#maybe the theory is a little wild but it's just a guess based off the information we have been given with the trailer and past seasons | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cr0cutacr0cuta · 1 year

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Loving Darius Deamonne: A LONG tumblr essay about my favorite character from The Owl House, and why I think his potential was missed but hinted at.

Hey heres an edit: forgot that Gus existed, my bad. :sob: I love him too just not as much.

Darius Deamonne is a great character and you should love him too and here's why.

It goes beyond me just loving him for being black and pretty obviously gay (at least some sort of mlm) in my eyes. Which is good! He's black and somewhat feminine and it's never played for laughs. He's still treated like a threat and like a very powerful and influential person. Which I wholeheartedly appreciate it.

Which is the first thing I wanna touch on I guess?

I also want to say that some of this is based off of interviews that Dana Terrace has done for the show, as well as piecing theories together based on the information we DO know about Darius.

And no I won't proofread this because I have anxiety about re-reading anything I write, so sorry for the typos in advanced. :,)

I was going to do this in parts but everything is bleeding together so much that I can't. I'll sum up all the most important things in bullet points at the end!

This will probably be my shortest section here. Darius is very reminiscent of effeminate Disney Villains such as Scar or Gaston. He's very into fashion and self pampering. He even has a menacing sounding French/Greek roots last name that DOES invoke demons. Even if that's not the true meaning behind the name, but we'll get back to that later in this section.

Darius is first hinted at in Season 1 Episode 13, "The First Day". His simplified visage appearing on the Abomination Coven banner.

Man, look at how sinister and mysterious they made him look. He also appears to MAYBE be wearing a different outfit than he does in the rest of the series proper. There's not a lot to say or analyze here, I just think his banner is super neat.

The second time we see Darius is in the flashback segment of "Young Blood, Old Souls". We see his younger design first before we even get a glimpse of his present one. I just really like that detail and the implication that Darius was a character that was very heavily on the writer's mind from the jump.

Now his real, first proper appearance is very wild. Very important. I don't know too much about cinematography and framing, but I do know a little bit of the basics.

Let's look at his first true appearance in Season 2 Episode 6, "Hunting Pailsmen".

We do see his shadow in the shot before this, but I just want to point out that Darius is straight up the first coven head we see in the introduction to all of them. (We do see Mason in an earlier episode but it was in a more comedic role and he doesn't speak.)

This framing putting Darius front and center doesn't stop here.

In the first proper serious group shot of the coven heads, Darius is in the middle. Firstly, the perspective frames Darius as the biggest person in the shot. Maybe besides Hettie, but she's also pretty tall and scaled down because of the perspective. He's also the one in the center of the shot, in the center of some of the most powerful people and most influental people in the isles.

This does imply importance.

It even goes further in the next shot.

Darius is at the side here, sure. But he's put next to Mason who probably has the plainest design out of all the coven heads. (I'm sure he's fine.) But it almost feels like he was put next to Darius to make Darius' framing look more important. With the rest of the more uniquely designed coven heads smaller, at the back, and rendered in less color because of the light from the cauldron (?) in the shot.

Even in the storyboard, Darius seems ot have a bit more detail than everyone else. And if not that, his expression is more clear and intense than the other's.

This makes me wonder how important Darius was to the narrative before the show got canceled. Like yes, Raine ended up being the most important person here in the end. Rightfully so. I still just wondered what was there intention with the compositions of these scenes. Was Darius meant to be more important, or was this a misdirect?

He's in such a unique spot in the story, that I doubt it was unintentional. Darius was supposed to be explored much more according to Dana.

Snippet of the interview from TV Tropes.

So we know Darius was supposed to be explored more as a character in a hypothetical, fully realized season 3. I really would have done anything to see that, honestly.

That's all I have to really say for this section. I'm just bummed that all this foreshadowing and planning was destroyed because of Disney's mismanagement of the show. It also sucks that the main black character we see in the show is one of the biggest causalities from it. Moving on.

So back to Darius being like renaissance era Disney villains...He's vain, he's powerful, and quite possibly...He's manipulative. Mainly, it seems, towards the other coven heads.

Remember what Hunter says in "Any Sport in a Storm" about the coven heads...

This is very much speculation on my part. But I think Darius has been in the rebellion game for a while. I can't say he's a direct leader and I can't say he has an entire group behind him until Raine comes along. But I wouldn't put it above him to use mind games to help slow Belos' progress. I think Darius may have been purposely sowing discourse between the other coven heads.

Mind you, a lot of them are already conniving on their own. But I don't put it past him to stoke the flames to cause chaos for Belos' plans.

This does beg the question, how long has Darius been at this? How long has he been TRYING to dismantle the Emperor's hold on the Isles?

Again, speculation warning, but I do think Darius may have been at least skeptical of Belos and looking into what he was doing since his mentor died.

Imagine, your mentor is the leader of the Emperor's Coven. The Emperor's personal right hand man. Then he just...dies one day. And since Belos says that all the previous guards had in fact, betrayed him, what's to say that the previous Golden Guard didn't tell Darius he was going to betray Belos?

Like yes, he could have not told Darius in an attempt to protect him. Darius obviously meant a lot to him and he obviously meant a lot to Darius. Though I also think that he would want to save Darius and everyone else. And if he couldn't, he would want Darius to save himself and everyone else. I can't prove that Darius was told anything, but I wouldn't be surprised.

So Darius may have just...Straight up been in the trenches for years at this point. He does say that he rebelled because he found "The Day of Unity suspicious"...But Darius has exaggerated on screen before. He's also been straight up lying to a lot of peers for possibly years. He can be an unreliable narrator here.

This also means he is a stereotypical renaissance villain turned on it's head. He looks very evil, but my mans is just semi goth, loves fashion, and is an anarchist. He's not a villain, just an anti-hero.

With that said, let's talk about his relationship with Hunter, which seems to be pretty complicated.

Darius starts out seemingly looking at Hunter with distain. I think about what Dana says about Darius' main motivations not only being to help people, but to care about the ones that he loves. The implications that Darius' main driving force is love, not only for people personally in his life, but for his community, the people of the isles, seems pretty significant.

I think love maybe Darius' main, true character trait.

Love, especially when it ties into grief, can really make people lash out. Not everyone reacts this way, but we've already established that Darius can be pretty full of wrath when he wants to be.

To me it's very clear that Darius is projecting the anger he feels from his grief onto Hunter. Which yes, is messed up. There's no excuse for it. He eventually seems to grow and change at least, and that's good.

I can definitely see WHY he would feel the way he does towards Hunter at first though. Your mentor is murdered one day and you get little explanation, he also may have hinted at something deeper and darker happening within the leadership of your community before he does. Then he's replaced by some kid that, probably to you, came out of nowhere. He's the emperor's nephew. Didn't his family die a long time ago? Did his mentor have a child that he didn't even mention?

Which does beg the question...Does Darius know that Hunter is a grimwalker? I don't know? I don't think so. I think he's very suspicious of the whole situation at the very least. You're also frustrated with the kid about being a follower, about not looking at the bigger picture, about just being a soldier and not his own person. Because you're sure that being a follower, being subservient, is what lost your mentor his life.

Darius definitely could have handled this better. He could have not projected his grief onto Hunter. He could have been more open about what he wanted him to do. He could have told him to go be a kid and make friends. But he let his grief get in the way of it all. He's flawed, and that's relatable.

Seeing Hunter make friends and show some sort of autonomy seemingly broke him from seeing Hunter as just a replacement. He started seeing Hunter as his own person as Hunter did. I think that's a very important step in their growth together. I find that super interesting and very poetic.

There's also the fact that Darius probably couldn't tell Hunter about the scope of everything because he wanted to protect him from it all. I don't think Darius ever wanted Hunter to get hurt. Even if he was cruel to him initially. He was so upset in "Hollow Mind" that he shoves Raine out of the way when hears about Hunter being stuck in Belos' mind.

He also may have been scared of what Hunter would see if he had known that the Emperor had something to do with his mentor's death.

Also I guess I should mention it here because of it all tying into Darius being part of the rebellion but...There's a scene in "Eda's Requiem" where Darius is more angry about his clothes getting messed up than the fact that Raine has committed treason...Which is great foreshadowing, actually. I love the fact that Eberwolf has to remind him of the treason part so their cover doesn't get blown, probably.

Let's keep the ball rolling on the most important relationships in Darius' life.

We've covered Hunter and his mentor, so let's move onto Eberwolf.

Eberwolf is pretty heavily implied to be like a sibling to Darius. There's a lot of unexplored territory here and it makes me really sad. So this'll probably be the most sparsely talked about relationship here despite the fact that Darius and Eberwolf spend almost all of their screen time together.

I think the thing I want to point out was that Darius was not willing to let Eberwolf harmed or possibly killed during their fight with other coven heads on the day of unity. I feel like this may elude to a few things.

Darius cannot bare to lose someone in his life again. Or can't bare to see it, possibly again. He backs off immediately and the fear in his eyes is real.

Which shout out the animators for making that very apparent.

It's also very apparent in Eberwolf's expression as well. The expressions just say so much and tell so much of the story between the two that we don't get to see. We get shown and not told...Even if we weren't shown in a more direct way.

Saw this in another post but the scenes following where Eberwolf and Darius appear, also imply pretty heavily that when the spell started working, Eberwolf wanted to run to Darius. But he was in too much pain himself to make it over to him.

Darius knew they were all going to die if he didn't do anything but he chose not to anyway because the pain of losing Eberwolf right in front of him in such a terrible way stopped him. Darius let his fear of loss of someone he really cared about potential damn everyone on the isles. Another flaw, but another important note to tack onto his character.

Like yes, he would have saved everyone else but he probably would have caused him more heartache that he couldn't handle. He'd already been through a lot losing his mentor (and his best friend/possible love interest, but oh we will get to you, Alador Blight.), and this kind of implies that he probably couldn't do it again.

Though Darius acts smart and kind of logical, he's very driven by his emotions, his love and grief in particular, seemingly.

That being said, let's move on from Eberwolf. We're going to skip the obvious for now, and go onto why Darius is probably the best coven head or at least in the running next to Raine.

I'd like to let you all know that the abomination coven is pretty consistently stacked. Not only do they have Principal Bump, who has been shown to be a powerful which in his own right from his debut episode, but Alador, who's Darius' rival yes...But it's pretty lightly implied that Darius and Alador had shared their innovations and interests in abominations when they were younger. Alador probably knows some of what he knows from Darius. Though you could probably say the same the other way around, Alador didn't end up becoming the coven head. Darius is obviously the more skilled abomination user of the two.

Then you have up and coming prospects like Amity who's consistently been shown to be pretty powerful.

Willow even says in "I Was A Teenager Abomination":

"There are better opportunities on this track." when referring to the abomination tract at school.

Now don't get me wrong, coven system = bad. But I don't think the sense of community the coven system provides for witches is ALL bad.

I think the implication here, though subtle, is that Darius is fostering probably the most powerful coven in the entire system.

He's investing and nurturing new prospects. He's providing opportunities for witches in his coven that other covens are not. Darius truly cares about his community. He truly cares about his craft and furthering it through communal growth. He even wrote a book to show his knowledge with the people of the isles.

Darius has been shown to be on of the few characters who can change his form. He does this at will (seemingly) without the help of a curse of any kind. Darius is just powerful enough to change into an abomination monster and he's the only character who can do it. Which is impressive considering how stacked the rest of the abomination users in the show are.

Even Alador has made pretty rad innovations to the craft, even if Darius doesn't completely agree with them.

I also want to say that this points to Darius maybe being a engineer like Alador...but to contrast Alador being a mechanical one he's a genetic engineer, and that might be what's going on with his form. But that's again, pure speculation just from his seemingly opposite theming to Alador.

So it seems like Darius is also a good leader. One with a sense of duty and nurturing towards his community.

Now last but not least...

Let's fucking talk about.

AlaDarius.

Man I have so much to fucking say about these two HOLY SHIT.

They are literally only on screen together like 4 times and it's in the epilogue but just the implications we get from the little breadcrumbs we do have...Oh man.

So Darius and Alador were friends. We can prove that. They seemed to be on good teams in "Thems the Breaks, Kid." Alador talking to Darius and laughing once he flicks some abomination goo onto his face. With Odalia observing, unfortunately.

There's a lot that can be inferred by this. I don't think Odalia was always like she is now. But power, and maybe the prospect of it, corrupts. There's a lot that could have happened between these three.

Some theories:

It's possible that Odalia didn't have as many prospects as Darius or Alador coming up. Which might be why she pursued Alador in the first place. Alador's family has money, Odalia has a manipulative business sense, Alador is socially awkward and probably can't conduct business as well so that maybe got her in good with his family.

Maybe she even manipulated Alador into loving her over Darius by whispering lies in his ears and fueling the rivalry between them. Maybe she got Alador to push Darius away.

There's also the prospect that Alador's marriage to Odalia was arranged for whatever reason. Maybe his parents also told him to push Darius away because of that because they knew Alador and Darius were catching feelings for each other. Alador could have thought that this was normal and had a sense of duty to his family that he put over his love for Darius.

This could also be why he was okay with Odalia telling Amity to cut ties with Willow. Alador may have been forced to do the exact same thing.

And we've already established that when Darius cares about someone, he cares about them very hard. He loves and he loves deep. He already lashed out at Hunter because he loved his mentor so deeply, so why wouldn't he lash out at Alador for essentially abandoning him?

I think it's very clear that Darius loved Alador. Maybe he still does after all these years considering how he acted in the epilogue.

I mean look at him.

He shakes Alador in excitement and pride and pulls away all embarrassed. Pretending he still doesn't have feelings. He even like, touches his chest it's insane and insanely cute. Alador not knowing how to feel is also funny because he probably thinks Darius had either let go of his feelings or he's just surprised that he'd show him any kind of affection after everything.

I also have a theory that Darius possibly been wanting to reconnect with Alador for years. I think the rebellion and wanting to protect Alador from possibly getting threatened if he himself got caught might be a reason. It also might be anxiety. Maybe he's scared Alador might find a reason to abandon him again. Maybe he's actually actively traumatized by that prospect and he has work through it (god I wish this show had more time). Maybe it's all habit at this point too. He's just used to pushing Alador away at this point. Hell, maybe he even thinks that Alador should just be focusing on his children considering their mother is no longer in the picture and they're all healing as a family and he feels like that has nothing to do with him.

There's a lot of speculation.

I'm willing to bet SOME of this is right.

I also don't think this should be downplayed considering that Darius never mentions Odalia when seeing the abomaton in "Eda's Requiem." He didn't have to say anything at all but he's so hurt and so petty about being hurt by Alador SPECIFICALLY that he tells Kikimora to tell him that he's a hack.

There's something going on and I want to know what it is and I'm 80% sure that it's romantic.

I also want to also point out that we see Alador and Darius standing together in the very last shot of the show.

Like they do genuinely look like a family unite here and I truly appreciate it. It might take some time but but that's alright. I think they can figure it out. I think they genuinely can mend their relationship with each other since Darius was able to mend his with Hunter and Alador with his children.

