#because I made these gifs specifically to convey that idea

[stiwfssr]

[qwertyprophecy]

Update on The Dark Queen of Mortholme!

Phase one is now essentially completed for art, code and dialogue. Onwards to phase two; because every good boss fight needs that part where the boss gets unhinged and gains a whole new set of attacks.

I too have chosen to be unhinged and made a design for the Queen's final form that gobbles up animation work hours like nothing I've done before with pixel art.

Concept sketches under the cut:

Initially I didn't have any ideas beyond doing a more monstrous design that amps up the Queen's features and takes cues from the shapes and colours of her original spell animations. However after writing the dialogue leading up to the transformation I immediately landed on a specific concept.

The transformation is an outburst. It's a manifestation of the Queen's terror and defiance towards her approaching death. She's unraveling, and in doing so she's channeling more of her innate violent power that she doesn't usually let out. She's essentially been having a long argument with the Hero about who they believe they are. Thus far she's gotten by being all smug and detached, but now she's losing and forced to reveal more of her true self to continue.

So her final form's design should convey 1. an outburst, and 2. the unraveling of a false front. Her base design's spikes, hair and skirt all erupt out into the wilder shape language of her shadowy spell-tendrils. They can handily be used to draw the eye from all directions towards the center of her chest, where I wanted to have this cracking pattern, like something hidden inside her is coming out. It's bright as if blindingly powerful, yet the cracks make her seem more damaged and vulnerable than her base form.

Continuing with the theme of an inner self showing through, the skirt's interior is also more visible than before. The flared jellyfish-esque shape connects with the deep sea vibe of the tentacles and contributes to the drama of a nonhuman silhouette.

A big thing for the silhouette is of course the massive hands. What's the thematic explanation for those? Absolutely nothing, I just think they look cool and dangerous.

Finally, lot of asymmetry was also introduced, both to increase the visual interest of such a large sprite, and to make her look like she's really losing it.

---

A note on animating this monstrosity: I've been trying to come up with a whole lot of cheats to keep a complex sprite like this as animated as possible without spending the rest of my life making this game. Early on I decided she should float, just so her idle animation can also be a moving one.

Secondly, the sprite is cut up to pieces so that I can keep reusing the loop of the writhing tentacles while moving her hands, for example. This is not something I like doing because in believable animation, motion in one part of the body always affects the other parts of the body. Treating a character as one entire whole when animating will make them feel more tangible, but alas, it's a compromise to avoid spending a hundred years in pixel-pushing jail. Like, I would love to see those tendrils flutter around behind her as she swoops across the room for her attacks, but... it'll be a lot more reasonable to move her as little as possible and instead add oomph to her attacks with some effects animations.

Anyways thank you for reading about monstrosity, she might be a pain in the butt to move but she brings me joy

[aspoonofsugar]

Lucifer: Dreams of Redemption

Lucifer is my favourite Hazbin Hotel character, so here comes a meta about him, his arc and the themes he is tied with.

OVERTURE

"The Story of Hell" tells us plenty about Lucifer by introducing his character and preparing his story. In particular, it sets up two key themes in his arc:

Redemption

Dreams

ADAM AND EVE (REDEMPTION)

Lucifer is tied to redemption, as his and Lilith's story is basically a revisitation of Adam and Eve's.

As a matter of fact the original Eden's myth goes more or less like this.

There is a man:

Then a woman appears:

And the two fall in love:

Charlie: Drawn in by her fierce independence, Lucifer found her and the two rebellious dreamers fell deeply in love.

They are happy together, but are forbidden to get involved with a strange fruit. They disobey, evil is born and the couple is punished and fall:

Adam and Eve are banished from Eden. Lucifer and Lilith are forced into Hell. It is the same story, but the rebellious couple offers the fruit instead of eating it themselves. The basic meaning doesn't change, though. The two lovers make a mistake, which spirals into a disaster. Adam and Eve are asked to pursue goodness, so that they can be forgiven. What should Lucifer and Lilith do to gain redemption? When it comes to the Devil, his path forward lies in dreams.

LIGHT AND FIRE (DREAMS)

Lucifer is a dreamer:

Charlie: He was a dreamer with fantastical ideas for all of creation.

Who grows into a cynic:

Charlie: Ashamed, Lucifer lost his will to dream.

Interestingly, this change of heart is conveyed through Lucifer's light turning into fire. He gives up on dreams and goes from angel (light) to demon (fire). This thematically frames Lucifer's moral fall as a consequence of his loss of hope. So, it makes sense that his "redemption" will be about rediscovering dreams. Still, what kinds of dreams should he focus on?

Charlie: As punishment for their reckless act, Heaven cast Lucifer and his love into the dark pit he had created, never allowing him to see the good that came from humanity, only the cruel and the wicked.

In Hell, Lucifer stops seeing the good in people. His current challenge is then to find goodness in others again. Specifically, he must better understand:

Charlie (microchosm)

The sinners (macrochosm)

ALL OF THE OTHER REINDEER

Both Charlie and the sinners share similarities with Lucifer. In particular:

Like her father, Charlie is an outcast in her own kingdom. In his younger days, Lucifer is a seraphim, who believes in free will against a world built on order and rules. In the present day, Charlie is a royal demon, who believes in redemption, despite a world full of chaos and violence.

Like their king, the sinners made mistakes, which landed them in Hell. The sinners are violent and selfish, so they are given a world of destructive chaos. Lucifer gives humans free will, so he is presented with the negative consequences of his gift.

Lucifer is like Charlie and the sinners, but he acts towards them like the Elders of Heaven:

Charlie: However, he was seen as a troublemaker by the elders of Heaven. For they felt his way of thinking was dangerous to the order of their world.

Lucifer: Alright, I mean, look, I love that you want to see the best in people, but these sinners, you know, they're just the worst. I, I don't know how much you can realistically expect from them.

This behavior has to do with Lucifer's own sin and banishment. He can't believe in himself anymore, so he doesn't believe in Charlie. He doesn't forgive himself, so he doesn't forgive the sinners. In short, he is projecting his unsolved feelings on both his daughter and his subjects. What the King of Hell is missing, though, is this:

Rosie: Hey, who down here isn't (flawed)?

His Kingdom isn't a place for perfect people, but for flawed ones. Still, it is precisely because everyone there is a loser that they have the potential to understand each other:

Angel Dust: You're a loser, baby Husk: A loser, but just maybe if we Both: Eat shit together, things will end up differently

This is true for the Big Boss of Hell himself, as it is highlighted by two motifs:

The Ugly Duckling in relation to his bond with Charlie

The circus when it comes to his relationship with Hell as a whole

Both are tied to loneliness and creativity. Still, they explore these ideas from different angles.

THE UGLY DUCKLING= FATHER AND DAUGHTER

The Ugly Duckling is about a small duck, who is refused by his peers because different and ugly. Once he matures, though, he is revealed to be a beautiful swan, who flies away victorious. This fairy tale is alluded to in Lucifer and Charlie's flashback, as he conjures a light show for her. As a matter of fact the protagonist of Lucifer's short stage play is a small duck, who becomes a shining seraphim-swan.

How does this symbolism tie to the themes of loneliness and creativity?

Loneliness- Lucifer is seen as weird by the other angels, who do not understand his way of thinking. He dreams of proving himself, so that they will accept him. At the same time, his own situation is a tragic inversion of Andersen's fairy tale. The Ugly Duckling is a duck, who takes flight as a swan. Lucifer instead is a seraphim, who falls as a demon. The Ugly Duckling finds a new family of swans, whereas Lucifer loses his family of angels.

Creativity- Lucifer tells Charlie his past in the form of a fairy-tale and gives it a happy ending. This short interaction shows how Lucifer is using fiction and creativity to handle his trauma. He channels his sadness into creation. Still, as the years go by, Lucifer's creative drive grows weaker:

In the present day, he is stuck building rubber ducks he himself dislikes (aka ugly ducklings). Not only that, but Lucifer's disdain for his creations hints to some self-hate issues:

Lucifer: That's it… Almost there… Now presenting… the magic-tastical back flipping rubber duck! Haha! That spits fire! Hoo hoo hoo! Hold the applause please, okay. Oh, thank you, thank you. Oh god, who am I kidding? This sucks!

The magic-tastical back flipping rubber duck that spits fire sucks. Still, Lucifer himself is a fire-spiting ducky:

In other words, Lucifer feels he himself sucks. He is an ugly duckling that can never become a swan. He is stuck as a duck. Why is that so? It's because Lucifer finds himself in a vicious cycle, where his loneliness and his loss of creativity are intertwined.

As he loses hope, Lucifer becomes less and less able to dream and create. This provokes more self-loathing, which leads to Lucifer cutting off his loved ones:

Charlie: No, we just have never been close. After he and mom split, he never really wanted to see me. He calls, sometimes, but only if he's bored or like needs me to do something.

How can he escape this situation? His only way out is to stop hyper-focusing on himself and to earnestly look at others. Starting with Charlie:

When I was young, I didn't really know you at all. I always felt so small. But I heard your stories and I was enthralled. The tales about your lofty dreams. I listened breathlessly. Imagining it could be me. So in the end, it's the view I had of you, that showed me dreams can be worth fighting for.

When Charlie is a child, Lucifer tells her a story about himself, his pain and his hopes. Charlie makes this story hers. She sees herself as the ugly duckling, who will one day fly free and shine at the centre of the universe. Charlie takes Lucifer's painful past and plans her own happy future. She imagines her story as a wonderful conclusion to his. Lucifer desperately needs to see this story play out. He needs it to heal and dream again. And yet, to have it, he must first accept that he himself isn't Charlie and that Charlie isn't him:

Charlie: Dad, I don't need you to protect me from this. Lucifer: I just don't want you to be crushed by them like… like I was.

He projects his failures on his daughter and opposes Charlie's dream out of fear. In this way, he forces Charlie to live a life she herself hasn't chosen. He keeps seeing himself as the main character, but Charlie is the protagonist of her own existence. She is free to write her own narrative, which might end up differently from Lucifer's. He may be the Ugly Duckling, but she will become the Beautiful Swan.

CIRCUS FREAKS = KING AND PEOPLE

The Circus is a key motif for the Hellaverse as a whole. As a matter of fact Hell is divided in seven Rings ruled by the Seven Deadly Sins that embody different circus acts. So, basically, Hell itself is a giant circus, which is why this form of enterteinment is very popular among demons. Still, it all starts with Lucifer, who used to be the Ringmaster of the sins' original circus troupe. In other words, Lucifer himself modelled Hell after the circus.

Why is that so? And how does this imagery fit with the ideas of loneliness and creativity?

Loneliness- Lucifer is the Showrunner of the greatest Freak Show of the universe. This is one of the meanings the circus metaphor stands for:

Adam: Okay, seriously! How many of you freaks do I have to fight?!

Adam: No… you (Lucifer) don't get to end this! I'm fucking Adam! I'm the fucking man, and you're just some fucking clown or something!

Hell is full of people, who failed in some way. All the sinners and demons are strange, chaotic and imperfect. They are outcasts the world belittles and refuses. They find themselves in Hell. Lonely together.

Creativity- Three-ring circus is a circus with three acts going on at the same time. On a metaphorical level, it indicates a chaotic situation. Well, Hell is a seven-ring circus. It is chaos taken up to eleven, but it is also the greatest show in all of creation. Lucifer is at the centre of it, which makes him the Greatest Showman. This is highlighted also by the King of Hell's preferred business. After all, among his known activities there are:

Its previous shows with the Seven Deadly Sins' Troupe

A theme park called LuLu World

An App similar to Ticketmaster, which is called Lucimaster

Hotels, like the decadent one Charlie uses for her project

These are all businesses linked one way or another to the enterteinment industry. Isn't it strange that the King of Hell has no control over a more strategic part of the economy, like industry, banks or health? Not at all because the enterteinment industry is the most important deal in Hell (thematically). And yet, there is another sin, who is pretty active in this business:

Mammon, the King of Greed, owns his Theme Park, organizes his own shows and even has a clown pageant to find testimonials for his brand. This probably happens as a consequence of Lucifer's depression, which lets him vulnerable to Mammon's attempts to steal Lucifer's ideas:

Octavia: Is it true this park is just a really shameless spin-off of Lucifer's far more popular Lu Lu World?

This detail is interesting because it shows Lucifer is slowly losing control of his own Kingdom. In fact, even his own area of domain is being threathened. This is not surprising, though, because Lucifer himself isn't really trying to be a good ruler. Or a ruler at all, to be honest. As a matter of fact he is shown pretty passive, when it comes to Hell and its people. Not only that, but he openly despises sinners:

Lucifer: Our "people" Charlie, are awful! They got gifted free will and look what they did with it! Everything's terrible!

Still, this is just Lucifer projecting his frustrations and self-loathing on his people. He unconsciously sees their failures, as his own failure. However, he refuses to rationalize it and consciously insists that his family should stand above the rest:

Lucifer: Mhm, you see? What'd I tell you? Charlie, sinners are violent psychopaths, hell bent on causing as much pain and destruction as they can. There's really no point in trying.

By doing this, Lucifer can't be the King of Hell because he is too disconnected from others. This makes him unable to empathize with his people and to create new dreams for them to enjoy. At the same time, this condemns him to isolation with really no-one he can relate to. He is stuck in his own head both when it comes to creativity and to emotional development. In order to move on, he should come down from his pedestal and realize that he can find companionship in his people. He too is in Hell. He too is a sinner. He too is a circus freak.

DAD-HONCHO LUCIFER

Lucifer's first step towards redemption and hope is to leave his studyroom (his own head) and to connect with the people around him. Specifically, he must be:

A better father (microchosm)

A better king (macrochosm)

In season 1, he moves in this direction and his journey is highlighted by 3 key moments:

-In episode 1, Lucifer doesn't appear, but he still kicks off the plot by setting up Charlie and Adam's meeting. By doing so, he fails both as a father and as a king. As a father, he doesn't offer any emotional support to Charlie after Extermination Day. As a king, he refuses to meet a Heaven Ambassador. Basically, he pushes all his political responsibilities on Charlie without giving her any assistance.

-In episode 5, Lucifer makes some progress by accepting to get Charlie a meeting with Heaven. Once again, he has Charlie face Heaven in his stead. However, this time he does so out of trust for her and her project. He starts supporting Charlie and seeing hope for his people. Still, he doesn't get directly involved:

Lucifer: Ok, I can get you the meeting but once you're in Heaven, I won't be able to go with you. Will you be ok?

-In episode 8, Lucifer does what he should have done since the beginning. He confronts Adam, defeats him and ends the exterminations. By doing this, he protects Charlie as a father and saves his people as a king. Not only that, but Lucifer also offers Charlie the emotional support he initially negates her:

Lucifer: Come on little lady, why the frown? In the last 10,000 years You're the first one to change this town You can do this, now I know it! For your story has just begun You can't quit now. Hell, you owe it! There's still damage to be undone You've changed my mind, you've touched their hearts Found the good in souls gone bad The stage is wrecked, the crowd is gone But by God, Charlie! The show, it must go on!

And he helps her and the group rebuild the Hotel. In this way, he starts openly supporting Charlie's ideals of redemption:

Everyone: Twice the bedrooms, we can fill it Lucifer: With more sinners than you can dream!

By the end, he is shown closer to both his daughter and her found family of sinners:

And he finds his creative drive again:

Lucifer: A remedial creation fom me! It's as easy as can be!

Interestingly, after the battle Lucifer loses his coat, which gives him a rather formal and dignified image. He appears more casual, just as he joins the group and works together with them.

Dreams through redemption and redemption through dreams. This is the basic idea of Lucifer's arc, which is centered around Charlie (microchosm) and the Hazbin Hotel (macrochosm). What do these two things represent for the King of Hell?

CHARLIE, THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Charlie is Lucifer's dream:

You didn't know that when I tried this all before My dreams were too hard to defend And in the end, I won't lose it all again Now you're the only thing worth fighting for More than anything, more than anything I'll shelter and adore you more than anything

After losing everything, he gives up on his ambitions regarding the macrochosm and focuses on the microchosm. He can't save humanity, but he can protect his daughter. He can't be a king, but he can be a father. And yet, this isn't the case because Charlie herself wants to get involved with the macrochosm. She doesn't want to be sheltered forever. So, to be a good father, Lucifer must step into the world again:

Lucifer: I'll support your dream, whatever lies in store

In this way, Charlie comes to embody Lucifer's ideals in two ways.

She is Lucifer's daughter, so she is the hope every child is to their parent. She is a small personal dream, when compared to his past ambitions of grandeur.

She is the embodyment of Lucifer (and Lilith)'s old dream:

Lucifer: I've been dyin' to find out who you are Looks like the apple doesn't fall far

Charlie is the apple that doesn't fall far. This means that she is her parents' daughter and shares their ideals. It also means that she herself is the fruit her parents gifted humanity with. After all, she is the fruit of a forbidden love. Not only that, but Overture sets up a very clear foiling:

The Fruit of Knowledge corrupts humanity, but Charlie will save it. Not the apple, but Charlie is the true magic of free will. A person born from a love story, which shouldn't have happened. A child free from her parents' sins. A woman whose name "Charlie" means "free man". Truly a beautiful synthesis of Lucifer and Lilith. A powerful embodyment of their deepest dreams. Still, how is Charlie going to free humanity? Simple, she will do so while pursuing her own dream.

