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cosmicaces · 5 months ago

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i've never been good at writing intros to posts and that isn't gonna change today, esp since only a handful of people are probably gonna read this. i am making this post for me, because this is something i noticed and i wanna talk about it. leave it to me to make a detailed post about a character from a movie from three years ago.

rody has pstd! let's talk about it

[ID: A screenshot from MHA: World Heroes' Mission. Rody is pointing at Deku, winking. Deku looks annoyed. End ID.]

to preface this:

i am not a professional 👍 i have ptsd 👍

analyzing characters is fun for me! this is how i am interpreting rody with what i know about him from the little media he's been in + some additional speculation. feel free to incorporate this into your belief system. or not! all that i ask is that you bear with me.

now, before i get into it (preface...2!):

everyone knows about fight or flight, right? well, did you know that there are actually 5 trauma responses? fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and flop. (there may be more, but these are the ones that have the most information on them.)

fight and flight are the body's primary responses to a bad situation. freeze, fawn, and flop are more complex responses that happen when the first two aren't available. little self-explanatory, but for the sake of infodumping:

freeze: the body is in a state of hyperarousal. the muscles are tight and ready for action but is ultimately paralyzed. think of a deer in headlights.

fawn/befriend/submit: this response involves complying/befriending the aggressor; people-pleasing in an effort to remain safe. this is more common in cases of abuse.

flop/shutdown/collapse: the body is in a state of hypoarousal, aka its shutting down; muscles go slack, brain stops receiving sensory info. this can often result in fainting. you know how some people faint when they see blood? or when they're on a rollercoaster? yeah, it's this.

it's important to have this context. as a matter of fact, you probably already know where i'm going with this:

rody faints when deku is climbing up the bridge. of course, right? he had reached such a heightened level of fear that, when his brain realized it couldn't trigger one of the other four responses, he just... flopped. why bring this up? well, and i think this is easy to miss, but rody didn't pass out once. he actually passed out twice.

when they first reached the train, it appears that, in their brief moment of safety, rody had collapsed.

[ID: Deku picks up Rody to shield him from Beros's oncoming arrow attack. End ID.]

[ID: Deku is carrying Rody, swinging under the bridge in an effort to evade Beros's attacks. At the end, Rody appears as though he is coming to. End ID.]

up until this point, rody had been freaking out during their escape from the police. for him to have no initial response to being physically moved by deku... hell, he looks like he's just coming to. if we're going based off of the dub, he even yells "what's happening?!" simply put: he shut down and, more specifically, he shut down in what had been perceived as a moment of respite.

the reason i point this out is because, while we don't choose our trauma responses, there are events that can impact what they can be.

so... what is the purpose of the flop response?

quoting from an article here, but it's thought to help people in three different ways: to reduce the mental impact of the circumstances, to cause a physical disconnect (thus experiencing the trauma less directly), and to prevent additional assault.

the point i'm trying to make here is, well...

[ID: A flashback showing Rody protecting his siblings. A villain strikes him with a pipe. End ID.]

rody's been assaulted! and this is only one instance that we know of. we don't fully know what he's had to go through when providing for his siblings, but there is no doubt that there have been negative repercussions on his mentality.

did you notice how he startles easily?

[ID: Rody puts his hand on Deku's shoulder, scaring him. His response startles Rody, causing him to flinch backwards. End ID.]

[ID: Bakugou suddenly appears behind Rody, causing him to jump. He flinches back, turning to face him. Pino is also startled, flying to sit over on his other shoulder. End ID.]

with ptsd, some people can develop an exaggerated startle response. this happens when your nervous system gets stuck in survival mode. your brain is hypervigilant; any sudden sound or movement that you don't expect can make you feel like you're in danger and your body has to be ready to react in a given moment.

look at the difference between how deku and rody flinch. deku has a standard flinch, but rody violently flinches, almost as though he's been struck. do you see how he moves his head? his arms? how, after both instances, he's starting to sweat? yeah 👍

continuing along this line of thinking, let's talk about rody's attempted betrayal.

[ID: Rody being approached by the oni villain. He braces himself for the attack, clutching at his head. End ID.]

i feel like most people, when cornered and under the imminent threat of being attacked, try to block it or defend from it in some way. rody... didn't do that. as a matter of fact, it looks like he's trying to hide.

[ID: Deku runs towards Rody, shielding him from an arrow. Rody panics and turns away. End ID.]

additionally, in this scene, rody is apologizing. in this moment, he sincerely believed that deku was going to hurt him for his betrayal. instead of trying to run, he just... froze. braced himself again. i know he was very scared, but, despite deku having just saved him, seeing his fear at being approached... psychologically, there's something else going on here.

i think rody had been re-traumatized.

again, we only have that one flashback regarding a violent encounter with villains, but i genuinely have reason to believe that it wasn't a one-off scenario. the only reason rody tried to fight was to defend his siblings. they are his reason for continuing forward. but... what if there were times when they weren't there? and he had to face the villains by himself?

... yeah. i think that's why he responded the specific way that he did. his life was actively in danger, yes, but how many times had he been in that position? pleading, trying to garner sympathy about his siblings, wanting to be let go? i think the severity of his psychological distress in that instant is what caused him to try and hide rather than attempt to minimize any incoming damage.

as for feeling threatened by deku, that can be easily explained, too. rody talked quite a bit about betrayal, it seemed like a very natural thing to talk about. he's probably had to betray some villains and gotten hurt for it. honestly, you could probably argue that this contributed to his confusion regarding deku protecting him instead.

similarly with starting posts, i am also very bad at ending them 👍

tldr; rody soul has ptsd as a result of his encounters with villains after his father's disappearance. this has given him an exaggerated startle response as well as both a freeze/collapse response in times where his life is threatened. who knows what other symptoms he may have! what we can say for sure is that this kid needs therapy.

if you read all this, thanks! i hope you enjoyed me dissecting him like a bug.

#cosmic chatter #rody soul #bnha #mha #my hero academia #character analysis #blorbo tag #does a kickflip #rody 🤝 hunter: traumatized 16 yr olds who have a little bird #cw eyestrain #for the gifs. super cannot forget that

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mumms-the-word · 7 months ago

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Illithid Souls - Part 1

What’s up with mind flayers and souls anyway?

I know this deep dive has been done before like a hundred times, based on all the Reddit threads I’ve read, but I feel like a lot of the "evidence" has been scattered about in a lot of places (reddit, tumblr, other threads, other socials, etc). So I figured...why not gather a lot of it here in one place?

As with all my deep dives, this post is designed to equip you with some lore so you can build your own theories and ideas. I’ll offer theories that I find interesting or feasible, but lore is always a little hazy so I’m bound to be wrong or you’re bound to interpret things differently. Just have fun with the lore!

I’ll start by defining what D&D calls a soul, and then…well it unravels from there. In this part we're going to dive into the lore about souls, the afterlife, and where mind flayers differ, along with a bit of in-game context. In Part 2 we'll look at individual case studies (Tav/Durge, Orpheus, Karlach, and Gale).

Buckle up, folks, cause it's a long one!

As always, I’ll include images and image descriptors/text written out in case the pictures fail or are too small to read!

What is a soul?

The entire game of Baldur's Gate 3 is heavily invested in the idea of souls. Raphael wants to bargain with your soul. Mizora has Wyll's soul bound to a contract. Cazador plans to sacrifice 7007 souls. Vlaakith consumes the souls of her faithful. Karlach wants to collect (and use) soul coins. Every tadpoled follower of the Absolute is called a True Soul. This game is OBSESSED with souls.

But it never actually defines a soul, does it? So what do the official D&D rules say?

Well...they don't. Older editions used to split hairs about the difference between a soul and a spirit, but those older editions also used to say that elves, orcs, and half-orcs didn't have souls, so...we've moved on a bit from those days.

In the game, a book on soul coins defines souls as "the sum of personal and magical essence," which is both helpful and vague. The general player consensus is that a soul is the animating "force" that is made up of memories, personality, intelligence, and (possibly) morality, and that in some cases, such as the spell Speak with Dead, a soul differs from a spirit, which merely "animates" the body but does not actually possess the personality or the thinking capabilities of the deceased (though it may have access to memories).

Speak with Dead [...] Until the spell ends, you can ask the corpse up to five questions. The corpse knows only what it knew in life, including the languages it knew. [...] This spell doesn't return the creature's soul to its body, only its animating spirit. Thus, the corpse can't learn new information, doesn't comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can't speculate about future events.

So there's a chance that while an entire soul is generally made up of personality, memories, and some element of active thinking/decision making/speculation (intelligence, for lack of a better term), the part of a soul that functions as an "animating spirit" is what houses memory. In other words, animating spirit (memories) + personality + intelligence = soul.

This idea of the animating spirit (memories) being housed within a soul, but also detachable from a soul, is important for later, so remember this in a bit.

Souls also have power, which is why the game is obsessed with everyone fighting over souls. Raphael, Mizora, and Cazador trade in souls in exchange for power. There are insinuations in the game that the gods want to stop the "scourge of soulless illithids" (Mystra's words) because souls are a kind of currency to them (though, trust me, trying to find a recent D&D source that clearly states that particular stance is a damn migraine of an endeavor). But Withers does say that souls imbue gods with power, so the game at least operates with that assumption in mind.

According to Withers…

We all know that Withers, aka Jergal, aka the Final Scribe, aka the former god of death, aka the expert on souls, has plenty to say when you ask him to elaborate on anything:

Well, okay, maybe he doesn't. But he does have a bit more to say about souls and mind flayers. For example, when he first brings up the topic of illithids and souls in Moonrise, this is some of the information he can give the player.

Withers: I shall ask yet again. Do illithids possess souls? Player: These abominations are soulless, surely. Withers: Correct. - Player: I'm not sure. Don't all living things? Withers: No. Nor canst thou count mind flayers among them. - Player: I admit I haven't thought about it. Withers: Thou shalt think about it now, and I shall give the answer. Mind flayers are soulless. Yet the Three amass an illithid army, void of apostolic souls that could imbue them with power.

A couple of things to note here. Jergal, the guy in charge of putting down the names of people who die and keeping track of where their souls go, is pretty clear that he thinks mind flayers don't have souls. But his last statement clarifies two things: one, that he is referring specifically to apostolic souls (more on that in a bit) and that souls imbue gods with power.

Souls give the gods a kind of strength. He brings this up when he criticizes the dumb plot the Dead Three came up with in his post-epilogue scene:

Thou sought to bolster thy strength by taking away the souls of mortals. But souls vanish when their hosts become mind flayers.

So we know that souls are a source of power for deities and gods because they imbue gods with power and strength. But gods only get the power of these souls after a mortal dies with their soul intact. If someone becomes a mind flayer...well, let's just say the natural order of things gets disrupted.

What happens when you die?

