sampofools

[sampofools]

y’all ever think about how Aventurine and Sampo are perfect foils for each other o_o

bc i do

they’re both gamblers: high-risk, high-reward, life on the line, all or nothing type people -> but Aventurine will always choose the reward over his life and Sampo will always choose his life over the reward

they’re flashy and flamboyant to draw attention- Aventurine with his shiny clothing, Sampo with shoulder piece and sweeping movements -> but Sampo directs attention that he can flee from, and Aventurine makes himself a target

Sampo pretends to be meek when he knows he can get out of a situation, Aventurine pretends to be confident when he’s terrified a gamble will be his last

not to mention: the fandom has completely mischaracterized and watered down their complexities until these two very shady, very cunning characters are nothing more than hypersexual himbos

[sampofools]

17 REASONS WHY SAMPO KOSKI IS SUS

I'm not sure if I've come across a fictional character more horrendously sus than Sampo Koski.

Since I'm kind of hyperfixated on him (and Dr Ratio too), I will make a post on why our beloved blue scammer is very, very sus.

He is the only character to leave no trace when he walks. No splashes in water, no footprints in the snow. Literally no other character in the game does this.

All of his eidolons, save for one, are made up of two words and are very light hearted: "Rising love", "Infectious enthusiasm", "Big money!", "Huuuuuuuuge money!" and "Increased Spending", all of which reference either his love for money, or his warmth. The one exception is "The Deeper the Love, the Stronger the Hate". What? What do you mean hate? We've never seen Sampo be anything but 'haha funny scam boi'. What a strangely ominous thing to say...

Not to mention the art paired with that eidolon. In every piece of art we have of him, you can see the light in his eyes– not here. The light's completely absent.

His defeat pose. Every character is either kneeling, or sitting down. Sampo is the ONLY one who is still on his feet. This must surely be intentional.

The fact that he's among the few characters with an invalid rating from the rating pistol (Alongside Acheron, Jing Yuan, Feixiao, March 7 and Luocha, all of whom are either extremely powerful, or have a completely unknown past as is the case of March 7).

He is the only character to directly acknowledge the player in-game (Sparkle did this in a trailer, but... it was a trailer, so it doesn't count until it's something in-game). Self-aware character? (This is my own headcanon >:)

He very clearly is not a Belobogian native, this is all but confirmed by the fact that everyone states he just showed up one day a few years back (something along those lines). So... where is he really from? His splash art doesn't seem to be Belobog either...

The fact that the trailblazer turned away from him for ONE SECOND, and he disappeared without a sound??? Like he was never there at all.

The entirety of Funny Bone, which shows a very violent side to Sampo. You CANNOT convince me it doesn't hold some element of truth to who he truly is, because if Hoyo truly intended for him to be harmless comic relief with little more to him, why would they play this song live in an official Honkai: Star Rail orchestra accompanied with the visuals? Would they really approve something showing him in such a dangerous, unhinged and dark light when we've never seen him like that in-game?

The fact that he's a Masked Fool. A Masked Fool who apparently has some moral standards, but a Masked Fool nonetheless. Personally, I suspect he wasn't always so mellow.

THAT WHOLE SCENE OF FIREFLY DESCRIBING HIM, HAVING KNOWN NOTHING ABOUT WHO HE WAS, AND MAKING HIM SOUND LIKE SOME SORT OF SKILLED ASSASSIN?? (I know it was a shapeshifted Sparkle but I think the point still stands. Also, this might just be me, but before I realised it was Sampo following us around, the way FF was talking about our stalker unsettled me and genuinely left the impression that she was talking about an assassin of some kind... wouldn't surprise me if this guy's hands have been stained red in the past).

The fact that his backstory snippets are all of him just goofing around disguised as Madame Poisson? When there's CLEARLY more to him than meets the eye?

THE FACT THAT HE'S ONE OF THE FEW CHARACTERS WHO IS NOT ABLE TO BOARD THE ASTRAL EXPRESS YET????? Even Sparkle can board, so it doesn't have to do with the fact that he's a masked fool. And I think everyone else from Belobog can board, so... hmm... sus....

We find him in the Belobog outskirts. I'm pretty sure it's noted that normal humans can't go out there unprepared without freezing to death, or something? I might be misremembering.

