#this is very good page/knight analysis
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relic-seeker · 6 months ago
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happy (belated in my timezone technically) worldsense saturday. just things i doodled a couple days ago to practise drawing these two gay nerds. based on the scene at the end of ch12
thank you very much to @candor-creator for writing such a lovely fic so far ^_^!!!
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homestuckreplay · 2 months ago
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Is The Wayward Vagabond Good At Chess?
On page 721 of Homestuck, the Wayward Vagabond kills time by playing chess against himself – a ‘stiff training regimen’ (p.720) for the citizen-militia of Can Town that leads to Black checkmating White, just as it was prophesied by Nannasprite that the forces of darkness would always triumph over light. But how does WV’s chess game actually play out, and what can this tell us about them and about Sburb?
First, as @tenaciouschronicler pointed out, the board is set up incorrectly. It’s a perfect mirror of how the board should be – the bottom left and top right squares on a chessboard should always be black, but in WV’s game, they’re white. To analyze this, I transcribed the actual moves that WV makes, and flipped them all horizontally – moving a piece to a2 became h2, b3 became g3, c4 became f4, etc – at which point the game becomes correct.
Here's the game after move 6 and move 13.
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And, in standard chess notation (which is surprisingly quick to learn!), the moves that got us to this point.
d4 Nf6
c4 g6
Nc3 Bg7
e4 O-O
e5 Ne8
f4 d6
Be3 c5
dxc5 Nc6
cxd6 exd6
Ne4 Bf5
Ng3 Be6
Nf3 Qc7
Qb1 dxe5
Every move WV makes is legal within standard chess, so right away, we know they’ve got a good grasp of the rules and aren’t cheating. As Black, they play the King’s Indian Defense, which allows White to control the board in the early game in hopes of a counter-attack afterwards – according to chess.com, it is a ‘risky opening’ that ‘leads to unbalanced positions where Black tries to fight for an advantage instead of equality’ and makes it ‘more difficult for White to play for a draw, which tends to lead to more decisive games’.
Black’s fifth move with the knight is uncommon, but not bad. I spoke to a chess International Master to get his thoughts on the game, and he said ‘Normally people play 4…d6 in the King’s Indian to stop the knight being pushed back like this, but what Black did is also good, and he has a comfortable position out of the opening.’ He described the King’s Indian as ‘a typical fighting opening to get White to overextend’, and White fell for the play.
Homestuck doesn’t show us the middlegame, instead returning to WV’s mayoral dreams and Tab drinking as the timer rapidly counts down – but we return to the game with White in a terrible position. Here's the game where we pick up, and with White in checkmate.
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Here, White is in check with an opportunity to take the opposing queen, but instead plays the following endgame moves.
Ke2 Qxg4
Kf2 Ne4
Kf1 Qg3
Re1 Qf2
This isn’t a strategic choice, but ultimately doesn’t matter - ‘No reason at all not to take the queen, White’s move is ridiculous - but he’s completely lost in the endgame anyway, with no real drawing chances’ (Chess IM). The game ends quickly, and the IM’s overall analysis is that ‘Black plays very well, either a strong tournament player or he’s cheating :) But not enough moves to go off to decide that. White is much weaker’.
Of course, Black and White are the same player. This tells us that WV does have a strong knowledge of chess, but either only knows how to play as black, or has a strong bias towards black winning. Either is believable. As a citizen of the ominous planet where the black chess pieces live, WV would likely have spent a lot of time learning strategies for Black to play, but their only knowledge of White would be how to counter their moves. They’re also indoctrinated into loyalty to the dark kingdom royalty, and to seeing Black as the superior force in battle, fated to always triumph.
Especially notable is WV’s unwillingness to capture Black’s queen. It’s an obvious move that wouldn’t have cost them the game. On page 687, WV asserts their hatred of kings as ‘petty, bossy tyrants’ who are ‘basically awful in every way’, but says nothing about queens – I wonder if WV retains some loyalty towards the dark kingdom’s queen, leading to an internal conflict where they’re unwilling to harm even her can representation.
While the battle/chess game likely plays out differently in each iteration of Sburb, WV comes from John’s game and is recreating the battle ‘years in the future’. Can this game tell us about dark and light kingdom politics during John’s game, predicting what we’ll see next in Homestuck? If so, it seems like four white pawns – perhaps representing the four players – will be allowed to initially advance, making it appear that they’re doing well in the game. John, Rose, Dave and GG will have some successes, and might let themselves get complacent with their abilities.
But the dark kingdom will hold back their best resources, and plan for the long term. They’ll take advantage of a couple big mistakes our main characters make while fighting on the side of light, skillfully eliminate these pieces from the board, retain their own queen while destroying the light kingdom’s, and, as the title of page 721 foretells, ‘lead [their] men to victory’.
It’s not a great prophecy for John and his friends – but then again, it’s uncommon for a piece taken off the chessboard to travel to another planet and start sending commands back through time. So, maybe there’s still a chance to swing the real battle in light’s favor.
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nekropsii · 6 months ago
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do you still do session analysis?
I've never really done that, so no.
I appreciate the value placed in my opinion, truly, but I guarantee you it will be way more fun and satisfying to write things like that on your own than it is to get some stranger to do it for you. I don't feel good depriving someone the joy and learning experience of figuring out Character + Classpect Dynamics on your own. It's hard, for sure, but it's completely worth it. I'll give my thoughts on Individual Classes, Aspects, and Classpects now and then, if the mood strikes me, but the way that will affect a Group Dynamic is far more dependent on the individual characters involved and the narrative they're in than a lot of people seem to give credit for. Yes, the Classpect of a character says a lot about them, but it doesn't really express their Moral Alignment, the full breadth of their Personality, any specific Traumas or Neuroses that may afflict them and affect their relationship with their life, surroundings, and the people around them, et cetera, et cetera...
Basically, a Classpect says a lot, and a Group of Classpects can also say a lot, but I find it personally difficult to make very solid statements on the Viability of a Session or the Dynamics within it without having a deep understanding of not only the characters involved but also what kind of story is being aimed for. What a Classpect can mean or entail depends a lot on the Hero in question, and the specific Meta of the Session. You can keep the Meaning of all Classes and Aspects nigh completely Canon Compliant, but still have them imply and result in totally different things within a Session, purely because the Story and Character demands something that isn't, like... Just a straight up repeat of things already tread upon in source material. You could have a Seer of Light that's evil. You could have Bard of Rage that's a pretty good guy, all things considered.
For example, Sovereignstuck has a very particular Meta with its Classpects, and it's going for a very particular narrative. The characters in it are also very much so their own beasts - though their Classpects may say a lot about them, it doesn't really tell you anything about their morality, or how willing they are to hurt people or even just ascend to godhood in the first place, which is a really big deal in what is essentially a literal Deus Ex Machina Death Game Horror/Drama RPG setting especially. To use a particular example from Sovereignstuck - Bards of Mind tend to be billed as chaotic forces and, due to being a Bard, inherently bad people, with some even suggesting the best way to write a Bard of Mind is to write a straight up Bigot. We've got a Bard of Mind in the Player Session, Emeric Sargas, and while she is a complicated person - as is the truth for everyone ever - she is, generally speaking, a very child-like ball of sunshine that basically no one has beef with because she's just very sweet. Odd, yes, definitely, she does have a litany of very strange beliefs about how the world works, but overall a nice person. We have two Maids of Space, even, and they're extremely, extremely different people.
It's not as simple as saying "Princes of Void and Witches of Heart are guaranteed to not get along!", or "This Session will fail because it has an insufficient Player count!". Hell, it's difficult for me to even say a Session is doomed to fail if they have no Time and/or Space Players. Maybe the Meta of your Session simply doesn't abide by typical SBURB rules. I know my Fanventure sure doesn't, it's running on a fucking spinoff game with no Universe Building aspects to it - it's just a God-Making Machine. Maybe you don't need a Time or Space Player. Maybe you don't need a Knight, or an Heir. Maybe you can have five Pages. I literally don't know. Write whatever you want. Get creative. You truly do not have to abide by the rules set by SBURB if you don't want to write a Creation Myth. My only recommendation is that if you're breaking the mold, make that clear - explain what the purpose of your game is. Hell, explain the purpose even if it's just SBURB 2. The Characters are gonna have to learn what it is, even if the reader is aware of it already.
I could talk more, but this is already a long enough response to a pretty simple one sentence yes or no question.
TL;DR: No, I don't, sorry.
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jozor-johai · 9 months ago
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Dorne, Shown not Told: how Darkstar is more than his reputation.
Darkstar used to bug me as a character—not necessarily because of his edgy dialogue, but because the way he was written: he's not on-page for very long, so we're really told much more about him than we are shown anything.
I've seen this same complaint voiced before, and almost always it's brushed over as an inherent failure of Gerold as a character, or other arguments that presuppose a lack of faith in Martin.
I can understand why, without deeper analysis, some people try to make the Doylist argument that Darkstar must be lazy writing by Martin, something along the lines of "I have to introduce this guy quick, so here's a bunch of backstory told by a bunch of characters". Instead, though, I argue that this situation of being "told" so much about Darkstar is actually the Watsonian perspective of his character; it is Arianne who has been told so much about him, and we're experiencing her misconceptions.
I've come to realize that the feeling of being "told" about Darkstar, with a focus away from what we're "shown," is fully intentional. With this different approach to interpreting Darkstar's character, I've found that not only do I like him so much more as a character in-universe, but I also like him so much more as an element in George R R Martin's writing. Melisandre might be his "most misunderstood character," but I think Gerold Dayne must be up there too.
I don't understand why it took me so long to see it: ASOIAF is all about the way that information—or misinformation—spreads and changes the course of action and history. Of course this would be a theme to look out for. Once I started to dig more into this idea in relation to Darkstar, I realized just how prevalent this theme was in the Dornish arc, which is entirely about the way that people are told something, and the way that being told these things—even without evidence—has such an impact. That's what the companion post to this one is about.
If you've read that post already, and now I've got you on board to doubt the reputation that Darkstar has, and to doubt the story Arianne was told about him, this is the post where I rebuild Gerold's character from scratch, and convince you that he's actually an alright guy, a trustworthy one, and possibly even a true knight. Maybe, even, he's worthy of Dawn, and the title of "Sword of the Morning."
I'm sure I'm not the first to suggest this, as it's been so many years, but it's exciting to experience a moment of realization that makes me see the writing itself in a new light, so I wanted to share my thought process here.
2.0 Gerold Dayne, shown not told.
In this part, I attempt to look at Gerold Dayne as if I were Areo Hotah, not Arianne: to watch what he does and says, on page, rather than take anyone's word for it, and rather than interpret his actions against a prejudice that he is as dark and dangerous as Arianne thinks. This way, I want to see what kind of man Gerold Dayne actually shows us he is, through his actions and interactions, rather than who we're told he is.
