#muriel chapter xiii

[laurelindebear]

Arcana: Muriel Book XIII

Wow, Muriel’s route is brutal. (Under cut for spoilers)

So, first things first, WE GOT A LAUGHING SPRITE FOR MURIEL! We did it y’all! High fives all round. I especially love that ‘I can’t wait to take a nap’ is 100% in character for my apprentice, who would probably nap 90% of the day if allowed.

I love that Muriel is getting more comfortable with himself, with standing up for himself, with the apprentice, and with affection and touch. All great.

Really torn on which choice to go for in the second (sparring) paid scene. I’ve been trying not to push him too far out of his comfort zone and not to initiate a lot of physical contact without his agreement, because of his PTSD. In that sense, going for the tackle works better, because he did agree to spar. Buuuuut, going for the peck on the cheek means he actually initiates a kiss, which is, you know, heart eyes all over the place.

It’s interesting to see how details of the plot differ in different routes. In this version, the ritual only involved Lucio, Nadia, Julian, Muriel, and Asra, by the sounds of it, not the courtiers or anyone else. It kind of bums me out how dark Asra apparently gets when the MC dies. Blood magic, dragging his remaining friends into dangerous pacts, giving up his heart to perform necromancy...it’s a lot.

What I still don’t understand is why Muriel retained his memories when no one else did. Asra I can kind of get, since it was him performing the spell. But why didn’t Muriel get the same amnesia as Julian and Nadia? Did they give up their memories in trade for healing ability and ...whatever Nadia got? And if he ‘traded away’ his fear, why has she shown so much fear since the first time we meet him?

It seems I may also get an answer to my wondering whether a familiar dies when their magician does or not, because oof, Morga. :/ Muriel’s forgiveness is going to have to come post-mortem, and now we’re really in it, because Lucio has all the hearts he needs. Things are going to get uglier.

Really going to have to buckle down and hash out a ficlet for more depth on the ‘you were dead’ reveal, because I don’t think my apprentice (this one, anyway), would be chill and sanguine about it. What even is she now? A monster? So many people died in the plague...why does she get a second chance when no one else does? How can she deserve it? And it took long enough, and was evidently public enough, that the whole town knew this whole time? That’s a lot to take in, even before the possibility that the apprentice still has family or friends from back home who may or may not know about anything that’s happened. How exactly do you start that conversation? ‘Hi Mom and Dad, sorry I haven’t written in 4 years, I was dead but I got better’?!

The point of the story, especially Muriel’s, may be that it’s about the present and the future, not who you were in the past, but for someone who tends to look backwards, past experiences, relationships, and the lessons learned from them are still important in shaping who we become in the future.

[bastart13]

I read you have a word document of transcribed characters and tales from The Arcana... May I have it, please, please, please? TwT<3

Uh, yeah, sure, though it's not exactly polished as it was for my own reference. Also, instead of the MC I write Isha because it's easier

Link (X)

Tales

Dawn of the Grub (Incomplete)

A Rising Tide (Complete)

Out and About (Complete)

A Foxy Hideaway (Complete)

Baewatch (Complete)

Pumpkin Scares & Laughs (J/L and P/M)

Winter Wonderland (Asra, Portia, Muriel, and Nadia)

Chapters

Julian: XX - Judgement (Snippet)

Muriel: VII - Chariot

Portia: VI - Lovers, VIII - Strength (incomplete), XIII - Death

Lucio: VI - Lovers

Prologue (Incomplete)

[apprenticeofcups]

Hi, just wanted to ask what you think about Lucios new update? Like we're only at chapter 10 and he starts to turn over a new leaf? Somethings wrong, I feel it in my bones. ;-;

The road is long, the route is young, and we’re just coming to the end of the first act. What your bones are feeling is, I’d venture, us moving into the second. 

So something I’ve noticed in the first three routes (and a little bit in Muriel & Portia’s) is this idea that they don’t just have a lesson to learn, or a habit to break. They have to take whatever step they have to take, and then they have to do it on hard mode. Every single one of the LIs recognizes their flaws relatively early on (right around Book IX-X, in fact), and makes the declaration that they want to be different. Then we have eleven more books in which they have to follow through with that at the worst party of their lives.

