#i kinda want to avoid that in the future so now they've both got new looks

[wildflowercryptid]

i thought that i should update florian & juliana's bb academy looks now that i've actually played indigo disk and have better refs of all of the school's uniforms, i wanted to make them look a little more distinct.

[assassyart]

Odd question.

Who would you say was more unfairly sidelined?

Angela Cross, Sasha Phyronix or Talwyn?

Hmm. That's an interesting one. Sure, I'll bite!

I guess this may be a bit controversial, but I don't really think Angela was "unfairly sidelined" at all. She had her place in the story in Going Commando, a prominent one at that, and despite me thinking her arc kinda sucks in GC, it doesn't erase the fact that her character was basically done after Going Commando. Her one goal was to stop Fizzwidget Qwark from releasing the crazy Protopet.

It's only now with ACiT and RA that Angela actually serves a purpose beyond Going Commando (and even saying that is a stretch, considering the purpose as of right now is just a mix between "where did she go?", "is she a lombax?", and the fact she is presumably with max apogee). She was never *intentionally* sidelined, in my opinion.

Overall, she was just a fan-favorite side character until they accidentally messed up with the whole "last Lombax" thing, and she didn't really seem all that important to the main characters beyond being a girl Ratchet thinks is pretty and wants to impress lol.

The other two, on the other hand... they both have it pretty bad.

Sasha is never brought up after Deadlocked's intro scene until the comics, post-ACiT. Even in the comics, Ratchet and Sasha's relationship is barely touched on, so we don't really have any idea of why they broke up besides that one site that claimed it was because of political differences. Sasha is treated like she wasn't important to the cast when she clearly WAS important to, at the very least, Ratchet. She isn't that important of a character to the story which is why I wouldn't be all that surprised if we don't see her again, but she was still IMPORTANT to a character and that alone means she deserved more than just an offscreen send-off in the comics.

It's like they specifically took Ratchet to a completely different galaxy so they could avoid past characters and introduce new ones, and OH HEEY WAIT A MINUTE, does this kinda sound familiar...?

Because it happened again. That's essentially the same thing that Rift Apart does. To avoid the elephant in the room (Ratchet's important relationships with other characters that would add to his hesitation with risking it all to go find the Lombaxes, i.e. Azimuth, Vendra, Talwyn, Cronk, Zephyr, Tachyon, etc.) they straight up just ignore having to talk about those characters by putting him in a position where they will never realistically be brought up— a different dimension, with new characters.

Despite Into the Nexus cementing Talwyn as an important character and RA being the sequel to Nexus, Rift Apart chooses to play it as safely as possible by vaguely mentioning her in one very easily missable dialogue that is, while cute, not important whatsoever towards Ratchet's inner conflict.

If this was the first time her character was treated like this, it wouldn't be a big deal... but this isn't the first time. She was (allegedly) axed from A Crack in Time, axed from Full Frontal Assault, had her role minimized in Into the Nexus, and was reduced to a credits cameo in Rift Apart. Anytime she DID have screentime, it was rarely spent developing her or her goals, and instead developing Ratchet's character and motivations.

Things do HAPPEN to Talwyn, but they happen so that she can be more relatable to Ratchet, not because it'll benefit her character.

In conclusion: sasha got the worst of it by being completely ignored until the comics because she was too cool and capable and will probably never show up again. angela isn't that bad because she still gets referenced and the door is still wide open for her to be included in a future game whenever IG decides they've had enough fun messing with going commando fans, but i do understand and sympathize with the pain of waiting over twenty years to see her again. aaaaand talwyn is a big ole mess but she's my mess so i love her no matter how many times they cut her from the games :D

[osatokun]

(for charlie - sry i love malkavians so much lol) wound, midnight, monster, heartbreak

So do I! my fav clan for sure and I stopped blaming myself for picking occult heavily based characters that are often malkavians. Enjoying what I love hehe.

wound: How does your OC handle being wounded? Are their wounds mostly physical? Mental? Emotional? What's the worst wound your OC has ever experienced?

