#they're truly insane over there

[ihamtmus]

this fandom should be studied because the levels of brainwashing and hypocrisy are something else

[120percents]

i just think it’s so funny that zoro does not even wanna comment on the usokaya situation when usopp explicitly asks and he very pointedly looks away when they kiss and yet he proceeds to butt in every single time sanji flirts with a woman or implies he knows about romance to redirect attention back on himself like god i wonder where your interests lie…

[me-sploh-rada-imas]

same vibe

[thefirstknife]

*hears Witness refer to themselves as the First Knife*

*eyes Bel*

*slowly backs away*

Welcome to my twisted mind.

Jokes aside, I also saw that ofc! It was also called that in the campaign by the dissenters:

I really enjoy that this got confirmed (either way!). There's been so much speculation on it. I've personally been on and off on the theory that the Witness is the first knife or just a manifestation of it or maybe that the first knife is just a concept, and if the Witness is trying to embody it or not. And so on. It's been really cool speculating and theorycrafting!

But now we know! Well... sort of, still. The Witness certainly believes itself to be the first knife, but is it truly? What does that mean? Does it even matter?

There's a ship you can get for finishing one of the sidequests: The First Knife. It has really cool lore of Mara and Ikora discussing the first knife and its meaning. I'll shorten the lore tab to just their dialogue so it's easier to copy and have at hand:

Mara: "When I first encountered the Witness, I heard it proclaim to me, 'We are the first knife.' It was as if that title held power. Meaning." Ikora: "The apocryphal texts we dug up on the moon, the ones Eris translated, mentioned the knife as a concept." Mara: "And even if we consider that unveiled text as dogmatic propaganda, there may be truth behind the allegory. The knife becomes the metaphor of a concept. A power. A knife that winnows, cutting things into a defined shape." Ikora: "A power that winnowed living beings into Taken. A power Oryx wielded." Mara: "You're wondering if the knife is a title, or a power. Did Oryx wield the power of the Witness like a knife?" Ikora: "The Witness is a manipulator. It distorts the truth to bend the wills of its supplicants. The allegorical fantasy told to us by the Witness paints itself as a monolithic cosmic force. But perhaps that's a shadow cast by the truth." Mara: "A knife is a tool, wielded by another's hand." Ikora: "If the Witness is the knife, as it asserts, then what wields it?" Mara: "The Witness is not a being. It is the culmination of a bleak ethos willed into existence by the nihilistic desires of its creators. Is their will the hand on the knife? Or is there something else?" Ikora: "I don't know."

This about summarises my thoughts on it, the ones I've always had. I'm not sure if there's any other information, maybe in the raid or the raid's lore book, but for now I'll focus on just this.

Mara says what I've always also agreed with: Unveiling is an allegory, but it has shreds of truth. The problem is that we don't know which parts are truth. We could speculate on that to no end. Ikora agrees as well and also asserts what I believe is the confirmation that the Witness wrote it, by calling it the "allegorical fantasy told to us by the Witness." Or at least this is what the characters believe to be true; Ikora also notes how even that could be a part of that truth among the allegories.

They consider it as a possible power, but they also consider it through the concept of it being a knife: a knife is wielded. Is the Witness being wielded by something else? Is it a knife because the species that made the Witness is the hand? Or is there something different? The conclusion is that neither of them know.

The problem, I think, we'll always have here in regards to the Winnower and anything above the Witness is that it will be hard to tell unless this hypothetical other being actually appears. The Witness may believe that it is the knife of the Winnower, but that could just be its interpretation of its own purpose. Essentially, the Witness may hold a religious belief about its place in the universe that simply isn't true, or believe in a being that isn't real. Just because the Witness says "We are the first knife [of the Winnower (?)]," doesn't mean that is the actual truth. It could be! But we simply don't know, and we won't know, until the Winnower appears (if it ever does; even if it is real, it may still not ever appear in person, in lore or the game).

Even if there's any other information, unless that information is from a reputable source (something that isn't the Witness itself or the Witness-aligned factions telling us a story), it will be hard to tell what's the truth. I really like that! I also really like that the first knife is still discussed also as a concept, not just something that the Witness believes it is. At the end of the day, this title represents something and it's the concept of winnowing, cutting things off.

But I do also like that "the first knife" has been addressed and explained. The Witness believes it is the first knife, and depending on more unfathomable cosmic forces, it may or may not really be that thing as something tangible and powerful, or even just as a title. Does the title matter? It does only because it matters to the Witness. At least for now. Until something actually shows up and presents itself as the wielder of the first knife, we will not know for certain.

