#<- theory/analysis/rambling tag ig

[asterdex]

i've seen people joke about it but... is there any kind of consensus within the community regarding the player and Gaster's relationship? is it something that everybody just naturally agrees on and doesn't talk about it because there's no point to it or am I just going crazy on my own??

like yeah sure, first and foremost, we have the tweets written by Gaster himself and addressing the player, either rejoicing in seeing us showing the same kind of interest and fascination in him that he does for us, or describing how wonderful and special that "connection" we have is, how it makes him feel to be connected with us and how specifically "beautiful" and "exciting" it is for him to enter in contact with us.

Or talking about HE and WE specifically feel about each other, and going on about creating something together, as partners- i mean as a team.

And then we have the Goner Maker sequence, during which he keeps going on and on about how "wonderful" our creation is, guiding us step by step towards the realization of the EMBODIMENT of a player's freedom in a video game : their own avatar. Gaster is the only one in this game who is actively giving the player that much freedom, who is trying so hard to accomodate the player, to fulfill their wants and needs.

(unsure if it still needs to be said nowaday but no, the person discarding our vessel isn't Gaster, they talk in a different typer (given the fact Gaster's typers are always 666 or 667, it seems important to note that this new person talk in typer 2), not using any upper-cases, and not remotely talking in the same way (in japanese even more obviously than in english : Gaster talks in broken katakana japanese with some kanji while the other voice talk in hiragana and complex kanji. they also don't use the same second person pronouns when talking to the player), so yes, Gaster is STILL the character who seems to (at least in appearance) want THE MOST the player to be the most confortable possible, out of every other character in this game)

This idea of Gaster giving the player AS MUCH freedom as he can, in a world that seemes to be DESIGNED for us not to have any freedom, is first obviously supported by the way he is takling about "CREATING A NEW FUTURE" with our help, suggesting that OUR power as a player should be able to change the future and that it is in his interests for us to find the freedom leading us to that "NEW FUTURE", but it is also implied with the fact it seems that it is Gaster who is giving us access to three different save files, as we can see him talk and comment each one of our actions in the menu of an incomplete Ch1.

Gaster is ON THE PLAYER'S SIDE. or at the very least, he's doing a very good job at pretending he is. And it makes sense for him to be the only character who seems to INCONDITIONALLY support the player : he's the only one who seems to truly understand WHAT is the player, at least more than every other characters in this game. (there's an argument to be made about Ralsei, who seems to also only want the player's happiness, but 1. he doesn't really have the power to accomodate the player like Gaster does, so each one of his attempt to please us either end in just giving us fake hope, or being cancelled out by Susie (who seems to naturally oppose the player whenever she does something), and 2. unlike Gaster, Ralsei is CLEARLY suffering from always trying to please everyone else, especially the player, for whom he believes he needs to play the role of a LITERAL background character who's only here to serve and make them happy. Ralsei suffers from trying to please the player, while it seems like Gaster only gets enjoyment out of it, repeatedly stating that being connected to us is as wonderful for him as it is for us)

And the way Gaster views the player has become a bit clearer with his Ch3 and 4 messages, that can be used on top of his usual Game Over dialogues to suggest that he is watching us play at all times, is rooting for us, knows things about how this world works that we don't and is willing to give hints when he feels like it is necessary, and can be genuinely impressed by "our power", supposedly our determination and/our our pure game skills.

His Game Over message could even be interpreted as him trying to emotionally manipulate us into trying again, even when we told him we've given up, telling us how our absence led the world to be "covered in darkness", before cueing a very sad rendition of his own theme before closing the game after 66 seconds. Bro is literally looking at us through the screen with the saddest look in his eyes trying to coax us into trying again by making us feel bad. Maybe he DOES really need us as much as he says he does.

And maybe the most interesting recent dialogues of them all, at the end of Ch4, he congratulates the player for making it this far, quickly mentions how long we will need to wait for the next chapter/connection... Before refering to Deltarune as "HIS" DELTARUNE??

