#yakumo observed more of their features

[fisheito]

found a baby yaku amidst the Sketchbook-glitch-corruption wreckage..... wondering if he flipped skin tones between black and red and everything in between until he saw his to-be-grandparents (and started mimicking THEIR skin tone....... )

[pwurrz]

yakumo hates being the center of attention. he can’t stand anyone staring at him, he’s not used to it, it makes him feel anxious and embarrassed and self conscious…

unless the person doing the staring is eiden.

while it’s true that under normal circumstances, yakumo feels very awkward having anyone pay close attention to him, the exact opposite is true when it comes to eiden.

he wants eiden to look at him, to pay attention to him, to stare at him and not take his eyes off of him. it still makes yakumo’s heart start to race, and it still makes him blush and want to avoid eye contact, but for a completely different reason.

it takes a lot of courage, for him to say this to eiden. but somehow, yakumo pushes down all his embarrassment and manages to confess that even if he has grown so much during the time he’s spent with eiden, he still wants the grand sorcerer to keep looking out for him, to keep paying attention to him. he doesn’t exactly need it, but.. he wants it.

the way eiden kisses him so sweetly in the academy’s library, like they were the only two people in the entire world, makes yakumo feel so safe. he’s so in love, and for once he doesn’t suppress the serpentine desire to have eiden all to himself.

eiden notices this, of course he does, he’s always been so observant when it comes to yakumo. and the only thing he has to say in response to seeing the serpent’s true form for the first time?

he kisses yakumo even harder, panting compliments into his mouth and asking to see more. more of the features the serpent had been told to hide all his life, more of the features he’d come to see as repulsive or unsightly. eiden wants to see more of him, all of him.

seeing the lovesick expression on eiden’s face, yakumo feels all but helpless to just fully give himself to the grand sorcerer, and drown in the warm embrace of knowing just how loved he is ♡

[foxboy-yakumo]

[crimson phantom yakumo intimacy room spoilers]

ok hi hey hello. i'm back with another post/essay because i've just formulated another few observations:

1) first of all, yakumo cries during his last intimacy room at several points. like he has animated tears roll down his face. i thought this was a neat detail. i managed to catch a screenshot which I'll include in the reblogs section of the notes so that there's no visual spoilers here.

2) in yakumo's first four Homecoming rooms, and I think in a few other places as well (I think mostly throughout the main plotline), he's referred to as being "warm." this is an interesting contrast with his most recent Crimson Phantom rooms, in which eiden refers to him as being "ice-cold" and implies at various points in time that he's naturally cold blooded.

now, the Cocoa Liqueur and Ocean Breeze ssrs have evaded me despite my best efforts, and I haven't unlocked the last Homecoming room yet, so I am missing some context, and this is just my best guess, but...

given that he also seems to generally angle his face or mouth so that his fangs are at least obscured, and in all previous versions of him, his eyes tend to have a bit of a "plausible deniability" about whether they have slit pupils or not (more "pill" shaped than actually pointed at the bottoms; gives a round enough quality that I didn't even realize they were longer than normal until it was pointed out)...

...i have concluded that all of these features showing up at once (fangs, slit eyes, cold blood) where there is evidence that they were absent or dampened before... means that this is yakumo's equivalent to kuya letting his ears out.

[ichor-hunter]

Queenslayer

Queenslayer Blood Code Study- Main Character

"Your own blood code, which was thought to be lost in the fight with the Queen long ago. The old feelings inside still speak to you. This time you must ensure a lasting peace. This code is well balanced for exploration and melee combat, and features high HP and endurance."

Introduction to Blood Codes and Main Character

Blood Codes are the abilities imbued within a Revenant's Blood. Each Blood Code is unique to each Revenant that resides within the Gaol of the Mist. Once a Revenant has awakened from their slumber after the BOR parasite has been placed in them, the blood takes on a Code which I believe derives from the characteristics of that Revenant.

As the Player Character, MC starts in the realm of Vein as a First/Second Generation Revenant who was enlisted in Operation Queenslayer. The story behind the main character is largely unknown besides a few details here and there, and their backstory is up to the Player's interpretation. What we do know, is that the main character is a chivalrous self-sacrificing individual who is willing to help find The Source and is determined to save the Successors while learning more about what they're meant to do.