HIS LIGHT CONE! HOW COULD I FORGET HIS LIGHT CONE! Firstly, notice it's not just one sniper targetting him, but there is also a man in the corner pointing a gun at him. The art is called "The Eyes of the Prey", yet when you read its description, Sampo is unsettlingly calm, spotting the sniper from a distance with no warning (makes him sound like he has borderline supernatural awareness, which I think fits with the idea of him being 'self-aware'), and is noted to have more money than the hitman makes from multiple contracts. I think the title is also a subversion– with how in control Sampo is of the situation, surviving TWO simultaneous hitmen, it's quite clear that he is not the prey– rather, it's those who target him.

He knows things he ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT KNOW. The fact that he implies that Dan Heng is a dragon? Or his 'knowledge' voice line, which clearly expresses his awareness that we arrived by train (when he should not have this information?).

His eidolon activation phrase is "Everyone has a colourful past, wouldn't you say?" We know literally NOTHING about his past.

So, I'm not sure EXACTLY what this all means, but it's clearly pointing to something. Don't let me down, Mihoyo! You usually do, you filthy gacha bastards, but... try to do Sampo justice please.

[sampofools]

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

[sampofools]

WDYM GREEK LORE TOO, SOMEONE EXPLAIN

Sampo... Is linked to Finnish lore, Greek lore (from what we learn from this event) AND tatalov lore...

This is actually crazy...

[sampofools]

Sampo sticks around during his event so naturally I have to take advantage and get pics, hehe

[sampofools]

Honkai Impact 3rd x Honkai: Star Rail Collab | Honkai Impact 3rd v7.9 "Stars Derailed" Promo Artwork

[sampofools]

Okay but I just love that the heart face matches his lil crooked grin 😭 it's too cute

[sampofools]

Here's another probably long stretch bc I'm starving for this man

I've been having to use items in my Echo of War fights for the first time since the newest fight is rough on me, and this caught my attention

Here's what I'm referring to with these. The first image is from the more recent event "Trailblaze: Friendship is Magic!" and the second image refers to the Aha stuffed toy event in SU

The hat also (coincidentally..?) has Aha colors

[sampofools]

SUCH MEOW MEOWINESS

hehe .. imagine catboy sampo headcanons I MEAN HOW CAN YOU NOT?? THIS MAN IS SO <:3 AND SO .. MIAU MIAU ... he is literally a siberian forest cat in disguise cmon

you and KITTY CAT SAMPO!

requested by: anon :3

pairings: catboy!sampo x gn!reader (platonic or romantic)

content warnings: none!!

comments: oouh ur brain is HUGE my liege… ive seen a lot of fox sampos but not a lot of kitty sampos. he’s literally my little meowmeow

first of all, he’s a little shit. this is obvious information. no matter what breed of cat he is, he’s going to be SO annoying. all the time

he acts all normal and cool in front of other people, hides his ears and tail and such. goes home to you, takes off his hat and everything, and runs around for 10 minutes

he is a grown man alright. but even he can’t resist the crushing temptation of chasing a laser. he uses his path of elation as an excuse to hide the fact that he REALLY wants to catch the laser

playtime is all the time actually. he’s climbing on everything you own, chasing things around. you have to buy so many cat toys because he keeps destroying them

people think you just own a really energetic and spoiled cat. and you roll with it, and then silently turn to that stupid little blue haired guy standing not too far away from you

he’s gnawing on AND clawing on a ton of stuff. of course he knows better than to screw up your couch or chairs, so he sadly begs you with the saddest eyes you’ve ever seen for a scratching post. just a teeny one! doesn’t even have to be that fancy!

you (of course) indulge in his silliness and give him the scratching post and dear GOD it is RUINED in a day. his claws are incredibly sharp and long.. no wonder why everything you get him usually gets destroyed! at least it’s a good weapon?

you have to hold him down to take a bath. he’s still very clean don’t get me wrong, but he’ll be whining so pathetically if you ask him to go anywhere near a bathtub. ooh but the moment YOU step into the bathtub to relax, suddenly he’s asking you if he can join

yeah his eyes dilate <3 it’s very cute at first because they always went big when he looked at you! how sweet! but it turned horrifying when you woke up in the middle of the night and just saw him HOVERING over you with huge huge eyes (he apologized)

meow meow, my liege

[sampofools]

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

[sampofools]

My theory on Sampo's true identity...

(Minor Spoilers for 2.4) (also, I’m no expert in… anything, really, but these are just my ramblings).