Up until that very moment, Gaster has always talked about "the future", "this world" as a 'team effort', always including us in the realization of it all, making us feel like we WERE an important part of whatever scheme he has in mind... Hell, sometimes he even talks as if THE PLAYER'S actiosn were actually ALSO his ("SHALL WE HASTEN?" against the Knight, when in reality the player is doing all the hard work here), which didn't seem strange because as a TEAM, that kind of way to speak is pretty normal. but in this moment, it somewhat feels like Gaster is trying, or at least thinking about taking ownership over everything "we" have created together. Was it his intention since the beginning, or is he just stating to love this game/world so much he's subconsciously seeing it as "his" and having troubles sharing it with the other person who helped reaching its realization? or maybe are we not completely understanding our role in his plan yet?

And all of this, all of this weird undertone of codependant relationship between Gaster and the player, this mutual fascination and genuine feelings for one another, whatever those feelings can be, ALL OF THIS without even talking about the Demon/Angel parallels we could ALSO talk about regarding how the relationship between those two transdimensional entity could go.

Let's assume the player is the Angel. (The Angel is said to "light up the path" of believers, the player's soul's distinctive power is to produce light on its own. The Angel is said to be "watching over" the world and people, the player's pov seems to come from the sky, from "HEAVEN" some could say. The Angel is traditionally represented without facial features, as Noelle and Dess's doll's description at the hospital points out, and the we are unable to see how the Angel looks like in the prophecy, which would make a lot of sense if the Angel was supposed to be the player, someone who, inherently, has to be faceless to represent ALL of us. The player's soul gets trapped under an Angel doll at Noelle's house. The Titan we see in Ch4 uses a lot of the imagery typically associated with the Angel, and first appears with an image suggesting a "real human face". That is SOME of the reasons why it's easy to assume the player is the Angel, at least in SOME versions of DR's reality (for example it would be possible for Noelle to take the role of the Angel in a Weird Route or something, the same way the Angel was two people at the same time in UT ; one benevolent Angel, and one Angel of Death, depending on the run the player is doing)).

Gaster has always been associated with demonic symbolism, the most obvious of which being the repeated connection he has with the number "6" : the typer associated with him is 666, in both UT and DR, his hidden stats in UT are filled with 6s, each one of the funvalues directly calling him by name are all happening between 61 and 65 (which is also why it is so commonly accepted to say that the mystery man from the funvalue 66 is supposed to represent Gaster himself in some way), the theme DARKNESS FALLS, as previously mentionned, is 66s seconds long, etc...

Interestingly enough, supporting the interpretation of these "666" as being the Devil's number, Gaster also made an appearance in the "demon text" of UT during a very short period of time : alongside a text CLEARLY written by Chara, "the demon who comes when people call its name", another line appeared in PRECISELY the version 1.05A of the game, saying "HE IS". (for more information on the demon texts if you are interested here is a post by Underlore talking about it)

It makes sense for Chara to be present in the DEMON text, because they call themself a demon, and it makes sense for Gaster to be there as well, as he's so often associated with the number 6. and ironically enough, while Chara is the demon who comes when people call its name, when we first name them at the beginning of the game, we are UNABLE to write or hear the name of Gaster in most playthrough. In a way, it's as if he's specifically a foil to Chara, the demon who comes when people DOESN'T call its name, haha.

And this makes sense with WHAT Chara is supposed to be : Chara is the player's completionist will, what pushes them to conquer and consume every last bit of a game, leaving nothing left behind them, metaphorically "destroying" worlds for their own entertainment. But, because of his very special status in the game, Gaster just cannot be "consumed" like every other content can ; he is often the very last thing keeping people interested in UT, when everything else has been read and analyzed, only him stays "unsolved", everything one can know and believe to understand about him feeling like a bottomless pit of endless possibilities. Literally the one thing the player needs to satiate Chara. Endless content, because incomplete.

Gaster has always given the player what they wanted, ever since UT. He is in a way the opposite force opposing the player's will to SEE and DO everything, because he is the content they will never be able to SEE and TRULY interact with, but this is this exact force that makes the player feels so connected to the world ; if the content is seemingly endless because unreachable, then the illusion of a fictional world being infinite is achieved. and as a result, the player becomes obsessed with that world that seems oh so real.

Because of this duality between these two, it could be easy to suggest the possibility that Gaster isn't "just" a demon, but The Devil, acting as a counterpart to The Angel, the player. After all, it is Gaster with whom we made a suspicious deal at the very beginning of DR, giving him our SOUL regardless of what the consequences would be.

Who else would offer a deal with such absolute conditions than the Devil itself, the one who is represented by the number 666, the one who we are told to "beware" from the very first time we hear about him.