Using Nadia as an example, she asserts pretty quickly (around the time that the first round of sisters shows up) that she's probably not doing herself any favors by clamming herself up, being suspicious of everyone who offers to help her, and hanging onto you for dear life, and that she wants to be more trusting, she wants to have a better relationship with her sisters, and so on. Then her ex crashes the party with all his shitty friends, and she has to let the one person she does trust float off into the aether of the magical realms and trust that you’ll find some contrived, possibly-not-possible-at-all way to come back to her. For lack of a better analogy, it’s like they all pledge to quit drinking, and then have to sit through a St Patrick’s Day pub crawl. In Chicago.

So I actually buy that Lucio wants to turn over a new leaf, because it hasn’t been that simple for the rest of them, and I doubt it’s gonna be for him. He still has a long way to go - we haven’t unpacked the Aisha & Salim debacle, we only touched on his relationship with the Plague (the dots are there, but not connected), we don’t know MC died yet, for all we know, Julian’s still on death row, and we haven’t even seen Muriel yet. It’s easy for him to say he wants to make amends now, when his mom’s holding a spear to his head and there’s only one Past Oopsie staring him in the face he has to make up for, but how will he handle it when they all start to pile up? And then the fucking Devil shows up again? (The man is still covered in chains, too.)

Lucio’s set his intentions, which is good, but now he has to back them up, and things are gonna get a lot worse before they get better. Like I said, we’re moving into the second act, and the second act always belongs to the villain. Books XII, XIII, and XV are coming to beat him up and steal his shoes, and we’re all still blood-bound to him. 🐐🌹☕

[romanticizedream]

Portia Book XIII : Death

what the fuck!!!

this post was too good pls give it a read if you haven't; because that theory is a hell of foreshadowing

what i thought we would be getting from the new chapter :

Portia's CG in her pirate outfit

what we actually get :

a fucking bath CG holy fuckkkkk

what we were robbed off :

Portia's masquerade costume!!!!!!!??????

y'all remember when we collectively agreed that Portia's route felt uneventful (despite it still being in the early chapters, but compared to Muriel's and Lucio's, i did feel like her route was lacking something that got me excited in anticipation) bUT NOW?????? OHMIGOD i knew something big was gonna happen in the book Death but what the fuck

Vesuvia is literally in fucking shambles?? the fact that we haven't seen Lucio in quite a while makes me even more nervous?? is Tasya a fucking magician ffs?? did she make a deal with the Devil???

[toomanybruises]

portia route book xiii theory

this post contains spoilers for portia’s route up to book xiii, please refrain from reading if you haven’t read the chapter yet. (❁´◡`❁)

after reading book xiii, I have a theory about tasya’s motives and plans.

okay firstly, we need to establish that tasya killed/attempted to kill the devorak family straight off the bat. as soon as she was denied her brother’s shipment fleet, she so happened to accompany them on a voyage that eventually drowned portia’s parents.

we know she wanted the fleet, and in book xii we know that she values her influence and power over others through manipulating valerius and vlastomil. she gets what she wants, when she wants it. and she didn’t get the shipment fleet. so that gives her motive to kill her brother and his wife. (i’ll explain how exactly she manages to pull this off later i promise-).

but the thing is, if she killed her brother and his wife, the shipment fleet wouldn’t go into her name, it would go into julian and portia’s name as they are the direct descendents of tasya’s brother. and who also happens to be on the ship when it gets shipwrecked? julian and portia. only they survived.

and in book xi, we are told that tasya had no idea that the siblings had survived. I have no doubt about that she believed they were dead at some point but i don’t believe it lasted long.

think about it, what would tasya, who wanted the merchant fleet in her name shipwrecks the boat out at sea with no survivors apart from herself, do straight after making it back to land? try to claim the company for herself and the fortune that came along with it.

but she can’t because the devorak siblings are alive. (or she does get it in her name for some time before it is revoked when the bank finds out that siblings are alive and did survive the shipwreck)

either way, tasya is mad and wants to kill them off to get the company/wealth for herself. however she needs to pinpoint where they are. which is quite tricky due to them living in the small town of nevivon for some time and julian going on his countless adventures across the world.

it is only when julian devorak is announced to be executed does she find the eldest’s location. now, I believe that she didn’t realise portia was also at the execution and was in attendance to make sure that julian died this time.

until she realised that portia there and that. she would have to kill them both.

