#but she never delved into the lore herself

[witchofthesouls]

Bayverse squandered their "Earth is Unicron" subplot and so many characters.

It would have been so perfect to delve into the really freaky and disturbing lore that humans created across the world...

And found out it was real.

Not just King Arthur and Merlin, but the faint remains of Atlantis, the echoes of mad laughter from a revelry in ancient forests, the fox messengers of Inari traveling everywhere, strange and terrible shapes twisting beneath the ocean waves or off the coast of the Diego Garcia base, ghost towns filled with decrepit homes and buildings with the odd sense between hope and despair as they wait, national statues or ancient sculptures that are actually once living people and beings but transformed into marble and rock and sleeping until they feel the brush of the Matrix or the Allspark, wide and empty stretches of road with no one else and GPS glitches along with time (minutes that go on forever, every so slowly, painfully) as they pass the same canyon formation or homemade sign over and over and over-

I live and love the Other aus too much to give them up, so-

Give me a Mikaela Banes who has become a Dragon herself with the blessings by a Primordial (the Great Shadow, Carnage Incarnate, Unmaker's Mirror) that devoured worlds and remade them as she's the one that offered herself as tribute upon their altar.

Give me a Sam Witwicky who has seen the universe in all of its terrible and wicked glory, beastly and divine in the transcendent music that the Allspark weaves in its own song in the grand orchestra -he has seen, he has heard, and he cannot help but remember snippets beneath the breeze that rustles the trees and the soft patter of rain upon his bedroom window and haunts all his dreams and every waking moment because, despite his vocal adamance, he can never return to normalcy.

Give me Judy Taylor that tries to outrun the monsters in her family's shadows and the ghosts that howl for vengeance and protection in her childhood home by eloping with a Ron Witwicky with a similar madness in his own bloodline.

Give me a William Lennox whose luck is too uncanny, too fortuitous, especially in hindsight, as he feels the very signs his own grandmother would foretell as she hangs trinkets in the branches and leaves sweets on the porch.

("Long ago, Man made peace with Magic.")

[chaifootsteps]

Vaggie is a wasted character… She can almost be my top favorite but she doesn't even has a reliable background. In this new lore of hers she used to be one if not the best exterminator for maybe years, decades, centuries, who knows? they never explain it but they do show her saying that it has been a lot since she really meant to stab someone and missed it, so she was a merciless killer but suddenly felt guilty/pitty out of nowhere and had mercy on a child which is actually a hellborn since he looks a lot like a cannibal and exterminators are supposed not to kill hellborns? Wtf. Also not knowing angels can be harmed but her eye was stucked out and her wings ripped off by an angelic sword? And one of the worst is her being Charlie's simp…Her whole role and arc is based on her struggling with herself not being enough for Charlie and that's it, but not satisfied with that she didn't even managed to be useful neither for Charlie or the hotel... MY GOD! What was the point of her recovering her wings by the power of love/script, which is also ridiculous, if she didn't even used them from the very beggining and got Dazzle killed?! Also why didn't she recovered her missing eye if already her wings? On battle, even with one arm left Lute still gave her a hard time fighting her an Vaggie struggled with that as if she didn't had both of her arms..!! This only exhibits that she was not even written, if we remove all relationships from her and just let her be she would still be as unnecesary and irrelevant for the sotry events, she never did something meaningful; the commercial? Alastor himself did it, acquire weapons from Carmilla? Again Alastor could have did that, they are overlords…

I hate to say this but if we remove her from the whole story as if never existed it barely changes and not even as a drastic or remarkable one…

Can you imagine how cool that could potentially be, an arc that really rolls up its sleeves and delves deep into how much Vaggie loved being an exterminator, or at the very least loved stabbing people?

[tulipsinthedas]

Just finished binging the Fallout tv show and 🤯 I've got so many thoughts running through this little brain of mine. So here's a very long rant no one asked for. Maybe I'll make a more digestible version later. Obviously SPOILERS AHEAD!!! Be warned!

First off - the lore. So many interesting things were added into the lore by this show that I find so fascinating, as well as theories I've had that were touched upon. All of which makes this very exciting but also leaves me DESPERATE for season two. The main thing that has really stuck with me is the confirmation that Vault-Tec were the ones to drop the bombs like hello??? I've always had an inkling ever since I started delving into fallout lore a good year or two ago that they were behind everything, but finally having it confirmed is so fun. Of course, some people out there are going to be irritated (L take) but this imo will make replays so much more interesting. Same with the addition of ghouls needing medication to keep from becoming feral. Although this begs some questions; what is the medicine? Is it just radaway, or something else entirely? Maybe it's connected to whatever Hancock used to ghoulify himself? Or maybe it's connected to Doctor Barrows' research into ghouls fom Fallout 3? Idk! But I hope it's answered in season 2.

Cooper being the inspiration behind the iconic vault boy mascot absolutely gagged me. It was kinda hinted at even in the beginning at the kids birthday party but I was still surprised. Pleasantly, of course. Other smaller things, like the BOS branding and helmets opening up, among other things, were also fun touches that develop the lore in ways that the games probably never would have. It's small things like this that despite livening up the wasteland, would be unnecessary uses of resources from a game-development standpoint. So I think if season 2 ends up being a banger like season 1, we could see a lot more tiny additions to the lore like this!

Secondly - the characters. I don't even know where to start. They were written so well which is such a critical part of a good series. Lucy, despite everything she goes through, stays true to her morals and by doing so, probably unknowingly, is changing those around her. Despite being stubborn, she's willing to listen and understand other viewpoints and adapt herself. It's so refreshing to see a main female lead who isn't written as either weak and naive or strong and boneheaded; she'd a perfect mix of both. I also appreciate them not making her a total push over, even in the beginning before she is given any reason to change. She grows, but never fails to stay true to herself. Plus the whole sex positive thing is an amazing touch to add as well, especially for a woman.

And while on this topic, Maximus is such a cutie pie. Writing characters that are selflessly aligned can definitely be a hit or miss, and without properly being fleshed out, can be one-dimensional, but I never felt that way with him. Despite trying to help others and be a good person, he still has flaws and does feels selfish things. They took the trope of the knight in shining armor, literally, and gave him actual human characteristics that made him feel real. Underneath his heroic demeanor, he's just a little guy who likes slippers and vault popcorn. Who just wants to be somewhere safe away from war and danger, to be where he can just relax and not have to worry. And his romance arc with Lucy is just way too cute. From the moment they met in Filly I knew something was going to happen and I was so excited when they finally kissed lmao. The sweet, innocent love at first sight thing they have going on is the perfect dichotomy to all the bloodshed and heavy themes going on in the rest of the show.

