#maybe that represents Rhine

[dkniade]

I’ve always wondered what this cheerful and super upbeat vibe in Contemplation in Snow represents

But while listening to it with my eyes closed and thinking about Albedo just now, I realized:

It represents Klee and her positive influence on him, doesn’t it

(And then Klee’s leitmotif literally shows up at the very end of the track)

[itsagrimm]

Writing Castles and Palaces

Every once in a while I see reverences of castles in writing with stories set there and characters frolicking through castle gardens. As someone growing up in a region with a castle on basically every bigger hill and at every corner, I would like to offer my support how to write stories in Castles and castle-like buildings:

Pick a place

Depending on the region and time the story is set in, the castle and its conditions will look very different. Castles or fortified buildings with some military or representative value are a near global phenomenon. So it's important to think of a place to set the castle in: is it a castle from Europe like the Tower of London? Is it a Castle like the one in Osaka, Japan? Maybe a fort in Africa like the Cairo Citadel or Chapultepec Castle in Latin America?

2. Pick a time

Castles changed a lot in their appearance depending on the time frame they are set it. In Europe the early medieval castles had a high military value and were an expression of feudal power. That meant those castles were not build to be comfortable but primarily military bases. Later post-medieval castles function more as representative palaces yet often get called Castles in English as well. Those types of Palace-castles tend to be more liveable but also often lack the militaristic purpose. Outside of Europe the time of the castle build also matters a lot. Is it a castle build by Locals? Is it Europeans with an imperial intend? Or is it some rich guy replicating a castle on his private island?

3. Pick a function

As aforementioned Castles changed a lot during time and space they are set in. But they also look very differently depending on their function. If it's a prison or holding a vault the Castle will look more intimidating and there will be very little regard for its living conditions except for possible guards or high value prisoners. If it's a military installation it will hold more comfortable living quarters for personnel as well as more workers to maintain the fighting force. And if it's a representative building like a kings castle then there will be a lot of pomp and splendor like elaborate decorative gardens, various buildings with entertainment purpose, plenty of nice living space for the higher class, and living quaters for the personnel. Obviously functions can overlap - a military castle can also serve as a prison, a representative Palace can also include military installations. If those functions are combined they affect the appearance and liveability of the castle so that needs to be kept in mind when writing those.

Medieval European Castles

To show you how time, space and function impact a castles conditions, I'll stick to European Castles bc that's what I know most about and bc I know those castles and can describe their feel.

A military Castle

Altdahn: build in the 13th century in Palatina-Rhine as part of the defense for the Diosese of Speyer. It is part of a group of castles surrounding the town of Dahn. The castle saw military action several times, got burned, rebuild and adapted a lot during its time of use. It also served as a family manor for the von Dahn family line however they relocated in the 15th century into a more liveable palace. Like most military Castles Altdahn had 2 courtyards and a belfry tower. Also it's always very cool up there in the rooms with wind and the massive stones making it very unpleasant to be in for a longer period. Since glass was expensive, it's likely than not all rooms had proper windows so in plenty of rooms it would have been cold or dark from closed window shutters. Living there must have been hell, especially in winter. So those who had the misfortune to be there all the time must have dressed up very warmly and likely picked every chance to get down into the town or were able to invest in the expensive logistics of constantly carrying up firewood up there as well as opting for expensive carpets and tapestry to add warmth. (picture below)

A prison Castle

Fort Königsstein: Most of its time in service the fort was used as a garrison, prison and vault due to being situated on a plateau high above the surrounding area. The fort is far away from bigger cities like Dresden and used to be somewhat isolated in the mountains before the building of modern infrastructure. It went through several changes over time to make it more palace like and nicer to live in. However, even the cultivated forest on the fort plateau served as a reserve in case of siege; the bleak stone walls and the massive entrance complex make the forts purpose as a militaristic and isolating prison abundantly clear. Königstein was known as an infamous prison during the reign of the Saxon kings and even after the end of the kingdom of Saxony in 1922 the fort held prisoners of war up until the end of WW2 in 1945. Depending of the part of the castle the feeling is pleasant to isolating and cold due to the wind and the thick stone walls. Also walking there from the next bigger settlement takes a while. (picture of Königsstein below)

A Palace-Castle

Castle Schwerin: While some form of fortification existed on this spot since the the 9th century as part of a Sorbian settlement, the castle in its now existing form hardly passes as a pragmatic military fortification. Remodelled from 1844 to 1857 it served as the main residence and representative Palace for the Mecklenburgian dukes and Grand-dukes. The Castle is in the middle of the town Schwerin and surrounded by grand gardens. Its previous fortified outer walls have been mostly removed. The Castle still has a courtyard and towers. Yet those do not serve any primary logistical or military purpose. The castle rooms were regularly lived in by the duke's family and serve now as the local parliament halls. It's very pleasant and warm inside with the castle being a more modern build and not as exposed to the elements. The throne room and ministerial offices were within the castle. The building includes enough space to house not just the family and its servants but also higher guests, their entourage and castle guard. The castle feels fairytale-eske because it's supposed to as a rich and pleasant representative residence for the feudal family right in the middle of the city. (picture Castle Schwerin below)

Honourable mentions of European Castle types and similar buildings:

Hunting castles - serve no purpose except to house hunting parties.

Fortified Churches - a Church that doubles as a military sanctuary in times of (medieval) need.

Monasteries - were sometimes fortified.

Villas and Manors - depending on the build they serve similar functions as castles. Often excluded when using the label of castle.

[arkiwii]

Thoughts on Kafka, her relationship with Silence, and analysing it in the context of Lonetrail stuff?

My thoughts on Kafka? Simple. [rolls my head over my keyboard]

I LOVE Kafka and she's an amazing character who is ABSOLUTELY underappreciated. I already had so so so much thoughts about her, and with her operator record now, I have EVEN MORE of them because it reveals SO MUCH about her character and how she met Silence. I'm so feral

WHAT I THINK ABOUT HER she's an absolute adorable young woman who CARES a lot. her files talks about how she lived in the Columbian grey zone and was involved in gang and criminality to make a living, as she is an orphan, and an infected. It caused her to adopt a "mask", the one we can see in Mansfield Break, a very impish, maybe bad intentioned girl, one that you can't trust. This was her way to stay safe, and it suceeded! People were afraid of her, avoided her, so this way, she was able to mind her own business and stay far from anything bad happening.

But, well, it's just a mask! She's truly caring, deep inside. In her operator record, we can see that she stole Silence's lunch, but had slided a coin to her to pay her back, and even more, it wasn't even for herself, because she gave the snack to a homeless boy. It already shows that she's very altruistic and watches the wellbeing of those youngers than her.

And the fact she enjoys plants! Being a gardener means a lot of patience, having to take care of living beings, to carefully watch them... She's truly very sweet

Her relationship with Silence particularly made me melt. Silence had shown a care for Kafka that she never had before from a complete stranger. It made Kafka realize that Silence might be a bit naive, she's a good person, and someone who will do great things. Kafka accepted to help her because she just decided Silence was a good person

Kafka's files made me cry for real I can't explain. Silence had dragged her in Rhodes Island, and while Kafka wasn't really wishing to stay here, she ended up accepting. And it helped Kafka to grow outside of the toxic environment that was Columbia's streets. She started to show herself, her true self, a genuine one, someone who cares, and started to truly smile. The way she looks after the children in Rhodes Island, that she became a good friend of Perfumer and hangs out at her garden... I'm just so moved by how she changed and how she grew up. And now that Silence doesn't need to look after her, the roles changed, and it's Kafka who looks after Silence.

I'm disappointed Kafka didn't appear in Lone Trail, but I always imagined Kafka being a really supportive character to Silence. Post-Lone Trail, Silence is the executive advisor of Control, but also Rhine Lab's representative of the Scientifical Ethics Committee. And it's seriously pressuring for her, she mentions it often in her voice lines, this new life is one she's uncomfortable with, but one she knows she must follow. Kafka would be an amazing emotional help, a way to remember Silence that what she does had saved her life, and many other people's - it's thanks to Silence that Anthony was out of prison and safe. It's thanks to Silence that Robin joined Rhodes Island and can get help for her dad. It's thanks to Silence that Ifrit is still alive, and can enjoy a normal life outside of a laboratory. Kafka is here to remind her this, that what Silence does is far from useless, that she can only save more lives. And Kafka is also here to distract her and be goofy when Silence needs to change her ideas from work!

