#douglitheories

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Just finished rewatching Advent Children with bro and wow that explained a lot more than I thought it would. Bro had never seen it and I remembered the white void showing up there and that the 3 villains were sephiroth clones. I completely forgot the other hints towards Remake.

But Spoilers for Remake and Rebirth I guess?

I now understand why everyone insists Remake Sephiroth is Advent Children Sephiroth. Like the exact same monologue about going to space with cloud. And Advent Children was him revealing this new bigger plan to cloud. If Remake Sephiroth was the original VII sephiroth he should still just want to use meteor because it's "mother's" will.

But like all that is old news for folks who remembered Advent Children when playing through Remake 4 years ago.

I think the things Rebirth builds on about the lifestream is more interesting. The pond that forms in Aerith's church in AC is a natural mako spring like the countless ones we find in rebirth. Flowers are able to grow there long after Aerith's death because of this spring just below the surface.

When Cloud "dies" in Advent Children he meets Aerith and Zack in the white void before they decide to put him back. He's released from the lifestream in the natural mako spring now in Aerith's church just like how Tifa is tossed back out when she enters with the whale.

Again for anyone who's recently watched AC it's obvious the white void is meant to represent the lifestream. But that means Rebirth is confirming the Lifestream is a bridge between the different universes. Zack enters the Lifestream and runs into Remake cloud who's also been pulled in. AC is all about how Sephiroth is still in the lifestream and that's how Kadaj is able to be possessed by him once he has enough Jenova cells. Cloud kills Sephiroth putting him back in the Lifestream. The Lifestream that connects all vii worlds.

AC Sephiroth then uses the lifestream to start appearing before a Cloud that has only just reached Midgar. His Meddling summons the whispers which fight back to keep things to the "cannon" timeline. Sephiroth of course tricks team Avalanche into destroying the head Whisper allowing him to take control of them. Again old news for anyone that knew Sephiroth wanted them to break the bonds of Fate.

But if Sephiroth is using the lifestream to mess with other worlds. it shouldn't be a surprise one of the Aerith's also already in the lifestream got involved too. As other's have pointed out the Aerith that gives cloud the not empty White materia isn't remake Aerith. But another Aerith that pulled him into that universe to give him a functioning white materia. But somehow Remake Aerith knew the hand over happened? Because in the white forest she asks cloud for the materia and they swap so she has a functioning white materia. That part confuses me a little. How did our Aerith know the handoff happened?

Also Rufus and Kadaj have a conversation about how everything's a cycle. That Jenova "Mother" will always try to destroy the planet and the lifestream/humanity will always fight back. Made me realize AC Sephiroth wasn't going back on his timeline to make a new one but hopping into the next timeloop. OG VII and Advent Children's cannon is locked in. Remake is truely that a remaking of the timeline made possible by Cloud and Co defeating the whispers that enforce the timeloops. So now instead of one spiral after another and infinite number of spirals are forming while the remake loop is still happening.

That's why Sephiroth waited until the *spoilers* cannon event to appear in Rebirth. It's an all the stars a line situation. All timeloops have that moment, regardless of how it's different in different versions.

But Rebirth's cannon event was just a test run. Sephiroth wanted to see how much power he could gain just from multiple timelines merging at one point.

Sephiroth already told us what he really wants. The Black materia but not the one from the remake universe no the ultimate black materia forged from all the black materia. And what's the next big plot point that could be a cannon event? Cloud's breakdown at the northern crater after handing the Black Materia over to Sephiroth. If there's any point where the timelines would over lap it would be there. We already saw the power boost Sephiroth got. If that power boost happens to the black Materia yeah that's a multiverse destroying meteor right there.

Wow was that a long wall of text about stuff everyone else probably already knows. But I just had to put all the clarity Advent Children gave me about Remake and Rebirth somewhere. Expect a spiral timeline graphic in the future. Cause I feel like i'm forgetting to explain some of it right.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

I always had the funny theory that Kuriboh was Atem's Ka. In the manga it's the monster he summons on a slab to counter Set in a flash back duel from before he had the Puzzle. (To be a reference to duelist kingdom and multiply.) Heck in season one you could argue it was tied with dark magician as Yugi's trump card.

It was mentioned once that if the Thief King had been born in modern day he would have had the exact same personality as Ryou. It was the time period and slaughtering of his village that made him the way we knew him. I'd argue the same for Yugi and Atem. Instead of 2 sides of the same coin they are one side at 2 different points of time.

Basically baby Atem being more timid like Yugi originally but being forced into the position of Pharaoh and tossed into a war against the ultimate darkness changed that. Making the small and unassuming Kuriboh fit him at the soul level.

That doesn't explain why he didn't summon Kuriboh when fighting Bakura without the Puzzle. You could argue modern day Yami playing the table top didn't know he could summon Pharaoh's Ka without an item. But that doesn't explain why the characters took that many hits in the original timeline. Then I guess you could argue Kuriboh wouldn't have helped in the situation and so wasn't summoned the first time around. But one of the things that ends up turning the tides is blasting holes in the ceiling to let light in. Kuriboh's one skill is blasting things!

Or you could go the easy route and say Takahashi forgot to give Atem his own Ka. Meaning he just doesn't have one. The anime sort of argues this with having Obelisk be implied to be the first summon Atem ever does and that happens after he is given the puzzle. But Ka's were too important to this arc for me to believe Takahashi just forgot Atem's. Like another comment mentions, Mana summons the Dark Magician Girl for the first time During this scene.

But the most likely answer is what you said actually. Atem believes he is powerless. Whether he has his own Ka or not doesn't matter because Atem at a core level believes he doesn't have enough magic without the puzzle to do anything magic related. And so it's a self fulfilling prophecy.