They're both so flawed and had to grow in similar aspects. They're both so different but have these little bridges that truly connect them. Their love for abominations. How they both weren't the best father figures at first but learned to be better for their kids.

There's a lot of undertones with this relationship I truly enjoy.

NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT HIS DESIGN.

I've been writing this essay for over 3 hours so I'm going to try to make this fast.

I won't go into how Darius is very effeminate Disney villain again, so I'll jump straight into his color palette.

Darius has 5 basic colors/shades in his design.

Black: Black invokes a few things. They all kind of pertain to Darius. Black can mean mystery. His past is very mysterious. He's basically a spy, which are mysterious. Black can also mean elegance and power. He loves fancy clothes and is very powerful.

Purple: Darius has a few shades of purple on him. This can be a nod to his craft as the abomination coven head. Purple also invokes regality which might be a nod to his influence in the witch community at large. Though not a ruler, he does have a presence that does seem almost like royalty. It's also the color of imagination. The abominations are somewhat like living sculptures, like art, eluding to imagination. He also sews, probably making his own outfits, which is a very creative endeavor. Purple also invokes compassion, enlightenment, and encouragement. It's also attached to those who are emotional and sensitive and sometimes immature.

Green: Green is a fantastic contrast to purple. I'm guessing this is why Darius' eyes were changed from purple to green. It made more sense with his design and gave it a bit more pop. While green is the color of envy (possibly eluding to his possibly jealousy of Odalia and Alador's relationship), it's also the color of judgement (again, looking at Alador) and materialism (my man loves his clothes). The positive side to this is green representing healing and growth as well. They represent things that Darius needs to let go and things that he actually needs.

Gold: Gold represents luxury, success, triumph, and loyalty. I feel like that's all pretty self explanatory considering all I've discussed so far. Darius studied hard under the olden guard to be successful, he triumphant and became the coven head, he's loyal to everyone he loves and his community. And he does enjoy a bit of luxury, too. :)

White: White actually means a lot of things. The ones I think pertain to Darius most are actually cleanliness, coldness, and purity believe it or not. Obviously he likes to be clean. Coldness because of how distant he starts towards Hunter, and how he maybe pushing away certain people because he doesn't want them getting hurt if he gets found out in the rebellion. This cold also be why his gloves are white. They're a symbol of his coldness over his hands. His coldness keeps him from touching other's, literally. It keeps him distant. Now purity maybe the surprising one here, but it's most so about his intentions, and his sense of duty, and his need to protect. Those things all come from a pure place, a pure good. Even if he himself isn't pure good. It's still in him. Also shout out to perfection as a meaning too but it's not confirmed but he seems like the type who would be a perfectionist.

Overall, his palette actually tells you everything you need to know about him. His silhouette is also pretty memorable. You can look at just that and know, yeah THAT'S Darius Deamonne. You can also tell little things about him from his silhouette through his posture and shapes of his clothes.

I'll also briefly mention his name.

Darius is a name of Persian/Greek/Latin Origin. It means "possessing goodness". And man that feels like a dead giveaway for him not being a bad guy once I type it now. The name can also mean "rich/king like" which...TRUE. And also it can mean "he who holds firm to good". Which is also true. It's also a very popular name among Black folks in the US.

Deamonne is... A little more complicated. It's both French and Greek oddly enough. There's not a lot about this name out there, honestly. Usually when you look it up on google most of the results pertain to well...Darius himself.

Deamonne might be a reference to the word daemon, itself a previous form of the word "demon"...But Daemons themselves are pretty different. The Greek meaning of the word seems to be "A divinity who or supernatural being of a nature between gods and humans." I wonder if MAYBE it's a nod to his status of being able to transform into abomination matter, making him maybe a hybrid or somewhere between being a witch or abomination? Who knows? Hard to say with this one.

I guess that's it! Maybe I'll reblog with an update if I can think of more. But this is my genuine exploration of why Darius means so much to me and why he deserved way better than he got.

These are all breadcrumbs really, and that's what makes his story so, so alluring. Because if they could tell this much with this little, I wonder what the could have showed us if he had even just a full episode to himself.

Here's the tl;dr with all the important points:

Darius probably had a bigger part to play in the Owl House's plot that got cut because of it's cancelation.

Darius' main driving emotion and motivation seems to be love.

Darius may have been planning to betray Belos for longer than we thought.

Darius is probably very scared of losing someone he loves again.

Darius come off as a little cold and distant because of those fears.

He'd lay down his life for people he loves.

He might be the best coven head in terms in leadership.

His color scheme and name lay out his character pretty bare.

I'm sure there's more here but thanks for reading. Sorry this ran long. I actually probably forgot some things in the summery above because I've been writing this for hours.

Have a good day and remember:

I'd give my soul and all my money for a Darius Deamonne spin off.

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mysteriouslybluepirate · 11 months

Note

Thank you for offering your askbox. I've been thinking that Izzy being just a side character whose story wasn't main plot thread makes even better proof that not everything was well planned? If I was a writer and this would be easily the most discussed topic about the finale, I'd reflect on storytelling decisions I made. There's a good reason why Izzy's fate overshadows everything despite that he wasn't the point of the show.

(Post posted 10/31/23) Feel free to comment below if you agree or disagree, we're all here for discussions.

Thank you so much for this amazing question!! [If you're seeing this and want to discuss some aspect of S2, or my thoughts on OFMD overall, SEND ME AN ASK! I love doing this]

TLDR: Vague characterization from historical records means Jenkins is free to bend history without a lot of guilt. During early days of casting and during scene changes Jenkins got inspired by Con's audition tape. Con was told to play this shit as a Jesus/Judas relationship. An amazing performance in S1 keeps the character relevant in fandom spaces in the hiatus, and in Jenkin's mind for S2. The S1 season finale accidentally reveals a really interesting dynamic in Ed/Izzy's relationship. [Speculation from this point on] Jenkins feels like he needs to explore, with little plans to fully explore it. Fleshing out both Ed/Izzy abuse and love.

Jenkins realizes 'Oh shit, Izzy wasn't supposed to be this' midway through S2. But he still follows his original plan in killing him off, because he's not needed for the story in his outline, leading to him accidentally killing off a character as they're growing and healing. Leading to what some consider a move SO off-brand for the show, they are leaving the fandom.

[*Tin Foil Hat On*] I expect the original cut of S2 to include more scenes of the crew. I bet for every other Izzy scene, we got a crew scene. So when 'extra' not plot-relevant scenes had to get cut, they kept the Izzy scenes due to Izzy's stable arc, the fact that he'd die at the end either way and Con's amazing performance.

EXPLINATION AND DEPTH BELOW! It's a long one. A lot of this post will be speculation, interviews from Jenkins, and highly dependent on if you were in fandom between seasons 1 and 2. If you need me to hunt for sources, I can do that for you.

I'll separate everything into a chronological timeline as much as possible.

Before we touch on why Jenkins wrote Izzy to stick out in the story, we need to assume how he outlined this entire show.

Pre Con O'Neill:

I am of the personal belief that Jenkins likely wrote out an imagined arc for Ed and Stede. Including a lot of cool set pieces, fights, etc. for the three seasons he wanted vaguely based on the real lives of Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach(watch a YouTube vid documenting their history, it's a wild ride) turning it into something explicitly romantic. This is easy enough to do, as most of what we know about them was written YEARS after their deaths.

Next was filling in the cast. This is where we get our crew, mostly characters Jenkins made up, as very little is known of the men either sailed with.

Izzy Hands being a pirate under the age of 18 whose notable actions with Blackbeard include- Captaining his own vessel, running a ship aground, being Blackbeard's first mate, and getting shot by Blackbeard maybe on accident.

[THEORY] So. If you're any writer you see that and think 'cool a side character we know almost nothing about'. You slot him in as being Edward's one thing keeping him to the pirate lifestyle. Not necessarily romantic, but a serious Boss/underling relationship. This is a bit of how Izzy was written in S1 UNTIL-

Con O'Neill is cast as Izzy.

In interview, Jenkins has admitted that Con's audition tapes influenced how he wrote Izzy. As a writer, this shouldn't necessarily be ringing red flags. But he has gone on record as admitting to changing the script before shooting to suit Con. IN SEASON 1. My guess is Izzy at the end of episode 10 was meant to be more of a side character. Another Frenchie, or Wee John, who serves their purpose and then gets pushed to the side by the plot.

But at some point, Jenkins wrote how important the dynamic was between Ed and Izzy. Describing Izzy/Ed to Con before filming S1 of a 'Jesus and Judas' relationship like in Jesus Christ Superstar.

If you tell a (then closeted) queer actor who has been playing queer roles since the 1990s that his leather daddy character was having a Jesus&Judas JSC dynamic in a TV show that respects and celebrates queerness? 🤩 MY GOD.

[Speculation] That's how we get an Izzy Hands who is watching the man in front of him slip away, trying to dig his heels in. Hell, if I were Jenkins, I'd be adding a few more lines for Izzy to be pissed just to see Con have fun in the role. Let him be mad. Let him be in the background of scenes just glaring. Let us see a man slowly lose something he's built up his whole life.

[As mentioned from Comic Con- From Con O'Neill] This was important for me to bring up as Jenkins could have said 'henchman' but he didn't. Hell, when Taika and Con did hair and makeup they'd listen to the JCS cast album. It was a choice on both their parts.

[ovservation from here on out] Con plays it up, and a lot of queer fans saw this and grabbed hold of a man so desperate to keep the man he loved close that he sacrifices almost everything for it (Izzy also signs the Act of Grace to get Ed out of there).

Izzy, in a show full of openly queer people, is still on the fringe of society. SO MANY queers saw this and said 'OMG me'. ME INCLUDED. With a super supportive actor who genuinely is respectful of the fandom? Of art, and fic and meta? The Izzy 'Canyon' became so loyal because Con is a Queer Elder we didn't know we all needed in our lives!

Jenkins accidentally wrote into what could be an amazing story of a queer character living in a homophobic society where he learns to open himself up. All without ever writing a 'coming out' scene for Izzy. Jenkins knows this. Hell, since S1 Izzy fans have been telling him how cool that type of arc would be.

Now here comes the issue of where to take a side character, when you have loose plans for them.

S1 IS TIGHTLY WRITTEN ONTO ITSELF... S2?

Something we might forget now is HOW tightly written Izzy's falling out with Ed is tied into Stede and Ed falling in love. Beat per beat, Izzy is shoved away as Stede takes his place. That's really fucking smart. So smart, it was planned in the writer's room. The fact that some took it as romantic, that Ed could ever really love him back? Well...this is where Jenkins had a decision to make.

So he dips his toe. Let's make Ed even more violent than at the end of S1ep10. Let's include the bit where Blackbeard shoots Izzy Hands. Let's have Izzy confess his love for Ed and have it not be enough for Ed to change his mind. Let's show Izzy rising like a phoenix reborn after a failed suicide attempt where Izzy chooses to mutiny on Ed to protect the crew. Let's see Izzy growing. Because Jenkins loves Con's performance. Everyone in the cast enjoys him as a person. Let's give Izzy one last hurrah.

Jenkins knows this character meant a lot to Con. It's obvious in the way Jenkins recently confessed he told Con about Izzy's death midway through shooting. Sadly we likely will never be told when Con was told. But imagining Con filming the AMAZING character change of S2eps 1-2, then AFTER being told Izzy would die anyway? Oh. I wouldn't be alright. Not after all his fans had spent the last year telling him how much seeing a character like Izzy 'being accepted because they are worthy of love'.

This is the 1 thing that fucks me up. Not telling Con until midway through shooting, Versus his belief that writing Izzy's death was a fitting way to end his story. BOTH CAN'T BE TRUE. Right? If Jenkins felt the need to take con aside and go grab a meal to announce Izzy was dying but then market the ending as a 'Good Idea'. Then...What? If Con felt it fit the character, then he would have likely guessed Izzy would die. But that wasn't the vibe in the fandom at the time. It feels like a decision Jenkins made this season.

Because yes, some general audiences predicted that Izzy would die. But when your core fanbase for a character don't expect it, you didn't plan the death correctly. Fuck, I thought Izzy was trying to RECOVER this whole season. Not that Izzy was hiding how hard he was struggling. That's not a good sign when I've ALWAYS called Izzy as some brand of suicidal/depressed.

[Quote from Jenkins Entertainment Article: Oct 26 2023] 'What's the best journey we can give him(Izzy)? And what's the most interesting thing we can do with Con, who can do just about anything?'

That is not the quote of an author who has planned everything out. That's a writer who knows points A and E and is fighting to find everything in between.

The Fly in My Ointment

There's a point most writers know when a character or story slips out from under you. You didn't mean for this to happen. Hell, I write Scene by Scene outlines. My stories change. When Izzy Hands' growth arc became the most interesting part of S2, Jenkins had a choice.

How far was he willing to bend his idea to keep a character that wasn't 'essential'? Not that fucking far apparently. Because for some reason, Jenkin's labeled Izzy in his mind as 'Blackbeard' and tied Ed and Izzy's fates together. Ignoring how this season Izzy died to separate his old life with Ed from his new life with this crew.

Your question poses it perfectly- If I was a writer and this would be easily the most discussed topic about the finale, I'd reflect on storytelling decisions I made. There's a good reason why Izzy's fate overshadows everything despite that he wasn't the point of the show.

That's a trick they teach you in some writing podcasts. That in the end, you are telling one story. You can have twenty side characters and a romance arc, but in the end, you are telling one story. Each side character is going to show what happens when you fail or succeed at the central thesis.

What do we have in S1? What does Frenchie sing to set up where our story STARTS-

"A pirate’s life, [it’s] short but nice,” -“we won’t live long,” AND “to death we go, a certain death we go.”

Our characters expect a short simple life of what most pirates EXPECT. In my mind, this story has ALWAYS been about survival. From the extravagance of Stede's ship, and a crew ready to throw him overboard, to the barebones Shark eats Shark type of survival described in Ed's own fleet. OFMD is about living in a world that doesn't want you there. About surviving and thriving. About these two men from different worlds coming together and forging a life of kindness for them and for their family.

Saying fuck you, I'm here, I'm still alive, and I'm going to THRIVE. I deserve kindness, happiness, love, and a fully lived life. I deserve to spend my short time on this Earth happy.

IN S2? The ONLY character that matches this thesis is Izzy. After scenes of Izzy struggling. Of finding himself. Of crawling up from his own personal hell, Izzy dies. He dies from a random bullet wound in the same spots that didn't kill Stede or Ed in the previous season. Breaking the one established rule for wounds in this universe that the left side is the safe side so that Izzy can die.

Even if Izzy spent this entire season wanting to die, he tried to live. For a few days after a breakup of over 20+ years of casual intimacy. Of a bond where Izzy was the murderer, the brawn. The dangerous right hand. Where Izzy dying meant not just his death, but likely that of Ed. Given the man's constant depressive moods, crews that didn't like him, and reoccurring suicidal tendencies. Ed didn't need Izzy Hands anymore. Ed had Stede now. He was ready to finally leave Izzy for good. What will Izzy Hands do now?