Anyway, Kafka, big thumbs up. Really a big goofy baby. I WANT to see her again in the game, please drop Mansfield's Break 2 Hypergryph

[francois1030]

Okay after quickly reading the Rhine Lab Manhua I'm absolutely convinced that we need a Saria Alter at some point where she ditches the shield and just uses her fists

Maybe even make her a Musha operator, I'd love to see her sheer tenacity represented somehow

I mean come on she literally gets presented with a barrier that neutralizes her arts and decides to just punch through it with her fists because she fucking can

[raisengen]

One thing about the aftermath of Dorothy’s Vision:

The final boss, the superweapon, the reality-warping onemind is shut down by Dorothy. The control hub is destroyed, along with all the supporting technology to manage and produce the Transmitter. Without Dorothy’s cooperation, we can assume relaunching the project would be a tough task.

But the Transmitter itself? That already exists. It’s been used in field tests, it’s in the wild. Even if production has stopped, site 359 had lakes worth of the stuff.  Site 359 is a lake of the stuff. And the lake’s being cleaned up by the Columbian government alongside Rhine Labs.

The Transmitter is a revolution in casting technology. With this one conduit, the average Terran becomes a great Caster, and a great Caster becomes an exceptional one. Dorothy used it on herself, and we saw that it was a great improvement over both conventional Arts Units and the innate casting of the Infected.

Right now it’s all in the hands of the Columbian government. What will they do with it? It seems too much to hope it will all go into a vault, Indiana Jones-style, and be forgotten. Terra might be seeing a new form of super-caster on the battlefield soon. All that under-the-radar Columbian research finally pays off.

Will it all remain in the hands of the Columbian government? Maybe a barrel or two will fall off the back of a truck, maybe someone counts one too many crates while loading up transport. A very conservative estimate says a single barrel could contain 10,000 doses; given the size of “Awaken”, I could easily believe there was enough Transmitter at that site to inject the entire population of Terra.

Even a tiny fraction going missing represents potential mass proliferation. And unlike the superweapon of “Awaken”, using Transmitter as an Arts multiplier needs only one tiny injection to set a Caster up for a while. Perhaps for life. No control hub, no power supply, no infrastructure, no ammunition, no fuel.

Undetectable, undisarmable, untraceable. High-powered, and anyone who’s been trained in Arts knows how to use it. It’s the perfect gift for any insurgent, revolutionary, secret agent, gangster, guerilla, plotter, special operative, bandit, or outcast.

Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

[xasha777]

In the year 2454, within the grandeur of North Rhine-Westphalia's Neo-Renaissance architectures, merged seamlessly with towering spires of steel and light, there existed a peculiar anomaly known as the Aurelian Conduit—a portal not to places, but to probabilities. It stood in the heart of Aachen, encased in a cathedral of ancient and modern design, a marvel that transcended time.

The Conduit had always been a mystery, its origin as ancient as the cobblestones upon which it rested and as futuristic as the holographic vines that crept up its side. It was said to be the heart of the world, pulsating with energies unseen, a beacon to the curious and the brave.

At its center was the Keeper, a figure shrouded in the legends of the land. Some called her the Daughter of the Conduit, others, the Priestess of Probabilities. Her real name was lost to the ages, her presence as constant as the stars overhead. Her attire was as much a part of her as her breath—a garment woven from the threads of reality's fabric, adorned with jewels that represented the elements of existence: earth, fire, air, water, and aether.

Her halo, an intricate design of holographic gold, was not a symbol of divinity but of connection to the Conduit. It was said that through her, one could whisper to the cosmos and be heard.

The story unfolds when a scientist named Elara ventures from the distant cyber-city of Düsseldorf to seek the Keeper's wisdom. Elara, a quantum physicist, had hit a wall in her research into parallel universes and believed that the Aurelian Conduit held answers to her questions.

Upon arriving, Elara found the Keeper tending to the flowers that grew abundantly around the Conduit—a splash of natural color against the golden glow. The Keeper's eyes met Elara's, a silent acknowledgment passed between them, and with a gesture, she invited Elara to approach.

"You seek the pathways hidden within the fabric of our universe," the Keeper stated, her voice a melody that seemed to resonate with the very air around them.

Elara nodded, her mind abuzz with theories and hypotheses. "I believe the Conduit can help me understand the multiverse—how to access it, navigate it."

"The Conduit can indeed reveal such pathways," the Keeper replied. "But to travel them is to face the very essence of existence. Are you prepared to encounter realities that defy your understanding?"

Elara's determination shone in her eyes. "Yes, for knowledge is the light that will illuminate our path forward."

The Keeper, moved by Elara's resolve, led her to the base of the Conduit. She explained that North Rhine-Westphalia had always been a crossroads, not just of trade and culture, but of cosmic threads. The Conduit was the heart, beating with a rhythm that could align these threads.

"To navigate the multiverse, one must align their intentions with the Conduit's pulse," the Keeper instructed. She handed Elara a jewel from her attire—the aether, the essence that bound the elements together.

Elara clasped the jewel, and as she did, the world around her changed. The Conduit’s golden light enveloped her, and she was transported through the swirling tunnel of colors and sounds, witnessing realities where North Rhine-Westphalia was a desert, an oceanic world, a place of endless night.

Each version of her home revealed a new facet of the universe, a new understanding of what could be. When she finally returned, hours had passed, or maybe it was seconds. Time was a fickle thing around the Conduit.

Elara looked into the Keeper's ageless eyes, her own filled with tears of joy and awe. "Thank you," she whispered, "for showing me the infinite."

The Keeper simply smiled, and as Elara left, returning to her world of steel and light, she carried with her the knowledge that reality was a canvas, and she, like all of humanity, held the brush.

So ended a chapter in the tale of North Rhine-Westphalia's Aurelian Conduit, a nexus point where science met the sublime, where past and future were but whispers in the grand symphony of existence.

[rugessnome]

speaking of wrapped, my top five artists are allegedly

The Oh Hellos (again)

Nena (considering I got way into the Licht album)

The Mountain Goats (reasonably unsurprising)

Over the Rhine (yes, reasonably expected)

Undervud (which like... I do like them but how are they here when none of their songs are in my top played for the year??)

in top songs, Vienna Teng and (taken together with his duo) Paul Simon are also pretty well represented I'd say (without counting so maybe not the most accurate assessment)

and he's not at all my top artist to have that stat so Idk but I feel like I might be in the top 25%* of Deuce of Gears fans—most if not all of Banner the Deuce of Gears is in my top songs

*conservative number bc well, he's only got 7 monthly listeners on Spotify...

[shuttershocky]

For all her virtues, Saria is such a greedy and possessive dragon, telling Tin Man "don't think you can threaten me, Rhine is Mine (to deal with)" when he literally put her through a morality test to find out what her own company was hiding from her (because she could pass a morality test), because even with this betrayal she can't help being protective of the dream Rhine once represented. Maybe her only real vice is that the "everyone" she wants to save still includes Kirsten.

Saria sees Kirsten literally taking commissions from the Columbia DOD for experimenting on children and still says "I can still fix her" which only goes to show both how stubborn she is and how much she loved Kirsten once.

[ziclovs]

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 — 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐇 𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐋𝐒𝐀𝐂𝐄.

name: iéna la trémoille ( or utp ) age: 31-34 title: ( formerly ) duchess of alsace fcs: zoe kravitz, anna akana, hannah john kamen, nora arnezeder, summer bishil, aiysha hart, poppy drayton, jamie chung, ashley madekwe or anyone similar

as a child, she was overactive; she wanted a piece of every proverbial pie available, wanted to stick her fingers in every slice even if she didn’t quite manage to grab the whole piece. as an adult, she is a study in contradictions; there is no this or that, but this and that. soft and harsh then soft again; rugged and female; jagged, but every line serrated and a marvel to witness; french and german. she walks the line with a casual, but heady irreverence most people can only wish they could be. she didn’t just represent alsace and its blended customs, alsace represented her.

iéna had always worked well with germans, cooperation with neighbours over the border when they shared so much culture was the way the region thrived. when the french king had begun acting on his greed, invading the nations he sought, iéna had tried to use her voice against it. she stuck to her principles. his politics put her and her duchy in a precarious position. she delivered warnings, pled her case, to no avail. 

when the german grand duchies of bavaria and rhine attacked strasbourg, it was a slap in the face, but maybe it would have been a wake-up call for her king, maybe she could still rally some sense into both sides. alsace fell within three weeks of the germans advancing into colmar, and iéna lost everything, despite doing ( to her mind ) everything right. 

for awhile, in the tumult of transition, there might have been something to be salvaged. the germans had been her friends. through her anger she could hear reason, the french king had gone too far, he needed to be struck ! she had had the same thought ! it just happened in an unfortunate way, but through every reasoning, through every tunnel of light she was shown on how things could be; how she could still remain in her home, still remain its champion, and work towards a better future with superiors who would listen this time. she might have believed them. she almost did. but every time she laid down at night the small voice in her head still echoed of betrayal, of how she had been collateral damage, of how rootless she was beginning to feel.

negotiations with the germans fell through, and before long, iéna was replaced. no, usurped, by some nobody german lackey, and the regret settled deep in her bones.

iéna is now back in the program on a mission. does she want to beseech her king again ? reconnect with the germans and negotiate a foothold in her former duchy ?

