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imsosocold · 6 months ago

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Crack Theory To Celebrate Season 3: Min is the Missing Quarter to Time’s Clock. Or in other words, why I believe Liu Min has a superpower of his own:

Specifically, I think Liu Min is partially prophetic, specifically having the ability to see potential futures within his dreams in addition to being able to at the very least sense timeline ‘resets’ in some way. Whether he can only see his own future or also other people’s futures is unclear. Same with whether he can only see the futures of his current self or if he has the ability to see the futures of other versions of himself from different timelines. I’m going to continue on with the idea that the latter option for both cases are true along with the notion he (and really everyone) doesn’t have a good grasp and understanding on this ability.

This idea was sparked from the line Liu Min’s father said while blabbering on badmouthing him sometime I-don’t-remember- in season 2: “if only he had half the power his brother had!” (I’ve also seen the line translated as ‘if only he had half the ability of his brother’ which still carries the same potential hint/clue/messaging in my opinion, it just makes Liu Jung look less personally knowledgeable and comfortable regarding the brothers’ powers which would fit what we’ve seen from his character.) Now, that’s a very interesting statement for Liu Jung to have said, especially with how little screen time any of the Lius get and how little information we get on them during that time. Most notably know so little about Min, even less than Liu Xiao in some senses. He’s clearly a driving force similar to his brother but his motivations, nevermind his memories, we aren’t even close to being privy to. The word choice used is clearly selective and pointed but also ambiguous. Why specifically state ‘half the power?’ Instead of ‘any of the power?’ With how much the series loves foreshadowing I can’t help but find this not only intentional but telling. It implies Liu Min has some sort of power but nothing satisfactory or notable enough to actually be considered ‘powerful.’

Now, we’ve focused on powers centered around going back to the past with Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi in season one. We’ve focused on powers that alter one’s present conditions and abilities with Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi in season two. I believe season three will explore powers involving the future, specifically those that allow their holders to witness how the future changes. Liu Xiao is implied to have the power to see the futures of all timelines and how they’re altered/can be altered. It would make sense for Min to have a weaker, more limited version of this power. (We could also perhaps potentially eventually see powers that even that defy any sort of these categories regarding time and space.) Important character duos in Link Click tend to have complimentary powers such as Cheng Xiaoshi & Lu Guang and Li Tianchen & Li Tiaxni. I believe Liu Min and Liu Xiao also follow this pattern. ( I think Xia Fei and his sister will fall into this category as well. I also think Xia Fei and Vein, while their powers won’t be directly similar, will have powers that support each other greatly.) In addition, siblings, and overall the concept of siblinghood, plays a rather notable role in the Link Click series. The amount of sibling pairs are notable and the characters who specifically don’t have blood siblings are noteworthy as well. Again, it’s still unknown the extent of Liu Xiao’s and Liu Min’s connection and relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised if either Liu Min took Liu Xiao into the Liu family (like I’ve seen theorized) or inversely Liu Xiao took Liu Min into the Liu family as a parallel to Qi Rong and Cheng Xiaoshi. (Perhaps the duo met in Brighdon lol. I could definitely see Liu Min as being racially English and becoming ethnically Chinese over time.) Regardless of the weeds, Min having his own matching set of powers to his brother would make the Liu siblings be paralleling lines to each other.

It’d also tie up a bunch of loose ends and close all the boxes that have been opened.

Like when Xiao Li questions Liu Min about what he did to Emma, one of the few times we get to directly hear Liu Min talk for himself and specifically when he’s in a vulnerable position and not around someone he has to keep up a mask around, he starts rambling on about how he thought Emma was a zombie. It’s definitely an odd moment with no clear follow up and I don’t think it was simply to portray Liu Min as unstable (which was already obvious lol.) I believe that Liu Min had mixed up memories and had gotten his timelines confused. He remembered so vividly killing Emma he believed it was something he had done in the timeline he was currently living in. So when he saw her somehow alive he freaked out. Being around, talking to, even harming her right then with his bare hands didn’t clarify any confusion for him. I wouldn’t be surprised if all that, or even just her presence alone, triggered more alternate memories within him distressing him further. The reason he attempted to strangle her, even with no murderous intent in particular if we believe Liu Min’s claims, is him attempting to replicate what he assumed was a direct past event. An existential instinct almost.

And it explains why Min’s phone is wanted so badly by everyone in his family, Liu Xiao included. With how online Min was when he was alive, I think he kept information related to his powers on it. Perhaps notes on what was meant to happen in the future and in what ways he may have changed it. Less likely but still a possibility, perhaps Kyoka Izumi style Min needed his phone in some way in order for his powers to be activated. His powers, or at least traces of it, could even directly remain in his phone in some way even after his death.

Plus it’s not a power Liu Min can really have control over, nevermind wield, so that’s why he still has to rely on Li Tianchen to help him with his murders.

Now, this may seem like an odd pivot but this is relevant to this theory hatching, I promise.

