruby was whispering to everyone that made them run away back in "73 Yards."

Once again Ncuti Gatwa's performance was outstanding. I loved seeing him interacting with Kate and Mel, these people who have known the Doctor for so long and through so many different iterations. His contained pain and doubt about Susan, and that moment of heartbreak when he shakes her hand and looks her in the eye and can't feel the recognition that would prove who she is... that was really moving. And then also his care and compassion for Ruby, holding her through her grief about not being able to find answers about her mom! And then the fear and horror on his face as the truth of his foe comes clear to him at last. Despite my complaints above about this reveal not really having prior meaning to me as a viewer, I am convinced to feel a great amount of horror by the strength of the Doctor's reaction alone. That's impressive!

One last note, I'll say that Doctor Who isn't known for its top-notch SFX even in this new age of Disney money, but I always appreciate the creativity of how they choose to do things visually. The memory effects in the time window had this strange mix of VHS static and then a genuine horror element to it, where it felt like everything was happening on a predestined loop but you were also ready for the hooded figure to turn and see the Doctor and Ruby at any moment. It felt so nebulous and unspecific in a really neat way. And then the Sutekh effect at the end, looming over the TARDIS - I mean, it's kind of cartoony and a bit unconvincing but I honestly really liked the way it looked, that big scary mouth, the glowing red eyes, the whiskers and the ears... and then the effects on Harriet and Susan too, they looked so creepy and scary and I didn't want them to touch the Doctor or our other good guys!

So yeah, that's what I've got for this one. I do wish I could have somehow been clued in to the full lore so that the big reveal would feel like a genuine revelation. But even with that significant disadvantage built into the structure of the story, this was a great installment of the show and I eagerly await part two!

8/10

[imsosocold]

Toh fanatics: Omg our show is so good and it subverts the shitty tropes our show is better than other shows our main character is better then other main characters she is not mary sue

Their show: Main character gets power from literal god, lives with decendant of woman that caused main angatonist to do what he does, also she lives with literal jesus christ of this world, befriends the strongest kids from school that overpowered people who did magic for their whole life, befriends main villains "nerfew" that is connected to main lore, gets powers from a literal god AGAIN, gets everything she wanted at the end and loses nothing

+

Main antagonist is the biggest dissapointment in the show. Creator of the show didn't gaf about him and decided to make fun of him and forget about his complex themes and upbringing and his relationship with his brother. Fandom hates Belos too which kinda makes me think Dana just did what fans wanted. Show is made worse by having a mid villain which also made a finale mid which made the show mid in retrospective. Antagonist and protagonists connection is erased for a cheap animeass powerup scene from the god himself

Agree with most of these points. While it is incredibly convenient for Luz to stay with someone potentially connected to Evelyn but I don’t think that’s necessarily a narrative flaw? I find it narratively poignant that like her ancestor Eda is accepting of humans on an Isles that scorns anyone that has weak/no magic, especially since Eda lost her own magic. What I get from that potential connection is much more important to me than any issues with “convenience.” I was fine with King being a Titan too, the way he was discovered didn’t make it seem too convoluted but realizing just how essential he and his father turned out to be muddied this. Also I think Belos was designed to be hated. Conceptually and symbolically he’s meant to be the representation of all corrupt systems that discriminate against minority groups. The amount of hatred felt towards him by the fandom is understandable especially in the currentt climate. He was also supposedly based on some of Dana’s bigoted relatives ( I don’t have a direct source for this though) so it makes sense she’d find it hard to sympathize with him. But I think Belos can exist as an concept/symbol without dismissing the fascinating aspects of his actual character which very much highlight the human element of corrupt systems, specifically who make up them and who get caught into a cycle of continuation. If it’s true that Philip was once an outcast and discriminated against himself, him joining the system that hurt him and turning on those who are in positions similar to him makes the situation ever so layered and tragic. A great cautionary tale overall. Thanks for your ask anon.

[iturbide]

boy this post got a lot of good discussion going

@lamphoera replied:

for this kind of thing i put "for the sake of the story" first but also worth noting that the period of time between the end of the medieval period and and the industrial revolution is really short compared to the length of the medieval period itself. it depends on how you define it but you could easily make an estimate of about a thousand years, and then adding on like the classical period, it's a pretty substantial amount of time another thing worth noting is that on the scale of like european history (or at least how it's framed) 2000 years seemingly unbroken is a massively long time but it for example egypt and china have very long histories GOING ON A TANGENT ABOUT THIS but i think saying very little changed and marth would manage just fine is maybe an understatement, because the tech ostensibly is not very different but the culture and geopolitics? undeniably is. actually i'd be really interested in exploring marth and the awakening characters discussing that!

please go on the tangents I love it

I absolutely agree that, technology aside, Marth probably would be suffering from massive culture shock if they dropped him into Ylisse. Ylisse is nothing like Altea, and considering how humble the man seems, knowing that he's enshrined as the Hero-King in Ylissean lore would probably throw him for a loop. That honestly would be fascinating to see.

