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yannisdesk · 8 months ago

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On Arcane & Antivillains

One thing I really enjoy about Arcane is how it handles antivillains.

For one, most of the characters (main ones) would actually fall into the category of antivillain at one point, or in the case of our two protagonists, become one. Arcane is arguably ripe with them.

An antivillain is essentially the opposite of an antihero. Simplified, antiheros do good things out of selfish or questionable motives, antivillains do things that are objectively bad or evil, but for noble reasons or for a greater cause. Another term for them is "sympathetic villain" however that term is too vague (there are villains out there who are sympathetic, but are none the less traditionally evil and therefore do not qualify as antivillains), and "antivillain" is a much better term mirror to "antihero." A common thread I've noticed among antivillain characters is some level of a Machiavellian approach to achieving their goals - the ends justify the means type of philosophy is something you'll always find characters that fit this category. At the very least, they dabble with it. In their eyes their actions are always justified because they're fighting for a good cause.

To put things into perspective, I'll use two examples. Harley Quinn shifts around, but she is frequently an antihero, take her depiction in both Suicide Squad movies. She does take down bad guys, however she's not doing so out of a sense of altruism, but to get a reduced prison sentence. Very cut-and-dry example of antiheroism.

On the flip side you have Magneto. Now from what I've seen (I've dabbled in the comics, but haven't dived in all the way) in the comics he gets very dark with the antihuman action. But in the Xmen movies, he definitely does some down right villainous stuff, but his intention remains the same - he wants mutants to live in a world free of bigotry and he's willing to do anything necessary to achieve that, including committing atrocities.

Now if this sounds very confusing to you and you swear you've heard these terms interchangeably or that you can think of several characters that are labeled as type A when they should be type B or vice versa, that's pretty normal. These aren't archetypical heroes and villains we're talking about, so it can be hard to categorize them, and honestly most characters in general will go back and forth or shift at one point or another, so all you need to know is that those definitions are the ones we're working with in this post.

Here are the characters from Arcane that I think suit this label, and others that I think will.

Disclaimer: this is not me hating on the characters. I love all of these characters for this layer to their character. This is not a "oh, look, this character is bad actually," post. If anything, consider it a celebration of their gray morality and how well its explored in the show.

Silco

Duh. Silco is objectively pretty evil. Setting up a drug empire that destroys your own people, getting in-cahoots with corrupt cops, killing kids, and aiding in destroying a young girl's mental health is multiple levels of foul. However, for him, all of this was part of an elaborate plan to liberate Zaun, which is being aggressively oppressed by Piltover. They were necessary sacrifices made to the cause, and worth it because it will bring forth better days for him and his people. Now obviously, a lot of his actions definitely have to do with his own ego, however the only time Zaun isn't prioritized is when it comes to Jinx, who is like a daughter to him, and even that realization comes to smack in the face late in his arc.

Sevika

I'd argue she's even more noble than most since she truly is rooted in the cause for Zaun. Not only is she willing to do some pretty bad things for the "greater-good", she's even willing to betray people who she views as unfit or incompetent. And what's even more telling is that she doesn't do this for power (which is arguably a part of Silco's prerogative). Sure, she's his #2, but he doesn't exactly show any favoritism. And Sevika seemingly isn't even trying to become the new leader of Zaun after Silco's death from the season 2 clips, but will support Jinx, despite the fact that she probably could dethrone her. She's no true blue hero, but she's not a megalomaniac either.

The Entire Council of Piltover (Minus Mel & Jayce)

As obnoxious as they are, none of them are mustache-twirling villains. As we see with characters like Sheriff Grayson (not a council member, but they share the same sentiment), they legitimately think they're protecting the city with their neglectful leadership and oppression of Zaunites. Yes, this includes Heimerdinger, who seemingly only started caring about Zaun once he was booted out of the council, so that places him firmly in antihero territory in my opinion.

Why did I exclude Mel and Jayce? Their plots are actually upward in terms of morality, especially Jayce who by the end is closer to being a traditional hero by prioritizing peace and progress over the status quo or war, and actively makes the first move of trying to right Piltover's wrongs. Mel's arc has also moved this direction as well, as she went from arguing that Jayce and Viktor should build Hextech weapons in case of war with the Zaunites, to fully embracing peace. You could argue that Mel wanting the weapons means she was at some point an antivillain, and I might agree, but as it stands, she's firmly in the clear.