                 CONTACT: @ziclovs / @wicbkc if you’re interested !

CONNECTIONS: the germans: @ziclovs , @wicbkc , @nikaplays , @aurcls  the french: @vrnvuld , @giselledorleans ,  @frejaedb more to be added bc my head is empty.

[adorablegorilla]

I noticed while grinding WR-9 that the Fury Ink Spirits have some kind of symbol on their armbands. At first I thought it was the Rhine Lab logo, but since Dusk doesn't really have any connections to Rhine Lab that didn't make much sense, so I took a screenshot for study.

It's a bit fuzzy but it appears to actually be a backwards crescent moon and diamond shape. Maybe those are supposed to represent the Hui and Ming attributes? I suppose it would make sense given that Furys get an additional ATK boost against Operators of the opposite attribute. I also noticed while writing this that they have a similar band on their tail as well. It doesn't appear to have any clear design drawn on it (unless for some reason YoStar decided to add a design detail too fine to be viewable on phones despite that being what their game was designed to be played on), tho there's at least a line or two drawn on to give the impression of a design during normal gameplay, if a player managed to notice the band on the tail in the first place

[cosmoscourge-a]

10, 11, 29, 45 for Flosshilde

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

With more clothing, but only around us. Flosshilde usually likes loose, flowing dresses, and certainly doesn’t want any humans to be ogling her inappropriately, so she always presents herself to us covered up. She doesn’t mind dressing more sexily around other deities, however.

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

She’ll never admit it, but human-driven climate change has scared her more than any divine thing ever did. At first she laughed at the notion that puny humans could do anything to harm her or the divine, until the Rhine River she represents (and which I totally made interuniversal) became one of the most polluted with microplastics in the world. This has greatly affected her health, and sometimes it’s gotten so bad that she’s thought that holy shit, maybe humans DO have the power to seriously hurt nature deities now. Hidden underneath her general disdain of our species is the fear that we are far stronger than we seem.

What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

As a child when the Rhine River first manifested itself, Flosshilde knew she was bound to stay close to the river and its banks--her energy drains until she is forced to return closer to the river to which she came. But she had always wanted to travel further, perhaps to other worlds--and indeed, this dream came true when part of the Rhine began to flow through a Turntable that led to Dispara.

What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

Flosshilde will only die if the Rhine River experiences serious geographical changes; pollution will make her extremely weak and sick, but it will not kill her as long as the river stays the same. She will only reincarnate if the Rhine River becomes another body of water; otherwise, her energy will disperse until it becomes part of nature. She isn’t afraid of this, because she knows she has millennia before it ever happens, and she has accepted it as part of the natural cycle.

[arkiwii]

I personally don't think that an offensive Saria represents a bad end, but rather a good end, where she stops relying on only herself, and trusts that after all this time that the people she's trying to protect can actually protect themselves, that she's not the only one wanting to correct the mistakes they made with Rhine. That she doesn't *have* to be the lone shield protecting everyone.

It would depend on the context of the alter then, either she goes bersek, either she learns from it

But an entirely offensive one, like a DPS Guard? That feels too stubborn even if it's that she realized she can trust the ones she cares about, Saria is naturally someone who is strategical and always think in battle rather than throwing hands without thoughts

Something like another kind of Defender (Dualist for exemple) or a Supporter/Specialist would, I think, fit way better for that kind of scenario. Something that would allow her to have a synergy and gives buff/boosts to other operators, maybe just Rhine Lab operators. She doesn't have to be the only one to protect everyone, yes, but she doesn't have to fight alone neither! The best possibility would be if she can have a perfect niche along other Rhine Lab operators

[onehandedly]

Eating in Köln while being Italian was, sadly, full of cringe moments. Not because the food was bad (far from it), not even because of the prices, but because of the Italian restaurants we saw. 

Walking from the place we were staying to the Rhine there were at least three Italian style restaurants all called variations of “mafia”, “camorra” or “cosa nostra” which was enough for me to want to get blackout drunk on Kölsh (which was excellent) in another place and come back only to puke all over their signs. 

How can anyone think those names were a good idea? I know that, maybe (and I’m being as kind as I can here), those people are third or fourth generation immigrants and don’t really know anything about Italy, least of all what those terms mean to people born and raised here, but: it is not that difficult.  Those are criminal organisations that undermine the very existence of our state, kill and torture people, and represent nothing but a bleeding wound in our history (one we are still unable to heal). They are not “interesting folklore”, funnily enough the only Italians that would call those criminal organisations “folkloristic” are those, likely, involved in them. 

[syzygyzip]

Solaire is the Sandworm and Other Apocrypha

What follows is an essay about Knight Solaire, a character from Dark Souls 1. The essay discusses his metatextual influence, his symbolic import, and a few theories about his supposed fate in Dark Souls 3.

On the Nature of Headcanon Canon as a concept adopts different rules when it comes to videogames. More concretely than in other artforms, the content of the game changes according to its witness. You can’t account for another person’s playthrough, so you are obligated to trust their story—within reason. A player can tell you that they beat a boss without taking a single hit. That’s reasonable. A player can say that they saw an enemy clip through a wall, placing it in an otherwise empty environment. Could be true, might want to see footage, but reasonable. Further out, a player can tell you that a completely unprecedented game-object appeared out of nowhere, started flying around and corrupting objects. This is unlikely, but, like some crytptozoological encounter, could be explained away by the witness’ misapprehension (maybe a hacker invades the game and thwarts the rules).

Just like witnessing the mothman or other spectral phenomena in real life, the person’s impression of the event is real. To borrow Jung’s term, it is a subjective fact of the psyche. Because it is “of the psyche,” it describes the psyche.

Physical is not the only criterion of truth: there are also psychic truths which can neither be explained nor proved nor contested in any physical way. If, for instance, a general belief existed that the river Rhine had at one time flowed backwards from its mouth to its source, then this belief would in itself be a fact even though such an assertion, physically understood, would be deemed utterly incredible. Beliefs of this kind are psychic facts which cannot be contested and need no proof.

[…] The psyche is an autonomous factor, and religious statements are psychic confessions which in the last resort are based on unconscious, i.e., on transcendental processes.” (Jung, Carl pars. 553-555).

Unusual things will happen in games, and still more unusual things will be perceived to happen. What happens “off-screen” in the game world has no true authority, not even from the developers, because every player acts as a co-author. Some fan theories are formed by mentally structuring objects and events. Other fan theories seem to spring forth fully formed from the inky off-screen unconscious; in this case, for the theorist it feels more like a discovery than a construction. But most headcanons are a composite. Theories and headcanons are also informed by the meta-culture—by what a game and its characters have become in the eyes of “the community.” Black Iron Tarkus, for instance, has no lines of dialogue in any game, but has developed a personality and prestige from his interpretation by the fandom. Such occurrences are almost a matter of course. Games, especially when they reach franchise-level popularity, spawn stories and memes. The game reveals content not programmed by its developers. It is doubtful that anyone at FromSoft foresaw Tarkus’ fandom. Nor would any on the staff have guessed that a few discrete game items (Giant’s Armor, Havel’s Ring, the Mask of the Father, etc) would cohere into a folk hero called Giant Dad. I say “folk hero,” though he is a scourge to many. This “character,” who is really just an exploitative blend of game mechanics, would be made, remade, imitated, elevated to memetic and then iconic status. Most other archetypes in Dark Souls are divided into their attributes: Helm of Artorias, Sword of Artorias, etc. Giant Dad is the reverse: he is constellated by his attributes; none of them alone hold his pneuma.