Physical? Easy. Once he got sick, he experienced the unbearable pain that could not be stopped. It was a mental disease and it slowly degraded kindred to being mindless creatures that could only kill and destroy, absolutely destroying their personality. Luckily, a salubri healed him. But after that he stopped fearing any physical pain, for better or worse. During the game he got his hands broken, he got his both legs chopped out, he got his tongue removed, his eyes got burned down several times etc etc. He has 0 fear. He understood that this is not alright, this is scary and painful for people around him too, when Glinda got sad because he was in pain. She grounds him well. As for mental and emotional.. well, he killed himself because he couldn't bear the betrayal of his trust in his family. The thought that he's lonely and family not always loves each other as you imagine. Reality crushed him, he started to take drugs, drink, and then killed himself trying to escape. So he doesn't deal well with feelings. But it's been 200 years, he's very slowly healing. He will never be entirely healed tho and he accepts it.

midnight: What keeps your OC up at night? Do they have nightmares? Fears? Anxieties? What do they do in the small hours of the morning when they should be sleeping? I mean, he can't be up because of nightmares, he's a vampire after all.. but he have nightmares all the time. His past fears, his current fears, and glimpse of upcoming future haunts him. He dies over and over again. He loose his loved ones over and over again. He fears for his new found family the most. He's pretty predictable and simple I think? Understanding that he can't save everyone is also haunting him. Understanding how many people died because he let a demon escape. Because he lost hope to save someone and didn't even try. Because he wasn't brave enough. Because he wasn't quick enough and instead of saving, he enjoyed his new happy family life. Because he was weak and got too emotional. He has so many blood on his hands. He saved many, but so many died.it will always haunt him. And before Glinda, he feared to be completely alone. He locked himself from everyone because of fear being wounded, so no wonder he was alone. She showed him that he's not alone but now.. now he is afraid SHE will get wounded or killed.He believes in her, he wont bother her with his fear, but he knows the fear is here.She knows it too. monster: Is your OC monstrous in any way? Is there something that makes them monstrous? Are they aware of their own monstrosity? Do they accept it or reject it? He learned to accept himself as a whole. I'd say, he even love his Beast as a part oh himself. However he asked Glinda to kill him if he'll fully become a monster one day. She rejected saying she is no different. heartbreak: Have they ever had a relationship that ended badly? Experienced some other kind of heartbreak? What happened? ...many. His first ever gf, Caroline, was a vampire. He is very stupid when it comes to emotions, he was sure it's going to be forever and ofcorse she likes him just as he likes her. However she used him while he was useful and easily guided. gaslited and manipulated him for almost 15 years. His sires didn't point it out, they wanted him to learn everything the hard way. But even now, when he understands what happened and that it wasn't love at all, he is grateful for the years they've been together and has no hard feelings. (even tho he run away from her in the end and still kinda fears her a bit)

Then he didn't want to meet with anyone and avoided romantical contacts with people for 10~ years. But Caroline opened something new in him, desire to be loved, to be wanted, to be with someone. And once he saved a man who didn't want to die by giving him his blood. The man mistaken new feelings with love and wanted to posses Charlie. He seduced this little stupid malk who desperately tried to run away from the need of being loved. However when Charlie understood that when he's around the blood bounds wont get weaker, he broke up with this man. But it didn't end here. This man, David, was no little fluffy bunny. He stalked Charlie, manipulated his exes ( Charlie started to meet people, but quickly break up with them) into starting a Charlie-hate club where they started to learn magic and trying to make his life a nightmare. And when people started to get hurt. Charlie had to kill David. He fooled him that all these years was just a test and he passed, now they going to be together forever. At this point David already understood that Charlie is a vampire, but he believed that all this painful need inside was the need for bites. He let Charlie bite him, and malkavian drank all of his ghoul's blood, while reading his thoughts in the process. David was a criminal, a cruel and manipulative person, but Charlie mourns him still. He visits his grave and take care of it. And also thinks he had to let David die in the first day they met in the clinic, when they were just a patient and a doctor.

[survivor-marieta-islands]

Episode 9: "clefford is trying to idol raffy out with a disappearing candle"—Amy

[Editor's note: This screenshot from Raffy's confessional perfectly encapsulates this round.]

AJ

Wowie. What a tribal. #stopbeingmeantoAJinyourvotingmessages

Raffy

Throughout the day, I was taking last round very chill and I think it worked great for me. I did not honestly care who went between Maddison and AJ. Of course, the vote wasn't exactly how I expected, but it's whatever.