THE HAZBIN HOTEL, A SECOND CHANCE

The Hazbin Hotel is Charlie's dream:

Charlie: I have a dream, I'm here to tell About a wonderful, fantastic new hotel Yes, it's one of a kind, right here in Hell Catering to a specific clientele

It is an impossible and lofty dream, which aims to change the laws of the universe (macrochosm). At the same time, it is a dream rooted in Charlie's personal desire to belong somewhere (microchosm). It is her interpretation of Lucifer and Lilith's legacy:

Charlie: But Lilith's hope remained. And her dream passed down to their precious daughter, the Princess of Hell.

In a sense, it is the evolution of Lucifer's old dream, as it is rooted in the belief human souls can choose goodness. Even after death:

Charlie: Don't you care, Sera? That just because someone is dead, it doesn't Mean they can't resolve to change their ways Turn the page, escape infernal blaze

This is precisely why Charlie uses an old hotel that belongs to Lucifer for her project. It is an unconscious attempt to bring both her parents and their dream back. This duality is well conveyed by the hotel's name:

Hazbin Hotel = a place where you can leave your past self behind and be reborn. A temporary house, where to find hospitality and redemption

Hazbin Hotel = something that used to be a hotel, as it is a crumbling building. It is symbolic of Lucifer himself. A person and a dream in ruins. An empty shell of his past self

So, the Hazbin Hotel is a place where to be reborn. This is true for both the sinners and Lucifer. It is a new dream rooted in another one as old as Earth. It is humanity and Lucifer's second chance.

FROM SHAME TO PRIDE

Lucifer starts the series full of shame. He is ashamed of himself. He is ashamed of his subjects. He is so ashamed Charlie is convinced he is ashamed of her too. Still, the Princess of Hell is determined to make her family proud:

Charlie: Don't worry, Mom. I'll make you proud.

This means that Charlie will become Lucifer's pride. This is set up also by the juxtaposition of Lucifer's two songs in episode 5.

Hell's Greatest Dad is an exhibition of selfish pride: Lucifer shows off his power to impress Charlie. He doesn't consider Charlie's wishes, but is focused on his own insecurities. This is made clear by how he keeps self-duplicating throughout the song. Lucifer's imaginary world is full of his many selves:

More Than Anything is a showcase of selfless pride: Lucifer opens up to Charlie and listens to her. Thanks to this, he creates a pocket dimension made for Charlie. This imaginary world is the Ugly Duckling with Charlie as its protagonist. Lucifer has her play with water, like the little duckling, and fly at the centre of the scene, like the swan:

Lucifer stops putting himself in the spotlight and gives it to Charlie. He goes from a selfish pride broken by shame to a selfless pride empowered by love. He leaves behind a negative manifestation of his sin to embrace a positive declination of it. This is coherent with the other sins seen so far:

Asmodeus, King of Lust, believes that lust is an art to be enjoyed by both partners and is against coercion and sexual violence. Thanks to his bond with Fizzarolli, his healthy lust blossoms into romantic love.

Beelzebub, Queen of Gluttony, enjoys sharing alcohol and food with her community, so that they can indulge into gluttony together. She gains pleasure from her subjects' fun and feels bad when they are down. Basically, she is an empath, who is very sensitive to others' emotions.

Interestingly, Mammon, King of Greed, is the only sin so far with no positive declination. This isn't because greed can't ever be portrayed positively (look at Greed in FMA), but rather because Mammon exhibits no form of selfless love. As a matter of fact love is the force that mitigates and redeems sins:

Romantic love (Asmodeus)

Community love (Beelzebub)

Familial love (Lucifer)

So, our King of Hell is going to overcome his internalized shame thanks to the pride he feels for Charlie. He is gonna deal with his depression through love. This brings us to two conclusions/predictions when it comes to Lucifer and Charlie's bond:

Charlie is going to inherit the Pride Ring. Why shouldn't she? She is the one fighting for the sinners' sake and she is the embodyment of Lucifer's pride. She would be perfect as Queen of Pride.

Lucifer is gonna realize his masterpiece is Charlie herself. She is his greatest accomplishment and creation, who will lead everyone to a freer and better life.

Lucifer means light bringer because he brought to life Charlie as the brightest light and dream:

She is both his dream and his redemption.

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Hi! I was just wondering who's your favorite phantom actor?

Can be from any Poto play, or movie, or anything really.

I'm really curious!

This and similar questions have been popping up so much for me in the last week lol

I like to be extremely specific so I will give you a few of my favourites

I have been meaning to re-examine my favourites for a while now

So my favourite overall, my number one, my blorbo, the phantom closest to my heart is always going to be Gerard Butler. Say what you want about his singing, but ain't no other phantom ever done Pleading Eyes (tm) like that man.

For stage Phantoms the one who has a hold on my mind that just will not let go is Tim Martin Gleason. I love a tall phantom. I love that in the title song he does not order Christine to sing for him, he asks her. He conveys, with his intonation, that he asks for the honour of having her sing for him. I love how expressive he is. This man made so many choices.

Vocally I think the best singer that has ever played the phantom is John Owen Jones. But I think my favourite phantom Vocally is Tomas Ambt Kofod, because he--more than ANY other Phantom I have heard, sounds like Erik. His voice is remarkable in its smoothness and delicacy, but also very powerful.

He's also so sensual and gentle. He loves to administer loving touches and caresses to his Christine.

His final lair is also devastating

The Phantom actor I think I respect most is Ethan Freeman. This man has such a dedication to this character and to the book specifically. He refused to read Phantom by Susan Kay because he didn't want an apocryphal version of the character to influence his interpretation, which he specified modeled off of Leroux's Erik, adding touches pulled directly from the novel such as kissing (or almost kissing) the hem of Christine's robe during "Stranger Than You Dreamt It", as Erik kisses the hem of her dress in the book.

Seen here in the West End in 1995 with Jill Washington:

And here, in Essen, 11 years later with Anne Görner:

It seems that over time he evolved this moment to the point that he appears to abandon the thought before he brings it close to his lips--probably thinking he's not even worthy of touching her vestments.

He's got an almost faerie-goblin quality to his interpretation. Like he's just scuttled out of the Black Forest. He also leans into the idea of Erik-as-Magician

He's not afraid to be sensual either, though.

I think the most emotional phantom is Earl Carpenter. One of the first full boots I ever watched was Earl Carpenter with Rachel Barrel. His Music of the Night changed my brain chemistry forever. The gentleness! The vulnerability! The vacillation between confidence and fragility!!

The way he would jostle Christine a little when he caught her, his face a picture of panicked concern!

Though I think his interpretation of Erik as (for want of a better word) asexual is a little wacky (considering the text), it strangely works in favour of Erik's particular brand of sensuality, and it paired particularly well with Rachel's timid and apprehensive interpretation of Christine (which I generally dislike--here, though). And his singing has only improved with maturity. The raw emotion of his All I Ask of You (Rooftop Reprise) in his 2023 run is shattering. Absolutely shattering.

My favourite feral Phantom is without a doubt Scott Davies. If you ever want to see the most unhinged "Let these freaks be together" e/c show you've ever seen you have GOT to watch Scott Davies with Meredith Braun. Ethan Freeman's got the Goblin King energy and Anthony Crivello has the Sewer Gremlin vibe, but if you ever want a Phantom with a real primal streak, you can do no better than long-standing West End understudy Scott Davies:

This guy tackled the role with a ferocity and an audacity that you don't generally find outside of Russian productions.

His Phantom hands? Oh Lordy!

And the best part is that Meredith's Christine was picking up EVERYTHING he was laying down. Her Christine is just as mad, just as feral, just as unhinged. And especially paired with such a hearty goodfellow Raoul as Matthew Cammelle--Raoul would have done well to gtfo of there. He was NOT prepared to handle this lmao.

And then there's Ted Keegan. Who for me will always be the Phantom that got away. If I had just done a little more research before--just three months into my poto obsession--booking my tickets to see phantom before it closed on Broadway, I might have had the transcendent experience of seeing Ted Keegan live. As it was, I had no idea he was even still playing the phantom, and wound up with Ben Crawford instead.

And I would be remiss if I finished this list without naming Thomas James O'Leary. Like Ethan Freeman, O'Leary leans into Erik's ghostly persona, with a magician's touch. I think he took a lot of inspiration from Lon Chaney's Phantom (note the position of his hands here).

His "Sing for me~" is one of my all time favourite line readings and got a very embarrassing reaction out of me when I first heard it.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, there was the moan.

[deadbydad-writes]

Hi Angel🖤

I wasn't sure if from your list multiple parts were allowed to be chosen but could I get a Brothers Best Friend Mechanic Miguel x plus size f!reader with a breeding kink preferably infront of the fire place??

l won't set anything up for you,if you're not comfortable writing body types then you can totally omit it,however if you're cool with that - please make reader a confident and fiesty girl who has zero issues going toe to toe with Miguel [ he can be a jerk - aka he doesn't know how to convey feelings or attraction and goes about it so so wrong].

I'd be so grateful to receive a piece from you, i enjoy you and your art.I'm truly shocked nobody has requested from your extensive list!

I wish you all the best in your writing Love, may it continue to receive lots of love and support ✨️

I. Fucking. Love. This! But I didn't do chubby! reader because I'm not comfortable writing body stuff yet, but I will always mention breasts, cunt, stuff like that, just not about the body specifically. Hopefully in the future I will be comfortable with writing that stuff, but for now I hope this is okay!

Your brother had made it very clear that you were not allowed near Miguel O'Hara, his best friend since middle school.

Your brother would always say that you were too young to date a guy who's nineteen, even though you were eighteen and a senior. He would always tell you that it would be weird for him to see you and his best friend together, let alone breathe in the same room.

But that didn't stop you from talking to Miguel when your brother wasn't around, but it would always lead to him being a jerk to you even though all you did was try to ask him about his day or ask him how he is doing with working on his motorcycle.

You honestly didn't know why he was an asshole, but he didn't know that you always stand up for yourself and fight back.

It was hot when when your brother made you come with him over to Miguels place, even though he never did and hated the idea, but he had to since he was going to work late that night and he didn't want you to be by yourself.

You were old enough to take care of yourself, but you were too tired to argue.

When he had dropped you off Miguel was working on his car like always, you swore that something was wrong with it every time you saw him, but you never said anything about it.

You let out a sigh and slung your bag over your shoulder and made your way into his garage, standing in front of him with your hands on your hips. He looked up at you and turned his attention back to the engine of his vehicle, a scoff escaping his lips as he shook his head.

"Why did your brother decide to drop you off here?" He asked with an annoyed tone. "He never said anything to me about this."

"He has to work late tonight, said he didn't want me to be by myself," you replied and set your bag down and sat in a chair in the corner of the garage.

"Makes sense, you're too stupid to take care of yourself," Miguel chuckled under his breathe. You rolled your eyes and rested your elbows on your knees.

"You're one to talk," you said with a glare. "All you fucking do is work on your damn car all the time."

Miguel let out a frustrated sigh and stood up and looked at you, his expression cold and annoyed as he stared at you, grabbing a rag and wiped off the oil on his hands.

"You're a brat," he stated. "Always complaining about not getting what you want, it's honestly childish of you."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" You stood up and walked over to him, standing in front of him with your arms crossed over your chest as you looked up at him.

"You know what I mean, princess," he answered with a growl, reaching his hand up to grip your chin so you were looking at him. "You don't know when to shut the fuck up or leave me alone, it's annoying."

You glared up at him.

"If you want me to shut up so badly, then fucking making me," you said with determination to get him to leave you alone for the rest of the night.

What you didn't expect what Miguel roughly pressing his lips against yours and to push you until you were laying on the hood of his car, your eyes widening in shock at his actions.

This was wrong, you told yourself, you promised your brother that you would stay away from Miguel, but...your brother wasn't here and wouldn't be for the rest of the night....so one time wouldn't hurt.

Wrapping your arms around his shoulders you kissed back, your nails digging into the back of his shirt as you closed your eyes and gripped his hair with your other hand.

You felt his growl against your lips and his hands large hands run down your sides and unbutton your shorts, roughly tugging them down your legs and throwing them across the garage, not caring where they went.

You sat up on your elbows and watched as he got down on his knees and took off your panties, stuffing them into his pocket, the action making you blush.

Miguel quickly buried his face in between your thighs, his tongue instantly licking your clit with a growl, his fingers digging into your thighs which would definitely leave bruises for a couple of days.

"Miguel," you moaned and grabbed his hair with your hand, the other covering your mouth as you realized the garage door was open and that someone could see you. Didn't help the fact that everyone basically knew your brother and they would surely tell him if they saw.

Closing your eyes and arching your back off the car, you grinded your sopping cunt against his face, a moan escaping your lips but stifled by the palm of your hand. Yes, you've had sex before but nobody has ever been this talented with their mouth or tongue, you swore that this was the best experience you've ever had.

You knew that you weren't gonna last long, not with the way Miguel was sucking on your clit and drinking up your juices like it was the last think he would drink in his life, not with the way his tongue was thrusting into your pussy, and not with the way he growled against your folds which made a shiver run down your spine.

You let out a quiet moan as you came on his tongue, your hips bucking against his face as you let go of his hair and laid down on your back, throwing your arm across your face as you caught your breath.

Miguel stood up and took your arm away from your face and kissed you again, this time it was slow and gentle as you sighed against his lips, the taste of your release on his tongue. His hands cupped your jaw, his touch gentle making a blush across your cheeks.

"I'm sorry if I...went too far," he whispered against your lips.

"It's okay...I liked it," you said and slowly sat up, Miguel moving out of the way to give you room as you pulled your panties back on. There was an awkward tension in the air, neither of you looking at each other.

"Why are you always so rude to me when I try to be nice to you?" You asked, breaking the silence as you turned your head to look at him with a frown. You watched as the male let out a sigh and run his fingers through his hair, his free hand resting on his hip.

"I was scared of my feelings," he muttered, still not meeting your gaze with his own. "My feelings that I like you...more than I should. So I thought that being rude to you would make you leave me alone so I would get over how I feel towards my best friends sister."

"Oh..." you said and looked down at your feet, biting your lip as you prosessed his words.

"Well, if it makes anything better," you started nervously. "I kept talking to you, even though my brother said not to, because I've had a crush on you for about three years. I wanted you to like me back...Guess you do though.."

Miguel finally turned his attention towards you with a surprised look before letting out a series of laughs.

"What's so funny?" You walked over to him until you were standing in front of him.

"Nothing," the male said with a chuckle. "Just that were both stupid."

You chuckled in agreement.

"So, wanna go out?" Miguel asked with a grin, his hand finding yours and intertwined his fingers with yours. "I'll take you to dinner."

"How about just a movie," you said with a giggle and kissed his cheek. "My brother will get over us being together, hopefully."

Miguel let out another chuckle and wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer so he could press his lips against yours once again.

Your brother can hate this all he wanted, but you and Miguel were happy, and that's all that mattered.

This could have been better, if it isn't obvious I have never written cunnilingus before so it probably isn't that good. But I hope you liked this, it's not my best work but I loved writing this. I honestly had an idea for a part two of this where Miguel and the reader get married or well engaged and the readers brother just fucking hates that.

If you want me to I would love to!

[ectocs]

The Dirubael

What can I say. I think it's enjoyable to interpret things a bit strangely, as if I'm an alien who saw a handful of earth animals and has to guess the rest.

Fast doodles + some bonus stuff (gif warning) below :), plus the usual chatter:

Black, big as a horse, tail of an elephant. Easy-peasy, picturing a big ungulate thing. Jaws of a boar. Okay, huh. A few ways to interpret that, but I'm going with some tusks. Not too out there.

Unusually long horns that it can adjust... now that's something else. I wanted to imagine a reason as to why it could move the horns. This included any number of mechanisms -- literal horns that moved through strange muscle attachments in a socket? Interesting, but not sure how to convey that through art. Maybe 'horns' like a beetle has horns -- either part of their exoskeleton or as mandibles?

The description of how it fights is interesting. It obviously needs to be able to move its horns, then, or at least look like it's moving them.

I did a few very very basic doodles (by my standards), first of cattle... mostly water buffalo... to get a feel for their head shapes. In case you wonder what I'm doing when I'm not making 'decent', more complete sketches, it's this. Consider this extra behind-the-scenes stuff.

With the last one I played around a bit with the horns, but only barely.

At this point I decided to switch to something more boar-like, with a dash of beetle, but I couldn't come up with anything I really liked:

My issue was coming up with anything that could move, or even fake it. I started making that open-mouthed mandible boar, getting basically nowhere, when I had a thought.

What if we expand on that spiky bug limb idea. Bugs love having spiky limbs. More limb, less... uh... mandible or horn.

Inspired by mantids and an OC of mine, I created the first real sketch:

It looks like horns. From a distance -- because who would realistically want to get close to this -- it would look like horns, and like they were moving. Personally I like to imagine that they charge or stab with them, rarely extending their 'arms' save for pulling down vegetation from higher. I mean... trampling things underfoot seems like a better defense mechanism really...

I took a few cracks at drawing it but has struggling to refine it. I drew it once in a basic form, but couldn't do it again. That's when I decided to take things an extra step.