All of this to say i do not think it would be so wild to assume that, with everything that we know about how the player's and Gaster's goals, wants and ENTIRE EXISTENCES allign but also complete one another, it wouldn't be so out there to believe that maybe, similarly to how Flowey in UT became obsessed with the player because they were the only person existing at a similar plane of existence as him, the player and Gaster would develop very strong feelings for one another, because they are the only ones in this fictional world who see it as a fictional world, the only ones who understand one another, and who can help each other effortlessly, simply by following their own instincts.

TL;DR i ship the player and Gaster and i made it everybody else's problem

[vdrawsrobots]

Fighting Communication and Gundam Science in G-Fighter

I originally posted this on twitter, but I figured it would be easier to read here--- and I'd love to know anybody's thoughts about my rambles/speculation :) Edited/expanded a little because I don't have to worry about word count hehe

A possible interpretation of how "fighting communication" could be interpreted as a more literal phenomenon instead of Martial Arts Magic when considering the way Fighter-Gundam connections are described in the G-Fighter entertainment bible. Warning for spoilers under the read more!

Gundams in G-Fighter are (to an extent) powered by the emotions of the pilot. That emotional state has an influence on how well they can pilot/communicate their intentions to their Gundam, and in some cases, on the behavior of the Gundam itself.

This is alluded to a few times in the show--- the most direct acknowledgment I can find would be Dr. Kasshu referring to Shining’s “Emotional Energy System” being primarily powered by anger. It's also explored in the training that Schwarz Bruder gives to Domon in order to control Shining's super mode--- in order to properly communicate the pilot's intentions, their emotions must be calm and regulated, easier to translate into data that the Gundam can understand. Therefore, his techniques focus on getting Domon to see past just striking out in blind anger. It's about intention and clarity of communication.

This is more explicitly stated in the Entertainment Bible (which does a better job explaining it than I ever could):

This emotional data is then translated into something that the Gundam’s system can understand— therefore, the clearer/more controlled the emotional input, the more accurate the translation, and the better the pilot’s intentions can be “understood” by their machine. The Gundam understands the pilot on a level that no other human can, a pure knowing of the pilot's consciousness (or "soul").

As stated, mental training is also just as important as physical. After all, when this communication is unclear, it can have disastrous consequences. Master Asia encourages Domon to just get mindlessly mad in their fight in order to weaken him. Kyoji’s extreme emotional state when crashing to Earth, combined with the physical damage to Ultimate’s computer system, accidentally teaches the Devil Gundam to hate humanity.

No wonder the technique Schwarz teaches Domon is about clarity, control and inward understanding of emotion and intent.

Given this translation of emotional feedback into transferrable data, the concept of “Fighting Communication” and Gundam Fighters understanding each other through combat could be interpreted literally.

Battles in G-Fighter involve a lot of physical contact--- obviously, as they are battles, but there are a lot of scenes of the Gundams joining hands when struggling against each other, or otherwise maintaining prolonged physical connection at high-intensity moments of combat.

Often it is during these scenes when characters refer to fighting communication, or what the fists of their opponent are trying to tell them (all the references to the soul of a fighter being expressed through their fists, etc). Another important thing to notice here is that both pilots are in a heightened emotional state. They're also in as close to perfect connection with their Gundams as they can--- they're putting everything on the line, going all-out to win, and so is their machine. Gundam and pilot are one--- implying a very high flow of emotional data and neural input from Gundam to pilot in these moments.

Could it be then that this physical contact accidentally allows for some accidental crossover of emotional feedback? Is there an unintentional spillover caused by the Gundam reaching its limits to handle so much raw emotion, or possible crossover in the same way that electricity jumps between conductors? It's not impossible to imagine that the “understanding of the soul” the Fighter experiences is being caused by the accidental crossover of emotional feedback between the Gundams in these moments of prolonged physical contact— therefore literally allowing fighters to see into and understand each other’s true feelings in the heat of high-intensity combat.

And since the way emotion/thought is translated into something understandable to the machine in a way that goes beyond human comprehension, it could also be speculated that this could occur for the pilots, as well. That the high-intensity causes the literal blurring of the lines between the minds of two pilots (think of something similar to the Drift in Pacific Rim). Maybe for a Gundam Fighter, a battle with your opponent really does allow you to understand them on a deeper level than just words can allow. Maybe a fighter really can communicate with their fists in a way they don't know how to with words.

