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#the petit trianon is always in my mind in some way for some reason
stoportotouch · 2 years
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i swear, it’s like marie antoinette’s play farm at versailles on this website sometimes
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verytiredowl · 4 years
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A character analysation of IdV’s Bloody Queen
Bloody Queen AKA Mary is a hunter in the mobile/PC game Identity V. She is personally my favorite hunter because she is easy to learn but hard to master. Her backstory is something that has always interested me though, so i decided to compile my thoughts onto this one post.
Something i appreciate about IdV’s character roster is that some of them are based off of historical characters, and interesting ones at that. So expect a lot of history lessons and references that should be explained in order to understand a character fully (especially with Mary considering how there isn’t a lot shown about her backstory through promotional content, and im talking about stuff like the official website here).
With that in mind, let’s just get into it.
There is not a lot we know about Mary other than the fact that she is inspired from a mix of stories, those being about a French queen named Marie Antoinette and Bloody Mary. These two are used in seperate ways, Marie Antoinette’s story being used as heavy inspiration for Mary’s backstory and lore, while Bloody Mary is a visual/gameplay inspiration.
Mary’s description on her info page and on the official idv website is 
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This is strange because it really tells little to nothing about Mary besides her being aware that the position of a queen means a lot of vulnerability. It also strikes me as weird because every other hunter has a fleshed out backstory being written under this tab. (With the exception of Guard 26)
So overall, the ground to work on is pretty small, we dont have a lot of info revealed to us, and therefore leaves her to be a character who loses a lot of potential on a writing stance.
Intro Video
Mary does have an introduction video, though, which explains the base of what happened to her Pre-manor. 
The video explains how Mary was the queen of a country that had a bad financial crisis which was so bad people couldn’t afford food (if we are sticking fully to the Marie Antoinette inspo, this was in the 1790′s) and the public felt as if Mary didn’t care enough to help her people, the citizens voted her to be beheaded under a guillotine. Truth be told, Mary was actually trying to help her citizens by giving them cake.
We have probably the most lore information about Mary from her deduction descriptions, which explain her career as a queen more in detail, about struggles she had and her situation in general.
Deductions
(Credits to u/mawile94 on Reddit for the images)
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The first conclusion is clearly telling us that the king Mary married had a problematic family, and the king’s family probably only looked at Mary as someone who will keep the family’s name up, someone who will have a child with the king. (Also, dont get confused: Maria Theresia is Mary’s mother’s name, not her actual name.)
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Mary used to spend a lot of time away from the palace in Petit Trianon, which is a manor located in Versailles. The secret letter tells us that Mary was egoistic, naive, and was kind of a glutton. The letter mentions how rumors are powerful, and are going to spread really fast once word comes out about the “incompetence” and lacking abilities witihin the royal family, which will eventually be Mary’s demise.
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Princess Lamballe is once again a historical recreation of actual Priness Lamballe, a part of the Savoy House (Western EU country). In real life, Lamballe was actually the confidante (someone who you would discuss private matters with as a royal) of Marie Antoinette after her 1 year old marriage came to an end. IRL, Princess Lambelle dies along Marie Antoinette’s side as she gets killed in the French Revolution. 
The shameful secret can really only be assumed to mean that Lamballe was actually Mary’s secret affair, especially looking at how all evidence suggests that the actual royal family Mary is connected to seems to be a mess. Mary is kind of confirmed to be wlw from this deduction which is fucking cool, but this rumor mightve been what also caused Mary to be beheaded. (But, IRL, the king Artois considered Marie to be physicially unattractive or even smart enough for him, in contrary to him, where he apparently was attractive. He did end up making up with quite a number of mistresses. But let’s not get into a conversation about how unhealthy or toxic royal relationships were in the 1700′s)
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this is obviously saying Lamballe is being replaced by the Yolande (Countess of Polignac) as her confidante. IRL, this happens because the Countess of Pilognac and Lamballe start having quarrels against each other, in which they try to win over the queen’s heart, and over time Marie ends up preferring Yolande’s company. But Lamballe feels as if Yolande was a bad influence on the queen, yet she could do nothing about it. The friendship between Lamballe and Marie remained regardless, and she constantly admired Lamballe’s loyalty toward her.  "She is the only woman I know who never bears a grudge; neither hatred nor jealousy is to be found in her." 