Also: you're exactly right about Euro-centric history having a very particular framing, a constant push toward industrialization that muddies a lot of discussion -- because there are other cultures with incredible histories that stretch back thousands of years. In the case of Egypt, they were building pyramids like the Giza complex 2,500+ years before Cleopatra. Their histories are incredibly rich and complex, and they're technically pre-Medieval. Even if it does borrow trappings of Medieval Europe, I think it's entirely reasonable to say that their cultural history has been continuing and progressing along the course of other ancient cultures.

(To be fair, though: "for the sake of the story" is a totally legitimate and valid answer, and one that I embrace wholeheartedly. Again, I don't want to play Fire Emblem: Industrial Revolution. That sounds like a shit time.)

@thewizardmus replied:

Hang on but there IS a substantial difference between Altea and Ylisse's development Magic! In the older games Magic was very simple. There wasn't that many tome types and none of them had meaningful secondary effects(because of hardware limits but shush) meanwhile in Awakening magic has progressed well enough that Wind Fire and Thunder magic all have their own branches instead of "Merrics tome" and "the others" and powerful spells that were at one point legendary aAre reproduced and can be purchased at your local Anna, Merric's boyfriend's whole deal in 12 is he took over Khadain because he was mad that Merric was chosen for Excalibur and he got the number 2 tome Thoron. Come Awakening and Thoron isn't just Robin's signature spell for Chrom killing but also something any mage with the gall to study a bit can pick up and use freely That's not even mentioning the weird crap that Plegia has been making the entire time In conclusion while you could totally drop Marth in Ylisse and he'd be fine, if you gingerly placed Merric in Ylisse or Plegia he'd have his mind blown

Okay so let me start by saying that I do take issue with calling magic in Plegia "weird crap." I think it's reasonable to say that Plegia has come farther with magic than Ylisse has, given that they have three separate canonical branches of magic: staves, tomes -- split between anima and dark, the latter of which Ylisse doesn't deal in -- and hexcraft. If we posit that magic is a better signifier of advancement than industrial-level technology, that would place Plegia head and shoulders above Ylisse as the most developed nation on the Archanean continent.

In fact, I've talked about this before, along with the general concept that there was a magic revolution rather than an industrial one.

[ryssabrin]

having actually done the creche storyline on my second playthrough, honestly tbh it frustrates me that the creche is in the mountain pass area. it muddies up the narrative in act 1 and i'm honestly surprised the game made it that way out of early access. like you're given so many leads to find how to fix the tadpole situation and the two most promising ones are lae'zel's insistence that we track down a creche and finding halsin. all the other leads (nettie, ethel, gut etc.) are fairly obvious dead ends.

however because they wanted to level gate the creche? i guess? they put it behind the point of no return for act 1 which will move the grove plot forward whether you resolved it or not. but if you do the grove plot first, by either taking out the goblins and getting halsin's help or turning on the grove and joining the cult, you're given a pretty solid answer on the tadpole front: get to moonrise tower. why would you feel the need to go to the creche at that point other than lae'zel wants to?

like i skipped it my first playthrough because it seemed like it would be as much of a dead end as the other leads. technically it is, but it's not only central to lae'zel's character arc, but it introduces so many things about the dream visitor, orpheus, the githyanki lore, etc., that end up becoming SO relevant later on the narrative doesn't make any sense if you skip it. you don't get approached by kith'rak voss so you don't know to go to sharess's caress and even if you do check it out for funsies (which not all players will, i certainly didn't and don't feel like my character would have either), you might be thinking to avoid raphael at all costs and would have no idea he holds the key to giving you a non-emperor based ending option.

i just think the creche should have been something that was unavoidable, even if you don't recruit lae'zel or kill her off. or at the very least i'm surprised larian doesn't implement an alternate path to the hammer thing. like raphael will just show up at your camp if you miss all of the spots to run in to him in the over world, why doesn't he just do that again? he wants the crown regardless. also, lae'zel will threaten to leave if you don't go to the creche but you can pass a persuasion check and keep her. she should have just left past a certain point in act 2 if you skip the creche and that whole storyline is just given to you from the emperor's viewpoint. it's SO confusing the way i got it lmao. (i would have reloaded an earlier save and done the creche if lae'zel left permanently, to be clear.)

it is interesting that for a developer that seems to always bear in mind that player behavior is entirely unpredictable at all times, the narrative is so clumsy around a character that many players don't warm up to very quickly. (they're wrong, obvs, but still.) the game accounts for you killing off every possible companion and will lock you out of recruiting karlach entirely if dammon dies for obvious reasons, i don't really understand why the same shouldn't be true for lae'zel. you fuck up her personal quest, she dips. that at least would communicate to the player that you need to do it, NOW lol.

