I think it’s kind of crazy how Skizz’s arc in the life series is so integrally defined by his being a loyal soldier of the Red Army in third life, a position in which he felt comfortable and confident in his value to the server. The archetype he sees as the ideal team, one that not only protects each other but works for the wellbeing of the server, that template that he follows is the Red Army. Every season since, he falls into a leadership role whether he intends to or not, and every time he tries to recreate that formula with the team he leads. And here’s the thing: it never works.
In Last Life, team BEST’s first objective is to not only secure the enchanting table, but to make it free to use for everyone. Their goal here is to become the “heroes of the server” through this, and Skizz openly says that. However, any victories they achieve are plagued by the fact that… well… there never really was a team BEST. There’s a team BE and a team ST and they work together in theory, but as soon as there’s cracks in the foundation- a boogeyman here, an accidental death there, it falls apart (never all the way while Skizz is alive, but still). Skizz dies a lonely failure of a red life, wearing the initials of his team on his head and haunting them after he dies.
In Limited Life, he gets a chance to try again. Bdubs was the most obvious point of failure for BEST, so why not replace him with sweet and reliable Impulse? And yes, as a group, TIES works much better. Unfortunately, this season doesn’t go well for Skizz, and he’s in the weeds so to speak pretty much the whole time. But one of their crowning achievements- blowing up Bread Bridge- is rationalized by Skizz to his team as a heroic and charitable act. Another set of heroes. But not the strongest players out there. Skizz dies to keep it going just a little longer.
In Secret Life, he has the Heart Foundation, which differs a lot from what Skizz claimed it to be. On paper it’s three people, but in practice it’s just him and Tango (I love BigB but he really was not the most engaged with the group here). On paper Tango’s the leader, but Skizz can’t really keep from taking charge. Again, we get a charitable motive: using the heart-giving system for good (and profit, of course). And Skizz even has plans for when it goes south: they turn the heart’s smile upside-down and start killing. But even this plan fails; as in Last Life, people take advantage of the team’s kindness, and then the heart itself burns down before they get a chance to change it. Skizz dies trying and failing to right this wrong, even by proxy.
What makes this so so interesting is how formulaic it is. I don’t even mean that in a bad way. It’s fascinating how Skizz always, always falls into this pattern. Icarus reaches for the sun and, for his hubris, falls the same way every time. And Tango is there
I really hope we get to see Solas when he was ‘-Young, hot-blooded and cocky’ in Veilguard.
BioWare already confirmed the story will be told more visually instead of relying on codex entries. Does this mean flashbacks? Young Solas flashbacks?? I can only dream (…and draw).
hermitcraft s10 is just a documentation of the hermits descent into madness. wdym xisuma spent an hour on his hands and knees recording himself howling like a wolf ??
some (extremely) quick doodles to celebrate the glorious return of glorious masquerade! I haven't had a chance to do much personal drawing lately, but I didn't want to let it go by without doing something!
Disgustingly messy and crusty sketch dump but I couldn't get my own terrible theory out of my head and ended up making a bunch of sketches about it. Also at the end a bonus dickbats and Damian doodle bc I was reading an issue of their Batman and Robin run (IDs in Alt)
Some thought I had about "what if the lamb decided to break their own vows to never be the sacrifice of a god just to see Narinder be free and 'happy' " which has probably been done but I thought mostly about Narinder going back to the cult, seeing all the time the corpse of the lamb in his dreams or just seeing them everywhere in the corner of his eye.
He was locked so early and for so long he can't really handle all the responsibilities of taking care of the cult, he's overwhelmed, wondering if this is even the freedom he thought about.
At some point maybe bc the crown grew so attached to the Lamb (like Narinder) it kept the ghost of the lamb around and when it actually was able to show and notice they weren't exactly dead... they started bothering Narinder and ngl I have many silly ideas about this but also ... Narinder wanting them back "to take care of the cult instead of him" but actually misses touching the lamb hearing their voice instead of just soft whispers that don't feel real, etc....
The lamb doesn't want this. They made their choice knowing it'd not be able to take it back and betraying not only their kind but themselves so they'd rather just die.
Narinder having to come to terms with his actions and what he made the lamb do.