He gave up. He tried to move on. He listened after being told he was too rough, too loud, too mean. He tried. He tried to survive this new way of life surrounded by people who supported him. But he was tired. After so many years of putting up a mask, tearing it down was too much work. So he wanted to die. In the end. Izzy died in the arms of Edward surrounded by his family.

Buried on a plot of land Jenkins has already told us Stede and Ed will leave when things get boring. Left behind like the corpse of a pet the family has forgotten. Buried without his ring and cravat, items Izzy is only seen without when he's naked. Without the prosthetic gifted to him by a family that cared about him.

Izzy wasn't mourned for more than five seconds, before Stede and Ed were making jokes on his fresh grave, and then the episode moves on to a wedding.

RIP Izzy Hands- a man who loved more than he was ever loved in return.

Was this the right message? FUCK No. But for those of us who believed that theme of queer survival and community- We saw framing Izzy's death like this as a fucking betrayl.

Izzy Hands isn't buried with his most prized possessions- they're left out to be stolen or rot in the front yard. With only one man crying over his death and a silent funeral. He leaves this world without more than a 'he was intense'. Which...isn't great coming from the man Izzy loved for most of his life.

The reason why we're mad about Izzy isn't that it's Izzy. It's that when we boarded this flight we were given a set of rules to follow. It's a comedy about men falling in love on a boat that sometimes gets serious. That's it. To watch a character start to grow only to die for NO PLOT SPECIFIC REASON. Is insulting. If your death has no tie to the narrative (sacrifice or it comes with a revelation) it's a death just set up for shock. Izzy and Ed could have had that deathbed confession talk at the start of episode 7.

A REASON WHY I'M MAD BEYOND THAT SPECIFICALLY. [Very Personal Gripe]

A SALUTE TO CON O'NEILL -AGAIN!

I had the privilege of hyper-fixating on this show from the entirety of S1 ending to S2 beginning. During this time I explored the catalog of Con O'Neill's work on Tumblr under the tag 'Conography'. I watched this man play queer roles since the 1990s. Genderqueer/somewhere on the Trans spectrum, Gay, Bi. This man loves to play a queer story, even if it's sad. If it's tragic. He will breathe new life into their lungs and express their moments of Joy. Of love. Of community.

After the filming of S2 at a con, Con he felt comfortable publicly coming out due to the love and support he felt from our fandom. Do you know JUST how crazy that is? That Con KNEW Izzy was dead, yet he loved our fandom so much he let himself be vulnerable, and come out as queer? It's fucking INSANE to me, and shows just how much this show means to him.

He's not just Queer. He's a Queer fucking elder whose been protective of this entire community since S1. This 57-year-old man has proudly stood up in the name of Trans rights this entire time. Treating everyone, but especially Trans Izzy fans with so much fucking respect. Trans Izzy is a common headcanon partially because of how comfortable people feel knowing they won't get harassed because they interpret Izzy a certain way. That trans people feel at home seeing themselves as a misunderstood character with a chip on their shoulder.

I'm pissed for every in universe thing listed above AND NOW THIS. Because our Queer Elders are dead. There is a generation of Queer people we can never get back. They died from a mix of society pressuring these people into the closet or an early grave. Of disease running wild in communities unchecked. Of media ruining the careers of anyone who dared to come out. To see Con O'Neill So Fucking Happy and having it cut short because Jenkins thought Izzy was better dead than being an actual background character makes me see fucking red.

No. Jenkins probably didn't know Con was Queer when writing S2. But I'm assuming he still saw how happy Con was at Izzy fans before S2 was written which still makes it feel shitty.

Sure. Give Izzy all the amazing speeches about family and belonging and rip that right from his hands as soon as Izzy realizes it's something he might want for himself. Let's have Con O'Neill say all the prominent lines that are a blatant metaphor for why the Queer community needs to stick together.

Izzy's arc isn't just overshadowing the conversation because it was mismanaged and feels unplanned, it also just feels cruel to the central arc of this series. Add that to an actor who was so vocal about loving this community, it feels pointed to give him a tragic ending.

Jenkins doesn't need to consider why people hated this finale. Because there are SO MANY Ed/Stede fans who just don't care. They put Izzy in the box with every other side character and decided to put their effort into the protagonists and point and laugh when we suffer. Jenkins won't rethink anything because he can just say the 'Izzy community was passionate and are sad their favorite died'. Ignoring how this season made Stede into a shittier, less sympathetic captain and gave Ed an interesting arc only to give up before the finish line.

#Now. I didn't bring up how viewing Izzy as being useless post disability ALSO pissed people off but there are posts everywhere about that #physical disability is not my place so I don't overstep #THE WAY IZZYS DEATH WOULD WORK SO MUCH BETTER IF HE STEPPED INFRONT OF A BULLET MEANT FOR STEDE #Or that post floating around of Ed getting shot for Izzy. Showing that yes. Ed cares. that they're both fucked but are working on it #If most of the fan base hates the *implications* for S3 thanks to this ending it wasn't the right move #GOD I DIDN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT THE DAD/MENTOR THING. Ah well #it's taken me 3 hours to type this up. I'll add later if it needs be lol #ofmd s2 #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #izzy hands #ofmd s2 finale #ofmd critical #ofmd meta #omfd analysis #israel hands

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wroef · 11 months

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Theory on how Barbara died and Rick's disappearance. Based partially on/inspired by this post:

https://www.tumblr.com/dilfgmancoolatta/696764411466121216/thinking-abt-what-if-barbara-wasnt-violently?source=share

Okay.

So I saw this post and it sparked this theory of mine.

You see, I never really bought that Rick was responsible for Barbara's death given the fact he was on crutches at the time.

Not to mention the comic is not very reliable (since Edith signed off on it and might not have really liked Rick much, in my opinion).

So.. here's the theory:

They didn't have cellphones back then and Rick probably didn't walk to Barb's. His parents either drove him there or Barb did.

So if she kicked him out and didn't let him call home, he probably decided to suck it up (cause toxic masculinity) and walk home.

Only...

Barbara lives near the ocean. On uneven land. Surrounded by forest. And wild animals.

And it was night.

Rick probably got lost.

And it was Halloween.

It was probably cold.

So either he succumbed to the elements or got attacked by an animal.

Or maybe he went to seek shelter in a cave or went to chill by the ocean. Waiting for his parents to pick him up (if they had drove him) or for Barbara to cool off. Only to fall asleep and get pulled in by the tide.

Hence him disappearing that night.

(My friend pointed out that his crutch was found by the water).

I hear you say... How did Barbara die?

Well. They focus on the skates.

So I'm thinking one of the boys (Walter or the twins or all three) were playing with Barbara's skates before she got home and since the place was cluttered, she probably didn't see them and slipped. Tripping over the railing. Breaking it and falling to her death.

And of course, Walter would be messed up whether he was playing with the skates or not (suggested in the link) because he just saw his older sister die.

And well.

Edie might have blamed Rick for Barbara's death if he disappeared or just for not stopping it since he was there earlier.

Also Walter would be even more messed up because of how strongly his mom believed in the curse after the death of his uncle and grandparents and both his sisters.

And as more deaths started to happen, it'd probably cause a lot of stress. Especially with nobody getting help for him.

I don't know how much of this disjointed mess makes sense but I hope it does make a little sense.

Ooh, this is interesting!

I've never been of the opinion that Rick killed Barbara either, for starters. My guess was the serial killer or maybe some crazed fan(s?) mad that she wasn't able to make her appearance at the convention. I'll need more time to sit on this new theory but I do think it's worth considering

I do wonder though, if we assume that was true, why does he blame the monster for Calvin's death? He arguably has the most cut and dry of Walter's siblings (that he's aware of anyway, him not mentioning Sam makes me think he might not know he died which is :(( but anyway), and while I guess it could be the guilt mentioned I have to imagine that at the very least Sam would try to clear that up? Maybe he did and Walter just didn't believe him, though. It's hard to say. That's something that's bothered me long before I got this ask tbf

As far as the Rick part, yeah him drowning somewhere does make sense. Now that you mention it I wouldn't be surprised if he tripped around that river and cracked his head there.

(Happy birth/deathday queen. RIP Barbara)

-Mod Edith

#what remains of edith finch #wroef #did I see this and then wait for Barbara's birthday to post it? maybe.#barbara finch #walter finch #sam finch #calvin finch #Rick

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blvssomed · 8 months

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[ cillian murphy, cis man, he/him ] — whoa! SILAS WILDE just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for 32 YEARS ON AND OFF, working as a MEDICAL EXAMINER. that can’t be easy, especially at only 44 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit BRUSQUE and CRITICAL, but i know them to be CLEVER and SEDULOUS. whatever. i guess i’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to MANHATTAN!

STATISTICS:

full name: silas fionn wilde

title: doctor

nicknames: only silas

born: dublin, republic of ireland

citizenship: has dual citizenship between the united states & ireland

age: forty4

sexuality: bisexual/biromantic

height: 5’8”

marital status: divorced

occupation: medical examiner

children: maeve wilde ( daughter - age 20 )

BIOGRAPHY:

born into the wilde lineage where the majority of offspring would inevitably pursue a career in the medical field, silas's life has been full of expectation before he even appeared into the world on the stormy evening of october 5th, 1980. his parents were introduced by mutual friends while at university where old money flirts with old money.

silas's father continued to add to the wilde wealth through his illustrious career as a plastic surgeon, while his mother dealt in rare art and antiquities. their travels often called for a nanny to watch over silas and his eventual younger siblings, but dublin was home base — where they would inevitably return to no matter how many transatlantic plane rides.

for as much as silas didn’t mind burrowing his head into a book and memorizing his way through the dictionary to pass the time once he made his way through his father’s library, eventually his father announced he sold their home and they were relocating to new york city after silas's twelfth birthday. apparently it was a more accessible city to capitalize off of people’s insecurities. from his father’s enthusiastic retellings over dinner as the lines by his mother’s mouth downturned and her eyes lackluster, money was not the problem at hand.

his mother’s attitude shifted with the move, becoming more agitated and more often than not, narrowing silas as the main target for her sour moods. these turbulent moods would come in unexpected waves, before his mom would be pulled away to some european city for another bidding war over antiquities. as a teenager, silas wasn’t entirely certain what caused these shifts in his mother, but he could only assume the rise of his father’s career came at the slow decline of his mother’s. or perhaps she thought a flourishing family meant less traveling, less exploring, and less freedom for her. silas doesn’t think he’ll ever know, but he did his best to shield his younger siblings from her wrath.

academics proved easy for silas, his natural proclivity for picking up on theories and dates helped him stay at the top of his class at the private academies his father had him and his siblings enrolled in upon their arrival in new york. his spot as valedictorian of his graduating class was secure and despite many others who would think the expectation of a medical career as a noose around the neck, it merely made silas think outside the box regarding which career would not only keep him intellectually stimulated, but not have him regret his decision.

his college years and twenties seemed to slowly inch on once silas settled on wanting to become a medical examiner. it checked off the box of a medical career, while also ensuring that he wouldn’t have to directly deal with people like most others. while unfortunate, his patients silence would be a blessing for him in fending off unnecessary interactions. a bachelor’s degree in forensic science, following into medical school, and once he passed his medical licensing test with flying colors, he gained a residency back in new york city. said residency led to a coveted fellowship with the medical examiner of the nypd.

the trek to becoming a medical examiner was long and winding, having to sidetrack his time as a forensic pathologist and network meticulously in new york until a position opened. this position took the form of a friend of his mentor retiring in the nyc office of the chief medical examiner. silas's networking skills were put to work and with a glowing recommendation, silas secured an interview. silas has been in nyc for the past 34 years, but has been a medical examiner for the city for seven. he has his sights set on the role of chief medical examiner, but he still has some time.

silas is someone who takes his work extremely seriously, a bit of a workaholic who values what he does and the importance it brings to many people’s lives. unfortunately, this has come at the cost of his own personal relationships which led to his divorce a few years back with his ex-wife. they wanted silas to pull back from work and start a family.

having met in college and found the other’s ambition charming, silas and his ex-wife married not long after graduation and both agreed that their careers were their highest priorities. while silas never particularly desired to become a father, when his wife suggested they try then he agreed for her happiness. their agreement was only one child and that was the way it was, up until a few years later when she began dropping less than subtle hints about expanding their family. for as much as silas loves his kids and holds a fondness for them like no other, his line was drawn at one and so he put his foot down. his wife used to see his ambition mirrored in herself and while silas never shied away from being called a workaholic, the term came in tenfold when his wife told him he valued his career more over their family. after nearly a decade of marriage, and following the fifth birthday of their kid, silas and his wife signed divorce papers.

overall, silas is more quiet than most, choosing to be observant and analyze a situation first before offering his thoughts. he’s dedicated to what he deems as important and may come across as brusque in conversations since he tends to get straight to the point.

he’s definitely learning some patience bc his daughter and niece/nephew are currently living with him as they’re attending the nearby college and deem themselves above a dorm room. so instead, silas is playing host and ( un ) fun dad/uncle as he gets a taste of what parenting two youths is like. he feels grey hairs coming in and has taken up morning yoga to help level out the frayed wires going off in his brain. but it’s fun bc silas is slowly learning to loosen up a bit and not take things as seriously. you’re allowed to have fun silas !!

WANTED CONNECTIONS

any hookups tbh he works a lot and juggles that and looking after his daughter mauve and his niece/nephew now that both are living with him in his upper west side townhouse, so his personal time is a bit limited. not to mention he isn’t looking for a committed relationship after having been divorced since he finds being single easier, so he settles for hookups.

a blind date that maybe a mutual friend set them up on and silas went on to get them to shut up. maybe your muse was actually interested and was bummed when silas didn’t follow up with them so now your muse side eyes him, or maybe your muse also went to appease their mutual friend, so it’s generally amicable and they have no issue with one another

going off above, maybe the two of them pretend to see one another or use each other as a default date when said mutual friend is involved or have defaulted the other as a plus one for any real event they need a date for. they get along and have enjoyable conversation which is why they default to one another

friends !! give silas some joy in his life w friendships bc this man needs it

maybe someone silas unintentionally pissed off with his resting bitch face and judgemental little eyes lmao he has that effect on people <3

someone who frequents the same gym as him or even someone who’s in his weekly yoga class and they’ve developed an early stage friendship from being next to one another

a bar hookup bc im trash and the whole seedy vibe speaks to my soul. whether or not silas and your muse acknowledge each other can be discussed. though i will say the idea of silas being a dumbass and not recognizing them and your muse hating him for not remembering them is on brand for him so there’s that lol

fellow upper west siders !!!

anything really pls i love plots

#boroughs.intro #dropping this gently on all ur laps #now onto mickey

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bellaniebrambles · 2 months

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Diary #011

I want someone to observe me like I observe others. The detail I accumulate from those I watch enviably is what makes me fall for someone. Every little detail. For instance when I write I find myself describing the characters of interest with a level of detail beyond necessary. Its what I'd see, not what the common would.