After tribal, I told AJ I voted Brandi at the behest of Brandi. Later, I found out Jinx was the one who did that and they swore to not bring it up to AJ. Jinx and I rekindled our relationship which I LOVE. I hope they trust me again and we can work together moving forward. I did agree with taking out Colin, which I kinda am being honest about. Colin and I seem to be moving in different directions and they've been going behind my back to leak the oldies chat to Hairie. I don't know if I'm done with Colin, but I think I'd be ok if they left since I have a lot of other strong allies backing me too. Amy is a little sneak, but I hope I can still trust her. She's kind of been my goat since the beginning so I need her lol. And Jinx wants to trust Amy, but hasn't felt close with her at all. We need to rekindle that because it's important for my future. So I am prioritizing talking to Amy and Jinx this round. Amy has helped plant seeds against Clefford which actually works for me since I am targeting Clefford. Trinica and I also wanna target Colin and AJ eventually. Jinx wants to start an alliance with Trinica, Hairie, and I which I love.

I am once again probably going to be taking a backseat this round to avoid the mastermind label, but I have put in the WORK for a Clefford target so I hope that comes to fruition.

AJ

I am fairly confident that I know who all voted for me. I’ve guessed their voting messages too. Colin was crumble, crumble. Raffy was the other crumble message I’m pretty sure. Zo was the twin one. And Amy was the longer, kind of catty gonna need more from you if you really don’t want to go home message. Which like, the way that message, no matter who gave it, has rubbed me the wrong way is insane. I was being friendly and trying to toe the line of talking game while not forcing game into a conversation, but also if you want to have an effort made, make one yourself too. This isn’t a one way street.

It’s like they’re blaming me for being on the chopping block. Like ok but who is making the effort to initiate ANY conversation? Me. Who attempted a bit of game talk? Me. Who was the one trying to keep the conversations alive? Me. Today it’s been the same too. Whichever of them wrote that, Zo or Amy I’m assuming, both have dodged my attempts at talking game today. So like? Idk maybe I’m just too much about all of this.

Anyway tribal is tonight. I’m not entirely sure what’s happening. According to Hairie and Clefford this morning, Clefford’s name is the one out there. According to other people I’ve talked to, they've heard “no names” and “it’s been super quiet.” Clefford is suggesting Raffy’s name, and Hairie and Arvin also seem to be on board. I said fuck it and told Hairie about the extra vote, but honestly I think the best thing going forward for me is going to be keeping shit to myself. I’ve got to start playing a more selfish game but it’s so difficult for me.

Also Hairie and everyone else seem to be in so many alliance chats and I’m in like, three. One is a GC for the tribe NS stuffs. One is a GC created for Trinica, Hairie and I, and then only today was Timezone Hell revived. So I’m not feeling so hot in my gameplay right now. I need to evaluate what to do. So I guess this confessional will just be a list of things I know(™).

Alliances I know of: Brandi, Trinica, Hairie || Clefford, Trinica, Hairie || Raffy, Trinica, Hairie || Timezone Hell (Me, Arvin, Cleff, Hairie) || Do Not SS (New School Chat) || Me, Trinica, Hairie

Which worries me because I am in one (1) alliance that’s not a larger group, and that’s with Trinica and Hairie. At this point I honestly trust neither of them. I’m harboring a hunch that Trinica has an idol, I’m getting she’s got an idol vibes. I learned she didn’t mind if I went home last round, which like, I’m a little annoyed with. Maybe it’s BS but like. Her vibes were definitely off last tribal. She didn’t want to vote for Colin, and didn’t care about if Maddison used an idol or not. And allegedly she knew the whole time that my name was seriously out there and like, didn’t tell me. Am I a bit hurt? Honestly yeah a little bit.

Idk we’ll see what happens later today. Maybe I go home. Who knows.

Clefford

Good day! I'm just here giving you updates.