BEHOLD, THE MIGHTY SPORE DIRUBAEL:

Yeah, so. I made them in spore. Modded spore, specifically. No idea if they can appear in my world, but they're in there now, so maybe.

I walked this guy around and took a few screenshots as references before leaving. I did ask for some animated avatars, though. And I'm glad I did. I love this thing.

Here's a failed screenshot where I accidentally whacked my spacebar while moving my meaty hands to the mouse.. truly, a majestic creature, this is.

[cfr749]

I totally, totally agree with your view of their relationship. The Barnes episode is one I can’t watch and I just pretend it doesn’t exist. The whole situation with Chris and Ashley was just…unnecessary and written horribly. I feel like Tim treated Lucy better when he was her TO and respected her and didn’t treat her like a child which is mainly what he does now. He became more patronizing AFTER she was no longer his rookie. Additionally, he didn’t say anything after Lucy told him he would do great in Metro - just gave her a half smile and left. He acted like a teenager during the Valentine’s episode when he gave her the silent treatment when he found out she did the five-player trade. And it ended with LUCY apologizing and Tim never once apologizing for his immature behavior. He also treated her horribly in the episode when Isabel came back. He invited her to LUCY’S apartment without asking Lucy, gave her a half-hearted apology only when Isabel was AT THE DOOR and then proceeded to joke around with his ex-wife ABOUT Lucy and IN FRONT of Lucy and then regressed to his TO voice with his “Chen!” later at the station, right after making fun of Lucy trying to help him relax. Like, hello, that’s your girlfriend! Why are you snapping at her when she didn’t do anything??? Chris was absolutely a shitty partner but Tim is a becoming a very, very close second. He treated her better when she was his rookie and especially before they dated. And im so bummed about it because I had such high hopes but the way they write Tim’s character is just ruining it for me.

Hi anon!

First off, I'm glad you got to get all of that off of your chest 😂. I know how isolating and frustrating it can be to have all of the feelings about choices the show is making, but feel like you can't share those frustrations without pissing people off or experiencing backlash. So while I can't control anything other than my own response, I'll just say, you're always welcome to vent to me!

I'll be honest and say I didn't notice / react to all of the things you mentioned in the same way, but I can see your points and understand why those moments may have rubbed you the wrong way. Especially since, like I mentioned in my last post, the issue isn't any 1 isolated incident. The issue is a repeated pattern in the storytelling and messaging.

Something I want to be clear about before I go any further though:

This is not about my head canons or what I'd like to believe the writers were trying to convey.

Of course I think the idea of Lucy liking Tim more than Tim likes Lucy is ridiculous. That's why I can't figure out what on earth the writers were doing.

Of course I don't hate Tim (I literally could never!!) --- I love both of these characters deeply, and close to nothing excites me more than the idea of the two of them falling in love.

This is specifically about choices the writers made and what we actually saw unfold on our screens.

And if my takes seem to be more pro-Lucy, that's specifically because, IMO, the way the story unfolded was much more favorable to Tim that it was too Lucy.

Which isn't even surprising. Women often get the short end of the stick. Women of color almost always do. And that is literally the entire point of why this conversation is important. It's why shrugging off repeated instances of Lucy's character being eroded in service of the ship or maybe just as a result of the thoughtlessness of the writers really bothers me. It's why I'm not the only one who feels this way.

So, anon, for now, I'm just going to dig into the first item you mentioned as one of the first examples of this pattern -- the Katie Barnes of it all (sorry Katie - you were lovely - I promise it's nothing personal 😂). Setting aside the confession prank in 3x09 (which is it's own essay), this was the first time I started to really question the direction the show was going with making the ship canon. At the time, I hoped it was a blip, because we all remember that look in 3x14, and... yeah.

I believe this was the first appearance of jealous Lucy. And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with using jealousy to tell a story -- as long as it serves a purpose and as long as it's not completely 1-sided.

But instead of moving Chenford forward, this actually moved them several steps backward for me.

Like you mention anon, in seasons 1 and 2, despite Lucy being his rookie, I felt that they were very much portrayed as equals. They helped each other in different ways. I’d argue Lucy often showed she was more emotionally intelligent than Tim and used that to help him navigate through the end of his marriage, and Tim obviously poured everything he had into getting her as ready as she possibly could be to move on to the next step in her career.

But this scene in 3x11 managed to re-assert the Rookie - T.O. dynamic in a way that slapped me harder than any moment when he was actually her T.O. -- asserting Tim's view of Lucy as someone he needed to teach not how to be a capable police officer, but someone he needed to teach about the world.

He said this to Lucy. Lucy! LUCY!

If you don't understand why this is categorically absurd, please go re-watch season 1 right now.

The fact that it was couched in compliments and we got to see Lucy go squee over his praise doesn't make this any less patronizing.

Literally, I don't need to hear any man say this to any woman ever. I especially don't need to hear a white man saying it to a woman of color. And I sure as hell did not need to hear Tim say it to Lucy.

So where'd we end up?

Lucy took some major hits to her character, blurring the lines between personal and professional by accusing Tim of giving Katie special treatment because he found her attractive, and ultimately came off as jealous, immature, insecure, and unprofessional amongst probably some other less than flattering things. And note, I'm not saying I think she is these things. I'm saying she was portrayed to the general audience as being these things.

Tim, on the other hand, got a windfall -- not only did he get to be the wise, all knowing teacher (let's not forget his deep love of meditation), he got to have all his past sins erased under the guise of helping sweet Lucy understand the world is a scary place.

***

So obviously you mentioned a bunch of other examples, but this is already too long and probably not at all what you were looking for in a response, so I'm going to wrap up here. I got another ask about the Valentine's Day plot, so I'll tackle what I did and didn't like there eventually (yes, I am capable of liking things. it's rare, but possible).

Thanks for the ask! 🥰🥰🥰

[yurizinmaster]

My Review Of The Movie "Red, White Royal blue".

Hello, how are you? So today I came to give my honest opinion of the movie, Red white Royal blue. And the reason I'm talking Only now is because I'll just watch the movie one of these days (🤡) I'll talk about the positives and negatives and I thought of the movie at the end.

____________________________________________

First Impressions 💜

I saw this movie for the first time through reviews on youtube, I admit I didn't find it that interesting at first I haven't seen any of these videos so I didn't get any spoilers for the movie.

but when I was browsing Prime Video I found this movie and thought "I have nothing to do I'll watch it, maybe I'll like it". So this is where my new obsession started.

To start the film is amazing! I know there will be people who don't like it. But I can't forget to mention that (Taylor and Nick) did an amazing job as (Alex and Henry).

I'll be real I don't like romance. But this movie in particular made me like it. Everything about this movie works and works so well. Everything is so incredible I will protect this movie until I die.

In short, I started the film in disbelief and ended up converted. the movie is really fun to watch the couple besides having chemistry They are wonderful. The cutscenes are magical when watched for the first time.The note I will give at the end.

____________________________________________

Positive Points 💖

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this movie is perfect, obviously it's in my top 3 best movies ever. But now I will talk about the points that pleased me most in the movie.

The personalities of the protagonists.

The mood of the movie.

The motivation of the characters.

The Kissing Scenes.

the hot scenes.

the comedy scenes

The soundtrack.

The chemistry that the protagonists have.

the dialogues are very good.

Romance works awesome (better than many movies)

The way they approach sensitive topics

The evolution that the main characters have with the passage of the movie

the movie is long.

The actors are amazing at their job.

The scenes are simply to thrill anyone, they are so good.

The support that the characters have.

the entire movie is great on its own.

Despite being based on the book, the movie has its own story.

The movie manages to convey exactly the emotion it wants to convey.

The references!

Protagonists aren't Boring (they're the best I've ever seen)

They don't romanticize crime (as many romance movies do (365 Days specifically))

The main points that I found most relevant From the movie I liked the most (I liked several others too but I only put my favorites).

____________________________________________

Negative Points 💔

This session is going to be pretty vague and quick as I didn't find anything relevant enough to post here (and the movie doesn't have any really significant negatives) but I will mention here the most relevant and important ones that I found.

Henry's mother is unimportant in the movie although in the book she is quite important.

June is not present in the movie.

Miguel Ramos (I just hate the character in a way you have no idea)

Didn't have the wedding of the protagonists 😭

Well, it was just three negative points that I found really relevant,And also because I didn't find any other errors Meaningful to put in this topic. So it's going to be really short (which won't be the case for the next one)

____________________________________________

My Favorite Scenes 💜💖

1 - New year party 💖

What could I say about this scene? Is so perfect in so many layers that I don't even know where to start.. The way in which the other guests fall to the ground as the two protagonists stare at each other is so gratifying. an eye candy. When I saw it for the first time I thought to myself "This is it! This is my favorite movie ever" You can see the chemistry! I was like "Fuck, what a freakout I'm having" my heart was going to stop and I didn't know what to do, Just.

The way they look at each other, the music playing in the background, you can see it and something so magical and magnificent that I can't find words to describe this cinematic wonder. Amazon prime You hottie! You did the best job you could.And the director of that movie was the best.I can't look at this scene without feeling happiness leaping into my eyes.

2 - They First Kiss 💘

I already knew that at some point this scene was going to happen, but when it happens it's so good but so good that it took me by surprise.and as amazing as all this happens, I sometimes wonder how they managed to make something as amazing as amazing as the book.

The way Alex is slow to understand things makes me identify with him, And the way Henry is impatient just makes me think they were really meant for each other.

3 - Museum Scene 💗

for anyone who watched the movie knows how symbolic this scene really is.I think it's so cool to see them dancing among the statues, the music makes the scene even better. just facts.

What made me like this scene the most is how romantic it is. This is one of the many scenes in the movie that made me feel Good, the way the scene is Serene, Calm, smooth and silent You hear nothing but the music.And this scene where we also have the famous "history, Huh?" it's just so amazing to me.

____________________________________________

Final Notes 💟

well, there are many scenes that I loved in the movie, I only put three because they were the ones that I found most symbolic. now The movie in general is great Because in addition to having such good Scenes the actors did a great job.

Random Opinion 💖

- Zahra It's the best character Change my mind.

- Miguel is the character I hate the most in history.

the movie is amazing i will protect it until my death as i mentioned earlier.If there are a thousand movies I will watch a thousand movies no matter what! That's it kisses.

Note I give for the Movie : 10/10

____________________________________________

[igotsnothing]

I would love to see your backstage of making your vampire story <3 how you take your photos, chose perspectives, plan dialogues. please tell about your process

Hello, Friend of Mystery!!

Happy New Year and thank you for this ask! I'm a very small-time simmer in this corner of the interwebz filled with really talented and artistic simblrs, so I appreciate the question and interest!

Now, backstage! The method to the madness!

I usually have an idea: it's a loose- general idea of the direction and mood of the plot and dialogue. I don't like to be too specific unless I have a clear pose in mind for a scene. The thought process might be something like, "Lawrence and Julian are going to have a talk about vampires and technology in this scene, but act flirty with each other while they do so."

I go into the game to organize the setting and choose outfits/props. MCCC and Wonderful Whims are game-changers for posing. I'm a terrible builder, so I end up spending a lot of time browsing the gallery or searching for builds and objects by skilled folks. That part is often fun. Imagining the potential of lots and cc is a big part of gaining admission to the mental asylum expressing creativity in this game! Depending on the story I am working on, I may have mods like Underworld running to make sure it always looks like nighttime in my environments.

I use Reshade. It saves me time when editing and gives the images lovely depth, shading, and coloring that otherwise isn't there. I use different presets that I screw around with and tweak, but some favorites are Marigold and Senshi 4.0. Shadows and lighting are super important and can make or break a scene.

Once I have my image, I'll tweak it in Photoshop. Thanks to Reshade, it's usually just to quickly fix something, like clipping or rough edges.

I use Canva to organize my stories and write in the dialogue, but that's always dangerous because my inner middle-schooler wants to unleash a million stickers everywhere and ruin the edits. Ask me how many times I've stuck googly eyes on Lawrence and cackled at my own idiocy ingenuity!

I write while I am taking pictures. The sequence is: pose, take the picture, edit the image, write, and on to the next scene. I used to take all the images first and write afterward but found that sometimes a pose or screenshot would unexpectedly convey a different take on an idea, reaction, or character- or even inspire a different direction for the dialogue in a scene. It's easier for me to adapt the dialogue to an image than vice versa. I feel that writing as I go, while my game is open and ready gives me more flexibility and freedom to make changes.

???

Profit!

Ok, now-sorry- for real. I download everything, usually save it as a draft, wait a bit to see if I catch any big mistakes, and then post.

I actually struggle with serious self-doubt and a really mean inner critic, so posting here has been an exercise in self-acceptance. Still, I often avoid checking the notifications for a while after I post because I am that nervous. But I'm happier for sharing my stuff rather than not since I have had the chance to connect with so many fun and talented people here!

That's it!

Thank you for the ask on this first day of the year! It made me super happy! All the best to you!! ❤️

[lathalea]

Hey, I'm the anon who was asking why people are writing Thorin with all these modern quips.

Thank you for your answer and your awesome pictures of Thorin!

I sadly think you may have misunderstood where I was coming from, though.

I never am against people being creative..I have no problem with people expanding their minds to come up with so many different ideas and scenarios. The people reblogging from you made me look like a complete heartless jerk saying that people should be free to write whatever they want and I'm just an oppressor, pretty well.

If anything, my point is, people are always writing fanfic with the same narrow minded ideas..they really aren't as creative as people think.

They are filled with utter political correctness and Marxism. This stuff is more narrow minded than being creative, as we see it in every tv show, movie and video games, even! It's everywhere! But, this is considered creative when this is all we ever see in storytelling? This is why I felt you misunderstood me, and so did everyone else.

If people are being truly creative, they wouldn't keep putting these same ideologies in stories. You know how many Thorin stories I couldn't finish cause the women are usually written as the same tropes over and over again? Always feminists, and just knows how to fight, somehow, or always has an attitude..this is how women are written in pretty well any type of entertainment, these days.

Hope this helps you understand more where I'm coming from.

(Mandatory Thorin swooning material here.)

Hi again, Anon! 

I’m glad you’ve read my reply. Rest assured, I understood everything very well – including the fact what kind of fanfiction tropes you like the most and the ones you don’t. As for the latter, I simply hope that doesn’t include the Thorin fans who have fun together with me whenever I open Thorin’s Ask Box and reply humbly ask our King Under the Mountain to kindly reply to everyone’s questions.

It’s good to know that you didn’t mean to come off like “a complete heartless jerk”. It happens sometimes that we write certain things under the influence of strong emotions and click “send” before taking a deep breath and re-reading what we wrote. I understand, no worries. But I’m sure you see how your words can be interpreted by others. And I’m certain you know — probably even better than me — that proper wording matters a lot, especially in English. Because it is not my first language, I’ve learned to be ultra careful when putting my thoughts into words here on Tumblr (or anywhere in the Internet) — otherwise I can come off as the aforementioned “complete heartless jerk” and no one wants to be that person, right? 

If anything like this ever happens again, I’d like you to know that you can always drop in to my ask box and clarify further what you had in mind. I will be happy to convey your reasoning to my followers as I’m doing it now.

Anyway, I’m glad that you decided to clarify your thought process and we went from the initial confusion of “strange gender ideologies” to the problem of the Original Female Characters and their portrayal in fanfiction — which is a very interesting issue worthy of a separate discussion (another one I’d love to have). But let’s dive into your ask.

(Just look at his majestic profile!)

“If anything, my point is, people are always writing fanfic with the same narrow minded ideas..they really aren't as creative as people think.”

(I have skipped the part about the main popculture categories because it’s a separate topic, but I’d love to discuss it with you on another occasion. I think it would be a very interesting exchange of opinions.)

Let’s focus on fanfiction for now, specifically, Thorin fanfiction because I see we both care for this character a lot.

I’m glad that in your ask you decided to challenge the fanfic writers and encourage them to broaden their horizons and try harder! It’s always good to improve. And speaking of improvement, remember when I said “proper wording matters”? I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to offer you a piece of advice I got from a good friend once: I’ve learned that it’s best to avoid categorical statements containing words like “always” or “never” when discussing things in public to avoid being misunderstood or coming off as confrontational. Some of the people who will read this may think that you are either offending fic writers on purpose (which I’m sure is not the case) or have a limited knowledge of fanfiction (and you seem like a well-read person). It is much better to say “It feels to me that many people write fanfic with the same narrow-minded ideas because…” (I’d like to hear your reasoning by the way!) 

Let’s leave dealing in absolutes to the philosophers and theologians, okay? :)

Now, let’s get back to Thorin fanfiction.

(Just look at that hair!)

"If people are being truly creative, they wouldn't keep putting these same ideologies in stories. You know how many Thorin stories I couldn't finish cause the women are usually written as the same tropes over and over again? Always feminists, and just knows how to fight, somehow, or always has an attitude..this is how women are written in pretty well any type of entertainment, these days."