The piece I wrote and scrapped, The Stable is where I noticed my fine level of detail in observation. Down to how someone walks. All their little habits as they go about their day. How their hands move when they grab for something…I study it all. Is it so weird to find all the complex things about a person attractive over raw appearance? The intricate way of how their fingers fiddle while nervous, the tap of a foot. Every little thing and habit of a person varies and I find fascinating to learn. Something you can't simply learn by questioning. Some people are less animated. Makes me wonder what they think. What is unseen from my observations?

What would someone see if they watched me like I do others? I romanticize the idea that just as I observes the world so heavily around, someone could be doing the same to me. Would our eyes have met in pass? Perhaps we once stood on opposite sides of the road; observing each other without even realizing. I see a lot of the same people. I've always just come to the assumption none of them remember me or even know I was there during the time I lingered.

I just blend into the backdrop. People often don't notice me till I make myself actually known; often passed off as just a nonverbal resident of the area. I'm not going to change how I dress just to stand out attention seeking. Perhaps if someone did observe me it would be like playing a hide and seek game.

A woman who so perfectly melts into the world around her she nearly vanishes. The artist who sketches into books in the corner of everyone's eye, never center. Learn my changes of attire depending on my travel, destination. My ingrained habit of politeness of removing my hat when stepping indoors. Or maybe I don't appear anything like how I am aware of myself. I'll never know. I can't really ever observe myself to know. I can only just make theories based on how I'm interacted with. Which isn't a whole lot.

On my walk from Valentine to Beecher's however I was right. I was the weirdo and a group stopped to point out how out of place it was for someone to walk between destinations, especially so far out to Strawberry. Warned me of robbers, wolves, and witches. Never saw any. Never do. Warning appreciated I guess but if there was witches they wouldn't waste their time sacrificing someone like me. Probably chase those so quick to gallop on horse back and look like they have something to lose. You can almost sense the fear in people. The difference between me and them. I walk so calm without a second thought. The between of places is spoken as if its a horrifying and 'lawless' land no one but me wishes to dwell in. Oh and the robbers, witches and wild life. Which of those do I fit next to the best?

#rp #roleplay #oc #rdr #rdr2 #red dead redemption #red dead redemption2 #rockstar games #twitch #journal #diary

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ambalambs · 5 months

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Don't think I didn't see your tags about Miko's Azem. I need to know all about them! Do you have a name for them? What kind of personality do they have? How do they get along with Hades, Hythlodaeus, Venat, Hermes, Themis, et al. How would they get along with Miko and how are they similar and how are they different?

Oh geeze the cats out of the bag, I do have an azem concept for Miko xD his name is Dionysus! Or Dio for short to his friends. I see him being a pretty energetic guy who strives to live for excitement and fun and just loves being around people. You'd just rarely find him alone or not busy with something.

Im gonna put the rest under a break just in case I get carried away here lol

So basically he's a super cheery and approachable guy but he is definitely someone you wouldn't want to get on his bad side. He has a habit of coming up with unorthodox ideas and if someone decides to hurt him or someone he cares about he will take joy in making them suffer lol but he's usually a sweetheart otherwise! But yeah just he's got of a bit of a deranged quirk to him like I mentioned about the butterfly concepts in those tags you clearly saw xD but most of the time it's harmless ideas. For example he'd probably ask if he could give a caterpillar concept two heads, and when asked why he'd even want to do that he'd reply with something like "so it wouldn't feel lonely 🥺". And just in general I kinda see him being a little creature at times like there's no doubt Hades has had to pluck a few leaves or twigs out of his hair before they go into a meeting. Boy is a free spirit lol

As for relationships he is closest to hythlodaeus. I feel like during the whole final days stuff when he learns of hyth's sacrifice it was most likely the final straw to break him. Just based on canon tho he'd of course also be friends with Hades. He'd take immeasurable joy in pestering him lol but he'd know the limit and only push his buttons on a good day. Themis would be like a little brother to him and possibly an awful influence in most of the other convocation member's eyes lol as for Venat he would've definitely looked up to her as a mentor and since she was a kindred spirit when it came to relations with the people and exploring he felt extremely comfortable with her. He'd always talk her ear off about his wild ideas or things he'd see/experience on his travels. Im not sure if he'd have ever had a deeper relationship with hermes tho beyond just "this is a guy I work with and he seems sad so im gonna chat him up when I see him, maybe show him a cool bird concept ive been cooking up. He seems to like birds." Lol

I do have this idea, or theory I guess, that venat told azem about the whole future stuff with hydaelyn and zodiark and the final days at some point. And this would've been devastating for him to learn and hard to accept and why he left the convocation and everything behind. He'd have been angry having to sit aside and let fate play out as it must so I think that really strained his relationship with Venat and of course Hades. I could go on deeper about all that probably but idk how atm lol but it does play into how I feel like he'd feel about miko.

Like if they were to meet i feel like there would be a deep sadness and resentment for miko. Dio would just take one look at him and wonder "why you?". But there'd also be respect. That something so small, just a piece of himself, could continue on and accomplish all that miko has. And to witness all the love and compassion and hope and courage in this little shard would eventually sway him and Dio would come to love miko, not as a piece of himself but as his own person. Ngl I'd love an azem vs wol battle to test their worth or something xD I feel like thatd be fun. But yeah I mean there are small similarities between them if one knew where to look. They both have that joyous nature and are good with people. Their ability with song. Dio is just more unhinged than Miko is in like Miko doesn't take joy in fighting or hurting others even if they've wronged him and he's more chill than Dio is in general I think lol if that all makes sense.

Also im gonna be bold and share a basic concept doodle I did of him just cuz I needed to get an idea out of what he'd even kinda look like. So this is all subject to change but I do see him at least having long hair with this color and silver eyes.

#ty for asking again Z lol #i hope i explained him well enough but we have such little azem lore in general its hard to work around what little we have #miko jinjahl

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redlibra14-2 · 2 years

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My theory on the upcoming paradox DLC legendaries for Scarlet and Violet

So, if you’re reading this, that means you may or may not have seen what 2 of the 3 upcoming paradox pokemon look like. They both look like the fusions of both of their respective trios. A trio from Johto and a trio from Unova. But who could possibly be this 3rd pokemon that we haven’t seen yet?

On the surface, it’s easy to say that it is the 3rd legendary representing present time, since Koraidon and Miraidon represent the past and future respectively. A lot might say that it’s Cyclizar but that has already been debunked by the developers saying that it isn’t a pre-evolution to either. Plus, it’s WAY too common to be a legendary considering we see them running around in the wild and we also see NPCs use them to get to places. But it could be another pokemon resembling Cyclizar but doesn’t evolve from it (or maybe it will, who knows?). I mean it’s not the first time that a legendary is related to a common pokemon, look at Diancie and Carbink. Despite their similarities, Carbink doesn’t evolve into Diancie. How Diancie got the way she is is because of a Carbink undergoing a mutation according to the lore. Maybe the same will happen with Cyclizar.

But I propose an alternate possibility. Remember how I briefly touched upon how one of the paradox pokemon looks like a fusion of a trio from Unova? Well, what if I told you that they aren’t the only possible trio to fuse?

Does anyone remember the Great Dragon from Gen 5? Because if you don’t, then allow me to refresh your memory. The Great Dragon is said to be what the Tao Trio (Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem) used to be. They only split apart because of the beliefs of the two princes of Unova believed their country SHOULD be: Truth or Ideals. Reshiram and Zekrom fought while the empty husk that remained became Kyurem.

So basically, what I’m trying to get at is that The Great Dragon is a paradox pokemon. And I have some evidence to back this up.

Evidence:

-We never got an actual name for this pokemon, what this pokemon’s real name is.

-’The Great Dragon’ sounds like a name for a paradox pokemon. All of the paradox pokemon have names, with the exception of Koraidon and Miraidon, that are just pronouns in front of nouns. (For example, GREAT Tusk, SCREAM Tail, IRON Treads, etc.)

-And to top it all off, we have never seen what this pokemon looks like. The closest we’ve ever got were Kyurem’s two forms: Black Kyurem and White Kyurem. So the name would probably be Gray Kyurem, but that can just be applied to how Kyurem looks normally.

-To add onto the previous point, it is possible for a paradox pokemon to be a fusion of 2 or more pokemon. Look at Iron Valiant, who I jokingly referred to as what a possible hermaphroditical fusion for the Ralts line would look like in my previous post.

-Plus the Great Dragon would probably represent balance, as the Yin and Yang symbol (which is what the Tao Trio are partially based on), not just in black and white, but I guess in time itself as well.

But if any of this turns out to be true, as cool as it would seem, it probably wouldn’t make much sense lorewise. Such as if the Great Dragon is this 3rd edition, then that would imply that Koraidon and Miraidon have ties to Unova, which they don’t based on both names and design. And I’m pretty sure New York and the Iberian peninsula have little to nothing to do with each other, aside from immigrants moving there and there’s bits of spanish culture in there too. Also, if the paradox fusion the resembles the swords of justice is indeed a fusion, then why did the games never say that the swords used to be a single entity? Come to think of it, the same principle can apply to the paradox fusion resembling the legendary beasts.

The legendary beasts were already said to have been created by Ho-Oh, when it resurrected 3 dead pokemon in a fire in the brass tower. Origins Generations already debunked the theory that it’s the first 3 eeveelutions. Maybe that story was just a cover up for what really happened and maybe it’s got something to do with this paradox pokemon. Just like with the Great Dragon’s name and design, these pokemon’s identities were never confirmed either.

To answer this is that maybe pokemon will retcon some things. I mean, it’s not the first time this has happened, look at pokemon types in general. There were 15 originally in the games, 16 if you count ‘???’. But after gens 2 and 6, there’s 18 and we never got an in-universe explanation as to where Steel, Dark, and Fairy come from. We are just led to believe that they simply, exist. And other example is that Pokemon used to have references to countries, cities, and other areas in the real world. Indian elephants are mentioned in some dex enteries, there was a dog, no not a dog pokemon, an actual pup in one of the posters, and then theres the Tunguska/Tiksi branches of Silph Co in FireRed and LeafGreen being references to Russia, among other examples. Heck, some of this was the backbone for the “Ash is in a coma” theory.

Heck, Kyurem’s origin was retconned as well. Originally believed to have come from an icy comet, but then it was changed to it have been the empty remains of what used to be the Great Dragon. But the whole story about an icy comet could be referring to how the dragon split and not how Kyurem got there by itself.

But there is one thing that I know that possibly might tie the Tao Trio to the Paradox duo and it’s the fact that dinosaurs and reptiles are part of their inspiration. Though for Miraidon, it’s only in name because of the suffix being Greek for tooth. Also, contrary to popular belief but lizards did NOT evolve from dinosaurs, they just happened to have the same common ancestor. Pretty much the same as how we didn’t evolve from chimps, we just share the same ancestor. Also, both Koraidon and Reshiram look feathery, whereas Zekrom and Miraidon aren’t.

And like I said, despite how it may seem contradictory, retcons happen just to try and make it make sense. And yeah, in terms of stories, it’s difficult to fit something new into what’s already been established without it having to break the rules. But that’s just how it is with storytelling. Plus, Pokemon is confirmed to be a multiverse, so everything both does and doesn’t make sense. And plus, it wouldn’t be the first time Unova predicted something. Look at how Iron Thorns looks like the Mecha Tyranitar from Pokestar Studios in BW2.

So, what do you think? Was there something I missed? If so, put it in the comments and I hope you enjoyed.

Edit: I mistakeningly put Origins instead of Generations. Generations showed us what happened in the brass tower, not Origins. Origins is based on Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, FireRed, LeafGreen, and some bits of the Let’s Go games are in there. And by “bits”, I mean mega evolution. Sorry about that.

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traderdales · 2 years

Note

NEEEEED to see ranger from you

ranger - race and/or class predictions for the next campaign, for any and all players?

This one is hard. Real hard. This post (god bless finn) is basically all I have to go off so most of this is just guessing really. For shits and giggles as they say so let's go!

Izzy - We'll start with them because it sounds like they were the last to know about the new campaign anyways 😭 I'm basing this on the Halloween murder mystery special, Obie seemed a little more rough and into the whole thievery thing so we might be teetering on Rogue? Race is such a hard thing to guess being that there are... so... goddamn... many [i just counted over 80 options on dndbeyond alone help, i didn't even count subraces]. Maybe Changeling would fit with that playstyle cuz we damn well know Izzy likes to keep some secrets.

Cerin - Now the people want to know if Cerin is gonna do some magic. My thought is, eh, maybe? But I'm gonna stick with that idea, so I'm thinking Sorcerer. I wanna stick with my gut feeling of Genasi for this one, not too sure which element. Maybe fire? Yeahhhh Fire Genasi.

River - They've said before that casting in general fucking scares them (fair king, there are currently 484 spells in DnD 5e [and Matt Mercer knows all of them for some reason]) but I still think there might be a lil bit of casting in there. Feeling Paladin for them for a touch of casting with some badassery on the side. This might just be bias now but Dwarf would kinda kill if that's the case so that's what we're feeling here.

Nox - Here ye, here ye, I have a theory for thee. I see a Bard in thine future. This is entirely based on them saying they would want a character who speaks up more and what better to that with than with whatever tf the bard is. Sensing a Tiefling in their near future too for some devilish charm.

Cadillac - Last but not least, the forever DM themself. An aura of constant chaos follows them, but it really could be anythign with them. I'm going to go with Barbarian so they can air some shit out at their leisure. A Half-Orc pairing to go with that would sell it just right.

Summary:

Izzy - Rogue Changeling Cerin - Fire Genasi Sorcerer River - Dwarf Paladin Nox - Tiefling Bard Cadillac - Half-Orc Barbarian

And a reminder none of this is accurate and it's all just wild guesses.

#can you tell im advocating for more spellcasters #none of this is gonna be accurate please dont take this as gospel #i am but a lowly tumblr haver #please not my firstborn #no but really there are so many races jesus christ

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grimm-rider · 2 years

Text

Entry 4

We’re in the Dancing Hut and today was a crazy day. Like…I thought yesterday was busy. Today so much happened I feel like my head is going to rip itself open.

Or maybe just that much happened to me specifically.

Anyways I don’t think I mentioned in my last entry, but at the end of my date with Greta we went to her favorite bar and got some nice spiced wine to top off a very fun evening. We talked, and Greta told me she wanted to come with us.

Which…well, like I said before. I was certain once I told her about my not being a Winter Wolf, she was either going to dump me or kill me. I didn’t want to ruin a perfect evening though, so I told her I had something to tell her the next day, and that she should wait to decide until after that. Plus we had a dragon to slay.

I went back to the resistance base, Solveig shared some stuff about Aenland’s cursed sword, we each reported in about our missions, Nestian got weirdly defensive about the creator of the Mirror Men, and then we parted ways for the evening. I went to talk to Edeya in private.

Unlike the resistance members, Aenland, and even Nestian, I trust Edeya. She understands my way of looking at the world better than the others. Maybe because she’s also from Irrisen, or maybe because she was raised by Winter Witches. I don’t know. I don’t really care about the why. All I know is that she’s someone I can actually talk to about things without getting that judgmental look or a bunch of preaching or talking about emotions or what-have-you.

