#imo he never reached an avatar state

[sunshine-girl-shines]

If I had a nickel for every time a mortal was in love with an Eldritch god named Jo(h)n in podcast, I’d have two nickels; which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[seyaryminamoto]

If Azula had defected from the fire nation along with Zuko, do you think she would have been crowned fire lord in the finale? Imo, she would've been better suited for that role since she was obviously much more surrounded by police than Zuko was since she was never banished, and she shows good leadership and decision making in the show. She's also a lot more level headed than Zuko is, which is something that I think a good ruler needs.

Well... it's a complicated situation tbh. As far as competence and preparation are concerned, I agree entirely that Azula is far more ready for the role of Fire Lord than Zuko is. I've mentioned in other asks that Zuko's growth was personal, and while it's okay that he was intended to become a better person, that's only the first step towards becoming a good leader. Azula's successes and achievements suggest she's, indeed, a mess as a person but a lot more aware of what it takes to be a leader than her brother is.

Other arguments can be made in Azula's favor, such as that the Fire Nation people, unless the Final Agni Kai was made public (and in this case, you're suggesting a setting where the Agni Kai doesn't happen, outright), would likely have a more favorable opinion of Azula than of Zuko for the reasons you bring up. Her public perception is bound to be much better than his, she's bound to be known by nobles and military figures, so yes, she has a lot in her favor.

This being said...

I admit that I wasn't sure what to do with this particular dilemma when I wrote a very similar setting to the one you're proposing. Azula indeed ended up defecting from the Fire Nation in one of my stories in Sokkla Saturdays, Matching Heartbeats #5 + Underneath Starlit Skies #3, where she initially becomes a prisoner of the Gaang and ends up turning her life around by bonding with four dorks (especially with a certain boomerang dork with a similar sense of humor to her own) and realizing her father stands no chance against Aang in the Avatar State. This, eventually, results in her also identifying and coming to terms with the indoctrination of the Fire Nation upon seeing similar situations of indoctrination in Ba Sing Se... and in the end, she is pretty much completely reformed, redeemed, on board with Team Avatar and practically leading it with Sokka.

But when things came to a head... I found myself in a bit of an awkward situation. While it made sense for Azula to be Fire Lord... it also made sense for her not to want to be Fire Lord, upon reaching this point in her journey. She knew she had much left to learn, and she found she had changed and improved things for other people while being out in the field, achieving far more things than she ever did back when she was only Ozai's preferred heir. The concept of continuing to travel with her friends and her boyfriend made so much sense to her, especially when there were three possible candidates for the throne at that point (Azula, Zuko and Iroh). Truth is... I do love me some Fire Lord Azula, but I can't shake off this wicked worm of wickedness that suggests Azula would probably be in a much healthier place if she's just not assuming that her sole purpose in life and in the world is becoming Fire Lord. She could do amazing growth away from the throne, just as she could do it on the throne too... but if she's not there, she gets to put more distance between herself and the toxicity of the Fire Nation. She gets to have much more of a life, I'd say, than Zuko would if he becomes Fire Lord while she gets to have more or less freedom from such pressures.

Sooooooooooo...

My ultimate answer is yes, of course Azula could be Fire Lord instead of Zuko. I don't know if Zuko would accept that easily because he's absolutely convinced this is his birthright (... which it's not, it was Lu Ten's, Zuko has only believed the throne would be his since he was 11, supposedly), but if you don't have Azula in the throes of a breakdown that drives her out of control, the likelihood is Azula would defeat him in an Agni Kai if they truly want to fight over a throne. But... is it what's best for Azula? I won't even pretend that I don't think it's not what's best for the Fire Nation, I do believe it would be x'D maybe some could argue that Azula being Zuko's advisor could be better? But frankly, if someone truly thinks she'd be a good advisor they're inadvertently admitting she would be a good ruler just as well, it's pretty naïve to pretend that being an advisor is the only role she could have. Still... is this what will be best for Azula in the end?

I think it really hinges on how a writer wants to develop Azula's character, more than anything. My take in that particular AU was for her to end up finding she had so much more to explore and see in the rest of the world, and to acknowledge that the Fire Nation actually had never been as fulfilling and grand for her as traveling with her friends became. None of her bonds with people in the Fire Nation proved as strong and true as the ones she built with people from other nations. Thus... it made sense for her to feel a strong pull towards something other than the throne.

I'd even argue it's healthy that she doesn't want the throne desperately xD it's one of my main complaints over Zuko, he barely ever seems to consider the possibility of a future beyond the throne, if he ever did. It makes me feel his growth would be best suited by making him find purpose OUTSIDE the throne too, but I don't even know if he'd ever accept that? Anyway, bottom line is both Zuko and Azula probably would be in healthier places away from the throne if you really think about it. Who's better suited for it? Azula is certainly a better leader and better perceived by their people than Zuko would be (realistically speaking, that is). Zuko is older so in virtue of being the traditional firstborn child, he has a claim on the throne, and he's supposed to be the better person between them, so some people could argue that, if Azula defects without proper build-up, he'd have grown more by then than she would have, I guess? And he'd be more ready to cut ties with Ozai's legacy than Azula? Hence why they'd argue he'd be the better choice...?

... But frankly, I would say that both of them, at optimal situations, would do well on the throne. Admittedly, I don't think Zuko is at his optimal situation as he is in canon. Azula, of course, isn't at all at an optimal place in canon either. Working together could be a nice compromise but it would be a very idealistic one, and one that would require the two of them to grow up A LOT, to not be so prone to conflict and to really work together for the greater good :'D so it would take not only a proper redemption from the two of them but a ton of extra growth in which they'd both learn to be better siblings.

So yes, I believe Azula would be a great Fire Lord if given the choice and chance. I do believe the Fire Nation would thrive under Azula's rule, I have absolute confidence in her ability to steer the Fire Nation in the right path. I'm also highly Zuko-critical as everyone knows, ergo, I don't believe he's "fated" for a throne, nor do I think that his development in the show entitles him to a throne, nor do I think he's grown in every sense he really had to... so I don't adscribe at all to the belief that the throne was only ever meant for him because that's a really boring way to interpret the world. Like I've said before, the throne should have gone to Iroh after Azulon dies. Then to Lu Ten. Then to Lu Ten's children, if he'd had any. I love me my chaotic and interesting Fire Nation Royal Family, but I don't believe either Azula or Zuko were fated for a throne: thus why it's much more important for me that they grow up enough to become proper leaders, capable of handling the pressures of the role and truly guiding the Fire Nation out of the gross mess it's in over the war. Either one could have been Fire Lord, both had arguments in their favor (unfortunately, I fear tradition would have demanded Zuko became Fire Lord solely because male firstborn, which... bleh), and I will always believe Azula would have been an excellent Fire Lord if she's redeemed and at her best.

Still, I'd very much love it if either one taking the throne would have a chance to find purpose BEYOND that throne, and to have an identity OUTSIDE that throne, before becoming Fire Lord. That, personally, would be my take on the matter :'D No idea if I'm not being clear enough but I'm saying that yes, Azula could have done it, someone could absolutely write a setting where that happens (hell, I nearly did XD), but I would prefer it if a throne is not her sole motivation in life. All in all, being king, emperor, Fire Lord or what-have-you is a major responsibility. It's only a reward if you're a privileged asshole who has no idea how much impact your every choice would have on thousands of people, or has some idea but outright doesn't care about that and only is focusing on their own advancement, titles and achievements :'D hence, I really believe Azula could do it, but I do think proper growth for her character would be best served by showing her that she can achieve great things whether there's a five-pronged hairpiece on her head or not.