And finally, Cooper is reviving the inner ghoul lover in me and I cannot complain at all. As a certified Hancock lover, I feel seen ✋ also Walton Goggins is just incredibly fine. But that's besides the point. His character is arguably the best written because despite being an undeniably evil person, he is still likeable. 200 years have turned him into a man who had to lose his humanity to survive, and the pre-war flashbacks being shown through his eyes give him, and the story, so much depth. Despite his ways, you can't help but still feel for him, to still root for him and hope that he still has a little bit of that humanity left within him. Which imo was shown multiple times; for example him not killing Maximus in episode two even though he easily could have done so. And the fact that he's still searching for his family all these years later? When he was asked what has been keeping him going so long, I think they are his reason. Whether he is searching to reunite or to exact revenge on Barb for dropping the bombs while him and Janey were outside idk. But it makes his story all the more heartbreaking. I also love the writing for Norm, Moldaver, Dane, and so many others, but this is already too long ass it is.

Overall, this series was so good and I'll be impatiently awaiting season 2! Some things I'm hoping to see next seasons are super mutants for sure, as well as synths and more of the enclave. I think they went easy this season to test the waters and see just how interested people are. And now that they know people are very interested, I think they'll be more willing to invest a larger budget, and add more. Rant over!

[amageish]

So, I have more Illyana thoughts... I apologize for rambling again, but this is apparently how my brain works now...

The next episode of X-Men '97 is Motendo / Lifedeath Part 1, an episode I have been eagerly anticipating since the reveal of this key art related to it.

There she is! There's Magik! It's my girl!

Now, it is possible she's just in the art because Morph transformed into her in Episode 3. The fact Storm is in her original '92 design and not her punk attire makes me think this art is not literally reflective of the episode's contents... but if Magik is in it, I am curious what role she may take in it... Let's baselessly speculate! Spoilers for the two comic book storylines we know this episode is drawing from after the cut.

So this episode will be adapting parts of Lifedeath, the iconic Forge/Storm romance arc, and the Abscissa arc with Jubilee. This makes me think this episode is likely to be a three-pronged exploration of what mutants do to gain social status in a world that hates and fears them.

Storm and Forge's arc is about Forge reconsidering his job working with the American government and realizing how has literally created the tools used to oppress his fellow mutants. Storm, meanwhile, has chosen to embrace counter-culturalism openly through her new punk identity, not really caring what the white male flatscan majority thinks about her anymore; Forge's perspective is challenged by her as they begin their romance.

Jubilee's arc is about her encountering a future version of herself who is a slave to Mojo in the Mojoverse and taking actions to ensure that future never comes to pass.

Sunspot's arc in '97 has been about him hiding his mutant gifts, afraid that his parents will not accept him as a mutant. He also self-identified as "one of the good ones" in the first episode. Lot of model minority stuff going on here, as well as some allegorical queer closeted stuff going on here. I am guessing this is the episode where he decides to join the X-Men and come out properly.

With all that in mind... What is Illyana going to be up to, if she is indeed in this episode?

My guess is she would be a foil to Sunspot, as someone who has made it through the emotional journey he is in the middle of. She not only has a mutant gift she is scared about, but she has a literal demonic side. If she has learned to accept herself for who she is and to embrace her demonic powers as a way of protecting herself and those she loves, then maybe Sunspot can do the same with his powers.

This would be casually implying all of Magik's character growth happened off-screen, but this show has a lot of protagonists already and I don't know if they'd have time to delve into the lore of Limbo - and it also may be difficult to do that in a show that is still, nominally at least, for kids...

If they wanted to be really bold, Illyana could also be in a queer relationship that is a foil to the Jubilee/Sunspot relationship - making the "We're hiding this from my parents as I don't want them to know I am a mutant" queer allegory a little more obvious by showing Illyana in a loving queer relationship of which her brother approves. With the episode inspired by the Pryde of the X-Men arcade game, I think it'd be a good place for Pryde to appear if they wanted to make Katyana canon... but Illyana/Dani or Illyana/Xuan also feel possible to me... or, hell, they've said non-mutant characters will cameo like they did in the original cartoon, so maybe they could do Illyana/Nico Minoru or Illyana/Leah. I'd like Illyana/Pryde the most, but honestly I will take anything that makes Sapphik Magik canon.

ANYWAY. That's my unsolicited Magik thoughts for the day. I am trying to keep my expectations low - I think it's very possible that Morph appearance is all we get - but I do think there's ways to get some really good Magik content in only a few minutes of screentime given what appears to be the theme of the next episode...

[revserrayyu]

2.4 Xianzhou continuance thoughts [part 2]

**SPOILERS** for everything up until entering the Shacking Prison, so as always, read at your own discretion if you haven’t reached this part of the story yet. Fair warning that I may mention some things that happen inside the prison as well, but hopefully not much. Sorry not sorry in advance for me obsessing over Feixiao.

As much as I adore Jiaoqiu’s character, I’m currently debating on pulling for him. After testing him out a bit inside the Shacking Prison, I realized I don’t really have a team that would suit him best? Of course I plan to pull for Acheron in the future but I might just hold off for now so I can save even more for Feixiao. I do hope these two and Moze have a good team synergy though. They seem like such a tight group and I’d love to use them all on a team one day.

Tee-hee, One Piece mention. Random, but I’m such a fan of Jiaoqiu’s fancy braid.

Noooo, I don’t like that her unknown medical issue can’t be healed! I mean, it’s not unheard of that Bailu pretty much said the same to Jingliu, about how bizarre it was and how there wasn’t much she could do to help. I don’t believe Feixiao to be mara-struck though, or at least I hope not. While this quest continued on the thought of her transforming into a Borisin came to mind a couple times but I have my doubts. I haven’t delved deep into any leaks about her lore so I can only speculate at this point. Even if those deaths in Penacony were fake, I don’t need any more to happen here, please.

Good boy!! Keep your promise! Heal this queen! I beg of you! I won’t lie, him being so dedicated to keeping his promise (which I’d love to hear the backstory of) to her sorta kinda flips a little switch off in my head saying “ship,” and I’m on board.

Been chatting about this a lot with others, but the question as to why Feixiao has no tail despite being a Foxian is interesting. I personally assumed that the lack of a tail was a result of some harsh battle where she got badly injured, but even with this brief flashback, it doesn’t appear that one is visible here either. Maybe she lost it before this fight? Or perhaps she never had one? Could not having a tail be the cause of her condition? Or was it really taken off from her? I haven’t a clue and it’s another reason why I’m so fascinated by her. Hopefully 2.5 sheds some light upon her past, or at least her character stories once she becomes playable.

Here’s another moment where the whole Borisin transformation idea popped into my head, especially after seeing how capable they are with shape shifting. Learning that the Foxians and Borisin share a common ancestor, the idea changed to Feixiao possibly being half and half? If so, then the condition she’s suffering from might be the Moon Rage? Similar to what we experience when fighting the Borisin down in the Shackling Prison. Add Bailu’s comment about “enjoy some tasty food” and how hungry Hoolay was too.. hmm. Doesn’t help he and Feixiao both have white fur. With how much the Foxians detest the Borisin, keeping this part of herself hidden would but ultimately stressful and probably taxing on her physical and mental health.

