#wannabeeliana

[missnight0wl]

Hii Marta 👋👋👋

First off, happy (very) belated birthday! I hope you're resting up and you're getting better :)

Then, I just wanted to ask if you're caught up on the latest HPHM chapter... I don't like where they're going with this, and it feels really cheap. The only way they could save this is, in my opinion, by showing how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but I really don't think that's gonna happen. What are your thoughts about it?

Either way, I hope you have a nice rest of your day, and stay well ^-^

Well, first of all, thank you so much! 💖 I really appreciate it! I hope you're doing well, too!

As for HPHM, I’m actually not caught up. I still haven’t started Chapter 9, and to be completely honest, I don’t feel the need to catch up. I don’t want to say I’m quitting the game and I’m actually still opening the app pretty much every day just to collect my energy, but at the same, it’s just... eh. The whole “Beyond Hogwarts” often feels like the battle with R from the end of Y7: the characters seem to believe that whatever they’re doing makes sense, but it really doesn’t. Also, there’s basically nothing left in the game anymore from the things that made me love it all those years ago.

On top of all of that, I’m just not having the best time of my life – as you know. It’s nothing bad in particular, really, it’s just… life, I guess. And the main thing is that I just have a hard time finding motivation, so the quality of HPHM dropping down so much doesn’t help.

(Also, I just want to mention in this place: dear Anon who sent me the ask about Flump, if you see it, I swear I’m not ignoring you. I just have a lot to say about this character, and as I mentioned, I have no willpower to write my thoughts down. It’s gonna be a long rant, though. In short: I fucking hate Flump.)

Now, as for the events from the recent chapter you’re referring to… I assume it’s about Jacob and Olivia? Please, correct me if it’s something else because I didn’t check the whole chapter, but if that’s what we’re talking about: I absolutely hate everything about it. EVERYTHING. It actually might be a deal breaker for me. Like, I still don’t want to say “I quit”, but after I learnt about it, my motivation to come back dropped from low to barely existing. I’m still super bitter about that “too dry chicken”, and it’s beyond me how anyone could think it’s a good way to introduce this plot to the story. You know how it could’ve gone? Olivia could’ve said something like: “I was thinking the whole day about messing up the chicken yesterday, EVEN THOUGH JACOB SAID IT WAS FINE”. But no, the writers for once decided to be consistent about something and portrayed Fugly Slut as an absolute jerk.

I think that the only way to save this is to kill Fugly Slut. Olivia deserves so much better. And of course we’re simply ignoring Olivia’s past feelings for Duncan.

[missnight0wl]

Hello, happy New Year and hope you're well!

I was re-reading the post about the MC possibly having been conceived out of wedlock, and my gears got turning, and here's an idea for you:

I absolutely agree that it feels like Perry is talking about a fling rather than an actual marriage, but that kind of relationship usually lasts for what, a year at most? Certainly not enough to have more than one child, and with a considerable age gap (6-10 years) at that. Plus, if we assume that the MC and Jacob are unreliable narrators (Perry is spoon-feeding them his convenient version of their childhood), there's no reason to take the 'Dad was a decent father before he abandoned us' narrative seriously.

With this I present you: what if Jacob and MC are half-siblings?

The circumstances of Jacob's conceiving are irrelevant, but Perry found out about the Mum's connection with the Vaults that you theorised about, and decided to have a child with her (MC) to be used as a pawn at a later date.

Forgive the long ask; what do you think?

Happy New Year! I hope you’re well too!

Also, there’s no need to apologise for longer asks!

You know, I believe the idea of MC and Jacob being half-siblings existed in the fandom for quite a long time, although it was more of the headcanon territory than a theory. Well, we didn’t have much information then to create a theory. But truth be told, even though we know more now… I think we still don’t know enough to either call it a solid theory or debunk it.

Alright, I’m thinking that there are two things we have to consider here:

Peregrine’s last name,

Legilimecy.

I talked about the last name already in the previous post you mentioned, and as I said then, it’s rather hard to say whether Peregrine is indeed called “Peregrine Lastname”. Admittedly, this is not a big issue. I mean, if Peregrine’s last name is different, then it means that both siblings have their mother’s last name. And if Peregrine is named “Peregrine Lastname”, then Jacob might’ve taken Peregrine’s last name later on. To be fair, I do think it’d be more likely for Jacob to do that (as a child from the previous relationship) if the Mother got married to Peregrine. But I suppose it’s not entirely impossible either way.

Now, I think that there’s a bigger problem with Legilimency. Because since both siblings are born Legilimenses and it is such a rare skill, we’d have to assume that they inherited it after their mother, in my opinion. And again, it’s not impossible. However, there’s basically nothing to even hint at it. Peregrine, on the other hand, might be indeed suspected of being a Legilimens based on what we saw in the game so far. I talked about this possibility in this post. On top of that, a while ago, I was asked about how Peregrine knows about Chiara’s secret, and I replied then that he probably simply spied on our friends (full answer here). But since then I also saw some discussions in the fandom that it might’ve been a hint about Peregrine’s Legilimency (if he used Legilimency on Chiara). So… I guess that there is a small chance that both Peregrine and the Mother are Legilimenses? And that’s why MC is apparently more powerful than Jacob? Still, Legilimency is supposed to be a rare skill, especially if it’s natural, so… I don’t know.

That being said, I do think that you made a good point about MC and Jacob being unreliable narrators. And that’s actually what made me think of the third option: what if Peregrine left the Mother twice? In fact, I believe that it could explain why there’s such a big age difference between MC and Jacob – their parents simply weren’t together in that time.

Let’s say that Peregrine left for the first time when Jacob was a couple of years old, for whatever reason. Maybe he already knew that Jacob can’t fulfil the prophecy (if there is any), or maybe he learnt about the prophecy only when he was gone for the first time. Then, he returned to the Mother to potentially make another attempt at fulfilling the prophecy. And she might’ve accepted him back, with or without marriage, because: 1) she might’ve still had feelings for him, 2) he was Jacob’s father after all and it’s not uncommon for people to stay in an unhappy relationship “for children’s sake”, 3) MC was born just a couple of years after the war started and I imagine it wasn’t the greatest time to be a single mother.

But yeah! Overall, I think that there are simply too many unknown factors which could be interpreted one way or another to say anything for sure.

[missnight0wl]

Hi, how are you? Hope you're well!

On the topic of new models, do we have any idea who Ruby is? I may have missed something, but other than the fact that she's likely American, we don't seem to know much about her; we don't even know her last name, if I'm not wrong. Is she supposed to be a colleague? Relative? A foreign 'R' member?

I found myself intrigued by her because, if you stretch things, she looks a bit like the MC model that appeared in the first trailer for the game, with auburn hair and green eyes; this is probably a coincidence, but it jumped to my eye and I wanted to share this with you.

Any thoughts, o master of the game?

Wait, is “o master of the game” supposed to be about me? Well, I really don’t think I’d call myself that… but thank you!