[phoebehalliwell]

Ok I’m curious, how would you fix season 8? Which is objectively the worst season IMO but had the most potential

i mean like there were a lot of things wrong with season eight but i think by far the worst thing was their villains like. for starters. making billie and christy our big bad was. bad. and then there was dumain? the triad? the source came back for a second? it was sloppy, at best. like. like!! i think s8 would have benefitted best from a clear-cut villain from the get go, something that was evil with an agenda, that offered a couple one-off plots rather than like. a girl who was kidnapped an emotionally manipulated into believing she's right by older powerful men exploiting her and wrapping up her plot by literally(!!) incinerating her. she burnt to death i'll never be over this she was literally human lmao what the Fuck. so instead of doing a billie manipulated by christy manipulated by dumain who's like. the triad's bitch. Don't. the underworld is currently in chaos what with the source dying and then the avatars stint and the zankou bit. they need leadership. have someone vy for the throne. forget the ultimate power. leave that shit in the dust. we could still potentially have billie, but billie was just a really bad character for charmed where we were. like we just watched the girls go thru endless shit for a near decade and now we have some knockoff buffy like i know more than you!! like it doesn't matter that in some cases, billie is right (hello?? scrying with a laptop????), like, we’ve been with the charmed ones so long like it's so hard to read billie as anything other than annoying. and then both henry and coop were done So Fast like. those could stand to marinate a shade longer. every tho paige and henry's wedding is my fav out of all the weddings on the show (bc it was the cutest) um. it's very ooc. like they can just be in a long term committed relationship. moving in together could be their big thing. maybe getting engaged. but like the speedrun in three months? two months? unbelievable. and then i've mentioned this before coop entering phoebe's story of his own volition as a passing cupid who senses a blocked heart and tries to fix it and then ends up in way over his head when phoebe summons him and threatens to vanquish him. like way more believable than the elders just sending coop down as a sorry present girl what. other people have also pitched work rivals to lovers phoebecoop as two rival pop culture cupids. there are options. skip over dex obvi. i will give a shout out to the way they got rid of leo. the um. mechanics of it were stupid, as previously stated. but i'm always a fan of bringing in death, and i thought it was a good loophole for getting rid of brian 2 save money. oh you know what else i didn't like? agent murphy. fuck that guy he was both boring uninteresting bland and also a dickwad. so. :\

okay. so to salvage s8 on a budget. here's what i'd proposed: focus on seats of power. sets you already have: magic school, the manor, the underworld (presumably). first thing under siege so 2 speak is the manor, now that the charmed ones are dead. paige keeps trying to help charges on the dl, phoebe still practices magic and intervenes in like. letters that warrant it from the advice column. piper and leo are living that domestic life and maybe we get a quote from wyatt just like from melinda in s2 don't worry mommy i promise not to use my magic and like all these girls kinda hit the conclusion hey. this is wrong. we are the charmed ones. let's own up to it. they're back!! we give paige two relevant charges: speed, a future whitelighter who just graduated high school in the spring. no he's not going to college, despite henry's insistence, and later paige's. he'll hit that epiphany later. billie. wicked smart, independant, freshman at berkeley with a tragic past. they r gonna be each other's love interests, giving us a plotline off the sisters so the actresses can have a break because evidently that was a requirement as well. speed's first 2 notice, but billie's first to put the pieces together: there's something demonic afoot in san francisco. and up-and-coming demon clan have been like. like giving mortals demonic powers, granting them magic in exchange for fealty. this can lead for kind of a big final battle, with the charmed ones vs like an army that can easily be disarmed once they find the necessary magical pathway. we can also have the sidequest of magic school, which will soon be falling into the hands of the charmed ones. in fact, we can have the demon clan going for a "magical seat of power" which the girls interpret as the manor but realize almost too late that it is magic school. from there, all the mortals who went demonic can like. be knocked unconscious have their memories wiped and place back in the world like nothing ever happened, wrapping that up in a neat bow. the girls finish the fortification of magic school, resealing its protections and confirming its place as a haven for the next generation of magic. speed almost dies and you think he's gonna die fr fr because he's a future whitelighter and you're like oh that's how we're gonna wrap that plot up but psych! billie saves him at the last minute. they get to stay in a healthy normal relationship together <3 piper gets leo back after the great battle, phoebe and coop get married in the manor and take the place of the paigehenry wedding because like. again they should also hold off on that (maybe we just include it in the flash forward montage) but we kinda do need at least one wedding to wrap this motherfucker up. and paige and henry get a domesticity beat and also maybe a roadtrip we give them a literal drive off into the sunset symbolizing how piper gets the domesticity the white picket fence life she's always wanted phoebe gets true love and the ability to feel whole again and paige gets freedom and independence symbolized by her road trip, which also shows us how magic has reached such a point of stability that each of the charmed ones can actually live on their own. paige drives off into the sunset And Then we get the flashforward montage of everyone's individual happy endings. fin <3

[luobingmeis]

Pls give us the AtLA rant, I have a mighty need!

askjskjsdkjdskj i copy and pasted my rant from last night bc imo the raw energy of “i am genuinely shocked and angry (in a good way)” is something i cannot recreate right now

so here is the rant i went on in my groupchat + the secret side conversation i had in DMs bc, in my 3 person gc, 2 of us are watching it for the first time and i already knew some stuff going in so i didn’t want to spoil

it’s all under the cut bc it’s long as fuck (like almost 2k words if not more) 

but basically i go into my own type of avatar-state while talking abt zuko!!!!

(I HAVEN’T STARTED BOOK 3 YET, PLEASE NO SPOILERS)

groupchat:

but i just finished book 2 and it took a completely different turn from what i thought it was going to like i am actually in shock and have officially reached my point of "zuko what the actual fuck" because the choice to do good was right there after everything he and iroh went through and after all that he saw and letting aang go multiple times and he was starting to be happy in this new life and saw that he and iroh could be free and he still went back to azula for his pride and honor, turning against aang and katara after he and katara could have finally reached a moment of understanding

but like what the fuck i am more mad at s2 zuko than i was at s1 zuko bc, in season 1, the avatar and his honor was the only thing he thought about, but in s2, he met people who had their lives ruined by the fire nation!! and he worked with them!!!! iroh was showing him what it was like to live completely free, doing what he wants!!!! and he was starting to understand!!!!! but im so pissed and so fucking shocked bc, this entire fucking time, i was like "oh yeah the end of s2 is going to be when zuko joins, right? bc i mean book 3 is fire, so zuko has to teach him fire bending" but no, he willingly chose to keep pursuing the avatar after fucking everything he has seen, after knowing how people were affected by the fire nation, after everything iroh did for him

and he knows what he did!! he knows!!!!! he told azula that he betrayed iroh!!!!!!! he fucking knows

when iroh showed up to fight both him and azula, i was fucking losing it bc iroh's love has been so unconditional for zuko, he supported zuko through everything and even helped him try to capture the avatar at times, but that was the final straw

zuko willingly walked into world domination. he doesn't even fucking trust azula! he never has! but she brought up his pride and honor, and she's powerful as all hell, and he sided with her! after everything!

i really thought he was learning that his quest for the avatar was fruitless! it's not going to bring him happiness! his life in the fire nation will never return to normal

aang has saved his life so many god damn times, him and katara were reaching a point of understanding! they fucking talked about how the fire nation took both of their mothers

and i'm so floored bc this was all willing

when zuko was exiled, he had no choice! it was either find the avatar or have no home. but he was finding a home! he finally seemed so happy with iroh! it really seemed like iroh's teachings were getting through to him! that he was learning what he really wanted (freedom)! but he still went back to the fire nation except this time he chose to. he looked at the people he was starting to understand, at the man who has been a better father than ozai ever could, and willingly chose to turn away for the sake of pillaging and conquering and "honor" in a family that doesn't care about him

at first, i was like "this has to be a trick, right? he's fighting them now so that he can backstab azula later, right?"

but when katara said to him "i thought you changed!" and he said "i have" i was fucking besides myself

im so angry but im also fucking exhilirated bc this i did not expect

i would've put so much money on there being a meaningful moment of zuko stepping up alongside aang

like, i was so sure this would happen

i was convinced

but holy shit

and fucking!!! zuko knows what iroh went through at ba sing se with the loss of his son (and probably the realization that what the fire nation was doing was fucked up) and zuko still turned against iroh

after everything iroh did for him! iroh was the only person who stood by zuko's side during everything. he pleaded zuko's case over and over, he seeked out the gaang bc he needed their help and he was so sure that zuko would make the right decision!!! he saw zuko let the avatar go before, but when zuko was faced w/ azula's assistance and the avatar right there, he just went back to his old ways except worse bc this is willing

and like

am i discounting the manipulations of azula and ozai? no!!!

that definitely had a hand in it, bc azula has been dangling honor and ozai's love in front of zuko the entire time

but i really thought that the end of s2 would be when zuko sees past all of that

except he turned back to the family that doesn't even love him, betraying the only person who truly cared for him and loved him unconditionally and wanted the best for him, and now he has a direct hand in the collapse of ba sing se and world domination

like okay let it be known that this is some of the best writing ive seen and im fucking obsessed and im living for this and it's so fucking good so my anger is fueled by excitement and shock

and also i fucking love negative character development

like. i love zuko. and literally i think that's part of this too bc i was so sure that he was going to make the right decision

and instead i had to face the dawning realization that he wasn't

and now he and azula are teaming up to end the earth kingdom

like i thought i knew where this was gonna go and now i'm genuinely lost (in a good way)

and like i haven't even touched upon aang's chakra being locked bc he went back to katara

