#core of a section

[ghostember]

heres some gouache sardines

[forgettable-au]

FORGETTABLE-AU (Page 57-60)

* That was a long entry...

[BEGINNING] [PREVIOUS] [CONTINUE]

[nightshadefairy]

[bennetsbonnet]

Much has been made of Mr Darcy's "confession" to Elizabeth that he does not converse easily with strangers. It is repeatedly used to support neurodivergent interpretations of his character. And I suppose that when taken at face value, a character confessing that they do not easily converse with strangers and struggle to catch their tone or appear interested in conversation can absolutely scream AUTISM! (I say as an autistic person myself)

But this line is often taken in isolation. When considered in terms of the passage in which it appears in Chapter 31, it appears far less of a smoking gun than may initially be suspected. After some discussion about Elizabeth and Darcy's prior acquaintance in Hertfordshire, Colonel Fitzwilliam asks Elizabeth for information about Darcy's behaviour there. She readily supplies it:

'Pray let me hear what you have to accuse him of,' cried Colonel Fitzwilliam. 'I should like to know how he behaves among strangers.' 'You shall hear then—but prepare yourself for something very dreadful. The first time of my ever seeing him in Hertfordshire, you must know, was at a ball—and at this ball, what do you think he did? He danced only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and, to my certain knowledge, more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a partner. Mr Darcy, you cannot deny the fact.' 'I had not at that time the honour of knowing any lady in the assembly beyond my own party.'

What Darcy leaves out here is that it was he himself who chose not to be introduced to anybody. As we learn from the description of his behaviour at the Meryton assembly in Chapter 3:

Mr Darcy danced only once with Mrs Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party.

Anyway, Elizabeth correctly does not buy his excuses. Not only does she respond with a cutting sarcastic remark, but she tries to bring the discussion with an end by speaking to Colonel Fitzwilliam:

'True; and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball-room. Well, Colonel Fitzwilliam, what do I play next? My fingers wait your orders.'

But Darcy does not get the hint and continues conversing with Elizabeth rather than quitting while he's ahead. However, I don't believe him to be missing a social cue here. Rather, this is an exceedingly conceited man who cannot conceive that anyone would not want to speak to such a Superior Being as he and more-so, is determined to defend himself from a perceived slight against his impeccable character.

Then we come to the passage containing the oft-cited line which allegedly contains proof of his neurodivergency:

'Perhaps,' said Darcy, 'I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction; but I am ill-qualified to recommend myself to strangers.' 'Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this?' said Elizabeth, still addressing Colonel Fitzwilliam. 'Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill-qualified to recommend himself to strangers?' 'I can answer your question,' said Fitzwilliam, 'without applying to him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble.'

Once again, Elizabeth does not buy his excuse for even a single second. She's fully aware of all the advantages a man such as he will have received in society (opportunities not open to women, might I add!) and draws attention to that fact. It's a brilliant, cutting line from her and she really set that one up for Colonel Fitzwilliam to deliver the knockout blow.

Not only do we have the testimony of Mr Darcy's cousin, that 'he will not give himself the trouble,' to appear cordial to strangers, but we have evidence from Wickham too. Although after this statement, Wickham quickly goes onto misrepresent Darcy's kindness to the poor, which contradicts Mrs Reynold's later testimony, I do believe Wickham to be telling the truth (for once!) here, when he tells Elizabeth in Chapter 16:

'Mr Darcy can please where he chooses. He does not want abilities. He can be a conversible companion if he thinks it worth his while.'

Which, again, demonstrates that Darcy is capable when he wants to be. That is the crucial point. Autistic people fundamentally lack the ability to understand social cues, they cannot turn it on and off as they please because they are snobs.

So, now we come to the infamous line about Darcy's supposed social struggles, and I hope that I've provided enough context to the line to make you see that it should not be taken at face value:

'I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,' said Darcy, 'of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.' 'My fingers,' said Elizabeth, 'do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women’s do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault—because I will not take the trouble of practising. It is not that I do not believe my fingers as capable as any other woman’s of superior execution.'

Again, Elizabeth is not buying his excuses for even a single second and tells him if he feels like that, maybe he should put the effort in. She has seen him in numerous social settings and been thoroughly unimpressed with his behaviour which, when you consider his rudeness to her at the Meryton assembly, she has every right to be.

So, what do I make of the line?

Well, I think it's abundantly clear that Darcy absolutely can speak to people when he wants to. Perhaps, in his mind, he struggles to make that deeper connection and make friends easily. But making friends is not always easy, it's a process you must invest time and effort into. If you do not do that, it stands to reason that you will struggle. Plus, if you hold others to ridiculous standards (as Darcy does) without recognising and fixing the flaws within yourself, you're not going to have deep, lasting friendships.

While this quote may appear to be a moment of vulnerability where he does confess a fault of his, which is astounding given his pride, personally I do not think it was not a soul-searching exercise. It was to make Elizabeth stop grilling him. It was self-serving. Although, I don't think he's entirely lying. Darcy is veeeery careful with his words and though this statement is not considered and perhaps comes out rather abruptly, it doesn't necessarily follow that it isn't true. I can imagine that it is probably something he's felt for a while, yet it is a rather desperate attempt to defend himself from a woman who sees right through him.

I think perhaps Darcy does realise that he isn't as naturally gifted as other men he knows (such as Wickham, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Bingley) when it comes to forming acquaintances. However, he looks outwards and turns that bitterness against the world rather than looking inwards, reflecting upon himself and improving his manners which would be the correct thing to do. Thankfully, he later does this, but it took him twenty eight years...

In addition, Darcy appeared to have been under the illusion that he could coast by on Pemberley's reputation... which has always worked... until he met Elizabeth. For perhaps the first time, he encounters a woman who is not awestruck by him and his reputation and delivers the rebuke that he always needed.

So, while personally I'm inclined to believe there is some truth to his statement, as Mr Darcy is many things but he isn't a liar, I think it is said in desperation. His feeling stems from him knowing what he should do, but he can't be bothered to enact it... rather than any inherent social deficiency stemming from being neurodivergent.

Although, even if he does struggle socially, it's still no excuse for the rudeness he displayed to Elizabeth! My main issue with neurodivergent readings of Darcy is when they are deployed to defend his behaviour, when they attribute his rudeness to any potential neurodivergency and when they excuse his laziness. That is an awful message! Autistic people who struggle with social cues often do not, nor should they, go around insulting others. They should and often do put plenty of effort into being considerate and polite. In fact, I think, if anything, a love of rules makes us more likely to have good manners, rather than the reverse.