Or maybe I'm reaching and reading too much into it :) either way, let me know your thoughts if you have any!! I love writing about g-fighter, both fic and analysis (??? i guess???) stuff like this, and tumblr lets me be as long-winded as I want >:) I have a lot of Thoughts about each pilot's specific relationship with their Gundam, and I'd like to write more about them sometime soon...

[chameleon3]

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[feukt-42]

Yet another post about Leda

You know, its kind of funny, but I've been browsing ER fanfics and fancontent almost daily for a while now (pls help), and one thing I've noticed is that a lot of people just. do not want. to put Leda and the gang in their fanfics. The most out of all Miquella's followers I found was Ansbach with 68 fics on Ao3. Leda herself comes at second with 48 fics and the others just kind of fizzle out after that. By comparison, Messmer, another DLC character, already has 500 fics.

Now, I know that this in large part due to the Messmer horny. But still. There's been 1,372 fics released in the ER tag since the DLC released as of me writing this. That doesn't really explain it. A good explanation might be that souls fans like to dwell on the pre-canon lore era we don't get to see, but even then, I remain disappointed by the lack of Leda in those fics as well. I have read several Haligtree-or-adjacent-focused fics written post SotE and few of them feature Leda or the needle knights, which is honestly a shame because Miquella having his own order of knights (almost counterbalance to the cleanrots), is a very interesting idea, and I am starving for Leda interacting with literally any member of that cast, her whole deal is just so interesting. And its not like Miquella doesn't care about her and she's just a weird fanboy, he gave her a wholeass rune and shit.

"But OP," you might be asking, "why dont you just write your own fic then ?". And you see, that is an excellent point, but I am unfortunately a coward with no confidence in my writing skills. So instead, I decide to make this.

I hereby present :

My Leda facts/analysis/interpretation/theories collection !

I am making this mostly to gush about Leda to spark interest in her as a character and maybe give interested writers who have actual skill to use this to get some inspiration. By no means am I suggesting that this is a guide everyone should follow, this is mostly just my inane ramblings about a character i am obsessed with. Still, if it helps someone make something, that's a net positive in my book.

without further ado, let's get into it.

Part 1 : Miscellaneous Facts

Fact number 1 : Leda doesn't see grace (at least her character model implies so):

I don't remember where it was, but I remember seeing a post that had every SotE NPC's eye colour in it. And a cool thing about that was that only a few characters didn't have the grace of gold in their eyes. And I remember specifically getting to Leda, noble knight of Miquella, and finding out that her eyes do not have a single trace of gold in them. They are grey with a blood-red clouding.

And I just found that so interesting it made me make this post, because what does it mean ? How did she lose it ? Did she ever have it in the 1st place ? Some of you might be thinking it's because she follows Miquella and not the GO, but the funny part is that, again, most of the others have it !

Hornsent has it, Ansbach has it, Freyja has it, Ymir has it, Moore has it, even the fucking madding hand has it. So why doesnt Leda ? (this also goes for some of the other NPCs who don't have it but im not spinning them in my head like a microwave so too bad ig)

Fact number 2 : She definitely killed the other needle knights

Ok so I already talked about this somewhere but I don't remember where so let's just start over from the beginning. The description of the Retaliatory Crossed-Tree states there were once more Needle Knights but now there's only one left. Meanwhile, Leda's sword says it "still reeks with the stench of crusted blood that lingers from the cull of her knightly comrades". Love myself a good "can't wash away the blood" trope.

Anyways, I took those two facts together to mean that she killed the other Needle Knights and talked about it in that alleged prior conversation I mentioned, but someone else replied that her "knightly comrades" could very well mean Hornsent and Ansbach, whom she attempts to cull before you reach Enir-Ilim. And I wanted to disagree with that, but I didn't actually have any evidence except "it's funnier this way" so you know, fair's fair. Except ! No it isn't !

When you help kill Hornsent, she says this :

He never placed his full trust in me, even under the effect of Kindly Miquella's spell. He must've recognised something. The scent of the killer that slept within me. The stench of crusted blood.

Mind you, this is before killing Ansbach, and right after killing Hornsent. The crusted blood from the cull of her comrades cannot be theirs, meaning Leda did kill the other NKs.