So, why are the rest of the council still considered antivillains? Honestly, we just don't know much about their motivations to say. They ultimately did a good deed in voting for peace, but you know, one good deed doesn't wash-out the bad and vice versa. They're not even on thin ice for me, they're still fighting for the surface.

Marcus

Questioning your actions does not mean you can't be an antivillain, and Marcus is a good example of that. He's is kind of like Caitlyn if she were way less compassionate and very incompetent. Marcus does not think his actions are evil, according to show runners he only places Vi in Stillwater to protect her from Silco; he gets involved with Silco because he wants justice for the building explosion and it goes out of hand. That said, he also threw a child into a dangerous prison with no charges and with the intention of keeping her there for life, and worked with a kingpin who was actively antagonizing his own people while reaping benefits from an abusive system. So yeah, Marcus falls more into being an antivillain than full-blown villain, he's still firmly an antagonist though.

Ambessa

I know it's very popular in the fandom to call Ambessa a traditional bad-guy type of villain, but she is actually very nuanced. For one - she does not see her actions as evil, nor are her motivations behind doing them rooted in it. Ambessa, as she states in Mel's flashback, was raised in the Noxian way. Her grandfather literally made her search the dead bodies of the people they massacred when she was a youth, and she was indoctrinated to believe that this was in the best interest of her family and the Noxian people. By showing strength and ruthlessness, she's telling the rest of the world: "Stay away from House Medarda and Noxus." Hence, why Kino's death wrecks her, because she values herself over how effective she is at warding people off from messing with her family. Her main reason for getting involved with the war between Piltover and Zaun will 100% be because Mel's life was nearly lost due to Jinx's bomb, and this is coming straight off of her son's death mind you. So, while Ambessa may definitely be one of the most ruthless people on this list, she is not at Palpatine levels of evil yet, not by a long shot.

Jinx

You guys saw this coming, right? This barely needs an explanation. Jinx grew up in the Lanes, was a victim of Piltover's oppression multiple times throughout her youth, was willing to fight for their freedom as seen in episode 2, and in the end, that desire, along with her being adopted by Silco, manifested in her doing multiple acts of violence, including terrorism against Piltover, which frequently hurt people who weren't guilty of anything. (No, blowing up the building in episode 3 doesn't count as one of her evil deeds because it was an accident.) We understand completely why Jinx does what she does, even though it hurts to see her slip farther and farther into this mindset.

Way more subtle (for now) but I'd argue she's there come episodes 8 and 9. Hell, you could argue that her arc is about her sense of morality breaking down due to realizing how impossible the situation between Zaun and Piltover is, and embracing an "ends justifies the means" type mindset that Vander tried to sway her against back in episode 2. Wanting to stop a kingpin from using this new dangerous drug to destroy your city and sister? A noble cause, indeed. Not really caring that (or being passive over the fact that) children die in process because of their approximation to said bad guy? Yikes. [EDIT: Since we're on this topic: here's a link to where I explored this aspect of her character. I did this a while ago, but I thought it best to include it here too for added context). Now, I know what some of you are going to say - how is this any different from, say, Steve Rogers telling Wanda Maximoff that sometimes there's collateral damage when doing hero work? The difference is that Steve didn't argue that those people had it coming because they're associated with the bad guys/or in their way, which Vi does. That's some dangerous conviction right there, and we'll probably see that elaborated on in season 2 given that she's becoming an Enforcer which is a position that lends itself to abuse of power (and if it goes anyway like things do with her game counterpart, she will engage in police brutality and not see an issue with it, but given that Arcane's Vi is way more well, nuanced, than her game counterpart I don't think it will go on for long). While we're on the topic of Vi, according to her prison records, she had a notorious reputation while doing time to the point that I find it funny Silco didn't put 2-and-2 together that the girl with short pink hair beating the shit out of and attempting to murder all of his goons that went to Stillwater was possibly the same girl that wiped the floor with those same goons the night Vander died.

Potential Antivillains of Season 2:

These are characters that I predict will become antivillains at some point during season 2 based off of where their season 1 arc left and clues from season 2 teasers and clips. This is not me saying for sure this will happen, only a prediction. But if it does come true, I will gladly collect $5 per accurate plot point.

Viktor

Two words: glorious evolution.

We all love Viktor. We all love good-guy Viktor, and we will also more than likely love not-so-good-guy Viktor due to how complex that arc will be. If it will go anything like his game-lore (which I suspect it will) his noble intentions will never leave him, just simply evolve to include some less-than-heroic actions and justifications. He still wants to improve the undercity, and well, humanity overall, with hextech, motivated by the injustices he's been put through his own life and his illness, but he will go about it in some very unorthodox ways, and his arc in Arcane is about him confronting if he wants to "evolve" his morality for the sake of his ultimate goal, which is progress. Viktor would definitely agree with the sentiment expressed by Gloria Steinem (character depiction, not a real quote) in Mrs. America - "Revolutions are messy, people get left behind."