[variousqueerthings]

I am totally against bantering

this episode is... odd. I don't hate it. I watched it off the back of the third Doctor's "time warrior" which has sort of a similar plot, and which I also was kind of ambivalent about on the whole, and just... dunno medieval settings -- love'em in stories on the whole, for some reason find them odd in time travel. but also... is it a good story?

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 6/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 3/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 6/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 2/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 6/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 7/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 3/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 6/10

FULL RATING: 50/100 (if I can count….)

this is a lower rating than "deep breath" and I'm not sure that's right, considering how much nonsense was in that episode, but hey, never said this was totally precise and scientific

OBJECTIFICATION: Clara has a couple of "things" in this. and one of them plays into the way I think this episode is constructed quite half-heartedly and it's that she's obsessed with Robin Hood (I can buy this, even if we haven't seen it before) and when they go to meet RH she dresses as random noblewoman (I wrote in a point further down, because I never fill these out in order, that I realised she could have come out as a Merry Man, because it would have made it so much easier for her to have movement + her interest is RH and the Merry Men not "this time period"), point is, it's a nice dress, but then at one point RH makes a grand escape through a window into a moat... pulling her in with him and then carrying her to safety into the woods, where she wakes up the next day

and she wakes up with her hair perfectly waved, the little jewel thing fastened to her forehead still exactly where it was, makeup intact, dress un-muddied and still exactly as pretty as before

Clara in this episode about her enjoyment of Robin Hood Famous Action Hero, is just a pretty damsel who must never be unprettied... it's just lazy, come on. can the dress not be more than just a reason for JLC to look pretty at least? (and she does look very pretty for sure)

it's in interaction with the rest of the episode, which does a less-good version of Robin Hood than many other Robin Hoods, and in which Clara isn't really the point, despite this ostensibly being about her wish to come here and see her hero

we also have the Scene of her "flirting" with the Sheriff of Nottingham to get information, and it's not too bad. Clara is completely alone, the Sheriff has been established as a very very bad guy, the camera seems to make an effort to not box her in too uncomfortably, considering the danger she's in, it's framed more around him being like "oh she'd make a great queen for me," than "oh hey, she hot and vulnerable," so it could absolutely be worse. I think there's other routes they could have gone down, but definitely I've seen more uncomfortable sexual harassment/danger on this show towards women (sigh)

PLOT-POINT: Clara's been brought here for her love of Robin Hood! and after that she Does not matter whatsoever, there's no interaction with how her emotions about this adventure affect her, because it's not well-enough written for there to be any material to draw from. in many ways it's less a failing on the writing of Clara (although that too) and more a symptom of the failing of this whole episode's construction

COMPLEXITY: in some ways quite Doctor Who in its silliness, so I don't hate that. but I think it didn't go far enough. so much of this plot is around the Doctor not believing Robin Hood is real. so much. soooo so so much! it doesn't take until the last big fight sequence to change his mind. either just run with RH being real early on and give space to something more interesting (such as Idk... Maid Marian), or give us a scifi twist, don't untwist the scifi twist when you're building to a scifi twist in a scifi show in which there are a bunch of scifi things happening, I'm here for scifi, not the worse version of a Robin Hood I already know

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: nothing much here to report, which I think is... a bit oof the more I think about it. not one of these?

COMPANIONS MATTER: as mentioned there's a whole scene in this in which Clara flirts with the Sheriff of Nottingham under quite dangerous circumstances in order to get information out of him, that I don't think matters much in the grand scheme of things. and then off-screen she fills Robin Hood and his Merry Men in on who she and the Doctor are, so that they feel compelled to help

she does have a great little scene with the Doctor + Robin Hood where she takes them to task for competing with each other and mocks them both by using their dramatic titles (prince of thieves and last of the timelords), but on the whole she might as well not be there (it's taken this long in my rating system to remember the term "sexy lamp" and yeah, test failed)

this even odder, because Maid Marian also isn't really in this story until the final scene, except she sort of was, because she was the ward of this random peasant that's taken prisoner and nobody recognises her and she's part of a sort of dull peasant's revolt, and then suddenly oh it's her I guess???-- my point is that Clara ought to have had the Doctor's story in this, in doing the peasant's revolt and working with Marian and figuring out who she is, because it's her favourite story and she's just not really in it (also Marian is... undercover? hiding? unclear, but this is going to be a world-building point, it's just that Marian should have been an interesting character and that Clara should have been hanging with her rather than just standing next to Robin Hood and giving platitudes that he'll find her one day, and not much else...)