(also I forgot to mention but just imagine the time between the shipwreck and the execution, tasya is investing and building her connections to be more influential and affluent).

now, tasya finds a way to get more power while in vesuvia (which i will also explain later i promise—) and realises she can obtain more power while also killing off her niece and nephew at the same time.

she needs to see both julian and portia die, and she cannot get close to portia if she lets her older brother die. so she intercepts the execution and convinces vlastomil to change the verdict through corrupt means so she can get close to the siblings so she can betray them and make sure they are dead.

and you know how I said tasya had made a plan to gain power and influence in vesuvia? well she did that by financially aiding the city projects by helping rerouting the canal. many people needed this which would give her power and support from the people for all the work she had done. but I find it suspicious that a power hungry woman like tasya would pour so much of her wealth into rerouting the canals unless it benefitted her.

which leads into my next point, tasya intentionally brought the palace down to the ground, in the process killing julian, portia and several members of the prakan royal family, including the countess.

now it is common knowledge that Muriel’s, Portia’s and Lucio’s route show a drastic different perspective than the main three and are a lot darker (like the character deaths in muriel’s route).

i believe that some major characters will die in the next book. maybe a certain countess that runs the place or our favorite himbo doctor? (which will serve as a pivotal turning point for portia’s character alongside the destruction of the palace!) and it wouldn’t be out of place due to the tonal shift the new three stories are expected to go.

anyway, I believe that by killing the countess off, tasya would be able to work her way into becoming the leader of Vesuvia. let’s think about it. she only does things for her own gain and if her plan all along was to capture nadia’s position, it would make sense why she was throwing so much money to solve the canals if she knew she would rule over it in the near future.

and by helping the city immensely, she has already got a good reputation going for her. if nadia is killed and Lucio is nowhere in sight, who will vesuvia turn to? an icompetent court or tasya who has helped improve the city and the livelihoods of others? also the fact she has a nobility title of baroness puts her in higher power than the courtiers so that’s something to think about. (and) it makes sense why she wants the palace as we have established before she is power hungry and wants money.

and the fact that portia and julian die in the process is an added bonus for tasya.

now one small detail in book xiii had me wondering. how did tasya know about asra stealing lucio’s body to resurrect the apprentice? only three people know about this. asra, who stole the body; Lucio, whose body was stolen and the devil; who was giving the body to lucio.

we know that she didn’t get the information from asra since he was surprised at her accusation. it doesn’t really make sense if the devil told her. even if they made a deal together, it would not benefit the devil to share that information. but learning from lucio makes perfect sense.

tasya was probably well acquainted with Lucio when he became count or in the very least, came across him in his goat form. we know that tasya is slightly magically talented so it is possible that she could communicate with him.

now, we know goatman lucio’s motives are getting a new body and he will do anything to be able to get it back, willingly to bargain with or sabotage someone else for it. and what if tasya bargained that she could get him a new body from the apprentice for him if she could take his place as vesuvia’s leader? or perhaps even helping him to reclaim his position as count as his new betrothed and then later betray him (or you know, just marry Lucio and be happy together, whatever floats your boat).

now you’re probably wondering how tasya managed to pull this off. well i briefly mentioned and believe that tasya has magical abilities. it is one of the only ways for her to plausibly do all this destruction if she was behind it all.

tasya could have taken the wheel of the ship and steered it into a tidal wave or into sharp rocks but wouldn’t the crew know what she was trying to do and make a commotion? wouldn’t the siblings have heard if they were being steered into the wrong direction on purpose? wouldn’t they be able to disarm tasya?

so i think that tasya has a magical affinity with water or/and air and created the storm herself to kill everyone on the ship. the crew wouldn’t expect it to be foul play/magical since it’s a storm, something that is a common occurrence out at sea. and it had to be either water or air since we know it was a storm (which are vicious winds and water) that led to the shipwreck and the eventual drowning of the crew (again too much water and not enough air). and it would give tasya a higher probability of surviving the shipwreck if she had magical powers to shield her from drowning.

now, I want to divert your attention to the main 6’s arcana patrons. all except portia have made a deal for magical abilities with one of the major arcana. however, it canonical that portia has a patron and it is the star. now, I want to dissect the star. she and portia have much in common. from physical appearance to their personality: their happy-go-lucky nature, their optimism, extraverted nature, etc. but one thing strikes me the most is the fact that the star’s symbol is water. we see her holding a jug of water, and the fact that when split, the water just floats. water being held by air. water and air.

