#what. 6? other motifs i was trying to focus on?

[pagesofkenna]

Components (2971 words) by KennaM

Characters: Lucy Frostblade, Kipperlilly Copperkettle

Additional Tags: Introspection, Character Study, The Mountains of Chaos, Goddesses, toxic yuri, Unresolved Tension, Unhealthy Relationships, A lot of character exploration happening in the negative space

Summary: • Locate Creature: the fur of a bloodhound • Sanctuary: a silver mirror • Divination: incense and an offering • Communion: incense and holy water • Ceremony, Atonement: 25gp of silver powder • Resurrection: a diamond worth 1000gp

hello, if you've been following along, this is what i’ve been pouring my soul into for two weeks!

Read on AO3

[wisteria-lodge]

I’d love if you ever expanded your thoughts on the way JKR writes romance, because it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. One thing that’s very interesting to me is that jealousy is used as a driving force for both of the main romantic storylines in HP. It’s more obvious with Ron/Hermione (the Yule Ball, basically everything that happens between them in book 6, the locket horcrux stuff) but also plays a big role in Harry/Ginny. Harry’s jealousy of her relationship with Dean is what makes him realize he’s into her, and moments where he’s pining for Ginny tend to focus on that jealousy more than an actual appreciation of Ginny’s personality. The most important part of writing a convincing romance is making readers believe that these characters actually care about each other and want to spend time together, and it feels like maybe what you describe as JKR’s obsession with pining made her lose sight of that. What do you think?

We've also got jealousy as a motif in Harry/Cho and Severus/Lily. It is absolutely a trope she uses, a lot. 

When I was trying to get my head around how JKR writes romance, the main thing that made it click for me was realizing that, to her - romance is inherently threatening. And/or embarrassing, overpowering, animalistic, dangerous. (thanks to @the-phoenix-heart for that line.) 

Really, the Harry Potter books are kind of a romance-free zone. It is incredibly unusual to see a romantic couple, acting like a couple, on the page. We spend a lot of time with Arthur and Molly, and while they’re both pretty fleshed out as characters, we get almost nothing of their couple dynamic (and what we do get doesn’t seem all that positive…) The blocking tends to physically separate them - Molly isn’t at the World Cup or Harry’s hearing, Arthur is working overtime when Harry is at the Burrow, etc. This is a pattern: her romantic couples, of which there are not many, have a way of being in different rooms, on different side quests, one of them is mind-controlled, one of them is unconscious, it cuts to black right before Harry kisses Cho, and right after he kisses Ginny.

Ron/Hermione takes place mostly outside of Harry’s perspective, and Harry/Ginny takes place mostly out of *the reader's* perspective. It’s a lot of narration, a lot of “Harry could not help himself talking to Ginny, laughing with her, walking back from practice with her” and “[Harry] was supposedly finishing his Herbology homework but in reality reliving a particularly happy hour he had spent down by the lake with Ginny at lunchtime.” Like, I don’t know. I might have liked to see those scenes play out.  

Bill/Fleur is probably her most successful couple (I mean, who doesn't like Bill and Fleur?) But even they almost never interact with each other. They talk about their relationship to other people, other people talk about them, but like… I’m just going to go through a rundown of every single time we see Bill and Fleur interact: 

 “’E is always so thoughtful,” purred Fleur adoringly, stroking Bill’s nose. Ginny mimed vomiting into her cereal behind Fleur. Harry choked over his cornflakes.

(Romance = embarrassing) 

What if [Ron and Hermione] became like Bill and Fleur, and it became excruciatingly embarrassing to be in their presence, so that he was shut out for good?

(Romance = embarassing, threatening)

Most [of the people at Dumbledore’s funeral] Harry did not recognize, but a few he did, including (...) Bill supported by Fleur and followed by Fred and George

(put a pin in this one, I’m going to come back to it) 

“Bah,” said Fleur [in Harry’s body], checking herself in the microwave door, “Bill, don’t look at me — I’m ’ideous.”

(I actually think this is kind of cute in context, but unfortunately JKR is being uncharitable to her hyper-femme characters again, and making a joke about woman-in-male-body, which unfortunately makes it less cute in the grand scheme of things) 

“I’m taking Fleur on a thestral,” said Bill. “She’s not that fond of brooms.” Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.

(Romance = embarrassing) 

“We saw [Mad-Eye die]” said Bill; Fleur nodded, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks... 

(Not sure if this counts as them interacting, but they are at least next to each other)

“No,” said Bill at once, “I’ll do it, I’ll come.” “Where are you going?” said Tonks and Fleur together. “Mad-Eye’s body,” said Lupin. “We need to recover it.”

(this one doesn’t even frame them as a couple, since the teams have split into Bill and Lupin and Tonks and Fleur.) 

“We can’t tell you what we’re doing,” said Harry flatly. “You’re in the Order, Bill, you know Dumbledore left us a mission. We’re not supposed to talk about it to anyone else.” Fleur made an impatient noise, but Bill did not look at her.”

(... does this imply that Fleur isn’t in the Order? Anyway, they’re married at this point, and kinda disagreeing a la Molly and Arthur) 

[Griphook] continued to request trays of food in his room, like the still frail Ollivander, until Bill (following an angry outburst from Fleur) went upstairs to tell him that the arrangement could not continue.

(Another conflict, but hey, at least it sounds like they resolved it. We hear about their daughter Victoire in the epilogue, but this is the last time we see Bill and Fleur together.) 

But, okay. Not putting romance in the Harry Potter books is a perfectly fine creative choice. JKR can absolutely decide she just wants to give other things more emotional weight. What clarified this for me was the Fantastic Beasts films and her adult literature (particularly the Cormoran Strike books.) In those, JKR is wanting to write romance. And yet....

In Fantastic Beasts, she can write the awkward getting-to-know-you pre-romance stuff, but the second Jacob and Queenie are actually a couple - he loses his memory, then he’s brainwashed, she’s with Grindelwald, they’re different plot lines that never intersect… and then they just get married at the end of Secrets of Dumbledore. So it’s not even a slow-burn, will-they-won’t-they thing. Tina and Newt get the same treatment, except their pre-romance getting-to-know-you beats are so subtle that a lot of people missed them completely. Then Tina's angry at Newt for a very silly misunderstanding… then in a separate plotline… and is only in the third film for two minutes at the end. People compare the structure of these films to Indiana Jones, but in those movies the love interest is actually hanging out with Indy the whole time. In the Cormoran Strike books, the romantic leads do spend time together, but they’ve also been doing a pining, bad timing, will they/won’t they back-and-forth thing for seven books. And they’re long books. 

So okay. What’s going on. Why is this. 

JK Rowling has been very public about the trauma she has from abusive relationships and sexual assault, and I’m afraid I do have to bring that up in a conversation about why she treats romance so negatively. More specifically - if I had to guess - I think she finds male attraction towards women threatening. (I’m sure we all remember Harry’s chest monster.)  I think she feels a little icky writing it, which is why when she does do it… it feels perfunctory, generic, repetitive, and also not the sort of thing that would come from a teenage boy. (Like when has a 14-year-old boy ever thought a girl was pretty because she had nice teeth. That’s such a straight girl compliment.) BUT, when she writes about the attractiveness of guys - it gets more specific, more nuanced, more interesting, and also a lot less uncomfortable. J.K. Rowling likes guys! She’s allowed. 

But of course, she also tends to write male viewpoint characters, and I think this is why a lot of her guys (and Harry specifically) kinda read as queer to a lot of people. We’re told Harry is distracted by/attracted to Cho Chang… but is he though? Compared to the way “pretty boy” Cedric, or “sleek haired” Draco get under his skin? 

I want to take a look at her adult romantic leads for a second. Because in Fantastic Beasts, she really did pull out all the stops to make Newt and Jacob as non-threatening as humanly possible. Newt is a gentle, pacifist, Doctor Dolittle-type conservationist who barely seems interested in women at all, and Jacob… is a Muggle baker. She pairs Newt with Tina, tough as nails American star auror. Jacob is with Queenie, who is constantly literally reading his mind. Which is an ability we’ve only seen with the most powerful wizards. These guys are not a threat to these ladies. In Queenie’s case, the power balance is tipped so insanely far in her direction that I’m a little bit worried for Jacob (and she does in fact, bewitch him into doing stuff.) I think JKR wrote her couples this way so any romance she wrote with them would also feel safe… and sadly I don’t think it worked. The most fleshed out couple dynamic we get is Dumbledore/Grindelwald, who have a coffee date and a duel in the third movie. But - that’s the one movie where she doesn’t have sole screenwriting credit, they’re exes, and they're also both GUYS, so she doesn’t have to worry about any kind of male/female power imbalance gunk, or put herself in the headspace of a guy being attracted to women.

Now I do want to talk about Cormoran Strike. Of all her non-threatening male love interests, this is the one who seems to work best for her. She’s stuck with him the longest, and it actually seems possible that we might get an actual romantic scene with him in the next book. 

Here’s my theory. I think that when JKR was writing Goblet of Fire, and it came time to introduce the real Mad-Eye Moody - imprisoned in the bottom of his own trunk, weak, down a leg and an eye -  something clicked. Because that is someone who is both entirely masculine, and entirely safe, and that makes him the perfect romantic figure. And I absolutely think she grabbed that archetype when it came to writing Cormoran Strike.