So, this has probably been mentioned before, but I have a teeny-tiny theory about Sampo’s true identity, and it relates to Finnish mythology.

So, “Sampo” in and of itself doesn’t have a set meaning, but it has its roots in Finnish mythology, particularly the “Kalevala” which is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry. In it, a blacksmith god by the name of Seppo Ilmari(nen) forges the mythical device known as “The Sampo”. It’s never quite explained what The Sampo really is; some versions depict it as a mill, others as a cornucopia from which bountiful creations flow from, and some even have it as being a world tree/world pillar, so what The Sampo really is, isn’t entirely known. But, what is known, is that it brought riches and good fortune to its holder (again, the same as the cornucopia from Greek mythology).

But why am I mentioning all of this? Why bring up the Kalevala? It could be that Hoyo just chose the name “Sampo” for some flavour—befitting of a character who magics up relics from seemingly thin air and is trying to create riches—and yeah, it’s a possibility…

Until I saw these two screenshots from the 2.4 story:

You know what this means, right? 

Kalevala is a real planet in Hoyo’s Star Rail universe, and I find it awfully coincidental that they would use this name for a planet and not have it related to a certain blue haired conman, especially since The Sampo is such a pivotal element in the plot of the Kalevala—there is no way this is a coincidence (I refuse to believe it).

This leads me to believe that Kalevala is Sampo’s real home world, and is where he originates from.

Now, this is all well and good, knowing where “The Sampo” hails from, but I want to focus on its creator—Seppo Ilmari(nen)—and his parallels to a certain blue haired conman. For one, Ilmari(nen)’s name is quite interesting as the ‘Ilma’ part is Finnish for ‘air’ or ‘weather’, and as we know, Sampo’s element is that of ‘wind’ (And also the fact that Ilmari(nen) is credited as “Godlike smith-hero and creator of the sky”. I could go into a whole spiel about Ilmari(nen) and Qlipoth swinging their giant hammers in tandem together for all eternity (Go Sampard! Geppie is Qlipoth's true heir, you can't convince me otherwise!), but that’s for another conspiracy theory lol).

So, ‘Ilma’ means ‘air’, and Sampo wields ‘wind’.

Cool.

If the parallels ended there, I’d just say I was being crazy… but there’s more.

Sampo’s 4th (and arguably best) eidolon is called “The Deeper the Love, the Stronger the Hate”. Two out of his six eidolons refer to 'love', whilst the other 4 are to do with wealth and riches. The wealth and richest aspect leans towards The Sampo of mythology, whilst the ‘love’ aspect, well…

According to the story, Seppo Ilmari(nen) is the unluckiest bastard alive when it comes to love. Like, seriously. His whole storyline is that he can’t find a woman. For one, Seppo Ilmari(nen) is double crossed by his so called buddy, Väinämöinen, into creating The Sampo for the evil witch Louhi of Pohjola in exchange for her daughter’s hand in marriage (which, Ilmari didn’t even want in the beginning), but when the poor guy actually sees the daughter and falls in love with her (and subsequently creates the Sampo—after failing miserably a number of times, mind you—he creates a crossbow, a boat, a cow(wtf?) and a plough, all which are somehow either evil or flawed), she ups and just leaves him hanging! (in the original runes, however, he is successful in gaining a wife, as his ‘unlucky in love’ spiel was later added by Lönnrot in compiling the Kalevala).

As with any mythology and re-telling of it, there’s so many different versions of the same event. In “The Maiden of the North”, a 1898 opera written by Oskar Merikanto, both Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen compete for the chance to marry Louhi’s daughter, who is then mentioned as being “Ilmari(nen)’s first wife” and who later dies to Kullervo’s curse (apparently she was a bit of a bitch to Kullervo by taunting and tormenting the poor boy—who was a child slave mind you!). Distraught, Ilmari(nen) forges himself a wife of gold and silver, but he finds her to be too cold and callous—he forges her out of love but only finds hate—so he tries to gift her to Väinämöinen (who doesn’t want her either, lol), and suggests he cast her back into the furnace and to “forge from her a thousand trinkets”.

Here’s the accompanying poem:

Never, youths, however wretched,

Nor in future, upgrown heroes,

Whether you have large possessions,

Or are poor in your possessions,

In the course of all your lifetime,

While the golden moon is shining,

May you woo a golden woman,

Or distress yourselves for silver,

For the gleam of gold is freezing,

Only frost is breathed by silver.