Ultimately, I'm not sure this line makes Mr Darcy the sympathetic-poor-sweet-innocent-shy-boy-autistic-representation that people want him to be. In fact it makes him look even worse, if anything. On matters such as these, he is every inch the conceited proud man he was widely believed to be at the Meryton assembly. Luckily, Elizabeth is an incredibly smart woman, who doesn't fall for it and immediately calls him out on his behaviour in a way that he has never experienced before. As she should!

[altocat]

Sephiroth Nation:

20% Angstposts

20% Thirstposts

20% Tightly constructed character analysis

40% Haha kitty haha what if he was cute tho uwu

(I love you guys ❤️)

[raayllum]

The Point of The Dragon Prince: The Phoenix Motif

Intro

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that The Dragon Prince is about cycles.

It's in the dialogue and the visuals, with the series itself being an exploration about the Cycle of Violence and how to break it / the Chains of History. Framing and spells and character choices continually repeat over and over again, as @kati-corn beautifully points out with their parallel compilations, sometimes drawing from 4+ seasons at once, such as in TDP's repeated trial scenarios (3x02, 4x06, 6x09, 7x02, 7x09).

The cycle I'm going to talk about, though, is a little different. Cycle 2.0, if you will, otherwise known as the Phoenix Motif, is decidedly different from The Cycle the series has always drawn explicit verbal attention to. Specifically, rather than The Cycle of Violence that is inherently 1) destructive, 2) negative, and 3) needs to be broken, the Phoenix Motif presents something that is more positive to neutral leaning. Not all cycles are bad, after all — take the cycle of the seasons for example — and this is something that TDP itself even addresses, loosely, within the Moon Arcanum in Through the Moon:

LUJANNE: There is a cycle in the world. Life and death. It is at the core of all things. The moon embodies this cycle. Bit by bit it will fade away; then bit by bit it will brighten. [...] Death is frightening. Birth can be as well, yet there are the two things that connect us all. Kings and commoners, rich and poor, elf and human — each is equally vulnerable in the beginning and the end. Let that fact be humbling. Let it bind us together. Remember that as life inevitably leads to death, so also does life comes from death. This is a cycle, not an ending. A phoenix dies, yet from its death it lives again. A phoenix is uniquely tethered in the both life and death, and yet it is like the rest of us: a part of the cycle.

3x06 specifically confirms this as well, with Ezran stating of Phoe-Phoe:

However, this sentiment of death and rebirth — perhaps even perpetual, eternal death and rebirth — should already probably be pinging something in your head.

Now, in retrospect, this isn't exactly surprising. TDP loves to be really fucking literal, taking what would otherwise be abstract concepts and making facets of their world literally embody it. I remember after S2 or S4 thinking about how, if the thematic antagonist of the show is History, having a super old super ancient being — the embodiment of that history — as its endgame villain was really smart, honestly. Aaravos — and the Cosmic Council, thematically if nothing else — operating as antagonists and being literally cyclical, subsequently immortal beings? Yeah, it checks out like painfully well.

However, the more I though about this cycle — destruction as well as rebirth, death as well as life — I thought about how much it's been shoved in our faces consistently without even realizing, and with increasingly interesting implications. To the degree that, as it stands now, I'm willing to make a bet on Arc 3's culmination and wager what, indeed, The Thematic Point has been all this time — not only for the main trio and Aaravos, as this meta initially set out to focus on — but for the Dragon Prince as a series in its entirety.

With that out of the way, let's get into it.

When The Time is Right

It's sort of an accepted fact, especially in literature, that near-death experiences can radically change a person's outlook on their life. Death, additionally, often represents the abyss or a pivotal transformation point that leaves the old self dead, with a new self surviving (or thriving) that has been fundamentally altered. Death can be the end, or it can be a transformation, provided you get a second chance.

HARROW: I may not have long, so I am forced to ask myself... (2x06)

RUNAAN: I have a family I love. I have so much to lose, the very things I took from you. (7x09)

For Viren and Runaan, at least, this has fully come to fruition. Both engaged in dark work that led to their demise. Both were saved by their daughters, and both were fundamentally changed by their 'deaths', resolving to stop treating others, or themselves, like they were already dead ("They're gone, Amaya! Captured by a Moonshadow elf! If [the princes] aren't already dead, they will be soon enough!").

Both ultimately resolved to stop chasing revenge (or in Viren's case, power) in favour of trying to prioritize their families; both returned to Katolis, fell to their knees before Ezran, and swore they had changed. That they could make amends and would, if given the chance.

Viren dies and then is reborn, fundamentally different, and then dies again with his heart literally on fire and surrounded by flames. Runaan, meanwhile, requires for the fire in Ezran's eyes to be doused, and is brought out of water, not fire, but the point still stands. Their destruction was pivotal, if not narratively crucial, to being recreated as better versions of themselves.

Staring down limited time, much as Harrow had before him, caused Viren to ultimately realize his old friend was right: "I am a servant." Runaan's second lease on life caused him to realize he'd put his family through strife and perpetuated an awful cycle for well-intentioned but twisted reasons, and that he had to stop. He had to change.

HARROW: These moments of greatest strength look like weakness to those who don't know better. For a long time, I didn't know better.

I will not make the same mistake again. I will not watch another daughter die.

This three very similar — servants to their causes, devoted to things greater than themselves, lost in violence of the cycle they're perpetuated, granting their children immense and burdensome responsibilities — and very different men also tie into Lujanne's statement. Viren and Runaan were both, seemingly, born commoners, while Harrow was born a king; he was given everything, whereas Viren strove not to be and Runaan trained himself to be, alternatively, "nothing". Yet the cycle of life and death, and ultimately the hope their children could be different from themselves (expressed particularly blatantly for Harrow and Viren) equalized them all. As I've said before, the Cycle of Violence creates similarity — with the Phoenix Cycle/Motif doing so in a more full circle, potentially positive manner.

It remains to be seen whether Harrow will indeed be released from the bird (a quasi-literal phoenix, if you will, if we're speaking about on-the-nose symbolism); I could personally see it going a number of ways. It's also not clear how much he will have changed upon release—Viren changed somewhat quickly and gradually following his ressurection, whereas Runaan did much more of 180. Unlike Viren or Runaan, Harrow didn't have to die or be trapped to reach his epiphanies; he reached them on his own before the actual acts had happened. Staring down the barrel of a metaphorical gun was enough for him, so it stands to reason there's not too much internal change to be had besides "Holy shit has the world changed" and an adjustment period.