As for Ruby, I’m pretty sure she’s gonna be our co-worker. I don’t read Y8 info super carefully, but Ruby’s name appears next to the ROCC locations – and ROCC stands for Rare, Obscure, and Confounding Case Division a.k.a. where MC will work after graduation. And since this Division is oh-so-secret that Callum has to officially pretend he’s a janitor, I think it makes sense to assume that Ruby actually works there as well.

As for her Texas pedant, I’d say it might suggest that either she’s indeed American and came to work for ROCC as a part of international cooperation (after all, R is allegedly an international organisation too) or she’s just a British girl who’s really fascinated by the USA.

Oh, and the Datamine Prophet 112 actually did reveal her name: it’s Ruby Honeysuckle.

Finally, I wouldn’t look too deeply into the resemblance to that first trailer. I mean, I’m pretty sure JC doesn’t even really remember it or even if they do, they don’t care. They use that dark-skinned Hufflepuff girl (I believe her name is Emma) as MC rather consistently for a while now, so… yeah. But even that shouldn’t be seen as something meaningful, in my opinion, because MC’s whole point is that they might look whatever. In fact, I’m kind of annoyed about that Emma girl. Maybe it’s just me, but I liked it way more when they were hiding MC’s face, showing them from the back etc.

Also, speaking of MC's unspecified appearance, I kind of see it as a reason why Ruby Honeysuckle is probably not related to MC. Sure, she might be a very distant cousin or something, so her red hair and fair skin could work even for dark-skinned MCs, but I feel that if it was indeed the case, JC would choose rather more generic features.

On a personal note though, Ruby’s introduction is messing with my mind a bit already. You see, the thing is that Helena’s (my MC’s) future adoptive daughter’s name is Patricia Ruby, but most of the time I think of her as “Ruby” (because that’s what Jacob and Rakepick call her). So… it just somehow feels weird to have a character in the game with that exact name. I’ll probably get used to it eventually, but still.

Anyway, hope you’re doing well too!

[missnight0wl]

Hey, it's been a while! How have you been?

I've taken a bit of a break from the game 'cause school (ugh), but I'm back to the fandom, and most importantly, to speculation.

If you haven't played/watched streams of Hogwarts Legacy, feel free to ignore this ask ^-^

I haven't played Hogwarts Legacy, but I've watched some livestreams (haven't got to the end of the story), and I think there could be some similarities and parallels between the MCs of both games; maybe the blood connection to the Vaults you've theorised could come from the older MC, and they could be built out of the magic that they can see.

What do you think? Thank you in advance ^-^

Hello! I’ve been alright! It’s good to hear from you again, too! I hope your school is going well, aside from the fact that it takes up your time.

As for Hogwarts Legacy, I’m afraid I have to disappoint you. I didn’t play it nor watch any playthroughs, and quite frankly, I’m not really planning to change it. I can’t say it piqued my interest. I have a very vague idea of the plot, but it’s definitely not enough to discuss it, not to mention theorising. Sorry!

[missnight0wl]

I had a not-so-great week, so I was looking at my old content as a distraction, and I decided to do what I was actually thinking about for a while: I want to thank anyone who ever showed any support for my Jacob x Patricia content.

@indigobackfire and @sirenwave – who always show interest and are very sweet. You’re probably the reason why I started posting this content. I appreciate you both so much.

@thedoodlecat – because I want to let you know again how much I value our conversations.

@dat-silvers-girl – because I wasn’t expecting that you’d like it and your reblogs were such a nice surprise.

@ag907 – because until this day, I think about your comment that you were concerned about this ship at first but enjoyed it after reading more about it, yet I never really let you know how much it meant to me.

@wannabeeliana – because it was very unexpected and very sweet when you sent me that ask about their future.

@captainfoxus – because even though your continuous support is mostly silent, that one comment about Hozier and Florence was so spot on.

@heleneplays – because even though you don’t go here anymore, you showed me a lot of support in the past, and it will always mean a lot to me. I might’ve not been where I am now with my content if not for your reaction to “Scars”.

And anyone who showed quiet support through likes and whatnot.

I also want to make it clear that the support for Jacob x Patricia does not mean more to me than other kinds of support. I’m grateful for people often showing support for my other art. I’m grateful for all people enjoying my theories and analyses. However, I wanted to make a post for Jacob x Patricia in particular because I was actually really nervous before posting about this ship for the first time. But then, it turned out that there are people who enjoy it, and it was so encouraging! And on top of that, I want to thank people who don’t enjoy it or simply have no interest in it. Because I know this paring will never be popular or for everyone. Yet I never got any negativity from people who follow me for different reasons. And I think it’s very cool of all of you.

Anyway, please don’t feel obliged to anything because of this post. You don’t have to respond or react. I just wanted to say thanks.

[missnight0wl]

Hello, hope you've been well! I know you aren't caught up on the newest datamines yet, but something noteworthy came up: Peregrine refers to Dai Ryusaki's research and amulet as his on at least two separate occasions, and the dialogues bring a lot of attention to it; it's like the story of Dai Ryusaki has gotten mixed-up with Peregrine's, and they're a unique, intertwined being. Thinking about it is very confusing, so I wanted to ask for your thoughts on this matter.

Hello, I hope you’ve been well, too! Sorry for the late reply, but it took me a while to go through all of the dialogues. I hope you don’t mind I joined another message to your ask, but I figured that since they’re pretty much about the same issue, they might as well be answered together.

(Oh, and there’s one more ask in my inbox about the amulet, but it also mentions other subjects, so I want to talk about it separately. I promise I’m not ignoring you, guys!)

Anyway, the whole deal with the amulet is rather confusing, and to be completely honest, it doesn’t really make much sense – for multiple reasons. There’s quite a lot to talk about, but in general, this post is gonna be about:

why it doesn’t really make sense that Ryusaki’s amulet is evil,

why it shouldn’t be used as an excuse for Peregrine,

what important thing Jam City is forgetting,

how I would try to fix this plotline.

Obviously, spoilers ahead, up to Y7Ch55 (including some parts of the dialogues)! Also, prepare for a rather lengthy post.

Alright! First things first! Let’s talk about how the amulet seems to work. It apparently was (accidentally) cursed by Ryusaki himself at the moment of his death, and it kind of contains like… the essence of Ryusaki’s anger, I guess? I’ll keep referring to it as “Ryusaki’s spirit”, even though I’m pretty sure it’s not his ghost or soul per se, just an echo of that particular emotion. Either way, it’s also able to possess Peregrine in some way, which I interpret not only as Peregrine thinking that he’s Ryusaki. I think he actually becomes Ryusaki’s spirit. What is less clear to me is: what’s the spirit’s goal, exactly?

Like, I understand that he basically wants revenge, right? But… does it mean that it’s the spirit that planted the idea of the corrupted Ministry in Peregrine’s mind, to begin with? Well, probably not.

