#and that SO MANY of the only depictions of us are either as evil monsters or at best a tragic tale of dying horribly for being gay
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The Last Ones on Earth (I)
Chapter 1: A Mission
Hi everyone! It’s me! Mrs. No-self-control! Here I come with a new series! The concept is simple: what if the Darkling was a little less alone…
I hope you like it! Let me know what you think!
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Pairing: The Darkling x reader
Warnings for the series: mentions and depictions of violence and warfare, mentions of trauma
Warnings for the chapter: None
Summary: You and the Darkling are a team, even if no one knows it. Beyond being a team, you are the only one he trusts, and he's the only one you care about, and you're each other's true love. But if you've kept your secrets hidden for a long time, now that the Sun Summoner is fighting against you, it's time to reveal who you are, and what you are capable of...
Word Count: 5214
Masterlist for the series - The Darkling's Masterlist - Main Masterlist
It’s very dark outside, but that’s okay. You like it this way. After so many years spent by Aleksander’s side, you’re used to the shadows. You find comfort in them now.
You remember when you were a child - such a long, long time ago – you used to be afraid of the dark. You longed for daylight, moonlight, anything to pierce the black veil covering your world. You couldn’t see anything around you, the unknown was a scary place. You didn’t realize by then that the shadows were a hiding place. If you couldn’t see a thing, no one could see you either.
Besides, the dark was a place filled with stories of monsters and spells and evil creatures lurking in its midst. It was evil, against the goodness of light.
What a fool you were by then…
You’ve never gotten used to the sight of the Fold. You should have, it’s been here for such a long time now. Still, you struggle with the view of it as you stare at the darkness by the window: the sharp edges of its unpalpable wall, the shouts that struggle to get out of it, to escape.
It’s a prison, in a way. You want to make it a key towards freedom…
“Are you certain that this is a good idea?”
Aleksander’s voice is deeper than usual; low and cold but you know him enough to identify the worry that’s there too. He sounds almost afraid. You know he’s terrified, actually.
It’s a rare emotion to hear in his voice, and you turn to look at him at the sound. He’s standing in the middle of the room, gaze lost on a map splayed on the table at the centre. You know he doesn’t see any of the lines, any of the names or letters traced in black ink. The light is too low, only a torch and the fireplace, painting strange shapes in red and gold over the furniture, the walls, his tall frame…
You walk across the room, steps slow and measured, trying to be quiet, as if not to scare him away. As if he could ever walk away from you…
You don’t speak until you’re standing by his side. You lean against the table, your back against the wooden furniture, so you can stare at him. He doesn’t turn his black eyes towards you though. He’s too lost in thought, or perhaps he’s fleeing your gaze. You’re not sure. It doesn’t really matter, anyway.
“We don’t have a choice,” you speak in a soothing voice, crossing your arms before your chest. “They won’t let you go anywhere near Alina. But they don’t know who I am. We know they’ve taken Genya and David in. Probably others too. They could want to take me in too. I can try and get closer, close enough to talk with her.”
“And if you can’t convince her?”
“It doesn’t matter. It will give you time to access Keramzin undetected. And I’ll make sure she joins us, whether she likes it or not.”
“She will try to kill you.”
You notice the way his fits clench by his side, so tightly you’re pretty sure it hurts. His knuckles have gone ivory with the strength of his gesture, even if his voice didn’t falter. You reach for his hand, and he lets you slip your fingers between his.
After all this time, it still feels the same. The rush of his amplifying powers coursing through your veins. The callous pads of his fingers brushing against your knuckles and sending shivers down your spine. The warmth of his palm soothing you, making your heart skip a beat…
You know he feels the same. You see it in the way his hold on your hand is tender, in the way his shoulders drop ever so slightly, in the way his gaze shifts in your direction, without looking at you. He’s averting his gaze still. It’s alright. You’re used to it.
“I’ve survived more perilous situations.”
“Because I was here.”
“Don’t take all the merit. I’m incredible.”
He lets out a shaky breath, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. There was a time when he would have offered you a full laughter at that remark. It was a long time ago, when you were young, and too naïve for this world. When you still believed there was a peaceful way out of all this…
“I will be cautious,” you tell him, and your voice sounds like a promise, your tone makes him tighten his hold on your hand. “I will come back to you in one piece.”
“You’d better. Or you’ll have me to deal with.”
“I’m sure I should be terrified of the Darkling’s punishment, but I really am not.”
“You should be.”
You scoff at that.
“We’re alone, you know. No need to play the cold, tough guy with me. I’ve seen you cry before.”
“I’ll cut off your tongue if you tell anyone about this story.”
And his voice is icy, and firm, and serious, and anyone but you would have trembled before such a threatening tone. But not you.
You’re the only one he would never hurt in any way, and you know it. He could kill, torture, destroy, annihilate everything, the entirety of Ravka, of the world even. But not you. You could betray him, you could try to kill him, and he wouldn’t lift a finger to stop you. You’re the only one he wouldn’t punish, the only one he would forgive. You make him weak like that.
And he hates it. He hates it, but he needs this fragility, this one weakness. He must indulge it, he doesn’t have a choice. And you know it, you feel the same about him. That’s why you’re never afraid when he’s around, no matter what he does, no matter what he says. You trust him too much for that.
When he turns to you, at long last, he forces a tender smile to his lips.
“And throw it to a Volcra?” you ask, struggling not to smile too brightly.
“Or one of my nichevo’ya.”
“Of course, for a second I forgot your new minions.”
“You are not terribly fond of them…”
“I know how painful it is for you to summon them. Of course, I’m not fond of them. They’re efficient, though.”
You stare at each other for a while longer. In the hearth, the fire lets out cracking sighs. There’s an owl outside, somewhere, you hear it singing, the voice of a night at its fullest. There are voices in the corridor too, coming inside Aleksander’s room as shushed, barely there at all, only ghosts of other lives. Lives that will never be like yours, or Aleksander’s…
“I will have to tell Alina the truth, if I want to have a chance to convince her.”
Aleksander clenches his jaw.
“You shouldn’t. It’s too dangerous.”
“We’re beyond pondering about risks, I reckon.”
“Y/N…”
“I know what I’m doing. If I want to convince her, she needs to realise that this is not going to work. That none of it will ever work. We’ve tried it before, and it failed, because the world is not going to change, unless we burn it to the ground first. She needs to understand that.”
“I’ve tried to show her…”
“No, you’ve tried to lure her into trusting you too blindly to protest.”
“She’s a child. She will never understand…”
“Then we’ll get rid of her. She’s too dangerous alive if she’s not on our side.”
“On this, we agree.”
You heave a sigh, suddenly tired, as if the weight of many battles fought in the past was suddenly thrown onto your shoulders once more.
And he hates it. Aleksander hates seeing you like this, tired and almost broken. But then again, after all you’ve been through, how could you not be like this? He has lost himself too, along the way. He has lived too long to remain the same.
You’re disappointed for a second when he lets go of your hand, but it only lasts a moment. Instead of your fingers, he reaches to touch your cheek.
You’re the only one he has ever touched so gently, so slowly, so lovingly. He hates it, the power you have over him. But he has never had a choice.
It was always you. It still is. It will always be.
“I cannot lose you,” he whispers, and Aleksander wishes he could add an argument about how useful you are, to at least keep the illusion that he’s not so vulnerable, but what would be the point? After such a long time loving you, it would be of no use at all. “Please, be careful, my love.”
Your smile widens, you can’t help it. It would be dangerous for others to know who you truly are, just like no one can know who hides behind the image of the Darkling. It’s safer if the world doesn’t know about your relationship with Aleksander either.
The Darkling’s wife, that would put one hell of a target on your back. And it would make him unbearably vulnerable too.
That’s why these moments are so rare these days. The ones when he calls you sweet names, and touches you like this, and lets you get so close again. There was a time, long, long ago, when things weren’t so complicated, when you were together all the time, when all you both had to do was love each other. But that type of happiness didn’t last for long. You learnt that lesson the hard way.
You are both Grisha. You were never allowed to be happy. If you want happiness, you need to fight for it.
You lean into his touch, letting him cup your cheek, brush the pad of his thumb across your soft skin. You close your eyes for a second, enjoying the soft caress. You wish you could stay like this forever…
But when you open your eyes again, and fall into his dark eyes, you read too much fear into them to be fooled.
You are both Grisha. If you want happiness, you need to fight for it. And if it means that you must burn the entire world, until there’s no one else left, then so be it.
“I’ll come back to you. I always do. I always will,” you promise him, resting your hand against his heart, feeling its steady beat, the rhythm that matches the one under your own ribs, the rhythm that belongs to you.
He nods, and you can’t help but step into his embrace, but hold onto him as tightly as you can. It takes him a moment to reciprocate the gesture, but he does. He kisses your forehead, sweet and tender and a little desperate.
“Be careful too,” you admonish. “I’ll meet you at the Little Palace.”
“Until we’re the last ones on Earth,” he whispers into your skin, eyes closed, his voice a mantra you’ve both been repeating for years, so many years… It’s almost a prayer.
And you pray too, you pray even if you don’t believe in Saints. You know who they really were: Grisha slaughtered and brought into legends.
What an irony, to idolize the most hated people of this world…
You breathe in deeply his scent: woollen kafta, a bit of leather, something cold like a wintery night. Home.
You bury your face in the crook of his neck, and that’s the safest you’ve felt in a while. When you answer him, your voice is firm, unfaltering. A promise, just like a vow.
“Until we’re the last ones on Earth.”
You leave before dawn, it’s safer that way.
You know Aleksander is watching you leave through the cracked windowpane of the room he’s taken as his own, in the deserted house where the Grisha have now taken refuge. You take one last look at the wagon that arrived the previous evening. There are still traces of blood darkening the wood.
Twelve Grisha rescued from a town nearby. Encaged. Beaten almost to death. They were to be killed without much of a trial or any type of mercy. Their crime was existing.
You are used to it by now, but you wish you weren’t. You wish it could still surprise you, that you could still be aghast by the cruelty of it. But you aren’t, not anymore, not after witnessing it again, and again, and again.
It will always happen. You’ve lost your hope for a better world made with peace and harmony a long time ago. You are not so naïve anymore. Instead, you’ve learnt how to kill.
You have a long journey ahead, at least three days of riding before reaching the last-known location of Alina and Nikolai Lantsov, along with their little group. It’s safer if you travel alone, no one will recognize you without your kefta, no one has ever paid enough attention to you for that, anyway. Besides, you’re strong enough to defend yourself. No, you are not worried about the journey that awaits you, you are worried about the negotiations that will follow.
You’ve almost guided your horse outside the lands attached to the mansion, and you can’t help but take one last look over your shoulder. Beyond the large house stands the infinite wall of the Fold. It stretches up to the heavens, loses its tip into the clouds, you wonder if it has any end. From here, it only looks like a dark void: ominous, unforgiveable. It is splayed in both directions too, from South to North, as far as the eye can see.
You can feel Aleksander’s stare upon your frame, and your eyes drift down from the Fold to its creator, to his motionless shape by the window of his room. He won’t move, won’t acknowledge your presence any other way than by staring at you as you leave. You shoot him a smile anyway.
He’s grateful for it. If he never sees you again, at least he’ll have the memory of one more of your smiles…
Ten months earlier
The Little Palace
You had not seen Aleksander in a while.
It wasn’t that surprising, with the new Sun Summoner taking up an awful lot of space and air. She enjoyed complaining too much. She also enjoyed thinking she was righteous. Maybe she was. More than you, at the very least, without a doubt.
You had not seen Aleksander in a while, and so you were surprised when he called for you, sending Ivan to look for you and bring you to his war room. You bid David a good night, leaving behind your messy desk on which you worked on some gloves to help Alina control her powers. A waste of time and energy, in your opinion, but maybe there was a tinge of jealousy that blurred your judgement when it came to her.
You followed Ivan, trying to control your heartbeat into a steady rhythm, so that the Heartrender would not notice how excited you were at the prospect of seeing the Darkling. No one in the Little Palace knew how close the two of you were, and it was better if it remained that way. It could endanger more secrets, some darker and more dangerous than a hidden love story.
Lucky for you, you had been playing this political game for a long time now. You were used to controlling your own heart. And even if Ivan was a talented Heartrender, he couldn’t sense any change in your heartbeat as you advanced towards the door of the War Room, the Darkling’s symbol of a moon in eclipse engraved on its surface.
He opened the door for you, and let you walk inside.