I must admit I’m a bit sad that you happen to find only this type of Thorin x OFC fics. At the same time, I have to agree with you that there are certain repetitive tropes and traits that make many OCs boring, or worse, make them look like a Mary Sue. In mainstream media, it is very common to portray a female character as “strong” by putting a sword or gun into her hands, but for me, it is much more interesting to see either this type of physically strong character, but marked by flaws or torn by conflict, or a more feminine type of character whose strength that comes from within. At the same time, I realize that this type of character (“badass girl with a sword”) has become very popular and perhaps that is why I get easily bored by it nowadays, because the world of popculture is oversaturated with them, as you said it yourself. But I believe that a good writer can write a character like this and keep me engaged if there is interesting depth to that OC. 

Either way, I totally understand that you may feel tired when seeing this trope, but I also know there are tons and tons of various stories available online though browsing through them may feel like a chore sometimes. But don’t worry, I happen to have read quite a few Thorin fics (it should be clear to you by now that I have no life ;)), and some of them were really good. I have prepared a short list of Thorin fics with interesting protagonists from many different places (ff.net, AO3, Tumblr) — you’ll find it below. I hope that after checking out these stories and reading those stories, you can perhaps feel a bit of relief knowing that there are quite a few interesting female protagonists around.

Here we go (a general warning, many of the fics below contain NSFW scenes):

💕 @technoelfie - check out the Thorin masterlist - stories like The Long Dark and its sequel contain an OFC that is everything but badass, even though she comes from the modern times. And the story is very much canon in all the right places.

💕 Kkolmakov’s fic Me Without You - a perfect example of how you focus on canon, provide the readers with a feminine OC (and Wren, the protagonist, is very far from a classic Mary Sue), and weave an engaging story inspired by Thorin’s works. Check out her other Thorin stories on ff.net, they are full of great ideas! 

💕 @legolasbadass - check out the Heart of Gold fic on AO3! The OC is a very complex character and the story of the secret love between her and Thorin in a restrictive Dwarven society relies heavily on canon. Dania, the protagonist, shows us a quiet, resilient type of feminine strength.

💕 @fizzyxcustard - see Fizzy’s Thorin fics here on Tumblr and A Rose at Twilight on AO3. This is a story about a young woman capturing Thorin’s heart against all odds. Again, far from a typical swashbuckling Mary Sue, it focuses on a rather vulnerable character who gets a chance at a new life.

💕 @middleearthpixie - this very prolific writer has more than just a few longfics under her belt. See the whole list here. Stories like In Time or Where I Belong, among others, contain well-rounded OFCs free from the repetitive traits you mentioned.

💕 @thorinstorieswoman - this blog contains a 2-part longfic where the OC is an elf from Rivendell and the issue of elf-Dwarf animosities is addressed in an interesting way without straying outrageously from canon.

💕 @frosticenow wrote A Thread of Life, a companion piece to my art (yes, I may be biased here) that includes another really interesting OFC, a seamstress, and Thorin falling in love with her. You will find great worldbuilding ideas here too and strong focus on the Dwarven culture!

💕 The Queen by Heloise Durin - the story of how the love between Thorin and Queen Heloise blossomed. It is somewhat inspired by real-life events, as the author admits, and the readers can see that a queen can be a strong female character yet her strength does not come from wielding a sword nor from sassy remarks.

💕 Other writers who are known for Thorin fics are @legolaslovely, @deepestfirefun, @dumbassunderthemountain, @fromthedeskoftheraven, @averil-of-fairlea, @xxbyimm, @i-did-not-mean-to, @shiinata-library, @scariusaquarius, @guardianofrivendell @ruthoakenshield and more (if you’re a Thorin fic writer and you’d like to be added here, please let me know!).

💕 Oh, and if you’re tired of the issues you mentioned, like “feminist OCs” and “badass girl OCs”, feel free to check out @lordoftherazzles stories. The main focus is Bagginshield and this is a ship based solely on canon characters free of those characteristics so maybe it will interest you too? Here is Razzy’s AO3 page.

And if you're searching for a classically feminine OFC whose greatest trait is being passive and ogling Thorin, see my story Springtime at the Lonely Mountain.

I hope you'll like at least some of these stories. Feel free to share your thoughts with me! I’m always eager to discuss fanfiction :)

(Well hello there, handsome king!)

Before I click “send” on this post, I’d like you to ask you something, if you don’t mind. You wrote: “They [fics] are filled with utter political correctness and Marxism.”  

I must admit, I’m a bit confused here. Would you be so kind and please explain to me how Thorin fics you encounter (because I assume you were still talking about stories containing this character here) are filled with Marxism? And if you could provide me with some examples/fic links, that would be great! I must admit I have never encountered a truly Marxist Thorin fic (or Dwarf fic) yet. I’m always on the lookout for fresh worldbuilding ideas and uncommon takes on social and economic issues in fanfiction, especially in stories where Dwarves are the main focus. Revolutionary Dwarves? Labor issues, capitalism and communism as concepts developed by the children of Aule? That would be a very interesting read!

The same goes for “political correctness”, by the way. I remember you mentioned earlier that it bothered you when people inserted modern ideas into Middle Earth fics so I’m guessing this is another example of this issue - please please please feel free to give me some juicy examples! I’d really like to hear your take on things and see how you would rewrite such stories or their elements to fit your tastes better! And apart from removing anachronisms from stories, that’s a great exercise in creative writing. By the way, forgive my curiosity, are you a fanfic writer yourself? If so, I’d love to read your stories if you’re willing to share them with me :) 

All the best,

Lathalea 💙

[blackwolfstabs]

30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 29

VACATION

The Core Four go to the beach (but it's all about TARAcon).

based on @michiganstray's headcanon about Tara having her own convention called TARAcon :D (i will link the headcanon once she posts about it)

It was finally summer, and only a few days after college let out for the semester, Sam, Tara, Chad, and Mindy drove down from New York to California. They had planned to stay there for 2 weeks, Martha opening up her home to her children and the Carpenter sisters—whom anyone would’ve thought she’d adopted into the family already—to stay. Taking a plane would’ve been faster, but Sam and Tara hated flying and it was more expensive, so Operation: Road Trip Core Four Style was a go. 

They left New York City on Monday at 7:00 in the morning, drove 14 hours for 2 days, then arrived in Woodsboro, at the Meeks-Martin residence, at around 8:00 at night on Thursday. Sam drove the first day, Mindy on the second, and then Chad finished the last 13 hours. They didn’t own a car in New York, so they rented one, which came out to be a 2013 white, Chevrolet Tahoe. 

And as expected… Chad had to name it. So, for the duration of their vacation, it became known as The Core Four Tour Mobile.

Friday and Saturday had both been chill days with catching up on the past year in NYC, but Sunday, they headed down to the beach to have some fun under the sun.

That was where the Core Four were now…

“What are we even making?” Mindy asked as she clawed another handful of wet sand out from the hole they created to make a base for their sandcastle. 

“Uh, a castle,” Chad replied flatly, clearly conveying an ‘duh, obviously!’ kind of tone.

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I mean, is it something specific? Like, how should we build it?”

To her left, Sam added to the small mound beside her. “TARAcon,” she suggested, sounding rather neutral but actually joking.

However, Tara, who was on the other side of the sand pit, wasn’t joking and immediately looked up with big eyes. “Um… YEEES! This is TARAcon. Tara-approved, so you all better make it the best thing on this beach.” 

TARAcon was something Tara randomly made up one day that was basically a convention including everything Tara-coded and based. Joking around, Tara claimed she had fans because of the social media blow-up about Sam and insisted TARAcon was somewhere they could all hangout with the one-and-only Tara Carpenter. However, she grew fond of the idea, parodying it from the disastrous event, TanaCon, that wreaked havoc on social media in 2018. But TARAcon wouldn’t be anything like TanaCon, Tara assured. She’d make everyone homemade crafts, Chad and Danny would be her security, she’d have a million different snacks and drinks, and she would talk to everyone at some point. 

It’d be great, because it’d be Tara’s.

Mindy nodded with a chuckle. “Alright then. How about these two towers are where people get their tickets to get in?” she pointed to where her and Sam had parallel sand piles.

“Like Admissions,” the eldest of the group put a name on it.

“Yeah, admissions.”

Tara nodded, “Yeah, that’s fine.” She smoothed out a path that led to what looked like an igloo about a foot away from the hole. “This is gonna be a private area… Like, solely VIP. The Core Four Cave.” 

Sam scoffed, “Sounds like a hideout, to me.”

“It is! Well, kind of… it’d be dark in there most times with, like, lights and a lot of other awesome shit. Maybe it’ll have a huge screen, like a media room, where we can watch movies. And we’ll probably have an aquarium in there. It’s really like a multi-purpose cave for us and maybe a few others.” Her younger sister dug out a small entrance to the said-cave. “VIP-access isn’t easy to get at TARAcon.”

Chad glanced up to observe the secret base. “How do you get over there though? There’s no path.” The trail that led to the cave’s entrance was a dead-end right into the pit. 

His girlfriend thought about it for a moment, before shrugging, “I don’t know. We can’t build the actual TARAcon, because I’d need to make blueprints. It’s just a sandcastle, so just know that there’s some secret way to it, okay?”

“Aye-aye, Captain!” was the understood reply. Then, he jumped to a side-note, “Oh, can we name this hole Love, by the way?”

Sam didn’t look up, but her brow furrowed. “Why?”

“So we can watch people fall in Love,” he said, receiving a snicker from Tara. He gestured towards his sister. “Maybe Mindy can find herself a girlfriend at TARAcon.”

Mindy just rolled her eyes and scoffed sarcastically. “Oh, yeah, TARAcon is the place to meet Tara and find the love of your dreams. That’s really promising.”

“Maybe if you met them online first,” Sam added.

She laughed, “Yeah, meet them on Tinder and be like ‘Hey, are you going to TARAcon, we should meet up!’ for real.”

“Hey, don’t judge what goes on at TARAcon!” Tara was covering the dome of the cave with a wet sand design that looked like stacked aggregate concrete pieces. “Anybody can do what they like as long as it’s not illegal, immoral, or stupid.”

This made her older sister share another comment. “Wow, you sound like Mom…”

“Except Mom’s done stuff that falls under all three of those categories, so she’s not allowed into TARAcon.” The younger glanced over to where Chad was digging the hole even deeper and advised, “Chad, baby, you can start building the wall. Gotta have the territory marked, you know?”

Mindy nodded for him. “That’s a good idea. Sam, you wanna start on the wall over there?” From the looks of it, she was close to being done with her tower.

“Yep,” she replied and moved back to branch it off the flank.

That invited Tara to move onto the next idea. “I wish we could keep that car. I’d get a license plate customized for it that says TARAcon.”

Her sister jumped in, “You haven’t even driven it!”

“Yeah, but that would make me drive it.”

“No, we’d need it to say Core Four!” Chad intervened. “We could make all the o’s zeros and the e a 3.”

The youngest huffed, “Okay, fine, but we’d get a sticker that says TARAcon, and it’d go on the back windshield.” She glanced over her shoulder at the Tahoe that had been backed-in to its designated spot. “Actually, if the plate says Core Four, then we should each design a sticker that represents us to go on the back.”

“We’re not keeping the car, guys.” The older Carpenter met the base of the sand-wall with the one Tara made that led to her cave.

“It’s fun to think about though…” Mindy mumbled.

“Yeah, you’re such a mood-killer sometimes, Sam,” Tara groaned.

“I know, but I don’t really care.”

Chad gave a short chuckle, but it was nearly cut off by a loud exclamation from his sister, which caught all of their attention. The built wall that was connecting her tower to her brother’s had collapsed into the pit, the base sliding out from beneath it.

“Oh, nooo!” Tara watched it melt away with a sigh. “It was almost done, too…”

“Sorry, T…” Meeks-Martin tried to hold the last of it together, but she was told to just let it go.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t gonna last forever, anyway.”

“TARAcon’s over-con,” Sam concluded.

Her little sister gave a nasaled scoff, “L.O.L.”

Chad did the same. “More like, S.O.L.”

“Or F.M.L.” was Mindy’s input.

Tara laughed, then pulled the last member into it. “Alright, Sam, you gotta come up with one, too!”

Samantha paused in her contribution to the sandcastle to think about what kind of acronym ended with an L but still fit the subject. “Hmmm…” Then, she smirked, “How about just L? L TARAcon, because this sucks.” She gestured to the crumbled part of the castle.

“Hey!” Tara grew offended at this and threw her next handful of building material in her direction. “You take that back! TARAcon is the best!” It was all in good fun, of course.

Sam jumped back with a small yelp but shook her head, rubbing splattered sand from her cheek away with her shoulder. “No,” she giggled, “I’m not taking that back, it’s true!”

“TARAcon’s the best ever!” the other repeated, mock offense showing past the smile clear on her face. “Say it!” She raised her hand again, another round of sand in her fist, “Or else…”

But it wasn’t taken seriously. “Or else, what? You’re gonna throw sand at me?” She rolled her eyes and put her hands up in fake surrender, “Oh, I’m so scared!”

“Or else, I’m gonna get you!” She threw her sand-ball as she said this. “Say it, Samantha,” she demanded.

“No.” Sam pushed her boundaries as she grabbed some of the sand already placed on the wall, “Welcome to LoserCon!” She flung it in Tara’s direction.

Tara tried to swat it clear, but it didn’t work. “Okay, you asked for it!” she growled and lunged for her, “Get over here!”

“No!” Her big sister twisted to not be caught and got up to bolt away. “You guys heard it here, Tara’s a loser and so is her convention!” she hollered over her shoulder. “You’ve all been juked!”

The said-ressembler of that remark raced after her. “Chad! You’re TARAcon security, what are you doing?!” she barked, “ATTACK!”

And Chad was up in a flash. “TARAcon security incoming! Loyalty breach! LOYALTY BREACH!” His legs were longer than both sisters’, so he was able to catch up and gain speed like a predator to prey.

“Target: Sam Carpenter!” Tara howled, hot on her boyfriend’s heels as he passed her up. 

Sam’s lungs were in a struggle between balancing breathing and laughing at the same time, so all that was heard from her was the product of breathless laughter.

And so, the chase was on to defend TARAcon, leaving Mindy to figure she might as well start picking up all of the shovels and buckets so they could head home afterwards. The sun was starting to make its way towards the horizon, and the drive back would take 45 minutes, at least. They had told Martha they’d be home before dark. So, once the puppies had chased each other ‘til they couldn’t anymore, they’d be leashed up for the day.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The TARAcon sandcastle was left to spend the rest of the day standing with the stubbornness of a mule, just like its owner, who had fallen asleep rather quickly on the road back to the Meeks-Martin’s. Both twins had also crashed in their seats, Mindy behind the passenger seat, where Chad was. His sunglasses blocked out the ability to see that his eyes were closed, but Sam knew. The oldest of the Core Four had one hand glued to the steering wheel, while the other held her head as she leaned against the car door. The highway was fast, but clear and quiet. And that time alone allowed her to go down Memory Lane to when she would babysit the twins and Tara. How they’d be wild and crazy and then drag her into their foolishness. There were days when they’d run themselves down into the night. Then, they’d go inside to wait for Martha to show up and Christina or Mr. Carpenter to get home. 

And Tara, Chad, and Mindy would all fall asleep on the sofa before then, leaving Sam to wait the longest for rest.

Even after all this time… some things never change.

ONE MORE DAY TO GO AAAAHHHHHH

idk how i feel about this one but it's lighthearted and fun soooooo

All my best and more ♡ - parker

[dark-and-kawaii]

*Haarlep Anon kicks in the door* AND ANOTHER THING! I like how you left it largely up to the reader's imagination on what exactly the damage done to Tav and Haarlep was. You mention a few specific injuries, like Haarlep's bloodied lip and Tav being covered in fresh bruises, but left the full extent of the injuries or what acts caused them to remain unspoken. Also, describing Tav as being "... discarded like rotten flesh in the corner..." just OOF (in a good way)!

Also, the repetition of, "Well that didn’t really matter because you did beg Raphael to spare Haarlep. ... Haarlep, that’s what mattered at this very moment. Summoning the strength within you to rise from the ground to tend to them, that’s what mattered." I felt like Tav was channeling her concern for Haarlep into a sort of internal mantra to motivate and push herself forward; like she was telling herself, 'Focus. Don't fall apart yet. Finish helping Haarlep, then you can fall apart.' Being able to convey that sort of thing without having to default to just telling what the character is thinking (which isn't always a bad thing, but here it likely would have taken the focus off Haarlep, whom the piece is focused on) or belaboring the point is harder than it looks.

Sorry if this is getting annoying, I just- I just really liked what you wrote and I keep noticing more things about it. 😅

Click Here For The Story They are Referencing

Okay first of all, stop it!!! You are not getting annoying whatsoever!!! It’s the opposite actually, you’re quite pleasant and I must say all your messages really made my day.

Like, I love you!!! *hugs* and I love that you kicked down my door!!! Pluuuuus the only reason I didn’t reply to the previous messages is because I’m actually going to write something else for you with Haarlep 🥺!!! Where they can’t stop thinking about it.

Anon you’ve given me so much life the past couple days like you don’t even know!!!

I’m reallllly glad you enjoyed the story I wrote for you because I was a little nervous that it wouldn’t be what you were looking for, like… I legit had a conversation with myself, “maybe I should rewrite this?” “Idk if this is good” “they’re going to hate it”

I really like leaving certain things up for interpretation because it allows the reader to come up with their own scenarios and they can change that scenario every time they re-read a piece. Plus I also like it to where I could possibly come back and write more for it. Options are always golden!!!