It does imply that Peregrine was interested in Ryusaki even before finding the amulet.  We also know that he often talks about wartime when he criticises the Ministry, so it’s entirely possible that he already thought of the Ministry as corrupted back then. So, I suppose the most reasonable interpretation of the events would be:

Peregrine gets fascinated by Ryusaki’s story. Around the same time, his faith in the Ministry gets additionally shattered because of their actions during the war. He decides that he wants to get rid of the corruption, but his intentions are not really malicious. He truly wants to use Ryusaki’s device to make the corrupted officials retire – which is still questionable, but it’s not exactly evil. But then! Peregrine finds the amulet! And Ryusaki’s spirit decides to use Peregrine’s feelings towards the Ministry to get his revenge and make the Ministry suffer like he did when he was dying! Peregrine thinks that they will execute the “forced retirement” plan, but the spirit manipulates him into doing everything in a way to fulfil “Ryusaki’s revenge”.

I believe that’s what the game wants us to take out of this story. However, here’s my first problem:

Dai Ryusaki was not evil.

It’s that super big reveal that Ryusaki dedicated his life to the medical field and all he ever wanted was to help people. Moreover, he was aware that his biggest accomplishment will be forgotten:

He sacrificed his legacy because it was the right thing to do.

Now, I totally understand that he was probably not expecting that he’d be killed by the authorities, and I realise that the amulet contains only that anger and suffering from the moment before Ryusaki’s death. Still, I find it quite unlikely that his spirit (even if it’s the essence of what’s the worst in him!) would turn into: “MUAHAHA! I’LL MAKE THE MINISTRY SUFFER!!!”. Yet this is basically what happens:

I mean, let’s take a look at Duncan, for example. Ghosts in the HP universe are forever stuck on the event connected to their death. Myrtle will be forever upset about Olivia bullying her because of her glasses, Nick will be forever upset about his head not being chopped properly etc. Seeing how Duncan is angry with Jacob, I always imagined they had some kind of a fight before Duncan’s death and it additionally affects Duncan’s state in his ghost form. But even if not, notice that even though Duncan seems to be really angry and whatnot, he’s not a malicious ghost. Because Duncan was not a bad person when he was alive! Again, I’m aware that Ryusaki’s spirit is not exactly the same as a ghost, but still. The difference between the morality of Dai Ryusaki and his cursed amulet simply feels too extreme, in my opinion.

By the way, look at that one line when Peregrine gets possessed by the spirit:

The phrase “my scroll”, of course, is supposed to let us know that Peregrine is possessed by Ryusaki at that moment (since it’s “Ryusaki’s scroll”). But if that’s the case… why he talks about deciphering? I mean, it’s your scroll! Shouldn’t you know what’s inside?

Admittedly, it’s totally possible that the spirit attached to the amulet contains only emotions, not Ryusaki’s knowledge. Still, I find it just odd that he refers to R as “we”, as if he identifies with them. Wouldn’t it make more sense if he said: “they were able to decipher the other half of my scroll”? It’d imply the message: “I’m just the spirit without the knowledge of the scroll, so I have to use them to execute my plan of revenge”. You know what I mean?

Alright, but let’s move on!

How much Ryusaki’s spirit is in Peregrine?

So, the game apparently wants us to believe that Perry is good, it’s just the amulet that made him bad. However… I’m not buying it. Personally, I think that Peregrine is not a good person because:

he left his family for his career,

he didn’t even try to stay in touch with his children,

it seems that he wasn’t the greatest husband,

he’s not a great leader,

and let’s be real, he’s probably lying when he claims that all bad things R has ever done were just Rakepick going rogue.

And so, my question is: how many of it can be explained by the amulet? And honestly, I think that only the last point.

Let’s start with Peregrine leaving his family. The thing here is that… it probably had to happen before he found the amulet. Because he apparently has had the amulet for 10 years:

… meaning that MC was seven when Perry found the amulet. But… he almost definitely left their family by then. I mean, MC remembers very little about the time their father was still around, Jacob was even surprised at one point that MC remembers this much. But a seven-year-old is not that little child anymore! It definitely shouldn’t be surprising that their memories are fairly solid. Moreover, Jacob could be 14 or older at the same time, and he definitely should remember their father well. Yet his memory is not detailed either! So, if we want to stay consistent with what was said so far, it has to mean that the siblings were younger when Peregrine left. And that means that it has nothing to do with the curse. Sure, it doesn’t make him evil, but I can’t say it looks great.

Now, let’s talk about Rakepick calling Perry a tyrant. We saw that the curse might make him more… impulsive. His outbursts about his legacy being ruined were most likely related to that. However, do you really think it’s enough to be called “a tyrant”? And why Ryusaki would even make Peregrine act like a tyrant?

Honestly, I suspect it’s mainly Peregrine alone. Perhaps the curse exaggerated his violent tendencies, but I’m just having a hard time believing the curse could change him this much if he wasn’t already prone to being evil. I don’t know, perhaps that’s because I simply don’t like him, but that’s how I feel.

And sure, you can say that: “Oh, he was exposed to the curse for 10 years! That’s a long time!”. And that’s not a bad point. But that’s also my other problem. Because everyone acts like Peregrine started acting weird only recently. But like… how? How nobody noticed that something is off with him before? Including Verucca? Seriously, it’s just… so strange and messy.

Finally, we’re getting to one very important thing that JC seems to be ignoring entirely – and that’s this option from our conversation with Rakepick:

Why it’s so important? Because it basically describes Ryusaki’s original plan. I mean, wouldn’t you say that “curing” people from their traumatic memories can be called “saving the world”?

I believe that R was supposed to try to achieve Ryusaki’s original plan, at least officially. I believe this is how Ryusaki’s curse was supposed to “lure” people, to gain favour with a person wearing the amulet and eventually “possess” them. And you know what’s the most interesting in this approach?

That it’d totally explain why R was so obsessed with killing one of MC’s friends and why they pushed Duncan to his death.

They had to give Jacob/MC a traumatic experience, so they’d be more likely to agree to help with Ryusaki’s original plan. Because they’d want to cure their own traumatic memories!

In fact, it might go along with Olivia’s memories as well. I mentioned in my commentary post that it doesn’t really make sense that Olivia learning about mind control was such a big deal that her memories had to be removed. But if Olivia heard that R wants to put Jacob through some traumatic experience… well, that changes things. And it would explain why Olivia asked about Duncan like that:

I mean, to be fair, it kind of makes sense that she asks about it either way. But… if she heard only about the mind control it’d make less sense for her to assume that Duncan’s death had anything to do with it, in my opinion.

Alright, so let’s try to sum it up!

How I’d try to fix it?

Dai Ryusaki’s story could stay the same or perhaps he wouldn’t even have to be killed. Maybe he was just arrested and spent the rest of his life in prison. The important thing is that the details of his discovery remain a secret. However, there’s one big change: Dai had a son. Ryusaki’s son admired his father and wanted to follow in his steps, but he was never as talented, no matter how hard he worked. He also knew about his father’s invention, and he believed that it should be revealed to the world, but Dai would always refuse when this subject was even mentioned.