Caitlyn

I'm pretty sure she actually will become apart of the antivillain roster in season 2, but noting is for certain. Caitlyn is perhaps the saddest version of this there is, because we see where she starts out. She doesn't want to be like everyone else in her circle, she tries to break free and be better. She wants to do good by both Piltover and Zaun. She has hope, gentleness, and doesn't place herself above even those who occupy the lowest levels of Zaun. She puts herself, her status, and her life on the line to discover the truth, and comes out her time with Vi steadfast in wanting to help heal Zaun. She can be a little naive and ignorant, but she never does so with malicious or ill intent. She is the kindest person in Arcane.

But, given that her mother was killed in a terrorist attack set off by the new Head Zaunite in Charge, things will change. As we see, Caitlyn becomes a sheriff on the Enforcer squad, and now her goal is no longer to sow peace between Zaun and Piltover, it's to avenge her mother by assassinating Jinx. Of course, this will be due in part that Caitlyn thinks snuffing Jinx out will solve the problem, which will be ironic and hypocritical because she told Ekko that getting revenge on Silco won't solve anything in Zaun, but now that she's in the same predicament, the tables have turned and now diplomacy is off the table. She still has that hero-complex, as she lives by the lessons of Sheriff Grayson, but now it's with a twist. The idealistic Caitlyn who believed in giving peace a chance through reform is gone, and she now believes that there's little to no cost too great for her to achieve this, even if that (possibly - again season 2 hasn't come out yet, so we shall see) means hurting innocent Zaunites. And what's scary is that Caitlyn has the intelligence, dedication, talent, and efficiency to pull it off. Truthfully, I believe we won't just be getting Sheriff Caitlyn in season 2, but also Dictator Caitlyn.

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elkian · 7 months ago

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More about GGG's finale and core plot (that is, BIG SPOILERS BELOW)

One recurring trend is loneliness. King's actions help connect people, and our protagonist continues in her footsteps, but the loneliness of the characters who play antagonists is especially notable.

The God Awards (which I've mentioned before, the whimsy of them made me totally blip over the red flags and implications) mention Inspekta doing everything for them. What would they be without him, Capochin asks?

"Lonely!"

Inspekta gathered the lonely hearts together. Gave them purpose. Gave them a charismatic leader to follow.

Saul is one of the most antagonistic non-Bizzy humans, and a recurring refrain in Milldread is how lonely everyone is. How gatherings are now somehow either discouraged or outright illegal (hmm, wonder whose idea that was). In fact, most of the Milldread citizens only have good or at least compassionate things to say about him.

(Sometimes I feel like the antagonists are shown a little much compassion given the way this plot goes, but it is also important to remember that deprogramming cultists etc. is based around showing compassion and reminding them that the world is not innately hostile to them. And there's only so much a single game can say in the span of a few hours, so, like, I get it.)

In fact, you have to insult Saul twice to progress in Milldread. How do you do this?

One, you get a dog to make a dog noise, and Saul loses it and comes over to harass the dog (and fail).

Two, after this point, he'll say that he "hates that shaggy little man". This is the line you need to give Budd to progress. When he asks for an insult levied at Saul, you can travel the town... and find that everyone has good things to say about him. He's misled, he's actually very sweet, his friends miss him.

It's very telling that the only way to effectively insult Saul to Budd is to use his own words to do it. Even writing this, I realize that this also implies a bit of a persecution complex with Saul - the people around him don't hate him, or even think he's particularly incompetent. They're worried about him. They understand that he's stressed. He was lead astray by a bad element but he snaps out of it (with help) in time to rejoin his community.

And speaking of throwing words back in faces...

Capochin shows a pretty regular skill for recognizing voices when you fling words at him - it's funny, because a lot of people in this game don't, so he's an outlier and that's amusing. In the battle against him, it means you have to work around him - you can't use his own words against him directly.

Instead, you put words in "Inspekta"'s mouth and bring that to Capo.

He shows an awareness, to a level, that this isn't really Inspekta talking. But this realization is a long time coming, and he can't repress it anymore. He can't deny reality when it's thrown in his face, when he's all alone, when nobody wants to work with him anymore. When even his god is only using him, spending more time with the Godpoke, leading him astray.