The Darkling was leaning above the giant map set in the middle of the room, lost in thought, considering the next movements of his own troops. He was alone, wearing his usual black kefta although you noticed that his hair was a little dishevelled after a long day. It was nighttime, after all. Dinner had passed, and with it, most Grisha in the Little Palace had gone to sleep, before a new day filled with training and work would arise. Outside, stars were shining brightly, you could guess the blurred shape of their light through the windows on the opposite side of the room.
The Darkling didn’t look up as you stepped inside, didn’t acknowledge you at all.
“Thank you, Ivan. Leave us.”
The Heartrender gave a small bow, almost a mere nod, before turning on his heels and walking outside the room without a word, closing the door behind him. You moved your hands in a quick, circular movement to lock the door.
You relaxed as soon as you were safely alone with the Darkling. Although, he was still hunched over his map as you turned to him again.
He seemed worried, his brow bearing a frown that traced lines across his forehead and at the edges of his eyes. You heaved a sigh.
“You do know that even the General of the Second Army needs to sleep every once in a while, right?” you ask, crossing your arms before your chest.
Your tone was both teasing and admonishing, and Aleksander closed his eyes at the sound.
He had missed you. Saints, he had missed you so much over the past three months. But seeing you alone was too risky for a while. Now though, with your work for Alina’s gloves, he had a perfect opportunity to require your presence, alone.
At last, he stood straighter again, looking up to catch your eyes with his black ones. He tilted his head to the side a little.
“Do I look so tired?”
“You look exhausted.”
“You don’t look so rested yourself.”
You smiled at that, and he noticed the tears that shone in your eyes. He tried not to feel happy about the sight, but he did. You had missed him too… even after all this time, you still missed him…
“Lots of things going on. Lots of things to worry about,” you answered, shrugging. “Doesn’t help that I’m working way too much because of your stupid gloves. You know how grumpy that makes me if I don’t get my beauty sleep.”
He chuckled.
“And how many years have passed since you’ve had one of those peaceful nights?”
You didn’t answer at first. Before that, you took off the leather gloves that you always wore. He was the only one who got to see you like this, with your last bit of armour, of disguise, resting on his table. You were fully yourself before him.
“Two.”
He frowned, searching through his memory. Two years…
He smiled as he figured it out.
“Our journey to Ketterdam?”
“We had a couple of days free then. It was nice.”
“We spent all of those days in bed…” he gave you a smirk, a dangerous glint in his eyes that you recognized, and that made your heart skip a beat, like it always did.
“That’s what I’m saying. Despite your unbearable snoring, I still had plenty of time to rest.”
He laughed at that. It wasn’t one of his bright ones, the ones he used to give you when you met, when you tried to have a life together. But it was a laugh all the same, and you welcomed the sound of it, tried to carve it into a memory.
But too soon, the sound vanished, failing into the air, replaced by the cracking of the fire in the hearth, the soft sound of his breathing, the regular ticking of a clock. There was no sound coming from outside the room, and no word spoken inside could escape either. You were an amazingly skilled Durast, after all. You had prepared, in secret, long ago, some materials only known to you that could absorb sounds.
No eavesdroppers. Aleksander and you could talk without fear.
He clenched his jaw, straightening his posture a little. Coming into a commanding stand.
“There is much to discuss though,” spoke the Darkling in a cold voice. “We don’t have much time…”
But you didn’t let him finish. Instead, you crossed the room, and rushed into his arms.
Aleksander’s arms…
“Y/N… we need…”
“Shut up. We’ll discuss everything you want. But give us five minutes. Just five minutes to be ourselves. Please, darling.”
You felt him tremble under your touch as you called him by this sweet name. Both of you were too used to act distant, like strangers. It was good to be reminded that you were so much more than that.
At last, he wrapped his arms around you, an embrace strong, comforting, safe. Arms that had never failed to protect you, no matter what the world had tried to destroy you both…
“I’ve missed you,” you whispered, your voice more fragile than you intended for it to be, but you couldn’t find a way to care.
You closed your eyes, breathed deeply his scent. The wool of his kefta, a tinge of leather, something cold during starless nights.
Home.
“I’ve missed you as well, my love,” he whispered in your hair, brushing his cheek against your temple, his beard tickling you in a delightful way.
The skin-on-skin contact made the rush of his amplifying abilities course through your veins, but it wasn’t what sent electricity travel across your spine. It was because of the hand he slipped to the back of your head, to press you closer to him, to keep you right there, tugged into the crook of his neck.
You remained motionless for a few minutes, basking in each other’s presence, in each other’s warmth, in the safety of an embrace you had shared thousands of times, so familiar and missed as soon as it was broken.
“Are you sleeping at all these days, darling?” he asked in a soft, tender voice that almost sounded like it wasn’t his own anymore, after banishing it for so long.
You nodded, even if it was almost a lie.
“Just not enough,” you reassured him.
“Nightmares?”
“Sometimes. I’m genuinely busy though.”
“I wish I could tell you to get more rest, but time is working against us.”
“I know. It’s okay. You look exhausted too.”
“I am, but that’s not the point. I think I’ve found the stag, Y/N.”
You looked up at him, not breaking your embrace just yet, but frowning hard.
“Are you certain?”
“Not entirely, but it seems promising. Trackers seem to have found it in Fjerda, near the border.”
“Saints…”
“I know. I doubt it is a coincidence that we finally find Morozova’s amplifier when the Sun Summoner appears out of nowhere.”
You nodded, turning to the map to let him show you where the stag was spotted. He went on for a while about that, explaining you the whole situation in details.
It wasn’t the only thing he wanted to discuss with you, though, and you knew it. You knew him to well to be fooled.
“So, what will you do about Alina?”
You noticed that he was tensing. You felt almost guilty for enjoying this sight of discomfort. But then again, he never tensed, not unintentionally, except in your presence. He could let his guard down with you, he trusted you enough for that.
“You know what I’ve been doing about Alina,” he deadpanned.
“I know. You’ve tried to seduce her.”
“And I am certain that you hate it.”
“You’re my husband. Of course, I hate,” you scoffed.
“It will not go as far as sex, if it is what worries you.”
“Have you kissed her?”
He intensely stared at you.
“Not yet.”
“You’re planning on going that far?”
“Maybe. I don’t know yet. We’ll see.”
Slowly, you nodded, and he hated that look on your face. A mix of rage, of pain, of an anger you tried to suppress because you knew why he was doing this, and you would have been ready to go that far too, without a hesitation.
Still, he understood your reaction. He would have killed the person you needed to seduce instead of letting you play that game.
But you were more rational than him, if not more patient. You wouldn’t strangle Alina in her sleep. Instead, you merely glowered at him.
“I don’t like it. It won’t work,” you mumbled.
“She’s falling for me, already.”
“How did you do it?”
“With the truth. That no one else she knows can understand her. That she will live a thousand lives and everyone else will wither and die. Except for me. I’m her only chance with eternity.”
“I see. Nicely done, I have to admit.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Do you think it will be enough to make her agree to all of this? To use the Fold against Ravka, Fjerda and Shu Han? To kill the king?”
“I don’t know yet. But I don’t see any other way to secure her power on our side. She must believe that she depends on me. Or else, why would she help us at all?”
“What if we told her the truth?”
“The truth?” he repeated, his tone mocking. “Since when are you so naïve?”
“I highly doubt Alina will agree to destroy entire villages, slaughter populations, and draw the world she knows into chaos just for your pretty eyes. Sorry for your charms, but a crush won’t be enough for that. She won’t accept to take over Ravka if she doesn’t realize that this is the only way for us to ensure that Grisha will find peace.”
“You overestimate her intelligence.”
“And you underestimate her stupidity. She is still naïve. She’s a child, Aleksander. At her age, did you believe something as terrifying as the Fold was the only way towards peace?”
He didn’t answer, he merely stared at you instead. You were right, of course. Like always. He knew it was the only way, but Alina didn’t. She had not suffered nearly enough for that. But the two of you?
You had so many years of practice with suffering…
“I have never played with pity, I will not start today,” he spoke with too much pride, and you both knew it.
“But breaking my heart by seducing a stupid girl is perfectly fine to your standards, I see…”
“Y/N…”
“I know that you’re doing this to reach our goal. I understand. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to rip her tongue out every time she talks about you.”
His gaze softened, and he held out his hand for you to take, palm up, inviting you into what you knew would turn into an embrace.
“My love, there was never anyone else for me,” he let out in a breath, a tender smile on his lips. “There will never be. But we need Alina Starkov, if we want to have this peaceful life we have always longed for.”
But you shook your head at that.
“You want power now. More than this quiet life we dreamed about at first.”
His hand trembled, faltered, but didn’t disappear. He kept his offering up, hoping you would take it, the way you had always taken it before.
“Maybe,” he admitted. “I’m too angry. I’ve lost too much to want more than revenge now. But beyond it, I still want this safe life with you. The one we have always dreamt about. I want all Grisha to have it too. I won’t deny I’m thirsty for power now, that I’ve left morality behind a long time ago. You know when I abandoned it. I abandoned it the day you died.”
“Almost…”
“You were dead, Y/N. No matter how you want to call it today, you died for several minutes that day. I will never forgive them for that. And I never want to have to feel this way again. If I need to do the most atrocious things to protect you, to protect us, then so be it. I am tired of depending on stupid kings, I want the throne. I want the throne so I can make my own rules and make sure that no one is stronger than me. That there is no one against whom I will not be able to protect you.”
There was also a selfish part of him that longed for power out of pure greed, you could see it in his burning gaze. But you also knew that he was earnest when he spoke such words. He was doing it for himself, but he was also doing it for you, and he was doing it for all Grisha too. There was a time when the Grisha were the most important element, then it was you, and now, maybe it was him. It didn’t really matter. The truth was that he would never act against the interest of the Grisha, and against your safety.
His soul had darkened along the years, like his shadows. But it was still him, looking out through these black irises. The same man you had always loved.
You slipped your hand in his, holding tight, and he reciprocated your gesture in a firm, certain squeeze. Steady. Infinite. A silent promise that he would do all that it would take.
“Seduce Alina, if you think it’s the best way to make her yield,” you spoke at last, holding his stare, your voice firm and decisive. “But don’t sleep with her.”
“It won’t go that far. I won’t need to.”
“Very well, then. Do what you have to.”
“Are you angry?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t be. You’ll have to leave in just a few minutes. And then, I don’t know when I’ll have a good excuse to talk to you alone again. I want to see my beloved wife smile one last time before she needs to leave…”
You snorted at that.
“I’m not Alina Starkov. I don’t fall for cheap lines like that.”
“What about the truth, then?”
He reached up with his free hand to cup your cheek, move his fingers across the soft skin, trace the outline of your jaw with his fingertips…
You could barely breathe at all, and neither could he. His gaze had grown softer, much softer. The way it used to be, a long time ago, when you were still naïve…
“I love you, Y/N,” he whispered, vulnerable and almost begging for safety. “I always will. There is only us. It will always be just us.”
You nodded, tears shining in your eyes, before you leaned up to kiss him, and he met you halfway. Your lips met and danced in movements you had repeated thousands of times, but they still felt the same. Passionate, reassuring, loving, dependant, desperate…
“I love you too, Aleks,” you whispered against his mouth, right before he leaned in again, deepening the kiss quickly this time.
You weren’t sure for how long you kept on kissing, safely held in his arms. None of you truly cared. All you knew was that when you pulled away at last, it was to whisper against his lips this promise you had made a long, long time ago. Vows that neither of you would ever break.
“Until we’re the last ones of Earth…”
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Taglist: @reg-arcturus-black @wolfmoonmusic
#the darkling#the darkling x you#the darkling x reader#the darkling x y/n#the darkling fanfic#aleksander x reader#aleksander x y/n#aleksander morozova#the darkling series#grishaverse#grishaverse fanfic#grishaverse series#writing#fanfic#fanfiction#series
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For the cryptid au, Do you have any ideas for the V3 cast? Who would be the human since there is no lucky student? (I’m guessing Kiibo or Tsumugi but idk)
I HAVE A CHART NOW!**
it took many hours of research (thank you yokai.com and the myths and folklore wiki) and many decisions based on bullshit, but! I now have a finished (sorta) cryptid au chart to go on. More descriptions/explainations below the cut:
**EDIT: Some people raised concerns about cultural appropriation, so I’ve changed Maki to Bloody Mary! I apologize for the lack of research on my end!
Shuichi Saihara - Apprentice Grim Reaper
If Ultimate Lucky Student equals human, then Ultimate Detective equals Death. My working theory is that Shuichi was intended to be Class 79’s resident human, but died on his way to the school and was then taken in by Kyoko as an apprentice.
