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et pourtant, pourquoi tes yeux sont-ils toujours tournés vers le ciel?

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Sol squadron sketches

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A sheep in wolf's clothing and a wolf in sheep's clothing, or character analysis of Handler Walter and Ayre

(Amazing art by u/Count15, also known as Kubaushi)

So, um, I love AC6, and it's entire cast. From Arqebus's egotistical Snail to Balams' most pathetic little scrimbo Iguazu. But no two characters have put so many thoughts in my head as Ayre and Walter. They're your most direct companions, and yet they couldn't be more opposite of each other while still being so similar.

Now I know that AC6 thrives on the individual readings by different people, everyone is going to see the story and characters differently so while I do pose some strong opinions here I think everyone's own interpretation is the most correct one.

But to get back to the topic at hand, I don't think that the opposites of those two are talked about enough, Walter, and Ayre exist almost entirely separated from each other, and somehow, they managed to be such polar opposites. The game isn't even afraid to paint them that way, like at the end of act 1. Walter wants you to rest while he gets stuff sorted with Balam, while Ayre is pushing you to go through Grid-086. Or during the attack on the refuelling base mission, while Walter laughs off the whole "walking advertisement" bit that Arqebus is shilling and just encourages you to get it done ASAP while Ayre wants you to make as much of it as possible.

But there's a greater example of this, beware of the spoiler for the endings below:

Both play a major role in LOR and FOR, but both for different reasons, and it all starts with Walters's speech right before the Escape, he has no expectations of you, no mission, no orders. The only thing he tells you is that you should "find your own freedom." Sure, he asks you to continue the legacy of the RRI, but only because it was his life's mission, his only goal so he might as well ask his closest friend in what he thinks is his last words. And he actually does stick with it. In FOR, he thanks you, but also, apologizes for asking you of such a burden. In LOR, he actively breaks through corporate brainwashing to spare you. He goes out of his way and even sacrifices himself for you, for "the freedom you chose".

Ayre, on the other hand, doesn't, her "I'll support you" falls on deaf ears when you realise she's not in it for you. You're just her vessel doing as she likes, and the second you disagree is the second this "bond" you've made is gone.

And before you say that, she's lashing out because of you doing a genocide of her people, Walter thinks the exact same. He believes that the further propagation of Coral will result in Humanity's downfall as Coral takes over the galaxy. They're both fighting for the same thing. It just so happens that they're different species.

Related tangent about the nature of Coral:

But are they? Coral and Humanity are almost the same, both spread infinitely, both want to completely take over anything without a care for the environment, and both want to use each other for a selfish benefit.

Coral wants to merge the hivemind with humanity and to use them as vessels.

While Humanity wants to use the Coral as infinite energy, to power their weapons, and to notably use it for cheap human lobotomies.

But there does exist one point of separation between them, Coral knows that Humans are people, but Humanity does not know that Coral are people.

The majority of humans involved in the Coral War see it as a war over oil, you can count how many humans know the true nature of Coral on one hand, and one of them is you. And that's assuming that RRI knows that Coral are a people, and to be a pedant, let's count them:

1. 621/Raven/You

2. Father Dolmayan

3. Walter

4. Carla

Out of the actual thousands involved in this war, 4 people know the true nature of Coral, AND THREE OF THEM WANT IT GONE PERMANENTLY NO MATTER HOW THE STORY DEVELOPS. The most poignant of them all being Dolmayan, who also interfaced with a wave mutation like you do, and yet he still chooses to fight you to the death over it.

Sorry for this side tangent. Going back to Ayre and Walter now:

So, both of them are fighting over the same thing, a goal universal to everyone, survival, and yet Walter cares more about you than the perceived genocide of Humanity and as he dies he expresses it. But Ayre, when put in the same spot, can not help but throw shade on you and Humanity, and while I will not fault her for that it is important to point out, but even more importantly her actual death, in FOR when you shoot her down she plays with your emotions one last time "Our shared dream" a dream she imagined you have and that idea is so paramount to her perception of you that she cannot imagine any other option.

And now maybe this speaks more about me than anything else, but I am so tired of having to live up to other people's ideas of me, this nebouls me that cannot exist in a reality outside of the conceptual space. This post is entirely selfish, a way for me to air out my frustration against the "popular opinion" because I cannot perceive a character like Ayre as anything but morally gray at best while every point of discourse around her goes on about "wifey" and how amazing she is. Call it whatever you like, but it is just a result of my own lived experiences.

Sure, Walter is a liar who actively uses lobotomized people to do his bidding, the same people he lies to, but he gives a damn about them, he cares for them so much as to forsake his mission, his facade of cynicism and coldness whistling away bit by bit until it's not there anymore, he's trying to be the wolf so that he can pretend to bare the atrocities he's committing in the name of human survival.

And call this a cynical and bad faith reading but, Ayre, on the other hand, is also a liar who actively uses lobotomized people to do her bidding, but she couldn't care any less, because to her this isn't about you, about 621, and it will never be. In Ayres' story, you are a convenience that either follows expectations or dies. She doesn't see what she's doing as wrong in any way, and I don't disagree. She is Coral, and that's her species, but to pretend that it is in any way about 621 while trying to play at your emotions is trying to be that sheep.