The Bizzyboys (and Hector; Yugo Limbo said that all of them come from Drain, hence them looking alike(?) ) evoke a very specific type of person, to me: the incel. Or at least, something adjacent. They're all referred to as "he" as Bizzys (I'm of a mind that Bizzyboys are all he/him while Bizzy, as, like, an honorary gender, mostly because it's just a silly idea; though in retrospect it also meshes with the enforced similarity situation). They're all lonely. They've banded together under a mutual purpose, but they don't really support each other.

And when they start to, between Hobbyhoo and BuzzHuzz? When they begin to collaborate, talk about taking a break from all this fash shit "investigating"?

Capochin shuts them down. Hard.

And Patty says he's scared of Capochin, but the other Bizzies say he would never hurt any of them. But when Capochin blows his top, all of them get really timid.

Capochin not getting involved in the violence until there's literally no one else to hide behind is so cliche that it almost just seems like a joke, until I took in the rest of the story.

Playing this game makes me think a lot of Fallout: New Vegas, a game where you can also destroy fascism and avert a cataclysm as a vaquero-themed courier.

One thing that becomes achingly clear in FNV is how the Legion is a cult of personality: it's not just the Legion, it's Caesar's Legion. Legate Lanius is terrifying, yes, but nobody talks about him as a leader so much as a warrior. Once Caesar dies, it seems obvious to me that the entire thing is going to crumple like a house of cards. Caesar didn't leave any backup plans, any true heirs, because the whole thing was his vanity project. There's no point to the Legion without Caesar, and he never once considered that there should be.

Inspekta and the Bizzyboys work very similarly. The whimsy and goofiness of the setting, which we also see in Smile For Me, lead me to miss some major red flags (I am also just. very dense.), which is a known problem in real fascism - the use of cutesy facades to cast absurdity on any claims of propaganda.

Anyways. My point is that the Bizzyboys seem at first to be a group, but are really more underlings in a cult of personality. Everything falls apart when faith in the system - in Capochin, in Inspekta - is lost. And Capochin is the Joshua Graham to Inspekta's Caesar; both of them culpable, both of them seeming in charge, with Capochin primed to take the fall as soon as things go wrong. But he volunteered for that! He wanted to be Inspekta's #1! The right-hand chump! The prime goon! He's getting everything he ever worked for, so don't question the system, Capo, because that's the same as doubting Inspekta. And doubting Inspekta means you're not a good Bizzyboy. Means you're ungrateful. Means that maybe what you have should go to someone who'll appreciate it.

They literally have their names stripped away - and I think the constant belittling and name-withholding of Patty, who genuinely displays real competence and intelligence at points if you pay attention, is a deliberate ploy. You don't want to be like P. You don't want to be a failure. Look at you, earning your letters! You almost have a full name! Not like that loser at the bottom of the barrel. You're a real winner, here.

And you, P? You need to try harder. Look how Alexei has his whole name back for doing hardly anything! How can you fail to get even a single letter back, compared to him? When Patty asks for his name back in Milldread, Capochin mentions solving mysteries - mysteries of "what does Capochin want for lunch", etc. It's silly, but it's also sinister. It's the most overtly self-centered bit of Bizzy lore we get for maybe the whole game. Capochin outright says he comes first and we laugh because of the delivery.

(The videos are fantastic, because they really set up the reveal in a lot of both subtle and unsubtle ways. Even the very first video, where Capochin insults Patty for asking a scripted question, before moving into the answer, is foreshadowing for the constant emotional abuse all of the Bizzys and Patty in particular are subjected to. There's probably much more I'm forgetting.)

Under the whimsy and humor of the game is a very real statement about cults and fascism and the kinds of people they recruit, and how they do it. They amplify the concerns of the disenfranchised and alone, people who have difficulty connecting with a community. They give those people somewhere to belong, ideals to uphold, and targets to gang up on.

Anyways. Good game.

#elk text #ggg spoilers #bolded for readability i hope #ggg p #bizzyboy p #and all the rest #i am not an expert this is just my personal take #great god grove #im not gonna call this an analysis bc i think that's overselling it but it's... close?

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artificialflav · 6 months ago

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I really love last line c!slime says to c!quackity.

“Thank you for teaching me what it’s like to be human.”

What a poetic line. Slime never saw the monster quackity wished he could be. Instead he is a broken and flawed man, who made a lot of bad decisions. But none of that took away his humanity. A complicated mess, but so intrinsically human.