Basically, this character just is Mad-Eye Moody, only 15(ish) years younger, and non-magical. Strike is an ex-military cop who now freelances. He’s older than his love interest, he’s been around the block a few times. He’s gruff, but careful and kind, world-weary and grizzled, extremely capable, principled, tough, and just sort of hyper aware of what’s going on around him. He is also a bigger guy with some access weight who is not “conventionally attractive” - and for JKR this is a feature, not a bug. If your female character is into someone who is not *~*~handsome~*~* that means they’re cool, deep, not like other girls. Viktor Krum is not conventionally attractive, and (after the werewolf attack) neither is Bill. In fact “he now bore a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye Moody.” JKR likes Mad-Eye Moody. 

And you better believe that Cormoran Strike has a broken nose and a missing leg, just like Mad-Eye Moody. Strike’s prosthetic leg comes up a *lot.* I think it’s telling that the loving interaction we see between Bill and Fleur is her physically supporting him at Dumbledore's funeral post werewolf attack, and the loving little wrist squeeze we get between Lucius and Narcissa is right before Lucius hands his wand over. Basically, JKR likes someone who is sexy and capable and has a lot of presence, but who you get to take care of, and who… can’t chase you. Doesn’t pose a threat. That's the fantasy. 

[elbiotipo]

Worldbuilding in Flat Worlds

Oh, so you think I can't do worldbuilding on flat worlds?

So, you might or might not have run into my rather hyperbolic advice that the first rule of worldbuilding is placing your equator. I still stand for it, and one of these days I would like to expand on that… But many on the notes have asked, and this is fair since it's worldbuilding: what about if my world is flat? Or a cylinder, or a ring, or other such shapes? While I can't cover every shape here (though I would like to try, eventually) I can tell you one thing or two about Flat Earths, Flat Worlds, Disc Worlds, however you would like to call them, and how you can do worldbuilding on them. You will be surprised at how much myth, fantasy and science fiction can mesh here. I apologize in advance for the lack of hard numbers in such things like gravity and orbits, but I can expand if you'd like.

This is going to be a LONG post, so more, way more, under the cut:

First of all, of course many cultures have thought of the Earth as flat, it makes intiutive sense. But this idea wasn't only about a flat Earth as a disc in the middle of nothing. This belief was also accompanied by many other beliefs about the sky, and what's under the earth (while I don't want to generalize, you see this sky-earth-underground motif in most cultures) and how the gods or God shaped it; so, not only the shape of the Earth, but the entire universe, a cosmology. While I could go into much depth on various cosmologies around the world (though I suggest you do!), I will explain the two "flat earths" that are more familiar to us in the Western world; the Hebrew and the Greek cosmology.

They usually don't teach you the cool lore in Sunday school.

So, what we see in the Hebrew cosmology is a flat earth, yes, but with a firmament that, unlike some might think, does not separate the heavens (as in sky) from the Earth, but rather creates a "vault" with Earth inside from the primeval ocean, as the firmament IS the sky. As you can read in Genesis 1:6-8, in the second day of creation, God divides the waters "under" and "above" the firmament. This idea of a primeval, chaotic ocean from where the creator God(s) create the world is a feature of Mesopotamian mythology (as well as many other unrelated mythologies), and I would love to expand on it, but let's focus on what the "flat" Earth looked like to the ancient Hebrews. You have a flat earth with the foundations on an endless abyss of water, which goes all around the firmament, an inmovable (the Bible mentions this several times) sky where God placed the Sun and Moon and stars to illuminate the Earth, and floodgates where the water for rain, hail and snow (and also the Great Flood) came from. And also Sheol, and the abyss of water, which along with the "heavens" in or beyond the firmament, take into more spiritual characteristics. I could go on, but as you can already see, this is a very complex cosmology, far from a single flat disc floating on nothingness.

The world according to Homer (the other one)

Let's move on to the Greeks. Now, the ancient Greeks, like Homer, initially seemed to believe in a flat earth, with many parallels to the Mesopotamian (and Hebrew) conception of the world, with a firmament and a landmass surrounded by (or floating on, as per Thales who believed EVERYTHING WAS WATER) an ocean with Greece as the center (see below). However, this conception evolved over time. Anaximander imagined the Earth at the top of a cylindrical, inmovable pillar, but more interestingly, attempted to explain the movement of the Sun and the Moon, believing them to be, to quote Wikipedia, "circular open vents in tubular rings of fire enclosed in tubes of condensed air" surrounding Earth. This idea was later refined by Plato and Aristotle as 'celestial spheres' as paths for the planets (this included the Sun and the Moon) to wander. This concept was further explored by Plato, Aristotle, and many more, to extend to the rest of the planets (which also included the Sun and the Moon), as objects moving across "celestial spheres" inside an sphererical firmament. At this point, Greek philosophers were already thinking the Earth was some sort of sphere, even if only because a sphere was considered the 'ideal' shape, but also because they had started to notice that the Moon was also spherical, boats went under the horizon, and the shadow of Earth during eclipses was round, among many other things that current Flat Earthers don't care about. Eratosthenes was the first to calculate the sphere of the Earth with remarkable precision (you probably know this story if you've watched the old Cosmos with Carl Sagan), and from there, it was mostly accepted in the Hellenistic world that the Earth was in fact round. It was finally Ptolemy by his incredibly detailed astronomical work for the time who finally cemented this system of a round (NOT FLAT!) and unmoving Earth as the center of the universe and the celestial spheres.

The Ptolemaic Universe. Not flat! Notice that the sphere right above Earth is on fire. This is because Earth was believed to be composed of the most base classical elements (Earth and Water), surrounded by a sphere of Air, and then later the sphere of Fire where the Sun orbited. The rest of the spheres were often associated with "Aether" or "crystal", but that's for another time.

As a note, as the Hebrews entered in contact with Hellenistic and later Roman civilization, they also adopted the concepts of the round earth and the "celestial spheres", which meshed really well with the concept of "the heavens" and the "circle of the Earth" mentioned in the Bible. With the rise of Christianity, this fusion of biblical and hellenistic cosmology endured for a long time. It's a myth that medieval Europe thought the Earth was flat, they all knew and teached the Earth was round… and fixed as the center of an universe made up of celestial spheres inside an spherical firmament of fixed stars. That concept endured much longer in Western thought, but that's for another time.

One interesting thing about flat earths in ancient cosomologies is that they often took the form of a circle, and that circle had a center. The center of the world. For the Greeks, it was the Omphalos stone in Delphi (this is where the expression 'navel of the world' comes from). For the Hebrews, it was the Temple at Jerusalem, and later medieval Christian maps (the T-O maps) set Jerusalem as the center of the world. This concept of a 'center of the world' in comparative mythology is called 'axis mundi', and as you can see, it takes particular importance in a world that is believed to REALLY have a center.

So, why the history lesson? It's fun, it might give you some ideas, but mostly it's to show you that the concept of a flat earth does not only imply a flat planet (indeed, the vision of Earth as just another planet took long to arise), but also a whole cosmovision of the world around it. To be fair, our current understanding of the universe, with round planets orbiting stars and galaxies and the Big Bang IS also a cosmovision. One based on scientific observation and understanding, but cosmovision nevertheless.

But perhaps what you wanted with a worldbuilding post is a world that is flat. Like a regular planet, just shaped as a disc. Let's discuss that. First of all, is such a thing possible to arise naturally? Most probably not. While I'm sure there might be at least one exception by some freak accident in the universe, maybe more, as a rule gravity tends to compress large objects into spherical shapes. A disc would eventually break up and become an asteroid field, or it would spin and bulge into a 'pancake shape' and eventually an oblate spheroid object, with a big equatorial bulge (yes, I'm going to use the word bulge a lot here). This shape might actually be common in many fast-spinning objects (that don't break apart) across the universe, and in fact you can find it in stars such as Achernar. Earth itself is a geoid, flattened at the poles and with an equatorial bulge (told you).

However, this does not mean that flat worlds are impossible. You could assume that the gods, or an ancient alien civilization (there's a lot of overlap here) made this disc of an indestructible material. How would such the dynamics of the world work then? Finally, here, is where our worldbuilding gets interesting…

Gravity:

Gravity on a disc would be very peculiar. To make a long story short, it would be stronger at the center and weaker at the edges, with the gravity pulling towards the center, which technically is the pole (I'm going to say South Pole because I'm from the Southern Hemisphere). So, if you threw a ball, it would be pulled towards the center/pole rather than the edges, and this pull would be in a perpendicular way, decreasing the farther you go from the center:

A very ugly drawing of an speculative flat world, with a core made of ~magical~ indistructible material, covered by earth, water and air. Note the direction of gravity and how water flows into a bulge on the center.

This would make for some curious effects; water and air would inevitably flood all the way to the center of the disc, where it would make a bulge, the sea level raising in a notable way there. One way to avoid this is to make the disc spin on its center, like a roulette, the centrifugal force of such a spin would make the gravity spread to the edges. Unfortunately, it's hard to calculate how fast would it be needed for it to 'even out' gravity in the whole disc. I can be sure it would be enough to tear normal worlds made of rock and metal apart, so this flat disc would have to be made of a strong, magical material (which really works well with the mythical 'God set the foundations of the Earth' motif)… or a complex structure of orbital rings inside (ultra-advanced tech artificial structures that transport matter in an opposite way to the spin, generating enough momentum so it doesn't pull apart), or some other kind of exotic matter. The spin would probably would not be noticeable to the inhabitants of the disc in their day to day lives, though, as the 'fixed' stars would move, I'm sure the inhabitants would incorporate in their calendars.