[Sidenote: This is, I think, another aspect that Karim differs in. On a textual level, Karim is irredeemable, because as discussed in more detail elsewhere, due to him seeing his loved ones as JUST his enemy and no longer as his loved one in addition to being his enemy. His sister becomes just his enemy and a false queen, not those things and his sister; child is just his heir, not his child and his heir.

Karim wishes to set the world on fire, but doesn't understand that he'd be transformed alongside it; his complete aversion to change even when everyone else (Janai, Miyana) can and does adapt to it keeps him stuck.

Karim is the only "father who fucked up by disavowing his child's life" (hi Runaan, hi Viren) who doesn't come back from it, too. On a subtextual/symbolic level, I think it's interesting therefore that he's the only one of the 4 that doesn't have a death. Like Harrow or Runaan, he's imprisoned, but he's never believed to be dead by himself or anyone else; the closest he gets on a literal level is in 4x09 where, like Runaan, he's on his knees as he says "Finish this," but is spared and (eventually) imprisoned instead. However, Karim is offered a symbolic death of sorts — to relinquish his name, whatever that precisely means, in 7x03 — one that he readily dismisses. He never has to grow because he never really conceptualizes, on a certain level, his own mortality: either he's not thinking about it (and the subsequent possibility for failure it would entail) or never muses over it. We're going to circle back to this, but for now...]

That said, I think these Harrow-Viren-Runaan are probably the most obvious example of this death-rebirth motif in the show, next to Aaravos or actual Phoe-Phoe. They were, at the very least, what immediately came to mind when I thought about what I wanted to be in this meta.

The next section, I think, is a little more interesting.

For a Thousand Years

Archdragons live for a long time. Like, a really long time—3,000 years basically minimum, potentially 7,000 years maximum, but who knows. We know that Sky Archdragons only lay an egg every thousand years flat out (1x05) which does not bode well for not living an ungodly long amount of time in general.

One of the things that set me on this meta path, I think — and something this meta has helped me consolidate that I kinda knew I was dancing around but not quite able to hit upon or fully bring together — is a previous meta I wrote looking at immortality in TDP. Simply put, TDP doesn't have a very positive view on immortality (more on that later) as most of the characters who are immortal or at least have enduring lifespans don't seem to like being alive for that long very much.

Sol Regem is deeply depressed and bitter; Rex Igneous laments that objects all turn decrepit over time and seemingly has no companions he actually cares for. The Draconic Royal family seems to fare uniquely better precisely because they have each other.

Likewise, all three also fall under the Phoenix Motif.

Zym is believed to be dead from within the egg (very bird like) but is brought back to life (1x02, 1x09) from his discovery and his hatching. He is also fundamentally changed as a result of being rescued and bonding with elves and humans (particularly Ezran) as opposed to just bonding with Xadians. (More on Zym and his ultimate potential narrative purpose here and how being stolen/saved might've saved him and the world in other ways, too).

Avizandum dies (3x06) but his spirit is resurrected/brought back by Ziard and Aaravos under dark magic necromancy. He ultimately dies again protecting his son (7x09) but successfully this time. He also ties into the Fathers' Rebirth Theme of in the past prioritizing conquest and/or power (he loves to destroy human armies, "it makes him feel big and powerful") after his son came into his life ("this is a special day of life, do not force me to make it a day of death" / "that's why Thunder was willing to spare us. He had to get back to that egg"), which parallels Harrow-Viren a bit more than Runaan, but bear with me.

Zubeia is effectively dead when the trio shows up in 3x08, given that we've known she's actively dying of a broken heart since 3x04. (She has a similar terrible slumber in 5x09 that she just manages to recover from thanks to Mukho, but that is treated less like death and doesn't fit the motif quite as well because she doesn't have a big personality/life change afterwards. She does, however, post-3x09, abandoning the cycle of revenge (1x01) to actively pursue peace and breaking the cycle instead (S4 onwards) to the point she dies for Zym, yes, but also to save people whose lives were upended by her choices: Callum (thematic dark mage still deserving of salvation in this instance), Ezran (a former target), and Rayla (assassins sent to die) + others as add ons of similar ideas (Runaan, etc).

But again, this is all... kind of background stuff. At the very least, it's a consistent pattern bordering on theme (particularly for the group of fathers), but it's not really in the foreground in any meaningful way for the centralized main characters (and trio and co). Not even quite subtextually yet, either.

And then it Is.

All of Us May Be Reborn From Darkness

Season seven is when all of this started clicking for me. I don't know if it's because things finally moved into subtext territory, or because S6 had primed me to expect something like an obsession arc from Callum (a la the fathers' group) in future seasons or what, or even if it's just because the show ramps up the Phoenix Motif to much more obvious levels with the trio and Aaravos, but it was very exciting and beautiful to behold, I think.

Let's break it down piece by piece, starting with Ezran, as he's the most straightforward / blatant. I've talked about Ezran's interplay wth the Phoenix Motif in greater detail here, but I will go over the key points:

In 7x01, Ezran's kingdom and identity as king ("and as a king, I choose love over strength") is burnt to ashes. This is directly verbalized: "King of what? King of ashes?" + "He's not himself right now" (7x02).

Ezran experiences a significant loss (the remainder of his True Heart) which literally alters him

Ezran continues to change, pursuing weapons for most of the season (7x03—7x09)

Aaravos' death "set(s) the world on fire" + the fire reflecting in Ezran's eyes in 7x09 much the way the fire filled Aaravos' eyes when talking about his plans ("I want them to suffer. I want them to hurt")

Ezran chooses, therefore, to not be a king of ashes in forgiving/sparing Runaan. He also works on building Evrkynd (and Katolis), literally rebuilding the world from ashes.

Wat's presented above are the broad strokes / overt symbolism of Ezran's arc from a structural / plot standpoint, and we see the rest of the trio be reflected in this. Rayla probably gets the second most overt one during her trial in the Silvergrove, hence the title of this section:

Like the moon itself, all of us may be reborn from the darkness. To achieve that rebirth, you must prove yourself worthy of absolution and forgiveness.

This is stacked on top of a few different things, of course. For starters, Rayla as an assassin carries the implicit "I am already dead" framing that Runaan carries explicitly through dialogue. This thread of hers isn't necessarily resolved by the end of the season even if Runaan's is, but I expect hers to bleed over into arc 2. There's also the idea of rebirth, which is spelled out more explicitly in 4x01 being titled "Re-Birthday" in reference to Viren.