So, it was a successful tribal council to our side. The OG Sin Sazonar voted together to get out Maddison, except Arvin who voted for Jinx. That pretty much the sign that we only worked as an OG for that round. I'm so open to work with others, that's why I'm putting a lot of effort to get on Amy, Raffy, and Jinx's good side. I also got to talk with Colin, him proposing that we should work together. Hairie and I also had a deep-game talk where I kinda told him that I'm willing to go to the end with him even though he's a threat to my game. Amy on the other hand asked me who are the people to be included in our group and I mentioned Adeline (I don't know but I trust her solely because we worked together back on Raccoon City) and Arvin (an instant connection because we're both Filipino) who keeps sending me coins.

I used all of my coins to buy advantages.

Commemorative Snowglobe: 20MIC

This snowglobe depicting the Antigua Resort will always help you remember your time in the game, which means it will aid you later on. This represents a Legacy Advantage, an advantage which will stay secret until the final 4. If you are voted out, you give it to someone else.

Colorful Guadalupe Candle: 15MIC

Lighting this candle will aid you in your trials during this game by canceling out any negative energy…or votes. Congratulations, you have found a hidden immunity idol! This can be played through the Final 5. For more information, please consult the rules.

Also, I'm just laying low and hopefully people will not see me.

Amy

three things 1) I swear my schedule is somehow opposite of every single person somehow 2) I have given up idol hunting 🤣 3) I have been driving too much and honestly I knew I wasn't in danger so I didn't put much energy into the vote.

Anyway I want to turn it onto Clefford bc it's funny. And new school all claim they don't want to stick to tribe lines lol but I don't believe it. Also I may be enacting the gabler strategy.

I'm trying to get ppl to actually work w me lol bc genuinely I had to ask the Olds for a name to send before I lost service for this vote. I'd rather not do everything last minute. The new ppl only trinica even told me it'll be between Maddison and jinx lol. So far trinica Brandi hairie and clefford all said they want to work w me but I don't believe they will actually flip. Hence why I'm going to really make myself a nonthreat and a "tell me what to do" person. Really I'm raffy's goat though.

My goal for the challenge is 5 photos.

Colin

I finally got to call with Jinx and I think we’re on more or less the same page now??? I’m not even going to tell Trinica or Raffy about it bc I want it to be a genuine moment of connection just between us

I feel like this game is so…. Deep. Like so many powerful connections are being made. I’m so excited to see how this all plays out

Granted im not voted out tomorrow …. We’ll see. Idk who’s going yet. No one’s said anything yet. Immunity results were just posted

Trinica

FI FUCKING FWON FY'ALL!!!!!!!!!

Zo

Not me FULLY thinking i had that in the bag hdjsjdjsj I will say I’m really happy Trinica won though because I really like them as a person and we are vibing on a game level so this is a win for me in a way. Hoping we can switch up the tribal lines this time like people keep saying but we shall see!

Brandi

Im happy trinica got the immunity!! Feels good for it to be someone from my group.

Hairie

I am so fucking gutted with the results. Trinica knows what I had to go through and what happened with my photos … and this happened.

She really said she wasn’t doing it and … tbh I’m speechless. I don’t even know what to confess.

Trinica

Oh no Hairie's mad at me for winning this is DEVASTATING. Honestly??? Go ahead and fuckin cancel me my life is over bc sweet prince hairie is upset with me :( this will read as sarcasm but I'm so serious, someone shoot me

Amy

turns out being read busy makes playing this game super difficult. I'm shocked I didn't have the lowest score in the challenge.

Raffy

Tbh I don't even know what I wrote in my last confessional. Instead, I do plan on targeting Clefford. I have put in work with Hairie, Trinica, Brandi, Colin, Amy, and Jinx to land this target on him. Hopefully, it will come to fruition. Now Jinx is not only turning on Colin and Zo (which might be a good thing for me and if not good then just alright), but they are slowly turning on Amy for not being active enough. Listen, with Colin and Zo, I KNOW they are active and sneaky. With Amy? She's just a little inactive here and there. But I learned my lesson. I am not getting involved. If Jinx wants to target Amy, who would be 100% loyal to them no questions asked, then that's their business. I will have no hand in it. I have so much else to be worried about rn, like getting out Clefford. I also think Trinica is slowly turning on Adeline which would be good for my game cause I hear that Adeline is close with Clefford from Trinica, Hairie, and Amy. Rn, I think the next three to go that would be best for me is Clefford, Adeline, and AJ in that order. I will think about other things as they come up.