One important thing to remember about gravity is that it's not based in the size of an object, it's based on mass. You could have a (regular) planet smaller than Earth, but with the same gravity, so long as the mass was denser. Similarily you could have huge planets with Earth-like gravity as long as the inside is less dense (bubbleworlds, another thing I'm dying to talk about). So you could have, for example, a disc the size of Earth made of a magical or ultra-tech material (let's call it Newtonlith) where certain places inside the disc would be dense to create gravity fields inside the disc. In a normal setting, this would break it apart, but perhaps, if it's in a form of a spread out gradient, it wouldn't. This would have some very odd effects, which I leave to the reader to imagine.

(I'm of course, dismissing stupid concepts from modern flat earthers such as "Earth perpetually falling down" or "gravity doesn't exist", but I have to say, they do have some wacky worldbuilding)

The Edge and The Other Side:

So, if you get to the edge, gravity would feel strange, making it harder to you to keep going since it's pushing you perpendicularily to the center, until you actuall walk into The Edge, and gravity would feel level. It would be like walking on the oustide of a wheel. However, it's hard for me to imagine what this "edge" would look like. Assuming the disc spins, I would expect the edge to get thinner and thinner, smoothing out rather than being like a sharp "coin-like" edge… or, if it spins fast enough, in fact, more of a sharp cliff or, how could I define this? "Horizontal mountain chain". However, again, we're also assuming this whole thing is made of some magical or ultra-tech material, so the edge might as well be a flat expanse imposible to erode, like a coin edge, which might let you, quite literally, walk around the circle of the Earth. In fact, some enterprising civilizations might make a railroad or transport system all around the circle. Another thing about the Edge is that, because all the water would go to the centers of the disc, it would be very dry, and it also would have winds constantly circulating in the direction of the spin. No wall of ice, at least not as I imagine it; as we'll see later, the temperature on a flat Earth would be rather uniform unless there are other conditions affecting it.

One important thing is that, assuming this is a disc *floating* in space (no elephants or turtles…), is that the other side would be as habitable too. Remember, this case is actually one where the centers of the disc are two poles, and the edge is actually the equator! (HAHAHAHA, TOLD YOU THE EQUATOR WAS IMPORTANT, EVEN IN FLAT WORLDS) So yes, you could, in a way or another, cross over the edge (the equator!) to another whole new world, cross over to The Other Side. Assuming, of course, they get light and such, which is the next point…

Before that, though: regarding horizons; no, there wouldn't be a horizon in a flat world. You could see pretty much all the way until something like mountains block your sight. It's hard to find good estimates on exactly how far though, but humans can make out faint details up to 3km away in good conditions (coincidentially, that's around where the 'horizon' is in our Earth) and lights up to 48km away. Insert your joke about Legolas here.

Orbits, Day, Night and the Sky:

How would day and night work? There are Options.

Again, assuming our magical/ultratech indestructible disc, it could spin on an axis so that each side faces the star it orbits, like a spinning coin. This would be a weird thing, especially if the planet already spins on its edge/equator, but not physically impossible. The orbit of Uranus is similar, with one pole facing the sun during summer and the other during winter, but that means an almost century long day in its case (a year in Uranus is 84 Earth years) and a similar long "day" in an Earth-like orbit. But if this world was created to spin much like Earth, there won't be that much difference between our day and night. You could even tilt it to simulate seasons.

An example of the movements of a flat world given the above; rotation on its axis (that is, the center of the disk, rotation in another axis "like a coin" to give night and day, and revolution around a star. I also went the extra mile and gave it a climate like I will discuss later: a parched edge without water, with increasingly rainy desert, savanna and rainforest as you get to the center, and at last the central sea with a perpetual storm.

But I digress. You probably aren't here for a boring normal planet that orbits a star, no, no. You want the full mythical world experience, you want a world where the Sun and the Moon spin around the circle of the Earth, and fuck Copernicus. Let's leave aside what those 'luminaries' actually ARE for now, they can be some sort of magical tech objects or literal gods. How would that work?

You could have two kinds of luminaries here. The clever folks at the Flat Earth Society imagine a sun and a moon hovering over the Earth, spinning in a circular orbit about what we call the equator (in our round Earth, of course) as some sort of giant spotlight 32 miles across and a few thousand kms away, jumping and falling out of view, as I understand it. Same with the Moon. For a more classical approach, you could also have a sun and a moon orbiting your disc, which would be interesting, as the other side of the disc would also be illuminated while the other one is dark (in many ancient myths, the sun went into the underworld at night)

The two ways you could have mini-suns: either hovering above your disk or orbiting it. I was too lazy to make a graphic, so thanks to the Flat Earth Society I guess.

Like I said in the beginning, I haven't done the calculations on how such orbits would work, other that they would be complex, and not natural or stable at all. But after all, suns 32km across that hover over a flat world aren't exactly natural. If there is a place to insert gods and magic shit, this is one, though a fusion or black-hole powered spotlight that completes a very complicated orbit following ancient programming is also an option depending on what kind of setting are you doing. You could watch some videos of people debunking actual flat earthers to get a few ideas on how they explain the whole sun thing (spoilers: they just don't believe in eclipses, which indeed would be impossible here, unless magic is involved).

Both options have VERY important implications on the climate. The first one, with a disc orbiting a star and spinning to get day and night, would mean that the disc would get the same amount of light all over it, thus having the same overall temperature, without any latitudes. The second one(s), depending on the orbits of the suns, means you could have "tropical" areas and cold areas depending on where the sun's "spotlight's" points, either as a regular orbit over an equator, or a more complicated one that might not correspond to what we would expect. Funnily enough, Terry Pratchet's Discworld's sun has such a complicated orbit it's never really explained, it even crosses the legs of the elephants upholding the Discworld sometimes.

Speaking of which, THE Discworld of course moves across space on the back of 4 elephants standing on the shell of Great A'tuin (awesome name for your Torterra in Pokémon btw), and its movement is apparently so significant that the astrologers have to regularly change their zodiacs. And indeed, a flat world would also move around its galaxy if it existed, and carrying its own fantasy sun, it wouldn't need to orbit any star to be habitable. Our own Sun is moving with our entire solar system on tow (or rather orbit) at a speed of, holy shit I had to look this up, 828,000 km/hr. However, even at this speed, the stars seem fixed to us, a whole spin around the center of galaxy (a galactic year) takes 225 million years. Still, the stars are moving like us, in fact, some constellations are in slightly different positions from ancient times, just not at the pace in Discworld.

As a final note, I believe a moon with enough gravitational pull would cause tides as it orbits the flat disc much like on Earth. Would be funny if an actual normal moon like ours orbited a flat world, with a small sun on inside its orbit (not too far from the Ptolemaic universe, actually)

Geology and Climate:

Like I said, we're assuming this flat world is made of either some sort of ultra-tech exotic matter, or was just straight created with magical material. So you would think geology would be pointless to discuss, right? Not so fast. There's some assumptions we can make. First of all, there would be no plate tectonics. Plate tectonics, of course, need an active mantle and core, which a flat world just cannot have at least on the size of Earth. So no earthquakes or volcanoes, unless there's magic involved (Terry's Discworld, which is based on Hindu mythology, played with this by having the elephants holding it up move ocassionally, causing earthquakes) So, a world with less natural disasters, wonderful, right? Sure, but in the long run (millions of years), it's tectonic activity that keeps the Earth alive, replenishing CO2, moving the continents around stimulating evolution and changes in climate and the water cycle. This can be replaced by some magical means, though that means that Something Magical is doing Stuff in your world, (you know, besides the whole flat world thing) and you better contemplate what does it mean for your setting/story. Similarily, one strange thing about geology in flat worlds is that, as mentioned, assuming gravity points to the center(s)/poles, there would be a pull towards there, so mountain peaks would be taller and pointing towards the edge of the disc, and as we will see below, also face greater erosion from there, as the winds and water would also move towards the center/pole.

What about climate? That one depends on how your light sources work. But in general, without poles or equator (well, they exist, but you know), the whole disk surface(s) would recieve equal light all year. Which means no seasons and not climate variation. Seasons are possible by tilting the disc, but overall, the climate in a disc world would be stable. Or would it? By the sheer morphology of a disc, not only water would flow into the center, but also air, and in the case of a spinning disc, it would spin into it. Air would flow into the center into powerful winds: how powerful? Difficult to say, but perhaps geography like mountains and hills could moderate them. If there was no spin, I imagine both water and air would accumulate in a large inner sea (as water would, in one way or the other, flow towards it, and water cannot be denied) and high pressure which could be an odd bulged sea with surprsingly calm weather. However, there's another option. Astronomers have studied tidally locked worlds, worlds where one side faces their star all the time. In this case, the convection currents flows from the light side flow to the dark side, creating strong winds and perhaps, assuming there is water, a perpetual storm in the light side. This has a parallel in our case, as the air in a flat world will all spin around the center, with no other way to go, and with it, it will be where all the heat and energy of the atmosphere (atmodisc?) accumulates. In this world, the center of the world (or at least, this side of it…), the axis mundi, would be the eye of a gigantic eternal typhoon.

OOOH DISCWORLD I'M HOWLING TO THE MOON

What would geography, life and culture be like in such a world, given all the things I've told you? Well, that's the most fun part. It's up to you to imagine it. I personally don't find flat worlds all that engaging (sorry, Terry), I feel more comfortable with my good old spherical worlds with tropical latitudes and all that, or other more futuristic stuff things like ringworlds or Dyson spheres (which I hope to cover in another post). But I hope I gave you enough information and ideas so that the ones you might create are both original and believable.

Thank you for reading this, I hope you enjoyed it and it inspired you to do some worldbuilding! If you would like to see more, I would be VERY grateful if you gave me a tip and some suggestions in my ko-fi below, especially as my country here in the other side of the disc is under the rule of a libertarian fascist idiot, so every little help does indeed help a lot! Follow me and stay tuned for some more wacky worldbuilding and rants about the Southern Hemisphere.