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Mary finally has a child, and it is a girl. Here we see the reinforcement of Lamballe’s loyalty, but with this conclusion also being titled as a rumor, it is also telling that this is one of many reasons people will start getting suspicious of Mary’s possible affairs.  
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This conclusion only leads me to believe that one of the several reasons why Mary was treated the way she was by the public was because of jealousy towards her life and the things she achieved at a young age. The description of the people who are spreading the rumors are bitter, sour people who take joy out of seeing the bad in successful people. Here is where it all goes downhill (as evident by the subtitle under the deduction title.)
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We will once again need a little bit of a history lesson for this one:
Koblenz, first of all is a city in Germany. The reason why the French would ever think of even setting up anything in Germany was because of the French Immigrants, and the reason why the Germans were cool about this was because the archbishop-elector (one of the chiep bishop electors) was the uncle of Louis XVI-a persecuted king of France. Along with the refugees that entered the city, two of them was Louis XVI’s brothers: The Count of Provence and the Count of Artois. them, along with Louis XVI’s cousin, Prince Louis Joseph formed an army of aristocrats who would seek to fight for the Ancien Regimé (The name of the political and social system that was popular in France at the time.) In the meantime back in France, the Royal Family gave in and decided to adopt the  Constitutional Monarchy, which was very modern at the time. This deduction description just basically explains that this is where Mary and the royal family fucks up, i just thought it would be interesting to know what they actually meant by what they wrote.
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Yolande has left behind the Royal Family and made a run to escape the country. If you’re wondering, at the start of the revolution Princess Lamballe was actually in Switzerland, but as soon as she got notified of the situation she revisited the royal family to aid them, and reassumed her position.
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This letter in particular is pretty cut-and-clear: the intention of the revolutionists was to smudge the royal family’s name in the dirt once and for all. What real-life anti-monarchist propaganda would consist of at the time was promiscuous imagery of Lamballe and the queen as lovers to further “besmirch” the queen’s reputation.
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This is just obviously hinting at the aftermath of the French Revolutions and also telling us the present (at the time the letter was written). Mary gets executed by the Guillotine, and-well we all know how the rest of the story goes.
Overall, Mary’s deduction story is just a short summarization of what actually happened before and during the French Revolution: it even added the details of how actually sketchy and corrupt the royal family within was, not just the dissatisfaction of the public. As a summary of what this meant for Mary, as the Hunter, she feels pure bitterness, and anger towards the citizens for the way they treated her and the people around her. And as we can see, there was no reference towards Bloody Mary what-so-ever, and the reason why that is is because according to the Chinese version of IdV (which is what the original game’s region/language is) Her name actually would translate to “Madame Red”, not Bloody Queen. I think it was just the translators having fun with words, and since her design is very similar to that of what a person would think Bloody Mary looks like, i guess it made sense to them lol
But regardless, we’ll still take a look at Mary’s design.
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Mary’s design is simple compared to other hunter designs in IdV. A simple, ball gown which was originally white, but turned red due to Mary’s beheading, pools of blood dropped all over her body. Mary also used to have long hair, but assumed by the very broken looking locks of hair, her hair probably was cut down by the guillotine. Eagle-eyed people will also take notice to her neck, which is stitched back onto the rest of her body, which the designers wanted to include really bad since its prevalent even in concept sketches as well:
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Mary’s gameplay design is based solely on mythologies about Bloody Mary, however, which makes things kind of confusing, but i guess thats what idv excels at the most lol
anyway, you’ve reached the end! if you have read this far, thank you so much, i put so much effort and research into this and i hope people will make good use of it. I also hope i made you more interested in playing mary and/or the French Revolution, lol  but thank you for reading this!!
