#this is based on a bunch of theories and evidence that only like one person will understand fully (Astro Astro Azzy I'm looking at you Azzy

[chipistrate]

The Wizards Favorite Apprentice

One more piece before the countdown 2 Ruin, this time featuring my favorite little dude; Gregory(fucked up edition)<3

RBs appreciated!

Also I hope you don't mind the tag but LOOK!!! THE LITTLE DUDE!!!!!!!! @astro-inthestars

[hawkinasock]

I ADORE YOU. MORE ABUNDANCE YANQING AND YAOSHI. PLEASE.

So, can you please learn more tell about this theory?

(You draw beautifully.)

GAAAGHHHH this was the first thing I saw in the morning omg tsym <333 dw I've got my mitts on and I'll get to cooking o7 I assume you're asking me to explain the theory? Which I'll gladly do. Very long post incoming.

Essentially, the general idea is that Yanqing is related to abundance in some way, be it simply second-hand association, or he himself being an abomination/denizen of abundance himself - I personally believe in the latter. While I've made art of Yaoshi and Yanqing in a parental dynamic, it's not something I see as a viable theory, so much as it's just a fun little crack theory. Yaoshi is more likely a passive creator than an actual loving parent. There's a bunch of different interpretations for what Yanqing is and how he came to be based on the little pieces of evidence found in canon. One piece of evidence is his blonde hair.

As far as I can tell, the only other blonde Xianzhou characters are Dan Shu and Luocha (Luocha isn't a Xianzhou native himself, but he was a part of the quest so I'm including him anyway), both directly associated with the abundance, as well as Yaoshi themselves.

Interestingly enough, Dan Shu has the same hair part as Yanqing, but that could just be chalked up to design cohesion and framing the face/mask, rather than anything meaningful.

Edit: someone pointed out to me that Dan Shu's hair was initially brown, but after joining the disciples, it turned blonde.

Edit: I somehow forgot to include Phantylia, who has blonde hair in her third phase, and even a hair part. There's also a disciple of Sanctus Medicus in a cell in the shackling prison who also has blonde hair. Every character I've found who has blonde hair is either a disciple, or canonically connected to Yaoshi

(I considered adding Hongling, the fanatic fan in the stands of the Skysplitter, but I think his hair might just be dyed, which isn't too crazy an idea for a stan. Still mentioning him though, since he's a really weird character)

If you look closely at Yanqing's clothes, there's a reoccurring vine-esc pattern on all layers of his hanfu. They can also be seen on his sword. It doesn't necessarily mean much by itself, but it's an interesting detail I and others have noticed.

However, I want to point attention to Yanqing's phone case, because it's actually super interesting, and probably the most convincing piece of evidence imo. Not only does it relay the vine motif, but that to me looks like a leaf detaching from a branch and transforming into a swallow. If the characters' phone cases are meant to reflect their personality/reference lore elements, then this is probably the most blatant in terms of potential lore.

Edit: the little decals on the camera lense are in the image of Yanqing's hair ornament, which happens to look like a pair of leaves, midribs and all.

Speaking of swallows, has anyone noticed that there's flocks of golden swallows inside the roots of the arbor? I only noticed on my second playthrough, but I haven't stopped thinking about them since. How odd is it that out of any other bird, the arbor has swallows specifically. Of course, Swallows aren't Yanqing's motif alone, as the wardance teaser silhouette's have what look like swallows in the background art, but I still think it's important to bring up, considering Yanqing is literally COVERED in them, from his ornaments, to his swallow tail-shaped coat tail, to his entire playstyle.

Low-quality ss of the swallows for reference.

Luocha also has a line about Yanqing that, setting aside any theory-crafting, seems pointless. He has nothing to say, which, if he was truly genuine, what purpose does this line even serve? I can't infer much from the delivery of the other languages, since I have no knowledge on them or their social cues, but in en, the tone is very... discreet? It's just the way he says it is very off, like he's being dishonest. Too quick; too matter-of-fact; It's artificial honesty. I hope you get what I mean lol. I can only assume the va was directed to say it that way for a reason.

A passage from Yanqing's 2nd char story reads: "It's recorded in the military annals of the Cloud Knights how Jing Yuan came to discover the young boy, stood his ground against public opinion, and incorporated him into the armed forces. However, in the family lineage column, Yanqing's lineage was relegated to the category of unknown."

From Yanqing's 4th char story: "Some speculated that he [Jing Yuan] was cultivating an heir, others claimed he only kept him around just to use this kid as a secret weapon. Jing Yuan never offered a response."

Jing Yuan is really suspicious. Like, incredibly suspicious. Even more than Luocha. Yanqing is already known to be an orphan, but the lack of clarity over the details of Jy discovering him, as well as the fact that he has no known relatives in their database is very odd. Speaking to Jing Yuan's npc in-game allows the player to inquire about Yanqing's origin, but Jing Yuan's response is far from helpful. You'd think the man who decks out his Lieutenant in protective charms and locks, and who raised the kid from, at oldest, toddler years, would be a little more eager to spurge on about stories from Yanqing's childhood, but he instead chooses to dance around the topic and make light-hearted remarks about Qingzu's furphies. Obviously, you can't and shouldn't expect to get all of a characters lore in one serving, but revealing so little definitely implies a lot more, as we've seen with Luocha.

These details are the reason why, if Yanqing does turn out to be related to the abundance, be it a spawn of the arbor, or a creation of Yaoshi themselves, I believe that at least Jing Yuan knows and is keeping it all under wraps. Maybe the whole reason Jing Yuan assigned him as his aide in the first place was to keep a close eye on him. Rather ironic a general of the hunt would risk everything to protect the thing he's sworn to destroy.

But that's just my two cents. Thank you anon for giving me a reason to spurge about this theory finally, as it's become so dear to my heart.

More art will be posted as I go along, so don't touch that dial.

[a-very-tired-jew]

Finally got an anti-Zionist definition of Zionism

An Israeli was brave enough to pop into the Dropout Discord’s Palestine channel today (May 5th, 2024) and ask what definition of Zionism they were using. While most people all had the same base of “Jews having their own state in their homeland” every single one of them goes off the rails with their own respective definition and conspiracy.

The first person said this:

Fig. 1. First person responding to the Israeli gives their definition of Zionism.

Notice that they say Zionism is the idea that Israel is uniquely and solely the rightful homeland of the Jews. This implies that there’s a malicious intent in Zionism towards non-Jews within Israel. This person has likely never heard of Kahanism, but in their mind Zionism and Kahanism are likely the same.

Here’s the second person to respond:

Fig. 2. Second response uses refers to anti-Zionist. Jews and their supposed definition.

Now, I know a bunch of anti-Zionist Jewish groups and people and I have never heard this particular definition. I’ve only heard this from extreme antisemites who hide behind the guise of being anti-Zionist progressives and actual terrorist groups trying to create a false antisemitic conspiracy narrative. However, this is my own personal experience and this could be the case, as the user says this is what is said in their circles. And if it’s true then it’s a conspiracy driven alt reality version of things as it denies all evidence to the contrary. There are whole levels to this that ignore the non-Jewish Israelis, the rights that they have in Israel, their representation in the government, and so on.

and the third person to respond is someone I’ve talked about before. This is the Jew who claims they were indoctrinated and all their elders are brainwashed and just need to “open their eyes to the truth.”

Fig. 3. Third response from a user who expands on Fig. 1. User’s definition and adds their own conspiracy.

I want to point out that this token Jew who believes others are indoctrinated actively believes the Israeli is making it so only Jews can be citizens. This is not any policy I can find, nor is it something I’ve seen even talked about outside of the most extremist elements. I think they’re referencing the 2018 stuff about Jews having the right to self determination, setting Hebrew as the National language, and government endorsement of settlers. But that’s far from the Israeli government and Zionism stating that Israel is for Jews and only Jews, and active programs to remove non-Jews. It’s something that, once again, would only come from antisemitic groups who want to generate strife through a particular narrative.

These are the definitions that they’re working with and/or believe. It’s no wonder you can’t actually talk to these activists because these definitions are laced with rhetoric from terrorist groups and antisemites. There’s traces of Jewish supremacy, world control, and other tropes throughout, and what’s sad is that a self confessed Jewish person believes it. Not only do they believe it, they’ve been extremely vocal in the server about it. They have so much to unpack that I can’t imagine what brought them to this level of conspiratorial thinking regarding Jews and Zionism.

It takes a lot of work to get people to see their conspiracy theories for what they are and that they’ve been misled. It’s easier to fall into them than to crawl out of that hole and realize you’ve been radicalized. That takes time, self reflection, and often a big “oh shit” moment, which may or may never happen.

At this point I’m just documenting how radicalized the people in the Dropout TV Discord are and how many of them believe in antisemitic conspiracies and downright falsities. Maybe they’ll do something about it one day, but I doubt it.

[hammysamhah]

hello peoples i’m about to sound real crazy right now but hear me out cus i’ve been thinking this for awhile now while binge watching TBGO and Trollstopia and i need to know your thoughts!! and buckle up folks cus this is gonna be a LONG post

so okay basically, i think that in the shows Guy Diamond has some sort of generational trauma/ daddy issues/ faced parental neglect or however else it can be phrased.

this theory is only show specific and i don’t know if i sound crazy for thinking this AND i know i’ve made a post similarly about this except with Dareth from Ninjago but i actually have some real evidence this time to back up this theory/headcanon

look, this theory started off as kind of a joke at first after watching TBGO episode: “Trolly Tales 3” where Guy is seen telling a bunch of children a story based off of the nursery rhyme about jumping over a candlestick.

the story is seen with Guy as the main character, wanting to pursue a life of entertainment involving jumping over candlesticks. Sky Toronto, whom is Guy’s dad in this story, doesn’t agree with this lifestyle and insists he starts thinking more seriously and be part of the company. Guy rebels and pursues his dream anyway, but in the end it fails after the candlestick drops Guy and becomes a solo act. Guy, now at his lowest, goes back to his dad’s and tells him he’s ready to be serious. Sky responds to the statement that he has seen Guy’s shows and that he doesn’t want Guy calling him dad anymore, but to instead call him his #1 fan. it was a small but sweet twist there at the end where the dad accepts the son in the end.

now i didn’t really give much thought to the story until i saw the way Guy reacted when the kids didn’t like it. now i’ll make it very aware that i very much know Guy is just super dramatic (they even acknowledged that in the scene i’m mentioning rn), BUT as someone who loves to overanalyze cartoon characters and expressions, he kind of looked genuinely hurt. he was also fairly offended when poppy said his story was too dramatic.

mentioning again that i know Guy is just a drama queen but i like to overanalyze stuff like this

now after i noticed these details, i jokingly remarked that it seemed like Guy took the dislike of his story personally, as if that was a semi-true story. like as if something like that did happen to Guy when he was younger and he twisted the story to fit the nursery rhyme. i don’t think that Sky Toronto is his actual dad, there’s too much proof that shows they don’t have any personal connection like that. but i do think that whoever his dad really was did push him the same way Sky did in the story. and that maybe Guy twisted the ending to be happy when in reality it probably didn’t have his dad accepting him and loving him for who he was.

now everything i have been talking about is all just speculation. there’s no real proof that this story isn’t anything more than just a story. BUT!!! by overanalyzing it is what made me realize that Guy being neglected in some way by his dad (or mom if he has one) would make some sense considering his personality.

Guy is very reliant on being the center of attention, he doesn’t like the idea of anyone being better than him and just has some confidence issues in general (at least in TBGO). there are many episodes centering around this. this is even stated in Guy Damond’s wiki.

now, attention seeking is a very common occurrence in people that were neglected as a child. his attention seeking and huge ego are both things that show signs of trauma or neglect as seen below

this is just a slice of what i have in store though because i think that this ties into the way he parents Tiny Diamond in Trollstopia.

Guy and Tiny have a few episodes centered around their relationship, they’re all pretty heartwarming and a little sad (while also being funny because the show’s a comedy). these episodes have a pretty similar moral which is “i’ll love you no matter what” and i feel like there’s a reason they all pretty much have this moral and it’s to show how Guy is growing as a character and parent.

let me just summarize these episodes i am thinking of realll quick for ya

Extra Tootering (s1 ep 12a): Tiny wants to learn how to glitter fart like his dad to impress his friends, Guy tries to teach him how but it doesn’t work. time comes where Tiny is meant to show his friends his trick and ended up faking it so no one could know he couldn’t do it. feeling guilty for his lie, he runs away and Guy finds him and tells him that whether he can glitter or not he and his friends will still love him the way he is.