Fact number 3 : She deadass just smells like blood the whole time we see her

As just stated, we have 2 items describing how Leda just smells like dried blood. This has endless comedic potential imo, hear me out :

You first meet this dignified, knightly woman in Mohgs arena. You don't notice anything wrong with her smell, because of course it smells like blood in here, have you seen the place ?

The next time you meet her is in Scadu Altus. You begin to think something does smell really bad here. It's still not her however, because the Hornsent and his canonically shitstained loincloth are standing like 10 meters away from you, likely overpowering the scent.

You only get to realize its her constantly smelling like blood after the charm is broken and Hornsent leaves, and that coincides perfectly with the reveal that she's just paranoid as fuck.

10/10 olfactive storytelling. I mostly just put this fact here in honor of that Bloodborne bosses ranked by smell post tbh, that shit lives rent-free in my brain.

Character analysis time ! This bit is more given to interpretation so feel free to disagree on this :

Shes really not that bloodthirsty you guys

Alright, so this one might be a bit surprising given we just went over the fact she smells like blood, but the popular interpretation of Leda doing this because she likes killing and shit is just dead wrong to me. I spoke about it before, but there are so many lines of dialogue that suggest otherwise. Hell, even the sword description says she tried her damnedest to get the blood to come off. Here are some of the most telling lines i found (from fextralife/the github with all the text from SotE) :

-Her describing herself as a "killer" in that line about hornsent and crusted blood earlier, she seems to be very blunt and honest about what she does, almost to a self-deprecating point.

-I know I shouldn't let myself... But I suppose it's only natural to feel the weight of one's deeds at times like these. There is plenty left to be done. And I will see to it. <- what else do i even add here

-I don't enjoy casting suspicion on anyone I've called a comrade. But it's a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. We must eradicate all doubt...

-None can deny Sir Ansbach was truly a great man. We can be proud, that we were the last opponents he ever faced.

-Sir Ansbach must have considered it an honourable end, being felled by your hand. After all, the good fellow held you in the highest regard. When we speak of it, we may speak with pride—that we were Sir Ansbach's final adversaries

Those lines seem to be alternate versions of the dialogue you get after helping her kill Ansbach. And oh my fucking goodness gracious, i fucking love the second one. Like ghhhhhh, the grief for a comrade and the guilt and the self-justification and the need to move forward and theres somehow even more blood on her sword that she can't ever wash off but she can't stop here, she has to keep doing this because its not about her for her, its not about her feelings or her guilt its all just for the greater purpose shes reaching towards arghhh its so good.

There's also a notable throughline of her shutting her emotions down more and more as she goes, whether its to better do her job or to follow in miquella's footsteps :

-Unruly emotions only lead to misfortune. All the more reason we need someone like Miquella the Kind.

-Man is a compassionate animal, for better or worse.

-So be it. If you insist upon facing Miquella the Kind, Then I will run you through, whoever you might be.

-A single betrayal, enough to turn the tides… Unfortunate, but I will leave you be, for now. 

-I expected things to end differently with you. What a pity

-I suppose it was Sir Ansbach who won you over. Fine. One more heart for my blade to skewer.

Side Note : Those three last ones also read like shes really salty about being betrayed, and that's really juicy because it feels like she trusted you. She trusted you a lot more than most of the others, so it really stings quite a bit to learn you were lying the entire time.

All in all, it really does feel like she has to shut herself down to be a better knight, a more efficient tool for Miquella to wield. It's also quite tragic because she seems to be a compassionate person at heart, she welcomes you into the club, she constantly tries to understand the reasonings for other people's actions, and she tries to find ways to let those she suspects off the hook :

-The hornsent, hmm. On one hand, he trusts Miquella the Kind to bring salvation to his people. With the enchantment lifted, his vengeful passions may once again ignite, but surely he'd be mindful of Kindly Miquella's promise... <- this reads like her trying to convince herself she doesn't have to kill him

It's also very interesting because despite that, she really doesn't seem to be much of a people person :

-But for this very reason, Thiollier is incapable of betrayal. St. Trina's love for Kind Miquella is boundless. She is, after all, his other half. Or perhaps her feelings go beyond even that. Even if she was left behind, I doubt her heart would waver. <- she's just deadass wrong about Thiollier and St Trina

-If you don't meet her before the charm breaks, she does a really awkward introduction and then immediately starts infodumping about her crippling paranoia and zealotry

-Ansbach straight up just tells you : So, you've taken Lady Leda's side. I'm glad she stands with an ally. She tends to overestimate the burden she might carry alone. This is straight up just "oh nice, you finally made a friend, im so glad for you". This implies that Ansbach didn't believe Leda really had anyone on her side before then, and she kinda doesn't tbh. No one is really here because of Leda in the final battle, Dane is here for Miquella, Freyja is here for Radahn, Moore is here to cope with existence, and Hornsent just has an (understandable) hate boner for everything Golden Order. She doesn't really have any friends.

