#ttcnt headcannon ramble

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

I'd like the solution of book 7 to be that Lilia stays for at least for a bit to let his boys process their grief at an appropriate pace. I think he'd wear a very cozy bat poncho and would actually allow his boys to take care of him for once.

Hugs are a little awkward after losing his magic, especially with people way taller than him. Malleus has to lift him up, which is a little awkward for the both of them. Silver also has to bend down a lot for hugs, pats etc.

I didn't draw this but I think Lilia will try to find the silliest solutions to make up for his lack of magic. You will catch this man upside down, hanging on the top floor railing to make silvers soul almost leave his body when he's on his way to make his morning coffee.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

Concept:

Ortho has recently been fascinated by the "customisation" moethods of living beings and wants to replicate them himself.

The solution? airbrushing, car wrap, car stickers etc.

His brother is in charge of all the customisation, of course, and is actually excited to have a creative outlet

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

He clung to me with all his might, like I was the only thing anchoring him in this world. The young man who I had accompanied for centuries was now a sobbing mess clinging to my upper body. I had trouble holding someone as big as him, even resting my chin on his shoulder seemed impossible. My right hand stroked his raven hair as the other grazed his back, which caused his sobs to lessen in intensity. In that moment I saw no mage nor prince Infront of me, but a boy, my boy.

My past self would have thought it inappropriate to see him that way. He was of noble heritage and his blood bares no resemblance to mine. But even now, when I am no longer able to hold him comfortably, he was and will always be my son.

The days I have lived severely outweigh the ones to come. I made a promise to spend them loving with everything I have, so that he may have enough left over when I am no longer by his side.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

I have never mentioned this on here, but I really love how unhinged the pop-music club dynamic is. (Which is the reason as to why it is my favourite out of all the clubs)

We have:

-A Nepo baby with no concept of money (and a big heart. I LOVE YOU KALIM NEVER CHANGE!!!!)

-A 700 year old retired fae war general (WHO RAISED 3 KIDS)

-your average Instagram obsessed 18 year old

And it somehow works?! Yes it's chaotic but it works simply because they are all extremely extroverted and vibe heavily with eachother.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

Out of all the TWST bedrooms, Malleus intrigues me the most.

Now, I am aware that all TWST bedrooms have their quirks. None of them can really be considered normal since the characters are...well themselves and that personality shines through in their decor.

But Malleus, MALLEUS!!

Now...there are no books, nothing, not even a plant. Not even a stringed instrument he plays so dearly. The only decor that could be considered "normal" are little flags from his father and his little desk guard.

Malleus of course exceeds the norm of a teenager and he's still trying to figure out how to adapt to that norm.

Which leads me to addressing the Elepha- I mean Gargoyle in the room:

Why is it here? How did it get in here? Why is it so big?! I have come to the conclusion that he dragged this gigantic gargoyle through campus, through the dorm hallway and into his room, where it now awkwardly stands guard. And it's probably because Cater (or someone else???) told him "oh yeah, teens deck out their room in the stuff they like."

And Malleus just ran with it, because of course he does.

TL;DR: Lilia raised a dork.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

So I really like the "what if" scenario of Idias dream of Ortho being alive.

We don't see how teen non-robot Ortho actually looks like or how he is as a person (besides being an extrovert).

I present to you a series of headcannons:

-Its unclear if the attack still happened in Idias dream. If it did, I think Ortho still has some scarring from it. It would be cool if he had a prosthetic to go along with it. Through that, the very central elements of loss and technology in Orthos character can be preserved through transformation.

-Both shroud boys are talented in programming and building stuff, but I think Idia is more promising programming while Ortho shows more talent in mechanical engineering. They sometimes help eachother out in projects and do collaborations. They'd also work together on updating his prosthetic from time to time.

-Ortho loves tinkering with blastcycles (is that how you spell it?), mechanical trinkets, and retro tech. Hes known as the handyman around the RSA campus.

-Since the Brothers attend different schools, they often meet at a burger place in town to debrief on current happenings. (When the desire comes to game together, they have to sneak eachother into their respective campuses to not cause any outrage amongst students)

-Orthos nerdy interests often revolve around social activities. He has found a recent appreciation for In person RPGs, board games and in person fan meets. His love for star rouge (among other retro games) still remains, he owns a themed puffer jacket with some cool patches on it.

-Ortho and idia wear their uniform in a similar manner, wearing their jacket instead of the blazer and some sneakers and (Styx) headphones. Ortho wears the aforementioned jacket since it is one of his most prized possessions.

-Ortho, similarly to Chenya, has friends in both NRC and in the RSA.

-Since Ortho is more extroverted, he shows significant advancements in his social development compared to his brother. Ortho still tries his best to get him out of his shell if he wants to. They practice public speaking and prepare presentations together. A big difference to cannon Ortho is that Idias dependency on him is definitely less severe, but still a problem. Idia often tends to shut himself off intentionally to not burden his brother, rarely this even leads to him (reluctantly) engaging in social activities on his own.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

I am convinced that Sebek has the wackest sleep cycle known to man, since he's half (nocturnal) fae and half human.

