#so his mindset is a tad more individualistic compared to them | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bbnibini · 10 months

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I saw your tags in the Solomon post about his pact with Asmodeus tbh I agree with you maybe because I played the old game and know how cruel demons were shown at the start before they started overhauling the dialogue.

It wasn't until the brothers realized MC is related to Lilith so they started becoming nicer too. I just think it's unfair to put these characters in a box and expect them to act consistently that's called caricature not characterization but hey it's just my opinion.

Hi there! Solomon seems to be even more of a polarising character than Belphie was even if the latter committed an actual murder while the former hadn't done anything as severe (for now...jk lol).

Joking aside, it's completely valid to like and dislike a character. And I can totally see your point. I guess your opinion on Solomon changes depending on how long you had known him or how far you are in the story. Sometimes it doesn't even have a reason at all and that's valid too. It always amazes me how we interpet scenes so differently. Like for example, the current lesson (lesson 17).

In my eyes, the vulnerability he had shown in the bar/tavern was NOT intended. He had even insisted numerous times that we should forget everything that he said. That it was shameful he had even reacted that way. That he was being emotional. He was not in his right mind and it's shameful and disgusting and he should have never acted like that. This is the same man who said that he couldn't stand the thought of being hated by MC, so I think he must have reacted so strongly because this is a rare chance we see him at his weakest point: his true self. Being out in the open to someone who he wants to be loved by so badly TERRIFIES HIM. A lot of unexplored self-loathing in this man that's for sure. He even said you can call him insane because emotions had never been a factor in his decision making process. He's usually very emotionally intelligent and composed but your involvement. Your existence is beginning to shake his values. Because in the end, that air of confidence. Superiority. Magical prowess are years of building up defences against others from SEEING THE REAL HIM. I really like how the person I RB'd the blog from worded it. He's trying, but he's not perfect. He's human. He's hurt but in the cruel world he lived in all his life, he only had himself to rely on.

And there's something tragically poetic about that. Could his desire to make a pact with Lucifer be because he sees Lucifer as a "what-if" version of himself that had fallen from grace WITH people who loved him and believed in him? That if he gains Lucifer's trust, he would also be healing a part of himself who never had the chance nor the privilege to connect with others? If you recall in one of his SSR cards (the Comiket one forgot the name), the Lord of Corruption is his favourite character (possibly because he relates to the Lord of Corruption the most?), and it's been shown in the game a few times how he and Lucifer are comparable to each other (the Cyber event, TSL quiz battle, etc).

He seems to really be clinging into his humanity despite being isolated and even scorned by humanity itself at some point. Is it a saviour complex? Survivor's guilt? Either way, Solomon had been through a lot and he didn't seem to have a reliable guardian to rely on which is why he was acting like that. A stark contrast to how he and Diavolo were treated by Barbatos when his role in their lives had obvious parallels.

That's what's bothering me too. If Barbatos made Solomon "the way he is", then why is he so hostile towards him compared to the guilt and subservience he exhibits with Diavolo? Is it because like Asmodeus, he was also tricked into a pact(highly doubt this tbh unless that's actually the reason for Barbatos' deep disdain towards him? Because he had once treated Solomon with trust and compassion until it had been broken at some point)? Or could it be something deeper than that? A blight to the Fountain of Knowledge? Some forbidden boundaries that Solomon had crossed?

In my case, I have a considerable amount of background knowledge on him based on his "real life counterpart" before Solmare retconned it :'), and it has guided me surprisingly well (almost too well) in understanding him. King Solomon in the Bible had many enemies. But he is also kind and wise and benevolent and fickle and lustful and scheming. Loved by his people. Even given a blessed name by God. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He was a player, a fool in love, but for some reason, despite it all only had one named heir and had only one official wife, and when his actual heir had even taken over the throne, the United Kingdom of Israel was close to collapsing...which is weird because he's supposed to be wise and discerning. He could have totally predicted that from happening by defying God's word but kept on building pagan temples and marrying foreign wives anyway (despite how seemingly loyal he is to Naamah??). It's almost as if he wanted it to fall.

Sorry if I rambled too much lol. For me personally I don't really care if you like him or not. I think it's good they're trying to flesh him out although I have very very mixed feelings about them abandoning what they already worked on for his character in the OG. I do want Solmare to at least give us an option to side with him by our own terms. Not as blindly as the limited options they sometimes offer. (Ex. Okay, I'm on your side but can we please deal with this with more heart and consideration? AND HUMAN DECENCY? Not everyone is out there to get you and not all demonic transactions have to be heartless and calculating. Do you want a hug? :( )

EDIT: Idk why people are still liking this but tl;dr - Solomon was morally grey in the original source/Biblical King Solomon already so him being morally grey here should be no surprise. The entire cast is morally grey (except Luke probably). They're demons. You can hate on a character, but you should not bring it to an extent where you're already hurting a real live person for differing opinions.