The Knight Solaire is more famous than either of these figures. Like Artorias, he is a character specifically designed to appeal and to exist in relation to; and yet like Giant Dad, he is a fan-fueled nexus of meme. Beyond both of these capacities is the degree to which he emanates himself beyond the franchise. His catchphrases “Praise the Sun!” and “jolly cooperation” have taken on a life outside of Dark Souls—a scope of renown unreached by Giant Dad. Especially noteworthy is his corresponding emoticon \[T]/ How many pop cultural icons can be summed up in 5 pieces of unicode? He has also been coagulated into an Amiibo, which is another ontologically ambiguous prestige, occupying a strange corner between meatspace, the virtual, and the symbolic apparatus of capitalism. But he is not quite so easily as commodified, as a Squid Kid or an Isabelle. He is not moe like they are. He does not have a face. But that is not say he is featureless: he has a personality and a mystique that coheres throughout his diegetic presence, his cross-cultural memetic tendrils, and his various costumes in headcanon. What force accounts for this coherence? No archetype can be summed up into a single definition or personality, but the style by which they draw attributes and myths around them allows us some understanding.

The Knight of the Sun When encountered in Dark Souls 1, the character of Solaire presents a rare locus of optimism. He is standing in the sunlight, staring into the sky in quiet appreciation. He is immediately friendly and encouraging to the player, and gives them the tool of “jolly cooperation.”

I want to emphasize how much Solaire’s demeanor stands out in the milieu. Though he is encountered at an early point, the game has already introduced the player to an extremely dismal and unforgiving world. They have likely met many overpowering obstacles and dejected NPCs, and begun to realize how scarce is the refuge of the bonfire. It doesn’t take much exposure to Lordran to take on its infectious loneliness. Solaire’s optimism cuts through this bleak fog like a lighthouse, and he literally gives the player the key to online collaboration. From another gameplay standpoint, consider how the player has become conditioned to dark corners, to ambushes, and fatal surprises; to visually scouring the environment like a rat, wary of predators and keen to spot a glowing treasure. For a moment, Solaire stops the desperate scavenging to direct your attention to the skybox. These contemplative silences have become a signature of the Souls series, but this is perhaps the first directed instance.

This is to say that Solaire is the first personification of goodwill that the player meets, so early into their journey, and is thus easily wrapped up into that symbolism. As the player’s relationship to the world takes on new dimensions (not simply new game areas, but entirely new spheres: online play, community discourse, lorekeeping), the symbol of Solaire follows them. In online play, he pops up as someone’s cosplay—and spectacularly, most of these sunbros, these independent actors, will reflect his behavior accurately! In Souls communities, Solaire is almost omnipresent, as people will post his slogan or his emoticon as a way of communicating affirmation, respect, or pure joy. There are other things to like about Solaire, like the fact that he is relatively powerful as an ally in boss fights, that he has the cool lightning move, or that it is revealed his armor is “average,” and that his strength comes from some inner source. Another element that should not be underestimated is the psychological potency of his implicit longing for a father. It goes without saying that the motif of the absent father has been especially compelling in the 21st century, ubiquitous in mass media, and often exploited by advertisers, etc. Beyond that, Solaire is searching “for his Sun,” an object which can be interpreted countless ways; suffice it to say it is a timeless and recognizable symbol of purpose and wholeness.

For all these reasons and more, Solaire is an easy point of projection for the player. He is an image both relatable and aspirational; he is average and exceptional. He is savvy, strong, and kind, and never in hyperbolic measure. He realistically represents a player’s best traits. The quality of his goodness is unspecific and broad; it becomes an anchor point for any virtue a player may value, as can be seen in the varied mutations he takes on in the subculture, becoming in turn funkier, wiser, more heroic. This trait of mutability, in itself, is generous! In a game that is by now famous for its therapeutic value in treating depression, Solaire’s influence should not be disregarded. Here is an illustrative example of the potential effect of Solaire on a player, posted to reddit by user unsuppressedYay:

Like most, when I was playing Dark Souls, I was in a very bad time of my life (which was incidentally only a couple months ago). I was at a college that I hated, with roommates who were not accepting of me, and many friends who had stopped hanging out with me. The only joy I would have is going home on the weekends, playing Dark Souls until I accomplished something and then going out to see my friends from back home. In this dark time i had isolated myself from most people during the week and was lonely and didn’t accomplished much, as such my grades also suffered. it was a bad time.

By playing dark souls, I felt accomplishment after getting through a particularly tough area or beating a boss. It gave me a reason to go on, that I would continue in the doomed world of lordran where i had to reach a fire with no good ending. It gave me encouragement to continue in my own life and applying to a different college and get my life back on track.

So to the point. I had accidentally spoiled what happened to Solaire. but I was still unable to stop it. I thought the chaos bugs were the big bugs in the lava after lost izalith. I felt so guilty and like I actually lost someone I cared about. I felt the obligation to wear his armor until the very end of the game. It made things significantly harder because of how weak it was compared to normal armor, but I stuck with it. The item description from the armor was something along the lines of saying that Solaire had no special power or magic, like we did. He made the armor himself, and was strong through his dedication and work ethic and never willing to give up to get his sun. So thanks Dark Souls and thanks Solaire for reminding me that optimism is the best way to go about things.

tl;dr cheesy story about dark souls helping me get through tough time, and feeling obligation to beat the game with solaires armor due to his wonderful optimism, and guilt over his death.

 Even if a player doesn’t specifically don Solaire’s armor in tribute, they likely integrate some aspect of his character in other ways. It can be as simple as performing the Praise the Sun gesture before a boss or upon victory. Miraculously, the gesture conveys the attitude quite plainly. The phrase “what happened to Solaire” alludes to the tragic fate that befalls him if the player does not intervene: he goes hollow in Lost Izalith, loses his enthusiasm and direction, and apparently mistakes a Chaos Bug for the sun which he seeks. After this point he will be hostile to the player, and will be wearing the cursed thing upon his head. This piece of headgear, formed from the body of a chaos bug, emits a lighted orb resembling the sun. If the player follows an arcane route through the game, they can avoid this outcome, and bring Solaire as a helpful ally in the final fight against Lord Gwyn.

Solaire as Gwyn’s Son For a long time, the battle at the immemorial kiln seemed like a fitting resolution to Solaire’s arc, as Gwyn was assumed to be his estranged father. Complementing Solaire’s recognition of an affinity between the Sun and the Father, we are told that Gwyn had a long-lost firstborn son. While essentially disproved by the apparent revelation of Gwyn’s actual first-born in Dark Souls 3, this lore speculation continues to live on in the imagination of the Souls community. It remains as another fact of the psyche, and thereby further illuminates the nature of Solaire. To understand why this is significant, we have to go a little bit into the symbolism of the Sun. You may be surprised to hear that people have been aware of the Sun for a long time now, and it has accrued significations far too numerous to list in full. So we will just mention a few of its rays, those that coincide with Solaire’s virtues: generosity, joviality, light, warmth, and cooperation. It also symbolizes the gift of life, vitality, will, and essence. Then there is that important attribute: obviousness; there is simply no denying the Sun in the sky, as it illuminates everything around you, and your planet circles it incessantly. But this principle of “apparentness” follows the sun to its cultural correspondences, like the lion, who is known to be named Leo. Which chakra does the sun relate to? Why, the solar plexus. Guess which metal the Sun corresponds to. It’s gold. You don’t have to be an occultist or a psychologist to notice the sun’s dignitaries: they have a way of exuding themselves. So it is with the conspicuously named Knight Solaire and his undeniable presence. It is simply one of his attributes: the ability to beam out from the Souls world, through the metatext, and into broader strata of culture.

The solar principle is also a consciousness principle. To “shed light” upon something is to become conscious of it. Thus the Sun describes both the ego and the Self (the inner image of God). The ego can be thought of as a low-res isomorphism of the Self, or as an inner, inextinguishable “divine spark.” It seems that this spark is the source from which Solaire derives his boundless optimism. Solaire ambivalently identifies with the Sun, and marvels at it outside himself, terming it as a “magnificent father.” Though he is a source of light for the player, he humbles himself before the “gross incandescence” of some higher power. This ego-Self dynamic, so essential to human experience, triggers a (conscious or unconscious) question of reconciliation. So players may wonder, “Who is the father of Solaire? To whom does he defer?” and the natural affinities between Solaire and Gwyn present themselves. Aside from the fact that it is later contradicted, this genealogy is also simply too concrete and anthropocentric to satisfy the greater mystery. The Solaire-Gwyn interpretation remains as a psychological fact, but it is just the beginning. It is the exoteric story, revealed to players of DS1 not as deception, but as an inaugural step for constellating a much more complex archetype. Now that we have taken a good look about how well the figure of Solaire invites a player’s projections, we will move on to a few other lore theories, far stranger and more infamous.