Beyond just doubting Doran's story because I don't believe Doran to be trustworthy, here I'll be explaining why I think that once we get to know Darkstar as best as we can, maiming Myrcella doesn't even really sound like something he would do.
This is a long one too, like the other one, so the rest is after the cut
2.1 Early good impressions—by being early
We don't see very much of Darkstar on-page, so let's start with our very first impression of him, in the second paragraph of the chapter:
Arianne Martell arrived with Drey and Sylva just as the sun was going down, with the west a tapestry of gold and purple and the clouds all glowing crimson. The ruins seemed aglow as well; the fallen columns glimmered pinkly, red shadows crept across the cracked stone floors, and the sands themselves turned from gold to orange to purple as the light faded. Garin had arrived a few hours earlier, and the knight called Darkstar the day before.
We don't know when they arranged to meet, but I think there's room for a symbolic meaning to Arianne arriving just as the sun goes down. Symbolically, the day ending as soon as she arrives mirrors the way that her plan is going to end as soon as it begins.
In addition, it's a signature of Arianne's character this chapter, moving just slightly too slowly. In this way, Arianne is already more like her father than she wants to admit—remember the overripe oranges falling in The Captain of the Guards, or how Areo knew that Doran saying they would leave at dawn meant midday. Arianne is the same—she arrives to her own plan at dusk.
Even without that comparison, Arianne's late arrival is emblematic of her inability to structure a plan as carefully as she believes she can, which is also something that haunts her for the rest of his arc. Consider the meaning of this for her: she is the head of this plan, and yet she and her two companions are the last to arrive. Garin beats her to the rendezvous place by a few hours... and Darkstar is almost the opposite extreme. He gets there a whole day early.
Perhaps that's suspect, perhaps that's responsible; this alone is not enough to say. For a certainty, though, this clearly positions Darkstar as someone who is, say, the opposite of the "Late" Lord Walder Frey. He's a man who comes early, not late.
As the chapter continues, it's not the only time that Arianne lags carelessly while Darkstar vouches for a more responsible course of action, so keep this in mind. This passage sets the tone for the rest of the chapter.
2.2 What makes a man "Great"?
The next time we see Darkstar on page, we get his first line of dialogue and his first actual on-page action. He juts in while the others are talking about the storied hero who is Garin's namesake:
"Garin the Great," offered Drey, "the wonder of the Rhoyne." "That's the one. He made Valyria tremble." "They trembled," said Ser Gerold, "then they killed him. If I led a quarter of a million men to death, would they call me Gerold the Great?" He snorted. "I shall remain Darkstar, I think. At least it is mine own." He unsheathed his longsword, sat upon the lip of the dry well, and began to hone the blade with an oilstone.
There's a lot to unpack here for such a short passage. To begin with, we can interpret some of Darkstar's values from his additions to this conversation. He clearly has a certain pragmatism, because he chooses to see through the veneration that the stories have afforded "Garin the Great", and points out that his cause was actually poorly met. In this way, Gerold might come off like a humorless spoilsport, but we can also consider the fact that he's already learned some of the lessons that other characters, like Sansa, have been forced to face: reality does not match the songs, and not all "heroes" are good people.
Gerold also shows a concern for the ranks of the military. It's not about one man's veneration for him, it's about the success of the plan—and the survival of the men who act on it. This is actually the same concern for Dorne that Doran is obsessed with, at the end of The Watcher:
"Until the Mountain crushed my brother's skull, no Dornishmen had died in this War of the Five Kings," the prince murmured softly, as Hotah pulled a blanket over him. "Tell me, Captain, is that my shame or my glory?"
Doran has spent a lifetime hemming and hawing over this notion, unsure of whether to act or to wait, and choosing inaction over decision. By stark contrast, Gerold speaks with a casual certainty: "Garin the Great" was no good at all, because all his men died, and he lost. It might make him sound like a cynic, but Dayne knows what he believes in. Leading men to their death is no greatness at all.
2.3 Choosing one's own name
And, now knowing his thoughts on blind veneration, we might reinterpret his decision to invent his own nickname. Rather than grasping for approval from in songs (like Tywin's Rains of Castamere), his act of naming himself could be seen as a sign of honor, not blind pride.
"If I led a quarter of a million men to death, would they call me Gerold the Great?" He snorted. "I shall remain Darkstar, I think. At least it is mine own."
He does not believe in misjudged "bravery" for the sake of a title, and therefore is unlike so many others who we see across ASOIAF ready to die fighting in their desire for glory. Rather than dreaming of becoming immortalized in a song, Darkstar has no lust for public approval—he's given himself his own title, and means to prove himself against his own standard.
And at least it is his own. ASOIAF is a story where so much weight is put into names and epithets—Arya and Sansa losing their names and even their chapter titles, Brienne and Jaime fighting against the disparaging nicknames they are given. Here, Darkstar has already proven himself past all of those troubles with this one action—regardless of whatever names others should call him, or even remember him by, he shall go by this one, the name, and the fate, that he chose for himself.
2.4 Honing the blade
And then, immediately, Gerold starts caring for his blade.
He unsheathed his longsword, sat upon the lip of the dry well, and began to hone the blade with an oilstone.
Interestingly, the list of people who hone their blade on-page is surprisingly short. This shared action puts Gerold in league with the likes of Brienne:
I will, she promised his shade, there in the piney wood. She sat down on a rock, took out her sword, and began to hone its edge. I will remember, and I pray I will not flinch.
And also the likes of Yoren, Arya, Jon, Meera, Barristan, and Hotah himself; all of whom are dutiful if not also generally good-hearted. Ilyn Payne and Rakharo, care for their blades on-page, too, and though I'm not sure if they get enough story time to argue whether or not they are good-hearted, they are certainly pragmatic, skilled, and committed. Bronn, too, hones his blade on-page, and even if not good-hearted, he's these other positive qualities, the ones that make him likeable even in his scoundrel status: Bronn is skilled, pragmatic, dedicated to his craft, and even committed after his own fashion (he does name his adoptive child Tyrion, after all).
Better tying this to a morality case, the first time we see Sandor Clegane caring for his blade is after the Red Wedding, after he fully commits to taking in Arya. Similarly, Jaime is only seen caring for his blade in Feast and later, after he begins to have his own character turn towards searching for honor.
In stark contrast, Theon pulls out his blade to "sharpen" it before facing his father in Clash, but he only "gave it a few licks" with the whetstone ... what a total poser.
(It's a silly thing, but the most minor character we see sharpening a blade is a stray Blackwood... so you know these are the good guys, haha. Oswell Whent, too, which I don't make much of myself but I know others have.)
So, when we see Gerold Dayne start to sharpen his blade as his first on-page action, we might think: here is a man who is responsible, who is committed to duty, who believes in taking care of his person and his honor. Tying little actions like this to character qualities is the kind of thing GRRM does frequently.
2.5 Sober attitude
To a similar end, we also see that Gerold Dayne doesn't drink, preferring water with lemon.
Once the kindling caught, they sat around the flames and passed a skin of summerwine from hand to hand . . . all but Darkstar, who preferred to drink unsweetened lemonwater.
Which puts him in league with Brienne again:
"I would prefer water," said Brienne. "Elmar, the red for Ser Jaime, water for the Lady Brienne, and hippocras for myself." Bolton waved a hand at their escort, dismissing them, and the men beat a silent retreat.
As well as Stannis, paragon of "duty":
But not today, I think—ah, here's your son with our water." Devan set the tray on the table and filled two clay cups. The king sprinkled a pinch of salt in his cup before he drank; Davos took his water straight, wishing it were wine.
Again, this is the kind of quality that is associated with people who are attached to their sense of duty. (Note also that as Brienne feels increasingly lost during her search for Sansa, we see her increasingly drink wine. Roose, for his part, doesn't just drink wine, but wants wine sweetened with sugar and spices, which, like Littlefinger's minty breath, covers up his harsh reality).
So Gerold Dayne, in word and action, seems to have more in common with duty- and honor-bound characters, rather than being the heartless rogue which the Martells seem to believe he is.
2.6 Arianne's imagination versus Gerold's reality
Arianne asserts that Gerold would go so far as to exterminate an entire clan... but it's while she's fantasizing about ruling Sunspear with Myrcella as Queen:
Once I crown Myrcella and free the Sand Snakes, all Dorne will rally to my banners. The Yronwoods might declare for Quentyn, but alone they were no threat. If they went over to Tommen and the Lannisters, she would have Darkstar destroy them root and branch.
So we know what Arianne thinks he's capable of, but we also have heard Dayne's own thoughts that war for its own sake is not laudable. Would he really be the type to eradicate a whole family, like Arianne says? So far, he seems otherwise like an alright guy, and potentially even a true knight, so far: he takes care of his sword, he stays sober, he arrives early, he's not searching for glory from others, and he doesn't believe one should be rewarded for idiotic wars.
If I were to put this in a single quote—if I could create a single moment where I might show that Arianne's mental image of Darkstar is one way (hard, dangerous, mean) and his reality was a different way (dutiful, pragmatic, and good-hearted)—I might show it like this:
He has a cruel mouth, though, and a crueler tongue. His eyes seemed black as he sat outlined against the dying sun, sharpening his steel, but she had looked at them from a closer vantage and she knew that they were purple. Dark purple. Dark and angry. He must have felt her gaze upon him, for he looked up from his sword, met her eyes, and smiled.
Does he have a cruel mouth, and dark, angry eyes? Or does he have an easy smile? Arianne tells us the former... but so far, we are shown the latter.
And what does Gerold himself say with that "cruel tongue"? What counsel does he give, what courses does he suggest?
2.7 Gerold's bloody suggestion
Before Myrcella arrives, Gerold Dayne has the chance to offer counsel to Arianne. This moment comes directly following that moment where all of Arianne's other conspirators confide that they don't trust him, and that they don't need him for the plan. Immediately afterward, Darkstar returns and suggests that the plan isn't very good to begin with.
Dayne put a foot upon the head of a statue that might have been the Maiden till the sands had scoured her face away. "It occurred to me as I was pissing that this plan of yours may not yield you what you want."
While all of Arianne's friends have warned her of Darkstar, why is it that Darkstar is the only one to warn Arianne that this is a poor plan? It's important to remember that he's right, after all, because this plan gets thwarted, and as he goes on to say, was ill-concieved to begin with. If he can see it, why have none of Arianne's other allies considered this? Or, more interestingly, why have none of them told her?
This conversation continues, and notice how Arianne is never straightforward with Gerold about how she feels in response to his questioning. She says one thing, and then thinks another to herself. Already, we are being shown how we might be distrustful of what we are told—and again, Arianne has more in common with her father than she thinks. She knows how to speak carefully when she really has another objective.
