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[slumbering-beauty]

Howdy, friend, have you heard the cut dialogue (Rogier's part is at 2:48) for 'dreambrew'? We have Stratek to thank for this gem.

Rogier's dialogue offers insight into his personality, namely his facade. If the Tarnished offers the dreambrew to Rogier after he becomes afflicted by Deathblight, he tersely says, "No, thank you. I don't need your pity." Then he catches himself, saying, "...Sorry. You were only trying to be nice. It would be my pleasure to take it."

I honestly kind of hesitate to call Rogier's affability a facade, implying a manipulative motive, but I would not go so far as to say it isn't something of a pretense. Concealing his "anger, grief, regret, [and] fear" may be his way of grasping for control, to keep intact the man he was before.

Our Tarnished becomes dear to Rogier, and Fia glimpses that bond ("[D]ear Rogier began to weep as he spoke..."/"I heard that you lent a hand to dear Rogier. He seemed positively elated."/"You truly are a champion. To dear Rogier, and myself, too."). He becomes very attached to us, though he holds himself back and only shares his elation in private with Fia. He is ""abed"" with her, so maybe his inhibitions slacken during that time.

Rogier, *clenches fist* accept our friendship.

I had not seen this before. Holy shit. Sorry for the late reply, but I ended up writing an essay about this, whoops. I’ve tried to segment my thoughts here into semi-coherent segments. Read at your own peril, I suppose.

First, I’ll preface with this:

This game doesn’t have NPC models that emote facially, which is a major factor our brains use to interpret meaning. Without it, the interpretations available to us about these characters are innumerable—I’ll give you mine, but there’s a whole lot more out there. There’s a good chance what I get from this game isn’t gonna fit perfectly into what anyone else will get, and that’s half the fun. 

(In Rogier’s case, I think having facial expression would be wildly helpful in figuring him out—particularly in the discrepancies between what he says versus the look on his face as he says it. But alas. It’s not in the cards for us. Life goes on.)

Now. Back to your regularly scheduled programming of “Madwoman Screams Into the Void Over Pixels, Part 48478456”

[1: IS THE FACADE MANIPULATION? ]

I don’t think Rogier’s cordiality is manipulative either—at least, not intentionally so. I think he just doesn’t like to rock the boat. In terms of social interactions, he takes the path of least resistance: saying whatever the situation calls for to keep that pleasant, distant civility that he seems to work best in. (The most obvious example of this being his line about “telling a good lie when I need to” in reference to keeping D in the dark about his aims.)

Although Rogier conceals much of his true feelings and self, I wouldn’t characterize him as maliciously deceitful. But I would say there are times where—despite his good intentions—his facade crosses the line from “politeness” into the more dubious territory of “lying by omission,” or even just plain lying.

(I think to him, there are times when the ends justify the means. But that’s another post.)

[ 2: WHY THE FACADE? ]

Now, this facade does help ingratiate him to others, and presumably helps grease the wheels on this whole “exploration of death” business, but I don’t think that’s why he does it. 

If I had to hazard a guess: He’s got a strong aversion to emotional vulnerability, plain and simple. 

According to his set:  “Rogier spent his entire life behaving with utter detachment. No one noticed the anger, grief, regret, or fear that existed along with it.”

“His entire life.” So it’s an aversion that seems to have long predated his interactions with the Tarnished, or even his time in The Lands Between as a whole. (He does mention first coming to TLB in his initial interaction, implying he’s from elsewhere. Most Tarnished seem to be outsiders, coming to TLB only after rising from death, according to Miyazaki.)

(Image from this post by yournextflame)

I think what you said—that Rogier conceals his emotions and clings to decorum/indifference as a way of grasping for control—is right on the money. 

[ 3: CONTROL OVER WHAT?]

Rogier is plagued by “anger, grief, regret, and fear. Those are all very strong emotions that, when expressed, aren’t usually done so subtly. For him to have control over his demeanor is for him to have control over himself. 

I’m gonna go out on a limb and speak from personal experience here: keeping that tempest inside feels vital to keeping it from wreaking havoc—especially on the things closest to you. But eventually, it gets to a point where any (conspicuous, non-casual) expression of emotion can feel like losing control. A breach in the dam, if you will. A little lets a lot out.

(I’d wager there’s a strong connection between him “keeping the mask on” and “dignity” in his mind.)

But keeping your cool that much, for that long, is alienating. Which eventually changes the homeostasis that you want to maintain:

“I can’t let them see me break,” (A momentary slip, embarrassing, but can be recovered from)

Turns into:

“I can’t let them get close enough to see how broken I am.” (A permanent, shameful state of being.)