I'm still thinking about how for the entire confrontation in the mortuary temple where Atem is pendant-less, every single character assumes he is powerless. Mahad shows up to protect him. Shada dives in to take hits for him. Even Bakura appears to assume that Atem's got nothing. Atem also seems to believe he is powerless and continues to rely exclusively on Mahad. Why, though, Atem? Where's your fucking Ka? Why don't you have one?

[the-fandom-crossroads]

I've seen a bit of your essays about egypt references in sumeru. Will you do one for each character? Asking because I really wanna know what you think of Alhaitham, Deshret and Nabu Malinka

Oh Wow I'm so glad folks are still finding those! (also so sorry it took me like a month to respond)

So I double checked and I only got around to posting Nilou, Cyno, and Apep on Tumblr. I thought I vaguely touched on King Deshret just before 3.0 launch but I think that was just in a comment on someone else's post about Sumeru and Egypt. Same thing with Candace unfortunately.

I'd have to look into Al-Haitham a little more. Other than his name being Arabic there doesn't seem to be much linking him to the Egypt side of things. Most things from the Akademiya are Hindi inspired and I don't have enough knowledge in that area to feel comfortable assuming links between things.

For Nabu Malikata it was a waiting game. We knew about the flower goddess in 3.0, but it's only been the last two area updates where we've even learned her name. Now that we have all of it. . . It actually doesn't make it that much easier. Nabu implies Mesopotamian gods might be involved meaning there love myths are on the table along with the OsirisXIsis myth which would be the easy answer (if it was like a role swapped version lol), then you have the Tanit and Babel dropping Torah references left and right. On top of all that since we know Nilou is supposed to symbolize Nabu and Nilou has Hindi connections in her stuff we can't rule out Hinduism from our list of old religious sources.

Basically Mihoyo pulled from every middle eastern primary (hopefully) source they could get their hands on. And didn't care which they put on some characters. Characters like Cyno or Candace are easy to break down into Anubis and Horus. But even King Deshret has other things mixed in there. Like they legit replaced Amun-Ra with Deshret. Like they redesigned the eye of Ra to mean King Deshret in Teyvat. I'm guessing because Ra is so well known they couldn't use the name? But it just makes things messier.

So short answer Candace, Deyha, and King Deshret are definitely on the table for me to finally post their breakdowns. (Seeing as Candace's character quest or hangout apparently isn't happening). Nabu Malikata's breakdown and King Deshret and Nabu's love story on the other hand are in time out until if figure out if they're even an Egyptian myth or a Sumerian one.

And no time frame for any of these. It took me a month to get to this ask. I'm not exactly the fastest historical researcher at the moment.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Unity News Round Up!

So at the very end of last week sep 23 Unity backed off of SOME of the new policy. So my original post about what games will be affected is no longer accurate. Link I am making this post to summarize how things are now and kill a few rumors that are still floating around. So Please reblog this one instead of the older post!

What Unity changed back

Legacy downloads will no longer be counted towards the 200,000 downloads! So older games will not have their downloads counted towards the bill. The 200,001 download to happen after jan 1st 2024 is when the fee will activate.

Cult of the Lamb is NOT being removed from store fronts jan 1st. That was a joke tweet and now it is extremely untrue. But the studio is switching engines for cult of the lamb 2.

Also this fee is not being added to the 2023 version of unity or older nor the Personal plan version. (because a lawyer finally informed the execs that's illegal) It will ONLY affect the 2024 version of Unity. So as long as your game is coded on the 2023 ver and you don't update to 2024 when it comes out your game can be published in 2024 and still not have the fee!

HOLLOW KNIGHT SILKSONG IS SAFE! Seeing as 80 to 90% of it has been coded in the 23 version there's no reason they can't finish it in that version.

But if your game will take longer than a year to finish I still recommend switching engines now. It would not surprise me if in a few years they end service for 2023 or older versions to force people to update to the newer versions with the fee.

Here's a link to the open letter announcing the changes.

Mihoyo/Genshin's connection to all of this.

Mihoyo has not yet made a public statement about all of this. But any change to the international unity tos would not affect them. They are partnered with Unity China which is it's own separate company. Unity China would have to adopt the change for it to affect Mihoyo. Which they have not made any statement implying they would.

The reason Unity China is a separate company is because of China's strict foreign company laws. But convincing the Chinese government to allow even an off shoot of a foreign company to set up shop is hard. Nintendo is still fighting to get their foot in the door. The only reason Unity C got in was because Mihoyo backed them. Unity C owes Mihoyo it's very existence. They are in no position to make demands by changing the current contracts without warning.

There were a few rumors about Mihoyo hiring people to develop their own game engine and that is false. Mihoyo did post 5 or so job listings for folks specialized in game engine coding. But it was clearly for code optimization of their current engine Unity. If Mihoyo decided to start building their own engine from scratch it would require the hiring of at least 100 coders focusing solely on the new engine.

Genshin and Honkai will stay on the Unity Engine. When the 2024 engine comes out Mihoyo might upgrade to it. But they would have a customized contract with Unity China and it would not include the current fee plan.

What about all the other Live Service Mobile Games?

In theory their creators could keep using 2023 and not have to worry about the fees. But as I mentioned I can't see Unity keeping the 2023 version usable past 2025. All of these games will easily pass the download threshold as they are free to download and they will pass the profit cap too.

Pokemon Go, Pokemon Unite, Duel Links, Master Duel, Hearthstone, Fates, League of Legends Wild Rift, and Marvel Snap are all still getting updates and won't be closing anytime soon. I don't know how important updating to the newest version of Unity is for these development teams. But in theory all their parent companies can afford the increased fees, they just won't like it.

With Mihoyo off the table Pokemon GO is the big fish Unity execs are aiming for. It gets a couple million new downloads every year and goes well past the profits cap and definitely isn't made using Unity Personal nor is Nintendo/GameFreak allowing Unity ads to play on their mobile game (those are all ways to lower the bill). Pokemon Go can't be moved to a new engine and has too many current users for Nintendo to risk dropping the app entirely to start over with pokemon go 2 on a new engine.