This is before even mentioning that to side with Ayre is betrayal of EVERYONE who saved you, Carla, Walter, Chatty, but also Humanity itself.

While to side with RRI, it is to betray only Ayre, who was never on your side.

Sorry for the lengthy read, and thanks for getting through it, I know this is long and pointed, but these two characters have become some of my favourites in anything so I wanted to talk about them.

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spent a looooong time looking at the Assyrian artifacts at the British Museum and it got me really thinking about potential inspirations for the hornsent from Assyrian culture! I’ve mentioned before that Enir-Ilim is pretty clearly inspired by the city of Babylon, and Belurat’s entryway resembles a ziggurat’s central stairway — elden ring’s fictional cultures aren’t meant to be 1:1 recreations of historical societies, so it makes sense to me that the devs would take bits of inspiration from all over ancient Mesopotamia.

Balawat Gates

the names “Balawat” and “Belurat” are so similar, I’m convinced there’s no way it’s a coincidence! but in addition to the similar names, the gates are adorned with bronze bands detailing scenes of military campaigns that are pretty visually similar to the metal gates of hornsent settlements:

Bird and Lion-headed warriors

These figures were taken from King Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud and King Ashurbanipal’s palace at Nineveh. They’re regarded as supernatural spirits who would protect and purify the palace, preventing evil forces from entering.

This is essentially the same role that the Divine Beast and Bird warriors had — they’re sacred animal-headed warriors who ritually channel divine power in order to defend Enir-Ilim from outsiders.

Sacred Tree

The guardian spirits of Assyrian palaces are often depicted alongside a “tree of life” motif. The idea of a sacred spiraled tree is pretty important to hornsent culture as well, and features on stone tablets around Belurat.

Lion Hunt

These reliefs are from King Ashurbanipal’s palace at Nineveh and depict the royal lion hunt, understood as a ritual act that represented the king’s role as a protector, vanquishing forces of danger.

Divine beast heads appear to be actual lion heads that have been turned into theatrical costume heads for the ritual lion dance… I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a similar hornsent tradition of ritually hunting lions to use for the lion dance and to commune with the divine beasts of the heavens. In any case, the importance of the lion in Assyrian culture seems like a pretty likely influence on the hornsent’s culture!

I can’t be 100% sure if all these pieces of art were actually referenced by the devs when creating the hornsent culture, but I think the similarities speak for themselves!

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le lac Salé // Солёное озеро

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夜渡り // nightfarer

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horn-deck'd beast from higher spheres delivered // рогатый зверь, ниспосланный небесами

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O Sculpted keeper, channel thy choler, into the most resplendent of dances! //

О сосуд священного зверя, направь свой гнев в самый величественный танец!

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my arms! my legs! each lies a bloody ruin!.. but I will soon feast upon your heart!.. you too shall know fear! //

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the impaler // колосажатель

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角人 // роговесты

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en haut, sous le ciel bleu // high above, under the blue sky

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wise men of the Tower // учёные мужи Башни

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jar saint // святая из горшка

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(I have more symbols here than in Twitter, so I'll tell more about this enigmatic Tarnished in my artworks)

I've always had this sort of inner barrier with accepting the seriousness of the Soulsborne combat system: it's uncanny when in response to a boss's complex moveset and long combo the player can only offer them a roll, a defence tool. Sekiro escaped this fate due to its combat system that tied the player's "attack" and "defense" options very tight together. Yet June 2024 happens, and the Shadow of the Erdtree is released. And as much as I (and the majority of ER community) howled at skibidi fragments instead of a real leveling system, or sometimes bullshit bosses, or empty areas, or..... ok, jokes aside. I did find something that made me give Elden Ring a second chance. It was ONE weapon that has become "love at first sight" – Backhand blade with it's ash of war "Blind Spot". That missing element of "defense as attack" HAVE FINALLY formed into a whole picture for me. I can finally use my attack as an evasion. I can finally offer the boss my participation in the dance.

And so the vision of my Tarnished, a raubritter with a strong emphasis on dexterity, formed in my head. But not in some numbers in stats, but in actual gameplay.

Finally some piece of lore:

Before losing his grace Jugoh was a páge in the care of a Limgrave nobleman in Godfrey's army. After being banished from the Lands Between he met his death in foreign lands rather quickly.

Upon his return to Marika's call he makes attempts to find his master, but in the end joins the Round Table and its hunt for demigods. A lot of history of the Lands Between former páge just didn't get to see, so the average person would consider him a relic of the past (and for good reason: Jugoh is "older" than most Marika's children). It seems that only the boy's golden heart and "kind and round" face keeps him from the open hostility with which the Tarnished are usually treated.

Unusually persistence and his "dance on scimitars" gained Jugoh a small degree of fame among the Round Table, but never his reputation overtakes him.

P.S.: I now know that I'm shadowbanned and I want to thank @katyspersonal for telling me about it! I am still trying to reach for Tumblr's support and hope that it won't take me months to get from this situation where I was boiling for 3 years.... Kudos to all who are still with me! I am glad you still watch my artworks 🥹🫶

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land of death // страна смерти