#oooh metaphors for cracking under pressure

[gaypastabake]

Porcelain

im afraid league lore is consuming me

Riot genuine question why did you make one of the cheeriest characters whos whole character is being a positive ray of sunshine have some of the most upsetting implications about her family's relationship with her, and have all of the voice lines from her aunt and uncle towards her be them calling her a disappointment to the family name

Riot who fucking hurt you oh my god what

[mebis-reblogs]

Oooh this is nice, hadn't considered the parallels with quickslash, despite already having considered the parallels between the Knight's nail and the hollow Knight's

The overarching theme of the game is one of "nothing lasts forever, there's only ends and beginnings and change, to pursue eternity is foolish" and to a lesser extent the relationship between progenitor and progeny and their relation to that first theme

But coming back at the knight and the hollow knight and (pure) nails

The knight (or Ghost since it's shorter) starts the game with an old nail full of cracks, not unique on the overabundance of discarded nails in these ruins full of corpses

You could see this as a metaphor for ghost being just one of countless discarded vessels

But then ghost keeps traveling, honing its skill, and finding more pale ore, until finally the pure nail is forged

The pure nail has a couple links to the pale beings, but let's put that aside and focus on this so called "crafted to perfection"

Nailsmith: "Your nail is much stronger than it used to be. As strong as it could ever be.

In only your weapon have I seen such potential. Finally, I behold the majesty of a Pure Nail."

The picture that it may paint at first is that of a vessel that is in prime form to fulfill its role, much like Pure Vessel's journal entry "(...) raised and trained to prime form"

And much unlike the hollow Knight's current state. And that of its nail

Nailsmith says to have seen potential in ghost's nail much like how white lady sees no blemishes on ghost, but both of them aren't really that special outside of having survived long enough

white lady had misjudged the first chosen Vessel's purity and admits to being incapable of detect any new emotions even when confronted with a ghost that has changed in such a large proportion that it has transformed, evolved beyond Wyrm; admitting then, that her judgement was always flawed

A pure nail is not necessary to usurp the vessel, it is only a way to ease the process

A stronger vessel may resist for longer, but not forever

Going back at the old nail, "its blade is blunt with age and wear" describes the hollow knight and its nail perfectly

"ghost raises to the occasion to become better suited than the first chosen vessel" is first impression reading given by the pure nail, which in the base game —before expansions (what we call DLCs) came by— was unique, a reading that is contested by plenty characters, leading up to the dream no more ending

But this changes with Godmaster, with the introduction of Pure Vessel, with the description I previously mentioned, spells of very familiar appearance, and most importantly, the ending

The Hollow Knight's weathered and tattered nail was too —still is— a pure nail

Now the narrative has changed from "you're better suited than the chosen vessel" to full circle: "the hollow knight, the pure vessel, was once as worthy as you ever will; any unfitted vessel would've been if given the same treatment, if given the same opportunity, if they had been the first to reach the light of the king, and that is because "pure vessel" is not enough, never will, or simply never was possible for a true pure vessel to exist, for they would all eventually be worn down, eroded by Radiance's rage, and crack under such pressure"

This isn't a retcon btw, the continual of the cycle was always gonna be a temporary solution and is said so several times in base game, time will come all the same, stasis will end; and only change, evolution beyond the flawed plan of the king, evolution of progeny beyond father's scope, is capable of stopping, of ending radiance

Tldr the pure nail sidequest draws a parallel between ghost getting ready to become the new sealed vessel, and the hollow knight who was as ready as could be and failed all the same, and how they're both not really different from each other, and how "purity" is just bs all the same

Spellcaster charm build ftw

Btw thanks @flame-shadow for the nail inventory screenshots (the other two came from Google)

Quick Slash is even cooler from a narrative perspective, and why I think the Nailsmith's story parallels the Pale King's

Cold take: Quick Slash is the best charm in Hollow Knight.

Slightly Warmer take: Quick Slash is the only S-tier charm that is great from both gameplay and lore perspective (aside from maybe Spell Twister).

The reason for this is that its existence is actually a

metaphor

Here, look at this.

So, Quick Slash is something that was created from a relatively big number of objects that were discarded and deemed imperfect, and that possess a collective will of wanting to fulfill their purpose.

You know what that reminds me of?

A large amount of creations: check.

Discarded as imperfect: check.

Still possessing a will to find closure: check.

Being a part of a larger, more powerful thing: check.

Having a common creator who is responsible for their creation and rejection: check.

So yeah, I think that Quick Slash's lore (or at least its description) is meant to parallel that of the Vessels'.

But I wanna talk about that last point: the creator.

It is heavily implied that the person who created and then later discarded those nails was the Ancient Nailsmith we see in the room where we get Quick Slash.

(Oh by the way I just realized that this stone ring thing on the right of that room is actually the furnace, neat.)

Judging from their Dreamnail dialogue, this Ancient Nailsmith was trying to achieve the same goal as the other, more famous Nailsmith we all know and love: creating a Pure Nail.

And you know who else was trying to create a perfect, Pure thing while discarding many other similar things that later gained a collective will?

That's right - it's the guy who is also responsible for creating those other discarded things we discussed earlier!

Ok, but what I really wanted to talk about here is how all of what I just said ties back to that other, more famous guy - The Nailsmith.

We don't know for sure how the story of the Ancient Nailsmith ended, but it feels like it exists there mainly to put an emphasis on the City's Nailsmith's story; to convey that his struggle is an important theme in this narrative (because ancient means important, ok?) And, I mean, the City's Nailsmith's story also parallels that of the Pale King's in the same manner, right?

The thing is, we already know how PK's story ended.