[starlight-bread-blog]

Why Lokius Should Have Been Canon

This is a sort of combo of two metas that didn't quite get point my across. Some parts will be copied directly, but there's a lot of original content. I will discuss the ship between Loki and Mobius, their place in the show, and the MCU at large. My focus for this meta won't be parallels or motifs, because these things border on well-written friendships. But there will be some of that.

Romance in the MCU

There are a lot of straight couples in the MCU. (Almost) Every main hero is in some heterosexual relationship, Loki included.

(That's not all, not remotely).

But in the LGBTQ+ department... uh.. I think it was mentioned that Valkyrie had a girlfriend... uh... America Chavez had a pride pin... and Loki:

One line. Queer experiences are never a focal point of a show/movie the same way heterosexual experiences are. And that needs to change.

Romance In the Show

Wrong, toxic, or unsuccessfu romantic love is a recurring theme in the show.

Sylki

Sylki was an icky relationship right off the bat. They are the same person. I can't find the post at the moment, but someone has pointed out in their post that them being the same person is referenced in every episode in season 1 (edit: here it is), which is when the romance took place. This made their romance uncomfortable for many viewers.

(Some consider Sylki a toxic relationship, but for this post, the topic is too large to handle with the nuance I'd like to handle it with).

When he's drunk, Loki compares love to a dagger, stating that it hurts you, but when you try to find strength in it, it's not real.

Which is exactly what happens. Sylvie pushes Loki into a portal and they never get back together.

The Love Triangle

In 02×03, Ravonna Renslayer is infatuated with Victor Timely, but he leaves her behind and betrays her when Miss Minutes told him to. One episode later, we discover that they were indeed an item, and established the TVA together. He Who Remains deleted her memories and they never rekindle their love.

Later in the episode, is the best example of "wrong" romance in the show. Miss Minutes, the AI clock, confesses her love to Viktor Timely. He, obviously, freaks out and shuts her off. Nothing ever comes of this.

Brad and Dox

This one is small, but a big indication to romance being a theme. In 02×01, we're shown this:

The gap in the age of the actors is uncomfortable, and a character in universe has this reaction to it. It is never mentioned again.

So what does all of this leave us with? Not much. None of this properly ties to the finale, or anything really. If I were to write the show I would cut a lot of this out, since it serves no purpose. But it does make you keep romance and its shortcomings in mind. The writers want it to be there, in the back of your head.

Loki and Mobius

Finally! I got to talk about them. The two people in question. First things first, who are they, together? They became really supportive, close friends.

Fans even drew parallels to Chaos & Order, which is a very important theme in Loki. But I'm not here to unpack them. These things don't necessarily make them in love. So what does make them in love? I'll present you my evidence, and you ask yourself,

Would it be valid to suggest romantic implications if a man and a women are:

1) Extremely thouchy with each other.

2) Riding on a tandem bike together.

3) Willing to suffer a fate worst than death for another.

4) Falling on each other after that^

5) Literally the Interrupted Declaration of Love trope. (Ex)

6) Being framed in a circle.

7) Waiting & giving permission to attack.

8) Fixing themselvs before seeing the other.

Of course yes. Maybe you think some of these are a strech, but ultimately, people would point out romantic connotations across the board. And I'm here, pointing them out right now. Some scenes between Loki and Mobius have romantic implications.

Conclusion

Loki is a queer protagonist in the MCU, a universe that lacks representation of queer experiences. His show constantlty reminded us of romance, sometimes for seemigly no reason. In the second season, they wrote him and his best friend with romantic implications. And then, nothing. It should not have been nothing. Lokius should have been canon.

[moriafterdark]

LADS Headcanon about the 6th love interest

Apologies in advance that I'm not really going to point to specific things in the series to prove my head canon ATM. I'm recovering from a severe allergic reaction but after seeing the post I just reblogged on a theory for the 6th LI I really want to post a ramble about my predictions too. Hopefully I'll revisit this later to add examples ;D

I started seeing things that made me think whoever is the last love interest also has to be her first relationship and potentially would be the "true ending" if not just the final option. At first I thought this would have to be Xavier because OTTO has bunny ears like Xavier's bunny coding, and both Xavier and Ever have a lot of being of light and eternity stuff, but then I kept playing and started noticing that nearly all of MC's motivation in the main story revolved around Caleb, but after he dropped as an official LI it was made clear there would be a 6th LI and everything in the foreshadowing I was trying to put together was very focus on endings and finality so it has to be whoever the last LI is. It was obvious from the beginning that the final LI has to be tied to the core of Ever which was the main places I was seeing all of the coding and foreshadowing coming from, so when it because just as obvious that the 6th is heavily tied to Ever I was able to start formatting the headcanon more solidly.

The head canon:

He is her first relationship, gave her the aether core so she would reincarnate, and that every single one of the other love interests are actually him (or parts of him) that separated because he gave her the aether core.

His og self/core of who he is, is now very weak. Ever's whole digitizing people and altering them is him trying to figure out a way to get the rest of his selves back so he can be whole again and reunite with her without having to take back the aether core.

A lot of Ever's things point to all of the love interests we have so far in different ways. Some examples: OTTO's bunny ears and Xavier's bunny motifs and Sylus's red eye watching her matching the hints of 6's surveillance.

Also, all of the love interests have myths and coding that take from different legends from around the world. In addition to that, the first 3 love interests (Xavier, Zayne & Rafayel) have a lot that lean into popular fantasy novels, movies, and tv dramas.

Meanwhile, Sylus and Caleb have a lot that leans into popular video games from the last 2~ decades.

Sylus: Devil May Cry. Drakongaurd

Caleb: Star Fox (I do not have a lot of experience with SF but my friends have and it vibes what I learned from them). Nier: Automata and Xenoblade from his most recent myth.

And so I think 6 has to also be video games. Cause that would make it 3:3. Which brings me to: beings able to split hearts into different people, digitizing souls, rebirth, multiple people in one body, fake copies of people, soulmates by promise, time and space travel being tied to a person's soul, etc etc. Kingdom Hearts. It was reminding me of KH and not just because it's a special interest of mine. In KHIII there is a direct reference to a Chinese myth creature that is only complete when holding hands with its soulmate and then they have wings and ultimate powers. Because of how excited the Internet got when that released in Re:Mind I wouldn't be surprised if it got really popular with the Chinese market so would be a series Infold would make sure to reference. With everything pointing to the Frog Prince and Lotus legends I could be seeing refs to KH when they're actually to other things especially the lotus stuff because of how much KH references that on top of everything else, but I digress. If 6 does reference KH I think it would be in the way of Riku Replica and Xion with how they are both fakes made up of others memories, Namine with control over memories and being locked away from the people she most wanted to meet (sickly 6th finally being able to meet MC), Sora and Ven with breaking apart their hearts. The type of edgy themes surrounding 6th are all throughout KH so it's hard for me to not compare them

There's more I want to say but I rambled all of my brain power for a while

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing #7 —The Editing Edition

Today’s list is all about the post-draft process, as I slog through another round of it.

Part 6

Part 5

Part 4

1. No one cares about your book baby as much as you do

Trying to say this as objectively as possible, but it remains an ugly truth. Your WIP might very well be the most important project on your mind for months. Unless you have a significant other totally and completely invested in your writing journey, no one else will have the same priorities you do concerning your beta readers and editors. They all have their own lives and jobs to think about.

Whether it’s your editors not approaching your book with the same level of emotion as you do, or not working on your timetable as quickly as you’d want them to, your book’s biggest cheerleader will remain you, the author, and no one else. Doesn’t mean your book is bad, niche, or boring, it’s just not as special to anyone else as it is to you.

2. Your editors will have their arbitrary hills to die on

I have said this in other ways before, but editors aren’t robots (or at least they shouldn’t be), and we all have our own reasons for not liking books, and those reasons probably aren’t reflective of you as an author. You can have an editor with moral objections to some of your themes and characters, but who is still quite competent at critiquing pacing and flow.

Or one who just fundamentally dislikes a side character or a romantic subplot, while agreeing that it is well-written. Or one who does not agree with how a scene should be told, what elements it should include, what they deem offensive, etc. This is why it’s important to have as many eyes on it as you can for a full spectrum of opinions. One editor might hate a scene that five others love. You can’t please everyone.

3. This is where you will hate your own narrative the most

The amount of times you will read over the same lines of dialogue, the same jokes, the same introspective pining, the same gushy romantic scene, can be incredibly frustrating and demoralizing. You’ll second-guess yourself constantly. You’ll wonder if it really is that funny or that romantic or that compelling. You’ll convince yourself that it’s dumb or pedantic or pretentious and consider deleting entire scenes and characters.

When you’re neck-deep in cleaning up crutch words and fixing syntax and arguing with yourself over the placement of a period or a comma or whether or not to use “said” or a different verb, there’s not much fun to be had. Go slow, step away from the project when it gets too much, and come back with fresh eyes later. You do your book baby no favors editing with an attitude.

4. Your favorite elements will end up on the cutting room floor

This is why I think it's important to archive your deleted scenes. Some characters, important lines of dialogue, or themes and motifs get axed as a byproduct of deleting the scenes that contain them. You can either shuffle those beats around to other areas of your book, or save them for a later WIP, or a sequel.

Sometimes your book isn't what you thought it would be, and that doesn't make it any lesser for what it is.

5. However long you think it’s going to take, guess again

As mentioned above, no one works on your time table. Beta readers can be very hard to find as the definition of what beta reading looks like isn’t very set in stone. How I beta read is very different from the work delivered by some that I hire as we all have different elements that we focus on.