(Also shoutout to Ansbach for being concerned about the people trying to kill him, he really is the goat fr. Also: I've utterly failed you both... No wait grandpa its not your fault im so sorry)

--the funniest moment in the DLC imo : I've come to a realisation... There's ample evidence... Without Kindly Miquella's influence... I'm quite mistrustful of others...

Ah yes of course, the trust issues. Where do I even start.

This woman has nothing but contempt for mankind as a species. She is, as stated earlier, compassionate and tries to be nice to people but she constantly assumes the worst of everyone as a reflex. Her trying to find a way not to kill Hornsent is only because she wholeheartedly believe he will be the worst version of himself as a baseline, and thus thinks of him as a threat who must be dealt with.

-I'm afraid Sir Ansbach will have to be next. He claims he hasn't the spirit to take up his sword again, But in his day, he was the feared commander of the Pureblood Knights, who cleaved open Miquella the Kind with his blood blade. But I doubt it'll be very long... Before he recalls, as I have, the cascading sheets of blood. <- no trust at all

-her dialogue about you "turning on her" also feel like she's resigned about it, like someone who came in expecting failure and was still disappointed, like why did i even try, i should really know better.

-That aside, man is by nature a creature of conquest. They were never saints. They just happened to be on the losing side of a war. <- the classic. What else needs to be said. These are the words of someone who takes war, violence and hatred as a given.

And that leads me to my next point. I think Leda has had a very violent life overall. Some of the shit she says sounds too specific to just be a generalisation:

-But vengeance changes a man.

-Unruly emotions only lead to misfortune.

-Before he recalls, as I have, the cascading sheets of blood.

-One more heart for my blade to skewer.  

-The scent of the killer that slept within me.

This all sounds like she's talking from experience, and there's also her skills as a knight : she has the highest hp pools of the gank squad and can 2-3 shot most players. I know gameplay =/=lore but Freyja respects the hell out of her: Lady Leda and honourable Ansbach are of a special breed.

It's a very interesting combination of an extremely skilled knight who is very good at killing, has presumably been living a very violent existence and who trusts no one but herself, but who also hates having to kill and feels really guilty about it, despite having to do it for the sake of her cause.

And I believe that is the crux of her purpose, and why she is going through so much to fulfill it at any cost:

Leda believes intelligent beings are inherently flawed , and can never be trusted to do anything but make each other suffer. Leda is tired of inflicting and receiving violence, and sees little purpose in seeing the good in others. Leda would have probably made a terrific Lord of Frenzied Flame with how little hope she has.

But instead, she found Miquella. Miquella, who dreams of an age of compassion and who is in a position to achieve it, Miquella, who was raised in an order built and maintained through violence and grew to abhor it. Miquella, who Leda probably sees herself in, who Leda trusts blindly and unconditionally, for whom Leda is ready to commit any atrocity, no matter how it makes her feel, because he is her lifeline. He is her very last hope, the only solution short of complete annihilation she can see for mankind to reach pace.

So what if that peace is forced, is all of this suffering truly worth what little free will we can exert onto our world ? Leda has seen what mankind does with its free will, and she is tired of it.

She doesn't care if she lives to see it, she doesn't care if she has to kill every last part of herself in order for the world to see peace. No one will miss her anyway, she's nothing but a blood-soaked murderer. It doesn't matter if she likes these people, friendship and trust aren't worth all this senseless violence.

So she'll keep killing and killing and culling, until her blade is dull with crusted blood and every last obstacle to Miquella's age of compassion is gone. That's what a Needle knight does, is it not ? Kindly Miquella fashioned us as his needles to quell all, to ward away all.