Dad-urday (s2 ep 1b): Tiny thinks of his dad as his hero and Guy doesn’t wanna do ANYTHING that could ever break that image, so Guy participates in Dad-urday events that he hates just to make Tiny happy, only in the end to find out that Tiny will always view Guy as his hero even if he can’t do all the typical dad things that others can do.

Funder Construction (s7 ep 5a): Guy tells Tiny about how their family has a legacy of building extraordinaryly cool blanket forts and unintentionally pressured Tiny into feeling that he needs to make his own super impressive fort or else he won’t be considered a Diamond, Guy immediately comforted and reassured Tiny that no matter what he accomplishes in life he’ll always be a Diamond because he’s his son and that he’ll love him no matter what.

now let me break down these episodes a bit more to show you how i think it could prove Guy has parental trauma and how it plays into how he parents now.

for Extra Tootering, there’s this specific scene that spoke to me. when Tiny tells his dad that he wants to learn how to glitter like him, Guy tells him that he was also a late tooter and that Tiny should be patient, as it comes with time. but then Tiny starts saying that he’ll just hide his true self away until then. when Guy heard his son say those things, he was tearing up and even freaked out a little literally shouting a dramatic “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” and he immediately decided that he was going to help his son learn to glitter fart despite his earlier statement that Tiny should be patient.

now i know the topic being about farting glitter makes this feel so unserious but that isn’t gonna stop me from overanalyzing it LOL

the main thing i noticed was how upset that Guy was when Tiny started talking about hiding himself from the world. Tiny was wanting to hide himself because he couldn’t glitter like Guy could. Guy didn’t wanna be the cause of his son hiding himself!! any parent would be upset in this situation. but if i consider my past point of that story Guy told back in TBGO, where the dad didn’t want his son to be himself, being a real thing that Guy could’ve gone through, Tiny wanting to hide himself could very much upset Guy!! not just for the basic reasons of wanting your child to be happy but also because he doesn’t want Tiny to go through what he went through.

later on when Guy finally finds his runaway son, this interaction plays out:

(direct quotes from the ep)

Guy: “don’t you see? i love you just the way you are! we all do!”

Tiny: “but you’re my daddy, daddy! you have to say that.”

Guy: “…you’re right, Tiny. i guess because i’m your father, in a way, i do have to say it.”

and the way Guy said that last sentence just felt interesting to me. the pause before he said it, and using the words “i guess” made it feel like he never really got that treatment from his own father ? ofc i could just be grasping at straws there a lil bit but it’s what i’m thinking.

now by the end of the episode Tiny has learned how to glitter and used it to save himself, his dad, and friends from falling to death lol— but what Guy says to Tiny afterwards was very sweet.

(direct quote from ep)

Guy: “TINYYYYY! HAHA! you did it! YOOOOU did it!!! for the record, i’d still love you if you couldn’t, but i’m glad to not be dead.”

i just like how Guy specified that he still would’ve loved Tiny either way. this doesn’t directly lead any points to my theory other than maybe Guy feels the need to make sure Tiny absolutely knows that he’ll love him no matter what. but any parent should feel that way about their child. i just really thought the moment was sweet and worth a mention.

now onto the next episode, Dad-urday, and let me tell you this episode probably spoke to me the MOST when it came to defending my theory.

for the entire episode Guy was stressing over disappointing his son. Tiny thinks of Guy as his hero, and Guy doesn’t want to do anything that could ever shatter that thought and make Tiny think less of him. so he and Tiny participate in a thing called Dad-urday, where all the dads in Trollstopia do a bunch of stereotypical dad things (like grill, play catch, fish, stuff like that). but Guy isn’t good at those things, so he goes to his friends for help and this interaction pursues.

(direct quotes from ep)

Synth: “Tiny’s gonna love dad-urday! he thinks the world of you and what-not!”

Guy: “exactly! Tiny thinks i can do anything! but tomorrow he’ll realize i can’t, and i just don’t want my little boy to lose his hero…”

Guy is seen here putting so much pressure on himself for no reason! he should know that Tiny would love him despite his lack of ‘dad’ skills, but he’s convinced himself that if he isn’t perfect and amazing at everything then his son will think less of him. this is totally rooted in Guy’s confidence issues and probable parental neglect i think.

so Guy forces himself to do typical Dad-urday things (with the help of his friends) to make sure not to disappoint his son. but things go wrong when Guy has to participate in a boating event to which he gets into a dangerous position. at this point Guy’s friends finally told Tiny the truth and Tiny immediately just wants his dad to get out of the danger he’s in leading to this interaction

(direct quotes from the ep)

Tiny: “daddy! your daddy friends already told me everything! you gotta get out of there!”

Guy: “b-but— this isn’t how i wanted this to go, Tiny! you’re my little boy! and i want you to keep on believing i can do anything! so you don’t lose your hero!”

the way that Guy sounded so panicked and upset in this scene really hurt. to me it feels like Guy is desperate to not end up being a bad dad, he wants to be someone his son can look up to and to be the first person he goes to if there’s a problem. i really think this shows that Guy never had a good role model himself, as he doesn’t understand that he doesn’t need to do all the things he’s making himself do in order to achieve this goal.

this mindset even had Guy forget that Tiny already knew he’s not perfect, as Tiny pointed out he already knew he’s not capable of everything and specified about when Guy tried to build his bike and failed, which made Guy finally remember. Tiny then proceeded to list a bunch of other things about his dad that aren’t the most charming, like his bald spot, or his fake calves lmao

anyways the next bit of dialogue here seems pretty meaningful

(direct quotes)

Tiny: “there’s only one reason you’re my hero, daddy…. *BECAUSE* you’re my daddy!”

Guy (tearfully): “…really?”

the fact Guy was crying in this scene just showed how touched he felt that he didn’t actually have to be perfect to be a good dad. and that he already was one. the mere fact that being his dad made Tiny think of him as his hero definitely made him realize he was doing a good job. he needed to hear that after all the pressure he put on himself earlier.

now onto Funder Construction, which is a pretty big one too cus they actually talk about their family in this episode!

this could potentially put a little dent into my theory since Guy is the one who talks about them and he didn’t seem like someone who didn’t like his family. but i might just put it as he didn’t wanna have his child worry about it. i mean Guy is an actor in the show, it wouldn’t be too crazy for him to ignore his feelings for a minute and talk a little kindly about their family’s legacy to inspire Tiny, because Guy did play a fair part in it after all.

now to put it simply this episode hurt my heart so bad 😭 Guy’s parenting in this episode is so good it hurt. Tiny found an interest in making blanket forts, so Guy tells Tiny about how making blanket forts runs in the family and that they’ve all made huge creations out of them. and now Tiny wants to do the same.

Guy supports Tiny throughout the entire thing until Tiny starts rushing it and the fort becomes unstable. by then Guy is begging Tiny to stop but Tiny is consistent on getting it done. then the tower starts wobbling over with them on it and they fall off the side! luckily they were able to hold onto some loose blankets but they still were in a very unsafe position. and even then, still Tiny is consistent about finishing this fort and thus, this interaction pursues:

(direct quotes)

Tiny: “i have to build something the world has never seen before!”

Guy: “BUT WHY?!”

Tiny: “because if i don’t…i’m not a Diamond.”

Guy: “…not a Diamond..?”

and dude. Guy’s face after Tiny said that. that brief moment of just an emotion change felt like Guy was realizing that he unintentionally pressured Tiny into thinking that if he didn’t build this fort he wouldn’t be considered part of the family. this is the exact thing Guy wanted to prevent Tiny from feeling.

so now continuing the scene, tiny is crying at this point:

(direct quotes)

Tiny: “it’s like you said, ‘every Diamond built structures that would stand until the end of time.’ so, if i don’t do that… how can i be one of them?”

Guy: “…Tiny Diamond. young man, you listen to me, and you listen good, because i have something that you need to hear. first of all, the things the Diamonds of the past did took them their entire lifetimes. if they caught one glimpse of what you’ve accomplished as a child..? it would blow the hair right off their heads!”

Tiny: [smiles and sniffs]

Guy: “and second of all, and way way more importantly, none of that matters! i don’t care if you build a thousand skyscrapers, or if you never touch another blanket again, you are always a Diamond. because you.. are my son.”

this scene is so important not just for Tiny but for Guy too. Tiny is learning once again that his dad will truly love him no matter what. and unlike last time with the glitter fart, (which Tiny was able to achieve in the end), in this episode, Tiny’s plan doesn’t work, but now he’s okay with it. because his dad made him feel less pressured and more loved. Guy Diamond truly said some powerful things to his son. this will most likely be a memory that Tiny will remember forever and that’s such a good thing.

coming back to the theory though, Guy had accidentally made his son feel how his family probably made him feel in the past. maybe not about specifically the blanket tower stuff but possibly something similar or just anything in general. pressure to live up to family values can be traumatic if your family makes you feel outcasted for not living up to it the way they want. and considering i think Guy either got disowned or ran away himself, (solely based on the story he told those children in TBGO), it obviously didn’t end very well.

the fact he made Tiny feel that pressure was probably heart breaking to Guy. and he made sure to immediately make sure Tiny knew he had no reason to feel like that. he became so serious so fast to make SURE tiny didn’t feel out of place in their family.

and that just shows Guy’s development not just from the trauma im theorizing but just in general in the show. Guy was never really the most serious character in this show. i mean, he’s a naked sparkly troll who’s main character trait half the time is farting glitter or being super dramatic in comedic ways. but seeing how serious Guy gets when it’s about his son just goes to show how seriously he cares about him. and that’s how you break generational trauma yall, Guy Diamond mastered it.

so um yeah this is pretty much all i have to say about this theory. i just wanted to show how i thought that Guy didn’t have a good childhood but made sure his son had a great one. really sweet stuff for this mostly unserious show. i know this is probably super dumb but i don’t care i just love dumb things. and if you actually read all of this thanks and here’s a cookie 🍪

[stelladess]

EDIT: I only now found there are more complete translations of the new lorebook, that may alter things here quite a bit depending on if it touches on relevant stuff. Ill probably write a more easy to follow and updated version of this post when I got less schoolwork anyway so yeah. Arknights Theory: The nature of the Lord of Fiends powers and the purpose of the black crown. IDK how to spoiler and non of what I find onlines helps with that so just know... spoilers ahead. I also wanna say that I havnt double checked a lot of this stuff, I did for some of it but id like to re-read a bunch of this when some of the CN only stuff has come to global anyway. So take with a grain of salt is all im saying that I remember right since I dont remember exactly where to find all of this info, altough I will mentioned where I thought I got it from for various evidence. So tl;dr here is that I think Amiya´s powers is actually about manipulating originium, the memory, emotion and energy blasts (also making a sword) is all extensions of that and NOT fully distinct powers like some believe, also the Lord of Fiends has to have oripathy. Also the black crown was made by Priestess to eventually facilitate her resurrection and the reason doctor convinced Theresa to transfer her powers to Amiya was part of that plan. Now, why do I think all this? Starting on Amiya´s powers. While dialogue indicates some skilled casters *can* learn multiple types of arts, Amiya is not a skilled caster. She is very powerful but not particularily skilled at it. Her powers are ALL derived from the originium arts her oripathy and Lord of Fiends nature grants her. She also had all these powers pretty much from moment 1 it seems so it seems unlikely she learned it trough practice to do many different things. So its likely one ability that is just very broad in its usage, similarily to how Rosmontis´s powers work (if I remember right Kal´tsit even says their powers are very similar in nature). Amiya can do energy blasts, view memories and sense emotions... according to Kal´tsit in chapter 7 the way sarkaz prophecies work is basically that thoughts are stored in originium allowing other sarkaz to tap into the memories in that originium to calculate a likely outcome with multiple people´s brains. So originium can store thoughts/minds. And by extension memory would be a part of that. There is also clearly stuff relating to the dead but ive heard several CN server events have gone into that more so I dont wanna speak about anything regarding dead souls until that comes to global because I do not wanna go reading very complicated lore stuff in a language I dont understand really, so ill adjust or drop this theory as nescesary based on future information of course. So, then the emotions and memory stuff is covered, making the sword is also simple, its just made of originium. So the energy blasts? Well the main way originium is used is as a power source and its required to cast arts for those without oripathy (who have originium inside them to channel arts anyway). Another piece of evidence here is that Manfred could disrupt Amiya´s arts with his own, which seem to revolve around detonating or manipulating the energy in originium, allowing him to harm Amiya when she tried to gather up energy from nearby originium. When she pushes herself extra hard she probably draws extra power from the originium in her own body, which is why it has such a negative effect on her physically even compared to other casters. This, and a bit from the new lorebook revealing the first Lord of Fiends was the first person with Oripathy, is why I think the Lord of Fiends HAS to have Oripathy.

