#actually kills everyone like a boss

[firestorm09890]

The entire backstory regarding Ansem the Wise, his apprentices, and how they fell into darkness is kind of a mess. We’ve been retroactively getting new information about it that changes the perspective of it all for ages. But there’s one specific part I want to talk about: the losing of the apprentices’ hearts, and whether or not it was by choice.

Our first glimpse at what happened comes from Secret Ansem Report 3 in kh2.

Did Xehanort pass through that door in an attempt to contact that dark realm? No, not only Xehanort. It appears my other five apprentices, believing it was for the sake of research, stared deep into the darkness and were pulled into it. Even, Ienzo, Braig, Dilan, and Aeleus... They have ceased to be human.

Okay, so with that info alone, they probably fell to darkness like all those other evil bitches we saw in kh1. Given that in kh2 we also learn about the Heartless Manufactory, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable to assume that the apprentices were torn apart by the Heartless they created. However, it’s also worth mentioning that Ansem the Wise probably isn’t the most reliable narrator, considering a lot of his secret reports are about him being blinded by his emotions.

Then, in the secret report “Day 119: Hearts and Emotion” authored by Xaldin in 358/2 Days, we get this (bold added by me):

Watching that foolish beast flail about only deepens my disdain for humans and their incessant need to be pinned down by feelings. We became Nobodies precisely to avoid the shackles of emotion. It was only later that we realized the scale of that loss: that some things simply cannot be done without a heart. Nonetheless, I see nary a pleasant thing about it.

Implying that the apprentices had intentionally rid themselves of their hearts. So far, things can be regarded as consistent, kinda.

And then, not canon since it’s from a novel- Days novel specifically- but I wanted to bring it up anyway since it’s relevant (bold added by me again):

When Zexion thought back on their erstwhile research, the “plan” seemed to him like a contradiction in terms-- trying to reclaim what they had lost through their own actions. He didn’t believe they had done anything wrong by studying and producing the heartless. It just so happened that in that process, they had forfeited their own hearts.

The language here places an interpretation of this somewhere between what Ansem said and what Xaldin said- it may have been an unintentional consequence that they lost their hearts, but it was intentional enough that Zexion doesn’t understand why the goal suddenly became getting those hearts back.

Novel segment over

And THEN at the very beginning of Dream Drop Distance we find out that nah Xehanort just fucking stabbed them all (or, we see him stab Braig, at least; it can be assumed that the others met the same fate)

So that’s it, right? It wasn’t through their own actions at all, everything from before can be written off as having been retconned- NOPE HOLD YOUR HORSES

IN KH3 IENZO SAYS THIS

“We cast off our hearts by choice, make no mistake, but we didn't know that Xemnas-- or rather, Xehanort-- was deceiving us.”

Which is VERY notable because usually in KH when we get new info on this (pre-fall post-bbs radiant garden backstory) front, it’s always like oh. so we were wrong about this before and this new take is true. and then it doesn’t get contradicted again like this

WHY would you say something incriminating like that if it wasn’t true? The answer is Ienzo probably feels a need to overshare due to overwhelming guilt, but that’s not the point. If it was just as simple as Xehanort stabbing everyone without consent, Ienzo wouldn’t have said it like this.

the headcanon zone (warning: such deep speculation that I’m making shit up at this point)

okay here’s what I think:

Xehanort pitched the idea that the apprentices would be able to more effectively study hearts if they removed their own. Some (Even and Aeleus) thought that was stupid and dangerous, while others (Dilan and Ienzo) thought the idea had merit (I have no idea what Braig thinks, and Lea and Isa were not invited to this conversation). Xehanort did the same thing he and the other apprentices did to Ansem the Wise earlier: pretend to drop the idea, but continue pursuing it in secret.

He probably discussed it with Ienzo more than Dilan, because this kid likes him (and is, yknow, a kid) and is thus a lot easier to manipulate into doing whatever to help him. So one day Xehanort goes “hey Ienzo can you help me test my theory :)”, and Ienzo agrees. Xehanort did Not tell him he was about to get stabbed

And then for the others I also have ideas about how it went down but I kinda want to make a whole separate post about that- basically, Even and Braig were stabbed without warning, Dilan and Aeleus agreed to getting stabbed

So! Yeah! That’s my thoughts on this! Thank you for reading

[moeblob]

Pen doodles from yesterday and then digital for today

Katale and Rudyard but as little crime babies. Since he's known her for a while and just thought she looked like a little street thug despite being higher ranking than him in the crime organization at first, the cat-ear hairstyle was just A Thing for her. And it spawned the nickname he would use in private of "Kitty" and even when she grows her hair out and he grays even more he still calls her Kitty in private. They're literally just bffs who do crime and what more can you want of them??

