juliaboudewijn

[juliaboudewijn]

Would Quest Squad continue in book 4? With maybe a slightly different line-up? Because they haven't been to Loysam yet. And I want to know what goes around there. What kind of trial would they have to go through there? I wanna see it.

[juliaboudewijn]

How scared were all of you that Ridoc was gonna die in Onyx Storm when reading the book? Because I started dreaming about it, nay, having nightmares about it.

In one dream, Violet, Rhiannon, and Ridoc were on some sort of quest. At some point, Ridoc did or said something that pissed Violet off, and she wanted revenge. She summoned lightning strikes from all around them and let them all strike him at the same time. After that, Hades showed up (wild cameo, honestly, but you know, God of the Underworld and all, sorry Malek) to catch his body as he fell, and then the dream ended. Now of course, Violet would never do that, she loves him, this is merely a manifestation of my fears and not some sort of prediction of what would happen. But then, literally on the day that followed, I read chapter 10, in which Violet is fighting Theophanie who summons the tornado. Before that happens, however, Violet prepares to strike when Tairn stops her, and then brown scales fly past them. We all think it is Aotrom, only for it to be Chradh, but that's not important. Because I realized something and it unlocked a very real fear; because what if Violet kills Ridoc by accident? If Tairn hadn't warned her, she would've struck and she could've hit Chradh. And if it had been Aotrom after all... WE'RE NOT GOING TO THINK ABOUT THAT!

A few days later, I had another dream. In the dream, I was reading the last page of some chapter, in which Ridoc and Violet were fighting (again with Violet, what's up with that? Technically, they also could've been sparring, I didn't remember the context...). When I was reading the beginning of the page, I had a theory that Ridoc had been captured and had been replaced by a venin pretending to be Ridoc. At the end of the page, he did something evil and started grinning, so it was kinda like a reveal that he really was a venin. Honestly, 10/10 cliffhanger for a chapter btw. Well done, dream. And also, well done brain for dreaming it. Anyway, the conclusion in the dream was that my theory was correct and that it wasn't Ridoc who had turned, bc he would never. (Also, this sounds like a great idea for a fanfic, which I'm not gonna write, but feel free to take inspiration and let me know if you do write something. 😉) And this dream isn't necessarily about Ridoc dying, but still. He was captured. He was obviously in danger. I was worried. Zihnal, protect him!

[juliaboudewijn]

Okay, maybe Xaden doesn't make shadow puppets, but could he puppeteer someone with his shadows? For example in sparring, that he uses his shadows to make someone make the right moves? That would be an interesting way to train sparring, drill moves into muscle memory or something. Meanwhile, Xaden being like: "I've got all the power, yeah, I've got all the power. No, I'm not player, I'm a puppeteer. No, I don't play, I puppeteer, yeah."

So, we've all seen that Q&A where Rebecca gets asked if Xaden has ever used his signet to make shadow puppets, right? And if you haven't seen it, well, ehm... there is a Q&A where Rebecca gets asked if Xaden has ever used his signet to make shadow puppets. She said no. She also said, however, that if you give Ridoc this signet, he would definitely use it to make shadow puppets; misbehaving in class making shadows behind the professors, etc. Now, in Onyx Storm, Lynx started wielding shadows. We know absolutely nothing about his personality (although we do know signets manifest because it's what the rider needs, so why would Lynx need shadows??), so we don't really know what kinds of things he would use his signet for. But I once read a fanfic in which Lynx was described as the Ridoc of the first-years, so now I believe that he would use it to make shadow puppets, meaning this could be canon, even if Xaden doesn't do it.

[juliaboudewijn]

Okay wait, I think I've figured it out. Would Sloane develop ice wielding as a second signet (if she gets one as well, that it), because all she wants is to feel closer to Liam?