maybe the star isn’t portia’s patron but both hers and aunt tasya’s? it would make perfect sense that tasya bargained with the star for air/water powers so she could be able to shipwreck the devorak’s. and I’ll go one step further, water has been symbolically used a lot in portia’s route, especially in book xii and book xiii book. there have been heavy storms since Julian’s trial that semi-cancel the masquerade. where does tasya invite portia and the apprentice to? a magical room that is filled with breathable water that she personally installed!

and I don’t believe we have heard the last of tasya, because I believe that she purposely brought the castle down. that’s why she holed herself up in the water room she personally installed, so that she could protect herself from the damage and herself alone.

and from reading the scene of the palace crumbling, words like “thunderous boom” and “shards of glass raining down” and “magic that tears through the air” which can allude to tasya using her water and wind magic to tear the palace down. it even says that the apprentice recognises it as “arcane” magic. so yeah.

another thing i want to point out is that i think that portia will later make a pact with the star (I don’t totally think she’s 100% tasya’s patron and hers only) in order to be equal/overcome tasya and the situation at hand. I think that portia will either get magical powers or find newfound hope and courage to face what challenges her and her happiness. make sense to why the star is portia’s patron- we are going to see her connection to the star in current time, rather in flashbacks and recollections.

this theory I thought up in a whim and has many plot holes so feel free to add to this or suggest your own theories, I’m just distraught after the end of the book xiii I need to find some semblance of explanation to why tasya is being tasya.

also I forgot to mention that tasya’s got another motive to make people immortal which kind of throws my theory out the window/changes it drastically but you know what? I’m not going to try sorting into the theory I made, I just need a hug, a hot cocoa and a nap to reassure me that portia and her mental health will be okay in the next book.

TL:DR:

Tasya wanted the Devorak merchant fleet for herself and used her magical powers from the pact with The Star so she could drown the Devoraks. Realises that the siblings didn’t die and sets off to kill them for good by collapsing the palace, taking the leadership of the nation for herself I the process. Portia may or may not make a pact with the Star in the future.

[fizzypopcake]

Just Another Arcana Fan Theory

Ever since I’ve read the last update of the Arcana game, I wasn’t really able to get my mind off of it. I’ve been pondering on it a lot since the characters and the plot is somehow inspired from bible scriptures, most especially on the book of revelations. These are just some of my speculations tho, everyone can either agree or disagree on it, or even better, discuss their own theories with me as well. I just want to talk about the 7 seals theory, a bit on the 4 horsemen and some of my conjectures on what happened.

So first off, remember how everyone in the fandom suspects the Vesuvian courtiers to resemble the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse? Welp, I’ve suspected as much too. For those who still has no idea about this, the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse came forth when the first 4 of the 7 seals were broken. I’m not going to tackle much about this since I guess there are already a lot of posts about it.

to summarize the 4 horsemen theory, it goes like this:

Quaestor Valdemar is likened to the first horseman (pestilence/infection) since they seemed to enjoy and would like to relive the times of the plague. Also note that the horseman was riding a white horse, which the main color motif of Valdemar’s clothing.

Pontifex Vulgora is likened to the second horseman (war). Vulgora’s personality often depicted their love for conflict and destruction. Vulgora’s main color motif is also red, much like the color of the horse of the 2nd horseman.

Procurator Volta is likened to the third horseman (Famine). As seen in Nadia’s route when the apprentice read Volta’s fortune, they said that Volta is always hungry, and will never fill the void no matter how much she eats. Volta’s clothing is black, like the third horse.

Praetor Vlastomil is likened to the fourth horseman (Death). Although it wasn’t quite obvious in the earlier books, but in book XI he was ultimately the one to decide death-- and obviously, he eagerly chose death upon Julian. His worms, in which he oh so loves, feed upon corpses. I’m thinking he is enticed by them because they devour death. Vlastomil’s complexion is pale, much like the color of the fourth horse.

