luminaryofblood

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Mohg x Miquella (or MohgMiq)

Controversial classic, anyone? As revealed by the DLC, neither character here had sincere feelings towards the other. The Freudian horror of desiring a boy strikingly resembling mother that threw you in the severs is gone, but not forgotten. Some headcanons and a touch of death of the author make everything possible!

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Please make sure your Knight's plume isn't starting to droop down !! If it is, this is because they've been without cuddles for too long. It's imperative for a Royal to regularly cuddle with their Knights. If not their plume will start shedding it's feather and they will begin to restlessly pace circles around the barracks :( You don't want that !!

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Just stopping by to unleash Varré into the wild.

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I’ve been playing shadow of the erdtree lately and I have thoughts about Leda because she fascinates me.

I like to interpret her character as a sort of microcosm of what the world would look like in Miquella’s age of compassion. She’s a violent, paranoid zealot. The reason she’s the only needle knight is because she killed the rest. She goes after Hornsent and Ansbach. She goes after the tarnished, even if they helped her go after Hornsent and Ansbach. No amount of prior loyalty is enough to prove yourself worthy once she decides you’re not.

And under Miquella’s charm, these traits aren’t addressed or resolved. As far as we’re aware, Miquella never rebukes her for it. The charm calms her, temporarily placates the worst of her traits, but they’re still there, and they come right back to the surface as soon as the charm breaks.

I also like reading her as a sort of foil to Malenia. She believes herself to be what Malenia was. The protector, the loyal blade.

She’s so consumed by her devotion to Miquella, so defined by it, that I’m not sure she considers herself to be a person beyond that. And the only way she knows how to show that devotion is with her sword. She is devotion and her devotion is violence.

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@thefalc0ner on TikTok

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Welcome, honored guest. To the birthplace of our dynasty!

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I drew something I guess

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We know Trina was fully aware that godhood would be a prison for Miquella.

The thing about prison is, you don't get what you want in there. You don't get to be who you want to be, or spend your life with your loved ones, or save anyone outside while you can barely save yourself. You don't get to avoid violence just because you have good intentions because violence is all around you and prison itself is part of a violent cycle that never breaks from within.

We know Trina was Miquella's other self, literally "half of the body". Surely Trina's knowledge used to be Miquella's knowledge too.

We know Trina thought Miquella must be killed and in fact instructed us to kill him. We know Miquella wanted to kill her too and in fact left her behind to bleed, wither and die, likely after having pushed her down a cliff.

When half of you and the other half took actions to kill each other, it's not murder. It's a suicide.

Many agreed the whole "no cost too great" mindset for ascension in the DLC felt very disconnected and disingenuous. Indeed Miquella showed no interest in becoming a god in the base game, since abandoning fundamentalism they have been more focused on materials - physical, tangible things rather than wrestling with concepts and philosophies. Instead of relying on their identity as an empyrean, they preferred using their own hands and knowledge to practice crafts as a sage and a scholar.

Then we were told what they thought of godhood via Trina. We followed their blood trail of literal total self destruction and reached the spot where they attempted suicide. We saw and heard them hold back a desperate cry when they said "I will become a god", alone in a memory space that's stripped of all colours.

Yet many still believed this was what Miquella wanted all along. I find that extremely unlikely.

Why abandon doubt and vacillation in the first place? If there weren't multiple alternatives to begin with, they wouldn't have had to abandon vacillation i.e. the inability to make a choice among two or more options.

We know for sure one of the options was to kill Mohg and use his body as a vessel to contain Radahn's soul to return as a god, which was what they eventually went with, although they didn't kill Mohg themselves.

It's very obvious that Miquella wouldn't want to go down this path. If you look at how they thought of Marika even after knowing about the Shamans:

(Count Ymir dialogue)

They despised her. It was unkind, given Shamans' history, but they were too angry to even pretend they had any compassion for her in front of Ymir.

