i know sakurai gets dunked on sometimes and some players especially cant let go of stuff like septem but like... im really thankful for her contributions too. after all, she's the one to give guda the shadow Servant canonical power (shimousa), which changed the REST of the chapters... same as well to olympus where guda's soul has That and its enough to terrify divinities on the spot, and theres Id chapter, which swept away every single player recently...its all amazing... especially when she's the first to bring up the concept of Servants in guda's dreams (see scathach interlude as she's the first to 'clean' guda's malignant remnants before dantes) and when dantes was released, she wrote it that he becomes guda's dream guardian... which then changed the rest of fgo's story as almost every player is elated over the fact that guda's suffering, as their own person, not a POV camera, is acknowledged by the story as players can only infer to what they're feeling through other characters.

so... it started with sakurai on that concept... then we get the rest of the Servants like abby and those who know of guda's dreams like amakusa, i think i saw some posts that sakurai and higashide co-wrote stuff together on some events/chapters? i think somewhere along those lines... but yeah the one who kickstarted stuff like this is sakurai which in turn eventually got us oberon due to guda's suffering and character as their own person, someone who is dantes' opposite in many aspects.

ordeal call 2 is all about dantes and jalter and how much the avengers love guda etc etc BUT it also brought up a little more limbo parallels to guda

guda despite all their rage and hatred and genuine vengeance... just does not have it in them to be an avenger class servant. even when presented with the perfect opportunity to do so they simply do not have the type of rage that burns forever. they're incapable of being anything other than an ally of humanity.

an utter inability to change who they inherently are, much like limbo, who also burns with every type of hatred against humans there can be and yet does not hold any ill will towards humanity, so even though they failed to become a Beast due to not holding any sort of 'love' for humanity, they also do not hold any sort of 'hate' for it as well that would allow them to become a curse against humanity.

no ever burning grudge but also no everlasting love, the weakling last master of humanity and the most pathetic and monstrous human being are one and the same, incapable of being anyone or anything more but themselves

Oldie for the Lostbelt 6 crew

Castoria is technically all of the above but sharing is caring, Castoria

the sign of a good comfort character

gudarokka commission from @versegm!

So, at this point, we all know what's up with Guda's hands now, right? It's sort of an open secret - no other characters have pointed it out, and Guda themselves sure as hell is never going to acknowledge it, but if you pay attention you can piece together the fact that their hands have started to necrotize from excess magical energy expenditure. You can see that the backs of their palms in the Decisive Battle Mystic Code are dark, remember what happened to Baobhan Sith after she used the Garden of Lost Will, etc.

What really gets me about this is that Guda is a kind person, and symbolically when you think of kindness you picture hands - the way they reach out to help others, a kind and comforting hand.

And now those same hands are turning dark and cold like a corpse's.

No less than four different people messaged me about Guda having no gag reflex so I must inform everyone that in lb7 Guda eats a cucumber and it is specifically mentionned that they eat it in one go without chewing.

I mean I guess you can interpret it differently but personally I don't really know how to read this aside from "throat goat Guda real"

Hugg

Guda: a medieval self-portrait

Self-portrait of Guda, homilary, Frankfurt, second half of 12th century.

"The first category of figures we have considered shows the artist present in the work or in the process of creating it. To that category, we add a second type of portrait or self-portrait, in which the artist beseeches a favorable judgment for him-/herself after the work is completed.

Such is the case with the famous signed self-portrait of Guda, who represents herself within a collection of homilies in an initial D[ominus] for the octave of the Pentecost. The inscription reads: “guda peccatrix mulier scripsit q[ue] pinxit h[un]c librum (Guda, a sinful woman, wrote and painted this book).” Of the seven initials in the manuscript, this D is one of only two that contain figures. The other historiated initial comes at folio 196, the opening of the Assumptio Mariae, and contains a portrait of the virgin identified as Maria Virgo. The other five initials display dragons, interlaces, ribbons, or spirals.

Guda represented herself firmly grasping the initial with her left hand and raising her right in a gesture of salutation and expectation. I would argue that Guda carefully and consciously chose to be here. The initial opens the ninth homily of St. John chrysostom, the Sermo beati iohannes episcopi de david ubi goliad immanem hostem devicit (Sermon of the blessed Bishop John, on when David overcame the monstrous enemy Goliath), which explains the election of David. The homily also offers an occasion to meditate on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and its role in comforting the soul. In short, Guda has chosen the perfect spot in which to await the Second Coming of Christ, and this is why she represents herself as a sinner, whose activity as an artist should count in her favor at the end of time.