(also don't even get me started on the painful irony of iroh telling aang that sometimes it's better to choose love and friendship over power)

(like really don't get me started because i'm about to combust)

after everything iroh did for zuko!!!

after the gaang has saved his life!!!!!!!

and the best thing is, it was shocking but still not out of character

that's the beautiful thing

this was always an option for zuko

it's the point of the crossroads!!! you can go either way!!!!!!!

i just thought he was gonna go...................... the other way

and like literally the fact that he sided with azula after obviously not liking her basically his entire life (or at least his adolescence) is so fucking telling for how he made this decision bc. unless there's some behind the scenes stuff, he saw the avatar and his pride and his honor so clearly, and he saw how powerful azula was becoming, and decided that he would still take it even in the face of azula's manipulations and violence

if that makes sense

if you can't tell, i'm kinda reeling right now

like, apparently zuko wants his honor/power so badly that he'll side with azula!!!

after they spent an entire season fighting her

but also....... azula finally gave him that option of working together. before, it was always azula vs. zuko

now, though, azula was offering a world dominating olive branch

so now like im thinking....... what if that happened earlier? would zuko always have turned? or is it just because everything he ever wanted was so close to him?

and it's wonderful bc it's still so in-character. like, even siding with azula, it's not bc he suddenly cares for his sister or whatever, but it's because he chose honor/pride/the fire nation over freedom/giving up what he always wanted. i don't think he was choosing azula, he was choosing his pre-written destiny over making his own

god is any of this making sense i am literally so fucking shocked

i literally need like 3 episodes solely on iroh at this point bc you know what probably fucking sucks??? losing his first son to the war in ba sing se, and then losing his nephew (who he saw as another son) to starting war in ba sing se

like? that has to feel like a fucking slap in the face ten times over

especially bc iroh left the fire nation with zuko (and probably for zuko), most likely giving up his full title there

and like? the fighting sequences are so cool but it was so fucking heartbreaking to hear iroh tell aang "you go on ahead! i will hold off both of them!" because like. iroh can't wait any longer! he thinks (and knows) that zuko is making the wrong choice, but he can't wait any longer! he can't stand by while zuko dominates an entire city and say "oh, he's really complicated, he's going through something"! because zuko did go through it and he came out of it and he still made that choice! iroh probably feels like all his patience, all his efforts, all his teachings and love, went to fucking waste! because it didn't get him anywhere!

like, iroh probably still loves zuko but he probably feels so fucking betrayed and hurt and disappointed because, after seeing zuko let the avatar go before and seeming so happy, he probably thought that zuko was changing for the better! and now, he has to fight his niece AND his nephew! this no longer is zuko insulting some other general or his crew that iroh can fix by explaining what happened w/ ozai and how zuko is very conflicted! this is a situation that zuko willingly walked in, even after hearing and knowing all of iroh's teachings!

anyways! poetic cinema

like also pls dont think im ignoring everything else in the episode, like aang's chakra being locked was fucking wild and that entire episode was so good, with the fight sequences and everything abt azula, and toph’s metal bending, just forgive me bc im a little uhhhhh distracted by a twist that i genuinely did not expect

i feel bad for how focused i am right now on zuko but also how can i not be bc that feels so connected to literally everything else

also tho on a brighter note, true serotonin was when appa finally returned :')

it's so wonderful that appa broke out by himself. he did it all on his own! no one else was there. at all :)

(im kidding that was actually a very important moment in zuko's character)

(or at least i thought it was going to be)

(well actually it still is, but it's come to the question of "you can always say what you're going to do in a situation, but what happens when you're actually faced with it?”)

DMs:

i know that zuko gets redeemed, right? like i know, in the end, they will all team up

but the fact that it didn't happen now

holy shit

like.......... a whiiiiiiile ago on tumblr, i saw a post that was like "zuko has a great redemption but he needed to work for it bc he did awful things" and like? tbh yeah i got that s1 zuko was the antag and he did shitty things but like...................... this feels so much more poignant

like zuko literally has a direct hand now in the collapse of the earth kingdom

literally not to be dramatic but this is like. taz-reveal levels of shocked right now.

i thought i knew the zuko arc

bc i know he gets redeemed!!

so, after watching this season, i was thinking "oh okay it's gonna be this season! makes sense!"

but.... deep down

deep down..............

a part of me was kinda like "so is season 1 zuko....... it? is that the end of his antagonisms? is season 2 meant to be his redemption? i dig it, but i thought it would be more...................... dramatic"

well!

got what i wished for!

and i am in the best kinds of hell

like i almost feel bad bc so much other stuff happened in the finale (like, for example, aang's chakra being locked, which i screamed at, it was so good) but like. i genuinely did not expect this.

like. holy fuck.

like, now i really understand why people say that zuko needed to really work for his redemption bc he and azula are tag teaming the end of the earth kingdom

[kdtheghostwriter]

SNK 4-Pack

Just to avoid any confusion, yup, it’s just what it says on the tin. I’ve gathered my thoughts on four chapters here. A combination of IRL obligations, lifestyle and equipment changes all of which has been more or less rectified. For now lol. To those who reached in the past months, I appreciate the thought. Apologies for keeping you waiting. Accept this humble offering and enjoy the new chapter release.

123 - Turn Me Loose

We’re in a very distressing place both in-story and IRL. So here:

It’s Mikasa’s first taste of ice cream. Feel better? Cool. Now let’s talk about the end of the world, pls.

 I’ll get the obvious out of the way first. Just what did you think The Usurper meant when he said [checks notes] “I’m going to put an end to this world?” This isn’t Sword Art Online. He wasn’t talking about a virtual world. It’s closer to the SpongeBob bit where Squidward runs into his place of work to exclaim that robots have taken over the world, before he clarifies “Our world!” Paradis was merely a blip on the radar before the Royal Family lost the Coordinate. It was fun at first to rattle their cage and watch them war with eachother. Now the war is about to leave the shores of the Island and no one is laughing.

I don’t have much to say about this development in particular because I predicted it nearly one year ago. No one wanted to hear it, but I said to any ear that listened: if Eren is going to play the Bad Guy, he needs to be the Bad Guy. You can go back and read it. I said Eren Jaeger will be the new villain of the story. Well, there’s a word we use for the person who wants to exterminate all life on Earth and it’s not Samaritan.

But for every villain, a foil must rise. Reiner is the easy choice here. Not the wrong one, but easy and predictable. Eren and Reiner have been intersecting since the 104th squad’s first expedition. When Eren could have hidden during Marley’s 11th hour raid of Paradis, he chose to confront Reiner and expose himself for the sake of a fight he knew he would not lose. This is why I don’t have Reiner in this role. Reiner’s role is what we all thought Eren’s was up until Chapter 120 or so. He is Lady Fate’s whipping boy. Beating him down again and again while calling him and dummy for trying to resist against his lot in life. If Reiner steps to Eren this time, it will be more than just humiliation awaiting him. Yes, it’s still Mikasa. I doubt Eren’s plan (whatever the full scope of it is) can even be stopped but if it can she is the one to do it. It can only help that she has the God of Destruction on her side.

 Getting ahead of myself, though. We have the famous confrontation to speak on. You know the one.

I understand the sentiment by Eren here but he was never going to get an accurate answer. At least not immediately. The poor girl is shocked. She’s been interrogated time and again about her loyalty to Eren and what exactly it means. The one person who has never questioned her further is the man himself. One can imagine how long he’s sat on this inquiry. He knew what he had to do. No answer she gave would have diverted his path, but maybe he wanted one last thing to feel good about before he doomed the world.

Either way, the team runs in to interrupt them like some teen movie and they all proceed to get drunk with the family of the Middle Eastern boy they aided earlier. Ever since this type of story analysis was popularized online (and especially on YouTube) people have fallen into the habit of using the word “filler” without knowing what the word means.

 Because we are consuming this series week by week and because Eren’s descent into arch-villainy has lasted well over a year at this point this current disaster really does feel like it would in real life. A long, brutal decline with only one outcome and no way to stop it. This chapter was a palette cleanser after months of endless despair. If you can remember there was indeed a time where everyone was friends and Eren wasn’t trying to KILL THE WORLD. This chapter was a reminder of that. The faintest light shines brightest in total darkness. That light is what Mikasa is doing her best to hold onto.