Some try to edit your book into a story they want to read, overriding your voice as an author. Some only give line-edit feedback where you’re looking for more big picture notes, or vice versa. Some give less feedback than you think the narrative warrants.

Some skip entire scenes and leave you unknowing if there was just nothing special to say about them. Some will miss important edits that later editors slap with valid criticisms. Some just quit, and you have to start over. Some will give you vague feedback, or contradictory feedback, or feedback that just isn’t helpful and you have to do your best with what’s been given to you.

Editing is a very long and tedious process and vetting editors can get mighty difficult when we all have our own stipulations for what we think a quality edit means. It costs a pretty penny, too, if you’re like me with WIPs that consistently top 100k words.

—

In the end, editing remains vital to any story, original or fanfic or otherwise, if you want it to be as successful as it can be. I don’t think there is a perfect, flawless narrative out there, even by the greats. You’ve already dedicated so much of your time and effort into your work, do it justice by giving it the TLC it deserves.

[theg-h-o-s-tontheshore]

First off, I wanna say that I mean no disrespect to the artists who worked on Hazbin Hotel. It’s just that I’ve been seeing people make redesigns of Hazbin characters, and though I don’t usually participate in stuff like this (it seems fun, and you are all incredibly talented. I just feel kinda bad tinkering with someone else’s work like this), the show made me frustrated, and frustrated induced brain-vomit started sloshing around in my skull so noisily that it’s been keeping me up. And, well, I had to get it out somehow.

So…here ya go, I guess. It’s nothing crazy or new. It’s just a few disgustingly rough ideas for this very specific version of Charlie that I kept seeing in my head. They’re far from polished or anything, and they’re definitely missing some key details because I’ve been hyper-fixating on trying to get the face right lol. I might make a full body illustration later, but I have commitment issues so who knows how far this’ll go. That is to say, don’t expect any more of this or the other characters unless 1) my brain decides to torment me with more literal demons or 2) I, by some miracle, become a more productive person. Plus, Tumblr’s a new thing for me, and I don’t know what I’m doing with this yet other than posting art and then disappearing for years. Seriously, you have no idea. It’s a wonder that I posted for a second time.

Anyway, the direction of this design is pretty obvious. I went with the lamb/goat motif because I liked the idea of inverted/parallel symbolism. I was toying with a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” concept where they appear to be a lamb in this form but actually shift into a more wolf-like dragon sorta thing when prompted. Their wardrobe is supposed to be an extension of the innocent lamb deception as the ruffles and looseness are meant to be kinda reminiscent of fluff while communicating a sense of privilege (a white untainted by the grit of Hell… something that probably wouldn’t last long). I was also inspired by white goth and catholic goth aesthetics (I blame Ethel Cain) as well as those insanely beautiful ball-jointed dolls. I don’t know if I captured that well (to be honest, the more I look at those digital renditions, the more I hate them). I considered adding a pair of spectacles coz I thought it was cute lol, and because I thought it could be a way for them to try and seem more human.

If I were doing a rewrite (which I have ideas for, but I should probably focus on my actual original characters instead) then:

1. They would be agender and androgynous (I’d go the Good Omens route and make most angels/non-human entities largely genderless as gender is a human construction, one that most angels wouldn’t really concern themselves with)

2. They would be kinda elitist and naive but still sweet

3. Their intentions would not be entirely insincere, but they would not be acting without selfish goals

4. They would be an eldritch abomination

5. There would be possible exploration of their role as an antichrist as well as basically being a tool of war for their papa’s self-gratification

6. Their pops would suck

7. More horror

8. Like, it wouldn’t not be funny…but horror’s my genre so….

9. They would not suck at fighting, but death is traumatizing and so is being the cause of it (squeamish)

10. That being said, could make friends with Death??

And that’s all I feel like writing. Hopefully I update this lol

[dotjpeg]

asks for victoria, serpent and kuusar. 17, 3, 6 :3

3- What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

Victoria’s first decided thing was both her role and her name, mostly because I wanted comfort and I wanted to be called Victoria at some point in my life :3 Serpent’s first thing was actually their personality, I wanted to give Fox a Captain that didn’t respect him lol. Kuusar’s first thing was his helmet design (the false eyes) bc I loved the idea of it scaring Ahsoka a little

6- What was the thought process behind their appearance? Did you go mostly for the aesthetic or are there other reasons they look the way they do?

there wasn’t much thought behind their base appearance besides the scars and tattoos, but for Victoria’s upcoming post-66 design I was going for “shady merchant” or “wild west”, and for Kuusar and Serpent I was actually going off Arbok (pokemon) lol. False eyes + snake imagery + snake personality split onto two dudes that I needed to flesh out anyway. Tho Serpent’s blue eye was chosen because of my like of heterochromia (aesthetic reason) and my like of making really mentally ill characters assume their appearance is tied to their performance/morality/purity etc etc (other reason)

17- Are there any motifs or symbols associated with the character? How are they represented, in their design, personality or in some other way?

Yes oh my god. Victoria’s neck scar hasn’t been brought up in my wips or used by me in any drawing yet (excluding refs), but it is HUGE to me. It’s supposed to be about how she’s cheated death and feels as though so many others dying is completely unfair when she should have totally died in that moment, and would give anything to swap places sometimes. It’s very obvious a slashed neck should have killed it within minutes. There’s also going to be knives and stuff at her neck for how its life was/is constantly in danger due to being a clone + a medic (that knows too much) + being on the run, and how she can’t truly escape the violence she was created for !!!

For Serpent, there’s actually two main things, the snake and thunderstorms with red lightning symbolism . The snake stuff is really in your face: he can’t be trusted, he lies almost all the time, he’s dangerous, really slippery and difficult to contain/hold/keep, and it’s represented in the armor + tattoo + pranks and murder attempts, yknow. I’ve mentioned it before but I just love the bisected snake tattoo sooo much like this man is convinced he’s gotten a second chance by a some made up universe where he deserves a higher being’s pity and is having fun now. Olympic level gymnastics to justify why setting your brother’s hair on fire is Fun and Allowed. The thunderstorms w/ red lighting (happens during malfunctions with the weather system, thanks Thorn) references his emotional/mental state, flashes of anger-clarity or just “oh god it’d so overwhelming”-clarity during the times he’s forced to confront his delusion or the reality corries live in in ANY way. Also the mental/emotional state he causes in others lol. And bc Kamino still haunts every clone no matter how much they try to forget it, so thunderstorms galoreeeee.

Kuusar doesn’t actually have a lot of symbolism/motifs to discuss, but if we’re reaching for I’d go for his horrible temper due to his insomnia being symbolically related to not being created for peacetimes, but I can also see his false eyes making him seem like Thorn’s extra set of eyes (true) or an animal trying to scare you off with parts about itself that seem exaggerated to the point that it’s the only thing you can focus on, which fits his “I don’t want friends!!! Go away!!! I’m mean!!!” behavior and attitude.

[aspoonofsugar]

Hello big brain, I wonder if you can help me figure something out about RWBY. I am trying to see more in Oscar, but the parts of his character that interest me the most are his background art and hints at the future, rather than any actions or dialogue he's had so far. The one exception is his conversation with Ruby about fear. I am down to clown with this show, I know and love the story of Tip and Ozma, but Oscar feels to me like sneak preview of something that hasn't aired yet. Who is this kid? What did I miss? How do I love the green boy?

Hi anon!

I am so sorry for this super late reply! I wanted to finish some longer meta first :)

Anyway, here are some of my metas on Oscar:

An overview on Oscar

Some thoughts on Oscar and Ruby

Some thoughts on the Wizard of Oz allusion

In general, I think that if you are not particularly interested in Oscar... there is really nothing to do :''')

In my opinion, Oscar is one of the best written characters in how his story is well integrated in the main plot and rather thightly written. His development is perfectly interwoven with the events and it does not feel that the narrative has to take away time to focus on him. On the other hand this might be why you feel you can't pintpoint him so well. He grows a lot, but his development happens so naturally you might arrive at the end of it and ask: "Wait, what happened?"

Anyway, about the things you say interest you the most:

I am confused about what you mean by background art. Do you mean Oscar's room art? In any case, I don't think Oscar's background is so important tbh. His story really starts when Oz appears and its focus is his relationship with the Wizard and how it influences his sense of self - identity :)

You are right about a climax still needing to happen for Oscar's arc. I think he and Ruby are among the characters who will take a rather large portion of the final section of the story

In general, Oscar's foiling with Ruby is a good way to look at his character. I am gonna give you a rather schematic and synthetic overview.

Parents and Children

The crux of Ruby and Oscar's arcs is the relationship with a parental figure, that they decline in opposite ways:

Ruby's story starts with Summer's sudden disappearence

Oscar's story starts with Ozpin's sudden appearence

This is why Ruby sets off on a journey to follow into Summer's footsteps, while Oscar sets off on a journey to find out who he really is. They both meet Oz and go to a Huntsman Academy (Beacon-Choice for Ruby and Haven-Knowledge for Oscar). Still, they do so driven by different motivations.

Ruby wants to save the world (the macrochosm), while Oscar wants to become his own person (the microchosm). This difference is well conveyed through Ruby and Oscar's major ongoing motif: outside/inside.

Ruby is focused on the outside, so that she can avoid looking inside.

Oscar is focused on the inside, so that he has trouble dealing with the outside.