So, with that established, why do I think the Black Crown is meant to resurrect Priestess? First of all, the Black Crown or Civilight Etherna, is tech from the advanced precursor civilization (it was not found by them but invented by them, its directly referenced as a different project to the AMa projects, which is part of what Kal´tsit is refered to by certain beings in the know about the previous civilization, the crown also resembles Mon3tr in appearance). Its stated in Amiya´s module that its purpose is to store information, memories and emotion. And we know for a fact that they were capable of brain uploading, as seen with Friston in Lonetrail. Its original purpose was as a historical record, but that doesnt mean it cant have been altered later. Priestess is stated by Friston to have created Originium, something we will likely learn more about in the Victoria arc on account of certain reveals in chapter 13. Since Originium is so closely linked to the crown, by virtue of the first infected being the first Lord of Fiends, originium was clearly created in relation to something to do with the Crown. And well.. when Priestess put the doctor into the sarcophagus she said they would be reunited and their love would outlast the stars. Despite her seeming convinced she would die.... Kal´tsit seems to have been either created or turned into what she is now by Priestess too, or well by their people at least. But for dramatic convenience I think Priestess makes the most sense. I think the crown getting linked to the sarkaz collective unconcious/dead souls (this is the part im most uncertain about because there is so little info on this on global especially) was NEVER part of the plan. Since it seems likely the previous civilization created the ancients (animal people) to drive the sarkaz away (and also be slave labour, this isnt like 100% confirmed but there is some hints for this) I suspect they saw the sarkaz as lower beings and had never considered the crown would link up with them. So I think the original purpose was that some sort of great calamity fell upon their people, Priestess tried to store her mind in the Black Crown in some process that led to the creation of Originium and because the first person to down the crown was a sarkaz made her unable to do what she originally intended, possessing a later wearer of the crown and reunite with the doctor. This part is of course pure speculation as well with very little evidence, but it does line up somewhat. And I think some of the concept trailers supports the idea the crown can let someone store their mind to take over a later host (altough not with Priestess specifically).

So, fast forward to Amiya... she was born in Rim Billiton a normal cautus girl, her family were miners and lived on a normal landship in Rim Billiton... but one day disaster struck and the ship got destroyed in a horrible disaster. This is all gone into more in To the Grinning Valley but was already implied beforehand. To the Grinning Valley is also interesting for several reasons to this theory, they explicitly call attention to how strange it is that the doctor would bring Amiya with them after finding her in the wreckage. Saving her is in line with their behavior, but why bring her along? Its common in Rim Billiton for miners to adopt other children. Why not leave here somewhere? Why bring her with them to Babel? And this isnt just Amiya wondering or an outside observer, we find out from Savage that Kal´tsit doesnt know why the doctor did what they did. And whats more, Kal´tsit believes the doctor convinced Theresa to transfer her powers to Amiya, and since no previous Lord of Fiends had done so directly, the crown picked a successor, I think the doctor also taught Theresa how she could directly move it, circumventing the dead souls of the sarkaz will being imposed on the crown´s choices. So, why Amiya? Kal´tsit either doesnt have any idea why or just didnt want to tell Savage, but it is clear that she NEVER agreed with the decision. We have some ideas why Theresa did it, Amiya not being a sarkaz would mean she would be less strongly influenced by the dead souls and the lords of kazdel would refuse to follow her. Or at least chapter 12 and 13 heavily implies this was her motive. But why did the doctor want that? In To the Grinning Valley the question of if the doctor always intended to use Amiya for that from the start and grew to care about her over time, or if they took her in with no ill intentions and then got the idea later out of desperation, is raised but left unanswered because the doctor cant remember, and no one else knows why.

I believe the doctor also wished to undermine the crown´s link to the sarkaz, and that the plan was to use Amiya as a vessel for resurrecting Priestess. And it is an interesting topic, its often brought up how much even pre amnesia doctor cared about Amiya... but in To the Grinning Valley we focus a bit on the insecurity and uncertainty Amiya and Savage have about *why*. Savage telling an anecdote about a friend who went bad after fame got to their head and admitting she doesnt know which is worse, if the doctor did love Amiya and their circumstances made them so willing to trample over what they loved that they would force the black crown on her, or if the doctor had always been intending to just use Amiya for that purpose. And Amiya admitting she never knew why doc would care for her so much. And here is an interesting thing... in anything post victoria arc, we have NEVER seen Amiya and the doctor interact so far. Amiya is in Arturia´s oprec but otherwise she hasnt been on screen post victoria arc. To the Grinning Valley is set before it. The doctor has been doing all manner of things all over Terra in that time period, but Amiya isnt there with them, she is still with Rhodes Island is clear though. So... does Amiya and the doctor still have a good relationship post Victoria arc? Doc clearly cares for Amiya still, when Rosmontis talks about missing Amiya in Lonetrail (she had been away for some weeks or months, unclear) doc agrees that they miss her too, but they dont really go into any detail and are talking about both Amiya and Logos. Depending on what we learn in the later chapters of the Victoria arc, I could see Amiya feeling rather betrayed by the doctor. Not to the point of completely cutting them out but that it might still make her a bit more distant to them. I think it would be interesting to see how Amiya would take it if she learned that the doctor had originally intended to use her for very selfish end goals. Surely the thought has crossed her mind and she just isnt willing to entertain it, but if she learns something in the climax of the Victoria arc that shakes her absolute confidence in the doctor? That could be a pretty big deal. We already know Amiya has a habit of rather then accepting people wronged her first try to look for excuses. What Theresa did to her Amiya refuses to admit is wrong even when directly pointed out to her how messed up it was (chapter 8 Rosmontis compares what Theresa did to Amiya with what Loken did to her). She isntead focuses on how she must be failing to live up to Theresa´s expectations, an idea NO ONE tried to put into her head as far as we can tell. Altough it is a little unclear because she gets VERY defensive about it when the Damazti Cluster suggests she was forced into her role at Rhodes and given too heavy responsibilities to carry. Will she do this this time as well? Look for excuses why what doctor did was "justified"? But in chapter 13 she also finds meaning in rejecting the legacy of the black crown and that she will use its powers purely for her own ideals and not worry about what its purpose is. With that in mind how would that color her perception of finding out an even older purpose for it that implicates the pre amnesia doctor?

[snobgoblin]

ok I've been sitting on this theory for a while because of a few factors, and also I was afraid that the whole fandom has this unspoken rule that you're not supposed to spoil this thing but Thun said it should be fine if I include a warning. SO CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. massive Arcana spoilers ahead. if I'm right. which I'm not gonna make you think I'm right but *I* very much do think I'm right and this was fun to come up with

I'm gonna apologize in advance, I really wish I could articulate this better but it's ultimately just gonna sound like the ramblings of a madman because I've been so in my own head, so please forgive me 😭

anyway. the takeaway: Lucio was never The Devil. he is The Fool. the PLAYER was actually The Devil all along. and the reason Scout still exists despite the player having the body of The Fool is because... that body is Lucios.

now this is the part where I show you some evidence out of order

⭐️evidence for Lucio being The Fool:

first of all he doesn't even share that many traits of The Devil. not any more than the demons anyway- obsession? well, the demons are all obsessed with something, that's kind of their whole thing, and we know they have different associated patrons. material wealth? well, Nadia is wealthy and she's not associated with The Devil. not to mention Lucio wasn't even always wealthy, he grew up in the mountains. you know what Lucio does embody though? recklessness. adventure. inexperience. traits of The Fool

another evidence is like, the whole ritual. I only mapped out those seats we know FOR SURE are occupied and by who (but it's easy to assume that they are seated in numerical order based on this. I left out the speculation for the sake of clarity here and besides the ritual is a theory for another day) ANYWAY. anyway. wouldn't you know it but the sectioning on the table corresponds with the phases of The Fool's Journey (we know for sure that The Devil is sitting at the head of the table, with Morga taking up the other head. to the Devil's side are the Apprentice and Volta, and so on) (I know there's a whole bunch of people not present at the table but again a theory for another day)

AND THATS KIND OF WHAT STARTED THIS THEORY IN THE FIRST PLACE, why isn't Lucio in The Devil's seat. he's in The Fool's seat! he says he was right next to Asra which is where the player would have been sitting and we know the Devil was THERE during the first ritual because he was overseeing it and people bargained with him. he wouldn't be able to sit anywhere but the Devil's seat. Lucio was sitting in The Fool's seat

also, just, some design aspects, such as the colors of the eyes and everything and also, in one if the concept art, Lucio is almost wearing a tunic (like the Rider-Waite card) and also has a feather in his hat that PERFECTLY matches the one on that card (I don't know if I'm allowed to show you that or I would)

this point is a little looser because this isn't something exclusive to Lucio, but people call him a fool a lot. specifically in Dawn of the Grub he says this

also this one's a little bit of a reach but the way the Fool card doesn't have an animal on it and Lucio, when he was a kid, struggled with his identity in relation to animals, like he didn't wanna be associated with beetles but he didn't know what else he was

also I think Asra says that basically Lucio just thought The Devil looked cool and that's why he latched onto him. it's really not much deeper than that. Lucio only THINKS he's tied to the Devil. but Lucio isn't to be trusted especially when it comes to magic. hell, when he visits the Devil's realm his first thought is "I'll have to remember these decorations for the palace" he just has a fascination with The Devil. which is actually part of The Fool's journey

AND I THINK. MOST IMPORTANTLY. Lucios association with dogs. i dont think its a coincidence that hes so aggressively a dog person and I believe that Mercedes and Melchior are representative of the two different interpretations of The Fool's Dog (some guiding, some hurting) because Mercedes is definitely more violent (bit off Melchiors ear) and I won't bother explaining their personalities you probably already know. also Lucios masquerade mask is a dog and also in one ask Nadia compares him to a yapping purse dog

not to mention, Lucios favorite flower is a white rose which is present on the rider-waite card and he also has this thing where he wants to be a hero, which is something the Fool represents (main characters/heroes)

also the devs stated Lucios favorite pokemon is Houndoom. how interesting, a dog with horns... surely that couldn't be symbolic 😉

also this interaction just in general

and like in my first playthrough of Lucios route I kinda just assumed "Lucio switched patron Arcana because the Apprentice used blood magic on him" when people referred to Lucio as The Fool at the end but that doesn't make sense in hindsight, I don't think it's that he switched at all it's just, that's always who he was

⭐️ evidence for the Apprentice being The Devil:

first of all, their power. the power to break chains, the power to break binds. it's said that this is a power unique to them, but why would they have the power to break the Devil's chains if they were not associated with The Devil? that card can mean "escaping entrapment" and the entrapment is sometimes represented by chains. it makes sense that, being The Devil's beneficiary, they would share his power. like Nadias intuition

also, The Devil almost STATES that you have a connection to him

also, this one's more silly but Natiqa says this.........

also, I don't have a screenshot but I remember the Devil might have said something during the ritual like "you're all in your proper seats... and MC, well, I suppose one Fool is as good as any other" <- implying that they are not a good fit and are only there because of their fools body

⭐️ evidence for the body of The Fool being Lucios

ok so Scout is The Fool yeah? that much is obvious I think. even in the concept art book, Scout is pictured next to that card. so then... how does the Apprentice have that body

Muriel says that the ritual was Asras idea

I believe that what happened was Asra wanted to use the ritual to force Lucio out of his body so he could revive the player with it

and I think that Lucio wasn't even murdered, he was just separated from his body, and that the ashes in the bed are not his remains. he did not "die" in bed, he "died" in the ritual room. why would there be ashes there? well, the courtiers are trying to frame Julian, of course they'd plant evidence. and Voltas footprints are in the ashes... it was all a set up

there's also that whole thing of Lucio calling the player a body stealing thief, and the fact that the player had to relearn to walk when they obtained this body but Lucio seems to function with it just fine. because it's his! he's used to it