Nintendo has not yet made a comment, but if they do cave and pay the fees. Then there's no way the middle tier games devs can argue against it. even if the couple 1,000s in fees hurts the indie dev more. Unity can point to the couple million Nintendo is forking over for all their mobile games and say "if they can do it why can't you?"

So keep an eye out for what Nintendo does because of all this.

What about Demos, Charity bundles, or game subscription downloads?

The Updated version described in the open letter mentions the game devs being responsible for recording the number of downloads. Most likely because there isn't a legal way for Unity to truly monitor it and so their numbers would never have been trustworthy. If devs are reporting the numbers it's very easy to say downloads before a certain date are only the demos or keep track of how many charity bundles are sold and not count those downloads towards their total.

For Subscription Services, Unity has started to intentionally keep the answer vague. The first time they said developers would pay it like the legacy downloads. In an interview before the correction letter above the Unity President said the subscription hosts would pay the fee. After the correction letter he clarified that he "misspoke". AKA Microsoft and Playstation said "hell no!" that's super illegal to charge us in a contract we never signed we'll sue you to oblivion if you do that. But Unity is being unclear on if that means developers are back to footing the bill for Game Pass downloads. X

To understand exactly how vague they are being. A Reddit FAQ says developers will not be responsible for the fee of game downloads from subscription services. While the site FAQ section answers the question "Are Downloads from Subscription Services required to pay the download fee?" with "Yes" and Nothing more.

TOS Changes and How bad it really is

So the reason we don't know who is paying in some of these situations is because the final version of the 2024 licensing contract is not yet finalized. All Unity did was announce this new fee would be in the 2024 contract. That is why they were able to so quickly go back on what they said. It's just back spacing on a google doc it's not redacting and adjusting an actual legal document yet.

That means this might not be the only change they put in the new contract. This is just the only one they bothered to mention. most likely to convince shareholders they were going to be boosting profits in 2024 even if 23's Q4 is really low.

There being more unmentioned changes is a bad thing because they removed the github extension that updated you on changes made to the TOS. They argue it was because "traffic" was too low. There reasoning for removing an archive of Legal documents was click through rate being too low. They also argued that the TOS was available the entire time on their website. But please understand that is only their current TOS. So being able to compare changes from past TOS's wouldn't be possible on that page. X

The Possibility of this all being a Stunt

One of the theories going around is that they knew this would go over badly to some extent. Not this bad, but still drop the stock value a bit. Enough that the company would look cheap enough for a buy out from another company. The possible buyer being Apple's Mobile Gaming division. So far Apple has not shown interest in buying them and no solid evidence of this happening on the back end has shown up.

But it is pretty well known that the CEO sold stocks the week before this news came out. Which is called insider trading and super illegal. Unfortunately it looks like he might get away with it, with the argument that the sale of those stocks was scheduled months before this announcement was planned.

But that doesn't change the fact that he's sold over 50,000 shares this year alone. Two other officials have sold 37,000 and 68,000 of their shares this year. It's very clear they see the writing on the wall and are trying to offload stocks before the final numbers for the year reach the shareholders and the value of shares plummets. X

If they truly believed in the chance of a buy out they wouldn't be offloading so much of their stock. Because when they are bought Apple would have to pay them based on the number of shares they have at the time of the buy out. So they don't believe they'll be bought any time soon but they do believe the value of Unity stocks are only going to continue to go down.

Even without this stunt the end of Q4 report would have shown losses and caused the stock value to drop. This was most likely their last ditch attempt to show their shareholders something that implied the possibility of future profits.

That's the important thing to remember. They didn't care about how the devs reacted. They knew there were going to be complaints but they didn't care because they saw how much money they could milk if they charged every game to ever use unity for every download of that game. And they knew that would show profitability and increase the value of the company. They only back peddled when it became clear the news was affecting the stock more than anticipated.

Even then the .20 per download was never removed they just pushed back the cap and the downloads counted in hopes that would shut protests down enough for the stock value to go back up. as of Sep 29 their stock value has still not recovered.

Conclusion

Don't trust Unity. Anything they say now is just PR to try in get the stock value to go back up. They did pull back on some of the worst parts of the original agreement and older and most indie games are now safe. But Mobile F2P games and Game subscription games are still at risk of getting hit with the bill. They have also kept things vague enough to allow them to change things in the future once the dust has settled.

So I would heavily encourage those in the early stages of their games development to look for a new engine. If you have any Unity Stocks and haven't already sold them for whatever reason I'd find the time to start selling them. Unity might recover for a bit but they are not going to last long with business decisions like this and even the board members know that.

Oh wow this got so long I am so sorry. But It's all important information and I tried to link to actual articles as much as I could. As of the end of September this information is as accurate as it can be. Nothing major should come up until Unity announces the finalized TOS rewrite or Nintendo comments on the Pokemon Go fees.

PLEASE reblog this one if you reblogged my initial post about Unity Games that were at risk. It's important for people to know those games are no longer at risk of being removed from store fronts. Oh and feel free to reblog with a summarized version.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Every Chinese Censorship Gaming Regulation Mihoyo Ignores!

China's game censorship board tightened regulations back in 2021. It led to 4 character skins being altered. But nothing else has come from the new regulations even though genshin breaks multiple other rules in this memo. Join Terry in discussing those broken rules and the reason Mihoyo can ignore the "recommendations" of the ccp.

While trying to research topics for a possible winter holiday video I fell down the censorship rabbit hole. I hope you found this interesting! Chinese censorship is complex and changing all the time.

But it is important to know that Genshin is Not at risk of actually being banned. Mihoyo would just have to make more changes to line up with new rules.