Leader and Teammate

Mistral is the arc where Ruby fully becomes the leader, while Oscar fully integrates with the main group. This happens especially after Oz's disappearence in volume 6. Then is when Ruby and Oscar have to step up in different ways:

Ruby has to shoulder the group (team-leader)

Oscar has to shoulder who he is (team-member)

Once again Ruby has to take care of the macrochosm. She needs to make sure others are okay and to bear everyone's fears and doubts. Oscar instead has to deal with the microchosm. He needs to face crippling self-doubt and to decide who he wants to be on his own.

This struggle is solved in the fight against Cordovin. There:

Oscar comes up with the idea to destroy Cordovin's missile launcher by observing from outside:

Oscar: Right, but her missile launcher doesn’t lock in, it pops out! Without her shields, one well-placed shot could detonate the missiles while they’re still in the launcher!

Ruby executes the plan and defeats Cordovin by acting from inside:

Jaune: The missile launcher springs out… but the raw dust gets locked in!

Ruby still gets an active role and Oscar is still passive, but they are still progressing. Finally, they succeed at becoming a leader and a member of the group, respectively:

Ren: You (Ruby) petrified a Leviathan... after diving down the barrel of a cannon!

Ruby: I mean, Oscar made a successful crash landing! He's a fourteen-year-old farm hand!

This new-found identities are tested in Atlas, where Ruby and Oscar meet a strong foil: Ironwood.

A New Approach

Ruby and Oscar both foil Ironwood, in opposite ways:

Ruby foils Ironwood when it comes to leadership

Oscar foils Ironwood when it comes to self-identity

As a matter of fact Ironwood is struggling to cope with Ozpin's disappearence, just like the 2 kids are doing. Ruby and Oscar just happen to comment different parts of his arc:

Ruby like Ironwood has to step into a role of leadership and wants to find a new approach. This is why she is intrigued by the Amity project. She also has to struggle with trusting others.

Oscar like Ironwood has to grow into his own person without Ozpin's guidance. This is why they are shown training together and growing closer. The way Ironwood treats Oscar is symbolic of the progress of his personal journey. It is not by chance Ironwood grows when he listens to Oscar (not Oz). They are both trying to become the best versions of themselves.

And yet, Ironwood falls and symbolically he does so by giving up on the Amity Project and by shooting Oscar. Still, Ruby and Oscar push forward.

Ruby is the one who ends up using Amity to tell the world the truth. Oscar instead doesn't give up on trust or who he is because of a failure. He keeps on trusting himself and others, even enemies. In this way, he succeeds at guiding Ozpin, whereas Ironwood never could.

Once again, you see Ruby taking care of the macrochosm, while Oscar takes care of the microchosm. Ruby warns the world, while Oscar warns Salem's inner circle.

At the same time, Ruby and Oscar also make progress with the crux of their arcs:

What are you?

The Girl Who Fell Through The World

Oscar:  I thought the idea of falling through Remnant into a new world was exciting. I never understood why she was so sad when she finally made it back home. But now it makes more sense.

Ozpin: She wasn’t the same girl anymore.

Oscar is the one who introduces Alyx's story to the audience and he is the first character to relate to her. Oscar himself is like Alyx, after all. He left home and is changed by his journey. This makes so he is now not the same person as to when he left home.

Ruby goes through the same realization in volume 9, when she ends up specifically in the Ever After, the set of Alyx's story. She too is not the same happy child who left home to save Remnant. And she has to face this truth.

Once again, Ruby and Oscar are opposite and yet the same. They have similar fears and doubts, but face it differently:

Ruby is focused on the world and refuses to look inside, so she is forced by the narrative to make a deep dive into her own self. She falls in a world designed to challenge and eventually heal her.

Oscar is focused on the self and is definately one of the most introspective characters. I mean, he is literally the only one we hear the thoughts of thanks to his conversations with Ozpin. So, he doesn't need more introspection, but rather to act and to face challenges outside himself. This si why he doesn't fall, but is asked by the narrative to keep going even without Ruby to guide him.

In short, Ruby and Oscar have parallel arcs, but our Little Red is forced to go inside, while our Little Ozma has to wait outside.

Still, they are both asked to define who they are. This happens with some clear parallel scenes:

For example, Jaune lashes out on them, which sets them both off, but in the end their crisis has a positive resolution, since they both grow more into the people they need to be:

At the same time, they both fall:

But this fall ends with them successfully grabbing their weapons.

Grab your weapon! Get a hold of yourself!

Both Ruby and Oscar reach out to their weapons in parallel scenes. This happens because they are both getting a hold of themselves. Sure, their growth and journey is still not complete, but they are not lost. They are still themselves, despite all the changes. They are not the same children they were in the beginning, but they are still Ruby and Oscar. They are still Someones.

So, Ruby realizes she doesn't have to be Summer, but can be herself. Oscar instead realizes (well not really, but he is getting there) that he is still himself despite the merge with Ozpin.

About this it is interesting to notice how Ruby's wish is really Oscar's fear:

Ruby wants to become Summer

Oscar doesn't want to become Ozpin

The end result for both will be to realize they are their own people. Sure, they may grow similar to Summer and Ozpin and be influenced by them. Still, they are different people with ultimately different stories and destinies.

This is more or less where we are with Ruby and Oscar's story :)

Thank you for the wait and have a nice day!

[luniviravosshipper]

Okay, here’s the plan.

Right now I’m working on a post explaining my theory on deep magic and what exactly it is. Then I’m planning on shortly afterwards posting my theory on what the 8 pillars and staffs in the season 6 trailer were used for and by who, which will take some inspiration from my deep magic theory.

Then I’m working on a post explaining my observations on Viren’s issues with codependency and self image and why I think he might have grown up poor. (I think it’s heavily implied or even confirmed that he did. But I still want to make a post analyzing his character and his possible backstory anyways.)

I know I’m not that active on Tumblr and I’m still new, but I’m still embarrassed about the fact that I haven’t made any posts on Viren yet, especially since he’s, like, my most favorite character in the entire show and one that I relate a lot to.

And then I’m working on another post for my second favorite character, Rayla, and analyzing her relationship with her parents and how the views surrounding the idea of justice by Moonshadow elves plays a part in her character arc. This is a post I actually really want to get out before season 6 but I’m not sure I will.

Later on, I might make a meta post explaining butterflies and the color purple as motifs in the show and how they’re used to relate dark magic to the star primal. But honestly this is one I think I can wait to post after season 6, even if it’s revealed that dark magic and the star primal are somehow connected. It’s not really meant to be a theory, more like an analysis of the types of symbols the show uses for different things.

Ohh, and I almost forgot. I also have a series of posts talking about deep magic and Laurelion that I’ve got saved up in my drafts unfinished. There’s several of them, but I’ll at least say now that one of them is about what else the symbol used for deep magic can tell us about it and another is about what that dragon scale Claudia found has to do with Laurelion.

And then there’s more posts I want to make. Like talking about why I think it makes more sense for Callum to learn the moon arcanum this upcoming season then the star arcanum for example, but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to post all of them. Besides, I think some other people have made posts similar to the ones I’ve been wanting to make myself.

I kinda want to focus more energy on my fanfiction anyways since I want to get that done before season 6 gets released.

But anyways, I’ll still try to get as many of these done as I can.

[senualothbrok]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thank you so much for the tag @optimisticgrey <3 I've been saving this one up; any chance to yap about my fics (especially when I'm on a downer about my writer) is so appreciated!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

26

2) What’s your total AO3 word count? 142,787

3) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Unsurprisingly most of these are smutty, haha...

The Difference - Gale isekais into Mia's life in modern Britain

Words - Gale eating out smut

A Tight Fit - You and Gale are trapped in a too-small space

Mortal Pleasures - Gale blow job smut

A Show of Love - Loving on Gale smut

4) What fandoms do you write for?

Baldur's Gate 3. I find it hard to balance fanfiction with my original novel so I am steering clear of writing for any other fandoms for now. Two of my attempts at writing a novel have already imploded because I got distracted by writing Gale fic... I am determined to manage this third attempt!

5) Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Of course! I am just so grateful whenever people take the time to give feedback and share how they feel about my fics. I also have made genuine friendships through AO3 comments, so they are priceless to me!

6) What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Prayer and Absolution - in which both God Gale and Tav move on from their relationship. It's the saddest thing I've written. The rest of my fics are generally angst/hurt with a happy ending (or 'happy' ending involving closure and resolution).

7) What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

For me, personally, I think it's Promise (though there is a good argument for many of my others). Promise ends with Gale and Aurora's very fluffy wedding, after a long struggle with mental illness. Happy tears, ugh...

8) Do you get hate on fics?

I am very fortunate in that I have not. The only hate I have received was from an AI troll bot, which accused me of using AI to write my fics. The irony of this is exquisite.

9) Do you write smut?

Yes, and those are by far my most popular works. I also think of smut as the ultimate writing challenge. It is extremely difficult!

10) Do you write crossovers?

No, but what I wouldn't give for a good Arcane and BG3 crossover OMG. I am not volunteering to write this because that would be goodbye to my original novel...

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! But I am well aware of this risk, given that I have published my stuff on a free and open site.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, not to my knowledge.

13) Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, I haven't. Closest I've come is beta-ing.

14) What’s your all-time favourite ship?

Gale x Tav. I am a simple Galemancer with simple Galemancer tastes. I love seeing all the different Tavs and their different dynamics with Gale.

15) What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The WIP I desperately want to finish is my original novel. I sometimes doubt I will but I try to shove those thoughts to the back of my mind.

16) What are your writing strengths?

People tell me that I write poetically and in an emotive way. I try to put my heart and soul on the page, so that people can connect and resonate with that. I think many people do.

