What are your headcanons about Marcille's mom if you have any? It's interesting that what drew Donato to her was cause she lived the history he studied, or that was said somewhere at least. She must've had an interesting life.
so this was going to be just a normal answer but then I realized I have a Lot of Things To Say. so here goes, a compilation of what we know for a fact from the canon, what I've extrapolated from the visual cues and details, and my theories based on all of that.
Things we know for a fact about Marcille's mother because they were explicitly stated in the manga and supplemental materials:
She was a court mage for a Tall-man kingdom at the southern part of the Northern Continent
Donato, a court historian, fell in love with her because she had lived through the history he was studying, and he courted her for 17 years (age 15 to 32) before getting married
She was a cheerful person who rarely showed extreme emotion and took things as they came
She always cooked a huge meal for Marcille on her birthdays
She remarried a gnome after Donato's death and a short distance away from Marcille's childhood home
Pipi, Marcille's pet bird, was actually older than Marcille and originally belonged to her mother (bird died at 62)
She was extremely heartbroken when Donato died and ultimately ended up instilling a deep fear of mortality in Marcille with her words
the only time she showed extreme emotion in front of her family was when Donato could no longer eat his favourite dish near the end of his life.
She scolded Marcille for being cruel to ants (implying she can have a stern side when needed)
Things that are explicitly shown but mostly through visual cues
She has a very distinctive style of dress always involving a ribbon choker (mirroring Marcille's habit of always wearing a matching choker with any of her outfits that don't cover her neck)
She was almost stereotypically good at housekeeping and traditionally "wifely" things (very frequently depicted wearing an apron or doing some domestic chore when not at work, seems to have been an avid cook).
She knits? (also, note the affectionate smile as she's looking at Donato and Marcille reading a book together in the full panel)
She was as excited for Marcille's milestones as Donato was.
She didn't tell Marcille much about elven food
(there are a couple things that this panel in particular implies:
She lived a good deal of her life (if not being born and raised) in a mainly elven country in the West, implied by her knowing enough of an elven region's cuisine to prefer Tall-man food over it
seems to have a pretty carefree and casual demeanour overall, if this is how she replied to Marcille asking her about it (sounds like she never gave her culinary preferences that much thought to begin with)
slightly related to number 2, it seems like she and Marcille had a fairly casual parent-child dynamic (especially in comparison to the Toudens' memory of their father)
(local elf tastes Italian food once and never goes back))
However, she seems a lot more... serious in most of the other times we see her? Almost like the very stereotypical archetype of a graceful elf.
Subsequent conclusions about her personality:
Usually pretty carefree and cheerful at home, has been a loving and attentive parent throughout Marcille's childhood (while not being so doting that she didn't discipline Marcille).
Slightly more conjectural theories on her personality:
Had a much more graceful and professional personality at work, which would explain the more serious portraits we see of her.
Given that both she and Donato had positions at the royal court, it seems a little odd that she'd go out of her way to do all the housework herself, so maybe she just enjoyed doing it?
Now taping all the evidence together and toeing the line between analysis and fanfiction:
It's clear that she loved Donato very much and was utterly devastated by losing him. But there's one thing that really stuck out to me in what little we see of her:
Doesn't she seem... angry? The way she's gritting her teeth, clutching the tablecloth, and how this is the first and only time we see her eyes opened that wide. In the following panel, you see her being quiet and dejected after her initial outburst. She's still crying very intensely, but her brows are furrowed, and she's not really responding to Donato's affection in her body language.
We're not told the details of how she felt about losing Donato other than that it upset her. But this, to me, implies that she was angry and resented that he was aging, that the end of his life was approaching. An "it's not fair" type of preemptive grief. And if this was the first and last time she cried like this in front of her family, she was either very good at coping in private... or very bad at letting herself feel unpleasant emotions until they become unavoidable and end up overwhelming her.
It's not too remarkable a detail on the surface. It's even reminiscent of what the audience has seen of Marcille. But... when it comes to the big picture, you'd think an elf who voluntarily chose to marry a tall-man and have a half-elf child would have been better prepared for this.
It kind of recontextualizes her cheerfulness to me.