Under that mindset of the latter, the new imperative is to keep people from being close at all. It demands “utter detachment,” if you will. 

[ Quick Aside: ] Obviously, the two examples above are cognitive distortions. But the emotional impact of those thoughts real. Consider how saying “ha, that was foolish of me” is much easier to bounce back from than saying “I am stupid.” The wording, over time, can change the way you see yourself, which in turn can alter your behavior. It’s a tough loop to be stuck in.

It’s worth noting that, in the long run, this kind of detachment can actually weaken the barriers that you desperately feel like you need to maintain.

Eventually, any closeness with anyone is just begging for emotional catastrophe. (“If anyone comes close to me, I will break.”) 

I think his relations with Fia (whatever they are) only serves to emphasize this. But more on that later.

[ 4: HOW THE CUT DIALOGUE FITS INTO THIS ]

"...Sorry. You were only trying to be nice.”

The delivery of that line is what stands out to me—when I first heard it, it didn’t sound like that was a good thing in his eyes. Which I think given the above, makes sense. The Tarnished’s kindness has serious potential to upend the delicate balance that he’s worked so hard to maintain. 

(Perceived kindness, I should say. The Dreambrew was supposedly meant to allow the player to see the secrets of the one who drinks it.) 

“It would be my pleasure to take it."

This line sounds like he’s giving a lot of effort to be polite and gratuitous, but I’m inclined to think there’s more facade here than truth. Maybe to other people it sounds like genuine appreciation, but in all honesty, it sounds like someone switching into Customer Service voice to me. 

But it’s like I said: there’s many possible interpretations. Have a few:

“This is a pity-gift, and this well-intentioned Tarnished is getting on my nerves.” 

“This might not be a pity-gift, and that is unfathomable to me. This well-intentioned Tarnished is growing on me and THAT’S getting on my nerves.”

“I was wrong to dismiss this as a pity-gift, and the kind gesture of this well-intentioned Tarnished is genuinely moving to me.”

Or, it’s not that complicated, and the tone is just a result of his general worsening condition. Reader’s pick. 

I will say, depending on how much the player has done for him at the time of giving him the Dreambrew, I think there’s a decent argument for the middle. As in, the distance is getting harder to maintain on account of his growing affinity/respect/etc for the Tarnished.

(I suppose it would be nice for it to be the 3rd one—just a genuine, earnest appreciation, accepting of friendship—but I’m… cynical. That’s not to say the Tarnished doesn’t break the ice with him—I think they definitely do break a fair amount of it. I just think some habits are very hard to unlearn.)

[ 5: FIA’S LINES ABOUT ROGIER ]

Fia, after Rogier is injured: “My dear... Have you ever heard of black knifeprints? Dear Rogier likes to talk of it when abed… […] These grand affairs are hardly my forté… But dear Rogier began to weep as he spoke… In truth I've heard tell from someone else, about the black knifeprints that fascinate dear Rogier so.”

Fia, after the Knifeprint is given to Rogier: "I heard that you lent a hand to dear Rogier. He seemed positively elated. You truly are a champion. To dear Rogier, and myself, too."

Oh boy. There sure are a lot of implications there! 

I have a LOT of thoughts on these implications. I’ll post about those separately, once I get my thoughts on the matter wrangled into something coherent. In the meantime, let me try to break down my thoughts on the above lines specifically. 

“You truly are a champion. To dear Rogier, and myself, too."

Like I said, I’m cynical. I’ve always taken that line about being a “champion” to them both as like, Fia being flattering. Not lying—because even when she tricks the player into setting up the circumstances for D’s death, she never outright lies. (“[...] It must have a special place in the owner's heart.”) 

I always imagined she had ulterior motives there, even if she was speaking truthfully. 

I saw it like this: the player helped Rogier, which benefits Fia, if she can get the cursemark from him somehow. So her high praise seemed, to me, a way to keep the player doing what they’re doing. This isn’t anything I have evidence for though, just the impression I got.

I do think that Fia knows Rogier well enough to speak to how much the Knifeprint meant to him. He might not ever intend to get too sappy with the Tarnished about it, but Fia knows him well enough to feel like she can speak on his behalf.

(Is that something he would’ve wanted her to do? Eh. I’d imagine not, personally.) 

Now, did Rogier ever directly say to Fia that the Tarnished was a champion? Or was it just something Fia knew on account of knowing Rogier’s character/dedication to his goals? 

I always assumed it was the latter. But there’s plenty of possibility he’s closer to Fia than he ever is with the player, especially when he knows he’s nearing his end. (The fact that he mentions D, but never Fia, makes me question that though. But he is a very private guy, so it’s anyone’s guess.)