You see, normally, when someone dies in Faerûn (assuming they are humanoid), their soul travels to the Fugue Plane where it basically waits around until a deity picks them up or Kelemvor decides they're just going to be part of the Wall of the Faithless for forever. From the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (page 20 because I am, as youtuber Swoop says in her docs, a thorough bitch):

The Afterlife Most humans believe the souls of the recently deceased are spirited away to the Fugue Plane, where they wander the great City of Judgment, often unaware they are dead. The servants of the gods come to collect such souls and, if they are worthy, they are taken to their awaited afterlife in the deity's domain. Occasionally, the faithful are sent back to be reborn into the world to finish work that was left undone.

This is where the idea of apostolic souls comes in. Apostolic, in its most basic definition, means "having the characteristics of an apostle," or having the characteristics of someone who dedicates their entire lives to the teaching of a particular religious figure (in our context and reality, this mostly means the apostles of Christ, but in BG3 it would refer to any deity). I think here, the definition gets stretched a little thinner to mean any soul that is capable of devotion to a deity, rather than a soul that is already devoted. Apostolic souls can be Faithful, Faithless, or False (which is how souls are separated in the Fugue Plane).

In other words, an apostolic soul is a humanoid-specific soul that the deities recognize and can use as a source of power by inviting said soul into their domain. Mind flayers do not have apostolic souls. Emphasis on apostolic here, but we'll back to mind flayers in a minute. For now, let's look at the Faithless and False souls.

Souls that are unclaimed by the servants of the gods are judged by Kelemvor, who decides the fate of each one. Some are charged with serving as guides for other lost souls, while others are transformed into squirming larvae and cast into the dust. The truly false and faithless are mortared into the Wall of the Faithless, the great barrier that bounds the City of the Dead, where their souls slowly dissolve and begin to become part of the stuff of the Wall itself.

Depressing.

The distinction between a Faithless and a False soul is a little hazy, but according to the Forgotten Realms wiki, a Faithless soul is someone who never aligned themselves to the worship of a specific deity or who just didn't believe in the existence of the gods at all (think of Astarion, who outright rejects all gods). A False soul, in contrast, is someone who did believe but failed to serve their god or outright betrayed them (a fate that Gale feels he is faced with for being on Mystra's bad side). Allegedly all the Faithless end up becoming part of the Wall, whereas the False could get mitigated sentences, such as becoming guides for other souls.

Of course, there's nothing stopping deities from combing through Faithless or False souls to collect them into their domains. But it could take a while. Clearly, the more souls a god collects into their domains, the more powerful they become, but the gods are also not exactly fighting over the souls of Faithless or False people, because people can end up waiting hundreds of years before Kelemvor is finally like "guess you're part of the wall now." Your only option to get out of that is to sell your soul to a devil, which isn't a much better fate.

From The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, page 25, regarding servants of Asmodeus:

To those not so dedicated, priests of Asmodeus offer the prospect of a reprieve in the afterlife. All souls wait on the Fugue Plane for a deity's pleasure, which determines where a soul will spend the rest of eternity. Those who lived their lives most in keeping with a deity's outlook are taken first. Others, who have transgressed in the eyes of their favored god or have not followed any particular ethos, might wait centuries before Kelemvor judges where they go. People who fear such a fate can pray to Asmodeus, his priests say, and in return a devil will grant a waiting soul some comfort.

This makes me infer two things: first, that the gods are kind of picky about which souls they want to join their domain (regardless of what actually happens to that soul in a deity's domain, which is a topic for a different post entirely, because the results may vary) and therefore the gods aren't just going to go with any soul that ends up in the Fugue Plane. Second, that the gods aren't exactly in a hurry to choose among wandering souls, likely because the Material Plane just keeps producing and destroying mortals, resulting in a constant flow of souls.

We see a glimpse of a god's perspective on the influx of souls when Gale confronts Mystra in the Stormshore Tabernacle (in this case, when you play him as an Origin):

Gale: You're one to talk. How many innocents were you prepared to sacrifice if I detonated the orb? Mystra: Such eddies are unexpectional. Souls arrive and depart your plane with every tide, in circumstances just and unjust. The Weave cannot be lost because we are unwilling to cause a ripple. And that is what is at stake.

She then goes on to say "With each day that passes, the elder brain threatens to become a new kind of god, its worshippers a scourge of soulless illithids." This is what's at stake. The loss of souls on the Material Plane.

The Absolute plot threatens that cycle of birth and death, of souls arriving and departing. But how, exactly, is the mind flayer plot a threat?

Well, for one, if everyone with a tadpole turns into an illithid (which doesn't have an apostolic soul, Withers is adamant about this), and then all the illithids kill all the non-illithids...who is making new babies with apostolic souls? And if there are no new fresh souls, eventually the deities will just also die out, since no one will be left to believe in them and thus their powers will diminish and eventually fade. It might take a few hundred years, but it still spells death for everyone involved.

The irony here is that it means the Dead Three gambled and lost even if their plan to ascend a Netherbrain ends with a success, such as when Tav or Durge decides to dominate the world by controlling the Netherbrain. Either the brain is destroyed and they lose, or the Netherbrain successfully completes its Grand Design and they really lose, because the only winner here after a thousand years would be the Netherbrain. Thus we have Withers taunting them in the post-epilogue scene by asking if they really thought their ploy would succeed.

Okay...so we know that mind flayers killing everyone on the planet is a bad idea because it means that apostolic souls stop arriving in the Fugue Plane. But what about mind flayers? If they don't have apostolic souls, do they have ANY soul worth eternal currency?

Remember, the only way to create more mind flayers is to tadpole a humanoid creature. Without humanoids, mind flayers can't reproduce. But when humanoids turn into mind flayers, they allegedly lose their souls. Right?

Withers says souls "vanish" when the body turns into a mind flayer. But this is vague, and thus allows for a few different theories. Perhaps souls move on to the Fugue Plane while the person-turned-mind-flayer continues existing on the Material Plane. Perhaps the soul just becomes obscured and unrecognizable by the gods. Or perhaps the soul really does go poof and is replaced by something else entirely.

So which is it? Well...first of all, let's set the record straight on mind flayer souls.

Do mind flayers have souls?

The short answer is...yes. They just don't have apostolic souls.

According to Volo's Guide to Monsters (page 80 for those looking through their copies at home):

Illithids acknowledge the existence of divine entities, but it is unusual for any but a deviant mind flayer to actively worship such a power. Since they are capable of planar travel, illithids don't view the afterlife and the Outer Planes in the mythic way that most other races do. Illithids don't believe they possess souls whose eternal fate is governed by the gods. Instead, when a mind flayer's brain is returned to the elder brain to be consumed, the creature's intelligence lives on. Only if an illithid's brain isn't retrieved after death would its consciousness be cast into oblivion.

And on page 72:

An elder brain has a perfect recollection of its race's history. Consequently, it views itself as both a refugee and a victim, forced into hiding by barbaric monsters. An elder brain also sees itself as a savior of the mind flayer race and a living memorial that preserves the memories of the mind flayers' prey. By its twisted logic, humanoids whose brains are devoured by the colony are rendered immortal, their memories preserved forever in the elder brain's labyrinthine mind. When a mind flayer grows old, becomes infirm, or is previously injured, the elder brain absorbs it—another form of immortality, as the mind flayer's mind dwells within the hive mind forever after.

So essentially, mind flayers do have a soul, but because they are a) not humanoid but are aberrations from another plane, and b) not faithful to the deities of Faerûn, their souls are not recognized by the gods. The souls might not even journey to the Fugue Plane when they die. Instead, mind flayers give up their consciousness (their memories, especially) to an elder brain to become part of its eternal collective memory.

It's worth noting that Volo's Guide to Monsters puts emphasis on memory and intelligence here, but not necessarily personality. Mind flayers and elder brains do have a kind of personality, because they experience emotions (we'll look at some conversations with the Emperor in Part 2), but their emotional range seems to be a little limited. For example, regarding elder brains:

An elder brain is arrogant, scheming, and power hungry, yet quick to flee or beg for mercy in the face of a powerful foe. It has no conception of joy, sympathy, or charity, but is well acquainted with fear, anger, and curiosity. It is an intellect utterly incapable of empathy or concern for creatures other than itself.

These limited emotions suggest there might be some element of personality here, but it's not exactly the same as a humanoid personality, which would normally be capable of a wider scope of emotional range. We'll talk a lot more about personality and how transforming into a mind flayer alters that part of one's identity (if not their actual soul) more in Part 2, but for now, just know that a mind flayer technically has all the elements usually present in a soul: an animating spirit (memories), intelligence, and personality (emotion).

When mind flayers die, their memories and intelligence are usually consumed by an elder brain, but it's unclear if the personality is too, or if the personality is destroyed. However, if they're not enthralled to an elder brain or if they die and their brain isn't retrieved to give to an elder brain...then their soul is "cast into oblivion."

Being cast into oblivion could mean anything. It could mean that their soul simply wanders around wherever it died, untethered to anything but unable to move on. Or it could mean that their soul simply ceases to exist. No one really knows what happens to it because renegade mind flayers are extremely rare. BG3 has Omeluum and the Emperor, but other than those two, official D&D lore only lists a small handful of other renegades out of millions of mind flayers over time.

So now you're probably thinking, "Well, wait, but is a mind flayer's soul the same soul that a person had before they became a mind flayer?" And the answer to that is complicated.

Let's talk about ceremorphosis

Normally a mind flayer isn't supposed to remember much of its life prior to ceremorphosis. This is partly why mind flayers eat brains, so they can literally absorb the memories of other creatures and make those memories part of the hive mind. But initially, after ceremorphosis, it seems like the the usual animating spirit (memories) of a person gets destroyed or displaced.

The tadpole grows as it devours the humanoid's brain, attaching to the victim's brain stem and becoming its new brain. Over the course of a week, the humanoid body changes form, and a new mind flayer comes into being. The emergent mind flayer often retains a few dim memories from its previous form, but these vague recollections seldom have any bearing on its new life as a brain-eating monster.

So right off the bat, a typical mind flayer loses the memories (perhaps the animating spirit) of the original host, and it's likely that it loses a lot of the initial personality as well (since it seems likely to lose some of the emotional range). Its intelligence is likely altered too, since the tadpole is literally eating brain matter. So this could lead us to believe two things.

First, that ceremorphosis utterly destroys the host's body and the host's soul likely goes to the Fugue Plane because they have basically died. Their brain has been consumed and their body transformed, so in essence they can't be themselves anymore. Instead, a new soul has taken residence inside the mind flayer body, though where this soul comes from is unclear since tadpoles probably don't have souls. The original soul, however, is free to move to the Fugue Plane and beyond.

Or, alternatively, the host's soul is transformed, shedding memories and personality to become a non-apostolic soul that aligns with an elder brain's hive mind somehow. This means that the host's apostolic soul might be destroyed because it's been changed so drastically, but there are some parts of the original soul still left (the lingering memories, for example). This means the host's original soul didn't move on, but is tethered to the mind flayer body and has been changed into something unrecognizable. When the mind flayer dies, the former apostolic-soul-turned-illithid-soul is either consumed by an elder brain or cast into oblivion.