"And what is it I want, ser?" "The Sand Snakes freed. Vengeance for Oberyn and Elia. Do I know the song? You want a little taste of lion blood." That, and my birthright. I want Sunspear, and my father's seat. I want Dorne. "I want justice." "Call it what you will. Crowning the Lannister girl is a hollow gesture. She will never sit the Iron Throne. Nor will you get the war you want. The lion is not so easily provoked." "The lion's dead. Who knows which cub the lioness prefers?" "The one in her own den." Ser Gerold drew his sword. It glimmered in the starlight, sharp as lies. "This is how you start a war. Not with a crown of gold, but with a blade of steel."
At first blush, it's easy to get caught up in the notion that Darkstar is simply offering to kill Myrcella for the ease of it all. We're told the whole chapter that Darkstar is a violent man, and here's the evidence.
Arianne herself only considers this interpretation, and it's how she remembers the conversation once she's imprisoned:
He wanted to kill her instead of crowning her, he said as much at Shandystone. He said that was how I'd get the war I wanted.
However, this conversation, though brief, is not so simple as that. Instead, while Gerold's advice to Arianne here at first seems unnecessarily violent, he's actually displaying wisdoms that we learn elsewhere in the story.
For a start, we see Gerold's disdain for vengeance for it's own sake—and his suggestion to Arianne that this quest of revenge and authority will not actually get her what she wants. In Gerold's words, she wants "a taste of lion's blood." He knows this song, as he says, as well as Ellaria, who gives an identical warning with far more impassioned language to the same audience ADWD The Watcher:
"Oberyn wanted vengeance for Elia. Now the three of you want vengeance for him. I have four daughters, I remind you. Your sisters. My Elia is fourteen, almost a woman. Obella is twelve, on the brink of maidenhood. They worship you, as Dorea and Loreza worship them. If you should die, must El and Obella seek vengeance for you, then Dorea and Loree for them? Is that how it goes, round and round forever? I ask again, where does it end?" Ellaria Sand laid her hand on the Mountain's head. "I saw your father die. Here is his killer. Can I take a skull to bed with me, to give me comfort in the night? Will it make me laugh, write me songs, care for me when I am old and sick?"
Gerold says it more simply, and more harshly: this quest for vengeance and lion's blood will not get you what you want.
He then tries another angle, saying that "Crowning the Lannister girl is a hollow gesture. She will never sit the Iron Throne. Nor will you get the war you want." This sounds, at first, like a complaint of the plan's futility, but he offers a suggestion of how to achieve said war instead: "Not with a crown of gold, but with a blade of steel."
I have to point out the metaphor at use in this moment:
Ser Gerold drew his sword. It glimmered in the starlight, sharp as lies.
A blade as sharp as lies—yet another allusion to this constant Dornish theme of lying and deadly misinformation. Seen from another perspective, we might put it another way: that lies are as deadly as a blade. This, too, is Doran's message: that the grass which hides the snake is just as deadly.
This too is Gerold's message, because in combination, his suggestion that crowning her is empty and to kill her is simpler sounds like an allusion to another wisdom we learn later in ADWD Tyrion I, given by Illyrio when Tyrion alights on the same bright idea as Arianne, to crown Myrcella:
"In Volantis they use a coin with a crown on one face and a death's-head on the other. Yet it is the same coin. To queen her is to kill her."
Gerold understands this, and he displays it in this conversation. His offer here, then, is to skip the trouble in between—the girl will never sit the Iron Throne in any case, so Arianne should just kill her and be done with it, and have your war that way.
Rather than a threat against Myrcella's life, the way Arianne remembers it, we might see this as a challenge: if Gerold sees that both acts end in Myrcella's death, and both in war, he's presenting Arianne reality of the lack of choice.
In a way, this is consistent with his earlier complaints about Garin the Great—was it worth it to make Valyria "tremble" at the cost of so many of his own? Gerold's question, though harshly put, makes Arianne face that question now, before they start off with the plans.
Like her father, though, Arianne defers the problem, preferring not to address it this night.
I am no murderer of children. "Put that away. Myrcella is under my protection. And Ser Arys will permit no harm to come to his precious princess, you know that."
Arianne makes the choice, but she does not say it aloud. Why? Because even she sees that it's contradictory to raise her up and expect her to live?
As we see so often with Arianne, she foolishly answers that it's not her responsibility. Myrcella may be under her protection, but Arianne relies on Ser Arys' action to keep it that way. Arianne tries to argue that the weight of this threat to Myrcella is not Arianne's burden to take, but rather Arys'.
Darkstar disagrees, pointing out the longstanding rivalry between the Dornish and the Marcher Lords.
"No, my lady. What I know is that Daynes have been killing Oakhearts for several thousand years." His arrogance took her breath away. "It seems to me that Oakhearts have been killing Daynes for just as long." "We all have our family traditions." Darkstar sheathed his sword. "The moon is rising, and I see your paragon approaching."
Finally, though, actions once again speak louder than words. Rather than pull his sword here against Arys, like he was just threatening to do, he sheathes his sword when he spots Arys, obeying Arianne's command. So far, whatever he's said, Gerold is still committed to following Arianne's wishes.
His threats about Daynes killing Oakhearts has another layer of meaning, though, in this complete context: Daynes have been killing Oakhearts, yes, but it's not just Daynes who wouldn't blink at killing a Marcher, it's all of the Dornish—as Arys is so intimately aware of in his one chapter.
As much as Arianne is dodging responsibility, she's also right that Arys is the final obstacle in anyone's way should they wish to do harm to Myrcella. Note, though, that despite the story Doran and Arianne later tell the Sand Snakes, it is not Darkstar who slays Arys—it's Areo Hotah. If we say that actions speak louder than words, hear this: Gerold sheathes his sword when Arys approaches, and it is Doran (through Areo) who kills Myrcella's most leal protector.
Given all the trouble Doran later goes to in an attempt to smooth over Arys' death, Gerold is probably right here that a dead Arys means war. Once again, Gerold is a pragmatic thinker, in theory. In my opinion, despite the cruelty of his suggestion, his conversation about the death of Myrcella is a reality check, not a call for wanton violence.
2.8 Gerold's good counsel and care
Later comes the second time where Arianne lags carelessly... and here, Gerold steps in to give Arianne good counsel.
Arianne had hoped to reach the river before the sun came up, but they had started much later than she'd planned, so they were still in the saddle when the eastern sky turned red. Darkstar cantered up beside her. "Princess," he said, "I'd set a faster pace, unless you mean to kill the child after all. We have no tents, and by day the sands are cruel."
Here, contradicting the stories of Gerold Dayne as a cruel man, Darkstar seems to show more direct concern for Myrcella's wellbeing than any of the other plotters. Arianne—like her father—moves to slow, and Gerold wants to make sure that the girl isn't killed. He's not just pragmatic in theory, he can also be pragmatic and considerate when it comes to the young girl with them.
Here, also, we see that Gerold does not actually mean the girl harm. The accusation that Darkstar slashed Myrcella implies this narrative where Darkstar took advantage of the chaos to finally take his chance to kill the girl and make good on his threat. If that were the case, then here Darkstar could have simply said nothing, and let the girl suffer or even die from the heat. Instead, he speaks up in order to spare Myrcella from the sand's cruelty.
2.9 Gerold's opinion of Arthur Dayne
With all of this context, I'll finally take a look at Gerold's opinion of Arthur Dayne.
As she led the princess to the fire, Arianne found Ser Gerold behind her. "My House goes back ten thousand years, unto the dawn of days," he complained. "Why is it that my cousin is the only Dayne that anyone remembers?" "He was a great knight," Ser Arys Oakheart put in. "He had a great sword," Darkstar said. "And a great heart."
He clearly loves the Dayne house, but seems to have less respect than most for Arthur. Many and more have taken this to be a sign of petty envy, that Darkstar is questioning Arthur's skill at swordplay, perhaps in comparison to his own.
But consider the quote another way: we know from his opinion of "Garin the Great" that Gerold resists the idea of blindly idolizing heroes only because they have become great in the telling. This newer hero, Arthur, is no more special to him. What has he actually done, not what stories have been told of him?
Once again, this is a return of our theming: being shown, not told. Gerold is quick to resist the allure of the songs of Arthur Dayne—to Gerold, there are plenty of other Daynes just as special, or perhaps even more so. This is not a lack of love for his house, nor for honor and glory—quite the opposite. Like with choosing his own name, Darkstar wants to create his own context to see Arthur in, as part of a ten thousand year old lineage of great Daynes (ha) and not some special, magic knight.
Perhaps Gerold Dayne is pointing out that there is more to a knight than having a sword; perhaps he is condemning the idea of equating "swordplay" with "greatness".
What we hear about Arthur is more often than not about his prowress with a sword, but consider the context in which Arthur Dayne was brought up in this chapter. When Myrcella brings him up, his reputation is marred by the fact it's own existence:
"There was an Arthur Dayne," Myrcella said. "He was a knight of the Kingsguard in the days of Mad King Aerys."
Not the most good-hearted of details to remember him by, truth be told.
I suggest that this passage instead serves to suggest that Gerold has a stricter sense of what is valorous than most. Even the great, seemingly infallible Arthur Dayne was a sword in defense of the Mad King. Does serving the Mad King still make for a "great knight"? Or only a "great sword"?
Of course, there's another interesting aspect to this quote: despite his disregard for the particular qualities of Arthur, Gerold is more than willing to acknowledge the greatness of the sword Dawn. I'll get into that at the end.
2.10 Gerold sues for peace
Finally, in his final appearance on-page, we get a last word from Gerold Dayne, who, this time, says exactly what Arianne is thinking... when she, again, is too slow to act, and is unable to say anything herself.
You reckless fool, was all that Arianne had time to think, what do you think you're doing? Darkstar's laughter rang out. "Are you blind or stupid, Oakheart? There are too many. Put up your sword."
Darkstar suggests to all that they surrender. He suggests they put up their swords. Yet again, this is a consistent characterization for Darkstar: a man who speaks against the honor of leading others in a death charge, a man who is a sober thinker, a man who plans to arrive early, and a man who considers heavily the consequences of the actions at hand, especially when they end in the death of a young girl.
After all this, I don't think it sounds like Darkstar to make a wild, reckless, opportune grasp for Myrcella's life, no matter whatever Doran says. Instead, Gerold Dayne has all the trappings of a dutiful knight, and even his brusque edges come from a certain brutal realism, not a sense of jilted pride. He may even be a good and caring man at times.
3.0 My predictions for TWOW: GRRM's next moves
I used to really not like Darkstar. I don't mind him being a little cringe, because this whole series, as well written as it is, still has plenty of pulpy 80s underpinnings which I love just as much as the highbrow stuff. I can handle a little melodrama, fine... but why is Darkstar so flat, I wondered. It felt so incredibly—uncharacteristically—clumsy to have this hurried introduction of a character, and have everyone in the chapter rush to tell the reader how dangerous he is, just so he could do the "dangerous guy" thing and run off to become the next MacGuffin of Dorne.