For example in the last 12 hours NPPA announced new regulations that might take away 90 wish pities. They want to lessen gambling and spending on gatchas. They also want to extend the monthly spending limits to adults. We'll see if these regulations actually go into effect. But if they do it would greatly change how wishing works in genshin.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Blog Update!

So I've changed up the blogs desktop theme. Don't know how many people actually visit that page but yeah. I tried to make the text font as big as possible but let me know if it needs to be bigger for readability!

I've also added some dougli theme'd tags that i'm going to be tagging all unique posts this blog makes going forward with.

#Dougligaming- main tag for videos and shorts posted on the main youtube

#Douglivods- All vods from the side channel will be tagged this so they don't flood the dougligaming tag

#Douglimemes- anything badly Photoshop'd by me. Mostly genshin memes. Polls will be in this tag!

#Douglitheories- Any long essay text posts I create. So all the Egypt=Sumeru comparison posts are in this tag. It will also contain headcanon and shippy posts. So not everything in this tag will be things i theorize happening in canon. It's just an umbrella term because I don't want to separate theory and headcanon posts at the moment.

So yeah those are all the major changes to the blog at the moment. If you use mobile or just the dash most of this won't affect you lol. But expect a stream schedule post soon as I'm working on that too!

[the-fandom-crossroads]

"When you're playing a card game, the fancier your hairstyle, the more distracting it is for your opponent." -Aether in god damn genshin impact.

They are literally referencing this mother fucker.

The guy who made wild anime hair styles a thing. Specifically in the card game duel monsters.

I know they've made other references to Yugioh. Cyno asks you if you want to Duel him. That's not a phrase Magic the Gathering or Pokemon players use. That is the Yugioh staple. "Duel me Yugi!" "It's time to Duel!"

I just. Yami's hair is iconic and it makes me feel things to see a current game series unironically reference and pay homage to my favorite anime of all time. And to know it's not just the English dubbers having fun. That it comes from the higher ups in the Chinese character development department makes me feel even more things. (Thanks to the 3.1 livestream we know they're the ones to incorporate the TCG references in Cyno the character they designed to look like Thief King Bakura.)

To know that Yugioh really was a world wide phenomenon that changed lives. I just wish Kazuki Takahashi was here to see it.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Cyno's Anubis Connections Breakdown

Cyno = the God Anubis

(I made this post as a breakdown of Anubis lore for Hoyolab users. But long posts die over there so I'm just going to post it on tumblr too. Enjoy!)

Anubis is one of the more well known gods of Ancient Egypt alongside Ra, Bast, Osiris, Set, Horus, and Isis.

Anubis is god of the dead, god of the mummification process, guard of the scales of ma’at, overseer of judgment for all humans. His human form is a human with the head of a Jackal (which is where Cyno's hat comes from obviously) and his Animal form is a Jackal.

The close up of Cyno's head piece in his alt form just makes it more apparent that it's Anubis' head. Regardless Jackals were scavengers like vultures and were seen around graves sites leading to the connection with Anubis. They were considered guards of the dead and tombs. Cyno name means dog in greek and his constellation "Lupus Aureus" means golden wolf. Adding to his connection with Anubis and Jackals. The newest trailer also shows him guarding some ruins from Eremite soldiers.

In Ancient Egypt when a human dies they present their Heart/ Ib to Anubis to be weighed on the scales against the feather of Ma’at. If the scales balance you go to Aaru/field of reeds/heaven. (For Cyno if you are judged not a threat you get to go to the Village Aaru.) If your heart is heavier than the feather it is fed to Ammit. You experience the feared second death and no longer exist. All humans and all gods that die have their heart’s weighed on the scales.

Sidenote:

Feather of Ma’at - magic/energy source/goddess of balance in the universe

Ma’at=mana=Magi=Magician=magic

Ma’at is the oldest form of the word magic. Expect Ma’at to be linked to the origin of tevat’s magic, possibly even the origin of visions. Basically if you see a feather in the desert it's probably going to be really F-ing important. (I wrote this part before the trailer dropped. But I was right they'd reference the feather. The trailer feather isn't Ma'at tho.)

Most of Cyno's connections to Anubis come from the god of Judgement aspect of Anubis. (Judicator of Secrets) (Weighing of the Heart - "Good Deeds and Bad. In the end All will be placed on the scales.") (Cyno Teaser - "Save it for Judgement Day.") ("Your Sins weigh upon your Soul") (Attack name - "Secret Rite; Chasmic soulfarer") (Passive name - "featherfall Judgement") (Demo - "Every Soul will be Weighed.") (Demo - "Judgement will come swiftly.")

Even the Giant Claw Arms are a part of this. The more graphic depictions of Anubis describe him ripping or cutting out the person's heart to be weighed on the scales.

But there are references to other parts of Anubis, including his role as god of the mummification process. (Utility Passive name - "The Gift of Silence") is a reference to the "Opening of the mouth" ceremony which was done to disconnect the soul from it's body so the person could move on and not linger as a ghost. The title of his talents being "Sacred Rites" references the multiple rites aka religious steps required to again lay a person to rest.

This last reference is the one I consider the most obscure. "Once he has you in his Sights. He won't stop until he has Hunted you down." Unlike the grim reaper Anubis was not a harbinger of death. His appearance usually didn't mean you were going to die just that he was there to help someone who had died. Even then he wasn't known for coming to the land of the living to hunt down ghosts that refused to come to the scales. No one can avoid their judgement day.

(Again the demo trailer adds more to this. He seems to also be taking aspects of Ammit's roll as executioner of justice. Along with a desire to destroy evil.)