(and Marian shouldn't have been presented at the very end from behind the Tardis like K9 was that one time)

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: I guess there's nothing really one way or another. I actually also did laugh at a few of his entries -- lines that would have been stupid coming from Eleven have a sort of unexpected enjoyment to them with Twelve, because of the juxtaposition of grumpy old Scottish guy reveals he's going to fight Robin Hood with!---- a Spoon!

also he hated the near-constant merriment and was he Wrong?? but also is that a bit too meta, because the episode is making fun of it to the point that it all seems highly unrealistic, but then the rug-pull that these people... are? just like that???

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: they reference Carnival of Monsters (Jon Pertwee), which makes me wish this was doing Carnival of Monsters, rather than what it's actually doing. also as the "guy who just watched Time Warrior" it's doing Time Warrior (also Jon Pertwee) but worse. and I already don't think Time Warrior is the Third Doctor's best

“SEXINESS”: this episode could have been a lot worse, considering there's meant to be so much jovial male banter in it, it's not doing a bunch of sexy bullshit

I'm unsure what to do with the whole... Sheriff of Nottingham wants to make Clara his queen thing, it's sort of there, it could have been way more uncomfortable, but it's also just... irrelevant. and is most of what Clara's role is doing in this story

I just realised that Clara's dream is Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and I think she should have dressed as one of them, rather than random noblewoman who never gets dirty or can properly do action in this story, anyway...

it all could be a lot worse

INTERNAL WORLD: this is the worse. we know the story of Robin Hood, Early of Loxley, loses his lands for speaking out against Prince John (not in this story), in love with Maid Marian (completely sidelined in this story), does an archery contest (okay that is there... different but there) and.... well that's about as far as the story gets in this one, and then after that it becomes scifi stuff, which does end with a duel between Robin and the Sheriff

my point is, that the actual Robin Hood stuff is simply worse than in the other Robin Hood's I've read and seen, and the non-Robin Hood stuff feels very awkwardly shoe-horned in, so in the end none of it is very well drawn

it's all just set pieces without depth, and it's so out of place that that's even part of the plot -- the Doctor finds it all so stupid and unrealistic that he doesn't believe it's real, except, in the end, inexplicably it is -- at least if it was a science fiction thing it would explain the sparksnotes version of the story we're getting

I keep going back to Maid Marian who's pretending to be a peasant, and the Sheriff I guess doesn't notice her and nobody else knows who she is, and she's not going through the feminist version of her story that I think this episode is trying to do, and the connection between "random peasant woman in a dungeon" and "woman revealed from behind the Tardis as Maid Marian" is so tenuous I needed to double-check it was the same actress

there's this bit at the end where Robin tells the Doctor that they're both just stories, which is one of those M*ffat-era fourth wall winks that I have grown really tired of, and in this case also seems to brush over any lackluster interaction with the actual story of Robin Hood. I don't think that's the intention, but it makes me go "ok what story were we just told here," and it's not one that makes a lot of sense or is particularly interesting

the idea of the Doctor interacting with legend and mythology is actually quite interesting, it's just that this episode sort of dropped the ball on that roughly halfway through, by saying "nono this totally unbelievable set of events straight out of a children's version of Robin Hood is real," when there could have been more freedom to go into other directions, rather than just rehashing a story told better elsewhere, if this hadn't been entirely "real"

there's just better Robin Hood than this, is my point

POLITICS: uhhh not a lot actually, which is a shame. Rob from the rich, give to the poor is not 100% absent in this (it gets mentioned), and there's some pretty intense nastiness from the Sheriff early on in the episode where he stabs a man to death, but as an extension of the world building, the ideas conveyed in this don't hang together very well, because the world doesn't hang together very well

FULL RATING: 50/100 (if I can count….)

overall this episode isn't awful, it's just kind of boring (well, it may be awful if you're a big Robin Hood fan). Idk if there's a curse on medieval settings, or if I'm prejudiced against them, but overall this episode had weak world-building and narrative construction that spread into most other facets of it and made them less engaging too

still not convinced it's worse than "deep breath" though, past me

on the upside I quite like the Doctor's personality -- he's not a nice man these days, and Clara could be getting tired of that? and the Doctor perhaps knows this? we'll see how that goes down/if it has any proper narrative consequences

EDIT: it's called "robot of sherwood" why would you call it that and then just have it be ordinary Robin Hood, that's not a twist!??? it's just a bait and switch, and one that's worse than if he was a robot! this is science fiction, it's okay for him to be a robot!