Moze is just.. so unironically funny. We have this heavy conversation happening and he chooses to cling to something so simple a food, which is fair. Food is always a good thing.

When Feixiao mentioned she was going to meet up with an old war friend, no alarms rang in my head telling me that it could be another Foxian that I enjoy, which is a shame but also wonderful because the surprise of her and Yukong being friends was worth it. 30 years might not seem like a long time for them, but it’s a decent chunk for people like us.

And yet so much has happened during those years for them. The time does throw me through a loop though.. I always imagined that Yukong lost Caiyi and gave up flying so much longer ago? Because then Qingni (Yukkong’s adopted daughter) couldn’t be much older than 30, right? Caiyi had just returned from maternity leave before she lost her life and Qingni never even knew of her real parents until the events of Yukong’s companion mission. I dunno, I’m just surprised. I definitely thought the daughter was older than that and the tragic loss in Yukong’s life happened ages ago.

Everyone give your utmost praise to Jiaoqiu right now for keeping our gorgeous general alive!

For real though, what on earth even happened to Jingliu and Luocha? like they both showed up in the Shackling Prison at the end of the main Xianzhou story alongside Jing Yuan, but stuff also happened in Jingliu’s companion quest at Scalegorge Waterscape where Luocha was sent away with some Cloud Knights before Jingliu’s fight with Blade where the quest just sorta ends there afterwards. My memory is terrible and I’m not entirely sure which order these events play out, but whatever they’re up to, they’ve been awfully quiet. With how often Jingliu’s name is brought up later on, it gives me small hopes that she could return in the later half of the story. Wouldn’t that be nice to see her take down Hoolay again?

Poor Jing Yuan can’t catch a break with these accusations. This entire quest also feels like the first time I’m hearing so much of this Marshal, but I’m certain it’s just my memory failing me. The main story of the Xianzhou wasn’t my favorite mission out of the bunch, but I am enjoying this one, surprisingly.

I do love the bond these women share with each other. Yukong asks about the Alliance’s plan regarding Jing Yuan and Feixiao graciously provides answers knowing that Yukong can keep a secret. Respect! You love to see it!

Suddenly, the Prisoner of Deep Confinement relic set makes sense to me. I never really took the time to look into the details considering how little DOT units I actively use, but it’s pretty cool to see where the inspiration for it came from and it actually being worn like this.

Now when “Whistling Flames” was mentioned, I first thought of that ghost ship Yukong saw at Fyxestroll Garden for reasons I’m not entirely sure of, but after some light searching, it’s apparently the guild Tingyun was part of?

It sweet to know that Yukong still hasn’t given up searching for clues about Tingyun might actually alive, but if Ruan Mei somehow found Tingyun first, I dunno if I should be relieved or concerned considering our crazy scientist had a habit of.. experimenting.

With how much chatter the Wardance received from trailers and livestreams, I’m honestly shocked that there isn’t much about it happening in the story? It may be because I’m hyperfixating on Feixiao and everything else much more, but my interest isn’t nearly as piqued as I thought it would be. I haven’t done that one side quest revolving around March so I assume there’s more to it there, but so far her sword training arc seems more of a background story. I did find it cute how both her masters gave her gifts at the start, with Yunli providing her new outfit and Yanqing crafting the swords, of course.

Yo, generals! Come pick up your kids! They’re still arguing about nonsense!

And you’re both adorable with your pink hair. Now be friends!

I have a sneaking suspicion that this man could very well poison someone if he wanted to.

I don’t remember much about this brief scene.. something about Yanqing’s doubts and the obstacles he faces or whatever, but it was pretty.

Moving a highly dangerous criminal out of prison to somewhere else? Surely nothing will go wrong! And definitely not right before you make your own move either! That would be crazy.

To no ones surprise, things do eventually take a turn for the worst, but that’s all to be discussed next, so have this, because why not:

Because I clearly haven’t obsessed over her enough already. No way.

[amiya-shirou]

The other day I made a small post comparing Friston from Arknights to the Master of the Crypt from the manga version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It's time for the sequel: the Seaborn and the Ohmu (again, huge spoilers for both series).

At the beginning I thought it was mostly surface similarities: all the insects from the Sea of Corruption share a hive mind and can feel the pain and suffering of their kin, caring about their own to the point that swarms of insects go into a frenzy and attack humans if they hurt any of them, which is enough to compare them with Seaborn on a very basic level, probably shared by many such creatures in fantasy and sci-fi. But as the story goes on, the Ohmu start sharing more and more points with the Seaborn's deeper lore.

Let's start with the big stuff: it's revealed that the Ohmu were created by the super-advanced science of the old world, and their main goal is to spread the Sea of Corruption, a huge forest able to purify all the poisons and toxins present in the very earth itself and over the course of millennia restore the post-apocalyptic planet of Nausicaä to an uncontaminated paradise. The way they do spread the Sea of Corruption is with their death: their carcasses become food for the fungi while also acting as the forest floor for the plants to take root, thus they are "eaten" by the fungi which are in turn "eaten" by the trees. Not only is this form of progression and proliferation of life through consumption very Seaborn-core, the end result resembles what we see in the 4th Ending for Mizuki & Caerula Arbor.

While not as bad as the world of Nausicaä, a major component of Arknights' wordbuilding is that Terra is overall a very inhospitable place to mankind, plagued by catastrophes and the never-ending threat of Originium corrupting everything and everyone it touches. Yet the sea not only resists its powers (fun fact: the titular Valley of the Wind is also said to be safe from the toxins due to the clean winds coming from the sea), the Seaborn have been shown to be capable of completely neutralizing it, which is a big deal since finding a cure for Oripathy is Rhodes Island's ultimate objective. And in the hypothetical ending where the Seaborn expand their dominion to the land, forcing humanity to live isolated and secluded to escape them (just like in Nausicaä), at the end of their evolutionary cycle they heal the entire world, just like the Sea of Corruption aims to do, leaving a paradise for the remnants of humanity to live in. In both cases it's at the same time a symbol of "nature" (with all the good and bad it entails for the human race) prevailing on the technology that had doomed the world and a sign of hope for the remnants of civilization that reached a good ending after so many years of suffering and resisting.