-----------------

GOD I *know* I had so many more points to make but I think that's plenty. I'll add on in a rb if I think of any more but it's really hard to remember... I hope that makes sense enough because at this point this theory has seeped into the very bones of this game for me and I see evidence of all of this every time I play it. it's so fun to look for BSBFNDBDB and I really just have. a ridiculous amount of analysis based on this but that's for another time BDBFBDND does this make sense? God I hope it does

ALSO ALSO PS please understand this doesn't like, say anything about their morality or anything to me. this doesn't automatically mean "Lucio is good and the Apprentice is bad" I think they're both nuanced, just like the cards

[anderscim]

✦ another (even wilder) theory with bagel

similar to my teruko theory, this one also has a lot of room for rebuttal. to be honest, a lot of the evidence i have for this is quite flimsy (_ _;)

this theory is mainly about mai akasaki’s connection to the cast, and how it relates to the killing game in general.

take this with a grain of salt as always

//spoilers for up to chapter 2 part 1 of drdt

//additional spoilers for bonus content, such as the bonus episodes and the new “literature girl insane” MV

there shouldn’t be any tally5 spoilers if i’m not wrong ( ・∇・)

here’s one question i have for you all: how many members in the cast, right now, actually know mai akasaki?

it’s definitely implied in the bonus episodes and the quotes on her character page that she’s connected with everyone in the current cast, but there was a paradox i noticed—if it even is one, that is (-.-;)—that led me to think that this question…may actually be a lot more complicated than it seems.

let’s bring up the bonus episodes first. min’s bonus episode is definitely during their time at hope’s peak. they’re literally at the school, studying about it, discussing min’s “role” as an ultimate compared to the other students, etc. basically, many details point to min and “unnamed classmate” (who is presumably mai, based on the flowers in the dialogue box of the bonus episodes matching up with those on mai’s tattoo) being students of hope’s peak academy in the united states. though there’s no physical evidence or exact basis for this, i would personally like to think that xander’s bonus episode is placed during spring break at the academy. he is talking to his “classmate,” after all—and in that case, it would also chronologically line up with min’s (whose bonus episode takes place a week before spring break).

presumably, the other bonus episodes will follow a similar pattern, and we will see mai/UC talking to other members of the DRDT cast to get to know them more. i will assume this means that the whole cast, not just min and xander, have been to hope’s peak before—and attended class as students there. after all, it would be the only way the bonus episodes would make sense.

however, the dialogue from the first few episodes of the series suggests something else.

as implied from the dialogue, all of the students believe they are only entering the entrance ceremony of hope’s peak as freshmen, and had no previous affiliation with the school. including xander.

obviously, this means that at the very least, their memories have been tampered with to remove anything regarding their experience at hope’s peak academy.

— sorry, very quick side tangent (*'▽'*) going by this theory, if the drdt cast genuinely went to hope’s peak, it’s very likely that they had to do a bunch of paperwork and submit a lot of information for their enrollment—which probably includes medical information and any accommodations that were necessary for their well-being. additionally, if we assume that the cast attended hope’s peak for a year or a few years, it’s likely that whoever the mastermind is, they had the time to know the rest of their classmates well enough to be able to identify their preferences either way, this would actually be a pretty strong explanation as to why many components of their environment seem to be extremely fine-tuned to their preferences and necessities, despite no recollection of sharing that information with anyone involved in the killing game. though i bet this was already obvious, i felt like it was something i probably should bring up.

—

in that case, however—how would it affect their memories with mai?

as i can’t exactly speculate for the other students, i’m going to trace back to what i know. at the very least, it seems to be implied that min only met mai after being admitted into hope’s peak academy. min essentially drove her entire life around schoolwork, and studying for the “ultimate contest for eminent students,” the test that allowed min to receive her title—it’s likely that before then, she never surrounded herself with friends nor had any time for herself to explore her own hobbies. which probably means that she wasn’t acquainted with mai before enrolling into hope’s peak.

her backstory is really sad, by the way. i really wish she lived longer ( ´△｀)

as for when it comes to the other characters, i would like to remind you that hope’s peak scouts across the country for their students—so it’s more logical to assume that many of them resided in hometowns that were very far away from each other. so unless mai’s talent was the ultimate traveler or something, i think it would be very improbable for her to know everyone in the cast before their admittance into hope’s peak.

taking this into account, and assuming that the cast’s memories of hope’s peak were completely erased, there’s a possibility that the cast doesn’t remember mai akasaki, despite her connections with them. the only exception would be teruko, who clearly remembers mai—and seems to have been helped by her when enrolling into the academy in the first place, pointed out by this theory here by @laly-481.

…or at least, that’s what i thought at first—until someone decided to kick in the door while holding a new music video.

i guess in that case, the biggest question i should answer is this—why does david remember mai?

getting into very, very wild theory territory here. take what i’m about to say with a grain of salt assuming that the music video is really a reflection of david’s worldview and thought process, please ignore the fact that i’m acting like the antithesis of occam’s razor right now, then there’s no reason for mai akasaki to be featured in the video—much less have a photo of her placed in a wooden frame—if he didn’t remember her.

yet, there she is, on the right:

she even has a little description about how she was “someone dearly loved,” which fits perfectly with her character and the secret quotes on her profile page.

this is indicative of the fact that david remembers mai—and knows her well enough to even make an accurate statement about her. but, how?

obviously there’s the simpler explanation of “david knew mai before they went to hope’s peak,” which is of course a totally valid explanation—however, some details about the new music video made me consider a possible, different theory.

a grain of salt? more like, a mountain of salt from here on out

when i was watching the “literature girl insane” music video earlier, i noticed something interesting about this frame: 

here, xander doesn’t have his eyepatch. though i’m not throwing away the possibility that this was just a technical error on the artist’s side—personally, this could be a indication that david knew xander before the killing game. 

seeing as all of the cast are connected by the unnamed “classmate,” after all, it’s a likely possibility that the current participants of the killing game were originally in the same class at hope’s peak academy. which means, they all probably knew each other before this whole killing game went down. 

in an earlier theory, i talked about how xander may have been the person in the opening prologue cutscene, and how he probably had his eye injured at that time. given that the person speaking during that scene is aware of the killing game (and is expressing their desire to end it), this event likely happened right before the killing game started—otherwise, it would be pretty imprudent for the mastermind to announce it and then wait for an entire month to set up everything, then make everyone fall unconscious, then remove their memories, etc. 

what i’m trying to get here is that the cast, had they still retained their memories from hope’s peak, would definitely remember xander with both eyes. however, we know this to not be the case—from his introduction, we all see that xander had already lost his right eye from the beginning of the killing game. therefore, for david to remember xander from before he got his eye injury, he must’ve had at least some partial memory of hope’s peak—otherwise, it would be highly unlikely. this would give a possible explanation as to why the frame of xander without his eyepatch appears in the “literature girl insane” music video. and maybe give a possible explanation as to why david cared about xander despite only knowing him for ~three days. and defended him passionately during the first trial even after a lot of evidence pointed to him attacking teruko.

this also would explain why david remembers mai—assuming they were in the same class, since mai likely had incredibly close connections with the cast (including david), it’s more than likely that david cared about mai and possibly (vaguely) remembered her even after having his memories tampered with.

well, the “no-eyepatch” deduction completely hinges on the assumption that xander didn’t like, take off his eyepatch in front of david like he did with teruko, so i may be completely wrong about this. however, it is interesting that such a small detail was included in the mv.

so is this one:

i don’t know how it is for you guys, but that fork seems suspiciously similar to the fork in the prologue (which i theorized to be the item that caused the injury to xander’s right eye). additionally, the fork literally stabbing the “face” of the clock is… quite symbolic. it may be just me. i’m not sure. (-_-;) though, it could suggest that david remembers that scene—and perhaps knows about the “possible escape” of killing teruko? i highly doubt he was the one who wrote the note (rather i think that was xander himself), but it may account for that 2nd vote for teruko in the first trial.

my personal (unhinged) theory (with really no way to back it up) is that david may have retained partial memories of his experience at hope’s peak—but probably only a little, definitely not all of them. this may explain why he remembers mai and seems to recall xander before his eye injury (despite xander seemingly not remembering that they’ve met before)—but hasn’t called out the true mastermind nor seems to remember an escape yet. also, though his current behavior in the 2nd trial may imply that he’s trying to end the killing game early via wrong vote, i personally think he’s just breaking down and acting suicidal without that objective in mind, based on his actions.

little side note at the end: it would be absolutely amazing (and ironic) if the two people with the most distant character relationships with the rest of the cast (as of now) happened to remember the single person that had the closest relationships to all of them.

minor clarification/add-on: i just realized that i never said this, really sorry about that. m(_ _)m but basically, i don’t think david has any sort of clear memories regarding xander and mai at hope’s peak—rather, when i say “partial memories” i meant more along the lines of ���vague nostalgia you can’t quite place.” he might somewhat recognize their faces at most, but likely not any clear sequences of events. and honestly, what i wanted to talk about more in regards to this theory is more about the fact that only teruko (and maybe david) remember mai in the first place—the rest of the cast probably can’t, with the way their memories were wiped.

uh, this was quite the ride. i truly felt like the antithesis of occam’s razor as i was writing this

however—this theory likely has a lot of points that can be argued against, as well as many other possibilities i didn’t consider. please, don’t be afraid to drop them in your reblogs or comments, i would love to read them!

and as always, take this with a (larger than usual) grain of salt

[bereft-of-frogs]

ugh I think I have another #Theory, this time to the solve to the 'how to kill a Jedi without a weapon' riddle, I truly must be stopped --

I think people are off-base assuming it's with the Force, because I feel like Mae would have already figured out choking/lightning or whatever, I believe the Force counts as a 'weapon', and clearly the poison was a weapon (see: Qimir after 'so you did it, you killed the Jedi without the poison) so I do think it's metaphorical rather than semantic. I believe the theories that it's about corrupting a Jedi to the dark side and 'destroying the dream' are closer than any 'it's because she's meant to do it with the Force/her bare hands' or 'it's about killing an unarmed Jedi' (though that second one has potential, why else is she grabbing for the lightsabers but leaving them after they're dead?). But another solution could be destroying the Jedi's legacy.

I think they're going to frame Sol as the rogue Jedi who trained Mae.

I have like, so little textual evidence for this. This is probably as out of thin air as the 'Vernestra/Indara is the Sith' theories so maybe I who live in a glass house shouldn't be throwing stones about how much I dislike those theories after proposing this one. But I'm really thinking that only Sol is going to make it out of the forest battle alive next episode, aside from Osha and the Sith crew, and there's going to be some kind of chase that leads them away. So Vernestra shows up on Khofar (the lightwhip scene in the trailer is almost certainly Khofar) to find the bodies killed with a lightsaber and everyone else gone.

I think they go off and unpack whatever happened the night of the fire on Brendok, there's all kinds of confrontations/fights/reveals/etc in episodes 6 & 8 (episode 7 is definitely the Jedi POV of the flashback) and the season's going to end with at least Sol dead (maybe Mae too) and Osha turning to the dark side to become the true acolyte. It was already set up last episode that the Order doesn't suspect the Sith, they're pretty convinced it's a 'rogue Jedi' who trained Mae, and Sol did some kind of shady stuff during that meeting. (Not including himself on the list of targets, keeping Mae and her survival a secret.) Even I sort of started to suspect him, but I think that's a red herring, just to set up why Vernestra might end up distrusting him. So Vern's feeling kind of weird about the secrets Sol's kept about Mae (because it's more than just 'he thought she died', Yord said even the existence of Mae didn't end up in Osha's file), but she still trusts him and there are innocent explanations for all this she writes off, so she sends him off with a bunch of other Jedi to go get Kelnacca. But now the whole crew she sent out is dead, clearly killed with a lightsaber (they know Osha doesn't have a lightsaber, and reasonably suspect Mae doesn't either considering Indara was killed with a knife, Torbin poison, and she left their lightsabers behind), and Sol's gone...I think it's fairly reasonable suspicion especially if later Osha turns up as the acolyte.

(There were a couple early things that seemed to deliberately set her physically apart from Mae, the marking on Mae's forehead and her tattoo. Why would they do that if the Jedi believed the identical twin thing right away? Why would they need some proof of their identities unless there's a second role reversal and they need some other way of telling it's Osha and not Mae?)