The third layer, if you will, is the more direct one: her status as a Ghost (dead) seeking to be reborn into her community. And, by the end of her trial, this is precisely what happens.

Rayla's rebirth from darkness (the new moon, and perhaps a symbolic state of total uncertainty in comparison to half-truths) also sets up Callum's. Not only does the dialogue in her trial scene echo the poem from his father in 6x03 ("And newborn sparks born of the dark"), but it also aligns with his choice of whether or not to use dark magic again. Granted, in some ways, his rebirth and resumption of status happened in 6x06—that maps on better to Rayla's trial in terms of outcome and symbolism. You were once exiled/corrupted, this meant that you were already dead (a Ghost, Callum's "kill me" request), and upon facing your truth and/or remembering who you are ("Rayla of the Silvergrove" / "Find the one deep truth") you are brought out of that darkness and into light as a reforged form of yourself. Rayla can now be seen, Callum though blindfolded saw her, and reintegration happens: Rayla is let back into her village, she and Callum fully resume their relationship on mutual terms.

She's brought home in a physical and emotional sense, reconnecting with her community and with her changed self. In her time away, she's learned a lot of lessons about justice ("A life for a life? Is that justice?" / "No one should have to spill their blood for justice. No one"), sacrifice/suffering ("No amount of suffering, yours or mine, will ever bring him back"), and asking for help / depending on her family (5x04, 7x04). Arguably, 6x06 offers Callum something similar if you view Rayla as his home: finding her as his one truth restores his body/soul (physical) and provides emotional clarity (emotional) to bring him back to himself and her (as a fundamental part of himself) as a reunified Home ("my home now is wherever you are").

But I said trio in S7, not Ezran&Rayla in S7 + Callum in S6. So, what's going on with him in S7?

Callum's thread with the phoenix motif is one that is both very much evolved forwards in S7, yet also left hanging more so than any of his counterparts. While you can look at S7 Ezran (7x01—7x09) and S7 Rayla (7x01-7x04) and go swiftly from point A (destruction) to point B (rebirth) across the season, Callum's is less straight forward in some ways because his destruction-salvation is both created and 'resolved' within 7x09. There is a very quick turn around from "I'm going to destroy myself with dark magic" to "I don't have to die actually" and even then, Callum arguably leaves the season in the worst place out of the trio, given that he's still corrupted.

This is also, in some ways, where the trio's phoenix motif starts unravelling, however, because as much as S7 began that motif for them with a neat little bow... Arc 3 looms on the horizon and honey, they've got a Big storm coming. This is for a few reasons.

The first is that Ezran is the only one with an explicitly ideological rebirth within the season. As mentioned before, he has the most explicit and complete journey within the phoenix motif model. He's destroyed (7x01), fundamentally physically altered (7x02), and then experiences a complete rebirth wherein he walks out changed and still changed for the better (second half of 7x09). Whereas before Ezran chose to believe people could be good because he believed they fundamentally were, 7x09 Ezran now chooses to believe people can be good even now that he knows fundamentally they are not or may not even want to be, or at least not always. (A mood, bud.) Being good is an active, continuous choice, for everyone now—including himself: "I'm going to forgive you" is a choice, not necessarily one that reflects your current feelings.

Conversely, Callum and Rayla are far more the same person at the end of season seven as they were at the beginning. This is lampshaded directly through their dialogue, with Dark!Callum’s argument boiling down to Callum’s lack of confidence in a non-dark magic route (“If you’re so sure, why did you save it? [...] You know you might need me after all”) for something that already happened post-purification and in 6x09 in keeping the coin. Rayla, too, harkens back to concepts from many previous seasons, most notably her assassin vow all the way from 1x01: “My heart for Xadia!”

Where Ezran is pulled and pulls himself explicitly back from the brink when given another chance to remake or unmake his choice about Runaan, Rayla and Callum (and Zym) thus far have not been offered a do-over of their choices in 7x09, whether literally or symbolically. That may be in Arc 3, though it’d make sense: if Ezran got an ideological rebirth, them having new ones would fit both the Phoenix Motif pattern and trajectory. Callum, in particular, is primed to completely revolutionize but one thing is for sure: all of the trio is going to be haunted by Aaravos’ inevitable return and the beginning of his (life) cycle anew.

And with Ezran having had one complete ideological destruction and rebirth cycle... what about Callum, Rayla, and Aaravos?

Your Deaths Mean Nothing (Aaravos)

Here’s a question: what makes a sacrifice meaningful? Must a sacrifice be made by an entirely willing, self-aware participant? (“A child will die.” “Yes.”) Must a sacrifice be fulfilled / permanent to have poignancy?

If you cannot ever die in a meaningful way, can you ever live or sacrifice in a meaningful way?

This emphasis on morality as a prerequisite for meaning was something that was kicking around in my head after S6 since we'd learned that Startouch elves both could (Leola) and couldn't (everyone else) permanently die, or at least that killing them permanently was exceedingly difficult... as well as the contemplation on mortality based morality from other shows like The Good Place. This wasn't, at the time however, something I thought we'd really dig into. After all, there were lots of good, other reasons to have Aaravos and Startouch elves function this way: it made Leola's death more tragic, it upped the ante of how to kill Aaravos immensely, and it helped Aaravos embody the themes of History and the Cycle even further by having him be an ancient walking piece of history whose lifespan was literally a cycle, as mentioned previously.

Season seven, then, shifted things.

For starters, it confirmed that Aaravos seemingly isn't concerned with keeping his actions secret from the Cosmic Council ("Are you watching?") / other Startouch elves, which doesn't exactly make sense with what we currently know. After all, we know that the Startouch elves could kill Leola permanently, and Aaravos was more powerful back then than he, seemingly, is now. Shouldn't he be concerned? Couldn't they kill him the same way they did Leola if they wanted to?

Well, hm... what if they can't? What if through dark magic or other means he's preemptively removed his own immortality? (More on this theory here.) Alternatively: if the Cosmic Council can still kill him, and Aaravos wants to kill them, we still kinda end off on the same place.

Either Aaravos has made himself immortal in a way they are not, dooming himself to being unable to ever die by proxy of removing his own minimal mortality that Leola had, or he will kill anyone who could kill him, and be doomed to exist forever or die by his own suicidal hand. 

“This world is an instrument of pain, of torment. To exist in this world is to suffer. Even death is no reprieve.” 

Aaravos’ views on the world and sacrifice, however, are immediately juxtaposed by Ezran’s and the Archdragons, set up all the way back in 4x08.