[juliaboudewijn]

So, we've all seen that Q&A where Rebecca gets asked if Xaden has ever used his signet to make shadow puppets, right? And if you haven't seen it, well, ehm... there is a Q&A where Rebecca gets asked if Xaden has ever used his signet to make shadow puppets. She said no. She also said, however, that if you give Ridoc this signet, he would definitely use it to make shadow puppets; misbehaving in class making shadows behind the professors, etc. Now, in Onyx Storm, Lynx started wielding shadows. We know absolutely nothing about his personality (although we do know signets manifest because it's what the rider needs, so why would Lynx need shadows??), so we don't really know what kinds of things he would use his signet for. But I once read a fanfic in which Lynx was described as the Ridoc of the first-years, so now I believe that he would use it to make shadow puppets, meaning this could be canon, even if Xaden doesn't do it.

[juliaboudewijn]

On the topic of songs that I was listening to and then started associating with Empyrean characters; I recently listened to two that reminded me of Sloane and Liam. They were A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman, and I'm Only Me When I'm With You by Taylor Swift. I kinda like to think that they describe their relationship when they were young, but the songs are incredibly devastating when you realize that Liam is dead now... Especially considering both songs contain lyrics talking about wanting to be together and do things together. So... yeah.

[juliaboudewijn]

In today's episode of 'I was listening to a song and immediately associated it with Slain' I would like to present: End Game by Taylor Swift, Future & Ed Sheeran. And honestly, when I started focusing on the lyrics, they turned out to fit really well. For example, these from Sloane's perspective:

I hit you like bang, we tried to forget it, but we just couldn't

And I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put 'em

And also these from the same verse:

You've been callin' my bluff on all my usual tricks

So here's the truth from my red lips

With a fun little nod to red as well. Perfection.

Previous episodes of 'I was listening to a song and immediately associated it with Slain' contain: You Are in Love by Taylor Swift, or Rewrite the Stars by Zac Efron & Zendaya. Especially the last one.

[juliaboudewijn]

"Ridoc and Sawyer share one braincell, and Rhiannon has it."

I don't remember if I at some point came up with this specifically, or if I've read it somewhere... I mean, someone has probably said it (or something along the lines).

[juliaboudewijn]

Would Sloane feel a certain closeness to Baylor and Lynx, since they have the same signet as Liam and Xaden, respectively? Same thing for Ridoc?

[juliaboudewijn]

Oh, she definitely does. She will dance on her grave and laugh. But since Amber likely doesn't have a grave, as she was burned to ashes, would Sloane have gone so far as making her a grave so that she can do all that? 😅😅

My new personal headcanon is that Sloane names Amber Mavis her archnemesis, despite the fact that Amber is dead and Sloane's probably never even met her (not even back in Tyrrendor before Amber joined the quadrant). This may or may not be related to finding out about Dain's history with Amber. This definitely includes dedicating 'Better Than Revenge' by Taylor Swift to Amber during karaoke in some modern Empyrean universe. This also includes things like:

Sloane: I'll tell the next person I send to Malek to hunt her soul down and terrorize her for all eternity.

Dain: *mutters* Yeah, right... because that's a healthy coping mechanism... *out loud* And eh... why would they even do that for you?

Sloane: Because I will have gifted them with a quick and painless death instead of a slow and suffering one.

Dain: Of course you have...

[juliaboudewijn]

are u still reading a fine line between courtship & homicide? i read the 1st part and have had the 2nd saved for ages but wasn’t sure if it’d be too similar to part 1?? do they do slain well??

Yesyesyes! I think it's amazing! It's actually quite different from part 1 as well. There are a lot of things that happen that we didn't see in Ridoc's pov. There are a few chapters that overlap, like Violet's speech, for example, but even then; seeing it from a different perspective adds a lot of new information. And I personally think the slow burn between Sloane and Dain was executed perfectly. I think it's exactly what they need and a very natural development of their relationship. I highly, highly recommend reading it!! And thanks for your question :)

[juliaboudewijn]

My new personal headcanon is that Sloane names Amber Mavis her archnemesis, despite the fact that Amber is dead and Sloane's probably never even met her (not even back in Tyrrendor before Amber joined the quadrant). This may or may not be related to finding out about Dain's history with Amber. This definitely includes dedicating 'Better Than Revenge' by Taylor Swift to Amber during karaoke in some modern Empyrean universe. This also includes things like:

Sloane: I'll tell the next person I send to Malek to hunt her soul down and terrorize her for all eternity.