But there is only one Myth where Anubis hunts someone down to enact justice. After Set had Murdered Osiris and stolen the title Pharaoh, Anubis was put in charge of the mummification of Osiris' body. What we already discussed with the Opening of the Mouth ceremony. But once the process was done Osiris' body was laid in a tomb. By the end of the story Osiris has return as Pharaoh of the Duat and overseer of the dead. But Set didn't want this return to happen. So he stole Osiris' body with plans to destroy it and kill Osiris permanently. Anubis learned of this Tombrobbing and hunted Set down. He utterly defeated Set 3 times and supposedly straight up killed the other god the last time Set tried to steal the body. The story was meant as a warning to any who tried to steal from the tombs of the Pharaohs. Anubis and/or his Jackals would hunt you down and kill you for disrespecting the dead.

The story was so convincing its the basis for the curse of king Tut's tomb which is the myth director's later used for the Mummy movies.

So yeah those are the main connections to Anubis we know so far. There are guaranteed to be more references in the Story Quest "King Deshret and the three Magi". Cyno is listed as being affiliated with the Sumeru Akademiya and a Temple of Silence. We know nothing about this secret temple yet other than that Cyno works with them.

Most likely to protect the secrets of the Desert and it's ruins from outsiders. A Judge for the Akademiya and a Guard against Tombrobbers for the Temple of Silence. Covering both sides of Anubis' job as god of the dead. (I now believe the statues in the Demo are part of the Temple of Silence. If so I really hit this one on the head.)

So what other references to Anubis do you think Mihoyo will add? Are there any already mentioned that I missed? And Follow for more breakdowns including Candace, Nilou, and more as we count down to the launch of 3.1!

[the-fandom-crossroads]

omg I forgot I had this headcanon about Demyx and Xion! thank you for finding it lol. So yes the Nobodies having hearts knowledge was part of the building of this headcanon. Even tho the easy answer is he was making a pun about them having kingdom hearts and not about nobodies developing hearts.

Basically the idea that Demyx takes wild swings that no one thinks could be true. Only for months or years later he turns out to be right.

He's not secretly a genius. I still very much see him as a dumbass. But a dumbass that gets nosy when bored. And then also pulls out the conspiracy boards when bored. Most of the time he's way off the mark. But there are a few times where he hits it right on the money.

Crack headcannon I just fell in love with. During KH2 Demyx has an ongoing conspiracy board about the “lost 14th member.” Absolutely no one takes him seriously.

His evidence includes some black hair to short to be Xaldin’s, the fact they still have a girls bathroom the lessers clean a year after Larxene’s death, and a shard of a seashell he found in a corner of the castle while stuck on cleaning duty. None of it is enough to prove there was an extra girl living in the castle. But Demyx is super sure about it. Xigbar and Luxord are probably the ones that waste time listening to Demyx just to poke holes in his theory.

This all just ends with Demyx seeing Xion postkh3 and just being like. “Ah HA! I knew it! I was right! I win the bet! Well, the others are all dead but I still won!”

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Genshin's Egyptian References - Apep

Mihoyo pulled a fast one. Not revealing the name of our Dendro dragon until launch, but that's not going to stop me from breaking down all the Ancient Egyptian references they shoved into this dragon.

Apep/Apophis - Egyptian snake god/demon. Sworn enemy of Ra and the Egyptian Pantheon. God of Chaos said to have been created from the primordial ether along side Ra. It was said that every night as the sun set Ra was traveling through the Duat and fighting against Apep who was trying to swallow the sun. Apep was never worshiped only feared.

So that's the basics from Egyptian Mythology but how much did Mihoyo actually transfer over? Quite a bit actually.

Enemy of the gods

"Both of you have only existed for a fraction of what you know as time," Apep quote

As Dendro Apep says it's older than the Archons aka current pantheon of gods. Ra is consider the first god with all the others coming after him. So Egyptian Apep is also older than the more well known pantheon of Egyptian Gods since he existed when Ra came into existence.

Apep is also the Immortal enemy of the Egyptian Gods. Being made of chaos he was destined to fight against order and balance brought about by Ma'at. The Gods were made to enforce the balance of Ma'at in both the living world and the duat (spirit world). The enforcer of heavenly principles is Ma'at in Teyvat and Archons were appointed to enforce those principles too.

Appearance

Apep is depicted as a serpent or snake in ancient Egyptian texts. He isn't labeled a dragon until the Greeks and modern historians interpret the text. The Greek word Drakon is where we get our modern word for Dragon. But even Greek Drakon's were serpents that sprayed acid/venom. So Dendro Apep's first appearance as a giant serpent and then later him not being a fire dragon but a more poisoned dendro dragon is actually extremely accurate for a dragon as ancient as him.

Apocalypse

But that's not where the similarities stop Apep was destined to swallow the sun at the end of time and what does Dendro Apep do?

He swallows Amun Al-Ahmar aka King Deshret. It's important to note that Apep doesn't call him Deshret but Amun. Because Deshret and Amun are 2 different Egyptian gods. Deshret is the red king/crown representing Lower Egypt during the time of 2 kingdoms. Amun is short for Amun-Ra one of Ra's many names. So when Apep says he swallowed Amun he's actually saying he swallowed Ra aka the sun.

The sentient Fungi say they were fleeing the Apocalypse. An Apocalypse that started when Apep got corrupted by forbidden knowledge. The apocalypse started when Apep swallowed the sun (Amun).

And so Teyvat's Egyptian Apocalypse has already happened. Leading to the end of the golden age of the Sumeru Desert civilization and the start of the Human Kings era. Which is actually an Old Testament reference. Israel was originally guided directly by G*d through the Prophets until they begged for a Human King. At which point G*d took a more hands off approach and Israel was never as strong as it was during the times of the Prophets up until King Solomon (3rd king then everything's down hill).

Fungi

As far as I can tell the whole thing with the sentient Fungi coming from Apep is a Mihoyo original. Apep isn't credited with creating anything even though he's been around since the beginning of the world. The closest I could find is he's said to have an army of Demons he uses to spread chaos on earth? But that might be a more Christianized addition and not so much from the original text (similar to some Norse alterations). Regardless the Fungi weren't demons or evil in anyway.

