#source analysis

[waywardsou2]

The Cavalry has Arrived Analysis

Here it finally is, the long-awaited analysis of Season 2 Episode 15 of The Bad Batch. Apologies for the wait.

I would just like to say that this is long, like 4500+ words long, so I understand if it's hard to get all the way through, I'm going to post it on my Ao3 as well if that makes it more bearable to read. And also, it might be easier to understand if you watch the episode alongside it, but I understand if that is too much effort. Anyway, let's begin!

(Disclaimer I did have gifs and screen recordings I wanted to share but my laptop is being a bitch so you get screenshots and sourced gifs instead)

0:36

The introduction is missing its colour, the same way their armour is now missing its colour, I think that represents the chage they all went through at this point and the change that was to come.

Props to Wrecker’s perseverance.

2:22 “I knew Clone Force 99 would attempt to recover Omega, their failure is inevitable”

He is so sure of himself when he says this, Hemlock’s ego and over confidence was ultimately his downfall, he believes he has everything figured out.

2:26 “What I am working on is beyond your understanding, something so vital to the Emperor, it makes me, indispensable, unlike yourself”

The way Emery speaks of Hemlock makes me think he took her under his wing or took her for medical purposes (she may have been the first Omega) and she was loyal to him out of obligation. She is a Clone as well; I think like Tech she was built for advanced medical/scientific intelligence.

The timid nature of Ava and Sami makes me think they are either extremely young and have been here for a while or have both attempted to break out just like Jax did and they are afraid of being punished again.

6:22

Wrecker doing all he can despite the pain to make it to the base. He deserves more props!

If you’re dumb like me and didn’t realise – Project: Necromancer is what keeps Palpatine alive until the events in Rise of Skywalker

8:02

Omega knew that even if she was seen, the Zilo Beast would be the ultimate catalyst for the destruction of Tantis. Without having freed the Zilo Beat I doubt they would have been able to all make it out.

Despite all of Hemlock’s planning I don’t think he had a backup plan for the kids using the droid tunnels to escape and unleash the Zilo Beast as well.

8:53

The troopers that finds the kids in the vent are Clones which shows how far the dismissal of Clones has travelled. They already got rid of so many Clones that even on a secret base there are enlisted civilian troopers. Also, the fact that it’s a reprogramming facility full of Clones being inhumanely tested on would have made sense that there were less Clones serving there because seeing what was going on might have spurred on more deserters.

10:32 “Omega. She released the Zilo”

I love how Echo just knew that it was Omega based on how she had been on their missions and the influence the rest of the Batch must’ve had on her. He knew that the trail of chaos would somehow be hers. Presious.

[Personal note: I like the lack of Jedi in The Bad Batch, don’t get me wrong they are cool and all but it’s nice with them not being the center of attention for once]

11:15

When Crosshair is using the binoculars to look at the search patrols his hand begins to shake but it only starts shaking when he looks at them. I think that may be from the anxiety that he has undoubtedly developed. He’s remembering the fear of when he first broke out of Tantis base. He also inhales quite sharply, and it isn’t a tsk of annoyance, it’s the sound you make when something frightens you but you are trying to swallow it.

12:33 “Wake up Wrecker, Clone Force 99 died with Tech”

[ok so we are just saying that now?!?!?]

It’s a blunt and harsh statement but it doesn’t necessarily make sense in the flow of the conversation, he also directs it at an injured Wrecker, why would he do that? I think it’s because he’s frustrated and scared, he’s in a stressful situation and he’s venting his emotions. He doesn’t ever do that so he’s doing it at a time of heightened emotions. I think because of his trauma on Tantis, being back here is a huge trigger that he simply has an irrational emotional response to. It also shows how hard he is taking Tech’s death. Because like, why would he just blurt that out? He wouldn’t unless it was the underlying reason for his stress on top of the situation, they are presently in.

12:42 “I’ve been inside that mountain; I know what we’re up against. If we all go in, we’re not all making it back out. Omega needs you both. So, I’m doing this alone. It’s…it’s what I deserve”.

Hunter and Wrecker look at each other when Crosshair says “Omega needs you both” they immediately understood what he was implying, but I think they were also concerned that Crosshair was talking in such a way that meant he didn’t feel Omega needed him. But they’ve seen the contrary during times without him and on Pabu briefly. The way Omega reacted around him in the collapse Tipoca city and when he chose to stay away from them and when she was with him on Tantis. It’s obvious to everyone but him how much she cares about it.

It also highlights how Crosshair perceives himself, he doesn’t think he’s needed by his siblings and he doesn’t think he’s redeemable after what he has done, he doesn’t think they have missed or would have missed him if he were to be gone and he most likely doesn’t think he is useful anymore because of his tremors affecting his ability to be the sniper he once was.

He doesn’t see how much they all still love him. He is still their brother.

13:00 “Don’t even think about Plan 99 Crosshair, Omega needs all of us and so do those Clones”

Hunter jumps in right away to remind Crosshair he is still of value to them as a Clone and a brother, he may not say it directly but he wouldn’t have phrased it that way if that wasn’t what the underlying tone was.

By mentioning the other Clones as well he if further cementing that Crosshair has value beyond that, they need him as well.

13:13 “We do this together”

Wrecker further emphasised his use and value as a person by saying this to Crosshair. He is still their brother, and they are still a team, with or without Tech.

14:31 “The Zilo got out this way, so can we. What’s wrong?” “I’m not good with heights, I guess I’d make a poor soldier” “My brother Wrecker hates heights too, and he’s the strongest soldier I know. Just stay focused on what’s ahead, not what’s below”

Omega reaffirms the Jax’s fear instead of shutting it down, she builds him up by saying that a person she admires has the same fear he does, showing that he can still be strong despite his fear.

15:30 “Of course they will. Do it”

More proof that Hemlock believes he has everything under control despite actually having nothing under control.

16:08

I believe the back shot of that trooper’s head is Tech. If you look at the placement of his left ear compared to his right “ear” (our left, our right) the angle of his ear doesn’t match the placement of his other one, I believe that what we think was his ear on the right was actually the edge of Tech’s goggles.

Look at the way they move when they step out of the capsules, they move shakily and jarringly, they sort of look like Zombies right? And what project are they apart of? Project: Necromancer, what is necromancy? The process of bringing something back from the dead. (I feel like this was obvious but I only noticed it the second time around)

17:18

This seems to be a very practiced technique, but not one I’ve seen Clones use before, so I’m going to assume it’s something they’ve practiced and developed themselves. The way they move allows them to have eyes in every direction all at once. The rear Clone moving first each time so they can shuffle forward whilst still being able to look in every direction at once, this also means it’s a fresh set eyes every rotation so that if the last one missed something the other one might catch it.

They are staying in a tight formation so that no one is left out in the open and they can look out for one another. This seems to signify the closeness of them in more than just physicality, I think it also shows that not only are they still a well-oiled machine in terms of a team, but they have each others back as brothers as well.

18:09 “We need to fall back. Go, I’ll be right behind you”

Notice the difference of how he says this and what he says, this isn’t a sacrifice, it’s back up, it’s a calculated way to let them escape whilst still allowing him to follow them, one strategically placed shot and he’s out of there. He’s not sacrificing himself like he wanted to in the forest.