Dain: *mutters* Yeah, right... because that's a healthy coping mechanism... *out loud* And eh... why would they even do that for you?

Sloane: Because I will have gifted them with a quick and painless death instead of a slow and suffering one.

Dain: Of course you have...

[juliaboudewijn]

Oh, I know! He's gonna do it in Tyrrish, and we're all gonna pass out instantly. Especially Sloane.

If Dain is already saying things like "You're life" to Sloane when he's merely helping her with her signet, then what the fuck is his love confession going to be?

[juliaboudewijn]

Last but not least, part three of my thoughts on Dain's signet. In this part, I will try to analyze how it works, and I will propose some ideas on how he can develop it further. Here are part one, and part two.

I would like to start by asking some questions. Because, he can read someone else's memories and those others don't realize that. My first question is therefore: can he also show those memories to the other person he's reading them off?

My second question is: if he dives into someone's memories, are those memories in chronological order? That recent memories are grouped together, and older memories are grouped together as well, further away in memory (for Dain to find). So, that Dain would first come across recent memories before going further and further back into someone's past. Like, does it present like a timeline? So, could he find something based on how old a memory is? Alternatively, memories could be stored based on associations. Things related to each other grouped together. We know Dain can find memories using key words. This makes this alternative more likely tbh. Hallucination!Liam suggested that Dain would have to dig through everything Violet was thinking of first. So that means that if someone is actively remembering something themselves and he touches them, he would simply see that without putting effort into searching. So eh... that's interesting, I suppose?

Furthermore, can he only read memories that that person can still remember themselves, or also if they've forgotten them? Because technically, those 'forgotten memories' would still be there, he would just have to dig deeper. That would probably cost him more effort though, so that is something he can learn. This could be useful if someone has forgotten a lot about their own past and would like to keep remembering it, given that he can show them their own memories.

Which brings us to the next question: can he read memories that have been erased by someone like Imogen? Can he bring them back/recover them? Make people remember them again? Which also poses the very interesting question: how does Imogen's signet work? Does she actually completely erase a memory? Or does it leave a trace? An echo? Or does it leave a dent? And is that dent 'shaped' like the memory and could it be reconstructed from that dent, like a footprint? Or does she just repress it within someone's memory?

If he can show people their own memories, can he also show people his memories? And if he learns to do this, and therefore learns to dive into his own memory, could he also find memories that he himself had forgotten? Like, memories of his mom? If she was still alive while he was, at least, so that he can even have memories of her. (Assuming she is no longer alive, that is.)

Another question is if he can also use his signet without touching someone's face, but instead touching their hand or something, or even without touch? The latter would mean that he is fully inntinnsic after all.

So, here's a list of things Dain can work on to develop his signet:

Show people their memories

Read and show forgotten memories

Recover erased memories

Show his own memories

Read his own forgotten memories

Use signet with a different kind of touch or without touch

Then another thing (I wasn't done yet). I saw a comment by valkry18 on AO3 that mentioned the possibility of Dain touching someone's face and then being able to read the memories of that person's ancestors. Generational retrocognition. I then wondered if this could go back all the way to the first six. Could Dain read their memories and get crucial information from that if they find their offspring in this generation? Also, could Dain read memories of his own ancestors, like his mother's memories? That would be cool. Then last but not least, could Dain also just generally touch something and then see what has happened there? Like, touching a wall of a room and see all the things that happened in that room? (He better stay away from the Assembly chamber then... 👀)

That was it! Thank you for coming along on this journey and I hope you enjoyed it!

[juliaboudewijn]

I was initially planning on making only two posts about Dain's signet, but then I remembered something else, so now it's gonna be three parts. And as these go on, they will get less unhinged and more realistic, so bear with me. Here is part one.