"I'm sure everything's gonna be okay!" (or some variation thereof, depending on what translation you have).
And this is stated to contrast her extreme grief when finally confronting Donato's failing body and eventual death. But I'm wondering if... maybe this optimism was why she was so upset. What if she went into all of it thinking "everything's gonna be okay"? What if she was a little young by elven standards, and just followed her heart thinking that her own resilience would get her through anything?
Of course, only to get completely overwhelmed when she actually loses Donato. She turns into a completely different person. And that's heartbreaking on its own-- but what the audience sees is the effect it had on Marcille. Can you imagine being her, watching your invincible and upbeat mother suddenly lose all the light in her eyes in one go?
I've already made a huge post about how I think Marcille models her "work persona" off her mother, but another thing that stuck with me as I was looking for more details in the manga was this:
copy pasting from the other post i made about it lmao it's like... the second she resigns herself to lifelong pain and terror, there's another portrait of her mother facing her like this. with their heads bowed, in mirrored body language of resignation and despair and sorrow. Except it's posed like Marcille is still looking at her mother but her mother is looking away.
It took me a second to realize, but I think that it's a visual metaphor for the fact that Marcille's mother was the only long-lived role model she had-- and she failed to model healthy grief for her daughter. I don't say this as an accusation or to disparage her as a character, but just as a matter of fact. In her, Marcille was seeing herself older and losing a short-lived spouse or loved one of her own, and all she saw was hopelessness.
But her mother didn't mean to instill hopelessness and terror in her. She wasn't really thinking of how it would truly affect Marcille at all (at least, that's how I'm interpreting her looking down and away from Marcille in the metaphor), she was just sad. And she, in her own way, was trying to protect her daughter and help her prepare for future losses.
What she meant was "loss is inevitable, and you have to learn how to be in pain but live on anyway." What Marcille heard was "loss is inevitable, and you will be scared and hurt for the rest of your life."
Again. Marcille's mother doesn't feature explicitly in the story the way her father does -- but in so many ways, her shadow, her silhouette, her reflection is always hanging over Marcille.
All that to say... headcanon-wise (everything from here on is 100% without evidence lmao), I'd like to think that she matured and realized that she failed Marcille. I imagine her being regretful about it, wanting a chance to fix it but never finding a way to insert herself back into Marcille's life when Marcille is so so so busy becoming the most accomplished mage possible. I imagine her being herself again, now, so many years after her loss and after remarrying -- but with her cheerfulness tempered with a lot more wisdom and the pain of having gone through loss like that. I think the second Marcille actually tells her what happened in the dungeon, she'd want to go running to her daughter again -- if Marcille tells her the full truth instead of just being embarrassed she let things get that far. (oh, the tragedy of her wanting to be more like her mother and an accomplished adult who doesn't need to be babied... being embarrassed to actually tell her mother how much she fucked up...)
There's also the tension of her having remarried -- I know that there's at least a little bit of resentment that Marcille harbours about that, because she's childish like that at heart even if she makes an effort not to externalize it. I think that her mother would be aware of that, potentially adding to her sense of guilt and apprehension at trying to reappear/intrude on Marcille's life. I honestly don't think Marcille has met her stepfather -- or even considers him a stepfather rather than "mama's new husband" and kind of a total stranger. I think she and her mother actively don't talk about it in their correspondence, like an elephant in the room.
but, ultimately, I think her mother is on her side no matter what. Ancient magic? Dark necromancy? Sure, she'll feel guilty and like she was partially responsible for setting Marcille down such a painful path, but she wouldn't care. that's her daughter!! she would've moved back west and been petitioning for her at the court, buying a house right next to the Canaries barracks and visiting her every day that she wasn't on a mission. And if her husband had opinions on Marcille becoming a "dark arts user," he either gets over it or it's divorce with him. Yes, she might have had her optimism completely humbled by losing Donato like that -- but she's still headstrong and self-assured and she doesn't care what people think of her. It's her way or the highway and she's always going to be in Marcille's corner.
