#Emanator sampo

[feroluce]

I've only recently started having my own thoughts about Emanator!Sampo and I think my favorite version of this is that he is technically an Emanator, it's just that he doesn't talk about it because Aha is a dick who only blesses people that don't want it and Sampo hates it here dkjxkdkdck

Aha blessed the Mourning Actors! A whole faction of people who have specifically made it their life's mission to resist Elation! THEY made a literal worm THEIR Emanator just to see if it would be accepted into the Genius Society! And when it wasn't, Aha just as easily killed it and tossed it aside! So I feel like there is a good possibility that Aha looked down at Sampo, this little oddball who doesn't seem to even like Epsilon or a lot of the Masked Fools and was like.

Hey.

You know what would be really really funny.

And I feel like being an Emanator wouldn't even be a plus for Sampo, because of how he operates. Sampo excels at blending in; he managed to smuggle himself onto a planet

that had been isolated for 700 years,

with only one (1) single city on it,

and going even further, he snuck himself into the Underground,

where the population is even more sparse,

and STILL. Not a single accusation of him being an alien! Not even after the Astral Express lands and proves that interstellar space travel is possible! Sampo is so thoroughly ingrained into Belobog that yeah, some people admit they don't know his origins, but none of it ever comes with the question of whether he actually is a Belobog native or not. Sampo knows exactly how to blend himself into his surroundings in the most subtle way possible. And being an Emanator, something far more powerful than any normal human or Pathstrider could ever hope to be, would only throw in a massive extra variable for him. Sampo would have to be so so careful to keep a lid on his Emanator traits, to keep up the appearance of being totally normal and average at all times. It doesn't help him at all.

And this part is pure indulgence, but I love taking Aha's closeness with mortals, and THEIR tendency to take human form, and twisting it into a case of THEM using Sampo as a vessel.

I want Aha to look at Sampo the same way all of us look at Sampo. A chew toy. A plaything. Something to shove through the meat grinder. Aha thinks Sampo is hilarious and a funny, silly little guy, and THEY want to put him in Situations just to see what he does. Sampo is not a fan.

This though, this is what makes Sampo so wildly entertaining as a vessel. Because Aha knows that Sampo does not want to be a vessel, does not even want to be an Emanator, and THEY find it SO much fun to watch the mental gymnastics he has to pull to convince himself he's ok with it, this is fine actually, because he's not exactly about to tell off a literal god. He doesn't feel like getting a smiting today, please and thank you.

Because squeezing yourself into a human vessel is so different than merely adopting a human disguise, there's already a human soul in there, it's kind of a tight fit. If Sampo doesn't make room, doesn't all but dissociate right out of his own body, it could cause. Consequences.

And so, Aha always gives a warning, just to watch him squirm.

It begins with the sound of bells.

Just little ones, at first. Small, clinking little sounds that could even be considered nice. Something almost gentle, like a wind chime in a pleasant breeze on a warm day. This is the signal for the countdown.

Sampo breathes in, breathes out. Makes himself as small as possible within his own body.

The bells rise and multiply, tinkling wind chimes give way to sleigh bells, to shopkeepers bells, the sound of something inevitable approaching, something entering.

Sampo breathes in, breathes out. Dilutes himself, weaker and weaker concentrations.

The bells rise and rise, multiply and multiply, celebration and tragedy resonating in the sound of church bells, ringing bright and loud, the sounds of weddings and funerals both the same.

Sampo breathes in, breathes out. Becomes like smoke, like vapor. Hollows himself out.

Empty, empty, empty until he echoes, like a bell, like something with the sole purpose of being shaken and rattled around, a thing to be struck, the sounds jarring and punched out and gasping and piercing the air, the lung, the eardrum.

Sampo breathes in.

Beaten he rings, bashed in he sings.

Aha breathes out.

[ooka-fez]

so my theory might be true

my theory about all emanators having grey or white hair might be true… heres a screenshot from the latest Honkai stream! Spoilers for those who haven’t watched the stream

This might be Herta’s true form! And look at her hair! Its grey! So my theory is most likely true! Meaning theres a chance Sampo is an emanator!