So I told her the parts I purposely left out of my report to Solveig—the fact that Nazhena had come to my box to talk to me personally and was real buddy-buddy with me. We talked a bit about the implications. Maybe I was a Winter Witch, or at least someone with a lot of power who had earned a position despite being neither a witch nor a woman. What was it Edeya had said? Welcome to the Winter Witches who don’t want to be Winter Witches club?

Well. I’m in good company, at least.

I ended up sharing a bit more than I’d come to share, because she asked about my memory loss, and I decided Edeya was someone I could share the full story with. So I told her about how I found myself snowed in, in a cave somewhere between Ustalav and the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. And I decided to go looking around the cave while I waited the storm out. Except I cut my hand on something in the wall, and when I did I heard a voice speaking in a language I didn’t understand. I’m starting to wonder if it might have been Necril, but I didn’t voice that theory to her because I can’t remember what was said, so it’s just a wild guess based on me suddenly remembering how to speak Necril recently when I didn’t know the language before I passed out.

Anyways, Edeya asked if it was a voice from on high—like a god or something—or just a voice. I don’t know. It all happened so fast, and then I blacked out. I couldn’t tell you if I heard the voice in my head or with my ears, much less if it was a godly presence or a mortal one.

Then Edeya asked a question I really didn’t want to answer. How had I woken up? I hesitated. I knew exactly how this was going to sound and exactly what sorts of conclusions even she was going to jump to. It was why I hadn’t told anyone about it so far, because I knew exactly what sort of reaction I’d get, and I didn’t want to hear it.

Still, I told her. I’d woken up in the town on the Western border of Taldor. In a grave. Surrounded by dead bodies.

Edeya, of course, asked if I was some kind of zombie. Despite my continued insistence that I am not undead to both Aenland and Nestian before now. I told her I was certain. I’d been checked with detect undead since waking up and detected as a living person. And! I pulled out the Pallid Crystal and showed it to her, explaining that it would be dark purple if I was undead, but it was still pink in my hands.

Well…apparently Edeya recognized what it was because she clammed up a little and asked if I’d had that since I woke up. I decided in for a copper in for a gold, and told her the truth that it had just appeared in my room one night. She said that was somehow worse. I agreed, and noted that it even came with a threatening note attached. Edeya noted that I had a really messed up past, whatever it might be.

Gotta say, I think I’m starting to agree.

We talked a bit more, and discussed our magic. Hers comes from Shezhinka. I don’t know where mine comes from. I just woke up with it, and I seem to be remembering how to do more as we continue our journey. My parents weren’t magic users, and I didn’t have magic before I fell unconscious. Edeya noted that meant one of two things. Either I’d learned magic on my way to Irrisen. Or I’d learned it in Irrisen. The later of the two was the worse option, she decided.

Given every magic user we’ve met in Irrisen so far has been someone okay with crossing the line into child murder…yeah, I think I’d really prefer if I learned magic elsewhere too. Which means I almost certainly learned magic in Irrisen with my track record.

…Actually, I may have met the person who taught me magic, now that I think about it, but we’ll get into that later. I’m not certain of that but…it seems likely it was him...

Edeya revealed that she got her magic when Shezhinka saved her life, when she’d run away from home and almost froze to death in the wilds of Irrisen. So, I asked her something that I’d wondered for a while. Why did the leave when she had a life of luxury and power laid out before her? She almost got herself killed leaving, for what?

Edeya said she’d discovered the horrors of what the Winter Witches were doing to people, and she couldn’t stay. She had to leave, because she found what they were doing morally repugnant. It sounded like the sort of thing Nestian and Aenland would agree with, and I said as much—without saying in so many words that I don’t think I’d have thrown away a future of power and luxury over such concerns.

…In that light, I suppose it’s not that surprising the kinds of circles I would have hung around in a different lifetime. Although I sure hope I had some plan in the background for Nazhena’s fall if I knew about the things she was doing. Something other than introducing her to a cheating lowlife.

Oh I should have told her he was cheating on her before she died, that would have been hilarious. Damn. Hindsight and all that.

Anyways, eventually I left to head to bed. Not before slipping up and admitting to Edeya that I was going to be telling Greta about my not being a Winter Wolf the next day and that I was anxious about it. Edeya talked to me about it and I said some embarrassingly genuine stuff I wish I hadn’t, but Edeya said I should just tell her that and maybe she’d understand. So…I decided I’d think about it.

I bumped into Nestian on the way out to head to bed, so I guess our bear companion had something to talk to Edeya about too. Poor thing is too popular for her own good.

I slept…fitfully. Between replaying the conversation with Nazhena over and over in my mind and the conversation looming over my head with Greta in the morning, it was a difficult night.

The next day Solveig seemed on edge about something. When Nestian asked, she mentioned that Logrivich might have hostages and that we should be careful in our fight. I wasn’t overly concerned at the time. The others were sure to take care of any hostages. I had other things on my mind.

We made our way to the Clock Tower. Greta was waiting for me there. I broke off from the others. Edeya offered to send Snezhinka with me for support, but I didn’t want even the fox to overhear whatever this conversation was about to be, so I declined. Besides, according to Edeya, Snezhinka is a horrible gossip, and Edeya at least can understand everything she says, so if the fox came with me Edeya would know every word of the conversation within the hour.

I met up with Greta. She noted that it was time to slay a dragon. I said if she still wanted to after this conversation, I’d be happy to have her along. She said that wasn’t a reassuring sentence, I knew that right?

Yeah I did.

She asked if it was her or me that was the issue.

I explained that we hadn’t been entirely honest about everything we’d said coming in the front gate, all things considered.

She asked what I was lying about.

I took a breath. Moment of truth. I told her I wasn’t really a Winter Wolf.

She seemed incredibly confused for a moment, because I looked like one and I smelled like one. Then the wheels in her head visibly started turning. She asked if I’d ever met a Winter Wolf with heterochromia. I confirmed that one had tried to assassinate us on the way to the city.

She asked me if she could see what I really looked like. I undid the Rimepelt’s spell and watched her expression—bracing myself for disgust, but I had to see with my own eyes.

Instead, she looked me up and down, and simply asked one question. Why? Why had I lied about it? Had everything with her just been for the revolution? Because the night before I’d told her there would be time for just the two of us.

I’d meant it when I’d said that. And that date, when it was just the two of us, was the most fun I’d probably ever had on a date.

I didn’t say any of that.

What I told her was a…much more difficult truth to speak. But one I had to if I was going to keep Greta with me. I told her that when we’d first come to the city, it was just about getting in the front gate. But then I’d met her. And…my looks aren’t what they were before I lost my memories. No one had looked at me the way she did since I woke up. I wanted to cling to that for as long as I could. I was having so much fun spending time with her, I didn’t want the fantasy to come to an end.

I expected a lot of different possible reactions. Most of them negative.

I didn’t expect what I got from her.

Greta told me to take a look at all the Winter Wolves in the city. They all look the same. It’s part of Baba Yaga’s curse. Humans all look pretty similar to her anyways. And I still looked handsome to her as I was.

I still looked handsome. Even like this.

Greta is a wonder.

Greta told me that she still wanted to come with me if I would have her—she felt she would be a hypocrite for being too upset over someone being in a transformed form, all things considered. And I’d told her fairly quickly. She realized as she said this that we’d only known each other for roughly 24 hours.

It really had only been 24 hours.

It was a busy 24 hours.

She warned me that she wouldn’t look the same once we’d left though, however. She could only take on her human form here and in one other location, so she would be in her wolf form while we travelled elsewhere. I agreed that it didn’t bother me. I’d already taken it into consideration.

Like I already said earlier in this journal, people aren’t weird about people who have a relationship with dragons and they’re big shapeshifting lizards. There’s literally no difference, except that Greta’s going to be stuck in her wolf form for a bit.

With things smoothed over, we made our way back to the others. As we did, one of the mirrors in my bag began vibrating.

I was concerned about who it might be—but I also wanted to know who it might be so I’d know who was trying to contact one of our mirrors. I angled the mirror so I’d be the only person seen and opened it up.

Turned out I didn’t need to worry, because it was just Solveig. She needed some backup and asked us to send one person over to help her out with her leg of the rebellion. She said she might even get a shot at Nazhena early.

We had a bit of a spat over who to send. Myself and Nestian rightfully said that Greta should stick with the rest of us. Because she doesn’t know the resistance, and she wanted to help slay the dragon and was an excellent warrior, and because she’s here with me, not for everyone else’s sake. Aenland argued that she knew the city better, and Nadya had been with us from the beginning so she should stay with us. Which was a weak emotional argument that didn’t hold water.

Nadya told Aenland it was alright, and that Solveig had said they might get the first shot at Nazhena if she went—so she wanted to be the one to go.

With that decided, we made our way into the Clock Tower. There was little in the way of resistance on the first floor. Most of the guards that would have been there had been called off to other places around the city to deal with the disturbances we’d set up the night before.

There was one albino bugbear tormenting some children in cages, and an ice troll.

I sent my own ice troll to say hello.

I don’t think they got along as Reggie clawed and bit her way through the ice troll. Aenland followed up, downing the troll with a volley of arrows. I finished the job by splashing her with acid to fry her regenerative powers.

On the opposite side of the room I turned just in time to see Greta practically bisect the bugbear—and the children cheered. It was great.

The kids started clamoring for things, until Aenland entered the room and they all got distracted by his incredibly strange presence. Calmed a bit, we were able to get answers from them about where the keys to their cells were. They also told us about a nasty witch upstairs named Granny Nan. An ‘icy ghost’, which I identified as a cold variant Blast Shadow. A ‘fire dragon’ and the ice dragon. The fire dragon is in quotation marks because it turned out not to be a dragon at all, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

They also told us that another little girl had been taken upstairs and had not come back down, and that the dragon had kidnapped a princess who was being kept upstairs, and who they’d heard crying and singing.

Singing. I had a bad feeling, remembering Solveig’s earlier twitchy mood and her warning about hostages.

We directed the kids on how to reach the resistance so that they’d have a safe place to go, then continued up the stairs.

On the second floor we got the jump of the Blast Shadow. I told the others that I would handle it, and cast Command Undead on it, taking control of the undead creature to use as my own.

Which was great since Reggie had been too big to fit up the stairs.

I sent the Black Shadow, who told me his name was Evija, to open all the doors in the next room. He couldn’t open one door because it was locked. One was the bathroom. Within one was Granny Nan. The old witch greeted Evija and asked what he needed, unknowing that I had taken him over. I ordered him to kill her.

Unfortunately I couldn’t see into the room to see what happened, but he clearly did not succeed in killing her, as a moment later Aenland started saying inane things that could have been summarized as ‘she teleported into the room next to us, open the door and kill her’.

So I opened the door and used Boneshaker to grab her and drag her towards the door.

In her eyes I saw the same flash of recognition as Nazhena and Radosek. Only in her eyes I saw fear.

Good, I thought. Fear I can work with.

Not that I needed to, as a moment later a volley of arrows flew past my head and peppered her until she hit the ground, dead. I’d lined her up perfectly with the door so Aenland could finish her off.

The fight wasn’t over however, as we still had ‘the fire dragon’ to worry about.

It was a living oven, a twisted evil construct used in the cooking of children for the trolls’ meals.

It took Nestian nearly being swallowed and Aenland and Greta running in and also beating up this thing for it to be destroyed. Me? I couldn’t do anything to it. It turned out it was healed by negative energy, so the only thing I had to hurt constructs was out.

I’m glad Greta was okay and that thing didn’t spew any fire on her. I can’t believe she ran in there like that. I don’t think she could believe she did either, as she seemed a bit surprised at herself after the fact.

As the others healed up, I took the keys from Granny Nan’s body and went to unlock the door Evija had been unable to open prior.

Inside was the last child, a little girl who asked me if it was time to go see Queen Elvana.

We’d found letters from children talking about being excited to go see Queen Elvana, and how they were being super good for Granny Nan so they could go.

At first I was concerned she’d been brainwashed, and I called Edeya over as I wasn’t sure how to navigate something like that delicately. However after watching her body language a little more closely I got the feeling it was less that she’d been brainwashed and more that she was just trying to be good and do what she was told in order to get away from this place.

I told her that she didn’t have to worry anymore. Granny Nan was gone, she’d gone somewhere far away, and she didn’t have to stay here anymore or go see Queen Elvana. The little girl brightened up considerably. I told her about how to get to the resistance and told her that she would be safe there.

She ran over and hugged me.

I’m not sure what to do with that.

…knowing that kids who were being kidnapped were being taken here and sent to Elvana had me concerned about just what had been the plan for me as a kid. I’m…glad we were able to at least save a couple of the kids here.

Speaking of just what the plan for me as a kid was, once we were done looting the place I sat down with Granny Nan’s body. I was too focused to really care to shoo people out, although in hindsight I wish I had. This was private stuff, I didn’t really want Aenland of all people knowing about my childhood stuff. Greta, obviously, was welcome to stay. I offered to Edeya that she could stay, but when I confirmed it probably had to do with some of what we’d talked about the night before she said absolutely not, she was going to go guard the steps.

Fair enough. I probably wouldn’t want to hear about my bullshit if I weren’t me, either.

I cast Speak With Dead on Granny Nan. I saw her soul as it was leaving her body. Then a spectral shortsword came down and pinned it in place.

It looks like I still have someone’s attention. Good. After something I saw today I intend to work on keeping it that way. I think I’ve found that loophole I was looking for to worship Norgorber without pissing off Urgathoa. But we’ll get into that later.

I had four questions before the spell would deteriorate.

1: How do you know me.

She answered that she had tried to acquire me as a child.

2: What did she do to me back then.

She answered that she tried to kidnap me, but my parents got in the way.

With that answer I had flashes of memory. Not from the same time as the time I was actually taken. This was a different time. A memory I’d completely repressed. I remembered an old woman grabbing me, and then my parents shouting and grabbing me back. And the old woman teleporting away. It wasn’t the same as the time with the woman with black hair. So it had happened to me more than once?

3: Was someone else involved?

Her answer was simply yes.

4: Who was it?

Her answer…Queen Elvana.

…That was not the answer I had been expecting.

I had been expecting a name for the black haired witch who had taken me. I still don’t know who she was.

Instead I just found out that Queen Elvana had ordered this woman kidnap me. Me specifically or children in general? I’ll never know now. I was so distracted I didn’t think to take her body so I could ask her questions once her soul was capable of being called back again.

No wonder my parents left. I was nearly kidnapped by a witch once, and successfully kidnapped a second time and only returned by…luck? I still have no idea how I actually ended up back at the edge of the forest and not sacrificed or something, my memory of that’s about as bad as my memory of the last year. Except at least I have a good idea why I don’t remember being kidnapped by a Winter Witch as a child. Trauma is one hell of a thing.

Losing a year of memories is something else entirely.

Anyways…no use dwelling on it right now.

We met back up with Edeya at the stairs. She said she could hear singing coming from upstairs. If we were correct, it was likely Bella. I couldn’t tell if I recognized her voice or not over the sound of incredibly deafeningly loud clockwork—I could barely hear the singing at all over the roaring noise.