After Dai’s death, his son was desperately trying to replicate his father’s discovery. He never managed to learn any details from him, so obviously, he wasn’t particularly successful. When his experiments were discovered, he was about to be arrested like his father, but unfortunately, he was accidentally killed. And now, it’s Dai Ryusaki’s son’s spirit that curses the amulet. The son who knew that his father was innocent. The son who wanted to help the world, just like his father, but who also felt great sorrow all his life because he was never as good as his parent. Who maybe sometimes felt that work was more important for his father than his own family. Who now was very angry as well because he faced the same injustice as Dai before…

Now, why I think that the inclusion of the son would be a great change to the story:

It gives us a more ambivalent character whose goal perhaps was once noble, but who experienced too much pain. Hence, it’s more understandable that his curse could actually turn people evil.

It creates a great parallel with Jacob, and it could explain why he suddenly agreed with Peregrine so easily. I mean, it was said before that Jacob looked up to Peregrine as a kid, right? Then he was super angry that work was more important for him than his family? And Peregrine claimed that he was helping people?

So yeah, imagine that Jacob thought that Peregrine finally started to understand him. But nope, it’s just the spirit of another boy with daddy issues!

Oh, and by the way! I actually don't think that JC is gonna try to say that Jacob was influenced by the amulet too. I was expecting something like that at first, but it seems they're willing to admit that Jacob is simply very naive.

Anyway, the amulet is cursed, and it’s eventually found by Peregrine. Peregrine believes he’s the chosen one even before that; he left his family to help people, after all. Therefore, the son’s spirit doesn’t have a hard time convincing Perry that Dai Ryusaki’s invention absolutely should be brought to life. After some time, it starts suggesting that they could do something with the Ministry as well since they seem to be corrupted. And again! Perry already had a similar opinion about the Ministry! He thought that the Ministry was very incompetent during the war and whatnot. It starts with the idea of forced retirement and ends with the torture device. The curse takes what’s already bad in Peregrine and turns it into worse. Because if you ask me, it seems that Peregrine was always a megalomaniac with a God complex, so the curse is basically the seed that fell on good soil.

So, when Peregrine tries to convince MC to join R, he first uses Dai Ryusaki’s original idea of traumatic memories. Doesn’t sound bad at all, right?  But then, it turns out that R also wants to use mind control on the Ministry… Well, it’s still not that bad, right? The Ministry is corrupted, after all!  And Peregrine claims that it’s sort of like a test for the device, too. If they can use the device to clean the corrupted Ministry, they’ll confirm they can use it to cure traumatic memories.  Sounds fantastic! But it gets MC thinking… And finally, they discover that R always wanted to give them traumatic memories by killing one of their friends. And that they actually want to take the Ministry over for themselves.

Also, it’d be neat if someone (like Rakepick, for example) could tell us how Peregrine was changing over those 10 years.

And bada bing bada boom! We have a couple of questions answered. I’m obviously biased, but I’d say it makes a bit more sense than what Jam City is gonna give us in the next chapters.

Oh, and I hope that I managed to clear some things up!

[missnight0wl]

Heyo, hope you're well! Since the recent posts have talked about the adult models, I feel it would be kind of fitting to talk about career options after Year 7.

Since Year 1, we have always had to choose among three options, and it looks like we'll have to choose among three styles of furniture and three locations for our flat (they may or may not be connected, but that's a separate issue): this leads me to believe that our career options will ultimately be narrowed down to three.

I personally believe our final choices will be Auror, Healer or Curse-Breaker, which I think represent each of the Attributes in that order.

Thoughts?

Hello! I hope you’re well, too!

Hm, your proposition sounds interesting. And it does make sense! However… I feel like it might be too much work for Jam City, to be honest.

See, while you absolutely have a point with the three options concept, I have to point out that usually, it’s basically a cosmetic thing. Let’s take a look at our Animagus form. Sure, an eagle might have different animations than a dog and a cat (which are also not exactly the same, I believe), but overall, all of the forms are used the same in the same situations. The flats we’re getting have the same floorplan. When we choose our companions, the differences are relatively small and it’s mostly about dialogues. Even if you look at dates, they’re not that different, no matter who you choose to date (the exception here are mini side quests you get before deciding about exclusive dating).

To be fair, it wasn’t always that way. JC used to be a little less lazy about it. For example, we had House exclusive side quests. Very simple but totally unique for each House. Another great example is the “Egg Hunt” SQ. I believe you don’t play the game since the very beginning, so you might not know about this one. But, without spoiling anything, there is a part where MC and Charlie have to earn some money, so you get three options: to help Rosmerta, to help Bilton, or to help Tulip. And all of these routes are totally unique. Well, maybe not totally because the end goal is the same, after all. However, I’m pretty sure that if you removed the scene where MC chooses one of the options, you could put all three routes one after another – and it wouldn’t be odd at all. It was really cool because it felt like everyone actually played a little different side quest. But sadly, I don’t even remember when was the last time JC put this much effort into… anything, really.

Now, my point here is that having three separate careers feels quite complicated to execute. Sure, we can have some parts that could serve as a “template”. For instance, an Auror interrogates a witness while a Healer takes care of a patient while a Curse-Breaker talks with someone about the cursed artefact. On top of that, we probably already have all the necessary locations. But in general, I think that these careers would require a more individual approach. And again, it means work and time.

I guess it’d be a bit easier to execute if the careers were made the same way as the classes, meaning that they’re kind of separated from the main story. But then again, shouldn’t a career be a rather big part of MC’s adult life? I don’t know… Admittedly, it’s hard to make any predictions since we don’t even know what JC might be planning as the plot of Y8, but I imagine that the career would be almost like a force putting everything into motion. Or at least that a lot of things will happen around our job. And of course, you can come up with a plot that will fit all three careers in a meaningful way. But I think it’s simply harder, and JC doesn’t like to make things harder for themselves, usually.

Another issue: what about other careers? We’ve been hearing about MC being good with creatures since forever, and I’m pretty sure that more than one person suggested that they’d be a good Magizoologist. It’s a quite prominent theme in the game, so it’d be weird to abandon it now. In fact, during the O.W.L.s TLSQ, we could express interest in many careers. What about becoming a teacher? I know it’s basically impossible to please everyone, but still, I think it’s worth pointing out.

Personally, I suspect that the most likely scenario is that we’ll be forced into one career… kind of. Here’s what I’m thinking:

MC will be hired by the Ministry because that’s probably where we spent the most time, Moody mentors us for years now and whatnot. It’s also possible that we’re gonna save the Ministry from R. However, MC will be hired as a Curse-Breaker. It won’t matter much anyway because they’ll still help Aurors, at the Department of Magical Creatures and wherever any help is needed. They’ll occasionally stop at St Mungo’s to save the day, too. In other words… they’ll basically keep doing what they’re doing right now.

