#shinee analysis

[neo--queen--serenity]

Marcille is actually one of the biggest reasons it took so long to pinpoint which Chilchuck was the imposter in today’s episode.

The Senshi and Marcille imposters had their own reasons for being hard to decipher, but that was a joint effort on the party’s part. Chilchuck was the only example where a single member’s bias actually swayed the others so strongly that it made them all doubt themselves.

Ryouko Kui did an excellent job of giving us a rich background on how different races interact, and how they may descriminate against each other. Each of the races in this series struggles with these prejudices. Our main characters are not exempt from this, and we see it clearly in the way the shapeshifter manifested as each party member, showing us how the others percieve them.

Marcille knows Chilchuck well, and cares deeply for him as a friend. But she’s not immune to assumptions and biases that come from her elven background. The Chilchuck imposter we are faced with, when it’s down to two of them left, is Marcille’s memory of Chilchuck, Marcille’s perception of how he behaves.

One of the first manifestations of this bias occurs when shapeshifter Chilchuck can’t get a jar open.

The real Chilchuck knows that this would never happen—at least not in this way. Chilchuck is proud, yes, but he asks for Laios’ help all the time. Laios is actually one of the party members he is the most likely to ask help from, given how long they’ve known each other, and how much mutual trust exists between them.

However, the whole scenario isn’t right. Chilchuck wouldn’t give up so easily on opening something; his whole job is opening and unlocking things. He would never quit an attempt like this within 5 seconds, then run to Laios so that “big strong adult tall-man” can open it for him.

Marcille is the one who asks, “Huh? Why do you say that?” because Marcille is partially right. Chilchuck does rely on Laios, and Marcille knows this to be true. But she fails to realize how he relies on Laios.

Chilchuck respects many of Laios’ talents, but the most important ones are his combat skills, his emotional fortitude, and his quick thinking when delegating tasks. He trusts Laios as someone he is comfortable following (he literally said to him and Shuro in the last episode: “Laios!! Tell us what do!! Give us orders!!” when chimera Falin was quickly overpowering them).

So while Marcille almost understands Chilchuck’s confidence in Laios, she tends to accidentally infantilize him in the process.

She immediately believes that Chilchuck B (the imposter, who is specifically using her own memory as its base for Chilchuck’s personality) is the real one, and says so, because she’s blinded by her perception of him as being childlike and adorable because of the very common racial prejudices that half-foots deal with all the time.

She dotes on the imposter, and is open with her affections, as usual (again, her care for him is clear), but doubles down on that bias, on her own assumptions of Chilchuck’s behavior shown through her own lens.

And ultimately, Laios was able to tell the difference, but only because he watched how the Chilchucks handled other minute tasks. Marcille’s stance on which Chilchuck was real truly did throw the others for a loop, at least until the threat passed. And honestly, that’s part of what makes the shapeshifter so terrifying. Its strategy almost worked.

[liamket]

i love Four he's such a mood

thank u @amyred for giving ideas and being an accomplice of my weird shitposting

Art belongs to @/linkeduniverse

also the spanish one says "GODDAMN IT THE MATH PROJECT"

[maespri]

so was anyone going to inform me that if you lose in the quick draw game in chapter 2 with shin as a partner that sara will literally tackle him in a last-ditch effort to protect him. or was i just supposed to figure that information out on a whim and have it ruin my day

like sure i know she also does this for her other two potential partners in this minigame (reko and nao) which, don't get me wrong, is just as heart-wrenching. but there's just something about this that strikes a chord in me because- she hates his ass! she's sick of this guy, he sucks to her, boo! mentally she is always throwing tomatoes at him!

and yet she still did for him what she would've done for any other person in his position. reko and nao are people she considers friends, and she says so multiple times. but shin? she hates this guy. she also doesn't hesitate to risk her life in an on-the-spot effort to save him.

it kind of reminds me of how shin spends his final moments of his life also giving back to sara (the joe AI). idk... something something humans are inherently good, something something deep down we only want to help others... something something psychology and adrenaline... yeah...

anyway this made me put my thinking cap on that is all

[district3autism-moved]

did anyone else get the impression that wellie from sotr was a victim of child abuse? of course, the behaviour of a child facing imminent death and suffering would probably be pretty similar to the behaviour of a child who had been abused, but a few things made me think that suzanne wrote her that way on purpose.

first of all, wellie "recoils" as haymitch approaches her to give her his lunchbox after hers was taken by the careers. again, very normal for any child in her circumstances, but more indicative of something deeper when read with other evidence.

she immediately apologizes for the district 6 chariot hurting louella, which was obviously not their fault. she also thanks haymitch for not blaming them. apologizing needlessly and assuming that they will be blamed are both noted behaviours in child abuse victims, especially the latter.

before haymitch goes on for his interview, he promises wellie despite what he might say in the interview, he would never betray the newcomers. he specifically says, "i will never hurt you, okay?" this phrasing is very deliberate, especially since during his interview he never even implies that he would attack or betray the newcomers. wellie claims that she knows, and her eyes are "full of trust". through the lens of my interpretation, this can be taken as wellie clinging to a kind protector that she's never had before.

while her behaviour in the arena can't be taken as any indicator of how she is outside the arena, because she's literally starving to death, her extreme insistence that haymitch doesn't leave her could line up with the rest of my evidence. has she been abandoned, neglected, or left alone before? her immediate assumption is that maysilee abandoned the newcomers, not that she got separated from them by accident. wellie is smart enough to realize this and seems to be a good judge of character; perhaps her assumption was influenced by past neglect.

finally, a couple comparisons can be drawn between wellie and lou lou, who we know was tortured and abused at the hands of the capitol. they are both very thin, prone to intensity, and quiet. while none of these things actually indicate that wellie was abused, the comparison itself matters. it reinforces the idea that these little girls share similarities, and have potentially suffered in similar ways.

also: wellie comes from district 6, which is implied to be suffering from a morphling/opiate epidemic. it is not a far reach to say that her guardian could have been an addict, and consequently an unstable, neglectful, or abusive caregiver.

[lace4forest]

The Chains Ages in Linked Universe.

I saw people talking about the Chains age in Linked Universe, and I have my thoughts on them.

I've done a LOT of research on the Links and how old they were, I even tried to figure out how long Legend was in Koholint for. (We go with old Canon because new Canon doesn't make since,(Footnote 1) but basically that's the last time we see Legend in normal Zelda Canon)

Anyways-

This is from Jojo's QnA doc on the Linked Universe Discord- ^^^

And this is my thoughts on their ages. Side note, I'm not going off of looking up their ages through google, I'm going off info you can find in game and cross referencing it with other games and the Hyrule Historia and Encyclopedia. Time was 9 in his game and that's about 20 years later so he would be 29. (Unless if we counting Majora's Mask, then he could be 30-32)

Twilight was a "Late Teen" (Also it does state hold old he is) so 17 making him 21 to 22.

Warriors is also "Late Teen" (He was a trainee at the beginning of the war) making him 22 to 26

Sky is also stated to be around 17 making him 18 to 19

Wild is 117 and this would make him either almost 118 or just turned 118.

Legend just became "Of age" in ALBW and that's 16 in his era making 17.

Hyrule we know is 16 making him 18.

Four is 15 or 16 in Four Sword, but he isn't "Of age" so probably 15. making him 17.

And we know Wind is 13 almost 14. (He said it himself)

I just find it very funny the Toons are the youngests. Age explanation and footnotes below cut.

Time - He is 9 at the beginning of his game and becomes an "Adult" 7 years later at 16. This is one of the times it proves that 16 is "Of age" in the Zelda series. We aren't sure how much time has passed between Oot and MM, so we can guess he's 29 to 32 (Making Link in MM 10 to 12 as a good guess.)

Twilight - It's stated in a guide that he is 17. His game also was originally supposed to be a continuation of Oot and MM in the Wind Waker style, with Time all grown up and living on his own. But they changed it to what it is now. So it's just 17+4 or 5 making him 21 to 22.

Warriors - There is no official age and you do NOT need to be 17 to wield the master sword. All we know is that he's "Late Teens" making him between 16 to 19. Making his age in LU between 22 to 26.

Sky - He is stated to be around 17. Making him 18 or 19 (Even if we say he's 16, then he would be 17 to 19.)

Wild - he is 117 years old. We know this. it's been "Less than a year" so he could be almost 118 or already be 118, he probably doesn't remember his Birthday, so there is no saying exactly. (His Zelda should know though. Maybe.)

