#and i loved getting to be astarion's kuro and isshin

[usedupshiver]

I honestly didn't expect to look at Sekiro and Astarion and go "hey, wait a minute, these are just the exact same picture". but not only are their story arcs basically identical, they are also examples of what has become a bit of a favourite storyline of mine. what I have dubbed "The Reverse Pinocchio Arc".

it goes a little like this:

evil father figure finds a real boy, and decides to add to already existing trauma in order to create a puppet for himself.

puppet gets lost on his own in the world, and through the power of friendship he slowly starts to become more real.

eventually puppet confronts father figure and says "no, fuck you, I want to be a real boy again", and can actually be free.

and I think that's beautiful.

(or, alternatively, he can entirely give up on being real and turn into a monster. still "free", but no longer a real person. now he's just a puppet for something else. something even worse. and he's going to make it everyone elses' problem.)