Conclusion

So yeah that's all the big similarities between Egyptian Apep and Genshin's Apep. I really enjoyed seeing the original infinity serpent and I hope that means the other Dragons are based on ancient dragons from myth. Fontaine Leviathan anyone?

If I missed something feel free to mention it in a comment! Are you surprised at how much Mihoyo actually stuck to the source material? Or is there something from the myth they left out that you wish they included?

Check out My Cyno/Anubis Breakdown Here and my Nilou/Hathor Breakdown Here!

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Lantern Rite Xiaether Ship Ammo

Lantern Rite has, as always given us a bunch of shipping fodder for ships old and new. Figured I'd list off the highlights.

Edit: so this became a Xiaether ship moments essay. so i'll just do another post later breaking down the other ships. I'll link it Here. if you are looking for the Sapphic lesbian ships they will all be over there.

So the first bit of Xiaether shipping fodder is in the beginning of Part 2.

Xiao saving Aether from drowning. Xiao's concern is sweet and the fact he came when we were in danger without us calling his name. Tells us just how strong of a bond he has with Aether when Aether is in Liyue. Aether doesn't even need to say Xiao's name for Xiao to be able to sense when Aether needs him.

The argument can also be made that in a life or death situation with Adeptus on his mind. Aether did subconsciously call out to Xiao. Even so Aether has gotten to a point where he doesn't have to verbally call out for Xiao to "hear" him. Which I think is a great thing to provide to a character I see as selectively mute.

And the boring answer is Paimon was so loud Xiao could hear her yelling from where ever he was in Liyue.

But I feel bad that we seem to have legitimately worried him. I offhandedly said it during the stream that the Traveler isn't someone that would find himself in a situation struggling to swim in that small of a pool. But it's true and everyone there knows how strong traveler is. Aether would either have to be extremely injured which is what Shenhe asks. Or it would have to be intentional. Which it was. it was staged to try in lure out the mystery Adeptus. But Xiao didn't know that. From Xiao's point of view Aether went into a shallow pool of water with the intention to drown/harm himself.

This is why he gives the line "Your actions here cause other's a great deal of worry. Do not repeat them in the future." Xiao uses Shenhe as an excuse to say others. But the main person Aether worried was Xiao. Shenhe just saw someone drowning. Xiao sensed Aether drowning and came from some distant part of Liyue to save him.

We of course don't see Xiao again until the Epilogue but maaaan does Mihoyo make up for the wait.

While Zhongli is making a big thing of this being the First time he's met the Great Adeptus Alatus. A name he should NOT Know. Aether and Xiao just share a silent look with each other. Is it a look of surprise? Excitement? Xiao knew Aether would be here. So he shouldn't be surprised. Regardless the first person Xiao locks eyes with is Aether before being dragged into introductions with Zhongli and the others.

Of course we then get Hu Tao being the ultimate wingwoman and not only suggesting Xiao sit beside us. But sit beside us because we are "pretty close". Which of course Aether agrees with but adds they are also old friends at this point.

Zhongli being onto Xiao's crush on Aether kills me. In trying to figure out how Hu Tao convinces Xiao to come to the meal. Zhongli is quick to shoot down the idea that it was just because Hu Tao annoyed Xiao until he agreed. Again we later learn the only one's Xiao expected at this meal was Zhongli and Aether. And you could argue Zhongli tried to invite Xiao when stopping by to collect ingredients. But Xiao didn't agree to come then. It's not until Hu Tao mentions also inviting traveler that he agrees. (Hu Tao words it as no one present will be harmed by his karmatic debt. Xiao reads it as the other guest will be Aether).

The others start messing around and Aether takes that as a moment to quietly check in with Xiao. He continues to check in with Xiao throughout the rest of the dinner. Which is really sweet.

After being told Xiao is still good Aether then offers another thing. well you can ask about the secret friend who is Venti or you can offer to have Paimon eat the food Xiao can't finish. The other side of the table is arguing about Xingqiu's uneaten carrots. So this is Aether offering Xiao a quiet out so he doesn't feel forced to eat more than he can. Xiao has a lot of mental trauma linked to food and sometimes just can't stomach eating at all. So it's really sweet that Aether is not only checking in about the socializing but also the food related anxieties.

Of course after Zhongli and Venti take turns poking jabs at each other Aether reads it as an opening to leave for some fresh air. Xiao doesn't speak much during the interaction but Aether seems to read him reaching his limit at some point. The twist is telling Paimon to stay inside. Leading to Actual alone time with Xiao.

Xiao's first thought is to check in on Aether which is really sweet because Aether has been checking in all night with Xiao. Aether tosses the question back showing they are both concerned about how the other is handling dinner.

Xiao mentions envying Venti's ability to bond with humans and of course Aether say's Xiao's perfect the way he is. That he doesn't have to change himself to be more out going.

One he thinks about our conversations often. Two he finds them different but in a good way. It's different talking to Aether than other people, but not a bad different. Xiao then admits to coming because he knew Aether would be there. That Aether being there would make the dinner easier to handle. That without telling Aether before hand he could trust Aether to help him handle the meal without question.

Xiao mentions being surprised at who the other guests turn out to be. But goes on to say he shouldn't worry about it. Instead focus on the present that he's enjoying. The present of being outside alone with Aether.

Xiangling comes out seemingly ruining the moment. But instead makes it better by offering Xiao's comfort food Almond Tofu. Both of them get a plate but Xiao saves some of his for later.

Aether makes a joke about Xiao just teleporting on them. But it slightly misses? Because Xiao takes it seriously asking why he would do that. Xiao's enjoying himself and feels like there's no reason for him to leave. And so in his own way affirms that he doesn't want to leave yet.

