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ishmael arttttt

^^ reference!!

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especially since the chief reason “thanks” to which odysseus survived his journey was sacrificing his men left and right for his own survival whenever the occasion necessitated it……. i think it’s doubly meaningful in context of outis’ initial reaction to donqui turning out to be a bloodfiend and her general tendency to talk about sacrificing sinners during turbulent moments (which is not framed too seriously, but still. yeah)

I don't think enough people realize the line "The Odyssey had a purpose" muttered by Outis is a way for her to cope with incredible loss.

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OKAY SO: buckle up, let’s have a short (hopefully) thread on the two main characters of canto V, ishy and queequeg, in regards to their literary counterparts (ishmael and, uh, also queequeg. we’ll figure some handy naming out later). just as a disclaimer, i really like canto V’s character writing as it is, so this is not about finding flaws (until we get to the queequeg section, at least) but just pointing out some adaptation patterns that i find interesting!

starting off with ishy and ishmael (to restate, for clarity, game character = ishy, book character = ishmael): i see ishy as a complete reversal of ishmael’s personality traits and drives, which can (and will, in a second) be traced on a few levels

main motivation (what’s with the revenge?): up until the end of canto V, ishy’s main goal remains to find and kill ahab. essentially, the spite-fueled drive for revenge, wherein the person pits all of their rage against the whole wide world on one element and then aims to tear said element to pieces, is transposed from the ahab—whale relationship to the ishy—ahab one. funfact: that’s why canto V is called “evil-defining”! both ishy and ahab define evil for themselves and arrive at an image of either the pallid whale or in turn, ahab herself. importantly, the idea of this mechanism is the main engine behind moby dick’s plot, with (book)ahab considering the white whale as the embodiment for all the world’s wrongs (just like his game counterpart). importantly v2, ishmael as a narrator not only doesn’t share this ideology, but sees through it and can analyze it psychologically: he is 100% not a revenge guy, very much unlike canto V ishy, who is presented in a crystal-clear parallel to (game)ahab

character traits. the revenge line leads us to another significant thing: ishmael is, generally, a rather laid-back character. while he is traumatized as a narrator and distressed within the plot, he basically copes through a “it’s not that serious” mechanism. while it is an unconscious defense of his mind against near-death experiences, it sort of sticks: ishmael as a narrator approaches many events lightly, even jokingly, often making fun of his past self. in other cases, he openly admits to ignorance and lack of ability to do/explain something. well, in canto V ishy looks like she’d rather die than admit that someone may know something better than she does. she is absolutely serious (criticizes others for taking things too lightly, actually), hardy, uptight. in general, she’s not one of the open or joking sinners (even superficially), but in canto V her anxious rigidity that then borders on panic is more serious than ever. one of the crucial scenes for ishmael is when he writes a will and feels like from then-on death will not be a prospect that sends him into a frenzy (since he’s kinda dead already. ishmael logic much), while ishy, despite dante’s clock-winding, is clearly paralyzed with the idea that the whales will bring about some kind of dying that is irreversible. on the other hand, while her “we are so not ready” is much different from ishmael’s reactions to developments aboard the pequod, the two certainly share a sense of impending doom that they are fully aware of, but still can’t do shit about

okay, then how about the whales? in the book, ishmael is not only a sailor, but also a (self-proclaimed) scholar. while his ‘research’ on whales is as gap-ridden as it is wide-ranged (and that is to say, very much so), he exhibits a genuine interest in whales and his account of whale-hunting is actually compassionate towards the animals. in the game, animal-whales are replaced with monster-whales: dangerous, abject, hostile. while i’ve always considered ishy’s interest in corp pamphlets as a tiny link between her an ishmael’s bookishness, the element of empathy, compassion, or the plain “i’m not sure how to judge this” element is gone

last but not least, some comparison of details (i’m fond of trivia, sorry not sorry). #1, among the sinners, ishy is a skilled harpooneer-fighter and quick-minded organizer, that is perhaps closest in how she operates to outis’ military drill. however, whatever book ishmael did on pequod (he mentions a task offhandedly from time to time, but no specifics), it certainly was not a chief harpooning or leading position since his position in the ship hierarchy was pretty low and he had no useful skills or experience. #2, ishmael seems to share a lot a with the reader, but is actually ‘open’ without revealing much of substance about himself. ishy is an extremely closed-off person, but then when we do learn about her, we suddenly know all of the most important stuff. #3, both ish-s leave to sea because they are fed up with their daily lives: for ishmael, this was actually a regular thing (not the first time he left for a sea voyage to cope). #4, they both survive by clinging to queequeg’s coffin after pequod sinks. ouch

and, while we’re at that, some thoughts regarding queequeg. i was super excited to see her in the game (did i mention i started playing lcb specifically because of her and ishy? okay, now i’m mentioning it) and while her relationship with ishy and overall role in the plot both delivered, i felt very strongly (and not very positively) about her design:

what’s wrong with it? visually, nothing—i love it (and she’s stupidly hot too). still, the way queequeg’s tattoos and spoken language were handled left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. in the book, queequeg is of polynesian descent: he arrives in nantucket knowing little of the language (and thus communicates in simplified english) and even less of the customs, because he comes from a different region and culture. ishmael as the narrator underlines many times how people who ridiculed queequeg for his not fitting in were idiots, and he laughs at his own near-sightedness as he used to be quite afraid of queequeg-the-scary-cannibal himself. queeueg’s tattoos were, by the way, a symbol of identity and belonging to his native culture, to the point where he used their pattern as a signature

and was does canto V do with this? in-game queequeg speaks in a broken language—literally, because she mutilated her tongue to distort her speech. not a very cool take on the book source material of a polynesian native speaking a language that isn’t his own (nor does he want it to be), is it? moreover, game queequeg’s tattoos are a sign of her slavish belonging to the middle and she tries to get rid of them through self harm. i know lcb is, at best, loosely inspired by the literary sources and doesn’t aim to adapt them in any way, but seeing how they took basically the whole 1:1 plot of moby dick for ishy’s in-game backstory, i just feel like they could’ve managed better for queeuqeg’s character

the more i think about it, the more im convinced that the two major moby dick characters in canto 5: ish, obviously, and queequeg, are actually reversed versions of their book counterparts. 100% opposites. only ahab is just the same flavor of insane

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YESS THE IDEA THAT SINCLAIR LOOKS VERY MUCH LIKE LINTON IS HAUNTING ME (and, probably, heathcliff as well). i’m glad someone is pointing it out

aprils fools event...

wipes a little tear... happy for him so happy

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the more i think about it, the more im convinced that the two major moby dick characters in canto 5: ish, obviously, and queequeg, are actually reversed versions of their book counterparts. 100% opposites. only ahab is just the same flavor of insane

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no

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women (me) indeed want them !!

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question incoming!! i’d be very interested to know more on what you were thinking of heathcliff that had such a strong hold on your mind c: i’ve recently finished his canto so it’d be great to hear some opinions

here i provide my ramblings in screenshots but it boils down to heathcliff's dependency and insecurity. the way he needs so so badly to be seen as good by those he respects and cares about. how it seems like he needs that affirmation or else he can't cope with himself. he disgusts me

was also discussing the major adhd tells in his multicrack ID story so here's just a bonus blurb on that

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get artblocked IDIOT!!

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It's alright Dalinar, babe, he got this. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- image description: A loosely scribbled and coloured comic page with several panels in four rows of the scene in Words of Radiance in which Kaladin joins the duel in the arena. The background in the panels is painetd very patchily implying the seats of the arena with half roofs offering shadow from the sun above. The first row has two panels, on the left we see an agitaed Dalinar, in his blue uniform with gold and white trimmings, as he leans forward, hands on the wall of the dueling pit in front of him, calling out "What happened to us?", "Where is our honor?". A smaller speechbubble to the side contains the words "Honor is dead". The panel to the right depicts Dalinar looking to the side to see who gave that cynical commentary. Kaladin stands there not far behind him, also in captain's uniform holding his spear and looking very grim. The next row has two smaller and on medium sized panel, they all show Kaladin from the side in profile – as Dalinar would see him. He inhales like he is fortifying himself for what comes next. On the exhale he looks down into the arena with mix of resignation and determination and utters the words "But I'll see what I can do." The speechbubble for it is already in the next panel, in which Kaladin is gazing towards us with a mournful expression as he says "If this goes poorly, take care of my men."

The third and fourth row are both each one long horizontal panel. The third row shows Kaladin as he vaults himself over the wall in the foreground. Dalinar stares at him seeming very shocked. The panel in the last row is a top down view into the arena. Kaladin stands in front of six people, four of them Shardbearers in full plate all now turning towards him. On the far left is Relis in his black plate holding a big shardblade. Adolin kneels next to him in the sand of the arena holding his broken shoulder. To his right stand Elis with a shardhammer in a grey plate, then Adrobar in a orange one with a blade. Further to the right is Jakamav in his green plate and the king's blade, Renarin standing blade- and plateless next to him.

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actually, isn’t that the order in which their abilities broke the threshold of rapid development? kuroko mentions it a lot of times, how aomine was the one whose basketball skills skyrocketed first and that was when the team started falling apart (naturally). murasakibara came next, then akashi (who had to deal with him and got the hang of his own special talent in the process), then midorima and kise last. i think it’s this and less about trust/respect for kuroko, mainly because i don’t feel like they placed that much trust in him in the first place, other than aomine of course (why would they? he was just a guy), while they might have not lost respect for him despite all the shit that went down (we know this is true at least for midorima. also i dont think murasakibara ever really respected kuroko, for one thing)

rewatching knb for the 4th time round and when tetsu ran to kagami on the court (s1: 20) he started talking about how the gom gave him a uniform but never fully handed them their trust. then there’s is a frame where one by one they start fading away while tetsu is saying “after a certain point, they stopped being able to trust me”

The order they start to fade:

Aomine

Murasakibara

Akashi

Midorima

Kise

So either it’s the order they stared losing trust or it’s the order they started losing respect for kuroko. I just find it interesting they did it in that order cause during the teiko arc that’s the order the team started to fall apart and tetsu was lowkey the middle man trying to save it all.