18:47

Despite his tremors he is still able to shoot the pilot, dead centre in the chest from 75+ meters out. It also shows that his tremors are not only an anxiety thing but a nerve damage thing, because his hand didn’t shake in this intense moment like it would have if it was entirely an anxiety.

Wrecker is fighting the hardest out of all of his brothers at some points I would say. He has a serious chest injury so bad his armour cracked and still he tries to carry Hunter away from falling debris and when Crosshair is kicked across the floor he still tries to get up and save his brother. Not only is he strong by nature he is mighty resilient. And with the electric spear that is thrust right into his chest over his wound, that has to be enough volts to kill him at this point and yet he’s grabbing onto it WITH HIS BARE HANDS and trying to pull it away.

19:20

Crosshair sees his brother in trouble and INSTANTLY tried to reach for his gun to shoot his brother’s attacker.

His hand instantly starts shaking when the CX trooper stands on his wrist, not does his hand shake but his entire arm starts shaking as well, its not just a tremor, it’s a trauma response. He is frightened, clearly and rightly so and still he reaches for his gun, desperate. The tremor then shakes his whole body when the Necro Clone is beginning to cut his hand off. He shakes violently.

19:30 “You should be more careful with your shooting hand”.

It may be a coincidence, but would the Necro clones really have time to pay attention to which shooting hand was each of the Clones? IDK this is more of an out their observation than an acute theory.

19:45

Sami reaches for Omega, scared of the blaster fire, its clear that she trusts Omega a lot now. I’m guessing there may have been fighting or a shoot out when/before she was taken to the vault. Omega holds her hand to comfort her!

21:07

Echo is just so chill about the other kids, despite the situation they are in and his prior knowledge of him hes calm, collected and his face even visibly softened at the sight of the timid children.

[Personal note: My brother pointed out that despite everything Emery is still quite blunt and blank – I think that’s because she was raised in an environment that didn’t allow her to develop fully in an emotional sense]

22:44

Hunter hasn’t made an audible sound of pain or discomfort past a groan this entire series, he seems to have high pain thresh hold. However, during this scene he’s clearly grunting at the pain, and knowing Hemlock and the threats and methods he used on Crosshair, this is most likely a more painful process than it has to be. When it stops Hunter is clearly out of it and loopy, but he is still fighting so hard, straining at the restraints with everything he has left, when it stops, he slumps considerably.

Hemlock is a sadist; he’s fucking smiling during all of this

23:13

Hemlock could have let Crosshair bleed out from his hand but instead he patches him up, knowing that even if he didn’t survive the conditioning again at least he would suffer for all the trouble he caused. Hemlock wanted him to live just a little longer to inflict as much paint as possible until he died.

23:36 "We'll survive, but you wont"

Hunter the badass he is talking smack despite being in pain

When the conditioning started up again, he actually screams, he was not prepared and was clearly struggling this time around.

24:29

The clones despite being free look really tired and worn out, they are most likely an older generation of clones and the must be hella resilient to still be kicking after their many attempts at conditioning.

25:06

Echo asks where their brothers may have been taken and the Clone at the front looks down and right – this means he’s recalling a memory/emotion before he answers.

He says “conditioning” really hesitantly. He’s remembering that place he’s afraid no afraid of.

30:56

Hemlock said “A glaring weakness in Clones is their loyalty to one another” I think that’s where he is the most wrong because it’s not their downfall, it an honourable trait and its why the Clone’s will always be better than the storm troopers. They are always willing to fight for one another.

[Personal note: Why the hell did we never get a full explanation on what Omega’ purpose was, we got some science her and there but never a full answer, that is so frustrating]

29:32 Echo doesn’t tell Omega to stay put or to hand back he says, “We’re on our way” The don’t treat Omega like a kid anymore. They treat her like a soldier because they know she is capable, and she has been through so much it further proves that fact.

33:00 “You’re forgetting one thing, I have them”

She trusts her brothers, unwavering, she is there for them and she knows they will be there for her, this warms my heart to an unimaginable degree

[Personal note: There is something so delicious about watching Wrecker yeet himself out of the restraints and fucking up the whole machine and one of the CX troopers. Especially since less than 10 minutes ago he was out cold, not to mention in a shit tonne of pain]

33:46

Wrecker sees Hemlock walk away with Omega and uses that adrenaline and rage mix to his advantage to fight back. He is much more hurt than the first time he was under pressure of that spear, but he fights back, and wins this time.

33:58

Wrecker looks so fucking mad, he’s usually a massive teddy bear with super strength but he’s not even Wrecker anymore, he just pure rage in Clone form. And he watches as Hemlock walks out with Omega and just loses it, he dives at the CX trooper with full force to give his brothers time to leave. This man deserves a medal.

34:38

Hunter is delirious and probably just woke up from being passed out and he speared that CX trooper directly in the chest into the wall. The strength that would have taken is something he shouldn’t have had in his state, the powers of adrenaline are quite remarkable.

[Personal note: THE BEGINNING OF THE FINAL CROSSHAIR / HUNTER TEAM UP!!!]

34:50 “I’ll find Omega, you should stay here” “Not a chance”

This shows how far Crosshair has come, not only in the few hours this episode has taken place in but over the course of the entire series. In Season 1 he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Omega and was quite harsh towards her, and now Season 3 where he is severely injured and refusing to rest until she is safe.

They are brothers till the very end, they hold onto each other lending the other the last bit of strength they have so that they can find Omega.

[Personal note: the amount of force Wrecker must have used to slam the CX troopers head into a solid wall, especially in this weakened state of his makes me wonder how much he has been holding back in the past]

36:10

It’s clear to see how much pain Wrecker was really in now he has finally stopped, and the adrenaline is fading. He most likely has several broken ribs, it’s a wonder he hasn’t punctured his lungs

36:40

Crosshair and Hunter are making sure they shoot for the same target, with Crosshair’s disadvantage and Hunters delirious state it can’t be guaranteed that if only one of them aimed for a target that they would hit their target. Which is why they both shoot Scorch (the fucking traitor)

37:11

Hunter knows Crosshair is going to be mediocre at best with his shooting hand. I assume that they have been trained to use both hands when shooting but everyone has a dominant hand, and Crosshair doesn’t have his anymore. Hunter allows Crosshair to rely on him, despite what I just said Hunter still trusts him.

37:21

Omega signals’ what she needs to do, Crosshair knows that he needs to shoot, he was built for this but he doesn’t trust himself anymore, he doesn’t want to risk hurting her.

37:40

Hunter tells Crosshair to make the shot, Crosshair hesitates, he can’t risk it, he can’t risk shooting her or shooting Hemlock and Omega going over with him.

“She knows what to do Crosshair. Wait for her, and take the shot” Now he doesn’t waver, he doesn’t hesitate, he’s out of time to do that, its now or never or they may not get to Omega in time and lose her all over again.

Hunter trusts Crosshair, he lets Crosshair use him as a stabiliser giving him the only aid he can, he doesn’t discourage him from the shot, saying “I’ll do it instead” he knows Crosshair can do this. He is undoubtably scared just like the others, but he has to stay strong for his siblings.