#I love their dynamic so much #it’s so fucking interesting and just so fun to analyze #like ugh I could say so much more #but I’m a bad writer and I’m not a las nevadas expert qualified to give proper analysis #soooooooo take this more obvious bite #dsmp #las nevadas #c!quackity #c!slimecicle #quackity #slimecicle #quackiverse #mcytflav

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valadvisor · 2 years ago

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nozhdyved · 2 months ago

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thinking abt the color choices in challengers... luca guadagnino ur such a genius and i love u forever...

using art as a main example because i see it most in him but the scenes of him in 2019, pre patrick reunion, the colors are bland and neutral, as if reflecting his life back to him. even when he does wear colors (his blue and white uniqlo) its only ever small accents. the colors are never bright or happy or super in your face, they're just sort of.. there. like art is in his marriage and in the tennis world. hes nothing really special when hes doing this.

the scenes above- his match with patrick, the motel scene, and atlanta are the ones i find the most interesting color-wise.

in the tennis match, he's still only wearing small accents of color, but his surroundings are much brighter and contrast against him, making him stand out- playing with patrick brought that small spark back to his playing.

the motel scene is so obvious, the constant need and longing that all three characters feel for each other seems to make the room ebb and glow with the warm lighting, the contrasting colors of tashi's neon pink, patrick's mint green, and art's baby blue making an unbalanced mosh pit of colors that shouldnt mean anything but do.

atlanta scene, arts fiancee is LITERALLY cheating on him and his ass knows this- but to just know patrick is nearby, that their sick fucked up triad has a hope for returning brings some color back.

its like the mere idea of having both patrick and tashi around brings this sort of energy back into art that can be seen through the coloring. it cant only be one- it has to be both pat and tash, all three of them connected once again for the color to return to art's eyes

#charlie chats #challengers #art donaldson #tashi duncan #patrick zweig #film analysis #im not tryna act like im an expert in color theory or anything #might just be reading into it too much tbh!#but im having fun #anyway enjoy my bullshit

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theone-whocamebeforeallelse · 1 month ago

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I just can't get these stupid-ass scenarios out of my head with Tenya & Tensei and Tensei's hero friends, said friends being Kayama.Nemuri, Aizawa Shouta, Yamada Hizashi (Oboro Shirakumo died before Tenya could even remember him, after all).

I constantly have these visions of them being a bunch of chaotic ass young adults, fresh sidekicks, messy asf somewhere in their twenties, and poor Tenya growing up around them.

7 y/o Tenya, pouting: "Shouta, Tensei and Nemuri say you need to 'get laid, preferably by Hizashi', and that they should 'set you up'. What does that mean? They won't tell me"

Shouta, 22, gay and miserable, does indeed need to get laid and preferably by Hizashi, to tired to deal with this: "It means that Tenya and Nemuri think that Hizashi and I need to hang out more."

Tenya simply nods sagely and walks away, planning to inform Hizashi of this, unbeknownst to Shouta, of course.

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luckyarchivist · 2 months ago

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Archivist Hypothesis: Leander, Cutiefulest Cult Leader This Side of Lowtown (WC: 3K)

(Leader and Leander are only an "n" off... Hm.)

I’m here again, because Leander’s 2.0 route has been taking up all of my brainspace to the point where I haven’t even thought about doing the other THREE routes I still have to finish. Including Ais’s! And that’s my mans!

But my mans must wait. Because talking about Leander and his textbook cult-style manipulation is #1 Priority for me rn.

I mentioned in answering this ask that Leander and MC seem to be meant to be a "cult of one," where Leander is the Leader and the MC is his recruit. And, because I happen to love the video Mind Control Made Easy (I remember the musical.ly trends...), and have a copy of the script in my Drive, I’ll be pulling from that non-academic resource to illustrate my points.

So let’s talk about the new Leander, and the proof I could find of how he’s laying the groundwork for a cult-flavored, emotionally manipulative relationship with the MC.

"Structure your cult like an onion..." "...with the most benign and helpful features on the outside, and the most controlling, kooky, and evil parts at the secret inner core."

Honestly, I believe this element may apply to both Leander and his Adderstone. On the surface, the Adderstone is a group of do-gooder yorozuya run by their equally stand-up boss.

Also from MCME: “Establish front groups.”

However, unlike the Bloodhounds (RIP), the Adderstone certainly doesn’t give off the vibes of a local Samaritan club that happens to really like magic tricks and pissing on the Senobium’s good name. Their behavior so far feels almost cliquey. You’re barred from speaking with Leander when you first encounter him at the Wet Wick—

—and the Adders don’t even react outwardly when you mention the Senobium near them, instead closing off.