We made our way upstairs. Aenland decided to distract himself by throwing copper pieces into the gears of the clock tower to smash them, under the impression that they would come out the other end with interesting designs or something. I don’t know, I never know with him.

While he did that, Nestian opened the door to Bella’s cell and let himself in. He smashed her mirror to keep any risk of a Winter Witch spying on us to zero, then introduced us. She was understandably suspicious at first, but she immediately lost all sense of caution once we mentioned we were sent by Solveig. She packed up and was immediately ready to leave—until she heard that the dragon hadn’t been slain yet. She sat back down and said she wasn’t leaving until that dragon was dead. She was afraid if she left before then, he’d just swoop down and snatch her from above.

Which, I mean, it did already happen once. She was still in her costume from the opera, albeit far more disheveled. Apparently as Bella was leaving the performance that evening, Logrivich decided he liked her singing so much that he wanted to keep her, and he snatched her up and brought her here.

Greta and I complimented her stellar performance, of course.

Our little group gathered below the ladder leading up to Logrivich’s lair. We discussed just how we were going to handle getting up there when this was a choke point. Aenland of all people had an idea. See he’d been playing with a wand of spider climb the entire time we’d been in this clock tower. And now it finally came in handy. He suggested those of us who were less inclined to be sneaky could hang on the walls and be ready to jump in at a moment’s notice. That seemed reasonable—if not a bit cramped.

As for me, I felt capable of sneaking.

I sent Evija up first, and when we didn’t hear anything it seemed he’d managed to sneak past the dragon’s senses.

I followed. I was perfectly quiet following behind my Blast Shadow. The problem came when I tried to steady myself against the nearby ice outcropping and didn’t take into account how slick the surface was. I slipped and cried out—just a sharp quick noise, but it was enough to cause the dragon to turn to face me.

He told me what a big mistake it was that I’d come here, and then breathed an unbearably cold blast of ice over me and Evija. Not that Evija cared—stupid bastard was immune to the cold unlike me.

Aenland charged in and began shooting the dragon with a weird fury for him. Not to be outdone, I focused my magic and burned the motherfucker, giving him a taste of what damnation felt like with a fun new spell I recently picked up called Screaming Flames. The dragon howled in terror at the spirits that screamed and clawed at him and the flames that burned him. Good. Stupid dragon needed to learn his place.

Nestian charged in and slashed at the dragon, followed by Greta who unfortunately couldn’t quite reach us in time before the dragon stepped back and unleashed another breath of ice.

I got a distinct feeling that it was aimed at me, and everyone else was collateral.

I grabbed him with Boneshaker and pulled him by his skeleton. Greta’s axe fell upon him. And the dragon finished thrashing, pathetically trying to kill us when he was so clearly outmatched, when Aenland unleashed three arrows into the beast. Head, heart, neck.

It left a very fine corpse behind, and I immediately knew that I wanted to take that dragon with me. What is a more clear show of power than having a whole ass dragon under your command? Even if it is just a relatively small one.

However before I could voice this idea, the others were already discussing how they wanted to throw the dragon’s body out the window to help signal the resistance’s uprising. And how could I say no to that? The utter defeat and humiliation that dragon would feel to have everyone see his body be tossed out like so much trash and used to signal Nazhena’s fall was…too beautiful.

I would just pick it back up downstairs. A bloody skeleton didn’t care about a few fractured bones, after all.

The others began pushing the dragon to the ledge, so it was my job to aim the firework and light the fuse. With a single use of Spark, the fuse lit up, and the firework went flying. It lit up the sky, despite it being midday, in the shape of a red rose. I suppose that means subtlety was no longer on the table.

Chaos broke loose on the streets as the Grey Guard and the rebels began battling the Winter Guard. We ran down the clock tower, I collected my new dragon (I named him Leviathan to appease Aenland), and we made our way into the chaos that had overtaken Whitethrone.

As we ran, my mirror began vibrating again. I answered it, and once again saw Solveig on the other end. She said she’d gotten a shot at Nazhena, but she’d escaped and holed herself up somewhere. Solveig believed she was probably at the Dancing Hut, fortifying her greatest prize. She asked if we could have someone help her to keep the Winter Guard off of us while we dealt with Nazhena. It could be Nadya, but Nadya wanted a shot at Nazhena herself.

As much as I didn’t like to ask Greta to do things for the resistance apart from me, I knew that Nadya deserved this. Her kid had been kidnapped and could have been killed by Nazhena. She deserved that bitch’s blood as much if not more than the rest of us.

Greta, thankfully, agreed to go help Solveig, and also agreed to help Bella to get to Solveig so she’d be safe. She told me not to get any ideas, because she didn’t just let people do this normally, then she turned into her wolf form and let Bella ride her away.

Yeah. No ideas from that at all.

The rest of us made a beeline for the Market Square, where Nazhena was waiting.

But it turned out someone else was waiting for us too.

Well…waiting for me, at least.

We were just down the road from the Market Square, when we saw an odd sight. In the middle of the chaos, there was a perfectly normal café scene. Everyone was enjoying their meals and drinks as if the world wasn’t burning around them.

I noticed it just a moment before the man made his move. Thin, almost invisible cords, connecting a silver haired man to the rest of the patrons. A spell came to mind. One I don’t know—one far too powerful to be within my grasp anytime soon. Flesh Puppet Horde.

I knew it immediately: this man was an extremely powerful necromancer.

The man was unassuming, drinking his tea as if the world weren’t in chaos just like the rest of his puppeteered patrons. At first glance one might have mistaken him for a Winter Wolf, but his eyes weren’t right. Winter Wolves eyes are a pale color. His eyes were a much darker shade of blue.

The man stood from his spot and greeted us. He said he was happy to see us here. Especially me. He started walking towards me with that same familiarity I’m starting to get really sick of. I pulled away before he could touch me. So far everyone who’s known me has been someone who’s had reason to hurt me—or was Nazhena and was too stupid to know she had reason to hurt me—so I wasn’t about to trust this guy’s intentions without knowing a thing about our prior relationship. He said that made sense—I never did like being touched. Which I would disagree with under most circumstances. I’m fine with being touched by people I like. I like being touched by the people I like. I’m not fine with people I don’t know or don’t trust or don’t like touching me. And it always seems to be those people laying their hands on me lately.

For once in my damned life the man recognized that I didn’t remember anything, and actually introduced himself. Dren Fielder. Master Dren Fielder.

I knew as he introduced himself that this wasn’t his real name. His real name came to me unbidden when he introduced himself. Keisuke. Master Keisuke.

You know how I mentioned earlier I think I might have met the person who taught me necromancy…?

I noticed Keisuke had tattoos on both his palms—one of Norgorber’s unholy symbol, and one of Urgathoa’s.

There’s no way that’s just a coincidence.

Keisuke held out the hand with Norgorber’s symbol for me to shake—and I did. He turned and walked a few steps away. He said he only had one thing to ask me. Was I still going to help him find ‘her’.

I knew immediately that he was talking about his cousin. I didn’t know any details, but I was positive I knew who ‘she’ was.

I told him flat out that I didn’t remember the details, and asked him to refresh my memory of why he wanted to find her. He told me that she had something he wanted. And it was to reconnect with family. But the most important thing he whispered to me. A single word: Mythic.

I feel like that single word has some heavy implications. It ran deeper than just the idea of myths and legends. I had a feeling that whatever it was, it was some powerful stuff.

Keisuke started to say he would await us somewhere, but then he stopped. It looked like there was something in his eyes—clocks or something. Then he cursed at the air and said to Xanthadon that he’d wanted that location.

This immediately triggered Aenland’s hair trigger rage at Xanthadon. He shot an arrow at Keisuke, managing to hit the necromancer—who looked disapproving if anything. He asked me to tell my companions not to shoot him next time, then he disappeared.

Dammit, Aenland. I still had things I could have asked him. I get a distinct feeling from how he talked that we’ll be meeting him again, but who knows when that will be? I could have gotten a few more answers now. Instead, I’m still in the dark about pretty much everything.

Master Keisuke. Talking to him really seemed to jog my memories though. A lot more than any other conversation I’ve had. I wish I could get a better feel for what my relationship to him was. It doesn’t seem antagonistic, so I don’t think I screwed him over and stole his magical secrets or anything like that. And apparently I was helping him to find his mythic cousin. I think we were on pretty good terms. And unlike Nazhena, I don’t presently see a problem with that. Him being associated with Xanthedon is Aenland’s problem not mine.

Honestly of all the people we’ve met from my past, this was the most pleasant meeting we’ve had. I really wish Aenland hadn’t shot him so maybe I could have learned a little more.

Nestian told us after he left that he wasn’t really human. Apparently, Keisuke was a kitsune. Similar in a way to Nestian in that he could change between a fox and human form, like Nestian did bear and human. Shezhinka didn’t seem terribly comfortable with Keisuke though, despite them both being foxes in a manner. Territorial dispute? Or maybe it was him being a necromancer. But she doesn’t have a problem with me…

And there’s his tattoos. One for Norgorber, one for Urgathoa. I wish I could have asked him if he worshipped both. Is that something you can do? Worship both? If so then that would be how I could still worship Norgorber without pissing off Urgathoa. Of course I don’t even have a symbol of Urgathoa, it’s not like I can buy one at the market, it was hard enough to trick Solveig into letting me buy a bunch of onyxes for my spells. And I haven’t found one like I have Norgorber’s symbol. So…I dunno, I guess I’d just use the Pallid Crystal for now.

Keeping this secret is going to get a lot more complicated.

…and then there’s Greta…after the whole rimepelt thing, I’m not sure if I want to keep this secret from her…

I don’t even know how she’d react to all this. She’s been okay with everything I’ve been doing so far, even if she seemed a little offput by Reggie. Norgorber is easy to explain. We’re already killing people—what’s the big deal if I’m just killing those same people for a god instead? They end up just as dead either way. It’s really Urgathoa I’m not sure how to explain. I think maybe because I’m not entirely on board with Urgathoa myself yet…

…Anyways…I’ll figure it out when I get there…

Keisuke left, and we remembered that we had something important to do. We continued racing down the street towards the Market Square. Soon the Dancing Hut came into sight. There was a small army of enemies before it—ice constructs, and winter wolves, and ice trolls, and even some fey who had pushed their way into this plane to try to retake the Dancing Hut in the chaos. And in the middle of it all, standing before the Dancing Hut, was Nazhena Vasillanova.

She yelled at us that we were the reason that everything in her life had fallen apart. She bet that we’d even killed her Radosek.

I sneered and told her to say hello as I pulled the bloody skeleton that was once Radosek Pavril from my bag of holding. Nazhena screamed in rage, and said she thought we were friends, but that she was going to kill me like all the others.

Damn. I was really hoping for a little more dramatic reaction to that reveal. I should have shown her the engagement ring. I really wanted to break apart every last shred of sanity she had, and I don’t feel like I quite got there—although it was a close thing I think.

She deserves all the worst.

Unfortunately, Nazhena didn’t come to this fight unprepared. She turned to the Dancing Hut and summoned something from within it. An enormous Fossil Golem from the edges of space. It positioned itself between us and her, making it impossible to get a clear shot at her.

So instead we cleared out the grunts. We weathered winter wolf and ice construct frozen breath attacks, set trolls aflame, cut and shot fey, and I did more a few choice Boneshakers.

Eventually there were only the ice constructs, hanging on by a thread, the Fossil Golem looming over us, and Nazhena.

The Fossil Golem brought its fist down on Nadya first. She managed to survive, but she was badly injured. Edeya healed her, but Aenland called to Nadya and asked her to please get behind him and fight from the back lines. Is he worried about her? Why insist she come with us if he’s going to pull her back and have her fight less effectively just because he’s scared?

He should have been worrying about himself, because a moment later he got smacked by the Fossil Golem and his arm began petrifying—making the one thing he’s good at, shooting a bow, nearly impossible.

I can’t say I was really focused on any of this, though. I vaguely remember seeing it, but at the time I was focused on Nazhena, who had flown out of cover. She hexed me with an Evil Eye she somehow quickened. Then she hit me with Suffocation. I felt the air try to be pulled from my lungs. I managed to keep breathing, but every breath was a fight. I fired back with my final Boneshaker, snatching her from the air and pulling her towards the ground by her bones.

I hope it hurt like hell.

Around me, things were chaos. I was having a hard time focusing on what everyone else was doing. Aenland pulled an Adamantine Warhammer from my bag of holding and went to town on the Fossil Golem in close combat. Nestian was also fighting the Fossil Golem. I was struggling to stay conscious. I threw a Screaming Flames at Nazhena, but she resisted the worst of it.

Then I lost focus on my breathing as I saw Nazhena throw a new hex at Edeya. Ice began to encase her entire body. I tried to use what little I had left of the Black Rider’s power to break it, but something icy cold broke through my power and kept it from affecting her. Edeya became comepletely encased in ice.

And I couldn’t breathe. I tried to gasp for air, but no air reached my lungs. Dark spots began overtaking my vision—and in moments I had blacked out.

I came to when I felt the familiar cold embrace of negative energy revitalizing my body. I opened my eyes to see Edeya standing over me. Somehow, she’d been broken out of the ice. I learned later that Nadya had smashed the ice prison herself.

As I sat up, I saw the silhouette of the Fossil Golem crashing to the ground as Nestian destroyed it.

Aenland shot an arrow at the final ice construct—which had been have a very unproductive one-on-one fight with Levi—and destroyed it in one shot. Then he aimed the rest of his arrows as Nazhena and fired.

She was still standing, but she was badly bloodied. She was on her last legs.

Nadya failed to make the final shot. I wasn’t risking her getting away just to give Nadya the final shot—and I had told Norgorber I was going to kill this bitch, so I had a promise to keep—so I used my final use of Screaming Flames, and set her alight.

Nadya still got a shot at her, throwing her handaxe at the bitch. The winter witch fell from the air and landed before the Dancing Hut.

The Hut quit playing at being so passive. It leapt to its feet and immediately began tearing her to pieces with the beak above the door. A moment later there was only blood and her key left.

Thankfully I’ve confirmed that when it swallowed her, the body ended up inside the Hut, so I can still ask her some follow up questions after I’ve gotten my spells back.

Anyways, we went to pick up the key, and it melted in our hands. When it did, the Dimensional Shackles on the Dancing Hut also melted.

I contacted Solveig so I could let Greta know that we were heading out. She came running, fast as a winter wolf could. Solveig asked that if we could return to help after we were done, since the Hut was said to be able to travel through time and space, it would be a huge help if we would return. We didn’t directly agree to anything, but I told her that overthrowing Queen Elvana was on our to-do list, so we’d likely meet each other again.

We all entered the Dancing Hut. Inside we met two rather strange individuals. One was a small fey creature with a bird-like face named Zorka. The other was a human man who called himself Ratibor the Bold. Ratibor was initially suspicious of us, until Zorka smacked him over the head and told him that we had the Geass on us that meant we were honored Riders. Ratibor was confused at there being four of us, but both of them bowed respectfully.