It is apparently your standard Aesop’s fable of “money can’t buy happiness”, which is something else I see in our dear old Sampo Koski. During our time in Belobog, we see how different he acts with the Underworld and Overworlders. To the poor, he actually seems approachable (albeit a bit of a nuisance), going so far as to help the Underworlders (an example being the questline “Survival Wisdom” in which he and Peak set up a business together renting out his tools to help the miners make a decent wage to support their families). In contrast, we actively see Sampo being very hostile towards the Overworlders, scamming them and putting the nobles in their place or setting them up to be caught by the Silvermane Guards (an example being during the museum questline where you discover his identity as “Mr Cold Feet”. Sampo clearly states to who he thinks is his mark that ‘we are not friends’ in a very hostile manner, something which we’ve not seen from Sampo before as he is usually quite amicable). 

For all Sampo’s showboating and flashing his money around, he helps where it counts. He wants to make money, sure, but not at the detriment of the people who need it the most, only to those with excess.

Anyway, back to him being unlucky in love…

In another rune entitled “Kosinta”, Ilmari(nen) goes on a journey to compete for Hiisi’s daughter, and wins by completing various feats, one of them being “ploughing a field full of snakes”:

And as we know, Sampo is very heavy on the snake motifs (the head of the snake on his shoulders, the spine wrapped around him, the daggers are its fangs…etc.)

So that’s another interesting link between Seppo Ilmari(nen) and Sampo Koski.

So, why have I gone on this long winded tangent about Seppo Ilmari(nen) when I’m supposed to be talking about Sampo Koski?

Well, that’s because I think Sampo Koski’s real name is (or a variant of) Ilmarinen.

In the Hoyo universe, I believe Ilmarinen came from the planet Kalevala and ‘created’ the persona of Sampo Koski, much like how in the Kalevala, Seppo Ilmari(nen) forged The Sampo.

As I’ve listed above, there’s so many links between the two:

“Air” as a name and “Wind” as an element.

Seppo Ilmari(nen) ploughed a field of snakes to win Hiisi’s daughter’s hand in marriage, whilst Sampo Koski relies heavily on snake motifs for his attire.

Sampo’s two eidolon names that relate to love (which are completely different from the other 4 eidolon names), whilst Seppo Ilmari(nen) is known to be unlucky in love.

I’m pretty damn sure Sampo creates his own bombs and tinkers with the old relics to bring them back to life, whereas Seppo Ilmari(nen) is a smith who created the dome of the sky! They’re both artificers!

And now the revelation that a planet by the name of “Kalevala” exists is no mere coincidence.

So, either Sampo is Ilmari(nen) - or! - Sampo is a puppet (like Herta) created by someone called Ilmari(nen). 

(I would love if his 5* version is him with this name).

Right, I’m finished rambling. Gonna go huff some copium...

[sampofools]

#YES

unpopular opinion but i really dont think that sampo and itto are super similar? i get they have some similarities but sampo is more intelligent and definitely has more con-man trickster type tendencies, and while itto can be a joking person i dont think he has as much malicious intent as sampo, like i genuinely dont see itto scamming someone or manipulating someone 😭 and im not saying that sampo is totally evil either, he does have his good sides and hes more morally grey than anything, but i feel like sampo is more tricky and sly comedic relief while itto is more of the type of comedic relief where he himself is the joke if that makes sense? to put it as simply as possible:

itto has more dumb but endearing himbo energy and is more happy-go-lucky, and is more of the comedic relief in the sense that ur laughing at him and just how overall goofy he is

sampo is more intelligent and a trickster type comic relief cuz he is just kinda morally grey but heroically aligned and u never expect what hes going to do next

theyre both just silly little sillies <3

[sampofools]

SAMPO SNAKE FANS WE R WINNINGGGGG

Penacony seems to have biblical themes scattered throughout the story and lots of symbolism with characters. It also seems to be possibly implying that Sampo represents the serpent in the garden of Eden.

[sampofools]

AUUUUGWHH2H2HEHWJ2QIQPE0ROWNAJQKQKELELELFPSPQPQLELRLWLEOF9W0QJEJDHJ22O0Q0S9DICJCCBSNNWNWWLQLQOWORORO2O

It feels like our time in Belobog was far too short compared to Luofu.

[sampofools]

They are so family to me

[sampofools]

hi is this anything

[sampofools]

The lies subreddit is beautiful