Brandi

Clefford messages me every single day saying that he heard his name and hes worried about being voted out but little does he know he really needs to worry this time.....

Raffy

Jinx hardcore distrusting Amy feels like a mistake. Like, tbh, Amy has never once said anything to me about targeting Jinx or feeling bad about Jinx. If anything, I've said that to Amy in the past. The thing is, which is what I genuinely believe, is that Amy and Jinx have incompatible schedules and just can't get around to talking to one another. But I'm not going to say that to Jinx because 1. I don't think they'd believe me since unless Amy does something to prove otherwise that is the mindset they are going for and 2. it really isn't my problem. All I need for right now is to keep my allies together. If they wanna cannabalize each other after we get to single digits, fine. But we all need to be on board to target Clefford, Adeline, and AJ. And what's frustrating about that is that I bet Jinx likes Adeline and AJ and I'm going to either a) have a hard time convincing them or b) just have to blindside them. I really just have no time to meddle in the relationships between people. I don't know how to do it well lol. All I have to try to do is steer them into the direction that I want which is Clefford.

Amy

I love spreading info and being placed into new alliances 🤠 thanks clefford

AJ

Jesus. No idea who to trust or where alliances are at this point. Seems like Hairie was maybe lying. Again, I don’t trust Trinica or Hairie at this point. Kind of just want to throw my lot in with Adeline at this point. Maybe that’s the best course of action for me.

Amy

I don't believe this candle story 🤣 Apparently it was there yesterday and instead of saying 0 remaining it's just magically gone but I saw the list. Before and it wasn't there ...

But I am entertained thanks Clefford!

Clefford: Update me on who you guys will vote.

Me: who's you guys? Clefford: because I will vote with you Me: Clefford I thought we were working together 🤣

Clefford: Yes, we will work now for real.

Me: It wasn't real before 😭

--

clefford is trying to idol raffy out with a disappearing candle

--

no but genuinely I'm so lost I will not be surprised if it's me today lol

Hairie

OPERATION GET CLEFFORD THE F*** OUT

Messy. Chaotic. Not sorry if you're going to be reading this at the end Clefford but you do you.

I have defended you and protected you on several occasions and rounds we went to tribal. You threw me under the bus. "You can't Sarah Lacina, Sarah Lacina"

Plan is to vote Clefford. Other's plans well read their confessional lmao because it's either Arvin or AJ I think. This vote split is wary but I'm at that stage of I don't care.

Episode title suggestions:

Holy Forking Shirtballs! - The Good Place ( The F is for the challenge) "You can't Sarah Lacina, Sarah Lacina" If I'm the rat, you're a weasel. Welcome to Zootopia.

Colin

new school is so fucking messy. the children are IMPLODING. it's great for us honestly.

no one was saying SHIT to me last night but suddenly trinica started calling people out in the tribe chat this morning. apparently clefford is deluding himself and saying trinica has been saying she wants to vote him and adeline. but thats just a straight up lie.

found out he has an idol ??????????????? i guess the plan is to split between arvin and clefford

i've been calling a lot with aj trying to smooth things over after i voted her last round

jinx and i wanna do a fake fight where we pretend to fight over clefford

????????????????????????/

this is a mess.

Trinica

Today was my day off work. I'm also immune. [backstreet boys voice] TELL ME WHYYYYY THIS CAST CAN'T CHILL TF OUT FOR TWO SECONDS

Aight so this morning I wake up to Clefford saying he needed to talk to me and Adeline saying they heard I was gathering votes for a Clefford/Adeline split. Clefford then puts me and Adeline in a chat to clear things up and says Hairie told him I was saying their names and saying they're a duo etc etc etc. So I go in the tribe chat to talk shit and Hairie acts like he has no idea what I'm talking about. So I get on a call with Hairie ready to rip him to SHREDS but he says he didn't do that. Do I believe Hairie? Eh, barely. He's got loose lips. But this is EXACTLY the kind of nonsense Clefford would pull, so I decide to stick with Hairie.

We were talking for like 3 hours with Raffy trying to do some math to figure out how to finagle this vote because, oh yeah, Clefford has an idol. And then Hairie suddenly wants to leave the game and I was like ??? but it turns out he also leaked my idol to Clefford. Also Clefford made Hairie realize that I had a legacy advantage, which yeah, my b, I didn't tell him about. So sue me! Can you blame me for wanting to keep one (1) secret in a cast that leaks as much as this one!!!