Legend - SO. I feel like people are gonna fight me on this, but I got the math and hours of research to back it. At the beginning of ALTTP, some guards say that Link shouldn't be out here or that he's too young to wield a sword (Or even start learning to) In BOTW Wild got the Master Sword at 12-13. And people said he was still very young and a prodigy, which means he was already learning the sword by that time. and we also know that in BOTW they think of "Of Age" as 17 instead of 16, meaning they probably make them learn stuff when they are a little older. There's also the connection to Oot, In Wind Waker its stated that Wind is the same age as Time when he Defeated Ganon (Making Wind Canonically 16) And Twilight is the age of what Time should have been when he decided to settle down, making him 17, which leaves us with Legend's age. Most likely taking Times age from the beginning of his game. LONG STORY SHORT- In ALTTP Link is between 9 to 10. NOW. The Oracle games, Link is still a CHILD, so before "Of Age" (Aka less than 16) A LOT of people call him a CHILD and wonder why he has a sword! making him most likely around 11 or 12. Same things with Link's Awakening. (FOOTNOTE 1). Then we have ALBW. Link has a job now and is learning to become a smith. so most likely after his return home, as well as he needs to learn this stuff before becoming a full adult, but then again he lives alone, so we could accurately say 15 to 16. SO LONGER STORY SHORT. We can say 16 and be GENEROUS. Making Legend 17 in LU (but probably closer to 16).

Hyrule - It's literally a plot in his game he is 16, making him 18 in LU.

Four - He is a Child in Minish Cap (So less than 16) and same with Four Swords. He has to be older than 12 because he was given a sword willingly. So between 13 to 15, but we can be nice and say 15 in Four Swords, making him 17 in LU.

Wind -

I do want to say, it's literally stated in his game he is the same age as Time when he KILLED Ganon as an ADULT. It's just the art style of the game.... He JUST turned 16, so people are still calling him a child. (Like how people call 18 year olds children in rl) But also he does look 12 in game... ART STYLE WHYYYYYY (also thats what Twi was supposed to look like lmaoooo)

---

FOOTNOTE 1 - The Encylapedia has wrong information that's easy to disprove and I want to throw it out a window. It also switched the order of the Oracle games and Link's Awakening, even though Oracle of Ages LITERALLY ENDS With Link taking the boat out to sea to head home, and LITERALLY Transitions to Link's Awakenings Opening. ITS THE SAME BOAT. I'm Gonna Cry- NINTENDO WHYYYYY.

[aintnoloveintheheatofthesun]

This has been on my mind for two weeks

Some BTS of Jayme Lawson and Miles Caton in the juke joint

I love this clip for so many reasons. The actors are just wandering around, taking the place in. I'm guessing this was blocking for the moment Ms Pearline arrives.

Either way, I like how, as Pearline is looking around in awe, Sammie is looking at her; also appreciating the view. The resonator guitar is the perfect touch; it represents Sammie's talent so naturally it goes with him everywhere. I think it helps to answer the question:

Why did she stay?

In this interview, Jayme Lawson says that Pearline is drawn to Sammie's gift. She had every reason to run when shit hit the fan; instead she stood by Preacher Boy and even rejected the idea of him sacrificing himself like the white devil wanted.

This leads anyone to ask:

Was it love or lust between them?

Lawson and Coogler often discussed this because Pearline and Sammie are from different worlds. I'd say that based on her respect for his artistry and the way she protects him in the second/third act, it is more than lust. She truly cares for him (in the short time they've known eachother) and wants to know him deeper.

As for Sammie, that Saturday was the greatest day of his life. It was the first time he performed his own music, the first time he saw his cousins in years, the first time he had an elder speak life over his talent. That day, he fell for a beautiful, brilliant woman, defended her and did what her husband would not.

Comparing the lyrics of Pearline's song to Sammie's end credit song reveals that this question flattens their relationship.

'Ain't no love in the heat of the sun'

'I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine'

It is not love or lust; it is both and more. Pearline's lyrics foreshadow their inevitable separation thanks to Remmick. Sammie's lyrics represent his promise to hold on to the blues and honour the sacrifice that Pearline and so many others made that night fighting to save him.

TLDR: Love or lust is a reductive binary. Sammie and Pearline are soul mates and narrative foils to one another. We see that their brief time together is given the weight it deserves in the mid-credit scene (the name of the his club) and the end credit scene (his vow to keep playing the blues)

[lady-asphodel]

DR. RATIO ANALYSIS: The hard Truth who Uncovers the sweet Lies | Awareness vs Foolishness

Hello everybody, and welcome back to my analysis of Dr. Ratio in: "Crown Of The Mundane And The Divine". In this post, as a follow up to my previous one about his introductory cutscene, I will talk about Dr. Ratio in "When The Stars Of Ingenuity Shines."

Disclaimer: Whilst it is not needed to read my first post, I recommend you to do so to understand the context of some comments I will do here. Also, everything said in this post is subjective, as my own, personal interpretations, and must not be treated as canon or taken as face value. I don't pretend to know Dr. Ratio better or that my speculations for him are the right ones. I will also often compare the EN lines and the CN lines, and will automatically take the CN as a base for my analysis of there are differences. Thank you <3

1- Strict education or narcissistic correction?

We will start off with the dialogues before the boss fight.

EN: "Are you waiting for a sign? Time is ticking. Descend via the elevator - what you seek is there."

CN: 愣著做什麽，你時間很多嗎？我看不像。坐電梯下去，你要找的東西就在那裡。

CN translation: "Why are you standing in a daze, do you have a lot of time? Doesn't seem like it to me. Take the elevator down - what you're looking for is right there"

The differences here are not that significant, they both kind of give the same message: Hurry up. Right from the start, we're embarked in the action, we have no time. Dr. Ratio's impatience is showing very much right there, a feeling that is much more pronounced in the CN but fairly condensed in the EN.

Though what is interesting to note in the CN is that the part" do you have a lot of time" is very sarcastic and self-explanatory in itself: Traiblazer doesn't have a lot of time. Yet, Dr. Ratio still reinforces the comment with " Doesn't seem like it to me ". Which highlights quite well his critical and observant stand point.

At the end of the cutscene, Dr. Ratio told Traiblazer to get thinking. Then, his first line is basically:" hurry up !". Which relate to the two values I've pointed out in his cutscene: the mind and time.

Then, the last line is strictly informative. He's a guide; he knows Traiblazer's goal, he knows what to do and he gives the direction (remember, always two steps ahead. I will say that a lot with him). It kinda gives off the vibe of your typical game quest cursor which shows you where to go or what to do but doesn't actually actively help you do it. Once again, Dr. Ratio is an observer and not active.

Of course, Traiblazer gets curious and can ask one of the three questions: Who are you ?/ Why are you here ?/ Do you know what I'm looking for ?

Dr. Ratio then answers:

EN: "Have you considered whether the answer to your question will be of any relevance to our current predicament?"

CN: 提問之前，不如先想一想，答案是否對你要解決的問題有益。

CN Translation: "Before asking a question, it would be better to first consider whether the answer will help the problem you want to solve"

There is a heavy difference between the two in my opinion. The EN line is confrontational and even slightly accusatory, as if it should have been obvious that this question shouldn't have been asked. However, in the CN, there is a more technical (professional) approach to it. That's not an attack or an accusation, more like a recommendation. "Have you...?" will imply a sort of expectation while "It would be..." will sound like a suggestion. EN's structure and tone gives off a similar one to "why are you even doing that?" or "That's completely useless right now." while CN is more like "it's best not to do that." or "That's not what's needed right now."

Do you see the difference? There's one word that perfectly describes that difference and it is harshness; Dr. Ratio is not meant to be harsh, he's meant to be eccentric, strict and slightly nonchalant.

EN: "If a question is of no help, then don't ask it. Time is clearly precious to the both of us."

CN: 如果沒有，最好別問，顯然你我的時間都很寶貴.

CN Translation: "if not, it's best not to ask--clearly, both your time and mine are valuable."

In itself, the sentence is the same. However, in CN we find that instructive and even slightly advisatory tone and structure instead of much more condemning one. "Don't ask it" vs "it's best not to ask". It's subtle but it makes all the difference sometimes, especially with a character that is already strict and serious, adding more to that will naturally unbalance the equilibrium between Dr. Ratio's intolerance and his casualness.

Now, putting that aside, Dr. Ratio is right on one thing: That will not help trailblazer to know who he is exactly, what he's doing here or how he knew what their goal was. The thing here is that he's not saying "I expect you to follow my every word because I'm right", more like: "I'm not important, you don't have to trust me, but hurry up, time's running".

Time is extremely important and to make sure to not waste it, we may be confronted with a situation where we have to dive into the unknown and be in a place where we don't know what's trustworthy or not.

EN: "...Never mind. Allow me to clarify something. I know exactly who you are, and I'm aware you are in Ruan Mei's employ. This was not my intended destination — I just happened to find my way here during my visit and saw what she was up to."

CN: ...…算了，就当做个示范：我知道你是谁，也知道你在为阮•梅办事；我本是空间站的访客，误入此地，目睹了她的实验.

CN Translation: "...... Never mind, just treat this as a demonstration: I know who you are, and I know you're working for Ruan Mei. I was originally a visitor of the Space Station but accidentally ended up here and witnessed her experiment."

Here, Dr. Ratio acknowledges Traiblazer's confusion and need of some answers. So, instead of ignoring it, he takes time to address it. He, at first, tried to advise Traiblazer about oral efficiency by explaining it but then the "never mind" comes a change of method to adapt at a situation. He's thoughtful.