In trying to achieve perfection, to create an eternal Kingdom by making a Pure Vessel devoid of mind, voice and will, the Pale King doomed himself to be taken over by his regrets, by the vast emptiness of the futility of his struggles. But was it because he failed, or because that was where his story was headed all along?

What if PK succeeded? What if the Radiance was sealed forever? What if his Kingdom actually stood eternal, never to change, never to end? What if he realized he achieved his only goal in life?

And that's the part where we get to a story the ending of which is up to the player's choice.

To quote White Lady, only two obvious outcomes there are from such a thing.

The first is an honorable death by the fruits of his labor.

If we choose to kill the Nailsmith with the Pure Nail, he dies happy, knowing that his life's goal is accomplished and having gained all the satisfaction he could from it.

The second I find preferable, a new passion.

If the Nailsmith doesn't feel the finishing blow of the Pure Nail, he is left unsatisfied. But, while trying to resolve that unsatisfaction, he eventually finds something (and someone) that gives him a new calling, a new thing to create, a new reason to live.

And, while those are both equally valuable, equally canonic outcomes, don't you think the second one is just... better? I mean, not only does it include the achievement of the Nailsmith's goal, but it lets him live AND gives two lonely souls a partner in life! I feel like that's the thing this narrative is trying to convey. What it's trying to say about the meaning of life, about our dreams.

Maybe that was the ultimate folly of the Pale King - the inability to change. His story would've ended in the same way, regardless of whether Hallownest lasted eternally or not. He would be dead, if not by the hands of the Void, but by his own - but ultimately, by the hands of that vast emptiness of realizing that you achieved your only goal and that now all there is for you is this eternal satisfaction that slowly fades away, leaving you with nothing.

TL;DR: Quick Slash is the best because it's a metaphor for discarded vessels; perfection is overrated, try to get laid instead.

[angsty-nerd]

Fanfic ask meme: f, i, l, t.

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Dude, this one, like, requires research!! Haha! Okay, I'm gonna go with this dialogue from a Doctor Who fic that I wrote about a decade ago called "Second Time Around", which was a Doctor/Rose Human Nature AU...

~*~*~*~*~*~

"What is this place?" Rose asked quietly.  The Doctor had stepped out of the TARDIS beside her, and she glanced over to see his face blank and serious.  

"The story I told you earlier about the meteor shower over Twondok reminded me of this place.  It's called Farosma Canyon.  It's the greatest chasm in the universe.  It was created when a massive meteor struck this planet thousands of years ago, rendering it completely uninhabitable on impact.  In its deepest spots the chasm reaches down to the very heart of the planet."

"It's a dead planet?" Rose asked sadly.

"No," the Doctor disagreed.  "This planet is broken, but it's not dead yet.  There is a crack in this planet, so deep, that even its heart is shattered and broken.  But guess what, Rose?  Because its heart broke open, the hot core of this planet is exposed.  Do you know what that means, Rose?"

Rose thought about his words for a minute.  "Is it kind of like a volcano?" 

"Similar, yes," he agreed.  "Volcanoes explode though, because the fissure to the planet's core is capped off by a mountain.  The planet is under constant pressure until it can't take it anymore and releases that energy in the only way it can.  This planet isn't under that pressure though, because it's cracked open.  So the core of this planet is boiling, and slowly, but constantly, replenishing the rock at the very bottom of the chasm."

"It's healing itself." Rose realized, staring in awe at the chasm before her.

"It's healing itself," the Doctor agreed.  "And in time, millions of years from now, this planet will be whole again."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Why do I like it? Because METAPHOR!!! Haha. No, really... I just liked the concept that I came up with, I liked the idea of the Doctor using an adventure to try to comfort Rose, and I liked the way the Doctor's voice came out in the dialogue. The only thing I'm awkward and critical of is having to name alien planets and things. That was definitely hard for me. I think I just closed my eyes and hit a bunch of keys and then made sure that, like, vowels were in the right places.

As I've been writing again, and reexploring old fics of mine, it's interesting to look back and see what characters' voices I feel like I really had down better than others. I just read through most of my DW fics, and man did I hear Ten's voice well. And going through OG fic, I was shocked to notice that I wrote OG Maria really well.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

Hmmm... Maybe dark fic? Especially smutty dark fic? Love to read it. The two 'Max gets overloaded with power' Fictober ficlets were the closest I've ever come to trying to write it, and those were really toeing the line of my writing comfort zone, so it was fun to push myself that way.

L: How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

Oooh...good one. I wouldn’t say that I necessarily have a set number of edits, but currently the answer is a lot. Mostly because I’m not working with a beta right now 😳 and so I’m super paranoid that I might post an embarrassing disaster. So I’ve been, like, writing...and then do edit #1...and then come back and do an edit before posting...and then an edit WHILE posting... and that’s just the base number of edits, assuming that it didn’t take me four or five writing sessions to bust it out (in which case that’s probably an edit each time I sat down to write), plus assuming I didn’t get a random idea that I needed to go back and work in, like the other day when @viaomens commented and reminded me of a plot point that I forgot to close out in a chapter, which caused me to go in, add 500 words, and do an edit... ✍🏼. And so it goes.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Babyfic in any form, but especially mpreg bugs me for some reason. Babyfic just bores me in general.

Also I'm not a huge fan of AU fics that are, like, not in any way tied to the show's universe. At that point I'm like, just write an original fic with characters based on your interpretation of the show's characters because you're no longer playing in this universe.

So yeah, sorry if anyone writes Echo, but Max is human, and they're, like, both underwater basket weavers....in Thailand! I am probably not going to read your fic.