37:59

In the close up of his hand it shows how steady he is, he’s ready and he can’t wait, he has to do this now. He’s not using his preferred hand, the rain is obscuring his vision, he has just been under some heavy torture, but he manages to shoot this shot dead on.

38:08

Omega hits the deck immediately waiting for the barrage of shots she knows will follow.

6 shots, not only do they push Hemlock closer towards the edge to make sure they finish him off once and for all but it gets him away from Omega. I think this also symbolises a shot for each member of the Batch, they all went through so much at the hand of Hemlock they are going to make this count.

I think the internal thoughts were something like this: a shot each for Omega, how dare she be put through all that she was, she’s just a kid. (I’m counting their double shot as one combined shot) Hunters next two shots were for Echo and Crosshair. Crosshair’s next two were for Hunter and Wrecker and the final blow was for Tech. The finishing blow that made Hemlock fall, just like their brother did.

38:24

Omega runs to them but slows down when she sees how much they are struggling, most likely she wanted to dive bomb hug them Wrecker style but didn’t after seeing their conditions. Hunter, and I think even Crosshair smiles at her, they are so relieved she is safe, finally.

She looks smiling at Hunter and then at Crosshair but her face falls when she sees Crosshairs hand (or lack thereof). Crosshair doesn’t even look at it, not to silently say “I know” or “It’s ok” he looks at Omega and keeps looking at Omega, like she’s the only thing that matters right now. They can talk about it later, he doesn’t even acknowledge it, like its not important. The only thing that matters to him right now is her.

Omega lunges for Crosshair, sobbing, she probably blames herself in some way, that if they hadn’t all gotten into this mess he would have never have lost his hand. She’s probably over come with lots of emotions suddenly now that the heat of the moment has died down. She also might be emotional over the fact that despite his lack of a shooting hand he still hit the mark perfectly, she is proud of him.

38:34

Look at his face. He seems surprised like he expected Hunter to get the first hug, he probably wasn’t even excepting to get one at all. After the initial shock and Hunter being pulled into the hug as well, only then does he reciprocate. He closes his eyes, and his face softens, emotionally taking what just happened and enjoying one of the only hugs he’s ever had in his life (I would probably go as far as to say that this is his first real hug).

And when they are walking off the bridge he puts his arm on Omega’s shoulder, this is the most affection he has displayed all series and he’s doing it willingly.

40:36

The transition from the remnants of a stormy sky to the clear beautiful sky of Pabu symbolises the change and contrast between the events. The dark and stormy sky showing the horror and trauma all of them had faced on tantis not long ago and the change to the light sky signifies the end and their new hope for a life that they have chosen on Pabu and can now finally have.

[Personal note: Off screen I think Emery and Echo would have gotten along well together. I also think her, and Tech would have been close given the chance]

43:06 “Whatever we want kid”

He sighs as he says this, he relaxes but he also realises, they really do finally have the full autonomy they should have had from the start. He is physically able to relax for the first time in his life knowing he’s a Clone who has done his part and his existence is now his life.

43:32

Crosshair and Wrecker do the same. They all look at each other a silent confirmation of “it’s over this is the beginning of the rest of our lives”

Epilogue

44:44

She turns on the light and sees Hunter, but she doesn’t exactly seem surprised, she nods her head like she’s saying to herself she expected this to happen.

Her head band is Hunter’s old bandana. I feel like this is symbolic in the same way you “Pass the torch” onto the next generation. He wore it whilst he was fighting and now, he’s traded it out for another bandana and Omega has taken up the bandana because its her turn to fight.

45:20 “And we want to keep you safe”

He’s protected her through so much during Hemlock’s time, he still sees her as a kid, but he also sees her as a person. He understands the importance of choice because not so long ago he didn’t have any of his own. He doesn’t like it, but he understands it.

45:30 “You’re our kid Omega, always will be”

Just reminding you of this statement because rewatching it ripped my heart into tiny pieces.

I think that Omega told Wrecker and Crosshair she was leaving prior to getting to the cave, I know she would have wanted to say goodbye to Hunter as well, but if she had he would have never let her go. There is no way she left without saying goodbye to the others and I am dying on that hill. I also get the feeling that she knew the Hunter would find her along the way at some point so she wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye anyway.

This is more of a little head canon of mine but how would Hunter have known that Omega was leaving if they were not in the same vicinity, maybe such as living together in the same house. And that’s how he heard her sneak out in the dead of night.

45:48

Hunter looks like he wants to get up and grab her, hold her so she can’t leave. But he doesn’t, it’s the barest movement and I can tell he wants to desperately, but he doesn't. Like I said he knows the importance of her being able to make whatever choice she chooses now.

46:17 “Off you go”

She wasn’t looking for his approval, I’m sure deep down she wanted it, but she knew she likely wasn’t going to get it. But I think its symbolic of their relationship that he gave it anyway, he recognised it was time for her to go and he was going to make sure that she doesn’t doubt the faith he has in her.

46:30 “If you ever need us, we’ll be there”

They have well and truly hung up their armour but despite that fact, if Omega even hints at needing help from her family they will come running, guns blazing.

46:40

I like to think that Wrecker gave Omega Lula, despite it being pretty well established that Lula was basically Omega’s, that he still went to the effort of telling her to take it with her. And I also feel like Crosshair gave her Tech’s goggles saying something like “He deserved more time with you” or “He deserves to keep flying” something along those lines.

And that’s it, that is my complete analysis and thought process whilst watching The Bad Batch Season 3 Episode 15 ‘The Cavalry has arrived’ If you got to the end, I really hope you enjoyed reading this, it’s a big commitment so I thank you for sticking to this point.

Below are some other posts that i used to help add fact to my theories plus just some good takes I think you should look at

[elixs-mythology-corner]

ITS SO INFURIATING THOUGH AS AN OLDER SIBLING TO WATCH MENELAUS AND AGAMEMNON'S SCENE BECAUSE MENELAUS WALKS IN THERE KNOWING THAT HE HAS TO NEGOTIATE WITH HIS BROTHER THROUGH POWER AND NOT THROUGH EMOTION. It just- they're so fucked up that he knows his brother won't care unless Menelaus makes it about him.

But Paris, however big a fuckup he is, knows he can count on his brother to make everything safe. He walked up to him and said "I fucked up but I'm not mad about it, tee hee hee, I need help." And Hector, without hesitation (there was a back in forth but it was before Hector realized there was only two options, return to Troy and lose his brother, or go to war) chooses to protect his family.

This reminds me of the death of Iphigenea vs. the sparing of Telemachus, in a sense. Agamemnon wanted war and power more than his daughter/his brother's happiness, and Odysseus/Hector loved their families enough that they were willing to fight to save them.

Paris vs Menelaus parallel on unleashing the war - Troy (2004)

[hobiesdump]

How are you even cooler under your mask?