Prologue of Queenslayer Blood Code

While the Blood Code itself doesn't reference from any mythology from different cultures, there are hints that it does link to Greek lore from my understanding of this blood code.

Back when I was still on anon and I was following Code Vein content on tumblr (cause I forgot my old password and logins), a bunch of theories started popping up in @louis-with-an-s​ ‘ blog (tagging for credit and source for comments below!). As inspired by lore hunters on youtube, I was already analyzing Louis’ and Yakumo blood code at that point and I was midway of researching for Louis’ Blood code study (since this series is helping me refresh on my Greek Mythology) when this comment came up (anon if you’re out there, let me know so I can credit you too!):

I was also thinking the same thing that it's way too convenient that the MC's Blood Code is named after Operation Queenslayer. Each blood code is uniquely named and it's different for each Revenant which probably made the most of us think that this isn't our initial blood code as presented in the game. It's 100% unlikely that the rest of the Revenants in Operations Queenslayer had this Blood code, but then why is MC's blood code named after Operation Queenslayer?

Then @nosferabbit​ mentioned these comments below (I hope you don't mind me tagging you! I just want to give you credit! If you're uncomfortable with it, please let me know D: )

I thought of it even more since I was already linking Yakumo’s and Louis’ Greek God counterparts since their lore is strangely close to Heracles and Heracles had interaction with both of them in a similar way as their mythology. Then I was like: "Oh lol, maybe MC's previous code was Heracles before they ingested the Queen's blood."

Then I started looking into the other blood codes, then bosses, the depths and my mind went into overdrive. I discovered more things about how MC alarmingly relates too much to Heracles and his lore and I was nervously compelled into making the blog in the end.

Beyond this point, its pure theory on my end. It might be debunked based on DLC's, future updates of the game, etc. If that ends up being the case in the future, I'll conduct a proper post for Queenslayer afterward.

Greek Mythology

From my point of view, MC's initial Blood Code is based on Heracles.

Heracles or Hercules (His Roman name), as most people mostly refer to him (they're still the same god regardless but for this post, we'll refer him with his proper Greek name).

Heracles was cursed by Hera even before his birth. Hera persuaded Zeus that the next child born under the house of Perseus would be the given the position of High King and the child following that would be a servant of Zeus. Hera commanded Eileithyia the Goddess of Childbirth to postpone Heracles being born so instead, Heracles cousin Eurystheus was born first prematurely and Heracles was born after.

Growing up, Heracles had several mentors that taught him various crafts, music, and arts of battle. Later on in his years, Creon the king of Theban gave Heracles his daughter Megara and together they had two children. Hera was jealous of Heracles so she struck him with a madness that caused him to kill Megara and their two kids. Feeling destroyed by the atrocity he caused, he was instructed by an oracle to serve Eurystheus for twelve years and fulfill all the tasks that'll be given to him to purify him of his sin. These tasks, in the end, became the famous tale of Heracles 12 labors.

Similarities between MC and Heracles

Both Heracles and MC are the heroes of their own stories. Albeit in different scenarios, Heracles through the twelve labors was granted immortality in the end while the MC is already an immortal vampire who possesses the Relic of the blood.

With Heracles being the inspired Greek God for this Blood code, there is one particular character that should be highlighted before expanding onto the other Gods. The relation to the other Gods will be explained in the next section regarding the 12 labors.

With Io, they're not linked by Blood Code but more of Io's namesake. Io in Greek Mythology was one of Zeus's lovers. She was turned into a cow by Zeus when they tried to prevent Hera from learning of their relationship and Io was made to wander the earth. During her travels, she encounters Prometheus who was still bounded and chained by his punishment. As a clairvoyant God, he predicted that in the future, Io's descendant will be the one to free him and that she'll also turn back into a human. She was eventually turned back into a human by Zeus when they both avoided Hera's gaze and many descendants later, Heracles was born.

Heracles is the descendant of Io (Greek) so Io (game) gives a lot of family/maternal vibes towards the MC and vice versa since MC cares a lot for Io's (game) wellbeing. Io (game) wandered throughout the Vein in search of MC just like her Greek counterpart (but for a different reason). Also, MC ventures into the Ruined City Underground in hopes of freeing Io (game) and in turn MC meets Louis (Prometheus) and frees Louis' worries of his Blood bead research with MC helping his cause. So Io (game) brought MC to Louis (Prometheus) just like how Io (Greek) ended up bearing her future descendant and brought Heracles to Prometheus (Louis' blood code).