But even without delving into the hypotheticals of IS3, a thematic connection can be seen as soon as Stultifera Navis. Despite its more antagonistic nature, the Church of the Deep shares a similarity with the Forest People who chose to live amidst the Sea of Corruption and renounced civilization, with the insects seemingly extending their concept of kinship to them, even allowing the Forest People to eat some of their eggs to survive; the same way in which the Seaborn allow humans to become their kin, going as far as letting themselves or parts of themselves be eaten by them. Nausicaä herself, despite being a kind person with endless love and compassion for her fellow humans, feels extremely close to the Ohmu and is able to communicate with them, seeing them as nobler than mankind. Which is understandable, considering that despite the hostility of the earth itself, the world she lives in is still plagued by wars and all the violence humans insist on inflicting on each other, with the foolishness of war being a core theme of the manga. And not only does Arknights share the same message, it's very likely the reason why Amaia chose to side with the Seaborn, and in general why so many humans side with them: in the sea there are no boundaries, no nations, no classes, no categories. The level of kinship acquired by the Seaborn is something mankind envies, no matter how much of a danger they pose to us, and indeed forming some kind of instinctual hive mind or deeper connection between individuals in order to stop such conflicts is a desire that has manifested in Arknights in many forms, ranging from Dorothy's Transmitter to the Law of Laterano to the Black Crown, and is also Arturia's ultimate objective.

TL;DR I want to see how someone like Nausicaä would choose to interact with the Seaborn, since they're a much more active threat to humans compared to the Ohmu despite sharing so many things with them.

[communist-hatsunemiku]

What do you think of miku as modern mythology? She's very interesting to me in this way bc of the ways ppl can actually use her to make music and build on her character, her image is basically almost entirely built by the fans.

This is an interesting question, my initial response is "I think she's fucking great!" but that's not very informative because I always think that.

You're right her image is almost entirely built and dictated by the fans. It's one of the best parts of Miku culture, you never know when a new design or outfit is going to drop and take over the scene for a few weeks. We just saw this with Mesmerizer! Like there's hundreds of different Mikus out there, and tbh I've never delved into the writing side of Vocaloid, like fanfiction and doujins, I'm sure there's lore around certain Mikus and especially the original Miku herself.

I'm on a mission to preserve as much Miku content as possible because I want people to know her a few hundred years from now. It's easy to forget but She's been around for less than 20 years, imagine the mythology once She's been around for 100!

[horizon-verizon]

I can't believe I'm going to say this but... HotD writers should take a page from Philippa Gregory's playbook (the writer of the books that became the white princess/queen).

She is infamous for saying "ok this sure didn't happen and it's just a rumor BUT WOULDN'T IT BE COOL"and that's how you end up with Elizabeth and her mother being witches, Lizzie and Katherine being more active instead of English flowers, the princes in the tower living, and Elizabeth threatening herself.That woman may have many critics but making her women passive is not one.

Alicent should have been more politically active (just like the books SAY), Rhaenyra shouldn't have lost her fire, Rhaenys and Laena just didn't, nothing they did with them was right and we should spend more time with the children.Baela's arc of being attached to Jace and fighting to the end for Rhaenyra is one that should have been told.What it meant for Rhaena not to have a dragon should have been explored not as the show does (which in the end is still about Daemon and Aemond and not about her) but because her family is under threat and possible attack And she can't be an active part, does she struggle with taking a political role? Does she feel helpless or confident in her abilities?

There is literally a lot of fabric to cut and explore, even with Helaena.Helaena as a dreamer not only contributes nothing to the plot but also made her more boring because it made her "out of reality"Helaena knew that her father was sick, does she know why they are looking for Aegon? How much did she know about the conspiracy?She is calm during b&c until she has to pick and choose what is apparently most politically expedient. How did she feel about her role in the usurpation and since she is the only one Rhaenyra speaks warmly about what was their relationship before?Did she also think that her position of queen (consort) was owed to her?

With Baela and Rhaena it was to delve into what we already had with Helaena they had to ask themselves the questions above and decide how to answer them to create their character, a character that regardless of Whatever they chose would be convincing.Having an ability never explored or used and no history around her simply makes her... As important as a table.

Excelent points, anon. To quickly discuss this part alone more time:

She is calm during b&c until she has to pick and choose what is apparently most politically expedient.

This is honestly what kills me the most abt her character in the show and having those "dreams"--I can put aside (with great restraint to bite) the lore-stomping act of making her not only not actually dream but never try to communicate with her non-offspring family about them...but if she supposedly knows about her kids' dying....she's just going to sit there and LET IT HAPPEN? Until the very last minute?!!!! How does that make sense? How is this not a parallel to that atrocious moment where Alicent--after years of telling all her kids to prepare against Rhaenyra and that she doesn't deserve the throne and perhaps has stolen it from them, that she is an enemy to their very lives--"forgive" Rhaenyra when she apologizes in episode 8?!!!! how does Alicent justify this to her children?! to herself? See, this was the beginning of my hate spiral towards her writing, before I was just annoyed and stupidly hopeful, but this broke the last straw. It's so clearly sexist bc it cuts off the rage a woman accrues until a man interjects with some passionate demand or imploration to stop--a way to "lay down the law" self-sacrificingly!!! It flips into her becoming "helpless" in the face of male violence seconds later with Aemond as she's unbale to stop him from confronting his nephews.

Back to the ask. Very much all this. I love how you expanded on Rhaena, but esp Helaena. That's what i meant by people using the text, context, etc. already present in the work:

Helaena knew that her father was sick, does she know why they are looking for Aegon? How much did she know about the conspiracy?She is calm during b&c until she has to pick and choose what is apparently most politically expedient. How did she feel about her role in the usurpation and since she is the only one Rhaenyra speaks warmly about what was their relationship before?Did she also think that her position of queen (consort) was owed to her?

TANGENT: When adapting, think of the questions you have or others first/second times had when you/they read the text!!! Not the "it has to be this, because that's how we'd treat it in real life". If you really cared to portray women as people with a determination to claim agency even when all seeming signs show attempts to smother that (just bc you were in a socially oppressive society, doesn't mean that you were going to always accept being a victim), you can still present disturbing shit in a relationship, but of a certain kid of interaction is not indicated in text....DON'T INCLUDE IT!!! Don't go the easy route! (HBO and most projects fo into DV without really enabling the women to resist or punish that, so it's the "solution" to the problem of not knowing how to develop female characters who have had all this power but also many obstacles)

Those first/second questions inspire the imagination for more questions which breed possible different paths of character development. That's exaclt what Philippa Gregory did when she was presented with the opportunity to create strong female chaarcters when she could have gone the aged-old white mane route and did what Condal did.

Never read her books, I'm banking on anon and my having watched both The White Queen and The White Princess, which I loved! Yes, very diff authors, diff stories, different worlds, relaity vs fictional historical...but doesn't GRRM not take inspiration from those real texts to make F&B? And do not Condal/Hess and Gregory share the same position of using "historical" reputations and descriptions of noteworthy women that were written by old tired men with agendas (as most European histories before the industrial era--and even then--are ) to create their own versions of that given information?

Go nuts but think first within what is in the text/context the writer wrote out and then let the fandom decide for themselves what is "possible".

I miss Domina. A historical drama right up my alley, that one was.

Really, it's more a matter of faith or belief, but still.