(She also needs a name lol. I went with Juno, just to be cute about "Marcille"s closest real life equivalent being Marcella, which is the female version of Marcellus, which in turn is a diminutive of Marcus, which was derived from Mars. Absolutely in love with Marcille potentially being named after Ares/Mars the fucking god of war btw)
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I think it's funny how the narrator basically asks you, before choosing to sign or not Raphael's contract, who do you trust more: The Emperor or Raphael, the devil himself.
And, honestly? I have no reason to trust the Emperor more than I trust Raphael.
Because give it or take, Raphael has been more honest about his shit than the Emperor. The first time you meet him, he shows you he's a devil. He kept his part of the deal after we killed the orthon, and even now, he straight up tells us what he's going to use the crown for.
The Emperor, however, has been lying to us since the begining. Like, him lying about his identity was a HUGE no no for me. I "understand" that he didn't want to scares us due to being a mind flayer, but at that point in game (when he shows his true self), we've already met Omelumm, who is a mind flayer but who tried to help us. Also, his instance on the "eat this tadpole, embrace your powers" is very iffy to me cause like dude i'm not doing it. Like you already lied about your true identity, why should I trust you with this bullshit?
Also, since I'm comparing the Emperor to Omelumm, I might as well compare Raphael to the other devil who is out there offering deals: Mizora. Mizora lies, adds shit that only makes Wyll's life harder. We have every reason not to trust Mizora, beyond the fact that she's a devil (which, i'm not gonna lie, i feel like a reason there's such a push against raphael's deal is bc he is a devil and y'know how religion messes with that But anyways, i'm not gonna get into that).
The Emperor looks worse in comparison to Omelumm, but Raphael looks better in comparison to Mizora, is basically what i'm trying to get here.
Also also, if you talk with Korilla, she legit says that Raphael's a good boss, treats her better than a FREAKING GOD did. Like, honestly, I (and i really only mean I,me,myself) up until this point in the game have no freaking reason to not trust Raphael. Like, ffs, he didn't even ask for my soul in exchange.
Anyways, this is MY opinion, MY thoughts on the choice my character has done.
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I've been thinking about why my QQQ in In Tune is Like That and it sort of all ties back to how I made her background - as in, growing up in an emperor's harem. Part of this is an answer I made to someone's comment, but it basically sums things up:
Like, in her mind she's using this unexpected turn of misfortune to eke out more independence for her peak, so if things turn even worse (which she fully expects. After all, YQY is really quite a good man, the exception to the rule if you will, and she knows that slaves can be reliable workers - the emperors have eunuchs in high management positions after all - but straight up leadership positions? No, nobody important would stand for that, this will bring the sect low for sure) she can swoop in and use her connections to save him from doom and then YQY will be happy that she didn't let his impulsiveness to kill a man over a personal slight drag her down with them all!
Perfect plan and she's certain she can find allies who will back her, the person encouraging this madness the most is SQQ after all and ugh, nobody likes that guy. She's sure that freeing the slaves after they became lords was also his idea to see how much power he has over YQY - why else would have YQY cared to do something so wasteful? He's not a slave anymore, so really he had no reason to do something so opening controversial, if not as yet another futile attempt to please that horrible SQQ.
...basically she lives in a rear-palace drama and playing the role of the ambitious consort and she isolated herself so much from the other peaks that she's not realizing that she's the only one thinking like this, actually.
Plus maintaining a spy network in the imperial courts, representing CQMS in that social sphere and preparing her disciples for leaving the sect and marrying men in high positions, thus returning to the politics of the palace environment, is such a big part of her duties that she doesn't step out into the world of commoners like ever. Sometimes she is forced to attend cultivator events, like the IAC, but even those are rare occasions.
She's the only one in the sect in this particular social sphere (LQG is from a noble family, but he left early and lives almost exclusively in the world of cultivators, WQW is the son of a general but his family was caught up in a regime change and executed) and she's stuck. She was born into and lives in a world of politics the others (YQY, SQQ, sometimes SQH) only reluctantly step into and never for long and it isolates her even more, in a way that's actually a little sad. She's living in a world that's almost as cruel as SQQ's, but in completely different way and by trying to do right by YQY and her disciples in her world, she's just further antagonizing her martial siblings.
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