While the MC is a silent Revenant, Heracles is more outspoken, quick-tempered and witty in his actions so personality-wise, they're quite the opposite. From the few chapters of the Code Vein manga, it displays the MC as a quiet individual who speaks up on certain occasions and is thoughtful of the things around them. Heracles started his adventures in life when he was eighteen years old which could be the same age as the MC (however, we don't know their official age and we can make up whatever age for the MC regardless).

"The old feelings inside still speak to you. This time you must ensure a lasting peace." It is likely hinting that the old feelings could either be their true blood code or simply just their memories of themselves before Operation Queenslayer. The lasting peace is part of Heracles where he wants to absolve his sins and be at peace with himself. Or it could be that MC died with regrets?Lasting peace is the MC being at peace with themselves and their own life within the Vein since their life before the Collapse was anything but peaceful. 

Now if we observe the symbol for the Queenslayer blood code itself, it appears to be a distorted crown. If we look at it carefully, the crown has letters that spell out "Vein" but out of order. We see the letter "E" first on the left, then the letter "V" in the center with the letter "I" overlapping the V from behind and then the "N" on the right. We also see this symbol beside the area name we're loaded into.

Considering how the other Successors altered blood codes as mentioned from the prologue, each of their blood codes is from the relics the successors possess. The closest reference we can get at this point is with Nicola's altered blood code: Queen's Breath. You'd expect the symbol of it to be a mist of air or something similar to the like, but instead, we see the source of where the breath comes from, which is the lungs. The breath lies within the lungs while blood resides within the veins. With that being said, Queenslayer is possibly the altered blood code the MC gained from the Queen since they are the Successor of the Blood. The symbol is in the shape of a crown probably because of the importance of the Queen's blood during the experiments. It’s a unique visual interpretation of veins since we’re aware how veins in our bodies look like. So just like the Successor of the Queen's Breath is the symbol of the lungs, the Successor of the Blood symbol is the Vein. Neither of these relics can't be displayed physically for what they are and that's why the lungs and the word vein for these altered codes are a representation of these relics.

Continuing onwards, we also have to mention the aftermath of the 12 labors. With all the labors being fulfilled, Heracles joined the Argonauts who were a group of Greek Heroes that combined forces in search of the Golden Fleece. Considering the True End, MC leaves the Vein along with the others, starting their heroic group outside of the Vein. (Of course, they aren't calling themselves the Argonauts but they are similar sort of troupe). While they're not searching for the Golden Fleece since they already have Io's golden blood bead to guide them. Or we could say they’ve always been team Argonauts and they finally retrieved the Golden Fleece aka golden blood bead and achieved greater heights. Knowing Io's lore with Io (Greek) turning into a Cow and the Golden Fleece from the Ram, which is both from the same Bovidae family, the blood bead here is their Golden Fleece.

There's also a part of Heracles lore where he's thrown into madness which could be linked with several things. When MC was killed by Jack in their memories, he killed them since their body was rejecting the Queen's blood and without their mask, they were painfully going through bloodthirst and becoming lost. There's also the bad end where the MC becomes the new Queen and was falling into madness, but Louis killed them before that could happen too. Madness for the MC is falling into Frenzy.

These moments of frenzy could also relate to the death of Heracles as well. With Heracles' second wife Deinanira, she was attacked by the Centaur of Nessus and convinced her to take his blood-covered shirt (which is ridden with poison) and give it to her husband. Claiming it's a love charm and to give it to him whenever he's being unfaithful. She assumed that Heracles was cheating on her so she gave him the shirt, only for him to be tortured by an immense amount of pain. The poison here could also be the cause of the miasma which MC did take in, the Queen's blood which could be considered poisonous to them at first due to their body rejecting the Queen's blood.

Heracles 12 Labors

With the twelve labors, I initially connected them to the Depths since there are 12 in total. When MC is tasked by Davis to find the Map's to the depths and journey through them, we are given 12 in total for the duration of the game. However, these labors could also associate with other events and Greek Gods which associates with the other characters. Plus a few of the bosses do relate to the monsters Heracles has fought.