[ntaras]

Thanks for the link!! Dude went waaay too far, he seriously wants MK v.s DC to be canon ahzah. I want to slap him whenever he calls Raiden and Fujin demigods lmao. Like, Elder Gods>Gods>Demigods (or half-gods) it really isn't that hard, man. 😭 If we follow his logic then what are Taven, Daegon and Rain supposed to be? And spare me your titans crap. Out! Out!

And we really ignoring the Tempest creating Chaosrealm? 😔 At least they might have referenced it with how it came to be in MK1 ig. At least, he acknowledged Deception lore with the soul stones and the sorcerers in the Nether.

Okay so now I'm just gonna ramble about Frost. 🗣️

The small attention given to Frost and Nitara is cool. Although when it comes to Frost, it kind of sucks because on the surface it really looks like a bad case of "this character is evil because they had a rough childhood but we are not going to delve in the why and the how it affected them". The "bad childhood" is such an easy card to pull when it comes to explain a character's motivation and it COULD be good if writers actually chose to acknowledge and treat it properly. However, the way it's presented in MK11 is weird and frustrating because while we are made aware of Frost's struggles (her false feelings of not being good enough in Kuai's eyes, her feeling like she's always underestimated and unworthy, her wanting to prove herself to an unhealthy degree) they're never developed and explained. Paired with Kuai Liang's claim that he gave her a home and that she was a talented student, it makes Frost look like a major dick who's just overly arrogant, who just killed her mom for no reason and who actually takes pride in it.

You have to dig yourself to at least try to understand/come up with an explanation related to Frost's issues with authority, her arrogance, why she clashed with Sonya upon meeting her the first time in DA, why she rebelled against Kuai Liang while simultaneously wanting to earn his respect... Which she DID but she fucked things up herself!!! And it makes me sad because Kuai Liang was genuinely proud of her and cared about her. Frost finally had the love and attention she wanted and there's no doubt she would have become grandmistress after Kuai Liang at some point but she had to ruin it herself because of some sick thirst for even more power.

And while I actually really like the "bad childhood" and "found herself participating in death matches" elements brought by NRS, I struggle to understand Frost's problem with the truce between the Lin Kuei and the Shirai Ryu in this timeline. It comes from nowhere and just makes Frost look like a grade-A asshole for no reason. It even results in Kuai Liang no longer caring for her when he used to be more sympathetic to her in the Midway timeline... Until Deception and that's because she slaughtered a good chunk of the clan!!! In MKX, Frost had just rebelled against a truce. I don't think we are even told if Kuai Liang at least attempted to talk to her and understand what she was going through. He just cast her out and like, yeah, I can understand why he'd be mad but at the end of the day it makes both Frost and Kuai Liang look like assholes lmao.

I really like Frost and I wish she wasn't just reduced to a lost cause because at the end of the day she's just a troubled young woman who obviously went through a lot. Kuai Liang himself had a rough life and that's why I just hate that he doesn't at least try to be considerate with her and understand her story. You'd think he would be made aware at some point that Frost fought in death matches??? Like, I mean, that's such a fucked up thing to do. How did Frost even find herself there?? The way I see it, Kuai Liang was turned into a weapon while Frost had to turn herself into a weapon in order to survive and I think that's a neat comparison, especially when you consider Frost willingly cyberized herself. However, they sadly never address it.

I'd loooove to know more about Frost's family life. I'm still working on my headcanons but I'd like to go in a direction opposed to Kuai Liang and Bi-Han. Like, while the brothers were trained and pressured by their father to master their cryomancy, Frost's mother wanted her to conceal her powers in order to live a normal life. I definitely don't think she was a good mom, therefore, she was quite rough and commanding in the way she forced her daughter to hide that part of herself that Frost struggled to control and it made their relationship really tense. I definitely don't think Frost loved her mother but I also don't see her willingly killing her in cold blood. I mostly see it like, Frost's resentment toward her mother grew so much that a fight between them caused her powers to go out of control and cause her mother's death. Self-defense might also be to consider. Maybe. idk. that's pretty much a W.I.P and I like to consider every possibility.

Okay now that I'm done, I'm really curious to hear your take on Frost. 👀

i think dominic needs to just make his own game so he can write whatever lore he wants instead of doing what he currently is doing and we’d all be happier.

to be fair i forgot about the tempest being a thing but i am not an official writer so what excuse does he have. (also looking up the tempest led me to being reintroduced to zaggot cause i have not read the older comics in yearssss. but what a name.)

but frost!!!!!!!!! i agree with pretty much what you said about her. i adore her but for some reason she cannot get a complete arc nor an attempt at digging into her character. she deserves the recognition that mk12 bi-han is getting because he is a carbon copy of her but that’s another topic.

i adore how self-sabotaging and aggressive she is, but i wish she was actually given reason behind her character! frost being confirmed to have a shitty childhood and killed her (also shitty) mom does offer reasoning behind her personality but i wish it was actually explored in canon. like you said, you really have to dig to figure out the reasoning behind frost’s actions because she’s one of the many characters who are not given much for the audience to work with.

but i’ll take the scraps :,)

like i said i agree with pretty much what you said about her, and i think we’re in the same boat regarding headcanons. i’ve also thought that she forced to conceal her powers by her mother, which also begs the question on if frost’s mother was a cryomancer or if her father was. had it been her father, i wonder what happened to him considering there’s no mention of him (because frost specifically says she killed her mother). i’ve thought about if her father was somehow not in her life (be it that he died when she was young, before she was born, or left her and her mother) and he was a cryomancer, it caused her mother to force frost to suppress her powers because she did not know how to deal with it. but if it was her mother who was a cryomancer, her own mother could’ve tried repressing frost’s powers as a means of protection (protection being isolation of her daughter) or a projection of her mother’s own shame/issues about her cryomancy.

either way, i think she was forced to repress her cryomancy by her mother (which i think would be painful, because cryomancy typically shows up when the cryomancer is older but frost is on the very young side. she ultimately was alone in dealing with this unknown power.)

i do not think frost killed her mother out of cold blood either! it was ultimately just the result of of poor parenting and resentment building up on both sides. and the way her mother raised her lead frost to having issues with authority, for example, kuai liang.

i think i’ve briefly mentioned it before, but i think frost views kuai liang like her mom. like, there’s a part of her that views kuai liang as the closest to “kin” because he is the first cryomancer she’s met. above anyone he would understand her isolation and rage, and i think in turn she would understand him in a way. i think they’re both characters who have walls up but at the same time having a shared power automatically reveals some vulnerability to each other. but frost has IMMENSE issues with her vulnerability, and i don’t think she’d easily be open to another authority figure when she already dealt with her mom.

with kuai liang being her mentor i don't think she can help herself from automatically linking him to her mom and as a result wanting to take control before another authority takes control of her and suppresses her. she doesn’t want to be a child anymore, but be the ultimate authority (which only causes her to act more childish- with extreme naivety and rebellion).