references:
The Count of Artois and the Coming of the French Revolution by Vincent W. Beach 
The Princesse de Lamballe; a biography by Hardy, B. C. (Blanche Christabel)
My history textbooks
And wikipedia lol
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7r0773r · 3 years
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Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel by David Rakoff
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It was close and convenient, his spare midtown rental. And after, more drinks at a bar near Grand Central To sit once again in uncomfortable silence Like two guilty parties to some kind of violence. They sipped among other oblivion seekers, While June Christy sang from the bar’s tinny speakers. He settled the bill and they got to their feet, And emerged from the afternoon hush to the street. 
They walked arm in arm in some crude imitation Of other real couples en route to the station. Such leisurely strolling, although it’s grown late Against her best judgment it feels like a date. His booze-cloud blown over, now happy, near beaming  He stops at a window of cutlery, gleaming, He points out the wares, taking note of a set that He likes best of all, then he says, “We should get that.” She knows it’s a joke, all this idle house-playing But briefly she hopes that he means what he’s saying. Her presence, she thinks, is what’s rendered him gladder But really it’s just that he aimed for, and had her. The hideous reason behind his new glow is What Helen—and many just like her—don’t know is 
That men’s moods turn light and their spirits expand, The moment they sense an escape is at hand. He patted her cheek as he said, “I’m replenished,” Then off through the crowd for the next train to Greenwich. 
Helen pictured his house with its broad flagstone path. The windows lit up, a child fresh from the bath, And wondered if she might just smell on his skin, The coppery scent of their afternoon sin. At her desk the next Monday it was business as always. There were no words exchanged, not a glance in the hallways. With relief, Helen thought, Well that’s that. Nevermore. ’Til Friday (again) at his pied-à-terre door.
***
“Joshua, Susan, dear family and friends, A few words, if you will, before everything ends And you skip out of here to begin your new life As happily married husband and wife. You’ve promised to honor, to love and obey, We’ve sipped our champagne and been cleansed with sorbet All in endorsement of your Hers and His-dom. So, let me add my two cents’ worth of wisdom. Herewith, as a coda to this evening historical I just thought I’d tell you this tale allegorical. 
I was wracking my brains sitting here at this table Until I remembered this suitable fable. Each reptilian hero, each animal squeal Serves a purpose, you see, because they reveal A truth about life, even as they distort us So here is ‘The Tale of the Scorpion and Tortoise.’ 
The scorpion was hamstrung, his tail all aquiver. Just how would he manage to get ’cross the river? ‘The water’s so deep,’ he observed with a sigh, Which pricked at the ears of the tortoise nearby. ‘Well, why don’t you swim?’ asked the slow-moving fellow. ‘Unless you’re afraid. Is that it, you are yellow?’ ‘That’s rude,’ said the scorpion, ‘and I’m not afraid So much as unable. It’s not how I’m made.’ 
‘Forgive me, I didn’t mean to be glib when I said that, I figured you were an amphibian. The error was one of misclassification I mistakenly figured you for a crustacean.’ 
‘No offense taken,’ the scorpion replied. ‘But how ’bout you help me to reach the far side? You swim like a dream, and you have what I lack. What say you take me across on your back?’ 
‘I’m really not sure that’s the best thing to do,’ Said the tortoise, ‘Now that I see that it’s you. You’re the scorpion and—how can I say this?—just … well… I don’t know I feel safe with you riding my shell. You’ve a less-than-ideal reputation preceding. There’s talk of your victims, all poisoned and bleeding, That fact by itself should be reason sufficient. I mean, what do you take me for, mentally deficient?’ ‘I hear what you’re saying, but what would that prove? We’d both drown so tell me, how would that behoove Me, to basically die at my very own hand When all I desire is to be on dry land?’ 