“Dear Rogier likes to talk of it when abed [...] But dear Rogier began to weep as he spoke…”

Remember what I said earlier about isolation weakening emotional barriers, setting the stage for complete Emotional Catastrophe? 

Fia got close, and he fucking broke. It probably didn’t take much on her part either. A little prodding and few well-placed questions, and the house of cards came down spectacularly.

I can’t imagine his emotional expression there was voluntary, given the premises of this insane thesis. 

Additionally, this does mesh well with the fact that he never mentions anything about Fia to the player, despite the cursemark that they both seek. (And the fact that Fia says plenty about him.) It’s probably a sore spot.

[ Quick Aside: ] What was Rogier doing with Fia, if he’s so detached to everyone? Well, I imagine he had ulterior motives of his own, what with him exploring Death and all that. He was expecting to smoothtalk his way into some lead on the cursemark’s location, probably. Free embrace? Sure, why not. But he wasn’t going in there expecting to have any kind of real connection with Fia. So when she found the chink in his armor, it was a break he REALLY wasn’t ready for.

[ FINAL THOUGHTS ]

TLDR: Rogier's internal state can be roughly summed up as:

He's allergic to emotional vulnerability, and the facade he wears is more a reflex now than an active choice. By the end, the balance is getting very hard for him to maintain. Oof. 

So yeah. Cut dialogue. It does shed a little light on the elusive inner workings of the Roundtable Hold’s second biggest nerd. (Certainly the more tolerable one. lol.)

Also. What was the secret he keeps, Fromsoft? Don’t tease me like this, I have an action/adventure canon-divergence longfic to write! You can’t do this to me Fromsoft!!!

Loreminers please please please k;sdjfkadsfjs

(Or maybe don’t. I’m too deep into drafting Still Waters. If my characterization gets majorly canonballed, I think I'd rather just quit lmao) Also, Also.  On first listening, that “I’ll try anything once!” line fucking sent me for some reason, I was not expecting that. 10/10 game of the year

Okay, okay. Now I’m done. To anyone who’s made it this far, have a dog gif? I don’t know how to end posts. 

[slumbering-beauty]

I am honored.

Summary: Christopher reflects on the past whilst looking for clues in the present 

Thanks to @slumbering-beauty for the name of the poleepkwa homeworld: Pandyra!

[slumbering-beauty]

Was that a bloodborne reference I spotted 👀 What do you think would turks + Rufus preferred weapons be in bloodborne?

NOW THIS IS MY KIND OF ASK

God, I definitely thought about this way harder than I should have.

Reno runs a high Arcane build with the Tonitrus and the Blunderbuss. He pulls out A Call Beyond because it’s flashy and pisses everyone off at all hours all the time.

Rude goes full Strength with a Kirkhammer and a Cannon. High vitality and high strength, but slower. Sometimes he’ll pull out a Stake Driver if the situation calls for it.

Tseng is a mix of Skill and Bloodtinge with the Blades of Mercy and Evelyn. In dire situations, he keeps the Chikage in his back pocket.

Rufus is a 100% Skill build using Reiterpallasch and a Repeating Pistol. He also keeps an Old Hunter Bone up his sleeve for emergencies.

[slumbering-beauty]

NNEILJOSTENN said: interesting analysis but i’ll throw in my two cents here – the bird *is* truly gone, according to what the writers for the series said specifically. i haven’t seen that traslated from russian, can’t blame you, but here’s the gist of it: 1. the bird is part of sergey’s personality, but its extreme chaotic manifestation is supernatural. in the time of the raven kytkh did kill the bird. it’s gone.

2. sergey did retain the traits of the bird that he’s had all along, just the less extreme parts of it. all the violence you’re sort of correctly attributing to the bird is what’s left in the (now whole) personality of just sergey. again, this is from what the writers are saying, so like, idk, i love what they’re doing with it. hope this helps !!!!

omg it does help!! okay, this is interesting… so… how should we think about this? they killed off a part of the Bird? the extremely violent part?

this “(now whole) personality of just sergey” I don’t know if I like the sound of that. what I call Sergey is a collection of personalities :D one thing seems to be certain, that this “Second One” made an appearance

gods, I don’t know what to think, I’ll need to go back and think about this for another day xD If the two personalities, the Bird-like Entitled one and the more Subtle one are supposed to be one personality, like… dear writers, dude has DID, don’t throw in complete mood changes or smg, I can’t even wrap my head around and track the multiple personality thing xD 

If they truly killed of the violent part of the Bird (oh boi, I wouldn’t have gone that route, but sure) then we might have a new version of the Bird, i guess… can we get a comic where Sergey sits down and just explains everything he knows about his personalities? thank you :D

[slumbering-beauty]

The Ashen One @ Father Ariandel.