So anyway a lotta bullshit happened in-between, AJ told Hairie I "instructed" her not to tell anyone about the extra vote, which I was ONLY KEEPING SECRET FOR AJ lmaoooo as a show of faith of working together. So as soon as I heard that I was like, fuck it, AJ can go. AJ, if you're reading this later, you did this to yourself. Like come on!!! Did I take all of AJ's coins to get her the extra vote pretending like I didn't have enough money? YES but I honestly was just gonna take like 10 coins and she offered all of them. Which I think is a fair trade considering I literally gave her an advantage. I shoulda fuckin kept it for myself but I'm not that evil. If AJ is throwing me under the bus with Hairie, she's throwing me under the bus with others. And if you throw me under the bus, you gotta go.

So anyway now the plan is for me to idol Arvin LMAO which will put an even bigger target on my back but I'm ready to live my OTT dreams baby. I've never played as a meat shield before, maybe I can do it this game. Realistically I'm gone in 1-2 rounds but I've had a blast <3

Raffy

Arvin

I really hope I'm not going to be voted out tonight, I trust the people I am working with. I hope this risk will pay off.

Raffy

So Trinica told me the whole plan about voting AJ before tribal. So I knew all of that was going to happen. Feels good.

Trinica

me crying every time I vote AJ out? it's more likely than you think

[thefirstknife]

Some of the more interesting bits of today's reset and dialogues. I loved this from Mara. She acknowledges her participation in steering Uldren towards his downfall AND she realises that she will have to do better with him in the future. This is from the ending dialogue when you finish the exotic quest for the Ager's Scepter.

I want to mention something from the start of the week because I've seen people get angry (but when do they not when it comes to Mara?)

Long post under read more:

It's about the discussion she and Ikora have at the terminal. Hot take, but both Mara and Ikora are right and wrong in the argument. Transcript:

Mara: "How long have your Hidden been privy to Uldren's resurrection?" Ikora: "Long enough to watch over him in your absence." Mara: "And you didn't direct him home. Why?" Ikora: "There was a concern he'd pick up some old habits." Mara: "You know the Garden made him sick. Riven twisted his mind. Eris would have seen it. She is not so easily deceived by skin-deep tricks." Ikora: "It's true I made mistakes, out of an idea of justice... out of grief. Are you leveling this same scrutiny toward Petra? Wasn't she supposed to be watching his grave?" Mara: "Petra has paid her dues. The Vanguard murdered him and has yet to pay theirs." Ikora: "We both lost family. I am sorry for my part in yours, but... Crow has been treated --" Mara: "My brother is dead. He was exhumed; his body twisted into a caricature. You had your vengeance." Ikora: "Is that what you're after? Cayde... I still feel that grief like a stone caught in my chest. Some days, it's more pronounced than others. Vengeance didn't erode that grief." Mara: "Then tell me. Who am I to blame? Who sent him to Savathun's clutches? Who bludgeoned Uldren into a scared animal and drove him from his home?" Ikora: "You did, Mara. And those Guardians that hurt him, did so out of misguided anger. Don't make the same mistake. Don't make my mistake."

This is some heavy stuff and there's a lot going on. First, I like that Mara doesn't respond at the end. It's uncharacteristic for her. It shows that Ikora's words did something to her. This is evident in the exotic quest later which I've already put at the beginning of the post. She's had time to think and she's admitting the part she played.

I dislike some of Ikora's arguments a lot. First, "concern that he'd pick up some old habits" goes entirely against the Vanguard policy and belief that Guardians are new people. They were only concerned because of bias towards Uldren due to what he's done. And Crow knows this! He said so last week when he wondered why is he the only Guardian judged by his past life. No one else is subjected to the same way of thinking. This is the reason why Guardians aren't supposed to dig around their past lives. Obviously with Crow, there's no way for him to avoid it, but the argument that, if he knew, he'd just magically become Uldren (and not just base!Uldren, but murderer!Uldren who will... I don't know, go after Ikora and Zavala or the innocent people in the City?) really shows how much the Vanguard mistreated Crow.