**Maki Harukawa - Bloody Mary
Specifically the version where she was falsely accused of killing a bunch of kids and then burned alive for it. Now she kills, but only when summoned. Kind of like an assassin!
Kaito Momota - Krampus/Goatman
Kaito really wanted to be viewed like Santa and instead he’s viewed as like. Evil Santa. And he’s sad about it. Also he has a bridge, though I imagine he’d be pretty gung-ho about dancing on it. (I don’t have a good explanation for this either. it’s just vibes.)
Himiko Yumeno - Baba Yaga
More like Baby Yaga, am I right??? I was just going to make her witch, but that’s booooring. I’m probably never going to draw like, Old Lady Himiko, though. Maybe she was just too lazy to age normally.
Tsumugi Shirogane - Lizardperson (Chameleon)
She’s totally plain and normal! Don’t look too closely! You definitely won’t find anything! What is this AU, if not a bunch of monsters cosplaying as humans. And what cryptid would be the best for that, if not a lizard person. As for the chameleon, i like the aesthetic more than just regular lizard face.
K1-B0 - Automaton
Yes, it’s lazy. (Though he’s also in contention for Class Human, specifically so he can claim to be a robot. Because his whole childhood he was gaslit by his “creator” into being told he was a robot. And this is the first school where people hear that and go “yup, that checks out!”)
Gonta Gokuhara - Boogeyman
I really screwed myself over by making Taka Mothman, but I just love that idea too deeply to change it. So, where’d I get the Boogeyman? Well, if we operate under the Oogie Boogie man from The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Boogeyman is basically a sentient pillowcase full of bugs! Sounds good enough to me!
Miu Iruma - Nymph (Dionysian)
Again, I really screwed myself over by using all the horny monsters up on other characters, but I think this works! Dionysian Nymphs are particularly frisky and have a propensity for partying and vulgarity, but maybe the booze will knock a good idea loose every once and a while.
Rantaro Amami - Kelpie
Green hair??? Seaweed??? Hatred of cars??? I got nothing, we really haven’t/didn’t see that much of that boy. This is subject to change of his talent is revealed, in which case kelpie status will probably transfer to Tenko. He’s listed as a possible Class Human because he could be the Lucky Student? But it’s unlikely.
Kokichi Oma - Eldritch Horror
I’m not convinced he’s not an Eldritch Horror in canon, tbh.
Kaede Akamatsu - Sylph
I search high and low, yet found no piano cryptids. So I went with Sylph because they’re air spirits, sometimes depicted as hummingbirds (music theme!) Plus, Kaede can be a little airheaded sometimes.
Ryoma Hoshi - Kappa
This was mostly vibes + I drew a doodle of Ryoma with a Lotad-esc lily pad head and fell in love. Plus, uh, drowning is an essential part of both Ryoma and kappas. Dude would probably be the chillest kappa in existence though.
Kirumi Tojo - Jorōgumo
There’s a lot of Kirumi spider imagery. This seems like a shoo-in.
Angie Yonaga - Living Painting
okay this is mostly just me being on an Ib kick, but it would explain why she’s always smiling. Bonus: Atua was/is the name of her painter.
Tenko Chabashira - Yeti
I…I got nothing for this. I ran out of man-hating monsters, and I wanted something that could beat the shit out of you. It was this or a Chimera. I dunno.
Korekiyo Shinguji - Naga
I only know this because of his FTEs Korekiyo compares himself to Medusa at one point and says it’s his favorite folktale. Unfortunately, gorgon has already been claimed by Miss Celestia Ludenburg, but luckily we can still get that snake monster symbolism. Mask is to cover up that unhinging jaw probably. (Also let’s just say that he isn’t dating his sister for this AU, yeah? I don’t want to deal with that.)
#
Also, some adjustments to earlier cryptids:
Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack: Some people raised concerns that having any sort of cryptid that “played off” Genocide Jack could be considered offensive to those with DID or MPD, so I changed it. And honestly? The Kuchisake-onna works so much better. Woman who’s insecure about her body image and carries around a giant pair of scissors?? If that’s not Toko, I don’t know what is!
Mukuro Ikusaba: I love Mukuro, but I felt like the Waheela was just sort of me grasping for any sort of wolf symbolism, and it didn’t really work. Now she’s an incredibly intimidating curse demon who can control the weather! Much better.
Junko Enoshima: I think she was technically a Wraith before?? but Lich just seemed more fitting. She’s every DND campaign’s BBG.
#meta talks#long post#cryptid au#monster au#danganronpa au#dr1 spoilers#sdr2 spoilers#drv3 spoilers#danganronpa cast#danganronpa cryptid au#danganronpa: trigger happy havoc#super danganronpa goodbye despair#danganronpa v3: killing harmony
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Max Ernst's "One Week of Kindness"
Which could also be called "A Week of Benevolence" - the original French being "Une semaine de bonté".
This post is a follow-up to a reblog I made, right here. Please go read this reblog first, because this post continues from all the info I placed there. If you don't go check it out first, you'll be slightly or massively confused.
I wanted to expand a bit on this fascinating piece of art, and to do so I'll use the info the Musée d'Orsay shared and put on their website when they organized an exposition of Une semaine de bonté.
An expo that deserves its own mention due to how exceptional it was. It was a 2008-2009 exposition of the original collages of Max Ernst the booklets were reproductions of. It was a grand world-tour that started in the Albertina palace of Vienna and ended in the Musée d'Orsay of Paris, passing by Brühl, Hamburg and Madrid. Why was it such a big deal? Because this was the second exposition of Ernst' work - the only other exposition of Une semaine de bonté's collages was in 1936, in the Museo de Arte Moderno of Madrid, just before the Spanish Civil War. It had been organized by Paul Eluard, who loved Ernst' work, but five of the illustrations couldn't be part of the exposition - due to being deemed too "indecent" or "blasphemous". And since this date, the works had never seen the light of day anymore, being preserved in private collections... It explains why the second exposition was such a big deal.
A few more sources for this collage-work I forgot to talk about: Beyond the general category of covers and illustrations of investigation stories/crime novels/polar tales, we also know that Ernst used illustrations of Sade's novels, the caricatures of Grandville, and the illustrations of Fantomas.
As with typical surrealist work, Une semaine de bonté offers a work of onirism that transcends the limits and categorizations imposed by society, by science, by our very conception of reality, and rather offers nonsensical visions and extraordinary wonders. It was the third "roman-collage" of Ernst, after "La femme 100 têtes" of 1929 and "Rêve d'une petite fille qui voulut entrer au Carmel" (1930). Throughout the illustrations, we find many references to the Bible, to famed legends, to fairy tales, to Greco-Roman mythology, but mixed with Ernst' recurring and favorite themes. More precisely, his strong rejections and dislikes: his rejection of the Church, his hatred of the bourgeoisie, his dislike of the traditional family, his refusal of patriotism...
Because Une semaine de bonté is actually a denunciation work, a great critique, a satirical caricature of the French society of the 1930s. Ernst superposes, subverts and reverses all sorts of stereotypical and cliches depictions, of either the "good society", or of the evil, the crime, the monster. Now, of course, there is no actual "real" or "good" story for this work. It is open to interpretation and everybody has to and must find their own meaning in it - as with all proper surrealist work... But there is still strong themes that form recurring motifs, and a message Ernst wasn't so subtle about.
The satirical, ironical, cynical, biting nature of the work can be read in the very title, which plays on two levels. One, on a Christian level: "Seven capital elements" is, as I said, a parody of the "seven deadly sins/seven capital sins" ; the motif of a work centered around a week alerts that there will be numerous references to the Biblical genesis, but most importantly "One week of kindness" is a reference to "La semaine de bonté", The Week of Kindness, a 1927 association creating for social help. Tied to this subversion of typical Christan morals, ideas and values, is the second level of irony in the title: this collage-novel is called "One week of kindness"... And yet it depicts all sorts of violences and abuses. Its pages are filled with murders, tortures and natural disasters - and Ernst doesn't hesitate to subtly denounce the sensationalism of a society obsessed with depictions and illustrations of the most horrible and criminal sides of humanity.
It also is no wonder that this work was created during the 1930s. The ghosts of the World Wars are haunting this piece. On one side, Ernst was seeing with an anxious and angry eye the rise of violent nationalist movements and of brutal, discriminatory dictatorships - the very ones that would cause World War II. On the other side, Ernst was of this generation that inherited the trauma and memories of World War I, had to live with the broken and disfigured survivors of the "Great War". Ernst himself had served in the German army during the Great War (if you don't know, while Ernst was born and raised in Germany, he ended up having a triple-nationality, German, American and French). One can almost read in this book Ernst' vitriolic take on a society that distracts itself with materialism, excessive pleasures and sensationalism, in an attempt to bury the wraiths of its past, and to stay blind to the dangers ahead...
It is only by the last day of the week that the atrocities fade away, and that we return to pure oniric poetry, in a set of illustrations focusing on voluptuousness and fantasy, inviting to or glorifying freedom and dreams... Now let's take a look at the structure of the Week in more details.
Day 1: Sunday. Element: Mud. Example: The Lion of Belfort
(The Lion of Belfort is a commemorative statue of the Alsacian town of Belfort in France, in homage to how the city had been assieged by the Prussians during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870)
Another Christian subversion: the week doesn't begin here on a Monday, but on a Sunday. We also see some of the games Ernst has with the Biblical Genesis not just by waking the "last" day of Genesis the first day of the week, but also by associating to Sunday (the day of rest for a God that created everything already) the day of the "mud" (understand, the primordial mud from before the world was created, the "chaos", the "primordial soup" from which the universe had to be sculpted). Not only that, but Sunday, the holiest day of the week for Christians, is filled with brutal deaths, sadistic violence and blasphemous imagery.
More precisely, this booklet/day explores the relationships between men and women, male and females. And... let's just say Ernst has a bad view of it, since all the interactions between male and female characters in this booklet can be summarized by: persecution, seduction, theft, punishment, torture, death. Since the Lion of Belfort is the recurring theme, there is a recurring character throughout the illustrations of a lion-faced man. He is always in a position of power and domination, and it is no surprise: we often see him wear military decorations, political medals or even religious symbols such as the Sacred Heart. As a result, the lion-man clearly embodies all the dominating, oppressive and violent male-dominated organizations of the time: the political world, the military and the Church.
(If you are curious, the Musée d'Orsay offered the original picture on which the one above was based. It was taken from the Mémoire de Monsieur Claude:
Day two: Monday. Element: Water. Example: Water.
Unlike the male-dominated first booklet, this one is filled with female figures, making it the most "feminine" of all the days. There is still a lot of violence in it - but it is not a man-made violence anymore. Rather Ernst presents the violence of nature, the brutality of natural disasters - through water, a water that is seen flooding bedrooms, destroying bridges, or drowning entire streets of Paris.
Day three: Tuesday. Element: Fire. Example: The dragon's courtyard/The court of the dragon.
La Cour du Dragon, The Dragon's Courtyard is actually - or rather was - a famous street of Paris. It doesn't exist anymore, but it was in the 6th arrondissement, between today's Rue du Dragon and Rue de Rennes. This street was called as such because of a famous dragon-sculpture located at the top of one of its entrances - the dragon can still be seen at the Louvres I believe. And it is within illustrations of this "Dragon's courtyard" that the booklet begins.
The dragon is one of the recurring symbols of the booklet, with variations: dragons and snakes of all shapes and size that follow the characters around ; humans with various dragon or snake-like features ; or simply the presence of bat wings reminding of demons, sometimes counterbalanced by angelic characters with bird wings. Here, the caricature, in terms of setting and characters, clearly is of the bourgeoisie. Not only is Ernst making the world of the bourgeoisie "Hellish" by filling it with snakes, dragons, demons and flames, but he also seems to use the symbolism of the fire as a way to denote the cliche of the "passion bourgeoisie", the violence of passions, emotions and desires within the bourgeois world, leading to tragedies. (Opposing the "natural forces" of the water, here fire seems to be the human forces) It is no wonder that this booklet has a great emphasis on walls and doors, often decorated by surrealist symbols: they are here to evoke a cloistered, walled-up, compartimented world where walls and doors hide and try to restrain things such as fears, desires or dreams...
Day four: Wednesday. Element: Blood. Example: Oedipus.