1. Slaying the Nemean Lion

The first task King Eurystheus gave to Heracles was to retrieve the skin of the Nemean Lion. The skin from the lion was impenetrable. Since Heracles' arrows didn't affect the lion, he grabbed his club, cornered it in a cave and then choked it to death.

The only thing that comes to mind with this trial is the Argent Wolf Berserker.

The Argent Wolf Berserker has a strong defense against debuffs (especially poison), but it is weak to blood damage according to the Code Vein Wiki. If I recall correctly, this is the only boss you can perform a parry and back-stab with a draining attack. Just like Heracles easily backed it into a corner and choked it, this boss is susceptible to the same things as well.

Interestingly enough, after Heracles kills the lion he ends up taking the skin from the lion (although some writers/researchers disagree. Heracles' lion skin is worn in most sculptures and paintings but for this instance, let’s roll with the former instead) and after defeating the Berserker, the MC received their first and only memory back. MC is greeted by their vestige after defeating the boss. It's really neat how the first trial holds its significance to Heracles and in turn, the MC regains an important memory of themselves.

2. Slaying the Lernaean Hydra

This labor relates to one area and two of the bosses in the game. The first one I'll be mentioning is the Butterfly of Delirium.

The Hydra in this labor has nine heads and its blood is venomous. As mentioned previously, the poison led to Heracles' death. This boss only has one main body and a tail that acts as a hydra's head since it always spews out poison at the MC. For the Hydra, there are nine heads and one of the heads is the main immortal (since each time Heracles would severe a head, it would regenerate). This is the second boss in the game and the second labor Heracles has to tackle.

Next is the area the Howling Pit and the boss Hatsune Miku Invading Executioner.

The swamp area pays homage to the area where Heracles slew the Hydra. For the invading Executioner, the only related lore linking with this labor is her Sickle. Some visual sources claim that Heracles used a sickle as part of his weaponry to kill the Hydra.

The depths that has these two bosses are: The Town of Sacrifice, Swirling Flood and Flood of Impurity is part of my count towards the depths connecting to the 12 labors.

3. Capture the Golden Hind

Heracles was then tasked by Eurystheus with capturing the Golden Hind (a deer). This Hind is very sacred to the Goddess Artemis. Knowing these facts, Heracles couldn't kill the Hind. It took an entire year to hunt the deer and when he gave it a minor injury, Artemis appeared in front of him and was furious. Heracles begged for forgiveness and explained why he did what he had to do. Artemis relented and healed the hind with the condition that the hind must be returned to her. Once Heracles returned to Eurystheus, recalling his promise to Artemis, he asks the king to step forward to retrieve the hind himself. Once the king agreed, he stepped forward but the hind ran back to Artemis.

As mentioned in the Artemis Blood Code Study, this heavily related to Mia and her Goddess lore. When MC and gang first meet Mia in the story, she attacks them for their blood beads. The minute Nicola came out to defend her and fainted, she protects him in case they were to hurt him. They gave him a blood bead but he was still killed by Jack.

When Mia and the others learn he's a Successor, they have to end up fighting him when he induced into a frenzy. With the power of the Relic of the Blood, the MC was able to let the two reunite within the memory echo and then revive Nicola afterward, allowing the two to reunite in person. More is expanded in the Artemis Blood Code Study.

With relation to the depths, the Silent White Depths has the Successor of the Breath which still links to the list of the 12 labors/depths with Heracles lore.

4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar

Heracles' next task was to bring the Erymanthian Boar alive to King Eurystheus. The Boar would come down from its mountain every day to attack everything in sight: Animals and people. It was known for its powerful tusks. This one I believe connects with the very first boss: Oliver Collins.

Oliver ends up killing everyone above ground (excluding Io) as he is fully turned into the Lost. When MC and Louis fight him and cut away half of his health, he fully transforms into his lost form. We see he has a tusk and a snout from his mask getting distorted at the transformation.