Currently waiting to see when I can get the raid clear and the raid lore book, maybe for more information!

[thedawningofthehour]

Please, please, please tell me you already read tmnt 40th anniversary. Who knew that 8 pages would give so much to analyze. I had to pirate it due to not being able to access it where I live. I do hope it sells well in the US though, I really want them to bring out another one.

I have not yet, sorry.

I try to be optimistic sometimes, but let's be fucking honest with ourselves-Nickelodeon wrote Rise off the second the pilot dropped and a bunch of butthurt neckbeards review-bombed the show for being diiiiiiiiifferent from what they were used to. (they said the exact same thing in 2012, but corporations have short memories and have gotten way more scared of anything that deviates from the mold) They purposely torpedoed Rise and have done their damnedest to avoid acknowledging the movie's success, because they cannot admit they were wrong about making that call. They're not going to greenlight more Rise. They have just decided that they hate it and don't want to be associated with it anymore.

The only thing I can really hold out hope for is when Nick inevitably sells the franchise the new owners might decide to reboot it. I know that's typically not how TMNT iterations have worked-but the other series' all had real endings. They did what they wanted to do and went home. Rise was murdered before its time.

[darknesspervades]

listen. there's someone in my class who also likes the hunger games but man, it's slightly annoying.

because she's not the feral analysis sort, she just thinks they're cool and keeps completely missing the point when discussing them.

which, ok, valid. but sometimes i realise that non tumblr girlies do not think about that series in the same way i do. like, wdym those are mainstream books? no they're not, they're for me and my 10 followers to overanalyse.

[aq2003]

watching david tennant's version of the coward soliloquy is truly not enough i need to absorb it through my skin let it seep through my flesh and into my bone marrow and also invent time travel to go see it performed live on stage in 2008 too. Btw

[ibrokeeverything]

I'm sorry but how can you watch the end of the curse of the black pearl and not think that Elizabeth, Will, and Jack are poly???

"If all I have achieved here is that the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it."

"It's right here, between you and Jack." "As is mine."

"So this is where your heart truly lies then?" "It is."

And Jack telling Elizabeth they never would have worked, all fond and apologetic, feeling awfully like compensation for and the masking of real emotion. And how he approaches Will with the same earnest quality before pulling back into the easy compliment toward his hat.

Like, excuse me? That is in love behavior if I've ever seen it

[manic-pixie-dream-dude]

I've been watching/reading Death Note every once in a while for the last couple of months and this is the funniest most unserious serious anime ever.

[gyrovagi]

i do think romancing neve after saving treviso is just so fun its juicy. you make an impossible choice and you fail her in something she had no right to ask of you or expect you to do. but it would be impossible for her not to bear some resentment for it. and then by consistently being there and doing what you can you manage to slowly rebuild that trust. neve save me. save me neve

[p1ckthep01son]

why are gabe and william so not normal about each other like i understand because if i was in either of their bodies and saw the other one it would be on sight but. who was letting them call each other papi and make weird tweets about each other and why did gabe say "ass looks great william" just barely within register of the camera's mic in a guy ripley video and why did gabe call william his "little snuggle buddy" on livejournal and why did william say gabe was "one of the only people he could trust" and why did gabe say he loved william's "pale hairless body" and why did william go through a phase where he would sporadically post photos of himself and gabe on instagram and caption them things like "still shipping" and just straight up using the #gabilliam why did william say that people who thought gabilliam was real were "dreaming, but it's a nice dream" genuinely what the fuck is wrong with the two of them. i love their love so much

[dolokhoded]

thinking about song of the ocean from dimitris papadimitriou's moby dick musical... girl.....girl.....

[macbcth]

.

[kyaruun]

i am equals parts excited and stressed over the valkyrie climax event so i'm drowning my (future) sorrows trying to crochet again

[cryingforcrocodiles]

Chelsea have played more Premier League games this season (30) than they've scored goals (29) 🤯

My wish granted 🤓 After 2021 UCL final heartbreak, I'm so happy for Chelshit's downfall 🙃

YES MY FRIEND!!! i love seeing chelsea lose. i am so erect at the thought of them in the mud forever. 🫂🫂🫂 FUCK CHELSEA. i hope they get 11th. crystal palace i need you to win some games QUICKLY.

[becca-alexa]

✨personal so read if you want to✨

the people in my immediate circle all think i'm crazy for saying i'd want to be in a relationship for 2-3 years before talking about marriage and i think they're all insane for it but then i remember the average time from strangers to married for them is around 6 months