  124 - All Falls Down

The most interesting part of this chapter, which is largely set-up, is Jean’s assessment of the situation from his perch on a rooftop. It’s muted and resolute. The usual emotion is missing entirely. The fire is gone as he accepts the world’s creeping fate. The story’s most morally consistent character is seen trying to work out the thought process behind ending the world. They’re our enemies. They were going to attack us eventually. We were sitting ducks. Maybe this was always going to happen. His last observation is less rhetorical. In order to protect his friends, Eren has sacrificed the entire world. This includes the Subjects of Ymir who all received Eren’s message from the last chapter.

No time to contemplate that horror with the fresh hell of Zeke’s titanized victims running wild in Shiganshina which sounds mighty familiar. There’s a poignant scene that follows of the 104th cutting down their fellow soldiers, many of whom helped train them. It shows how far they’ve come and the overall affect their adventures have had on them that they are able to destroy their comrades without hesitation.

Ah! But this is SnK after all. The horrors are often double stacked. The time has come to decide which titan Falco gets fed to. Before anyone can note what terrible timing this is with a horde of Titans destroying the village around them, Connie makes an executive decision to nab the unconscious boy and feed him to his stranded Titan mother in his hometown.

Of course, no one believed at the time that Connie would be able to go through with such and act especially on someone as sweet and naïve as Falco, but it really drives home the not-so-quiet desperation of these characters and how each of them reacts to it. Mikasa and Jean are both trying to keep a level head. Armin isn’t in hysterics by any means but is missing his usual confidence. Connie, having already lost his best friend and half his squad is the first to let the despair of the situation get to him. It’s the same reason Armin volunteers to go after him. No it won’t solve any of their macro problems but reconciling with young Gabi and feeling like a hero again can at least make you feel useful in the face of your best friend trampling the world underfoot.

 The reveal of Annie at the very end of this chapter after more than half a decade gone is classic Isayama melodrama and it’s one of the reasons that, despite monthly leaks, Shingeki no Kyojin is still a worldwide best-selling phenomenon. I don’t have much else to say about it other than having her gasping for air like a fish out of water after being encased in a Disney Princess Prison was a nice choice. One would have to think that seeing Annie again would have some sort of affect on Eren even in his current Kaiju state. Eh, I’m getting ahead of myself though.

 Stray Thoughts

- Jean continues to be my favorite character in the story. With Pixis gone and Hange out of action, he’s the easy choice as acting Commander. Leading his own squad and the neighboring soldiers into battle against the rampaging Titans is heroism that stands out even more after sitting through months of the Jaeger Brothers’ power play.

- Shadis returning to aid the cadets that beat him down at Floch’s behest is all you need to know about his character. He’s a gruff man and his stint as the Survey Corps Commander left him emotionally busted. However, he never once forgot why he started doing this in the first place. He can’t save the world but he can save these kids, dammit.

- All Titan hardening has been rendered inert by Founder Ymir throwing off her chains. This includes Reiner who reveals to Gabi that his Titan’s armor fell off as the walls came down. Nothing in SnK happens on accident so we’ll put a pin by this and see where it goes.

- Reiner explains to a distraught Gabi, who is looking for Falco, that Eren is extra unstoppable because with full control of the Founder he now has full control of all Eldians. One has to wonder if the Ackerman Loophole is still in effect.

- Gabi used the same gun that started The Rumbling to save Kaya from a 2m Titan. Alright, jokes aside, I can put on my critical hat and say that this callback to Sasha was a bit ham-fisted and you could have found a less visceral way for Gabi to realize the error of her ways. (Avatar: The Last Airbender will always hold the title for this trope.) All that can be true and I still like Gabi showing some agency here. Being insistent on finding Falco and helping him is pretty key development imo. He’s the main reason she’s still alive.

125 - The Next Step

Annie is me when I write exposition. I know you think it’s “boring” and “filler” or whatever but I don’t care! Shut up and learn something for once, eh?

Anyway.

Annie and Hitch have catching up to do. I was about to say they were former roommates but as noted above, Hitch spent four years watching over the captive soldier. Now that she’s free and the world is ending she sees no reason to hold on to her backstory any longer. Annie was adopted and the man who trained her was also the man who raised her. It wasn’t until she was about to set sail for Paradis that he showed any remorse for her indoctrination. Even still, Annie never forgot his words and has been trying to get back to him as soon as she can by any means she can.

Taking off my critic hat I have to wonder what her mindset was locking herself away in that crystal. Obviously if she hadn’t the outcome is almost certainly being devoured by Eren or someone else as they were but a few short months away from learning the truth behind Titan Succession. Still, there’s no guarantee that she ever escapes at all. I was half convinced that Isayama was working toward the biggest troll job in the history of fiction by ending the story with Annie still in captivity. He didn’t though, so we have the rest of the narrative to work out what that means.

Sorta like these two.

Eh, he’s not wrong but his frustration is misdirected here. Mikasa asked a very valid question about what to do about the World Killer that happens to be their (former?) best friend. Mikasa is the only one in the group asking this question because she’s the only one that no longer id’s Eren as the hero of Stohess. Connie is a minor distraction especially compared to the army of Colossals; Armin knows this too but Connie is a distraction from the creeping dread that Eren is now unstoppable.

And Mikasa’s face here…oof. That’s two of her soon-dead Titan Bros who have yelled at her today. Should it hurt more? Probably but she is so far past hurt feelings at this point. She’s a soldier and she has work to do. Asking for a directive isn’t something to get triggered by but Armin is at his breaking point here. The little things that add up to make your shit sandwich 12 feet high. And so we hope that his side quest brings him peace.

I love this character.

He never once falters in his moral fiber. The depression keeps him from recognizing this but he is indeed special in his own way. After all is said and done that’s really all that can be expected of us. Shadis, ever the mentor tells his kids not to be heroes. Really, this quote can be transplanted to our current political situation IRL. There’s a lot of things wrong with the current system and we’d all like to make it better but we still have work and school and various other obligations to deal with and those don’t go away because we want to “make a difference.” The time will come to make your voice heard. Be ready when it happens, not before.

I do like how Shadis basically accepts his fate as a sacrifice to Floch’s faction as his only other option with the other heads of military dead are going on the run like Solid Snake and he is not about that life. He would rather take the rest of his lumps and be done with it.

This Fucking Guy

This is peak Lord of the Flies shit. Society has dissolved and the chain of command has been broken so just do whatever, dude! Think about what Armin said before. History always repeats itself without the proper prevention. The best prevention, of course, being education. Floch is the best example of why eliminating one side does not truly extinguish conflict. Even at the start we see various Shiganshina residents rightfully blaming Eren for his role in the destruction caused by the walls coming down.

The only way to reach consensus is with terror. We got a mere preview when Zackley got TNT’d so many moons ago. Now we see Floch Forster doing his best Neegan impression, splattering a volunteer’s brains across the floor. I won’t repost it but that panel is probably up there with Ymir’s cannibalization for most visceral of the story. Brutal in its suddenness, it almost becomes a smash cut. After so much death and destruction this act of violence isn’t lost in the pages because of how much grislier the executions are rendered. The intimacy of a human ending another’s life without the aid of a fleshy mech. I digress, though. Floch must be stopped or the future of Paradis is sealed, Rumbling or not.

 Stray Thoughts

- “I’ll tell Connie! That even as a Titan overturned on her back, his mom is fine as she is!” My goodness this story is dark.

- I have been mercifully absent from fandom developments, so I have no idea if people are still as turnt about the Gabi character as they were when I left. With that said, it’s fun to see some good logical development, just like every adult fan of this series predicted there would be.

- Again, is Kaya being saved by Gabi in a direct parallel to Sasha doing the same a bit on the nose? Quite so. It isn’t good or bad and, honestly, judging by some meta I’ve seen in the past I don’t blame any author for erring on the side of the obvious.

- Have I said this next one before? Who knows? Reviving Erwin on that rooftop instead of Armin wouldn’t have changed much besides short-term strategy. Once the Usurper started down the Dark Path even Commander Handsome would be powerless to stop him.

  126 - Hold the Line

Levi and Hange are on the lamb in the Forest of Big Ass Trees and the set up for this detour is a solid string of pages with Hange building shelter, tending to Levi’s wounds and picking off the new Survey Corps members that have been sent by Floch to find them be cause War is Hell.

This opening stanza is good because it highlights one of my favorite aspects of this character: their resourcefulness. First impressions being what they are lead people to take a throwaway joke about Hange keeping a pet Titan and let it inform one-note headcanons of their entire character. It shouldn’t be said but I will anyway. Hange is a clinical genius with a sharp wit in compliment. Their best skill is problem solving which would explain partially why they work so well with Armin. However, their particular thought process makes the kind of executive planning required from a Commander extremely challenging. Hange is better at devising a plan then receiving the instructions necessary to carry it out, if that makes sense.