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Almost forgot to post these!

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back from the dead to ramble about my hsr au that i’ll most probably never write<3

so. hear me out:

the alternate setting is a huge city, with many hugely diversified and autonomous communities within, as well as quite the amplitude between rich sectors and its most run down parts. i was thinking san francisco for the reference, but who knows

each district in the city, all of which have quite the autonomous identities due to being rather closed off (via congregating tendencies boosted by city infrastructure layout) and self contained, corresponds to a planet region on the in game map. so there’s a luofu china town somewhere outside the main business sector, a yarilo district somewhere at the outskirts, herta’s research company hq in a multistoried steel-and-glass skyscraper in the uptown, etc

and so, we’ve got a family living somewhere in that city’s traditional, yet partially highly modernized luofu: jing yuan, a high-ranked cop and, effectively, a single parent to his nephew, yanqing. the two live together

yanqing is actually the main protag, because i love him and im totally unbiased. he’s a hot headed, teenaged tangled knot of adhd, endless energy, passion for his fencing classes and adoration for jing yuan. all the same, they’re not your ideal family, seeing how little time jing yuan can actually devote to him outside his job and how grossly he tends to overestimate yanqing’s potential for being responsible, especially for a teenaged kid. yanqing mostly minds his own, working hard to please his dad, though he’s far from independent (especially emotionally)

in the lives of these two, strange things start to go down. jing yuan is even busier, claiming he’s got a difficult case to deal with. unknown to yanqing (at least for a time), he’s tackling the influx of strange drugs in the city’s black market - ones that transform its users into so-called mara after a single dose, creating specially enhanced individuals with sharpened senses and skyrocketed bodily regeneration, who can get a temporary kick of extraordinary powers out of the drug. these come in different kinds, each granting a different kind of power - physical enhancement of the hunt, vitality of the abundance, durability of the preservation… - and they’re highly additive

much to yanqing’s irritation, two people who claim to be old friends of jing yuan start hanging around their place - some kind of artsy history scholar, dan heng, and a highly suspicious guy who looks like a swindler and an organ dealer, blade. they’re helping jing yuan with the investigation - how, yanqing has no idea, but he knows they’re getting way too familiar with his dad

as the case escalates, jing yuan and his two accomplices hide the symptoms of their work-related struggles far less successfully than they think. to subdue raging mara that start to pop up around town, they take the drugs themselves and use the boost to improve their performance on the job. none of that is, of course, official - that’s why jing yuan works with these two rather than regular cop partners. yanqing sees them as two unwelcome guests, prolonging their uninvited and unwarranted stay well beyond the limits of his patience. what’s more, both seem to try and suck up to him to gain an additional access way to jing yuan. why? they must have agendas of their own, especially seeing how dan heng and blade don’t get along that well between the two of them. he supposes he can put up with them though, as long as blade keeps giving out swordsmanship tricks to him…

yanqing catches on far more swiftly regarding the drug case than anyone expects him to - to try and help out his dad, he pretends not to know about anything and, instead, wants to help get to the bottom of the drug mystery by himself. who distributes them? how they are made? for what purpose? how to counter them? what is even going on in that city of theirs?

while roaming around town to find these answers, he meets a strange girl from the yarilo district - clara. they pursue certain trails together, hugely unaware of the danger they’re putting themselves in

ready to do what it takes to get to the bottom of the case, they take the mara drugs too when pressed by circumstances and awaken powers of the icy hunt and brutal destruction. while faced with the after effects of that decision, they struggle to maintain their sanity (and keep clear of jing yuan’s suspicion, which yanqing is still trying to avoid) all while neck deep in the drug market bog that suddenly appears to be a part of a much, much bigger, darker and more supernatural picture than expected

and that’s about it. do i have the solutions to all these mysteries? absolutely not. i’m just digging the modern city hsr reality with a small magical twist, as well as the familial vision of yanqing and jing yuan, with the mysterious and chaotic addition of dan heng and blade. also yanqing and clara should totally be besties!

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istg the overall symbolism concerning these three (numbers, associations, times, forms) is one of the best i’ve seen in ygo, while being much more subtle than eg the five singers’ dragons in 5ds

...the Arclight brothers all have huge Machine-type monsters as their Numbers. Numbers 6, 9 and 33 are all Light-attribute, while 15, 40 and 88 are Dark-attribute. Furthermore, the Gimmick Puppet Numbers are smaller than the Chronomaly Numbers or Dyson Sphere.

They really wanted to emphasize that Quattro is the black sheep of the family, huh...

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i literally sought out therapy after reading arc v fanfiction. this is information of the kind one should only divulge after extensive torture, but i have no self-preservation so there you have it

Please reblog this if fanfiction has been beneficial to your mental health.