Solaire Has Become a Worm Who was Knight Solaire and what became of him? Some say he is the great Carthus Sandworm, writhing around the Smoldering Lake in the ruins of Hell. While apparently originally suggested in earnest, the Sandworm story has come to be known as a meme theory. As we have discussed, a meme won’t exist if it’s not compelling on some level.

Here is the apocryphal myth as commonly understood. Canonically the player fails to save Solaire after he wanders into Lost Izalith in search of his Sun. He discovers the Chaos Bug (or slays it and discovers its corpse), and mistakes its gentle glow for his personal sun. Worn as headgear, it becomes the Sunlight Maggot, a “loathsome parasite” that is “completely immobile, yet still lives.” Solaire goes hollow, losing his identity and sense of purpose. He despairs. We don’t know whether the parasite produces this abject condition in Solaire, or whether it is symptomatic, or coincidental. Therefore speculation begins here. Assuming the player does not destroy the mad Solaire, he wanders around the underworld for a very long time. As the years go by the vast hellscape of what was once Izalith disintegrates. Its army of demons becomes hills of corpses. The land itself is now nothing more than a small maze of ruins, and a warm puddle—the so-called “Smouldering Lake.” During this time, the theory suggests, the parasite has completely consumed Solaire, turning him into the “Carthus Sandworm” an enormous, Dune-esque burrowing worm that spits lightning.

So because Solaire was overtaken by a Chaos Bug, it is assumed he never left Carthus and became the worm. The further justification(?) for this theory is as follows. The worm spits lightning as Solaire does. The worm drops Lightning Stake, a miracle that mentions lost dragon slayers, who are affiliated with Warriors of Sunlight and thus Solaire. The worm also has human appendages sticking out from its body, and drops an undead bone shard, which are seen as clues that the worm was once human. (It is also suggested by some that Solaire’s might and indefatigable nature are the reason that he was not consumed by the parasite, but instead transformed into an enormous creature. But this point is often glossed over in the meme-theory variant.)

We can see that the diegetic evidence upon which the case for Solaire-as-Worm rests is rather thin. So what accounts for its popularity? Why does it make some kind of intuitive sense? Why does it generate enough interest to be passed around, albeit ironically? Let’s examine the origin point of the story: Solaire venturing into Lost Izalith and losing his mind to a Chaos Bug. The story of a solar hero venturing into the underworld has—once again—existed for as long as people have been staring at the sun. Each day the Sun goes down, and comes up again reborn. Psychologically, the descent into the underworld symbolizes the journey of the ego into the unconscious. The principle risk of this journey is possession by the contents therein; re-absorption into a state of dependent unconsciousness. For this reason among others, it is associated with the great and destructive Mother in her negative aspect. The motifs of “the devouring mother” and the “belly of the whale” are likely familiar to most people. The loss of a sense of a separate self is a much-feared thing, and this story arises perennially and across cultures. Izalith too is full of (negative) Mother imagery, with the mother of pyromancy at the center, portrayed as a small bug, not dissimilar from the Sunlight Maggot which consumes Solaire. We should of course not reduce the Mother to some Freudian positivism. She is called the Mother because she represents the matrix of the world, which engenders, sustains, and decays all forms. In her fullness she is the divine feminine principle. Her fearsome aspects, such as the devouring mother, are constellated by the ego’s fears and rejections. The mother is the first being from which an infant must differentiate itself, and so there is this necessary period in which the mother becomes the abject, the locus of all that is disavowed and detested. When stories tell us about “slaying the dragon,” it is not about conquering the feminine, or defeating chaos; it is about overcoming a false view of the Divine Mother born of fear and prejudice. It is this view, cohered into a monster, that must be slain, as the Chosen Undead does in Izalith in Dark Souls 1. According to tradition, how is this accomplished? In psychological terms:

The slaying of the mother and identification with the father-god go together. If, through active incest, the hero penetrates into the dark, maternal, chthonic side, he can only do so by virtue of his kinship with “heaven,” his filiation to God. By hacking his way out of the darkness he is reborn as the hero in the image of God, but, at the same time as the son of […] the regenerative Good Mother. (Neumann 165)

The “father” in this case corresponds to the solar principles of Logos, order, and law. Swords and lightning-strikes, Solaire’s preferred tools, refer to the capacities of discernment and insight necessary for differentiation. This identification/alliance with the father in this task is only temporary, for the Father too must be destroyed: he is the old order, the ego deteriorating into an oppressive and petty tyrant. This is why Gwyn is underwhelming and ailing when we find him. So it appears that saving Solaire, and bringing him to defeat Gwyn, is a relatively psychologically healthy outcome. That is—if Solaire is the new ego!! But think about it: when playing a game, is it not the player-character who is most representative of the ego? It is out of the Chosen Undead’s eyes that we see, it is their actions we control, not Solaire’s. We have already established that for many players, Solaire is an ideal image, whose full potential is necessarily unknown. Does this mean that Solaire is meant to be abandoned here? Is he, like Gwyn, an outdated self-conception that must be discarded so that something new can be born? The moral judgment of this situation is more complicated than it first appears.

Let’s look at the steps one must take in order to save Solaire: one must join the Chaos Servant covenant and collect humanity for the “Fair Lady.” This witch of chaos is a pale and deteriorating spider-woman meshed into the wall of her lair. She speaks a language incomprehensible to the player, unless a special ring is worn, which reveals that she mistakes the player for her sister. If she is given a whopping 30 humanity, the Chosen Undead rises to a rank of prestige in her organization, and a special door opens which allows passage to the site of Solaire’s fall. This is the only way to arrive at the scene and destroy the bug before Solaire finds it. So the key, in essence, is offering your humanity to a mysterious dying witch over and over again. Or, as reddit user JotaBarra puts it:

To save Solaire of Astora you have to give 30 humanity to someone who you don't know, that doesn't understand you and the only thing you know is that she put herself in pain trying to fix something that she doesn't did. If you help her, the games give you the opportunity to save your friend. The only way to save Solaire is by being like him. Friendship is exactly like that. You help the only one that help you everytime he can. He will fight alongside with you against the final enemy. It represent what a relationship is. We don't build relationship with our direct actions but with what the actions mean. You dont help directly to your friend, but you do what he could've do for you.

This interpretation makes a good point about how it is necessary to become Solaire, to take on his attributes, in order to save him. Does this therefore mean that by the time the two of you get to Gwyn, you are the same person? Or were you the same person all along, and Solaire was just projected into the external environment, just as he both embodies the sun and seeks it outside himself? That light, whether the anglerfish lamp of the Sunlight Maggot or the Sun itself, compels the body forward, because that compulsion is the Sun.

Specifically, compulsion is the Sun in its chthonic state. It is synonymous with the ever-burning fuel of sulfur, replete throughout the realms of hell.

Lost Izalith, the Hell of Dark Souls, has been reduced to very little in Dark Souls 3. It appears quite plainly that the kingdom has deteriorated. What were once oceans of lava is now a knee-high lake of simmering water. However, among the ruins and heaps of demon corpses, there is indication that new life is growing. Roots of world trees coil around the stone and new forms of demons are singing living flames into being. Most significantly, there is also the presence of crabs, which are a timeless symbol of birth, and present at the other two places of world-regeneration in Dark Souls 3 (the forest and the painting). Beneath the desolate surface of Smouldering Lake, there is the beating heart of new life.

It is on the surface that the pseudo-Solaire worm confronts us. It could be that it is protective of this nest, or maybe it is a crude image of the unborn life in incubation within. The fact that it is coiled here, in a pool of water at the base of the world, suggests the kundalini serpent. In psychology and metaphysics, the kundalini is the libidinous upward force catalyzed by the primal energy (shakti) at the base of the spine. Alongside its physiological manifestation, the rising serpent/worm is one of the oldest mythological motifs:

The Gnostics related the serpent to the mysterious energy of the primordial waters symbolized in the waves of the undulating serpent as well as the stirrings within the serpentine spinal cord of man. The stirrings surface from the abyss of the unconscious, sometimes unexpectedly and with peremptory and terrible effects. (Valborg)

Its undulating path upwards is called “The Serpent’s Path” as it traces a parabolic shape as it climbs to ever-higher degrees of refinement (this is what the player does, you may recall). This journey of upward undulation, often felt by the individual as an electric current, is sometimes preceded by the “Lightning Flash,” the original impetus, which strikes downward from the crown to the lowest point, thus awakening the serpent, which makes its ascent. So these images come together quite conveniently in the figure of this lightning-spewing sandworm. You may remember that the worm drops “Lightning Stake”; not some other miracle, but the one that forces lightning down upon the earth. To see this electric serpent coiled up within a hot, subterranean chamber teeming with life—it is hard to imagine a more direct depiction of the kundalini.