#i feel like i either relate to him or project on him too much because i also have trust issues lmao #so i can totally get where he's coming from but gosh does it hurt to see #one thing id like to point out is Solomon had ALWAYS BEEN ALONE in dealing with everything with no one to genuinely trust until MC #compared to the brothers who always had each other #so his mindset is a tad more individualistic compared to them #idk i have so much to say but idk how to say it #work was brutal today so my mind is mush 😔#obey me nightbringer spoilers #ask #blurbs

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goldtracing · 3 years

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A triangle describing my take on the personalities of nation personifications in relation to the three tenents of:

Emotionality

Rationality

Collectivism vs Induvidualism

Made by the wonderful @ellianerst

And know, to a little explanation as to why I categorised the characters as I have:

America is a very idealistic nation, which wouldn’t make him the most rational kind of person. A lot of his actions are founded by a nigh unwavering conviction in that he is always right, that he is the moral beacon that illuminates the path towards a utopia. That requires faith and faith has its roots in emotion.

On the flip side, he is fully able of being calculating to the point that he comes off as Machiavellian with his power-hunger, ambition and sense of justice. You don’t get to the top of the world by being the fool, you get there by pretending to be the fool.

While he lays a lot of worth in self-determinism and individualism, sometimes to an unhealthy extreme, there are still unifying American characteristics that can be traced back to Puritan times and that bind him to his people.

Austria carries a lot of emotional baggage with him – a result of the multiple wars he has participated in. Besides that, he has a love/hate relationship with nearly everybody in Europe and even some non-European countries, further influencing how he treats others.

However, he is also an excellent diplomate, uncanny in his ability to read people and persuade them to see things his way or also to move them like pawns on chess board of his own design. He prefers the pen over the sword any day and tends to avoid conflict when he can.

He places a lot of emphasise on family and his Slavic neighbours have influenced him in that he cares about what others think. Also, in some respects he is heavily bound to tradition, and thus, his people.

China is the one who has the most collective mindset and thus tied the closest to his people. The individual amounts to nothing compared to the welfare of the nation and all that – he is very utilitarian and, also, very sociable. Not to mention unabashed in asking questions that make many other people uncomfortable.

Not to mention that he has lived a long life and many of his methods are tried and tested. While he is fully aware that progress marches on, he is convinced he has found the perfect equilibrium in some aspects of life – social interactions, literature, cuisine.

Of all the nations, he is amongst those that do not allow their actions to be dictated by emotions. Yes, he can be passionate, angry, happy and so forth. Yet does he allow that to blind his judgment? No. Another one of those nations that is a born diplomate and is also very good at concealing his emotions. So far that it scares the others

England is more of the pragmatic sort of person – he fights dirty, hits below the belt line and isn’t opposed to skulduggery if it means he gets what he wants. Of course, the days where he indulged the most in cunning and the sorts were the days of raging imperialism. Adding on to that, he takes the stiff-upper lip thing very seriously. Naturally, he does have emotional outbursts, yet even those are mostly carefully constructed to make ends meet.

Although there are still many prevailing ideas on what it means to be British, and certain cultural attitudes that bind people together, his people are also prone to some very curious idiosyncrasies, something, that in turn, makes him individualistic.

France is heavily centralised, with Paris being his heart and head. The capital dictates how the rest of the country functions. Also, there is a heavy emphasize on family in France, as well as everything that is French – cinema, comics, cuisine, language; - and that in turn influences how much his people dictate his thinking – a lot.

On the other side, he and his people have always placed a heavy importance on discourse, discussions and debates, on making a name for yourself. All that requires a tad of individualism.

The national pride that permeates French cultures is echoed by the pride he has in himself as a person. It is a pride that goes hand in hand with passion as well as curiosity, along with a cautious dash of hedonism. Resulting in him leaning more towards emotio than ratio.

Germany is a methodical sort of person, one that buys into the protestant work ethic. Adding to the fact that he has made grave mistakes in the past due to allowing his emotions to blind him, he ensures that he uses his head more than his heart. Yet despite everything, he is very human in the way he experiences shame and empathy and humour. (He has a better sense of humour than most think).

There are cultural norms that have made the many duchies come together to form a unified Germany, and these affect him deeply. However, there is a constant push for being self-man, traits that really crystallised due to American influence.

Iceland is a personification that views himself as self-man and independent. The first settlers that built him up fled Norway in order to live lives beyond the contemporary norms, to build up something that would be them and would resonate with them. Part of being Icelandic is self-determinism.