If the first theory is correct, it seems a little odd that the BG3 companions are so concerned about losing their own souls. If it would just be the same as dying, there would still be some desire to avoid the fate of ceremorphosis, but the companions seem incredibly concerned about losing their own autonomy, as if their consciousness will be trapped inside a mind flayer body and their souls forfeit and unable to move on to the Fugue Plane. After all, Withers is in the business of plucking souls out of the Fugue Plane when we inevitably die in the game.

Specifically, Withers can take a body that has been completely turned to ash and resurrect it with True Resurrection, a spell powerful enough to completely restore a body to its former state. However, there is some assumption here that he wouldn't be able to do this with a mind flayer body, thus the push in the game for a cure.

True Resurrection You touch a creature that has been dead for no longer than 200 years and that died for any reason except old age. If the creature's soul is free and willing, the creature is restored to life with all its hit points. This spell closes all wounds, neutralizes any poison, cures all diseases, and lifts any curses affecting the creature when it died. The spell replaces damaged or missing organs and limbs. If the creature was undead, it is restored to its non-undead form. The spell can even provide a new body if the original no longer exists, in which case you must speak the creature's name. The creature then appears in an unoccupied space you choose within 10 feet of you.

In other words, if theory one is correct, and a person simply dies when they become a mind flayer, Withers should technically be able to resurrect them by pulling their soul out of the Fugue Plane and giving them a new body. You'd have a weird mind flayer clone of you running around, but you wouldn't have to worry about ceremorphosis again.

(But then again, we know the game ignores the organ-regrowing properties of True Resurrection for Karlach, too, so the game intentionally limits the capabilities of True Resurrection.)

If theory two is correct, and the lore is extremely unclear about this process if this is the case, then the companions' reactions and dialogues make a bit more sense. They all talk as though turning into a mind flayer means their soul is somehow destroyed. Mind flayers having souls is likely not common knowledge in the universe (certainly no one in the game is arguing that they have souls), so if a person's soul is transformed beyond recognition it could certainly seem like the host's soul got destroyed. Additionally, this would result in a person's consciousness being trapped inside a mind flayer body, so the loss of autonomy would be a terrifying possibility here.

Plus, we know that when a mind flayer dies, the soul they have (whether a brand new soul or an apostolic soul that has been altered) is consumed or thrown into oblivion. So if theory two is correct, there will be no eternal consciousness for you, allegedly (though there's some debate as to how much eternal consciousness you have in the Fugue Plane or the Outer Planes too...)

We don't know which of these theories is correct, and the game sort of slides between these two theories (as we'll see in Part 2). But, and I cannot stress this enough, this lore only applies to normal mind flayers.

BG3 has altered the usual mind flayer tadpoles with Netherese magic such that things get a little wonky. And beyond that, the ultimate tadpole that changes you (or Karlach, or Orpheus) into a mind flayer capable of wielding the Netherstones is a Supreme Tadpole that has been further altered by the Emperor:

The Emperor: I took this one from the nautiloid. I have been nurturing it ever since - priming it for your use. It is not dissimilar to the experience you already had with the previous one. Only this one is much more potent. All you have to do is open your mind to it. Its latent potential will do the rest.

We don't know how the Emperor has been priming this tadpole, but if it came from the nautiloid, then it is imbued with the same Netherese magic as all the other tadpoles. It's not the same as the Astral-touched tadpole (from Act 2), which has been in the Astral Prism for millennia, but it is somehow more powerful, or at least more effective in transforming you into a new kind of mind flayer, one that can think independently of the elder brain.

So now you (or Orpheus, or Karlach) are a new special kind of mind flayer. Does that change anything?

Yes. In fact, it seems to change quite a lot. But this post is already super long, so you'll have to check out Part 2 to see what I mean.

~*~*~

You made it to the end! Gold stars!!!

✨⭐️🌟⭐️✨

I'll link part 2 soon~

Tagging those who wanted an update! @galesdevoteewife @stuffforthestash

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #mind flayer #the emperor #bg3 lore #bg3 meta #bg3 deep dive #deep dive #long post #super long post #yall the days I put into this #who let me do this to myself

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anyzstuff · 3 months ago

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ONESHOT LOREDUMP, HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD

One of the things I love and hate Oneshot for, is how small our knowledge about it's world actually is, and how much place for discussion and speculation we have. Which is why I also look forward to The Margin of the Strange (I'm gonna use MotS for short) so much.

I am not the first person to bring up the theory about MotS and Oneshot existing in one multiverse, like this one, which is the strongest evidence we have to back up this theory (for now)

From the official MotS site/steam page description :

I am saying "for now" since we can't know for sure, and since MotS community has found an ARG on the official site. (Shout out to Margin of Error on YT) And though I do not know if it's been solved, this may give us more lore info and maybe some signs that it IS a part of the same multiverse the world of Oneshot takes place in, but it's now its just a speculation.

Tho if MotS WILL be a part of that multiverse it could give us an incredible amount of information we didn't happen to know about before regarding the Real world Oneshot originates from. Like for example why do worlds die? Is it a common event in the multiverse? How does the process of the world dying looks like and is it similar for all of the worlds? Is there any kind of system of balance, where if one world dies, the other ones can be affected by it as well, like some kind of a domino effect? What's the space BETWEEN the worlds? Void? Right now we cannot answer any of these, and it would be really nice if MotS could maybe give us at least some information about it, since from what we can see, in Ling's world the whole topic of researching about another worlds and the multiverse itself is a much larger and more important part of the game then it was in Oneshot, where we pretty much saw nothing except Author's notes, George and some info the solstice trio gave us.

These are just the topics i would've loved the fandom to talk about more. As if for my own thoughts: the process of the world dying is probably a common thing in the multiverse (at least i would think so, that's more of a headcanon since we don't have anything on this topic AT ALL). But it's genuinely scary to think about how the dying world looks like. I would speculate that it's pretty much a cold weather that gets even colder as the time goes on (since the sun is dead), lack of clouds or snow(for the same reason) and lack of food like fruits, vegetables or plants in general, if they weren't able to adapt to cold temperatures and dry air (which I'm sure most plants wouldn't adapt to). That's just something i imagine when i think of the process of the real world dying based of of information we're given. We can also see that a lot of Oneshot characters who we see outside DO wear warm clothes, scarfs, coats, ect. (Lamplighter, Cedric or even Niko themselves) Or have feathers/fur can help to warm up (yeah I'm talking abt glenfolks and Rue). Even Author himself is seen wearing a warm jacket, scarf and a hat in every official art we've seen. But this all can be explained as just design elements and not actually mean anything, but it's still a funny thing I've noticed.

CEDRIC

OHHHHH THIS IS THE SECOND HUGE PART OF THE POST. BECAUSE I HAVE A LOT TO SAY ABOUT THIS GUY.

Despite the fandom pretty much pushing this character aside compared to the rest of the Solstice trio, which upsets me a lot not only because I've had a literal hyperfixation on this guy for nearly 8 months, but also because he's literally one of the most interesting characters in the whole game. He's literally THE SON OF THE AUTHOR, ONE OF THE CHARACTERS THAT WE DON'T KNOW SH- ABOUT. THE CREATOR OF THE TWM. GUYS, I MEAN-

We also do NOT know about his origin, but I am personally heavily leaning towards the "Cedric is a robot" theory, not only because of one dialogue that we all know about (the one where Cedric and Rue answer Niko's question abot how it is to be a robot), and that one tweet Night made that "Cedric technically counts" while talking about cute anime tobot boys, but also because of the lack of his mother-

Okay-okay, I know it sounds weird, BUT. We literally have ZERO mentions of Cedric's hypothetical mother/Author's wife, which I highly doubt could've been a case if she DID exsist at all, because of how Cedric refers to The Author a lot, and because of the fact that i think that if Cedric's mom DID exist, Author would've tried to save her in the simulation, or at least would've mentioned her at least once in any of his notes, even if she was dead. So this all makes me think that Cedric did NOT have a mom at all, and has.

Also, as we know, Cedric is pretty fckn young, not much older then Proto, which mean that the world was already decaying by the time Ced came to life (born or made, I'll use the word made since I'm assuming he's a robot). This makes me ask a question: Why was he made? Author couldn't just waste time on something like this while he was working on TWM and trying to save the dying world? So that makes me think that Cedric, just like Proto, was made with a purpose. We do now what it is, maybe it's operating the flying machine, maybe Author already made a backup plan that later became the solstice route, or maybe Author created Cedric as someone who would in the the future continue his own research on the multiverse in the simulation. We don't know.

But here's a problem with this theory: we clearly have a picture of Cedric, where he's seen as a child.

(official art by Nightmargin, based on a sprite we see in game)

This. This can either be explained as Cedric having two or three different versions of the body (kinda like Proto being the first design for Prophet bot), but adjusted to imitate him "growing up" OR an indicator of Cedric not being a robot/not completely being a robot. Sadly we do not have any information to back up either the first or the second theory. Tho I saw a third one about Cedric dying at some point in live and being revived as a robot, this is a pure speculation since again, lack of information, tho there was a mention of Cedric previously crashing into a wall on a flying machine and in my mind, i have no idea how the hell did he survive, if he didn't jump off in time (and we know he has a parachute lmao). Tho i also do not know when it could even happen. Maybe in the real world or the previous iterations of The World Machine.

Cedric truly fascinates me as a character. We know so little about him and his and his siblings past life. He seems to have such a traumatic and heavy past, he's a literal TEEN who's a part of a master plan and one of the few on who's shoulder there's a literal fate of the digital remainings of his homeworld and his own life. His father just DISAPPEARED and we still have no idea where and how Author is, in what state he is. A ghost? A spirit? A God just like us? Or is he in the Void somewhere and that's why he can't see what ACTUALLY happens in the world, tho he can feel what's happening? Or maybe he's in the core of The World Machine, since it needs a living soul inside of it to operate? So many questions, so many theories, yet they're pretty much left out in the fandom.

I fckn love Oneshot and i can talk about it for hours. If i missed something or you have something to say - be free to reblog, it's an open conversation and I am more then happy to read y'all's thought and opinions.

#oneshot #oneshot game #oneshot cedric #Oneshot The Author #oneshot rue #oneshot prototype #Oneshot theory #solstice trio #oneshot spoilers #oneshot solstice #margin of the strange #Yapping #not art

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tokiro07 · 18 days ago

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Ichi the Witch ch.9 thoughts

[Shark's Mouth + Lack of Fashion Sense ÷ Threat of Being Turned into Furniture x Height = TRIPLE SALCHOW!]