First taking off the mask

Noticing Miles looking (this is the peak frame of the "wink") to final frame before Miles says it

The first frame and 3 after Miles says it

In summary~

Hobie's so upset to be going into the spiders' den without clear allies and then Miles thinks he's cool and he just lights up and it's so adorable

Click here for my extended flowerpunk head canon version

[mervynbunter]

Much of our modern theater seems rooted in the Shakespearean discovery of the modern mind. We’re stealing instead from an earlier, less-traveled construct—the Greeks—lifting [The Wire’s] thematic stance wholesale from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides to create doomed and fated protagonists who confront a rigged game and their own mortality. The modern mind—particularly those of us in the West—finds such fatalism ancient and discomfiting, I think. We are a pretty self-actualized, self-worshipping crowd of postmoderns and the idea that for all of our wherewithal and discretionary income and leisure, we’re still fated by indifferent gods, feels to us antiquated and superstitious. We don’t accept our gods on such terms anymore; by and large, with the exception of the fundamentalists among us, we don’t even grant Yahweh himself that kind of unbridled, interventionist authority.

But instead of the old gods, The Wire is a Greek tragedy in which the postmodern institutions are the Olympian forces. It’s the police department, or the drug economy, or the political structures, or the school administration, or the macroeconomic forces that are throwing the lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no decent reason. In much of television, and in a good deal of our stage drama, individuals are often portrayed as rising above institutions to achieve catharsis. In this drama, the institutions always prove larger, and those characters with hubris enough to challenge the postmodern construct of American empire are invariably mocked, marginalized, or crushed. Greek tragedy for the new millennium, so to speak. Because so much of television is about providing catharsis and redemption and the triumph of character, a drama in which postmodern institutions trump individuality and morality and justice seems different in some ways, I think.

An interview with David Simon

[tec-a0l]

personality analysis, pt.2

a continuation of this post analyzing dylan’s personality.

stating this again beforehand that these analyses are based on accounts from their friends/families and primary source documents (journals, official reports, etc), and are purely speculative as i never met them personally. with that out of the way, i now present my analyses of dylan & eric!

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part 2, eric:

eric’s personality is a little more tricky to place—he didn’t seem to have many close friends besides dylan, and his family never spoke out about him, so the information we have on him is much more sparse.

he moved around a lot, due to his father being in the military, and i think that was probably one of the biggest influences on his personality—he even stated in his diversion files after the van break-in that moving away from plattsburgh (where he lived prior to moving to littleton in 1993/7th grade) was one of the most traumatizing experiences in his life. for him, constantly being the new kid and having to leave friends behind made him feel outcasted and “othered” in a way.

he spoke about that feeling quite a bit in his journals, but the last proper entry he wrote is especially notable in my opinion:

“I hate you people for leaving me out of so many fun things, And no don’t fucking say “well that’s your fault” because it isn’t, you people had my phone #, and I asked and all, but no. no no no don’t let the weird looking Eric KID come along, ooh fucking nooo.” — eric’s journal, 4/3/99

part of what caught my attention about this entry is that it feels so honest. a lot of his journal (to me) reads like he’s writing for an audience, playing up this grandiose “godlike” persona that he wanted to be viewed as—but this specific portion just feels truthful and defeated, almost.

eric had a lot of insecurities, both physically (his pectus excavatum, having a “big head on a skinny body,” his height, etc), and socially (re: being the new kid, not having a ton of friends), which i believe also contributed to both his feelings of being “othered” and his resulting anger.

i do think his anger was two-sided, however: one side being genuine frustration with the feeling and unfairness of rejection, and the other being fronting—like if he makes himself seem tough and mean, then he can’t get hurt.

in a psych assessment found in his diversion files, he marked his frequency of feeling “mixed up or confused” as “all the time,” and while he didn’t elaborate on this feeling in the report, that answer is as clear of an indication one could get that he was experiencing a lot of turmoil within himself.

while reading interviews and testimonies of those who interacted with him, i noticed there were two main, yet conflicting, things said about him by his friends—or more precisely, dylan’s friends who he was also friends with, largely by association—and by his classmates:

1) eric was short-tempered and angry.

2) eric was polite and mostly kept to himself.

of course, these observations don’t necessarily negate each other, but they do show a clear dichotomy of the same sort of “inner/outer-self” like dylan had, though slightly more situation-dependent.

in my opinion, eric was influenced greatly by his environment—whether that be in the form of having to move around a lot, having a military-strict family, or getting outcasted and bullied at school—and everything combined into this perfect storm of turmoil he found himself in.

it’s unfortunate that there weren’t more people willing to speak on the positive aspects of who eric was. though, in a way, if there had been more people like that in his life, we very well may not have even known about him in the first place.

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this is much longer than i was expecting it to be, and there’s still so much more i could say, but i’ll end it here for now lol

dylan’s analysis/part 1 is here.

[vamphorica]

Because I hate being happy for more than two hours at a time, I've been considering to what extent Matt knew that Takada's kidnapping was a suicide mission.

I've been looking at this screenshot while I've been using it as a reference for a drawing and given that the poor boy is only designated sixty-nine seconds of screentime in the anime, I think it is interesting that there's a substantial pause on this specific frame. Matt is surrounded by Takada's bodyguards, unable to get out of the predicament he has found himself in. At this point, he believes there are two possible outcomes: he will either be arrested, or shot dead. You could interpret his expression here as apathetic, as that is how he tends to be characterised, but he sits in his car and looks out towards the row of headlights for about seven seconds. He considers his situation, acknowledging the number of men pointing their guns at him, and then he leaves his car.

The question is, did it occur to him then, or had he known beforehand, that his death was inevitable? Remember – Matt is one of a few characters in Death Note to be killed 'traditionally'. Should we take the Shinigami Eyes into consideration here, we have to assume that Matt is fated to die at this exact moment in time, regardless of circumstance. There is nothing that would have saved him from his demise that day.

However, I do wonder if, at nineteen years old, he is truly apathetic about his own life. I genuinely believe Mello sees his own death as an inevitable sacrifice, but I am not so convinced that Matt actually cares enough about defeating Kira to lay his life down for the cause alone. The manga suggests he leaves his car almost immediately upon being caught, and his final words, sadly, suggest a lack of foresight about the gravity of danger he is in.

Kira's world is not one in which justice prevails as Light envisioned, but rather it is an autocratic reign of terror. There is absolutely no chance in which Matt would be detained in a society in which death is considered the appropriate solution to crime. He is a Wammy's boy, but even if he had not have been associated with the House, Matt would have still been aware that his risk of death is heightened exponentially through his association with Mello alone.

In the anime, when Matt looks out the window of his car, we hear his inner monologue. Nonchalant, there is no fear to be heard in Drew Nelson's performance of the lines, and Matt's awareness of his impending death is presented as being limited. Is it an act? Or is Matt portrayed as lacking self awareness to such an extreme extent? Perhaps to 'justify' Matt's position as the third successor to L, Ohba felt the need to present Matt as ignoring the inevitable, but at least to me, this feels like it greatly undermines his intelligence. He may not be competing against Mello and Near, but that does not negate the fact he was still raised in the same institution that they were. All the children are freakishly smart, that is the whole point.

Did Mello propose the plan to kidnap Takada to Matt with the acknowledgement that they were both likely to be killed? Mello's final thoughts in the manga and anime are asking Matt for forgiveness, his death apparently unanticipated by the former, which feels like a failure in writing the deaths of these two in a manner that reflected who they were.