Many people more or less sympathised with Marika after the DLC but even with the same knowledge Miquella's verdict was that Marika was simply wrong and insane, and she was the one to blame for everyone's pain that came after. This aspiring god of compassion, who sought to embrace all, couldn't embrace what their parents did. They resented her so much that they were determined to abandon everything they inherited from her, to give away every last strand of their flesh and bleed themselves dry, just to cut all ties with her, and her age of the Erdtree.

Even after the charm broke, the vengeful hornsent who was eager to kill all Erdtree denizens still fully acknowledged Miquella's redemption. This could not have simply been done by their charm.

Leda said to us:

A seduction and a betrayal. Hornsent grandam also spoke about being "betrayed" by Marika, who she referred to as a "wanton strumpet"; a low blow, at Marika's private history. Likely, Marika "seduced" a significant member of the Hornsents to gain protection, then forsook their soul and used their body as a vessel for her other partner, and it's therefore such a personal, despicable betrayal in Hornsent grandam's eyes. If it was irrelevant, she wouldn't have made such an emphasis on how Marika was sexually unrestrained.

Miquella clearly knew this. Whether they knew it was the only way to return as a god is another matter - I tend to believe Miquella only found the secret rite scroll later on - otherwise it wouldn't have been a secret rite (hidden in the corner of s secret library) for a sealed away tower hidden in the super secret shadow lands - and when they "spoke of the beginning", they only thought it was due to Marika's cruelty and insanity that she heartlessly used someone who fully trusted them for her ascension.

They condemned Marika so much that they tore their own body apart to show everyone their determination to never even come close to Marika's path, that they would be on the side of the downtrodden. As many have rightly pointed out, killing Mohg and using his body as a vessel would just be repeating Marika's doing which renders all their sacrifice and redemption pointless. Their promises to the Hornsents would become the biggest lie that haunts them for life.

No matter how they felt towards Mohg, they would for sure hate the idea of being even remotely like Marika, not to mention doing the similar deeds as her to ascend and return as a god. They also couldn't afford having their bloodline tainted again by themselves and having their future children think of them the same way as they now think of Marika. Think about all the omen children who would eventually figure out what happened to their father. It's not possible to rely on their charm (of which the extent of power was obviously limited) forever and ever. They came here to make things right, not to start another vicious cycle.

Naturally, one of the other options would be to not go ahead with the secret rite, although if they so choose, they'd be lingering in the LoS as half flesh half spirit forever, breaking their promise to Malenia that they'd return to her.

The vessel must be a sacred, horned body, and it must be emptied and refilled with a lord's soul. It's kept vague in the English version, but relatively clear in Japanese that the vessel and the soul need to be from two separate sources.

I don't think using Mohg's body as the vessel shows how indifferent or hateful they were towards Mohg - committing a thousand years' companionship with someone's body itself is incredibly sexually intense, and says something about their preference.

We can clearly see it from their attitude toward Marika that when they truly resent someone, they would not hide it, and they would want nothing to do with them. They also believe the ways they treat flesh and bones bear meanings and emotions. Abandoning their own flesh means cutting ties with their origin. Retaining Mohg's flesh should hold the same weight. There might be other options, but they'd rather it be Mohg's body that's by their side, if it must come to that.

Only the choice between two betrayals - two loved ones - can be so impossible.

In a way, Miquella mirrored each of their followers' qualities: they were academic like Ansbach, youthful like Freyja, charismatic like Leda, and determined to be the best in their craft like Dane.

They could also be hesitant like Thiollier, indecisive like Moore, and resentful like the Hornsent. This was when they faced the exact same questions as Moore:

Should I stay sad forever (about the fact that I must betray one of them) or put it behind me (do it, and get it over with)?

They had been choosing "I don't know" for so long that they eventually abandoned the very feature of vacillation itself to get it over with.

Now the new Miquella thought without doubt and vacillation, that maybe they could accept killing Mohg, and reviving Radahn's soul. They could betray the horned people a little for now and say a big sorry later. Mohg loved them so much that he would give anything they asked for anyway.

But they didn't actually kill him. I believe when Mohg was felled by the tarnished, Miquella's blood ran cold.