N’THAN: ... give [Rex Igneous] your gift of sacrifice and hope for the best.

EZRAN: We offered gifts that meant a lot to us, but the truth is, they don’t mean anything to you. (4x08)

AARAVOS: And what will your sacrifices buy? Mere moments of peace before I return to a world without you? Your deaths mean nothing.

EZRAN: They have given us a great gift: a chance to keep on living, keep trying to be better. (7x09)

Avizandum and — particularly — Zubeia are able/allowed by the narrative to lay down their lives for their son, a choice the Cosmic Council robbed from Aaravos. Their deaths are permanent, and their gift, as Ezran identifies, is a sacrifice that should not be wasted: “life is precious, life is valuable” / “I have a family I love. I have so much to lose”. While Aaravos says that their deaths mean nothing because of the impermanence of staving off his return — because to die or resist is futile, to live is to suffer — Ezran asserts the opposite: that their deaths and the victory it afforded his family, temporary as it may be, alternatively means everything to him (and within the broader narrative) precisely because life is worth living... and if you believe that life is worth living, giving it up is indeed a sacrifice.

So now onto Aaravos’ death in 7x09. He chooses to send Claudia away rather than risk her dying alongside him, but he doesn’t die or allow himself to be taken down in order to save her, or arguably chooses to die consciously at all. His explosive end is not, perhaps, exactly what he had in mind when coming to corrupt the sun, but it’s also an immense setback. If anything, it’s the opposite, given that it allows him to get rid of the Archdragons, weaken Xadia, and leave his human foes (Callum and Ezran in particular) wonderfully paranoid about his return. (More on Aaravos’ master plan here, for anyone interested.)

Aaravos, after all, doesn’t care about anything so much as he cares about getting his revenge. As Terry identified, his love has been twisted largely beyond recognition, enabling him to destroy the world and creatures/people his daughter once loved so much. He’s willing to endanger and manipulate Claudia and anyone else around him in order to achieve it. He’s an immortal being beset with grief, and therefore exists outside the cycle of life and death precisely because he’s not bound to it.

At least, that would be the easier way of looking at it... because while that was my initial line of thought as of season 6, Lujanne’s description of the Moon Phoenix (our thematic microcosm for the Startouch elves) sits in direct opposition to it: 

A phoenix dies, yet from its death it lives again. A phoenix is uniquely tethered in both life and death, and yet it is like the rest of us: a part of the cycle.

Aaravos and the Startouch elves — regardless of if he’s removed his ability to die, regardless of if they can kill each other — do not sit outside the cycle, separated from everyone else by their immortality. Instead, they are as interwoven as everyone else. And as noted, many of the show’s characters have had emotional or plot related Phoenix Motifs: Aaravos dies in a fiery explosion, only to return — like Phoe-Phoe — when the time is right.

This is also, of course, connected to what we’ve already discussed regarding fathers. Runaan and Viren are both saved by their daughters, brought out of death and into life, and are fundamentally changed as people because of their experiences. Their death and ‘resurrection’, as noted, allows them to change, as does Harrow staring death in the eye make him deeply rethink his life choices. Alternatively, Karim — who does not care for his future child(ren), does not come back from this brink, and who rejects the symbolic death offered to him (relinquishing his name) — does not change and meets a grisly end.

What I am saying, then, is that while having Aaravos get out and then be given a soft reset so we can have another timeskip works perfectly fine as is from a plot standpoint... I wonder about how meaningful it’d be if they don’t Do Something with it for him from an emotional standpoint, too, the same way Viren, Runaan, and Harrow underwent (though Harrow could still, admittedly, have further stages to go through). After all, TDP is very good at having what looks like 1-3 things be actually 6-9 things when seen retrospectively (re: Aaravos’ master plan meta) so I can’t imagine that Aaravos’ death and return won’t be that, too. And there is, to some capacity, no real reason to have Aaravos care about Claudia somewhat genuinely in season 7 if we’re not going to do something with that; he didn’t need to in order for Claudia to form a deep attachment and alignment with him. We could’ve had little smirks as he continues to use Leola’s memory to manipulate her (the way he does in 6x09, minus the smirking) and while we get spades of that (“I am her father now and she is my daughter”) and should see everything he says to her as a double edged sword... There is truth to “I will not watch another daughter die” that will likely stick with him and continue to grow.

Remember how I said Callum, Rayla, and Aaravos have lived through the plot version of the Phoenix Motif, but not fully the ideological/emotional one as of 7x09?

Arc 3 would be the perfect time, then, for the three of them to get an ideological rebirth journey (similar to Ezran in season 7, or Viren in arc 2, or even Soren in arc 1) to reflect the way Xadia as a whole will be. 

So let’s talk about it.

We’ve All Made Mistakes. We We Don’t Have To Keep Making Them (or The Point of TDP)

Again, I don’t think what I’m saying — characters in TDP must break the cycles of violence, destruction, and death, and choose creation/life/love over it — or that it’s a repeated pattern is new information. As demonstrated above, we’ve seen this pattern over and over again in the show because it’s kind of what it’s all about. 

Characters in TDP rarely become something entirely brand new, instead moving forwards in order to move backwards at the same time, and become truer, better versions of what they wanted to be all along. For an oversimplification, Soren goes from (bad) crownguard to enemy to (good) crownguard in arc 1 (“I am a crownguard, and he is the true king!”; Viren goes from a good father / high mage (1x01-1x03, flashbacks) to bad ones (1x04-5x09), and then back again (6x01-6x08). Sometimes this follows a linear enough progression, but sometimes it doesn’t. 

If we view character journeys through the lens of the Big Lessons the characters have to learn (i.e. Rayla learning she doesn’t always have to sacrifice), arc 1 and arc 2 demonstrate immense growth and regression for her simultaneously. She’s moving forward — she’s letting people in, letting them help her, shedding her assassin identity, coming back to Callum — and moving backwards — keeping secrets, being more jaded, “My heart for Xadia,” continuing to be an assassin by sacrificing herself (3x09) and particularly others (5x01, 7x09) — at the same time. By the end of the series/S10, I expect she’ll finally be the protector she’s always wanted to be without needing to sacrifice herself or others. After all: 

TERRY: Maybe he saw there was another way forward. One with less darkness and sacrifice. It’s never too late to change. 