There's also mention of Prometheus during this trial. Heracles decided to visit his centaur friend before the trial to stop, chat and grab a bite to eat since he was famished. The centaur Pholus offered him a meal. When Heracles requested wine however, Pholus was scared to open the jar due to the wine belonging to all of the centaurs. Heracles was just like: "Its fine, I yolo for a living," opened the jar and brought on chaos with all the other centaurs rushing in anger that someone is taking their wine. They attacked him but Heracles retaliated with his poisonous arrows (he used the poison from the Hydra at the 2nd trial) and they ran off. Chiron, a centaur who ends up being a teacher to Achilles received a wound from one of these arrows. The pain was so dreadful that he was willing to take Prometheus' place instead of dealing with the pain. In the end, he gives up his immortality. Pholus wondered how an arrow caused Chiron so much pain. He picked it up curiously but it was accidentally dropped onto his feet. He ended up dying from the intense pain.

Poison is a part of this trial and while Heracles did not use poison against the boar (since he's supposed to bring it back alive), Oliver's boss form is susceptible to the poison debuff. MC traveled with Oliver as a friendly acquaintance in the short time they had together. Oliver like Pholus, was worried about a fellow friend/revenant that they bumped into. In the end, it became their demise. Oliver's mask broke and became Lost and Pholus died from the arrow.

Boss Oliver can be found in the Den of the Dead and Den of Darkness in the Depths.

5. Cleaning the stables of Augeas in one day

While there isn't an instance where MC is physically cleaning a stable (or cleaning in general). I think this labor relates more to the Trials of Blood. The occurrence happens at specific areas at random and none of the Lost will go away until all of them have been killed. This is one of the labors that has been disregarded in the end so this labor may not have any relevance to the game, however the Trial of Blood is the only thing I can come up with. Since MC does clear away the Lost in several waves like Heracles washes away the stables by re-routing the Alpheus River. MC has to clear out the lost in one go with these trials in the same manner.

6. Slaying the Stymphalian Birds

With no DLC's released as of this writing, I'm currently unable to see or connect with anything relating to this trial. There aren't any aerial creatures that resemble the stymphalian birds in the game or the events relating to the labor itself, so this one is a bit harder to narrow down. If there is anything revealed via DLC's, I'll be editing this instantly.

7. Capture the Cretan Bull

At first, I didn't have a clue who or what would relate to this trial but after understanding the nature of the Cretan Bull, I'm willing to put my bets on the Gilded Hunter.

Behind the story of the trial, there was Minos, the King of Crete. Minos promised Poseidon he would sacrifice whatever he sends. Poseidon sends a bull but Minos thought the bull was too beautiful so he sacrificed a different bull instead. Of course, Poseidon was angry about it, so he made the bull he gifted to Minos run rampant over the land of Crete. In the end, Heracles came and wrestled the bull and easily brought it back to Eurystheus.  

Since the bull was sent to Mino's by a god, we could say that Mido is the god that let the Gilded Hunter run berserk. There was a point where I guessed that Mido could either relate to Zeus or Ares based on his connection to a few characters and his background, but here I can also consider Poseidon as another candidate for Mido.

The Gilded Hunter can also be found in the Arachnid Grotto in the Depths.

8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes

For this trial, I think there could be a better interpretation of it but from what we have now, I can see the Queen's Knight or the events of Operation Queenslayer itself relating to this labor.

Heracles eighth task was to steal man-eating horses. In some tales, he traveled with a group of companions searching for them. In the case of Operation Queenslayer, Jack's team along with the MC venture out to kill the Lost and track down the Queen.

The Bistones notices that Heracles and his crew were taking away their mares and they went after them (they would be the lost in this case). Heracles needed to free up his group so that he could fight them off so he left the mares with a man called Abderos. Abderos was killed by the time Heracles made it back so he founded a city in his honor.

Of course, at a later point, they encounter the Queen's Knight which the Queen's 'puppet' but since this lost has the title of "knight" the lost could be considered to be her steed. A Knight normally would go into battle with their horse to ride into the fields. While this lost isn't a horse, it has connotation of a companion in battle.

Or we can base this trial from the events of it. We can say the man-eating horses are the lost and the Revenants in Operation Queenslayer have no choice but to slay them. The MC takes the place of Abderos instead when they were put to rest and then Jack and Silva went onto founding the Vein (Gaol of the Red Mist). I highly doubt it was named after the MC's blood code but the MC's blood code and the "Vein" are both connected. As mentioned above before the topic of the twelve labors, MC's blood code has the letters of the word Vein while anytime the Player Character is transported to a new area, the same vein symbol like the MC's blood code always appears on the left side of the area's name.