I know it doesn’t sound super exciting or ideal. But to be completely honest, I feel like it might be the best compromise for everyone. Nobody will get their dream job, but most people will get some part of it at some point. JC, on the other hand, will have an easy job creating a linear story.

So, here are my thoughts at this point. To be clear, I don’t think your idea is bad. In fact, I quite like it. However, I’m also trying to look at it a bit from JC’s perspective, I guess.

By the way, my belief that we’re probably gonna get a very linear story is actually one of the reasons why I’m not enthusiastic about Y8 in general. This game always had its limitations and it rarely ends well when JC tries to push them, so I just honestly think it’d be better if it was left to our imagination.

[missnight0wl]

Hello, hope you're having a good day! This is probably obvious, but it's not really clear to me, so I come before you seeking answers: 'R' existed before Peregrine, right? and he only joined this organisation after it had already become an international thing? Thank you :)

Hello! I hope you’re having a good day, too :)

As for your question: you see, it’s actually not that obvious, at least in my opinion. I mean, yes, it’s probably the most obvious conclusion based on what was said in the game. But personally, I have some doubts.

As you mentioned already, R is an international organisation. We learnt about it from Moody all the way back in Y6. And I always believed that it has to mean that they exist for quite some time. Because even when you look at real companies, they rarely become international over just a couple of years. And here, we’re talking about people who additionally want to remain secret, so… They had to need some time to build their network, right?

On top of that, we have Peregrine himself basically telling us directly that he joined R later on. Although… it’s still not entirely clear.

So, MC assumes here that Peregrine joined R. But does Peregrine’s “R became my calling much later��� mean “I joined R much later” or “I created R much later”? Honestly, I think it can be interpreted either way. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s kind of vague on purpose. Because let’s keep in mind that Peregrine is a manipulative person, and he’s definitely lying to MC about certain things.

Moreover, I’m still not sure how we should interpret Rakepick’s words. When we met her in Azkaban, she told us (in the sane route):

Now, if you ask me… it does sound like an implication that R is the one who CREATED the organisation. Admittedly, “the one behind it all” might mean “the one responsible for the whole mess with MC and the Cursed Vaults”. And sure, “R” might be a title that is simply given to each leader. But isn’t it a bit odd that the writers didn’t use this opportunity to specify it? Or that Rakepick didn’t even say at any point “the current leader” or something like that?

And yeah, I’m aware that the writers of HPHM can be sloppy and their decisions don’t always make the most sense. Still, I just think that when you look closely at this issue, it’s actually not that obvious anymore.

[missnight0wl]

Hi, hope you're well! Last night my brain went on a much unnecessary tangent, and long story short I'm entertaining the idea of there being two MCs in the game, one for the main storyline and one for the Quidditch storyline and all the side quests. I don't know whether I'll do anything with this, but I still wanted to ask you: as an exercise of imagination, how would you make it work?

Hello! I’m fine, and I hope you’re well, too! And once again, sorry for the late reply!

Hm, this is a pretty interesting idea! However, I do think it’d be rather difficult to execute, for multiple reasons.

The story

First of all, I think it might be hard to incorporate it into the narrative of the story. Now, I know that some people do make two MCs work for their personal stories just fine (indigobackfire and immagrosscandy come to mind), but making it universal for every player would assumingly complicate things a bit. But of course, I’m not saying it’s impossible.

Also, personally, I’d probably make the secondary MC a rather distant relative of the main MC. That way, they could know quite a lot about the main MC, but they wouldn’t be affected by e.g. the blood connection (if it turns out to be important at any point). I think it could even be like “a foster cousin” or something. Y’know, a child of MC’s mother’s friend, so they were very close growing up, yet they’re not actually related.

The technical aspect

I admit I’m no expert in this matter, but I suspect that having two MCs would be pretty hard to execute, purely from a technical point of view. Especially if we’d like to keep the game in its mobile format. I also know about the games where you play as different characters at various points, but I don’t think they allow for much customisation of those characters. Admittedly, my knowledge about video games is not super vast, so please, correct me if anyone knows better, but I imagine we wouldn’t have as much customisation as we do now.

I mean, I guess I can kind of see it working as The Sims, for example. But again, we’d simply have to turn HPHM into a much more complex game for that.

The selection of the side quests

While I see why you proposed the division to: “the main storyline, and the Quidditch storyline and all the side quests”, I believe it should be a bit more complex. Because if you really look into it, not all side quests are equal. For example, the Patronus TLSQ has a pretty strong connection to the main story, and I think it should be done by the main MC. In other words, in my opinion, all of the side quests should be first reviewed to judge whether they're actually important for the main storyline or not. Then, the important side quests could be either incorporated into the main story entirely or maybe they could remain being side quests, just completed by the main MC.

If it was up to me, I’d assigned the secondary MC to:

the Magical Creatures Reserve content,

the Quidditch content,

the Clubs content,

the dating content,

and obviously some of the side quests which don’t have important information.

Finally, I want to mention two more reflections of mine.

The first one is about the idea of “spin-offs”. I believe I actually mentioned it somewhere on my blog in the past already. It’s basically about creating separate games which could be connected by their content but not “physically”. I think it’d help a lot in organising the stories, if done properly. On top of that, it’d make each game much lighter. HPHM is really heavy in terms of data, and more and more people complain about the lag in the game. It’s really not a good direction, but JC doesn’t seem to care about it much.

The second idea is that maybe it would be good to give people a choice whether they want to play a certain part with the main or the secondary MC. Though I’m not sure if it’d be technically doable, especially if we consider the idea of spin-offs. Still, I want to mention it because I suspect some people might complain about not being able to play certain parts with their chosen MC. On the other hand, if the distinction existed in the game since the beginning, I suppose it’d be easier to accept that you can only date with the secondary MC etc.

I hope my answer was at least somewhat satisfying!  And feel free to ask if I wasn’t clear enough about anything.

[missnight0wl]

Hello, thanks for having answered my other asks :)

I've been scrolling through your posts, and at some point I came across your "get to know my ship" chart with Jacob and Rakepick; I must say, that really contributed to sell me on that ship, but I've been wondering: would they have a child or more (adopted or otherwise), or are they okay with being child-free? Hope it's not too invasive a question, and have a nice day!

You should all know that showing any interest in Jacob and Patricia makes me blush and giggle and tear up a little... 🥺

But anyway!

Thank you for your question! It made me very happy! 💖 And it’s absolutely not too invasive! However, I’m afraid I can’t really give you a straight answer.

See, while I knew pretty early on that I want Jacob and Patricia to end up together, I actually thought for a long time that they wouldn’t get married or have children. Only recently, I’m changing my mind that they will get married. But even here, I still feel they wouldn’t want anything big and sumptuous. I’m thinking rather: “a secret wedding with like two people, in an abandoned chapel in the middle of the forest”. And to be completely honest, I suppose it’s that vibe that attracts more than the act of making it formal. Because they’re the type who don’t really need it.