[rukihuntsmen]

5 ⭐️ SAMPO PLAN

yes this is where I PANIC!!!

Possibly 2.7 (4 months???) 

Sampo + LC: 323 (if I lose 50/50 on both)

Current pulls: 4 

Pity

Pity for character: 33 (no guarantee)

LC: 4 (no guarantee) 

I AM FUCKED.

[sorrinslays]

OKOK SO IDK IF YOU'VE DONE ANY POST LIKE THIS BUT

What do you think a 5 star Sampo would be like? Both in lore/personality, and in design or even kit! Hell, maybe how he is introduced as his 5 star version would be cool to think of too. I want more opinions on this, and the idea of his 5 star version makes me more and more excited

Hello anon!!! So, I have talked about it a bit while reblogging @feroluce's post about 5* Sampo ideas but I don't mind elaborating on my thoughts a bit more.

In that post, the idea of Sampo having a 'stage hand' inspired abilities/design was presented and I fell in love with it, so a lot of my thoughts are inspired by it.

First and foremost, I think he would have the fire element as a five star. I've seen a lot of people wanting him to be Quantum, but honestly it doesn't speak to me. Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of the Quantum element in general, I don't know.

I think fire suits him for a variety of reasons, but most importantly, it creates contrast. I'd like to start by mentioning that fire is eye catching, going against his theme of the stage hand, a background entity. Can you imagine? Aha creating Sampo to be eye catching, giving him powers that are meant to be viewed, admired. Sampo being created to be the center of attention, yet he goes against all that. Preferring to stay in the shadows and watch everything unfold from a distance.

I like to think that his design is dark, full of cool colours and drenched in black, showing that he himself wants to blend in with the background and his element being the exact opposite. Him going against his 'nature' you could say. Against his purpose.

If we want to look a bit deeper we can go two ways. Firstly, fire represents enlightenment, self-awareness, rebirth, and rebellion which (if we follow my headcannon of Sampo being a Creation of Elation turned Emanator) would suit him a lot. Enlightenment when he understood the real meaning behind Elation. Self-awareness showing that he understands what he is, what he wants to achieve and how. Rebirth as in leaving the Masked Fools and their flawed view of Elation. Rebellion because he goes against his Aeon, his creator.

Furthermore, it's be nice to see how a character like Sampo would respond to having Aha as a "parent"/creator. The struggle of sharing an ideology yet trying to distance himself from his creator. His appearance being the complete opposite of his powers would be a cool way to show how he resists Aha's view of Elation.

As for his playable path... I want to keep him Nihility. The path of IX is very similar to the Elation at it's core. Both believe that the universe has no meaning, THEY just respond to it differently. Where IX does nothing because there's no point in doing anything, Aha acts in a way that would entertain only THEMSELVES.

Alternatively, it'd be nice if Hoyo made the Elation a playable path only for Sampo's 5* design. It'd be mad funny but also on theme with how meme-y hsr really is.

Now, for his clothing. Like mentioned previously cool tones and dark clothing is the way to go. But, to elaborate more on that I think there's specific parts of his original 4* design that I would like to keep, like his jacket that looks like a ring leader's jacket, just in a different colour and with other accessories/details.

The snake symbolism should stay as well, I think. It's be nice that instead of snake bones it would be leather and shit, to show that it's "alive", that he's back to being an active Emanator.

I also really like the idea of him having two sets on hands that at his fingertips end in different colours that was proposed by the original post I linked earlier. The first set fading to white and the second to black showing how one set is pulling the strings in the background while the other is the one everyone sees.

I think his mask should rest on top of his head like Sparkle's, a plain red thing contrasting with his blue hair and dark clothing, another contrast to Aha.

Personality-wise I think he would be pretty much the same, expect less greedy and money-driven. I don't know, I feel like that's a part of Sampo Koski's personality, not his, if that makes sense.