That is, if everything, or anything, that we were told about him is true.
If we understand that not all we're told is true, then GRRM hasn't actually spent a whole chapter telling without showing. Instead, he's been consistently playing with the same notions of actual reality vs. stories and lies that the rest of the Dornish plot revolves around (and the rest of the series, for that matter, but I'm staying focused here).
In addition, all of that telling we got about Gerold Dayne wasn't at all for the purpose of giving us a quick, surface level introduction to the character (which makes sense, because George is otherwise so good with character). Instead, all that telling is part of a larger, longer plot about Doran's scheming and lying, and Arianne's own susceptibility to Doran's stories.
Finally, and most of all, it all sets up one of GRRM's favorite things to do: a subversion of a character in a twist that involves a sudden change of perspective.
If Arianne and Doran have spent 4 (or 5, including TWOW previews) chapters now telling us what a nasty guy Gerold Dayne is, won't it be a shock once he's granted Dawn rightfully and is named the next Sword of the Morning? What's even better is that, looking back, it will be clear to see how much he isn't a nasty guy—he's actually a pretty good candidate, dutiful, smart, aware of the consequences. He's the kind of guy to take care of himself, keeping his mind and blade sharp, and to be considerate of those lesser than him, as with Myrcella or Garin's army. He may not be a nice guy, but being nice and kind are not always the same. That character of Darkstar, the knight worthy of Dawn, was there all along—except that it was all obfuscated under Arianne internal narration and Doran's repeated lying.
After all, he is of the night... which sounds super edgy, but is foreshadowing too. What comes after the night? The Morning.
Being "of the night" might not be Darkstar being an antihero, but instead being anti- heroes, he's against the concept of the overinflated hero. Like Sandor Clegane, who starts to seem more and more a true knight despite despising knights, Darkstar may be set up to take on a legendary mantle, like Sword of the Morning, despite his utter disdain for legendary heroes, like Ser Arthur and Garin the Great.
And actually, I suspect that Darkstar is quite familiar with Dawn already—after all, despite his cool words about Ser Arthur, Gerold Dayne does seem to recognize the greatness of Dawn. I expect that he's seen its value for himself.
Gerold is the type of man to take himself seriously ... and while that's very easy to make fun of from a reader's perspective, it's a very admirable quality in a knight. It's the same trajectory Jaime has been on: everything used to be a joke to him, but no longer: Jaime is learning how to shed that shield of humor and to take himself and his honor seriously. Can we begrudge Ser Gerold the same?
Rather than hunting down a villain, Areo Hotah, Obara, and Balon Swann are on Doran's truth-suppression mission. For after all, as Lady Nym pointed out, loose ends make for exposed lies. If I replace some of the names of her cautionary message from The Watcher:
If Gerold Dayne is alive, soon or late the truth will out. If he appears again, Doran Martell will be exposed as a liar before all the Seven Kingdoms. He would be an utter fool to risk that.
And so Doran sends his unbeatable Hotah, with his massive and lethal axe that already killed one Kingsguard and might well kill another. How is Gerold Dayne going to match up against that?
Well, he'll have a great sword.
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mitsubinyuri · 1 month ago
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Fuck it, I'm bored.
Here's why YOU should ship Lornatz !!! 💚💜
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(A needlessly long analysis)
(Note: I will be using she/they pronouns for Ignatz and he/they/she for Lorenz here because of my personal headcanons)
1) canon dynamic
I'll admit there isn't a whole lot of material for these two. We have a C-B support in the FE3H base game and an A support in Three Hopes. In their base game support, it's kind of similar to a few other Ignatz supports: Ignatz does something demonstrating her art talent/good aesthetic eye and then the other character glazes her for like 2 supports and they're like "omg haha what do you mean 😳😳 haha me really? thanks I guess..." On Lorenz's side, it's similar to a few of their other supports as well.
The support itself doesn't seem like anything special at first glance- just another case of Ignatz being all bashful and Lorenz does his "it is a nobles duty to provide guidance to those who need it" thing. Lorenz offers to take Ignatz as a knight into Gloucester service so that Ignatz may both become a knight, as her parents want, and have time to paint and work artistically.
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Now, most of what I consider the substantial part of their canon relationship takes place in the spin off game. Lorenz and Ignatz's A support, given to them in Three Hopes, is a direct follow-up to the events that occurred in their C and B supports. Despite Three Hopes taking place in a different timeline, it is clear that the same general events of their storyline have taken place, and as the war begun, Ignatz has become a Gloucester knight. Regardless of route, at some point during the story, Lorenz will take up their father's place as Count Gloucester (more like Cunt Gloucester am I right cus they slay)
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Now, you aren't able to unlock Lorenz and Ignatz's A support until after the game's short timeskip. After said timeskip, when everyone returns to the camp, you can talk to Ignatz, who will inform Shez that they had been traveling with Lorenz for the last few months. (At least I think I am remembering this correctly. Ignatz's camp dialogue is not fully filled in on their wiki quotes page.)
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Finally, during their A support, Lorenz walks up to Ignatz, who is admiring the view. They begin to talk, and Lorenz comments on how Ignatz has grown and improved herself over the years-- from a bashful little merchant's child to a skilled leader in their role as a general in the army.
(Hubert also makes a similar comment when you fight and recruit Ignatz in Scarlet Blaze, saying something like "that ploy was very smart, we must be up against a talented commander" after Ignatz's trap is sprung. Ignatz basically says "wh-who? Me? 😳😳" after that and it's the funniest thing ever.)
Anyway, tangent aside, Lorenz compliments Ignatz's growth and also says some... definitely not gay things. (Literally one step away from calling them beautiful)
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Lorenz then comments on the fact that Ignatz seems to be much happier now, compared to when they were just staying in Gloucester territory.
Ignatz reveals that the reason they have been feeling more alive is because they had been painting scenery that they viewed along their travels. The moving from place to place for various War Things(tm) may come with the unfortunate duties of battle (which Ignatz does not particularly enjoy), but still has the core travel element that Ignatz desires in their life.
It is at this point that Lorenz aplogizes. They feel as though their offer to take Ignatz into their service all those years ago was actually wrong, as what Ignatz really wanted to do was travel. In her mind, it was another Classic Lorenz Moment where she forces unwanted "help" onto someone because of perceived Noble Duty. Lorenz expresses profound regret for that action.
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Ignatz responds to this by saying that Lorenz doesn't have anything to be sorry for. In fact, Ignatz meets Lorenz's guilt with gratitude for the experience they had working as a knight-- although parts of it were unenjoyable for them, it was an essential experience to them growing as a person, and it colored their perspective on life in a very real and good way.
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2) analysis
Now, after my long ass summary, we move on to the deeper parts of their relationship. As a dynamic, it's not too complex, but it has enough to it for it to be interesting.
One of Lorenz's key traits is her outlook on life, mainly influenced by her father, saying that it it the duty of nobles to wield their power responsibly to help the common people. This worldview can sometimes cause conflicts in their supports (particularly, Leonie comes to mind) and due to FE3H's support system's limitations, it never really changes when it comes to how they act during the actual storyline.
This is a complaint I have with FE3H's writing but not particularly relevant to this post. And I actually think that Lorenz's Ignatz support is one of the better ones regarding this, in that Lorenz doesn't just make an "exception" from their worldview for one specific character. Lorenz regretting her original offer due to feelings of guilt around her perceiving her actions as causing unhappiness feels more natural and personal, and doesn't make it seem odd when she still says her weird, mildly problematic things about class that are baked into the main story's script.
One of Ignatz's main traits is being unsure of herself and feeling resigned to a future she knows she won't enjoy just to please her parents. In many of her supports, the latter of the traits is just addressed by her support partner saying "okay but just be an artist lol" and then her saying "okay maybe" and becoming one in whatever paired ending. Sometimes, it's not even really brought up, and her persuading her parents to let her be an artist is an afterthought in her ending card.
With Ignatz and Lorenz's supports, Ignatz actually undergoes a meaningful journey in figuring out their future. I'm not saying their other supports are bad-- I enjoy them all, and they're all unique and fun in their own ways. But in terms of addressing Ignatz's worries about their future, one of their defining traits, they can be hit or miss. I think that Lorenz's support with them is the best for this, in that is fully paints a picture of a years-long journey for Ignatz to figure out their place in the world. I truly think that this support does a lot for both of their characters.
3) fandom potential
OOH! On to the fun part: what about fanfiction? Fanart? Roleplays?
Well, I have good news for you. This ship is ESPECIALLY rich in fan material potential. As this post is already getting a little too long, I'm going to just put a bullet point list of compelling fic/art/rp ideas below.
It's finally time for Ignatz to leave Gloucester service, following their A support. Lorenz is sad and in his heart wants her to stay, but doesn't want to be an asshole when he knows Ignatz would be happier traveling.
Lorenz realizes, a year or two into Ignatz working as a knight for her father, that she is DOWN BAD. She tries to be smooth with gifts and flowers and such, and Ignatz knows the general usual connotations of such gestures but can't get herself to believe Lorenz would like her like that and tries to fight off her own crush that's now starting to develop.
Years after Ignatz leaves Gloucester service, they return to visit Lorenz and possibly paint something around the area (the gardens? Countryside? Lorenz himself?) Both of them see each other for the first time in years and mutually begin crushing on one another.
Cute few panel comic thing where Ignatz is painting in the courtyard and Lorenz looks down at them from their room (with gay intentions.) Ignatz looks up in passing, sees them, and waves. Then Lorenz is all ehadhahrhshshshs.
Also they're both transfem guys trust...
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That's it! I hope I've convinced at least some of you!
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dkniade · 4 months ago
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Some misc fic recommendations!
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Teyvat scholar, Venti (ft. Traveler)
“Excerpt from the book ‘Brand New Verses From The Bard of Bards’” by threading_in_dreams (@/a-yarn-of-purple-prose)
G, 838 words.
canon-typical fragmented publication, Teyvat scholars have fun but also suffer, Poetry, pretend this is a book you picked up in-game, Traveler/Venti if you squint
Pages from a book in which a historian ponders about scraps of poetry found buried under Windrise, and argues they're part of Barbatos canon.
Very fun if you like Venti’s Archon/human personas, poetry, and piecing together information from in-game books!
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Aether & Paimon (ft. Zhongli)
“Those who share the memories” by liminalpsych (@/liminalpsych-in-teyvat)
G, 3225 words. Fluff and light angst.
Aether POV, scrapbooks, memories, canon complimant, Pre-4.0 update, Liyue Harbor
Stone erodes beneath the fickle breeze and relentless river. Plants wither to be born anew. A flame burns to smoke and ash, and water changes form so often that it forgets even itself. The wind tries hardest of all to forget, fleeing into the far corners of the world to outrun the sands of time.
