#vel talks

[velacuervo]

Oh my god, these two dorks

...

Uh-huh. I see how it is.

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

Here’s one thing I’ve learned.

Use UESP NOT the Elder Scrolls Fandom for literally anything.

Lore, quests, characters, anything. Fandom sucks.

Didn’t realize this until a few years back, but it does

[velvees-archive]

At 20 years old, Miles Edgeworth’s only mentor tells him never to step foot into his opponent’s territory lest he fail to crush them in court. 4 years later, Edgeworth enters Defendant Lobby No. 1 to warn opposing counsel Phoenix Wright about Redd White’s decisive testimony.

Some post-AAI1 reflections + how Phoenix unravels Miles from the very moment they meet again.

After playing through the original trilogy, up to 4-2 on Apollo Justice, and all of Ace Attorney Investigations 1, I couldn’t help but jot down my (admittedly incomplete) thoughts about Phoenix and Edgeworth’s relationship, especially as it pertains to Miles’ “unraveling,” or his departure from von Karma’s teachings.

We already know von Karma had no love for Edgeworth. Crushing the late Gregory Edgeworth’s legacy under the guise of mentoring his son (and eventually ruining his career at its peak) was von Karma’s last act of hatred towards the departed.

From Miles’ perspective, however, von Karma was an accomplished teacher to whom he owed his gratitude and career’s success. This is important because Edgeworth’s actions are fundamentally motivated by his desire to express his “gratitude,” repay debts, and honor legacies.

His debt to von Karma compels him to strive for the perfection his mentor obsesses over. Achieving perfection takes the form of absorbing von Karma’s teachings, among them the AAI1 screenshot from earlier: only face your opponent in court, and make sure you crush them when you do it.

We know for a fact that the “demon prosecutor” internalizes von Karma’s teachings. He follows them to a T.

So, following 15 years of indoctrination, 4 years of putting the von Karma creed into practice, and an entire childhood AND early adulthood’s worth of gratitude, you’d THINK Edgeworth wouldn’t dare dishonor him…

Until he does, by coming to the defendant lobby to speak to his “enemy.”

Prior to playing AAI1, I thought the impetus for Edgeworth’s character development was 1-3, wherein he reevaluated the facts of the case and helped Phoenix get Dee Vasquez a guilty verdict. I still think 1-3 was the first time he consciously acknowledged the possibility (keyword: possibility) that his prosecutorial upbringing wasn’t..sound…(lmao!)

But with this AAI1 von Karma and Bratworth interaction, I now believe it was 1-2—with Edgeworth subconsciously disregarding his mentor’s teachings and Phoenix acting as the catalyst—that shows us when he first strayed from the path of a Von Karma.

An aside: Do I think AAI1 Bratworth was perfectly characterized? Not at all; he’s much too noble for that era of his life, though I don’t think it affects my case.

Edgeworth is a man full of contradictions. He comes to the defendant lobby to tell Phoenix his case is hopeless, though he has no obligation to disclose—nor has he ever set a precedent of disclosing—decisive witnesses’ information to his opponents.

He tells Phoenix he’ll do anything to get a guilty verdict, yet he warns the defense that his witness’s testimony will be considered infallible, prompting the player (Phoenix) to dissect the following testimonies with more care.

He tells Phoenix not to expect any special treatment from him, yet his very presence in the defendant’s lobby is in direct opposition to his respected mentor’s wishes.

It takes just one appearance from Phoenix for the filaments of von Karma’s indoctrination to unravel. 4 years into his career, Edgeworth has met many attorneys—most notably, Mia Fey—who embody Phoenix’s faith in his clients, yet none could shake his foundations like Phoenix Wright.

Edgeworth may have not been ready to turn a new leaf upon his first encounter with Phoenix, but the fact that a loose thread from his childhood (that’s emblematic of his innocence, his dreams, and dare I say his father’s drive) ultimately leads to his unraveling is poetry if I’ve ever seen it.

TL;DR Phoenix deconstructs Edgeworth like he was born to do so. The moment Phoenix decided to chase after him, Edgeworth had already lost.

[spaceprincessleia]

You are the knife I turn inside myself; that is love. That, my dear, is love. – (Velcinta + Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena)

134 days until andor s2

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

“What’s your build?”

Mage, now speaking about magic…

talking about builds is cool, but I wanna talk characters and lore

[sunflower-chai]

mon: “i haven’t heard from my cousin.”

luthen: “she’s probably just being careful.”

mon: “well, tell her to check in with me.”

luthen: “something urgent she needs knowing?”

mon: “yes. i care about her.”

something about luthen’s disregard for the importance of connection for the sake of love and care versus furthering the rebel cause. something about how vel is the only family that mon truly has left.

