#to have the river be able to bend mal - a dynamic guy into absolute submission and resignation and

[spadesofgrass]

There's this really interesting theme of possession in Blades wherein there are a hundred million ways to control and use your (bodies and) memories.

The Dwarves with their collective consciousness - every memory is unique, yet you lose your agency. The River of Seekers is a battleground more like; where you belong, trying to review who you were in the past while simultaneously losing yourself the more you dwell in the place. Memories and bodies are a core part of your identity in Morella and both are controlled by an entity (or entities) unknown to you, their plans for you unclear but there is a vague idea of control.

We see Mal wishing to submit himself to the river just because, maybe forgetting is easier, submission is easier. We see Aerin wanting to dissolve into nothing - at the very least, there's purpose in the nothing. Something about this absolution is terrifying. We commonly think of the afterlife as an endless void where spirits float around and it is all so nice and homely, but it appears as if none of them, ever, are presented with a choice.

Light is innate, magic is channeled from within, emotions dictate the sparks in your spells and your body is a vessel, your mind is a vessel and even at the time of death, your soul cannot simply fly free. MC is maybe a conundrum, a realmwalker, the one who went up against Gods and perhaps when they die, in actuality and are ready, they might walk into an afterlife where they can finally see a world that allows them such peace.

I do think MC dying at the end of Blades... can be plausible...? They're not a hero, they aren't branded as such, they are not martyr to a cause they simply have lived a life on their own and can feel their heartbeat enough to know when it stops and yet the colours don't fade away. They are nameless, maybe, with just their first name, how they started initially, and that is enough.