When it comes to children, though, I’m definitely more torn. First of all, they both probably think of themselves that they’d be bad parents (meaning: Jacob thinks he’d be a bad father and Patricia thinks she’d be a bad mother). Of course, they’re both absolutely wrong, and I do recognise that the other person would be great at parenting. Still, they’re both quite insecure and anxious that their life experience would negatively affect a child. And to be fair, they went through a lot, so I'd say it's understandable.

Moreover, I have to admit that I’m having a bit hard time imagining a child in their future. They travel a lot, they still do some curse-breaking etc. And I don’t know, a part of me feels that they’d want to focus on themselves and each other only, since R and the Cursed Vaults took so much of their lives already.

On the other hand, as I mentioned above… I do think they’d be amazing parents. Like, I can’t say it wouldn’t make them happy. Especially Jacob as he is more family-oriented and really likes children. And when I imagine his happiness after learning that he will be the father of Patricia’s child… It’s making me soft, I’m not gonna lie.

But then we have a counterargument again! Admittedly, I didn’t think of it a lot, but at any point, I didn’t have an epiphany as to what kind of a child they could’ve had. A boy? A girl? Twins? What would they look like? What would be their name? Maybe they would adopt? Nothing really felt right so far, so… I guess I’m kind of stuck?

Nonetheless, no matter what will be my final decisions, I can tell you one thing for certain right now: there will be a child in their life, and her name is Patricia Ruby Ellis. I talked about her a bit more in this post, if you’re interested. In short, though, she’s Helena’s adoptive daughter, so she’s technically Jacob’s (and Patricia’s) niece. And even if Jacob and Patricia won’t have their own children, Ruby will be very close with them.

Also, in a way, Ruby is a reason why I might struggle with Jacob and Patricia’s child. Because Ruby came to my mind a very long time ago, and she actually was Helena’s biological child originally. My story changed since then, obviously, but I liked the idea of Patricia Ruby enough to make her stay. And I suppose I’m waiting for a similar feeling again now.

I hope it's a satisfying answer! And have a nice day, too! :)

[missnight0wl]

Heyo! A question that's been rotating in my mind quite a bit is: how likely is it that we'll actually become the leader of 'R'? And on that note, if we do, what kind of approach will we take? Are we just going to slowly lose our remaining sanity, or actually do something about the rampaging corruption in our organization?

I think it’s very unlikely, to be honest. We might be forced to agree to join R, but I don’t see MC becoming the leader.

I suspect there are two options:

Peregrine never wanted MC to become the leader, he just needs them for some reason (to use their Legilimency to enhance his own, to use MC as some kind of a vessel etc.). He insists that MC joins R because it’d give him more control over them, somehow. Maybe he’ll force MC to make an Unbreakable Vow or there’s another “initial ritual” which has a similar effect.

Peregrine wants MC to become the leader eventually, but he won’t allow it to happen until MC is properly brainwashed.

Either way, I assume that MC will realise that something is wrong (or they’ll be simply saved) at some point between joining and the moment where they could potentially become the leader. And so, that’s gonna be our final confrontation with R.

[missnight0wl]

Heyo! I know you feel meh about the new adult datamine, but I couldn't help myself: I had to overthink it. Don't get me wrong, I do feel like it's a really important discovery, but I think it's not what we expect it to be. After all, if we go by Reddit user taltos's speculation, we're gonna get at least another 25 chapters: that's plenty of time to insert some snippet into the future, maybe in the form of a vision. What do you think?

Hello!

Oh, I honestly suspect that the adult models are for after the seventh year. I mean, sure, we might still have about 25 chapters of Y7. But when you think about Jam City’s pace, how they love fillers and whatnot… I actually don’t think it’s that many. Especially when you consider how many questions about the story are still unanswered. There's no way all of them will be answered, but still. I don’t really see here a place for a “snippet into the future” – even though the idea on its own sounds quite interesting, in my opinion!

Another issue is that I just doubt JC would invest time into creating adult models if it was just for one scene or even a chapter. I mean, maybe if it was only for a limited number of characters? But even then, Chiara is not exactly someone I’d expect to be “selected”, to be frank. It could’ve been about her career since she’s pretty set on who she wants to be… But then why would we need her adult casual outfit as well? I don’t know… As I said, it feels like too much investment if it’s not about something really big.

So yeah. While I absolutely wouldn’t mind seeing your idea come to life, I think it’s reasonable to expect a continuation of the story after Hogwarts. Also, Jam City will want to keep this game alive as long as it makes money, so… you know. And seeing how crazy the fandom goes right now, I feel like they’ll make some nice profit.

[missnight0wl]

Hey, hope you're having a nice day! Something that's been bugging me ever since Year 6 is: didn't Harry and the others have the chance to attend an Apparition course during their 6th Year? Why have we not had this chance? Do you think we'll ever learn to Apparate? I mean, we can do wandless magic, which is technically more complicated than that, and Charlie and Tonks, in our same Year, learnt to Apparate at Hogwarts: I have no idea why we haven't yet.

Hello! I hope you’re having a nice day, too! :)

As for your question, I believe the answer is very simple: Jam City didn’t plan it correctly. Here’s what I’m thinking.

They will probably want to introduce Apparition through a TLSQ, just like it was with becoming a Prefect, our O.W.L.s etc. It just feels like a perfect subject for another time-limited adventure. And keeping this in mind, I assume that Jam City simply got lost in their own schedule. I imagine that by the time Y6 was being released, they already had different side stories prepared, and once they realised they should’ve included Apparition somewhere in there, it was a little too late. Another issue to consider here is also the fact that there are probably different teams working on the main story and the side quests, so… y’know, communication can be hard.

Because the thing is that Jam City is aware of this problem. For example, we talked about it with Jacob when we met with him after the Sunken Vault:

So, it seems like they actually always planned it for Y7. And technically, it could make sense as you’re not quite right about Harry’s sixth year. Yes, there is the Apparition course in the Half-Blood Prince indeed. However, Harry doesn’t attend it; only Hermione and Ron do. That’s because you have to be seventeen by the time of the exam, and I believe the exam is like… in April? Anyway, Hermione was born in September, so she’s almost a year older in general, and Ron was born in March, so again, he would be seventeen just in time.

Therefore… if Jam City always planned to place the Apparition course in Y7, it’d simply mean that MC was born between late April/May and August 31st, 1973, right? Well, maybe. Personally, I still think it’s more likely that Jam City messed up because:

they usually try pretty hard to not specify such things to leave them to the players and their interpretation (so you could decide on your own about your MC’s birthday),

there is no mention of the course during Y6 at all. If they really wanted to imply MC’s “canon” birthday in that way, they should’ve at least given us a scene where some of our friends talk about the course and MC is like: “Oh, I can’t wait to take the exam next year!”.

The best solution, though, would be to give some reason why the course didn’t take place in Y6 at all. It could even be connected to Rowan’s death, the Wizard in White etc. For example, one day, Dumbledore could announce that “because of all the danger at Hogwarts in the recent time, it was decided that the Apparition exams won’t take place this year as it could be abused by wrong people. All students who are authorized to take the exam this year will have to wait until the next one”. It’s still a bit of a stretch, but at least it’d remain unclear whether or not MC was seventeen by April of their sixth year.