Zorka asked for the two strange items we’d received that would act as keys to the hut—the blue beard and the plague doctor mask. I think I may have forgotten to mention those in previous entries? They didn’t feel super important at the time. Nestian and Edeya came out of the winter portal with a blue beard and a plague doctor mask on, which we identified as two keys to the Dancing Hut, so I’ve been storing them in the bag of holding since then.

Zorka took the two items, said some things about them, then threw them into a boiling cauldron in the middle of the room. She asked for someone to stir the pot. Nestian took pot duty. He was told he had to believe it would work. Then we were told there were some controls that needed to be worked, and once again whoever did it needed to believe it would work. Finally, someone had to just stand in the back and also believe everything was going to work out and we were going to reach our destination.

It was a weird set of requirements, but this was the Dancing Hut. I’d heard stories about it since I was a kid. If what we had to do was believe it worked, I believed it worked.

Aenland took the controls, and Greta and I stood in the back. Greta asked me if things were always like this, to which I confirmed. She said good.

Good…I’m excited to face whatever crazy thing happens next with her.

Unfortunately right that moment, the next crazy thing that happened was that alarms started blaring, and an image of what was outside popped up, showing that Queen Elvana was approaching us from across the Market Square. Zorka told Nestian to stir harder, and for everyone to believe.

And then, suddenly, we weren’t there anymore.

We were somewhere else entirely.

But that’ll have to wait for my next entry.

#journal entry #pathfinder #reign of winter

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maxmayfieldirl · 2 years

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I still have hope that the byler couch scene can still be a heart to heart

My theory is everyone is all caught up on the Vecna mess and they are getting ready to head into the final battle. Back in Russia the mindflayer was released the Russia crew, perhaps one of them died or something idk, and the flayer does some over dramatic exit, screeches and rushed back to Hawkins and/or the upside down.

Will senses him and tells everyone which fucks with their plan so they have to think of a way to deal with that too. Will is worried and in a very Mike way, he notices and pulls out the Will voice™️. Will tells him his worries, says the quote in the trailer and Mike tells him that "everything will be okay" and "they've done it before they can do it again".

Will mentions his ties to it all and says "maybe it's better for everyone if he sacrifices himself".

Mike isn't happy with that suggestion, "no way am I letting you sacrifice yourself! I just got you back! None of this is your fault okay? Promise me you won't do anything dumb--not without me. Crazy together, remember?"

"Yeah crazy together." and the camera pans down and Mike's hand is on top of Will's, gripping it lightly. Both notice this and jump apart, things get awkward but before either can say anything they're called away.

It's not the best theory, but the point of the post is even though it seems to be a discussion on Vecna or perhaps the mindflayer there's still a chance it could be a heart to heart. Obviously it'd be more in depth and whatnot lol.

#everyone pretend I didn't half ass it halfway through lmao #maybe the theory is a little wild but it's just a guess based off the information we have been given with the trailer and past seasons #sorry if it feels ooc or nothing like canon I'm a fan fic writer not a theorist #i tried color coding but uh #im really bad at it lmao whoops #Ill get better eventually #st4 spoilers #stranger things #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #st4

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baddiedaddy7 · 3 years

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5th house✨🌻

the 5th house is not what you attract, it’s how you are in the dating world/casual dating, what dates you may like, how you are in the beginning stages of a relationship and flirting. it’s also about your passion, and what you may like to do in your spare time. then lastly, children. feminine signs-more likely to have a female or child with feminine energy. masculine signs-more likely to have a male or child with masculine energy. do not plagiarize🙃.

Aries/Mars🔥

likes the chase(being chased or vice versa). gets bored fast, so needs somebody that keeps them guessing. bold/upfront, will probably tell you if they like you, or how they feel in general. may do things too fast(say “i love you” early, get over excited easily, etc). daring in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style may be physical(confident/not rlly awkward, and makes flirting obvious), or playful(play fight, tickles lmao, laughs more, etc). might prefer dates full of thrills(amusement park, hiking, skydiving, rock climbing, sports, party, etc). hobbies may be sports, karate, working out, violent or sporty video games, etc. indicates a liking for vigorous/explicit music lmao. children may also be into sports, karate, exercising, etc. most likely one of your children will have mars/aries in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be rude, full of energy, bratty/spoiled, passionate, bossy, etc, since these are traits of aries. a LOT of ppl with these placements get a c-section, atleast once, and most likely w/the first child. unexpected pregnancy is also seen here. oldest is most likely going to be a boy. since aries is fast, your kids may try to be born early, or are born earlier than due date.

Taurus/Venus🌸

“slow and steady wins the race” types. sensual. conventional. very romantic. stable. likes to touch/skin to skin. not complicated, some may find you “boring”. warm in the dating world/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is most likely polite(not perverted, well mannered, may come off as reserved even though they’re interested, etc). dates shall be lavish or romantic lol. candles, dinners, beautiful park, etc. hobbies may be baking/cooking, napping, binge watching tv, beauty(makeup, hair), shopping, tending to a garden, etc. you may like love songs, pop, rnb, jazz, slowed + reverb, etc. most likely makes sure their kids are dressed up/styled😎. kids are most likely beautiful, and in great condition. kids may like to watch you cook/bake, or do it with you. most likely one of your children will have taurus/venus in their chart, probably the oldest. children will most likely be patient, stubborn, well mannered, cold, practical, lazy, etc, since these are traits of taurus. pregnancy is usually smooth. oldest is most likely going to be a girl. i’ve known quite a few ppl w/this that actually like being pregnant. it makes so much sense that kylie jenner has this, literally all this applies😭.

Gemini/Mercury🌼

another placement that gets bored quickly, so keep them guessing. probably has a new crush every week or multiple at once. intelligent, and talkative. daydreams/thinks abt crush a lot. most likely tells their friends abt their crush too. happy-go-lucky in the dating world/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is most likely playful(calling eachother names, play fighting, etc). dates may be at a fair, library, etc. hobbies usually are social media, reading, trivia, writing, socializing, etc. honestly most likely likes all genres of music, but esp hyper music(edm, rap, pop, etc). most likely one of your children will have gemini/mercury in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be sneaky, curious, smart mouthed, witty, moody, etc, since these are the traits of gemini. adoption is indicated here. twins, or many kids in one pregnancy are also indicated here, and if that’s the cause then they’re most likely going to be male(s). pregnancy may seem quick.

Cancer/Moon🦀

loving, and affectionate. try to avoid being obsessive, and easily jealous. you may get attached too early in a relationship. they might be shy at first, gotta get them out their shell. tender in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style may be traditional(man asks first/initiate, gazing/eye contact, etc) or sincere(blushing/makes it obvious, laughing a lot, etc). may prefer dates at home, museum, or park. hobbies may be mainly at home(cooking/baking, knitting, listening to music, watching tv, sleeping, watching little kids/younger relatives, etc). listens to certain music genres based off of mood, likes music that’s relatable, and in depth. most likely one of your children will have cancer/moon in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be caring, moody, emotional, clingy, kind, jealous, etc, since these are the traits of cancer. usually very fertile, and may have many kids. oldest is most likely gonna be a girl. try not to be obsessive w/your kids or too protective. i recommend using more than one source of protection😂.

Leo/Sun☀️

confident, and friendly. usually social butterflies. selfish with their partners lol, wants all their attention. jolly in the dating world/at the beginning of the relationship. flirting style is physical(confident) or playful(joking around/calling eachother names playfully, etc). shows their partner off. for dates, they seem like they’re down for anything. hobbies may be acting, singing, socializing, partying, painting, taking selfies, social media, etc. probably one of those assholes that play music so loudly/on speakers lmaoo. their music taste is in ✨good taste✨. most likely one of your children will have leo/sun in their chart, probably the oldest. confident, overdramatic, energetic, bossy, friendly, etc, since these are the traits of leo. you will shove your kids good traits in other parents faces💀, or just show them off in general. oldest is most likely going to be a boy. kids will most likely have great health.

Virgo/Mercury🐛

(im gonna say “we”, since this is my placement lol)

if we really like you, you can do no wrong in our eyes. we should try not to put our interest on a high pedestal, as we get disappointed easily sometimes😭. we have to learn that nobody is perfect, and make sacrifices. intelligent and chatty also. selfless in love/server love. another placement that most likely daydreams/thinks abt crush a lot. also talks abt crush a lot to friends. cautious in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is traditional(smiley, if a women/someone attracted to men expects the man to initiate lol or atleast wants him to, shy) or polite(pleasant, good manners, non sexual, etc). i admit, some of us send mixed signals😭. likes dates where you can talk/get to know eachother, so a library, coffee shop, etc. hobbies may be social media, hanging out, cleaning, shopping, making plans, debating, etc. another placement that likes all/most music genres. most likely one of your children will have virgo/mercury in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be clever, critical, fast learners, complainer, pragmatic, etc since these are the traits of virgo. we will worry/stress out abt our kids a lot. may also adopt or foster. twins/multiple births at once is indicated, and they’re most likely gonna be female(s). another placement that makes pregnancy seem like it goes quick.

Libra/Venus🌷

loves compliments. probably shallow tbh. easy going with partners. charming in the dating scene/beginning of a relationship. flirting style is sincere(makes eye contact, plays w/hair, etc). likes “beautiful” dates(beach, park, garden, etc) or dinners, it just needs to be romantic lol. hobbies are socializing, social media, taking pics, beauty(makeup, hair, skincare, etc), shopping, etc. may like love songs, rnb, jazz, pop, or multiple genres in general. most likely one of yours children will have libra/venus in their chart, probably the oldest. oldest is most likely going to be a girl. children may be social/popular, shallow, easygoing, etc since these are the traits of libra. makes sure their kids dress nicely.

Scorpio/Pluto🥀

likes to keep details of relationships private, but that doesn’t mean they’re gonna keep YOU private/hidden as a whole. probably falls hard. tries to hide vulnerability in love. don’t be neurotic in love lol. intense in the dating scene/beginning of a relationship. flirting style is sincere(mysterious, good eye contact, genuine interest, etc). might like “dark” dates (abandoned places, cemeteries, horror movies, etc.) hobbies are astrology, conspiracy theories, anything taboo, witch craft, watching videos abt crime, being alone, etc. likes “dark” music, maybe even like satanic shit. music abt scorpio themes(death, sex, etc). explicit songs. rap, rock, things like that. most likely one of your children will have scorpio/pluto in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be secretive, clever, possessive, intense, emotional, etc since these are the traits of scorpio. try not to be over controlling or possessive of children, and be open to change. usually fertile.

Sagittarius/Jupiter🍀

generous in relationships, gives, and gives. might not take things seriously when they should. spirited, and optimistic in the dating scene/the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is playful (inside jokes, more giggly around “them”, etc). carnivals, short traveling, anything wild(skydiving, bungee jumping, etc), are ideal dates for these ppl. hobbies consist of hanging out, learning(esp of other cultures, and religions), sports, reading, etc. probably likes religious music lmao, or music in languages they don’t even understand, if not then pop or rap. most likely one of your children will have sagittarius/jupiter in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be loud, rude, honest, selfish, curious, etc since these are the traits of sagittarius. ppl with this placement have/want a whole gang(like a lot of kids lmao), “the more the merrier”. probably gets pregnant without trying/the first try lmao.

Capricorn/Saturn🪐

doesn’t have time for games. a reliable, and loyal partner. serious in the dating scene/at the beginning of a relationship. flirting style is traditional(man speaks up first, clever, etc). dinner, museums, wine tasting, etc are good date ideas for you. hobbies may range from reading, working, shopping, learning abt history, collecting, etc. might like classical music, chill music/slowed + reverb, music from back in the day, etc. most likely one of your children will have capricorn/saturn in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be responsible, “boring”, caring, standoffish, reliable, etc since these are the traits of capricorn. you’re might not even want kids, or might have them in your 30s or even 40s, and if you do have kids it’s likely not that many(1 or 2 lol).

Aquarius/Uranus👾

some will be turned off by your distantness, some won’t mind. open minded in the dating scene/in a beginning of a relationship. flirting style is polite(aloof, might be awkward, honest, etc). painting, video games, go donating blood together, etc are probably ideal dates for you lol(also anything eccentric). hobbies are technology, social media, helping others, astrology, unusual sports, theories, etc. music taste may not be mainstream. might like unusual music genres like vapor wave, nintendocore, etc lmao. may also like alt, edm, etc. most likely one of your children will have aquarius/uranus in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be unique, cold, thinks outside the box, arrogant, etc since these are the traits of aquarius. you might adopt, or get unexpectedly pregnant. if you want kids of your own, you’re gonna need to know when you’re ovulating, since your fertility is likely all over the place.

Pisces/Neptune🍄

selfless, and dreamy partner. another placement that may ignore red flags, when feelings are involved. wholesome in the dating scene/beginning of a relationship. flirting style is sincere(blushes easily, stares, more smiley, makes it obvious, etc). painting, cuddling, listening to music with each other, etc are ideal dates for these ppl, but honestly i feel like they’d be down for anything. hobbies may be painting, singing, listening to music, sleeping, having friends over, drugs, and alcohol, etc. probably has many playlists, and listens to everything. “stoner” music lmao. most likely one of your children will have pisces/neptune in their chart, probably the oldest. children may be bashful, over sensitive, imaginative, lazy, sweet, etc since these are the traits of pisces. children’s birth may have hidden details(ancestry, hereditary, etc).

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desultory-novice · 2 years

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nintendo described rtdld as a remake not remaster, so it may end up going the super star ultra route. do you think maybe magolor land will have some type of game mode?

Magolor Land as its own game mode is interesting.

It looks a bit like a theme park, and we know Magolor does that as a hobby. So it's not weird to think "maybe it hosts all the mini games and challenge stages/races!"

But all the mini games were previously held inside the Lor. We've got new mini games on the way (and more classic ones yet to be revealed, perhaps, as the JP site makes special mention of including favorite mini games from past entries!)

We've also got a new copy ability, which requires a new copy ability challenge room. They could move all of these over to Magolor Land, but there is a problem with that...

Part of the charm of RtDL (and part of Magolor's character) is that he interrupts your journey to announce what new things he's built every dozen energy spheres you collect. If they remove that, the energy spheres become simply "collectibles" and we lose some hilarious insight into Magolor. (That he talks about being so busy fixing the ship when he's really goofing off, making mini games.) We also lose something that keeps Magolor in contact with the group. His little pop up dialogs help build a bond between him and the player that's necessary for his betrayal to really sting.

So it would impact the game rather dramatically to move everything over to Magolor Land just like that. Another problem is that... Magolor has no reason to build Magolor Land during the main game. The story he gives is that he needs his ship fixed so he can go home.

All this amounts to is the simple fact that Magolor Land HAS to be post-game content. It has to be. As to what that is, new mode or otherwise...

Something I've been thinking about lately is that it’s positioned on the box art the way the other stages of the game would be.

...

My wild guess is that the castle is a set of new stages.

RtDL always took a light touch with its story telling. Only one cutscene even has dialogue. If I’m right, I think after the standard end of the game (or whenever you meet the proper criteria for unlocking it) there will be a cutscene in which Kirby and the others awaken to find Magolor Land has appeared suddenly in Popstar!! Confused at this giant castle resembling the strange lying wizard they last saw disappear into Another Dimension, they go to check it out!

