#audrey wandersong

[dragondawdles]

last anniversary I drew kiwi and miriam so this year she finally shows up albeit a bit late

[beeguillotine]

Happy special guest Miriam Monday!!!

[luztism]

just a little random rhing i madee huehue

[lunarcrossingart]

Hey!! These are my totally cool pieces for the @wandersongzine ! They'll be hosting a giveaway pretty soon, so keep your eyes out for it.

It was an absolute pleasure to be a part of this zine and I honestly won't forget the friends I've made on it.

[magicwhiskers29]

I can't believe I haven't talked about this before, but augh, I've been rotating stuff about the Beast at Ichor Mountain and Audrey in the brain -- namely how I think you can draw some interesting parallels between the King of Hearts and Audrey.

Firstly, to get it out of the way, the nomenclature Audrey Redheart. Who is the beast at Ichor Mountain? The names clearly link our two suspects, and I think it's interesting that Audrey is one of notably few characters to actually have a given surname, in this game. Miriam doesn't. The Bard doesn't. Heck, none of Hala's family do, because they don't need a surname to remind you they're all related. (Iirc, Audrey may actually be the only Wandersong character with a surname!) So why Audrey?

Why Audrey, the character who gets referred to by her epithet, the Hero, more than her name anyway?

Because it's important, of course. For one, it gives Audrey a stronger sense of identity, specifically of the identity Audrey worries people won't care about her for. Audrey tells us her own surname, clearly indicating that she thinks important you know exactly who she is. But also, and more importantly for what I want to talk about, what it means.

It identifies red as Audrey's colour, suggesting a sense of strength. And I don't specifically mean physically -- rather, because it's paired with "heart", I'd interpret it to be implying strong emotions which, yeah, tracks. Audrey is angry throughout the game just as much as she's smug or entitled. I think it's even that anger that defines her more, because the haughty attitude is an act to play up being the Hero, whereas her anger at the Bard and Miriam for interfering comes from a very genuine place of fear.

Contrast this to the King of Hearts, who's established to be represented by pink, along with a lot of the rest of Ichor Mountain. Or, namely, the outside of Ichor Mountain and the core. At the heart of the mountain is the Overseer's palace, pink like him. And he was initially kind, the kind of happy-go-lucky guy we see the Heart Fairy to be, presumably. A very different kind of strong emotion. So he's the heart of the mountain. Okay, then he must be the "Beast at Ichor Mountain", right?

I think the phrasing of this act's name is interesting. It's not the Beast of Ichor Mountain, or the Beast on Ichor Mountain, but the Beast at Ichor Mountain. It's incidental. The beast isn't necessarily a native; they're just there, the beast who's found themself haunting the mountain named after the blood of the gods.

So I'll ask again. Who is the Beast at Ichor Mountain?

Well, it's Audrey. The King of Hearts is scary. He chases you down, fights against you, snarls at you, and enacts horror movie tropes on you, but we know what he's supposed to be like because we meet the Heart Fairy -- the next Overseer of Hearts. And we see this in the King of Hearts when the Bard sings to him, and it works, somehow it works, to start calming him down. The Bard, ever the bleeding heart, does what they do best, and offers the King of Hearts their heart and soul in the form of a song, and it works!

Until Audrey cuts him down. Audrey, who's decided to devote herself to a mission that has to go against what her heart says, because we know her motivation for ending the world, and it's not because she believes in the cause, cuts down the King of Hearts in the middle of a mutual display of unconditional love and compassion. Audrey, who sat there at the heart of mountain finally confessing that she's being Eya's champion to end the world and finally escape being Audrey Redheart, a nobody, and promised right there to give compassion a chance and face her struggles rather than clinging to more than just a self-sabotaging, but a world-ending lifeline, kills the King of Hearts.

Audrey only allows herself to be vulnerable without her sword. She needs it to feel important and powerful, and only allows herself to feel things about her mission, and process things about herself, when she can't just go slicing through hoards of monsters to earn some surface-level adoration and praise from people she never stops to make an actual connection with. So when she gets it back... She can't return to being Audrey Redheart, someone who maybe could have fitted in on Ichor Mountain had she listened to the Bard and continued to follow their example. She has to be the Hero, even if that's the hero who becomes the beast at the mountain.

And because this is Wandersong, let's do a little musical analysis.

04:46-05:10, specifically. Why? This is the mash-up of the Heart and Hero motifs. Overpoweringly, we can hear the Hero motif blaring on guitars in the foreground, but also the sure and steady Heart motif from the Heart Fairy's theme in the background. The Hero motif is stronger because Audrey is clinging to it, absolutely, but also because two people are using it. And they always have been.

The Hero motif is first used in the prologue to be just that, a theme for the Hero. But then the Bard reclaims it in Chapter 2 for "I wanna be the Hero", and also "I'm going with you". These are the times the player is going to first notice it, because it's shown to them so clearly! It's only associated with the Hero, and Audrey, again later on, because it's a concept, not a person. It's a concept any character can cling to, and unlike the Bard, it's Audrey's whole identity. It becomes her motif by force.

So in this piece where it's used, it's Audrey, or more accurately, the Hero, vs the King of Hearts. And the music already shows us who will win. We've discussed which motif is played stronger.

So who is the Beast at Ichor Mountain? She's the one who takes her sword in hand and tries to slice her way through the heart of Ichor Mountain.

[daily-axolati]

day 68!

the hero’s partner! (ft. @bildit )

[yourfaveeatsdrywall]

AUDREY from Wandersong eats drywall!

[bildit]

bilditpost 59

thehero thursday

[leafsheep-art]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY!!!!

[dragondawdles]

hey c'mon now

[beeguillotine]

Been thinking about Miss Redheart again......

[sword-that-shoots-lightning]

So I looked it up and there isn’t any law that says you can’t cause the near apocalypse.

(kiwi here: murder is illegal though, and that’s how you almost ended the world. you are not innocent)

[lunarcrossingart]

[goldeythehamster]

ah yes the three genders

witch, lesbian, and bard

[tourneys-by-me]

Round Two - Electromancy (lightning, electricity) 7/8

[mothwingedmyths]

I finally got my hands on this meme template let's go