[velacuervo]

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

Incorrect Skyrim Quotes

J’Zargo: I’m the Main Character

Brelyna: Girl, you’re the unreliable narrator

[spider-vel]

they really went we need a character to explore shauna's desires and sexuality. oh what about that lesbian with the goofy ahh hat. oh i'm sure

[willosword]

the more i think about the vees the more i love their whole concept, especially after learning about the rift between them and the older overlords. three comparatively young/arrogant upstarts who each think they're the backbone of their little team constantly working and flying by the seat of their pants and scrambling to stay relevant while keeping each other in check because if any one of the trio crumbles the rest will topple down with them. a precarious balancing act

[local-fagboys-near-you]

excited infodumping about a common interest that leads to feverish fucking. that's it that's all I've got

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

I like TES for the realism. These are real things, real motivations, for the most part real actions, and that makes them seem like real people. If everything was split directly as Good vs Evil, then it would be 1. Immersion breaking as that is not a realistic thing, 2. Extremely difficult if not impossible to do as there is no such thing as pure good or pure evil (there are some people who have come real close to each, but they’re few and far between), and 3. They’d find something else to complain about anyway. If they play a medieval dark fantasy game and still complain about it being dark, then that’s on them and there’s nothing to be done.

One thing that bothers me about the Elder Scrolls community on Tumblr is their tendency to want to get rid of all the evil lore and characters in the game.

There’s plenty of evil lore like Aylied and Dunmer slavery, the creation of vampires, Pelinal’s genocide, racism against refugees, etc. Plus characters like Arondil, Naris, and Harkon.

The immediate response of a lot of TES fans on Tumblr is that this lore is bad and should be retconned or that the developers are bad for including it.

But if you remove all traces of evil and cruelty from the games, then who is left for a good character to kill and hate? The game would become a psychopath simulator where the only people left to kill are all innocent.

We need evil characters so that wet have people who are satisfying to fight and kill. Without evil characters, good characters would be destined to fight wolves and crabs forever.

We need more evil characters- not less! The more evil characters there are in the game = the more moral the player can be and the more justified our kills are.

[velvees-archive]

Ace Attorney Investigations 2 spoilers!

The famous (and now officially translated) AAI2 line is even better than I imagined because it isn’t about Phoenix—the next sequence is.

“I know how that feels…

To lose somebody so important to you. To lose faith in everything…”

…and have that faith restored by someone who has shown me unrelenting kindness.

-Edgeworth, probably

In Farewell, My Turnabout, Edgeworth tells Phoenix that lawyers aren’t heroes; they’re human. But for Phoenix, whose identity is intrinsically linked to his role as a defense attorney (ergo, saving people from “suffering” and “pain” because it’s his moral imperative), that distinction doesn’t exist. That’s why Edgeworth’s final acknowledgement of Phoenix in AAI2 matters. He's basically monologuing that Phoenix, regular old non-hero Phoenix, was his saving grace.

While Edgeworth expresses gratitude for Phoenix’s interference in the original trilogy, it’s framed as a thank you for what his childhood friend Phoenix provided him as a defense attorney: changing his career path so he could help snap Edgeworth out of the Demon Prosecutor funk and defending him in 1-4.

Investigations, on the other hand, has Edgeworth telling anyone who’ll listen that a "certain defense attorney” or “that man” showed him a better way to live (the difference here being Edgeworth acknowledging Phoenix’s larger role in his life beyond changing his judicial philosophy or saving him in court), all without ever explicitly confirming that Phoenix—not Phoenix Wright, attorney at law—yanked him into the light.

Then comes the end of AAI2.

“Somebody was kind enough to save me from myself.”

No mention of Phoenix being a defense attorney, no fancy titles, and no mention of Edgeworth’s changing courtroom practices. This line is personal and heartfelt, speaking to Phoenix and Edgeworth as people as opposed to their standing as lawyers. In doing so, Miles drives one last point home:

Phoenix Wright, the person, is the one who saved him; it isn’t Phoenix’s badge that Edgeworth comes to love.

[syn0vial]

some snapshots of boba fett being a socially anxious mess in legacy of the force

facing some of the galaxy's most ruthless and hardened killers in combat? no problem 👌 having a heartfelt conversation in a room with friends and family? RUN!! 🏃🏃

"am i allowed to call my best friend by his first name when we're at his house? if i get the answer wrong, it is equivalent to me stepping on a landmine and exploding btw"

the thought of having anything like a family or social circle is terrifying to him. loneliness is a much more familiar and thus comfortable experience.

this is a sad one. trying to interact with other people in a way that isn't predicated on violence (whether for or to them) feels so alien and daunting to fett that he feels like he's incapable of it. (it's also one of the many moments in which fett is an unreliable narrator of his own character development bc what do you think you've been doing for the past three books, idiot)

and finally, one of the (several) moments in the series that implies he usually relies on beviin and/or medrit to handle daunting social interactions for him :`) he's very lucky to have them!

[thewistlingbadger]

Vel and Cinta were dating in s1. I thought that was very clear but in S2 they're...not together? I don't know? It's unclear? I really hope they're still together bc they're one of star wars's only queer ships and I find them to be compelling.

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

Period

heyyy new followers i havent been a solely incorrect quotes blog in quite some time. instead youre going to hear ab my skyrim ocs