Matt is, by all accounts, a fandom project rather than a fully developed character within the Death Note canonical universe, but we are aware that Matt was created for Mello. I hardly expect Death Note to explore the intricacies of such themes in the series (particularly given, as much as I hate to admit it, Mello and Matt are not the main characters within the franchise). However, even with the rather minimal source material provided to us by both manga and anime, we are made aware that the two have a very unique relationship. They know each other intimately, and Matt does not fear Mello as many of the other characters in the series do.

Mello does not want Matt to die. He values Matt and while one could attribute the gratitude for him to the popular fan narrative that Matt is the one to look after Mello after the explosion, or indeed the idea that the two are in a relationship, their interactions with one another already set up their alliance as one that appears to transcend the regular boundaries of friendship. Again, I'm pulling a lot from fanon here, I know. Take it up with Ohba.

Narratively, if Mello has to die, so too does Matt. Ohba could not foresee this character that is so dependent on another to live beyond him. Yet I simply refuse to believe that Mello would have placed someone so important to him in a compromising position where the likelihood that he will be killed is almost certain. As much as I believe that Mello's final thoughts being directly addressed to the deceased Matt demonstrates an important ode to their relationship, I cannot understand how Mello would have been shocked to hear of Matt's death, given the risk.

We know Mello was fully aware that he was going to die that night. If he did not die, Near would have, and I think to Mello that would have been the greatest loss he could have suffered in their ongoing conflict. Regardless of whether you believe Mello cared about Near to any extent or not, I genuinely cannot imagine Mello would have been happy to succeed as L had it been attained through Near's 'sacrifice'. I am actually exploring an AU of this very idea in a fanfiction I intend to publish early next year, in case you're interested, haha.

This returns to the question as to when Matt realises he is not surviving this mission. Presumably Mello asked for his cooperation, and in doing so, he would have had to explain the plan to Matt which, quite frankly, reveals Mello's intent to die as soon as it is advantageous to do so. Given that Mello did not want Matt to be killed, did Mello reassure Matt that he had created the plan to guarantee his safety? Did Matt believe him? Was Mello deliberately vague, only telling Matt that he needed to set off the smoke gun, then hit the gas and get away from Takada's security team?

As far as I can tell, there is no reason as to why Mello would have been dishonest with Matt, explaining what he was planning to do and why. Perhaps he even suggested to Matt that he could find someone else to take on his position, given the danger he anticipated they would be in. Matt is, as I think the series makes clear, very loyal to Mello, and so I doubt such a proposal was even considered, but I think it is safe to assume that if Mello knew how this plan would end, so too would Matt, whether Mello explicitly told him or not. He would have figured it out.

When Matt and Mello part ways for the final time, not shown to us in either the manga or the anime, they both know that they are saying their last goodbye to one another. I think Mello hopes that Matt will survive somehow, experience a Kira-free world and move on with his life, but I believe Matt knows, well before he got caught, that there is no escape from the inevitability of his death.

Maybe, when he steps out of the car, confronted by the 'big guns', he holds out a little faith that at least he might see Mello again soon.

[vanilla-vivillon]

WHO IS COOKED 🗣️ 🔥 🔥 ‼️ 🧑‍🍳 🔥

[right-there-ride-on]

Gyro’s Just as Bad: A Gyjo Essay

its generally understood that gyjo is important to each other, but since sbr is from Johnny’s pov we get his thoughts on the ‘why’ more than gyro’s. Johnny’s side of things also tends to get more emphasis in fanon, which I just wanted to try and illustrate the development of their relationship from Gyro’s pov since I think that’s the part of gyjo that seems the most underexplored.

First thing to note, and something that’s pretty funny, is that Gyro is an asshole to everyone at the start of the race. Through the first stage hes basically this ‘lone rider’ character. Before the race starts, Gyro helps Johnny out by helping him get on the horse, but during the race itself he’s pretty brutal to his competitors. It’s Johnny who chooses to chase him, which Gyro didn’t ask for. But by the end of the stage Johnny’s proved his grit and Gyro allows him to accompany him. It’s cute how quickly he takes Johnny under his wing, especially since he’s still so hostile to everyone else.

Gyro presents himself as this very confident figure, and carries them through the attacks of Mrs. Robinson, Strohiem, and Oyecomova. The Boom-Boom family was more of a team effort between Gyro, Johnny and Tim, and they mostly won thanks to Tusk awakening. It isn’t until Pork Pie Hat Kid attacks and Gyro gets taken out of commission that Johnny is forced to be the one doing the quick thinking and rescuing. I think both Johnny being the one to rescue him and his newfound determination to collect the corpse tickles Gyro, similar to how he was interested in Johnny at the starting line because of Johnny’s stubbornness with Slow Dancer.

I think a big part of the reason Gyro is initially attracted to Johnny is because Johnny has the fortitude to go after what he really wants; unlike Gyro, who, as revealed in True Man’s World, remains to some extent paralyzed by his family’s traditions. So far the only thing Gyro has ever done to differentiate himself from his given role as executioner and eldest son is join the race, supposedly for Marco. Yet as demonstrated with his continued correspondence with Naples and their delivery of the Zombie Horse thread, Gyro did not cut himself off from his country and family entirely. He doesn’t know how to exist without it. Johnny meanwhile is fiercely independent; by contrast Gyro is still dependent on his tradition, country and family to guide his decisions. That’s why I think Marco was only an excuse / smaller factor in Gyro’s choice to join the race than what was initially presented. Gyro left to join the race because he’d never had a chance to develop himself as a person outside of his role as eldest son and executioner. That’s why his question about Marco’s death is about ‘consent’. Marco was supposed to be Gyro’s first solo execution. Marco was imprisoned as a traitor to the crown and by law would need to die. As a prisoner he has no consent to give, and Gyro knows that. The consent Gyro needs is his own. Gyro needs to understand, for himself, who he is and what his actual values are before he ‘consents’ to being the executioner.

In the Third Stage, Gyro admits to himself that “maybe the corpse hunt will help me grow a little.” Like I said, I think that to an extent Marco’s unjust execution was not necessarily the entire reason Gyro came to the race. Gyro may not have recognized it himself, but what he’s looking for is an opportunity to define himself outside of what he knows. Marco isnt what he’s thinking about when he loses the Third Stage; Gyro is thinking about how much he himself is pissed off by the loss. Unconsciously, Gyro recognizes that he’s not just racing for Marco, but to prove something to himself. Moreover, easily winning would prove that he’s fine as he is, and he can back to Naples, ignorant but having in a sense ‘gotten it out of his system’. But losing forces him to reflect, not just on the loss, but on what he’s racing for. That’s why Johnny’s advice is for him ‘to hunger’. Because Gyro still doesn’t really understand his own motivations for racing.

That’s why Ringo’s words about his being a conformist in True Man’s World bother him so badly. Because Gyro knows that, up until that point, he has been a conformist. He still relies on Naples for guidance and Gregorio’s teachings still echo in his head. But his friendship with Johnny is what allows him to break the first of the family traditions he’d so strictly adhered to, and give in to ‘sentimentality’. This is the first ‘new’ value he explicitly chooses to define himself by, and the first part of himself he discovers outside of his ‘conformity’. Gyro risks a lot by going back to confront Ringo. He’s challenging not just Ringo, but himself. Only a ‘true man’, or someone fighting for ‘something’ that they desire for themselves, would have the ‘dark determination’ necessary to beat Ringo. And Gyro finds it. Ringo welcomes him to the true man’s world because he recognizes that Gyro has found something to fight for.