So yeah in this Sol -- ray of literal sunshine, good Jedi, kind person -- gets his legacy destroyed (one apprentice dead, because I'm pretty convinced Jecki doesn't live out the season, though I'll be happy to be wrong -- the other turned to the dark side) and his reputation tarnished by accusations of being a rogue Jedi training dark side assassins. There you go, you've killed a Jedi without a weapon.

And I feel like this would fit the kind of meta narrative they've got going on, as sort of a mirror of what happened to the Order as a whole at the end of the PT, heroes transformed into traitors.

I have no additional evidence for this. My theories are not spiraling at all. I love weekly releases and am being very very normal about having to wait between episodes. :) so normal *vibrates intensely*

[beesmygod]

BLOODBORNE LORE Q+A PART 1: SETTING

*BLOCK "long post/" or "bloodborne" to banish these from your dash!!

my friend shawn has finished his run of bloodborne recently which i was SOOOO excited for and throughout the process he indulged whatever is wrong with me by asking me lore questions. he has now finished his quest and i can answer all his remaining questions in this post, which is also peppered with his commentary on his experience (good, funny). as always i write these posts to try to be entertaining to ppl familiar with bloodborne and ppl who are fandom rubberneckers. i understand you. i long to cater to you as one of you. come with me on this bloodborne adventure...[holds out a hand covered in some kind of weird grey shit]

he has many good questions and i have too many words so this must be broken up into so, so many posts. even then these are going to be so long and make me look totally insane. dont like it? keep scrolling bitch im reloading my flintlock pistol. your ass is grass in 1-3 minutes.

ALL OF THIS IS MY PERSONAL INTERPRETATION AND NOT!!! FACT!!!! I ENCOURAGE YOU TO COME UP WITH YOUR OWN READING OF THE TEXT BASED ON YOUR OWN EVIDENCE AND WHATNOT

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THE HUNTER ASKS:

[sooooo smartly] i dont know.

the moon in bloodborne is one of the weirdest seemingly deliberate inconsistencies throughout the game. it has a bunch of bizarre qualities including the fact that it's a physical object that gets loaded in and its not part of a skybox that just gets switched during cutscenes. despite the inherent terror of the blood moon taking up so much space in our collective brains, it only appears in yharnam, the cathedral ward and yahar'gul. ive seen a lot of theories about why cainhurst or byrgenwerth have regular moons, but i think the more likely answer is that the blood moon is only affecting yharnam. these are also the only places where the tentacled amygdalas or, as they're known internally, "false gods" can be found.

these things

THE HUNTER ASKS:

eileen knows too! she knows about dreaming ("No more dreams for me. This is my last chance.") AND the doll. ("You still have dreams? Tell the little doll I said hello"). both were kicked out of the dream because they no longer hunt beasts, thus breaking their contracts. djura protects them and eileen hunts hunters.

at the start of the game you "sign a contract" with the blood minister and get a yummy yharnam blood infusion that gives you access to the dream. presumably, all hunters do or did this to join the hunt and the doll's dialog ("Over time, countless hunters have visited this dream.") reveals that the hunter's dream was once host to many hunters. they likely all dreamed before going mad.

THE HUNTER ASKS:

yeah check this out: if you line your brain with eyes, you have insight. get it. eh? ehhhh??

the witch of hemwick is PROBABLY not wearing eyeballs...fresh ones at least. pebbles are calcified eyes that have hardened due to whatever force causes blood to calcify in bloodborne world (leading to blood shards, blood gems, etc). VERY RARELY will they drop an actual eye, which the item description reveals was taken "quickly" before death or immediately after.

eyes are used exclusively to access the hintertomb chalice, which is of interest to the church because it appears to be where they get their church slaves from (more on this later). BUT the women of hemwick do more than eyeballs. they create bone marrow ash by burning corpses and. hmm. well.

you're right. there's no beasts here. there's no beasts where there's incense in the game, like the parts of the labyrinth that the church has explored (evidenced by the architecture and censures that resemble those in the cathedral ward) or entrances to upper cathedral ward/forbidden woods. a few characters mention that they're running out of it or that it's masking scents. its the reason why the suspicious beggar has to stand outside oedon chapel lol. he cant deal with the stinky anti-wolf smoke

you know where else there's no beasts? yahar'gul. and the only incense is found in the cells where they keep their meat for experiments. but there is an unexplained burning corpse or two in the middle of town.

if you break incense pots, they're full of bones. O_O oh shit i just noticed something lol: eileen's mask says "The beak contains incense to mask scents of blood and beast." YUCK!

the witches are not really educated and do not seem to partake in blood ministration as they are missing any bestial traits. it seems like they are "for hire" and work for both byrgenwerth and the healing church supplying parts from the graves they "maintain".

THE HUNTER ASKS:

it seems like they did once at some point in history and had to give up due to a combination of no more room to bury people and something going wrong with the corpses of yharnamites (more later!).

we know a little bit about yharnam funeral customs by way of eileen's crowfeather set which states that yharnam's treatment of burying the dead is considered a taboo and shameful act by outside cultures which leave their dead to "sky burials", a type of funeral ritual where the corpse is left for birds (like the fat ass crows in this game) to pick clean. those birds are eating so good lately.

perhaps the reason why underground burial is considered distasteful is due to the fact that the great ones were once buried underground by the pthumerians. the graves in the forbidden woods (including the forbidden grave) are, according to the art book, tombstones for great ones.

here are some ways we know yharnamites deal with corpses:

cremate them for profit

bury them

exhuming them for profit

just leave 'em there

lock them in caskets and run before they come back

experiment on them

chuck them in a hole and forget about 'em

fake iosefka does the last one. someone (her?) exhumed a grave near her clinic that was absolutely packed with corpses and they dug deep enough to find an entrance to the hintertomb. the player must enter the hintertomb through a chalice ritual, but this locations is either THE or one of the ways that the hintertomb was discovered.

the hintertomb is described as an auxiliary wing of the pthumerian labyrinth filled with "unceremonious" tombs. hemwick witches can be found here, likely looking for some fresh product to move. its where various people and organizations dump their trash. you can find piles of dead pigs, fake iosefka's failed experiments, some church giants left to die (presumably, they did not originate from there as they are already belled), and some other crap.

how do we know this is the entrance to the hintertomb? first, there's the amount of tomb mold blooming here. it explicitly grows only in the old labyrinth

second, they both share an environmental hazard unique only to them (and the nightmare frontier, whatever. IN THE REAL WORLD): POISON SWAMPS as a consequence of the decaying great one corpses.

i forgot the question. i think my point was that there are now so many bodies they're running out of things to do with them and its starting to be a problem. they are both taking things out of the labyrinth and throwing things in. yharnamites have a general disrespect for cultures and customs and it's really biting them in the ass

oh wait i remember. i was tying this back into the part about where the church gets their slaves from. all the church attendants and giants are pthumerians. the primary difference between them and their labyrinth counterparts are the lack of open slack jaw. and the fact the church pthumerians drop blue elixir.

Dubious liquid medicine used in strange experiments conducted by high ministers of the Healing Church. A type of anesthetic that numbs the brain.

---

the next part will also be...MORE ABOUT THE SETTING. until next time (later today)

[iatrophilosophos]

Hey, do you have any info or tips on diy medicine? I've always been interested but haven't found much success

Medicine is just problem solving. IME it's important to take nothing for granted and get as granular as possible with what you're trying to achieve, because that opens more doors.

Re: that point, diy med is being a medical researcher. Very rarely is work done for you, so there's a lot of fucking around and finding out--how much risk you chose to take is up to you in experimenting; but I'm pretty gung ho and I can still count on one hand the number of times I've tried something that carried more risk than over-the-counter acetaminophen.

Read voraciously--coming from someone who can only get thru about three books a year. It's fucking hard but it is so beyond worth it to work at it, however much you can. Read until you know enough to have questions and then read to find the answer to those questions and/or figure out how to determine an answer for yourself.

Bad sources can be just as educational as good ones--western medicine has a bunch of fuckshit in it and having strong, grounded analysis of why you think an approach, treatment, whatever is bullshit will help you in finding something better.

Anecdotal evidence is useful as FUCK. Western medical practice is regulated formally and informally by legal anxiety and profit motives (ergo an unwillingness to produce anything under a certain statistical bar of effectiveness) but for a LOT of anecdotal home remedies and experimental treatments, risk factors are p minimal and if you feel comfortable trying it based on a realistic risk assessment...you can just try it, lol.

I really want to stress that diy med doesn't just have to be about trying to get a sub-par approximation of western med. Sometimes what we can do for ourselves is limited or less effective, sure--but we are also capable of doing better. There's pros and cons, right, but autonomous medicine gives the opportunity to try something that a doctor never would--sometimes because of risk, but more usually it's about legal anxiety and state restrictions. I remember hearing someone I knew who worked in drug development talk about how stupid it was that their team was having to reinvent the wheel instead of using THC in a drug; even though there exists documentation that THC has the property they were after, their program got federal funding so no marijuana.

Personally my entry point was herbalism and it's not a bad route to go. It can do a LOT, it's very accessible, and unlike a lot of medicine it's less gatekept & there's a significant population of writers creating resources specifically for laypeople with a focus on autonomy and self practice; plus rad community spaces exist and ofc like any scene they're full of bullshit (transmisogyny and gender essentialism in lefty alt health is a huge current, unfortunately), but they can be a good place to like. Network until you actually find the other ppl on the fringes of the scene who you might actually click with. An herbal background also gives you a LOT of directional freedom--lots of sources will combine western medical information on top of traditional and anecdotal practices, which cumulates in a lot of lenses you can apply to try to solve a problem; plus a lot of drugs are or can be plant-derived and having a skillset to identify/grow, harvest and process plants is really useful even if western medicine is the primary lens you want to use (tbh ur basic herbal preparations are often the first step in more exact drug isolation procedures). It's also just essential imo to have more than a western medical perspective--take time to read less immediately practical texts about medical history, other medical systems, and other conceptualizations of illness and the human body. One of my hotter takes? Miasma theory is still relevant and useful. There's a lot of fuckshit everywhere, both within and outside of western medicine--treat no source as authoritative and every claim as a thought experiment! But seriously, take the time to see what's out there. Accumulate as much raw information as possible to build your toolkit.

Some herbal resources I like for beginners (all books on LibGen.is)

Rjwhelan.co.nz -- aoteroa based medical herbalist who presents a really wide range of info from historical/traditional to western scientific. He's got some interesting (read: bad) takes but is a solid writer and information aggregator.

The herbal medicine makers handbook by James green -- good intro to herbal preparation with a range of procedures from simple folk methods to more measurement and chemistry heavy. Also got some weird opinions. That's just kinda how it be.

Wild remedies by rosalee de foret and Emily han -- cute basic introduction to herbalism

The psychopharmacology of herbal medicines by Marcello spinella -- says it right on the tin. useful reference.

The Earthwise herbal (vol 1 and vol 2) by Matthew wood -- listen. I fucking hate this man. I kind of hate these books (organized alphabetically by latin name...come the fuck on) BUT. It is still a pretty ok reference book with a similar approach to Richard Whelan's work and it has herbs that I've had trouble finding in other texts.

On working with others and sharing information: it's important to not play doctor. I strongly encourage folks to help out other people, but in an assistive capscity--not a prescriptive one. Share your sources, explain your opinions! The goal is to offer as much information as possible for someone else to make their own decisions. If you're in the US, this is a pretty good rundown of the legal positionality of herbalists (/health consultants generally) but I strongly advocate for going further than the law in this case on ideological autonomy-focused grounds.

Finally: medicine is not a solitary undertaking. Having a group of friends or even just acquaintances with different needs, priorities and viewpoints will get you much further in a few months than you could on your own in years. And it's slow going at first. It really is. You'll fuck up, you'll go around believing something for years to suddenly realize it's bullshit, you will grow and change. But you'll get there.

[nikethestatue]

this fandom might actually be the worst one I’ve seen!! I flip through a bunch of diff ship accounts bc listen, ship whoever you want, personally I am partial to elucien but I can admit there’s a lot of evidence for other ships as well. I like seeing all art for ALL the ships!! But then today I see a post about how we need Gwyn’s book because she is a victim of SA and it would be great to read a book about her healing journey.