This booklet is entirely driven by the myth of Oedipus (that we know to have been one of the surrealists' favorite Greek myth). All the illustrations have one element or another of the legend, and keep retelling specific episodes of Oedipus' adventures. Oedipus killing his own father, the riddle of the Sphinx, or baby-Oedipus being abandoned at birth... Oedipus himself is symbolized in the collages as a bird-headed man.
One of the most famous collages of this booklet is the one that retranscribes the part of the legend that gave Oedipus his name, "swollen feet" or "swollen ankles", due to receiving a wound there as a baby. In Ernst's work, the bird-headed man (Oedipus) rather stabs in the foot a woman:
Day five: Thursday. Element: Black. Example: The laughter of the rooster ; followed by "Easter Island".
This is where we reach the last three days placed in one same booklet. It is also only in this last booklet that Ernst placed text, in the form of quotes or poems from other authors. This day has three quotes. In the "Laughter of the Rooster" segment, two. One from Marcel Shwob's L'Anarchie: "Those of them that are joyful sometimes rise their behind up to the sky and thow their feces at the face of other men ; than they lightly hit their bellies." Another from Schwob's Le Rire: "Laughter is probably fated to disappear." The third quote comes from the Easter Island segment, and is from Arp: "Stones are filled with entrails. Bravo. Bravo."
Here the symbols seem to again represent men or organizations of power. On one side, you have the recurring rooster - which is of course the symbol of France, and thus can be seen as a representation of the French government or French state. On the other side you have cruel and brutal men with the head or faces of the Easter Island statues, reflecting them not just being humans made of stone - but being literal "stones idols" (in the religious sense of the term, the sin of idolatry, again a Christian subversion).
Day 6: Friday. Element: Sight. Example: The inside of the sight / The interior of the view.
Again, three quotes here. One from Professors O. Decroly and R. Buyse's "Les tests mentaux": "If three is greater than six, make a circle around the cross, and if water extinguishes fire, draw a line from the sceal to the candle, passing above the knife, then make a cross on the ladder." One from Paul Eluard's "Comme deux gouttes d'eau": "And to love I oppose / Already-made images / Instead of images to be made" (The text is much more poetic and punny in the original French). The final quote is from André Breton's "Le revolver aux cheveux blancs": "A man and a woman absolutely white."
Unlike the previous booklets which presented dynamic, violent, active, interactive scenes, here we are in more still, contemplative images. Symbols, visions and settings to be looked at and gazed at, as the title of the section indicates.
Final day: Saturday. Element: Unknown. Example: The key of songs (again, a pun on "The key of fields", a French expression)
Only one quote: "........ / ........ / ........ / ......" from Pétrus Borel's "Was-ist-das".
For this part, the Musée d'Orsay used a quote by André Breton to explain Ernst's intentions: from the Surrealism Manifesto, "Glory to hysteria and its cohort of young, naked women sliding down the roofs. The problem of womankind is, to the world, everything there is of wonderful and troubled/murky." In this final day, we see women, always leaving a bed or bedroom or resting place, and either flying away or entering landscapes where gravity does not work. There is clearly here a work on the "clinal hysteria", and Ernst' own take on the surealists great obsession with hysteria, that they deemed to be disease, yes, but an illness that brought both freedom and inspiration. This idea of being set free is within the section's very title: "Prendre la clé des champs", "To take the key of the fields" is an expression meaning to go away (especially to go away from an oppressing or suffocating, unpleasant situation), to flee, escape, disappear (with the connotation of the fields as a vast, open space of great possibilities and endless horizon).
#max ernst#surrealism#surrealist#art#french things#french history#french art#une semaine de bonté#a week of kindness#one week of kindness#days of the week
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Do you have a favorite media like anime/manga, tv series/movies, books, video games, etc (if you feel like listing multiple) of all time? Why you love them?
Well, it's pretty tough to pick a fave of all time. (I ended up with 6.5 picks in this case) It varies a lot in my case and it's pretty hard for me to pin down something that I not only like, but liked for a while and will probably keep liking for the foreseeable future. My first thoughts were Naruto or JJK, but in case of Naruto, it is the series I have been a fan of for the longest time, but I wouldn't say I like the story overall much anymore, I'm mostly just obsessed with the Sannin. In case of JJK, I absolutely enjoy writing theories about it and fanfics and to pick apart character dynamics, but I'm not sure how long it will stay with me once it's over.
Thinking about it, I think I'd put it tentatively on the Fave Of All Time list because I could see myself keep coming back to JJK for Kenjaku, Yuuji and Tengen same way I do with the Sannin in Naruto, but I like the story overall more.
A way easier pick for me is Warhammer 40k, primarily the novels and audio dramas. It's just such a rich universe with so many stories you can explore there and authors keep putting out incredible material. There's always something new to find, no matter if comedy or thriller or horror or a mix of all of that and a lot of what I've read will keep haunting me for a long time. I can read hundreds of stories (theoretically, practically there unfortunately exist that many) about the Adeptus Mechanicus and never get tired because that faction just perfectly scratches that horrific sci-fi genderfuck itch in my brain. Definitely a Fave Of All Time.
I think another one would be the American Horror Story franchise. I haven't kept up with it past 1984 and I don't like every single season, but the ones I really like always have something I want to keep coming back to. Not a masterpiece, but a good mix of pulp, horror and interesting concepts that I just can't let go. Pretty much every season, except Freak Show I think, I watched in one day because it always managed to hook me somehow. The opening also used to really freak me out in the beginning, when I started getting into the first season. My favourite seasons are Coven and Apocalypse and they are just something I could watch at any time. I mean, Coven is worth watching for Angela Bassett alone, everything surrounding her only makes it even better. Apocalypse is a controversial pick and I don't like the ending either, but honestly, the way they characterize the Antichrist makes up for it. Reminds me a lot of The Omen II, but more developed. I like the thought that the Antichrist is just a boy with special powers, but who isn't inherently evil, the outside world eventually just pushes him to be. And I think for the most part they did a good job with it. Not all seasons hit for me, but this is definitely something I keep coming back to.
My other picks would all be manga. First one being Urasawa Naoki's Monster. In this case, the anime works just as well because I think some scenes even work better there than in the manga. Johan is one of the few animanga villains that actually gives me chills and the fairy tales in it haunt me to this day. I've actually travelled in the past and visited all the places depicted in the story, just to see how it looks in real life (pretty close to the manga although some places are made up). So far my favourite Urasawa story and I keep rewatching some scenes like JohAnna sending the boy into the red light district quite often because even on their own they are just that good.
Next one is Dorohedoro. I like Hayashida Q's whole style in general. It's messy, gorey, dirty and punk and Dorohedoro shows it best. The mix of silly antics, gore and actual horror is so good and she manages to balance it throughout the story really well. It's one of the few stories where I pretty much like every character. The worldbuilding is fantastic and while it starts out pretty whimsical, the high point of it had me on the edge of my seat. I'm really excited for the new anime season coming out and I'm curious if they will change up their style in any way. I like the style of the anime on its own for the most part, especially the backgrounds look really good, but I think if you don't use hand-drawn frames, it will be very difficult to adapt Hayashida's style and give you that same grunge feeling. There's an extra for the first season that's not made 3D and it looks so much better. The music has always been on point though and the opening and endings as well, so those will be definitely the highlights I'm looking for. Also, great to have more people experience the insanity of Dorohedoro because we're getting to the point now where the story really picks up.
Lastly, there are Houseki no Kuni and Fool Night. Both something I only recently started reading, but they both qualify as those types of stories that just keep blowing your mind. I mean, Phos' character development alone could make me rant for hours. I'm gonna reread hnk at some point from the beginning because I'm pretty sure there are a lot of little hints I missed on my first read and I'm already looking forward to that. The fact that I can reread this story multiple times and take something new out of it each time already makes it qualify for the list. Together with the artstyle it has something ethereal to it and that feeling while reading is another reason I like it so much.
Fool Night is quite similar, except a lot more depressing. Despite that, it isn't a constant downer though. You keep being confronted with problems and injustices quite similar to our world and it only gets worse the deeper you dig, but the characters nonetheless keep up an attitude that change however miniscule is possible and that makes you push on. The artstyle also works perfectly to enhance the atmosphere of the story. The lines can be quite shaky, but with a lot of detail and that makes the whole world in Fool Night feel uneven and distressed, but also incredible tactile and natural like the plants growing everywhere. It just started and there aren't that many chapters in English yet, but it's quite rare that I encounter a story where every single chapter manages to move me, even if it's just by revealing a little bit more about the world building. Honestly, can't recommend it enough.
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Some Notes on Jax and Atlas - Their relationship, how they feel about each other, and how their connection works (plus any other noise that jumped into my head as I was working on this)
- After footage of Jax using his new abilities leaked into the news and he became public knowledge, Jax adopted the title ‘Atlas Soldier’ that was used in the news as a sort of alter-ego he could slip into to protect himself.
- Unknown to him, the alterations made to his brain by the Midra Machine made it so this choice of slipping into the ‘Atlas’ alter-ego, caused new neural pathways to form, allowing this splinter personality to start manifesting.
- As it becomes easier and easier for Jax to slip into this fabricated persona, he begins to experience bouts of dissociation, where he’s aware he’s doing things, but the memory of those things is thick and fuzzy.
- These episodes later turn into full blown blackouts where he has no memory at all of events, and is pretty freaked out by this.
- Atlas himself begins as a sort of slightly self aware fight or flight response (normally set to fight). Because he’s a splinter formed around Jax’s attempts to protect himself, that becomes the core of what Atlas is. He is protective. He protects Jax.
- Atlas is not evil. He is flawed. He is made of many of Jax’s repressed emotions, has that same short temper and all he really knows at this point is violence because 90% of his manifestations happen when Jax is getting overwhelmed mid-fight.
- As Atlas becomes more self aware, he begins to realise that if people knew he existed, then Jax would be in danger. This adds more tension to Atlas’ desperate need to be seen and understood. While he harbours some resentment towards Jax for being able to exist as himself, he is still loyal and protective of him.
- Atlas is at first only able to take over when Jax is at his breaking point. Stepping in to take action that Jax doesn’t think himself capable of.
- Later he can do it almost at will, finding a gap he can slip into (often when Jax is tired/distracted).
- In Act III, Jax and Atlas have suffered from the machine’s effects for too long and it’s made them both aggressive and unstable. The two of them blur and flip between each other on a dime, wired into permanent fight or flight.
- It’s at this point in Act III that they lash out and end up hurting Monroe. When they realise what they’ve done, a split second later, they flee the base in a blind panic and go into hiding before being located and taken into custody by Loomis. (Act III is a really rough time)
- Since the very first splinter started to develop, Atlas has manifested in Jax’s dreams and nightmares. Often appearing as either some untouchable distant hero Jax could never live up to, or some sort of unstoppable monster.
- They have confrontations and conversations within the dreams, and as they start to understand each other more and even out the playing field, their dream encounters become more of a way for Atlas to keep Jax updated, Jax to keep Atlas company, and the two of them to grow together and accept each other.
- Their relationship has been rough for a long time. Between Jax’s fear and Atlas’ resentment, they strain against each other constantly. But by the end of things they’re honestly glad the other is there. It makes dealing with everything they’re going through a bit easier as they understand it in a way no one else ever could.
- They are two sides of the same coin.
- Ceres is the first person to knowingly have a conversation with Atlas. He’s shocked to be treated like he’s his own person, and her acceptance of him and what he is does a lot to chill him out and settle his relationship with Jax. (She doesn't love Atlas the way she loves Jax, and he knows this. It hurts him, but her acceptance of him means everything to him)
- In other settings, Jax and Atlas are often depicted as twin brothers. At each other’s throats, but protective, loving and loyal.
Overall they're a mess, but between the ups and downs, things are getting better.
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From a design standpoint:
Jax and Atlas are nearly impossible to distinguish from each other usually in the book. Atlas stands a little straighter, and doesn't bother doing his hair, but that's it.
In art though, I like to be able to show which is which by fiddling with the eye colour and how the hair is
They’ve come a long way and changed a bit since their first iterations for sure, but this is the most accurate info I can give at the moment. Hope it makes sense.
#Atlas Rising#Jaxom Hanway#Atlas#Atlas Soldier#Long post#I cannot stop thinking about these boys#Sad boys who need each other
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SUP LADS NEW SKELETON RELATED LORE DROPPED
Which means it's time for another round of crack theories/observations with Lonk!
So in Shubble's latest video we are shown that when Sausage was sleepwalking he was wearing a skull on his head. Later in the same video when she goes to the nether she finds her magic circle is broken and along with the weird spikes that appeared a bunch of wither skeletons seem to have be summoned.