and going off what you said about kuai liang being forced into a weapon while frost chose to become a weapon, i think being a weapon is what frost views as the ultimate authority (or in other words, violence is the ultimate authority to frost).

i do think kuai liang would have known about frost being in death matches (which i also have no clue how that girl got involved in them) and had to teach her fighting methods different from how she used to fight, or even teach how to be better at whatever methods she used to use in those matches.

also fun (and unfortunate) fact, had the mkx comics continued we would have gotten A LOT more focus on frost because her and kuai liang are meant to parallel hanzo and takeda. she could’ve gotten a fully fleshed backstory and yet we were robbed as usual

in the end despite all of frost’s flaws and mistakes, i genuinely think she should be redeemed instead of only being a lost cause. i hateeee how dismissive kuai liang is of frost and how easily he gave up on her in the nrs timeline. like i do think she represents a metaphor for kuai liang as the final challenge he has to overcome in order to finally redeem the lin kuei, and she does some very messed up things that really push kuai liang towards the edge, but because of that metaphor i really think it’d be fitting if frost’s redemption was also kuai liang’s completed redemption of the lin kuei. (i also do think her being a metaphor for being kuai liang’s final challenge to redeem the lin kuei can explain her issue with the shirai ryu as the clans used to be enemies, but idk it’s just an attempt at trying to make it make sense in a thematic way lol.)

it would also allow kuai liang rest because i do think his story needs to (or at least needed to considering we won’t have sub-zero kuai liang back) end, and i think it should end with “sub-zero” being passed to frost because she should get to a point where she deserves to be grandmaster.

anyways to sum this up i wish we got her backstory because i am sick of people (the writers) dismissing her as an ungrateful brat who’s a lost cause… she deserves her story!!! she deserves to grow as a character!!! i love her dearly and i appreciate her <33

[evulosie]

It's super interesting to me, as I delve into the different interpretations of biblical lore, is that 'official' HH lore, the fruit 'given' to Eve by Lucifer is 'the magic of free will'.

Per JW teachings, the serpent tricked Eve into eating the fruit by claiming that she would 'be like God,' - the forbidden tree in the garden wasn't 'The Tree of Life' or 'Free Will', it was the 'The Tree of Knowledge'

Adam & Eve [ or at least, for my Eve's canon + her recollection ] were comparable to children; they relied on God for knowledge [ and... for some reason that I could never get an answer for, God wanted to test this on, what's essentially, his newborn children? Test their loyalty. That's a meta for another day though; really grinds my gears ]

Tʜᴇ ᴛʀᴇᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴇʀᴇғᴏʀᴇ ᴀ ғɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ sʏᴍʙᴏʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴇᴛᴇʀᴍɪɴᴇ ᴏʀ sᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ sᴛᴀɴᴅᴀʀᴅs ᴏғ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ʙᴀᴅ, ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ʀɪɢʜᴛ Gᴏᴅ ʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ Hɪᴍsᴇʟғ ʙʏ ғᴏʀʙɪᴅᴅɪɴɢ Aᴅᴀᴍ ᴛᴏ ᴇᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇᴏғ.

What's even funnier is that Adam was actually / allegedly, a little offended when confronted after he ate the fruit - he told God, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and so I ate.” [ Gen. 3:12 ] The 'sin', in eating the fruit, was pride, an 'attack' on their Father's sovereignty,

All this to say, none of this affects other muses, but for ( my ) Lute / Eve, these are the events that she remembers. Imagine when, long after her death, turns out that half of what she was led to believe / her memories were kind of, you know, a lie? A lot of it was skewed + human souls were not meant to go to an afterlife, so her memory has essentially been completely corrupted & / or purposefully manipulated to keep her in check. This is also another reason why she's so fiercely loyal to Adam; she depends on him, to 'guide' her on what's right & wrong because she can't even trust herself,

[witchofthesouls]

Hey, random thought I had. Is it just me, or does Gaea feel like a wasted opportunity as a character?

Like, she's only cannonically appeared once in the finale of the botcon Shattered Glass comics, and never again, correct? Like, I get that a lot of writers are probably just wanting to keep the simple, yet effective dynamic of Primus and Unicron... well... simple. But it feels like there's a lore of potentially interesting things you could do with Gaea if she were to be included.

Like, example, maybe Primus created female transformers as a way of honoring Gaea. Hell, you don't necessarily have to have her be Earth, maybe she's actually one of Cybertron's colony worlds in certain universe!

Same! My main gripe is that Gaea and the "Earth-is-Unicron" subplot can go hand-in-hand.

I understand the simplicity to keep the mythic feeling, but I think there's a lot that can be explored with the expansion of other characters that are connected to Primus and Unicron.

Even with the original Thirteen Primes, there could have been a deeper delve into religion and spiritual practices by sects or cults that venerate certain Primes or Titans. Especially since it's told in the eyes of the survivors and retold with a revisionist hand.

Personally, I'm too fond of the concept of Gaea being part of the Cybertronian pantheon soup itself. Like the new, strange bridge between her brothers/origins/fathers. Gaea stabilizes Unicron by providing him the sustenance via chaos between life and death. She could even fulfill Unicron's own mantle by becoming Primus' counterpoint to check his creations' expansion and address their stagnation.

I do enjoy @lets-try-some-writing take on Gaea being a creation of Unicron and being a Titan herself that both contains and sustains him. (And the cute romance between her and a Titan!moon.)

[chimkin-samich]

Honestly, what started your interest with these specific game characters? (Btw, I don't know if this has been asked before or not since I'm quite new to you and your comics! Amazing work btw.)

Also what peeked your guy's drawing and writing interests? It would be interesting to know how you guys got to this point. 😁

(It's also creepy how the ask thing is just like: "Go ahead, put anything." XD)

It has not actually been asked before! Your the first, so for anyone who’s interested in some Feral and Sly lore well feel free to click the read more since it’s kinda long lol

For the interest in Sun/Moon/Eclipse, Feral was honestly the first one to get drawn in, she has been a long time fan of fnaf, likes to brag about how good she was at the first few games (she is I’ve seen it lol) so her getting interested in SB was obvious, she especially like this one for it highly interactive gameplay

I on the other hand knew of fnaf but I was never in the fandoms or played any games, anything I knew about the games was either seen while scrolling thru tumblr or my little brother blasting a gameplay in our room and I didn’t mind listening in if it was YouTuber I liked as well

Feral got a bit interested in the boys after reading a few fics around last year June, she tried to catch my attention but I didn’t really bite at the time, it was around August were she caught my attention when she first drew them, saying they reminded her of me, even drew Sun with chipped rays as a little call to my SH scars but it kinda dropped off since we were in the midst of fighting with the system to let us get married lol