[missnight0wl]

@wannabeeliana​​​ I hope you don’t mind I respond this way, but it’s gonna be a bit long.

I always loved the Grandpa Kowalski theory to the point that I made it a part of my own story. That’s why Helena and Jacob’s father is a Muggle – because I thought it’d be super cute if Jacob and Queenie’s daughter fell in love with a No-Maj, just like her mum. That being said, I never expected this theory to be confirmed. 

I mean, I don’t think it’d be even possible, considering that the Fantastic Beasts series is nowhere to be finished. Before the third movie was released, a lot of people suspected that Quennie is gonna die, for example. And quite frankly, I doubt that Rowling and Warner Bros would reveal to Jam City how Fantastic Beasts will end. Or that they feel obliged to anything because some silly mobile game might have some connection to their story. Because if you ask me, I actually doubt they know what they want to do with Fantastic Beasts at this point, and they’re kind of making things up as they go. So… there’s also that.

The way I see the Grandpa Kowalski theory is rather as an Easter Egg and not necessarily an actual theory. I imagine that Matt London and his original writing team were like: “Hey, you know Queenie Goldstein? Wouldn’t it be crazy if MC was related to her? We’re not saying that it’s the case! But maybe it is…”. Because we know that they loved to subtly play with their audience in general.

In fact, I believe that’s why they included the information about the Mother having relatives in the States: to tease us. And that’s actually another thing. The American relatives are not that important for the theory overall at all – because the theory existed already before we heard about any distant family. 

The American connection was first mentioned in the very first Christmas TLSQ, and the main story was on Y5 then. In the meantime, I’m fairly certain that the Grandpa Kowalski theory existed since… Y4? Definitely since before that Christmas TLSQ because I remember being excited that we got another piece to fit the puzzle. Still, I do believe that the writers gave it to us mainly to have fun. I don’t think it’s supposed to be super meaningful.

(That’s actually one of the reasons why I don’t like when people use this argument to qualify the Mother as the worst parent of the century…)

Either way, I’d say that these are the most important things for the Grandpa Kowalski theory:

MC’s vision always felt a bit similar to Legilimency, which happens to be a rare skill. We knew at this point that Queenie’s powers were extra because she was a born Legilimens. And even though we didn’t know for sure yet that MC and Jacob were born with this skill, it seemed reasonable to make a connection between characters who might have the same rare ability.

The theory was always about the Mother mostly because of the last name. Women typically change their last name after marriage, which means that it wouldn’t conflict with players choosing the last name for MC. The mother could’ve been called “Kowalski”, but she’d marry a man with the last name of your choice.

Now, it’s the second argument which is the biggest problem with Peregrine, in my opinion. I mean, it’s also horrible to think that Jacob and Queenie could have such an awful son like Perry… but let’s ignore it for the sake of this discussion. Still, if we want the theory to work for Peregrine, he’d have to be called “Peregrine Kowalski” or “Peregrine Kowalski-Goldstein”. And that’d mean that MC and Jacob got his last name, wouldn’t it? But we know it’s not the case.

Of course, we can still work around it. For example, we can say that the Mother went back to her maiden name when they split up and she changed her children’s name as well. I’m not sure now if Peregrine was ever referred to as “Peregrine [MC’s Last Name]”. But even if he was, I suppose it’s possible that he took the Mother’s name after their marriage for whatever reason.

Also, let’s go back to the American relatives for a moment. As I said, the theory existed already before this addition. But on top of that… I don’t even think this information was necessary for the theory. I mean, think about it. We know that Tina moved to the UK eventually to be with Newt, so it’d make sense if Queenie wanted to move with her sister. And I don’t see why Jacob would be against it, considering that Newt was his very good friend. Now, what about the family they potentially left in the States?

Well, Tina and Queenie’s parents died when the girls were very young, and it was said that they “raised each other” afterwards. That’s why they grew to be so close. So, it definitely sounds like they didn’t really have any other family in the States or at least not close enough to take care of two orphans. And if that’s the case, I don’t think they’d really care about staying in touch in the future. It’s harder to say much about Jacob’s family, but let’s keep in mind that they were Muggles. Admittedly, it doesn’t mean they couldn’t have stayed in touch, but I just have a feeling they’re not relatives MC’s family was visiting.

In other words, I think it’s totally possible that Peregrine is a son of Jacob and Queenie, and he was born in the UK. And the Mother visiting American relatives is simply a coincidence.

So, can Peregrine being a Legilimens coexist with the Grandpa Kowalski theory?

Well, yes and no, in my opinion.

No, because I honestly doubt that the current writing team is aware of this theory. And even if they are, I don’t think they care about it. As I said at the beginning, I was never expecting the theory to be confirmed. However, if we still had the original writers working on the game, I do believe we’d be getting more indirect teases. For example, maybe MC would mention at some point their grandfather’s bakery etc. Sadly, since this connection probably wasn’t written into the core of MC’s story, I doubt Jam City would keep it in mind anymore.

Moreover, I personally don’t believe that Peregrine himself existed as a character when the story was originally created. I’m quite convinced that Peregrine per se was created when the main story was at the point of Y6, maybe even later. I’m aware that not everybody will agree with me, but at the same time, I don’t think you can find hard proof that Peregrine was always planned (I kind of talked about it a while ago in this post). Therefore, I have to say that I’m having a bit hard time trying to make any connection between Peregrine and the Grandpa Kowalski theory. I mean, in my mind, the first thing comes from the new team and has nothing to do with the original. The second one comes from the original team and has very little to do with the current team.

Nevertheless, I do believe that you absolutely can still use the Grandpa Kowalski theory to interpret the story for yourself – and nobody can really say you’re wrong. Sure, the interpretation would be cleaner if the Mother was a Legilimens instead, but the option with Peregrine is not entirely impossible either.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice day too :)

Does Peregrine have powers of Legilimency?

I believe so. Both MC and Jacob are born Legilimenses, so it’s reasonable to assume that they got it from someone. And I think Peregrine is a more likely candidate because:

The Mother was actually raising the kids, so I imagine it’d be harder for her to keep this skill a secret. It’s not impossible, but I have some doubts about it. And let’s remember that MC indeed had no idea about Legilimency before Dumbledore told them about it.

The story made it quite clear that MC, Jacob, and Peregrine are all very similar. Dumbledore even stated it directly. They’re all talented, charming troublemakers. Therefore, it seems almost natural that they share Legilimency powers as well, in my opinion.

Of course, there's also a possibility that neither of the parents is a Legilemns and the siblings inherited it from the previous generations, but again, I just feel it's not the case.

That being said, the game never confirmed anything – yet it didn’t directly say that Peregrine is not a Legilimens either. And frankly, I think it still can be the big reveal in the future.

Spoilers for the upcoming chapters under the cut.

