#m: speculation

[dunmeshistash]

Is it known what the limits on the demon's power are? Like sometimes I think it's only keeping its word/deal just to gain trust or even 'cuz it's funny. It lies about how much agency it has. Can it take away something wished for? If a wish is deeply held enough does it have no choice but to grant it? Can it only eat the desires of demon lords, or is everyone at risk? How was it imprisoned in dungeons (a carelessly granted wish?)?

Not that many "hard facts" about the demon are known, we get a few explanations about how it works until we get it from the source but he's not really the most reliable narrator nor does he go into much detail.

From the way he acts I do think he really can only act while granting wishes tho, or else he wouldn't have played along for so long before escaping nor needed to manipulate Laios into giving him his body. (chapter 90)

I think he works in a similar way to a genie that grants wishes but distorts them into awful things? But instead of twisting your wishes into a punishment he twists it into something that would benefit him, or maybe some of the distortion is just because he doesn't really understands humans. He needs someone that would wish for what he needs in the first place tho, like Laios was special because he *would* wish to give up his human form and Marcille was special because she *would* wish to break into the surface and have it all be under the demon's influence.

I don't think he can just take away a wish he has granted either. Even when the wish is the complete opposite of what he wants he still needs to grant it, like when a dungeon lord wished to destroy everything inside the dungeon. It was clearly something the demon didn't want but he had to grant it. (chapter 86)

Now if he can only grant the wishes of dungeon lords I believe is a limitation from when dungeons were created in the first place, perhaps so he would only grant the wishes of one person? And it seems like granting them wishes allows him to consume them? Or maybe it makes them tastier.

If he could do it to the other people inside the dungeon he would have just eaten everyone's desire to resist but once he escaped the dungeon his powers seemed to have no longer been restricted. (From the Demon Monster tidbits, chapter 87 and 90)

How they imprisoned him is never specified but he was always granting wishes so it might have been one, unclear if he could have denied the wish even if he noticed what it would mean.

[greatwyrmgold]

I wonder what MayoPan's fans (MayoFans?) thought when Masaki said this onstream. Did they think it was an extension of that dumb vampire gimmick MayoPan made up for this weird livestream? Or did they think Masaki and Live made an agreement where Live would eat Masaki out after reaching a million subscribers, and then blurted that out in public?

Either way, the Masakichi haters are gonna call her a whore. Internet hate mobs are predictable that way.

[quibbs126]

Hey wait, Burning Spice’s axe has a four point star gem

How do I make this about Dark Choco

[painted-doe]

i have 2 thoughts for where they might go for bucky in thunderbolts. 1 - he's spying on / working for val, and somehow she blackmails him / brainwashes him to work for her (and she's associated with hydra so she gives him the old equipment. or just to torment him). 2 - bucky is now working for the sort of bad guys because he was never a good guy etc etc. which i worry is the route they may take due to tfatws seeming to act like he chose to work for hydra. but im hoping for 1 bc the angst potential is delicious.

anyway i was wondering if you had any thoughts / predictions?

If it’s brainwashing, I’ll bathe happily in the delicious angst (revictimization, my beloved) but beyond that I’ll be pretty disappointed by the backtracking of Bucky’s progress and the abandonment of his narrative arc. Then again, they could handle it exceptionally well if they make it an opportunity to show how far he’s come. Hmmm… I’m on the fence.

If it’s Bucky’s choice to work for Val because he’s a Bad Guy deep down, I’ll bet that it’ll be the last damn film we see him in, because Sebastian Stan is the president of the Bucky Barnes Defense Squad and ten bucks says he’d be so pissed about this shitty writing choice that he’d advocate for Bucky to be killed off.

I think the most narratively sound option, and my personal hope, is that he’s working for Val because she secretly has the Wilsons under threat. Could be that she’s threatening to derail Sam’s career as Cap, or it could just be the prospect of good old child murder. She’s flexible like that! This would build really nicely upon the relationships and characterization established in TFATWS as well as being perfectly in-character for Bucky, whose loyalty and protectiveness of his loved ones are his defining traits. He’ll go to any lengths to protect the Wilsons, so if Val wants the keys to a shiny new supersoldier? Voila, there they are.

What do you think?

[dougielombax]

I wonder what the largest shellfish is?

Edit: Okay this post is getting a LOT of traction. What is going on?

Edit: Fucking hell.

This post has set off a fucking MINEFIELD!!!

What have I DONE????!!!!!

I’ve lit the blue touch paper and found there’s nowhere to run to!

I’ve summoned a wolf only to unleash a tiger!!!!! Made of fire! And nails.

Probably….

Idk.

Edit 2: 5,000 Notes! Good god! What the HELL do you want from me. I’ve never had a post of mine take off like this until now.

Some got close like the one about homeowner associations (fucking powertripping middle aged mediocrities!) which got at least 1.5k notes but this is the most I’ve gotten on a single post so far.