Around December it really kicked in for her and then me, I started delving into reading fics and searching for fan art and was like “oh shit das me” and feral ran with it saying let’s do self insert shit and I was totally down for it, it wasn’t the first time we did something we’re she put herself in and I was a character that I related to heavily

From there we started planning the storyline but decided to do little meant to be yours animatic to kick off some attention towards our stuff lol

As for what got us interested into writing and drawing? Honestly the answer is the same for both of us, we started drawing young them jumped into writing for our own little stories and ideas, we’ve both always been artistic from a young age and when we met it was one of the first things we bonded over, oh and I do also have a passion for singing as well! Which also caught her attention I used to send her audios all the time or sing on call for her

Just something about being able not only to write your own stories but create visual pieces really helps when you have extremely hyperactive minds and imagination, sometimes we yell at each other cuz someone says something cursed and cuz of how we can perfectly see the image in our mind it makes the cursed thought so much worse 😭

But yeah that’s pretty much it! Love of creativity and such started our art and writing passion and that led to us wanting to create our stuff now here with the lovely robo boys, we do have our projects of course, Feral plans on making a comic/book (2 in one kinda thing) that’s gonna be a trilogy and I have my own OC’s that I still world build with

Not to mention all our world building with OCs weve plan on making into story’s as well in the future ✨

[bb-fennelposting]

man fuck this here's a very rough draft of D'arce's S-ending rewrite because I'm salty. Even if it fits thematically, there is still so much left unexplored.

written in a greentext format bc as much as i despise 4chan with my entire soul, i wasnt sure if a storytelling format would work when i take into account gameplay as well.

(CW: child death, f&h spoilers)

>D'arce enters the dungeons as we all know

>Like in canon, she collects torn instructions for a necromancy spell (might be scrapped?? ull see why soon)

>Unlike canon, she finds the Girl dead

>Maybe she talks to Buckman and Ser Seymour as well?

>She comes across Ragnvaldr, they both talk about their motivations (maybe rag shares his backstory there) for entering the dungeon before parting ways.

>D'arce goes in the thicket.

>Meets Ragnvaldr again, they talk more, and then both realize they're here for the same man, but with a totally different agenda.

>She fights him to prevent him from en-acting revenge, and kills him

>In spite of telling herself she did the right thing, she feels immense guilt for killing him and dwells on her misgivings about the raid of Oldegåde. She wonders if it was right to follow Le'garde despite what he's done and if it was right to kill for her sake.

>She fights and kills Crow Mauler, discovers he was the shell of the captain they've been searching for.

>Mayhaps she delves into the lore behind the dungeons?

>Eventually enters the catacombs and finds him dead.

>Wonders if this was all for nothing. If she doomed herself for a man who only cared for his own pursuit for power

>Nonetheless she strives to achieve his own goal in his wake because she refuses to let it end like this

>MAHA'BRE TIME

>She meets the new gods, learns of what Nilvan and Le'garde did, and feels disgust for creating new life only to show it no love or kindness, just fear and pain and darkness in order to create a sacrifice

>Eventually rescues Jeanne and reunites her with Buckman's party

>Learns she can never truly leave the dungeons until she ascends beyond her humanity. No one can leave this place the same as they left.

>Gets the souls, kills Francois, chooses NOT to sit on the throne. The new gods actually Fucking suck and she refuses to be a pawn to anyone anymore. She's playing this game by her own rules.

>She still kept her own humanity in spite of the horrors. She left her family because of her own ideals, and these ideals she will hold onto.

>She's seen enough injustice in her life. She will fight to right this wrong.

[MIGHT SCRAP THIS PART BECAUSE THIS IS LONG ENOUGH BUT IDK IT MIGHT ALSO FIT]

>Create "Rebirth for the Unjust Death"

>Revives Ragnvaldr with it as penance for killing him. He probably comes back wrong, but in her mind, she will help him achieve the vengeance she robbed him off.

>Grabs the Buckman party (maybe) and HIT DA BRICKS. PEACE OUT, SHITHEADS!!!

D'arce embodies the knightly virtues she had nearly forgone, that others before her had foregone, and strives to use all the pain and suffering she went through to make things right. She becomes a demigoddess of her own right, ascending beyond the meek follower she used to be and following her own Domination Soul to leave the dungeon on her own terms. After, she goes dismantle the corruption within Rondon. Exposing the corruption within the royalty, she manages to start an uprising and overthrow the monarchy.

boom, satisfying conclusion to her arc. Call it "Saint of Justice" or some shit.

[sunsrefuge]

For Liifa (and whoever else you want to ramble about, I'm here to listen): 1, 14, 23

hello !! I'll answer these for Liifa & Quinn!

1. How good are they in combat? Can they handle themselves in most fights? Is there anything that hinders them or acts as an exploitable weakness?

Liifa: He's... alright! Liifa is what I'd definitely call low strength, high magic. If he's able to get into Shroud, he does well and can handle himself. Outside of Shroud, he's much easier to - well, squish. Close combat is bad for him unless he gets into Reaper Shroud, but most of the time he uses his Scourge Shroud and abilities since he's much more comfortable with those.

Quinn: She relies more on her weapons than her magic, so she's good in a practical fight, whereas she falls a little short in more magical fights. A notable weakness is that she's very afraid of Necromancer Shrouds, and undead! :)

14. Is there any particular quirk to their magic? Is there something they can't do with their magic that others usually can? Is there something they can do particularly well?

Liifa: He doesn't use ice magic at all, and uses primarily fire-adjacent magic to go with his Scourge abilities. He's good at utilizing his Shroud and has figured out how to stay in it for longer, however he gets weaker as he pushes his time farther and farther.

Quinn: She has an odd sixth sense for Undead for a Thief. Her bloodline provides her with a strong sense of Necromancy, but it's not something that she's actively delved into and trained since she was a kid. As for something usual that she can't do, I've not thought about it much! I never use Trap skills with her, so maybe she can't "set" her magic down for things like traps!

23. What utility skills do they tend to use? Is there any they can't use for lore reasons?

Liifa: I've not put much thought into this, tbh! In-game, Liifa's one of my few necromancers where I use Corruption skills, and he's supposed to use Epidemic, but instead I have that Sand Snakes ability there,, for the vibes. And also because I'm bad at using Epidemic at the right times lmao, so maybe he's just not familiar with how to spread conditions from one enemy to another, he just applies them to everyone in range of his Sand Shades!