We have talked about Solaire as a symbol of the Self, that was at one time appropriate but now needs to be refined, and it is therefore appropriate that he should find himself consumed in the flames of the underworld. The fiery hells of Buddhism are sites of purification; the fire that rages and torments the victim is their own unbridled affects, but they eventually exhaust themselves. What remains after is purified ash, synonymous with the “white foliated Earth” of the alchemists. It is this type of “environment” in which the “gold”—the personality—should be sown, in order to reach its potential. This is assumedly what has already happened to the Ashen One of Dark Souls 3, given their title and the fact that they have arisen from ash; it also seems to be descriptive of the process at hand for the kingdom of Lothric.

It’s easy to imagine that players might unconsciously project the image of Solaire’s rebirth onto this worm. For reasons related to Solaire’s story, as previously discussed, and for these perennial myths. At another point in the journey, the player is also confronted with Rosaria, the Mother of Rebirth, who “respecs” people—reallocates their stats and qualities. The only risk this refinement brings is that the person may become a worm! A few casualties of this process are seen or implied elsewhere in the game. These “mangrubs” are quite revolting, and yet at least a few are linked to the highest divinity. This should not surprise us:

Typical of the paradoxical imagery of the unconscious, the despicable worm can turn into the supreme value. Thus the messiah is equated with a worm in the messianic Psalm 22, verse 6: ‘But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.’ (Edinger AoP 158)

For the full renewal of the image of the Self, it is necessary that the old king(/sun) dies. The body decays, and at its most revolting, it becomes the bed and the feast of maggots. Because Smouldering Lake is beneath the Catacombs, it can be said to be taking place within the body within the grave. The entire scene can be read as allegory of the processes within the body in the midst of its resurrection. The “messiah” here is invoked because Christ is another euphemism for the Self. And just as the dead king’s body is diffused into the bellies of the maggots, so too does Christ’s flesh become the object of consumption during the Eucharist. This takes us conveniently into our next bizarre fan theory.

Solaire Has Become Soup Slightly more arcane than the theory of Solaire’s transfiguration into a worm, is the notion of his transubstantiation into the Estus Soup, which is found in a few cauldrons throughout Lothric. The justification for this theory was handily summarized on a reddit by a now-deleted user:

Consider the room you get the sunbro badge in undead settlement. It also contains an estus soup bowl...

The sunbro badge is found on a device for dismembering corpses. We know this becasue we see the same device being used to cut up bodies later in the undead settlement just before the stairs down to the lower area with the ravine

 The sunbro badge is simply a rag of cloth sitting on the device, which heavily implies that a sunbro was cut up on this device and his badge was left over as a part of the cutting up process

Underneath the cutting up device are an absolute ton of small bowls, receptacles to contain fluid. What fluid will the cutting up device produce? blood and human bodily fluid.

These same bowls can be seen all around the main estus soup pot....

The blood of the dismembered sunbros/other undead is extracted in the cutting process into the small bowls. These bowls are then take to the main pot and their essences poured into the main soup pot which is boiled and the estus fluid is extracted from the blood of the chopped up sunbros. This is what forms the radiant estus soup.

 The player is in some sense conditioned to think this, because the entire Undead Settlement is oriented around the disposal of corpses. Moreover, Estus Soup is found at two more places, one of which holds Solaire’s talisman, and the other near paintings of Gwynevere (saint of the sunbros). Now, the more reasonable interpretation of the presence of these Sunlight artifacts near Estus Soup is that Siegward, who is later shown to be the one concocting the soup, leaves them behind in his absent-mindedness. Siegward’s attitude and behavior are very reflective of the “jolly cooperation” ethos, and thus we naturally assume that he is affiliated with the Warriors of Sunlight.

This, however, does not disprove that the Estus Soup is Solaire! Not to say that Solaire was butchered by Siegward, and bled into the soup via the grisly method described above; rather it is more likely that a faithful Warrior of Sunlight has consecrated this special drink in a manner similar to the Christian Eucharist. To understand the concept of the Eucharist, here is an excerpt from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas:

The cup of prayer contains wine and contains water, being established as a representation of the blood over which thanksgiving is offered. And it is full of the holy spirit, and belongs entirely to the perfect human being. Whenever we drink it we take unto ourselves the perfect human being. The living water is a body.” (Gnostic scriptures p347)

In other words, “the Eucharistic blood represented the Soul of Christ.” (Jung & von Franz 93). The fact that “the conception of blood as soul prevailed in the middle ages,”(ibid. 93) is visually quoted by Dark Souls periodically, and further prepares the player to respond to such symbolic signaling within this fantasy setting. 

Now, Solaire as a Christ figure who becomes the subject of a Lothric Eucharist is probably not a theory that anyone would thread together without the specific intent of performing a Christian reading of Dark Souls. The reason that I discuss it now is because the existence of the Solaire-as-soup theory seems to have arrived at a similar situation unconsciously, and slightly rephrased into a secular materialist framework (more palatable to the conscious mind). We have examined how Solaire is an uncommonly strong draw for projections of the player’s better nature. It is also a fact of our world that certain Christian concepts—such as Christ representing a fully realized being to whom we should aspire, or the mysteries of the Eucharist—are present in the background of the unconscious. These stories and motifs were so ubiquitous for so long in the western world, that even if we live fully secular lives, this material continues to radiate its influence through the thinnest, unassuming little cracks in our speech, our aesthetics, and our stories.

So without any intention on the part of the player, their experience of the character Solaire receives some influence from the Christian world. This effect is aided by a few other elements. There is his resemblance to common depictions of knights from the Crusades, whose defining associations are Christianity and the fact that they were seeking something. Of course we also have the fact of his signature gesture which is similar to the pose of the crucified Christ. This essay has already described this gesture’s prominent contribution to the memetic potency of Solaire, but it bears mentioning that if the player joins this covenant, they perform the gesture automatically upon being summoned—any active sunbro is quite literally forced into imitating this pose! And of course, a third reason for this unconscious association of Christ and Solaire is the factor of the mysterious and divine parentage.

Which is Canon? So of these two fringe headcanons, which is the more valid? Is Solaire a worm or is he soup? Taking anthropology into account, we must recognize that the death and resurrection of the Sun-god naturally predates Christ, and Christian myths are often studied in that context. It is just as natural to see Solaire as a personification of the Sun, of goodwill, or of the Logos … although Christ also covers that ground. Whatever the case may be, the dismemberment and consumption of this embodied principle seems to be a common feature of these stories. Both the worms who feed on the king’s corpse, and the Eucharistic wine/blood, are images of this concept—and perhaps both images are necessary. The feast of the worms is the profane image, and the Eucharist is the sacred and civil version. After all, for the dissemination of this quality of consciousness to be complete, it must extend to every level. Edinger gives us another broad summary of the concept:

[The Golden Man] represents the microcosmos or monas, the initial matter, which also contains the goal of the work. His dismemberment signifies a new conscious ordering of his initial chaotic nature.

It is difficult to consider terms like “initial matter” and appreciate the fullness of the concept. In nitpicking over the details of the specific images, we may begin to lose sight of the importance and universality of the basic story. This is why it is so important that there are multiple histories, multiple headcanons. If Solaire was only the worm, or only the soup, he would be less complete and less adequate as a symbol. And there are many headcanons besides these, of course; they merely represent two aggregations with a mythologically fertile tension between them. By the incredible multivalence of the Sun’s many arms, he means something different and individual to each player.

And speaking of the “goal of the work.” The return of the Sun in the morning is not considered a triumph merely because it has survived. Withstanding the night in itself is hardly an achievement! It is a triumph because something has been earned in the descent, and the same is true of the story of Christ’s incarnation. When the Sun-god rises again, something has been purified, refined, or to use the preferred Christian term, redeemed. The personal stories of players also seem to follow this trajectory. Dark Souls doesn’t treat depression simply because players are enduring its difficulty, it’s because some special quality of attention is polished through their struggles. We ought also to remember that Solaire willingly became Undead so he could visit Lordran and find his own Sun. The descent into incarnation for the purpose of refinement is a journey that should only be made consciously, with optimism and good cheer, for that is the Sun’s native condition.