Idk maybe it’s just me but I get annoyed when someone is always reduced down to their SA so I pointed out that Rhys & Lucien also had SA trauma and there has been no healing journey for them?? How are we going to fill an entire book for Gwyn?? Like, Sarah doesn’t seem to delve too much into healing journeys from SA (in ACOTAR at least 🤷🏻‍♀️ idk about other series) and tends to use it as a plot point to create a traumatic background character. It’s something that greatly annoys me tbh

And then I got yelled at?? And told to read the books again?? Like yes, I am a new reader, and yes it was a Gwyn Stan account (didn’t know that at the time, I literally just replied for the first time from a post I saw on my for you feed) - but nothing I said was anti-Gwyn (how could it be- she’s one of my favs too???) ?? I vaguely know there’s whatever ship war going on but I didn’t even comment on a ship post and I didn’t mention any other names/ships so I was genuinely confused about why I got yelled at on a post that only mentioned Gwyn.

All I said was I doubt Sarah is going to write an entire book about Gwyn’s healing journey ? It wasn’t even ship related so why did I get so much hate?? no wonder this fandom is filled with such toxicity, nobody new is allowed to join even casually unless they earn their masters degree of 16000 pages of analysis (apparently reading the books isnt enough?) and so it’s just filled with the same bitter people since whenever these books came out

Maybe bc I acknowledged I didn’t see her as a main character - because she’s not? She’s very much a side character but who cares? She’s still a favorite of mine? Two things can be possible at once, people!!!

Anyways, tldr I got a slap on the wrist and told I don’t know SJM if I think Gwyn is a side character and I’m just like ok I didn’t say she couldn’t be one later but based on the one book she is in… she is a side character?

I hate this mf fandom I should’ve stayed out of it. What did I even do?? I even apologized if anything I said about Rhys or Lucien was untrue?? And now I’m just annoyed because I should still be able to debate theories about my favorite books with people even if I don’t spend 24/7 reading PowerPoints on ship wars??

They got mad because you were right. That's it.

SJM doesn't write post-SA healing journeys. Again, you were right.

We've had male and female characters who were SAed, in TOG, Lysandra and Fenrys come to mind, in ACOTAR it's Rhys and Lucien and Gwyn, in CC it was Lidia (similar situation as Rhys/Lucien).

These aren't books for deep exploration of post-SA healing. I am sorry. This is an incredibly tough subject, without a singular answer. SO anything she'd do, wouldn't be taken well. Some will say 'too quick!' others will say 'not quick enough!' and everyone will have an opinion. The only reason Nesta got an extended healing (and not from SA) was because SJM used the same methods she used for her own issues. Working out, meditation, being with friends, balancing the physical and the mental, relying on her SO. Beyond that, all of SJMs 'healing' is training and being in love. Or nothing at all.

Gwynriels cant accept the fact that Gwyn is a secondary character. She is not more important than Emerie, or Mor, or anyone else, who's had terrible trauma. Her main was Nesta. Nesta's healed and Gwyn is secondary to Nesta. Gwyn's healing journey is over. She because stronger mentally and physically, she trained, she reached and conquered her 'mountain'. and that is all she needed to do.

They dont want to understand and accept that no one is interested in an 800 page of Gwyn's post-SA healing journey. Even they aren't. That's the truth. They want her with Azriel. Getting it on, having sex, being mated. They don't want to read any 'healing journey'. They want her going on missions, swinging her sword, being a badass, being with Azriel, having Gwynriel sex and having a normal fantasy heroine book. it's all performative. They just want Gwynriel. Is all.

[dottoreparadox]

Theory: How did Dottore make his Segments?

To start off this blog, let's get right into one of my favorite living Harbingers.

That's right, it’s essay time, baby. Let’s fathom out how Dottore made his segments.

(Tl;dr included at the end if you only care about the conclusion and not how I reached it and what evidence I have for it because this shit gets looong. Over 3k words long, in fact.)

What we know about Dottore’s segments:

They were created by Dottore. Yes, that seems like a very obvious statement to make, but I do need to establish that these are not things he found but rather an invention of his own making. We’ll get into it later.

We have seen them referred to with the terms “segments” and “prostheses” in canon (also as “surplus” but that’s just Dottore being Dottore). A segment is defined as: “each of the parts into which something is or may be divided” while a prosthesis is: “an artificial body part, such as a leg, a heart, or a breast implant.”

I would like to make a note here that they are not referred to as “clones” despite the widespread usage of this term in reference to them by the fandom. I’ve certainly done it myself. It's important to note that they are not clones. Clones would imply that these are genetic copies of the original and/or organic in nature. This is not the case (I’ll get into the not organic argument in a bit). If they were mere clones, they would be their own person. Instead, these are “the eyes” that Dottore “placed in the dimension of time.”

They ARE Dottore. Not copies of him. Think of them more like time travelers in some kind of stable paradox rather than clones.

Also, they likely share a mind space in some capacity or other based on the overlapping dialogue we saw when Dottore erased his segments and the implications held in this statement:

“What did you see when you were imprisoned [by the Akasha]? You were observing me, and that's how you know I've long grown tired of their doubts and endless arguments. ”

The Omega build was able to speak to and listen to the other segments while he was in Sumeru and they were not present (having just sent the one segment that was helping him back to Snezhnaya).

(I would like to take a second here to clarify that while the many segments may have shared a mindscape of some sort, they were not a hivemind as we’ve previously seen in Genshin. A hivemind, as we saw it in Alhaitham’s story quest and as it is often used in science-fiction, is when multiple individuals all share a single “mind.” The segments all had their own minds. They could not have all been constantly arguing with each other if that was not the case. (Remember how the hivemind made by Siraj fell apart.) So they shared a mindscape where all their minds could touch, while keeping their own mental boundaries.)

Anyways, the shared mindscape is another important bit of evidence in proving they are not mere clones and are instead multiple versions of the same person. (Well... maybe. It could also be taken as evidence that they're all robots running using a single, remote central processor; but I don't have any evidence for this besides the likely shared mindscape; so I won't be exploring that theory further.)

Okay, now that I’ve quibbled excessively over the terminology around Dottore and his segments and brought up a bunch of interesting but kind of irrelevant points, let’s get into the actual purpose of this analysis and theory: how did Dottore make his segments?

The only direct statement we have to go on for answering this question is this line of dialogue:

“Segments are extraordinarily difficult to make. They require extremely rare resources and enormous amounts of time and effort.”

The time and effort seem like they go without saying for any kind of creation at the level of complexity as an entire functioning human being. So we won’t be going into a deep analysis of this part. Instead, let’s focus in on these “rare resources” and what they might be.

To start off, we need to establish what kind of work Dottore does. After all, if his specialty was in organic life, he would likely have made clones rather than what the segments are.

Let’s start with the one hundred percent confirmed work he has done rather than the speculated accomplishments. We have definitely seen Dottore work with:

Ruin Machines (the ruin guard factory we visited in Childe’s story quest, Zandik's legacy note series if that does end up being him)

God remains (Dottore invented Delusions and, at least in Inazuma, the Delusions were made using the Tatarigami energy left behind after Orobashi was killed. He also released the Tatarigami energy in the first place during the Tatarasuna incident. In the manga, he used god remains to suppress Collei’s Eleazar.)

Robots (Krupp in the manga, Scaramouche’s mecha body in game)

The Akasha (I’m not entirely sure how to define this one. God power? Cognition? Software? Maybe all of the above. But he could use it so well that he could edit people’s minds and trap Nahida’s consciousness in the Sanctuary of Suresthana, so let's put it on the list)

Human enhancement (based on the wise doctor’s pinion from the pale flame artifact set and just about every soldier we’ve seen from Snezhnaya. I’ve seen lots of comments along the lines of: “what are they putting in the water over in Snezhnaya to make everyone giant?” Yeah, the answer is Dottore. He’s doing weird shit to people again.)

Human cognition (this one kind of falls under the enhancement section above, but I felt his work with things like manipulating minds and dreams was its own category, see the second event in the Apple Island Archipelago. I can't remember if it was directly stated that Dottore made that machine... but it almost definitely was him.)

And more! (I’m sure we’ll learn about new and more exciting atrocities he’s committed as the game continues. Also I probably forgot something, oops.)

Out of all of that, the best basis for building a body would be his interest in machinery. This assumption is backed up by what we are told in the Pale Flame artifact set:

“"A human is nothing more than a machine of a certain level of complexity." Thus declared the youth from his lectern in the seedbed of wisdom. If one were to disassemble a part of this machine and make enhancements to it, Its performance could be greatly amplified. With or without a Vision, and irrespective of their physique or combat skills, "Enhanced humans" would surely display strength far beyond the average.”

Now, if we also pull on some evidence that is most likely to have been done by Dottore (even if it hasn’t been confirmed that it was him), then we can put stronger emphasis on his interest in Ruin Machines. Dottore is almost definitely Zandik from the Zandik's Legacy series of notes. Zandik was fascinated by the Khaenri’ahn machinery to the point that he was reprimanded for his interest in such dangerous technology. He was ultimately denied permission to bring parts of the Ruin Golems (or other Khaenri'ahn machinery, it's unclear) back to the Akademiya and instead had to help seal them up. (His interest could explain the Fatui’s later knowledge on how to reactivate a Ruin Golem that we used in the Tanit quests. Just a bit of further evidence on Dottore being Zandik.)

Pulling from Zandik’s Legacy again, we know that he wasn’t a member of the Amurta darshan, so I think it is fair to say that his interest here lies in machinery rather than human biology/anatomy. (Though, honestly, the darshans are so weirdly laid out that who even knows where any one topic of study will show up.) I’m not going to speculate here on which Darshan Dottore might have been in (that’s a future post I'm considering making) because I don’t think it matters due to the fact that we’ve seen three (or maybe four depending on how you count it) separate Darshans work with machinery.

Even if we ignore Zandik’s Legacy, we know that Dottore has definitely studied Khaenri’ahn machinery from Childe’s story quest where we visited his old Ruin Guard research lab.

I wish we had a better answer to exactly what he was doing there (was he just studying them? Was he making his own Ruin Guards?), but it is fair to say that he has likely formed a comprehensive picture of Ruin Guards due to the fact that he abandoned the research lab later on. He doesn’t seem like the type to leave a question unanswered, so he most likely figured out whatever interested him about Ruin Guards.

So if he understands how Ruin Machines work, he is capable of repairing broken ones using pieces from other machines (as mentioned in Zandik’s legacy notes),

"...It should be possible to repair this titanic machine's primary weapons system using components salvaged from abandoned mechanisms, but to avoid attracting the attention of the other team members, I have simply made some basic measurements for now."

and is capable of making human machines (Krupp in the manga);

then I think it is very likely that the prosthetic bodies created for his segments were made using Khaenri’ahn technology (or at least took inspiration from them because he found them so ingenious).

This actually might explain why his segments are so human. Ruin Machines specialize in biomimesis. Every single Ruin Machine we have seen so far (except the Perpetual Mechanical Array, but that’s based on the Algorithm of Semi-Intransient Matrix of Overseer Network (never make me write that out ever again, oh my god), so it’s still mimesis even if it’s not biologically based), has mimicked biological life forms including humans.

So the idea of using Khaenri’ahn technology to create a realistic human is not far-fetched. It would need some sort of skin to complete the mimicry, but that honestly seems much easier to create than the entire functioning robot (but I’m no robotics expert. I could be wrong about that) plus we’ve already seen evidence that Snezhnaya has that kind of capability. Just look at Katheryne. She’s some kind of robot but appears fully human. She might have even been a prototype for the segments. (Though she could equally be a creation of Sandrone's. We don't know enough yet to say. It's equally possible she is a collaboration between the two of them or that they both based their humanoid robots on Khaenri'ahn tech. If my theory about Sandrone's identity turns out to be right, this is actually highly likely.)

(A very human looking and acting robot, Katheryne is.)

Using scavenged Khaenri’ahn technology to build the body would also explain the rarity of the parts needed to build a segment better than the segments being made using purely Snezhnayan technology.

Just building any old robot would be easy for Snezhnaya. Based on passing mentions of their nation having things like trains, they are most likely in the midst of some kind of industrial revolution, so we know they can create intricate metal work with complex moving pieces and engines (also like, Katheryne, again). Plus we’ve seen the mass produced clockwork mecha from Fontaine. It’s not unreasonable to assume that, since Snezhnaya seems like it’s more advanced than Fontaine (compare Fatui elemental guns to the Fontaine muskets), they could produce something similar.