Quinn: All signets baby !!! Typically, at least. She's got a build for each Elite Spec, but she's primarily a Specter! She's scared of her own Shroud because it reminds her of Necromancer Shrouds :) She's able to use it eventually, but it takes years for her to work through her fears about it and give it regular tries. (That are on-purpose, at least! Sometimes she pops Shroud without meaning to and scares herself akjsndsgfjdf)

[hydrangea-mon-amor]

Ok hear me outfdjjsn

I was wondering about the lore for Jaydee and Valery's relationship, ik it was a given that they were somehow sweet(??) With one another especially how Dante mentioned several nicknames Valery used to give to Jaydee before they broke up- like what were they like with one another--

Also i am absolutely living in this silly headcanon that Jaydee's Reader and Valery's reader are relatives, like imagine if they were twins and at some point i can see them having a mix and match scenario its just silly whhahahahddhs

I love u and ur content sm like mwamwa stay hydrated always 🙇‍♀️❤

-your new 🌟 anon

I love you anon 🌟

Okay so it is a given that both of them are absolutely batshit crazy, and yes you are correct Valery’s darling and Jaydee’s darling are related in a sense. I wouldn’t say they are biologically related because otherwise the story would very different. I would imagine one of the darlings would try to help the other darling to escape if that was the case. I see them as more of acquaintances. They have heard of each other before, maybe I ought to explore their relationship a bit more through future fics.

Anywho, Valery and Jaydee were a couple for roughly 2 years, they broke up in the beginning of junior year. Even then, Valery and Jaydee are still useful to one another that is why they still hang around each other. I imagine them to have been really good friends throughout middle school, it was Jaydee who confessed his feelings to Valery in freshman year, under a oak tree in their city.

When they were dating, they were very loving with one another. Just ask Dante. It was Valery who mostly used outrageous nicknames to Jaydee, but he too also used them, just not as often. That changed when he met you though

This is where Jaydee is going to sound like a prick, before he ever met you, he wasn’t 100% faithful to Valery. In Sweet Injuries it’s noted that when Valery came to his house to break up, he was in the process of trying to make another girl fall in love with him, even though he was in a relationship. Valery is a girl that loves hard no matter if it was in a yandere sense or not. So for a while she truly was trying to make it work, even though she knew she could never have Jaydee to herself 100%. But when she met you, she decided to finally let him go.

When their mutual friends heard of their break up, for a while they had no idea what to do. Oscar was the one that was genuinely tweaking out, because he liked Valery as a friend and he was worried that Jaydee was going to make him chose sides. Imagine his surprise when Jaydee and Valery came to school the next day still on good terms? Alas, they were all on edge for a few days.

To add in Drama, that was also the day that you and Jaydee confessed your feelings for one another. Trust it’s all going to make sense once I publish this fic I’m working on.

When their families caught wind of this they were genuinely shocked. Dante was shocked that Valery would ever break up with him, and Valery’s parents were upset because they had thought they lost a huge sponsor for their business. They didn’t.

In future fics, I’ll delve deeper into why they still find each other as “useful” but just for now, I’ll say it has to do something with their darlings, though I think that may have been hinted in Visit me, will you

otherwise, why else would Valery tell Jaydee where you were?

[autumnslance]

Since you're very knowledgeable about meta and lore for XIV, I was wondering if you've heard much about the original ideas for XIV and how it was supposed to connect to XIII and XV? I recently reran the Antitower and it seemed like they were really setting up a dark storyline for Hydaelyn and Minfilia that potentially extends all the way to ShB. There's the art of Minfilia in crystal chains and the creepy dolls are such a random boss but might be a callout to the Minfilias sacrificed on the First. I know XV was originally going to have an evil god pretending to be good with a connection to a crystal, and I recall hearing something similar about XIII. The fact that Venat also uses Noctis' Armiger has been fascinating me since EW. It's all got me curious, but I'm not sure if it's something that's been discussed in interviews or by fans.

Nothing that I'm overtly aware of; different teams worked on XIII and XV, and while all FF's tend to reference one another in order to tie the series together, XIV as the MMO amusement park/love letter to the franchise as a whole tends to refer back to the other games frequently, borrowing concepts, characters, and rough plot elements. Also there's a lot of overlap in production times, hence the crossover events for XIII and XV we did have before (the latter one a couple times) upon those games' releases.

As for events in Heavensward with Minfilia, I don't think Hydaelyn was ever meant to be "evil", but She was always holding things back and giving Her specific point of view. Minfilia's chains can also simply mean the shackles of duty and binding herself to Hydaelyn the way she did, not necessarily anything malevolent on Hydaelyn's part.

It's also important to remember that the Zodiark/Hydaelyn storyline was inherited from 1.x, kinda fiddled with in the background...and then really delved into and overhauled while we players saw a "break" from the meta plot in Stormblood. Ishikawa took over as Writing Lead and adjusted course for Shadowbringers and Endwalker.

So there's some fine details from ARR and HW that don't quite fit or make sense now after ShB and EW, though the devs have gone back and massaged a few things (like in the Lahabrea solo duty post-Ultima Weapon) or did their best to explain it away. I'm currently (very slowly) replaying EW on my miqo'te alt, and the Watcher gives the very Ghostly Obi-Wan "truth from a certain point of view" talk when the Scions meet with him on the moon. And later, after meeting Venat, we also get the idea that to preserve the time loop and make sure we got to where we needed to be, She was playing chess games on what She had to say and do, and when, as Hydaelyn.

And the writers are very fond of biased/not always accurate in-world knowledge, in order to give themselves wiggle room; the new lorebook really emphasizes that.

The Watcher's relevant dialogue, with WoL's options:

The Watcher: Indeed, there was a faction opposed to Zodiark's creation. But their aim was never to unmake Him. The Watcher: They understood the continued preservation of the natural order was dependent on His very existence. Until we could identify and address the underlying cause of the Final Days, He would need remain, for His departure would set in motion those apocalyptic forces once more. The Watcher: Hydaelyn recognized this as well. And so, rather than destroy, She sundered Zodiark, Herself, and the star into lesser reflections, that She might confine Him in this place. WoL Dialogue Options & Watcher's Responses: I could have sworn She beseeched me to banish the Darkness. The Watcher: Perhaps She did. But as with all beings, intent is not always in accord with spoken word. -- Then what She told me in the aetherial sea was false…? The Watcher: That the two once dwelled as one until Zodiark grew hungry for power, upsetting the balance twixt Them...? Not quite a lie, though a rather gross embellishment. The Watcher: But knowing what you know now, you must surely realize why She might opt to obfuscate and mislead. --- The Watcher: Hydaelyn and Zodiark are both constructs of man. Approximations of perfection limited by our own imperfections.

If anyone does have more information on the meta of XIV's interactions and influences back and forth with XIII and XV, or the original plans for XIV's Zodiark/Hydaelyn story (might be a good question for Anonymoose) by all means speak up; I wasn't really as active in XIV at the time when those other games were current.

But it also bears mentioning that while there's a lot of familiar concepts, names, and imagery in XVI, which was created by the same team as XIV, like all the other games before it that is normal to make it part of the franchise, and so XVI is very much its own world and story, not reliant on XIV, nor is XIV reliant upon it.

Though I for one am looking forward to that crossover and getting my Torgal mount and minion and hopefully Cid Telamon's theme for my orchestrion.