"I promised ye that much."

[slumbering-beauty]

Xie Lian said Mu Qing "might spit in the cup of someone he doesn't like, but he would never poison the water to harm others."

If taken at face value, this isn't quite saying Mu Qing wouldn't poison the water after it has been poured into the cup; it only implies he wouldn't befoul the whole water system and bring harm or even death to others just to spite or kill one person.

I'm sure the original Mandarin text says something along the lines of "he might spit in your cup, but he would not poison said cup," but Chinese-English translations are almost always fucking horrendous, so I'm just glad we're able to glean this much from MXTX's writing.

And more off topic, I wonder how MXTX's writing actually reads, how well it flows; if it adheres to a Virginia Woolf-esque stream-of-consciousness filled with florid descriptions and vast vocabulary, or if it is more simplistic but still well-written. I do not enjoy reading the novel solely because of its choppy translation; I much prefer indulging in fanart and fanfiction. There are times when the novel becomes prolix and nothing of importance is really being said at all, and the bland or even poor translation only makes it more tedious to read, but I doubt the translation alone makes it so boring. Rarely does the writing seem to be conveying something more romantic, but those moments are special. It's shards and pieces, but they are really endearing. I'm just remembering all the times Xie Lian describes Mu Qing's eyes as "obsidian" and that moment when a massive black wave rises above Wu Ming and remains suspended for a heart-stopping second before descending and swallowing him whole.

This article should be two posts, but meh. I hope y'all don't mind whip-lash too much.

[This post was replicated at my other account @lovecraft-sonia. That one has more TGCF-related content, please give it a glance.]

[slumbering-beauty]

More amazing Comic Dubs by @crownieva ! Thank you so much for making these come to life. I enjoy your acting and edits, so glad to see my artworks appear in your videos!  :D Please show some support:  Crownie’s Youtube Channel Link to Playlist of all my Comics: HERE

Enjoy :D!

[slumbering-beauty]

ₐccₒᵣdᵢₙg ₜₒ "̵̡̛̠̙̗̪̪͔͕̩̽̍̉̇̀͐͜͠S̷̟̗̱̝͍͚̳̈́̽͆̕c̶̛̰̖͔̟̲̿̀̅̊͌̀̎̾͜ị̶͆̓̿̄e̸̳̺̤̝̲͉̞̅̓͠͠n̷͉̩̒ͅc̶̢̜̹̗̲̟̽̾͠ȩ̸̛̙̥́͌̑̾̏"̸̧̨̩̬̟̣͕̄̆͒̆̽̀̏̾͝  ђเՇɭєг ๔เ๔ ภ๏Շђเภﻮ ฬг๏ภﻮ

[slumbering-beauty]

So sweet~

Part 2: http://ilikecheesecakeforbreakfast.tumblr.com/post/175356970883/software-instability

[slumbering-beauty]

Gavin: Remember that one time I liked you?

Connor™: No..?

Gavin: *flustered* Oh... Well—good, ‘cause it never happened!

[slumbering-beauty]

Connor™: I like your shoes.

RK900: I like that you like my shoes.

Connor™: I like that you like that I like your shoes!

RK900: *softly* 'Twas a joke.

Connor™: What?

RK900: *sO fTwAr E    i  n  s  t  a  b  i  l  i  t  y  ⋀* I desPIsE yOUr fOOtwEaR—

[slumbering-beauty]

Come on RK900 you know it isn’t easy for him to ask for help 

[slumbering-beauty]

Petition to rearrange bryan dechart’s face so that i dont have to cry anymore when drawing him

Anyway, theyre all diagnosed with gay

[slumbering-beauty]

Update, it’s gonna take forever to finish.

Protecting his mere human.

[slumbering-beauty]

Simon: I don’t know, maybe I should just leave him be.

RK900: Do you really think I got Gavin because I waited?

Simon: *innocent face* Yes?

RK900: No. I disposed of all the competition.

[slumbering-beauty]

3 different Connor in DBH

This is your RK800 Connor, if he didn’t die, then he will be Connor 51 till the end. 

If he died, then Connor 52 replace him. Connor 52 died too, then Connor 53 will take his place. 

This is your enemy RK800 Connor 60, that one who point a gun at Hank threaten you.

This is RK900 Connor 87, if your obedient machine Connor killed the deviants’ leader, RK900 will appears in the ending, going to replace RK800. 

[slumbering-beauty]

He’s a prototype