(Topics: narrative progression - course correction)

Okay, so I was wrong about Kumugi getting the spotlight here. In hindsight it makes sense, this is literally the first real trial that Ichi is undergoing, it would be a little strange for Kumugi to be the one to win the day, but I don't think it would have been a bad idea to establish her value within her introductory arc, y'know?

Still, since this is supposed to be endearing Ichi to Kumugi and not Kumugi to us, this is probably the better call on Nishi's part, especially since it gives us more time for Kumugi's characterization to simmer before reaching its inevitable boiling point down the line

Also, I kept talking about Kumugi's more mundane skills being indicative of her true value to the team, so I suppose something unrelated like "fashion sense" wouldn't be a good way of capitalizing on that theme

In lieu of what I wanted to see from Kumugi, I am very happy with what we're seeing from Ichi

Thinking Inside the Fish

Kumugi took Hisame's challenge at face-value: dress her up to look fabulous. Desscaras tried to work around the challenge: convince her that beauty comes from within. But Ichi is taking a whole different approach that even Hisame didn't see coming: making Hisame herself fabulous

I said last week that Ichi probably doesn't have much fashion sense because he most likely values function over form, and I maintain that's probably correct, but I won't deny that the pelt he wore in his initial outfit looked pretty damn nice

The implication of Ichi wearing pelts is that, as one might expect, Ichi is well aware of how to properly skin an animal and make clothes of them. He may need some help from the ladies on his team to make something that actually looks fashionable, but he's no stranger to working with animal skins

You all reading this might be thinking that pelts come from mammals, and you'd be right, but it's also not unheard of to make clothes from fish skins. Anyone who's read Golden Kamuy is familiar with cepker and cepur, salmon-skin shoes and coats respectively, so it's not hard to imagine that Ichi figured out how to do the same thing

It helps that Hisame is already designed to look like a dress with the lace on her fins, so the transition from fish to outfit should be fairly simple and surprisingly elegant

Aside from twisting the words of the challenge, the other thing I want to highlight is that Ichi has already found another new use for Inazuri, channeling the electricity through his knife-wand to create effectively a laser sword. This is a huge departure from simply electrocuting a target, practically becoming a new spell by combining the base spell's electrical properties with the properties of its medium. This leads me to wonder if the form of a wand informs its function, like if Ichi and Desscaras will be more prone to combat magic because their wands are weapons while Kumugi may find more supportive uses of the same spells with her pen-wand. That's something I'll speculate on more later, though

For now...that's really all I have to say about this chapter! I was wrong last week, and Ichi's doing something cool, but we won't have the payoff or narrative implications until next chapter, so...yeah! Easy week, I guess!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

#ichi the witch #madan no ichi #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews #i'm not super proud of this one but i feel like i just didn't really have a lot to sink my teeth into this time #but by the looks of it it's only meant to set up something much juicier next week so I'm excited!#also props to anyone who gets the joke in the title

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acesw · 5 months ago

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Chapter 7 | E Lucevan le Stelle Trailer - Breakdown

Welcome to 1914 Vienna, one of the capitals of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In the prime time of arts and culture, Vienna is set to host a well-loved opera among the masses. Meanwhile, more tumultuous conflicts arises as we begin to reach the height of the "Storm." What will we be seeing here in this colourful city?

We're well aware that the trailer absolutely shows us that we will be seeing a new perspective in the current events of the main story. But what are we presented with so far? Lets see here. [Content Warning: Mentions of suicide, depictions of electroshock therapy]

The Title

The title itself is a reference to the song of the same name. E Lucevan le Stelle is a romantic aria that is performed in the third act of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. The three-act opera is a tragic story about love and jealousy, telling the story of an opera singer fighting to save her love from a sadistic police chief.

From this alone, it makes its themes of this chapter very clear. Furthermore, Tosca might be the opera that will be performed in Vienna.

The Art Gallery

"A painting? Based on the mysterious island?... The host is Isolde, the opera singer?" "Oh poor thing; every member of that family met a tragic end. And now, her brother..."

We start this trailer by being informed that Isolde, an opera singer, is hosting an art exhibition in Vienna. The exhibited paintings are of her late brother, who had died prior to this story.

The building signage on the art gallery (literally) translates to: "to time its art, to art its freedom" in German. There is no doubt that the "mysterious island" is referencing to the Island and Apeiron, which has recently been bombed and implied to be exposed to the public in Chapter 5.

These paintings have been burnt, yet parts had been preserved and presented to the public. They have been painted by Theophil Dittersdorf, being the named late brother of Isolde Dittersdorf.

The Salvation

"Behold, my brother's final painting, inspired by the Golden Isle: "The Salvation." "

Once again referencing the Island, Theophil must have known about it for some time. Here, the painting could be about the "Storm" itself.

The News

"The rain, the 'golden isle,' the island in the painting, is that where the Timekeeper is at now?" - Marcus "How did Theophil know about the 'Storm', and the Island?" - Hoffman "He belonged to an organization called 'The Circle.' " - Marcus

We're finally introduced to Greta Hoffman and Marcus, the two investigators who are deployed to Vienna to investigate about the "Storm." Also, the newspaper here confirms that the Island had been exposed. Its ownership causes international conflicts between Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. This coincides with Theophil's art exhibition and the revealing of the Salvation.

They discover that Theophil knew about the Island because of a group called "The Circle." They're described as a group of artists, but Marcus speculates that they might have a purpose beyond that.

"Are they really just a group of artists?"

Kakania helping Isolde

"What do you see in the mirror?"

Kakania is likely to be a psychiatrist for Isolde, who helps the latter try to cope with the loss of her brother.

"I see... golden circles. Theophil in the fire... He, He burned all his paintings! And then, I heard a shot."

Isolde describes what had happened during Theophil's death. Here, we see a memory of her receiving electroshock therapy as a form of treatment. (which I'll talk about in a different post) Then, we see a vague memory of what happened that night.

Theophil's silhouette seemed to be domineering over Isolde's own as he burned his paintings. The last sentence implies that Theophil did not die in the fire, but rather committed suicide by shooting himself.

The "Storm"

"All these assassinations... All at the same time?"

We see that the "Storm" will be happening around this time by acceleration. It's catalyst has to do with mass assassinations and thus sparking WW1.

Meanwhile, we have a short scene of a fighter plane being taken down, suggesting that we might have a moment to see what happened on the Island.

Kakania and Marcus' meeting

"I can see how you burned with passion. Welcome to 'The Circle,' miss Marcus."

The paths of the past and future will cross once again. Marcus and Kakania will be meeting under certain circumstances. Kakania—despite likely not knowing anything about the "Storm"—will be helping Marcus with her mission.

More of Isolde

"Will our people be able to defend themselves on that island?" - Kakania "To help them, is to help ourselves." - Isolde —— "We share the same dream as you."

We're not sure what this shows here, but considering Isolde's quotes here, she might be a part of something more in this story than we know for now. Who is "we" anyway?

Arcana

"I am intrigued by the name of your little group: 'The Circle.' "

Arcana makes an interesting appearance in this trailer. Perhaps she will be important to a flashback? Or maybe an interaction that happens before she arrives to the Island? Who knows!

The End

"Even if the world ends tomorrow, we still have a show to watch. Please, enjoy."

This is all we see in the trailer. I'm really excited to finally see what happens in Chapter 7, as it'll truly be a long yet grandiose show for everyone. Have fun with theorizing!

#reverse 1999 #reverse: 1999 #re1999 #r1999 #e lucevan le stelle #isolde #kakania #arcana reverse 1999 #marcus reverse 1999 #greta hoffman

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lu-is-not-ok · 1 year ago

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While we're psychoanalyzing the EGOs, what are your opinions on Dimensional Shredder? Deffo something on freedom there, but I'm having trouble putting it to words myself.

Alright, another shared E.G.O. Cracks knuckles.

You know the drill, under cut we go.

So let's talk about Wayward Passenger as an abnormality first. It's a representation of the horrible things W Corp puts people through on their WARP trains given form. In a way, that makes it similar to abnormalities like Mountain of Smiling Bodies or CENSORED (if you subscribe to the smoke war monster theory).

The dungeon event in which we meet Wayward Passenger is especially telling in what themes it wants to carry. The narration mentions that the corporation responsible for disappearance will simply pretend that this person never existed. The reveal that the Passenger was actually a W Corp employee further adds to this.

(Also, random tangent, but am I the only one that got reminded of Bongcheon-Dong Ghost by this abno's event? Something about having to point a terrifying monster in a direction away from you and hope it doesn't come back just brought back memories. At least the Passenger has enough manners to not jumpscare you.)

When it comes to the abnormality itself, Wayward Passenger carries themes of corporate exploitation and negligence, specifically in the way W Corp might find its employees expendable and doesn't care about inflicting suffering upon its clients as long as they profit from it.

There are also some themes of abandonment and being lost, but also tenacity in spite of it. Despite not being able to escape, Wayward Passanger still searches for a way out and never stops moving forward.

So. With all that being said. How does it all tie back to Hong Lu and Yi Sang, as they are the ones with Dimension Shredder?

Thanks to Canto IV we now know that Yi Sang absolutely fits under the exploited by corporate greed umbrella. It's a major theme of his whole chapter in fact! The themes of being lost are also reflected in Yi Sang's aimlessness after the League collapsed. He was completely lost and effectively abandoned by everyone except Gubo, only to be further exploited by even more corporate greed.

Hell, you could even say his character arc in his Canto represents that tenacity in spite of being lost I mentioned. Though his goal might not be all that clear, he still wants to keep going and keep moving forward, no matter what.

When it comes to Hong Lu, we don't have nearly as much information... But we can speculate! I think in this case the "corporate exploitation" is less literally corporate, but still applicable. I'm talking about Hong Lu's family, of course. Though we don't know much, we do get quite a few hints about his family exploiting him for their own gain, especially now that we're getting a Hong Lu ID that is quite literally based on the idea of paralleling that part of him with Actual Corporate Exploitation!

With how cagey Hong Lu is about the deeper parts of his past, and how hard it is to tell when he's being genuine, it's honestly hard to pinpoint any of the other themes onto him.

However, we could work a little bit backwards here and see how Wayward Passenger might apply to Hong Lu's recurring themes of freedom.

In that way, we could be onto something here. Wayward Passenger is no longer under W Corp's protection, if it ever was. It's lost and abandoned by the thing that was supposed to be protecting it... But on the other hand, it is free now. W Corp can't reach it anymore. It can go wherever it wants and nothing will stop it.

If you want to translate that to how that might apply to Hong Lu, then you could interpret that as a sign that Hong Lu can only attain "true" freedom by severing ties with the thing exploiting him, aka his family... At the cost of losing the comfort and protection they offered him, as little as it may have been.

You could say that idea is reflected in Tingtang Hong Lu. Yes, he is probably the most free when it comes to authority bearing down on him compared to all his other IDs. ...But he's also a gambler living in the Backstreets leading a gang so incompetent he has to threaten them with death to keep them in line. He may be free, but his life is far from comfortable.