In the void above, the stars bear lonely witness to mortal memory.
Or: Paimon gets Aether to help her make a scrapbook of their travels. Aether reflects on the weight of witnessing.
Scrapbooking summarizes experiences with many NPCs from World Quests and Archon Quests. This one is kind of structured like an in-game world quest!
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Cyno, Diluc, Rosaria, Kaeya
“It’s Time To Duel!” by StrangeDiamond
G, 6,688 words, humour.
Genius Invokation TCG, misunderstandings
When Sumeru’s General Mahamatra shows up in Mondstadt, announcing his intention to duel the Cavalry Captain, misunderstandings ensue.
Humour from knights and vigilantes taking things too seriously
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Childe/Lumine
“A meteor” by blood_orange_juice (@/blood-orange-juice)
G, 350 words, fluff, character study/analysis.
Childe POV, First Meetings, morbid fluff, morbid fluff should be a genre with these two
A white-clad figure carefully threads her way through the crowd below. She moves like flecks of sunlight on water, without bothering anyone. A sign of someone who is fun to fight and it draws his attention for a while.
Childe and Lumine's first meeting from Childe's POV. No plot, only vibes.
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Shenhe & Xiao, Cloud Retainer & Shenhe
“Like a Pair of Hunting Birds” by yelp
T, 5881 words, hurt/comfort, character study.
found family, trauma, feral child Shenhe, feral ancient Xiao, good and bad ways to manage emotions
"These were granted to me by Cloud Retainer," Shenhe explains, touching the ropes that he appears to be studying. "They bind away my murderous tendencies, as well as human emotion. Two dangerous traits for an adeptus, or for one who walks among them."
Xiao comes a little closer, and circles her. Obligingly, she lifts her hair aside, so he can see the intricate knotwork on her back, and he exhales a sigh or a scoff.
"Shall I unbind you?"
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Xiao/Lumine
“Skin Hunger” by Mythicamagic
T, 2635 words, hurt/comfort, romance.
insecurity, intrusive and self-deprecating thoughts, some descriptions of violence and gore, body worship, established relationship, non-sexual nudity
When immortals fall in love with each other, they have all the time in the world to explore their relationship; but first comes the insecurities. Xiaolumi oneshot.
Has fun parallels with their wings
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familial Diluc & Kaeya, Adelinde, Klee, Lisa, Jean
“blinded by love” by li2
G, 6481 words, hurt/comfort, angst with happy ending.
Kaeya POV, unreliable narrator, misunderstandings, temporary invisibility, familial kiss, fluff, skinship & physical touch, sharing a bed
Diluc suddenly becomes unable to see Kaeya. Thinking it’s just Diluc’s usual hatred for him, Kaeya doesn't suspect anything wrong.
Kaeya’s POV for the first half hurts so much but the second half is sweet😭
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Lumine, Paimon, familial Diluc & Kaeya
“Lamp Grass Guides You Home” by StrangeDiamond
Gen, 6387 words, fluff, light angst.
souvenirs. Chapter 2 has brief mentions of pain, starvation, and violence
After scrambling to cobble together a gift before their Jade Chamber visit, Lumine gets the idea to start collecting small gifts and souvenirs, so she'll always have something to give if she needs to.
Kaeya is the first one she goes to for advice, and he has a lot of good ideas for things she can collect and make, using Mondstadt's regional specialties. He even tells her about a certain souvenir he was once gifted - a charm made of Small Lamp Grass, encased in resin, that he unfortunately lost when he moved. There's a bit more to the story, Lumine learns, when she sets out to make one for him to replace it. There's history linked to the charm Kaeya lost . . . but there are also new memories to be made going forward.
A sweet one about making and receiving gifts
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Zhongli/Venti, Venti & Diluc (ft. misc adventurers)
“I need to tell him (I can’t tell him)” by asingleqingxin
T, 1949 words, angst, major character death.
Venti POV, mentions Istaroth, set during Chapter 1 Act I’s Rite of Descension, Venti doesn’t know Zhongli faked his death, misunderstanding played for drama, grief, dissociation, Venti loses grip on time period briefly
Oh, that's not good news.
He needs to tell Morax.
...he can't tell Morax.
OR
When the rumors about the Rite of Descension hit Mondstadt.
Angst and misunderstanding from the canon event written from Venti’s POV in Mondstadt
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raxistaicho · 6 months ago
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find it funny the edelcrits are still going after you and this red character. How did u get looped in racist accusations, didn't one of them write that one horrid throuple fanfiction that was racist af to Claude and a total character annihilation of edelgard or is it someone else away from their circle?
Good luck as always
No, you're thinking of Reynaattheend, she's on the same wavelength in terms of analysis of the game, but since she's not on Tumblr (to the best of my knowledge anyways) I wouldn't call her an Edelcrit.
Her fic is pretty dang yikesy though, featuring such wonderful features as,
some Nabateans leaving Fodlan to go "fix" other nations and being the apparent source of all religions (not beating the colonizer allegations at all)
Dimitri being a white savior for Claude
Byleth struggling with her emotions to hysterical woman levels and constantly relying on her two boyfriends to save her from almost getting herself killed (to give an example, Byleth struggles for page upon page against the Death Knight only for Dimitri to show up and one-shot him)
Just... everything to do with Edelgard
The Agarthans and Almyrans, despite their cultures very strongly and clearly leaning Greek and Persian, having German and Japanese as their languages, as though Reyna just thought any foreign language was as good as any other.
Byleth taking measures to hide Rhea's knowing distortion of Fodlan's history.
Sothis's destruction of two city states being lauded as a good thing for which holidays should be thrown (because I guess it was a Sodom and Gomorrah situation where literally every living soul in both cities were evil and deserving of death, meaning double genocide is heroic!)
Characters just swearing constantly because I guess she thinks that makes the fic more mature
Really glad to see people are starting to treat her fanfic with a more skeptical eye, I've done my bit to help push things along there.
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olenvasynyt · 9 months ago
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Does Azriel have a hero complex?
So I think a lot of SJM characters have a hero complex (Rhys and Aelin especially) but I want to talk about Az specifically because I think it is an essential part of his character.  
Now since barely get any POVs with Az we do not really know the inner workings of his mind and almost everything that we know about him is from other characters’ perspectives.  So this is all based on my interpretation of him and his actions, and not every action he makes is a result of a hero complex.  And I also don’t have a psychology degree or anything like that this is just for fun and a savior complex is not something you can diagnose anyway.  This is just a character analysis!  It’s fun.
Saving people
The basic definition of a hero complex is the constant need to save people.  Most people think of the knight and damsel in distress when a hero complex is mentioned, and this is true with Az: he has rescued Mor and Elain and Gwyn.  And rescuing people is of course part of it, but it’s a lot more intricate than just that; there are tons of other tendencies someone with a savior complex can have, and I personally think Az has tons of these tendencies.
2. very perceptive and sympathetic
A person with a hero complex is very perceptive and sympathetic.  They’re usually drawn to people who’ve had a lot of trauma.  They have a lot of empathy for others who are suffering.  They’re good at knowing what a person needs.  
You see this when he teaches Feyre to fly: he offers his backstory on how he learned and his love for the Nephelle philosophy to sympathize with her and this is actually the first time we hear Az talk a bit about his own past.  He is very sympathetic and perspective with Elain.  In ACOWAR he’s very quiet and courteous with her and offers to take her to see the garden.
I really like this quote: 
Page 334 of ACOWAR: It made sense, I supposed, that Azriel alone had listened to her.  The male who heard things others could not…Perhaps he too had suffered as Elain before he understood what gift he possessed.
3. Doing the dirty but necessary work
A person with a hero complex does the dirty but necessary work that most people don’t want to do.  I would argue that being the court torture-master is doing the dirty work.  And Rhys’ father used him and his shadow abilities when he was alive and high lord, and he is part of Rhys’ inner circle so he is important and he votes on things, etc, but he still does the dirty work, he does the spying and the torturing.
Quote on page 175 of ACOMAF: “It’s hard to tell with him—and he’d never tell me.  I’ve witnessed Cassian rip apart opponents and then puke his guts up once the carnage stopped, sometimes mourn over them.  But Azriel…Cassian tries, I try…but I think the only person who ever gets him to admit his feelings is Mor.  And that’s only when his infinite patience runs out.”
Cassian says Rhys’ father ”kept [Az] for himself as his personal shadowsinger—mostly for spying and dirty work.” 
And you can’t really tell if as likes this work but it is important.  
In ACOMAF page 288:  ”Does he mind what he does?  Not the spying, I mean.  What he did to the Attor today.” ”It’s hard to tell with him—and he’d never tell me.  I’ve witnessed Cassian rip apart opponents and then puke his guts up once the carnage stopped, sometimes mourn over them.  But Azriel…Cassian tries, I try…but I think the only person who ever gets him to admit his feelings is Mor.  And that’s only when his infinite patience runs out.”
4. Dismissing their own needs/pain, neglecting self-care
And that sort of brings me to my next point: 
They dismiss their own needs and continue to help others even if it negatively impacts them.  Not only does he keep secrets about his past, but he doesn’t like when people worry about him.
ACOMAF page 288: ”Are you worried about Az going to the mortal lands tomorrow?”  ”Of course I am.  But Azriel has infiltrated places far more harrowing than a few mortal courts.  He’d find my worrying insulting.”
He works really hard and that’s another huge thing with a savior / hero complex.  He works himself so hard to the point where his friends worry for him.
Page 376 ACOMAF: ”Getting Azriel to take any time for himself that didn’t involve work or training was nearly impossible.”
He often wants to go into battle even when he was injured.
Quote from ACOWAR page 610:  ”The argument with Rhys this morning had been swift and brutal: Azriel insisted he could fly—fight with they legions….Rhys refused…Azriel threatened to slip into shadow and fight anyway.  Rhys merely said that if he so much as tried, he’d chain him to a tree…It was only when Mor had begged him that he relented.”
5. Emotional and psychological burnout
And all of this leads to burnout which is a huge thing with Az.  He’s obviously very broody, and he suppresses his feelings, works really hard doing very laborious and traumatizing things and this leads to burnout.  We have evidence of this from not only his broodiness and quietness,
Page 293 of ACOMAF: Az gets back from the mortal realm, he’s described as needing to “return and assess…assess—and brood, it seemed, since Azriel had barely managed a polite hello to me before launching into sparring with Rhysand, his face grim and tight.” Used sparring to ”help work off his frustration”.
but physically too with the headaches that he gets.
Page 186 of ACOFAS:  “I had Madja make it for me.  It’s a powder to mix in with any drink…it’s for the headaches everyone always gives you.  Since you rub your temples too often.”