The 7 seals theory 

Okay so now that we’re done with the 4 horseman theory, I would also like to present the 7 seals theory. On Asra’s route in book XI he revealed that on the night of Lucio’s “murder” all of them were present-- the courtiers, Nadia, Julian and Asra himself-- and were trying to cast a spell to move Lucio into another body. That’s 7 people in total and there are 7 seals. If the first 4 seals were the courtiers then the next 3 ones should be Julian, Asra and Nadia. (I might be spouting some nonsense here but its just my theory)

In old roman custom, when making a will of the dying there has to be 7 witnesses and with each of the 7 witnesses, there shall be a seal. The will shall be written in a scroll and shall be periodically sealed from time to time until the scroll will be sealed with 7 seals. So when the time for opening the scroll comes, it shall be in sections, breaking each seal after another. I’m thinking that it’s okay to refer to Roman customs seeing that the courtier’s titles (e.g. quaestor, pontifex, procurator and praetor) were used and originated in Ancient Rome.

Now, i’m guessing the 4 seals have been broken so what’s next? Well it’s most likely to be the breaking of the fifth seal. In the bible, the breaking of the fifth seal is portrayed as Tribulation, where martyrs cry out in suffering. They were saints/innocents that were slain for their testimonies/faith and shall be resurrected. Okay, okay now this is were it gets weird. What if... Julian actually gets hung in the next book?  But because of the seal, he shall be resurrected (hopefully!) It is heavily implied in all routes that Julian is actually not the one who “killed” Lucio (well at least not directly. Yes maybe he was involved but I’m betting that he isn’t the main culprit or even if he was, he’s not the only one) so maybe he really is innocent. Plus, he is very self sacrificing, like the martyrs in the book of revelations. Think about it, if Julian is slain just like the martyrs, then he too shall be resurrected, just like the martyrs. But seriously! My heart can’t take it if he actually does end up being a hanged man askdaksjdlasdg   

The next arcana card after “Justice- XI” would be “The Hanged Man- XII” which gives us an idea of what to expect next. After the hanged man card would be... Death- XIII (Oh no, I don’t like the sound of that!) Let’s hope that I’m wrong here, but I guess someone will indeed die, most likely Julian.

After the breaking of the 5th seal would be, of course, breaking of the sixth seal (The fall of celestial signs/bodies) in which involves eathquakes (like how the ground violently shook when the red beetles rose from the well during Asra and the apprentice’s investigation), a darkened sun, blood red moon  (oohh red, its hinting the ubiquity of the red beetles). Plus! Here's the catch. The tarot cards after Death- XIII will be as follows: Temperance- XIV, The Devil-XV, The Tower-XVI, The Star-XVII, The Moon-XVII, The Sun-XVIII. I dont know what lies ahead in the following chapters but I guess it definitely has something to do with the 6th seal and the celestial bodies. Feel free to discuss it with me.  I have a lot of thoughts on the sixth seal and as well as the seventh but I’ll post about it some other time hehe.

SO... one might ask, what happens after breaking the 7 seals? Well, the bible said it will be the start of the second coming. Where Christ will be in a new form and come again on Earth. Now let us compare this to the game. They were all trying to move Lucio to another form right? But in this case, the devil. My conjecture is that the spell didn’t end right because the seals didn’t work/break OR something else was up. In Book X of Asra’s route, Asra gave a comment to Lucio when his seal/symbol glowed. Lucio said to him “For someone with this, you’re high and mighty about following the rules. And look where it got you, your sweet little MC is here by your side.” Asra then answered, “Look where it got you, stuck on the incorporeal plane...” Asra was hinting that the seal had something to do with Lucio’s current form. Thus he wasn’t able to take a new form and completely transform into the devil. If we follow this line of thought, then perhaps if all of the seals are broken, then Lucio will take unto his complete new form.

Additionally, it was stated in the bible that the only one who could open and break the seals would be “the Lion of Judah” and the  "Lamb.”... Lion huh, sound like someone we know, it’s just that he was a, oh i don’t know... caged lion. Or it must just be a coincidence.

Now who is this lamb? Is it the apprentice? Welp, i still don’t know,  maybe the lamb isn’t significant in the story OR maybe it is... Anyone has an idea? The apprentice somehow has something to do with what happened to Lucio, seeing as all of those who participated have lost their memories, including the apprentice. But why the memory loss? Asra said that Julian and Nadia “chose to forget” and I bet Asra and Muriel remembered everything... but how about the apprentice? And where does Valerius fit in? I have my own theories too, but I’ll discuss them in another post since this post is getting longer than I expected haha.