Isayama, per usual, doesn’t spend the whole chapter on backtracking. He could have maybe but we do still have a story to get through. Isayama is a good author to study for improving your exposition. He conveys so much information with so little real estate. I still struggle and I’ve been at this for years.

I digress, though. Now we have Theo Magath lifting his gun to a crippled Levi in order to cope with the fact that he is A) stranded and B) not even slightly in control of this hopeless situation. So he listens and it turns out all four of these folk want the same thing, which is Zeke’s head on a platter. A very popular menu item to be fair.

For the uninformed here I am a fan of good dark comedy. This panel right here had me howling. As predicted by [checks notes] everybody, Connie did not have the gumption to callously lead this innocent child to their death. In one last effort to preserve his own conscience he explains that his Titanized mother who has been stranded for four years needs to be cleaned. Like you do. Every little detail eight down to his face when he thinks Falco has him made is so well done.

Of course, Armin and Gabi show up just in time. Armin, still haunted by Levi’s choice to save him, makes a bet on Connie’s bond with his squad that he did not seem overly confident in being correct on. Can’t truly call yourself a 104th alum until you’ve accepted your own untimely death.

 Skipping ahead a bit now. Floch is very busy being The Worst and if there hasn’t been a better collection of panels to illustrate the moral of the story. Yelena and Onyankapon have been lined up and are set to be publicly executed for their “crimes” against Eldia. The notable bit here for me is the way Isayama depicted the spectators. The have gnarled, twisted visages, some of them literally frothing at the mouth. You see, because extremist nationalism is bad and racism makes you ugly in every sense of the word.

Jean is tasked with gunning down Onyankapon but fires four rounds into the ground instead. This begins a series of Hashtag Machinations that will no doubt become clearer as the story unfolds. Jean and the two POWs escape in the Cart Titan’s mouth and the rest of the 104th leaves to collect Reiner and try to (somehow) stop Eren.

They had to try. Even at the cost of their own security it is difficult to agree with mass genocide. Having Annie on the team will be interesting as she and Eren were close. What’s left for me to wonder is how they plan to reach Eren, physically or otherwise, while he’s like…that. Every month more questions for each answer but after a decade you get used to it.

 Stray Thoughts

- Pieck’s surname is Finger? Or is this some Hange headcanon?

- We know Isayama is a big GoT fan. Apologies if this take has appeared elsewhere but an Ackerman keeping their promise seems to be his version of a Lannister paying their debt.

- Years after his death, the spirit of Erwin lives on in these characters. For some, it inspires strength; for others, only guilt.

- I’ve gone back to the interaction between Mikasa and Louise several times to try and get between the lines. Mikasa asking for her scarf back seems self-explanatory since it’s hers but Eren telling the girl to “throw it away” intrigues me. Seems to me that of all the things he had to give up to walk this path that his relationship with Mikasa is what he mourned the most in that cell.

- Always a good time to see Jean being a clever boy.

- Hange/Pieck banter is not something I knew I needed until I read this chapter.

- Hange’s fierce protectiveness of Levi makes more sense when you realize that these two are the only ones left of their original squad. The veterans of the military have all been cleared out, some more violently than others.

- It’s all but stated outright that Ackermans are part Titan. Goes a long way to explain their freakish strength and athleticism and their durability. Evidenced by the fact that Levi was apparently further from death than Zeke after the latter blew them both up.

[roxannepolice]

I’m curious on what you think balancing would actually mean. I always get get caught up on the light = good and dark = evil dichotomy. George Lucas has said you need both for the Force, but that kinda rubs me wrong way if Light and Dark are good and evil. I don’t know it’s like saying evil is necessary. I guess that why I think the Dark isn’t necessarily evil, but of darker feelings/emotions that those with evil intent like to use. -Wanderingspacedragon

Alright, so this grew into a longish meta that ended up exceeding the confines of GFFA and touching upon real world philosophy. But, I guess this is what Lucas asked for when he first came up with the force. So here goes nothin'.

Master Carl-Gus Jungobi's wisdoms

First of all, reaching to LF themselves, Brian Young defines light as the suppression of ego and dark as its amplification. So far so good. However, from jungist perspective (and a nice intruduction to how C. G. Jung fits into GFFA as well as mythology in general done by crash course can be found here) any juxtaposition like day-night, sun-moon, angel-demon, heaven-hell also quicksilver and sulphur but that's a different level of symbolism are all metaphors of conscious and unconscious. Conscious mind is a socialized, clear and immersed in the norms of the community while the unconscious is individual, animalistic and shapeless - and imo, that's rather simple to reconcile with what Young wrote on twitter. Existing only on the level of consciousness always puts the community before the individual whereas being guided only by our unconscious reduces the outside world to the level of tools to satisfy our needs. Because of that, Jung points out that unconscious has been throughout the ages identified as evil (this is why those needs had to be repressed in the first place, hence producing the shadow archetype in the unconscious), which leads us to some really intriguing topics.

Because the question of nature, cause, purpose and possible necessity of evil is nothing short of one of the most important questions of any religion and moral philosophy - and it seems well into 8th millennium we're nowhere closer to a definite answer. The statement good and evil are abstract concepts tends to cause very negative reactions, because it appears like denial of their reality, but I think it's misunderstanding of what an abstraction is. When I say numbers are abstract concepts, the matter seems clear - there is no independently existing number two, yet it exists in the sense of quantity - but no one seems to protest that I don't believe in maths or sth. There's an anecdote about Einstein's student years where he compared good and evil not to binary opposites, but rather to temperature. We simplify the issue to the point of warm and cold, but is there some absolute border between them? What is the polar opposite of -1°C, +1° or +30°? There exists an absolute zero, at which all atom movement ceases, but is there an absolute plus? But even though there is no physical impossibility of life in too hot surroundings, like there is in the case of absolute zero, yet we earthlings feel extreme warmth isn't that good either, don't we? And then there's a matter of subjective experience - someone living in Siberia has different ideas of warm and cold than someone living in the rainforest - but it doesn't change the fact that objectively speaking 20°C is warmer than 9°C and both of these people will recognize it. So regardless of whether it was Einstein who made this comparison, I think it's a pretty good metaphor.

Leaving philosophy and coming back to psychology, the basic point that Jung makes about conscious and unconscious is that individualized, integrated self needs them both in order to lead a creative, meaningful life. Either of them alone limits the person, the unconscious to the purely biological life, fulfillment of one's wants, but conscious to the self repeating sustenance. Arguably, life on the purely conscious level (in pure light, so to speak) is a safer, better choice - but it results in changelessness, in mindless recreation. Yes, it's not as selfishly destructive as that of pure unconscious, but it's an unproductive as life of Adam and Eve in Eden, arid like Tatooine and Jakku and, at worst, dogmatic like the prequel jedi. Both conscious and unconscious are infertile when kept strictly separated, hence the ever present symbols of female and male - and marriage as a metaphor of integration. Now, the important point is that the integration has to be on conditions, so to speak, of the conscious - but unconscious has to be accepted for what it is, it can't be forced to become overall conscious, only this way the shapeless mass of our imagination can keep its vital powers.

Mircea Eliade, an intellectual: holy marriage and coniunctio oppositorum; me, a fangirl: smut hut and thigh grab

Using the jungist metaphor, the general story we hitherto got in SW presents itself as follows: we start off in strict consciousness repressing the unconscious (jedi fighting siths in every form) - and so it finally got itself a psychotic flooding of the psyche with the unconscious content (a nigredo, blackening, using alchemical terminology Jung studied) in form of Anakin’s fall into his shadow persona of Darth Vader and republic becoming the empire. Jung would venture as far as to say that a psychotic episode is necessary to the growth, though I would argue that's mostly because he lived in very repressive times. Regardless, the first flooding of the unconscious is almost always depicted as violent and terrifying, with one of the most visual metaphors being a total eclipse when the moon blanks out the sun completely.

Thus, the originals are basically the painstaking process of the psyche overcoming the psychotic episode and consciousness regaining control. One might argue that the individuation process is actually completed on the individual level - Luke appears to have accepted Darth Anakin for what he is, and thus integrated his own shadow as well - which is why old EU would have Leia accept her father too, eventually, and for some the sequels are straight up redundant rehash of the originals. Far from thinking the bottom line wasn't that DLF want to make money, the apparent narration fits pretty well with the idea of re-repression: the shadow isn't integrated, ex-imperials are banished and the Skywalkers accept Anakin only by rejecting Vader - and so nigredo repeats itself, and will continue to repeat until the shadow is integrated. Additionally, it can be argued that Luke committed a mistake of thinking the individuation is a static goal and as such refused to reenter the spontaneous life (refusal to rebuild the jedi until it was really necessary). This is a frequent temptation and if it rings a bell with a difference between a buddha and a bodhisattva, bingo - buddha was considered by Jung one of the metaphors of the integrated self.