...I think it's funny that I already wrote that much and I haven't even touched the actual E.G.Os themselves, whoops! Let's go do that.

First thing to note about Dimension Shredder is that its damage type is Pride, especially since Yi Sang's version doesn't even *require* Pride resources. In fact, Dimension Shredder is the only non-base E.G.O that deals Pride damage.

To go a little bit deeper into that, all of the base E.G.O that deal Pride damage seem to imply taking an action while ignoring the consequences that might follow them. Rodion's What Is Cast is the most obvious example here, representing her murder of the pawnbroker without considering how the Middle would react to one of their family being killed. Likewise, Outis, Meursault, and Faust seem to carry similar ideas. Outis reminding herself of the Odyssey's purpose, as if trying to cope with the unforseen consequences of her actions. Meursault acting out despite noting how doing so only tightens the chains of those judging him. Faust opening herself to knowledge and possibilities regardless of what it may do.

In a way, that is what Pride is at its core. Performing actions purely because of what benefit they bring to oneself, without considering the drawbacks and consequences.

There's a couple of ways we could interpret that with Dimension Shredder.

For one, we could zoom back out to what Wayward Passenger represents. Dimension Shredder being a Pride E.G.O could be signifying the Pride inherent in corporate exploitation. By its very nature, it's an action done purely for the corporation's benefit, without considering the consequences on other people.

The other is a bit more directly applicable to Yi Sang and Hong Lu themselves. It could represent how they, and the abnormality included, continue moving forward regardless of what may stand in their way. Regardless what the consequences may be for doing so.

During the attack animations for both Dimension Shredder Awakenings, we see Yi Sang and Hong Lu enter a dimensional rift they make, with both of them notably hesitating before doing so. Judging by Hong Lu's expression when he exits the rift, it's not exactly a pleasant experience. And yet, they both do it anyway. The benefit of continuing to move outweighs the damage it may inflict on them, so they ignore the consequences. I think it kinda points to my second interpretation above.

When it comes to Sin Resources, both Yi Sang and Hong Lu require Gluttony, but while Hong Lu requires Pride, Yi Sang requires Sloth. Let's dissect it one at a time.

Gluttony in Limbus Company has two meanings, in my opinion. On one hand, there's the Greed-adjacent aspect, where it represents the want for more and more. This neverending need for growth, for consumption, for progress. On the other hand, when it's seen in a more sympathetic light, it can represent the actions one commits for the sake of one's own Survival.

When it comes to Dimension Shredder, I think it's a little bit of both for both Hong Lu and Yi Sang. They both need Gluttony to survive in an environment where they're actively being exploited, but at the same time they need Gluttony to keep moving further and further forward, to keep making progress endlessly.

For the other Resources that each of them uses, I think it specifically represents what part of them is what allows them to be easily exploited by those above them.

Sloth for Yi Sang represents his apathy and passiveness. He gets exploited because he doesn't care enough about himself to fight back against it. Why bother? It doesn't matter, everything and everyone else was exploited, so why stand up to being exploited yourself? While this is something that Yi Sang starts to come out of by the end of Canto IV, I doubt it's a habit that will be easy for him to break just like that.

The fact that Pride is a resource here for Hong Lu paints his passiveness when being exploited under a different light. He doesn't buckle because he's apathetic like Yi Sang, it's because he believes that the benefits of letting himself be exploited outweigh the drawbacks enough to ignore them. If we apply this to his family exploiting him, it paints a pretty vivid picture. Sure, he is being used and hurt by his family, but just accepting that it happens means he still gets to enjoy the comfort and "love" they give him. Because what happens if he stands up to them? He likely gets punished. He loses that comfort he relies on. So he'd rather just bear the pain and pretend everything is okay, because the alternative is far worse.

Now, let's examine the dialogue lines, because I think they are very interesting with all of that analysis behind us.

For starters, I think for both Dimension Shredder users, their Awakening lines are a reflection of their coping mechanism in the face of being exploited being pushed to its absolute limits.

Yi Sang's Awakening line is a reflection of how he tries to throw himself into research and scholarly pursuits as a form of escapism from his reality. Whether it's his activities with the League, or his dependency on the Mirror, we see in Canto IV that he turns to acting the part of a researcher when faced with corporate exploitation.

Likewise, while using Dimension Shredder he makes notes of his surroundings like a researcher traversing the space. Noting the enchanting colors and how he can't memorize the path he's on. However, his tone of voice is a lot more... manic? It's emotional, seemingly entranced by what he's seeing. I think it signifies how, when pushed to his limits, Yi Sang would completely throw himself into his research, to a perhaps almost obsessive degree.

Hong Lu's Awakening line on the other hand reflects how he tries to keep a happy tone regardless of the circumstances. His defense mechanism is hiding what he's truly feeling behind a mask of smiles and jokes.

Tingtang and Kurokumo Hong Lu are probably the best examples of this. While having a constant jovial tone, Tingtang Hong Lu is an utter piece of shit only using kindness as a thin veil to hide his actual intentions. Kurokumo Hong Lu on the other hand uses a somewhat polite tone despite the fact he clearly does not respect anyone. It's even more obvious with the latter when you examine his post-uptie illustration more closely. While he wears a smile on his face, the veins shown on the hand clutching his sword say that he's not as calm as he seems.

While using Dimension Shredder, Hong Lu tries to keep up his smiling facade... Except this time, he fails. At his very limit, he's too worn down and tired of the abuse to pretend he's fine. The words do come out, but he can't make them sound the way he wants to anymore. The mask finally cracks under the pressure.

Matching with how the Awakening lines share a specific theme, the Corrosion lines do as well. Dimension Shredder Corroded dialogue lines all seem to express some form of realization that they are finally free.

Yi Sang's Corrosion line describes how the alley he's going down does in fact have an exit. It's an open one. Not only is it a reference to Poem No. 1 from Crow's Eye View, but the way Yi Sang speaks it is very interesting here. His tone is fully confident, and even seems to lack the usual tired breathiness that Yi Sang usually has.

Good thing I'm writing this after Canto IV has come out, because... All of that is reflected in Yi Sang's character arc. He does realize that the alley is open. He does realize he can keep moving forward. And, most importantly, he does gain the confidence to not let himself be stopped.

With all of that context, let's look at Hong Lu's Corrosion line. His dialogue line expresses how nobody (or nothing) is forcing him to "be located there", causing him to fall into a fit of gasping laughter. There is something. Incredibly disturbing about this line to me. It's this dichotomy between Hong Lu hesitantly realizing that he's no longer stuck, that nobody is ordering him around anymore, and his downright histerical sounding delivery.

Since we don't have Hong Lu's Canto just yet, I can't do the same comparison as I did with Yi Sang... But I could try to predict what Hong Lu's Canto could end on if we assume this line is foreshadowing it the same way Yi Sang's was.

I think Canto 8 will show us Hong Lu finally break. There will be no more mask to hide behind, just a flood of emotions that had been held back for all of his life. Most importantly though, it won't be pretty. If there's any Sinner who will be in need of emotional catharsis through a mental breakdown boss battle, Hong Lu seems like the perfect candidate for that. Either that or Hong Lu just straight up fucking murders someone on screen. Ideally both.

There's probably more I can analyze based on the visual designs of the E.G.O... But honestly this already got way fucking longer than the Roseate Desire analysis so I'll just leave you with the mental image of me chanting Hong Lu Commit Fratricide.

#limbus company #limbus company project moon #hong lu #hong lu lcb #yi sang #yi sang lcb #dimension shredder ego #lcb analysis #lcb canto iv #lcb spoilers #ask #trianglestrategist #lu speaketh #enjoy this one got even fucking longer

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maniculum · 4 months ago

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Bestiaryposting Results: Yagstong

I almost forgot to do this two weeks in a row. Just a really hectic month over here, sorry.

Anyway, if you want to know what this is all about, you can find out at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

The art below is based on this entry:

And this is the one we're doing next:

Now, art:

@mistressorinoco (link to post here) has done a delightful mix of different animals here, all of which manages to come together into a cohesive whole. See the linked post for details on which features are here and why. I also like the throat sac thing.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has drawn a fairly striking yet realistic creature -- the mane and tusks are really working for it here. This design, like the above, is highly concerned with making the beast properly adapted to its environment, and you can find out more about that in the linked post.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has drawn some adorably goofy-looking creatures. The wideset eyes, the protruding teeth, the downright spherical juvenile there.... I love them. As usual, information on this design's influences can be found in the linked post.

@pomrania (link to post here), collaborating with @theforceisstronginthegirl, has drawn something that is a mashup of "goat", "llama", and "donkey". I particularly like the magical effects around the one tasting the dittany.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) decided to go in a very goat-like direction, and you can find an explanation of why in the linked post. Solid goat-thing there. They also speculate about dittany (I'm not sure why that keeps coming up either), and note that they hope someone else chose to draw the canonically-fat baby Yagstong -- luckily Coolest-Capybara has them covered.

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has done two drawings of this one. It should be noted that in the first drawing, that box is not diegetic -- the beast's lusty nature has been censored. For details on why this design, and some interesting information on dittany, please see the linked post.

So! The Aberdeen Bestiary. We actually have two pictures of this one -- there seem to have been three originally, but one has been cut out of the manuscript.

So very obviously this is the goat, which I think multiple people clocked right away. Say one thing for this illustrator, they can draw a pretty good goat.

The missing image is from the entry for he-goat, which is bafflingly separate from the main goat entry. They're not even next to each other; "goat" is on both sides of f.14 while "he-goat" is on both sides of f.21. This is possibly to do with the fact that the Latin terms chosen are capre and hyrco -- English, to my knowledge, lacks a dedicated term for "male goat" like we have for sheep and cows (i.e., "ram" and "bull" respectively), but Latin has one. So maybe there was some confusion.

Not a lot to add here, but I do like one element of the commentary the people who digitized the Aberdeen Bestiary left: they note that the image of the goat scratching its head with its hoof has nothing to do with anything mentioned in the entry. Maybe the illustrator just saw goats do that and thought it would make a good picture?

#maniculum bestiaryposting #yagstong

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conceptmobius · 11 months ago

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Staff Recruitment

Greetings! This is a post regarding staff recruitment for Concept: “Mobius”, as you probably surmised. Vertekins and I always looking to add to the ranks and make the site as detailed, informative, and cool as it can be. If you’re interested in joining, great! Let’s find you a spot! Incidentally, you may be able to fill multiple roles, but first things first. You need to run before you can Spin Attack, after all.

Concept: “Mobius” is a Sonic the Hedgehog site dedicated to information about the games within the franchise and the worlds, characters, and events within. While there are multiple wikis and whatnot that serve this purpose, we’re trying to do things differently. We want to enrich the world of the Blue Blur and hopefully make it more cohesive, less muddled, and more fun. Obviously, this is too big a job for a few people, hence the slow trickle of updates over the years.