[thecatspasta]

Looking at critique for Hazbin Hotel is half genuine shit that definitely should be up for debate and half 'Fuck Viv and the art and the meaning I forced onto this specific thing that isnt actually what the specific thing and also I felt emotion and thats obviously the shows fault I didnt understand how to stop watching something that upsets me'

This is why I stay away from Hazbin critique :3

[arsenicflame]

thinking about how all the rest of blackbeards crew had left by the time stede found the revenge

thinking about how ed was laid out in such a respectful way, like he was someone wanted to mourn

thinking about even after all he said, after mutinying on him, izzy could never really leave ed

thinking about how after all he did for them, all he lost, our crew couldn't leave him either

[r0achlezbian]

i will forgive all of larian's sins both past and present if we get a quest to kill mizora btw

[dimitrscu]

couldn’t sleep last night so i was watching some of those boss vs boss videos and there was a “can the bosses raid the haligtree” video. they had to make their way across loretta’s arena and kill a bunch of enemies and bosses. first a rot flower, then triple crystalians, then loretta, then a rot avatar, then duo clean rot knights, and finally malenia. only two managed to get to malenia and only malenia herself was able to clear the whole thing (no surprise there).

but the most fascinating one was godrick. dude got killed by the flower 😐

[imaginarianisms]

more asoiaf comparisons, parallels & antiparallels to the first dance of the dragons vs the second & final dance of the dragons (& possibly the sixth blackfyre rebellion): the blacks being daenerys i targaryen's supporters, the golds being aegon vi targaryen's supporters, tommen baratheon being a close equivalent to gaemon palehair & his mother essie & sylvenna sand which may be interpreted as a parallel with queen cersei lannister & taena merryweather of myr, trystane truefyre being a close equivalent to aegon/young griff & perkin being jon connington & the shepherd being the new high septon the high sparrow, dalton greyjoy being euron i greyjoy's ancestor & the latter surpassing him, alyn waters later alyn velaryon resembling aurane waters later aurane velaryon & finishing what their ancestors started. history repeats itself.

[dollsuguru]

bestie!sukuna is so fun to write omfg

[whynotimtired]

[kingdom-dance]

After being sick all week and working from home I’m destroyed that I actually have to GO BACK

[fleshdyke]

just remembered the green butchers. oh my god

[skyllion-uwu]

Good lird the scientist and eir fucked up lab experiment are kissing with tongue as they lay on the ground bleeding out together. Maybe doing more.

[todayisafridaynight]

I DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY TO SAY ANYTHING OF SUBSTANCE BUT PLEASE ENJOY MOVIE <333

IT WAS DEFINITELY A MOVIE

[the-acid-pear]

Actually I'm like going insane about Tenna and how they might be executed in the story bc like. They're gonna have to either make him EXTREMELY charismatic to the point whatever crimes they committed can be overlooked or they're gonna have to be like Actually Big Shot Spamton Wasn't So Okay like. There's... So much weight to the actions of a character we haven't even met it's hard to not be like Damn This Tenna Guy Sucks. But what if he DOESN'T suck? Like literally anything could happen. It makes me so excited.

[fryologyy]

stobotnik really is just mirandy with extremely high stakes

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

the age gap argument is the funniest shit to me. like you said demo doesnt even have a canon age. theres no age gap unless you make one up. demo could be the youngest merc if you wanted him to be

Right... Demo and Engie both are aged pretty ambiguously to me, they're not given hints of a canon age range like Heavy or Spy or Soldier, with bits of their lore (the gulag, being Scout's parent, and wanting to enlist in WWII respectively) all pointing towards some kinda range. Demo doesn't have an explicitly stated age like Scout either. It's kinda just in bad faith to assume that Demo is older than Sniper based on nothing, but also I cannot emphasize this enough even if Demo were confirmed to be in his forties that would not change how I feel about swordvan. I post bushmed. Clearly that doesn't bug me