There's one important difference in the first line, which reinforces the tone difference for the two previous lines: "Allow me to clarify something." vs "just treat this as a demonstration:"

Since in the two previous lines the EN went with a more harsh and accusatory structure, here, to follow the steps, when Dr. Ratio answers to dissipate Traiblazer's confusion by giving actual needed answers, it feels like he's putting up with it just because they asked first. It's an abrupt transition that doesn't make sense. Why is he explaining itvwhen right before he was condemning it. As if: "Since you already asked, i'll answer it then"

While, for the CN, since the structure was instructive, it is a continuation of the previous lines, which transforms a mere suggestion/comment into a demonstration. His answers are not simply there to answer Traiblazer in a relevant manner, he's using this opportunity to teach what he had already begun to teach before (crazy when he's a professor right).

He knows Traiblazer, he knows Ruan Mei, he knows there's an arrangement between them, he's a visitor to the space station (subtly telling that he isn't someone trying to attack it, he was invited), he was there first and saw Ruan Mei's experiment and that's why he's there. All that information in two simple sentences. That's his demonstration.

EN: "My goals are roughly aligned with yours. Since you're here, I won't intercede... but should you fail, I will be forced to prevent some avoidable misfortunes."

CN: 我的目的大抵和你相同，既然你來了，我便不會干涉。但如果你失敗，我就會強硬介入，阻止一些不必要的麻煩

CN Translation: "My goal is roughly the same as yours. Since you're here, I won't interfere. But if you fail, I will step in forcefully to prevent any unnecessary trouble."

The sentence is kinda the same, the only difference is that for EN, Dr. Ratio says he will be forced to step in rather that he's the one that will forcefully step in.

What he's saying there is that while he'll stay on the sideline, because that's how Dr. Ratio operates, failure is not to be feared. He's kind of telling Traiblazer that there's a safe net below them. If they fail, he will be there to take the torch and arrange everything. It's not only a way to show Dr Ratio confidence in his own abilities WITHOUT arrogance and narcissism (pride and confidence does not equal those), as well as it hints at us that he alone is capable of dealing with this mess, but it is just a show of how Dr. Ratio methods' and mindset fundamentally work: "Failure is not the end, there's always another option after it."

EN: "That's all you need to know. Just two paragraphs. Very effective communication."

CN: 你知道這些就夠了--- -共兩句話，非常有效率的溝通

CN Translation: "Knowing this is enough for you--just two sentences in total, very efficient communication"

Both mean the same. However, without the instructive tone given by the first lines, the last two can't be perceived as educational and ends up feeling like showing off and putting up with the interlocutor (something that can be seen as a burden), which naturally leads to believing he's arrogant and narcissistic. Because, he isn't really praising himself there, he's demonstrating remember, but since the EN didn't utilize the right structure, it can end up being read differently.

Two of the threes choices to say after are either "Thank you for telling me that" or "You're not a bad person after all". Because Traiblazer's curiosity reflected their doubts and distrust to a literal stranger. Dr. Ratio knew and acknowledged that while giving a lesson. And you may remark that Traiblazer still doesn't know anything about Dr. Ratio! All Traiblazer needed to know was that Dr. Ratio is not a menace to their goal, which he delivered. Efficiency ++

If "Thank you for telling me that" or "You're not a bad person after all" then:

EN: "I can't stand discourtesy - even when it comes from myself."

CN: 因為我討厭不知禮數、惡言相向的人一富然，也包括我自己。

CN Translation: "Because I despise those who lack manners and speak harshly--myself included, of course."

A very, very important line that I feel like a lot of people overlooked and partially because of EN. Oh, what do I read here......."AND SPEAK HARSHLY" Crazy! Why would someone who's harsh hate people who speaks harshly? Maybe because he's not supposed to be harsh to begin with! I'm just sayin."What if he is hypocritical?" Ahahahahah. No. The last sentence literally is there to reject hypocrisy.

Anyway. Dr. Ratio explains that he despises - here, the characters 讨厌 (simplified) describe a sentiment between mild dislike to intense dislike, the end of the phrase softens the tone by mixing a sense of humility with strong critique- those who lacks manners; in other words, disrespect and rudeness.

Dr Ratio would have been 'rude' had he not given answers to Traiblazer's questions or reassured them that he wasn't an enemy. After all, while it was a question for an unnecessary answer, it was still a reasonable one. That's why despite his lesson about it, he still actually answered, while turning it into something that both of them could profit for: for Ratio, he proved his sincerity and his alliance, and Traiblazer gained an ally and a free lesson on time management (lol).

And he PRECISES that he also dislikes people who speak harshly. The phrase itself is pretty clear, but the characters 恶语相向 (simplified) also form an idiom in Chinese that refers closely to being cruel, being verbally offensive on purpose and lashing out. So mean and harsh comments. And I think we can't make it more obvious that Ratio is not mean, harsh or cruel in any way. Dr. Ratio is sarcastic, strict and negative minded, but he isn't cruel or harsh about it.

Lastly, "myself included, of course". Self-awareness. Dr. Ratio quite literally tells in black and white that he doesn't like harshness and rudeness, especially from himself. "Of course" there emphasizes the fact it should be a banality, a norm and obvious. Of course it concerns himself! He represents truth, why would truth be hypocritical and insincere? No, truth is strict, straightforward and simple, yet also detached, neutral and helpful. That's who Dr. Ratio is.

(If "Why do you wear an alabaster head...." Then:)

EN: "Because I can't bear to see idiots. Of course, they wouldn't want to see me either."

CN: 因为我见不得蠢材，当然，他们也不想见我 。

CN Translation: "Because I can't stand fools, and of course, they don't want to see me either."

Fortunately, CN and EN are nearly identical on this one, both in tone and structure, because it is a very important line. The characters 见不得 for“l can't stand" are very strong: they imply heavy dislike, absolutely no tolerance or even aversion. But the key word here is intolerance. It's not a surprise when Dr. Ratio constantly expresses his intolerance for foolishness (a.k.a, arrogance and ignorance as we concluded on the last post).

What's funny is that so far he only complains about foolishness, waste of time or mean behavior. And I think we can take those as some sort of standards. And yes those standards, paired with biases Ratio has for the cosmos (but as Truth, how can he not?) kind of honestly nurture a sense of unconventional "self-centeredness" (in the sense that he acts only based on his standards and biases) that isn't associated with selfishness, arrogance or narcissism. Quite paradoxical? That's the point, Dr. Ratio's entire character is ironic and paradoxical, while embracing a complex, perfect imperfection. (note: will be heavily developed later).

The other part is as important and impactful:"Of course, they don't want to see me either." "Of course" implies some sort of expectation, norm once again, while the rest brings forth a direct confrontation.

While Dr. Ratio critics fools he also admits mutual dislike. There's a clear and poignant duality that we were already able to read in his cutscene, because to cure foolishness is a battle of the self and one must go through it the hard way (practice and negativity) to let go of ignorance and achieve awareness. What I find extremely interesting is that the sentence itself is written in stone, it won't change: the confrontation between Dr. Ratio and fools are inevitable. And if we look at it through my personal theory, that Dr. Ratio is the personification of Truth (as a concept itself) then this sentence is even more meaningful. Because it isn't just Dr. Ratio vs fools, it's Truth against Arrogance (foolishness). Fools, ignorant and arrogant people, hate to be told the truth or to confront the truth. Truth is self-aware, fools are not and that's what sets up the global norm to what people are in Ratio's point-of-view: Fools and everyone else. Simple as that.

EN: "Go. Take the elevator and bear witness to this "Genius' Masterpiece.""

The CN is identical.

What I want to talk about for this lines is what represents the "Masterpiece Of Genius" and how it sets the beginning of Dr. Ratio's lesson that will happen in "Mundane Troubles". What Ruan Mei created is mindblowing of course, but also extremely dangerous and that's what "Masterpiece of Genius" represents: it shows Geniuses' habits to selfishly produce danger without them necessarily caring. And that will be one of the points that will lead Dr. Ratio to question their hierarchy in the cosmos and people's careless, blind faith in them, in "Mundane Troubles".

2- Cutscene: Final Observation

In the cinematic, Dr. Ratio stands far and above, with an absolute view of everything. Not only does it showcase exactly Dr. Ratio's methods (remember, standing back and observing) but the fact he is there, like an instructor yes, but the settings itself give him a sort of charisma.

Well, I may be biased on that one because there's no denying Dr. Ratio's attractiveness and charisma. But, my point is that even when he was only in a secondary plan in this situation, his presence still feels significant.

He does a standard, clinical observation about what happened at the end of the experiment. Once again the fact he's the one confirming that the threat is over instead of Traiblazer who had been fighting or Ruan Mei who is the author of it, shows some kind of importance for his character, his role and what he represents (here, can be read as truth).

Then, immediately and without hesitation, it's time to get going. There's no need to linger there or to ponder about further things, no time to waste; again, Dr. Ratio and time management.