6. Low self-esteem, need for perfection
He doesn’t think he’s good enough, he doesn’t think his work is enough, he doesn’t think his ’heroic actions’ are enough.  You can see this with his spies; he wants his spying to be perfect to help people and help his High Lord. 
Page 376 ACOMAF: —the frustration of not being able to get his spies or himself into those courts took a toll on him.  The standards to which he held himself, [Mor] confided in me, bordered on sadistic. 
(this also contributes to the fact that he pushes himself too hard)
ACOMAF 205-206, Rhys says  ”I don’t trust this information, even with your sources…”  ”They can be trusted,” Azriel said with quiet steel, his scarred hands clenching at his leather-clad sides.  ”We aren’t taking risks where this is concerned,” Rhys merely said.  He held Azriel’s stare, and I could almost hear the silent words Rhys added, It is no judgement or reflection on you, Az.  Not at all. But Azriel yielded no tinge of emotion as he nodded, his hands unfurling. ”So what do we have planned?” Mor cut in—perhaps for Az’s sake.
Everyone understands he has low self esteem.
Page 256 ACOMAF: ”He set down his fork, blinking.  I might even called him self-conscious.”
And in ACOWAR Rhys says he doesn’t think he’s good enough for Mor.
Page 460 of ACOWAR:  Feyre: ”But—he loves her.  How can he sit idly by?” Rhys: ”He thinks she’s happier without him…he thinks he’s unworthy of her.”
I go back and forth between if he thinks he’s deserving of Elain or not, because this quote says he isn’t worthy,
ACOSF bonus chapter: “She looked up at him, her face so trusting and hopeful and open that he knew she had no idea that he had done unspeakable things that sullied his hands far beyond their  scars.  Such terrible things that it was a sacrilege for his fingers to skin, tainting her with his presence.  But he could have this. This one moment, and maybe a taste, and that would be it.”
but another quote in the bonus chapter implies so does think he’s worthy but I’ll talk about that later.
7. Guilt and overthinking
Az seems to often feel guilty when one of the plans goes wrong; he thinks he didn’t do as much as he could have.
Page 346 of ACOWAR:  ”Hybern had made its grand move at last.  And we had not anticipated it.  I knew Azriel would take the blame upon himself.  One look at the shadowsinger…told me he already did.”
He may have felt guilty for not reaching Cassian in time when he was gutted fighting that Hybern commander in ACOWAR
Page 543 of ACOWAR:  ”’By the time Az got there, he was down.’ Azriel’s face was stone-cold, even as his hazel eyes fixed unrelentingly upon that knitting wound.”
He might feel guilty for not helping Mor enough with Az, and he also feels guilty for keeping Rhys’ plan to let Keir into Velaris a secret.
Page 414 of ACOWAR:  "Whether [Mor] knew that though she’d tried to move past the bargain we’d made, the guilt of it still haunted Azriel, she didn’t let on.”
And when Eris calls More a slut, Az attacks him violently and Feyre has to call him off.  And I think this was a telling sign of his guilt:  
Page 429 of ACOWAR: 
”As Azriel turned his face toward me—The frozen rage rooted me to the spot.  But beneath it, I could almost see the images that haunted him: the hand Mor had yanked away, her weeping, distraught face as she had screamed at Rhys.”
He defends people to make up for his guilt, which sort of brings me to my next point:
8. Issues with overstepping boundaries and self-efficacy
I’m not talking about him kissing Elain in the bonus chapter and overstepping the boundaries of her mating bond with Lucien.  I’m talking about how a person with a hero complex oversteps and takes on other people’s responsibilities/problems.  With self-efficacy, a person with a hero complex might unintentionally undermine someone’s self-efficacy by not allowing them to face and overcome challenges on their own.
And he doesn’t do this all the time. In fact there are situations, specifically emotional situations that don’t pertain to him, that he walks away from and he goes ” That’s not my business.”
But you see this with Mor a lot, he is super defensive for Mor: when Eris calls her a slut during the High Lord’s meeting, he attacks him and chokes him out.  He jumps to her defense all the time even when she doesn’t ask for it.
He also refuses Elain’s offer to look for the Trove in ACOSF:
Page 311 of ACOSF: “We do not have the time to wait for Nesta to decide.  I say we approach Elain tomorrow.  Better to have both of them working on it.” Azriel stiffened, an outright sign of temper from him as he said quietly, “There is an innate darkness to the Dread Trove that Elain should not be exposed to.”
9. Fear of abandonment and rejection
And all of this pertaining to the hero complex, including overstepping boundaries, continuously helping, etc can be because of their fear of rejection.  A person with a savior complex fears being alone so they continuously help others to ensure their relationship continues.
Az actually tried to bring up his feelings for Mor after he rescues her from the Autumn court border and she leaves (talk about bad timing AZ) but I feel like Az hasn’t brought up his love for Mor because he fears rejection and also because of his low self-esteem.
Mor often has an argument with Rhys and he turns to Az to defend her and often he’s hesitant.  
Page 186 of ACOWAR:  Mor whipped her head to Azriel.  ”What do you think?”  The shadowsinger held her stare, his face unreadable.  Considering.  I tried not to hold my breath.  Defending the female he loved or siding with his High Lord…”It’s not my call to make.” ”That’s a bullshit answer,” Mor challenged.   ”I could have sworn hurt flickered in Azriel’s eyes, but he only shrugged.
You see this with his guilt that I brought up before with not doing enough to stop Hybern from attacking in ACOWAR, and his guilt over not telling Mor about their plan with Kier and Eris and letting Keir have access to Velaris.  
And this is an excellent quote:
Page 460 of ACOWAR:  ”There will come a day when Azriel has to decide if he is going to fight for her or let her go.  And it won’t be because some other male insults her or beds her.”
And he probably fears rejection from Elain.
10. A need for validation
Now another tendency a person with a savor complex can have is the need for validation, they want acknowledgment for the good things they’ve done, and this can lead to resentment if they are acknowledged.
And I don’t necessarily think this is Az, I feel like he would just say that helping is his job, being spymaster is his job, saving people is his job” but you can see in the bonus chapter of Silver Flames when Rhys asks him if he thinks he deserves Elain as a mate, he says ”I don’t think Lucien will be good enough for him” which in my opinion implies that Az thinks he is more heroic / more worthy of having Elain as a mate and sees Lucien as a coward.
ACOSF bonus chapter: “The Cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it's possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters, yet the third was given to another.” “You believe you deserve to be her mate?"   “I think Lucien will never be good enough for her…”
There are obviously tons of other aspects of a hero complex beside a knight rescuing a damsel that I think apply to Az; he is a super traumatized and I think his hero complex / heroism in general is a result of that.
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qwuilty · 2 months ago
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It's been almost a year or so of CAD/A&D fixation so you know what that means. Obligatory classpecting. Admittedly it is late so I can't fully write up a full analysis as to Why for the classpects but the basics are:
Ethan - Witch of Hope: Initially I leaned more towards Ethan being a Page or an Heir of Hope as he has a heavy focus on the ideas of Heroism and the morality involved with that, however I feel that those classes feel a bit too passive for Ethan, Ethan very much believes in his conviction and wants to see the good in people and makes that effort to change other's mindsets, feeling more fitting for the manipulation aspect of the Witch class
Lucas - Knight of Blood: Knights both tend to protect their element while also being insecure about them and I think especially with these more recent pages, Lucas struggles mostly with opening up to his friends and his interpersonal relationships. He's very protective of his friends and is willing to (almost self destructively) risk his own life for their sake but also fears being judged and hurt, leading to him not having that many bonds that the Blood aspect is more about than Heart which I considered for him. Also just him usually being the one who puts himself in the most physical risk and tends to bleed for the ones he loves literally
Scott - Prince of Void: OK so hear me out. I initially thought Mage of Void or potentially Seer of Void but after some thinking I believe the Prince class would be more interesting for his previous developments. Scott struggles immensely with the fear of the unknown and the damage that comes with that, so in ghosting Light he seeks out knowledge and understanding, clinging to what he understands already to be "true" (That sentient artificial life is impossible and if possible, is a risk to everyone he loves) and ultimately utilizes Void as a weapon while trying to destroy Void. (Lying to Lucas and especially Ethan because he believed they were at risk because of that uncertain future that could have lead to them getting hurt, of which became self fulfilling in a way)
Again I could probably write a more complex / through reasoning post but for now. ✨️ Them ✨️
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ohandcounting · 1 year ago
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Oblivion Theory / Pile of Snow Theory by WandyDoodles / @wandydoodles
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Oblivion Theory link
It's a good read! Go read it! It's way faster than 190 pages looks like because the font is big and plenty of pictures too. Almost like reading a comic book level of difficulty to focus, I like it a lot. My specific thoughts below the read more
I think this is potentially dead on for at least the symbolism that's going on, though it's still probable to me that there is also an "in-universe" angel. I'm also not sure if I agree with the assumption that the red soul we pilot is special beyond it being a human soul either? Like, there's no reason (YET) to believe that a different human couldn't also seal fountains just from their soul being able to float around in dark worlds like ours does. (like the Susie jail escape, Ferris wheel, literally every battle, etc.) Like, they could just be a magician like those dudes who did a big magic barrier in Deltarune.
On the ending thoughts: I was going to add that Sans' could be talking about Flowey, but...No. Flowey hasn't revealed himself to anyone except us in this timeline. How the hell would he know our type if not from something that happens in DR?! I never noticed it before! Flowey does explain other dialog, like "our reports showing timelines jumping around" and what not even if you did Geno first run/on a true reset. It's why I never thought about it before.
The proposal for The Vessel being The Knight seems very, hard to believe at first. I'm still not settled on it myself, but: The Vessel could be mistaken for Kris if they throw on a hood maybe? "There's that creepy Kris going to the library. We're used to our 1 human in town!" With a lot of characters showing a knowledge on what's going to happen (like Jevil) they might just know when to go do things already without raising suspicion. Only appearing when Kris wouldn't, and/or slipping by without people seeing. It's interesting to me that they never bothered addressing that tbh. I wonder if it's just something they couldn't explain well so rather than bringing it up, they're just hoping we explain it ourselves/wait for new chapter dialog to confirm this.
I am 100% sold on the knight not wanting to end the world though, I've been calling it the "Conspiracy Theory Theory" where the Bad Guy™ is not the Bad Guy™ but rather someone trying to make us Stronger so we can help fight The Really Bad Guy™ (like Kill La Kill kind of[the 10th anniversary was recent, so it's just the only example I can think of atm.]) It gets that ridiculous name because I believe MANY characters are in on it, including Kris themselves, Ralsei, The Red Soul, The Knight, Goner Maker Sequence Voices 1 & 2, Mystery Man, Geoff, Gaster, etc. Pretty much everyone who could be except Susie.