I also dislike the move to Petra. As Mara says, Petra has paid her dues. She really has. Let's not forget that Uldren was not just some guy to her or just her Prince; he was her friend. She had to watch him spiral out of control due to things she couldn't help him with, she had to make the choice to put him away until Mara comes back and at the end she had to make the choice to kill him. This trauma has shaped her.

The Vanguard hasn't paid any dues. That's kinda the whole point of Mara's questioning. Ikora tries to explain that this was due to grief and losing family, but pray tell Ikora, has Mara not lost family too? Mara mentions this immediately as expected.

Ikora is however right to say that it was ultimately Mara's actions that led to the situation we're currently in. The Vanguard had no say in Awoken royal family affairs. Mara knows this, she said as much in the past few weeks and other lore in general: she spoke at length about the distance she pushed between them out of perceived necessity, the need to shape Uldren in a way to make him less like himself (since she disliked his recklessness and dangerous behaviours), but ultimately that only made things worse. She's aware that his venture into the Black Garden was fuelled by Uldren's need to prove himself. Ironically, in an effort to make him loyal and devoted, Mara pushed him into more recklessness instead of stopping it. She's aware of this. Asking Ikora "who am I to blame" was just waiting to be roasted.

But Mara is also right to ask about how the Vanguard treated both Uldren and Crow. How they washed their hands from killing him "officially" by hiding behind the Guardian, how nobody in the Tower answered for this. Their treatment of Crow as well: forcing him into hiding, isolating him. Excusing all the suffering he felt at the hands of the Guardians as "misguided anger." The torture he endured from Guardians just for showing his face was so much more than just "misguided anger" and Mara is right to feel heated and enraged when she talks about this and when she asks her questions. She expressed similar distaste and anger in a voice line with Glint in regards to how the Spider treated Crow.

I got an interesting dialogue at the end of my Shattered Realm run which also made me really irritated on behalf of both Crow and Mara when it comes to the Vanguard. Ikora asks Crow why didn't he send his latest report and Crow replies that he's had a lot going on and a lot to deal with. Which is true! He's not the Drifter who doesn't send reports out of spite; Crow genuinely wants to help but he's struggling with a lot of things that we can't even begin to unravel. He deserves patience and understanding. However, the following then ensues.

Ikora:

Crow:

Ikora:

This last part is a nice sentiment. But excuse me. Crow has literally been resurrected, isolated, tortured, enslaved and then "rescued" only to be thrust into a cage in the Tower and given "responsibilities." He is not obliged to be the Vanguard's errand boy. It's honestly quite rude from Ikora to tell him that he has to take his responsibilities seriously. The man hasn't lived a single day in his life without anxiety over whether he'll be tortured to death in the street if he shows his face.

I know the Vanguard gave him protection from the Spider and stuff to do (which he enjoys) and accepted him into their ranks. That's all good. But there's very little empathy here that acknowledges the life he's lived. Crow deserves to experience things that aren't isolation, imprisonment and following orders.

And most of all, he deserves to know the truth. Something the Vanguard has denied him for almost a year now. I know Savathun's schemes were involved and specifically, they were involved through impersonating Osiris which made a lot of people turn a blind eye. But now that this is known?

Crow can't share his burdens without knowing the truth. That's the whole problem. Everybody, except him, knows who he was. Everyone looks at him and treats him through that lens. He can't unburden himself without being told half-truths and being denied information. His burdens exist precisely because he doesn't know while everyone else does. So while the sentiment is nice, it reads more like a "that sucks buddy" than a genuine offer to help him with what is really bothering him.

On the other hand, obviously sharing the truth is difficult. His past life is more complicated than for most other Guardians. He's been through things that other Guardians haven't. The situation is complex on every single level and every character has a reason for the choices they've made.

Sometimes those choices are wrong and they are mistakes. And Mara isn't the only one who made the wrong choices and mistakes, consciously and unconsciously. It's a disservice to the complexity of the situation, Ikora, the Vanguard and Uldren to boil everything down to "Mara bad." Doesn't make for a compelling story.

That's what I wanted to address in detail because on the surface, it's easy to just dismiss either of the character you dislike more. And that's just reducing the story to a spectrum of black and white that Destiny really, ironically, isn't about.