If you want a bit more on how 5* could work in my mind in the story I recommend you read my post on Gepard's role in the story, although it's mostly about Gepard I managed to sneak in a few thoughts on Emanator Sampo because of course I did

[aus--rotten]

What if Sampo was never a person of his own and Aha was just like "hey man you know what would be really fucking funny lol"

[glouris]

I do not agree with the notion of characters' gameplay paths not being their 'lore' paths at all.

imo they wouldn't be called 'pathstriders' if the paths we were shown were not correct at all. the way I see it, a person who's personal ideals and actions allign with one path could easily belong to a larger faction that follows another eon as a whole.

excuse the genshin allegory here, but I think hoyo made paths funcion like visions - a character on the path of the hunt could easily be following preservation, like a character with a pyro vision could hail from fontaine. but then also an emanator of nihility could not be something else, like an electro archon could not have a dendro vision.

so, I decided to take a look at (almost) every character and propose some reason for them being assigned their path

Nihility: things losing meaning, falling into fears and hopelessness

Erudition: pursuing or keeping vast amounts of knowledge

Destruction: eradication of the self or what's around you

Hunt: condemning something, leading it towards your judgment 

Preservation: protecting what exists in this moment

Abundance: letting life flourish, continue in the future

Harmony: not letting a single part of the collective to collapse or overpower the other, keeping things ‘whole’, peaceful

if we take, for example, Dr. Ratio - even his gameplay kinda makes sense. he launches follow-up attacks when there are enough debuffs on the enemy - he's eradicating the influence of Nihility. same thing with Acheron.

some reasons I'm thinking off here might be wrong, or there must be much more to think of here, but I'm pretty sure that the gameplay paths are the actual paths of the characters. plus, it's been stated that the pathstriders could change their path, unlike eons and emanators.

[glytchedmuffins]

"Sampo is a Self-Annihilator" this "Sampo is actually Aha" that-

WRONG!

Sampo is clearly a Doctor of Chaos whose idea of fighting back against Nihility is via Joy Elation.

It's why his version of Elation is so different from the other Masked Fools, because he is both a Masked Fool and a Doctor of Chaos.

My source? It would be funny and interesting, and when it comes to anything related to Elation and Aha, that's really all you need.

[flightofthejackdaw]

2.2 Spoilers!:

Boothill mentioning that emanators hide their identities, and some may turn their backs on the Aeon they’re supposed to follow if found out (or literally DESTROY everything and everyone). Got me thinking about a certain blue haired boy

Especially since right after saying that, Boothill states that he met a eminatior of Elation who seemed completely normal, and just like the rest of the clowns (masked fools)

It’s really adding to the emanator Sampo theory, also adding the idea that Sampo for some reason put his mask down giving up Elation, turning to Nihility. But is now going back to playing the fool and continuing his fun

[q-theeccentric]

"acheron and zephyro's fight will be epic" chat i want sampo koski vs asat pramad

[just-space-055]

So here is what the rating pistol says about the Herta:

I'm guessing the reason it said 4 at first was because the pistol thought it was one of the puppets since their rating is 4?

This definitely makes things complicated for the invalid emanator theory, you could argue that "it cannot be calculated" might translate to invalid rating but i can't say that with the same confidence as before...

Still the fact that Acheron, someone we know is an emanator, gets the invalid rating makes me think emanator Sampo is not too far fetched or maybe i'm just coping who knows

[shoezuki]

honestly there's no doubt in my mind that sampo is an emanator of aha like. i think hoyo would have to throw a massive curveball at me for me to be doubtful so much jus seems to work in him being an emanator

and i want to know so much about it cuz i mean. he's a FORMER masked fool. we heard him talk to giovanni about how he disagrees with other fools' ideas of elation. he clearly dislikes sparkle for that reason in that her idea of elation includes hurting people and causing harm. he seems to have a very... like in terms of his own ideas of elation, he's very moral? he has strong morals in that regard and disdain for people who follow elation through causing harm to other people and forms of elation that is at other peoples expense.

which as an emanator. i wonder if he even Wants to be an emanator. like sure he engages in his own chaos and hasnt abandoned elation fully but he seems to reject a lot of others who follow the elation. like it could very much be that in leaving/rejecting the masked fools and abandoning his mask, that was his attempt to abandon being an emanator at all.