3- RUAN MEI: Truthfulness vs Falsehood

For this last section, I will talk about two of Ruan Mei's dialogue moments. You may ask yourself "but why talk about Ruan Mei in a Dr. Ratio's analysis?" Well, let me show you. But before that, keep in mind that what's told below is based on the idea that Ratio is Truth.

I find this specific line to be very interesting, because I think it kind of give an idea of what Geniuses stand for and we can make (and even see) an opposition with Dr. Ratio which ends up being quite ironic (just like his character hm). Trailblazer asks Ruan Mei about life outside of research and Ruan Mei basically answers that she has none and that it's how she wants it.

It seems like Genius Society members dedicate their entire life and existence to research and some extent, to finding answers, so 'truth'. While, on the other hand, from everything that we are able to observe about Ratio in all the contents he's appearing in, it seems like Dr. Ratio is dedicating research to Life. Not in the same way Ruan Mei does. Life as in humanity and civilization throughout the cosmos.

And that's one of the dualities that is present in "Crown Of The Mundane And The Divine". Dr. Ratio, who is pretty self-aware and represents truth, dedicates his existence to the assistance of civilization and their evolution. While geniuses who dedicate life to research don't have much knowledge of civilization (the Mundane) and sometimes even less of the self. There's a clear opposition between them and it may be what's actually the cause of Dr. Ratio being unable to draw the gaze of Nous. I will talk about it in more detail in another post.

Traiblazer talks one last time with Ruan Mei, and it is revealed that she gave the "Anti-Truth" she gave them has more abilities than she had told. Traiblazer will slowly forget about Ruan Mei in order to protect her secrets because she isn't someone who trusts easily.

I find this moment extremely interesting and meaningful in its contrast with Traiblazer's whole interactions with Dr. Ratio.

On one side, we have Dr Ratio, who can be considered the personification of Truth and was there to point out Ruan Mei's lies and guide us to the real truth; on the other side, Ruan Mei, a Genius, uses "Anti-Truth"to conceal her lies and secrets after they had been discovered and dealt with.

We have Dr. Ratio who is often villainized and is eccentric, while Ruan Mei is praised and delicate.

Dr. Ratio (or truth) is straightforward and can be perceived as ruthless, while the Anti-Truth is described as slow and sweet. Almost like a metaphor to truth being hard to accept while lies are sweet and easily deceives.

And finally, Ruan Mei, who lied, tried to conceal the truth (and her identity) while being bare-faced with us. However, Dr. Ratio, who guided tb to truth, had his identity hidden throughout the quest. It's funny when bareness is a typical symbol associated with Truthfulness and their personifications, but Ratio had his identity covered while Ruan Mei was not hiding it. There's actually a story about the Truth Goddess Ratio may be inspired from; about her counterpart (falsehood) pretending to be her (Truth). One of the moralities in those myths and stories is often that lies may start off as successful but Truth will always prevail. Which I think is quite fitting in this situation

CONCLUSION:

As a continuation to his introductive cutscene, we have the start of a slow development of Dr. Ratio's main traits and characteristics. It's diverting to realize, after all the other quests and looking back at the first ones, that early on there were already the hints and showcases of Dr. Ratio's personality and values. Throughout the quest, Trailblazer interacted with an unknown man (Dr. Ratio), and it was that same unknown man that helped Traiblazer uncover the affairs of someone Traiblazer already knew and trusted!

Here, Dr. Ratio may have represented Truth, not in its bare state as he usually does. It's interesting to note that Dr. Ratio tells himself that he could show his true colors but that it ends up being rather counter productive. Just like the fact Truth itself is better represented bare but few people actually can handle it that way. That's also a morality brought forth in the story of Truthfulness and her Counterpart, the one where Falsehood pretends to be Truthfulness by wearing her clothes, Truthfulness was naked and tried to convince Men that it was a trick but Men condemned Truthfulness, preferring a beautiful lie than the bare truth.

Dr. Ratio wearing an Alabaster Head most of the time might be a reflection to that but a little bit twisted, in order to prevent counterproductive results; a covered truth is still truth. Hiding his sight (truth) from fools doesn't prevent them from learning and trying to find it behind the barriers he puts. I also think the alabaster Head is simply a reference to him being the personification of Truthfulness, since one of the myths about the goddess speaks of her being a statue originally.

Here's the points to remember:

Time is extremely important and should be used efficiently. Which we were already aware of, but the fact time is such a close and important concept glued to Ratio's character might have something to do with him being Truthfulness, as whilst one version tells that the goddess was created as a statue, another says that she was the daughter of Cronus (the time titan/god)

Dr. Ratio is an educator first and foremost. He is strict and intolerant but not harsh and cruel. His manner of speech will often be straightforward, simple, instructive and effective. But it doesn't exclude things like sarcasm, a touch of humour without losing that gloominess that surrounds his character.

His intolerance with fools is strong and reciprocal, which could represent, through a metaphor, the confrontation between arrogance/foolishness and truthfulness.

We are shown the premises of Dr. Ratio's methods more clearly: practice and detached observation.

And lastly, The way both Dr. Ratio and Ruan Mei were portrayed in constant opposition from one another foretells of the duality that Crown of the mundane and divine is inherently about and will be plainly talked about in Mundane Trouble

I hope you enjoyed this long but hopefully interesting and insightful post! I always end up writing so so much ahah. Next, I will dive into the very important quest: "Mundane Troubles'

If you like my analyses, and if you're interested to know more, stay tuned!

[fastest-yeast-in-the-east]

The more I think about it, Midori was kinda an idiot and not even because the players fooled him during the banquet. Midori likes to act powerful and like he's always the one in control, but then you remember his job description is 90% just:

Die

And when you really think about it, it doesn't seem like ASUNARO valued or liked him. I mean, if nothing else, they at least trusted him to go and get all the participants to sign a consent form, which, from what we know, was a pretty important task, but aside from that, ASUNARO really just told him

Like, at least the other floor masters, Miley and Gashu weren't just flat out told to die (Gashu just sorta decided to, anyways). It really makes you wonder how ASUNARO viewed Midori. From what we know, he was originally intended to be a participant himself until he "died", which just further implies that ASUNARO was itching to get rid of him. Who replaced him, if anyone (ASUNARO could have planned for 21 participants, counting Midori, or they replaced him with Kai), is unclear, but if Kai was meant to serve as a substitute for him as ASUNARO's traitor within the participants, and knowing how Kai was considered a non-candidate who wasn't meant to win (and we all know what happens to losers in the death game), it all just heavily supports the idea that ASUNARO wanted nothing more than to kill him off.

If you were working for a company that wanted nothing more than to put you in situations where you were all but guaranteed to die, you wouldn't want to work there anymore, would you? But Midori does. That plus his overwhelming fear of death, makes him look like a really big idiot, and to be honest, I think he may really be one. Sure, he's smart in a lot of ways, being skilled at manipulation and pressing people's buttons, not to mention reprogramming Maple forget her original purpose is to kill him, but he also just couldn't see that his boss clearly had it out for him.

So if they hate him so much, why even hire him? I believe, that in Kai's mini-episode, a silhouetted figure appears whose hair resembles Midori's. This has led many to believe she is Midori's mother (which might explain why he's so screwed up, if he was raised in ASUNARO). If his mom already worked there, and probably outranked Gashu, that could have influenced ASUNARO's decision when it came to employing Midori.

AKA Midori is a nepo-baby.

ASUNARO hired him even though they didn't want to and either his mom didn't actually care that much about him (otherwise she might have objected to the killing of her son) or has retired or died and then ASUNARO had an employee who they don't want nor need. In other words Midori's relationship with his employers is more like

As the only floor master whose death is actively sought out by ASUNARO, Midori might actually be pretty low down on the totem pole, I'd say below the other two floor masters, but just above Ranger and Safalin who aren't really floor masters. Midori clearly doesn't understand that ASUNARO would 100% let him die, seeing as how he pleaded to Meister right before he died. At the end of the day, to them he's just a problem child they can finally do away with. The experiments ASUNARO let him do on other people "until they broke or he got bored" were probably just ASUNARO keeping him entertained to shut him up for a while, more or less treating him like a literal kid.

The more I think about it, ASUNARO clearly values Midori especially little, and it's honestly a little funny to think about. Him and his experiments really just make him the death game equivalent of a tablet kid.

[fawnforevergone]

i am forever thinking about the admiration hozier sings with in verse two of "abstract (psychopomp)". the way he compares the death of his relationship with the collision of hitting an animal, but is more in awe of his lover's reaction than the tragedy itself?? "the speed that you moved"?? "the screech of the cars"?? "the creature still moving that slowed in your arms"?? the way they could look death in the eye and care for it rather than run from it, and, instead of hating their acceptance of the breakup, hozier says that that is why there is "no choice but to love you"?? 'the way you are ending this is the reason i love you'?? the fact he is thankful that his lover has the strength to be the psychopomp because he knows he would have just kept flying into the sun icarian style?? how, despite how lost he feels ("the earth from a distance"), he cannot help but find the compassion his partner shows to the end of their love beautiful ("see how it shines")?? it is on my mind day in day out i can think of nothing else

[myjealousone]

My favorite thing about Shin and Hiyori/Midori’s relationship is how contradictory everything is, specifically with Shin. Both pre-game and during the death game his thoughts are truly all over the place; he is so conflicted and it's so beautiful.