So, we need a team to tackle this endeavor, and we have many branches for all skill sets. You'll also be asked to help out here, as well, but more on that at another time.

Writers

Arguably one of the most important roles. Writers will be contributing the bulk of the site’s content, from articles and reviews to think pieces and news blurbs. You’ll be expected to be able to spell, know your grammar, and write coherently. If the most writing you’ve done is on Twitter, you may find yourself at a loss here, especially since you’ll probably have to be your own editor, unless you ask your teammates for help (which you can, to be clear).

Artists

Another absolutely crucial role. You’ll be responsible for how the site looks: graphics, character art, zone landscapes, etc. It’ll be a big task, but you’ll always be credited for your work, with links going to whatever platform you choose.

Programmers/Modders

Your job will be to modify the games. Why? Two reasons.

We’ll be using various games for clips and showcases, and we need them to be accurate as possible. Many of them are either missing content, have various inaccuracies between one another, or just don’t look/sound/play right for our purposes. We can’t very well show Sonic’s world if it’s lackluster, can we?

We want to show what even the worst of the franchise could look/sound/play like if given the TLC they deserve.

I know this doesn’t sound necessary or worthwhile, but I assure you, it will make sense in the future.

Theorists

You’ll be helping with various theories and doing your best to plug up various plotholes in the Sonic universe. Unlike certain other game theorists, however, you’ll be expected to show restraint when speculating and not go off on tangents or grasping at whatever straws you see.

Cartographers

Your job is a doozy: making a single, DEFINITIVE map of Sonic’s Earth. You see, there have been many in the games, and they’ve been different every time, depending on the game or the area it's based in. And each one has been inconsistent. Heck, people don't even know where Green Hill Zone definitively is, despite its number of uses.

THIS.

WILL.

NOT.

DO.

If anyone is going to take Sonic lore seriously (and few people do), we need one map that can be used for every game. That way, there is more consistency in the narrative and people have a more defined view of the world.

Modelers

Your role will be to make various character renders to be used for the cast in the Character Database. You’ll be working with the artists to make the most “true to life” representations of Sonic and the others as you can. You might also find yourself recreating certain areas or scenes from the games, demonstrating various abilities, or just letting the cast style on each other.

News Reporters

You’ll be reporting on everything Sonic-related that is newsworthy, whether it be a game announcement or a funny pic from Sega. Just try not to post any memes.

That'll do for now, although, we're welcoming anyone with a notable skill set. If you think you have something to contribute to Concept: "Mobius" that is or isn't listed here, let us know. Just be aware that we can't afford to pay anyone for their work.

Thank you very much in advance!

~Ryan

#Concept: “Mobius”#Sonic the Hedgehog #SEGA #Sonic fandom #fan site #Help Wanted #Recruitment #Looking for help #web site development #web site staff #SIGNAL BOOST #important #please boost

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crowroboros · 3 months ago

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sooooo with the demise split are you saying botw/totk are in their own continuity?

No. Skyward Sword and a lot of what happens because of it—like the forging of the Master Sword—still occur. I don't consider it to be its own continuity/canon, just like how the post-OoT timeline splits aren't considered their own separate canons. They're all part of the greater Zelda universe and information that is detailed across these games can then be applied to others. BotW/TotK are still part of the larger Zelda canon and continuity that takes place long after the past games in that theory, just like how they are in the Convergence theory.

While we're here, I want to say that there have been a lot of news outlets online falsely claiming that "Nintendo confirmed that BotW/TotK are standalone" based on the below timeline seen at Nintendo Live in Australia.

This is exactly how they have been presenting the timeline since ~2017 (with the addition of TotK). Nintendo and the Zelda Team has been very open with the fact that they're intentionally being ambiguous with the Wild Era games because they like seeing fans speculate and theorize. They have made it very clear that these games are connected to the others and do have their place on the Greater Zelda Timeline. This isn't anything new and it IS NOT saying that the Wild Era games are standalone entries.

I actually have been thinking up a third potential timeline placement for the Wild Era games that isn't the SS Demise split theory or the Convergence theory BUT I want to hold off on that until Echoes of Wisdom comes out and we see what actually is going on in that game cause it does kind of hinge on how that game ends. There isn't any point in sharing it if it'll be completely disproven within a month, you know? We don't know much about Echoes of Wisdom and so I don't want to put any information out there that ends up being wrong while making it sound like a fact.

#tears of the kingdom #tloz #loz #the legend of zelda #legend of zelda #botw #totk #zelda tears of the kingdom #zelda breath of the wild #breath of the wild #brief echoes of wisdom mention #Khris Caws

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psyoniks · 7 months ago

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Okay this has been eating at me while I've been studying. Is the Blade's and Magic academy a high-school, or a college setting?

Neil and Max were in the same year together, assuming Max is in the highest year if we're going by standard four year high-school, so they'd be around the same age. Neil seems a little older than maybe 17-18 imo, but maybe its just because he has a stable job or smth idk. Lasitc has a job too, but maybe its more situational than age-based in this universe. Iirc Rylan was too young to get a job to help out their grandmother, but Rachel was old enough.

So that means Neil is definitely older than Lastic then since Max and Neil were in the same year? This is pretty flimsy logic but I don't have a lot to worth with here. Actually, let me explain how I think classes work out of the way, since it's possible Lastic could be the same age instead of being younger by a large amount.

I actually don't think the classes are necessarily separated by age, like a traditional high-school. Since Rylan and Lastic share a class, unless Rachel is older than the both of them. Or maybe the Blades and Strikers just have shared classes and there wasn't enough for a separate class. It might be technically possible that someone in the same age is in a higher class based on skill level? This is where I'm questioning if the academy is more like a college, in the sense lots of different ages share classes rather than separated by age. Lastic scored the highest ever in the entrance test, I can't remember her exact number but she blew up the fountain. So if it was based off skill, she would still be a trainee, since her amount of magic doesn't equal skill. I don't actually know if its confirmed Blades and Strikers have magic, but I think it only really matters for the entrance exam.

All we know is Rylan is definitely the youngest and he honestly seems around 15-16 imo but this is just all speculation. As long as anyone passes the magic scaling test and has 100 coins, its possible that some younger students could enter if the academy was more of a college setting. I wish we got canon ages or a little more information/lore on the school/what the characters were taught, since I just find it the most interesting.

#anyways back to studying bluh #needed to type this out so i don't start thinking about mc rp instead of chemistry #blades and magic #dollastic #mine craft #minecraft roleplay #blades&magic

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lisa972kdlz · 1 year ago

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(It's translated from French, I hope there aren't too many syntax errors ^^" In any case, enjoy your reading !)

Dreamtale Theories:

Here's a list of a few theories about the Dreamtale Lore, this story leaving some very interesting gaps to try and fill. Philosophical and scientific thoughts helpt me to concretise these ideas, but although I've been inspired by them, it's not with these points of view I'm going to develop, but rather a purely artistic point of view. Little by little, philosophy and science have been lost in my ramblings, giving way to imaginations that seemed to fit together. Artists imagine. They cheat, they lie, they don't care much for concrete realities. In the end, the only science I get into position on is the elements of the Dreamtale canon, at least those I've managed to pick out. Perhaps I've missed some information that would disprove these hypotheses, in which case it would be courteous of you to let me know.

On a more chill note, say I'm just a teenager with a overflowing mind who loves to come up with crazy theories with whatever I can get my hands on, and I write this mainly for fun ^^

In fact, I don't think for a second I'm right, so I don't know if I can call those theories... Maybe speculation ideas about Dreamtale I wanted to share? Almost headcanons, but still based on concrete elements of the canon.

So let's go, first theory!

☁︎ Canon/Fanon:

For starters, why do I insist so much on canonicity? Because when it comes to Dreamtale, the boundary between Fanon and Canon is not always well understood, given that there are a lot of preconceived ideas on the subject.

The fact is, I see Dreamtale's Fanon and Canon as two completely separate worlds. And yet, understand that I hate adhering to variants of this and that for anything and everything. The idea of viscerally separating the Canon and Fanon sides of an oeuvre makes no sense to me, especially in an open world where each universe is a piece of a larger puzzle, where the world we're presented with is meant to be a huge playground.

And at this stage, if we do that with this universe, we could do the same for all the existing stories, no? Nevertheless, for THIS world and this world in particular, I think it's important.

For there is a crucial difference between C!Dreamtale and F!Dreamtale, a difference that completely alters the interpretation of the oeuvre. Fanon doesn't just make a few interpretative changes... He changes the very nature of a character: Corrupted Nightmare. And that, well... It's a bit complicated not to separate the two, especially when the Fanon version is so popular... Canon, he is dead and his body belongs to another character who has his own personality and background. Fanon, he's alive. Trapped, imprisoned, manipulated, split into two personalities (Night and Mare) or fundamentally evil, depending on the case, but alive.

Night is experiencing a bit of Asriel syndrome: it was because Undertale fans couldn't accept his death that the first AU's were created. And for Dreamtale, there was such misunderstanding about this (Because reading the Prologue, everyone agreed that Corrupted Nightmare was...well... Nightmare), that the majority think this is official. (It has to be said, it wasn't evident let me reassure you...)

To this we can add the fact that most of the time, in very fanon fanfics and fancomics, the other two trees don't exist or are never mentioned, that Corrupted (I refuse to call him "Nightmare" simply because he isn't Nightmare) isn't a real person or doesn't exist at all, that Dreamtale is an AU of Undertale, so made up of codes like the other AU's, but all that still depends on people's interpretation and knowledge of the real Dreamtale.

To put it more bluntly, and if the boundary's still unclear: F!Dreamtale is a part of the Undertale Multiverse, while C!Dreamtale is its own universe.

Since I like both aspects equally, and in order to get everyone on the same page, I've come up with a mini theory:

Dreamtale Fanon, being the Dreamtale developed by fans based on the belief that Corrupted Nightmare is more or less Night, has strayed so far from its original story (it focuses more on the "broken brothers" relationship of the twins, their mutual development and their relationships with the characters of the Undertale fandom), that over time, by putting down roots in the world of Undertale and through the influence of the creators, Dreamtale would have "split." This double would then have merged with the codes of the Undertale Multiverse, because Dreamtale was so well integrated into it that this version of it ended up becoming imprinted on the very core and codes. That's why, in F!Dreamtale, we don't always mention the other trees, since they never joined the Undertale Multiverse. Even we NEVER mention them in Dreamtale's AU's like Swapdream or the alternative Multiverses like Dreamswap, Swapverse, etc. That's why Dream and Nightmare exist in the alternative Multiverses,AU's and not the rest (Vampireverse, Empireverse, Minuscultale and so on).

The result is two Dreamtales:

The Canon Dreamtale, which belongs to Joku,

The Fanon Dreamtale, which belongs to the Fandom Joku too.