[feroluce]

So I spoke somewhat about my thoughts on Emanator Sampo here, but I never really thought of it from a design point of view or what kind of powers he would have until just recently. But I actually kind of love leaning into it from a "stage hand" perspective?

Because like. Aha's body in THEIR official art is completely black, giving attention to all the fun brightly colored things around THEM. And that's so fitting for Sampo! He usually prefers to be a side character. He likes to act from the shadows. His is a much more subtle hand.

So I wonder if as an Emanator, a lot of his clothes are actually very dark? Not necessarily plain, still extravagant and needlessly detailed in things like cut and quality with lots of different fabrics and textures and ornamentation, but dark. Or maybe even his skin itself becomes blackened further down his body; his hands in particular are dark, as a sort of sleight of hand reference.

The motif of a lot of straps wrapped around him like in his canon design is still present, but they're all loose and flowing off of him like paper streamers now instead of restraining him or holding him together. He is no longer contained! Or maybe they're still a bit more rigid/heavy, but just draped more like red stage curtains!

And this is like. Fully self-indulgent, but I love inhuman designs, and there's nothing in canon to say I can't do this, so screw it! Go for broke!! Maybe it's not visible to normal people, but Sampo having a second set of arms would be really cool, as further sleight of hand reference. One set is almost normal looking, but his hands are a bright, attention-drawing white, and the other is dark, set almost in the shadows of the first arms, to act less noticeably.

He also has something of a broken heart design to him in canon (the front of his black shirt with its jagged shape down the middle; his coat looks like a full heart shape in the back), and I actually like him keeping that element as an Emanator, because I think it suits him. Sampo says his taste in aesthetics and views on Elation involve human dignity,

and the story he helps create in Belobog involves the long and winding road of resistance and survival and eventual triumph in the face of some very adverse, oppressing odds. (I'm pretty sure I heard he once called Wildfire "artless" though, plus the man acts like he thinks Shame is some kind of dessert, so like ndkdjzjskkd) But the point being!!

I think Sampo is someone who can appreciate heartbreak and angst and tragedy in a story, because it makes the victory at the end all the sweeter. And this would be another thing he shares with Aha, because I think THEY did bless the Mourning Actors partly just to be a little shit, but also because Aha does recognize tragedy as part of THEIR Path, too, and you can see it in some of the game. So a broken heart motif can still suit him, and I like him having elements of both comedy and tragedy. Like his clothing having a happy sun/sad moon (like the moon in Aha's art) or him having both of the traditional comedy/tragedy masks in his design.

And as Emanator, Sampo can maybe play with the stage settings environment, too. Like lights sometimes behave strangely around him, appearing blindingly bright to someone or dramatically dark. Sampo wills it and suddenly there seems to be a metaphorical spotlight right where he wants everyone to look. And when he doesn't want to be noticed, his face seems to be cast in shadow, he seemingly just fades into the background, no one notices or recognizes him and he sneaks away easily. He can create smoke or fog literally out of thin air without his bombs now, too, the air will just suddenly thicken until his stage is obscured, and Sampo can set the scene as he pleases or disappear without a trace.

And in line with being a stage hand, Sampo can direct attention like no other. He was already extremely good at this as a normal mortal, and becoming an Emanator only took it up to 11, past human limits. Sampo points, and all present feel compelled to follow his fingertip. He looks away, and they all follow his gaze. He can even affect the mood of an audience; he can influence everyone to be calm and placid or he can whip them into a feverish frenzy. Sometimes a crowd will start to become unsettled, agitation stirring until it boils over, until it incites a full on violent mob.