Thinking of Hiyori as a friend while recognizing how fearful he is of him. Trusting Hiyori with knowledge of his life and struggles but not knowing anything about Hiyori himself and CHOOSING not to look deeper. Looking up to him like some sort of anti-hero. Feeling relief at Hiyori's disappearance along with deep sadness at losing his friend. Not knowing if he should look for Hiyori, then admitting that he did everything to find him. Saying that Midori is only an enemy during the death game, trying to pretend as if his part in the game doesn’t effect him and that he’s just an obstacle, but he's truly so STUCK on it, constantly searching for answers through thinly veiled questions and words.

Wearing his scarf, reading the poem book, staring at his portrait, constantly searching. On and on and on

[ohmuqueen]

cr.

[gureshinlover]

Rafayel Devotion Rings details

Note: the little cut on the back of rafayel's ring band is probably just a 3d model issue so dont mind it

[havenotwillnotreadthebooks]

Hey so I finally figured out why I like Gil-Galad and Elrond’s fanon-supported relationship.

It’s the possessive adjective.

When Elrond says ���my king” and emphasizes the point of Gil-Galad being both his friend, yes, but also his king, it’s a claim.

Elrond claims Gil-Galad the same way he claims Imladris.

This is my city to look after and take care of. I want it to flourish and stay safe.

This is my king to look after and take care of. I want him to flourish and be safe.

It’s the same principle. Elrond claims Gil-Galad the way he claims Imladris. He’s willing to let go when it’s time, but it’ll be painful. He wants to take care of his king, and makes sure he does well, that he is well. Elrond claims Gil-Galad the way someone claims a garden. This is mine, and i’m going to take care of it (him).

Not mine as in “this belongs to me” but mine as in “this is mine to take care of and I will.”

[maespri]

your turn to die characters ranked by how painful their death was (and why)

okay. crazy title, i KNOW. but this was actually so interesting to talk and think about. at least for me.

spoilers ahead, and TRIGGER WARNING. this post is going to go into detail about each death. it’s going to get gory and upsetting. if you don’t think you can handle hearing about that, please keep scrolling!

everything is under the cut, because this post is LONG, i'm warning you now.

some backstory: i have a special interest in anatomy and physiology, and i've always thought about how the different deaths in your turn to die worked. my wonderful friend @lovivelle and i talked about this topic extensively last night and they made this tier list with me! so, here's the ranking and explanations!

this ranking ONLY covers HUMAN deaths, because dolls/dummies do not feel pain.

quick glossary: exsanguination: death caused by bleeding out hemorrhaging: bleeding necrosis: cell/tissue death hypoxia: inadequate oxygen supply hypovolemic: loss of fluid in the body, often referring to blood or water shock: life-threatening condition where the body does not have enough blood circulating through it crush syndrome: medical condition where skeletal muscle is crushed for a prolonged time, resulting in shock and organ failure hematemesis: vomiting up blood hemoptysis: coughing up blood TBI: traumatic brain injury immolation: death by burning; being burned alive

the tier list:

OUCH!! (most painful):

nao: nao's death involves her ribcage being crushed. i put her at number one for what i hope are obvious reasons. for starters, her death is drawn-out, making the pain last even longer. while her ribcage is being crushed, any internal organs are being crushed as well. her bones are probably splintering and breaking off and piercing her insides and organs. overall... just horrible pain. official cause of death: internal hemorrhaging and irreparable damage to organs.

kurumada: kurumada's death involved being crushed (between two walls), which is similar to nao's. i would put their pain levels as being equal to each other, but kurumada's has the potential to have been less painful than nao's, because we don't know how quickly the walls crushed his body. if they were moving slowly, the pain would've been drawn-out and agonizing, and in that case, i would make the argument that his death was more painful than nao's. but if it was very quick, he would've just felt blinding pain in his entire body for a few seconds before it would end. we do have to keep in mind that kurumada is clearly quite muscular however, which probably provided some resistance against the walls, but only served to draw out his pain even further. official cause of death: muscle necrosis, internal hemorrhaging, and irreparable damage to internal organs due to crush syndrome.

either way, both definitely experienced, in my opinion, the most painful deaths in the game.

YOWZA! (very painful):

mishima: mishima's death results from his collar slowly heating up and burning his neck until his head disconnects from it. i don't even have the words to describe how painful this would be. the fact that the collar heats up slowly and it is drawn out only makes it worse. if you've ever burned yourself before anywhere on your body, you know how painful it is. imagine that pain centralized around your neck. mishima might have the fortune of his nerves being burned off after a certain amount of time, which would mean he wouldn't feel anything (think third-degree burns burning through to muscle, tissue, and nerve endings). but at that point, because the burning is around his neck and your neck contains- A) your spine/spinal cord and B) your trachea, which allows you to breathe- anyway and burning it in half would definitely kill you, he may be dead before he even has time to not feel any pain. either way, this shit would hurt so bad. official cause of death: cerebral hypoxia due to decapitation.

hinako: hinako technically has two deaths, but we ranked her based off of her being drilled. a lot of questions actually arose when my friend and i were talking about the drill deaths, because we don't know the speed at which the drills move. i mean, whether they're moving quickly or slowly, it would still obviously hurt- but the faster the drill, the quicker the death, which would make it less painful. being drilled would be unbearably painful for the sole fact that she might be alive for a lot of the drilling until it reaches any vital organs. no matter what, it'd be very painful. official cause of death: hard to say for certain, but would most likely be from exsanguination... y'know, from her body being split in half by a giant drill.

kugie (kanna's sister): my friend and i were FLOORED when we looked into kugie's death. in the game, i don't think we get a canonical answer specifically as to how she dies, but in the manga, we do. kugie and kanna have the same first trial as joe and sara, but they don't succeed. in it, kugie's bed literally snaps and essentially folds her in half. in the image from the manga, we can see blood flying out from the bed (implying it happened very quickly, because if it were slow, the blood would instead drip and flow), and kugie's hand sticking out between the two slabs of the bed. i think this death is the most painful out of the entire "YOWZA!" category because kugie was probably alive and in immense pain for at least a few seconds or even minutes after the bed snapped. if i had to speculate official cause(s) of death:

i would guess her lumbar vertebrae (basically the bottom discs of the spine) and spinal cord snapped, cutting off sensation and sending her into shock.

if she was folded in half, her legs would have quickly shot up, meaning her torso was likely unnaturally slammed into by both them and the bed, and sustained massive trauma. this would cause internal hemorrhaging and damage to her organs.

the blood spurting out of the bed was likely from her head. i'm a teenage girl, likely the same height or around the same height as kugie, and when i bend in half, my face is level with my knees. knowing this, her knees probably slammed into her face and broke her skull, causing a TBI.

the combination of all of that would have first caused terrible pain for, like i said, at least a few seconds or minutes- we don't see how extensive the damage really was, so i can't say for certain... but yeah.

aughhh (painful):

joe: joe's death is really interesting to think about, because upon first glance, you might think it's one of the most painful- but there are a few things i considered with him. his death is a result of wrigglers draining the blood out of his body. because we don't know how large the wrigglers are, i can't say how painful it would be when they enter his body- but i'd have to guess they're on the smaller side, like little tubes, because if they were big, they would have difficulty sucking out his blood due to how small blood vessels are. it would hurt horribly to have the wrigglers enter his body and drain the blood. we don't know if they moved around through his blood vessels- if they did, that would definitely exacerbate the pain- or if it was more just like getting blood drawn. but what i considered with him, the thing that makes his death less painful than the others, is the fact that he would probably pass out long before he's even fully dead. the amount of blood he's losing at such a rapid pace would first make him dizzy and disoriented before he just... passes out. his entire body would start shutting down very quickly and he wouldn't even be awake for it. his body would give up on transporting blood to the extremities and non-vital organs and shift only to transporting what little blood it can to keep vital organs running. when that blood runs out, the heart will stop being able to pump enough blood throughout the body and to the brain, and joe would actually be dead. so... yeah. official cause of death: hypovolemic shock resulting in organ failure.

shin: shin dies after being fatally injured by the death game's security system. while it's unclear exactly how the security system killed him, i believe he was stabbed/impaled somehow. there are a few questions regarding exactly where he was stabbed, but i assume he was hit somewhere in the torso because he has blood coming out of his mouth. if you don't know:

blood coming out of the mouth can be a result of haematemesis (vomiting up blood), which is where blood wells up in the stomach/digestive tract due to trauma in that area

it can also be a result of haemoptosis (coughing up blood), which results from being stabbed in the lungs/trachea due to trauma in that area

my guess is he was stabbed in the stomach, because if he were stabbed in the lungs, he'd be coughing and frothing at the mouth struggling to breathe. if i'm remembering correctly, he's also shown to be clutching his abdomen after turning on the joe AI, so... my money is definitely in the stomach.