Kinda like when you try to tell a joke to the popular kids and they just look at you.

Now, yes, this is only two things. But we’re also only in the prologue, so I hope to see more proof of this insular culture within the Adderstone. A big part of cults is some kind of separation from the rest of the world, physically and/or mentally, and that separation being encouraged by the Leader. To me, even if they do good works, the truth of this organization is not the community helpers they’re marketed as.

Now, while Leander may not be trying to recruit you to the Adderstone (at least, not yet), he is trying to recruit you to his private, VIP cult. This means he must also hide his true personality under more benign layers.

I may be in the minority saying this, but I don’t believe at this point that Leander is totally bereft of goodwill towards others. And I hate to plagiarize, but this is what I said about Leander in the ask I referenced at the top of this ramble:

In 1.0, Leander is playing a part. He is acting as someone who is very silly and very promiscuous and endlessly kind, despite his abilities as a mage and a leader, because that is what draws people in. … But that's not him, or rather, that's not the truest version of him. In 2.0, Leander is himself. And we see in his route that the cute, blushing Leander, who speaks highly of friends and foes alike, is not absent — he's still there, because that is him, too. It's just not played up to such a comical degree. That is because 2.0 Leander uses his authority to get people to trust him, rather than appealing to their emotions with cuteness.

Whether you’re talking about old or new Leander, his controlling and kooky (I hesitate to say evil, for now) true personality is hidden under an approachable façade. For 2.0, Leander’s outer layer is the capable but never arrogant activist, one who looks out for the little guy and is always ready to lend a hand. We’ve only just begun to peel back these layers, and what we’ll find when we get to the “inner core” is yet to be known. I’m excited for it, though!

“Promise to fulfill their dreams.”

Oh, this one’s easy. We all know that the MC is in Eridia looking for a solution to their curse, having finally reached their breaking point in one way or another. After being res’d by Kuras, the MC seeks Leander on his advice.

And, wow: only the second person the MC has met in Eridia, and already we have a way forward! Not only does Leander promise to help you find a solution — and kinda imply that perhaps he is the only person who can help you find a solution, in his subtle way—

—but he also demonstrates that he can touch the MC without being cursed, and promises to fulfill their dream of “normalcy”.

This is something that, so far, no other love interest can offer you, not that MC is eager to test this. It’s an easy way for Leander to draw them in.

Having thought on it for a while, I thought this move of showing he could touch you was quite appropriate. The cults I’ve learned about in my very casual consumption of cult analysis media often do A Thing or Things to show people that the cult is legit, or to get those halfway through the door of the cult to recruit more people by saying, “Wow, come look at this! Isn’t it amazing?”

Religious cults might perform a miracle or predict the future or bestow momentary enlightenment upon you, to show that the Leader and the group are truly blessed by God or a similar divine being; growth and development cults might build community and allow you access to professional contacts through classes, workshops, and retreats, awarding you personal success and upward progress within the cult. In either case, the initial bait is a tactic to draw you in and make you want to stay, because you feel the cult has something to offer.

Leander’s version of this is his magical protection against your curse. I mean, it is a miracle, isn’t it? And we read through narration that MC is clearly starving (touch-starving, lmao) for this kind of contact. Their wish is being granted; surely, this man must be the one to trust, if he can do all this, right?

My addendum to the checklist: Choose the right prey.

"Fulfilling dreams" is just one of the cult steps that relies on the person you are recruiting being vulnerable.

Now, everyone has dreams. And, truly, I believe that fact is proof that anyone can be recruited into a cult, as long as that cult is offering the right thing at the right time. But the MC fits a specific stereotype of cult recruits quite well.

In my little bit of research, I’ve often seen the term “lost souls” used to describe recruits. Tenuous connections to family or friends, and a desire for community; a sense of purposelessness or despair; an endurance of hard times, and a yearning for those times to end, without the power to stop them. I would definitely say we see our MC in these. I mean, they barely see themselves as human because of their curse—

—and they say more than once that death would be preferable to living as they are.

This lack of self-esteem and general instability makes MC an easy target for a manipulator. Once you figure out what they want (the ability to touch through the removal of their curse), all you have to do is give them that, or the illusion of it. Of course, if you want to hold onto this person, and truly make them devoted to you, as Leander does, there have to be…caveats to this gift.