Xiao tries to tell Xiangling she really didn't have to make the tofu. But it only takes one huff without words to communicate with Aether and realize he should just take the gift. I'm a firm believer of the selectively mute traveler and the reason Paimon talks so much is so Aether doesn't have too. So leaving Paimon shows how much he trusts Xiao and trusts the idea that he won't need the communication aid with Xiao. A thought that is proven correct when Aether doesn't have to say anything for Xiao to still understand what he means. Something Aether really only has with Paimon.

This is the end of their private conversation. So I'd like to once again point out how big a deal these private interactions are. Mihoyo decided to pause the entire epilogue to have Traveler go have a private conversation with one character. They could have picked any character in the room. Hell we don't even get a private conversation with Venti. Instead they decided the closest character to traveler, other than Paimon, was Xiao. Said conversation was just the both of them checking how the other was feeling about the seemingly stressful dinner. Showing concern for the other the entire time. Something you could argue we didn't need to see. We didn't gain any large information about the world or the characters in it. It was just a quiet conversation between to friends discussing how stressful family dinners can be.

They come back to the dinner seeming more relaxed. But continue sharing silent glances together as Venti rambles on about Zhongli. Xiao looking over to Aether for input and Aether's answer just being a shake of his head. Like you really don't want to bother stepping in. (god i wish i knew how to make gifs)

They play hot potato about who should light the incense. Xiao of course is the person to pick traveler. Stating he's the most distinguished guest, as everyone there knows him. Of course we see Aether's internal monologue as he puts together Xiao's about to point to him. Which is the cutest thing.

Eventually Aether picks Paimon to which everyone agrees. With Xiao's only comment being that he trusts the traveler's judgement. No surprise there Xiao.

After the dinner wraps up Zhongli once again points out Aether's unique bond with Xiao. That most people struggle to approach Xiao. But Aether has over come this and become his friend regardless.

Xiao ends up turning down the offer to explore the city. But unlike the first lantern rite where we only got him to the bridge or Xiangling's cook off where he stayed by the docks. Xiao did manage a few hours in the city which is a huge step up. But he's also able to tell where his limit is and steps back before he gets overwhelmed. Xiao of course thanks Aether for his help with that. And Aether insists Xiao doesn't have to thank him every time. Which Xiao excepts along with agreeing to a "next time". Whether that's a meal in the city or a large social gathering Xiao at least agreed to do it again with Aether.

And finally after it all. Xiao offers to eat the extra Tofu with us while listening to stories about the mortal world. Implying that no it doesn't have to be a special occasion or an emergency. Aether can hang out with Xiao when ever and talk about the most mundane things. And Xiao will be there to listen.

It's just so sweet. Xiao's bond with traveler really is something else and it's been so cool to watch it grow from that first lantern rite to this. This post is really long but if you've made it to the end I hope you've enjoyed it? Again I'll be making other posts breaking down other ships that showed up this lantern rite. Expect BeidouNingguang, Madam PingGuizhong, and XingqiuChongyun in that post along with more!

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Nilou = Goddess Hathor

Nilou's character design is heavily based on the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of Love Hathor. Like my previous post about Cyno I'm going to break down the larger references to the Egyptian gods these Genshin characters are based on.

First up Appearance! Nilou's headpiece has Hathor's iconic curved horns. Hathor's horns have been interpreted many ways over the years. Generally shown as a flat piece facing forward on a hat of sorts.

Now Hathor's horns make sense when drawn in hieroglyphics like this. But they make less sense when placed on a 3d subject like the statue above.

Leading to modern artists interpreting hathor's horns in other ways. Mostly one horn on either side of the head instead of a U on top of the head. Hathor is not as well known as Anubis or Ra. Meaning there are only two modern media depictions to pull from. Aaaaand the only one to show her with her horns is the really bad, white washed to hell, movie "Gods of Egypt".

As you can see the headpiece matches Nilou's. Nilou's even has the curved arch connecting the two horns in an attempt to mimic the arch of the sun disk in Hathor's horns. Nilou also has the bikini top thing going on, but that's more in reference to the Persian belly dancer stereotype. The reason Hathor has a bikini top in gods of egypt is because most ancient art of her shows her topless or at least with one tit out. Gods of Egypt decided to be boring and stay pg-13.

Of course like with Cyno and Anubis the connections don't stop at design.

Hathor is the goddess with a thousand names (joking). But the list is long she's goddess of the sky, the moon, the sun, love, motherhood, agriculture, the east, the west, providing for the dead, rare minerals/gold copper lapis lazuli, guardian of miners, incense, guardian of travelers/foreigners, cows, sycamore trees, wine, drunkenness, war, and cosmetics.

Like I said it’s a lot. Here’s the ones that fit Nilou and the dead flower goddess Nilou represents. Hathor goddess of rebirth/lotus flowers.

Nilou’s name means “blue lotus”. In Egyptian mythos the lotus represents death and rebirth and it’s common to find art of Hathor with a blue lotus flower. This is because Hathor was depicted both as a motherly goddess that welcomed you into the world and as a goddess of death that offered you food and drink in the afterlife. The OG definition of I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it.

(Pretend one of them is hathor all the hathor one's have her tits out like I said before. Since I'm cross posting this on Hoyolab no tits for you.)

Hathor is also the Goddess of Music and Dance which is Nilou's whole thing. She was also the Goddess of Joy and Gratitude. If you play Nilou's Story Quest you find she spreads happiness to all the people of the bazaar. So much so they often give her gifts in thanks.

Hathor was also credited with the creation of the Nile in some stories. Scholars list this as her being the goddess of moisture? For some reason. But really all that matters is it's some sort of water connection. Hathor is more well known as a sky goddess. The Milky way gets it's name because of the sky was considered cow Hathor and the milky way her milk. Seeing as space isn't an element in Genshin they went with water. But they still reference this connection in Nilou's character trailer.