which, you guessed it, would hurt. a lot. and there's no workaround. he's strong enough to drag himself to the rubble room and turn on an AI before dying. he would've been in blinding pain that entire time before dying.

official cause of death: exsanguination.

reko: reko technically has three canonical deaths, which made her hard to rank. i'll cover them all.

strangulation (hanging by collar): being hung is painful, but i think people underestimate how terrifying it is too. reko would have been terrified and in immense pain for a few minutes before dying. everything in her neck would be getting crushed and pressed on by the collar thanks to gravity. overall... awful death. official cause of death: cerebral hypoxia due to strangulation.

stabbed: same as what i said for shin. terrible pain for however long until she ultimately bleeds out. official cause of death: exsanguination.

fake-reko falling headfirst onto a spike: this one's... interesting! mainly because i think she would actually just be dead instantly. if the spike pierces her brain, she won't even really have time to process "ow!" before just. being dead. official cause of death: severe TBI resulting in death.

owie (painful, but not as painful as others):

q-taro: q-taro is stabbed in the back by mai and slowly bleeds to death over the course of the chapter. the reason i put him so low is because he would definitely be in some pain, but i don't think mai stabbed him very well (no offense girl). he's able to walk around, talk, and do stuff with the others after being stabbed, at least for a little while. it's difficult for me to pinpoint what exactly killed him because of this. i'd imagine his body began repairing the stab wound in his back, but ultimately, blood loss and the disruption to everything surrounding his spine (because mai stabs him in the back) is probably what killed him. depending on how deep mai's knife was, the blade may have even pierced or grazed internal organs such as q-taro's heart or a lung. his body probably put most of its focus on keeping his internal organs running whilst simultaneously trying to repair them, which tired him out over the course of the chapter, before it ultimately couldn't keep up with the amount of blood being lost. a hasty bandaging job using an office first-aid kit is not ideal for stab wounds.

*edit: this person corrected me regarding q-taro's death! i still think the severity of his injury could have killed him before the coffin cremation system actually killed him, plus the information is interesting, so i'm keeping it. but technically, being burned alive is actually what killed him. ouch.

official cause of death: exsanguination OR immolation.

kai: kai's death is kind of up in the air in terms of the specifics, but we know he kills himself during the first main game by cutting his arms. in order for this to kill him, and for him to have bled out as fast as he did, he likely cut his axillary and/or brachial artery. your brachial artery runs down the front of your bicep and is an extension of your axillary artery, which is in your upper arm/armpit. if kai cut deeply into both his brachial arteries, and/or his axillary arteries, he would bleed to death very quickly. it would be really painful, but i think adrenaline and the probability he'd pass out immediately would certainly be on his side here, making it at least a little less painful. either way, he dies quite fast, so. official cause of death: exsanguination.

uncertain (i'm not sure!):

this category is for the characters who have one or more variables that make it difficult or impossible to determine how painful their death was.

kanna: first of all, the way kanna dies is impossible in real life. lets just get that out of the way. you cannot have flowers sprout out of your body. that immediately makes it impossible to tell how painful it would be for her.

if i were to suspend my disbelief for this, however, here's what i have to say about it:

safalin says kanna is numb during her death, which would instantly give her a pain rating of zero. kanna is screaming during her death, but given what safalin says, that doesn't necessarily prove she's in pain. she could just be screaming out of fear.

if she weren't numb, yeah, she would be in a lot of pain. flowers and vines growing out of your body, poking out of your skin, running through your insides- that would hurt insanely bad.

but the fact that:

this death isn't possible in real life

kanna is presumably numb during her death

we don't specifically know how the seeds are working/moving inside her body

kind of made it impossible to rank her.

if i had to guess a cause of death, i'd guess severe disruption by the vines to her internal organs and processes is what ultimately killed her.

hayasaka: hayasaka's head is presumably cut off by a swinging axe. there are two reasons we put him in 'uncertain'; we don't know how sharp the blade of the axe is, and we don't know the velocity it's swinging at.

if the blade is swinging slowly and is very dull, it would take a few swings to fully cut off hayasaka's head, which would make it incredibly painful.

but if the blade is swinging very quickly and is super sharp, his death would be instantaneous, making it essentially painless.

so it's difficult to say, but either way:

official cause of death: decapitation.

ranmaru: ranmaru's death is in 'uncertain' because we

don't know exactly how that happened to his stomach

hear him talk about how he's numb to it

don't know how long he's been sitting there

i imagine he was in some pain and just putting up a front, but we just don't know for sure. and like i just said, we don't know what specifically killed him or how. we just see a wound in his stomach.

probable cause of death: exsanguination/hemorrhaging.

anzu: anzu's was between 'uncertain' and 'so quick.' we see spikes piercing her body, but the angle makes it difficult to tell exactly where they pierce, or how sharp they are, etc. if the spikes didn't hit her face/brain, she probably felt intense pain for some time from the neck-down before rapidly bleeding to death. if the spikes got her head, she'd die instantly. so.

probable cause of death: exsanguination? TBI? damage to internal organs/processes?

ranger: according to ranger's wiki, his human form was stabbed by an assassin. not nearly enough information to rank him with certainty.

cause of death: stabbed?

so quick (too fast to be painful):

both mai and alice's deaths were so fast, they fell into this category.

mai: mai shoots herself in the head. her death would have been immediate and painless since she shot herself in the brain.

official cause of death: fatal TBI.

alice: alice's abdomen explodes. if that happens, you're probably going to feel a very brief flash of pain before immediately dying, because the damage would be so extensive (shrapnel exploded his stomach, but there was undoubtedly collateral damage to his heart, lungs, and other organs around there). he would have been in shock if he did somehow manage to survive for a few more seconds. pain would be minimal or nonexistent in my opinion due to the sheer severity of the injury. and in terms of him being hung in chapter 3, it's the same as reko.

official cause of death: shock resulting from traumatic abdominal injury.

thats it!

if you for god knows what reason read all this, thank you! i'm honestly only posting it kind of for myself and my friend to look back on if i ever want to think about it again, but maybe someone will find it interesting.

questions, comments, concerns (of which i'm sure there are many)- i'm an open book. i'm not a professional by any means, but i am insane. bye!

[frenchkanna1808]

Why Midori is such a breath of fresh air or how to actually write a Villain.

So the awaited essay, the winner of the FrenchGremlin polls of laziness finally has come! It took some time but it’s finally over. If your choice didn’t get chosen that’s okay! I’ll repost a new poll with old and newer options. Please reblog this one i put a lot of time in it, it's like, five pages long over a silly goose. Also sorry for the grammar i sucks and i'm not native. So let’s begin:

(also here is the link to the video format)

So first let’s make things clear, What IS a villain?

“A villain is a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.” That is why I do want to make a difference between a villain and an antagonist, an antagonist is a character who are a plot devices that creates obstruction to the protagonist. That means that a villain is forced to be an antagonist while an antagonist is not forced to be a villain. For example shin is an antagonist but not a villain, he is driven by selfish desires which are themselves fueled by fear anger and loss, he is the protagonist of his own story and is a sympathetic character despite it all, and Midori is just a bitch. Midori falls under multiple stereotypes of villains. Such as “the mastermind”, “evil incarnate” (lmao),”related to the protagonist” etc. Midori is evil, there is no denying in this, he is purely evil, and he doesn’t have a sad weepy backstory, he doesn’t feel empathy towards other, he is a despicable piece of shit who ruined so many lives. I won’t list everything but here is a list of his crimes, murder, assault, domestic abuse, grooming, verbal abuse, and torture, crimes against humanity lmao, stalking, violent crimes, and participation in a cult. And his worst crime is being a pussy bitch of course. So now that we have put the bases up let’s really begin.

Hollywood has a hate boner against villains and I hate them for that.

Recently Hollywood decided that pure evil bad guys is actually a bad thing, so now they decided to do stupid side story with them, to give them ”””depth””” since I guess how could we like those villains since they are bad. A great example of this is the Disney remakes which I loathe so much oh god I hate them. So first they did a maleficient it was okay honestly, then they did a freaking cruella movie where her mom gets killed by Dalmatians, that’s not a joke, in the peter and wendy movie that nobody saw they decided to have made the captain hook be a lost boy who was abandoned by the lost boys and peter, oh also they decided that PETER CUT HIS HANDS OFF AND LEFT HIM TO DIE BECAUSE HOOK WANTED TO SEE HIS FAMILY. They are going to do a freaking mufasa movie, in no time I can’t wait to have a Ursula movie where it’s discovered that ariel killed all of her family in cold blood or something’s. So you might say what’s the problem? I mean isn’t that supposed to make the story more interesting. No, no it doesn’t, because first they take all of the character personality traits and throw them in the bin, second they are supposed to be the vilain in a musical animated movies, I am not against complex villain, I love them, but by doing this, the original character doesn’t exist anymore. Just create original content with new interesting characters instead of doing stuff like this. Also it’s kind of funny than in all of those interpretation they take all the fun and sucks it out, what do I mean by fun, the gayness, Disney vilain are fun because they are camp, they are fabulous extravagant extra in all the ways possible, and that’s the reason we liked them. Not every character needs something super deep, like “my family was burned down at the stake and my dog was eaten by my ex”, sometimes we just like bad fun people, they are the story, and Hollywood hating them so bad just bothers me a lot. Also now the new thing is to not have a villain at all which can works in some narrative but not all of them, it gets boring after a while. In the past people were angry that villains are bland, but now I kind of miss it. While I will critique villains who have no purpose outside of being evil that’s dumb, like for example Voldemort is bland like white bread because his only motivation is being evil, but evil people do exist compared to what some Hollywood writers think, they should know. So that’s why I will put a difference between evil villains and villains whose only purpose is being evil; we loved Disney villains but they still had motivations, goals, reasons that to them a least were worth everything. World domination isn’t enough, why do you want world domination, what is the true reason deep in your heart, is it an inferiority complex, is it a savior complex fuelled by xenophobic beliefs.