In Catch the Rainbow, Gyro takes Johnny’s advice from the Third Stage and creates another value to define himself by - a hunger to win, for himself. That’s why he tells Diego to gtfo of the way; Gyro’s chasing himself on the Golden Path. Supposedly it’s a path for him alone. Ironically, it’s Johnny who interrupts Gyro and Diego’s battle on the Golden Path. Textually, Johnny realizes Diego is cheating but Gyro is so desperate to win that he doesn’t realize it. Metaphorically, Johnny interrupts to demonstrate that Gyro isn’t done growing yet, and is not yet ready to truly walk the ‘golden path’ of the True Man’s World. He doesn’t yet have the self-definition or subsequent selfish hunger necessary to do it. Only together are Gyro and Johnny able to defeat Diego and continue their pursuit of self-improvement (the corpse parts). However, afterwards Gyro lashes out at Johnny for interrupting, further demonstrating that in many areas he is still immature, childishly taking his feelings out on Johnny instead of waiting for an explanation of why Johnny interfered, and not really listening when he does.

In A Silent Way, Johnny is again what enables Gyro to find his second area of self-definition: mentorship. It’s heavily implied that Gyro is the first one to break Zeppeli tradition and teach the Golden Ratio to someone outside the family; however, he won’t teach Johnny any other way but the Zeppeli family way (‘I can’t do it’ four times), demonstrating his continued struggle between tradition and independence.

Sugar Mountain is iconic, but just as a refresh: at the end of the arc Gyro sees again how much Johnny is willing to give up for him. I think that this shapes his approach to Johnny afterwards; he’s much softer, and more protective. Because of Johnny’s actions in Sugar Mountain, he’s realized that finding his ‘golden path’ isn’t something he can do alone; and that he really does need Johnny as much as Johnny needs him. As noted before, Johnny gave up everything for Gyro. This is the impetus for Gyro to really embrace his role as friend and mentor, no longer afraid that his newly discovered ‘sentimentality’ is a weakness, but embracing Johnny as a trusted companion and deciding that he doesn’t need to be a ‘lone rider’ to win and find the independence and self-definition he’d been looking for. Johnny, not the race, is what pushes Gyro into reflection, soul-searching, and adaptation, embracing the world as it comes instead of adhering to everything he’s been taught.

Gyro defeats his narrative foil in Wekapipo. Wekapipo has abandoned his homeland entirely, and been abandoned by it. He hopes to find a new beginning in America. He too is looking to define himself anew. However, Gyro, now having reconciled what he’s been taught with what he’s learning with Johnny, is able to pull off a miracle. He doesn’t need to be someone new entirely or abandon who he was; he just needed to understand himself. Note that this is also the arc where he finds the golden rectangle in Johnny’s eyes - literally melding where he came from (Golden Ratio, Zeppeli traditions) with what he’s chasing now (self-improvement, alongside Johnny). That’s why Gyro’s allowed to win this stage, and he and Johnny get their one-two finish. Gyro earned his victory against Wekapipo and he earned first place in the stage, he and Johnny finding the best path forward (the golden path) by combining Tusk and a Steel Ball to create their own. Furthermore, Gyro reconnects Wekapipo with Naples by revealing his sister is still alive; thus Wekapipo too is allowed to live and try to reconcile where he came from with where he’s going, starting the journey Gyro now realizes he’s been on.

Frankly I’m tired so I’m not going to get into D4C arc but by the time sbr reaches its climax most of the heavy relationship work for gyjo is done anyway. I hope anyone who questions Gyro’s side of things finds this essay helpful!

[waywardsou2]

I have written down absolutely everything I noticed and could think of about The Cavalry has arrived. Now all I need to do is type it up and make it make sense. Thanks to all of you who voted on wanting to see it, it should be out by the end of the week (if study doesn't get in the way)

[ajastu]

god okay. sorry for yet another text post. but i'm just still thinking about the argument that veilguard is bad because the only option re: morality of your player character that it gives is kindness.

Now, to preface. I understand where this criticism comes from. Veilguard IS a departure from the general scheme of the previous games, in several aspects. And i understand how people would be upset at not having quite the same kind of options/ways to influence the world. It took me some getting used to, also.

What i do disagree with, however, is using that to claim that the game is bad, irredeemable, and also meaningless n soft or whatever.

Because it's really not. It's just different, with a different narrative focus. I've played the previous games several times, and as i said before, origins is in first place for me. Veilguard is a very close second. And i'm not more right or wrong in this opinion than someone who thinks datv is the worst game in the series.

You can still make choices that will influence the world in wildly different ways, they're just not... ''genocide or no genocide'' kinds of choices. Which i can see how some people would not consider the difference significant enough to be interesting for them personally. Which is whatever, im not their dad, i dont really care.

However. I think it's kind of weird to say that ''the game made me resent being a nice person'' or that "kindness you dont have the choice not to offer isnt worth a lot"

Like, game criticism aside. That is just an objectively weird thing to say.

There are ways to phrase that particular dissatisfaction in a way that will not make most people side-eye you. This is not one of those ways.

The thing is, it was a deliberate choice in characterization. Since game development at AAA scale is. an incredibly complex beast, i suspect there were many different reasons for it, and not all of them purely narrative. It is also not 2009 anymore. We are not getting another Origins, like, probably ever.

But. Rook is established in the very second cutscene to care about other people. It makes sense narratively, too, with Varric being the one to recruit them. Their backstory also shows that they gravitate towards the 'moral' choices. It's not bad writing. It's deliberate.

That does not mean that everyone has to like it. And i don't think the people who are upset about the change in this gameplay aspect are stupid or wrong.

We are all different people with different preferences, and i really am sorry if the game ended up being a disappointment for you. I know how it feels, and it does suck.

But i also do think it might be worth to examine the way people choose to phrase this complaining. The claim that kindness is somehow diminished in value if you aren't offered the choice to be cruel alongside it. I just think that, like. misses the point of what kindness is?

I know what those people mean when they say it, i just...fundamentally disagree with the sentiment. And i think phrasing it in this way is incredibly weird. sorry 🤷‍♂️

There is a better way to talk about this particular complaint. I just never actually SEE that being done. and i do think a lot of it comes from not actually engaging with the source material people are trying to criticize. Like, the person i sort of quoted earlier explicitly said they have not finished the game. If you never give something a chance in the first place, if all the information you have is second-hand, then i do not find your criticism valuable in any way. There is no substance to it, no backing. You are not proving a point, you're just chasing your own tail at that point. There isnt even a bone to chew. You've only heard of the bone. you havent actually experienced it.

Another part is people being too twisted up in the emotion of disappointment to actually see that they're not making compelling arguments, necessarily, and that they're actually being a tar pit.

I know not everyone thinks as much about the push towards dismissing the value of kindness for kindness' sake as i do. But like. It really is very weird to see this insistence that game bad bcs it didnt have the option to do a murder to an innocent person, or something. While also dismissing the horrible things we Are shown as 'not in your face enough'.