Most of all I love that I’ve been able to bounce off your ideas!! We click in my head I guess which is awesome!!!

Plllllllease PLEEEEEASE don’t hesitate to talk to me or send me stuff because YOU ARE LOVED!!!! I hope you have a freaking beautiful day and at night I hope you dream of Haarlep ٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-

- 𝐿𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝒦𝒾𝓌𝒾 𝓍𝑜𝓍𝑜

[aspoonofsugar]

About You, About Me

Jaune: What about you?! It's all about you!

This line is what the episode is about in a nutshell. As a matter of fact it conveys 2 ideas central to the whole situation:

1 - The "you" Ruby is talking about is different than the "you" Jaune means.

Ruby is asking about herself as a person, while Jaune speaks about her as an ideal. This dychotomy is the crux of both their current situations. Ruby has been lving as the embodyment of an ideal, so now she struggles to express how she feels in a healthy way. Jaune is instead trying to hide who he is behind the ideal of a hero.

So, Ruby wants to be seen as a person, while Jaune as a hero. Interestingly, both fail, as WBY's reactions to them make clear:

WBY immediately understand Jaune's pain and can see through his very thin (paper-thin I would say) facade.

WBY fails to pick up on the many red flags Ruby has been showing throughout the whole volume. They try to address Penny's death and her frustration on a couple of occasions, but never really go deep.

2 - Jaune is lashing out at Ruby, but he is really projecting on her his own frustrations.

This is made clear by the rest of the conversation:

Jaune: On that bridge, I was the only one, who could do it... I was the only one! And I... And now I have to live with it forever, in here or back home.

It is all your fault! It is all my fault! Jaune just keeps swinging between these 2 extremes. It is exactly like when in Mistral he goes on a rampage against Cinder, but the one he really hates is himself. There he lashes out at the villain, here he lashes out at the hero. The villain is a monster, the hero just could not live up to her role.

Ruby on her part does exactly the same. To be specific, she lashes out on everybody, but I would say she does so in 2 distinctive ways.

BLAKE AND JAUNE - STOP BEING LIKE ME!

Ruby: Shut up... Don't do that... Just don't.

The fight ends with Ruby telling Blake to stop trying to be positive. This complements her previous outburst directed at her (and Yang):

Ruby: Gotta stay positive, right?! Smiles all around!

Ruby can't stand how Blake is behaving because it reminds her of how she is supposed to feel. And she doesn't feel it anymore.

Thematically, Blake has been stepping into Ruby's role since the beginning of the volume:

I would not say she has substituded Ruby as the leader. Still, she is being the optimistic one, the idealistic one, the hopeful one. She realizes they are in a fairy tale and is enthusiastic about it. She knows the right definition of what being a Huntress means. She is Ruby's past idealistic self and Ruby can't stand it. Ironically, our Black Beast is now more optimistic than our Little Red.

Which is why both moments Ruby shares with Blake and Yang past volume are now bittersweet:

Blake: I know you don’t always know what to do, but that’s never stopped you from doing something. I was like that as a girl, but time and… a lot of other things, took their toll on me. Then I wasn’t sure if that kind of girl could actually survive in the world… until I met you. It was a little strange at first because you were younger, but I’ve always looked up to you, Ruby. And I still do.

Yang: You were being optimistic. Look, blind optimism isn’t great, but no optimism means we already lost. We need hope. We need to take risks.

Sure, everybody loves Ruby because she is optimistic and pure and inspiring... but what when she can't be it anymore?

This episode addresses precisely this and takes Ruby and Blake's current foiling to its extreme conclusion:

Blake: Then we won't run this time.

Blake charges into battle to protect strangers, while Ruby runs away from her loved ones.

If Blake reminds Ruby of her past, Jaune is a spitting mirror image of Ruby's current self. This is why she doesn't even talk to him directly, but keeps mentioning him:

Ruby: What about me? No time, right? Gotta get home! Gotta help Jaune! Gotta find someone, who isn't just going to screw everything up!

Ruby: I'm sorry, is this a bad time? Are we supposed to be mourning Jaune's make believe friends?!

Notice the 2 references to time. Ruby, just like Jaune, feels she has no time. It is just, Jaune feels he has not enough time to save everyone, while Ruby feels she has not enough time for herself. No time for others to care and nurture her. This is what she is trying to convey.

Similarly, the remark about Jaune's make believe friends is cruel, but it has definately to do with Ruby's own very real lost friend:

The one she has yet to mourn. The one nobody is mentioning anymore because everybody is too focused on other things. So, yeah, why should they all be mourning a bunch of afterings they know nothing about? When Ruby herself did not even take the time to properly mourn Penny?

Throughout the whole episode,Jaune (unwillingly) steals Ruby's spotlight and caters everyone's attention on himself.

He's obviously been through a lot. We can be frustrated later. Right now, Jaune needs us. And we need him. We just can't count on him.

While Blake says so, the one in focus is Ruby because this phrase is actually about her. Except nobody realizes it. Nobody (or almost ;)) notices she is struggling.

This pattern keeps going throughout the whole episode:

Weiss and Jaune insist Ruby should just grab her weapon and fight like always

Weiss aka Ruby's partner chooses to assist Jaune instead of her. Symbolically, even the Walker that almost kills Ruby is the one Weiss and Jaune launch in the river while they are fighting

When Ruby lets Crescent Rose fall, Yang's question to her is cut off by the paper town being floaded, which leads to everybody comforting Jaune

Even Ruby's own outburst is overshadowed by Jaune's one, which leads to Ruby finally leaving

All Ruby wants is for someone to look at her properly and empathize with her. Still, everybody has been too focused on their own feelings and losses. At the same time, Ruby herself has been refusing to open up with her friends for several volumes now. Everybody believes she is alright because she has always repressed her negative feelings, so nobody really knows she has any.

Everybody thinks she is Blake, when she is actually Jaune.

WEISS AND YANG - LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME!

You don't need me anymore No, you don't see me anymore I'm alone in this war I am a trap door

Ruby lashes out at Blake and Jaune because they are like her. When it comes to Yang and especially Weiss, instead, she is angry because they don't realize her pain.

Yang is too caught up in her new love life to notice her little sister needs help. Or at least, this is what Ruby thinks tbh because there is not that much evidence of this in the story. It is just that when you feel very low, you can end up resenting others for their own happiness. And this is what happens with Ruby and Bumbleby:

Ruby: Good for you, by the way. We are all soooo happy for you.

Weiss is too caught up in her own pain and grief to realize how much her partner needs help. Even in this episode, when she sees Ruby has not Crescent Rose, Weiss bitterly reprimands her. Just like she did at the market. Not only that, but after Ruby has made clear she is absolutely not okay by letting Crescent Rose fall... all Weiss has to tell her is to help support Jaune.

Weiss: It's what they wanted. Right Ruby? Ruby: Why are you asking me? Because I am the leader? Because I am just supposed to have something to say? Cause I don't.

Nobody looks at Ruby or notices her low spirits... well, actually someone does... a small soul ; )

RED HOOD AND LITTLE

Ruby leaves and the only one she has left is Little. Her new friend. Her Ever After's guide. Little is the only one this episode who notices Ruby is off. And they are also a lot how Ruby used to be when the series starts. Little is someone who sees her and also someone like her.

It is going to be interesting how Little will impact Ruby going forward. Especially because we might get some new Little Red Riding Hood's references this volume.

Ruby leaves her family/loved ones/home and enters a wood alone. Where is she going? Maybe she just wants to go back home:

Yang: Return home, eh?

And yet, the woods are dangerous and full of wolves, who want to eat our Little Red Riding Hood:

And just like with the Hound aka another representation of the Big Bad Wolf... the monster hides a person:

In general, the situation is the reversed one of volume 6:

There Ruby enters the woods, discovers dangerous things, but also meets a mentor figure who teaches her something about her Silver Eyes. She is able to inspire everyone to move on and steps in the role of leader.

Here Ruby enters in this strange new world and can't find an ounce of optimism. They are in a literal fairy tale and she doesn't give a crap. The same girl, who started volume 7 eager to explore Atlas after having crossed a whole continent on foot.

In any case, I am curious to see where we are going with Ruby. Especially because she might very soon have a meeting with the true Neo, aka her Shadow. Little as the Little of her Red Hood and Neo as her shadow and the wolf. Probably both ingredients are needed to see where Ruby is going in the future.

Speaking of Neo, there is this:

Yang: But that's... those were more than her usual tricks. They eat and growl and... how has she gotten so powerful?

Yang openly questioning Neo's new powers make me thing there is more than just a semblance evolution. The power-up happening in the Land of Darkness makes me thing it might have something to do with it. Darkness in Jungian psychology is the Shadow and the Repressed. What if this land lets you tap into your buried potential? For better or worse?

Scratched through the surface And you found a key Unlocking what you thought was safe inside a box But it's somehow been set free (Finally)

THE FALL OF ATLAS- ONCE AGAIN

So far, the protagonists have experienced the fall of Atlas twice now. The first time at the market. The second time at the paper town.

In general, the 2 episodes clearly parallel each other. To better say, the paper town is an escalation of the market.

Both times WBY and Jaune fight Neo's Jabberwalkers, while Ruby freezes up. Both times Ruby is reprimanded for apparently spacing out when she is experiencing psychological distress. Both times the protagonists feel as if they are living Atlas fall once again. And yet:

Neo's presence is made clearer, as if we are building a climax toward a final meeting with her. The real her.

Ruby consoles Weiss at the market, but refuses to console Jaune at paper town.

Ruby buries her feelings at the market, but explodes here.

The Rusted Knight is introduced as a dependable hero and a saviour at the market, but Jaune is revealed as a broken and grieving person here.

The most interesting thing is that when it comes to the Fall of Atlas specifically the 2 characters in focus are Weiss and Jaune:

This fits the foiling set up in the Ponder Storm mirror gallery. There we see how they both are still struggling over what happened in Atlas.

Weiss thinks about her Kingdom, her people and how they risked their homes without gaining anything.

Jaune thinks about Penny and his role in her death.

Both can't forgive themselves for failing to stop Cinder and to save Penny. This makes sense considering how they are the last 2 to fall and the ones who hold on the longest. They were both blooming in Atlas and were in very positive moments of their life. And yet, last volume's climax changed things. They were brought down when they were at their strongest... so what can they really accomplish?

And yet, even if they clearly blame themselves, they end up lashing out on others, as a coping mechanism (even if in different degrees). This volume both are shown particularly rude, sassy and cynical, in ways they usually are not. Or at least not anymore and not as often. The result is that they both enter into a conflict with Ruby. Weiss's insensitivity and ignorance of Ruby's feelings coupled with Jaune's exploding at her are among the reasons why Ruby leaves.

It is clear the dynamic among Weiss, Jaune and Ruby is going to be important for the resolution of this volume and for all 3 their character arcs. Especially, there is still something that hasn't been addressed:

I thought this episode was perfect for the reveal Jaune killed Penny. And yet, it doesn't happen. Which makes me wonder when this truth is gonna come out and how it will impact Ruby, Jaune and Weiss's dynamic. What is sure is that Jaune and Weiss clearly have a role to play in this volume's climax and in Ruby's arc.

WEISS - SNOWHITE, SNOW QUEEN, SNOW ANGEL

Weiss: Then, who does that leave us with? It's obvious we need someone to guide us or we can end up throw back in time or killed by the tree or worse.

Weiss keeps looking for someone to look up to, to guide her, to console her and to support her. This is not wrong per se, but hilariously Weiss is the one who is probably the most put together compared to the characters she wants to depend on.

She opens up to Ruby about her loss. There is nothing wrong in this, but we as viewers can really see it should be the other way around. She should be the one Ruby can lean on. Even in this episode, when it comes to support Jaune, she asks for Ruby's help. Now, she doesn't really need to. She can say something kind to Jaune by herself and neither Blake nor Yang ask Ruby to butt in. Weiss does and, as little as it is, this is what sets Ruby off. Because once again Ruby is asked to ignore what she feels for someone else's sake. Even if Weiss and the others can really handle the situation on their own.

This is why Ruby calls out Weiss specifically this episode:

Ruby: Gotta find someone, who doesn't screw everything up!

Something similar happens with Jaune, as well:

Yang: And when did you get so... Weiss: Mature...

This is both ship-teasing and a joke, but it hides an important truth. Notice that Weiss doesn't say "handsome" or "hot", but mature. Jaune is an adult, he is Weiss's childhood hero, so he must be dependable. And yet, he is not because he is still RWBY's old awkward friend and he has spent years alone with his guilt. Weiss should understand better than anyone else why Jaune isn't well. I mean, she was there when Penny died. She outloud states Penny sacrificed herself, so I think she knows what Jaune had to do. And yet, her reaction this episode to Jaune's predicament is this:

Weiss: But how? He's clearly not... all there.

Just like with Ruby, she makes a snappy remark, which is heard by Jaune and this starts a discussion and escalates an already difficult situation.

I don't say this because I think Weiss is a monster or a bad person, obviously. She is clearly suffering as well and really means no harm. Still, it is important Weiss stops looking only at herself. She failed to save Atlas, but she can still save her friends. She has the inner strength and the wisdom to succeed:

CC: I am talking about you, Wise Huntress.

It is through helping others that she will move forward from her loss. Just like Jaune did it in volume 5 by saving her.

JAUNE - HERO, VILLAIN, MAIDEN

Jaune is instead the opposite of Weiss. He tries to overcome his grief over Penny's death by trying to help other people. I mean, it worked with Pyrrha in Mistral, right? So, why shouldn't it work here? Sorry Jaune, but that coping mechanism is not functional anymore because your past self has been shattered:

And yet, Jaune refuses to let go of the heroic self-image he has worked so hard to built. Basically, he has regressed, as well and is stuck here:

Jaune: I don't want help! I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!

Jaune's arc has always been about integrating with the anima, aka his most feminine parts. He refuses them, but it is through them that he will eventually become the hero he wants to be. He needs to accept he is a damsell in distress to be the hero. Even more so, to truly complete his journey he needs to become a symbolic maiden. Only in this way, he will be complete. He will truly be himself. After all, he alludes to the very famous Maid of Orleans ;)

So, right now Jaune is once again refusing his anima and this is why the once promising hero has turned into a toxic version of himself. He thinks he is protecting the paper pleasers, but he has actually trapped them. He is not the one saving them, but they are the ones saving him by offering him a coping mechanism to keep himself together:

Weiss: Then why do you care so much about this village? Jaune: Because I can actually protect these people!

They are pleasing him in a relationship, which is honestly detrimental for both parties. Jaune protects them, yes. Still, he also stops them from evolving. The same is true the other way around. The paper pleasers are keeping Jaune functional, but they are also stopping him from making any real progress.

This is why after years Jaune is still a prisoner of the Ever After. It is because (obviously) the way out one way or the other has to do with the tree. And yet, Jaune keeps avoiding it. Just like he is avoiding any real change.

This is because "changing" is a risk and a risk means you can't be sure if things are going well or badly:

A new me, I am ready, but who will I find?

And you know what else is a risk?

Weiss: Trust is a risk

Interesting...

Jaune: Afterlings are all either too clever, too stupid or too crazy to trust!

And who is the last person Jaune trusted exactly?

Penny: Trust me...

Jaune is clearly trying to "fix" what happened to Penny through the Afterlings, but he is wrong. There is no fixing the past this way and what he obtains is just that he is making people suffer for no reason. Not only that, but his stubborness puts the paper pleasers in real danger:

If the Jabberwalkers get them, Jaune's friends would never ascend. There is no escaping death, one way or the other.

Jaune needs to accept this and he is actually starting to accept it. Symbolically, the day after he finally reunites with RWBY, the time starts moving once again. After years of delusions, Jaune starts facing what he has done. His delicate stability, which is symbolically represented by a paper world evaporates and dissolves into water (this episode starts with fire and ends with water > 2 elements linked to alchemy and transformation).

He starts the episode claiming he is fine:

Jaune: This isn't crazy. I'm not crazy.

He ends the episode admitting he isn't:

Jaune: I'm sorry. I know I am not okay. I know I am not right.

And even asking himself the key question:

Jaune: What am I supposed to be?

What are you? Only by facing this question head on Jaune can hope to finally evolve. Only by letting fo of his armor, which is rusted already, he can hope to find his new more refined self. A hero, who is also a maiden.

GRIEF

It seems that after the first 5 episodes exploring the 5 stages of grief, we are getting calls out to them in different ways:

Ruby bargains her emblem in order to help her friends. Another way to run away from Summer, but also to sacrifice her pain for others. She failed to get the ingredients in time, so obviously now she has to sacrifice something so personal, like her mother's memento, right?

Ruby, Weiss and Jaune walk in a mirror gallery, which reflects their grief and fail to discuss it. They didn't even properly discuss Penny's death and how it happened. They are negating it on some level.

Ruby and Jaune explodes into anger this episode and in this way they can finally both start their self-actualizing journeys.

We'll see where it goes...

ASCENSION VS DEATH

Personally, I think we need an exploration of this dychotomy on a thematic level.