Which brings us to our current holy marriage and where they left off at the end of tlj. Viewing Rey and Ben as avatars of light (conscious, communitarian, idealistic) and dark (unconscious, individual, emotional) makes much more sense than when we view them as plain good vs. evil. Now, while no one seems to have any problems grasping the problem with Ben's actions (integration on unconsciousness’ condition is simply another nigredo), from a psychoanalytic viewpoint Rey isn't that much more in the right. She isn't willing to integrate the shadowy unconscious, only wants the unconscious to become conscious, if not downright negates the existence of the shadow (yeah, she’ll cross the galaxy to help Ben turn - only she never asked if he even wants to turn). So while most reylos want to see her as determined to wait for Ben and an/is as having given up on him completely, I would say her current state is closest to Luke's then my father is truly dead in RotJ. She isn't determined to save him in as much as do the right thing and it's likelier to mean sparing him. That being said, she needs to undergo her own violent nigredo if she is to accept him the way Luke accepted Vader by the time he threw away the ls.

*Aggressively hums Hans Zimmer's 503*

An interesting side reflection occured to me while writing this answer and thinking of how abstract ideas of good and evil get framed by different moral philosophies and religions (to get something straight: I analyze religions from a purely social/cultural sciences pov, so I'm not evaluating them in any way - and regardless, Jung saw all religions are basically metaphors of individuation. I'm also not arguing what is Lucas's preferred interpretation of the force - I'm just discussing the discourse within the trilogies). So I think the force has always had strong vibes of some form of divinity ever since it was first discussed by Obi-Wan and then by Yoda. However, it appears to me the conceptualization of it, as well as its two sides, has altered throughout the subsequent trilogies, counting OT, PT, ST.

In the originals the vibes are definitely closest to East Asia’s religions/moral philosophies, with main connotations being dao and yin-yang. There isn't much talk of force having a will of its own but rather being a general flow of reality that one can be attuned to or not - Luke's compassion for Vader isn't shown as qualitatively more correct, more of what the force wants, than Yoda's and Obi-Wan's condemnation. The prequels are much more Mediterranean/Middle East in tone, with Anakin's fall being framed as a greek tragedy but also force being shown as having a much more concrete will, definite plan for the galaxy and directly interfering in the history. This constitutes what Mircea Eliade considers the crucial feature of judeo-christian-islamic tradition: God has a will similar to human and a linear plan for humanity. And because of that I'd say the prequels are very First Testament in tone. There's absolutely no way to prove that destruction of the jedi, including the youngling massacre, wasn't a part of Anakin's purpose in bringing balance to the force - and when we look at the First Testament then we get passages like the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, egyptian plagues (including death of the first borns!) or the Book of Job. None of this disproves God's benevolence, but destruction is a frequent part of God's plan.

In contrast the sequels (and Disney era in general) got very close to the New Testament and christian theology. Light and dark are no longer equal elements of the universe, just as God and satan aren't equal opponents, there would be no evil if Lucifer hasn't rebelled, force is its light side and dark an aberration, so to speak. Rey and Kylo Ben are framed as equally powerful, but the force prefers her because of her allegiance to the light. The downsides are that trusting the force and keeping up hope (faith and hope being two of the three theological virtues) are themes brought up ad nauseam and the public plot is infuriatingly predictable - angels are going to win no matter how numerous and technologically advanced the halls of hell get. There is no Battle of Evermore in christianity, there's only the Last Judgment, so the only interesting battlefield is each individual soul. The upside is Prodigal Sons, Lost Sheep and Adulterous Women galore - as well as despair understood as loss of faith in God's mercy and possibility of one's salvation as one of the sins capable of forfeiting the soul.

But anyway, the bottom line of this prolonged rambling (what can I say, I could deliberate on the dichotomies of the force for ages) is that light and dark side symbolise conscious and unconscious and the balance means integration of the self. It definitely fits into the jungist reading and would give this trilogy a narrative value.

Though obviously, this topic wouldn't be so interesting if there was a definite answer.

[aur0raaura]

Sonic Forces - Avatar Stage Music Analysis

Hello everyone! It’s Aura aka KthTheArtist with a little something I thought of since Aqua Road came out. I’m pretty sure everyone knows about this little detail but I want to explain it in the clearest way possible- and throw my own little interpretations!

So, let’s tackle the music of the character we control as and how it conveys their thoughts and opinions through it! The Avatar may be silent, but they have more than one way to communicate!

Firstly, let’s go with Park Avenue. It’s pretty much the first level we’ll be playing as our Avatar. A lot of things are happening in this first level of the whole game. The whole city’s on fire (haha-) and a huge army of Eggman’s robots is destroying everything in it’s path. But according to this song, our Avatar is quite determined and focused on their mission.

Take on the enemy, strike them down

We can’t let evil win, take them out

This is justice, this is what’s right

Take on the enemy, mess them up

And bring them to their knees, do your stuff

Time for justice, time to go fight

With what I said before, hearing the male voice singing these lyrics sound as if someone (you could say Knuckles) giving orders. “Mess them up”/”bring them to their knees” kinda sound like something the Echidna would say. The Avatar knows what to do and knows that this is the right thing to do, so they blast through it all!

Destiny lies before you

I believe we have the power

Can you see the horizon?

Victory’s for the taking!

Now for the female vocals (I know these by heart). I personally think this the Avatar’s thoughts. They have this strong feeling of hope the certainty that with these heroes we’ve heard through all of these years alongside the huge resistance formed with a multitude of...mobians(?) (let’s go with that) just like you (maybe younger or older than you) will grant that victory you desire for so long after Eggman took over practically everything!

This song is a perfect way to convey the feelings of being in a war for the first time and being involved in something you’d usually hear in the news or among friends.

Now we move to Aqua Road, the most recent addition of the series of songs the official Sonic channel has been uploading. IMO, this is my absolute favorite song compared to the other ones released so far. It’s such a hypnotizing melody that got me really addicted to it. So- let’s start with some background. Thanks to the official channel, we have at least an idea on the mood in this level

Hidden in the mystic jungles set ablaze from warfare, the rookie discovers a myriad of twisting flumes of water. Can they navigate through the warped wet works to reach the depths of the jungle?

This level is completely new to us. We don’t know how the level is like except for an image and a small bit in the Infinite trailer (yes, he appears in this area). We don’t know what has happened before this level but maybe the Avatar (through the song) can tell us some clues!

Moonlight all around (my eyes are shining) Shadows on the ground (my mind is flying) Will there ever be an end? (There is no defining) Forever running from this lunacy;

Just by this first part of the chorus, my mind gets blown away in how dream-like yet desperate this sounds. By the visuals and the lyrics, they’re (of course) at night, running around and dodging anything that can harm them along the way. They know that there’s a war still going around, no matter the time of day. The use of lunacy (not only following the moon/night theme) surprises me because of the two meanings it holds:

“the state of being a lunatic; insanity”

“extreme folly or eccentricity.”

It can go either way and it would still fit. They could be more reckless and more crazy in terms of their actions. Emphasising on the whole “desperate situation” motif you can hear in these lyrics. I don’t know about you, but if I learned something in psychology class, it would be the fact that war is something quite strong for your mind to handle. Especially if you’re new to this sort of thing.

Moonlight coming down (my hope igniting) Gleaming through the clouds (my thoughts colliding) Will I never see the end? (just keep surviving) Forever searching for my destiny;

While repeating and reminding us that we’re in the middle of a nocturnal battle, you still realize that they have hope still shining despite being in this difficult situation. Like the moonlight gleaming through the clouds. “My thoughts colliding” is probably the follow up of them fighting their hopelessness in the moment against their more determined self from back then in Park Avenue. They end up getting more anxious and being the opposite of what they were in the beginning of the game.

Battlefield, Illuminated, Where we'll be when it's over Can you see?

After an epic melody, they describe more their surroundings and their anxiety. The “Can you see?” loops back to the chorus in the beginning, I guess symbolizing the loop of their despair in whatever happened in that point in the story. It must have been quite bad if the lyric before it said “Where we’ll be when it’s over”. They’ve clearly lost a huge amount of faith in their victory.They are a shadow of what they were once in the start.