The tortoise considered the scorpion’s defense. When he gave it some thought, it made perfect sense. The niggling voice in his mind he ignored And he swam to the bank and called out ‘Climb aboard.’ 
The tortoise was wrong to ignore all his doubts Because in the end, friends, our true selves will out. For, just a few moments from when they set sail The scorpion lashed out with his venomous tail. The tortoise, too late, understood that he’d blundered When he felt his flesh stabbed and his carapace sundered. As he fought for his life, he said, ‘Please tell me why You have done this, for now we will surely both die!’ 
‘I don’t know,’ cried the scorpion. ‘You never should trust A creature like me, because poison I must. I’d claim some remorse or at least some compunction But I just can’t help it. My form is my function. You thought I’d behave like my cousin the crab But unlike him, it is but my nature to stab.’ 
The tortoise expired with one final quiver And then both of them sank, swallowed up by the river.” Nathan paused, cleared his throat, took a sip of his drink. He needed these extra few seconds to think. The room had grown frosty, the tension was growing, Folks wondered precisely where Nathan was going. The prospects of skirting fiasco seemed dim But what he said next surprised even him. 
“So what can we learn from their watery ends? Is there some lesson on how to be friends? I think what it means is that central to living A life that is good is a life that’s forgiving. We’re creatures of contact, regardless of whether To kiss or to wound, we still must come together. Like in Annie Hall, we endure twists and torsions For food we don’t like, and in such tiny portions! But, like hating a food but still asking for more It beats staying dry but so lonely on shore. So we make ourselves open, while knowing full well It’s essentially saying, ‘Please, come pierce my shell.’ So … please, let’s all raise up our glasses of wine And I’ll finish this toast with these words that aren’t mine: Yet each man kills the thing he loves, By each let this be heard, Some do it with a bitter look, Some with a flattering word, The coward does it with a kiss, The brave man with a sword!” 
Where first it seemed that Nathan had his old resentments cleanly hurdled, The air now held the mildest scent of something sweet gone meanly curdled. The thorough ambiguity held guests in states of mild confusion No one raised their eyes, lest a met glance be taken for collusion. Silence doesn’t paint the depth of quiet in that room There was no clinking stemware toasting to the bride or groom. You could have heard a petal as it landed on the floor. And in that quiet Nathan turned and walked right out the door. 
The urinal’s wall was The King and His Court, A work done in porcelain, precisely the sort Of tableau of gentility at Le Petit Trianon, A cast of nobility, designed for the peeing on. Nate turned his gaze as he hosed down the scene, It seemed an especially brutish and mean Treatment of all the baroque figures in it (Such unlucky placement, poor girl at her spinet). He needed this pit stop before he took off To go catch his train, when he heard a slight cough. 
There, twisting a swan’s head in gold for hot water Was Lou, who had bankrolled this day for his daughter. Lou had scared Nathan for all of the years He was with Susan, and now the sum of his fears Was here, now the chickens had come home to land. “The man of the hour, with his schvantz in his hand.” Nathan started to say that he knew how he blew it And how he was sorry, but Lou beat him to it; Lou, who was blunt—some said boorish—and rich. But a mensch deep at heart, said, “My Suzy’s a bitch. You’d think that today I’d be proud, that I’d kvell, But I followed you out here just so I could tell You: she told her friends she would be able to get You to come give a toast. It’s a monstrous bet, Made all the more awful that her Day of Joy Was still incomplete, and abusing a boy In a trick was the thing that she wanted above All else. It’s the mark of a girl who can’t love. Ach, Nathan, this day is a stroke of bad luck. You, cast in this play, and then played for a schmuck. But think of it this way, she’ll wake up tomorrow And still be unhappy. And that is my sorrow.” 
Lou turned off the swan’s head, once more checked his tie, Held his arm out and said, “This is good-bye.” He shook Nathan’s hand and then made for the door Where he paused and he turned to say just one thing more. “That toast, if you give it again (but you won’t), Remember, Nate: turtles swim, tortoises don’t.”
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