On the one hand ascension is clearly a metaphor for death. However, the Jabberwalker, which is clearly a creature of Darkness seems to be offering a different idea of death. More similar to the one the characters have. What is the difference? What is ascension really? And why does the Jabberwalker embody something different?

This a very interesting mystery thematically speaking and I am curious to see how it is solved.

Is it about introducing 2 different flavors of Destruction?

Cancellation (death)> negative

Transformation > positive

We'll see...

On another note, the reveal of Jaune's role in the paper pleasers' town gives more context to the Cat's dislike for our Knight. The CC's role is to lead the Afterlings to the Tree, but Jaune goes in the way of this. Symbolically, this makes them antagonists.

MISCELLANIA

Here come some miscellania thoughts:

The time motif is interesting. This episode specifically times keeps being mentioned by Jaune and Ruby. Jaune keeps saying they don't have time and that he is late. He also keeps asking what time is it. Ruby is annoyed there is no time and sarcastically asks if that is a bad time. In general, Jaune and Ruby are also opposites when it comes to time. Jaune is currently a man who has spent too much time alone with his trauma. Ruby is a child who has had not enough time to properly process hers.

Jaune's allusions just keep multiplying. He is the White Knight in Alice (also that character sings a song whose alternate title is litterally The Aged Man :P). He also fits the Hatter to an extent in how he killed time (aka spent years alone making no progress and broke the time fruit). And now he is also the White Rabbit.

Speaking of Jaune... meta-narratively the Rusted Knight is very interesting. Judging by the girls' enthusiasm and by Jaune's own excitement when he mentions realizing he was that character, the Rusted Knight is surely portrayed very positively... And yet, Alyx poisons him. I think @harostar suggested what we saw in this episode might offer us a glimps of why. Jaune might have been controlling to Alyx and Lewis and Alyx may have felt trapped by him. And yet, the story still portrays Jaune as a hero. If Alice wrote the story or if Jaune was really that terrible to her and her brother, then why isn't he portrayed as a villain? This question is interesting and seems to confirm Alyx might not be the writer of the story... At the same time, Jaune might have failed to leave up to a fairy tale- standard. However, if the writer still felt to write him as a hero, maybe he did better than what he thinks.

This is the third time Ruby hallucinates three people. The first one when she falls (Oscar, Yang and Penny), the second one in the Blacksmith's place (Penny, Alyx and Summer), the third one while fighting the Jabberwalker (Cinder, Penny and Salem). Clearly they relfect Ruby's deteriorating mental state. The first time, she isn't hallucinating, but seeing Neo's illusions. The second time she is subjected to the Ever After's strange magic. This time, though, she is having a straight out panic attack. In all this, Penny is fittingly present all three times. Ruby needs to properly mourn her or she will never move on.

WBY's discussion about the Tree this episode is interesting because we have: Blake (destruction) believing the Tree is rebirth, Weiss (creation) being wary of the dangerous power of the Tree and Yang (knowledge) wanting to know more. Fittingly, Ruby (choice) is silent and so they fail to reach a resolution.

I think this volume might introduce a key theme, which will probably keep going in later volumes. The idea of need vs wants in a reverse sense. Jaune and Ruby both want to be needed to the point Ruby fears that now she isn't needed anymore, she is going to be left behind. It is the same as Yang's conditional love idea (see the Auction)...I think the resolution is going to be that you don't love people because you need them, but because you want them in your life. It is the same concept expressed by Blake last volume... Others are just a part of you... you don't stay with them out of codependency or need, but because you are happy and wish to be with them.

[socratically]

Gatekeepers and Snobs: A discussion about Fandoms and their protectors

Or, How To Ruin Enthusiasm For A Community

Gatekeepers ruin everything; they will always be there, waiting in the shadows to tell you how you aren’t really that into something—or letting you know that what you like isn’t respectable enough to be a fan.

We have all experienced it, no matter what community it is, no matter what kind of fandom. You will always have someone trying to gatekeep what it means to be a fan—telling you the barrier you have to meet in order to “really” appreciate something.

“Oh, you’re a fan of Nirvana? name 3 songs right now.”

“You aren’t a gamer if you just play Animal Crossing and The Sims.”

If you follow me on @Threads, you may have seen one of my posts get a bit more attention than normal. In it, I discussed an interaction I had a few years ago with a coworker at an old job.

This seems to have resonated with a few people, and it’s easy to see why. Well, actually, it’s not because I don’t understand why people pay attention to me, but still—people have experienced this in a variety of situations. Hell, there is even a Simpsons character based specifically on this type of person:

“I’m not going to correct you, you should just read more comics and find out for yourself”

That sentence in particular is really what has allowed the interaction to remain in my mind for so long. The idea that I was either so wrong it would be too much work to correct me, or that I was such a “fake fan” I wasn’t worth correcting. In either scenario, it’s the wrong way this situation could have been handled, regardless of your vitriol for my admittedly bad opinion.

Geez Did They Miss the Point

Something that struck me quite odd, though, was how much of my comments section for that post was stuck debating whether or not Watchmen was a good movie or faithful. Perhaps it wasn't clear enough, but the point wasn’t about Watchmen at all; it was about the behavior.

I don’t care if you liked the movie or not. If you took my post about gatekeeping based on opinion and decided to be condescending about the opinion that was being gatekept? Guess what? you are a gatekeeper! Congrats!

It truly can’t be stressed enough that you are telling on yourself if you couldn’t move past the offhanded take. It was bait, and you fell for it. Just like Zack Snyder supposedly couldn’t understand the social commentary being told in the Comic Book when he made his adaptation, you too couldn’t pick up on the overall theme of the post. Stuck on the proverbial artwork in the background rather than the story on display.

The point of the post, and thankfully what was picked up on by plenty of folks, was the behavior on display. I was conveying an experience that ultimately hurt my enthusiasm for the medium while simultaneously discussing gatekeeping in general.

Enthusiasm, Not Disdain

When someone reveals to you that they are either not as well versed or just starting their journey into a specific fandom or piece of media, the correct course of action, if you think they are missing some crucial piece, is to respond enthusiastically.

Someone in the comments of my Threads post, who has since deleted their comment, so I am heavily paraphrasing based on bad memory, said something along the lines of “the barrier for fandom is too low. Too many people who have no idea about the material claiming to be fans. I’ve met Star Trek “fans” who didn’t even recognize the Original Series theme song.”

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[deltaruminations]

The Man in the Motif: A Character Analysis of W.D. Gaster via Music

“Sing us a song, you’re the mystery man… sing us a song if you please… ‘cause we’re all in the mood for a broken chord, and you’ve got us feeling unease…”

here’s the Big Dumb Music Post lmao

A couple things:

Most of what comes after the cut is written like an actual essay and not a shitpost i promise

This is more Synthesis and Subjective Reading of Extant Material than speculative theorycraft

I mostly wrote this for fun & because I’d never seen anyone lay out an analysis for our boy G like this before. I don’t think it’s like Revolutionary it’s mostly just me talking a lot about a special interest lol

I get the sense that a lot of people may have already picked up on a lot of this stuff and it might just be my alexithymic ass that needs heady analysis like this to understand subtle emotional cues. That’s to say: IDK how much New Stuff is being presented here for any given reader but it might still add value to that existing understanding I Guess

I’m not trying to assert that Toby Fox consciously intended to convey everything that I’m pulling out of this stuff lol

OK HERE WE GO!!!!!

Contents

To quickly access a given section, just search for it by its leading flag ([#XXX])

[#001] mus_st_him.ogg (Gaster’s Theme)

[#002] ANOTHER HIM

[#002-A] A Brief Tangent on Giygas

[#003] File Select & Game Over ambience

[#004] Darkness Falls

[#005] man.ogg (Tree Room)

[#005-A] A Brief Tangent on Seccom Masada-sensei

[#006] Takeaways

Undertale and Deltarune use leitmotif to a wide variety of ends in shaping players’ experience of their stories. Because music is understood emotionally and interpretively, a single song can function to convey several simultaneous ideas about characters, places, and/or themes, and may be understood to have multiple layers of meaning.

Gaster’s leitmotif in particular is notorious for its tendency to be heard by fans everywhere in Undertale and Deltarune’s soundtracks, regardless of the actual intentionality of its use. Due to the brief and generic nature of the sequence, there’s a distinct possibility that this ambiguity was engineered into it, possibly as a way to influence players’ perceptions by implying that he’s secretly ever-present and ever-watching, and/or to convey something about Gaster himself, such as dispersion of his consciousness or memories.

Aside from the previous point, there are a few instances in Deltarune’s soundtrack in which its use is either explicit or, at the very least, somewhat less ambiguous. This discussion will focus on the former cases, specifically tracks that play in the scenes in which we interact with the man himself. I’ll cover this in roughly the order that I believe a typical player would experience them for the first time.

Most of these sections will be Very Roughly divided into:

Informal analysis (I Do Not Know Music Theory I Am Just A Guy With Abled Ears) of choices made in the song itself

Subjective analysis of what emotions or associations the song might be evoking

Interpretation of what any of that could mean about Gaster Our Good Friend Gaster

Discussion of in-game context wherever I think it's interesting lol

Because my formal knowledge on music composition is very limited, and also because I’m no longer hearing these songs fresh and untainted by Lore Obsession Disease, I had my partner (a musician who knows nothing about UTDR or this character) give his opinions on these songs as well. While I don’t think a formal background is a prerequisite for this kind of subjective analysis (as these soundtracks are designed to communicate with a broad audience, not just with musicians), it of course allows for further insight. I’ll refer to him from here on as my “research assistant” because I think it’s funny.

I first had him listen to the tracks listed here out-of-context and give me his thoughts on what they communicated to him about the character or scene. I then gave him some context for each song, the story, and the character, and we discussed whether that context brought further interpretation. It turned out his basic interpretations closely aligned with mine, with the addition of some really cool observations that would’ve never occurred to me on my own. This discussion will reflect his opinions & observations as well. Huge thanks to him!

With that in mind, I’m going to use the word “melody” and other such Music Words pretty loosely throughout this sorry. I tried my best to respect the Terminology but im just a fucking dude ok

[#001] mus_st_him.ogg (Gaster’s Theme)

We must, of course, begin with mus_st_him.ogg (Gaster’s Theme), which establishes his leitmotif (or at least, the only confirmed part of it; whether or not there’s a B part to the leitmotif is currently unknown, though I‘ve seen some interesting speculation about that). Assuming that Deltarune players experienced Undertale first (as Toby Fox seems to have intended), this will have been the first instance of Gaster’s leitmotif ever encountered, and it’s the front line for evaluating his character.

Found only through a Fun event, in Undertale’s “Sound Test” room, this is presented as less of a song and more of a demo or reference sequence. As we move on to other tracks, I’ll consider this track the platonic ideal and use it as a point of comparison.

One brief note is that the filename itself does not explicitly assign this track to Gaster, but rather to “him.” It’s the Sound Test UI that puts his name on it. Whether or not there’s significance to this is currently unclear.

(I think there may be something in common between the friendly “voice” that thanks us for our feedback in the Sound Test room and Deltarune’s out-of-universe UI text after closing the fountain in Deltarune chapter 1, but I don’t have any idea what, if anything, that means right now.)

Precedents established

Since this is the base motif, I think it’s worthwhile to mention how the song is structured on paper. Since I’m no Theory Guy, I’ll refer you to Tumblr user notesanddreams’s technical analysis of what he calls the “Gaster Sequence,” which is a name I like a lot and am going to use moving forward.

To quote him:

It’s a pretty simple four bar loop. The melody, which everyone I know has taken to calling “the Gaster motif,” is a four note sequence that goes “starting note -> up a minor second (half step) -> up a perfect fifth -> back down a perfect fifth.” This is played four times before modulating down a half step and looping….

There’s simply not enough musical information in the track to discern a tonal center, and therefore any attempts to give it a key signature are futile. This gives the sequence a very mysterious and unsettling nature, but its vagueness allows it to be applied to certain tracks in the Deltarune OST very subtly at times.

While it’s distorted, this song seems to be played on an unaccompanied piano. This establishes an association between Gaster and that instrumentation (as we’ll see reinforced later), as well as with sounds of distortion & modulation, dissonance, and “noise.”

These two factors combined may be things to consider alongside the leitmotif when determining whether a song or part of a song should be considered to offer direct descriptions of Gaster (as opposed to containing a more abstract reference to him, or instead being referential to or descriptive of another character associated with piano, such as Kris).

Emotional perspective

Gaster’s Theme is anxiety-inducing. It builds up endlessly but never resolves. It is not musical; it lacks anything recognizable as motion or melody, which in turn causes it to lack anything immediately recognizable as personality, or emotion, or backstory. It’s a song that betrays no motivations or values, leaving us to fill in the blanks on our own.

The minor key and dissonance could easily be experienced as sinister, playing on our fear and mistrust of the unknown. If the truth is out there, it doesn’t seem to be pleasant. If we continue to seek it out, who knows what could become of us, or what we could unleash upon the world?

The Sound Test UI itself is bizarre and mysterious. Why does it thank us for our “feedback” after hearing Gaster’s Theme? What input or feedback did we provide?

Characterization perspective

We could take this theme on its own to suggest that Gaster is characterized by duality, tension, and emotional detachment and/or reservation.

The rising tones in each bar evoke thought and ideation, approaching a point before dropping down to approach another. The endless, moderately-paced loop of shifting, yet internally consistent, sets resembles a careful dialectic that never reaches resolution.

We could interpret this as the sound of an analytical mind aware of many options and possibilities, but never ultimately delineating the truth between them (my research assistant specifically described this track as being “locked into itself”). We could also take it less literally to signify a reversal of opinion or understanding in general – not necessarily that decisions are never made, but they’re reached through heady deliberation and obsessively re-examined after they’re made.

While the motif betrays internal tension, it’s also highly ordered and consistent, lacking any spontaneity. This can be taken to mean that Gaster is cautious, deliberate, and reserved. For all the neurosis it conveys, it still comes off as fairly confident, as though Gaster is simply used to this and doesn’t tend to question it.

We could also possibly infer that other characters experienced Gaster in much the same way as we do – they may have found him unsettling and hard to read. 

As mentioned before, it’s unknown whether other parts to this motif exist or are planned to exist. If they do exist, then the fact that only the A(?) part has been presented as “Gaster’s Theme” would underscore the one-sidedness of his presentation in Undertale, as well as a possible tendency of Gaster’s to hide parts of himself.

(EXTREMELY speculative, so please don’t take this too seriously, but: I’ve seen at least a handful of fans raise the possibility that at least some part of the Secret Boss (“Freedom”) motif may be a B/C part of Gaster’s motif. If Gaster is trying to obfuscate any involvement with Secret Boss characters, using his metaphysical resources to hide obvious musical associations with them (i.e., by labeling only this part of the motif as his “theme” in the Sound Test) would certainly be a clever way to do so.)

[#002] ANOTHER HIM

The first true application of the Gaster Sequence a player will experience is also the very first song heard in Deltarune: ANOTHER HIM, which plays during the Introduction (also known as the Survey or “GONERMAKER”).

This is another instance of Gaster being referred to as “him” in the metadata rather than by name. The specific phrasing of “ANOTHER HIM” seems referential to Undertale Players’ knowledge of him, and could be taken to suggest that this is a separate instance or at least “piece” of the character described in that game. Alternatively, this could indicate the same character being presented from another perspective, and/or the same continuity of that character who’s no longer recognizable as the same person for one reason or another.

Musical analysis

This track is, of course, a direct quote of the entire Gaster Sequence isolated from any other motifs. Its main developments are a slight modification to the rhythm of the Sequence and the addition of other instruments and background ambience – this is actually the only song in the scope of this document in which the motif itself is heard accompanied (while Darkness Falls also contains other instrumentation, it occurs during an instance of a different motif). We again hear the Sequence played on piano.

When my research assistant first heard this song without context he paused it after about 5 seconds and proceeded to tell me all about Paul stretching and how it can be used to create the type of ethereal ambience heard in this track. One thing he noted is that this algorithm allows for stretching a sample while keeping it in-key, without adding dissonance. I should be clear that I have no idea if this exact technique was used here, only that it seems to have achieved a very similar effect.

So, what is the sample being stretched (in some way or another) to create that ambient noise? When we reversed the stretch, we found it to be none other than one of Giygas’s instruments from EarthBound. This has been identified by other fans as a sample of the track Giygas’s Intimidation.

[#001-A] A Brief Tangent on Giygas

I want to be careful about suggesting too much from musical samples & references, since UTDR are known to make extensive use of samples and soundfonts from other works, especially from EarthBound (as well as reworked versions of Toby Fox’s own music from other projects). Like, I don’t think Toby was trying to Say Anything in particular when he used the “WOW!” from Earthbound’s intro sequence in Spamton’s battle themes except “EarthBound is very special to me and that sound design choice they made was really memorable and I think it sounds really fun here.”

That in mind, UTDR fans have been intuitively connecting Gaster and Giygas for years based on superficial similarities and the known influence of EarthBound alone. Given Gaster’s unique existence in metanarrative, the specificity and consistency of the references associated with him, as well as the potential thematic relevance of this reference (and the one to follow in section [#005-A]), I do think it may be fair game to consider them in these cases. I’m going to throw out a couple of things:

The use of samples from Earthbound, specifically ones related to Giygas, draws yet another thematic connection between Gaster and Undertale’s True Lab and possible parallels to Alphys, suggesting this connection is relevant to Deltarune. Memoryhead itself bears resemblance to Giygas. (also wait what there’s parallel harmony in Amalgam?? holy shit???)