I like to focus on characters and relationships. I have had feedback that I am good at writing these realistically and powerfully.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

I am a slow writer, and my output can be sporadic. My stories are more character and relationship driven, so sometimes plot can be light (not much happens in the way of external events, there aren't many dramatic twists and turns in the sense of adventure). I am not immune to repeating the same motifs and turns of phrase (re-reading fics comes with this humbling realisation). My works are generally heavy in tone, so if you like lighter rom-com vibes, I fail at that.

18) Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Ooh I've never done this before! But it could be cool, so long as it is translated and understandable to the reader.

19) First fandom you wrote for?

Slam Dunk, a manga/anime by Inoue Takehiko. That was over 20 years ago, wow...

20) Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

What a question.

I think I peaked with The Difference, so I have to mention this. But my favourite thing I've ever written (in my life) is probably My Tulpa, though it's not technically a fic, more of a confessional.

Tagging (with no pressure): @astarioffsimpmain @sorceresssundries @auroraesmeraldarose and anyone else who wants to play!

[eemamminy-art]

1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9 for the fic writer asks!

1. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

At this point, I think I prefer multi-chapter! In oneshots it's like, 2k - 5k words or so, and that's it so you gotta make it count. I found I would be agonizing over word choice and flow and how technically good the writing itself was more than just trying to tell a compelling story. In a multi-chapter fic, it's far too long to worry about every little paragraph or sentence, so I can see the big picture and focus on other things :3 Not to say I don't care about phrasing in multi-chapter too, but I think I'm more likely to seek out repeated themes and motifs than just seeking to make punchy lines. Like for example, in my stardew long fic, I have a repeated mention of movie cliches and tropes when Alex is agonizing over how to express his feelings, to show that he isn't personally all that experienced in relationships and looks to outside sources to model the behavior. And also to tie it off nicely with a particular scene that's related to that same theme (yet to be posted, I don't wanna spoil it! You'll see very soon, like in a few weeks from now)

2. Do you plan each chapter ahead or write as you go?

For oneshots, I write as I go. In my multi-chapter fic, I have an outline of the entire story-- all 68 chapters of it!! My friend who is an excellent writer and I hold in really high regard with this stuff showed me how he does his outlines which is as an excel spreadsheet?? 👀 Totally rocked my world, so I've been able to easily visualize and plan out everything I want to put into my story! And I can also include data like word count or planned posting schedule dates, and I have separate tabs in the spreadsheet to keep track of things like ages and birthdays too!

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

I get a lot of my ideas when I'm waking up/falling asleep or doing something that doesn't require much thought. Some aspects of drawing don't really take up brain space for me so at times I'll be rendering or something and an idea just hits me out of nowhere! But it's usually when I'm waking up or half asleep still that I get the most of my ideas!

6. Do you have your work beta'd? How important is this to your process?

I don't, mostly because I'm a perfectionist but also because a lot of good stuff happens when I'm editing. Often times I will add literally hundreds of extra words even on a third or fourth pass of editing, and I just feel like it wouldn't work out as nicely if it was a beta reading it over and maybe giving me feedback.

8. Do you prefer the beginning, middle, or end of a story?

Middle! I'm honestly so bad with endings. I have a ton of oneshots sitting half-finished in my google drive that are just like. Total banger ideas that maybe even I worked out a beginning for, but I have NO clue how to wrap it up. I think this is obvious in how I open and close chapters in my long fic too, there's a lot of cold opens and then ending on like, idk, some dialog or something haha

As it is I've been already working on the ending to my long fic, because I know it's gonna take a lot of work to iron it out to be just what I envision it to be, so the finale is on I think the third draft currently and still a long way off from being done. But I'm being prepared so I don't hit a snag in a few months down the line when I get to it!!

9. Do you comment on stories you read?

Always!! I read very infrequently because I have difficulty reading, so whenever I do read something, I always make sure to leave a comment! I like to compliment and encourage others! I try to always leave a nice comment in the tags when reblogging art as well, it just feels good to me :3

Get to know your fic writer! Ask meme

[bishie-haven]

Asmo Appreciation Week, Day 1: Chat Rankings and a Special Little Bunny

(Yes, I'm calling it this, shaddup)

The day has finally arrived! Our special boy's birthday is here!

And while there has been so much love and appreciation seen here on Tumblr and on other platforms, unfortunately there has been an incident involving his special day that I can't ignore. I won't get into the details about it, you probably already know, but there is something I have in the works involving that.

But that is not the focus of today's post, we've only got good vibes here!

To start with, I want to give a bit of a ranking today. If you've checked today's chat in Nightbringer, you'll know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't I won't spoil it for you. The hint you get is that there's a LOT of voice memos.

And with that, I'll give you my rankings of who was the best! (My opinion, of course)

Satan

Mammon

Lucifer

Belphegor

Leviathan

Beelzebub

And the other thing I have for you today! I wasn't able to do anything like make a cake or anything of the sort, had to do some shopping on my day off from work. But, I was able to bring someone special with me.

Look below to find out who!

Him!

Meet Asbun, a hand-filled white rabbit. My university's student board had an event where we could stuff our own small stuffed animals and decorate them how we want. An hour, some felt, and a lot of time with a hot glue gun later and he was born! I didn't have the money to get merch while in college, so I considered him my own fan-made good (his secondary animal motif is a rabbit, after all~). He was always on my desk in my dorm, and even after graduation he still lives with me.

So, I took him with me on my shopping trip! Here's how it went:

He seemed to be really interested in the dried fruits at our first stop. They looked good, but it was too early for food (foreshadowing~)

Another thing he really seemed to be into. But for some reason he kept trying to push it toward me. I wonder why...

At our second stop he found one of his glorious havens. We couldn't get anything there today, but he suuuure stayed there a while. XD

He kept wanting me to look at the sleepwear and lingerie. I lost him for a bit and he was hiding here, the little sneak!

Eventually we were able to find something that I wanted, and within my price range!

Our final stop began with him helping me choose some lipstick to try. He didn't like the downgrade of products, but a girl be on a budget!

By this point I was craving food, especially something sweet, but he kept glaring me down in the bakery section. Fortunately, there was something he did approve that hit the spot!

After checking out, I couldn't find him in his usual spot. Turns out he was hiding in one of the bags. One of the missions was finding some gifts for a baby shower (I'm gonna be a great-aunt!). I guess he took a little affection to one of the gifts I bought, how sweet~

And that was the day! Not exactly what I was expecting, but a fun day nonetheless. But even if the big day might be over, there are still 6 more celebrations to come!

Hope to see you then!

[inkonfreshnewpaper]

Tag Game! (Two for Two in a week! Saved for later so I'd have something different to write about) (Saved it for so long I've got a ton to write about)

Tagged by @bacchanalium

3) Last song: Love Me Like You Used To - Lord Huron. It hits in that good melancholy country mood for me.

4) Last film: Portrait of a Girl on Fire. I'm so behind on essential queer films, so I finally got around to watching it. Honestly, surprised at the lack of music in movie. It's saved for a moment at the end that absolutely hit. Bit slow, but in a good way. Seven Samurai. It's Seven Samurai. It's a good movie. I don't have much to say other than, movie good. Wasn't expecting Mifune's character to be as feral as he was, or how affecting the movie was. The Thing. It's The Thing, I wanna be you. The first time I saw it was Halloween 2020 during my horror movie marathon. This time I watched it in my university's movie theatre with a nearly full audience. People gasped during Child's "Then we're wrong" line delivery and laughed a bunch throughout. Seeing it on the big screen was incredible. 10/10. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2022). This was a weird one. Gonna have to actually post my thoughts on it because I'm still chewing on it. It focuses entirely on Utterson, but the adaption decides to put him through a negative character arc. Does it work? Stay tuned.

5) Currently reading: The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (finished it but at what cost). It wasn't very good. I got YA vibes from the character descriptions in the how they focus exclusively on eye and hair colour. Pacing was all over the place. Would spend way too long in one scene, way too short in another. The characters felt way too modern in a supposed fantasy world, mostly due to the dialogue. (Protag's best friend called her and her love interest 'slow burn' and I had to put the book down for a minute after that). The magic system felt like an excuse to get the main couple together and nothing else. That's my biggest critique of the novel. Everything just feels paper thin in this world. Things are set up, but resolved so quickly it doesn't feel satisfying. The school is set up as super dangerous and everyone is trying to kill each other 24/7, and the protag makes a best friend first day and they stay best friends. And further confirmation that no one knows how to write enemies-to-lovers, just 'didn't like you at the start'. Love interest says he loved her since he first saw her. WEAK. Why'd I read it? A bookstore clerk recommended it, I was on the library wait list for months. I needed to dissect this book thoroughly to justify me reading it. I'm also reading The Butterfly Collector by Tea Cooper. It's an okay mystery set in 1920s Australia. Garden of Earth Bodies by Sally Oliver. I'm compelled. It's horror-lite about grief, but the twist hasn't happened yet, so who's to say if it's good yet. Definitely reads as a debut novel - very dramatic prose, feels like it's trying too hard to grab my attention. It's meh so far, but I want to see where it goes.

6) Currently watching: Currently Delicious in Dungeon as it comes out. Studio Trigger is doing such a good job with the adaptation. I'm also watching Revue Starlight, which was way better than I was expecting. Episode 8 launched Hikari to all time favourite characters for me. Haven't finished it yet.

7) Currently consuming: Some tea.

8) Currently craving: Nice and full from dinner with Delicious in Dungeon. No better way to spend a Thursday night.