Guda’s self-representation in this way is analogous to the scene the scribe Swicher has staged (for the reader?) in the frontispiece of his copy of isidore of Seville’s Etymologies. Swicher’s author portrait is most original. In the upper register, Isidore of Seville is depicted in conversation with Bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, the patron of the Etymologies. In the lower register, Christ in propria persona presides at the scribe’s last judgment. Two angels busy themselves at a balance in which is weighed the very manuscript Swicher copied. The work of the scribe counts as a work of virtue: a third angel takes Swicher’s soul away through a thick cloud, whereas the devil turns around empty-handed. The Titulus attests to this: "O god, deign to have mercy on this wretched scribe. Do not consider the weight of my faults. Small though the good things may be, let them be exalted over the bad. Let night give way to light; let death itself give ground to life.”

Guda and Swicher make use of the same patterns of visibility and those patterns are not gender-specific. In both cases, the artists stage their humility and represent their belief that they might reach the heavenly kingdom through the artistic work they have done."

Mariaux Pierre Alain, "Women in the making: early medieval Signatures and artists’ portraits (9th–12th c.)", in: Reassessing the Roles of Women as 'makers' of Medieval Art and Architecture

i think i love the thought of a cigarette kiss for edguda but at the same time... kinda not ww as it feels like, that's something Servant: Avenger Class Guda would do... as it means they've truly succumbed to hating just as much as they love. and in hating, that means they've given into their desires to kill those whose killed their loved ones, finally taken true revenge and given into the flame that they had every right to claim, to the flame that would make them the same as the Count of Monte Cristo... so its really fitting that guda remains as someone who 'lights the Count's cigarette' instead of sharing a smoke with him... i still think it would be romantic but nothing beats the classic of "I'll lend you a fire anytime, my Accomplice." and they're the one who lights his cigarette...

not to mention, in the first interlude, he says: then please, my dark flame of vengeance would simply char my precious cigar. and as his flames are strong enough to burn sin itself, he would need a more gentle source of light but no less warm. it still burns hot, it still burns bright, but a different kind of flame... all too similar like a star... and so asks for your light and your strength in this moment where he alone is not enough. and so you respond, with that light in your hands to set that cigar alight

Maybe it’s just me but the fact that Fujimaru’s name when broken down becomes 藤 wisteria and 丸 meaning round/full just... Wisteria is a flower that represents undying devotion or love that transcends time in certain cultures and a circle can be equated to a symbol of infinity... it scratches my brain just right

people think that gudas ability to befriend servants is some kind of special trait tied to high master compatibility, but that simply isnt true. all of chaldea is willing to live and die by gudas choices because one week they'll call up the single most powerful collection of historical magical warriors on the face of the planet and go "listen guys i need all of you to help me with a misinformation campaign for the coolest heist ever" and then the next week go "alright guys i now need all of you to come with me to the largest hobby shopping center of the world"

guda's use of magic is the most puzzling thing to mages. because they aren't a mage. they're a spellcaster like kiritsugu. they don't live the mage lifestyle. magic is a tool. the unorthodox style was how shirou was taught, and how archer taught guda.

kadoc goes through a training simulation with guda. they get into a cornered by a demonic boar that guda lures away by tossing a bright gem that explodes upon impact. kadoc questions them because that was gem magic? "what do you mean a goddess gave you enchanted jewels? ...did you say she was in love with you?"

guda comes barreling into the common room, chasing after a blue and gold cat-thing. guda shouts in victory when they corner it and get their hands under its front arms. the front half of cat gets into guda's clutch but the legs stay on the ground - the middle of its body extending as if turned into a doughlike property. daybit puts his eyes back to his book, yes, that's normal.

runes. guda’s handiwork is still small but quick and offensively pack quite a punch. they are able to create so many by the time ophelia gawks at them because "you're supposed to meditate on the meanings behind the symbols!"

after a party, wodime offers to help guda clean up the kitchen. while they both get to work, guda starts singing something to his complete confusion and astonishment. "supercali...what? junior, what kind of spell was that?"

YOO NEW GUDA EXPRESSIONS JUST DROPPED

THEY ARE IN ALOT OF ANGUISH AND I WISH TO KNOW WHY. DOES THIS MEAN WE GET A GUDA MONOLUGE IN THE FUTURE?