The Archdragons’ sacrifice is beautiful and meaningful, but Aaravos isn’t entirely wrong: it’s a band-aid on a bullet-hole situation that is just a temporary fix, and from a narrative perspective, it’s still a sacrifice, the thing we are trying to avoid. While the Archdragons sacrificing themselves to save everyone else — or Viren sacrificing himself through dark magic in 6x08 — was the right thing to do, it was still a tragedy. Aaravos’ death in 7x09 isn’t to anyone but Claudia because Aaravos doesn’t care about his life: his life has no meaning other than revenge, and therefore his death has no meaning other than revenge, the same way Karim’s death by Aaravos’ hands is utterly meaningless (if also a loss to his family). 

If your life is devoid of love and meaning, then you have nothing meaningful to sacrifice and die for.

So what would be the biggest change for Aaravos — one who, as far as we know, cannot die and therefore cannot live nor sacrifice meaningfully — to have? For his life to take on new meaning. 

AARAVOS: To go on without her would mean an eternity of pain. But in that moment I chose to live, and my life took on new purpose.

To have love; to have things you don’t want to lose. That you don’t want to sacrifice. To want to live. To want to move forward, truly forward, rather than constantly looking back at the past and making the same mistakes (darkness, death, sacrifice) over and over again.

EZRAN: You say that I should believe you because you are great and ancient, that I’m too young to see clearly, but I think it’s the other way around. You’ve spent so long seeing the world through a lens of hate that you can see any other way to get what you want. But I can. 

If Arc 1 and Arc 2 are both ultimately growth and regression for the characters involved, then it would stand to reason that Arc 3 has to have a final closing note of emotional growth and zero regression. But is that really possible? As stated, things in TDP don’t become totally new: Soren becomes a true crownguard, Viren becomes a true father and high mage, Rayla or Runaan become true protectors of the collective good, etc. Even Xadia as a continent will not be something radically different from what it was before: elves, humans, and dragons used to all live together, and humans had primal magic. What we’re working towards in present day canon is, on the surface, the same as what the world had before... and it didn’t work, leading to thousands of years of violent fallout. 

A better way to phrase it, then, might be focusing on TDP’s plot and character structure moving forward into Arc 3 not as growth paired with a lack of regression for once, but as a total restoration arc. Of getting back to the good places characters or societies had left — integration, reconciliation, primal magic — but as a fully completed whole: no hierarchy, no dark magic, no darkness or sacrifice. 

To see another way — “I see a different path!” — and to walk it in its entirety as an entire narrative. To fix what was actually broken in Xadia, to realize condemning the full Cosmic Council or Aaravos to death over a world they never cared for is not the path forward, but to create caring and opportunity, to enact verdicts with “mercy and compassion” (4x06) and void of cruelty (6x09). 

For characters, like others in the narrative and Xadia itself, to become a truer version of what they always wanted to or said they would be. For Aaravos, that would mean being an actual ally to humanity; for Callum, that would mean being an entirely primal mage; for Rayla, a true protector without sacrifice, etc. We don’t know what the Cosmic Order’s aims were beyond well, Order over chaos, but we can assume peace and tranquility. The peace and tranquility they tried to enforce was really indifference or neglect at best and outright hostile hierarchy and oppression at worst.

I don’t think we can just one-hit-perma-kill all the Cosmic Council members (though perhaps one), but ultimately the majority will likely stick around or change in some manner. To become what they were supposed to be, as Aaravos and everyone else does the same. An ideological rebirth from the bottom up and the top down to the point that we’ve gone from 1 to 100 and back again to square one, but Good, this time. 

AARAVOS: [Leola] loved this world, and all its flaws. 

EZRAN: There is no such thing as utopia. But with patience and persistence, we can build a better place.

Because Xadia is flawed and is broken, and has been all this time—and it is still worth fighting for and saving.

She’ll Be Reborn: A Conclusion

I made a lot of fancy promises early on, so as we wrap up the Phoenix Motif Meta, here’s a list of general predictions I think we can hedge our bets on if the show continues to follow this model:

Aaravos will return from his 7 year death and change pretty shortly after reuniting with Claudia and seeing how he’s changed. While he once dismissed or increased why Viren was concerned about Claudia’s path, Aaravos will now come to fear it in a similar manner (S9, S10). Insert the “you are destroyed by what you create, and grow to emulate what you destroyed” pattern here, the same way Viren initially disagreed with Kpp’Ar and Harrow, destroyed them through entrapment, and then realized both of them were right (big asterisk in Kpp’Ar’s case, but you know what I’m saying).

Ezran will uncover more about the Orphan Queen and why she didn’t kill Aaravos with the Nova Blade, going a step further to realize they shouldn’t try to imprison Aaravos again either.

Aaravos, Callum, and Rayla will undergo ideological rebirths, as will some of the Cosmic Council (thereby enabling Aaravos’ as well), as will Claudia (who’s been steadily associated more and more with fire as the series has gone along).

Fun bonus Harrow being literally reborn from a bird and/or Kpp’Ar getting out of his shiny coin

Leola herself will not be reborn, but what she represents will be taken up as a mantle narratively by the main group

A final restoration of an integrated Xadia (i.e. both halves of the continent, but also the Cosmic Council with mortal Xadia, too) and more easily accessible primal magic

And I don’t know: a world reborn from the ashes, for good in manner and in finality this time? I think it’d be fun to see.

[falling-star-cygnus]

y'all the Section 6 dynamic is too cute even for my angst loving heart -> like- they're all cutie patooties and i need to make a post about them

imagine with me:

[Harumasa is sitting in his comfy chair, dozing with his head lolling on the backrest- there's an apple sitting innocently on his desk with a paper that reads 'Soukaku' resting against it] [Said oni creeps closer, keeping carefully quiet as she curiously glances at the slumbering archer] [Harumasa opens one eye as Soukaku reaches for her treat, and then grabs her] Harumasa, triumphantly as he wrestles with her: AHAH! Got ya, you little snack thief! Soukaku, yelping and squirming: I wasn't stealing! I wasn't stealing, it had my name on it! Harumasa: It was a trap! Soukaku: WHAT!? Harumasa: You, you feral little shit, are going to learn the joys of napping! [It takes a few minutes of pure struggle- on both ends- but Harumasa eventually gets Soukaku to settle on his knee and tuck against his chest] [The archer adjusts to lean back in his chair again, arms secure around the tuckered out oni, and the two fall into a warm afternoon sleep] ->.<- Yanagi, coming back around an hour later: ....uh.. [She wants to be mad... but the image of Soukaku dozing with her head on Harumasa's chest, tail wrapped around his shin, and her hand clasped onto the strap of his quiver was frankly- adorable] [Especially with the protective way the archer kept one arm tucked behind her back and the other draped over her legs to prevent her falling] Miyabi, coming up besides Yanagi: Don't worry, Yanagi, they've already completed their paperwork and Soukaku's had her snack. [And lo and behold, the completed files sit primly on Harumasa's desk- an apple core in the trash] Yanagi, smiling fondly: Well.. then I suppose there's no harm in letting them rest a little longer.