Anyway.

AND this post has officially gone to hell. (6,666 notes)

Edit: 8,000 notes! Holy shit!

Edit: 9,000 notes!!!

Edit: 10,000 notes!!!!!!!!!

Edit: 15,000 notes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: 20,000 Notes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHO THE HELL TURNED OFF THE REPLY THREAD FOR THE REBLOGS?!

Okay never mind it’s back. For now at least.

Anyway.

[spicyviren]

Thinking about how Rayla originally said the Key was just a child’s toy and now wondering if the Key was originally simply a toy Aaravos made for Leola when she was younger (like children’s blocks) and then later repurposed for the book he was working on which, perhaps, he meant to pass on to her when she was old enough.

[threeletterepithet]

So...

if you look to the left of Solas starting from 20:05 in the trailer, there's a background event. Someone lying prone has a glowing piece of fade stuff that's spitting sparks and seems to be on top of, or in, their chest.

Frame 1: Prone is staring at the sky.

Frame 2: Prone begins to look down at their chest.

Frame 3: Prone gets their head as high as they can.

Frame 4: Prone's head flops back to the ground.

Speculation behind the jump.

Edit: Gif'd it.

I'm pretty sure that's Varric.

Solas needs a narrative reason to begin his heel-face turn, and Varric's had death-flags popping up all over the place. Cue who I think is Ghilan'nain and uh, maybe Falon'Din? accidentally causing Varric's death. They won't give a shit, but Solas will, and he'd be reminded forcibly that the people he locked away deserved far worse than banishment.

Oh, maybe that's how Lace gets magic. She tries to pry the Fade-chunk loose and gets forcibly connected to the Fade.

[thefabulousfab-3]

Do you ever think that the mirror scene is going to happen after Colin has found out about Lady whistledown, when him and pen have reconciled. Then he realizes that all the mean things Whistledown said about her are things she wrote about herself. Then he is going to undress her in front of the mirror and tell her how beautiful she is????? Do you ever think about that????!!!!!

[blood-starved-beast]

Interesting detail but Melinoe never seems to think about Persephone in the game I've noticed. She broods about Hades and Zagreus, but never thinks about her mom all that much. And it's likely cause she doesn't crave a mother figure when she's got one in Hecate right?

So when she tells Hecate so and Hecate rebuffs that so strongly and so vehemently just ugh. Mel's italicized "Oh" afterwards - you can practically feel the heart shatter/psychic damage in that very second. Hecate put her on the spot to think about this woman she has no connection to, hasn't really thought much at all really, and see her as mom as opposed to Hecate, whom she now has confirmation doesn't see her in the maternal way Mel imagined her to be.

And to think Mel blames herself (her existence really) for the schism that led to Chronos taking over the House. God more than Zagreus, I think Melinoe meeting Persephone is going to be fascinating af.

[thecryptidzenith]

Alright. So this episode was great, but in terms of themes & setting the stage for the rest of the story, this line really stands out:

"You feel something. You look, the Night Yorb twinkling. You've spent your whole summer chasing this. You know all the things you've missed. Your whole summer vacation, all of your friends. Some of you had birthdays on the road this adventure, and yeah, there's lots of adventure, but all of you feel a tiredness in your bones knowing that the reward for saving the world yet again will be going back to school and having another year of working just this hard forever."

This monologue from Brennan is the most thematically/foreshadowy thing we get in the episode, and it does set quite the stage. This is a story about exhaustion and the price of adventure. It's a story about what the hells these six people are going to do with the rest of their lives.

Fig releases something at the end of the episode. Some piece of magic that will certainly mean something later. This is how it's described:

"You've been holding onto a piece of magic for a long time... If you take me, you know what you would save. And you smell something sour and curdled."

"There is a flash of light, a kind of lemony yellow creamy light that flashes out over the hangvan."

Pay attention to that word choice. The magic is "sour" and "curdled" and "lemony yellow creamy." Is it reminiscent of anything?

Gilear's connection with yogurt is established pretty early on in Fantasy High, and yogurt in general serves as a symbol for everything that Gilear is. A sad, pathetic adult and A Normal Guy. Brennan is very insistent when reading out Gilear's stats for the first time that he's just a guy! Some people have to be normal!

But our Bad Kids aren't normal. That's the whole point of them. They've saved the world. Falling to Gilear's level is terrifying. It's literally Fabian's nightmare.

From that part of Pirate Brawl:

"You hear a voice behind you" [Gilear!Fabian] "say: 'It's all going to be all right... I know it seems very far off, but there is a way for you to be happy.'"

And of course, the yogurt, the symbol of mediocrity, is here too. "The yogurt curdles in your stomach." Curdles. The same word used to describe the magic coming out of Fig. The yogurt that Fig gives to Fabian while he's having his breakdown in Leviathan is lemon flavored too.