And no onto part two:

Dain can read people's memories, and so far the focus has been solely on episodic memory (i.e. events that happened in someone's personal past). But is he also to read other types of someone's memory? For example, can he tap into procedural memory as well? This is the memory of how to do things, of both cognitive processes (e.g. reading) or motor skills (e.g. riding a bike). And if he 'reads' someone's procedural memory, could he use their skills himself? Like, could he read how someone weaves runes and then do it himself exactly how they do it? Or... could he activate someone's procedural memories and make them do certain things? Like use their signet? (Could be a whole different way for Dain to get Sloane to train her signet. Also a whole new way for her to lose her trust in him if he ever did that, unless it was to save a life or something.) Now, this doesn't sound like something Dain would do though... (Unless, again, it's in a life or death situation. The reason I came up with all this, was because I imagined a situation in which someone was unconscious or barely conscious, but their signet could actually save themselves or someone else or whatever. So then Dain uses his signet to make them use their signet. Is that mind control? Yes, but whatever.) Also, it kinda ties in with Xaden's signet or intention reading. Like, can he just read them, or could he also change someone's intentions and therefore kind of control their minds? (Could Violet do that with her dreamwalking?)

Furthermore, could Dain read someone's semantic memory? Aka, someone's memory of all the knowledge someone has learned throughout their lives? Like, idk, the meaning of words within a language? Could Dain read Aaric's memory of how to speak a certain language and then speak that language fluently himself? Because all I can imagine is the Quest Squad somewhere with magic, Dain with his hands on Aaric's temples, addressing whoever in a language that Aaric speaks fluently. Meanwhile, whoever they are addressing thinks that Dain is Aaric's consort or something, but hey, what's the fun without some good old-fashioned rumors? Also, why Aaric doesn't just address them himself is beyond me. Probably Dain's pride or something. It would be kinda fun though, he would never have to learn anything or any skills again, he could just borrow them from someone who already knows it. Or maybe that's how he learns it himself.

The rest of my thoughts will be in part three, and that will be more about analyzing and theorizing what would be logical developments of Dain's signet.

[juliaboudewijn]

I have a completely unhinged theory regarding Dain's signet and it's 90% based on delusion. Let's just dive right in, shall we?

So, I was thinking of a scenario where Dain and Sloane are talking to each other. At some point, Sloane is wondering if she could've saved Liam if she had been there and had her signet already (classic rumination). I don't know if she could tbh, she would have to replace the magic of an entire dragon, and well, I mean, maybe she could get that magic from somewhere, siphoning from multiple people and herself maybe? But naturally, I started wondering if Dain could've saved him with his signet if he had been there. And lo and behold, I found a way.

Dain can read memories, and even though he hasn't done that yet, I believe he would also be able to make people relive their memories. But could he also physically bring them back to one of their memories? Let me explain. Liam died because of the sudden loss of power from Deigh and the emptiness that resulted from that, right? But what I'm wondering is: before he bonded Deigh, he also lived without that power, and his body was fine with it. So, could Dain make him relive a memory from before he bonded Deigh and physically bring him back to that memory, so that his body will revert to a state of being okay without power? In this, Liam would not lose any memories from after that moment, he would still have the same experiences and everything, it's just the mental state of his body that goes back. Or something like that. Idk if this makes sense. Can Dain resurrect people through their memories???? (Well... I mean, they wouldn't be dead yet, so I don't know if this counts as 'resurrection'. I do also believe this theory was related to the idea that resurrection had never been possible. As soon as I read that in book one, I figured it would become a thing.)

Now I don't know if it is realistic to say Dain could've saved Liam (at least I tried...), but maybe just generally bringing people back into their memories for whichever purpose. I mean, I couldn't think of any other reasons why that would be useful, but... idk. Some sort of time travel through memories; sending people back into a past version of themselves in the present (without losing the memories of said present). Kinda like bringing the memories to life. Can we do something with that?

Also, lastly, my reaction when I first thought of this theory was this: "Oh brilliant. Oh it's brilliant. I got tears in my eyes when I thought of it." Thought people might liked to hear that 🤪. I then I wrote it in my notes starting with: "So, his signet is basically useless, right?" XDD To be fair, I did follow that up with an "At least in battle."

I also have some more serious thoughts about Dain's signet, but I'll share that in a separate post.

UPDATE: Part two of my theories is now live! And so is part three.

[juliaboudewijn]

Also, with the amount of clowning we've done, it's kind of funny that she now says she hasn't even re-recorded a quarter of it. We clowned waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to close to the sun. 😅😅