The Queen's Knight can be found in the Zero District within the depths.

9. Stealing the girdle of Hippolyta

I had to think a while about this one since this trial is about Heracles taking the girdle from Queen Hippolyta. A girdle is a belt, and the origin of the girdle was gifted to Hippolyta by Ares since she is the best of all the amazon warriors. Heracles and Hippolyta both befriended each other and Hippolyta was more than happy to give Heracles the girdle but then we have Hera, who didn't want the trial to go smoothly. She told the other amazon warriors (in disguise as an amazon warrior herself) how Heracles was trying to get on her good side only to carry away the queen. So on their boat trip, Heracles noticed the rest of the warriors had their armor and weapons and went and killed the Queen and took the girdle.

Likely this could be associated with the good ending regarding Io. Before we entered the area for the final boss, there are the other Attendants there and we have Io talking with her sisters. Her sisters left their fate in her hands. When Io takes in all the relics and becomes the Weeping Tree, she leaves MC with a golden blood bead. That could also be considered CV's version of the girdle since MC does receive it in the end. Just without the deception part. Io gave the MC something golden and we can say she is the queen of the attendants now from this perspective.

10. Steal the cattle of Geryon

With this labor, I found it connects with the Insatiable Despot.

A very unique feature to the insatiable despot is that it has its main weapon (Tyrant's Labyrs) struck through its body. When you cut their HP in half, they proceed to take the weapon out from their body and use it to attack the MC. With Geryon, he has more than one appendage attached to him (three heads and three legs joined at the waist). The insatiable despot has one weapon/appendage through his chest. The boss creates henchmen to attack the player and they could be considered to be the cattle of Geryon. The only exception here is that MC doesn't need to steal anything from this boss. Heracles was tasked with stealing the cattle from Geryon and ended up killing Geryon in the end.

Via the Depths, this boss is found in the Cliffs of Rust.

11. Steal the Hesperidean Apples

Heracles was then tasked to steal apples from Zeus garden but he didn't even know where the garden is. During his journey of finding the garden, he encounters Prometheus who he ends up freeing from his torment by killing the eagle. The clairvoyant god gave him advice as to where the garden is and how he can get the apples. He also gave him advice on his future labors and endeavors. For more details, please refer to the Prometheus Blood Code Study.

Once Heracles arrived where Atlas was stationed, he quickly mentioned his plight and Atlas agreed to get to the apples from the garden as long as Heracles could hold the skies up temporary. He returned with the apples but had no intention of switching with Heracles. Heracles tricked him that he needed to put on some padding for his shoulders, so when Atlas took the skies again, Heracles just took the apples and ran off.

There was nothing too interesting but after MC accepted Louis' offer, Yakumo tossed him an apple. It's just a regular apple and there was nothing in regards to trickery or thieving, it was just simply an anime version of Atlas giving an anime version of Heracles an apple. Since the apple is what connects both of these gods and Yakumo with MC. More details are already written in the Atlas Blood Code Study.

12. Capture Cerberus of the Underworld

The final trial could be interpreted from two different events.

The first one right off the bat is the final boss Skull King and then The Virgin Reborn. They were previously Silva and Silva held the Blood Code of Hades. Hades is the ruler of the underworld and in a sense a protector of the Vein in and out of the Red Mist.

As we see in the boss fight, we have Skull King (aka Silva). During the boss fight, we also see Silva's Hounds-type Blood Veil, operating as the two heads of Cerberus, and Skull King himself being the main third head.

Heracles’ task was to capture Cerberus. After making the preparations to head to the underworld, he arrived there safely and confronted Hades. Hades said he can take Cerberus as long as no weapons are used against them. Heracles succeeded by using brute strength alone.

In Code Vein, it's more of the reverse with this trial, as the MC has no choice but to kill the Skull King aka Silva (who holds the Hades Blood Code).

We also have the two artificial Lost that Mido left for us. In the game, we had to fight Blade Bearer and the Cannoneer and quickly afterward we had to fight Mido. These three bosses could also represent the three heads of Cerberus figuratively. Blade Bearer and Cannoneer guarded the way preventing MC and group from progressing further to where Mido is. Just like with Heracles being prevented from entering without preparation. When they do reach Mido, Mido is guarding the path ahead and was also in possession of the relics before sending them Silva's way.