Well yeah, it's still Dreamtale, so it still belongs to Joku, no matter what haters want ◖눈ᴥ눈◗

Duh.

Also, this definitely doesn't prevent fanfics from being based on C!Dreamtale, it's even advisable to give it the prominence it deserves. Hence the idea of completely separating these versions, because fans can make fanfics about the Canon, and although it's fanon, it won't be similar to the F!Dreamtale version at all.

Two worlds taking different thematic paths created on the uncertainty of Night's death (like a "Schrodinger's Night" ͡° ͜ · ͡°).

Next theory!

☁︎ Tree of Feelings/Creators link:

This is a question I picked up when wondering about Dream and Corrupted's various attacks. Where Dream needs a body to hold him together, Corrupted has so many black apples that he can physically hold himself together without a body, and more or less correctly. Do positive and negative energies function differently? Is it because Corrupted has more apples that he holds on better? What is positive and negative energy in Dreamtale's Lore?

At the beginning, I'd started from the principle that Energy with a big E, being what makes up absolutely all existing things, humans and monsters alike, could be used by Dream and Corrupted to be converted into either magical energy or physical energy. As Dream only holds one apple and enjoys a body, he'd mindlessly convert his energy into magical energy, which is why he has a soul similar to human's souls and why he's able to heal as green magic does, or cause damage as white magic does. For Corrupted's part, possessing no body of his own and having amassed enough power from his hundreds of apples, he would have to convert negative energy into physical energy. This would require a great deal of power and would therefore explain why, despite he's stronger than Dream, he's not 999X stronger than him. He already uses a lot of his energy simply... Holding on without melting.

I also theorised that if one of them were to acquire all the apples, not only would it have a stable body, but it would also be able to convert this energy as it saw fit. Corrupted could then generate magical attacks AND have a physical body.

The trouble is... Dreamtale isn't actually part of Undertale. So there's no Magic,Physics duality. And even assuming that Dream converts that energy into magical energy because he's unconsciously copying the way his adopted world works, he's still canonically attacking with positive energy and not MAGIC made from positive energy. Energy comes in many forms, but I don't think he can control it in such a pure form...

All this can still hold together, but what bothers me most is that pure Energy would have... A positive side and a negative side? And what's more, related to feelings? Why not, but I'm not really pleased with.

Dream and Corrupted's energy is material, palpable. Of course, we could stop at the fact that it's just a magical energy like we find everywhere in stories and not ask ourselves any more questions.

But I love wracking my brains to find answers to questions that no one wonder, so I'll keep going èwé–

What kind of energy would this refer to? Not energy in the scientific sense, because that's independent of any emotion, whereas in Dreamtale, positive energy, for example, is directly linked to positive feelings.

Because tree of FEELINGS–

The most plausible thing I found with is that positive and negative energies are linked to the spiritual energy: auras, meditation, etc. Proof of its existence is fairly hazy in the world of creators. But in the world of fiction...? What if? This energy of consciousness exists, whether it's real or not. And if it's not in the real world, as long as there are people who believe in it, then it's in the world of fiction. What if the fruits of the tree of feelings were the material manifestation of this spiritual energy produced by the consciousness of the creators? Just as a world is created by a creative mind, what about Dream and Nightmare were the guardians of the feelings of fiction as the direct embodiment of the emotions that creators instil in their work? This could be the reason why Dreamtale isn't made up of codes, because it's the direct embodiment of a philosophy and not just another fictional universe among many.

I can't decide whether it's too obvious or too far-fetched ^^". It was the concept in Underverse that made me think of it... There are references between what Nightmare implies in 0.6 and creators tearing up their own universes because they're filled with negative emotions. Underverse isn't canon, but there's nothing to stop this idea of the creator,feeling link being applied to Dreamtale.

Especially as it allows us to imagine something even bigger that could work in relation to the three trees...

But before that, a little theory about Corrupted, because the more we learn about him, the more this character becomes... Mysterious.

☁︎ Something is rotten in the state of Dreamtale :

Ever since I knew that the three trees were part not of the Undertale Multiverse but of all the other Multiverses, I've been wondering why it should be Corrupted who embodies absolute Evil and not someone else. After all, we know plenty of evil lords, don't we? Isn't it a bit pretentious to claim him to be above everyone else?

But one detail, one nuance, makes all the difference.

By definition, Corrupted does not embody Evil, but negative feelings. He embodies them because he has become their guardian, their bearer. What I'm trying to say is that black apples and evil are not linked... Black apples are not fundamentally evil. They have no conscience; they are neutral, they exist for balance and have a purpose of their own.

No, Corrupted is Evil for another reason. He's Evil because he's simply wicked. If the personification of negative feelings is evil, it's not because the negative emotions or the apples are mean, but because they are themselves corrupted, alienated by a consciousness that manipulates them irresponsibly. Why would the Entity feel hatred? Hatred and not despair or dread? Because he was already filled with hatred, or because he has a fighting personality that allows him to exploit this emotion for its dark projects. Is it a sign that Corrupted isn't worthy of being their carrier? After all, he's not their basic guardian; it was Nim, then Nightmare.

In this way, that doesn't prevent him from being THE allegory on the scale of all dimensions (or of a large area of dimensions, if you don't like the idea that Dreamtale is linked to all fictional universes) , because the role relating to negative FEELINGS in a neutral behaviour is rather original. He's an allegory of negative feelings that doesn't need to be, and that gives a false image of what negative feelings actually are; the pejorative and common image we have of them. In reality, negative feelings are neither good nor bad; they mean no harm to others. The one who wishes them harm is the Entity, Corrupted.

He's a simple villain who has got his hands on power that doesn't belong to him and is out of control with.

...

Maybe not a 'simple' villain either?

Because, another theory, I think that Corrupted is this fourth guardian that Joku mentioned. Firstly because I don't know who else he could be, but also because he knows about the other dimensions outside Undertale. How would he know if he didn't come from outside? Who else would this fourth guardian be, and why would Joku mention him? What's more, a number of elements fit together with this theory, notably his strategy of manipulating Nim (Nim is far from stupid, and he probably wouldn't have succeeded so easily if he didn't already know a little about her), in order to create Dream and Nightmare, dividing positivity and negativity to undermine the pillars of balance, all with the aim of finding a carnal envelope and taking possession of the Tree of Feelings...

Like a plan that has been fine-tuned for years and years... Add to this the anecdote that the tree guardians are not the original guardians and that Nim learnt something awful about them before leaving for Undertale, and you'd think there was a rotten menace already pulling the strings in the shadows, long before our dear twins were born.

So what is Corrupted looking for? What's his ultimate plan? To spread negativity across all dimensions and reign supreme as a Living God?

A fine programme... But what if we took his ambitions one step further?

☁︎ Feelings, Life, Magic:

Why three trees? Why THESE three trees? Why place them at the centre of the Multiverse? Why are feelings, life and magic at the heart of the worlds? What link can we make between them?

Feelings, well ok, that works... Life and death, logical... Magic? Why magic? Magic isn't a necessary element in the Multiverse, sometimes it doesn't even exist... Why a tree of Magic and not a tree of Souls, or a tree of Virtues and Sins, for example? Undertale is very closely linked to magic, but that's not the case for all worlds...

This is where we come back to the idea that apples are the materialised forms of the feelings creators apply to their work... Does this also work with Magic and Life? Yes, it does. Trees don't just take care of Feelings, Life and Death and Magic... They reflect what creators need to create.

Feelings, as we've said, are exactly what it takes to find inspiration, to feed the imagination like maintain fire. As long as the feelings remain, so do the passion and inspiration.

Life, on the other hand, is quite simply what enables a work to exist, to remain. Life is the nest in which the spirit bathes, gathering together the experiences of the creator, housing and preserving them. You could also say that the more lives there are to witness a work, the more real a work is.

Inspiration, yes... The environment, all right... But what is needed to create something out of nothing? To make the unreal real? The immaterial material?

Nothing more than a little magic ✨ !

Not the kind of magic you find in fiction with wizards and pseudo-scientific logic, no... Magic in the sense of believing in something irrational. To believe that these worlds exist, to have faith without needing proof. Accepting imagination. Not in a religious connotation, but in the sense: Magic = Consenting Suspension of Disbelief.

Feelings: The fuel.

Life: The oxygen.

Magic: The spark.

Fire triangle is complete.

What if these three trees were the equivalent of the Triforce of Creation itself? Feelings to stimulate, Life to sustain, Magic to materialize.

What would happen if, by some mischance, an ill-intentioned person managed to seize the power of these three trees? What would be the consequences? In the end, perhaps this mysterious Entity wants more than just the golden apple in Dream's care?

And if these three trees work very well together, what would the fourth guardian be doing?

Would he be the original guardian?

Or the exact opposite of Creation: Destruction and Nothingness?

(Voilà! I hope theses theories will have interested you ^^ And you, what do you think? Do you have theories about what's going to happen in the Dreamtale sequel?)

Dreamtale belongs to @jokublog

#dreamtale #dream sans #nightmare sans #Nim #theory #jokublog #joku #corrupted nightmare sans #Dreamtale analysis

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wanderersrest · 5 months ago

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Iron-Blooded Orphans Context: Gundam's Thematic Ties to Capitalism

Surprise! I'm going to be talking about Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans soon!! If you're wondering why I talked about something that wasn't at all giant robot related recently, it's because my next project was going to be something involving Iron-Blooded Orphans. And when you cover IBO, you know it's going to go to dark places.

So, in this context post, I'd like to take a quick minute and explore how the concept of capitalism plays into the stories of the other entries in the Gundam franchise. Mind you, this isn't going to be super comprehensive, nor is it going to be a look at every single series. This is more of a surface-level skim on how capitalism informs the stories of Gundam, taking a look at three specific entries (well really two entries and the entirety of the Universal Century) and how the concept of capitalism affects them.

And do note: this post is not about how the need to turn a profit in a capitalistic society necessitates the need for Gundam to rely heavily on merchandising.

We got that? Good.

The Real Cost of War: Universal Century Edition

I think it's hard not to start with the Universal Century, seeing as how the Universal Century is the firs timeline. But even as early as the original Gundam, we have the idea that the Principality of Zeon originally became independent from the Earth Federation (which, may I remind you, is a one-world power at this point) due to exploitation at the hands of the latter. This is where the basis of "both the Federation and Zeon are bad" comes from: the fact that the neoliberal Earth Federation made a lot of its profit off of the backs of the space colonies. It should be noted, however, that there are a couple things that keep this from being a "Zeon good, Feddies bad" deal though.

First is the co-opting of the colony liberation movement by the Zabi family. Now, I know that a big part of this is based on speculation of what happened to the original founder Zeon Zum Deikun (and I mean this in that this part of backstory is intentionally left blank, and even The Origin manga still leaves room for interpretation when it covers Char's backstory), but regardless of whether or not Deikun died of natural causes or was assassinated, his death caused a power vacuum that allowed for the Zabi family to take over. And the Zabi family were not exactly all about achieving their goals through peace when the events of the original Gundam begin.