Giygas is a character who, when encountered in Earthbound, has been driven to a state of eldritch, cosmic horror by trauma & grief. His backstory as Giegue, told in the previous game Mother, includes themes of pursuing knowledge despite knowing of the dangers, of betrayal, and of guilt over well-intentioned harm, specifically harm done while under some form of external influence. The Giygas of EarthBound, in his madness, exerts violent influence over animals and people, including Porky, a troubled child who Giygas compels to serve him.

Throughout the fight, Giygas expresses his internal conflict, lashing out seemingly not due to malice but rather uncontrolled emotion. Defeating Giygas requires first that the character Paula “Pray,” or call out for strength from the party’s families and the people they’ve helped along their journey, until there are no more characters left to reach; Paula’s “call” becomes unheard, “absorbed by the darkness.” Then, finally, she begs the player themself to “PRAY” for the party – the “kids” they’ve never met before – dealing the final necessary blows in the process.

Gaster & Giygas are both unpleasant sounding two-syllable G names LOL this is stupid sorry

Obviously, I don’t anticipate a 1:1 resemblance between Gaster’s and Giygas’s stories, but there could be thematic parallels worth considering. There is one thing, however, that I find interesting in the context of this song in particular: in inviting us to this “Survey,” Gaster seems to have called out to us in the same way that Paula did, praying to us for help – perhaps, more specifically, to help the kids of Deltarune who we have yet (at this point in the game) to meet.

Emotional perspective

ANOTHER HIM opens with a distorted ambience, evocative of murmuring, choral voice, rolling thunder, and perhaps the crackling whips of a Tesla coil. This ambience ebbs and flows in intensity, occasionally seeming to thrash and writhe. Just before the Sequence itself starts, and then throughout it, we hear what seem to be longing strings, and underlying the piano is a steady, understated percussion.

In contrast to the distorted fuzz of mus_st_him.ogg, the piano used here is crisp, with only a limited echo applied to it. While not unaccompanied, this piano still feels exposed and small, especially against the faint instrumentation and ambience churning below it. The high, bell-like keys feel bright and hopeful. At the same time, the slow, halting tempo suggests trepidation.

Where the base Sequence marches steadily through its dialectic without deviation or hesitation, ANOTHER HIM’s arrangement pauses at the height of each thought, as if considering it more carefully, before dropping back down to the next. After the first two sets switch off normally, the melody then proceeds to rise steadily, as though finally grasping at a revelation; after reaching an apex, it then pauses, collecting itself, before looping over again. Isolated from the ambience, this arrangement sounds contemplative and searching, in contrast to the neurotic dialogue of the base Sequence.

The backing ambience sounds ethereal and spacey, but not noticeably dissonant. It doesn’t necessarily lend the same eeriness of mus_st_him.ogg’s distortion, but the low, slow murmuring and even occasional lashing of the “voices” in the background still betray an undercurrent of unease & tension.

When my research assistant heard the songs mus_st_him.ogg, ANOTHER HIM, and Darkness Falls without context, in the order presented here, he read them as a developing narrative. He felt that this piece, compared to the base theme, added “motion” in the form of a steady rise and fall. He then said, “What I would want next, if this were one piece, is melody. I’m still waiting for that next part.” While it takes more time to breathe, ANOTHER HIM still never approaches resolution.

He also likened the emotional experience of this song to Gregorian or hymnal chanting – less so the literal style of music, but rather the use of reverberation in that musical form to create a full, choral sound from only a few individual voices.

Characterization perspective

The overwhelming sense I get from ANOTHER HIM is one of vulnerability, introspection, and dishevelment, as well as cautious deliberation. It also conveys a certain amount of hope and possibly curiosity, though these are muted in comparison to the hesitance and turmoil.

Compared to what we “see” of him in mus_st_him.ogg, Gaster seems to be far less self-assured in his dialectical thinking. He’s breaking from his traditional pattern of rumination and attempting to reach for some form of personal truth. The cautiousness could also be taken to convey unease or skepticism about the situation at hand, about the probability of success in achieving the “NEW FUTURE,” or even about the Player themself.

As far as the background ambience, its most obvious function is to convey the ethereality of incorporeal, out-of-universe existence, its ebbing and twisting reflecting the shapelessness of a disembodied consciousness. It could even be considered diegetic – as if it is the sound of his state of being, or of this strange, extraplanar space beyond the event horizon.

The ambience could also be taken to convey emotional information, though its separation from the “conscious thought” of the motif could imply many things (as we’ll discuss later in [#004], we have an example within the same chapter of the motif conveying quite a bit of emotionality in itself).

If we take this angle, then it could suggest that Gaster is not integrating emotionality with rational thought, but is at least possibly acknowledging that emotionality — or it’s built up to a point where it can no longer be fully contained or ignored. We could interpret the pauses in the motif as Gaster listening to or meditating on these “voices” – or becoming momentarily overwhelmed by them.

From this perspective, it’s clear that this emotional state is confusing and volatile; the dialogue happening on this level is not nearly as orderly or civil as that heard in the motif. The “lashing” sounds could be taken as flashes of pain; their violence could suggest bad memories, self-criticism, shame, or regret, among other possibilities.

I also think the choice of a percussive “heartbeat” is quite interesting. While not rapid, it could possibly suggest anxiety, as though his heart is pounding. It also suggests intimacy, which in turn requires a certain level of trust – he has allowed us close enough to hear that heartbeat at all, whether or not it’s comfortable for him, or he feels confident that it’s a good idea for him to do so.

Despite this piling on of confusion and unease, the relative clarity and brightness of the motif’s piano seems to twinkle faintly in the dark. This sense of hope gives us something to latch onto amidst the tumult, and that may be true of the character as well. We could read this as a hope that is worth enduring the doubt, the humbling, and the possibility of pain.

The song in context

ANOTHER HIM’s hesitation and vulnerability strikes an interesting contrast with Gaster’s dialogue throughout the Survey sequence. Aside from a very small number of seemingly spontaneous reactions, Gaster in his dialogue – in his intended self-presentation – comes off as unfailingly polite, professional, confident, and generally neutral.

While we needn’t assume that this self-presentation, or the opinions he does express, are insincere, we can still infer that whatever the reality is of his internal state, Gaster is making a concerted effort to keep that information hidden from us. There are obvious practical reasons for this: to maintain the integrity of his study, he needs to minimize his biasing of our behavior.

That said, we could certainly read personal factors into this as well. From Gaster’s POV, the Player possesses a tremendous amount of metaphysical knowledge and ability. Whether or not he has difficulties with trust in general, Gaster certainly has reasons to be very wary of us, something I’ll discuss further in the next section.

The content of the sequence itself (text, background, etc.) warrants its own analysis. I’ll probably do one at like, idk some point probably

[#003] File Select (& Game Over) ambience

While it doesn’t really constitute a “song,” I think it’s worthwhile to look briefly at the sound design in the File Select and Game Over UIs, since they’re still among the very few instances of “face-to-face” interaction we have with the man of the hour. Note that this doesn’t include Darkness Falls, which plays after a certain choice is made at a game over – the next section will discuss that. Because this section covers sound design choices moreso than musical ones, I’ll eschew the format of the other sections and simply analyze these choices in-context.

This is the one section of audio I didn’t review with my research assistant, so you’re just getting my unmoderated opinions here, unfortunately.

For the better part of the game (so far), the File Select screen generally looks and feels the way a Player would expect from an RPG UI, with illustrations, friendly help text, and narrative music:

Post-completion Chapter 1 File Select (Before the Story)

Chapter 2 File Select (Faint Glow)

Similarly, the chapter 2 (or, rather, the post-ch1-completion) Game Over screen displays a genre-appropriate graphic, includes a message of encouragement (or, perhaps more accurately, a plea for Kris to survive) from Kris’s party members, and plays the song Faint Courage.

These File Select & Game Over screens are potentially extremely lore-rich in and of themselves (some of this will come up in the next section), but with regard to this particular discussion, I’m mostly interested in the stark contrast they present when compared to the pre-completion Chapter 1 screens.

Before chapter 1’s completion, when Gaster is strongly implied to be narrating (and possibly facilitating) the Player’s SAVE data manipulation and game over choices, the soundtrack for both screens is profoundly barren.

There’s no “song,” no melody, only an identical low, looping drone for both screens. We know that there can be music here, even very emotional music, and we feel like there probably should be. And yet, there isn’t. This makes these screens feel empty, ominous, and cold, underscoring their dark, ascetic visuals.

I think the fact that so little is being said here is in itself very, very interesting. We know that we aren’t actually alone on these screens; our friendly facilitator is here with us. We also know from the other examples in this document that Deltarune’s Gaster is not inherently associated with a lack of music, nor (as we’ll see in the next song) a lack of emotion in melody. Why is it only in this particular context – when the Player approaches these existential crossroads – that the music disappears entirely?

The File Select screen on its own doesn’t give us a whole lot to work with. While the dialogue here is certainly unsettling (even compared to Gaster’s clinical speech in other scenes) and warrants its own discussion, it still isn’t entirely clear why file manipulation should sound like this.

In the Game Over screen, however, we can start to make inferences. Game Overs are when Gaster’s plans are at the most risk – they’re when a Player is most likely to opt out of the study and never return, leaving Deltarune’s future as-is and any hope of a “NEW FUTURE” unfulfilled.

With that in mind, I think this drone conveys emotional shutdown. Gaster is still there – the drone is his presence, as though he’s trying to keep his breathing slow and measured as he speaks with us – but whatever is happening with him internally, he’s either working hard enough to succeed in hiding it from us, or it’s so overwhelming that he himself can’t even acknowledge it.

What that internal experience could be is anyone’s guess. Personally, I think he’s deeply afraid.

When Gaster seems to panic upon seeing his own name in the Survey, he can simply exit the situation and prevent the Player from making that choice. He can’t, however, prevent us from exiting the game – whether or not he had the power to do so (and he of course doesn’t), doing so would be meddling in the experiment, it’d be a breach of participant consent, and it’d potentially undermine whatever uneasy trust the Player has developed with him. In these moments, he’s entirely at the Player’s mercy.

(Note: this last video shows the game exiting after the creator is named “GASTER.” As of Chapter 2’s release, naming either vessel or creator “GASTER” causes the game to return to the chapter select, rather than exiting.)

Since the same drone plays on the File Select screen, we can infer he’s shut down there as well. It still isn’t as clear what about SAVE manipulation would cause such a strong response, and there are many ways this could be interpreted. It’s worth noting that we don’t currently know whether Gaster is the one executing those actions, or if he’s simply giving us guidance and warnings as we execute them ourselves. More broadly, we don’t know whether Gaster is capable of executing these actions at all.

For right now, my best guess – and I want to be clear that I don’t feel confident this is correct – is that SAVE manipulation is the first obvious indication to both us and to Gaster that he’s willing to accept some amount of “necessary evil” in pursuit of his plans. Based on the seemingly unprecedented gravity of his tone and diction on this screen (especially around erasing SAVEs), this may be when Gaster first recognizes, fully, just how much power he’s entrusted to a Player, how irresponsible it may have been for him to do so, and he is again deeply afraid – this time, not just of us, but of himself.

[#004] Darkness Falls

(This is the song I wrote that post about, that a lot of people seemed to like, which was very cool! But also it was meant more as a throwaway vent post than an actual analysis and was worded kind of strongly/reductively in part because I didn’t expect anyone to actually see it lol. anyway this will reiterate a lot of those thoughts but with A LOT more detail and nuance, possibly more than is necessary lol)

(Quick kudos again to the user who pointed out details about Faint Courage and its relationship to Kris on the Post People Liked. I hadn’t even begun to think through that part of the song when I made the post. It helped a lot with this!)

(Wait one more note: I’d previously thought this sequence only happened in pre-completion Chapter 1, when Gaster was actively present in the UI, but apparently this still happens as of Chapter 2?? The guy just crawls out of the woodwork specifically to narrate our ending and see us off I Guess. I do not have any particularly strong opinions at the moment about what this could Mean because I don’t generally have strong opinions about why he disappeared in the first place except IDK We Got The Hang Of The Game So He Switched On The Normal UI And Now He’s Just Observing Quietly And Taking Notes And Also Waving From Cars And Egg I GUess but anyway I thought I’d point it out because I got it wrong before)

(Oh btw if God kills you it just bypasses the normal screens entirely and returns you to a checkpoint. this detail doesnt mean anything it was obviously implemented for mechanical/joke reasons I just think it’s funny. like even Gaster is just sitting there like ?????? WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT. sorry moving on now)

Darkness Falls is only heard after saying “No” at a Game Over. As previously discussed, Game Overs in chapter 1 (pre-completion) feature the Emotional Shutdown Drone™, while post-ch1-completion Game Overs feature the song Faint Courage. Upon refusing to continue, whatever audio is present cuts out entirely, leaving complete silence as Gaster narrates our ending. Immediately after that text cuts out, Darkness Falls begins to play.

While a Player could encounter this before the File Select or after seeing the Tree Room, it felt most logical to me to order it like this for Reasons. Based on both my own experience and that of some other people who responded to the Post People Liked, it seems like a lot of Players, even ones who know about the Tree Rooms, just end up never saying “No” and seeing it at all.

This is the only track in this document’s scope in which the Gaster Sequence occurs alongside another leitmotif: the one found in Faint Courage, the song played in the aforementioned post-ch1-completion Game Over screen (I’ll simply refer to this second motif as Faint Courage from here on).

For the sake of this analysis, I’m only considering the Gaster Sequence part of the song (roughly 0:00 - 0:33) to be directly descriptive of the man himself, as we have good reasons to believe the second motif is specifically saying something about Kris. That’s to say: any character traits being suggested by Faint Courage will be assumed to describe Kris, not Gaster.

However, I’ll still discuss the song as a whole where it makes sense to do so, including consideration of what it could be saying about Gaster’s perspective on Kris, on the moment in which it’s found, or on the broader narrative.

Musical analysis

In an unusual break from precedent, the Gaster Sequence isn’t hidden by or within the other leitmotif featured in this track. Instead, we hear an unaccompanied piano arrangement of the Sequence that then leads into Faint Courage, played on the same piano but now accompanied, and with more instruments gradually added. Each motif takes up roughly half the song’s length, though the latter is slightly longer.

Much like the piano heard in ANOTHER HIM, the keys played during the Sequence have a moderate reverberation applied to them, but are otherwise fairly clear & crisp. Notably, this reverberation still continues after the shift into Faint Courage, as if the previous motif has shifted into a background, supporting role for the next one.

The arrangement of the Gaster Sequence heard here deviates the most by far from the original mold, to the degree that it’d be easy to miss it as an instance of that theme at all. Viewed side by side, the difference is stark. Someone who actually Knows Theory could probably describe it more eloquently than I can, but I’ll do my best to fumble through this with my untrained ear and the input of my research assistant.

This arrangement of the Sequence doesn’t do away with the back-and-forth of the base theme, but the dialogue heard here begs, grasps, and searches, seeming to have no pretense of self-assuredness or strict, rational confidence. It seems more grounded in the fact that this internal conversation really has only one, contiguous “speaker,” as each even-numbered set of bars picks up directly from the set before it, rather than there being a sharp drop between them.

The “speaker’s” opening comment, which begins on a chord, rises like a choking cry or plea, before they seem to attempt rationalization. Unable to answer in kind, searching for something to say but having nothing to meaningfully offer, they volley back on a higher note, as though presenting themself another question. The “speaker” then repeats the same sorrowful, confused entreaty from before – but this time, they continue from that cry to reach toward something, pause as though approaching rest, and then decide there’s something more to say – something entirely different.

Referring back to the “narrative development” reading proposed by my research assistant (first brought up in section [#002]): when my assistant first heard this song without context, he almost immediately stopped the track and said “that, right there, is melody!” He described the addition of a tonal center as making the difference between “color” and “meaning” – ANOTHER HIM adds interest to the base Sequence, but it’s still difficult to find an emotional foothold in it. It’s difficult to parse. Darkness Falls, on the other hand, has obvious musicality. It’s immediately relatable. It’s generally pleasant.

He spent some time discussing the chords found in this arrangement of the Sequence, describing the very deliberate placement of these chords as being its own melodic line of sorts, “going through its own motion, its own process.” He described the pattern as being roughly “harmony, then dissonance, then a stretch of time, then dissonance.” He noted that the one tonic he could identify in this Sequence was just before the turn into Faint Courage.

With this in mind, we could say that the instance of the Sequence heard in Darkness Falls, in contrast to that heard in every other song covered in this document, reaches its own internal resolution. That tonic, leading into the turn, could be read as a choice finally being made.

My research assistant also pulled out a “hero’s journey” narrative from this song. The first half, the Gaster Sequence, continues its push and pull of dialogue and tension, establishing the sense of a problem needing to be solved; while the second half, Faint Courage, approaches that problem with playful curiosity, possibility, and hope, before developing into a heroism heralded by nostalgic, Zelda-like synths, and ending on a literal high note. He noted that this type of narrative is common in ending themes for games, serving as a reflection of the story just completed.