Again these are just some theories and hullabaloos that have plagued my mind ever since. Feel free to add your thoughts on this~ I may or may not have articulated this properly tho haha but I tried my best to explain each point.

[v-royo]

Already in Chapter XIII in Asra's Route. Sooo heartbreaking of what he did and what happened to his apprentice. Him crying is just... precious and sad at the same time. Ooh, more motivation to draw Mika with Asra in this chapter. Also, I'm planning on drawing Muriel and Faust, too. And maybe Julian. He's features are quite complicated to draw. #asra #thearcana #thearcanagame #thearcanainspired #mobilegame #tears https://www.instagram.com/p/BqFeBv6gfn7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1cfh6tu4da45n

[lilac-and-gooseberries]

The Apprentice’s Archetype

So I’m in over my heels with the visual novel The Arcana and I’ve dived in deep to understand the mystery and story behind it. Firstly I wanna talk about the animal symbols scattered about that many fans speculate about, specifically about this painting. 

Beware, here be spoilers galore:

So many tumblr users make arguments trying to associate the animals in this painting with characters in game. But the fact is, with the exception of the goat, each of these animals has NOTHING to do with characters. 

This is a link to the collection of game’s tarot cards, each with their specific representation. A quick glance shows that each of the animals here belong to story chapters, in the following order: Empress (III) and Emperor (IV) and the cow and bull, remember how angry the deck felt when the Emperor card was missing. Chariot (VII) Leopard, Strenght (VIII) Lion (I mean look at that beef), Justice (XI) Pig, Death (XIII) Horse, Temperance (XIV) Dove, The Moon (XVIII) Wolf and the Sun (XIX) Hawk. They all feast with the Devil (XV) Goat. Some of the tarot animals don’t appear here, since some might be difficult to fit in (elephant) but still, it is enough to send a message of what this painting is really about. 

I think this painting tells us exactly what is happening. The Devil archetype is serving his fellow Major Arcana. I think the dead animals are a symbol of the people of Vesuvia that the Devil conquered, or wishes to conquer. All these beings are affiliated with the Goat, are his courtiers and allies. 

TINFOIL HAT TIME: There is a civil war between one half of the arcana deck and the other, with 10 on the Devil’s side and the remainder on the MC’s side. 

So my question is: what is the MC? How deeply connected is the MC to this plot? Do they have an archetype they identify with? Not really, not in the present at least - they’ve let go of their past, of their former status, since we don’t know whether the amnesia is magical (internally provoked or created by some external force) or natural, from the trauma suffered. 

However, look at these two: 

I am shocked no one saw the connection. The first is the Fool’s card, which stands for the MC who’s starting this journey from scratch, with no recollection and no straight answers from those around. The second card is the Lover’s card, the first once you choose a path for romance. At a first glance, it looks like the snakes were dumped over the first’s background, and though there are small differences, they are virtually the same. The tall snake is a perfect resemblance of Faust, embracing a golden snake we’ve never encountered. 

We must establish that Asra and MC’s relationship prior to the game is canon. Thus, the snakes represent their past relationship. We know Faust was a gift - perhaps from the MC themselves. Perhaps the MC had a snake familiar that died/was lost during the plague or beetle fight. In Asra’s path, Muriel makes a note that they often disappear into their own world, which is what this card might represent, no matter what romance path you take - the snake is important to the MC’s character. 

Now look at Lucio/The Devil’s card:

Two snakes entertwine around his abdomen, linking him - one is purple (Faust) and the other is Golden, like in the previous card. 

However, the snakes are also caught in chains by the goat - meaning they’ve got a hold on one another, they have leverage over one another.

The MC’s archetype is the SNAKE:

(From wikipedia): Historically, serpents and snakes represent fertility or a creative life force. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life.

- represent dual expressionof good and evil.

- In some Abrahamic traditions, the serpent represents sexual desire. According to some interpretations of the Midrash, the serpent represents sexual passion. In Hinduism, Kundalini is a coiled serpent, the residual power of pure desire.

This is also a good symbolic representation of the Snake’s archetype, which REALLY fits with the MC’s given story. 

So we have a civil war between the Snake (Fool? Lover?) and the Goat (Devil) - one fights with tricks and careful strategies, whilst the other stomps and destroys all in its way. 

This gunna be fun guys. Can’t wait for future chapters, which I am certain will be 22 in total hurrr. 

More to come if I can bring evidence for my other theories.