But the funny thing is, no one even notices because he's modern teen.

"Oh, so You're telling me this dude wakes up at 1pm and goes to bed at 4 am? -Okay that's Idias average Thursday."

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

In all honesty, I think Lilia isn't as chill with his death as he pretends to be. In truth, he is afraid and scared of leaving his loved ones, especially his children.

He tries to act all relaxed and nonchalant about it, to not cause any distress (congratulations you're doing the opposite!), because the one thing that scares him more than passing after 700 hundred years, is seeing his children mourn him. That's why he wants to travel, to let his children move on as soon as possible and to not see him in an even worse state.

Book 7 will not only be a journey for Malleus to face the reality of loss, but also Lilias acceptance that his passing will have consequences and embracing the reality of your impending mortality with full honesty is the best thing you can do for your loved ones.

I adore the way loss is handled in the game, but especially chapter 7, since it's the only storyline about preparing for death, not processing it. It's a rare approach in fiction, especially all the mundane yet heartbreaking parts that come with it, like cleaning out someone's room, figuring out what happens to your belongings, passing memorabilia to loved ones.

It's the last thing I expected from a visual novel with such a fun premise, but I welcome it with full open arms.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

Raverne is such an interesting character for me, since he doesn't really have any agency in the story, but he is still kinda there and haunts the narrative. So I decided to make some sketches of what he could have looked like.

And a version with his mask and cloak:

Contrary to popular theories, I don't believe that Crowley is secretly Raverne (maybe a relative???, But not literally him). I think this would do injustice to both Crowley's and Raverne's mystery.

I imagine Raven Fae have small areas of feather growth around their face, similar to Baur's scales. Unlike bat Fae, they reach impressive heights (not as tall as Dragons though, that's for sure). They also have an impressive pair of wings.

I headcannon that Raverne's wings were taken as a trophy during battle and it was the reason as to why tensions between humans and Fae escalated to the point of war. (HEY! IF THE CANNON CAN STEAL FROM THE LIVE ACTION MOVIE, SO CAN I!).

Despite such a terrible loss, Raverne carries himself with pride and wears a cape to accompany his armour to make up for the lack of wings.

Designing his armour was a lot of fun! I tried to complement Lilias armour, while also adding some elements of his wife in there. I think he'd sport a cool spear. He mirrors a little bit of the dawn knight design wise as well.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

You ever think about when the senate took the Egg from Lilia, Sebek turned around to Silver and was like:

"Wow I can't believe we're witnessing Wakasama's custody battle."

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

Many people have different headcannons as to when Lilia changed his hair but I'd like to believe that Lilias "big chop"™ happened after he was gifted the acorn bracelet.

It makes sense to me because even after seeing Silver in the cradle and adopting him, he was still apprehensive and unsure about the child. It was only after being gifted the acorn bracelet that he realizes that he is deeply loved by Silver, his son. This moment symbolises the change between his past and his current self. By cutting his hair off, he is also leaving the image of a human hating war general behind and is able to move forward as a kind and loving father.

(the main reason as to why it couldn't have happened before Silvers adoption is because I have the image of baby Silver playing with Lilias long hair strands in my mind and no one is taking that vision away from me!)

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

This may be yet another very obvious observation that I am too dense to realise to be widely accepted in the cannon, but here we go:

So Ortho is supposed to represent a human soul, right? Let's do a quick analysis.

In the Watchman of the Underworld minigame we can see souls represented as floating blue flames. Which is also Orthos icon.

Not only do we have Orthos core (in place of his heart) which is also a blue flame, but he himself also embodies that shape with his upstanding "hair". Ortho is rarely shown to be on his feet and floats most of the time

His existence was the result of a death and his reason for coming into existence was to embody the memory /image of someone who passed. He was created and is watched over by the Watchman of the Underworld (Idia), which reflects the relationship between Hades and the souls he harboured.

*through sobs* Wowie Guys... Twst is such a fun game.

"Sick n' twisted wonderland" as the cool kids like to say.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

If i had to witness the loss of such a beautiful woman, I would also throw myself into the void.

We truly lost a baddie, instead we got some crusty blonde man, who dies a few years later in war anyways.

The only good thing this man brought us was Silver Vanrouge and he didn't even raise the child.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

Nothing says family bonding like being by your fathers side as he relives his most traumatic experience.

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

When Lilia said "The fairies spell must have expired after such a long time" when he found baby silver 😭😭😭😭😭

NO SWEETIE, YOU JUST ENTERED THE PREMISES!!!! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WILL TRULY LOVE THE BABY!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAÄ

[the-twst-cast-needs-therapy]

I JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY!

Raverne represents the raven of maleficent!!!

I ALWAYS WONDERED WHY THAT DUDE WASN'T REPRESENTED IN TWST. At first I thought it was Lilia, but Lilia is clearly a nod towards the fairies that raised aurora.