[thorntopieces]

Genesis isn't entirely sure when it became entirely and utterly obvious that his parents don't love him.

It's not that they hate him, by far not, but Genesis knows that they don't love him, not in a way real parents love their real child.

They love the idea of him, love how they were conveniently handed a child instead of having to try for one for possibly years on end, love how his genius can be paraded around social functions and when on the town, love how he's able to play the part of the ideal child.

They enjoy the convenience.

Maybe they think he plays along because he has some sort of obligation to them, because he knows that they're not his real parents— they have never hidden it, after all —but Genesis has never known anything different and so he's not driven in the same way another adopted child might be to constantly please them.

He lives up to their expectations and beyond because it's a role he can play, an expectation he can fulfil, the ability to step into the role of someone he's not.

Genesis doesn't care for their affections, of which there aren't many, doesn't particularly care for how they applaud his achievements in public but feel like little more than strangers when alone in a home that is too large and too cold for three people to live in. It feels like a stage, where every act is little more than improvisation. He learns the general gist, where and when he is meant to act, which roles he is meant to inhabit and he wears them.

The home is cold and Genesis is used to feeling like a shell of a being when not expected to perform. For as long as he can recall he has added and removed parts and pieces of his personality based on his parents' reactions to them. The undesirable isn't discarded outright. No, they are more like costumes left in the changing rooms, waiting to be used during another performance.

The flamboyance has no place at the dinner table, nor at school, nor at the many social functions that are hosted in their homes.

They have never once deprived him of any of his needs, and for that he is grateful. It still feels like a mercy to be able to leave for Midgar the day Angeal turns fifteen.

As expected, Genesis becomes exactly the thing his parents feared when he leaves Banora with Angeal, headed for Midgar and the SOLDIER program. His materia proficiency and Angeal’s sword fighting skills had gotten them directly recruited into the SOLDIER program.

Those two weeks back on Mideel and Banora between passing the exams and moving to Midgar had been almost unbearable. The continued parading of him without even once truly acknowledging him. Sneaking out every single night to spend the night at Angeal’s and coming back before the sunrise.

Coming back to Midgar with its constant brightness and mako pollution feels like a breath of fresh air.

After his first enhancement with mako Genesis realises that there really is very little he can to do permanently harm his body, and as a SOLDIER he’s been emancipated even if he’s under eighteen.

His first trip to Wall Market is enlightening in more ways than one and the first inhale of cigarette smoke feels like a salvation, a balm on his emotionally exhausted brain.

He feels alive in a way he hasn’t before, even as the smoke itself makes his body riot.

It’s a reprieve, a moment of peace.

Genesis has become exactly what his parents feared he would be.

--

It becomes a ritual of sorts after that. A way to calm himself down. In equal measure it’s a punishment.

Even if the dozens of harmful ingredients can’t do any long-term damage to his body, it still reminds him that at least the very base parts of his body are human, because he can still taste the smoke, can still feel it curling in his lungs, can still cough and choke on it.

But it can’t hurt him, not in the way that it would hurt a normal human. And even if it does, he’ll die long before any real adverse effects can catch up to him.

It’s the one thing he keeps to himself, keeps hidden from even Angeal. Hiding something makes his heart weep, but he’s not capable of handling Angeal’s condemnation.

He’s been doomed to fail since he was born.

It’s only fitting that he would find solace in something so revered, so doomed, a symbol of high class and a proof of the depravity of the poor.

It’s when Angeal is once again dragged away from him by that horrible Second Class Zack that Genesis finally snaps. He doesn’t stalk after them to chew Zack out or interrogate Angeal because his best friend slash boyfriend is kind to a fault and would not let it stand for Genesis to run his mouth over petty jealousy.

Deep down they both know it’s anything but.

Instead, he takes a moment to feel in the inside pocket of his coat, checking for a cardboard carton of cigarettes and a lighter (partially for the look and partially because he really doesn’t trust himself around materia when he feels like this. It would be far too easy to let a torrent of fire consume and burn him to ashes).

Then, through the back not-very-secure backroom hallways, all the way up to the helipad where a small nook next to the air conditioning sits; where one is shielded from any curious eyes, ears and noses.

It’s there then that Genesis collapses to the floor in a slightly pathetic heap of murderously strong emotions and leather. He’s pathetic when he gets like this, unstable and uncertain and volatile in a way he doesn’t like.

The clashing of opposing thoughts in his head (that every single one of these feelings are justified, that he’s earnt them, that he’s irredeemably evil — not for any atrocious acts he’s committed in his life, but solely for the crime of being alive).

His hands shake as he digs through his pockets for the half-empty pack of cigarettes and the lighter.

There’s nothing suggesting that he can’t light up with materia, but when it feels like his heart is boiling in a pot of acid, when his collarbone threatens to shatter from the emotional turmoil ravaging him, depriving him of his usual grace, it doesn’t feel safe enough.

He’s only tried it once and it hadn’t ended well.

That, too, had felt like a failure, like a confirmation of all of his inadequacies.

Because Genesis is the best materia user the Shinra Electrical Power Company has ever had and will ever have. Even their beloved Sephiroth, the lab-grown child turned killing machine, who is meant to be everything a SOLDIER should be and more.

And yet he can’t really control himself well enough to actually light a cigarette with materia without risking lighting himself on fire.

The first inhale of nicotine feels like a rescue.

Genesis is prepared for every eventuality and in the case that he’s ever caught with them on his person there are multiple excuses ready on his tongue, prepared to deflect any suspicion that might come his way.

As a First, he’s never subject to inspections (the Turks sniffing through his apartment is not the same, Reno only leers at him with poorly hidden glee whenever he’s found something worthy of his somehow fleeting yet obsessive interests).

It would be easy enough to say that he confiscated them off an unsuspecting Third – claiming that while smoking is not prohibited for commissioned officers and SOLDIERs, it’s a terrible idea close to mako injection (as Genesis had had the disadvantage of finding out – the side effects had been so much worse when he’d been smoking).

Not that it really matters to him, he doesn’t have a sense of self-preservation anyway.