 Edinger, Edward. Anatomy of the Psyche. Open Court Publishing Company,   1985. Jung, Carl. Psychology and Religion: East and West. Princeton University Press,   1969. Jung, Emma & Marie-Louise von Franz. The Grail Legend. Sigo Press, 1980. Layton, Bentley, ed. The Gnostic Scriptures. Yale University Press, 1995 Neumann, Eric. The Origins and History of Consciousness. Bollingen   Foundation, 1954. Valborg, Helen. Great Symbols Series: the Serpent. Theosophy Trust, 2013.

Solaire is Pump-a-Rum Actually, you are this fledgling.

[andimthedad]

Road Trip: Eastward Day 8: Ford, Parks, and Rice

This summer, the kids and I embarked on a 10,000-mile cross-country road trip from Washington to Maine and back. Along the way, we got a brief taste of America through landmarks and sights that represent our nation, for better or worse.

Read notes from every day of the trip:

Eastward: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Westward: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

And various posts from the FAQ.

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Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan

Dearborn is probably most famous as the birthplace of Henry Ford, the world-famous innovator, businessman, and racist. For more than a century, it has been the site of Ford’s largest industrial complex, called the Rouge, which currently produces Ford’s popular F-150 pickup trucks.  It’s also the site of the Henry Ford museum, which calls itself simply “The Henry Ford” as if possessed by his ghost.

Our first stop was the tour of Ford’s River Rouge factory.  After taking a shuttle bus from the museum, we began the five stages of the tour.

In the first theater, we watched a movie about the history of the Ford Motor Company and the Rouge factory. It covered Henry Ford’s innovations in manufacturing and key events in the history of the plant: the first Model T's produced there; the Depression; the struggle against and eventually acceptance of unionization; and more.

“The museum seems to skip over the fact that Henry Ford was so racist against Jews that Hitler gave him a medal,” I remarked later.

“They want you to focus on all the cool and smart things he did,” said Luke, age 14.

“Like yesterday with Michael Jackson, that suggests a question,” I responded. “How many flaws can an American hero have before they’re not a hero anymore?”

In the second stage of the tour — the “Manufacturing Innovation Theater” — we saw a dramatic video presentation involving laser lights, choreographed assembly robots, 360° video projections, and a scale model of a pickup truck overlaid with various projections. Here’s a video about it:

“That was intense,” said Beth, age 11, after the presentation. “It was like a ride at Universal Studies but without moving in your seats.”

“If that doesn’t make you want to buy a Ford truck, nothing will,” added Luke.

The third stage took us to viewing platform that overlooked the factory complex.  Altogether, the buildings and grounds are approximately 600 acres. The grass-covered roofs of some buildings are interesting, and apparently very cost-effective.

You can just make out the Detroit skyline from one corner of the platform, but it’s hard to get a picture of it.

The fourth stage was why everyone was there: touring the actual assembly floor of the factory.  We were allowed to walk around a platform that circled above the factory floor where hundreds of employees worked along an efficient, highly mechanized assembly line that, every 24 hours, builds and tests at least 1200 complete F-150 trucks. 

Unfortunately, photography is prohibited in the factory. A security guard told me it was due to a privacy clause in Ford’s contract with the United Automobile Workers union. 

The factory tour ends in a small museum of vehicles that have been produced by the Rouge factory over the past century, like the Ford Thunderbird.

Then we took a shuttle bus back to the main Henry Ford museum. It houses all kinds of automotive and transportation history, including a number of non-Ford products.

For example, it has the public bus (made by GMC, incidentally) on which Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, an event that many people believe sparked the civil rights movement. The museum has refurbished the bus to its original condition, and not only can you see it, but you can sit in Parks’ seat too.

The museum also has a number of limousines from American presidents, including the vehicle JFK was shot in. 

"Huh,” I said. “They let you sit in the Rosa Parks bus where she sat, but you can’t sit in the JFK limo where he sat.”

“Dad, that’s a really dark thing to say, even for you,” said Beth.

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Cudell Recreation Center, Cleveland, Ohio

We wandered further around the Ford museum, then left Dearborn and headed south to circumnavigate Lake Erie on our way to New York.

In Cleveland, we drove to the Cudell Recreation Center, where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by police officer Timothy Loehman in 2014.  The murder sparked public outrage, especially since it occurred not long after police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York City, among others. 

I had considered stopping at the Cudell Rec Center to use its basketball courts for the kid’s trip activities. However, the center’s parking lot was full. So we simply stopped by the side of the road and I had kids look up more information about Tamir Rice.

Luke found the surveillance video [warning: it’s disturbing] and watched it. 

“Holy crap,” he said. “The cop car zooms in and nearly hits Tamir, like almost runs him over — then the cop shoots him just about immediately. It’s not even 4 seconds.”

“You were 10 years old when this happened,” I said to him, “and Tamir was only a year older than you are now, Beth.”

The kids are astonished and angry. “Like, every kid plays with guns. This is insane. If that kid was white you know it would not have gone down this way.”

“And Ohio is an open-carry state, so even if Tamir Rice had been an adult with a real gun, he would have been within his legal rights,” I noted.

Beth found out that Tamir’s older sister, 14 years old at the time, tried to come to Tamir’s aid. But, the police tackled her, handcuffed her, and put her in Loehman’s police car.  And they didn’t administer any first aid to Tamir for several minutes.

“That cop went to jail, right?” asked Beth.

“No,” I said. “He said he feared for his life, so the courts could not find him guilty of murder. He was fired, though, because it turned out his previous police department said he was emotionally unstable and should not be a police officer.”

“Well, that’s something,” muttered Luke, “but not enough.”

“And he got hired again as a cop in another Ohio town,” I said.

“WHAT?!” both kids exclaimed.

We ended up finding another park nearby with a basketball court for the kids.

Ohio, I know you have more to offer — like the home of one of my favorite bands, Over The Rhine — but we were just passing through.

--

Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pennsylvania

We continued on to Pennsylvania.  As with Ohio, we were primarily passing through on our way to New York.  For a scenic stop, we went to Presque Isle State Park to take in the beautiful views of Lake Erie.

There are several beaches in the park, and they were better than I expected. Like other Great Lakes, Lake Erie is big enough that you can’t see the other side. For some reason the beach also vaguely smelled like the ocean, an effect reinforced by flocks of seagulls. 

“Maybe they’re called lakegulls here,” suggested Beth.

On this eastbound trip, we didn’t stop anywhere else in PA, but we will on the westbound return trip.

--

North East, Pennsylvania 

We stopped for the night at a hotel in North East.

—

Unless noted otherwise, all photos are taken by the kids and I, and are shared under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

[tremendouspeachduck]

Attn:  All Invaders (Asylum Seekers possibly)

NOTE:   There are two ways to obtain asylum, affirmatively or defensively. Migrants who apply for asylum affirmatively submit a form to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within one year of arriving in the U.S., either at the U.S. border or from within the country. Those who apply defensively do so after they’ve been arrested and placed in expedited removal proceedings.

Affirmative Asylum Process

Step One

To apply for asylum in the U.S., you must be physically present in the U.S. or seeking entry into the U.S. at a port of entry.

Step Two - Apply - New Policy

To apply for asylum, you should file Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, with USCIS within one year of your last arrival in the United States (unless you qualify for an exception to the one-year filing deadline).

Do not submit a completed fingerprint card (FD-258) or fingerprint fee with your application. Your application will be accepted without the fingerprint card attached.

More information about how to file your application can be found in the instructions for Form I-589 (PDF, 295 KB).

For information on asylum eligibility, see the Asylum Eligibility and Applications page on USCIS.gov.

Bars to Applying for Asylum

You may not be eligible to apply for asylum if you:

Did not follow the one-year filing deadline for Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal. The one-year deadline is calculated from the date of your last arrival in the U.S. or April 1, 1997, whichever is later;

Had a previous asylum application denied by an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals; or

Can be removed to a safe third country under a two-party or multi-party agreement between the United States and other countries.

There are exceptions to these bars for “changed circumstances” or “extraordinary circumstances.”

Both are defined in 8 CFR 208.4. For more information on the bars and the exceptions, see our Asylum Bars Web page.

above pic is new construction of wall - The USA loves asylum seekers, migrants, immigrants and refugees, if process is done legally.   Illegal attempts have dire results.