Now the obvious connection is that the skull that sleepwalking Sausage is wearing may be connected to either the skull from Scott's lore, Skeletron from Joey's lore or perhaps both. In the past I also made a joke that the crown worn by the tyrant king shown in Sausage's flashbacks do kinda resemble bones/ribs. There is clearly a skeletal motif that is seen with characters or events that have evil, possessed, corrupt or otherwise negative connotations. I wonder if all this skull imagery and skeletal objects are pointing to this all coming from the same source. Possibly a villain like Skeletron or more likely something much bigger.
Another fun but most likely coincidental connection is the use of wither skeletons throughout both Joey and Shelby's lore. When pirate Joe storms one of Skeletron's outposts in his videos the main ‘boss’ of that area and most likely the most high ranking of the skeletal pirates in that outpost is, you guessed it, a wither skeleton! And what comes out of Shelby’s magic circle? Wither skeletons. Not only is this more skeletal imagery related to villains/dark magic but it also makes it seem even more likely that these events are at least somewhat connected.
Now let’s break away from the skeleton centric theories to talk about something else. Nekomancy and the large focus on undead. Recently a lot of the empires have been ‘curing’ their villagers. You know, standard minecraft stuff. Except not only have they all seemed to do it around the same time but it is what also inspired Shelby to try ‘cure’ sausage and accidentally turn him into a zombie. We also see Lizzie performing ‘nekomancy’ which causes skulk to spread in her attic, most likely due to the death themed spells she used. Skulk does multiply when mobs die after all.
Now Sausage is eventually cured from the whole zombie thing by finding a Totem of Revival after receiving a little help from Saint Pearl. Saint Pearl herself is often depicted as a god of life/light, being surrounded by sunflowers and using very light colours. Her actions, or those of her champions such as Angel Sausage in Afterlife SMP, are usually focused around purifying evil, healing and light. In Empires s2 we see her depicted on a mural underneath the statue/catacombs in Pix's ruined city. A lot of people, myself included, have noticed similarities in design to the winged statue and Saint Pearl (especially @sabiralangevan on twitter's interpretation of her).
However, the winged statue only has one gold wing. The other is black. So here’s where my crack theory comes in. We know that the statue is probably referencing Saint Pearl as there’s literally a mural/memorial underneath it. But what if that isn’t the only thing it’s referencing? What if there’s another god/deity that we haven’t seen that is the opposite to Pearl. A god of darkness and death that mirrors Saint Pearl's light and warmth. We’ve seen a similar dynamics between Aeor and Exor, the two stag gods of Rivendell and later their champions. With so many references to dark magic and undead within this season (such as the Evermoore, skulk, undead and skeletons) I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a being tied to all of it. The statue in the ruined city doesn’t just reference Pearl but also her counterpart. Gods of both life and death mirrored in one statue.
I could go even further and point out the whole Wisp thing going on with Gem's lore being suspicious and how the entirety of Glimmer Grove is split, with one half withering in darkness and spawning undead monsters. Hell we know for a fact that people get lost and/or cursed if they wander into the Mangrove swamp. Literally one of my earliest theories for this season was that the skulk was spreading/a corrupting force like the nether corruption from season 1. All of this stinks of dark magic.
Anyways, thank you for coming to my dumbass ted talk. What do y’all think about my crack theories? If you have anything to add or theories of your own you want to share please feel free to add to this post! :D
#empires smp#esmp#esmp skeletron#esmp season 2#esmp s2#empires smp shubble#empires smp sausage#empires smp joey#empires smp lore#empires smp spoilers#empires smp theory#empiresblr#empires smp meme
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Umineko EP8. Replay Part 1
The episode starts with Battler handing Ange the key and telling her that she is the only one that can decide how to use it.... which at least shows that he INTENDS for her to make a choice for herself but I can't really blame Ange for feeling like she was being forced into someone else's answer either.
Of course, it's not like it's exactly farfetched that he wants his younger sister to stop being stuck in suicidal survivor's guilt, he's trying to guide her to the answer he wants without forcing her as much as possible.
It's still a lot to ask of Ange to just take everything that Battler is going to show her at face value, especially after what she just saw like 5 minutes ago, though.
Everyone recounting how this is "the first time the 5 cousins were together" is a little sad since that means in reality that could never happen....
God, I fucking hate the uwufication of Kinzo in this episode, lol. Yes I get it. I get what Battler's doing. But also I just can't stand Kinzo being remembered like this...
The notorious HAPPY HALLOWEEN sequence happens and Ange starts feeling more and more unsettled by this depiction... it is kind of sad how what a lot of people would consider "just a normal family" seems like an impossible dream for Ange, but I get her. Family for her doesn't really mean anything happy for most of her life... this, to her, probably doesn't really feel like someone trying to comfort her to help her be able to move on with her life but more like someone rewriting yours and a bunch of other traumas for their own ends.
I am really not surprised Ange ended up lashing out here.... yes, it is important for Ange to realize that her family aren't all awful evil greedy monsters but that her family were complicated people who had both good and bad parts.... but that doesn't mean the bad parts Ange saw were just fiction made on her head. Kinzo did abuse his children. Kinzo dd horrifying things to all the Beatrices. Telling her she was just imagining that makes it obvious she is going to fight against it.
Of course, this also isn't true at all... Battler is helping her deal with her own trauma and her own future in more positive ways by helping her remember all the good sides of her family. That she isn't really alone. Ange decides to step out of playing the Ange piece.
Aaaa, this is too sweet and makes me want to cry though... wouldn't be great if Sayo and Battler were actually able to talk like this? It didn't happen but just seeing it happen anyways makes me very happy.
Beatrice notices Ange's keys and realizes that Battler is playing a game with Ange. Beatrice is able to do magic in front of Ange, and yet she doesn't believe it.
Now Beatrice and Battler wish they could spend eternity forever, but they must close the catbox and hand the future to Ange...
Well... a bit of column A and a bit of column B, I guess, haha.
It's hard to not look at both Battler and Ange's point here... I can understand why Ange wants to reject and feels resentful towards this world and also why it's so important for Battler to convey his message. "The sin I left behind" The point isn't to erase everyone's wrongdoings but also to give them a chance to grow past them and let you understand them, even after they are dead and let Ange remember the other half of who these people were, memories that were deleted by many years of people only reminding her of the bad parts.
Ange starts talking about how Eva was nicer to her originally and eventually was meaner to her when she wouldn't stop asking about the truth, which she doesn't want to tell her due to her being the culprit.... that's such an impossible situation for either of them to navigate, isn't it? Leaving Ange with her family is not a real option, though, so it's hard to think what Eva is even supposed to do, even if the answer is definitely not taking care of a child that you are definitely not emotionally capable of taking care of.
Ange.... seeing that fragment in episode 7 is obviously making her even more desperate to prove Eva did it.
I can see a bit of Rudolf in how Ange deals with her flaws. Yes, she knows this is bad and self-destructive, but so what? It's similar to how Rudolf seems keenly aware of his flaws but ultimately, also, doesn't really ever even want to try to fix them. It's what they have decided is best for them, and how they have survived... but Ange will manage to break this cycle.
Uh, I don't think Eva would be too happy about having a daughter because then she wouldn't be able to launch tactical misogyny at Jessica but uh, the scenes here are cute anyways and I can totally believe Eva would rather raise a daughter than a boy if the situation wasn't like it was.
Beatrice is drunk and Battler notices haha.. it's nice to see Beatrice merrily drinking instead of the binge drinking before ending your life on EP4....
I can't help but feel some kind of sorrow from all these scenes of the family working together, it just feels a little bit sad that this couldn't happen in reality even if I also feel happy that it's happening at all.
Yeah....
Every conversation between Beatrice and Battler feels so precious, they talk about how they hope the real Ange is smiling and not the piece, how they can't force her to accept the truth, and how they need to clean up from their sins in creating the gameboard in the first place....
Ange's realizing she is letting a bunch of people outside the Ushiromiyas and Rokkenjima decide her opinion on her family.
Quiz time!! Quiz time!!! I love the quiz game section so I was curious about how the manga was going to do it when I first read it but it did do it brilliantly as well. We start with Kinzo's Christmas puzzle and he starts lamenting how people will forget that he used to be a fun grandpa because her memories will be overwritten by the mean Kinzo legends.... both of these are true though. Kinzo can be a fun grandpa while fucked up in other ways. I do remember a bunch of lines about how Kinzo didn't especially like Maria but I wouldn't be surprised if that too was something that got exaggerated because no one has a good image of Kinzo already.
I started overthinking Hideyoshi's puzzle and checking which plants had seeds and which didn't and which is considered a fruit and vegetable, oops. Eva gives her South Pole puzzle
Should she have? Yes. But also it's kind of impossible to ask of her given the circumstances, that's what makes the situation so heartbreaking...
We get Gohda and Kumasawa's dessert-themed puzzles. they don't really get an extra scene, they start discussing how Ange's bright smiles were stolen by her future, but how ultimately the only one that can hatch her smile back is herself. They pray that she will be able to find her happiness.
Nanjo gives the kyuukyuu puzzle and Genji the candle puzzle, Genji talks about how he was saved from Taiwan and Battler chooses to not pry too much more which uh, guess Battler suspects Genji is in love with Kinzo if he doesn't want to pry, haha.
Natsuhi does her keyboard puzzle and Krauss. Natsuhi sees the bond between Eva and blood and says relationships matter more than blood, she realizes what she says and we get some perspective into Sayo and Natsuhi. Sayo fcking hated Natsuhi but as she saw the regret she carried in her heart she was able to stop hating her, as the real one to blame is Kinzo. Beatrice calls her mother one time. Beatrice does think forgetting your sin is an extremely grave sin, so I am comfortable saying Sayo ended up with some trajectory similar to this in actuality even if she still obviously holds some bitterness...
Kanon has the periodic table puzzle, Shannon is flavors, and their conversation is just depressing.... they start talking about ho the catbox is a wonderful place where all dreams ca be true before deciding that they{'d rather see their dreams outside the catbox and decide to duel each other.
Rosa is the gold-carrying puzzle and Maria the sheep and wolves one Beatrice Sakutarou and Maria have a discussion about how hard it is to believe in your own magic, but they believe that Ange will be able to do it, even if it will be hard on her.
Kyrie has the puzzle with Satoko, Rika, and Miyoko,, and Rudolf uh does the same puzzle again but harder. Kyrie tells Eva to watch for Ange, and then Rudolf and Kyrie are alone and Rudolf reveals the baby swap and Rudolf says he is fine being killed for this, which he would kind of deserve, tbh,but...
George and Jessica do fucking Monty Hall problem George and Jessica tell Ange to not let the truth in her hands be changed by what other people say which is... the opposite of the solution posited by the Monty Hall problem what the fuck guys. But the point is that she should remember what was true to her instead of letting her mind be changed by a bunch of people who have never even met any of these people.
It{s easy to dismiss this entire sequence for Ange, and a first-time reader, as just a fantasy to make Ange feel better. But, is it not also true that if they knew of their deaths, and if they knew what the future was going to hold for Ange, that all of them would want what is best for her and try to alleviate her heart? Is that truth not also worth having Ange find out?
"The sin.... is to refuse to remember."
Ange goes to take a nap and Battler opens up the party for all the fantasy creatures, and you get a sense of how much the cast of this game has grown, lol.
Kinda bites with knowing what's going to happen, but I think even that is necessary for Ange to reach her truth, as well, so.... message still applies.
I am going to cry.
The description of Ange being locked in a room, separate from her entire family, where she can't go no matter what is a bit sad, too... Anyway Bernkastel guides her out the window and into her parents corpses.
Comparing Beatrice's essay to Shannon in episode 2 compared to now is pretty interesting, as Gaap mentions, haha. It's nice that even if just in meta Sayo has managed to not have such distorted views about her body and love...
Meanwhile, Battler notices Ange isn't where she's supposed to be and starts freaking out. Bernkastel shows up and Battler soon realizes he's stuck co-authoring the tale with Bernkastel. Bernkastel is made to promise to release both Erika and Ange if you can solve her riddle.
Bernkastel is about to give her riddle, after a lot of talking from Battler about how they will be besties afterward, and we move to Ange seeing the corpses. "Was that fun just an illusion" asks Ange after seeing the empty hall...
I remembered this was what originally clued me in that the answer was children + parents, just a very sus description, lol.
Battler: It's because of Erika. I can't help but be suspicious when people are examining corpses. Hhahaha okay Battler, Erika gave you trust issues.