Second, and this is tied to the first, is that ZEON DROPPED A COLONY ONTO EARTH. In my experience, it's been hard to make the "both sides" argument due to this one fact alone. It doesn't matter about what Deikun would hypothetically do at this point. It also doesn't suddenly mean that the Federation is equivalent due to the rise of the Titans in Stardust Memories and Zeta Gundam (though the Titans are basically another Zeon) What matters is that Zeon, under the direct control of the Zabi family, cleared out a colony using lethal force and then dropped said colony onto the Earth.

Now, let me be clear here: Operation British does not absolve the Federation of any wrongdoing here. What we're shown of the Federation does not paint a picture of good people out doing the good fight, though I will say that certain entries in the Universal Century timeline (namely the novelization of Gundam Unicorn) end up twisting itself into knots in an attempt to play the "both sides" argument. It's this last point that is most important when it comes to contextualizing Iron-Blooded Orphans.

There is nothing wrong with trying to show the moral grayness between factions in Universal Century Gundam, but there is the albatross of Operation British constantly hanging over the head of the timeline. And, to be fair, that's by design, as the Federation started out as a nebulous neoliberal one-world order that, while overly bureaucratic, kind of meant well (but just barely), whereas Zeon is modeled after Imperial Japan with the aesthetics of Nazi Germany. Oh, and this part is important to know when it comes to Iron-Blooded Orphans, so keep that in mind.

Also, to really remind people that Zeon are, in fact, worse, there are at least three instances of post-One Year War Zeon remnants trying (and in some cases succeeding) to drop a colony onto Earth. You have:

Operation Stardust, where the Delaz Fleet tried to drop another colony onto the Earth but are stopped at the last minute. This is also the event that makes the Titans a reality.

Haman Karn's Neo Zeon dropping a colony onto Earth during the events of ZZ (I think?).

Char Aznable's Neo Zeon trying to crash Axis into the Earth.

And none of this is even getting into Anaheim Electronics, who is basically playing every side of the Gryps Conflict for their own personal gain first and foremost.

Not in My Back Yard: Future Century Edition

Moving on, let's take a look at Future Century's Mobile Fighter G Gundam. As I've talked about before, capitalism plays a central role in G Gundam. And as a quick refresher, I specifically mention how G Gundam's way of portraying war is through showing how the space colonies were made as an attempt for rich people to flee the ruined Earth. A lot of that was because of the Gundam Fight, and as a reminder, only the rich were allowed to go to the space colonies.

To be more blunt about it, none of the powers-that-be really care about the Earth, which is why Earth becomes the place where the Gundam Fight takes place. It's why THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA plans to use the Devil Gundam to destroy humanity.

Speaking of the Devil Gundam, it should also be noted that the only governments that want the Devil Gundam prior to the finale are the ones that want to use it for their own self-gain. The fact that most countries know about it by the end of the Shinjuku arc just go "eh, not my problem" and only really begin to panic about the Devil Gundam when it appears in space is really emblematic of a kind of NIMBY-style logic. Specifically, the kind where the things happening in your back yard only matter "because it's your back yard."

War For Fun and Profit: Ad Stella Edition

Really I could be here all day talking about how each and every timeline approaches capitalism as it pertains to war, but I'd like to close this post out with Gundam's most recent offering: the Witch From Mercury. Just like in the Future Century before it, the Earth of the Ad Stella timeline is in ruins due to the use of Mobile Suits. And just like the Future Century, duels between the war machines that are called Mobile Suits are used to settle debates. But whereas G Gundam's focus was how humanity has a responsibility towards fixing the Earth due to all of the damage they have caused through things like war, both real and imagined, G-Witch hones in squarely on how these hulking weapons of mass destruction are being used for a game.

And that game is politics.

The whole purpose of Mobile Suit duels in The Witch From Mercury is so that the children of these massive business conglomerates can attain more leeway by winning the hand of the head business' daughter, Miorine Rembran. And may I remind you, these conglomerates are all in the business of making Mobile Suits designed for war, and the one time we're shown Mobile Suits that were designed for anything but war (like say, as a testbed for potential medical technologies), it all ended with the original developers getting gunned down in a black ops mission.

Conclusion

I just want to repeat what I said not too long ago: I really could go on about how capitalism affects each and every Gundam series. To be fair, there is a basis for this in real life, as a lot of capitalism goes hand in hand with imperialism. And where there is imperialism, there is bound to be conflict. And this is where I will leave you, as next time, we will see what happens to those who are but an afterthought under the wheels of capitalism.

#anime and manga #mobile suit gundam

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galaxgay · 1 year ago

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In this post about Aziraphale reveling in Crowley's trust, @ravenofazarath2 got me thinking about why Crowley is actually so different from all the other angels and demons. It's definitely something that has stuck out to me especially since S2 but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

(Apologies, this meta is gonna be unnecessarily long and also might be missing information because I need to rewatch S1 and haven't read the book yet. Also, this meta is just for fun so take it with a grain of silly salt 💕)

@ravenofazarath2 mentioned that maybe Crowley isn't brainwashed like Aziraphale (and all the other ethereal beings) because he bit the apple- The apple that contains the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And I am now going insane because wait a second-

When we see him in Eden he says this line, speculating on why it's so wrong to have the knowledge of good and evil. It's such an... interesting thing to say- especially for an ethereal.

Sure, he could very much be talking about Adam and Eve choosing to eat the apple and being kicked from Eden for it (Landlords and their obnoxious rules🙄), but for fun, I'd like to play with another idea.

To be a bit more philosophical, I want to preface this theory by saying "knowing the difference between good and evil" means understanding its many complexities. It means knowing there are times where good deeds are poisoned with malice or even have evil unintended consequences and evil deeds can be justified by means outside of one's control and have good consequences- and what is good for one person, may be evil for another.

Angels and demons do not have this "knowledge". They have their strict rules and codes that they follow almost compulsively and are all collectively in on this bit. Good and Evil are almost always about immediate action and never factor in consequences. They recognize good and evil based on their respective sides. Nothing more, nothing less.

Additionally, the phrasing of that line is interesting to me. It kind of sounds like "as someone who has bit the apple, gained that knowledge and can now see the difference between good and evil, (and perhaps fell/was punished for it himself) I don't get what's so wrong with that knowledge."

The reason I don't think this is too much of a reach is because sure, halo-hugging angels who are still apart of the "cult" are going to be brainwashed, but what's so strange to me is that demons, who are fallen angels and have supposedly seen both sides themselves, don't seem to share Crowley's sentiment. Not a single one. They seem almost as brainwashed as the angels are. Is that not bizarre? Not to be a nerd but statistically speaking, at least one other demon should be able to agree, right? Why is it only Crowley?

Because it's not about seeing both sides, it's about understanding both sides. Something you can only do, if you take a bite.

(Sure, one could say the demon's quest to ruin humanity could be an act of rebellion and revenge but again, why is it all of them? I feel like at least a few of them would in one way or another agree with Crowley, even the littlest bit and they don't.)

In S1, we get this beautifully dramatic frame where Crowley says "I only ever asked questions". Which of course, is a line that everyone has been scrambling back to after seeing angel Crowley in S2. Which makes me think of this ask that Neil Gaiman answered:

Crowley's implication of not deserving to fall and Neil Gaiman saying that Crowley isn't a reliable narrator when it comes to his fall are certainly opposing views but why can't they both be correct? (we're exercising DBT today for fun)

If we know anything about Good Omens, it's that the entire theme of the story hinges on perspective. How the same instance can be viewed dramatically different depending on who is watching and where their morals are aligned. For both of these things to be true, Crowley would probably see his fall as a punishment for having simple curiosity. To Neil Gaiman, a much more neutral, outside observer, Crowley's fall wouldn't have been such a random, out of place happening. Which leads me to wonder what the Great War was even about. (I'm assuming the Great War happened before Eden-)

Perhaps it was about asking questions and making suggestions.

It seems kind of silly to say but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If the Great War is what caused many of the angels to fall, it would make sense that the center of that war would be a lack of faith. And the thing about faith is a lot of the time there's this idea that you should hang your questions aside and choose to believe- questions can oftentimes be seen as a threat or a lack of faith. Even more so are suggestions. I believe Aziraphale's reaction to Crowley's questions and suggestions in S2E1 are a perfect example of this being just the case.

I can imagine Crowley, and many of the higher ranking angels such as Lucifer and Beelzebub finding each other to all have the same questions and suggestions and doubts about the future of the universe. Having the rank they had, I could see them planning to go to God to ask questions- they, at this point, have no reason to believe anything should happen to them should they ask questions.

With them having those questions, I could also see there being a rift between the Angels who wished to ask questions, and those who strongly opposed it. And as they debated it, it snowballed out of control turning into a full-on war.

(Small note: sure maybe they became demons before the war actually officially starts but I still think this theory could hold pretty strongly.)

Crowley was on the side of asking questions and making suggestions. They did in fact fight with the other angels who ended up falling. Her questions and suggestions were viewed as a lack of faith. If you view faith as being able to hang up your questions and doubts, it actually was a lack of faith. To Neil Gaiman and katiebird2000's point, Crowley's fall was in fact just the consequences of his actions. To say "all I ever did was ask questions" is to negate all of the other things Crowley did.

(I'd also like to throw out there that faith in this circumstance is faith in God, not faith in doing good which I think explains a large portion of Crowley's morality throughout the story because God and good are not synonymous. Crowley believes in doing the right thing but does not believe God is the one to do it.)

And so Crowley fell. To his point of view, he fell for simply having questions. So when Crowley heard about the Tree of Knowledge, she had to go. When they heard the word "Knowledge" they probably thought taking a bite would answer their questions- provide her with the thing she was denied in Heaven. It was also the perfect first act of rebellion- to indulge in something he was not meant to indulge in.

But when he took a bite, something completely different happened. The wool over her eyes had been peeled back and suddenly the universe became so much more complicated. Perhaps tempting Eve to eat the apple was originally about temptation but then became an act of setting them free- to give them the right to choose just like the apple did for Crowley.

And everything from there on is history.

I think that's why Crowley not only loves humanity but also why Crowley himself is so human: that is the one thing he shares with humanity- the knowledge and understanding that good and evil are not mutually exclusive. Knowing that good and evil are tied by a red string of fate, destined to dance circles around one another eternally.

#thank you so much if you read that whole thing #i have a tendency to ramble sorry 😭#I'm gonna make another meta to piggy back off this one #about aziraphale because the way he factors into all of this is interesting to me #this theory also sheds a lot of light onto whats in store for the future so sit tight!#good omens #crowley #ineffable husbands #aziracrow #aziraphale #good omens 2 #ineffable idiots

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