At the end of these levels, you are greeted with a second cutscene, setting up whatever post post-game final boss awaits!

After this, you get a second happy ending. One that includes Magolor.

Much like the novel doesn't explain all the secrets, I don't think there'll be a ton of new dialogue to accompany these levels. I don't think Magolor will explain (or at least, go into detail) how he escaped his fate at the end of RtDL. I think his sudden, miraculous reappearance will be played mostly for laughs.

Or maybe we could combine the “new mode” and “new stages” theory and say that after the game, you unlock the ability to play as Magolor, and the quest is to build Magolor Land. Or maybe...

...Hmmmmm....

So, you know how all modern Kirby stages all spell words?

"Magolor Land" (Well, it would be something like "Magolor's Manor" in order to fit the alliterative names of RtDL) begins with an M.

It feels like almost impossible that we would get enough new stages to spell out "MAGOLOR." That's as many as the original game! But FOUR new stages might not be too much to ask for...

Just a guess, based on the fact that the towers in Magolor Land are patterned after Marx's wings. Maybe it'll be a hint at who the extra boss of this post-game is! Or maybe, you play as Magolor and have to take your castle back from Marx!

(EDIT: You know what? Never mind this theory. Fun as it would be, I don’t think its possible to come up with a stage that contains TWO words both beginning with the letter X.)

That got a little rambly (everyone should know this about me by now) but TLDR, I don't think Magolor Land's going to hold all the mini-games. It'd mess up the original game's pacing.

I think it's either going to a new set of stages (with a twist) for Kirby and the gang (one that ends with a possible dual boss fight between Magolor and Marx) or a set of stages designed to let you play as Magolor.

The last option is that “Magolor Land” is merely a place to cram "Kirby's Dream Collection" in. It pops up after you beat the game, and as soon as you go in, you're greeted with Magolor's opening speech from Dream Collection!

It would be a little un-exciting, but welcome, as that game is just as hard to play as RtDL. It would also be the easiest route, as it doesn’t involve a whole lot of extra design work from HAL. (Doesn't explain the castle spires. But not everything that LOOKS like Marx has to INVOLVE Marx!)

#Kirby #Kirby series #Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe #RtDL DX #Magolor #RtDL really is sublimely designed!#Magolor Land #:manifesting Marx + Magolor dual boss:#...I would accept a Betalor boss too #Dess Speculation Post

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shenspeaker · 2 years

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Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness Review (Spoilers)

SPOILER WARNING!

Just got out of the theater and boy do I have thoughts on this movie and what it could have been.

First, I have to say this one really disappointed.

Let’s put aside the blatant McGuffin-ing of the various “magic books.”

Let’s put aside how underdeveloped the America Chavez’s plotline was, to the point where she’s basically just there to be a plot device and check the box for “people seem to like the spunky daughter meets grumpy dad plot”, without really understanding what makes that plot fun.

Let’s put aside the way the movie expects us to care about Strange and Christine’s profoundly underdeveloped and underwhelming relationship.

Let’s put aside the way this movie introduces a complicated new multiverse theory that does the exact same thing as Loki’s time-based multiverse theory, but for some reason seems to be different? (So now we can track infinite multiverses on both the x and y axis, I guess, where x is time and y is idk dreams or something. Are spiders z? or another y? Anyways, if you’re not on the x axis the TVA doesn’t give a fuck).

Let’s even put aside the way the movie throws out the complexities of Wanda Maximoff’s character, developed in the profoundly more successful and interesting Wandavision, with the vague handwave of “Darkhold make you Bad.”

EVEN THEN

This movie is middling at best. Strange himself is largely a medium for snark and quips. He’s told several times what a control freak he is, and how that’s a bad thing, but the “prime” Strange we follow never actually demonstrates that flaw, and is less interesting for it.

But Wanda has always been more interesting than him, and the movie is at its most engaging when it’s a horror movie starring her.

I think the version of this movie I wanted to see, which would not have been difficult to write, could even largely follow the same plot - is not Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, but Wanda Kills the Marvel Multiverse. Doctor Strange can be there trying to stop her if he has to be. I’ll allow it.

Since we’ve already apparently decided Wanda’s going to go “full bad guy,” let her chew the scenery some more. Let her go full horror movie slasher. Sure she mows through the Illuminati. That was cool! Now I want to see her do it again, to someone that matters.

We’ve got infinite disposable universes and heroes now, let Wanda chew her way through all of them in pursuit of Doctor Strange and whatever McGuffin you have to give him to justify it. They can be second long cameos. Let her use the full extent of her weird and psychological reality warping powers. The disposable nature of the multiverse makes for the perfect excuse to remove the usual feeling of invincibility from superheroes so we can actually dip toes into the dread of the horror genre.

Let Wanda Westview the Avengers, let her Carrie and Freddie Kreuger and Jason her way through whatever disposable otherworld Marvel teams you can throw at her. You don’t even need to hire the big actors, we already know there’s other Spidermen and Thors and Captain Americas and Hulks and any old suit can be Iron Man. Let her devastate old bad guys, roll through Destroyers, Ultrons, Hydra, people with alternate-world Infinity Stones. She can kill characters you want to set up, or homages to heroes or villains you’ll never touch again. Have fun with it. Get wild, that’s what people want from a multiverse movie.

Not only does making the movie about Wanda give us a chance to revel in her power and anger, and the horror of having her as an enemy, but more screentime can give us an opportunity to find a little depth in her again too. On her way through the Marvel catalogues, does anyone resonate with Wanda, or slow her down for a minute? Does Professor X have a cautionary tale about Jean Grey? What happens if she encounters a Vision, or a Quicksilver? Or her own parents? When she stands off against herself, maybe let that play out a little longer?

I think this movie could have its cake (terrifying uber bad guy Wanda) and eat it too (give her some depth) if they were just willing to make the movie about her. Give her space to actually say something. Then if you have to send her off, it won’t feel like it’s for nothing.

Anyways, if this leaves you hungry for a good multiverse movie, with a deadly omnipotent villain who still has some depth, I highly recommend Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Sorry this was so long.

#Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness #Doctor Strange #Dr. Strange #Stephen Strange #Scarlet Witch #Wanda Maximoff #DSitMom #Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness #Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness #Spoilers #Benedict cumberbatch #Elizabeth Olsen #not shen #movie review #marvel #negative

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redrobin-detective · 3 years

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Info dumping and other things to do with your mouth

Conner was on a date with Robin. Tim. His best friend and maybe now boyfriend? It was all kind of unclear. Everything had happened so fast; realizing mid mission he was in love with Tim, the awkward but amicable breakup with Cassie, sorta kinda confessing one night and Tim agreeing to go out with him.

“What flavor do you want, Kon?” He heard Tim ask and Conner blinked away from the wall where he’d been staring. Tim had a concerned, hesitant little smile on his face. “Froyo, what do you want?”

He ended up with a chocolate vanilla swirl with Oreos while Tim made some unholy combination of flavors that had to be illegal somewhere. It had been a good date, as the last two had been. They’d done a drive through movie the first time, went to a fancy, expensive restaurant in Gotham on the second and now were strolling down the streets of San Fran after a light dinner. It had been fun even if it felt more like a hang out session than a date.

“Hey, lets finish these on the top of the pyramid,” Tim said suddenly with the neon pink plastic spoon in his mouth as they rounded the corner to the transamerica pyramid building. “Its a Saturday night and I think if I don’t brood on some precarious ledge I’ll go insane.”

“I guess it’ll have to do since there aren’t any gargoyles around,” Kon half joked as he and Tim ducked into the nearest empty alley. “Ready to ride Air Superboy?” he joked as he swept Tim off his feet. It looked so much more romantic in the movies but Tim was totally practical about the whole thing, not leaning to close and holding onto their treats instead.

Cassie and Bart had been hounding him after every date about how it’d gone, if he’d made it to first base yet. What was Kon supposed to tell them? That he laughed until he cried when hanging out with Tim, that he felt safe and happy and free to be utterly himself with the other, that just being able look and talk to Tim was enough to make his pulse jump. But Tim never really acted any different than they did any other time.

Tim was his best bro in the whole wide world but these dates made Kon wonder if Tim actually like-liked him the way Kon did him. Maybe this was just another doomed relationship and he should back off before things got really weird. He could live without Tim Drake as his boyfriend but not as his best friend.

“Nice view,” he mumbled to himself as he deposited Tim at the top of the pyramid. His eyes were firmly trained on the side of his friend’s head.

“Yeah,” Tim sighed, handing Kon back his treat. “This has been real fun, Kon. Thanks for inviting me out.” Tim said evenly, as he took another bite and slurped down a gummy worm. “We should hang out like this more often.”

“Yeah, hang out,” Conner said, staring down at his partially melted yogurt. Kon had planned for this, understood that Tim probably wasn’t into him like that. But there were worse places to be than beside his Robin who still had his back no matter what. “So got any good cases you’re working in Gotham? I haven’t heard of any crazy death traps lately, you must be bored.”

“Yeah I guess even super criminals need a break too,” Tim said with an eye roll. “But I have been using the extra time to dig into some cold cases, the real tough ones that B uses for training and I think I’ve made some headway on this really wild one from 1927 that-”

Kon had finished his yogurt by the time Tim laid out the details of the case. The sun set fully and the streetlights far below flickered on as Tim dove into his theories. It was approaching Kon’s designated curfew time as Tim excitedly explained his breakthrough he’d had the other night after his second pot of coffee. He knew how Tim got when he was worked up, knew he should stop Tim before it got any later and they both got in trouble. But he couldn’t.

The Superboy of old would’ve told Rob to shut up ages ago but now he couldn’t get enough. Tim was waving his colored spoon around like a conductor leading the orchestra at a frantic pace. His dessert lay untouched since taking a bite would’ve meant he’d need to stop talking. His eyes were bright, his cheeks pink with excitement and he exuded a comfortable energy talking about the things that interested him. And Kon was interested too, Tim’s brains never failed to impress him but watching Tim just being Tim made Conner feel really, stupidly in love.

“Sorry,” he blinked and saw Tim frowning, his excitement dimming. “I didn’t mean to talk your ear off. It’s getting late we should head back.”

“No, no!” Conner exclaimed, “no I want to hear the rest, about how the crooked judge ignored the new evidence and the murderer being spotted on the farm not long after.”

“So you were listening,” Tim teased but bit his lip and looked away. “I thought I was boring you.” Tim bit his lip. “You looked kinda spacey there for a minute.”

“No, man, I want to hear it. I just-” how did Kon explain he got distracted by a bit of hair dangling in Tim’s eye and how badly he wanted to brush it aside. About how soft his lips looked as he spoke in detail about his passions. Those weren’t bro feeling and while Robin may have been able to lie with the best of them, honesty had always been more of Superboy’s thing. “I was thinking of how much I wanted to kiss you.”

“Oh, you can, if you want,” Tim shrugged and Kon thought his heart would stop. “This is a date after all, we probably should’ve done that earlier huh?” He leaned a bit into Conner’s space who didn’t hesitate to close the gap between them.

Their first kiss was strange, Kon too nervous and Tim too shy. The press of warm lips, hot breath on his cheek, the comfort of closeness. Kon could have stayed that way forever. They pulled back, one of Kon’s hands reaching up to cup Tim’s face. The city below them could have blown up and Kon would only have eyes for his Robin.

“So, circling back to the farm. You’re right to pick up that Birmingham went there 3 days after the first murder was reported but he was was spotted there after the fourth and fifth murders too. I think he was-” Tim continued, launching right back into his tirade. Kon huffed a little laugh, pulling back his hand but scooting a little closer to Tim as he rattled off theory after theory. Tim was just wrapping up when Bat Wayne called him. They were officially late.

“Sorry B,” Tim grimaced, “I started talking about the Babysitter Murders of ‘27 and lost track of time. Kon’s taking me back to the tower now and I’ll zeta back to the Cave. 20 minutes tops.” He hung up and gave Conner an embarrassed pout.

“You should’ve stopped me, we’re both gonna be in trouble now,” he held out his arms and Kon happily scooped him up again.

“I like hearing you talk,” Kon grinned back as he flew them back to Titan Towers. And if he took the long, slow scenic route, well, they were late anyway. They made small talk flying back when Tim yelped out of nowhere.

“We kissed!”

“Yeah, we did,” Kon snorted.

“That was our first kiss!” Tim exclaimed again, turning to Kon with wide eyes.

“Sure was.”

“I was talking about a 90 year old murder mystery, had my first kiss with you,” Tim groaned and hid his face in his hands. “And then went back to talking about the mystery without acknowledging it.”

“It was really cool what you found though, you should submit an anonymous tip and see if your theory is true.”

“I am SO sorry, Kon,” Tim said now turning his face to hide in Conner’s shoulder. It fit there perfectly. “I didn’t process it until now and that’s so rude of me and I’ve probably been giving mixed signals this whole time because I’m not, I’m not good at this. Steph used to rag on me all the time, said I had the romance of a rock and-”

“Tim, it’s fine,” Kon laughed just in time to land them on the roof of the tower. He set his bird down and took his hands. “I don’t like you cause you’re some Casanoda or whatever but because you’re you, weird obsession with true crime and all.”

“It’s Casanova,” Tim grumbled, looking down at his shoes before shyly peeking up through his bangs. “Still, I’m sorry can we um, have a do over?”

“I don’t know,” Kon said, already leaning down, “the first one was pretty special. Think you can top it?” He did actually and Kon felt like he could fight off a thousand over protective Batmans. Would every kiss get better and better like this? He couldn’t wait to find out.

“I’ll call you,” Tim said a little breathlessly. “We should go out again next time we’re free, I want to hear what you’re up to.”

“Yeah okay, just keep me up to date with that case. I’m invested now, I want to know what happens.” Kon said, floating up and away from Tim, ready to fly home and beg Ma for forgiveness.

“Maybe I’m a little invested too,” Tim smiled, small and sweet. “See you later, Kon.” That said, Tim opened the door leading into the tower and back to Gotham.

Kon’s heart was doing stupid fluttery things that had nothing to do with the butterflies also in his stomach. Best date night ever. He let out a cheerful whoop, doing a few loop de loops in the air before speeding back to Kansas. And if Tim Drake’s excited face in his mind put a little extra oomph into his flight, well, no one had to know but him.

#timkon #guys this is so fucking embarassing but here we go #this is based off true events specifically MY first kiss #talking to my newly minted bf on the eve of my college graduation #ranting at length on the symbolism of the court of owls and its nods to batman lore and its overall place in continuity #when i was asked for a kiss had my first kiss #and then immeaditely launched back to comparing year one and court of owls #only to realize on the walk back 'oh hey that was my first kiss i totally missed'#how I'm still in a relationship after 8 years continues to amaze me #Tim... I'm projecting my romantic incompetence on him #in feeling love and affection but being really bad at expressing it #also hyperfixations hella #Kon really be sitting there making heart eyes at #Tim ranting about a serial killer cold case #they're made for each other your honor

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