It’s not news to him that he doesn’t have all that long to lie. SOLDIER lifespans are shorter than average.

He doesn’t allow even the smallest amount of reprieve between cigarettes, content to let the smoke fill him, cleanse him, tarnish him irreparably hurt him and change him.

He’s already so ruined it doesn’t matter, still in Angeal’s presence only due to all of the energy Angeal has spent on him over the years. For all that Angeal is wonderful and perfect, he’s always been victim to sunk cost fallacy cases. Angeal doesn’t give up on anything, not even when he’s aware that it’s hopeless. Not when it comes to his stupid pants, not when it comes to dying SOLDIERs on the battlefield.

The fact that he seems to have given up on Genesis is an anomaly.

After the fifth cigarette the thought of thinking doesn’t hurt so much any more and Genesis stops to stare out over the helipad.

Zack’s different, but – Sephiroth was different, too. Different because he wasn’t and could never be Angeal.

But it was never this bad.

Maybe it’s because Genesis has always been almost as obsessed with Sephiroth as he was with Angeal.

Angeal was put on that pedestal because he is perfect and kind and present in a way Genesis’ parents never were, Sephiroth earnt his spot through straight-up hero worship.

[starflungwaddledee]

"Oh my Nova, you like stargazing, too?! It's so awesome to meet other Waddle Dees who like space!!! It's just so calming to sit out there and look up, right?! It makes you feel really small, but in a good way... oh! Anyways, what I meant to say is that if you ever want someone to show you all the BEST stargazing spots on Popstar, I'd be happy to show you around!!!! I bet you'd love it!!!!

- Starry Dee

(ps sorry for the long ask, i just saw your answer to fitaphim's ask and my brain went oooooooooh space/pos) :D

found: one cosy spot to sleep. a tree hollow even Coo would be proud of! it's pretty late, so let's try to get some shut eye.

<< prev || [masterpost] || next stage >> additional ask from @lunala8368

[lathbora-virann]

if you had to choose one favorite companion from each DA game, who would you pick?

This is a very cruel question but thank you for asking. I was trying to find the right balance between who I was drawn to and romanced, and who I was most drawn to regardless of romance and luckily most are the same.

For Origins it's unequivocally Alistair. He was the first video game character I ever fell in love with and he helped shape my sense of humour. I love how he seems like just a silly little guy at first glance, but has so much depth, intelligence and kindness if you stop and look.

For DA2 it has to be Merrill (sorry Fenris). She also hits every level from the surface and delightful to engaging with the deepest elements of the story and the world. Absolutely no one does it like her. She is my best friend, I want to know her every thought, and she deserved so much better.

It will come as no surprise to hear that in Inquisition it's Solas. He has consumed me mind and soul and I will never be over this guy. I don't even have the words to sum up what I feel about him other than he is one of the most compelling and fascinating characters I've ever come across in anything ever.

Veilguard was hardest, but ultimately it's Lucanis. I think he was made in a lab specifically for me. I see so much of myself in parts of him (none of which are cool, but I love them in him), but also so much what I would want in a real life partner. And the added element of Spite is so interesting to explore.

Here are some of my favourite screenshots I've taken of them for your trouble:

[geospiral]

When I first watched Weige, I was confused as to why Hyuna’s send-off video was filled with so many memories of other characters besides that of Luka, Hyun Woo, and Hyuna herself, but honestly this is the best video to show us all of that. Hyuna is the character in the series that most deeply symbolizes love for community, family, and humanity in general, so of course her video would be a showcase of joy and perseverance despite the world they live in—of course her video would be the one to show an alternate reality where our characters lived normal lives without the Segyein!

It even shows us moments like these outside our central cast where love prospers even though humans are literally being kept in cages to be sold off or hardly have food to feed their children; love and hope always endure! Hyuna herself will never experience these memories and may never even hear of them, but they are still a part of her; they are proof of her worldview, proof of her faith.

You know kindness is out there even if you can’t see it, and you know everyone has the capacity to show kindness even if they don’t.

So of course she saves Luka. Her decision isn’t based upon if she forgives him or not for the pain he caused her; it's based upon him being human and being capable of changing and living with love for others and himself. And she believes he can; she believes everyone can.

[communistkenobi]

I don’t like when people ask how many books you plan to read/have read this year one because I think that’s a weird relationship to have to books and two because I think even reading a chapter or a portion of something is valuable. this is especially true with non-fiction but even with fiction I think any amount you read, even if you don’t read the entire thing, is not a failure or ‘incomplete’

[royalarchivist]

Quackity: I think it's going to be so exciting to see how this develops. I absolutely love to see the Red Team come back, you know, this whole kind of, you know, unity that they've put together that's put them in front, I love that. I love to see that. And now, I kind of want to destroy it now, right? I feel like that's like my character's purpose now. It's like, "Damn, my team is losing, let's find a way to not lose anymore." But yeah, I don't know, I– ramble over. I just love this.

Bagi: And I think it's a great addition for the role playing that we are going to do after this because we need to kill each other. And then after this, man, it's a lot of crazy stuff going on. I mean, Cellbit just killed me today, and I was like, in shock because I was standing still. I was just looking at his face. I couldn't even bring my sword, I was just looking. And then, man, after this sht is gone, we are going to have the craziest conversation ever.

Quackity: Yeah, so that's a really cool part. I saw that clip, and I feel like this is giving everyone a really good character development because keep in mind that right now, we are playing with no fcking rules, right? We're playing with what we think is right, we're playing with the cards that were dealt. But what I want to see is the development of everyone's characters right after.

There's gonna be... interesting conversations to be had. There's gonna be interesting arcs to be had based off of this event alone, and I think that's absolutely wonderful. And if there's something I can implore people to do is to not take it seriously. Like, this is literally for entertainment purposes, and I feel like for creators themselves too, it gives them an opportunity to develop– if they want to develop a character arc, that's cool. If they just want to play, that's cool too. I think people should not take it seriously, it's for entertainment purposes only, and I personally am so excited to see all the development that's gonna come after because we haven't even seen all of Purgatory yet.

[sweetevilgoo]

Imagine having been drinking so much intelligence agencies Kool-Aid that you now go around saying the CIA is where all of society’s rejects can finally feel included lmfao I cannot even.

[zoradementio]

Filled out a blorbo chart with a few of mine & thought I should share :)

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

The A.I. Core Incident MIRA’S MORE CANON ME3 EDI, you need to alert us about incidents like this! You shouldn't have done this alone! Technically, I was not alone. I have had an... abundance of help in repurposing the mech. Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)