And honestly, personally? I dont love origins or any of the other ones specifically for the ability to choose the evil options. It's never even been a choice for me, because you can very well play the games without having to make the bad choices. theres always a workaround. And that workaround doesnt even harm u in any significant way. there isnt an actual like. terrible complexity here. I enjoy the dwarf politics quest a lot but ultimately, knowing the outcome? its EASY to choose Bhelen. Unless you're playing a dwarf noble origin, i guess. Rip Harrowmont 🙏 you would have made a terrible king.

And again, my personal opinion is not more right or wrong than that of someone who adored the prev dragon age games exactly because they allow you to make some terrible terrible moral choices.

At the end of the day. why are people still so pissed about a game that came out almost 6 months ago that many of them havent even played in the first place? Relax. take a walk if you can. Maybe move a snail out of the road if you find one. There tends to be a lot of them after it rains. Think about the ones that didn't make it. Try to find compassion for lives so easily dismissed. Maybe that will make you think about whether or not kindness on its own really is so lacking in value.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

you are so whimsical i qant to check out this mdzs (..??) because of your whimsical nature thank you sorry im very high and your art moved me emotionally

This is simultaneously the sweetest and funniest thing someone has sent me, thank you.

[dustykneed]

looking at the choir, ocean wishes she'd realized it sooner-- you were good enough, after all.

all of you were good enough.

[drgnbnd]

how the fiery brightness of the scorching sun suffers eclipse,

how the heavenly bodies depart at certain times.

[hobiesdump]

I desperately need everyone to acknowledge how Hobie's mask is its own art guide

[fumifooms]

Marcille’s dungeon lord outfit is about being stuck in an inbetween

Kui combined a dress from her mother with a hat for children. It’s adulthood vs childhood. The dress is tallman fashion while the earmuffs are elven. It’s about emotions and maturity. Stability and instability. Growing & potential vs having grown & knowing yourself. It’s about her cultures and expectations and how can she possibly keep up with all of them, like the genius child she was portrayed as? It’s duality it’s conflict it’s being pulled in opposite directions. It’s about identity.

Marcille wants to have all the answers and wants them all already, she already acts like she has everything figured out more often than not, when it comes to ways to harvest mandrakes or her image of Falin and Chilchuck and orcs or her rigid sense of ethics, but the story does show that she had growing to do, plus her main goal beyond keeping her friends safe and near her is that pursuit of knowledge for what she doesn’t yet have answers for— rewriting the laws of life and death. But, as we’ve all been told before, death is simply a part of life and we have to make our peace with that one way or another. Like Marcille says in the last chapter, this was in large part the lesson and arc she’s had to go through. A lesson that Marcille’s mother has learned herself, one that she has accepted and tried to pass on to her daughter, which didn’t work and kickstarted Marcille’s pursuit of extending lifespans. Marcille has to settle with uncertainty, with knowing life can end at any moment and knowing this is who she is even if the world has no answers for her as to what that means, she has to come to terms with ambiguity and inbetweens.

Marcille’s relationship with her mother is very interesting because it’s shown all in small moments and implications, but we do see that Marcille’s mom is arguably her biggest role model.

She’s the one who shows up in Marcille’s nightmare about monster food early on, she is who told Marcille she’ll have to bear loss througout her life due to her lifespan, Marcille wears a choker like she does, it’s debatable that Marcille mimics her demeanor to seem more elven and dignified, in Marcille’s true nightmare she hides behind a portrait of her, she was the only living elven role model Marcille had around. Mother, who didn’t let grief over her husband rule the rest of her life, having even remarried, mother, who’s a court mage, mother, who pursued a life she wanted even if it cost her. And we do know being an elf is important to Marcille! She seeks to conform to elven beauty standards rigidly, both in gender presentation and things like facial hair, and she’s masked as one since she was enrolled in the magic academy, as far as we know her first time away from home and her first big period of social contact since she isolated herself with chickens and books when she was younger, because she had no peers. Books like the daltian clan, with an aestheticized all elven cast with the one exception of the half-elf character she deeply related to.

Marcille’s bangs are also half down and half cut. Before she had to cut some hair to make familiars, long bangs were what Marcille wore for years, meanwhile in all of Marcille’s childhood flashbacks including at the magic academy her bangs were always cut short. As we know, hair is important to elves. Her hair is elfness. Her hair is elegance. Her hair is her age. Her bangs are uneven now. It’s part of accepting her precarious weird spot in an inbetween, half up half down haircut. Acceptance on her own aging, that there’s no empiric answer for what Marcille’s equivalent age is in elf or tallman or other, maybe just a ballpark if even that. Answers which are what she’s most desperate to know. What do you mean that student over there has got an astronomic result on her dungeoneum and what do you mean she doesn’t really care for how you did it? Falin who’s thus showing her another way to be, with less self-made pressure, that you can just go with the flow- that you can just… Be.

Her hair being all down and messy as a dungeon lord is part of making the characters and audience understand that Marcille is out of it, but… Like her barefootness there’s some flexibility it implies, for Marcille who’s so rigid on appearance. Accepting her hair to be messy, a sort of shedding of who she is even as she’s overdressed and trying so hard to look like something she doesn’t feel as.

That’s why her outfit makes her feel courageous. Because it makes her feel different from who she is otherwise, because it grants her a look she feels naked without, even with barefeet and messy hair. It’s externalizing how she’s been trying to hold it all together and all her confliction and her feelings, offering some catharsis, no more hiding herself, she’s a half-elf trying to do dark magic. Clean Marcille, clean clean Marcille— Overthinking the dressing, the superficial the aesthetic, without looking enough at the body it’s covering up, the laws of the world the ecosystem of the dungeon the opinions of her friends’— what’s standing right in front of her face, the underlying thing holding up the rest of what she’s trying to change, what’s truly important. She’s back to being like with meeting Falin, overfocusing on the details and the nitpicks and the theorics while oblivious to the slimes and the bats and the balance of mana in that small cave dungeon. She has the dress and the hat but as a whole she doesn’t look like a slay queen or a princess or a cool sorceress or even like her mother, she just looks like a mess. 

Ultimately after calming down, she takes the earmuffs off. She lays down her childhood trauma and leaves behind its grip on her and moves forward in the dress, with maturity and emotional intelligence and logic to deal with her current situation instead of coping mechanisms and desperate grasps for control. And then when the dungeon lord becomes Laios her dress poofs, she’s in her very plain pajamas, plain Marcille, and it’s that Marcille who goes forward to help Laios save the world and defeat the demon. Hence why post-canon she starts dressing in similar dresses to her mother as well, and starts wearing more black. Black here is a color associated with her mother. She keeps her own touch and color here and there, like her red choker instead of a black one, but it’s a stark and sudden difference. She’s matured.

Her dungeon lord outfit is a coming of age outfit in a very literal way. A bridge between childhood and adulthood. We see her struggle metaphorically between the past and the future, moving on or holding onto trauma. The dress, from her mother, with cleavage and low cut sleeves and a lace gap going down to her stomach and a very short risqué skirt cut, represents maturity but it was very purposefully contrasted with the earmuffs, a childish piece of accessory associated with youth. This shows her mental state, battling with her emotions, wildly fluctuating between her academic put-together powerful self and the childish emotional outbursts the pressure is causing. Time moves on too fast but she’s not growing up fast enough to keep up or make the academic breakthroughs she wants— time is always running out and she’s both too young or too old she’s pulled in both directions and she can never be up to standards. It represents her struggle with her lifespan, her struggle to fit in, to know who she should be and what she should be doing.