And if Miquella doesn't understand her, it doesn't matter. He's far too good to understand the sacrifices necessary. She'll do what he can't. The other needle knights did not understand this, they were too naive to do what has to be done, so they were a liability. Don't think about their betrayed looks of terror, don't think about the cloying stench of blood sticking to your footsteps, this is your burden, this is what you deserve. You already knew you couldn't trust anyone, why would this be different ?

If Miquella must cast away parts of his very being to have this world then so can you. So sever that part of yourself that says you should be nice, that you should trust those willing to help, it only makes things worse. It will all be worth it in the end.

Phew, i kind of went apeshit while writing that last part. I hadn't really planned all that honestly.

To conclude this essay, I'd like to point out a really fun parallel to draw here. In this analysis, I have described my interpretation of Leda as a very skilled self-loathing blood-soaked knight who is tired of their endless crusade and yet is endlessly pushed forward by their utter devotion to their god, their salvation made flesh, whom they will shield for the atrocities committed in their name by being the sole person to blame. If that doesnt remind you of Messmer, then i think ill just curl up into a ball and yell very loudly.

Thanks for reading till the end of this absolutely nightmarishly long ramble, let me know if you liked it ! And don't hesitate to send any Leda fics you find or write along the way !

[bushfulofbirds]

Finally caved and made a RWBY sideblog whoops!

NOT SPOILER FREE, I always post about stuff as it comes out. Will be tagged appropriately.

They/He pronouns for me

Mostly reblogging stuff I like, esp. fanart, theories etc. Expect ship stuff, mainly bumbleby and rosebird stuff.

Average Yang Xiao Long enjoyer

I don't rly wanna engage with fandom politics so much and especially not for RWBY but it might slip in here once in a while if it's something I find really pressing and within reason to spread around.

Not RWDE but might still bring up my own share of negative crit once in a blue moon. Will be tagged so y'all can block it if it ever does pop up.

Asks/anons open but please just don't be a dick in there... I'd love to chat in there abt RWBY or whatever!

Once in a while I remember to block bots. Please please please if you're a real human wanting to follow me all I ask is that you customise your blog to show some signs of life, I don't wanna block y'all for no reason T^T

Might be some occassional spice/nsfw and it would be tagged as such. This would be pretty scarce tho since I'm not really into that stuff.

I also tend to put a lot of my thoughts in tags afterwards so expect a lot of that!

Tags below in case there's anything you'd like to block or follow. Enjoy witnessing my brainrot ig 😭

✨ Tags: ✨

Shipping stuff: #shipping, #[ship name]

Original thoughts: #bushful o rambles

Crit tag: #critbush

Generic tags: #rwby, #not rwby, #important, #art, #text, #rwby meta, #discourse, #analysis, #nsfw, #rb

Spoiler tags: #rwby[x] spoilers, #rwby spoilers, #spoilers

[tehohaews]

Hello unfamiliar person, questions: 7, 12, & 23. Also 34 (👀)

I can't believe they have wifi in turbo hell too 😩😩

7. Which character you’d like to be friends with

Tian and not because he's so pretty, okay that too but hear me out. I think I can be supportive and give good advice sometimes SO I JUST WANT TO TELL HIM THAT HE IS WORTHY AND THAT HE IS ENOUGH, is that too much to ask for 😩. Other than Tian I feel like I'd get along with Tul very well too. We both have the same chaotic vibes djdjjdjd

12.Favorite Phutian moment (Or the moment that made you SCREAM saying they invented love)

I'll change the answer in other asks just because i CAN jdjdjdj but for now I'm thinking it's the pinky touching under the blanket in ep3. That was the exact moment that made me fall for this show. I've said this before ig but I dont watch a lot of shows and I'm very very selective before watching anything. So when i first started watching atots (i waited until ep3 was out and then binge watched them) I already liked it from the opening line "I always thought that life was like a game". But that pibky touching scene was the EXACT moment that made me go this is it! This is the love of my life now. And I remember replaying that part and crying for 3/4 hours straight 😩😩 I even cried when I was binge watching the eps before ep9.

23.The moment you hated the most

Cheating Nam 😩 Basically that WHOLE bar scene. It was so unnecessary and I hated every second of it.

34.Who is someone you got to know because of the show or someone whose posts/works you enjoyed seeing in the tags

Jdjdjdjdj I literally included this question for me. I wanted to show some love and appreciation so this was an excuse to do it. Oh boy this is gonna be long.