Once USCIS has received the completed application, you will receive two notices:

1. Acknowledgment of receipt of your application, and

2. Notice to visit your nearest application support center (ASC) for fingerprinting.

For more information on locating an ASC, see our USCIS Service and Office LocatorWeb page.

Step Three - Fingerprinting + Background Check

After maybe 2 mos. - You should read the ASC Appointment Notice and take it with you to your fingerprinting appointment at the ASC. You do not need to pay a fingerprinting fee as an asylum applicant.

If you are also requesting asylum status for your spouse and children and they are with you in the U.S., they will need to go with you to your ASC appointment.

More information is available on our Preparing for Your Biometric Services Appointment page.

Step Four - Receive Interview Notice

Depending on where you live, we will schedule you for an interview with an asylum officer either at one of the eight asylum offices, the two asylum sub-offices, or at a USCIS field office (“circuit ride location”). For more information about USCIS field and asylum offices, visit our Find A USCIS Office page. Your interview notice will tell you the date, location, and time of your asylum interview.

As of January 29, 2018, the USCIS Asylum Division is scheduling asylum interviews in the following order of priority:*

First priority: Applications that were scheduled for an interview, but the interview had to be rescheduled at the applicant’s request or the needs of USCIS;

Second priority: Applications that have been pending 21 days or less since filing;

Third priority: All other pending affirmative asylum applications will be scheduled for interviews starting with newer filings and working back towards older filings.

Step Five - Interview

You may bring an attorney or accredited representative to the interview. You must also bring your spouse and any children seeking derivative asylum benefits to the interview.

If you cannot proceed with the interview in English you must bring an interpreter.

The interview will generally last about an hour, although the time may vary depending on the case. You may also bring witnesses to testify on your behalf.

For more information about your asylum interview, see our Web page on Preparing for Your Asylum Interview.

Step Six - Officer makes Decision

You must meet the definition of a refugee in order to be eligible for asylum.

The asylum officer will determine whether you:

Are eligible to apply for asylum,

Meet the definition of a refugee in section 101(a)(42)(A) of the INA, and

Are barred from being granted asylum under section 208(b)(2) of the INA.

A supervisory asylum officer reviews the asylum officer’s decision to ensure it is consistent with the law. Depending on the case, the supervisory asylum officer may refer the decision to asylum division staff at USCIS headquarters for additional review.

Step Seven - Get Decision within approx. 4 mos.

In most cases, you will return to the asylum office to pick up the decision two weeks after the asylum officer interviewed you.

Longer processing times may be required if you:

Are currently in valid immigration status,

Were interviewed at a USCIS field office,

Have pending security checks, or

Have a case that is being reviewed by asylum division staff at USCIS headquarters.

We will normally mail your decision to you in these situations.

For more information on the types of asylum decisions issued by USCIS, see our Web page on Types of Asylum Decisions.

Additional information on the affirmative asylum process is available on our Resources for Asylum Applicants page.

You can check your case status online. All you need is the receipt number that we mailed you after you filed your application. Start here: uscis.gov/casestatus.

already know that after just 180 days you can apply for a work permit

While waiting, where in the USA will you reside?  You already know that it doesn’t really matter as we in the USA lose track of you anyway, right?

Few, but some actually have a case for asylum.  Remember, asylum is not wanting a job or a better way of life; it must be life threatening.

Who is eventually granted asylum?

Comparing to Europe

Invaders coming in mass and could ruin a country.   This is why Merkel will end in 2021 at end of term.  This is why Brexit is so important to the UK.

Below is letter from Nurse in Germany telling it like it is . . .

A NURSE IN GERMANY SENDS A MESSAGE TO THE WORLD

Just in case you don't think President Trump is doing the right thing! Read this!

*\"Yesterday, at the hospital, we had a meeting about how the situation here and at the other Munich hospitals are unsustainable.

*Clinics cannot handle the number of migrant medical emergencies, so they are starting to send everything to the main hospitals.

*Many Muslims are refusing treatment by female staff, and we women are now refusing to go among those migrants!

*Relations between the staff and migrants are going from bad to worse. Since last weekend, migrants going to the hospitals must be accompanied by police with K-9 units.

*Many migrants have AIDS, syphilis, open TB and many exotic diseases that we in Europe do not know how to treat. If they receive a prescription to the pharmacy, they suddenly learn they have to pay cash. This leads to unbelievable outbursts, especially when it is about drugs for the children. They abandon the children with pharmacy staff with the words: So, cure them yourselves! So the police are not just guarding the clinics and hospitals, but also the large pharmacies.

* We ask openly where are all those who welcomed the migrants in front of TV cameras with signs at train stations? Yes, for now, the border has been closed, but a million of them are already here and we will definitely not be able to get rid of them.

*Until now, the number of unemployed in Germany was 2.2 million. Now it will be at least 3.5 million. Most of these people are completely unemployable. Only a small minimum of them have any education. What is more, their women usually do not work at all. I estimate that one in ten is pregnant. Hundreds of thousands of them have brought along infants and little kids under six, many emaciated and very needy.

See Video - a doozy

If this continues and Germany re-opens its borders, I am going home to the Czech Republic. Nobody can keep me here in this situation, not even for double the salary back home. I came to Germany to work, not to Africa or the Middle East!

Even the professor who heads our department told us how sad it makes him to see the cleaning woman, who has cleaned every day for years for 800 euros and then meets crowds of young men in the hallways who just wait with their hands outstretched, waiting for free, and when they don't get it they throw a fit.

I really don't need this! But I am afraid that if I return home, at some point it will be the same in the Czech Republic. If the Germans, with their systems, cannot handle this, then, guaranteed, back home will be total chaos....

*You - who have not come in contact with these people have absolutely no idea what kind of badly behaved desperados these people are, and how Muslims act superior to our staff, regarding their religious accommodation.

*For now, the local hospital staff have not come down with the diseases these people brought here, but with so many hundreds of patients every day of this is just a question of time.

*In a hospital near the Rhine, migrants attacked the staff with knives after they had handed over an 8-month-old on the brink of death, who they'd dragged across half of Europe for three months. The child died two days later, despite having received top care at one of the best pediatric clinics in Germany. The pediatric physician had to undergo surgery and the two nurses are recovering in the ICU.

Nobody has been punished. The local press is forbidden to write about it, so we can only inform you through email.What would have happened to a German if he had stabbed the doctor and nurses with a knife? Or if he had flung his own syphilis-infected urine into a nurse's face and so threatened her with infection? At a minimum he would have gone straight to jail and later to court. With these people so far, nothing has happened.

And so I ask: Where are all those greeters and receivers from the train stations? Sitting pretty at home, enjoying their uncomplicated, safe lives. If it were up to me, I would round up all those greeters and bring them here first to our hospitals emergency ward as attendants! Then in to one of the buildings housing the migrants, so they can really look after them there themselves, without armed police and police dogs, who, sadly today, are in every hospital here in Bavaria.\"

*Is this \"situation\" coming to our country?

                                              Serious video to watch

USA Problems - Making the Soros Connection

Not only do I worry about the spreading of disease, but I worry about the terrorist causing a pandemic.  

Soros Manufactured Crisis    Obama/Soros connection back when

What we do know is this thing [the caravan] cost millions and millions of dollars. . . .  One of the lies the [mainstream] media is trying to propagate is the fact that all this weird organic thing and all the water and the food and medicine, all dropped [like]. . . manna from heaven. It’s bologna. It’s all highly organized. It’s paid for by a number of organizations/   “We do know that Pueblo Sin Fronteras, which is the main group which has organized this caravan, has a couple of front organizations in the United States and the money is flowing from them to Pueblo Sin Fronteras [in Mexico].”

According to Mexico News Daily and Milenio, around 350 migrants chose to leave the caravan once it reached Tijuana, Mexico in order to return to their Central American countries, claiming they were “misled about their chances of gaining entry to the U.S.

“Pueblos Sin Fronteras [sic] told us not to worry, that there was going to be transportation, that Mexico was going to open the gates so that we didn’t have to enter [the U.S.] illegally, via the river . . .” Honduran migrant Ulises López said, referring to the attempted border breach Sunday.

“What was offered to the caravan of Honduran migrants was a trap . . . The people that brought us to this place, supposedly [caravan] leaders, took advantage of us, they used us in a horrific way, what they did to us has no name,” he added.

Proof of Soros involvement

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