In the lore, the parents of Cerberus were an Enchinda which is a half woman and half serpent, and a Typhon which is a fire breathing giant. The Enchinda relates to the Blade Bearer while the Typhon is the Cannoneer. Based on both of their designs, the relation comes in full circle.

Both of these bosses can be found in the Void District of the Depths.

Queenslayer's Gifts

Drain Boost- Increases all drain ratings while you are focused.

Frenzied Fire- Fires a projectile that decreases the enemies' focus gauge.

Heracles was known for using a bow and arrow. Especially during certain labors after his second labor, where he coated his arrows with the hydra's poisonous blood. Frenzied Fire also matches with how Heracles was easily thrown into madness by Hera. With the focus gauge, once it's been filled, it prevents staggering and using drain attacks to launch an opponent in the air is possible. With the labors that Heracles went through he wouldn't allow any of the creatures, he fought to take advantage of him, so in a sense, he decreases the likelihood of his opponents overpowers him just like the function Frenzied Fire serves. Drain boost just displays the enhanced skills Heracles had while facing opponents. As already mentioned with Frenzied Fire with Heracles countering his opponents, Heracles himself as a trained warrior wouldn't allow himself to be staggered and is intuitive on when to attack.

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Cleansing Light-For a limited time, a portion of the damage you take will slowly heal automatically.

Instantly this associates with Heracles’ immortality and the labors together. The purpose of Heracles going through these labors was to cleanse his sins of slaughtering his own family in his madness (which wasn't caused by him, Hera was the one that made him go mad). The immortality that Heracles ended up gaining wouldn't kill him no matter what the circumstances. This Gift is ultimately a portion of Heracles' true immortality while it's named after his cleansing ritual with the labors.

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Circulating Pulse- Unleash a barrage of strikes. An offensive skill performed with One Handed Sword/Halberd/Bayonet.

Heracles throughout his youth studied many forms of combat and mastered several weapons. The fact that this gift is versatile with multiple weapons is a no brainer here. He utilized multiple weapons during his adventures and his twelve labors.

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Final Journey- Immediately restores all HP and increases abilities but kills you after a short time.

Final Journey is a ticking time bomb. This could be related to a few things I have in mind since this is MC's signature Gift.

First, the name of the Gift itself. Final Journey relates to all of Heracles' journeys and adventures in general since he always lived life at the edge. Any of his adventures could easily be his last and he mustered his strength and prowess to go against all trials, achieve greater things and defeating his opponents. If you've read the labors above or know of them in general then you already know that these tasks are very daunting and no normal being would be able to handle these tasks.

Also similar to cleansing light, this also links with Heracles' immortality. As a god, Heracles used all his abilities in his journey and labors. With his story being so self-explanatory at this point, we know that he's one of the strongest Greek heroes in legend. However, even with that great power, the poison he received was too much to the point that he'd rather die than suffer through the pain. This part is likely the reason why MC/PC dies after using the power-enhancing gift since Heracles was willing to give it up and ascend instead.

Lastly, the image of the gift itself is a skull and most time in real life, it symbolized death or a poisonous substance. This gift grants power but we could also consider it as poison, the poison that ended up killing Heracles in the end.

Concluding Thoughts

PHEW, finally this analysis is finished lol. I had way too much fun thinking out this one. Please remember that this analysis is just a theory itself and you don't need to force your OC's to match with my analysis or agree with anything written in this post. What I've gathered in this post is simply based on facts I've noticed based on the amount of Greek Lore that's mixed in the story and with the MC. Regardless if this does turn out to be true or not, I sincerely had fun breaking down the possible lore of the MC. With MC's altruistic nature within the game, it makes a lot of sense of how they would behave. Their past before Operation Queenslayer remains (and will forever remain) a mystery since our job is to fill in those gaps. I like how there's so much Greek lore incorporated into the MC while still giving the player room to add in their own details. Asides from the whole "silent MC until the final scenes in the game" (I wish they could've spoken more D: ) the MC is a great example of how Player Characters should be done.

Also, if anyone wants to discuss more of my Heracles theory, just send an ask! Please let me know what you guys think about it! I hope this post was worth the wait! :D

[fisheito]

squints suspiciously at the next event's silhouettes devs, if that really is yakumo... DON't make me tap the sign.....😒..........