#i should probably. tag spoilers for this huh

[fulgurbugs]

I think Alfyn is neat and I wish more people would explore his motivations and emotions outside of his c3 and ships! I think he probably has a lot of unresolved issues around the fact that of all of the parent figures and role models he's had that we know of, every single one of them is dead

no you are so fucking totally right because. (OK OT1 H’aanit ch4 spoilers for those following me who haven’t played and want to you have been warned) ok you know what this is the perfect fucking opportunity to talk about. the fact that because ot1 is my favorite bad game ever and doesn’t have any kind of travel banters surrounding galdera ar anything we never get ANY kind of commentary on the fact that Redeye is Graham Crossford. he also doesn’t ever talk to tressa after she finds out that he’s the author of her diary. i feel like it’s such a missed opportunity… like, this guy basically decided the trajectory of Alfyn’s life and Tressa HAS AN ACCOUNT of more of the shit he’s done. and then like, Alfyn potentially had a hand in personally being one of the people to put Redeye down (and he should be there, fuck you full party unconsciousness we sealticge + rehabilitate) to which he would not find out that that was literally the man who saved his life until the gate of finis which has to be. literally probably the most devastating thing he could possibly find out. i mean, like obviously he was too far gone to be saved but it’s alfyn, you know there’s a part of him that’s like but really, did it have to be like that? he was a person, once, and you know. there’s magic. miracle medicine. it’s the kind of dawning horror that gives you nightmares for the rest of your life, and that’s after the nightmares you’d get just from looking at redeye. not to mention the fact that garham was still at the very least, a sliver of an amount present enough to write a “kill me” message in marsalim. like hoooooooly shit this would weigh on Alfyn so much worse than anyone else. and then like, we know from his ch3 to his ch4 like… this stuff weighs on him. just because he did the best he could with the information he had at the time doesn’t mean it’s going to not affect him, even post-arc more assured alfyn. like ultimately he would come to the conclusion that he really did end up doing the right thing, but still. like you said, he’s lost his parents, his hero, just like. it’s a lot. i think in summary holy shit Alfyn man we gotta get you a therapist.

[egophiliac]

I always though Mal's mom was meant to be like "Eleanor" but they stuck an M at the start honestly, Sobbing Emoji. But "Maleanor" also makes me feel less insane since in that scene where she's just handed egg Malleus to Lilia and went to battle, it sounds more like Lilia is saying "Maleanor" than "Meleanor" (Japanese accent pending). Mayhaps they went more with what it sounded like the characters were saying :0 (we don't talk about Doodle Suit to Paint The Roses)

the transliteration of her name is Marenoa (マレノア), which is what all the voice lines are saying! all the Draconias' names start with マレ (Malleus' grandma is Maleficia/マレフィシア) as a nod to Maleficent. :D it's almost certainly a take on Eleanor, which is Erenoa (エレノア), but her name is written in English at a couple points, and I was pretty surprised to see it was Mel instead of Mal!

and, like, that's fine, it wouldn't be first Twst romanization that's tripped me up (like Keito for Cater, I know that's something to do with the loanword specific to playing cards(?) but it's just not how my brain wants to read it). but now Eng has given us Maleanor! and someone else said it was spelled inconsistently between Maleanor and Maeleanor??????? so WHO KNOWS it's a SPELLING FREE-FOR-ALL

I AM torn on which I want to use, because Mel just sounds so cute to me (and is what I'm used to now), but...the Mal consistency is kinda too good to pass up. alas, alas, truly these are the most difficult conundrums of our times. 😔

[feelo-fick]

miscellaneous au doodles + a VERY self indulgent song lyric comic :D

+ extra evil comic below the cut :

"chil!" "don't look at me like that..."

[firestorm09890]

Carmen projectmoon is a great character because they went “yeah she's just the dead wife character sorry :( FUCK YOU JUST KIDDING SHE HAUNTS THE NARRATIVE” and then she haunted the narrative so hard she caused fundamental changes to the entire setting and affected literally everyone in the world of the story and she’s still haunting the narrative to this day, even after the game that was about her haunting the narrative. most recently they made her a narrator (probably) and [uh hi future bluejay here, what was originally here might not have been true but since this post was made she's done even more]. she died before the first entry of the series

[camellia-thea]

okay. just rambling here, but, i think armand took more than just the end of the interview away from daniel.

we got that little moment about that night, saying 'you asked me to' to louis. 'you asked me to take this from you, you could not live with it,' leading into, 'i look after you when you cannot look after yourself, i make those choices for you.'

we know that during the chase and devil's minion era, daniel was an addict, who was, by his own admission, slowly killing himself. he was also addicted to blood.

it's really not too far to make the jump, if devil's minion occurred, that armand made the choice to step in, in his own mind, for daniel's best interests. i know this isn't a unique jump to make, but; again with armand's "i look after him when he cannot look after himself" continual reiteration, i think it's a fair assumption.