The save file analysis is wrong I feel? When Flowey takes over the save file, that is a veteran with literal near-godlike powers who knows how to manipulate saves. He hasn't had control for 9999:99 yet, despite what the timer shows. That info could be missing for Kris because we weren't there when it was made, what we use to see save file information shows what's missing because it literally doesn't know how long Kris has had that save nor where it was made. We get to see the name because we're in their body though. Like we see empty save files, and they're just empty. After a true reset? It's just empty, just like erasing a file in Deltarune. Kris having ANY information means something more than "just to establish you as a separate entity even harder than Undertale." Especially if the cut intro of Susie trying to wake us up is still hinting towards something like a timeloop being canon. (instead of being cut because it's not longer true)
Save file part 2 break in paragraph for easier reading: It might also be because Kris doesn't have the soul they made that save with anymore, if you're a Kris Is Toy Knife Kid Equivalent Truther like me.
It also falls for the trap of thinking what Chara says at the end of genocide is strictly a metanarrative statement, not something Chara believes will be possible. In a game where characters consistently say things that apply both in and out of universe, which I've never liked. Like Flowey after restarting the game after in TPE talking to both: 1.) us in the meta, but believes he is giving his parting words to 2.) Chara IN universe.
But like everything with depth, people are gonna make mistakes. Especially mistakes they don't think are mistakes and are much simpler answers without constant "catches" and clarifications. It's kind of like explaining King Crimson to people, where I'm the only person to do it right. (not a serious statement)
They also point to Mettaton's nebulous "Ratings" when mentioning the amount of monsters in the underground, instead of the echo flower where it's stated there's literally thousands of monsters??? This is something I see people do all the time?
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alicent-vi-britannia · 1 year ago
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Talking a bit about Kallen's story arc
I came across a comment on Reddit not long ago (in case you don't know, it's a nest of C.C. fanboys) saying that Kallen was overrated since she had nothing beyond her relationship with Lelouch and the episode with her mom. It is not the first time I have read an opinion like that, although, fortunately, it is not very frequent.
Actually, Kallen does have a character arc. It's just that it's developed in a very subtle way. And by that I mean that I didn't realize what it was the second or third time I watched Code Geass, but much later. This is because the series doesn't tell you directly, they show it to you. I understood it better after reading Kallen's poem. Everything she says there is in the series. But they don't explain it to you with words like in the poem. The same thing happened to me with Euphemia's little story arc (yes, she has one of her own).
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At its core, Kallen's story arc is about transitioning from a reckless and immature girl who finds herself adrift to a selfless heroine with a purpose that transcends her. It is a coming-age story in all its definition. In that sense, it is essentially similar to the Lelouch arc as the rebellion brings out the best version of themselves. This is compassion, empathy, altruism. It's not very noticeable because Kallen isn't Machiavellian like Lelouch is, although she is just as pragmatic. One of the best samples you have of Kallen's development is in the penultimate episode of the first season.
In the early episodes, Kallen is deeply concerned with protecting her identity to the point that she does not hesitate to take risky actions that include killing others. But, in this penultimate episode, when the members of the Student Council refuse to obey the Black Knights thinking that they would harm them, Kallen unmasks herself before them to calm them down and ask them to trust them. Kallen prioritized the safety of her friends over her secret. The thing is that she had already done it before. By Zero. Kallen comes out of her Guren to ask Suzaku to let Zero go in episode 18 of the first season. She again places more importance on the safety of her leader than her identity. The difference between the two moments is that she calmly makes the decision to reveal herself in episode 24. That was not her last option as it was in episode 18.
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You'd think there wouldn't be any further development for Kallen in season two. But it's not true and, personally and based on Kallen's poem, I like to see her relationship with Lelouch as a temptation for her (temptation in the sense that it can lead her astray). Characters in visual media are often built on two pillars: what they want versus what they need, and up until that point, Kallen hadn't had to choose because the choice was so clear. That is, she had not faced a challenge. By the end, however, she must choose between the boy she loves and doing the right thing, and though Lelouch helps her choose the latter by keeping quiet about his feelings, Kallen decides of her own free will to do the right thing and, by extension, embrace her identity, her values and her brother's dream. Not caring that Lelouch has returned the kiss. Also in this second season Kallen is consolidated as the best Knightmare pilot of the series. Her most badass moments are here (and there are still people who have the nerve to say that she was relegated to the background; sorry, man, you're talking about C.C.).
I would like in the remote future to both write an individual analysis of Kallen as well as an analysis of her (misconstrued) relationship with Lelouch. On my Code Geass Facebook page I do it in Spanish and I use this space to address the international community. Now I am watching Code Geass again with a good channel of reactions on YouTube (since 2020 I have imposed the tradition of watching Code Geass once a year and with them I will fulfill my purpose for this 2023...) . I will see what new things I will discover now. I discovered what I have just told you on my return visit last year.
Fans only complain about her fanservice, spit on her relationship with Lelouch, accuse her of things she never did, and judge her harshly. They never take Kallen seriously. I want to be the first to do it, if no one with good analytical skills does it.
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giftofclasspects · 7 months ago
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omg hi i'm here for a session analysis (no rush tho dw) we've got a derse Page of Time, prospit Mage of Space, prospit Knight of Life, prospit Rogue of Blood, and a derse Prince of Rage (ps keep up the great work 👍)
this session is going to be on the struggle bus!!!
a page of time? working with a mage of space to make a genesis frog? GOOD LUCK. its going to take them AGES, especially long if the page can't manage to properly tap into their time power.
a knight of life is actually a fairly good healer to have? i wouldnt say theyre up there with maid or sylph, but i do definitely think they're at LEAST a tier
rogue of blood is going to be very awkward at potentially leading their team. i think they're a good fit TO guide the team, but they've got to REALLY tap into it and embrace their potential.
the prince of rage can be very hit or miss. but i mean hey, at least they'll destroy chaos and negativity...? ha...ha...
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swallowerofdharma · 2 years ago
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What Guts is for Griffith
a dispassionate analysis written for a better understanding of both characters and of Berserk
Part 5: If you have something to protect, take up that sword
A while ago, after rereading volume 22 and the two chapters about Serpico and Farnese’s backstory, I had to go back to look at the chapters in the Golden Age arc dedicated to Casca. There are many similarities in how those stories are told. And I had to reassess my understanding of the general role of Casca in the story. She is fundamentally a secondary character, regardless of her being on focus in very significant - and unforgettable - moments of Berserk. When she tells her story to Guts - in the cave where they found refuge during the battle against the Blue Whale Knights - she is mostly explaining how she joined the band of the Hawk and how her relationship with Griffith developed from hero worship to genuine care. In the same way, Serpico remembers his story in connection with Farnese. Both Casca and Serpico come to understand some fundamental characteristics, hidden for most other people, about their counterparts, and by telling Guts / the readers they are attracting our attention to Griffith and Farnese’s very complex and contradictory personalities, rather than themselves. Even if Serpico is a good character and has his moments where he takes action, he mostly supports Farnese’s character. In the same way, Casca has almost always been a support in Griffith’s story and she will continue to be so in Guts’s one. Her secondary role is more a choice of effective storytelling than something related to gender, but I understand that the scarcity of female characters, especially in the first part of Berserk, makes her a focal point regardless.
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While discussing Charlotte, I was saying how there is a habit of criticizing female characters more harshly. We separate them especially, to look and analyze how they are treated, but in doing so there is the risk of losing sight of the story itself, of its economy. Even as a form of criticism, paying attention to how characters are presented solely or especially based on gender can be deceiving and can weigh more on female or non-binary characters. Casca is very interesting for a lot of reasons. I don’t see her only as an example of the various - often flat - representations of the strong woman, the warrior whose competence, strength and ability are equal or better of those of men. Casca was a twelve year old girl that found herself joining a mercenary band in a situation quite extreme: she says she can’t go back to her village because she killed the nobleman who took her. Her words alone won’t be heard in the face of the death of a higher member of society. And she doesn’t want to be a burden on her family, or go back after her father agreed to sell her to a stranger. Casca’s choice is also tied to the first mesmerizing impression she has of Griffith: “So strange… it was as if the image of some saint adorning the wall of my village church had just come to life. (…) I thought god had taken pity on this miserable, powerless girl and sent an angel”. At the start of Casca Chapter 2, before being woken up by Guts, she is dreaming about that first encounter - the dream is in the chapter title page. In it Griffith is on his horse saying: “Whether you come along or not is your decision. You know how to fight already, don’t you?” And in Casca’s mind the word “But…” is repeated three times. The objection comes from a place inside Casca where she is acknowledging that it wasn’t much of a choice, rather than circumstances. Casca isn’t a soldier because that was her aspiration all along, she takes on the sword and all that comes with it, the threats of violence and certain attitudes of the enemy, the patronizing and the hostility. What should be an empowering choice also exposes her more likely to dangers and humiliation. In Casca’s character too there are complexities and depth, duplicity and contradictions. Meeting Griffith was an opportunity to change not only her circumstances but also the way she looked at the world: “The land was barren, and we couldn’t really grow much besides oats. Even so, we were bled dry by taxes for the war effort. (…) Because the village was near the border, it was often involved in skirmishes. When that happened, all we could do was hide in the mountains and watch silently as our houses and fields were ravaged. It was just like with any other village… We were used to being robbed and walked over. I too thought that such a way of life was just natural”. When she is assaulted by the nobleman, she tries to run, but after being caught and being overpowered, she stops fighting, giving up: “I can’t help it. It’s natural… Those two ideas were always in my heart to help me stay connected to reality”. A reality that she can’t change until being confronted with an alternative to the passive acceptance of a natural way of things: “If you have something to protect take up that sword”.
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Fighting to try and oppose this natural order because it is unjust, because there are things worth protecting and fighting for: Griffith is the embodiment of this idea in the Golden Age, before being confronted with the death of a child soldier. There isn’t something intrinsically evil in the decision to fight, but it is a choice that comes with hard consequences: “Everything changed that day. How I thought, how I lived. Everything… From a life I continually endured to a life of fighting to succeed. The paltry dining table by the fire, with my family around became a glorious battlefield adjoined by death and blood. Since that day… the day I met Griffith, I… even now, I feel it’s been one long dream”. There are multiple other instances in Berserk of people referring to the events that surround Griffith as being inside a dream but any dream can shift to become a nightmare. Casca finds herself living the violent life of a man at war while being a woman - “I somehow carved out a life as a soldier” - and she can’t really reconcile that inner-outer duality or the life she lives and the nature of her feelings. That “But…” that repeated in her mind when Griffith asked: “You know how to fight already, don’t you?” - “But… you were the one… who gave me the sword and the blanket”. Casca’s entry to a world of fighting is tied to her feelings for Griffith. Even after she abandons the idolized version of the beginning, she finds even more reasons to tie herself to him: “It’s not that he is strong. Griffith… has to make himself strong. I want to be by his side. If he is going to sacrifice everything for his dream… if his dream is to fight and cut away his own path then I want to be his sword”.