Concluding this analysis, I am aware that there are more songs that were showcased in TGS but, I think I should wait for a higher quality version of them...or when the game comes out and maybe analyse them (I know I’ll buy the soundtrack!). My hat is off to Ohtani-san for being such a brilliant composer in Forces. As I wrote this, I blew my own mind on how well these songs fit in the mood of the game, and I’m sure that when I get Forces, I think I will be even more surprised.

Hope you all enjoyed this lil’ analysis and made you all understand the hidden story details (probably other people pointed out) in the songs.

See ya!

[disneydreamlights]

So, the finale would involve the Player and their four Dandelion friends realizing that they're in the Unchained State after eavesdropping on Maleficent and Pete conversing in either Enchanted Dominion or Hollow Bastion (I might just leave out Hollow Bastion unless I make it about rebuilding Radiant Garden). And then form a plan to escape. There'd then be a multiplayer Story Battle unlocked on the cliff overlooking Daybreak Town. It would pit the Player against Pete.

Pete would be a Power Type enemy, with a Counter that buffs his defense whenever it's depleted. Your friends would be busy holding off the Heartless, while Neoshadows would occasionally join the battle due to Pete having an open Corridor of Darkness right next to him. It is a Multiplayer Battle. Defeating him triggers a Cutscene where the Player and their friends enter the Corridor of Darkness he was using, showing Daybreak Town's title card for the second time, signifying that you won't return.

Clearing that battle would drop the Player off into the Dark Corridor Trials Lobby, where a Story Battle now rests in the room's halfway point. Much like before, this Story Battle is multiplayer. It's actually a boss rush, with you teaming up with each of your friends to fight a Wretched Witch, Large Snowman, Ferocious Fin, and Mean Maiden. For plot reasons, you wouldn't activate the light bangles.

So uh, remember when I mentioned that Ephemer would go kinda off the deep end? Basically, Ephemer, Skuld, and Brain would all show up, with your four friends getting expelled from the Corridor of Darkness to be rebrainwashed. The Player, however, would break free and call them out for brainwashing them, and, when Ephemer says that it's for the greater good, the Player would say "Oh, you mean like how you killed Ven 'for the greater good'". Cue boss fight with all three Union Leaders.

Ephemer would be a Magic Type (because he was nearly defeated by a Speed Type Invisible when you first met him), Skuld a Speed Type, and Brain a Power Type. Ephemer would use his turn to revive Brain when he's defeated, Brain use his turn to revive Skuld when she's defeated, and Skuld would use her turn to revive Ephemer when he's defeated. They wouldn't recover a lot of HP when revived, but you'd still have to defeat all three of them in the same turn in order to end the battle for real.

Gonna break up the asks here. Answering this, then putting it under a read more.

Wow, last trip to Daybreak Town. A part of me wonders if this would be gameplay/story segregation or if after reaching this point in the story the player would no longer be allowed to return to Daybreak Town or any previous locations in the game. Granted this is supposed to be an MMO so it’d be difficult if you’re way farther in the story than your friends and party members, but it’d still be wild to no longer be able to visit Daybreak Town.

You know this only just hit me but I sincerely hope Ephemera returns to normal because I love him and we’re already putting one of my unproblematic favs through a lot of shit, putting two of them through shit is harsh too. ;w;

Boss battle sounds like a pain in the ass though. I mean granted I use mostly hit alls on my best Keyblade anyways but the idea of “You can’t use light bangles” implies that Guilt/Light version of Guilt is unusable and that’s the only reason my Lady Luck is so good.

In case your wondering, the Player's motivation for wanting to escape would be that they want to warn the worlds of Maleficent's upcoming invasion. They know they don't stand a chance against Realeficent (to distinguish her from the Holoficent the Player destroyed), because this version of Maleficent has had the chance to grow stronger than her counterpart. Ephemer's main concern would be rescuing and rebrainwashing the Dandelions so they can replace the Worlds whenever they're destroyed.

Replace the worlds? Basically you mean recreate holograms of them and such?

So, after defeating the Dandelion Trio, the player runs deeper into the Realm of Darkness. As soon as they're gone, Maleficent arrives on the scene and captures the weakened Union Leaders, remarking on how they'll make fine additions to her army. The Dark Realm Title would then appear. We then see the player arrive at the End of the World, complete with title, with Chirithy saying that there's no time to go back for the others, you'll have to work with your remaining friends to escape.

So, all the enemies outside of the World Terminus in the End of the World would be Nightmares. Inside the World Terminus, you'd visit post-apocalyptic versions of the Worlds from the game, in the same order we watched them disappear in the credits, with Daybreak Town being a burnt out husk of its former self. The enemies would be the Heartless from those Worlds. The Story Quests would require you to defeat 13 Heartless and 1 Raid Boss in each ruined World. It would all lead to a Story Battle.

You can only save those four and I guess the Union Leaders since you’re going to rescue them? Honestly that’s real sad. But damn good shit bringing back World Terminus since it’s like my favorite part of End of the World. 

Daybreak Town honestly sounds terrifying, it makes sense that it’d be destroyed like that but it still sounds depressing to see such an adorable town destroyed like that.

The Story Battle would be called "Case of Super" and be the FINAL Multiplayer Story Battle. The Player would be greeted by the Master of Masters (whom had up till now perioidically shown up to mess with the Player's head similar to the True Organization in DDD), who'd sarcastically congratulate you for falling right into his trap. He'd then reveal why he created Nightmare Chirithy, to motivate you into going into the Keyblade War, so he could use the repressed trauma to destroy your heart.

The MoM would then tell you your role in his plan, supply Guilt for Nightmare Chirithy to use to become a Nightmare and sow discord between the Foretellers, to set Strelitzia up to die by refusing to join the Dandelion, to destroy the World using the X-blade (the Player's Keyblade would transform into it after the Foreteller boss rush, with Ephemer pulling you into the Unchained State being what caused it to explode), and to become the is own Avatar in the Realm of Light.

The MoM, after piling all this guilt onto the Player, would finally introduce himself "Well, in case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm the one known as the Master of Masters, but you can call me X-Super." Then, cue final multiplayer boss fight. X-Super's attribute would be whatever your Foreteller is weak to. He'd be Magic type in Unicornis and Ursus, Speed type in Anguis and Vulpes, and Power type in Leopardos. He'd attack using copies of the Foretellers' and Luxu's Keyblades.

X-Super’s kinda a dumb name. I know it’s tied to pride so it works with the Seven Deadly Sins and it’s probably just what he’s calling himself but that doesn’t mean I have to like the name. XD

Jeez, MoM is definitely insane though. I wouldn’t put it passed him to have set up everything, including the Nightmare Chirithy well in advance, but that doesn’t make him any less insane, so I mean...

When the MoM is defeated, the Player would suddenly start experiencing the same tiredness that Sora did in DDD. The MoM would then reveal the truth, everything after your battle with the Union Leaders was all in your head. You escaped the Unchained State, but you never woke up. And now, in fighting the fake MoM Nightmare Chirithy planted in your head, you've unintentionally opened the floodgates to let out all that repressed darkness, so the REAL MoM can use you as his avatar in the real world.

Luckily for the Player, the MoM isn't the only hooded figure in the Unchained State. Earlier story moments would reveal that there's a second hooded figure working against Maleficent. This hooded figure would be revealed to be Luxu in this one moment, as he sends the MoM away (the MoM not knowing that Luxu had ascended to the Unchained State), and sends the Player's unconscious body towards the Land of Departure, which would be added in the final month of service.

The Land of Departure would be represented as a Story Battle on the World Map, and you'd have to spend AP in order to enter it. The cutscenes for the Land of Departure would reveal that the Player has been laying there trapped in a Nightmare, with Terra, Aqua, and Ven doing what they can to keep them alive while Vanitas fetches Sora (Strelitzia would be absent). Sora would use the power of awakening to send Chirithy and the Pet into the Player's heart since he can't enter himself.