Pristine Khaenri’ahn technology, on the other hand, is a rare find and disabling machines that still work in order to get their parts would result in damage, possibly to the very pieces that Dottore would need. Likely, it takes a great number of Ruin Machines to build a single segment and on top of that they might require specific, potentially rare pieces (such as the Eye of the First Field Tiller that we found with Dainsleif, but that's just an example of a rare piece, not something I think Dottore actually needs to build segments) rather than the run-of-the-mill mass produced legions’ pieces. This is speculation though. We really have no idea about the full intricacies of Ruin Machines.

Now, I hope that was convincing enough on it’s own to establish that Dottore most likely used Khaenri’ahn technology or Khaenri’ahn inspired technology to build the bodies of his segments.

Because my closing argument is the model of what is under his mask and that is understandably not a reliable resource as it hasn't been seen in game.

I know the color scheme is off, but it does remind me of a Ruin Guard's eye. And I don't think anyone can deny that it's very mechanical, even if it doesn't look Khaenri'ahn per se. Before you dismiss this evidence entirely, may I remind you of the monster version of Dottore from the storybook.

Beyond the immediate similarities in the images, I would like to direct your attention to the single eye the monster has and the fact that it was wearing a suit to hide its true body. These are weird details to use if they just wanted to establish that he was a monster. The foxes were happy to accept a cat as a fox. Dottore didn’t have to have a fursona. And if he did, he didn’t have to be a strange, bird-like cyclopes. He could have just been a bird.

(Honestly, I just found myself caught on the detail of the single eye and was sort of confused by the decision until I saw that data mine/leak/whatever it is. I thought it was pretty cool attention to detail, even if they weren’t details we knew about yet. And don’t come at me saying Genshin doesn’t pay that kind of attention to detail. They absolutely do. I remember how Venti's Vision didn't glow in the Unreconciled Stars event because it isn't a real Vision.)

I wrote all of that and then reread Scara's 4th char story and it straight up says he got the segment's bodies from studying Scara, who in turn was based on Khaenri'ahn tech. So I guess I'm right, but not for the reasons I thought. OTL.

So if that’s the body of a segment accounted for, what about the aspect of time?

I’ll admit, his work with god remains threw me for a bit of a loop at first. My initial, tentative speculation was that he had somehow found remains of Istaroth, the god of time, and used them to get his different perspectives of time. This mostly came from the fact that Istaroth was the name of the god of moments in Greek mythology and that fit the idea of the segments very well. However, I am pretty sure this is not the case.

For one: we don’t even have definitive proof that Istaroth is dead. Well… maybe. Neuvillette’s story about Visions included this little gem: “all fragments of the primordial were driven to devour each other,” which might be a reference to the four shades, of which Istaroth was one. In that case, Istaroth would be dead, but the state of their remains, pardon my channeling of Cyno for a moment, remains a mystery.

(Get it? Remains? Cause they're remains that remain? I’ll stop now.)

Anyways, we don’t know exactly what “devour each other” might entail, so we can’t say for certain that Istaroth is dead. They might exist in a different form now instead.

For two: we have another, much more reliable, accessible, and established place where Dottore could have gotten different versions of himself from time: Irminsul. It is well established in canon that Irminsul contains the entirety of a person’s memory/data in Teyvat, and we also know that it is possible to visit Irminsul and access the data stored in it.

So the next question becomes: what proof do we have that Dottore used Irminsul? We’re going to go on a little side track about Irminsul really quick to answer this question.

Remember what Nahida said about Irminsul?

"Irminsul's inner region consists exclusively of torrents of information."

This inner region in question was noticeably blue. And as the quote above, plus other comments and observations made during our foray with Scaramouche into Irminsul suggest, all of the data stored in Irminsul takes on that same glowing, blue color.

This quest is not the first time we have seen the color blue in reference to memories obtained from Irminsul. Remember: all ley lines are roots of Irminsul. What blue phenomena do we see in relation to ley lines? Blossoms of Revelation.

They are described in the adventurer’s handbook as follows:

“A flower blossom known as "Revelation" which grows from the Ley Lines in response to someone's desire for battle. Perhaps the treasures within it can help one recall the perils that they have experienced once before… ”

Computer: zoom, enhance.

“Recall.” Blossoms of Revelation tap into the memories stored in the ley lines. We also know that ley line disorders can disgorge past memories from various quests and events. (Such as during the Caribert quest where we literally experienced our twin’s memories after the Abyss Order messed with the ley lines in the area. There were several others in Inazuma from what I remember but I don’t feel like looking up their names rn. It’s like 2:30 in the morning idgf. This is well established fact. Google it yourself.)

Also, it gives you experience books. Experiences are relived via memories. I really don’t think I need to go further into proving what’s up with the Blossoms of Revelation.

Now what does establishing that blue has to do with memories in Irminsul have to do with Dottore? Let’s take another look at Dottore. In fact, let’s look at every segment of Dottore we have seen so far. The versions from the manga and the game are pretty wildly different.

So what’s the one common point? That’s right. Their blue hair! He can have multiple versions of himself because he has blue hair!!!!

I’m kidding. I mean, that is a common point, but the actual important detail here is that earring.

The earring has held my attention for quite a while because it’s such a strange detail. Why does he have a weird glowing blue vial as an earring? Is it just to show that he loves science? I mean, maybe. We can’t rule that out. But I think it might be something more important. It is the one thing that was not changed between cow-mask Dottore and yassified Dottore. And it’s the same shade of glowing blue as Blossoms of Revelation and Irminsul's heart (and fruits and sapling fragments/information packets and-- I think you get the point).

So my theory is this: the earring contains some form of past data extracted from Irminsul. This is the “save file” that the segment is operating from. Or at least part of it. I’m not convinced Dottore put his entire “brain” into an easy target like that. If we look at the segments we saw in Sumeru, we see some other parts of his outfit with that same blue glow. So it’s more likely that this is simply some overflow or a backup or some other function I haven’t thought of. Or maybe he’s just bragging and it really is his memory drive sitting around as an easy target because he doesn’t think anyone is smart enough to realize what it really is. Fuck if I know.

I think it's also worth pointing out that Scaramouche seemed familiar with navigating the inside of Irminsul. Presumably, this means he's been there before on at least one occasion. (anyone remember if this is directly stated in the quest?) This would imply that the Fatui have had business with Irminsul before. So either they're editing time for their own reasons or Dottore made Scaramouche go fetch these copies of him for him.

And before you say that Scaramouche deleting himself from time means that Dottore couldn't make the segments without him, remember that fate is fate and always happens no matter which form it takes. If Scaramouche couldn't get the data for him, then it would happen in another way. The same applies for him getting the Segment's bodies from studying Scaramouche. (Also, I feel like if Dottore knows about Irminsul's ability to edit memories, he probably would have come up with a way to get around it? That seems very much in his wheelhouse. So we can't be sure that he doesn't remember Scaramouche. I have my own theories about the scope of Irminsul and how you might be able to dodge its edits by being in, say, the Abyss or another place outside Teyvat proper. So if Dottore stuck a segment in one of those places... But that's speculating. And wouldn't apply to the Scaramouche deletion anyways as he'd just erased them all.)

To sum it up: I think the Doctor is getting his past versions of himself by extracting copies of his own data from Irminsul somehow. Perhaps he has a way to make Irminsul give him fruits containing his own data from certain points in time. I have no idea how he's doing it. (If someone else has any ideas of how, please let me know.)

Now, before anyone comes at me all: "um actually we also see blue energy like that from Desheret's civilization, explain that." You're right. We do.

Primenergy (name stolen from Alain Guillotine) is indeed another possibility for what the blue light is. If it's Primenergy rather than Irminsul juice, then it's probably the power source that Dottore has decided to use to power the segments instead of azocite. Which I guess makes the earrings something like a backup battery? And leaves us with no clues as to how he's playing around with time. (Still probably Irminsul as it's the only thing we've seen such capability from.) But there you go. Possibility explored. The Segments could be a mix of Khaenri'ahn and Desheret's technology. It's as likely as any of my other ideas. Hell, it might even make more sense than it being condensed Irminsul juice.

I don’t know that we’ll ever actually get an answer to how Dottore built his segments as we don’t know if he’s going to build more or not. And even if he does, we don’t know that the game will go into how he’s done it. It’s not super relevant to the plot. This was just me satisfying my own curiosity and figuring some other people might have had the same question as me.

Tl;dr: Dottore built the bodies of his segments using Khaenri’ahn technology and put his mind in it using saved copies of himself from Irminsul, which are possibly stored in the glowing blue earrings he wears.

So there we have my theory on how Dottore built his segments. Please, feel free to give me your thoughts and possible refutations/further evidence (comments, reblogs, asks, in the tags, however you feel comfortable talking with me is fine). I would love to know what the rest of you think.

As for future areas I’d like to get some answers on, please hoyo, explain what the fuck he was talking about when he said “A long time ago, I made a major decision in hopes of preserving all my perspectives of how I observed the world.” What the fuck was the major decision? It can’t just be making segments. Does this imply that he had to do something to himself to become capable of making segments at all? Did it have to do with accessing his past records in Irminsul? Did he turn his original body into the first segment? Like, probably that last one, as he should be somewhere between five hundred to four hundred years old, but I demand answers!

(Actually, on that topic, I would really like an answer to whether or not there is a "prime" Dottore, as the fandom likes calling him. We don't actually have any clue what's up with his original body. We just know that all the segments except the Omega segment got deleted. So is Omega the last Dottore or is there still an "original" around as well? Or is Omega original Dottore and all the others are earlier versions of him as he never grew past that age?)

[antitheticaldreamgirl-13]

tw: I’m horrible at trigger warnings and am not good at wording them, but just know that I discuss a lot of really frustrating and harmful points made by Hetlors and horrible insults directed at Gaylors. Take care of yourselves.

Alright folks the time has arrived to cry and sob and scream about Hetlors, specifically the Swiftologist. His reaction video to the NYT article: https://youtu.be/9Pd9KWKKxfE?si=ByMrJSbyNJOD1T3t

I’m going to go through each of his points and point out the flaws of such points.

*gets out notes*

Okay, so. The first thing he does is call Gaylors conspiracy theorists. Anything Gaylor-related is a conspiracy theory, in his view. Not only that, it’s a conspiracy theory comparable to QAnon and other far-right conspiracy theories, a conspiracy theory with “no merit or factual basis,” a conspiracy theory that is “delusional” and “meth math.” Gaylor theories are “based on misinformation and false beliefs,” according to him.

Whew. This is a very strong reaction. First of all, comparing Gaylor to QAnon is so ridiculous. I mean. Come on. Really? Second, we know that Gaylor theories do have evidence. There is so much, even just within that article. I reblogged just before this a list of all the evidence made in the article. Also, what is the “misinformation” that he mentions? Gaylors just point out the evidence that we have and let people draw their own conclusions. We aren’t misrepresenting anything (most of us, anyway).

Alright let’s continue. Swiftologist then argues that Gaylors have a distrust of the narrative Taylor has created and the “many times she has stated she is not part of the community.” Gaylors apparently do not respect Taylor or her songs and aren’t really Swifties at all—just people who are trying to prove that she is gay.

Okay I really want to know this….WHAT ARE THE MANY TIMES SHE HAS SAID THAT SHE IS NOT PART OF COMMUNITY?! SHOW THEM TO ME! She said that once. *Once*. And that still doesn’t mean she is saying that she is straight. Furthermore, we do trust Taylor. If she says she’s straight, we’ll believe it. I mean we’re the ones looking at all the tiny details of her songs. We’re the ones drawing the connections. Hetlors doesn’t do that, and yet Gaylors are the ones who don’t trust Taylor’s narrative? Like??? What kind of argument is that?

Then he says that Gaylors are trying to out Taylor.

But we aren’t. We really aren’t. We’re just looking at what TAYLOR HERSELF has said and done and connecting the dots. We’re not trying to spy on her personal life or anything like that…we’re literally just looking at her OWN lyrics that SHE put created, knowing what the reaction would be. It’s just. This argument from Hetlors makes me laugh every time.

Okay so THEN he lists a bunch of crazy stuff Gaylors have done. I don’t want to get into them because I agree with the Swiftologist that they were crazy. But, at the same time, it’s not like you can blame the entire Gaylor community for a few Gaylors’ actions and use that to debunk Gaylor theories. That’s just not how it works.

He continues by listing different…logical fallacies you might call them? Different things that are common with conspiracy theories: false pattern recognition, confirmation bias, etc. I won’t get into that right now, but this is a large part of his argument later, so keep that in mind.