That is how to write a pure evil villain, evil people exist all over the world, but I have never seen one who doesn’t have they own reasons to be so bad, it doesn’t excuse their actions nor really explains them. We do not want justifications we want explanations. If you are justifying evil behavior then do it, but don’t claim that it is a pure evil character. A pure evil character can be fun, can be interesting, he can be deep, it’s all about balancing all of their traits to truly make them greats. Which is why midori succeeds while current villains fail. Current stupid remake/spin off try to justify the behavior because they feel like this is what the audience wants, but it’s not what we need. So I will defend to the grave evil villains.

Creating an evil villain doesn’t make them boring guys.

Why the heck does big budget movies have either the blandest protagonist or the blandest villains sometimes both, like I said evil people do exist but comically evil character only works in satire not in a serious multiple millions of dollar movie. Example that boring ass avatar movie, the one with blue people, none of the characters are interesting the villain is one note. The lords of the rings also suffers from that, but I don’t care because the protagonist are so awesome that sauron being personality less doesn’t matter. Also sauron is more of a force of nature villains so it’s not the same. The recent kingsman movie has a bland one note villain, there is nothing entertaining, funny, about him he’s just evil, borrrrring. Every Disney remakes depiction of the characters are boring. I just feel bored out of my mind. Atla one of my favorite shows of all time has a main villain that’s kinda one note, Ozai, but he is actually intimidating guy, azula is the superior character, but I wouldn’t consider her a villain she is an antagonist though. I honestly don’t get why Hollywood thinks that just creating a character with no personality and whose only goals is to be evil is good.

So back to midori for a second, here is my question, when midori was on screen did you ever feel bored? Never right! Because despite midori being an evil character he has an actual personality, he’s fun, you want to punch him in the balls. Because midori has other personality traits than evil, midori is petty, childish, extremely intelligent, controlling, a natural manipulator, he is a trickster, he doesn’t seem to get some social norms, he is narcissistic, easily angry, and fears death etc See how I counted a lot of traits, traits that in other character would works, midori has positive traits, and I think that is the best thing nankidai could have ever done, midori has traits that a regular person could have. Which is why if I put midori in any settings his character would work.

Example, instead of a death game the cast is under the sea to discover the insane wildlife and supernatural stuff happening, what would midori do in this situation? Well he would very passionate about finding all of what’s happening, he’ll do anything to find out, even sometime sacrificing others, not only will he try to find what’s happening, but he is also going to try to find a way to make this discovery favour him in the end. Or let’s imagine it’s a vampire situation, where a vampire attacks  the city, midori would try to stop it, not because he cares, but to experiment on them to get their biology and finds the real secret of immortality since he fears death.

Here is my second advice, after creating your character try to imagine them in another completely different situation, like normal life, or a fantasy world, ask yourself the question what would they do in that environment? If you can find a real complete explanation of their actions then yes your character has multiples dimensions if not try thinking about it again. Some example of questions I do want to point out are some like “if my character had all the power in the world what would they do first or”, “if my character had only a day left to live what would they do”

Why is Current media incapable of creating good threats like bruhhhh.

Okay so first of all let’s talk about stakes in a story, let’s say you are watching a slasher movie, slowly the cast gets slimmed down and people die in horrible ways, that should set stakes right ? Well if the villain is an absolute buffoon who makes the stupidest actions and decisions in the world, you wouldn’t feel intimidated at all because despite what the filmmaker might try to say the plot armor will NEVER make a character intimidating. It’s just like a detective character who just seems to know everything without a thought, well you won’t really fear the character failing. Worse is the the final girl, who is for some reason always escaping the slasher guy by pure luck every time, she is shown as incompetent but still she survives, which make the villain seem completely incapable so now you feel nothing.

To avoid this filmmaker often use techniques such has unpredictability, I mean good I mean good ones, for example instead of immediately seeing whose going to survive because the black guys always dies first and the virgin white woman is the last survivor, change the status quo, make us think that this character is obviously safe while they actually aren’t at all. Or actually make them menacing by SHOWING to the audience how horrible dangerous they can be. Which is why SHOW DON’T TELL is so important, telling us how dangerous someone can be only to see them get beaten to death at the end of the movie makes us feel nothing.

Midori felt like a impossible person to beat, he is smart, had twenty plans in advance, even in situation where the cast felt like they might have a chance he was always armed, just like the gun he promised to use or the rocket punch. When they felt like they were finally advancing, he put obstacle in their ways, such as the collar game or the moment he put the collar on explode mode for  ranmaru. The entire point in the murder game was to make time pass, it took a long time for the cast top realize that this whole time they were losing precious time not realizing that the dummies were the real problem. The characters that made you feel the most hopeless were the dummies, if you won by killing midori they would die, but if you lost you might lose people you love (keiji or gin). It felt hopeless because they were no solutions in the end. That creates tension so that creates stakes. If we were told how dangerous unpredictable sou was then it wouldn’t hit the same, we are shown that he is that terrible. There is a scene ingame where bbg shin ai tells us that midori tortured and like to destroy people. That’s exposition so TELL, but do you why it works, because we are SHOWN before his behavior. Midori felt unbeatable, so the fact that we were shown his weakness such has his petty behavior, hatred of minors, and fear of death, for the first time it feels like there is a chance that we might survive this. And still after he isn’t shown has an incompetent buffoon, he is one, but the narrative doesn’t show us that he is.

What is also consider is good to make the audience feel actual stakes is to first really develop well the main characters, how can we feel worry for a character if we don’t know them, the audience need to feels emotional connection to the main cast to actually care. You can use things such has moments where there is nothing special happening just character talking getting to know them. Make us feel why we need to care about them possibly losing, instead of being indifferent. Or I don’t know maybe make an entire spin off game where we get to have the cast talk to each other and seeing dynamics between character that died early to get them a chance to shine and make their death even more tragic, or even make mini episodes of characters who only got a single chapter to show off their characteristic, to get us to know them better? But that’s just a silly idea of course, wink, and wink.

My favorite thing about Midori is that he is actually pathetic, like really pathetic, but weirdly realistic?

Midori is the most pathetic character in the cast, yes more than shin, shin is leagues less pathetic. No I’m not saying that midori is not intimidating or scary, I would piss myself if I saw him. He’s a scary guy. But if you look at him more closely you can see that he is a baby brat in a big boy suit.

So let’s start by something clear, Sou Hiyori clearly displays antisocial behavior, or in common terms he is a psychopath/sociopath, this illness is very badly seen in medias, I am not saying that people who lacks empathy like him are inherently bad, he is, a lot of people with antisocial behavior actually suffers a lot and have a difficult life. Sou real issues is not his antisocial behavior, it’s his narcissism and god complex. Sou feels the need to HAVE CONTROL over others, he like the feeling of being in power, he sees the rest of the world has beneath him, toys for his pleasure. He says that he “really like humans” because despite it all he seems to put himself in a different categories than regular people, they are beneath him. When he loses control his calm and cool behavior disappears and we see his true face, a grown man who has throws a tantrum like a baby. One of the best representation of this is midori views on the cast:

Midori hates kanna, like no jokes he has beef with her, a fourteen years old, actually he has beef with a lot of people in the cast. Midori views emotional people has weak, people who are loving optimistic as beneath him and useless. He preferred when sara was cruel and horrible, that’s what he loved about her, he liked seeing her scary emotionless side. But Kanna, kanna is everything he hates. A crybaby who not only puts the group in harmony, is a source of hope in general, is the reason he near got to have closure with shin (killing him), he views kanna as “not fun shin”. We have many proofs for this, if you type the word kanna kizuchi he says this: “Poor Kanna'd weep! I think a more worthless name would be better for someone like me” He mocks her, but also himself (I’lll come back on this later), he calls her worthless. Also in the electric charge minigame, when he can choose who to shocks he chooses two people in particular, kanna who he hates and hinako who ruined his fun by giving the cast a chance in saving ranmaru. But he does also says mean spirited stuff to other people, qtaro and gin. He also says some sarcastic comments about nao and joe, saying that it’s such a shame that they died so young. But you might say why kanna especially? Because he is a petty baby who is jealous of kanna, Yes jealous, of kanna, a fourteen years old. Because he feels like she stole his hubby wubby shin away from him…. God I hate him. And you know what that make him a pathetic idiot, after the scene where kanna beats his ass, he’s all mad and like “uhh I’m going to pout I wanted you to cry like a lot, now I’m gonna cry”. An that’s actually god, because it humanize him, he wants need thoughts, he isn’t one note, and that’s the most important!