Keep reading

[missnight0wl]

MC’s reactions are quite off for a while now, not even just in Beyond Hogwarts. I still think their reaction when Jacob told us he’s not gonna live with us was way too mild, for example. But yeah, I agree.

And god, I really hope Olivia kicks his ass when he finally confesses. It could actually be a good moment to bring Duncan up, too. I mean, realistically speaking, there’s no way it wouldn’t matter in this situation, right? And it does bother me because Olivia's feelings were established before she got her memories back. Right? I’m not making it up?

But then, we just totally forgot that we talked about it. And the thing is that it even be easily introduced right now. Like, imagine that when MC asks Jacob if he told Olivia about his feelings, he says that a part of the reason why he didn’t is because he’s worried about her past feelings for Duncan. I could even be an interesting plotline (assuming that we’d also eliminate Jacob being a selfish jerk first).

Another thing is that this whole thing is really out of nowhere, in my opinion. I talked about it before, but we never even saw Jacob and Olivia getting closer after their reunion with Duncan as friends. So, to me, even if we ignore the romantic aspect, their living together simply feels random. Especially since they’re both supposed to be close to MC, so their relationship is too important to be an off-screen thing, in my opinion.

Overall, it’s bad. It’s really really bad.

Hii Marta 👋👋👋

First off, happy (very) belated birthday! I hope you're resting up and you're getting better :)

Then, I just wanted to ask if you're caught up on the latest HPHM chapter... I don't like where they're going with this, and it feels really cheap. The only way they could save this is, in my opinion, by showing how the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but I really don't think that's gonna happen. What are your thoughts about it?

Either way, I hope you have a nice rest of your day, and stay well ^-^

Well, first of all, thank you so much! 💖 I really appreciate it! I hope you're doing well, too!

As for HPHM, I’m actually not caught up. I still haven’t started Chapter 9, and to be completely honest, I don’t feel the need to catch up. I don’t want to say I’m quitting the game and I’m actually still opening the app pretty much every day just to collect my energy, but at the same, it’s just... eh. The whole “Beyond Hogwarts” often feels like the battle with R from the end of Y7: the characters seem to believe that whatever they’re doing makes sense, but it really doesn’t. Also, there’s basically nothing left in the game anymore from the things that made me love it all those years ago.

On top of all of that, I’m just not having the best time of my life – as you know. It’s nothing bad in particular, really, it’s just… life, I guess. And the main thing is that I just have a hard time finding motivation, so the quality of HPHM dropping down so much doesn’t help.

(Also, I just want to mention in this place: dear Anon who sent me the ask about Flump, if you see it, I swear I’m not ignoring you. I just have a lot to say about this character, and as I mentioned, I have no willpower to write my thoughts down. It’s gonna be a long rant, though. In short: I fucking hate Flump.)

Now, as for the events from the recent chapter you’re referring to… I assume it’s about Jacob and Olivia? Please, correct me if it’s something else because I didn’t check the whole chapter, but if that’s what we’re talking about: I absolutely hate everything about it. EVERYTHING. It actually might be a deal breaker for me. Like, I still don’t want to say “I quit”, but after I learnt about it, my motivation to come back dropped from low to barely existing. I’m still super bitter about that “too dry chicken”, and it’s beyond me how anyone could think it’s a good way to introduce this plot to the story. You know how it could’ve gone? Olivia could’ve said something like: “I was thinking the whole day about messing up the chicken yesterday, EVEN THOUGH JACOB SAID IT WAS FINE”. But no, the writers for once decided to be consistent about something and portrayed Fugly Slut as an absolute jerk.

I think that the only way to save this is to kill Fugly Slut. Olivia deserves so much better. And of course we’re simply ignoring Olivia’s past feelings for Duncan.

[missnight0wl]

Frankly, I just don’t understand what was even the point of the introduction of the idea that “R” is both the person and the organisation. Especially since it was supposed to be that big reveal at the beginning of Y6 that R is a group, not a single person. But now, SIKE! It’s both after all! The thing is that… it doesn’t really explain anything. Heck, it stopped being relevant as soon as we learnt about it. Peregrine is always referred to as “Peregrine” or “the leader of R”. When we use “R”, we always talk about the group. And MC obviously doesn’t even try to explain anything. So… what was the point?

As for the Eye of Ra pin, I know I’m repeating myself like a broken record, but I’m fairly certain that it was supposed to be exclusive to Rakepick only. So, I can see two explanations now: 1) Peregrine started using it recently on purpose to prove how terrible Rakepick was to desecrate their beautiful symbol, 2) Jam City doesn’t give a damn; they saw that some people in the fandom think it’s a symbol of R, so they used this concept.

Now, when it comes to overthrowing Peregrine, I actually discussed this idea a while ago! Some of my Anons proposed that other members of R want so badly for MC to become their leader because they’re fed up with Perry. I recommend you check this post to read a bit more.

And why wouldn’t they simply remove Peregrine by force, you ask? Well, I suspect that he might be more powerful than it seems (or that we’d like him to be). I also think it’s possible he’s using Legilimency to keep his people in line. Oh, and let’s not forget what else Rakepick told us in Azkaban:

Hello, hope you're having a good day! This is probably obvious, but it's not really clear to me, so I come before you seeking answers: 'R' existed before Peregrine, right? and he only joined this organisation after it had already become an international thing? Thank you :)

Hello! I hope you’re having a good day, too :)

As for your question: you see, it’s actually not that obvious, at least in my opinion. I mean, yes, it’s probably the most obvious conclusion based on what was said in the game. But personally, I have some doubts.

As you mentioned already, R is an international organisation. We learnt about it from Moody all the way back in Y6. And I always believed that it has to mean that they exist for quite some time. Because even when you look at real companies, they rarely become international over just a couple of years. And here, we’re talking about people who additionally want to remain secret, so… They had to need some time to build their network, right?

On top of that, we have Peregrine himself basically telling us directly that he joined R later on. Although… it’s still not entirely clear.

So, MC assumes here that Peregrine joined R. But does Peregrine’s “R became my calling much later” mean “I joined R much later” or “I created R much later”? Honestly, I think it can be interpreted either way. And I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s kind of vague on purpose. Because let’s keep in mind that Peregrine is a manipulative person, and he’s definitely lying to MC about certain things.

Moreover, I’m still not sure how we should interpret Rakepick’s words. When we met her in Azkaban, she told us (in the sane route):

Now, if you ask me… it does sound like an implication that R is the one who CREATED the organisation. Admittedly, “the one behind it all” might mean “the one responsible for the whole mess with MC and the Cursed Vaults”. And sure, “R” might be a title that is simply given to each leader. But isn’t it a bit odd that the writers didn’t use this opportunity to specify it? Or that Rakepick didn’t even say at any point “the current leader” or something like that?

And yeah, I’m aware that the writers of HPHM can be sloppy and their decisions don’t always make the most sense. Still, I just think that when you look closely at this issue, it’s actually not that obvious anymore.