Her friends aren’t afraid to say it like it is and bring back her feet to the ground instead of up in the clouds of fantasy and power, from where she was, her feet back on the dirt of where they are right now instead of the theorics of "when" and "then" and "forever". She’s weird, she’s unique, in some ways she doesn’t fit in with any group anywhere, and that’s ok and she’s accepted that it doesn’t mean she can’t feel belonging and joy as herself with her flawed friends in a flawed world. After all they did stick with her even after seeing her whole tantrum and embarrassing breakdown makeover. Personally I do say, slay queen.

You’re still here? If you’d like a full look at Marcille’s dunlord outfit, I made an entirely too long analysis of it here, this is just an excerpt of the most canon section.

[mania-sama]

Mondstadt and Its Religious Implications

One thing that I will NEVER get over about Genshin Impact is the iconography used in the designs for Mondstadt and the implications it has. Now, don't get me wrong, as a rule of thumb, Hoyoverse has done a really good job in creating unique environments for Genshin's nations that more or less accurately portray a real-life cultural region. Liyue is based on China, Inazuma on Japan, Sumeru on India and Egypt, Fontaine on France (and Australia, if you squint), and Natlan on African and Native American tribes.

Mondstadt is based on Germany. More specifically, many of the designs and icons seem to resemble the Holy Roman Empire. Now, an important thing to note is that most of Western and Southern Europe was some denomination of Christianity at this time, with some exceptions due to various holy wars that occurred kind of all of the time. Anyway, the point is that the Holy Roman Empire was an established Catholic nation (and Germany still is predominantly Christian in modern-day). One thing about the Catholic denomination is that they proudly display religious symbols anywhere they can or in ways that they can carry with them, usually coming in the form of a rosary or a cross. When it came to specific places of holy worship, they would obviously spend no small amount of effort to completely embellish the place with gold, art, and symbols. Catholic churches are known to be the most extravagant of the denominations for a reason.

When a design team looks at The Holy Roman Empire, they will see this religious imagery everywhere. Namely, they will see the cross, because that is kind of, you know, THE Christian symbol. So it makes complete sense for them to note that down and underline it in red; for a mostly-accurate portrayal of the region they are taking from, a church and crosses HAVE to be included.

Places of worship are obviously not unique to Christianity, nor is the "cross" as a religious symbol even born from Jesus Christ. There are a few cases from different regions in which crosses and cross-like images were used for their gods. HOWEVER, with the specific cross that Mondstadt displays, and with the fact that not only is it based on Germany/Holy Roman Empire but that it is the ONLY Genshin region to use the cross in its designs (along with the usage of distinctly Christian/Catholic roles like nuns)... it is safe to assume that this is representative of the Christian cross.

You can see the issue we are about to have.

The fact that Mondstadt displays crosses as a religious symbol in CHURCHES and on the KNIGHTS' ARMORY (because most knights were historically Christian), that characters like Barbara are seen wearing in their designs, implies two things:

Crucifixation is/was a method of cruel execution in Mondstadt's history.

SOMEBODY of high esteem and worship had to be crucified, and thusly held up as the ultimate symbol of religion...

For the first point, while it IS still crazy to think that Genshin would imply this, I can, indeed, believe it to be true to canon. Why? Well, Mondtadt's history is already rife with the same abuses as Europe's actual history. From slaves to gladiator fights to rebellion to cruel monarchs, Mondstadt has not had a pretty life. Crucifixion honestly fits right in. I can imagine, in failed revolts against the aristocracy, those rebels who survived were later crucified. Other victims may be those who try to falsify gods or improperly worship Barbatos in a manner that the ruler doesn't agree with, those who commit treason, etc. etc..

Is it insane? Perhaps a little. But if we really get into it, Hoyoverse has done some crazy things with their lore so it's not really out of place, no matter how cruel the actual punishment is.

The second point is a little more complicated. Let's first rule off Christianity being a thing in Genshin - while you could consider the most of the nations to be monotheistic because they technically worship one god, the respective one of their nation, they most certainly do not obey/follow one god holistically, nor is there one mortal representative that god, nor is there a specific spirit that lives on in every believer who follows that god. So, there is no Holy Trinity; no Jesus Christ, no Holy Spirit, and there is no God, so to speak. No Christianity.

However.

One thing about Genshin Impact is that it takes from biblical mythology heavily, for some reason (and I say mythology because modern denominations don't consider the demonology stuff canon). For example, Paimon is the name of a demon who was more or less a servant of Lucifer (interpretations may vary). It is well known that the Archons are based on demons from biblical demon mythology. Even in the latest Natlan Archon Quest, Ronova, the Ruler of Death, looks unnervingly like Ophanim, the one everyone draws when they make "biblically accurate angels" or whatever.

Mondstadt accomplishes biblical references in two ways: one, that Barbatos, the demon, had four main kings/knights that rode with him. This can be seen represented in the Four Winds. Two, that these Four Winds can be viewed like how the Catholics would view a saint. Saints were, in simplistic terms, mortals who achieved great things and helped many people, and were then canonized after the death (usually). The church essentially declares them a Saint and worthy of worship. Idols and imagery are produced of these saints and hung like one would a cross or other images of Jesus Christ.

The most clear representation of that in Genshin would be in Venessa, who is a mortal who dies and then ascends to Celestia. She then becomes the Falcon of the West, one of the Four Winds of Mondstadt. So, a saint, essentially. Even though Mondstadt isn’t Christian, it certainly is Catholic.

The reason why I am going over all of this is to say that, well, it may not be necessarily implying that Venti was the one who was crucified. That is the popular opinion when discussing the crosses - that somewhere along the way, Venti was crucified. I am here to say that that really might not be the case. While the Holy Trinity is interpreted by many denominations to all be one and the same as each other, it is still a fact that it was Jesus Christ who was crucified, not God Himself. Jesus is the son, not the God.

Which is to say that it could be anyone, really. The most clear "child" of Barbatos that comes to mind is Venessa, who we could interpret as someone who could have been, at one point, crucified (though she was not). Rulers and people of high esteem also claim her titles and name like monarchs would claim holiness and divine right in Europe. Again, the problem with this is that she was not crucified and lived a very successful life post-rebellion.

The other option that comes to mind is the Unnamed Bard. He also could have been crucified. Even though we know he died in battle, it is not unreasonable that his corpse would have been strung up by pissed-off nobles upon the defeat of Decarabian. But, again, the problem being is that a. the timelines don't match up (Barbatos was not yet the Anemo Archon), and b. they won the rebellion so he still probably wasn't crucified.

So, it could be someone we haven't heard of, or someone deep in Genshin lore that I don't know about. Or, you know, perhaps Venti really was crucified. I don't know.

THIS is what Hoyoverse is implying. AND I DON'T LIKE IT (it's fucking hilarious).