I think no one song is written SOLELY for (a) specific character(s). Yes, even the labelled ‘character songs.’ I think all of the songs can apply to (an)other(s)whether the past, present, or future versions of them. (Even for said claimed character songs, for what version of said character at what time do those songs apply to?) I also think songs are often divided between multiple characters but aren’t always listed or even indicated as such. Some songs may currently be incomplete in understanding because we haven’t been introduced to a character / that part of that character yet. The core tenet I hold onto as a writer and reader is that metaphors can work in multiple ways and have multiple uses. Similarly, songs can have multiple subjects and many underlying applications and meanings. Keep In Mind IN SERIES was used in the final episode of the first season as a sort of tribute recap and primarily centered around Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi.(An exploration of the art that’s used to represent the song outside of the series can be its whole own separate post.) But I also think it could as easily apply to the Liu siblings as well.

All the exacts of why I think this can be explored another time, for this post I want to focus on this specific set of lines that previously had really confused me:

“Awakened every night

Surrounded by the devils

I saw the shadows taking my life.”

Again, very specific word voice with ‘devils’ and ‘shadows.’ The closest that anyone has used such pointed, occult and mythological based word choice is Liu Min . This also ties to the potential motive Liu Min could have for his crimes. I believe he saw his victims, or those who could potentially be mistaken to be his victims, harming him or someone he cared about in some way. Instead of trying to brainstorm different ways to potentially prevent such a future from happening or even just considering the events may be related to a whole other timeline that has nothing to do with the current him, he instead, in a twisted attempt to ensure that there isn’t even a possibility such a thing could ever happen, decided to take out anyone he considers involved with what he saw/who he thinks could ever do such a thing against him and/or that person. (Or maybe over time the term ‘threat’ evolved over time from ‘something life threatening’ to ‘anything that could cause any sort of harm however minor’, even applying to people he’s never seen before.)

In addition, parallels can definitely be drawn between those two specific duos especially in regards to the concept of ‘soul brothers’, a term that was formed in LONDON. There’s also a semi-popular theory I ‘ve seen where Xiao Liu is believed to be the future version and/or alternate universe version of Cheng Xiaoshi but not one of them has mentioned how that would affect people like Li Tianchen or Liu Min. So even darker mini theory within this theory. Imagine if Liu Min thinks he’s seeing a future related to him when it’s in fact someone else’s, making all his actions and crimes pretty much personally pointless in the end. Specifically Liu Min viewing Lu Guang’s future within that initial timeline and mistaking Cheng Xiaoshi as his (current) brother. Thus sending him spiraling down a crime spree. Considering Liu Min was possessed the entire time during his encounters with Cheng Xiaoshi with Li Tianchen really being the one interacting with the latter, it would really add to the almost mournful look Min gives Cheng Xiaoshi as he’s dragged out of the photo studio to the cop car. It also makes his confusion over hearing Cheng Xiaoshi scream when in his trunk so much funnier because Liu Min would be going “tf is that my brother in the trunk?” But just in a general sense Liu Min’s crimes being a twisted attempt to try to save his brother from ‘ any potential threats’ would make him a very interesting mirror to Lu Guang. It also makes Liu Xiao’s appearing apathy over his brother’s death that much crueler because Liu Min, despite the resentment that’s likely there towards his brother due to the mistreatment by the family, still does everything he can to look out for him. While Liu Xiao would likely consider such a practice pointless and not worth it. ( He may have tried in the past though, nee hee!)

Is this theory very dependent on dubious translations? Yes. Is this theory also primarily reliant on patterns that my mind simply may be making up? Yes. Can most of this ‘evidence’ be chalked up to correlations? Yes. Is this likely just me wanting Min to have more importance and depth? Yes.

Anyway I made this when I was really sleep deprived and high

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sun-marie · 2 months ago

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Post-canon, somewhere in a Rivaini inn, Lucanis sees more of "Rook" than he thought possible <3

Background/headcanons under the cut for context:

Background:

- Lydia Laidir, born into slavery in the Imperium, was inadvertently freed when the ship she was serving on was attacked by the Felicisma Armada, and eventually taken in by Isabela and the Lords of Fortune. Isabela gave her the affectionate nickname "Rook(ie)", and in a effort to cope with her upbringing she sought to reinvent herself under this new name. Overtime, the name Lydia became an extremely personal aspect to her, and by the time of Veilguard the only people who know her real name are Isabela and Anders (her magical mentor), and she goes by Rook exclusively to everyone else, even her partner Lucanis.

Headcanons:

- After the events of Veilguard, Spite stops reflecting Lucanis and instead takes the form of a cat (credit for this galaxy brained hc goes to @/ravioliage)

- As a mage growing up in Rivain and mentored by Anders and Justice, Lydia has learned to hear Spite in a similar way to Emmrich 💜 This makes many situations both more and less awkward.

- Shortly after the events of Veilguard, Lydia was able to pair Lucanis with a baby wyvern of his own, who he named Dolce (credit for the name goes to @/iisadiya), and when there isn't a pen outside or there's bad weather, she curls up on whatever furniture the inn provides in their room and absolutely destroys it with her claws and venom <3 Lydia and Lucanis have, on multiple occasions, had to soothe a very distressed innkeeper and pay a small fortune in damages 😔