Emotional perspective

The immediate motivator for me to write the Post People Liked was because I’d pulled up Darkness Falls on YouTube (for this analysis lol) and among the video’s top comments was someone saying, more or less, “Boy! It sure is weird that Gaster’s Theme shows up so obviously in this beautiful, moving song!” This was one among many, many comments I’d seen over time across various platforms expressing the same thought.

This confusion is perfectly understandable. As I’ve expressed in several ways in this document and elsewhere, the idea of the Gaster Sequence being arranged in a way that is, in itself, obviously moving – immediately, viscerally moving without any need for the kind of reaching overanalysis I’m doing here – is wholly unprecedented in either Undertale or Deltarune. As I mentioned in the Post People Liked, we’ve been conditioned to view Gaster as anything but another character, and that may be its own form of characterization. And, like I said before, the degree of deviation heard here is so great that many players will likely miss it entirely if they aren’t paying attention or don’t know what to listen for.

That said, it’s very obvious that this arrangement of the motif sounds distinctly loose and emotional. The first half is sorrowful, but its internal development also conveys curiosity and open-heartedness. The heroism of the second half conveys a distinct sense of hope, or at least, satisfaction.

I think it’s worth noting here that, when I initially showed my research assistant the scene in which this song is found, after he’d previously heard the song out of context, his immediate impression was that it felt ironic and mocking, as though the game – maybe even Gaster himself – was deriding the Player for not persisting further. I think this impression makes sense. It’s one that I’ve experienced myself, and based on comments I’ve seen, it certainly seems to be the impression many Players walk away from the first two chapters with.

After a little more discussion, specifically after I presented the idea of Deltarune’s One Ending, and the idea that this ending is likely the “default” ending – the one Gaster knows will happen and seems to be hoping to change – my research assistant felt the song conveyed sincere acceptance. In his words: “whatever ending the player gets, it was heroic that they even tried.”

Characterization perspective

In reference to the idea of this ending theme being ironic or cynical, I think there’s something to be said for the possibility that Gaster’s habitual masking and/or intrinsic propensity for interpersonal oddness leads to others disregarding his sincerity or misinterpreting it as malice. We could argue that this is a trait indicated in a number of other ways beyond this song.

The reverberation of the keys during the Sequence of course recalls the ethereality of Gaster’s extraplanar existence. The fact that the reverberation continues into Faint Courage, combined with the placement of the tonic just before the shift, could be taken to represent a decision by Gaster to take a background role in Kris’s narrative.

Something interesting to consider from that: if the choice was made to take a background role, then what other options were being weighed in the previous dialectics? Does this imply that Gaster has considered more active roles in the past? (Could it be the case that he’s previously taken them, and the outcomes of those past decisions have influenced this latest choice? Is passivity really the best choice he could make here, or is he actually just transferring responsibility? Does he simply not trust himself to do the right thing if given the chance? Sorry this is getting really speculative LOL moving on)

As a number of users mentioned, the inclusion of Faint Courage could be an indication that Gaster is not only mourning the potential loss of the Player and with them, the “NEW FUTURE,” but the potential permanence of Kris’s death in particular. This reading suggests that Gaster feels a great deal of tenderness toward Kris themself; given what we’ve seen of Gaster thus far in this document, it wouldn’t be hard to infer reasons for why he might be especially fond of a misfit kid with self-esteem issues and interpersonal difficulties. (Assuming, of course, that these troubles aren’t directly related to their situation with the Player. Personally, I like to think that the more troubled aspects of Kris’s character are, for the most part, just as true to their real personality as their more “acceptable” or likable aspects are – attributing too much of their struggle to outside influences feels like an undermining of their agency. But I do feel it’s still worthwhile to acknowledge other possibilities, or at least the potential nuance they offer.)

The relationship between Gaster and Kris is absolutely something that warrants further examination as the story continues. While this song (and to a certain degree, the next one) seem to suggest a fair amount of good intent and even tenderness on the part of Gaster toward Kris, there’s certainly still room for complexity and tension on Kris’s part.

The song in context

In a typical game, we’d expect to be returned to a title screen or menu right after choosing not to continue. Deltarune instead gives us Gaster’s narration, then leaves us on a black screen for the roughly one-minute duration of Darkness Falls, before it closes the game window on its own. That begs the question of why the game lingers here on this song in the way it does.

In a metanarrative sense, I think there’s validity to the idea that this choice was made to reinforce that we reached “an end” – not just a game over, but the “default” ending or One Ending to the game, in which the world is covered in darkness. As mentioned before, Darkness Falls sounds to a degree like an end credits song. The game closes because that’s what typically happens after the end – we leave the game.

As far as narrative or character interpretation goes, we do know that (pre-ch1-completion, at least) Gaster is our facilitator out-of-universe in Deltarune from its start to its finish. We have reason to believe that he has control over the screens we’re on (given that he can exit us back to title). We can infer that he would be the one to redirect us to the menu.

We have no reason to think that, just because Gaster’s narration has left the screen, he’s suddenly ceased to be present when Darkness Falls plays. The fact that it starts with his Sequence seems to imply his continued presence. We can infer that he’s the one keeping us here through the song, and the one who finally closes the game.

Maybe he keeps us here because he feels he owes us our ending song – and maybe this song is an expression of what he’s thinking and feeling in that moment.

To reiterate my reading from the Post People Liked: Gaster describes our ending, and then he has nothing left to say. We said “no,” and he can’t violate our consent as participants, but he can’t bear to let us go just yet. His “NEW FUTURE” is in the balance, Kris’s life is in the balance, and on top of that, we can’t deny that the man is probably just lonely.

So, we’re left alone in the dark with him, and for the first time, we “see” him entirely exposed – no confident, clinical dialogue, no choices to make, no spr_mysteryman, no True Lab fog or trees for him to hide behind. We sit there with him as he works quietly through the situation – perhaps even entreating us to come back and try again later – and when Darkness Falls ends, when he finally reaches some form of acceptance, he decides he can’t keep us there any longer, and closes the game.

[#005] man.ogg (Tree Room)

man.ogg is the track that plays in the secret Tree Room, and is notably not found on the original Deltarune OSTs thus far. While a first-time player could technically experience this track before the previous two discussed, most players going in blind won’t learn about the secret room until after their first playthrough, or potentially until chapter 2.

I know there’s some debate in the fanbase over whether or not Gaster is the unseen (at least to the Player) man encountered in the Tree Room and elsewhere. Aside from the arguable use of his motif in this song, which I’ll get to in a moment, I think there are other context clues indicating that he’s intended to be representative of Gaster in some way:

Gaster, in particular, seems to never be referred to by name except when being referred to by the “followers” or the Sound Test UI. The reasons for this could be metanarrative (to maintain the mystery around him) or narrative (to indicate that Gaster has distanced himself from his name, for whatever reason).

Precedent from Undertale associates Gaster with the word “man,” specifically unmodified instances.

Aside from spr_mysteryman and the possible relevance of Memoryhead and its attacks, UTDR never represent Gaster as a sprite visible to players. After all, as far as we’re aware, he no longer has a physical form for us to see. The fact that Deltarune’s Man is always hidden from our view feels like a clear nod to this.

Musical analysis

man.ogg is a brief, unaccompanied piano piece, seemingly a waltz (fan-arranged sheet music for reference – I’m a big fan of the tone descriptor “surreptitious yet jocular”).

While it’s subtle, it can arguably be read as a variation of the Gaster Sequence. Gaster Theme Everywhere Skeptic Matthew Sandstrom describes this variation as a “Garbled Gaster”:

The melody and rhythm are somewhat garbled, but the right notes are there, even if the order is wrong.

He identifies two other tracks in chapter 1 that seem to use this same Garbled Gaster motif: April 2012 and, VERY, VERY INTERESTINGLY, THE HOLY. I won’t be getting into those tracks here, but I think it’s worth pointing out that a distinct “Man” motif might be an ongoing thing to look out for.

For what it’s worth, my research assistant also felt that man.ogg was likely an intentional variation on the Gaster Sequence. His justification included the thought that the motif could largely be boiled down to the “top two notes.” Make of that what you will.

I won’t worry too much about comparing this directly to mus_st_him.ogg as I have with other tracks in this document, since it seems to be almost a new motif in itself. The fact that “the right notes are there” but the “order is wrong” is worth considering, though – it’s the same Sequence in an almost unrecognizable form. It’s no longer a dialectic, but a partnered dance. Keeping with precedent, there’s also a very subtle, almost imperceptible echo applied to it.

As a final note, man.ogg is actually not an entirely new track – it’s been identified as a rework of a fan song (“Waltz of Seccom Masada”) made by Toby Fox for the game Yume Nikki (“Dream Diary”). Specifically, it’s a theme he wrote for the character known to Yume Nikki fans as Seccom Masada-sensei.

[#005-A] A Brief Tangent on Seccom Masada-sensei

As I mentioned in the previous tangent ([#001-A]), I want to be careful about suggesting too much from reworked tracks that were meant for or made in reference to other projects. After all, MEGALOVANIA isn’t meant to suggest that Sans is ascending to God Tier or likes saying swears. (It’s worth noting that the aforementioned April 2012, which seems to use the Man motif, is also a rework of an unreleased Homestuck track.)

However, much like with Giygas, the connections between Gaster and Uboa have been intuitively obvious since the first Fun event investigations on Starmen.net. (Toby Fox literally used a slightly edited Uboa for Dr. Andonuts’s final boss overworld sprite. The dude likes Uboa, OK?)

So, again, I don’t think it’s unreasonable in this case to take a closer look at a very pointed reference to Yume Nikki as we gather information.

Masada-sensei’s appearance in Yume Nikki is very brief; demonstrations of the segment may be found on YouTube. While the connections between spr_mysteryman’s design and Uboa are well-known, the idea that Masada-sensei and Gaster may also be comparable in some ways is far more obscure, but worth considering.

Some things of possible note from the segment itself:

Reaching Masada-sensei’s spaceship requires descending a long flight of stairs into what appears to be some type of basement. At one point, Madotsuki must equip the Umbrella Effect (which causes her to hold an umbrella while rain falls) in order to extinguish a fire blocking her way.

Masada-sensei’s sprite is in black-and-white – white face, black clothes and hair. His only discernible facial feature is a set of googly eyes that make him look a little neurotic. He also has a non-standard reaction to the Knife Effect – approaching him with it equipped will cause him to back away in fright.

When first encountered, he turns in place steadily and fairly slowly in front of some kind of piano or organ, as though playing the instrument and/or operating it as a type of control panel. Interacting with him causes him to beep at us.

The next room to the right contains a bed. If the player has Madotsuki sleep in the bed, she will wake up later to the sound of the ship’s alarm system. At this point, Masada-sensei can be seen turning rapidly and erratically, as though panicked.

The spaceship will then be seen to crash onto a planet. It is raining when they land. Masada-sensei stands still, looking out the window.

Masada-sensei and Madotsuki seem to be alone on the planet, which stretches for several screens, desolate, until it culminates in a hole in the ground, atop a mound, leading to another long flight of stairs that descend into darkness and an even stranger, more inscrutable setpiece.

Possible character parallels worth noting:

Masada-sensei’s location in a spaceship suggests associations with scientific activity.

Yume Nikki fans commonly interpret Masada-sensei as a music teacher, hence the honorific. As Royal Scientist, Dr. Gaster would have been an authority in his field. We also know that at least one of Undertale’s Royal Scientists (Alphys) is a schoolteacher in Deltarune.

Masada-sensei certainly bears some physical resemblance to the widely accepted image of Gaster; and similarly to Gaster, the small amount of subtle characterization he was given made him a very popular object of fans’ affections and speculations. It’s worth noting, however, that Masada-sensei seems to be pretty universally understood as a sympathetic and very “human” figure – something that can’t necessarily be said for Gaster among the fanbase historically and at large.

I won’t extrapolate on this information too much here, but for this section, the “teacher” thing is worth keeping in mind.

Emotional perspective

I would certainly say “surreptitious yet jocular” feels like an accurate description of this song. To me it feels playful, but out-of-step. It seems like it should be a more cheerful piece, but there’s an underlying sadness or confusion leaking through.

What stands out to me most about this track is how rough it sounds, like the piano player is new to the instrument. For being such a simple piece, there’s a clumsiness to it, a lack of confidence – it sounds like it’s being played just a little too slowly, like the piano player is practicing the muscle memory needed to play it at full speed, and the rhythm stutters momentarily between bars, as if they’ve tripped over their own fingers. A few of the notes sound dissonant, like they were played wrong.

To me, this conveys a sense of imperfect but earnest effort. The piano player is not particularly good at this yet, they don’t feel confident about it, but they’re continuing to play. While the song isn’t exactly succeeding at evoking cheer or comfort, it still conveys sincere curiosity.

Characterization perspective

The way this song deviates from the base Sequence, combined with its rough, unrefined sound, could suggest that Gaster is breaking form in these scenes, perhaps stepping out of a comfort zone and attempting a new form of learning.

Aside from the traffic easter egg in chapter 2 (only seen if he was met in chapter 1), these are the only scenes in which Deltarune’s Gaster manifests in-universe and interacts directly with another character. Given that Gaster seems to prefer staying hidden as much as possible, and is also literally an extraplanar being, it isn’t difficult to see why he might be out of practice for this kind of interaction.

The playfulness suggests a drop in facade, and may reflect an innocent and almost childlike curiosity about the Player and/or Kris. The use of a waltz suggests a desire for connection, as though it’s an invitation to dance.

(Setting aside any specific Gaster relevance, I feel there’s a more general trend developing in Deltarune of waltzes being used to convey themes around connection, such as loneliness, the awkwardness and growing pains of a new relationship, the vulnerability and comfort of trusting a new friend, and the despair of a valued connection unexpectedly severed.)

The evocation of a novice sound could also suggest a more general relationship to teaching or nurturing. Recalling the tangent on Seccom Masada-sensei, we could read this song abstractly as a teacher’s perspective of a student’s development.

While Egg could have any number of worthwhile meanings as a symbol in Deltarune, we shouldn’t disregard the obvious: Egg is a young, fragile life in need of gentle handling and incubation. By giving Kris Egg, Gaster seems to be asking them (and/or the Player) to protect it — the future of Egg is in their (our) hands now.

We also have Lancer telling Kris they “won’t get through [their] teen years without at least one Egg” (itself a reference to EarthBound). With this perspective, we could read the act of giving Egg to be itself a gesture of nurturing on Gaster’s part, if admittedly a very bizarre and confusing one from Kris’s/our POV.

The fact that Players on a Snowgrave route will be locked out of chapter 2’s Tree Room could suggest that this behavior causes Gaster to second guess his trust in the Player and their ability to handle such a fragile responsibility.

[#006] Takeaways

While Gaster’s dialogue projects an air of unwavering, confident professionalism and emotional neutrality, the musical information presented alongside him hints toward a complex emotionality lying beneath his mask. Gaster is far from unfeeling – he’s simply hard to read, and that may be, to some degree, his intent.

In general, Gaster may have difficulty trusting his own judgment, whether as a response to past mistakes, and/or as a natural result of his tendencies toward hyper-analytical rumination and emotional repression.

The Gaster of Deltarune seems to be engaging in a great deal of reflection and introspection. He may be proceeding with this study despite having serious reservations about it. He seems disheveled and, to a certain degree, desperate. Whatever reasons Gaster has for being so interested in the future of Deltarune’s world, these reasons are powerful enough that they are, in many ways, breaking him down.

Despite his spoken eagerness to connect with the Player, close observation may suggest that he’s quietly uneasy with the arrangement and may be more skeptical and/or fearful of us than he lets on. 

For whatever reasons, Gaster also seems to have a particular fondness for and sentimentality toward Kris, who he seems to want to nurture and protect, while also viewing them as a potential savior and source of hope. The association of both characters with piano seems to underscore a connection between them.

OK im tired of writing about this now. THE END !!!Q!

[guardian-angle22]

hi heather! nice ask day ask for you - how did you get into gif making? what is your favourite thing abour gif making? what is the thing about gif making you find most difficult? 💜

Hiii!! 💜 I love the idea of nice ask day but I am clearly absolutely terrible at it - as evidenced by this lovely ask just sitting in my inbox for multiple days, unanswered.

ANYWAY! I got into gif making because of 911LS. I had been in the fandom for the first two seasons just lurking around tumblr, occasionally commenting on things, but just generally being a wallflower. Then I just got more invested and decided one night to see if I could teach myself how to do it. I don't remember if there was something specific that I wanted to gif, but looking back at one of the very first gifsets I ever posted (we can ignore the quality lol), I put in the tags that it was motivated by wanting to gif more of Brian/Paul. and while I don't have the specific memory of what exactly I wanted to gif - that definitely tracks. 🤣

I think my favorite thing about making gifs is how it gives me an ability to highlight what I enjoyed about a show/movie/etc and also sometimes instigate conversations about specific things. I'm not the best writer and I don't always have the words in my head to convey my feelings on a topic or talk about something in the way I want. I feel like gifs kind of help me to do that... if that makes sense? 😅

The most difficult thing about gif making will always and forever be the lighting/coloring for me. I MEAN-- look at THIS:

those are screencaps of what they look like before I made any edits:

what a nightmare lmao.