“Offer them something free...” “...and get them to feel obliged to give you something in return.”

As mentioned, the MC is incredibly vulnerable when they enter Eridia, and not just in a mental or emotional way. They are totally alone, in a new city far from whatever they could’ve considered home. They have little money, and the other form of currency that runs this town — information — they seem reluctant to give out to others. They need both basic necessities, like food and shelter, and a solution to their life-ruining ill.

Lo and behold, here comes Leander, who is simply too kind to make you pay for anything he gives you. Drinks, room and board, a chance to touch someone without driving them crazy: all free of charge. It’s a little suspicious, even to the MC.

It’s probably just because they’ve been so isolated and rejected! They’re just not used to a normal amount of kindness from people.

Leander’s free.99 approach made me wonder if that is how his Adders — and by extension, the entirety of Lowtown — were recruited or curried favor with. Perhaps those in his inner circle were guilted into joining the group after one too many free drinks, and then succumbed to the brainwashing reinforced by “true believers” within the Adders. As for the people of Lowtown, I highly, highly doubt they’d all fit the description of cult followers, but anyone down on their luck is likely to look favorably on a person or an organization that offers them aid in their time of need. And it’s possible that Leander could call on these people to do his bidding in the future, because of all the favors they’ve been done.

The question between Leander and MC is, “What will Leander ask for, in exchange for all of his free assistance?” Help taking down the Senobium? Your powers of contact insanity? Your heart, in sickness or in health, till death do you part? Or some combination of the three? There’s no way to know for sure quite yet; that’ll have to wait until the release of the full game.

“Encourage separation from their family. …” “Isolate them from the rest of the world. …”

If you’re following along in the video, I’m breaking from the order of steps — this is much later. But Leander takes the initiative and pulls this step out early in his solo route. Good for him!

Although MC has no family, they do have some semblance of acquaintances in Eridia, who they’re at least on speaking terms with by the end of the demo. You don’t even know these people that well! And yet, they are a threat to your to-be-all-consuming relationship with Leander, one that he is quick to crush.

As all the other LIs do, Leander offers to share what he knows about your other potential beaux. But look at this line:

Perfection! Not worth the Ais lines I lost, but still absolutely lovely.

It's right on the edge of, “I'm concerned for you, you need to be careful,” and “I will make you distrust these other people so you can only trust me.” It's so casually written, and so vague: partially, of course, because Leander is going to elaborate in just a moment. But I also like to think it's conditioning MC to take him at his word without detail. Ais and Vere are Monsters — shouldn't that be enough for you to stay away? It doesn't matter what "faults" Mhin and Kuras have — just the fact that I've said something about it at all should make you nervous.

And it only gets better, because you as the player get to see how easily Leander manipulates MC and maintains his geniality depending on what MC thinks about each other LI.

Oh, you want to befriend Mhin? Not a good idea; you shouldn't waste energy on “someone who won’t respect your time.” But if you don't want to bother with Mhin, Leander fondly describes them as a tender soul beneath all their thorns. The same for all the others: Ais is both a harmless rival and a Monster tyrant who sees humans as below him; Vere, a victim of the Senobium and a notorious killer; Kuras, a saint beyond reason and a mysterious shadowy figure unable to cure your curse.

Leander's lines about the other LIs in 1.0 (at least, as I recall them), were much more casual — and, of course, often implied amorous feelings or relations. Not anymore. This Leander has a goal, and that goal is to lock you down, now.

(This hypothesis of mine — that, over the course of the story, Leander is going to make the MC rely more and more on him, trusting him about everything {especially relating to his own stellar reputation and what it’s definitely not hiding, or the trustworthiness or safety of entities outside of those Leander can control} — also relates to many other steps of “becoming a cult leader” mentioned in MCME, such as:

“Make them paranoid about their own bodies or thought processes.”

“Revert them back to childhood dependence and mindless obedience.”

“Demonize outsiders as less-than-human, biased, corrupt, or conspiring against the group. Develop an us-versus-them mentality.”

I hope we’ll get to see these escalations come out in full force once the game is released.)

I also think these choices from Leander make narrative sense. Leander initially thought he had a monopoly on you, having learned that you took Kuras’s direction but didn’t tell him of your curse and its effects. Once he learns that you know everyone else, people who could plausibly draw you away from him, it makes sense that he would start to pull his strings to bring you back, as opposed to waiting it out. On the other hand, if you don't show any signs of leaving him by saying you see all the other LIs unfavorably, Leander can maintain his People's Princess persona and say nice things about them all.