@phapundao Do I know you? 🧐 Why is your name here? Jdjdjdj Okay I'm gonna "try" and be nice but no promises 😩. Nuria, we were actually mutuals for a long time and you were one of my favorite persons in the 2g circus. Even after the hype died down, I knew I could always count on you to keep 2g alive in the dash and I really did (and still do) appreciate all your lovely content. I'm glad we got closer in this atots circus cause it wouldn’t have been this much for without you. Even though I bully you,block you,yeet you on a daily basis I really do love you and your evil,overthinking and phupha simping brain and I wouldn’t trade it for the world 💕💕 okay yuck this is too cheesy have fun in ppd river can't say I'll miss you and your evil ass 🥱🥱

@billkinsdancing Wanna know a secret? I actually wanted to be friends with you ever since I noticed us becoming mutuals cause you seemed chaotic LIKE ME and then you sent me that tuty homophobic ask and the rest is history dkkdkdk Thank you for starting the protection squid and being the 2nd most chaotic person (next to me ofc). I love your rambles and your clownery and I will never forget us screaming in eo's asks after an ep quoting phutian 24/7. Thank you for existing and being your chaotic self 💕 I hope one day you'll get your tagging right 🥴

@atotsphutian LARA 😭😭😭 THE LITERAL LOVE OF MY LIFE 😭😭 I'm not lying when I say that you’re the sunshine of the fandom. THANK YOU SM FOR YOUR SMILING tian and phupha content,your torfun content and happy phutian sets!! On behalf of the yeeters, I'm sorry to have you make up for all the angst with happy sets djdjkdj BUT I KNOW THAT I COULD ALWAYS COUNT ON YOU TO MAKE ME SMILE. I'm really really really grateful to have gotten to know you because of atots cause you’re literally the kindest and sweetest person ever!!

@kaonoppakao SAM I'm gonna miss your atots bingos so so much. I always looked forward to them ever since you started and I appreciate you sending them to me,they really made my day. Even though you're now no.1 on the yeet list after you started making more angsty sets to get away from me in ppd bottom 😩 I appreciate all your content, your parallels, sometimes crack and memes. I'll miss talking about predictions with you too 🥺. Ily thank you for everything 💖💖

@serannes (was tempted to tag the dragon blog just so you didnt have to see this 🙄) ELLIS you art thief 😤 jk jk still can't believe that was how we first interacted dkkdkdkd I had a lot of fun terrorizing everyone with our yeet party and I'm glad to get to know you bcuz of atots. Thank you for your lovely content and for being your chaotic evil self. But most importantly thank you for introducing us to dreaz14 even tho they eloped with sakda 😩😩

@systoles-lfc Nads!! I've said this before but I appreciate each and every one of your metas,analysis™,theories, memes and even sad horny phutian posts!! Ily this fandom wouldn’t have been this much fun wo you!! Thank you for everything 💖

@sexyglances MARIA The real crackhead of the fandom!! I had the time of my life reading your metas,your tags AND YOUR MEMES OH GAWDD THE MEMES. Thank you for always taking the time to send me your atots bingos too and clown me in my inbox rdghdddtgg You made this 10 times more fun for me and I'm so grateful you exist 💖💖

@mixxiw FANZY!! Quan said you were a mix fansite and WHERE IS THE LIE!! Thank you for all your updates and content! I really really really appreciate them. You're a blessing to this site 💖

@faandomcentral I associate you with cats more than I associate you with atots but I love you and yes our souls are made of the same thing whatever that is (insult)

@tianphu KIT!!! Love all your content and I hope we can continue to be friends and bond over our shared love for both 2g and atots!!

@thebadmoonsrising hello i love you and your fics even tho I've said this a million times already jsjdkdkd

@viriyanon-guntithanon i love your metas!! I loved seeing them everytime after an ep when i went to the tags. Thank you so much for those 💖💖💖

@nct-oli ik we've been mutuals for like 17 hours but I love you with all my heart and I'm gonna miss reading your metas SO SO SO MUCH. They were one of my favorite things in the atots tag

Also @seetian (my url twin) and @ionlydidthisforatots aside from the fact that you two have the best urls here djjdjdj i love your blogs 💖💖💖 they're wonderful 💖💖💖

Also shoutout to every single content creator who I'm not gonna name cause I'm shy™. I appreciate each and every one of your content, thank you so much for sharing them with us.