Entertaining the idea of betraying someone who wholeheartedly trusts and supports you and going against everything you believe in and represent is one thing, executing such a plan and staring into the aftermath is another. They were like those who joked about killing hundreds of people a day but in fact couldn't even make themselves shoot a cow.

Out of love and respect towards themselves, they thought it was best to die.

Even without the ability to think critically, the loss was simply too much to bear. They knew they must stop now, as they haven't managed to save anyone so far, and they wouldn't be able to save anyone if they carried on as they were even more dangerous than before. Hell, they didn't want to become a god to begin with, merely saying it out loud almost made them cry as a child.

I disagree whenever someone says Miquella was cruel. They were kind enough to decide they should spare the rest of the world from themselves.

But they failed at dying too. The thing that climbed up from the bottom of the fissure wearing Miquella's face, was not Miquella or Trina anymore. It was mindless, heartless, bodiless, and so very afraid.

The final boss was only titled "Promised Consort Radahn" & "Radahn, Miquella's Consort", instead of "Radahn and Miquella" for a reason.

The last remembrance only spoke about Miquella's innocent youth, a broken memory from when they didn't even know what asking someone to be their king fully entailed, as if the rest hundreds years of their life as a prodigy and a brilliant craftsman didn't exist, for a reason.

For Miquella was not there. Just like Mohg, Miquella's soul had also been torn into pieces and mostly forsaken by themselves. Descartes said "I doubt, therefore I am; in other words, I think, therefore I am." He was quite right.

Without doubt, vacillation, love and fear, without their very being, what exactly was there left?

Only blind ambition and violence, like every other power hungry man - as reflected in Light of Miquella - submit to him, or be annihilated.

This is why killing this last bit of them was mercy and forgiveness - Miquella themselves would have hated to exist like this. It would be cruel not to put them down. We were essentially their war surgeon in the end.

We reached their voice mail, a faint echo of them from yonks ago, stripped of all nuances. The lights were still on, but they would never be home again.

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its day 2 post procedure and the incision is hard as a rock and def inflamed, and after changing the bandage it is also discharging pus that i was told to return to the clinic for immediately tomorrow morning when they open.

i had to pay ride fare to and from surgery and ride fare to and from physical stores for my prescriptions and try to find ones w affordable clean bandages and wrappings. i got $11.04 in my account tops after med stuff, procedure stuff, ride fares, and the last of that goddamn urgent care bill. and now IMMEDIATELY i need to dig up more ride fair and go back to the clinic to make sure im not developing an infection since the pus and my pain coupled with my overwhelming lethargy and disorientation could be of. concern

i had to pay ride fare to and from surgery and ride fare to and from physical stores for my prescriptions and try to find ones w affordable clean bandages and wrappings. i got $11.04 in my account tops after med stuff, procedure stuff, ride fares, and the last of that goddamn urgent care bill. and now IMMEDIATELY i need to dig up more ride fair to go back to the clinic to make sure im not developing an infection of some kind, since the pus and my pain coupled with my overwhelming lethargy and disorientation could be of. concern

man. man. it costs me on average $40-46 to get to this clinic and back. just let me pass away

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Goodnight

(via)

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Keyboard smash

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I started my first Elden Ring playthrough on PS4. I did play it before (on PC), but I lost ALL MY PROGRESS. I lost my first Tarnished 😭 It's like losing your firstborn son, I was freaking devastated. So, new game, new Tarnished, new experience, kinda, cause I don't remember shit. But I can safely say that Morgott/Margit is still my favorite character and bossfight (and ofc Mohg, I adore them both genuinely💔). Omen twins are dope as hell. Still MAD that we had to fight them. Like, I bet if we had a couple of therapy-trauma-dumping-talking sessions with them, we could become a great team (I'm just so damn delusional and desperate. Morgott, you can be my consort, I'll treat you better, I swear)

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Ancient egyptian: I wonder what shape we should give our pharao's tomb

The perilously pointy pyramid:

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s'mohgs

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... I forgot to give Ansbach underwear under the pajamas.

Old Man Yaoi Fluff!