This kind of two-faced manipulation fits in doubly well with Leander's new prominent angle as a sort of political figure: one who knows the right words to stir people up and get them on his side. He has the talent to spin a person as a sinner or a saint, and technically not be lying either way.

“Act friendly and interested. Get information and hone their weak spots—” "—and then use this information to manipulate them gradually. Over time, you'll begin to shape the recruit's behavior by granting or withholding this love and attention.”

As our cult leader, and the most outwardly and conventionally friendly of all the LIs, obviously Leander’s been doing this. Not only is he the first person to get some real information out of the MC about their curse, but Leander then suggests that he have sole rights to that information — for your safety, of course.

Not only that, but he's super excited when you tell him during his route that he is, in fact, the only person who knows what's really going on under those bandages.

Maybe because he's ecstatic he has the most leverage over MC out of all of his friends!

We also start to see some of this grant/withhold behavior in his solo route, though not with his affection so much as his information. He offers you new info about how to fix your problem (which MC remarks he got his hands on crazy fast!)—

This last line is both so fake and so real coming from him.

—before he inexplicably threatens to take this info away.

Love how he makes it seem like he's trying to accommodate you here!

By refusing to give up the information we were just promised, Leander actually manages to draw the MC closer to him. They panic—

—and their actions cause them and Leander to become closer, physically and emotionally.

Look at Leander, dictating your behavior at the end. You snake, you! 🤭

I won’t pretend I think that this cult of one is going to turn into a sex cult (an intimate touch cult, maybe XD), but there's a reason that sex is so prevalent in cults: sex is power. Based on what we know of Leander, I don’t think he’d shy away from having a physical relationship with the MC for both his own gratification and the achievement of his ends, i.e. keeping MC under his thumb.

Presumably, if you choose to date Leander, the MC has decided that he is most equipped to help them, and they place all their touch-related eggs in his gold-embellished basket. Not only that, but his isolating remarks during your discussion of the other LIs likely make the MC reluctant to trust anyone else for help. This makes the giveth and the taketh away even more potent, as without Leander’s love and assistance, the MC goes back to being the lonely and shunned “monstrosity” they were when they entered the city.

Personally, I think this bedroom scene is absolutely wild: why is MC freaking out like this? But I’ve never been indoctrinated into a cult, and people who have (as well as people who study it, or who deprogram cult members) say sometimes it can only take a couple of days to be hooked by the leader’s charisma. And the 2.0 demo definitely takes place over the course of a couple of days!

What’s to come?

There are a lot more elements of both the cult of one, which is a specific relationship dynamic, and of cult leaders and their followers in general that I could mention, both that Leander has already used and that I hope he will. But this is already 3K words, so, I’ll cut myself off here. There's only one thing left I want to say.

My hope: an Unnamed feeling

If I could speak one thing into the game, it would be all the cute lines from Ais and Leander back. But if I couldn't choose that, and assuming this isn't already present (since I’ve only played the new demo with my Exile, Iulanz), I'd wish for this:

I’d really, really like it if my fav, the Unnamed MC, actually notices these signs of cult behavior before the other MCs. They’ve been in the midst of a cult before, and it could be argued that they have undergone and subsequently broken out of a cult’s brainwashing already (though as an object of worship, rather than a worshipper).

I think it would be fantastic for the Unnamed, who was able to see their priests draw in who-knows-how-many people and turn them into “true believers” who willingly drove themselves mad by allowing MC to touch them, to realize that they were caught in this cycle again but on a different side. In some ways, that’d make their story a lot more tragic — a person who, despite traveling miles to escape their only home because of the damage they caused, cannot escape this toxic lifestyle of effusive and damaging devotion to one whose power or influence demands worship and obedience.

Et tu?

Here’s the mandatory section where I solicit feedback. What do you think about new Leander? What did I fuck up in this essay? Is this another time where I’m saying obvious shit that everybody knows, and I just shouldn’t have bothered? And will you be joining the Cult of the Dagger and the Snake? These are all questions I will be watching for your answers to, as well as your random comments, wherever you put them. Thanks for reading!

#touchstarved game #touchstarved vn #leander #leander touchstarved #touchstarved fanwork #archivist hypothesis #character analysis #i am so obsessed with leander who's bad #and i'm so glad he doesn't just live in my imagination anymore #but like. the leash line?#i still can't take it seriously #that wasn't sexy. i was just shocked #who says that???#anw i am NOT a cult expert so #please don't ask any hard questions about that 🥺#but i welcome easy questions!!

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