And in the middle of all that chaos will stand one perfectly calm figure, face cast in shadow, until they quietly slip away out of sight.

[ooka-fez]

I wanna share a theory about the silly blue haired scammer boi

So… I do believe he’s an Emanator of Aha! There’s proof of it too! So as some of you know Sampo doesn’t get a rating from the rating gun Herta has! Acheron and Jing Yuan don’t get one either and they’re Emanator's! The only thing to disprove this gun being able to spot Emanator's is the fact that Herta gets 4 points! We know Herta is an emanator! What I’m thinking is it’s rating her puppet and not Herta herself! Another thing I’ve noticed is that all the Emanator's we’ve seen have grey or white hair. This doesn’t count for Herta since she’s using a puppet and not her true self. Jing yuan has white hair, Acheron has grey streaks, phantylia‘s hair was even white at one point! Sampo has white tips on his hair. Another thing! WARNING FOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

In some leaks someone shared, Aha gets 6 lines in game… I feel like those lines could be long lines to confirm if sampo is an emanator or not! Yet something else I’ve noticed is that Sparkle when added into a team with sampo calls him The Fool. I think this could be a code name for emanator! Also how does Sampo know where we go all the time? Either he’s on a mission assigned by Aha where he has to watch the Trailblazers or maybe he wants to learn more about the Aeon they follow. Finally we know as a fact that we will get a five star sampo… he asked sparkle for his mask meaning he isn’t full powered! Anyway… there’s more but I’m almost at school so I’ll share it all when I’m back!

[theactualsunshinechild]

My partner has planted the idea that Sampo could turn out to be an emanator of the Elation into my head and now I have latched on to the concept and keep finding little reasons to believe in it.

It got brought up mostly because of the rating gun ratings. March, Jing Yuan, Luocha, and Sampo all cannot be rated by the gun. Finding a link between them is hard, but with Acheron, a known emanator upcoming, and folks saying that she is also unrateable...

And I know, I know, Herta is already an emanator, yes, but we only have 4 star Herta available to us, AKA a mere puppet version of her.

Anyway, if we suppose that the unrated characters are some brand of Emanator, or maybe just Have Emanator potential? Consider:

March 7th, based on some of the tidbits we experienced playing Fu Xuan's story quest, has potential to have been, or maybe to become, an emanator of the Remembrance. Her inherent tie to the values of memories and wanting to gather more of them and recover what she can is very in theme.

Luocha, I think it is very safe to assume that he is very very likely to be an Emanator of the Abundance, if the Luofu arc and Jingliu's story quests are anything to go off of. Dude is SUS as FUCK and very VERY disturbingly good at abundance things to the point of being able to heal someone in an artificial body. And that's him hiding stuff.

Jing Yuan at the moment is giving us the energy of a guy with a lot of latent power in him that hasn't fully been brought to light. With the way he's given us a promise to come to our aid immediately when called, and his threat to Phantylia that the Hunt would pursue the Destruction could be foreshadowing his eventually becoming an emanator of the Hunt? This is pushing it of course, but I'm just spitballing possibilities here working off the assumption that the rating pistol can't rate Emanators successfully.

As for Sampo??? There would be nothing funnier than the dude we found cowering in a snowdrift who Dan Heng shanked with a spear turning out to be a wholeass Emanator. The guy runs on Looney Toons logic half the time, and breaks the 4th wall just like Aha. Comedy relief character as he is, but what if he embodied the divine will of the aeon of fucking around and finding out? Like, tell me, how did this Masked Fool manage to quit the fool stuff and fuck off to a planet no one has visited in centuries, within the last 10 years or so? Sparkle KNOWS him. He has Stories about him among the fools. She knew him before he retired to Belabog. How did he Get there??? An Emanator of an Aeon like Aha could probably pull something like that off....

Listen I don't know if it all makes sense, but it would at the very least be hilarious and for that alone i want it to be true

[merry-fagoland]

I FUCKING KNEW IT

[fatedroses]

-An old-timer like me.