The final boss of the entire MMO would be Nightmare Chirithy. The Player would first fight the same boss they did back in Unchained X, with a few extra attacks. After defeating that, Nightmare Chirithy would morph into Phantom Chirithy, which is basically a Raid Boss. It's hands would be the other two types that it's head isn't, and give it two extra attacks. Chirithy would be your NPC helper, either buffing your or debuffing the Nightmare. Your Pet would eat Nightmare Chirithy after it's beaten

Ooooooh, okay, so this is like the “Hey were closing it down get ready for the grand finale” type thing where you’re not supposed to return really after playing it. Obviously they’d probably do a gameplay story integration thing then, and if you ask me I think it should be within the last week of service, because if it happened before this, then there would be some segregation between story and gameplay and honestly that’s kinda dumb at this point. This is the last thing the players should play in KHUx. Finishing it should basically lock you out of the game because game over. It honestly feels like it should be some kind of concluding fanfare except locking it to one time is unfair, but there’s no furthering to the story after this. This is it, and there’s no point in continuing to let people play imo if you’re shutting down soon unless there’s more events coming around the corner. (I just really like big fanfare finales to things. Like I think everything described right now should be the final month of service.)

Silly end to Nightmare Chirithy, but given the super cutesy art style of the entire game it kinda makes sense that there wouldn’t be some kind of super intense ending to the game, even with all the intense stuff beforehand. Or at least it makes sense to me there wouldn’t be.

[markoftheasphodel]

Not-So-Brief thoughts on the FE Power Couple (+1) in the wake of FE15:

I have shared my thoughts on this before but with FE15 out, here we go again. While not really an archetype, the Happy Power Couple is one of my favorite recurring motifs in Fire Emblem. I used to call ‘em Pre-Promote Power Couples but they’re not necessarily 100% pre-promotes. Power Couples often come with a third wheel, either a wingman sort of adult friend or tagalong kiddo. Power Couples actually tend to be POWER couples, and their presence in the hero’s army adds some luster or even legitimacy to the hero, who may be from a middling state (Altea, Pherae) or raised in a humble village away from the levers of power. Here’s a brief rundown of Power Couples I like and their assorted Plus Ones:

Note: playable characters only. No Hilda/Bloom or whatnot, sorry. Expect character-relevant spoilers for FE15 and everything prior.

Marth Saga: 

Power Couple: Midia and Astram. Plus One: Jeorge. The original pre-promote power couple; Midia is a highborn paladin serving Princess Nyna and Astram is her dumbass boyfriend (sorry, he is). They are VERY much in love. Meanwhile wingman Jeorge is Midia’s fellow noble and was supposed to marry her except Astram happened but Jeorge seems totes OK with that. They all hang out after the war together in Jeorge’s Rangers, kind of a freelance Justice League outside King Marth’s actual chain of command. All three got a lot of development in FE12 plus Midia and Astram got commemorated with their own expies (see below). Jeorge meanwhile founded not one but two expy lines of his own, the gameplay&storyline Snarky Sniper/Asshole Sniper and the storyline Wandering Noble.

Jugdral Saga:

FE4 Power Couple: Quan and Ethlyn. Plus One: Finn. So bound together they arrive as a trio. Quan’s the only pre-promote here, but he and Ethlyn are canon-married with one kid apparently extant and another arriving in a few years, and Finn in this case is Quan’s apprentice, which gives Quan the chance to do one of the most consequential mentoring jobs in Fire Emblem history. All three of them are among the very first characters in the franchise to have plot armor; if either Quan or Ethlyn gets KO’d as a playable character, the other retreats with them. They’re a package deal. Quan and Ethlyn come to a bad end but they had fun while it lasted, and then Finn gets to spend the next two decades taking care of their son and upholding their legacy.

FE5 Power Couple: Selphina and Glade. Plus One: Finn, again. Another couple who arrive canon-married, with Glade in this case the pre-promote. Selphina is a bow knight, the daughter of old-guard Leonster noble count Dorias, and mentors quite a few younger knights including standout unit Carrion. Glade is apparently low-born (seen this cited a lot, never seen it with my own eyes) but was one of the most talented young knights of Leonster’s pre-apocalypse trainee pool. Anyway, dude married up. He’s also Finn’s BFF and essentially written as a foil to Finn, who fits uneasily in the mix thanks to some weird tension with Selphina. Double dates are hard when your wife is a lawn ornament. Glade becomes the Great General of the new Thracia after the war and turns it into an innovative war machine. Selphina steps down from her position as a knight to care for orphans, becoming the legendary “Mother of Thracia.” Not bad for the Least Loved Character in FE History ™ and his bride.

Elibe Saga:

FE6 Power Couple: Zelot and Juno. Married pre-promotes with a newborn daughter. Zelot (Lord of Edessa) leads the Ilian mercenaries, Juno used to be an Ilian squad leader. After the war Zelot becomes Ilia’s first king while Juno retires from public life and is proclaimed Grand Flightleader only in death. Note this “retires from public life” thing is gonna be, well, A Thing. Anyway, they don’t have a specific Plus One that I see; Juno has two younger sisters in Shanna and Thea, with whom Zelot supports. Zelot also supports junior knights Treck and Noah; Noah’s conversation line is the more substantial of the two IMO but then again I think out of the FE6 gang Noah comes closest to the sort of “Baby Cavalier” role who often gets mentoring from a senior unit (see: kiddo!Finn and Carrion above). 

FE7 Power Couple: Isadora and Harken. Pre-promotes engaged to marry. Obvious expies of Midia and Astram except not happy. They’re both knights of Pherae, Harken’s REALLY messed up, and unlike all previous examples who are fixed canon they only actually do marry if they reach an A-support in the game. If they don’t reach A-support Isadora can instead fall in love with the Black Fang member Legault, which does NOT end well, or she can A-support with Renault and eventually enter the clergy.

FE7 Power Couple: Pent and Louise. Plus One: Erk. Ah, back to normal. Canon-married pre-promotes with an apprentice along for the ride and a baby on the way. Pent’s the Mage General of Etruria who adds some real luster to Eliwood’s oddball army. They’re deeply in love tho there are signs Pent’s a little too distracted to be the world’s best husband. Since FE7 is the prequel to FE6 and their kids Klein and Clarine are running around in FE6, they have “retreat” scenes VERY similar to the ones used by Quan and Ethlyn if they get KO’d. On the other hand apprentice Erk has no FE6 presence and thus either is of little consequence or meets a very bad end, and Pent is succeeded as Mage General by Cecilia, who ain’t in FE7. 

Magvel Saga:

As though to compensate for FE7, the small and tight-knit cast of FE8 has no canon-marrieds or canon-engaged adults. You can opt into Gerik/Tethys and Tethys comes along with her irrepressible little bro Ewan, so there’s your Plus One if you want it, but they don’t really add any authority to the dream team of royal heirs that Eirika and Ephraim have assembled to take on the Demon King. 

Tellius Saga:

I haven’t finished either of these games so I’ve seen arguments for Calil/Largo that are pretty compelling and also I’ve had friends put in a word for Lucia/Bastian. Lucia/Bastian would fit the pattern nicely ‘cause they’re pre-promotes who, like all their predecessors, are VERY well-connected and influential people and they have a definite Plus One in the form of Lucia’s brother Geoffrey, but apparently their torrid affair only comes out if you A-support them in FE10, which isn’t that easy to do, so eh. Tellius mixed up a lot of patterns anyway, like in not handing you the Xmas Cavs as a set. YMMV.

Ylisse Saga:

No canon marrieds we’re all here to bang the Avatar, right? But dueling Khans of Ferox Basilio and Flavia are pre-promotes with a wonderful dynamic and you could view them as a platonic version of the pattern. Their Plus One is all too likely to be you, the player. 

Fateslandia Saga:

Didn’t play it but there’s an Avatar involved so nobody’s canon-married.

Valentia Saga:

Power Couple: Mathilda and Clive. Plus One: Lukas, although Forsyth is jumping around & waving his hand going PICK ME SIR CLIVE! Mathilda and Clive were a thing from the get-go in FE2; Mathilda as a beloved and legendary paladin echoed Midia, while Clive as a cavalier seemed a little less illustrious than his future bride. Then surprise, he leads the knighthood post-game while she retires from public life (AGAIN)… unless Clive dies, in which case beautiful and tragic Mathilda leads the knights. Got it? Anyway, FE15 keeps both Mathilda’s legendary awesomeness (as a founder of the Deliverance) and her “good” ending away from the public eye intact while building up Clive a great deal more. This golden couple has a slew of potential Plus Ones vying for their attention– Clive’s sister Clair, their friend Fernand, Clive’s lieutenant Forsyth– but all of those three have something else going on (boys, betrayal, Python) in their lives whereas Lukas, as Clive’s most trusted advisor and the guy on whom Clive offloads his emotional burdens per Rise of the Deliverance, appears to be the actual wingman here. The support chain between Clive and Lukas is more of a mentoring opportunity gone sideways, though, and if Clive kicks the bucket and leaves Mathilda in charge of the knights, it’s Forsyth carrying the torch for him ever after.