Sh = K is confirmed in the game as well when they die, The rules are set up.
Bernkastel's flash game begins!
I forgot that in universe the one that solves the puzzle is Maria, haha, also Ange is here to get further traumatized and see her parents as murderers yet again. And then she is forced to hear hundreds of goats say awful things about her family as if she hadn't gone through enough.... whispers that won't stop for decades. The media caught on to plenty of dirt from Kyrie and Rudolf's past... but it's funny because it didn't matter who they dug for, they would have found dirt for everyone anyway. Ange's family is just the most 'fun' because Ange is alive so they can torture her for reactions and get 'new' content to draw enjoyment from if she ever reveals any details of anything...
When Ange feels like she is about to be consumed by all the goats, Bernkastel and Erika come and save her. Obviously, they are using her and manipulating her for their ends, but you can certainly understand why she feels as if they are saving her once you realize she has had to deal with the goats for so long and they are giving her the opportunity to shut them the fuck up.
Eva's choice to never reveal the truth gets reframed in this episode, she is creating endless theories of herself as the culprit and setting herself up for endless abuse, all in order to guarantee the truth that will hurt Ange so much will never come out....
Ange.... I really don't think you can blame her for how she feels during this episode.
Ange and Bernkastel have a conversation about holding on to a miracle vs finding the miracleless truth. Ange decides she's tired of other people hiding the truth from her so she's ready to face the truth even if it means giving up on a miracle.
Bernkastel feels some bitterness about how Battler and Beatrice get to laugh and enjoy each other after their game.... once her game ended all that meant was she now had to deal with a bunch of trauma.
Bernkastel reminds Battler the game isn't over and the keys are in Ange's hands, not his. We cut to Bernkastel-Ange-Featherine in the study. Featherine and Bernkastel point out that the point of the key is for her to choose between something, and Bernkastel points out that even if he is respecting her decision there's obviously a choice he wants her to make, which helps Ange understand a bit more the unease she has been feeling.
It's hard for me to not see the events of this episode as necessary for Ange... if she just went along with the trick ending just because that's the only perspective Battler gave her would she have really felt comfortable in that choice?
Erika is chronically addicted to being WRONG
The fact Ange is forced to play an actual 6-year-old also I think is like... it probably didn't help in Ange feeling manipulated and infantilized.
"I t wouldn't have been much longer before I was chased out of the gameboard with everything still vague and fuzzy," I think kind of points to what I was mentioning earlier - if Bernkastel hadn't intervened I doubt Ange would have felt satisfied with her answer.
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That's also part of the reason I really like William Afton's portrayal in everything but as Scraptrap or in TFC. You have what 6 and 4 paint as this man who is simultaneously distant to the point of neglectfulness and disturbingly invasive towards his children. This behavior gets to of his children killed (he's presumably responsible for Michael developing his general shittiness, CC being terrified of the animatronics, and Elizabeth shouldn't have to be stated.) Rather than face the faults of his actions or succumb to grief he kills his closest friend's daughter, possibly out of some kind of jealousy, and begins to abuse his role as a trusted children's entertainer to lure four more children to their deaths in a mascot costume. Then we have him returning to the pizzeria long after it's closed down, tearing apart the animatronics which he may have not wanted to acknowledge earlier were haunted. I think it's fitting that in death he's reduced to what he made his life about. He literally becomes the suit he used to kill, his face has rotted away, his voice only comes out in choked groans. He is a thing only moved by pain, his only source of direction is the sound of children's laughter. His (previously assumed) death is unaffected in either ending. It's not a good ending if he's just gone, it's up to the nightguard/shadow bonnie/Michael to put the souls of the children to rest, to end the nightmare he created
IDK I just feel like a man brought to commit more and more extreme evils until he literally lost what made him human fits better with the darker or sadder elements of FNAF than mad scientist who wants to be immortal and is seemingly unperturbed by being crushed and locked in a room for 30 years
YESSS literally spot on. I’ve always liked the “man pushes himself deeper and deeper into a hole of atrocities and becomes worse and worse until he’s literally lost his own humanity’ depiction of william far more than mad scientist from the books, it just fits much more thematically.
In my mind, I’ve always been fond of the depiction of William as somebody who was always a bit crappy and neglectful, but descended into the man he eventually became through his own poor decision making and inability to healthily process his family’s fate and inability to take accountability for his own actions. He indirectly allowed Elizabeth and CC to die via his neglect, and there’s an implication that his wife left him and died due to similar reasons, but instead of taking any time to reflect on this or self-improve he just doubles down, like you said. He refuses to believe any of it could be his fault- instead, it’s everybody else’s fault. It’s the world that’s to blame. Why should perfect Henry get to have his perfect little family when William’s own kids were dead in the ground? Something simply had to be done about that. His thought process is so investing in this depiction.
And then it just progresses from there and he turns from this well-beloved guy who maybe had genuinely good intentions for a children’s entertainment venue but was a crappy neglectful invasive father to his own kids, into this horrific, inhuman monster which is literally reflected by the fact that he STOPS physically being human!!! Springtrap in itself is such good symbolism because it shows he’s not William Afton, the children’s entertainment businessman, anymore. He’s a horrific creature that has alienated everyone that ever cared about him, abused his former role in order to cause havoc on a world that he scapegoats for all his problems, and has caused so much unnecessary pain to so many people. I always believed the idea that TOYSHK was purposefully springlocked, as well. It reflects the extent of William’s brutality by the time he got to the last kill of the original group, he’s no longer just quickly murdering, he’s intentionally causing as much pain and suffering to an innocent kid as he can, just for the sake of it. Henry referring to Afton not as his old name, but as a “creature” and a “monster” now fits well.
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In hindsight, a great submission for a Flesh Avatar would have Oswald Mandus, a wealthy industrialist and butcher. A supreme misanthrope, his rants show he has utter contempt both for the "filthy and brainless" lower class and the rich and "enlightened" upper class who happily allow the suffering of those "beneath" them to continue. However, when Mandus was driven insane by visions of the evils brought about by the industrialization of tyranny and war in the 20th century, he decided to make a massive underground machine designed solely for the systematic slaughtering of human beings (who he saw as no better than pigs), in order to conquer the world and "save" it. Thus, he created The Machine, a fucked up eldritch industrial slaughterhouse, to manufacture vitae - an arcane substance derived from human pain and suffering - on an industrial scale and basically become an industrial replacement for God. Some of the lovely locales in The Machine include the Pigline, where dozens of human carcasses are suspended by meat hooks and sliced by enormous mechanical butchers, and the Tripery, where ground human flesh is pushed through pipes like sausage, and the player is forced to wade through an ocean of blood and body parts.
Oswald also created Manpigs--horrific combinations of man, pig, and machine with a taste for human flesh. The Manpigs are released upon London by The Engineer--the malevolent split personality of Oswald which has uploaded itself into the Machine--to destroy/consume humanity. The Manpigs, within the span of two hours of being released upon London, create the aforementioned ocean of viscera encountered in the Tripery.
Furthermore, in a recording, Mandus describes in a recording how orphan child workers are very useful for crawling into the factory's narrow pipe systems and cleaning them out. Then he nonchalantly mentions that many of them get scalded to death by the machinery reactivating and sending hot steam into the pipes. If that wasn't horrific enough, he then describes the fate of children who manage the cleaning operations successfully. He tells them he is proud of them, and then has them fed to the manpigs. These aren't the only kids he's killed either, because he murdered his own sons to spare them the horrors of the 20th century--and then proceeded to use the industrialization that he so despised to murder thousands and experiment on hundreds more.
Relatedly, the painting "Faim, Folie, Crime," which depicts a woman in a crazed state brandishing a knife and cooking an infant, repeatedly appears throughout the game. It befits a man who could think of no way to combat what he hated--industrialized mass slaughter orchestrated by the rich and powerful--except to become the very monster he despised and turn countless people into meaty fuel for his misanthropic design.
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silent Hill 2 thoughts (please no spoilers I just got to an important part with maria/around 3f of the Brookhaven hospital):
- this is a very fun game similar to the first entry and already has a stronger story than game one.
- it is, however, far more sexual/has sexual overtones, so like, don't play this one on a big screen around kids. not that most people do with horror games anyway, but I was a kid who grew up watching horror movies and my family play other horror games (like some of the resident evils) and this would've been too much for me. I think it serves a narrative purpose though & is presented really weirdly/interestingly so this isn't a criticism, just like, if you haven't played it, now you know.
- PS3 version is far buggier than the PS1 silent Hill one, which I find funny, but whatever, I'm gonna play the one I've got, you know. (I've also heard this was due to a lot of development shenanigans, including the studio they had revising the game losing the original build of the PS2 version, but man, it doesn't just look a little worse, this game has crashed on me like twice lmao.)
- the graphics aren't terrible, they certainly don't look better than the PS2 version but are at least comparable.....but even then, neither really match up to the stunning quality of the first game. It still has a lovely and creepy atmosphere, but very genuinely, I can see too much. I don't actually want to see the character's facial expressions, as uncanny as they may be- there was something eerie and charming about the PS1 blurred, smushed-up faces, sharp angles, and dark corners of the world.
- the soundtrack however IS an improvement, building on what works while delivering it through not-ps1 hardware, the haunting melodies and tense ambiences are better than ever.
- most of what I have bad to say about it are simply visual preference or complaints about the specific version I have (the PS3 version also just has shitty load times overall, like traversing the world literally feels like it takes longer in this one than the PS1 game. wtf)
- I do have at least one story nitpick though: I don't care what you have to say about all of the characters being flawed/morally grey, the only fat character (Eddie) being associated with food and emetophobia related horrors is fucked up. he's also depicted as fairly stupid & incurious, in addition to being the star of the few unironically "comedic" moments I've encountered in the game so far. this hardly ruins the game by any stretch but it is something I don't like about it.
- I also ......really like most of the enemy designs but they aren't as scary to me. Idk if it's because I just got used to the design sensibilities of this series or because I can see them better/another visual preference or because they're just not as scary so far. idk. Pyramid head guy IS scary, but not because of how he looks- he may as well be a horny cosplayer from a series I've never heard of. I could see this guy on tiktok. I'm sorry. what's scary about him is the way he moves and how differently he behaves from the other monsters, and how he always seems to be either lurking behind you or one step ahead of you. he kind of just looks like a guy in a funny outfit to me.....maybe it's just because we live in the age of internet horror & this game was likely inspirational to many people, so I'm just kind of, already "oh okay" about seeing that type of guy....
-i don't want anyone to take away "oh mouse HATES silent Hill 2" nooo Im still loving it Im just having a different experience than with the first one. if anything, this game is more compelling story wise AND more player friendly (other than the bugs....but I assume the PS2 original lacks most of whats gone on here). I just really like crunchy and obtuse visuals and I'm coping with the loss of them. why can I see James's face. This is a crime
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Early Medieval LOTR
To follow up my previous post about having more works of fantasy that take their cues from the Early Medieval era: LOTR is the big one for me. So much of what Tolkien poured into LOTR were myths, legends, and motifs that were very specific to not only the Vikings, but Early Medieval Europe in general(and well beyond).
Going through “Ring Legends of Tolkien” by David Day, he goes over the many different stories that had a direct influence on LOTR. Some of the best known examples are Beowulf, and Arthurian Legend, both of which contributed to motifs such as the slaying of great monsters, the folly and destruction of evil kings, and the acquisition of holy/special swords.
The Volsunga Saga and the Nibelungenlied both deal with the slaying of dragons, and with the motif of cursed treasure--and I forget if its just one of them or both of them but they specifically deal with a cursed ring that is the figurehead of a larger cursed fortune and is ultimately the tool of everyone’s downfall.
This also isn’t new news---Even the films had a pretty good grasp on the Early Medieval influences on Tolkien's work and brought that out in their depiction of Rohan; Rohan’s seat of government in Edoras is essentially a viking longhouse situated on top of a large stone foundation. The Rohirrim themselves are dressed in armor that is either directly inspired by northern armor, or at least decorated in Nordic designs and knots. Even their swords are reminiscent of older Celtic and Viking swords.
But then Two Towers ends, and when we get into Return of The King we find ourselves in Gondor---and we return to that more Late Medieval inspired, standard fantasy setting we’re used to seeing.
((Side note, I can’t tell you how disappointed I was that ROP had the Númenóreans wearing scale mail but actually it’s scale molding into plate armor. What a tease.))