Tagging: @thefollow-spot, @whoawhataconcept, @fate-motif, @ishmaels, @flubz, @scootbloop, @dying-suffering-french-stalkers, @kafkastan, @sacrerouges, @violasmirabiles, @owlmylove

[fairytimestudio]

Glassheart DEVLOG 2

8/6/2023

PROMOTION, MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Lets start with the non-game related stuff...

In an attempt to get the word out about the game, I spent most of this week setting up my socials as well as putting up more content for the game. If you're interested in seeing more artwork related to the development of Glassheart and other stuff I work on in my down time you can find me on Instagram and Twitter.

Though with all the stuff that's going on on Twitter or X or whatever it's called nowadays I'm a wee bit reluctant to post anything there.

I also made a Linktree. Here she is:

Her name's Rita and she's a Leo.

ART

In terms of art I haven't got as much done this week. I did a bit more work on Anya's room and began solidifying the aesthetic I was going for. Basically each region of the world will have it's own sort of colour scheme and for Hedona that scheme is blue, pink, green and yellow (and some lavenders).

I want Hedona to feel dreamy and fairytale-like so I'm using a lot of pastels in the art. I also love how Anya's deep purples and blacks contrast with her bedroom and the rest of the cottage. It makes sense for a characterization. Speaking of Anya.

I also gave Anya a bit of a makeover from her first look. Due to her shifting role in the story I gave her a darker outfit with purple and black being the main colours and dark green and gold being an accent.

before, Anya was supposed to be you archetypical princess character. Kind, good-hearted, a little on the meek side but still had a rebellious streak to her. Think a Princess Aurora or Cinderella. But due to a drastic change to the stories themes her personality had to follow suit.

Instead she plays the role of the witch or evil stepsister within the narrative(or at least that's how she's perceived).

I also wanted to add some drama to her face so I gave her a bit more eyeshadow as well as some glitter. I wrestled with the glitter because I felt it might look out of place in a story but came to the realization that I don't care and I want everybody that where's makeup in the story to be well acquainted with glitter.

I also worked on the logo for FairyTime studio. The official logo is the second one though I might change it. We'll see.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ianthe Rosingbird (@ianthefairytime)

And now onto the music!

MUSIC

So, I'm a solo dev. Let's remember that when we listen to some of the tracks I've come up with.

But seriously these are rough, basically just a few motifs and melodies to help guide me when I actually beginning making my songs but here they are.

I was inspired by again, golden age Disney music namely Once Upon a Dream and Snow White's Wishing Well song. That certainly isn't coming through now but I'm still in very early production with these pieces. I composed them with a music box instrument because it helps me focus on the melody and also I fucking love music boxes. My logo's actually based on a Polyphonic Music Box I fell in love with and just have to have one day.

Basically, I want the music to feel magical and nostalgic and I hope I'll be able to capture that when I actually start the composition.

WRITING

I've mainly been focusing on world building this week as well as determining the role that certain characters will play and the new Version of Glassheart.

Basically this story's gone through 3 phases and I'm currently trying to smoosh some other projects I was working on into this one but here's what I came up with.

Glassheart takes place in a country called Hedona at two opposing colleges seperated by a bridge:

The Garden of Crowns; The college Anya and the bulk of the cast attend and Wellwood's Cross; this is the opposing college that often times finds itself in competition with its neighbour. While the rivalry between these colleges can often seem light-hearted; there's real animosity between the two tribes especially fuelled by the adults.

This rivalry is further exasperated when Anya Torre, whose father is a well known alumni of the college, decides to offer her Blade to Bravis Swanthorn, a student of Wellwood's Cross and it's crowned champion in the sport of sword fighting.

She is branded as the Treacherous Blade and ousted from polite society with no one to defend her, not even her beloved half-sister, Beatrice Prine. She resigns herself to playing the role of a villainess and takes up refuge in Toad Cottage far off from the colleges and close to edge of the woods.

This is where the story begins to take off.

Now one thing that important to note about the world is the idea of Blades and their wielders. Essentially, a princess(which in this world refers to any young woman of a certain age) is able to draw a power out of her heart and manifest a blade that can be used in battle. Think Revolutionary Girl Utena.

There are two measures used to discern the strength of a blade: Sharpness - Which refers to how sharp and strong the blade is Lightness - Which refers to how light the blade is to hold.

The best blades are described as being "near-Glass" as no blade has ever managed to be fully classified as glass.

The elusive glass blade or Glassheart, is a blade so sharp and light that it has the power to tear through the fabric of reality and manifest the wielders thoughts and desires into existence. A power coveted by the Armed Guard; the protectors of Hedona; The Goddess Body; a group of outlaws that practice arts banned by the High Council of Alchemy and of course the Witches whose motives remain unknown.

I haven't yet began working on the metric to actually calculate all of this stuff but I think I'll have more to say about blades in a future DevLog.

The next DevLog will also feature some character descriptions just to get you acquainted with the main cast.

GAMEPLAY AND CODE

So for the coding aspect of the game I mainly focused on navigation. Basically the way the exploration works is that I've put some points in the shape of a box to indicate where the doors are. When the player hover's over that space fairy dust pours out of the wand to highlight that you're hovering over an interactable area. When you click this spot you're transported into a different room.

Different character's might be in different rooms so you'll be able to interact with them in the exploration phase in order to get relevant information.

Another thing I worked on was essentially just reducing the effects I was using in Gdevelop5. Basically when you use too many effects it can slow down the game down and while a visual novel isn't that resource intensive there was some lag in certain areas that I wanted to fix. I'm already using 3 effects to help sell the vintage look:

-Old Film to provide some noise -RGB Split for the slight chromatic aberration and -Blur(Kawase Fast) to make the art look less crisp

Too many effects as it is but totally worth it imo. But you can be the judge of that.

Outside of that I don't think there's much more I can say about the art or the game so I think I'll leave it there.

Thanks for reading all this and I hope you're having a wonderful day.

Ianthe

[ponds-of-ink]

I just watched Game Theory’s analysis of the Ruin Trailer for fun, but now I’ve got something to say. I am going to put my main thoughts for a certain section below for spoiler reasons, but the basis is that he’s close with it but I have to respectfully disagree with his conclusion.

So, when MatPat reached the mystery rabbit shot, he realized that the duality thing was an intentional motif and that green and purple was involved. After some inspection with SB TV and thinking back to who could possibly be associated with green, he came up with the idea that Charlie (due to the green wristband and the green eyes of the security puppet) and William (as Glitchtrap) are fighting over something.

And, while I see where he’s coming from there (as Charlie and Will being rivals dates all the way back to the Silver Eyes books and continued until Fazbear Frights Epilogue #7), I just cannot accept the second half of this idea. The duality and the green-and-purple stuff is great. Glad we’re on the same track there. But there’s a few details I want to consider.

(1) While Charlie is a good candidate for green association, the Puppet mask present in the Blob does not have lit eyes like the rest and seemingly has no tear streaks. If we are to take red eyes and tear streaks this as sign of Charlie’s presence, then it’s clear that she’s not back this time. Also, if I recall correctly, the only time she was really associated with green was in that one FNAF 6 mini-game and in the Silver Eyes graphic novels trilogy with the green jacket (which, fun fact, was originally a denim jacket in the book trilogy proper). If anything, the Puppet’s trademark black and white stripes would be a better indicator for her at the moment.

(2) Even if Charlie was the sole character that had green, why would she choose to haunt a rabbit? Wouldn’t something like Sun be a bit more likely, as it’s Puppet-like frame help her adjust faster? ..And make her able to focus on her mission more instead of more likely having memories of dealing with Scraptrap in FNAF 6?

(3) A better candidate would actually be Glitchtrap himself as a separate entity, given the whole Mimic situation (which I’m not going to delve into because this post is probably going to be rambling enough already). Considering the fact that he has been green-colored at least three times [one for the “repaired” version in Help Wanted, another after his whole merging attempt seemingly goes south, and the last this plush according to Princess Quest 3), it would make more sense to associate him with green rather than purple. Well... At certain points, that is. He does still have the purple motif, but it’s more of an accent color really.

(4) Also, given that the Steel Wool logos on SB TV are not perfect reflections of each other (and going opposite directions, as MatPat noted), then wouldn’t that line up with what’s implied with the Mimic if he is supposed to be Glitch [or at least the programming is]? He’s trying to impersonate someone who most likely is terrified and/or very reluctant to do what he used to do thanks to all that time in UCN. Sure, Glitch is doing a pretty good job keeping up that villainous legacy. The problem is: William might not want that legacy to be how he’s remembered. A strange take, I know, but it’s the best one I’ve got since the last time we know we saw Will was in UCN– And he was trapped in his own literal nightmarish landscape and screaming for Henry and Mike. That can’t be great for someone who’s been.. *checks notes* burned twice, self-cornered into a fatal robotic costume accident, and losing most of his family for varying reasons. Prideful though he is, all that building pain has got to have put him in his place by now. I would be mildly surprised if it didn’t.

(5) So, if this is the case, then that means we are dealing with a battle of identity here. And, as it was stated in a different Game Theory video, we might have to use William’s own memories to set him free. Make him remember everything else that happened in his life, then maybe help him come to terms with things... After taking down Glitchtrap, of course.

But, of course, this is all speculation until we get more info. I could be wrong, MatPat could be wrong, we both could be wrong. The point is this: Duality is a key theme at the moment, Afton is still involved somehow if we take the purple as a clue, and he might be fighting someone else in the same robotic body.

Oh, and uh, Elizabeth having green eyes does make it seem like she’d be a good candidate.. Until the same evidence for The Blob version of the Puppet shows up in its version of Baby. Besides, Circus Baby was always her thing– Even in the novel trilogy.