Of course the primary conflict seen in the trailer is about difficulty graduating. That's a normal problem. That's a normal concern for normal people.

The fear of mediocrity can be strong. Especially for people as exceptional as the Bad Kids. But the fear that you'd be happier taking the easier path, that the road less traveled isn't inherently better, that your hardship is for nothing... that's even worse.

The reasonable thing for Fig to be releasing would be the red growth seen on the minis in the trailer. But no. She releases something lemony and creamy and sour and curdled.

[hisbucky]

Buck: I like guys now. Just, you know, letting you know. Eddie: Oh. Um, wow. I'm proud of you, Buck. Buck, pulls Tommy: And this is my boyfriend. Eddie, blinking aggressively: ...What. Tommy: Well this is awkward.

[raayllum]

was musing over again WHY aaravos would need to wait 700+ years in between going to earth, fucking with mages, etc. and like... "storm dragons only lay an egg every thousand years". i'm sure he was wanting to sow chaos and put pieces in place for other things, but... was he waiting for zym?

[funkytrashsuperstructure]

Can I talk about this image from Rivulet's ending for a second?

(edited to add a break because the post is very Long TM)

If Five Pebbles knows that you are delivering the Rarefaction Cell, Moon pulls this message up alongside the dialogue;

"I cannot run away from my mistakes forever; Please understand." Five Pebbles, what have you done… I've been given so much already, and now you've given all you had left.

Based off of Moon's dialogue, this seems to be an inbox of some sort. We can assume that the orange symbol is basically Five Pebbles' profile picture. Which would mean that the pictures to the side are unread messages from other iterators, some more clear than others.

Based on what we know of other iterators, it is probably safe to assume that the green diamonds are No Significant Harassment, while the red sun is, well, Seven Red Suns. We also see that Pebbles' message got greyed out when Moon opened it. Now, this is all well and good for understanding another aspect of how iterator communication works, that being that they can basically send emails to each other. However, that brings up a few questions; one, who the hell is this blue iterator?

This iterator's symbol is a bit different from the rest, seeming to have the third and fourth karma symbol in their profile picture, alongside a diamond in between. There are three possibilities in my mind. I'll go from most likely to least likely:

This is Chasing/Grey Wind, trying to check up on Moon before or after her collapse. This would make sense, based on their dialogue in the pearls.

This is Unparalleled Innocence. Despite being a jerk to Pebbles, perhaps they checked on Moon at some point.

This is Looks to the Moon, sending a message to herself, perhaps in hopes of using the inbox as a secondary form of memory if she is able to access it. The inbox has at least lasted all this time, for as long as the broadcast networks have been down.

My second question would be; what is the content of the messages from Sig and Suns? I believe that, for Sig's messages, they're the broadcasts that we see him send to Moon before her collapse. However, they could also be Sig's attempts to get the slag reset keys to her without needing his messenger to do it.

As for Suns, they could be apologizing to Moon for what had happened. After all, they were indirectly responsible for her collapse.

I suppose my ultimate takeaway from all of this is; I like getting a glimpse at what iterators can do, and how they interface with each other and the world. I also enjoy speculating about trivial things, lol.

Anyways, thank you for reading my ramblings. It means a lot. Now, though, I must return to my work (aka calculus homework :P). Have a good night y'all!

[dunmeshistash]

THISTLE TRANS?

Probably?? I wonder how he's refered to in japanese cause if I'm remembering right they used the wrong pronouns for him too in english cause of his looks?

I'm leaning towards nb Thistle tbh, but I'm not sure how intentional it is, how much is elf gender presentation? Lycion uses pigtails so Thistle's girly hairstyles are on brand with other elf men but the two piece swimsuit can't mean nothing right? Even the other male elves had only bottoms....

Anyway yes, Thistle trans evidence is too strong, canon now (I'm just wondering how much of that is actually on the text, elves are too gender and I don't wanna get my hopes up)

[corvidpolyglot]

I've been seeing a lot of fun predictions for stormlight 5 but I haven't seen a lot of people mentioning the smoking gun that's just been waiting around since book 1:

(1) every major Rosharan city lies within an oddly symmetrical crater (2) there used to be a city where the shattered plains are (3) the cracks in the shattered plains look an awful lot like frequency patterns (like from a tuning fork) (4) frequency and rhythm are really big things on Roshar

I think it's not unlikely that there's a superweapon on Roshar that was capable of just... breaking cities. Possibly one known by the Dawnsingers, possibly one introduced with human arrivals from Ashyn, but definitely something big. And, notably, there is a very important city to the protagonists right now, and we're coming up to the middle point of the overarching plot. It would not be surprising if someone very old (read: a Fused, or possibly the Bondsmith Herald) remembered that there was a superweapon around and decided to use it on Urithiru.

[buildoblivionthenwewilltalk]

whose name is stark