he can also replace and blur memories, which makes the discussion of alice and paris -- why the dessert from that night? -- and how immediate and sincere his answer of "she wanted to say yes, but she didn't trust you. you hadn't given her a reason to." this could be the night he took them away, replaced himself with alice, planted something similar for her to start the relationship, then step back and watch it fall. and i think the thing that stands out there is just how tender he is while saying it. there's an undercurrent of something else entirely underneath, it isn't a dig at daniel in the moment, despite the pushing earlier in the scene.

and then in s1, when louis say to daniel, "i'd give it to you now." and the cut to armand, still in disguise, and his micro-expression of horror, the way he stiffens and looks away... and the little moment of what i read as conflict when daniel says no. his jump to "may i be excused?" i can't tell in the moment, if he's horrified about the offer itself, the fact that it is louis offering to turn daniel rather than himself, or the fact that daniel denies it. because i don't think armand could actually let daniel die if this was the case.

the disguise itself-- why pretend to be rashid? i think part of it is to try and hide behind a human persona to keep those memories at bay; especially given the little moments of flashback that got triggered by little mannerisms. i can't decide whether they're intentional pushes or not, whether armand wanted/wants daniel to remember on his own, or wants to keep it under wraps. i think, even if he believes he doesn't want it to come forward, he truly does deep down.

and once he's revealed himself as armand, the way he gazes at daniel, his beautiful boy. the continued "our boy", from both he and louis, the "he's still in there, somewhere..."

and i think "our boy" is also really interesting, because why would daniel be armand's boy, based solely on the moments that louis initially remembered? armand didn't really have any emotional connection to daniel that night, sure, he saved him, but that doesn't really mean anything; he saved daniel for louis, not for daniel's sake.

and, jumping back "our boy,[...] he's still in there somewhere"... there's implication that louis might know about it? again, i don't think this is related to the original interview, or at least, limited to it? i don't have anything concrete here, just vibes, but again, why is armand's boy still in there somewhere?

and sure, some of these are reaches and i don't think i'm necessarily right, but god it would be deliciously awful if i was.

[meggannn]

hades 2 spoilers

moros was really like “fates are asleep, quick undo some prophecies while they’re not looking”

[lelalyo]

I'm only in Act 2 of my first Durge run so this might not be an entirely accurate interpretation but I've read the Prayer of Forgiveness in every playthrough and wanted to share my thoughts on it;

I know a lot of people say that Durge is pleading for forgiveness for admiring Gortash and/or maybe not actually wanting to kill him and I love that, I absolutely think that's part of it but I think there's more.

I think, that not only does Gortash treating them like a person and an equal cause them to form some kind of bond with him but what if Gortash is also causing a crisis of faith for them too? To me, the prayer kind of reads like Durge is panicking - as if they're trying to reassure themselves more than Bhaal. I mean, why would you go so far as to commit such a prayer to paper? Why go through the trouble of solidifying it? It's proof that Durge is unworthy of being the chosen - proof that, even they, have a WEAKNESS. Why leave the door open for possible dethronement or exploitations when they could've probably just said the prayer quietly to themselves on Bhaal's alter? Durge has only ever really known Bhaal, right? They've only ever really known blood, death and carnage for the sake of it but when working with Gortash, maybe Durge sees that all the destruction can have a PURPOSE beyond stating their father and that other purpose is to make their lives BETTER. Maybe seeing how driven Gortash is to survive but also live beyond surviving makes them begin to see a value in living - that maybe there's something to valuing yourself above all others. Seeing what he accomplishes for the sake of his dream, maybe it makes Durge question, maybe it makes them hope, maybe they buy into that idea of a brighter tomorrow. Maybe the ideals and teachings of Bane begin to appeal more to them.

Gortash, is by no means, a hero but maybe to Durge, he was. Maybe they were completely blinded by hope for more and that's why they needed to write the prayer. Maybe they began to feel as if praise from their father isn't actually worth ending the world for when they could have it all to themselves - all that freedom, all that power, all those perks of godhood their father would deny them for his own ambitions.

[shouldhavebeenpersephone]

Camilla Hect kept and wore Gideon's sunglasses every single day. every single day. she kept them and wore them EVERY SINGLE DAY. DID YOU HEAR ME

[boypussydilf]

anotha one!

[antisocialmedia-asm]

tpot 9 tier list [minor voting results spoilers]

[trash-bin-ary]

Huhhhh I know defeating the king is going to be a fake ending based on posts I’ve read but I’m fighting him and I’m only on act 2/4??? To be fair 1 went quick so it may be imbalanced but it makes it seem like I have not gotten far with my multiple days of staying up way too late playing cause I have time now

[tastycitrus]

"average mapler loses one family per year" factoid actually just statistical error. khali maplestory, who lost two families in the span of one tutorial questline, is an outlier adn should not have been counted

[hiraganasakura]

Osvald and Partitio eat the rich for breakfast together calling it now

[ambalambs]

I dont think I ever posted these violin pics I took of Miko so I'm just gonna leave them here ^u^

also the bonus one I actually posted a long time ago:

[rubys-domain]

... I said I wanted this blog to be positive. but how's that gonna happen when I'm depressed as hell

[akkivee]

i finished tagging a backlog of my old posts (maybe) (i think) and decided to see generate a most used tag list and it’s……. well yeah lmao