A popular interpretation of LOTR is that it’s an analogy for WWII, but (and I am putting aside Tolkien’s disdain for analogy) I have really come to view LOTR as being largely applicable to the political concerns and structures of the Early Medieval era:
The Shire isn’t England, it’s that all of Arnor is England, but split into many smaller states after [the romans] left some centuries earlier. Rohan could be roughly those of as Denmark, or Scandinavia in general---and Gondor is roughly analogous to the Holy Roman Empire or Frankia (Where Aragorn would be Charlemagne’s heir). It’s not a perfect analogy, but then it didn’t have to be either---the theme that’s being brought across here that didn’t end up being well communicated in the films is that the world of LOTR is a world in recovery. Previously, Arnor and Gondor had been a single kingdom, and at one time a much larger kingdom. This empire was smashed apart over time by various wars and issue with corruption, and as a result Arnor no longer exists, and Gondor has no king---and this applies pretty neatly to the conditions of the early medieval period, depending on which side of the Age of The Vikings you’re on:
The Western Empire was destroyed in 476, and western Europe had to be slowly rebuilt by the dozens and dozens of petty kingdoms that rose up in it’s wake. Charlemagne was the first in a long time to build an empire in western europe---although his empire also split and quickly fell into disrepair, so you could think of Aragorn as Charlemagne himself, or think of Elendil as Charlemagne and Aragorn as heir to the throne etc etc.
All of this to say: I wish I could see a version of LOTR than takes more heavily from these early medieval roots. A version that leaves out the plate armor, the late medieval weaponry, and embraces a visual world that more keenly fits the themes of the text. It would be a world that tells it’s own story visually: One of past prosperity turned to modern scarcity. But also, one that isn’t afraid to really let loose with some of the more viking/anglo-saxon/carolingian aspects of the story really shine through as a key aspect of the world and not just the icing on top.
Idk, it’s a long and stupid ask---there are many other influences on LOTR, including stuff that in non-European (which I realize I focused on here). It’s a big part of: I want to see more fantasy that takes advantage of different eras of technology and culture. Seeing LOTR sort of artificially transposed to a different era because we can’t seem to wrap our heads around any fantasy that doesn’t include big stupid plate armor and two-handed swords just feels like a tragic waste to me.
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dokkalfar are just. obsessed with wearing masks and headdresses. these accessories are symbols of status and power and job. they can be made from basically anything, but the most common material used for mask making is bronze, lacqured wood, tempered obsidian, or even grown and carved from mushrooms. these masks almost always cover the entire face, though sometimes you will see dokkalfar wearing less ceremonial ‘half masks’ during parties.
the dokkalfar’s most highly trained soldiers and guards are perhaps the imfamous mask-wearing dokkalfar, as their ebony-wood masks are crafted with enchantments to enhance their abilities in battle.
the masks themselves can be stylized with all sorts of horns and sharp edges, feathers, fangs. the expressions anywhere between a tight, neutral expression to theatrical, grotesque depictions of people, demons, animals, and monsters.
niantics, myrmidons, gentrymen, majors and generals are all members of the dokkalfar military that wear their own special masks to indicate their rank. they are often also painted different colors to further help differentiate the ranks of dokkalfar. masks with motifs of eyes, particularly a ‘third’ eye carved unto the forehead of the mask, are also often commonly seen among the apostles and magisters of amorium, as it is a representation of magical prowess and being ‘seen’ by the gods, a blessing or a curse.
masks that break into triple faces (called a ‘three moons’ mask or a ‘mithra’ mask, as it represents the phases of the moon and the many faces of their god, mithra) are only worn by the highest ranking members of the unseelie; typically the archon, the hierophant, the vizier, and the archmage are the only ones allowed to have masks stylized in this way.
nobility of the unseelie court also enjoy wearing highly stylized, personalized masks, which are also often imbued with enchantments intended specifically for the wearer. some nobility will have multiple masks for different purposes -- like a mask they wear when attending court within the sidhe, or masks they wear when attending court in other lands or when acting as ambassadors, masks they wear simply for the pleasure of it, masks they wear during rituals, masks worn during battle. just. masks for every purpose.
these masks are yet another example of the importance of apotropaic magic within dokkalfar society. they believe wearing these masks frightens and confuses evil spirits, as they believe that spirits will see mask wearing dokkalfar as one of their own and choose to leave them alone. they also use the masks for the sole purpose of instilling uncertainty and dismay into their enemies, and to protect one’s identity within times of danger or war.
for example, there are times where dokkalfar will often opt to switch out and wear eachother’s masks. they do this in order to further confuse their enemies, either on the court or within battle - so that a single dokkalfar cannot be truly picked out so easily from the swarm. it is also an effective way to protect more important members of their society during assassination attempts. many dokkalfar would jump at the chance to give their lives to save their archon, and so there have been points in history where a servant has worn the mask and garb the archon, and been assassinated in place of the archon themself.
there are also dokkalfar that use this mask switching as a form of magic, to bounce a curse intended for one person onto another who is better equipped to resist a curse and send it back to it’s sender.
here are some examples of the sort of masks dokkalfar like to wear under the cut (cw for scocophoba kinda. i dont even have a fear of being stared at and these masks still give me the heeby jeebies staring into my fucking soul):
#ooc.#lore.#canons.#dokkalfar.#the unseelie court.#so many fucking tags#i know its probs a little too early to be posting this. buttfuck it.
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Just a Anonym’s Number Lore(or JAA/JAs Number Lore)
Yes, I made my Number Lore and don't ask why. (but that's only 25 out of 100 numbers)
The Characters:
1 - is a common number. He is the leader of 123 trio.
2 - is a common number, a member of 123 trio. Previously, he carried a magic stone with him (which can activate 0).
3 - is a common number, a member of 123 trio.
4 - is a common number. The same character, in the likeness of N from the original Alphabet Lore (was originally cowardly and helpless). He is friends with the 7.
5 - is a robot created by 6.
6 - is a common number. Creates various robots and technologies (including 5). He will die in the plot, but then he will reborn in the ending.
7 - is a common number. Previously, he was under the control of 9, but then he became normal. The best friend of 4. It is unknown how and why, but he can explode(after the explosion he will recover).
8 - a monster that usually lives underground (digs whole labyrinths there). Can change their faces (eyes and mouths), and also split. He will die, perhaps rise again (and die again).
9 - is the main villain in this universe, so far it is unknown why he is evil.
10 (digit 1 is a character, 0 is an object) is a common number. Can fly and transport others on 0. Sometimes he can wear sunglasses.
11 - died, thanks to the 9.
12 - it is unknown why, but 1 is still dragging his dead friend 2 with him.
13 - is a number that can take the form of any character. Kills other numbers, and either works with the 9 in the team, or against him.
14 - just stands against the background of all the chaos happening in this universe.
15 - a virus that will one day take the 5 under its control.
16 - cowardly and timid, just prefers not to delve into various situations.
17(1 - character, 7 - object) is a simple guy living in a blue-purple forest. His weapon can strike with electricity.
18 - two funny dudes. One of them will be possessed by an 8.
19 - she can be strange, because she(9) talks to an inanimate digit(1).
20 - digit 2 is usually calm, but 0 is not(if not disturbed).
21 - is two ordinary digits. The number 1 (21) and the number 1 (41) will change partners.
22 - is the smallest number in the world.
23(2 - character, 3 - part of it) - a character with a claw like a crab. In the drawing, it is depicted as the size of many others, but in fact it is larger than them.
24 - digit 2 is the pet of the four. 2 has a venomous sting at the end of its tail. And yes, that's how 4 keeps him with him (because he doesn't have hands, it's logical).
25 - is a number made entirely of gold. Which is also thrown at other characters... don't worry, they're fine there.
0 is just a kind golem creating other golems. Can only live if a magic stone is installed next to him or on him.
Please don't use my characters in your Number Lore. If you want to draw a fanart with them, you can.
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The Devil's Slumber
TDS: Prologue (part 2 of the Devil's Saga)
I'm gonna just post the first chapter of already compleated parts of the series and when I get to the ongoing parts (OaDWs, Domesticity and Ghandon's Reports) will link chapter by chapter.
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((Header Pic for the series done by Lil-Chilo))
The Devil's Slumber
Rated M; has adult/heavy themes
Fandom: Resident Evil
Main Ship: Nemesis/Jill Valentine
Chapters: 9/9
CW: has early impled rape in first chapter, graphic depictions of violence, unhealthy relationships (implied growing codependency), psychological trauma, implied medical torture, implied/referenced torture, attempted rape/non con (full tag list on AO3)
Summary:
"all sin arises from love – either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered love of good things"
The second arc in the Devil's Saga.
Based off of Dante's Purgatorio.
An AU fic set a year after the events of RE5. This fic is like what Capcom did with the story lines of RE2/3: this and Teaching piggy back off each other taking place at the same time. It is Nemesis' take on his time with BSAA but with a twist - it explores the realm of his dreams and memories.
Events from the immediate, to events in RE3 (lightly re-imagined), to further in his past are brought to light showing where his thought process came about.
He is not written to be a hero or well-liked (he was created for the express purpose of killing after all): he'll have his moments ranging from the tragic to the more unforgivable. But in the end, the parallels will become more and more clearer as the fic progresses on.
This fic will explore darker themes and topics: it will basically not shy away from nor sugar coat the violent or suggestive situations within.
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Excerpt from TDS: Prologue-
Like a caduceus, fates twine and twine again unable to disentangle, unable to separate and live without the other. The two could only snarl at each other, their fates forcing them into this painful embrace. Over and over again.
Tyranny of the worst kind.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
The White Room looms; a stark white cage filled with only the most dangerous of prisoners. The one who currently sat within was no exception. If anything this one wasn't wanted wasn't accepted – the room was it powerful enough to cage him? He has been in various cages before, many of concrete, of glass, of drugs, of mind – all of them with a layer of gilding to distract from the truth of their purpose to contain.
But the White Room was the most gilded of all. For it not only contained his body but the mind. The White Room was the gilding, a pretty location that made him feel he had a place. The room was a shell of what truly contained him; like the parasite that roamed in the shell of a Tyrant, the White Room wasn't his true cage.
She was.
Jailer, owner, tyrant.
And he could do nothing but rail against it. Nothing but fight and fail each time. Fight and flee into dreams. Unlike the other cages he lived, sat in, this jail did not require prodding, or violence, or examination. It just required him. And her. And this made it all the more uncomfortable.
Do monsters sleep?
He twisted on the too small cot, still awake, still staring up at the wall. His eye wandered to the door, the only way out and into his small white prison. Her scent came through the padded door; he knew she was there. But what use is to run over there when in the end she's still out of reach?
Out of reach in mind and body. Not that it should matter. It shouldn't. Eventually, he'll have the strength to tear this toy off of him. Eventually…
But her scent, it's so cloying, so close. He could taste her. He tossed again facing back to the wall. He shouldn't want her like this. Killing a pig is the only option. Humans deserve no more, no less. Too weak, unworthy. This one, this one doesn't command, shouldn't command…This lone female actively fights him. He should hate this. He should. He should be the master, not the dog.
Then how come I… like it?
(Continue reading the prologue of The Devil's Slumber on A03)
#monster x human#nemesis x jill#nemestine#dark fic#archive of our own#terato#monsterfucker#ao3 fanfic#fanfic#tentacles#thetentaclecommander writes stuff#slow burn#enemies to lovers#captive captor#pstd#intense#alternate universe#fanfiction#old work#crackship#villianfucker#resident evil tyrant#resident evil 3#resident evil 3 nemesis#resident evil au#canon divergent au
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I recently finished @neil-gaiman's Norse Mythology and it was excellent. I like that the aesir were, especially as a mob, depicted as a bunch of falliable and violent louts. Thor was especially funny.
I'd never actually read a full account of Ragnarok before, just a few odd scraps of the predictions because so many of the stories foreshadow the big event. I think it would make for a really neat dnd/pathfinder campaign setting. Hear me out:
- Far into the future, Fimbulvetr has gone on for long enough to make civilization crumble and all of the original humans are either desperate mutant barbarians in the post apocalypse, part of the legions of Hel, or the Einherjar
-- Fimbulvetr starts sometime between 2030-2200 because of a nuclear winter. Everything left on midgard has been thoroughly irradiated until it looks suspiciously like the parts of the monster manual that I feel like using
-- Surtr is approaching earth to fight Frey. He travels over astronomical distances to reach midgard, and the entire campaign would be set in a period where the earth has rapidly warmed over the course of a few decades to produce a few transient pockets of civilization in an apocalyptic midgard just as Surtr approaches to burn the world to ash
- All PCs are among the Einherjar and may originally be from any time up to the 21st century (or *maybe* the barbarians if someone has a great backstory).