Sou is a villain but before that he is a character, a fully developed character, and THAT’S WHAT MAKE HIM GREAT, Sou works because he works realistically, I mean if you forget the robot part, it’s easy to imagine a narcissist man child who needs to feel in power towards other, so his main prey are young vulnerable people.Which leads me to my next point:

Sou is a failure like really, and we aren’t sad for him.

Sou failed everything he worked on, he failed to get the paper from alice, he failed whith shin since he had to leave earlier than he thought he would leave, because of his mistake he lost his position in the death game, then he failed to kill gin or keiji, and then he died like an idiot losing his cool and acting like a toddler. And he knows it that why he is a bit self-hating (he should be). And yet none of us feel any sympathy towards him, why? Because sou is one of the most despicable guy in existence. He is a disgusting pervert, sadistic asshole, and abusive narcissistic cunt who thinks he is better than everyone. From the bottom of my heart I hate him sooooo much he is literally the character I hate the most in existence. He abused shin, ruined keiji’s life, traumatized the entire cast, literally assaulted sara like he physically assaulted her. He mocked nao and joe and kugie life as useless. He is an obsessive jerk AND I HATE HIM. And you know what…… It’s good. Like I actually feel a lot of emotions when I think about him, he fuels me with anger and disgust, and if your characters can make me feel that much rage then you did it, you created an actual perfect character. Hiyori is such a shit person that I think about him a lot, writers shouldn’t be scared to make a character such hittable assholes, example bojack horseman in bojack horseman is the vilest man on earth and I love it, because I genuinely hate him. Just like I genuinely love kanna, like really I really love her, I in the same time despise midori so bad. We hate him because he is horrible to good people that WE KNOW AND CARE ABOUT, not random npcs. There is a lot of… disgusting implications in his story with shin that I will not talk about it makes me really uncomfortable right now. SO HERE IS A VERY TACKY TRANSITION TO TALK ABOUT WHY I HATE JUNKO FROM DANGANRONPA.

Junko is boring, that’s it, she is boring, not funny not interesting, she is a fetish, she is the biggest Mary sue on earth, she is a gross character made to make fun of people with disabilities and queer people. Her only traits is being crazy, that’s it. I wouldn’t call midori that crazy actually, he’s methodical calculated, and precise. Crazyness is a term for people who aren’t in control of their actions and delusional about reality, sou is not crazy, he knows what he is doing, he is in full control, while characters like shin should actually be consider crazy, like shin is actually crazy but sou isn’t.

Conclusion:

Sou is a breath of fresh air, because nankidai had the balls to write an actually interesting deep and threatening character AND make him a villain. He didn’t fall into the trap of making him have a sad backstory or good motives, sou is just selfish, that’s all he is. He make him a fun entertaining guy who you absolutely hates, he made him threatening and at the same time a complete doofus. He made him humane and pathetic.

But the thing that make me love nankidai the most is this

The fact that he actually killed him that takes courage as a writer to just end a character THAT WAY, which is why midori will never come back alive he is forever dead. And that take a lot of talents as a writer to just take one of the most important characters and just get him drilled to death in the anus, like dammn nankidai you are a savage. That fact alone makes him one of the best characters in game, I hate him as a person, but has a character he is a masterpiece.

Though Kanna could solo him

this was posted as a video on my blog this is mainly so people who don't want to stay there reading a 24 minute video of my stuttering can have a bit of quiet

[rockwgooglyeyes]

When I heard the beginning of Heart, the creaking of the crank winding up stood out to me, though I didn't know quite why. When the instrumentals drop and the vocals begin, it's easy to forget about the literal wind-up of the song. @crustyfloor mentions in one of their posts about Heart, though, that it sounds quite like a music box, and it could be likened to one of Sua's owners winding Sua up to perform her role, and I think that's quite the apt description. Sua has always given the impression that she's untouchable, immaculate, an ideal of beauty and grace, just like the ballerina in a music box. (PLEASE LOOK AT CRUSTY'S POSTS BTW THEY'RE SO COOL)

The thing that really drew me in about Heart, though, was the lyrics. The song itself feels inoffensive, the instrumentals clean and pleasant but not terribly adventurous, I would say, nothing too out there, nothing that could possibly turn someone away- which furthers Sua's palatable, perfect image. The lyrics on the other hand, man, the lyrics. "When the spotlight fades out, closing credits, when the curtain falls down" which is such a Sua metaphor it almost hurts. Sua has always been an actor in a grand play, for her whole life she's been fulfilling whatever role she was given, in fact she's playing the role that she was arguably made for. This is another reason why I headcanon her as autistic but the depth to which she masks is truly remarkable, on par with Ivan's unreliable narration. I would say that's even the reason why she dislikes Ivan so much, because she can see so much of herself in him and that includes the ugly parts- the parts about herself that she actively hate she can see on full display within him, and by hating him, she can both avoid confronting those parts of herself and take out her frustration on something tangible.

The cinema/theatre parallels in the lyrics (spotlights, closing credits, curtain fall) echoes the way in which Sua herself feels as though she has to perform in order to survive, and in a way, she does. If she's not able to fulfill the role she's been given by her own, that of the emotionless and obedient doll, she would probably be killed or even worse. At the same time, we know that Sua's owner, Nigeh, dresses up all of her pets as dolls and has all of her pets look exactly or near-exactly the same. Even in Sua's identity as "faceless doll" she isn't unique, lost amongst the crowd of her owner's other pets.

Society is a constraint against Sua's every movement, she's constantly watched, judged, and she has these responsibilities that she never asked for. This ties into a weirder, tangential point I want to bring up, and that's the old-Hollywood energy that Sua has. Sua has always had that air to her of a movie star from the black-and-white days of cinema- in fact, I would say her white dress, despite its color, is actually pretty similar to the "little black dress" worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Especially with the long opera gloves, the low collar, and adornment at the neckline but the lack of adornment around the hips. Additionally, the little black dress is seen as something of a radical form of fashion, when it comes to the early 1920s in the USA, at least, and it is something of a symbol of women reclaiming their femininity and power during a time period where women's suffrage was nationally established in 1920. The fact that the dress that Sua dies in is a dress that is a subversion of her previous style, which is to say, the frilly doll-like look, that kind of stands out to me. Maybe they were trying to make a nod to that iconic silhouette but admittedly, it's probably a bit of a stretch. My brain just wouldn't let go of it ahah

Sua's cinema/theatre symbolism is a truly fascinating part of her character, even if it makes a lot of sense. She talks about her life as if it's one grand stage play because in a way, it is. She's been following a script since she knew how to read and she's never really gotten to make choices for herself, which is why her last and only act of defiance was dying for the one she loved, dying for Mizi. But even with Mizi, she's never been able to be truly herself, and that's touched on in the lyrics, And now, under that mask of mine, you don't want to see what's inside" which is basically just Sua talking about how she's putting on this face, this happy beautiful facade, and she knows that it's fake. She's miserable and she doesn't want anyone to know, so she wears her mask of blind, ignorant bliss.

It's one of the most interesting aspects of her relationship with Mizi because, in some ways her relationship with Mizi shows Sua's true colors the most, but in other ways, it shows the depth of her deception. Sua knows that she's lying to Mizi about the true depravity of the world but it's a lie she's desperate to keep. Mizi is an oasis of innocence in a world full of cruelty, a sanctuary from the reality that Sua has been forced to live with her whole life, and not only that, Mizi loves her. Of course Sua wants to do anything she can to preserve that safety, that feeling of belonging. At the very same time, Sua knows how tenuous this feeling is. She knows that, were Mizi to learn the truth and realize how long Sua has been lying to her about the reality of the world they live in, that Mizi very well might resent her. (and for good reason!!)

One of the biggest reasons that I view Sua and Ivan as so similar is the fact that, I think when push comes to shove, they both believes themselves to be harming the people they love. This line from Heart "You know our time's running out (The dream I held is filthy as hell)" feels like it echoes that idea, with Sua acknowledging how they're living on borrowed time but I would argue, the second half "the dream I held is filthy as hell" is Sua saying that she believes the happiness that she's held so dear, the love she's cherished, the dreams of a future without pain, those have been tarnished merely by her holding them in her hands. She believes that she's the problem, she's the one who has been bogged down by the misery and suffering of their world, and perhaps that's why she's so willing to sacrifice herself for her love. She gave it the good old college try, she got to experience a lot more love and happiness in this life than she ever thought she would, and now she's going to give the goodness in her life, the one who illuminated her darkness, a chance to live past this moment.

tagging @bluemoonscape come get your Sua food and tagging @apriciticreveries thank you so much for spawning this horrible brainchild and giving me your translation of the song lyrics, it was very helpful <3 I love you both