(She's literally looking at the Milky way my guys.)

Hathor is the goddess of rare minerals and was worshiped in mines far into the Sinai Peninsula (Outside of Egypt's Borders) as a protection goddess for miners. But the rare gemstone most commonly associated with her is Lapis Lazuli. Nilou's gemstone stone decorations are most likely this stone. Lapis Lazuli has been mined in the middle east since ancient times most specifically in Isreal. But it is cheaper than Blue Sapphire the other option for Nilou's ornaments.

Lastly Hathor is known as The Eye of Ra. Enacting Ra's will/punishment on humanity. Other's have been the Eye of Ra but Hathor's story is the most infamous. It's said that once she took the form of Sekhmet she refused to stop killing humans. None of the other gods were strong enough to beat her in a fight. So they spilled Beer/Wine along the Nile, Sekhmet came and drank thinking it was the blood of her enemies. She got so drunk she past out and Ra was able to remove the blessing transforming her back into cow Hathor the gentle. There are no other stories of Hathor channeling the Eye of Ra after this occasion.

As a playable Genshin character Nilou is required to be good at combat. But it doesn't hurt to have her source material be a gentle soul with a secret blood thirsty warrior within.

So to summarize Hathor is a goddess of lotus flowers, music, dance love, joy, gratitude, moisture, the sky/milky way, lapis lazuli, protection, and war. All characteristics that can be found in Nilou. Along with a nice horn head piece.

So what do you think? Is Nilou secretly a goddess of Love? Are there any connections I missed?

Check out my Cyno breakdown Here! and Follow to find out when I post Candace's breakdown! Also Thanks for reading this monster of a post.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Empty Seat Theories

This seat is set as if for an eighth character. But Mihoyo went through the trouble of showing us a wide shot where they aren't here yet. But why? surely there's wide shots later with the last character sitting down. Why are they hiding this character? What sort of surprise reveal do they have planned?

But the big Question is, Who's seat is this? Who's the surprise character? I've narrowed it down to 3 options.

Option 1. Xinyan

It seems like Xinyan and Hu Tao are going to be working together to throw a music festival during lantern rite. Or Hu Tao at the very least performs with her. Hu Tao has invited most of her friends to this dinner and Xiao. It wouldn't be out of place for her to invite Xinyan. Xinyan also isn't seen in any of the other group shots of folks watching the lanterns. She's not in the shot with Ganyu, Yanfei, and Yaoyao or the shot with Keqing, Ningguang, and Yelan. Then again she doesn't hang out with those groups. She hangs out with Xinglang (who's here) and Yun Jin (who's also missing from all the group shots).

If it is Xinyan it's not some big surprise on Mihoyo's part. Xinyan is last to arrive and they didn't animate a group shot after her arrival for whatever reason.

Option 2. Venti

Folks really want Venti and Zhongli interactions. Mihoyo could give folks the hint of a conversation and still be vague if they have Venti join traveler and co for Lantern Rite and just happen to seat him next to Zhongli. It would explain the secrecy as they are clearly trying to keep what Venti is doing at Lantern Rite a surprise. But other than traveler, Zhongli and maybe Xiao Venti doesn't really know anyone at the table and if Hu Tao is the host it would be a little strange for her to invite him.

Option 3. It's just an Empty Seat

I call this the "Mihoyo is fucking with me" option. They have 8 chairs for symmetry at the table and they just put dishes down for the empty seat. There is no "surprise" character and everyone for the meal is already here. This is the bummer answer because I feel like Mihoyo could fill the seat if they wanted to.

As a consolation prize I'll just headcanon the empty seat as being for Guizhong. And this being a family meal of Zhongli and his 2 kids and their friends.

So who do you think the seat is for? Do you think it's for a character I didn't mention?

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Sibling Theory

Okay so this was originally a joke between my roommate and I before KH3 came out. It died when Elrena was revealed in khux and then the mistranslations said she had a sister. But now it’s back! with more evidence!

Instead of thinking, Demyx is MoM, I believe he will be revealed to be Elrena/Larxene’s brother! Originally because they both bicker constantly like siblings. But now with the added layer that they don’t remember they’re siblings but still find themselves bicker with each other. Khux gave us our first cannon sibling pair, but they can’t do much with them because Strelitzia was dead before we saw Laurium. Now that sibling characters are a thing it would make sense to toss one more in. Open the flood gates and all that.

If any two characters would fit best to being surprise siblings all along it’s these two. We still don’t have Demyx’s khux backstory. And him being Elrena’s sibling that is dragged into looking for Lauriam’s sibling would be an easy way to slide him in. Doesn’t make him that important to the plot but the twist is a bigger payoff.

Anyway onto the evidence! Note: Edited Icons done by @stre1itzia 1 & 2

The eye color! lot’s of people have blue eyes in kh actually. But only these two have the light blue almost green tint to them. They also have a similar nose and eyebrow structures. Not to mention both being blonde. I tossed these two images into a not KH discord chat and got these answers to, do they look related?

(note they thought Larxene was also a dude. so clearly have no past with the characters and are unbiased) This is their reaction to learning they aren’t related.

They didn’t believe these two weren’t related. So much so they helped me with this last bit. They went into photoshop and overlayed the two images. Now, this might just be because of the modeling software. Or because Nomura has really bad same face syndrome. but here are their faces overlayed.

Their faces line up perfectly! To a scary degree. Nomura likes to do twists. but he doesn’t like to repeat twists. He already did the surprise Xigbar is Luxu reveal. He won’t do it exactly like that for the MoM reveal. It’s not my only problem with the theory but not important. And yeah he did the surprise! someone has a sibling thing. But he hasn’t done surprise! they were siblings all along. Which I at the very least find more likely than Demyx = MoM.