-- This way, characters can share some irl knowledge of guns and technology without having to play 100% dumb
-- Among the Einherjar, modern soldiers are very rare because the aesir think most wars after WWI were largely pathetic, but occasionally the Valkyries consider some brave infantrymen to be worthy of Valhalla. Modern Einherjar had plenty of time to update their older comrades on the existence of some new weaponry. They don't use this in Valhalla because they don't have access to the technology, but the Einherjar and gods are aware that humans in midgard got up to some crazy ass weapons development before Ragnarok began.
-- Original party members are all human because the adventure begins around a group of the Einherjar. They start around level 5 with plenty of access to player's handbook weaponry because they're badass warriors. Maybe by the time some get killed they can make friends with the light elves or dark elves/dwarves and add them to the party
--All nonhuman PC races would fall under light elves or dark elves. The distinction would be primarily down to whether they're from Alfheim or Svartalfheim. The light elves aren't generally opposed to the gods and don't need to fight in Ragnarok if they don't feel like it since their plane Alfheim won't be cremated by Surtr. Dark elves are only called dark because they are typically opposed to the aesir, but most don't feel the need to attack aesir during Ragnarok. They would be only a minor threat compared to the apocalyptic forces of Loki's spawn and Surtr that the gods are armed to face. They're frantically trying to use the wondrous technology of the dwarves to attempt to survive Ragnarok however they may.
- Jotun broadly include a lot of powerful monsters, and many of the strongest ones are giants, devils, or dragons possessing spellcasting abilities. They all hate the aesir
-- The original goal given to the party would be to kill a big bad evil Jotun with a piece of dwarven technology fetched from some dark elves
- The other main enemies the PCs encounter would be the oppositional force of Hel's legions
-- Hel's legions are primarily strong due to their vast numbers and the fact that they've somehow acquired a bit of modern weaponry. Most of the warriors suck unless they've been well-equipped. Some few powerful warriors happened to die pathetic deaths, even though they're not Einherjar they're still a threat.
-- That last point and the headcanon I have of modern soldiers being less likely to go to Valhalla was the nugget of an idea that inspired this post. I'd had this idea when reading about the Einherjar fighting the legions of dishonored dead until both sides were exterminated. I think having badass Vikings fighting zombies with modern weapons would make for some really cool turn based combat
- The aesir and vanir are significantly recontextualized to make the lore compatible with non Norse sources. The aesir still must play their roles in Ragnarok
--All of the aesir and vanir who hang out in Asgard are incarnate and may directly influence the world during Ragnarok
-- Every non-aesir diety that players are interested in worshipping as clerics/paladins/etc is disincarnate and counts among the ranks of the vanir. This can include dieties from any source worth including, be it Greek mythology, dnd books, other made up gods, what have you. Most don't wish to involve themselves in Ragnarok as they can rarely interfere directly with midgard due to a lack of incarnation. Vanaheim, home of the vanir, is functionally not a real place to go for incarnate beings which is why it is safe from Ragnarok, but some vanir have interests on Earth and may offer their power to players that think it's fun to be a cleric
....is this anything?
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Dark Blood Chapter 4: Day 1 of Evil
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Trigger Warning!
This Chapter contains depictions of burning bodies, body horror, and violence. readers discretion is advised.
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Sarah, Marco, Carl, Oliver, and Olivia were overwhelmed with sudden fear, it was true there were other schools in the area. First was their school, the high school for grades 9 to 12, then the middle school for grades 6 to 8, the elementary school for grades 3 to 5 and the primary school for kindergarten to 2nd grade. This was the High school full of kids that were somewhere between 15 to 18 years old yet only 34 kids survived, and the other schools were filled with younger kids.
"All those poor kids..." Olivia couldn't hold back their tears when thinking about children younger than them going through similar horrors. Oliver on the other hand wasn't crying but instead full of dread.
"Jesus, it's going to be a bloodbath" It wasn't long before Sarah was shedding tears with Olivia, Marco was shaking in fear, and Kyle felt more and more frustrated. Carl couldn't stand the sight of everyone losing hope and tried to raise their spirits.
"Come on guys! We took back this school, we can take back the others! Let's go and save those kids! Who's with me?!" Instead, they all looked at him in either confusion or disappointment, Sarah was especially disappointed.
"Carl, we didn't take back the school we just survived, with the help of the two school androids, both of which are now destroyed. Besides, look at how many there are of us now, we wouldn't stand a chance."
"Bu- But it's not like we can just abandon those kids... right?" Olivia did understand what Sarah was saying, but still foolishly wanted to save the other schools.
"No Olivia. We really should just stay here. I know it sounds cruel, but we'll just die if we try to fight those... things again."
"I agree with Oliver, I know it sounds cowardly, but I really think we should stay here and wait for help. This place is at least clear of those monsters so we should be safe here for now." Kyle nodded to show he agreed with what Sarah said. but then, Kyle felt his shirt being tugged by Marco.
"No save kiids? But kiids nued us!"
"Marco, we all want to help but we need to think of ourselves first." Marco backed off and nodded, he understood but was still upset so he remained. Kyle knew what he said was the best decision but still felt a sense of guilt for letting his friend down once again. Kyle couldn't bear the frustrations and failure of today he knew it was stupid and selfish, but he needed a win today.
"I'll go."
"W- what?"
"Come again?"
"I'll go and save the kids from the other schools."
"What?! Kyle, that's insane!" Kyle didn't listen to Oliver but instead headed out of the school cafeteria and into the lobby, all while his friends tried to stop him leaving Marco in the Cafeteria.
"Hey! Kyle, stop! Listen to your head! This is suicide!"
"My head says to go through with it."
"Come on man, at least let us come with! It was my idea after all!"
"No, no one else is coming with, I know how to handle those monsters by myself without androids I can handle more should any appear."
"Then let ME come with you." Sarah stood in front of Kyle as she spoke to both grab his attention and stop him from going any further to the school entrance.
"It's obvious that you took some of those monsters down because of your powers, I have powers too, I'm not a fighter like you but you will need back up. Please let me help."
"... no, you need to stay here and protect everyone else. if something happened to me at least you all will still be safe."
"Well, that's reassuring."
"It's not supposed to be reassuring, it's supposed to be realistic." Oliver grunted at Kyles' response; Sarah however, was annoyed at Kyle's stubbornness.
"Well then what should WE do?"
"Maybe we should start by getting rid of the bodies." Once Carl brought it up, everyone noticed the school was still full of bodies either dried up or turned to dust. Everyone went silent at the sight of the dead bodies while Olivia started gagging.
"Oh god... I don't think I can do this."
"Then don't Olivia, help me prepare something in the kitchen for us to eat." Sarah was holding Olivia for comfort, she then escorted Olivia back to the cafeteria to get started.
"Ok then me and Carl will take care of the bodies and try to get some of the others to help if their willing."
"Yeah, there's a large patch of soft dirt to the right of the school we can bury them there."
"Ok good and please watch after Marco too, I promise I'll be back with more survivors and hopefully answers to what is going on."
"Wait what?" Oliver knew that Kyle was going to get the other school's survivors but was surprised to hear the second part of Kyle's plan.
"Sorry I kinda got sidetracked earlier so couldn't explain but the school androids acted like they knew what was possessing the teachers and... some other things." Kyle was hesitant to acknowledge the fact that the androids not only called the possessed teachers Arkums but also called him a Zerku. Kyle had no idea what it meant but if he could find the androids at the other schools, he could probably get some answers.
“Look, I didn't get a chance to learn anything useful, but the androids know something, so I need to find them. But I will definitely come back with some survivors."
"... Kyle... just don't do something Carl would do ok?" Carl grunted at Oliver's joke with an anger, but Oliver just smirked. Kyle understood it was a joke but still didn't smile.
"Got it." After Kyle walked out of the school he looked around; half of the school was surrounded by forest but was still close to the small country town they lived in. As such it wasn't hard for Kyle to see the smoke coming from burning houses and crashed cars. Just as he feared, every direction he looked there was hints of chaos. It wasn't just happening here; it was happening across the country, or even the world.
Kyle shook his head, now was not the time to get distracted, he continued to the bus parking lot near the middle school. Kyle knew that if he found any survivors that getting them back to safety would be impossible without a bus. He knew how to hotwire cars so hopefully buses weren't that much different. Once Kyle got close to the bus lot; however, the school bus drivers showed up. There were five of them in total but the one in the middle was different. She was taller than the others, and her mouth was ripped wide showing extremely sharp teeth, her hands were completely black, and the fingers seemed as sharp as knives. Her hair was almost gone showing nothing but a rotten scalp, and unlike the others she drooled no black ooze. She raised her hand and pointed at Kyle, suddenly the other four started to run toward Kyle. Kyle should have been scared, but instead his heart raced out of excitement. These possessed adults were weaker and less mutated than the ones he faced before.
Kyle unleashed the fire in his hands and threw two large fireballs at the closest advancing possessed adults. The first possessed adult went down and started screeching as soon as it was hit with the fireball, the second one instead, stopped and quickly tried to put the fire out. However, the possessed adult behind it ripped it apart and ran toward Kyle while the other followed. Kyle unleashed a barrage of fire on the two of them. These ones proved to be tougher and wouldn't go down so easily. Kyle could see that their bodies were slowly falling apart so he remained calm as they got closer. Kyle dodged the first possessed adult as it swung its fist at him. He ignited his own fist and punched its head causing it to stagger a little. The next possessed adult ran right toward Kyle head on, but Kyle did an upper punch, causing the possessed adult to fall on its back. The other possessed adult was still standing so Kyle started punching it at its neck until it was so damaged by the flames that its head fell off. The other possessed adult was still on the ground because its knees were burnt. It looked up at Kyle and roared in anger, Kyle then kicked its head causing it to fly off as the rest of its body started to fall apart.
Finally, it was just him and the most mutated possessed adult who growled in anger as it glared at him. To Kyle's surprise however, the possessed adult didn't run toward him, instead it just walked. Kyle threw a fireball, but the possessed adult quickly slapped the fire away. Kyle flinched at the sight, though he didn't back down for he still had one more trick up his sleeve. Kyle put his hands together, unleashed intense fire in both hands and blasted the possessed bus driver. She quickly raised up her arms to guard herself, surprisingly the darkened skin was as tough as titanium, it didn't burn but instead forced the flame to go around it.
Kyle noticed this but didn't let up. Instead, he increased the power of the fire making it stronger and hotter. Now the fire and heat was burning the rest of the possessed bus driver's body. Kyle noticed the possessed bus driver’s body engulfed in flames, so he stopped the blast and relaxed. Though unlike the other possessed adults she didn't scream or try to put out the flames. Her body was clearly burning, but she simply growled in annoyance toward Kyle. She tried to approach again, but Kyle raised his hand to stop her.
"It looks like whatever you... things are, you mutate as you eat human meat making you stronger and smarter. So, judging by your mutations and strength you should be smart enough to understand me. So, if you want to live, I'm warning you, either tell me what I want to know or die right here and now. What are the Arkums and what are the Zerku?" The possessed bus driver stood there seemingly thinking calmly while her body was still burning from the intense flame. Due to her charred skin Kyle was surprised she was still standing and not falling apart right in front of him.
Then she looked at Kyle as if seeming to be ready to answer only for her to shrug in confusion. She then ran as fast as she could while dodging the fireballs Kyle threw at her out of frustration from her unsatisfying answer. Kyle huffed and sighed in frustration; he was still getting nowhere with getting information. Though Kyle was quite perplexed by the possessed bus driver's reaction. He never met a possessed adult that gave up and ran away. Even the possessed teacher that had its chest ripped open by the robot didn't give up, instead it used its last breath to destroy the robot. However, thinking about it just led him to more unanswered questions and frustration so he decided to drop it as he ran to the nearest bus and hot-wired it.
Hotwiring a bus is a lot more complicated than a car, but he eventually figured it out. After getting the bus engine started, he drove it to the middle school parking lot. He accidentally rammed a few cars while getting the bus close to the back entrance. Kyle sighed at his bad driving but now was at least glad there was no one to be mad at him for it. After parking the bus, he slowly approached the school with his hands ignited in flames. As he went to the entrance doors, he prepared for a battle but instead when he opened the school doors, he practically stepped into another nightmare.
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#Dark Blood#original story#despair#humor#apocolaypse#monster#mutants#fighting#super powers#body horror#burning#DZtheNerd
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