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Casca finds some fulfillment not in the opportunity to behave like a man and fight and carve out her own life, but in her feelings and in supporting and caring for another: “Having Griffith trust me deeply made me realize my own worth. I want to be something he can’t do without in achieving his dream”. And that can be seen as a way to live a life less authentic, or dependent on another, but as the story of Berserk evolved, deeper value is given to the love and care for others, to compassion and supporting other people. It doesn’t really matter who takes the role of caring for others, men, women, all people are called to answer for those shared human needs. And, in this particular moment of the story, Casca is acknowledging something that Guts doesn’t fully understand: “Griffith relies on you, you know? And yet you are selfish, you just run off, not thinking of consequences…” The emotional outburst, the other things that Casca is saying and not saying, the mixed accusations and her jealousy and resentment are meddling with the urgency of those words. They impact on Guts like on a wall, what was important to take away gets lost: from now on Guts will rather try to get Casca closer to Griffith, to make Griffith notice her instead of understanding the importance of his own place beside Griffith. Guts’s mind is already occupied by what he took away from overhearing Griffith’s speech to Charlotte about friends and equals. His perception of being unworthy, or having to achieve a dream of his own are already taking him further away from the role of being the person who Griffith can rely on. On one hand, Guts is thinking in those traditional terms of being men, of accomplishing something to be seen as valuable rather than offering emotional support and affection, but, on the other hand, he is affected by a sense of inadequacy and inferiority, having understood that Casca too has found her own dream and bigger purpose: “Compared to what you’re doing… me fighting with a hundred men doesn’t really matter”.
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Even when Casca shares with Guts details about Griffith’s personal struggles and his most private and vulnerable side, he chooses to believe that after all Casca is the one more suited to stay at Griffith’s side and starts to care for her, reinforcing her motivations for surviving the fight against the Blue Whale Knights that tracked them down. He will defend her, covering for her and convincing her to flee: “…This right by you? Dying in a place like this? Here, this worthless place. Is this where it ends for you? Is what you want that cheap? A sword returns to the sheath, right? Go back. Go to your sword master… Go to Griffith”.
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More about Guts, Casca and Griffith on a later date. There is so much to say, these posts are going to be long and I am trying to be brief…
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ask-the-witch-of-mind · 14 hours ago
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Hi! Could you do a session analysis for my friends and I?
Knight of Hope (Prospit)
Rogue of Void (Derse)
Page of Space (Derse)
Heir of Mind (Prospit)
Bard of Heart (Derse)
Witch of Light (Prospit)
(You can replace the Witch with a Seer of Time if it's absolutely needed for the session to be successful, that classpect also works. Otherwise, how fucked are we anyway?)
Thank you!
h0ly shit 8O!!
i personally have a bit of theory that a session can go WITHOUT a time player BUT, everything else in the session would have to go perfect. (or at least good enough-)
i believe out of some of my research on the knight of hope that they can create weapons based on hope and/or religion. also with some in-cannon examples, knights are shown to either not think of their aspect as "useful" or just completely ignore their aspect.
the rogue of void is quite useful! as we see in-cannon, roxy can take things from nothing (eg: the orb that kanaya got from slicing her lusus, i forgot its name) which saves the trolls from extinction. chances are the rogue on your team can get almost anything.
the witch of light can manipulate things related to light, like fortune, luck and knowledge. they could possibly enhance your team's luck and what-not. witches of light are also very active in their session, like taking out the derse royalty, keeping their team's luck high and killing imps.
pages of space are actually quite powerful (believe it or not) pages of space can hand over their space powers for a temporary amount of time. if the page of space is persuaded to the side of evil or they give their powers to the wrong person, the session could perhaps scratch. (especially if the session had a witch of time who isn't exactly the best person) pages of space can teleport their team across vast distances of land, create objects for other to use and of course their also on genesis frog duty.
the heir of mind would inspire logic and rationality in those around them, proctecting others from trickery and embodying mind. they tend to brag a bit about being a mind player (and just about their intelligence in general) they'll probably always have a plan for something, whether that be for some random sidequest or the entire session. (another thing id like to mention is that they like pranking, not really important but i think its nice)
bards of heart have the ability to manipulate people using their emotions, leading people to completely destroy their sense of self, warping their perception on who and who isnt an enemy. theu could possibly change someone so much that when they die, it's labelled as a "just death" instead of a heroic death.
id say you and team would be fineeeeee 8P
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danothan · 1 year ago
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God your dc thoughts are so good like you do amazing art but also your interpretations and analysis' of things are so cool and you phrase everything in such good digestible ways augh!!!! Thank you for the rambles they're the bestest ever they make me proud to be involved in a media/franchise that invites such in depth readings and in a fandom that has such talented people to do those readings!!! Ahh!! That being said do you have any Hal reading suggestions I've read enough Barry to have him constantly circling in my head but my knowledge on Hal stuff is pitiful in comparison so if you have any recs that'd be greatly appreciated keep up what you do thank you AHHH
i need to die rn so this can make it into the eulogy. i can’t even begin to describe how touched i am, so. i won’t. but just Know.
and i’ll gladly give you a list of what i have!! i’ve barely touched on most of them tho, so i can’t give a firsthand review for each one. quite truthfully, i am very apprehensive of GL titles in general, but these are the ones i enjoyed or have a good feeling abt!:
- Emerald Twilight (MANDATORY)
- Spectre 2001 (MANDATORY)
- Green Lantern: Darkseid War (essential to me but not mandatory)
- Green Lantern: Secret Origin (essential to me but if you have a low tolerance for geoff johns feel free to finish at the backstory + skip to the last couple pages that close it off)
- Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax (this one was a rec, apparently it’s not that good but does have some very important character moments for hal?)
- Green Lantern 1990 #40-42 (also a rec, dunno much abt this but i was told that i’d like it!)
- New Frontier 2004 (justice league stuff!)
- Green Lantern: Earth One (fun astronaut hal au! i hear it makes the supporting cast ooc but hal has a pretty strong character study)
- Flash/Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold (MANDATORY for halbarry)
- The Flash: Fastest Man Alive #10 “Burnout” (hal makes an appearance to cheer up his bud!)
- edit: Green Lantern: Willworld (also a rec!)
- edit: Green Lantern: Knight Terrors (disappointing to many, incredibly important to me. on a personal level.)
i hope this helps or at least guides you in the right direction! ik i’m missing some pretty classic ones but i have no experience with them myself, even in passing, so i don’t feel qualified to recommend them. enjoy your hal reading journey, and thank you again for the kind words! seriously, made my day :”)
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aortaobservatory · 1 year ago
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Classpects and their Inverses
-aortaObservatory
As it turns out, my analysis has led me to believe that inverse classpects are intrinsically important to the main classpect. They should be considered when classpecting, because they're often what pushes a player into their true classpect. They function as a sort of a trial for the player.
Not to say that the inverse classpect will automatically harm a player, but it has the potential to, especially if a player isn't quite balanced or stable yet. Failing the inverse classpect's trial will likely lead to harmful consequences to the psyche (see Gamzee, Bard of Rage (inverse: Sylph of Hope),). It very much depends on the personality of the player, and possibly whether or not they have a good support system around them.
All who have been around the block are aware of the inverse aspect pairs (Light/Void, Mind/Heart, Time/Space, ect). After analyzing the classes, I've come to determine that the classes have inverse pairs as well, and they come in three sets of four.
The classes I have analyzed come in three sets, each containing four classes, ordered in active/passive order.
Mage/Seer: Understand - Too Much/Little Experience with Aspect
Witch/Heir: Change - Too Little/Much Embodiment of Aspect
The Mage who actively Knows counters the Heir who passively Changes.
The Witch who actively Changes counters the Seer who passively Knows.
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Knight/Page: Utilize - Too Much/Little Skill with Aspect
Thief/Rogue: Allocate - Too Little/Much Value towards Aspect
The Knight who actively Utilizes counters the Rogue who passively Allocates.
The Thief who actively Allocates counters the Page who passively Utilizes.
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Sylph/Maid: Enhance - Too Much/Little Reliance on Aspect
Prince/Bard: Destroy - Too Little/Much Obedience of Aspect
The Sylph who actively Enhances counters the Bard who passively Destroys.
The Prince who actively Destroys counters the Maid who passively Enhances.
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I suppose it's more obvious with the enhancer/destroyer classes. However, I'm convinced that this pattern holds true for not just the enhancer/destroyer classes, but for the remaining eight classes as well.
These inverse classpects are intrinsically important to the journey a player takes to discover their true classpect.
For example, the Seer of Light (studious of knowledge) would have an inverse classpect in the Witch of Void (being of secrecy). In the Seer of Light's journey to study the knowledge they lacked, they must actively change the secrets around them, and they are able to passively study the knowledge that comes forth from doing such. Rose needs no explanation, but as a quick overview, she changed the way she played SBURB by forcing it to reveal its secrets to her, and was able to study how SBURB worked as knowledge procured from her actions. Her going grimdark is another good example of falling into her inverse classpect; she picked which of the secrets of SBURB to embody (the influence of the Horrorterrors) in her quest to study knowledge. If not for John's interference, she may have come dangerously close to failing her challenge as a Seer.
Another example, the Thief of Life (taker of growth) would have an inverse classpect in the Page of Doom (novice of acceptance). In the Thief of Life's journey to discover their true classpect, they passively use the acceptance of others to actively take their growth. We can see this in the Condesce's control over Alternia. By using the hemospectrum as a means of passively enforcing acceptance and compliance in her subjects, she was actively able to take their lives in sending them on conquest fleets (to take more lives) and subduing the opportunities for growth of her people in other ways.
To end this, we'll look at Gamzee. I'm of the personal opinion that his arc(s) were poorly written, but from a classpecting point of view, they serve as a great example of a failed trial. The Bard of Rage (deterioration of skepticism) would have an inverse classpect in the Sylph of Hope (encourager of ideology). The destroyer classes are well understood to "ghost" their inverse aspect; a destroyer of one concept would enhance the opposing concept by proxy. For the Bard of Rage, they would passively destroy skepticism/rage by actively enhancing ideology/hope, therefore "ghosting" as a surface-level Sylph of Hope.
A Bard's challenge is to learn how to manage the obedience of their aspect so as not to go overboard with it, because the Bard has Too Much Control over it. This moment in Gamzee's arc, we are all familiar with. He wasn't able to control the sheer amount of his aspect that presented itself to him, and murdered many of the trolls on the meteor. Because he wasn't able to control it, he retreated back to his inverse classpect - passively destroying rage by actively enhancing hope - once the moment to do so (Karkat calming him down) presented itself. In this, we can consider Gamzee a failed Bard of Rage.
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