He makes a critique of the way the article compares Taylor to Chely Wright. He says it’s a “false equivalency.”

I would say that the author, Anna Marks, was simply pointing out an example of closeting and the effects of staying in the closet on one’s mental and emotional health and an example of coming out and the effects of coming out. I personally don’t think she was saying that Taylor is very similar to Wright…

Then Swiftologist talks about some Gaylor evidence presented in the article. He doesn’t actually give a reason for why they are unconvinced but simply states that it is “so delusional to me that people think this is true.”

He mentions the YNTCD music video and claims that only a straight person could have made it and that it was cringey and even that it portrayed LGBTQ+ in such a stereotypical way that it was “deeply offensive.” I mean. It was definitely cringey. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that only a straight person could have made it. It’s honestly just so odd that he attacks Gaylor theories for their lack of “merit or factual basis,” and yet he literally uses the cringy-ness of a music video to say that Taylor must be straight? I know it was largely a joke, but he was also serious, and for some reason it just bugged me.

Marks talks about how the YNTCD song and music video were mostly perceived as performative allyship but she raises the question of whatever they were genuinely expressing herself. Swiftologist responds to this by saying that this is a false binary (performative allyship vs. Taylor is gay) , but I don’t really think so. If Taylor is straight and she wrote that song and made that video, she probably came at it from a decent place, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t performative. (Honestly if Taylor is straight, a lot of the stuff that she’s done I would consider to be very iffy, so I think Marks raises a good point here.)

Swiftologist then goes on another rant about Gaylors, asking why they don’t just believe Taylor and literally calling them “delusional 9/1 truthers.” Look, I get that he’s upset, but he doesn’t have to insult and name-call and be generally immature. As Taylor would say, why you gotta be so mean?

He continues to simply state that all the evidence provided is not proof and that Gaylor theories are delusional, but he does also say that the Cruel Summer lyrics—“I don’t wanna keep secret just to keep you”—could easily be explained by the fact that Taylor CHEATED ON JOE and/or was desperately avoiding the paparazzi.

Like. Lemme get this straight. He would rather that Taylor be a *cheater* than be gay? He thinks that saying she is a cheater is perfectly fine but saying that she might be gay isn’t. I have no words.

*manages to regain my bearings*

Alright, so then Swiftologist (oh my god I just realized that I could simply call him by his real name, Zach, instead of typing out that long name, but now I’m committed) says that he has an OPEN MIND and is open to different interpretations versus the author of the article, who is a “crazy person,” who is completely close minded, apparently. He says, “point me to one piece of solid evidence in this article.” He then continues with his point about open-mindedness, saying that he agrees that Taylor songs COULD be about women (they probably aren’t, but there is a potential there) and because he believes that it means he is a generous and intellectual and open-minded human being, according to him. But Anna Marks, on the other hand, like all other Gaylors, is *completely* close-minded and has not even THOUGHT of the possibility that Taylor could be straight.

Like jeez. Does Swiftologist not see the hilarity of this argument? I”m seriously starting to lose it.

In fact, I’m going to take a break and continue where I left off in the morning. I don’t even have the energy to revise this so hopefully there are no glaring mistakes.

Thanks so much for anybody who read this! Have a great morning/afternoon/night!

[dreamspiked]

leaks/spoilers/everything you could be warned about under the cut. a lot of this is just speculation and i'm sure a bunch of shit will be revealed next patch but hmmm

start off by saying i am still...confusion. like, i was not at all expecting gallagher's character to go that route, especially since they made the guy a four star but he's apparently way more involved than we thought. i'm also...holding out hope he's not just a big spicy evil guy with a vendetta against the family, but if what he said about the original watchmaker and how they were outcast, he might be.

second, shout out to @dupliciti/rath for always sharing theories and info with me, they made me aware of a fact last patch that gallagher has a lot of ties with mythus/the enigmata, which is a non-playable path in game. i didn't know that until rath told me so, now you know too.

apparently in the original script/other language versions, in that last confrontation between sunday and gallagher, sun calls him an 'enigmata goon', which further implies his ties to a different aeon than the harmony.

what does this all mean you ask?

honestly, you got me. if we can take anything gallagher says at face value, which based on enigmata pathstriders purposely trying to muddle history and language, i don't think we can but whatever; if his 'betrayal' and mikhail's death and all that felt personal, or he was slighted by this new watchmaker, i can see him trying to destroy 'the family' from the inside, and break the veil that is penacony. i also think, in my heart of hearts, he knows he's not really killing people, as it's been established you can't truly die in the dream world, but he's trying to force that perfect harmony to shatter and destroy penacony by making people 'wake up.'

how does he control the meme death? no fucking clue.

i find it telling that both times you mention gallagher to other members of the bloodhound family, they don't seem to know who he is. the very first time, when we were with firefly, the two members that cornered us only recognize gallagher vaguely by what he wears, and how it "probably is the boss" or something to that degree. and in this update, gallagher is RIGHT THERE investigating and the guy flat out asks "who is gallagher?"

it brings me to a bit rath shared with me that i find incredibly important to further shed light on what gallagher's motives could be:

Where the History Fictionologists are devoted to the mystification of history, the Riddlers are obsessed with destroying the certainty of language. Words used to express meaning are gradually obfuscated in the mouths of the Riddlers. They deconstruct texts, abuse metaphors, change word orders, tamper with semantics, and transform an otherwise precise language into something beyond recognition. There is evidence that History Fictionologists are a group of Emanators that were enlightened by Aeons. They often plunge into the sea of stars alone, traveling planet to planet with the sole purpose of fabricating, obscuring, destroying, and erasing the local history. History Fictionologists believe that the past determines the future — when a civilization's history is definite, its future development is doomed as all possibilities are eliminated, leaving only a sad and rigid path forward. In order to save these worlds from the sad fate of objectivity, History Fictionologists consider Enigmata as their only creed and are determined to shroud the universe in mystery.

if this were true, gallagher is most likely??? i think??? trying to avoid history repeating itself with mikhail's death and betrayal of the family by obscuring what happened in any way he can. but that's an incredibly loose theory that i would struggle to hold water with. he could just be taking this all personally, something about the "broke my spine and pulled out my teeth" bit to sunday makes me feel that gal might not have been as 'ok' with his exile as he says he was. in one of his character stories, he reminisces about the golden years when he longed for freedom, which makes me think he was originally a prisoner on the planet before they found out about the dreamscape and fought to free themselves. which would mean he's very old, and very tired.

i ALSO bring up the leaked lc that saffron showed me, which appears to be previous members of the nameless sharing a drink with pompom. one of those members looks suspiciously like gallagher, just younger. and rath brought up a great point regarding the invitation for the nameless, how it's hidden message or "distress cry" was tuned specifically to the train's frequency. how would someone on penacony who supposedly has never been on the express know the exact frequency of the train?

just more food for me to chew on.

[doraambrose]

One thing I wanted to mention with my previous post regarding jason Todd's canonical race is the evidence of eye color. And I know that this is a fictional world full of magic and aliens and resurrection from the dead like daily, but I 100% used this topic as an excuse to do a bunch of research on eye color as a huge science (mainly genetics) nerd. Don't judge.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll link my previous post here:

While it's not impossible for people of races other than caucasian to have blue eyes, it's very uncommon.

Disclaimer: most of the stuff I say is theorized based on our understanding of human evolutionary patterns and genetics, but not everything is officially proven. The conclusions that I draw from the facts I listed are my own theories and interpretations of results, but I could not find a whole lot of information to support or dispute them

Basically, everything I have found to be factual is this:

Eye color is related to the main pigment in the eye: dark brown melanin.

Blue eyes are the result of a genetic mutation that is believed to have been an ancestral founder effect, originating in Europe around the Baltic Sea (theorized, study linked below)

Blue eyes, in simplest terms(because eye color, like skin color, is not controlled by just one gene and can't be determined by a simple momohybrid/dihybrid cross) is a recessive phenotype and brown eyes are considered a dominant phenotype.

Regionally, blue eye frequency is lowest in African and Asian countries, and other areas closer to the equator ( that was my own interpretation of results)

It is theorized that the "original humans" or oldest known evidence of human life were black and seemed to originate in the African region

It is also theorized that caucasians originated due to a genetic mutation that allowed immigrants to populate latitudes where too little ultraviolet B light for vitamin D production penetrates the atmosphere.

It is universally assumed by scientists studying human evolution that the need to make more vitamin D at northern latitudes drove genetic mutations that reduce the production of the pigment melanin

So, what conclusions can be drawn from this?

Well, one thing is that a possible explanation for the lack of blue eyes in people of color is simply that they don't have a lot of ( and for some, if any) caucasian ancestry. That means it wouldn't be possible to "obtain" the blue eye gene genotypes. And since blue eyes are recessive, the only ways a person could have the blue eye phenotype is if both their parents were carriers, one had the phenotype and the other was a carrier, or both had the phenotype. And I know unusual things happen where dark-skinned people have blue eyes, but it's more common for POC to have blue eyes if they have enough caucasian ancestry to inherit the recessive blue eye genotypes.

So what does this have to do with Jason Todd?

Well, him and both of his biological parents had blue eyes. That + their pale features (and Sheila's blonde hair) mean that they're all most likely white or more caucasian than any other race.

Even Willis. Even if certain other features provide some evidence of asian or indigenous ancestry, his last name + his blue eyes show that he's most likely more caucasian than any other race.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk and thank you for letting me geek out about the wonders of eye color genetics and how it relates to human evolution.

If you're also into that stuff, here are the studies I referenced:

[naneun-no]

Tbh I hate the video that Jungkook posted for Jimin's birthday. First of all, the only reaction that he got from it is Armys screaming about the fact that Jk was hot and sexy and blah blah. People already forgot that it was for Jimin's birthday and some people even deleted the last part. Also, Jungkook was in a hotel in Busan, Jimin was in Seoul. The video "for Jimin's birthday" basically became a taekook evidence, because Jk left Jimin to go to Busan with Tae the day of Jimin's birthday. Also there is the theory that Jungkook is ashamed of Jimin, or he doesn't want to be associated with him, in fact he stopped sharing pics with him. The last selca or photo of Jimin posted by Jk was in 2019. Anyway, I don't see that Jungkook video for Jimin, because it's only Jungkook the main character there. He didn't say nothing nice or cute about Jimin. It's basically a video about Jungkook himself, showing that he is sexy with glasses.

I don’t think JK is ashamed of Jimin. He doesn’t ever act like it; not on stage, not in bangtan bombs, not on vlives, and certainly not in that video you hate.

I thought it was cute 🤷‍♀️ I don’t think JK was looking for a reaction from anyone but Jimin himself. And based on what we know about their personalities, I’m guessing Jimin cracked the fuck up when he saw it and they had a great time laughing about it together. Idk, what do you want me to say?

Also… just… like, why? You said yourself the video is sexy. So WHY post a sexy video of yourself for your platonic friend’s birthday? Why THAT friend? Why on his birthday? JK is already a main character honey, have you seen his follower count lately? He could have posted that kind of video whenever he wanted and gotten a rise out of fans. But for whatever reason, he addressed it to Jimin as a birthday message. So why? I’m genuinely asking - why?

You honestly sound like you’re suggesting that Jimin is Jungkook’s sworn enemy and he posted it as some kind of fiendish way to take the focus off of Jimin and put it on himself instead (which, he waited until the last possible minute to post it, perhaps suggesting that he probably knew it would catch fire and he was letting Jimin have his day before his post attracted a bunch of attention but that’s just a possibility). That would suggest that JK is actually just a huge jerk. That we’ve completely misread his personality all these years, that every celebrity and industry professional that says he’s great is lying, that Jimin is ridiculously affectionate and doting on a guy who is just plain mean to him.

That, or JK’s trying to orchestrate a friends-to-enemies-to-lovers arc with his own bandmate. Because posting a hot video of yourself wishing your enemy a happy birthday to steal their thunder and also get a rise out of them is some wattpad shit.

All that to say, lighten up. You’re taking a video between two people who are clearly friends (maybe more but we KNOW they’re at least good friends) and making it into something negative and cynical. If that’s how you see the guys and their interactions with each other on social media, maybe you should take a break from the fandom. And I mean that genuinely, from one person to another. Cause I guarantee you, Jungkook did not post that video with evil, self-focused intentions.