The other part is rooted in tradition, some centuries old, some just recently established. There are things that have been deemed Icelandic and that national pride says must be kept pure – the sagas, the language, the festivals – and thus keeps him from being wholly unfettered to his people.

Part of who is, is living with the land and all its moods. Natural disasters are nothing new to him and he knows that when you panic, you make mistakes. Best advised to keep a cool head in the face of danger. Nevertheless, he has a sense of pride in anything that is Icelandic or comes from Iceland or has to do with him. He relishes in attention more than he would ever admit.

India is very old and has seen a lot and experienced a lot. The past has required him to take on many shapes and forms. More on the collective of consciousness side than that of rational consideration because even though his people haven’t always moved in unity, they always have moved with certainty. Traditions have been around for centuries and have ensured his survival. Some times he has had little more than that to anchor him to reality.

He has passion, he has lots of it along with faith. Yet he was also one of the worlds most powerful and rich empires once, and one doesn’t get to the top by following whims. He knows what happens when you stand at the top of the world and start giving in to emotions – you become overconfident, the foundations crack and those with enough cunning slip through the cracks to fasten a yoke around your neck.

Japan has a deep connection to his people through Zen Buddhism and Shintoism – after all those two schools of thought and faith have been fundamental to his personal development. Yet he also has an individualistic streak, something that encouraged him to open up to the Westerns when they came to his gates, that made him realise that there was a lot of progress to be made. While the concept of honour is important to him, it has loosened a bit as people have started to decide what is good for themselves rather than for the collective, on a small yet evident scale.

He has studied the Bushido extensively and still lives by some of its core tenants to this day. Japan is very polite and very patient, understanding while having a firmness to him. Emotions aren’t something to base decisions on, because doing so leads to mistakes, to irrational choices, to the destruction of harmony and thus to weakness.

North Italy is less emotionally driven than many would assume. Zest of life and all its fineries are part of the Italian way of life; however, he is always the born diplomate and a very opportunistic one at that. He can swallow his emotions or sublimate them into something more suitable. He prefers to always be on the winning side, and that can mean switching sides when it is most convenient to him.

Again, like with the other romantic nations, family is important, the nation is important. Italian culture is something to endorse and be proud of while also being your own person. People function best when they are allowed some expression on a non-collective level, in his eyes.

Russia has very much been desensitized to the horrors of the world due to his rough history. Events that would cause other to get PTSD are casually brushed off by him. It leads him to regard many around him as weak when they breakdown. In ways, he is stoic – he wears a constant poker face in public, smiles few and far between. It is privately that he allows his emotions to run rampant, where he shows is passions. Or when he is out for vengeance.

On a large part, he has only survived by sheer determination and by sticking to traditions. As a Slavic nation, the opinions of others concern him a lot (a “what will the neighbours think?” mentality). Yet, because he doesn’t have many close ties to other personifications, that attention is mostly directed inwardly.

Spain has always been the more passionate sort of man. His history is one of ambition, and unlike England, whose ambition is based mostly on logical reasoning (the more control I have the safer and more prosperous I am) his is based on desire and greed and pride (or was). Throughout the centuries, he has clung tightly to his faith, so much so that his actions regarding that have gone to hysterical levels at times (the Spanish Inquisition & gold, god and gore in South America).

He is more or less tied in the middle when it comes to collectivism vs individualism. Family is important, friends are important, connections are important because without them, you don’t get anywhere in life. Then again an individual should strive for self-fulfilment. He has had enough time to cleave his own thoughts apart from the collective baseline.

South Italy is far rawer and unrefined compared to his wealthy northern brother. He is the oldest of Rome’s children and has inherited his fathers passion and hot blood. He also can’t hide it as well as his sire. Romano has the stereotypical hot Italian blood and isn’t afraid of showing it. On the other hand, he can pull himself together – he can be polite, he understands the concept of honour and sticks to it.

His time with Spain has largely influenced how mentally close he is to his people – he has much the same reasons as the other romantic nation. Adding to that would be all the big mafia families that control large portions of his people.

South Korea is the most individualism of the East Asian nations. This is largely due to American influence and the rise of celebrity culture that he has experienced. As a result, he sticks out amongst his family. Though, he is still similar to them in the way them share many of the cultural norms.

Compared to many of the others, he still displays a lot of youthful exuberance despite his age, and a zest for life that collides with the stoicism that many in his family uphold. In ways, he has allowed happiness to sweep him up and carry him to prosperity. And he sees nothing wrong with his method. Although, he is also bogged down when his thoughts stray to his sister and the situation between them.

#hetalia #hetalia headcanons #character study #aph america #aph austria #APH China #aph engalnd #aph spain #aph italy #aph romano #aph germany #aph france #aph russia #aph south korea

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